I could feel myself plummeting through the dark abyss. A scream built up in my throat, but I was too freaked out to even do that. I looked up; the hole that I fell through could not be seen. I was totally regretting my decision at this point, thinking that whenever I hit the bottom I was going to go splat! all over the ground.
An orange light made my eyes squint in pain. I peered down and saw what looked like fire all around me. The ground was coming up fast, so I closed my eyes, praying that I didn't feel any pain.
To my surprise, my landing was soft. Despite that, the uncomfortable heat was almost too much to bear, and the light from the fire was almost too much even through my eyelids. I clasped my hands over eyes and opened them, slowly inching my fingers apart until I was adjusted to the light.
I looked around. Fire everywhere. Off in the distance I heard a scream, which sent chills down my spine. "Am I in hell?" I asked myself.
"The Underworld. Much like a human's perspective of hell, yes." I zipped around at the sound of a very low gravelly voice. I then came face to face with a demon like creature. Its eyes were bugged out of the sides of its head, and huge horns curled around its ears. It had a body like a cross between a bull and a gorilla. A small squeak escaped my lips and it laughed at me, it's yellow eyes never ceasing to pierce into my green ones.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"In the abyss of eternal suffering, names do not matter. Especially when I start to rip the flesh from every bone in your body." It hissed, starting to walk towards me.
"Ew, no thank you!" I squealed, stepping back from it.
It smiled wickedly and lunged forward. I screamed and shut my eyes. Apparently instinct took over my body, and my hands shout out in front of me to protect my body. I heard something along the lines of an explosion. I opened my eyes to see the big monster guy in flames, almost a pile of chars and ash now.
"Did I do that?" I asked, looking down at my hands.
"You!" another gravelly voice shouted. I looked up to see another monster staring down at me.
"What?" I shouted, holding my hands up. "You wanna go? I'll roast you too, buster!"
"Follow me." It replied simply.
I stared at it blankly. It blinked once before turning away and leaving me. I stood there for a moment. Then I thought hey, better than just standing here, so I followed it.
I kept a good ten feet behind it as the monster led me through the flames. Every once in a while I'd hear a blood curdling scream or a hiss or growl. All in all, I was scared out of my socks, and my hands were never let down in front of me in case the monster decided to turn around on me.
"You can relax, girl." A voice echoed from above. That's when I just noticed that the monster stopped walking and I almost bumped into him. I leapt back with a yelp, karate chopping the air.
The voice chuckled. I looked up and saw two figures standing on what looked like some kind of balcony, only it was made out of burning bones.
"Who are you?" I shouted. I could have guessed, but I didn't want to.
The man looked at the woman and waved his hand as he turned to walk back inside. "Let her in."
This woman, who was incredibly beautiful, stared down at me with menacing eyes. Then she shouted something in some unknown language and followed the man back inside.
I squealed yet again as the wall closest to me made a loud crackling noise. It started to open up like a door, bits of fire cascading all over it like a shower. I stood there for a long time. Every fibre of my body told me NOT to go in, but I couldn't just stand there forever. Eventually I inched my way through the entrance. As soon as I did it slammed shut, engulfing me in total darkness.
I stood, frozen in fear, for what felt like a really long time. It felt like the darkness would swallow me up, until there was a sudden burst of flickering orange light as a large door swung open before me. I hesitated for a moment, and then took a step forward. I crept slowly along until I reached the door and I peeked inside. Everything looked… normal; like a normal mansion. It looked similar to the rooms in Olympus, only slightly more… dark, with black and red everything, and many torches hanging from the walls.
"Dear Lord, I am an idiot." I told myself as I walked on.
I made my way down an extremely long hall, and eventually entered a rather impressive looking living area. What impressed me the most was the gigantic fireplace that cascaded a great amount of firelight over the entire room. A large arm chair sat in front of it, facing away from me.
"Hellooooo?" I whispered.
"Come, come now dear, don't take all day about it. Come here!" a voice called to me from behind the tall backrest of the chair.
I was too scared to even disobey the voice, so I went forward. I peered around the back of the chair to see a man sitting there, not even bothering to make eye contact with me. from the look of his face, he didn't even seem to notice I was there, even though he just spoke to me not a moment ago.
"Hey." I said to him. His eyes jerked to meet mine, which made me jump back. He smiled cheekily up at me and leaped out of his chair.
"My darling daughter has finally come to me at last!" he shouted, leaping over to me and sweeping me up in a tight embrace. I stood awkwardly frozen, my body refusing to let me hug him back.
This is my father? This is Hades? Why is he being so… nice to me?
"Hey…" I said again. No other word seemed to be able to form in my mouth. He set me down and took a step back from me, looking me over as he did, smiling all the while.
"Such a momentous occasion this is. Persephone! Come meet my darling daughter."
