CHAPTER TEN

Tina led the way. She was silent as she led us down crowded sidewalks and busy streets. I didn't understand why this cemetery scared her so much, but she looked terrible. Face pale, hands shaking, shivering as if it was really cold out. I wanted to pull her aside ask her what was wrong, but she looked like she didn't want to talk and this wasn't the right time.
Dakota fell into step with me, letting Archer walk next to Tina.
"That's a pretty awesome gift," Dakota said, looking at my khopesh.
I smiled and looked down at it. "Yeah. I just can't believe Horus made this for me."
"It is kind of hard to believe," Dakota said. "I met Horus once last year; he was really arrogant and selfish."
"Guys," Archer said, "we're here."
We looked around. Tina had led us to the middle of a very large cemetery. All around us were stone graves, all looking worn down and weather beaten. Shading us overhead were trees that were covered in green moss. We were standing in the middle of a huge stone circle, surrounded by a ring of ten graves.
"Okay. Everyone start looking for a Greek letter," Tina said. Her voice sounded shaky, like she was fighting tears.
We all looked, getting on our hands and knees and searching every inch of the stone circle. Five minutes passed with no luck, and everyone seemed to have given up, when I saw it.
"Guys, I think I found it," I said, staring at my discovery.
It was a tiny letter that was only visible because it was a different shade of gray than the rest of the stone. It looked like an oval with a line going through it.

"Press it," Archer said.
I pressed it with my thumb, and it glowed blue. There was a groaning sound, like gears turning, and we started sinking into the ground. We all rushed to the center and huddled together as we went into the earth.
"Where are we going?" Dakota asked.
"To the Underworld," Archer said. "To Hades."
We kept sinking into the ground until the stone circle stopped moving and stone steps slid out in front of us. We looked at each other with uncertainty.
"You guys ready for this?" Archer asked.
We all gave tight nods, trying to be confident. We were literally walking into death here.
I started down the steps, which descended even deeper into the earth. Black soil made a tunnel around us, and in the dirt I could see worms, centipedes, ants, and other unpleasant looking bugs.
We walked in the center of the tunnel, heading to a light at the end. Tina walked next to me, quiet and distant.
"Hey, what's going on with you?" I asked. "You seemed really scared when Anubis brought up Panteon de Dolores."
Tina took in a shaky breath and looked at me. "My mother. She—she died two years ago. We were visiting Chihuahua and there was an accident. A huge blue truck didn't see us and hit us straight on. She—she didn't make it." Tina stopped walking, collapsed on the floor, and started crying.

Archer ran over and started rubbing her back. "Tina. Tina, it's okay," he said, trying to soothe her.
Tina turned her face into his shoulder and let out another fresh wave of tears. I had never seen her like this. I hadn't even known she had been so close to her mother.
Archer held her, letting cry.
I looked at Dakota and he nodded. We kept walking, scouting ahead.
"She looks really upset," Dakota said. "I can't imagine losing my mom."
I didn't look at him. I didn't have any family to worry about losing, except for a father who was immortal.
Behind us, Tina had gotten up from the floor, but was hugging Archer. He was rubbing her back and whispering something into her ear. Tina finally managed to compose herself. She looked at me, her eyes red, and she gave me a weak smile.
"I'm sorry," she said hoarsely. "A quest isn't the best time for this."
"It's okay," I said. "Better you break down now then in a fight, right?"
We walked on, finally reaching the light. It opened up into a vast, dead looking plain. Gushing through the black dirt was a filthy black river with random objects floating in it. Torn up teddy bears, broken watches, somebody's college degree.
"The River Styx," Archer said. "Where everyone's lost hopes and dreams go."
Dakota looked at the black water and shrugged. He started to step in it when Archer shouted, "No! You step in that and you'll burn up!"
Dakota managed to jump back, but the edge of his shoe touched the water and it sizzled, the black rubber melting.
"Well, how do we get across?" he asked.
We looked to our right and left, seeing if there was some bridge we could walk across. There wasn't.
"Percy told me a story of when he was down here," Tina recalled. "He said that he had to use his powers to raise the River Styx out of the river bed so everyone could cross. If only he was here."
Dakota and Archer exchanged a look, and I got a bad feeling.
"Percy may not be here," Archer said with a sly grin. "but you and Tamara are."

