Chapter 3
It was a photograph of me and my father, smiling and laughing. I pulled the photo out of the water with two fingers and flipped it over. On the back, it said six words that almost made me faint: Property of Hermes, Msgr. of Gods. My dad cared about me. I instantly felt even more regret for everything that I had done to the demigods of Camp Half-Blood, to the gods, to mortals. I did it all because I believed the gods didn't care about their half-mortal children. But I was wrong. If I had just listened to my father eight years ago-
"Are you coming or not?" Charon's deep voice jarred me from my deep thought. I realized everyone else had gotten off the ferryboat and joined one of three lines, lighting up green like Vegas casino signs. EZ Death, said one, and the others were labeled Attendant On Duty.
I blushed- can the dead blush? Well if they can, I certainly did. Stuffing the crumpled photo into a pocket tucked convienently into the inner folds of my robe, I got off the dank boat and stepped up to the Attendant On Duty line to the far right, which was crawling along. When I finally reached the attendant, the ghoul stared through me for a moment before droning in an accent that sounded quite medeival,
"Thy name...?"
"Luke Castellan."
"Mmn." the ancient spirit wrote something on a slip of parchment, and handed it to me.
"Thou shall attend the judgement pavilion at exactly four hours."
"Four hours?" I asked, obviously bothering the attendant by my ignorance.
It sighed and pushed a Stygian iron button. Hades' voice was projected into the near area."Time is not the same as it was in your life. In this place, you recognize time by hours. There are twelve hours in one bell. Should you be sent to the Fields of Punishment to do work, your time shall stop and start each bell, at which point one half loaf of stale bread and a container of curdled milk will be issued. If you go to the Fields for a specified punishment, no food or drink will be given unless part of the punishment, and time will not be concerning to you. There is a chime each hour."
The attendant spoke again.
"It is three hours and some time. Get on."
I was pushed past Cerberus, who was much less frightening once you were dead, and waited in a benched area outside the pavilion. After a bit, a chime rang across the roaming lands of the Underworld. Four hours. I stood and rose the steps to the pavilion, a jittering feeling in my gut.