Here's chapter nine!
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Chapter Nine
We are Offered a Quest
My…father. I had finally met my father. He was better than I even imagined him to be. I had expected him to be one of the lesser gods, perhaps someone like Eros – it would be just my luck and it would make sense because of how my mother would act. My father…he was a higher god. He was older than even those of Olympus. He was a primordial god, one of the first ever to walk the stony soil of Earth.
Erebus, god of darkness and shadows.
I thought him to be cold and calculating, like all of the myths and rumors described him, but he wasn't. If anything he was cold and calculating to everyone else, but with me…he was warm and affectionate. I could practically feel the love he had for me.
I was happy. For the first time in a long time, I was truly happy. I had a place I belonged, I had Percy and Grover…and I had my father. I was happy.
The next morning, Chiron moved me to cabin three.
I didn't have to share with anybody. I had plenty of room for all of my stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. I got to sit at my own dinner table, pick all my own activities, call "lights out" whenever I felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.
And I was absolutely miserable.
All those times I stood up for Rennie…I couldn't do that anymore. She had a room in the house. It was because her father didn't have a cabin. He said that it wasn't any fault of ours – he wasn't an Olympian god and, therefore, didn't have a cabin. He was a primordial god…he was different. He was powerful and I was scared shitless of him. He was nice enough to me, but I felt like he didn't quite trust anyone else besides Grover. Maybe it was because we were her only friends? We were the only ones who were her friends back at Yancy.
Erebus was also overprotective, but maybe that came because he couldn't directly interfere in her life before? I wish my father would at least meet me.
I missed Ren. For the past couple of days she had spent the night by my side, but now…we were so far apart. But, she was happy and I didn't want to rain on her parade just because I was uncomfortable being in a cabin by myself.
No, I couldn't lie to myself. I was a little lonely. I was moved from the Hermes Cabin to the house. I had my own room, but I missed sleeping next to Percy every night. I had a feeling that father knew about it, but he didn't say anything about it.
Plus, he promised to show me a few moves I could do with the shadows and I didn't want him to back out of his promise because I made him angry.
Just when I'd started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven and I might be a normal kid – or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood – I'd been separated out as if I had some rare disease. Things weren't going any better for Ren, but their separation from her was of awe instead of disgust. Nobody was related to a primordial god. This was the first half-blood child Erebus had sired as well.
Nobody mentioned the hellhound to us, but I got the feeling they were all taking about it behind our backs. The attack had scared everybody. It sent three messages: one, I was the son of the Sea God; two, Rennie was the daughter of a powerful primordial god; three, monsters would stop at nothing to kill us. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.
The other campers steered clear of us as much as possible. Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with me after what I'd done to the Ares folks in the woods, so my lesions with Luke became one-on-one. The Apollo kids were nervous around Ren when they found out who her father was. He pushed me harder than ever, and wasn't afraid to bruise me up in the process.
"You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming torches. Ren and her father were on the other side of the arena, working on something with shadows. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."
Annabeth still taught us Greek in the mornings, but she seemed distracted. Every time we said something, she scowled at us, as if either one of us had just poked her between the eyes.
After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest…Poseidon?...Erebus…Dirty rotten…Got to make a plan…"
Even Clarisse kept her distance, thought her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me for breaking her magic spear. I wished she would just yell or punch me or something. I'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored.
I knew somebody at camp resented me, because one night I came into my cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the New York Daily News, opened to the Metro page. The article took me almost an hour to read, because the angrier I got, the more the words floated around on the page.
BOY, MOTHER, AND FRIEND STILL MISSING
AFTER FREAK CAR ACCIDENT
By Eileen Smythe
Sally Jackson and son Percy, along with Percy's friend, Eirene Greyfield, are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's badly burned '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken. The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding.
Mother and son, along with son's friend, had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons or Miss Greyfield. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident.
Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his stepson, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past. Ironically, his friend, Miss Greyfield, had been arguing with her mother for the past couple of years. She attended the same school as Mr. Jackson.
Police would not say whether son Percy is a suspect in his mother and friend's disappearances , but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson, Percy, and Eirene. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.
The phone number was circled in black marker.
I wadded up the paper and threw it away, then flopped down in my bunk bed in the middle of my empty cabin.
"Lights out," I told myself miserably.
That night, I had my worst dream yet.
