I'm baaaaaaaaack (sorta)! Thanks to all who reviewed and favorite/alerted!

I've had a bit of writer's block so I haven't updated. I'm so sorry! It's just a blank. But here's a preview before I finish. I might start doing this for each chapter…\

Don't own PJO or HoO.

Percy POV

It took 6 months to complete the 12 Labors of Heracles. Since, unfortunately, I had to wait for some of the monsters I had already killed during the wars to reform. It took a while for them to come back from Tartarus. I was glad that Athena excused me from some of the tasks since they could only be completed in the Labyrinth which was destroyed courteous by yours truly, kind of. By then I was ready to go home. I missed my family, my friends, and my girlfriend. After I had just captured Cerberus, I took pity on him and started playing fetch with a red rubber ball since I knew he liked those after seeing him emaciate the last one.

Cerberus was bounding towards me when Athena appeared again.

"Perseus, it seems as if you've outdone yourself once again. But you're not finished yet." She smiled cruel and knowingly. "You can count the labors as the personal quest from me, but the other gods have yet to appoint you your next task. The first god you must please is Hades. You're already in the Underworld so you will start here to not waste time. He will tell you where to go next and so on until the last one. Once you have done this, you may return to camp. Good luck Perseus Jackson," and disappeared in a white hot light. Hopefully that'd be last time I see her for a long time. The ADHD part of me wondered where she goes when she leaves, probably the library. SHUT UP AND CONCENTRATE, I told my self before sneaking past the EZ Death line. The spirits did not appreciate me cutting in line and I heard many rude comments gestured towards me.

Not too many ghostly guards were chasing me after I made it through. It took forever to get past the Fields of Asphodel with all of the clutter but it helped me purposefully lose myself so they couldn't find me. I didn't want to stop at all in case I saw any familiar faces. After the Second Titan War and the Giant War, who knows who I'd meet again? They shouldn't be here anyways, they deserve Elysium.

I finally stopped when I reached the gates to Hades palace. They swung open eerily and I stepped through them cautiously. There is no way that Hades would leave his home unguarded like this. It isn't in his nature. He's naturally paranoid since he always thinks that his brothers are trying to take over his realm, even though it isn't possible. I of all people should know at least a couple Ancient Laws.

The entire garden was quiet and the emerald trees shone despite there not being any light overhead. I looked around to get my bearings and was on edge until I ended up at my uncle's throne and saw him sitting there stoically.

"My Lord," I said while kneeling.

"Rise nephew. So I have a job for you-,"

"Percy!" a young voice called out.

"Nico! What's up Death Breath?" I smirked at him. He was in his usual aviator's jacket, silver skull ring, messy hair, dancing skeleton shirt, and black baggy jeans. He looked pale, probably from being in the Underworld so long, and really hyper. That's what happens when you leave a demigod alone with no one to spar with for too long. His eyes shone and it reminded me of when I first met him, the kid who played Mythomagic.

"Absolutely nothing, it's boring down here," he whispered conspiratorially, "How are things up above?"

"Good, or at least they were when I left. Honestly I have no clue. For all I know, we could be at war and I wouldn't even know. I've been so detached from the world lately. Once I finish all of these quests, I'll make sure to properly catch you up on all the drama at camp."

Hades looked bored, "Are you two girls done gossiping yet? If you are then here is your job. I need you to aid us in Minos Rebellion. We are very close to winning and need only a little more help if we want to win. Once we defeat him then you can continue your tasks. It should only take a few weeks before it's all over with."

I held in a groan. I don't want to wait a few weeks! I was hoping for a few days at the most until I went to see the next god. But honestly I'm not surprised. Athena will never let me choose the comfortable path in life. I swear on the River Styx, cue rumble and rocks falling, that she enjoys seeing me suffer. And she's supposed to be my future mother-in-law? More like monster-in-law. But I just have to keep on repeating the same mantra in my head. Do it for love, do it for freedom, do it for Annabeth...

"Yes Uncle. Where will I stay while I am in the Underworld? You can't exactly keep me in the cells like you did before. My father would not be happy with you if you tried doing that," I said trying and failing to sound innocent. It must've been the snickers I was holding in and the smirk on my face.

He sighed heavily, "Very well, you can share a room with Nico. It should accommodate the two of you. Nico, tell Percy the everyday regimen he must maintain while he stays here. Meet me here tomorrow at noon." Then he vanished in a cloud of black shadows. I looked up at the castle and saw a curtain move. Was someone spying on us? I frowned.

"Is that Persephone upstairs? I know I saw a person up there."

"Persephone?" he scoffs, "Are you kidding me? She leaves us at the first sign of spring. She's up above probably dancing in a meadow or something right now. Seriously, it's happened before. We Iris Messaged her and saw her doing that. It was shocking to say the least. She's usually so dark and moody then all of sudden, prancing. It was just plain weird." As we talked we walked through the rest of the garden until we went around the back and arrived at a wooden door with spikes on the front of it. "Whatever you do, don't trip when walking to this door," he warned.

"Point taken," Ha, get it, point taken? It's punny!

We stepped through the door which led to a kitchen with black and white checkered marble floors and high vaulted ceilings. There were skeletons in all different kinds of clothing who were milling about cooking. They must've been chefs in their past life. They rushed around everywhere, chattering in their bat language. As we walked down the aisle between the silver tables all of them quieted and bowed to us which made me a little uncomfortable. But I guess that's one of the perks of being the Ghost King.

Nico led me to a large foyer that had a chandelier of onyx crystals up above in the middle of the room and candles with black flames on every pillar and wall. It was mesmerizing. The walls were made of a rough, but sparkling, dark gray stone. I found it interesting how there weren't any seams in the rock, as if the palace had been carved instead of built. Annabeth would've had a field day inside of here, the architecture was amazing. After listening to her many conversations about everything she has learned, I recognized some of the different structures.

"Wow…" I breathed.

Nico turned to face me and smiled, "That was pretty much what I said when I first came here. It never fails to amaze me."

Paintings from famous, and dead, artists hung from the ceiling in order from the oldest to the most recent. I saw Van Gogh and Picasso paintings that I knew could only be originals from the fragility of which they looked. The frames looked dull and had lost most of their luster and the paintings were slowly peeling.

We arrived at a wide spiral staircase that led to the story above. 10 people could've easily walked up it side by side. At the top there was flooring surrounding the stairs so you could walk behind it. There were 2 doors on each wall. Nico pointed at the one in front of us.

"That's our room for the next month. It's really big so don't be worried about having to share space. About the regimen, we have to wake up everyday at 7, clean our rooms by 8, have to be dressed and at breakfast at 9, battle training with the skeletons at 10, then we study in the library. We have math with Einstein, history with whoever lived during that time period, science with Isaac Newton, and literature with Shakespeare. Lunch is at 1, then the rest of the day is ours until dinner at 7, lights out is at 10:30," by the time he finished we were at the door and he twisted the doorknob to let us in.

"Seriously, you do this everyday? I thought you just sat around and talked to ghosts all day."

He looked offended, "At Camp Half Blood you don't just sit around and talk with friends all day, right? Well, here we are."

Yea don't worry, I'm nowhere near finished with this chapter so it will be a lot longer. Umm… review, I guess. What do you think of the chapter so far?

LeftoverMeal

Starblade176

Greek-ac-thalassa

You people are freaking awesome!

Love you all and thanks again!

-Zoe