So excited because we're almost to the fun chapter! It's a shorter chapter than most of the others. Not much to say about it, just enjoy having a second chapter in one day :)

Chapter 9: Ebony

Down Under We Go

After almost dying for the tenth time that week, I was definitely ready for this stupid quest to be over. From the eagle to the Phoenix to a stupid sea monster... I mean come on. If a ton of monsters wanted to attack us, could we at least get some normal ones? Maybe like a hydra or the Minotaur or something that I KNEW about. I was also getting sick of killing monsters that were clearly summoned to attack us. Okay maybe the sea serpent wasn't summoned but... the rest? Phoenix's were not evil. The Caucasian eagle literally existed to eat a titans liver. There was no logical explanation to why it attacked us.

The drive from Vegas to LA was long and boring. The scenery wasn't bad though. It was actually quite beautiful. Mountains rise in the background. The desert stretched out on all sides. It was still dark out, but I could make our the scrubby plants that littered the landscape. The mountains weren't snow capped like in Denver. Instead they were dry and arid, matching the landscape.

I slept on and off as Percy continued to drive. It was a short trip, only about four hours. But I was exhausted. After the Phoenix attack last night and the hurried drive out of the city, I really needed the rest. Like normal, no dreams haunted my sleep. But it was still restless and short.

We were probably an hour out when I started to get nervous. My biggest fear was failing all my friends. I had received a terrible dark prophecy with no direction. Now we were almost to our destination. And my instincts screamed at me to turn back. I had a bad gut feeling that we should not be anywhere near LA.

I tried to bring it up with Mel as we drove towards the city, but she didn't seem to be interested.

"Honestly, What is the plan though? I agree that everything is a bit odd about this quest. But you can't seriously believe that someone is going through all of this effort to send us on this quest based on a false idea? If it was a big bad like one of the titans or the giants, they wouldn't fake a quest. They would just fill on start attackIng." She whispered, trying not to wake up Nico.

I sighed in exasperation, she wasn't seeing the full picture. "Maybe, whoever is behind all of this, isn't able to open the gates without help? What if they need us to open the gates for them?"

Mel pursed her lips, "I just don't know. I mean there's something that we're missing. But the best we can do is continue on and hopefully we figure things out in the end."

"Usually there are signs. Like when Zeus and Poseidon were fighting, remember Percy told us that the weather had been weird for weeks before his quest." I argued back, not ready to drop it.

"Can we just finish the quest please? We talked about this, we entertained the idea, and we all agreed to keep going."

"Don't you have second thoughts at all?" I pressed

"Will you just drop it?" She snapped back.

I fell silent, furious that she wasn't listening to me, like always. Annabeth twisted around in the front seat, giving me a confused look. I just crossed my arms and stared straight ahead.

"Okay fine. I'm just trying to help."

"Help?" I snapped out.

"Yes. You're the one who keeps reminding us over and over again that you're the leader of the quest. So do you really think it is a good idea for our leader to be second guessing the entire quest?"

"We are going to the underworld. To Tartarus." I retorted, "If there's a time for second guessing it's right now. I have no desire to lead you to your death."

Her expression softened, "To our death? You can become a fricken dragon. This is Nico's home court. Annabeth is the smartest person I've ever met, next to you. And Percy?" She smiled at me, "Percy has been the subject of two great prophecies. I doubt any of us are in danger when he's around."

Percy must have been listening in because I heard him say "Damn straight." When Mel finished.

We all broke down laughing, easing the tension a bit. But the laughter faded away quickly. We continued in silence. The scenery change as we got closer to the city. Traffic got heavier and the desert started to fade away. There were more building along the road. Palm trees started to line the edge of the road. I looked out the window, eager to see our destination. We passed under a few more bridges and there it was.

Las Angeles rose out of the desert, surrounded by palm trees. The buildings stretched towards the sky, lighting up the early morning. The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. We drove under more bridges, and the city looked even larger.

"Welcome to LA." Percy grumbled as we made our way into the city. I had to agree with his lack of enthusiasm... the city was a dump. Sure, there were nice palm trees, and mountains in the distance, but the city itself was plain confusing. Streets seemed to run every which way, crossing back and forth and doing a good job of confusing me. I don't how Percy was navigating, until I realized he was just looking for a place to ditch the car. He finally parked the car and we all filed out onto the street.

I tried to get my bearings, but I had never been to this city. It was a sprawling mess. Usually I thrived in chaos, but this was too much. That could have been my urgency to finish the quest talking though. The sun was now rising steadily into the sky. It wasn't that hot, but definitely not the brisk fall weather I enjoyed in New York. I started to walk in a random direction, looking for a map. Turns out, I didn't need one. We had Nico at our side. He gave directions without hesitating, leading us right up to the fake studios that served as the entrance to the dead.

