I'm back! *grins evilly* Well, I know you guys have been waiting for this. I decided to try working two stories at once, so updates will probably not be as often as they were for this story. But this is the sequel to Oh, the Madness. So I think you might be willing to forgive me.

Enjoy. :)

Marley Kromer, daughter of Dionysus

I hate shadow traveling. With a very deep, heated passion. It really just doesn't cope well with me. We travel through a very creepy, disturbing, and scary black void. Little fragments of shadow seem to claw at you, and make you go ice cold. Not to mention that it feels like you are falling at a hundred miles per hour. It sucks big-time.

I clamped my eyes shut, and kept them shut, for fear I'd see something I'd regret.

"Ouch! Jeez, Marley, let go of my hand! It's going numb." I barley opened my eyes, just enough to be able to peek through my eye lashes. Lexa was trying to pry my fingers off of her hand. I immediately let go, opening my eyes all the way now.

"I really hate shadow traveling," I muttered. That's when I took in my surroundings. We were in an alley that broke off a main road, but there was hardly any traffic. That was odd, considering that it was the middle of the day and I guessed this would be a busier part of wherever we were. It was warm, but despite that, I shivered. I guessed we were close to the Underworld. Very close.

"I agree," Noah stated. He was pale, and he looked like he was about to throw up. I smiled half-heartedly. "Never again. Never."

"It's not that bad," Lexa insisted. "You guys are just wussies."

"Says the child of gloom and misery, herself," Noah said, ruffling her hair. Lexa turned bright red. "So, where are we?"

"California," Lexa said tiredly. "Go through the doors of the DOA Studios building. When you get to the front desk, I suggest that you bribe Charon or threaten him. One or the other will work."

"And if it doesn't?"

"Then our journey was a waste of time, effort, and my energy. Now go," she said with a shooing motion.

"Aren't you coming with us?" Noah asked.

"No. My talons might grow back in and then the next thing I know, I'll be sprouting claws and wings and a tail." Noah looked hopelessly confused.

"Don't even ask," I told him, standing. I brushed dirt off of my shorts. "C'mon, let's go."

I grabbed his wrist in a way that Piper might be proud of me and dragged him after me. When we came to the entrance of the alley, my earlier thought was confirmed. No traffic whatsoever. At all. Zilch. I didn't think it was normal, because it looked as though it should be one of the busiest streets in whatever city we were in.

Noah turned left, and I followed suit. He seemed to know exactly where he was going, like he'd been here before. I didn't stray far behind him, knowing that some big, nasty monster could strike at any minute and that I would never be able to fight it off, especially given that I'm a weaponless wimp. Lexa beat me in, like, four seconds flat earlier. With a foam sword, no less.

The deserted streets were a little unnerving. In Lexington, the streets were never empty, not even at three in the morning. I guess it really spooked me that even mortals knew to stay away from here, given that the Mist covered it all up.

"Marley, c'mon!" I jerked out of my thoughts, only to realize that Noah had just gone through a revolving glass door. I followed. Normally I would have loved going through one of these things. I mean, it's a revolving door! One of two types of doors that you can't slam and very fun to spin in for hours on end.

But… I guess this feeling came over me. Depression and despair. It was sad and angry and frustrated and anxious. It made me dizzy, so I went straight through. And I wanted to go right back out.

The lobby of DOA Studios was jam packed with ghosts. Ghosts of little kids and old people and newly weds and tourists. None of them smiled. None of them talked. It was like they didn't even know where they were, that they were even dead. Like they didn't know I was there with them. I tried pushing past them, but they were ghosts, so that was kind of pointless.

I walked right through them with goosebumps rising to my skin. Noah was at the front desk, tapping on some guy's shoulder from behind.

The man turned, and I realized that it was the man who was trying to ferry Lexa over the River Styx. Except he wasn't wearing his dismal black robes anymore, but a very expensive looking suit.

He looked friendly, that is, until he saw us. "Not more of you," he spat, rolling his eyes. He turned back to what he was doing.

