The House of Hades - Group Shadow Travel

She brushed her thumb under Nico’s eye and wondered if he had been crying. She wanted so badly to understand what was going on with him—what had happened to him over the last few weeks. After all they’d just been through, Hazel was more grateful than ever to have a brother.

Before she could say that, the ceiling shuddered. Cracks appeared in the remaining tiles. Columns of dust spilled down.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Jason said. “Uh, Frank…?”

Frank shook his head. “I think one favor from the dead is all I can manage today.”

“Wait, what?” Hazel asked.

Piper raised her eyebrows. “Your unbelievable boyfriend called in a favor as a child of Mars. He summoned the spirits of some dead warriors, made them lead us here through…um, well, I’m not sure, actually. The passages of the dead? All I know is that it was very, very dark.”

To their left, a section of the wall split. Two ruby eyes from a carved stone skeleton popped out and rolled across the floor.

“We’ll have to shadow-travel,” Hazel said.

Nico winced. “Hazel, I can barely manage that with only myself. With seven more people—”

“I’ll help you.” She tried to sound confident. She’d never shadow-traveled before, had no idea if she could; but after working with the Mist, altering the Labyrinth—she had to believe it was possible.

An entire section of tiles peeled loose from the ceiling.

“Everyone, grab hands!” Nico yelled.

They made a hasty circle. Hazel envisioned the Greek countryside above them. The cavern collapsed, and she felt herself dissolving into shadow.

They appeared on the hillside overlooking the River Acheron. The sun was just rising, making the water glitter and the clouds glow orange. The cool morning air smelled of honeysuckle.

Hazel was holding hands with Frank on her left, Nico on her right. They were all alive and mostly whole. The sunlight in the trees was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. She wanted to live in that moment—free of monsters and gods and evil spirits.

Then her friends began to stir.

Nico realized that he was holding Percy’s hand and quickly let go.

Leo staggered backward. “You know…I think I’ll sit down.”

He collapsed. The others joined him. The Argo II still floated over the river a few hundred yards away. Hazel knew that they should signal Coach Hedge and tell him they were alive. Had they been in the temple all night? Or several nights? But at the moment, the group was too tired to do anything except sit and relax and marvel at the fact that they were okay.


(Note: They were in a cavern deep below the surface before shadow travelling.)


- The House of Hades, Chapter 76