I was running along the beach in a storm. This time, there was a city behind me. Not New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance. Ren stood with her back to me, shrouded in shadows. I could see blood dripping from her shoulder and down her arm – I was horrified.
About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with bears and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green. They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.
I had to stop them – I had to help Rennie, too. I didn't know why. Ren started to run towards them and I tried to follow, but the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand.
Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, Give it back! Give it back! Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.
The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt, and threatening to wash Ren away. She had stopped running, but she was still in danger. She didn't know how to swim.
I yelled, Stop it! Stop fighting!
The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice.
Come down, little hero, the voice crooned. Come down!
The sand spit beneath Ren and I, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. My feet slipped, and darkness swallowed us.
I woke up, sure I was falling.
I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that.
I head a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold.
"Come in?"
Grover trotted inside, looking worried. "Mr. D wants to see you and Ren."
"Why?"
"He wants to kill…I mean, I'd better let him tell you."
Nervously I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble.
For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that I was declared a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, I figured it was a crime for me just to be alive. The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict.
Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Grover if we needed an umbrella.
"No," he said, "It never rains here unless we want it to."
I pointed to the storm. "What the heck is that, then?"
He glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."
I realized he was right. In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley.
But this storm…this one was huge.
At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning gabe against the satyrs. Dionysus' twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.
Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day with Ren. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheel-chair. They were playing against Ren and her father, Erebus. I was surprised that he was still here.
"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our other little celebrity."
I waited.
"Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father."
A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.
"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.
Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards. Grover cowred by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth.
"If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at the cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."
"You forget that he is a friend of my daughter, Dionysus." Erebus said coldly with a bone chilling glare, "It would do you no good to cause him harm."
"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in, agreeing with Erebus.
"Nonsense," Dionysus said. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."
"Mr. D…" Chiron warned. Erebus had put his cards down and shadows had started to form in the background. Tendrils of the darkness had started to creep upward, becoming tangible as they swirled up the legs of the table and Dionysus' chair.
"I'm warning you, Dionysus. Do not anger me." he said, eyes flickering as if they were shadows themselves.
"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option, but this one involves your daughter. It's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."
Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass.
He snapped his fingers.
The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.
Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained.
"Sit, Percy, please."
I did.
Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.
"Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"
Just hearing the name made me shudder, but then I felt a surprisingly warm hand on my shoulder.
"Do not fear, boy. We will not think so little of one who speaks the truth." Erebus said, looking at me with kind eyes. I took his advice.
"It scared me," I said, "If you hadn't attacked it, Ren would be dead. If she hadn't pushed me out of the way, I'd be dead."
"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done."
"Done…with what?"
"Your quest with Ren, of course. Will you accept it?"
I glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.
"Um, sir," I said, "You haven't told us what it is yet."
Chiron grimanced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."
Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.
"Poseidon and Zeus." Erebus said in a grave voice. He wrapped his arm around his daughter's shoulders and hugged her to him in a protective manner.
"They're fighting over something valuable…something that was stolen, aren't they?"
Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.
Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"
My face felt hot. I wished I hadn't opened my big mouth. "The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft. And…I've also been having these dreams." Ren's head perked up at the sound of dreams.
"I've been having weird dreams, too." She softly said. Erebus tightened his hold on her.
"I knew it," Grover said.
"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered.
"But it is their quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"
"Only the Oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."
I laughed nervously as Ren gasped, eyes wide. "A what?"
"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."
"Oh."
"Zeus' master bolt." Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to ake mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."
"This is enough power to make even Nyx and I worried." He said, referring to his godly consort. She was the primordial goddess of the night, if I was correct.
"And it's missing?" Ren asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Stolen," Chiron said.
"By who?" she asked again.
"By whom" Chiron corrected. Once a teacher, always a teacher. "By Percy."
My mouth fell open.
"At least…" Chiron held up a hand, "…that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' 'Air disasters are far more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly – that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."
"But I didn't…"
"Patience, boy. Listen to what Chiron has to say." Erebus told me, tightening his hold on my shoulder. I had forgotten that it was there. Chiron nodded in thanks and continued.
"Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could have easily snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."
"But I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!"
Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in a coffin lid.
"Er, Percy…?" Grover said, "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."
"Bah! The old coot is definitely crazy. Take my word for it." Erebus scowled, "He has no respect for us primordial gods. He thinks he can walk right over us."