Mrs. O'Leary seemed pretty excited too. She kept running ahead, before bouncing back. A few times she came back with food in her mouth. We hadn't seen her since Kansas, so it was nice to have her back. If we were going to the underworld, I definitely wanted a hellhound by my side.

I don't know what I expected for the entrance to the Underworld. But when we walked in, I was surprised to see that it was basically a hotel lobby. A ton of semi-transparent people lounged around on the couches. There was a service desk with an individual reading a magazine. He had on sunglasses and was leaning back in his chair reading a fancy suit.

I looked over at Percy and he nodded, letting me know to take the lead. Together the five of us walked up to the desk. A couple of the ghost-things came up to Nico, and he shooed them away with his sword. Mrs. O'Leary was still her normal hellhound size, which was an impressive trick. She was sniffing all over the walls of the lobby. Being the entrance to the underworld, it probably smelled very hellhound friendly.

I leaned forward and rang the service bell on the desk. Mel gave me a sharp look, like "what do you think you're doing?" I just shrugged back. There was a bell, so I was gonna ring it. Made sense to me.

The guy raised one finger. He was apparently very invested in what he was reading. After a few awkward moments, he folded it up. Standing up, he leaned over the desk to get a better look at us.

"Charon, right?" I asked.

He nodded, not saying anything. Charon seemed very intrigued by our group. Finally he sighed. "Really Perseus? Why are you always coming to visit? What if I didn't let you go through this time, did you think about that?"

"Actually I've only come through once this way so..." Percy shrugged. Annabeth shoved him roughly, eyes widening in a silent warning. He didn't look that scary to me though, so I took a shot at convincing him to let us through.

"Well actually, sir. We're not trying to sneak in this time. We're trying to help Hades out. Some security issue, you know what I mean?" I beamed up at him, trying to convince him.

He leaned across the desk and lowered his sunglasses, "Really girl? Do you take me to be a fool?"

I raised my eyes brows, "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Annabeth clapped her hands over her mouth, and Percy had to bite his lip hard to keep from laughing.

Thankfully Nico was a quick thinker. Before Charon could blast me to bits (if he was even able to do that) he stepped forward quickly, "You really want to deal with my dad if you refuse to let us through?"

Charon frowned, scanning his eyes over the five of us. He hesitated when he looked at Maleah, his frown getting bigger. Then he turned back to Nico. "All five of you huh?"

"Yes."

He grunted, "Bad number. With any luck only three of you will get out so I don't get in too much trouble for doing this."

"Great!" I said enthusiastically, strolling past his desk. I pointed at the water. "There's supposed to be a boat right? Or do sounds just go splash splash across?"

"Unless you wish to jump in and have your soul slowly and painfully dissolve into nothing." He paused and glared over at me, "I would wait for the boat."

I nodded, pressing my lips together, "That sounds logical."

"What happened to the elevator?" Percy asked as he walked over to join me.

"Well Jackson, sometimes it's fun to go back into tradition and take a boat. Now get in you five, before I change my mind."

I blinked in surprise as a boat appeared out of nowhere. It didn't seem very solid. But I guess we didn't have a choice. We all slid into the boat and Percy whistled for his dog. She darted over, shrinking in size so she didn't sink our transportation.

Nico was the only one who looked relaxed. He leaned against the side of the boat, trailing his fingers through the water. I'm pretty sure that if any of us tried that, we would have been dragged in. I saw Annabeth slide her hand into Percy's. He leaned over and whispered in her ear. She smiled and rested against him. They were too cute together.

Mel stood close next to me. I could tell she was uncomfortable being surrounded by a bunch of dead people. A couple of times the boat would rock unpleasantly and she would grab onto my arm. Mel never looked this nervous. It sent my anxiety through the roof.

She didn't visibly relax until we had reached the underworld. I jumped onto the shoreline, the rocks looked like sharp chips of glass under my feet. I looked and took in my surroundings.

"Whoa." Was all I managed to get out. It was a massive cave. I saw formations hanging from the ceiling-stalactites or stalagmites?- and made a mental note to avoid those. There were two lines that lead beside the body of a massive Rottweiler. Cerberus.

I could see elysium and the isles of the blest off in the distance. Directly in front of us though were the fields of asphodel. It was a massive field, full of bridges and pathways that went every which way. Off in the stance, way to my left, I could feel a dark presence. I know that Tartarus lay in that direction.

