The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure

Nico is unconscious after using his powers. Will oscillates between gratefulness and love for Nico and guilt about how much he relies on Nico to take care of him in the Underworld.

He decides to use nearby rocks, bones, and Gorgyra’s boat to build a makeshift shelter. He then climbs a nearby hill, hoping he can get a clue about where to go.

As a healer, he is fascinated by the regeneration pods. When his foot accidentally slips on loose gravel and punctures one, the goo burns his skin and leaves welts. A flock of regenerated monsters emerges: Stymphalian birds, the same monsters that disguised themselves as pigeons and attacked Will in Washington Square Park. They pick Will up, carrying him in the air. In the distance, he can see a creature approaching Nico.

Nico wakes up in the shelter Will constructed for him. He sees a Lamian centaur, who introduces himself as Amphithemis and explains that he is looking for “the child” and that he faintly senses another demigod in the vicinity. Amphithemis asks about Nico’s parentage, as he can’t help a child of Zeus or Hera. Amphithemis used to be an incorporeal river spirit until Zeus sent him on a quest for “the child”—in response, the jealous Hera cursed him with his current form.

Nico suggests Amphithemis help him find Will so the three of them can find the child. Amphithemis directs Nico to cross the River Acheron, saying that the river won’t torment him as he has nothing to be punished for. Against his better judgment, Nico tries to cross. The river fills him with “intrusive thoughts” about the beings he’s killed and the people he couldn’t save (310).

On the other side, Amphithemis forgets who Nico is and then forgets Will’s scent until Nico has him sniff Will’s bomber jacket. The search restarts, but Amphithemis forgets Nico and Will again. When Amphithemis explains that the baby Amphithemis is looking for is Dionysus, Nico assumes he’s in another of Nyx’s dreams. Nico runs away, and Amphithemis purses, confused. Nico tells him Dionysus is grown and runs Camp Half-Blood.

Nico suddenly has compassion for Amphithemis. He reaches out to help him, but his hand passes through: Amphithemis is dead. His obsessive desire to find “the child” overtakes him again and he lunges at Nico. Nico realizes that Amiphithemis is “a mania,” “a soul obsessed with a task he could not complete” (316).

Will tries to escape the birds and plummets to the ground. A regeneration blister breaks his fall. From it emerges a cynocephalus, a creature that allied itself with the antagonists of The Heroes of Olympus and The Trials of Apollo pentalogies. More cynocephali are born from nearby pods. Will runs and hides behind a stone.

Nico is having trouble fighting Amphithemis. His sword is Stygian iron and “only Imperial gold could destroy manias” (320). Amphithemis makes several gashes on Nico’s face. On a nearby ridge, Nico sees a flash of light and swarming birds. He runs there.

Meanwhile, Will sees a flash of light and a large golden cat fighting the monsters. It is Small Bob, Bob’s pet cat. In the form of a large saber-tooth tiger, Small Bob takes out the pack of monsters.

Will hears Nico nearby, running from Amphithemis. When Nico reaches them, Small Bob turns into a regular sized cat and hops on Nico’s shoulder. Though Small Bob took out many monsters, more regenerate and Amphithemis is approaching. Will tells Amphithemis the cynocephali took Dionysus, so Amphithemis chases the monsters away into the distance.

Nico is dismayed that Will set Amphithemis on the monsters. He pities the soul, which has been wandering in Tartarus for millennia. The pair argue until Will bursts into tears, overcome by fear that Nico will leave him.

Instead, Nico approaches, apologizes, and holds Will. They take a moment to calm down and recount their stories, acknowledging the mistakes they made in their argument.

Neither Will nor Nico know where to go. They’re generous with each other about their recent fight and pledge to look after one another as Tartarus takes its toll. Small Bob meows and leads them back to the boat: They must follow the Acheron further to reach Damasen’s hut. The voices in the river tell Nico he belongs with them, but he knows he belongs with Will.

The voices of the river are a magnified version of Nico’s negative self-talk; he pushes them away. Will rests as they travel down the river and Nico worries about the prophecy, which foretold that he’d need to leave something behind in Tartarus. Nico realizes that shadowy figures are following them again. He hears something in the water behind them and sees yellow eyes in the distance.

After traveling through the acidic air of Tartarus’ digestive tract, Small Bob meows to tell them they’ve reached the swamp. Will apologizes to Nico for being close-minded about the Underworld and associating death and darkness with evil.

Across the river, more cynocephali emerge. Nico tries to summon skeletons to protect them, but the nearby bones are attached to a red-eyed monster covered in matted fur. The monster scares the cynocephali away, but another rises from the ground and confronts the boys.

Small Bob takes on his saber-tooth tiger form. Nico and Small Bob fatally injure one of the monsters, Carl. They find out that Carl and his brother, Bartholomew, have been locked in an endless battle to collect the most bones. They keep purposefully dying and regenerating, collecting new bones along the way.

Bartholomew is jealous that Carl is dying and therefore will get the chance to collect new bones. Bartholomew begs Nico to kill him, but Nico cannot kill anyone in cold blood. Small Bob kills Bartholomew, who dies happily. Nico and Will leave, pledging never to speak of this again.

Small Bob leads them onward for hours. The boys get weaker. Will tells Nico he loves him, but he can feel himself forgetting who he is. The voices of the river told Will that Nico was lonely: Nico realizes that while Will doesn’t always understand Nico’s darkness, Nico also shuts Will out. He decides to bolster Will with stories, first the ones they told to Gorgyra, then happy memories from Nico’s youth.

Small Bob meows to let them know they’ve reached Damasen’s hut, but it’s empty.

Will builds a fire while Nico falls asleep. In a nightmare, his mother pushes him off a balcony. When he wakes, for the first time he wants to share his memories with Will.

After sleeping, the pair set out again, following Small Bob’s directions. Will hums a song his mother composed to feel better. He tentatively asks about Nico’s mother. Though Nico doesn’t have many memories of his mother, who was murdered by Zeus, he tells Will about his dream. Sometimes his memories feel like they happened to someone else, which Mr. D said is an effect of PTSD.

As they walk, Nico experiences physical pain and weakness and Will becomes disoriented and weak. Nico finally sees the archway that leads to Nyx; it lies beyond a plain of pure darkness, which is the protogenos Chaos. Only Nico can see the path through Chaos: Will must hold onto him and trust him completely.

At one moment, Nico gets frightened and accidentally pushes Will, almost knocking him into Chaos. Chaos whispers for Will to jump and for Nico to let him fall; they embrace each other for strength and go through the doorway.

Inside Nyx’s garden, they see Bob in a regeneration blister. He is forming and reforming, oscillating between Bob and Iapetus. They try and fail to break the blister. Bob says that Nico and Will must unite their powers to break the pod, so Will holds onto Nico’s sword arm and sings with Apollo’s powers, channeling them through Nico and his Stygian iron blade. Fueled by both of their powers, the blade frees Bob.

Nyx then reveals herself and her army of monsters.