"Mother won't be very happy that you didn't let us in," Noah told him. The freaky dude cast him an annoyed glance. "She might turn you into a dandelion for a few years… think, the dead could get in for free."

"You wouldn't," Charon said, turning back to face us. "You're bluffing."
"I only wish I were," he responded. Charon narrowed his eyes, then huffed.

"Fine, but not a word of my resistance to your mother."

"Deal," Noah said.

Charon ushered us hastily into a small elevator, where more ghosts stood, er, floated? Whatever. I stayed close to Noah.

"Do you think it was a good idea to leave Lexa all by herself?" I asked.

"It's Lexa. She'll be fine, I'm sure," Noah said, keeping his gaze straight ahead.

"But she's only ten…"

"Ten?"

"It surprised me, too." We didn't say much after that. I hadn't ever spent that much time with Noah. All I knew was that his dad was dead and he liked painting flowers.

At one point, I blinked, and I wasn't on an elevator anymore. Instead, we were on a wooden ferry, and Charon was back in his black robes. We were floating in the middle of the River Styx. The water was murky, with the forgotten hopes and dreams of mortals polluting it.

The feeling of despair intensified as the ferry came closer to the shore. I shivered a little. The ghosts were starting to become restless. I wanted the ride to be over. I wanted to be back home, with mom and aunt Alice, watching a movie and eating ice cream. But it was too late to turn back, now. We were getting closer and closer. Twenty feet. Ten feet. Five. I scrambled off the ferry so fast that I'm sure it looked like I had super powers.

Abruptly, the dreadful feeling was gone. I let out a breath that I hadn't known I was holding.

"You okay?" Noah asked, standing next to me.

"Fine," I said. I looked around me. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Yup. I've visited mom before. So have Piper and Callie. She's an amazing person."

"I'll bet," I said, wishing I still had my mom.

"Let's go," he said, taking off in the direction of a three headed dog that went by the name of Cerberus, but Piper and I preferred to call him Fluffy. He guarded three arches. One read "Ez Death", and lead to what looked like an open air pavilion. Another lead to the Fields of Asphodel, and the third lead to Hades' palace.

Noah stopped about ten feet in front of Cerberus with a grimace on his face.

"Styx," he muttered. "I forgot that I always let Piper and Callie handle the dog…"

"So why don't you handle it?" I asked, feeling pretty intimidated by the dog's size. He was freaking huge.

"I'm afraid of dogs," he confessed. He trembled as the dog's middle head lowered so it was eye level with us. It sniffed me, giving the lowest of growls, then moved toward Noah, sniffing him a couple of times.

And then the dog perked up it's ears, all six of them, and got this playful glint in all six of it's eyes. It started wagging it's massive tail. I was dumbstruck. Was this really happening?

"Pat it's head or something," I said, elbowing Noah's ribs. He nodded shakily.

"Good boys," he said, reaching his hand out slowly, warily. He stroked Fluffy's nose a few times.

"How do we get past it?" I asked after a minute. "We don't have a lot of time."

"Go look in those bushes, over there," he instructed, his voice tight. I did as told to find a big, blue, rubber ball. "Hurry up and bring it over here!"

"Okay, now what? Are we going to play fetch with it?"

"Just wave it in front of him for a second, then throw it that way," he said, jerking a thumb in the direction of which we'd come.

I raised the ball as high as I could and waved it around. "Hey, Cerberus! Over here, boy! Look at the ball!" All three heads turned away from Noah, who sighed with relief, and towards me. "Go fetch, boy!" I threw the ball, but it didn't go even five feet. This is where being a soccer player was a good thing. I set up and ran the few steps, kicking it as hard as I could. The ball went flying, and Cerberus went after it.

"Quickly, let's go," Noah said, grabbing my arm and pulling me through the arch that lead to the big, scary, black castle of doom.

Before long, we had mounted the many, many, many stairs that lead to the front door. I was about to fall over dead. My calves and hamstrings ached and throbbed with every step I took. I thought I needed a wheelchair.

"So now what?" I asked. "Do we ring the doorbell and hope they're home?"