"I'm going to kill the boys for this," I grumbled.
Dakota and Archer's "brilliant" plan was to have me and Tina hold the water up while they walked underneath. It was hard work, trying to keep up tons of water in midair with only your mind.
"And to think," Tina panted. "Percy did this all by himself."
The boys had made it to the other side and were beckoning us to them. Tina and I glanced at each other. If we messed up even a tiny bit as we walked under the water we were holding, it would all come crashing down and kill us.
We made it about halfway through when things started to go wrong. Our arms were shaking from the effort of holding the water up, and black dots were clouding my vision. Dakota and Archer yelled encouragement to us, but I knew that it wasn't going to help. Tina nearly fell on her knees, and I felt like I wasn't going to hold out much longer.
"Use your powers," someone whispered to me. "Use the wind."
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I registered the owner of the voice. I didn't stop to think about it though. I turned to Tina and said, "Grab my hand."
With a great deal of effort, Tina managed to grab my hand. In my mind, I stopped holding the water and urged the wind to push us forward. We raced to the bank Dakota and Archer were standing on, the River Styx crashing down behind us. It was a race with the river, and for a second I thought we weren't going to make it. The river lapped at our heels and just when it was about to grab us, we slid onto the other river bank. Dakota and Archer dragged us away from the river as the black water splashed into the river bed. We all sat there, breathing heavily.
"We," I panted, "are not doing that again."
"Wouldn't even think about it," Dakota said. "I thought I'd lost you."
We looked into each other's eyes, trying to read the other person's thoughts.
Archer stood up and helped Tina up. "Okay," he said. "let's go meet Hades."
We turned and started walking up the hill. Dead grass crunched under our feet, and my nose stung from the stench that the river produced. At the top of the hill, we found a security system like you would find at an airport. Metal detectors scanned you, though I didn't know why, because everyone that was scanned was dead. Huge skeletons manned the gates, staring at everyone with empty black sockets. Further down, I could hear heavy booms, like a jet plane breaking the sound barrier. There were three lines that ghosts were lining up in. Bright neon signs blinked over each line, two of the signs reading: ATTENDANT ON DUTY. The third line's sign read: EZ DEATH.

I looked back at everyone. "Does anyone have the slightest clue as to which line we go in?"

Everyone stared past me at the lines. The two ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines were backed up, as skeletons typed something into computers. It took five minutes for one ghost to get through. The EZ DEATH line was cruising. Ghosts just floated on through without having to be checked by guards.

"The EZ DEATH line," we all said at the same time. No one wanted to deal with the skeletons at the computers.

We got in line behind a family of ghosts in the EZ DEATH line. A sad man and woman hovered in front of us, the man holding a little girl's hand, and the woman holding a baby. I felt a tug at my heart. What had happened to this family?

We made it through the gates without any questions and followed the steady stream of ghosts to the left. There, we found the source of the big booming sounds.

It was a huge black dog, the size of an elephant. It resembled a rottweiler, which was bad enough, but the huge dog had three heads. All of the heads had drool falling from their mouths that landed on passing ghosts. Two of the heads were looking around, surveying the area, but the middle head had caught sight of us and started growling. The growling though, sounded more like a lion's roar, (which brought back bad memories for me).

"Cerberus," Tina whispered. "Hades's pet dog."

We all stared up at the dog. How were we supposed to get past him? It seemed to have already detected that we weren't dead and was looking at us like huge dog bones.

"I think I've got the solution to our problem," Dakota said. He knelt down next to his bag and started rummaging through it. He pulled out his wand, a black one with silver trim.

"A boomerang?" Archer said. "How is that going to help us get past this monster?"

Dakota sighed and grumbled, "This is not a boomerang, it's a wand!" He pointed his wand at Cerberus and started waving it back and forth. A trail of blue sparks mimicked the movement.

"Sleep," Dakota said in a calm voice. "You're tired, go to sleep."

Two of the dog head's eyes started drooping, but the third dog head still stayed attentive and alert.

"It's nap time," Dakota said. "It's okay to go to sleep, nothing will happen."

Slowly, the third dog head's eyes started drooping. The other dog heads had already fallen asleep and with a few more words from Dakota, the huge dog collapsed on the ground and started snoring like a tractor.

"I got to say," Archer said. "we should bring Egyptians on our quests more often."

We quietly walked around the sleeping dog and entered a huge empty plain. Stalactites clung to the ceiling, pointing at us like knives. A few of the sharp rocks had already fallen to the ground and dotted the plain. Ghosts were jam packed in the dead plain, floating around listlessly. They looked so sad and lonely. In the distance, I could see a island that floated in the middle of an aqua-blue ocean. The island was covered with tropical green trees and full of life. Houses were dotted on the island, and happier ghosts were living in them. To our right, screams of terror were coming from a desert that was on fire.

"How do we find Hades?" Dakota asked.

"I'm guessing he lives over in the evil black castle," Archer said, pointing to a huge black castle to our right.

