Chapter 10

Blaise smiled, and pulled Luke back to her lips.

There was a cough from behind them. Her middle finger was raised as she continued to do disgusting things with her tongue. There was a squeak from behind them.

"Moorehead, this is not lesbian action." Harmony shot, before turning round to see an alarmed looking Nico. The boy looked like he needed a lot of vodka, or something that would make him forget what he'd just seen. Blaise finally pulled apart from her lover boy, and looked at her younger brother.

"I'm telling dad!" he squeaked yet again, giving many the impression he'd turned into a mouse, before he decided to scurry off in the direction of what they assumed was the underworld.

"Is that a good thing?" Percy asked, from where he stood at the back of the group, having spent much of his time gazing at Annabeth.

"I don't think so. Hades doesn't like Luke because he raped his chickens." Shakra cut in. Everybody looked at her, and she shrugged. "What? He looks like that sort of person." They all turned back around.

"Percy, we've got to stop Nico. If he tells the old man, then some very nasty stuff will hit the fan." Blaise said, looking serious and slightly scary for once.

"What sort of stuff?" The brown haired boy asked.

"Come-"Luke began, but Elvarra, Percy, Flaring, Shakra and Blaise were already laughing far too hard, Flaring having had to grip onto a floating Shakra to keep herself upright. Harmony and Annabeth gave them looks of complete and utter disbelief. Luke looked slightly confused.

"Castellan has mental barriers." Flaring smiled, causing the blonde to jump back a bit, and Blaise grabbed his shirt, so he wouldn't fall back into the hole. Annabeth just sighed, cast a glance over at Percy, (Which caused Blaise and Elvarra to smirk) before she rolled her eyes in perfect time with Harmony.

"You guys, this is serious. We don't want to annoy Hades. We've got to go to his palace. Even if Nico gets there first." Annabeth grimaced, pointing an arm towards where they assumed the king of darkness lived.

Nico was running, and he approached the castle gates, ragged black hair flying. Raising a hand, the dark gates opened for him, and he continued to run inside. The hell hounds didn't run for him, they recognised his scent. He charged forward, only stopping in front of a skeleton, raising his hand and shutting his eyes.

"You do know that won't work. I'm only down here to ask Hades why I'm still alive." Skulduggery smiled.

"Oh, I thought you were a guard Skully." Nico replied, looking a little unnerved, as he usually did when this particular skeleton was around. Probably because someone (also known as Flaring) had given him the amazing mental image of Mr. Pleasant in hot pants.

"Why the hurry young errr...fiend?" He asked.

"Luke kissed Blaise and I have to tell father because he hates Luke!" Nico nearly yelled, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Why does your father not like him?"

"Because he raped his chickens."

"Really?" Skulduggery looked intrigued.

"No, he just looks like that sort of person." Nico replied, before he continued through the doors and ended up doing tripping and doing a knee slide to the front of the throne.

"What do you want?" Hades asked, looking down at his youngest child.

"LUKE KISSED BLAISE!" He yelled, before he put his hands over his mouth, forgetting about how his father hated shouting.

"Your such a tattle tale Nico."

"He did kiss her!"

"Ah, the little chicken raper. Give me the details!" Hades replied.

"You really want to know?" Nico raised an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"But its Luke Castellan."

Hades face contorted with anger.

"CASTELLAN? I THOUGHT YOU MEANT THE ONE FROM LOSTPROPHETS!"

"He's not dead..."

"He is now."

Hades smiled at his son, before his face snapped back to anger.

"I must stop this. I won't have that thing infecting my daughter." He growled, heading over to his mirror, that showed him everything he needed to know. In it he saw the image of Luke, running hand and hand in Blaise as they tried to run away from a very angry looking Fletcher (Who'd managed to 'loose' all his hair products), followed by Shakra, Elvarra and the others, except Annabeth, who was leading the way.

"How do you know where this is?" Percy asked her. Annabeth blushed scarlet.

"I spent a lot of time with Nico over the summer."

Now it was Blaise's turn to look confused.

The first sign that Hades was annoyed was the skeletons. They appeared, and Percy drew Riptide. He took the first one down, slicing into the spine of the creature, and the bone shattered. The first skeleton just fell into a pile of bones and dust, but then more came, each more fierce, some with guns, some with swords. The friends backed into a circle, looking round each other wildly. As the skeletal warriors approached, something unexpected happened. Another skeleton with a coat appeared, and Luke raised his sword.

It was only when the newer skeleton pulled off his overcoat, to reveal a pair of neon pink hotpants, that the others backed down.

"Skullduggery!" Flaring yelled, wrapping her arms around the bone man.

"I did not need to see that." Blaise and Elvarra said in the same monotone, staring blankly.

The further they traveled, the closer they got to Hades. It was only when they came near the gates, that they had problems.

"Blaise! Use your powers to open them!" Harmony enthused.

"Errr..."

Percy pushed the gate, it opened for them. They walked up the garden as a group, Luke failing at hiding his nearly six foot self form behind the reasonably short group of them. As they entered the castle itself, Blaise peeked her head round the large doors.

"Mark! Tom! Travis!" She yelled.

"Blink 182 aren't dead yet." Harmony looked at her, confused.

"They're the hell hounds. Dad named them." She grinned, as the large animals ran up to her. She petted them on the head, before opening the door wider and letting them all in. Blaise nearly ran down the hall, opening another door and shutting it before anyone else could walk in.

"What on earth is she doing?" Percy asked.

"She's getting ready for Luke." Annabeth laughed.

"I perverted that." Shakra skullgrinned.

"Oh god!" Livvy moaned, "I did not want that mental image!"

Luke blushed, sliding down the wall, hiding his red face in his hands. Blaise reappeared about ten minutes later, having completely changed both her hair colour and clothes.

"How did you do that?" Harmony asked, clearly wondering how the laws of girls and hair dye had been changed.

"Glue your jaw back to you face Castellan." Shakra added, causing a few people to giggle.

Once they were inside the throne room, the first thing they noticed was how you couldn't see Hades face, and how Nico stood in the darkness by his side.

"Hey Pops!" Blaise grinned, running up to join Nico. He ignored her.

"Luke Castellan!" The voice from the room boomed, his voice magnified in the empty room. Hades leant forward, and his features were brought into the light.

"Ohmygod. Hades is Ryan Ross!" Elvarra yelped.