That gorgeous woman from before strutted out with her head held high, looking down at me as she walked towards us. She stood beside Hades and put her arm around his waist. "So, this is the one." She spat angrily.
"Yes, isn't she lovely? It's so wonderful to finally see you... uh… what's your name, love?"
This was all too creepy… but I answered his question. "I'm… Janine?"
"Ah! Wonderful! This is fantastic!" Hades chirped, clapping his hands in utter glee. Persephone just huffed in annoyance and stomped away. "Don't mind her, dear. She's just jealous that my affections are elsewhere other than on her."
"Uh huh." I was seriously freaking out on the inside! What was I supposed to think about this? Hades was being like a giddy little child that just got an awesome present for Christmas. "Why am I here?" I managed to ask.
"Oh… you brought yourself here, sweetheart. I'm certainly not surprised. My brothers are just scoundrels for locking you up like some bird in a cage, planning to let you rot up there for the rest of your life."
This guy seemed really out of character from what I heard about him. Percy experienced Hades personality first hand and from what he said he was nothing like this.
"So what now?" I ask.
Hades' smile grew even wider and he took me by the hand. "That's the beauty of it, love. You get to help dear old dad." He led me towards the fireplace and coaxed me to sitting in the chair. He stood in front of me, the flames of the fireplace seemed to lick at his back, his face covered in shadow, but his eyes burned with some fiery emotion that I could not place. "I want freedom, Janine. I have been locked down here in the Underworld for far too long. I deserve to be in my rightful place, up there on Olympus, with the rest of them. Persephone gets to leave here half the year, leaving me all alone to take care of the dead all by myself. And only you and Hermes get to come and go as you please."
My ears perked up at that bit, when he said that I could come and go whenever I wanted to. I tried to hide my smile as he kept on talking about himself. He must have believed that I was completely on his side with this; that his dearly beloved daughter would willingly help him. Well, I had one thing to say to that, but I wouldn't dare say it out loud.
Fuck that shit!
"So what do you say?" Hades asked anxiously.
"Yep. Sure. Of course." I put on my best smile and lied through my teeth. He seemed to believe it, because he hugged me again.
"Splendid! The ceremony will take place as soon as possible. For now, I will let you rest. You will require all your energy. Persephone!"
The woman appeared again. She looked as ticked off as ever,
"Be a good girl and take my daughter to where she can receive some well deserved rest. Tomorrow is a big day." And with that he left the room, practically skipping and laughing maniacally as he went.
I sighed, happy that that looney was gone for now. Then, someone grabbed my arm tightly and yanked me forward. I turned and came face to face with Persephone. Her eyes burned with anger.
"Now, you listen, and you listen good. I want you to leave this place at once."
"What?" I asked in shock. "Why would you want me gone? Not that I'm complaining or anything."
Persephone started to drag me along, back down that hallway that I came through. "I know many things, Janine Thompson. Things that my dear husband is too blind too see. You are not evil, and you do not want what your father wants."
I was surprised, to say the least. "But why do you not want what he wants?"
Persephone stopped when we reached the door. She pushed it open, and then looked me straight in the eyes again. "I hate him, Janine. I hate him with every fibre of my soul. I would rather be cast down to the deepest depths of Tartrus, then lose what little freedom I have from that man. If Hades is set free, then the world will be lost to all the evil power that has built up over the centuries. The God's will not be able to contain him, and he could very well have the entire world as his new play thing. I will not allow it."
My heart broke for her. I felt so bad for this woman. I could see all the pain in her eyes. I just nodded and stepped out. I looked out at the blazing hell before me.
"How do I get out?" I asked.
Persephone called out in that odd language once again, and then a large black bloodhound that stood almost to my shoulders scampered out from behind her and stood in front of me.
"This is my smallest hellhound. He is a runt, and pretty much useless. I care not if I lose him, if he gets caught by Hades, but he will lead you to the way out of here. Be quick, Hades will find you missing soon enough." A runt? I would hardly call him a runt!
"Thank you." I said with a smile.
"Don't. take these as well." she tossed something at me and I caught them in my hands. I looked at them and noticed they were small gold were these for? I looked up to thank her again, but she had already closed the door.
I sighed and looked down at the hellhound. "So, what's your name?" the dog just looked up at me for a brief moment and started to trot forward. I ran after him.
The hellhound kept to the shadows. I was surprised to see him actually completely disappear from time to time, and I tried my best to keep up with him, but it was hard. We went on for a few minutes, but I could tell that we weren't going anywhere fast. The dog finally stopped and growled impatiently at me.
"Hey, I'm sorry ok. You have four legs and I only have two. Plus you got that weird… shadow slinking thing going on for you and I can't do that."
The dog huffed in annoyance and walked over to me. He turned so that he was standing right next to me, facing the direction that we were heading, and then he crouched down.
"What are you doing?"
