Things start to happen in this Chapter. Percy has nearly made it to the river of Lethe. The part on Tillia is short but she starting to seriously doubt her life in the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

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Ch. 3

Percy walked down a sickeningly familiar dark street and saw several bums sitting around just as he did nearly five years ago. He looked to his right and saw a rundown store with peeling letters that he didn't need to translate from its mixed up look to know. If it had all its letters, it would've read Crusty's Water Bed Palace. The windows were dark and graffiti covered the walls. It looked like Crusty still hadn't come back from Tartarus.

Percy walked past the closed down water bed shop and soon found himself in front of DOA recording studios. It had hardly changed since he was last here at the age of twelve. He had been to the Underworld other than that one time, but he had taken a different route. Percy yawned as he walked in. The walk across town had been tiring but strangely uneventful. Unlike the last time Percy had come to L.A. to visit the Underworld, he had a short time limit and an evil titan, god, and demi-god all working to stop him. This time, there was no great prophecy about him (only a small one that didn't foretell of the destruction of the world), no god or titan trying to murder him (except for the usual ones who always hate him), and best of all, no chance that failing will end up in the end of the world. Percy almost wanted to smile as he walked up to Charon, the clerk of the dead who still seemed to like silk Italian suits.

Charon looked up when Percy approached him and stared hard for several minutes before saying, "Drowned in the bathtub again?"

"No," Percy replied, "I don't even want to get to the Underworld. I need to get to the river of Lethe."

Charon laughed and said, "Want to forget something do we? Well I'm afraid you still need pay. And the boat's not full enough yet so even if you can pay, you're going to have to wait until it is."

Percy had figured that this could happen. But he new exactly what language to talk to Charon. "I have my one drachma for passage," said Percy, "And I'll give you 20 more to take me now."

"Twenty?" Charon asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

"Yep. One goes wherever everyone's payment goes, and twenty goes to you. You could buy a new suit."

"Hades doesn't even pay me 20 a week for this job. I get 8. 8! Ludicrous!" he said with a shake of his head. "Let me see this 20 drachmas anyway."

Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out a cloth bag. He opened it and dumped the contents on the table. He had more drachmas in his backpack, but had counted out 21 beforehand so that he could get the effect of pouring out the entire bag. He had even used a small bag so that when he pulled it out, Charon would see it full and bulging. Annabeth had suggested these methods to Percy before he left. She had been very angry that she didn't get to go but had helped him out anyway.

Charon counted out the gold coins one by one with greedy hands. Percy watched him warily in case he mad any move to steal the money. "21 drachmas exactly," he finally said, "And all for a trip to across the Styx right now? Hmmm..." Charon said putting on a fairly good thinking face, but Percy knew he had already decided. "All right boy. I'll take your 20."

Percy gave a small smile and followed Charon to the elevator. The easy part was over. Now he had to talk to the goddess Oblivio and see if she'll give back Thomas's memories.

Tillia wasn't sure why she was not interested in any of the games that the hotel offered. Their variety was so wide, that she couldn't possibly ever be bored. But nothing appealed to her now.

She always felt an itching, bugging sensation in the back of her mind that she was forgetting something. She was constantly returning to her room thinking that she had left something important there. She had started to scribble down notes everywhere; on her arms, on sticky notes, on the pad she now kept in her back pocket. She hoped that if she wrote everything down, she would remember whatever she forgot.

So far, Tillia hadn't the slightest clue as to what she was forgetting. The staff didn't help. They were constantly offering her new cards for better games, but she turned them all down. What was the point of having access to more games if she didn't even want to play on them? Her brain was overloading and she just wanted out...

Annabeth paced back and forth across the cabin floor. Her dream the night before shouldn't have been all that troubling, but it was. She had seen Percy, safe and sound. Sure he was running from some really angry looking people but that always happened. What was troubling Annabeth was that there had been a dark haired, olive skinned girl with him. She had a rather confused and bewildered expression on but she was with still with Percy. he had grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him. Who was this girl? And why did it look like both her and Percy were running from the Lotus Hotel and Casino?

Liking things so far? I thought to put Annabeth in after a request from a review. Speaking of which, please leave me reviews and tell me what you think!