Next, I took in the obsidian mansion. It was also massive, and I saw the smaller line walking in to the house. "They're going in their for judgment." Nico said. "Father has been reorganizing the underworld for the past few years. Trying to make it more organized, make everything flow better."

"Makes sense." I muttered, looking around at the land of the dead, "It looks nice."

"So now what?" It was Mel who jumped in to the conversation this time.

"I'm gonna guess we go past Cerberus now." I replied.

Turns out, that wasn't an issue. Cerberus seemed very excited to see Annabeth, wagging his tail excitedly at the sight of her. She smiled and pulled out three rubber bouncy balls. "I got one for each of you this time!" She called up. "Sit." She commanded.

I was impressed when the rottie sat down, his tail wagging so hard that the floor was shaking.

She tossed the balls into the air and the dog happily grabbed them. One for each head, just like she had promised. Her and Percy walked under his belly first. Mel followed. Nico whistled for Mrs. O'Leary to hang with him, and then they walked in as well. But for a moment I hesitated.

Cerberus saw me still standing there and instantly crouched down. His tail wagged in the air and all three heads dropped their balls at my feet. I smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. He had a bad reputation but I already liked the dog.

Disregarding the mission for the moment, I reached forward and stroked the middle dogs head. His tail thudded loudly on the ground. "Oh who's a good boy?" I crooned, as I turned to pet the left head. "You don't get enough attention do you baby?"

"Hey Ebony!" Nico yelled. "We can play later, come on."

I sighed. Couldn't I just have five minutes to hang out with my new friend. "I'll be back." I promised. I gave the bid dog a kiss on the nose before running over to my friends. He turned around quickly for an animal that big. My friends saw me coming and started walking forward again. But I couldn't resist turning around once more. He let out a soft whine. "Soon." I promised again. I sighed heavily. Why couldn't my life be somewhat normal? But Nico was right. It was time to finish this damn quest.

I turned and ran straight into the god.

I didn't need an introduction to know I was looking at Hades. He must have melted from the darkness. I was grateful that he wasn't full sized. He had robes of pure black, and his helm of darkness was tucked under his arm. The god of underworld had the same eyes as Nico. He frowned at me, but it wasn't an evil look. He looked almost... worried. Which didn't make sense coming from the god of the dead (Percy just informed me that the death dudes name is actually Thanatos but whatever).

"Father. What are you doing here?" Nico said

He fixed his son with a stern glare, "What am I doing here? This is my kingdom. And you are the ones who snuck in here without permission. Consider yourselves lucky. I have no desire to kill you heroes right now."

"Wow that's new for you!" Percy said. "Tuning over a new leaf?"

"So Lord Hades, what do you want then?" Annabeth said, she bowed respectfully to the god. She shot a stern glare over at Percy, probably warning him to shut up.

"Perseus. I would love to kill you. Still waiting for the day." He sighed dramatically, "But I do need a heroes help."

"I heard you weren't the helpful type?" I butted in.

His eyes lit up in fury. "I was the savior of Olympus! Against the Titan army, I was the god who showed up and made a difference in that war. I do help when needed."

"Wasn't that Percy who saved Olympus, if were being honest here?" I asked

"My dad made a pretty big difference too. I mean he did drag Typhoon back to Tartarus." Percy added.

Nico rolled his eyes. "That's it. Percy. Eddie. No more talking."

I opened my mouth to respond, but decided against it. I guess antagonizing Hades wasn't my smartest move. It's not like he would really kill me, right? I doubt he would want to anger my mother. If she even cared about my existence...

"We're sorry, My Lord." Mel said, she bowed to the god as well. "What is the problem?"

He narrowed his eyes at us. I could tell he was still pondering killing me and Percy. It was probably a good thing Nico was with us. Finally he grunted and said, "there's disturbances in the fields of Asphodel. And a dark presence grows stronger around Tartarus. I'm assuming that's why you are here, yes?"

I started to respond, but Nico slammed his hand over my mouth. "Exactly." He nodded, ignoring the evil glare I sent his way, "But that doesn't explain why you are."

"I'm here to tell you that if these spirits get out, it could mean the end of the age of gods."

"No pressure." Percy muttered.

"What do you mean?" That was Annabeth.

"I don't know who they are, or what they want. But I do know ancient prophecies. And one of them warns of the worst spirits escaping from the underworld and overthrowing the gods. It has been written. It will happen. Unless you stop it."

Nico kept his hand firmly on my mouth as he responded, "We won't fail you Father."

He snorted, "Please. You heirs always do. But try your best anyway. I warned you and that's all I can do." And on that note, he vanished into thin air.

Nico let go of my face with a disgusted look on his, "Did you lick my hand?"

I smiled innocently at him, "Don't try to stop me from speaking next time."

