Hi, everyone. I'm so sorry I haven't updated in, what, months now? I had so much writer's block, I'm also working on five other stories (they're original stories, not fanfics, so I won't post them here), and grade eight is becoming harder.

Anyway, I wrote a longer chapter to compensate. Here it is:

Will was woken up by a loud crack. He wasn't sure why his bed was so uncomfortable at first, and then he realized a few things:

1. He was on a plane.

2. He was headed to Delphi to save his dad.

3. He was holding on to Nico di Angelo's arm.

4. Nico smelled good in a weird way, like freshly dug up dirt in a graveyard.

5. Lou Ellen had a magic shield around him, the blue kind that blocked hexes.

6. He was holding on to Nico di Angelo's arm.

Will sat up abruptly, blushing.

"What the," he sputtered, "Lou Ellen, what's going on?"

His friend waited a few more seconds, then put down her hand. The shield faded.

"I sensed a hex coming our way. I think it's gone now. Will, go and check on the passengers."

Will sprinted over to the woman sprawled on the floor. He checked her breathing and her pulse. Both were steady, but slow. He checked a few more passengers and got the same results.

"They're all in comas," he announced to the group.

Cecil's eyes widened. "So, are the people in the other sections of the plane also in comas?" he asked.

"I would say so," Lou Ellen replied.

"Then why's the plane not crashing?"

"I think it's autopilot, or something like that," Will said.

"Well," Will saw Nico reach under his seat and pull out his Stygian iron sword. "I'm not willing to take that chance. We're going to the cockpit."

It wasn't autopilot that was driving the plane.

Four empousai were clustered in front of the control panel of the plane. Two were sitting on the seat intended for the pilot and the co-pilot. The other two were pushing each other, trying to see the control panel. Two mortals, most likely the pilot and the co-pilot, were slumped against a wall.

The moment Lou Ellen shoved open the door to the cockpit, the four monsters spun around. For a moment the two groups stared at each other, gaping. Then one of the empousai standing lunged at Will.

Nico shoved the demon aside and impaled her. Golden dust exploded everywhere.

"That's one," he stated. The dust looked like sunlight filtering through his jet black hair.

The other three empousai attacked. Will drew out the dagger hanging from his belt and jabbed at one of the demon's chest. She dodged the blade. Lou Ellen shot a ball of magic at her. (What was in that ball, anyway? Electricity? Acid? Knowing Lou Ellen, it was probably something like poisonous glitter.)

The empousa dodged that as well. The ball hit the side of the wall and disappeared in an explosion of sparkles. Will pulled up the collar of his shirt to his nose. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cecil do the same.

"Now, now, demigods," the empousa smiled at them. Has she always looked this pretty? "You don't want to hurt us, do you?"

Will agreed. They could probably sort this out without going through any kind of violence. He felt himself lowering his dagger. Beside him, Lou Ellen lowered her hand, her face red as a tomato.

"Guys!" Nico yelled, "Snap out of it! She's charmspeaking you!"

Lou Ellen's gaze hardened. She fired another glitter ball at the empousa. A moment later, Will and Lou Ellen were both covered in dust and glitter. Will took the bow slung on his back and drew an arrow from his quiver.

"Two," she announces.

An empousa was at the front of the cockpit, leaning over the control panel of the plane, turning the control yoke. Will shot an arrow at her. She was really close, and the arrow hit her in the back, impaling her to the control panel. He sighs. He was aiming for her neck.

"Three."

Cecil cut the last empousa in half with his sword.

"Four. Well," he panted, "that happened."

The plane started to tip.

"What did you do, Will?" Lou Ellen screamed. Will was going to ask her what she meant, then he noticed his arrow, sticking out from the control panel of the plane.

Oh no.

"I'm sorry!" he sputtered, "I didn't think of –" He took a deep breath. Panicking would not help in this situation. "Someone turn on autopilot!"

Nico ran to the control panel and pressed a button. Sparks popped out of the panel.

"It's not working," he announced, "The arrow hit something important."

He turned to Will. "You had to use your arrow," Nico ranted, "That demon was four feet away from you! You had a knife!"