He barked back at me and growled lowly. I could tell this dog thought I was a total simpleton. He turned his head and nudged my knee.
"Oh! I see." I understood now, that he wanted me to get on his back. "Um, no way nuh uh." The dog barked louder at me, which made me cringe and cover my ears. His bark was as loud as an air horn. "Fine! Jesus…" I slowly sat down on the big dog's back. Once I did, he wasted no time and lunged forward. I clung on to the back of his neck and held on for dear life as this dog moved so freaking fast, dodging in and out of the shadows.
The hound finally stopped and I opened my eyes. We had reached a wall, with a giant crack splitting all the way up it. Inside there was a soft green glow, unlike the harsh orange of the fire behind me. We went inside, and I bent down closer to my new companion. I whimpered slightly, but he kept on going like it was nothing he hadn't seen before.
We approached the edge of what looked like a large lake. The lake seemed never ending, but far in the distance I could see a white light.
"That's the way out." I said. The dog crouched down and I got off him. Together we walked up to the edge of the water. "What now?" I asked, looking down at him, but he gave me no answer. He just stood there, waiting.
I heard a splash and looked up to see a long boat float towards us. It looked like a gondola, but it was made out of many little black bones. A little man, whose face was completely covered by a shredded black cloak, stood at the helm, pushing the boat along with a long stick, also made out of bones.
"You're the ferryman?" I asked, though I already knew. I remember reading about him as well in class. I gasped as I realised what those coins were for. I dug them out of my pocket and approached the man. I held my hand out to him. He slowly did the same, turning his hand so that his palm was facing up. I dropped the coins and he swiftly put them into his sleeve. Then he stepped aside so that I may climb aboard.
"AHHH!"
I could have died right then. The sound of Hades' screams were enough to make the whole Underworld go silent. I almost fell down in the boat. He knew that I was trying to get out.
"Go! Go go go go!" I squealed. The ferryman slowly dipped his stick into the water and pushed us forward. I looked back to see the gentle hellhound watch me go. I managed to smile at him and wave goodbye. "Thank you!" He nodded at me and just like that, he disappeared once again into the shadows.
I sat down in the boat, tapping my foot against the bottom of it impatiently. The ferryman kept going at such a leisurely pace, it was driving me insane. "Can you go any faster?" I asked.
He looked down at me like it was a ridiculous question, yet still; he seemed to pick up the pace, if only a little bit. I was so tempted to grab his stick and push the boat myself, but I knew better than that.
I heard more screams; louder this time. He was coming this way for sure.
"Oh, please!" I pleaded to the man standing in front of me. "I can't go back there. If I do then Hades will catch me, then all hell is going to break loose, and the end of the very world will be on your hands! Do you want that? Do you!?"
The ferryman paused for a moment, looking down at me. The actual eye contact gave me shivers. "You are the daughter of him?" I nodded. His eyes narrowed. "I should just kill you now then. I should drain every drop of blood in your little body." He said with a nasty smirk.
I grimaced. Would he do that? I contemplated jumping out of the boat; like I had no other choice anymore. I looked over my shoulder. We were well over half way across. Actually, we were pretty close to the edge now. I could easily swim across if I needed to.
I looked back to see the ferryman no more than an inch from my face now. I was about to scream, but he quickly grabbed me by the throat. He lifted me up, and I clawed at his grip, gasping for breath. He bared his sharp teeth at me and gnashed them, laughing as he did. He was going to eat me!? Seriously!
I could feel myself going light headed now. In a panic I reached out at the man and grabbed his face. I tried to concentrate and I could feel my hand go hot. Then the guy's face burst into flames. He screeched and dropped me, throwing himself back. I jumped up and looked at him in awe as he writhed in pain, smacking himself in the face to try and put the fire out. Without thinking, I grabbed him and pushed him over the edge of the boat, sending him crashing into the dark green water. He came up to the surface and screeched as he tried to swim towards me. then about a dozen or so ghostly figures swarmed around him, grabbing him and dragging him down.
I reached up and wiped the sweat from my forehead. It was really hot in here all of a sudden. I looked up and saw bright orange flames protruding out of the wall I had walked through moments ago. He was close now. He would be here in a matter of seconds. I quickly grabbed onto the ferryman's stick, which he dropped when he grabbed me, and I pushed it into the water. The boat lunged forward, almost knocking me back. It seemed to soar through the water now at an unbelievably fast rate. I didn't even have to push it more than that one time.
I grabbed onto the edge of the boat and looked over it into the water. Many glowing translucent figures were pushing the boat along. The spirits of the Underworld were helping me! I couldn't believe it, but I didn't have time to linger on the thought for long. The boat lurched to a stop as I was pushed onto shore. I scrambled out of the boat and ran up a flight of stairs towards the white light. When I reached it I didn't hesitate, and I ran straight into it.