"Perhaps paranoid," Chiron suggested. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam…" he looked at us as if he automatically expected us to remember question thirty-eight.
This was crazy. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could anyone accuse Percy of stealing anything? He was the sweetest boy I knew! Sure, he was a little odd, but wasn't everyone?
My father was such a sweetheart! He stood up for me, glaring at everyone who glared at me. He taught me how to defend myself with shadows – that thing I did to Clarisse in the bathroom was actually his influence. It was like he was whispering in my ear at the time and now he taught me how to actually manipulate the shadows. I call the technique 'Shadow Possession.'
He said that he would later teach me how to heal using shadows. It was a unique concept. He also said that we could travel via the shadows – it was different than the shadow travelling that Hades did. He goes to a different plane, the plane of the dead, while we actually transform into shadows. It's so interesting!
I am so happy that my father is in my life now…but I want to meet Nyx. I'm curious about what she thinks of me.
How could anyone accuse me of stealing a god's weapon? I couldn't even steal a slice of pizza from Gabe's poker party without getting busted. Chiron was waiting for an answer.
"Something about a golden net?" I guessed. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods…they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"
"Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since. Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along – the proverbial last straw."
"But he's just a kid – we both are!" Ren cried, obviously unnerved by the information. Erebus took his arm from his daughter's shoulders and instead started to rub her back.
"Percy, Eirene," Grover cut in, "If either of you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you…Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"
"But he didn't do anything." Ren said.
"Poseidon – my dad – he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"
Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus had demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But your arrival has inflamed Zeus' temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like you two?"
"Bad?" I guess while Ren just whimpered. She was probably thinking of the violence. Erebus removed his hand from my shoulder and pulled his daughter into his lap, wrapping his arms around her smaller frame.
"Imagine the world in chaos, boy. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so bit it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight." The dark Lord said as he tightened his arms around his daughter's form and resting his chin on her head.
"Bad." I repeated.
"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus' wrath."
It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.
I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me. I was furious.
"So I have to find the stupid bolt," I said. "And return it to Zeus."
"What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus' property?"
"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?"
"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago…well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."
"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"
"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge." Ren's eyes widened.
"Good reason."
"You agree then?"
I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly.
Easy for him. I was the one Zeus wanted to kill.
"All right," I said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."
"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."
Ren sent me an encouraging smile, but for some reason her smile made me feel much more confident than Grover's smile.
Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trapdoor.
I pulled the chord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.
The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else…a smell I remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes.
I held my breath and climbed.
The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS. One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things – severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, n.y., 1969.
By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy. Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her faces was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.
Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth. A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled over myself trying to get to the trap-door, but it slammed shut. Inside my head, I heard a voice slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.
I wanted to say, No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom. But I forced myself to take a deep breath.
The mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist. But its presence didn't feel evil, like my demonic math teacher Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It felt more like the Three Fates I'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stand; ancient, powerful, and definitely not human. But not particularly interested in killing me, either.
I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny?"
The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with the pickled monster-part jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer. It was Smelly Gabe and his buddies.
My fists clenched, though I knew this poker party couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made out of mist.
Gabe turned towards me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: With the daughter of shadows you shall go west, and face the god who has turned.
His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: you shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.
The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: you shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.
Finally, Eddie, our building super, deliver the worst line of all: and you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.
The figures began to dissolve. At first I was too stunned to say anything, but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy, I cried, "Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What will I fail to save?"
The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall. Her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of mementos.
I got the feeling that I could stand here until I had cobwebs, too, and I wouldn't learn anything else.
My audience with the Oracle was over.
I had been so nervous when Percy went up to talk with the Oracle. Chiron had explained to me what he had to do and when I found out there was a possibility that he could go insane…well…that didn't sit well with me. Father had to hold me in his lap or else I would have gone after him.
"Well?" Chiron asked me.
I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen with the daughter of shadows."
Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great! The daughter of shadows obviously means Ren."
"What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed, "This is important."
My ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. "She…she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."
"I knew it," Grover said.
Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?"
I didn't want to tell them.
What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many.
And the last line – I would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of Oracle would send me on a quest and tell me, Oh, by the way, you'll fail.
How could I confess that?
"No," I said. "That's about it."
He studied my face and I had a feeling that Erebus was as well. "Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."
I got the feeling he knew I was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better.
"Okay," I said, anxious to change topics. "So where do I go? Who's this god in the west?"
"Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"
"Somebody else who wants to take over?" I guessed.
"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken.
I thought about my dreams, the evil voice that had spoken from under the ground, but Ren answered the question for me.
"Hades." She said, looking a Chiron with a little intimidation in her gaze.
Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."
A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"
"A Fury came after both Percy and Eirene," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man and young woman until she was sure of their identities, then tried to kill them. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."
"Yes, but – but Hades hates all heroes," Grover protested, "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon. Even more if he found out about Ren! He's jealous of Erebus' power."
Erebus smirked, but tightened his hold on his daughter. "As he should be. He did, after all, name the lowest level of Tatarus after me."
"A hellound got into the forest," Chiron continued. "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be someone by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."
"Great," I muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me."
"Not if I have anything to say about that, boy." Erebus shook his head, "Any friend of my daughter is a friend of mine. You have the support of the shadows, but only in great emergency. We cannot interfere directly in a quest, after all."
"But a quest to…" Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."
"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy and Eirene must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."
A strange fire burned in my stomach. The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was anticipation. The desire for revenge. Hades had tried to kill me three times so far, with the Fury, the Minotaur, and the hellhound. I was angry – he not only endangered me, but he had endangered my best friend as well. It was his fault my mother had disappeared in a flash of light. Now he was trying to frame me and my dad for a theft we hadn't committed.
I was ready to take him on.
Besides, if my mother was in the Underworld….
Whoa, boy, said the small part of my brain that was still sane. You're a kid. Hades is a god.
Grover was trembling. He's started eating pinochle cards like potato chips.
The poor guy needed to complete a quest with me and Rennie so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was, but how could I ask him to do this quest, especially when the Oracle said I was destined to fail? I was scared about Ren coming! This was suicide.
"Look, if we know it's Hades," I told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads."
"Suspecting and knowing is not the same, boy." Erebus said offhandedly. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades –and Poseidon probably does – they couldn't remove the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"
"You're saying I'm being used."
"I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you." The shadow god said.
My dad needs me.
Emotions rolled around inside me like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. I didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. Poseidon had ignored me for twelve years. Now suddenly he needed me.
I looked at Chiron. "You've known I was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?"
"I had my suspicions. As I said…I've spoken to the Oracle, too."
I got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling us about his prophecy, but I decided I couldn't worry about that right now. After all, I was holding back information too.
"So let me get this straight," I said. "I'm supposed to go to the Underworld with Ren and confront the Lord of the Dead."
"Check," Chiron said.
"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."
"Check,"
"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."
"That's about right."
I looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.
"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly.
"You don't have to go," I told him. "I can't ask that of you."
"Oh…" He shifted his hooves. "No…it's just that satyrs and underground places…well…"
He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. If…if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you guys down."
I felt so relieved I wanted to cry, though I didn't think that would be very heroic. Grover was the only friend I'd ever had for longer than a few months. Ren…she was very special to me. I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, but I felt better knowing he'd be with us.
"All the way, G-man." I turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west."
"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."
"Where?"
Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."
"Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane…"
"No!" both Grover and Ren exclaimed. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you or Ren been on a plane in your entire lives?" Grover asked.
I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. My mom had never taken me anywhere by plane. She'd always said we didn't have the money. Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash.
"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea god. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you on an airplane. You would be in Zeus' domain. You would never come down again alive."
"I'm just afraid of heights…" Ren quietly admitted, making her father chuckle.
Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed.
"Okay," I said, determined not to look at the storm. "So, we'll travel overland."
"That's right," Chiron said. "Normally two companions may accompany you, but the Oracle specially stated that the daughter of shadows, which is Ren, will accompany you as well. One is Grover. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help."
"Gee," I said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"
The air shimmered behind Chiron.
Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.
"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, seaweed brain," she said. Erebus shot her a cold and calculating look. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."
"I take offense to that." Ren coldly stated. "He doesn't need you to keep him from messing up. Percy is a smart person."
Her cheeks colored. "Do you want my help or not?"
The truth was, I did. I needed all the help I could get.
"Perhaps…I could use your help."
"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as he bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own.
Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.
"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."
I was scared shitless. I really didn't want to go to the Underworld, but there was no way in hell – pardon my semi-pun – that I was leaving him to go there alone. If I could help it, Percy Jackson would come back from this quest alive and without a scratch on him.