"How about we don't die now, and you can chew Will out later?" Lou Ellen turned to Cecil. "Do something!" she demanded.

"What do you want me to do?" Cecil's voice turned high-pitched. "I can't steer a plane!"

"You can drive."

"This is a plane!"

"Close enough."

"Can't you just magic it back in the air?"

"You read too much Harry Potter."

Cecil sighs. He has, after all, learned from five years of experience, that he never wins an argument against Lou Ellen.

"Help me find a clear area to land," he ordered. The rest of the group obediently grabbed maps and a GPS to find their location.

"We're seven hundred feet above a field in Sofia, Bulgaria," said Will. "The field should be long enough for you to land." The plane lurched. Lou Ellen retched, looking very green.

The field, as the plane dropped closer to the ground, was not at all a good place to land after all. The place was probably a construction site. Stone foundations and lumber covered the ground.

"Grab onto something, everyone!" Cecil took the yoke and yanked its two prongs upwards. The plane was at an angle that seemed almost vertical.

Will grasped the bottom of one of the seats, which he was almost sure was bolted in tightly. Nico was gripping tightly on the other seat. Lou Ellen perched near the window of the cockpit, holding her hand out. She might have been chanting something, but Will couldn't hear over his, Cecil's and Nico's screaming, the roar of the wind around the plane, and the awful feeling of the pressure in his ears building up as they descended. As for Cecil, he put his seat belt on when he sat down at the controls.

There was a booming crunch as the left side of the aircraft hit the ground, semi-horizontal. Will had the impression that a good chunk of a wing was probably torn off.

Before the mostly destroyed plane could crash into anything else, though, a pink bubble appeared and seemed to cushion the right side of the plane. The window shattered, spraying glass shards everywhere. Before anyone was hurt, though, the shards of glass froze in place. The three guys turned to Lou Ellen, shocked, but she seemed just as bewildered.

Will rushed over and checked the pilot and the co-pilot's essentials. There were several broken bones and both of them have awful concussions, but nothing a stay at the hospital can't fix.

Lou Ellen kicked open the door and stumbled out of the plane. Then she fell on her knees and promptly threw up. Nico, Cecil, and Will trailed behind her. Cecil helped her up.

People, probably construction workers, started to gather around the plane wreck. One guy held up his phone and snapped a picture of the wreckage, then of the four demigods.

"Който се разби този самолет? Дали някой умре?" One of the construction workers asked. Will didn't speak Bulgarian, and judging by the confused look on his friends' faces, neither did any of them.

"What happened to this plane?" another local finally asked in heavily accented English. Will could see several people whispering on their phones and taking pictures, no doubt calling nine-one-one and getting photos for the court.

Nico, Will, Cecil, and Lou Ellen glanced at each other. The expressions on their faces showed that they all knew the plan.

"Get the people in the plane to a hospital," Will told them.

Cecil reached into his backpack and threw something on the ground. Smoke and dust spread all over the construction site.

"Run!" he hollered, and the four teenagers sprinted away.

-Line break-

"This was a bad idea," Lou Ellen wheezed, "This was a really bad idea."

Will had thought that the four of them were completely capable of outrunning the construction workers. They were all average speed compared to the people in Camp Half-Blood, and the average half-blood is much faster than the average mortal.

Except…Nico still hadn't completely recovered from Tartarus and all the shadow-traveling from the war. Lou Ellen was completely winded out from performing two giant shielding spells and the airsickness. Will and Cecil have been practically dragging the other two demigods for the past one hundred feet.

There were about ten burly men and women chasing after the demigods. They couldn't keep running for much longer.

"Everyone, grab on to me," Nico panted.

"Nico, if you're going to do what I think you're going to do, you're not going to do it!" Will scolded.

"We don't have another option!" Nico retorted, "Lou Ellen, help me!"

"I-I can't-"

"Hazel's talked to you and your siblings about shadow travel before. You're the only other person here that knows how this works. You've got to help me!"

"Nico-" Will warned.

Nico grabbed Will's hand (that sent a warm feeling into his body) and Lou Ellen took Cecil's. Will felt an awful lurch in his stomach, and the world around him dissolved into shadow.

Sheesh, Nico, didn't Will chew you out enough times already?

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