"Of course not," Noah said, dismissing that idea as if it were obvious what we were supposed to do. "We just walk in and ask the servants to take us to my mom." And so we did. We followed a skeleton servant down many corridors until it opened a big, heavy, wooden door. It ushered us in, closing the door behind us.

"Piper, you can do better than that! Callie, watch out!" a woman shouted, jumping up and down. She was beautiful, with long, curly brown hair that came to her waste and blue-green eyes that shined with excitement. She was like an older version of Piper and Callie. This had to be Persephone, queen of the Underworld.

"Oh, Noah! Good thing you're here! I need you to cheer for one of your sisters. It's terribly difficult cheering for both of them when they are on opposing sides," she said. She sounded like one of the soccer moms back in Lexington. I found that I liked her. She may have been a goddess, but she had an air about her that was real, like she would personally get to know you.

"Hi, mom," Noah said. "Hmm… who to choose? Who to choose?"

"Pick me! Right here, Noah! Pick me! Pick me!" Piper shouted. That's when I noticed that she and Callie were sitting on the floor, playing some video game. "I'm obviously the better Pokemon trainer and will inevitably win this battle."

"Wrong!" Callie said. "I will win! I'm older and more experienced and I have better Pokemon than you!"

"By two minutes! And I so have the better Pokemon. I have Jiggly Puff!"

"Eenie Meenie Miny Mo always works," Persephone suggested. She was smiling at her children adoringly. I took a few steps back, running into the wall.

"Eenie meenie miny mo, catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers, let him go, my momma told me to pick the very best one and you are it!" Noah recited, wagging his finger back and forth until it landed on Callie.

"VICTORIOUS!" Callie shouted. Piper shrugged.

"Well, now I have a goddess on my team." She grinned.

I felt a tapping on my shoulder. I turned, then nearly jumped ten feet in the air. Nico was right next to me. And he was livid.

"What are you doing here? I told you to stay at Piper's house!"

"I didn't listen. Besides, I came with Noah."

"That's not the point! There was a reason I wanted you to stay out of the Underworld!"

"And what would that be?"

"Do you remember the prophecy?"

"Yeah…"

" 'Bring her back safe and sound, and suffer no consequence or eternal wound.' My dad is here in the Underworld, Marley. He knows that Lexa isn't completely demigod anymore. You are going to suffer some consequence, and by coming here, you just brought yourself closer to that punishment."

Oh, gods, I thought. I'm an idiot.

"You didn't think about it, did you?" he snapped.

I felt physically sick from the blow of the news. My head was spinning the tiniest bit. I slid down the wall I was leaning on so that I sat on the black marble floor, putting my head between my knees.

"I'm sorry," I said, my voice quiet. How could I be so stupid? Of course there were probably about twenty gods that wanted to punish or permanently maim me, and the one that happened to want to punish me most was somewhere in this palace, waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce on me.

"You should be," he said, but he didn't sound mad anymore. He sat next to me. "Look, I'm sorry for being so mean, but I meant it when I said that you couldn't come. And now that you're here, you won't likely be able to leave until you see my dad."

"Doesn't anyone ever pity the demigods?"

"Of course they do. But they can't always help us. There are ancient laws that forbid them to directly interfere with quests."

I buried my face into my lap. "I'm so stupid," I mumbled.

"Kind of," Nico said, earning himself a punch in the shoulder from yours truly. "I was kidding," he said, rubbing the place where I'd hit him. "Where did you learn to punch that hard?"

"Public school."

"I should have known," he replied.

O o

V

So, whadaya think? It's not as good as it could be, I know. I'm a bit out of practice, but I think it's somewhat decent, if I do say so myself. :)

So, title is up for change. If you have ideas, please inform me of them. I'm a wee bit (and when I say that I mean REALLY) desperate for your help.

Um… I have another story up, too, if you would check that out. It's called Mortal Wars, and I would appreciate some advice on that story as well.

Love you guys, and you know what comes next…

My Happy Place is right…

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AQUI!!!