"Gross." He groaned, shaking his hand out.

"Can we get going?" Mel said tersely. She didn't wait for a response though. She shouldered past us and continued deeper into the underworld.

I shrugged and followed. Percy walked next to me and gave me a fist bump, "Glad to meet someone else with a talent for pissing off the gods." He stated.

"It's not a skill, its a death wish." Annabeth muttered.

Percy winked at me, before wrapping his arm around Annabeth, "And that is why you love me." He said brightly.

Annabeth gave him a stern look, "I do love you Seaweed brain. So why don't you use that brain of yours and maybe not antagonize every god that you see? I don't want to see you die from your big mouth."

He gave her a look of mock surprise, "Me? Big mouth? I would never."

She punched him in the shoulder, "You're an idiot."

"Okay I swear if you say 'But I'm you're idiot.' I'm going to have to kill you both." Nico said suddenly, sounded about 100 percent done with them.

Percy turned and gave him a thumbs up. We all fell silent once more, but I could still see a trace of a smile on Percy's lips. The underworld seemed to continue on forever. I swear the fields got farther and farther with every step. But finally the black gates started to loom larger. My heart sunk.

"Great." I said sarcastically, "Isn't this perfect."

Annabeth frowned, "Daedeleus has been doing too good of a job."

I didn't know what she meant by that. And truth be told, I didn't care. What I did care about was that there wasn't one just one gate entrance to the fields. We were standing at the main one, at the front. But it wasn't alone. Instead, there were many of them, probably hundreds, scattered around the area to keep the spirits in. How on earth would we find the gate that Percy kept seeing in his dreams?

"Now what?" Nico said, asking the only right question at a time like this.

I frowned, walking up to the first one. It was solid black iron. The gates stretched 30 feet in the air. They were shut tight. Just to experiment, I pushed all my weight against it. Naturally, it didn't budge.

The lines of the prophecy echoed through my head. The pit... something was trying to escape from Tartarus too. And if the two occupancies were linked. Then maybe the correct gates had to be close to Tartarus.

"We have to head deeper into the underworld." I announced

"Are you serious?" Mel snapped. I saw her jump nearly a foot in the air as a rumble ran trough the ground like an earthquake.

I ignored her and started stalking over the ground. My friends were forced to follow. Tartarus was still way off, but every step brought me closer. I could just feel it. My mom lived in Tartarus. Not only could I feel the darkness around me getting heavier, more dangerous, but I could feel the darkness inside of me fighting to break out.

We seemed to walk forever, none of us talking. I kept glancing around, afraid that something was going to attack us at any moment. We walked by gate after gate, but none of them felt right. When we would peer into the gates, there was no sign of a spirit trying to bust out.

We kept going until there was only one set of gates left. And I knew we had reached our destination. There was no breeze in the underworld, but the gates knocked against each other. The metal screeched, making me want to cover my ears.

"That's them." Percy breathed out, "I know it is."

"Cool. And what are we supposed to do here?" That was Nico

I hesitated, trying to decide. If there was someone trying to break out, what could we possibly do? "Give me a minute guys, I'm trying to think." I went over the prophecy again in my head. Something was still missing, and I was frustrated. I felt like I was looking through the fog, trying to make out the details. If a spirit was escaping, we had to let them get out. Then we could battle them back in. There wasn't really another logical way to do it. I turned back to my team, ready to tell them the plan. The shitty plan to "stand and wait" and basically do nothing.

"Mel, where are you going?" Annabeth said suddenly. I glanced up in time to see her approaching the gates. She was striding confidently across the ground, with seemingly no fear. It was like the gates were calling her.

"Mel wait." I said slowly, my skin crawling.

She ignored me and walked closer. The black gates continued to rattle, like Typhoon himself was trying to escape from them. How could one spirit make them shake this much?!I exchanged a worried glance with Percy and together we crept up behind her. Annabeth and Nico stood guard, pulling out their weapons.

All of a sudden, the gates stopped moving. Deathly still, like the should be. Everything was silent, as if the entire underworld was holding its breath. Mel hesitantly reached up and put her hand on the gate. "Guys..." she started to say, confusion spreading across her face.

She never got to finish though. A huge wind blasted through the underworld and nearly knocked me over. I stumbled into Percy, who grabbed me to keep me on my feet. He pulled his pen out, ready for an attack. Mel backed up from the gates, her eyes wide in shock. A whisper ran through the underworld. The chills running down my spine turned into a full on shudder. And for a moment I was completely paralyzed. Not from fear though. It was as if some invisible force was holding me in place, preventing me from moving. Then the gates to Asphodel burst open with a loud clang.