It rose up into the dark black sky like a haunted house. Torches lit with green fire burned near huge metal doors. Two skeletons dressed in navy uniforms guarded the doors. Walking up to them was a person. It was hard to see who from all the way back here, but it looked like a boy, wearing basketball shorts and a purple shirt. He had a backpack slung on his shoulder and was holding something in his hand. He was definitely not a ghost.

The boy walked up to the guards and seemed to say something. They moved to stand in front of him, their arms crossed and their blank eye sockets staring at him. The boy said something else, and the guards looked at each other before slowly moving out of the boy's way and opening the doors.

The four of us exchanged glances and we started walking up to the black castle, weaving through the huge crowd of ghosts. Many of them tried to grab at us and pull us back, but all we felt were wisps of cold on our skin when they got close.

We made it to the castle and we looked up at the guards.

"Hi," I said. "Um . . . we need to speak with Lord Hades."

One of the guards said something, though all it sounded like bone grinding against bone. In my head, I could hear a raspy voice saying, "Lord Hades sees no one."

"But you let our . . . friend go through!" Tina said quickly. "He went on ahead of us while we talked with the guards at the gates!"

I winced. When Tina lied, her voice went up an octave. Any normal person would be able to tell that Tina wasn't telling the truth, but her lie managed to fool the two skeletons.

"You may enter," the raspy voice said.

The guards pulled the metal doors open, and we walked inside. Behind us, the doors slammed shut. Blocking others from going in, or keeping us from leaving, I wasn't sure.

We walked down a hallway, the walls a blood-red color. A long black carpet was rolled out on the floor, leading us to a black door. We went through it and walked into a garden. The garden was beautiful and creepy at the same time. Bone-white trees were placed here and there, bearing red fruits. Black and red flower bushes were everywhere, and fountains gushed out red liquid. I got the feeling that it was blood.

We walked along a white stone path to another black door. Archer opened it, and we stepped inside. The room was a throne room. Two thrones, one an uncomfortable looking black one that had thorns all over it, and another that was silver and made of twisted tree limbs, sat at the head of the room. Around the room were more skeleton guards, some wearing old cavalry uniforms, some army uniforms, and some British navy uniforms. All held guns and, oddly enough, had brightly colored sombreros on their heads.

Sitting in the black throne was a tall man with very white skin. He had long greasy black hair and coal-black eyes that gleamed wickedly. He wore black robes that, when he shifted, showed images of people being tortured.

Standing on the ground in front of the man was the boy. Up close, I could see that he was about my age. He was as tall as Dakota and Archer, and muscular. He was tan, like he spent most of the day outside, and broad shouldered. He had a purple tattoo on the inside of his arm: the letters SPQR, crossed spears, and four score marks so it looked like:

SPQR

I I I I

The boy had bronze-brown hair that was trimmed short. And his eyes, his eyes were a chocolate-brown that made my knees feel weak.

When the boy turned to look at us, he glared at everyone and scowled. When he met my gaze though, a different expression flickered in his eyes for a millisecond.

The man in the black throne sighed and said, "Now who are these demigods? Are they with you?" he asked the boy.

"No. I have no idea who they are, Lord Hades."

So this was Hades. He was the first god I had met besides my father, and he didn't seem very god-like. More like a lazy adult who still acted like a teenager. Except for his eyes. His eyes gave me chills, like he was constantly thinking of horrible ways to kill people.

Hades stared at each of us and finally nodded. "Archer Mason, son of Apollo. Tina Gonzalez, daughter of Poseidon. Dakota Storm, magician. And, Tamara Hope, the daughter of Horus. My my my, what are you all doing here?"

"Lord Hades," I said, bowing my head. "we need your help. Zeus has been taken, and our Oracle said that you have guide to getting him back."

Hades rolled his eyes at me. "Yes yes yes, I have the guide. But what makes you think I'm going to give it to you?"

"Um. . . ." I didn't have an answer.

"Because you were going to give it to me," the boy said.

Hades stuck out his bottom lip, like he was pouting and said, "That's the thing, I don't have to give anyone anything."

"But, Lord Hades!" the boy protested.

Hades held up his hand. "What could have possibly made you children think that I would help Zeus? Or Jupiter, in your case," he said, looking at the boy

"Out of the kindness in your heart?" Archer offered.

Hades glared at him. "I have no feelings of kindness towards my brother whatsoever. Now, I think it's time you all leave. Then I can get back to my fiesta." Hades clapped his hands, and the guards advanced, pointing their guns at us.

"Goodbye. I will probably see all of you in about five hours when you come back to Underworld, dead." Hades snapped his fingers and vanished in a puff of black smoke.

I clenched my teeth, seething at how Hades had dismissed us as though we were just troublesome bugs.

The guards around us all cocked their guns and aimed.

I looked at my friends and the boy, and we all had a silent agreement. We pulled our weapons out and charged.