I don't own PJ and HOO. It belong to Rick Riordan to the man who encouraged me to reads Greek and Roman Mythology!

Godess Bubbles: Thank you so much~! ;)

Sageofchaos: Thank you! :)

I'm so sorry that I haven't updated yet. ;-; God, screw the keyboard. Blame on my freakin' keyboard! Anyway I will try to update more! Oh! I almost forgot, thanks you for the those 101 follows and 75 favorites! TT^TT I'm crying...Oh my God! Thanks yooou! Gah! Fuck! One more thing, (frick, today I kept forgetting something important. I guess, that I woke up on the wrong side of the bed.) I was wondering if you guys want me to write the Sea of Monsters or finding Percy Jackson? Please write a reviews to me about it.

Leo raise his eyebrows.

"Really Annabeth?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Oh shut up and read."

Leo snickered.

We stood in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, looking up at gold letters etched in black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS.

"Seriously?" Zeus raises his eyebrows at Hades.

"What? It my wife's idea."

Underneath, stenciled on the glass doors: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING.

"That...uh..." Leo voice trailed off.

"—Ridiculous. I know." Nico said.

It was almost midnight, but the lobby was brightly lit and full of people. Behind the security desk sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece.

I turned to my friends. "Okay. You remember the plan."

"Oh fuck...I can feel you." Clarisse exclaimed, knowing that Percy's plan sucks.

Annabeth nodded grimly.

"The plan," Grover gulped. "Yeah. I love the plan."

"Well...I don't." Clarisse muttered.

Annabeth said, "What happens if the plan doesn't work?"

"Oh why...Why I'm getting a bad feeling about this...?"

"Don't think negative."

"This is bad." Clarisse shook her head disbelief. "Really bad."

Clarisse look at Annabeth in a pity.

"Right," she said. "We're entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn't think negative."

Clarisse sighed.

I took the pearls out of my pocket, the three milky spheres the Nereid had given me in Santa Monica. They didn't seem like much of a backup in case something went wrong.

"Know it." Clarisse sighed.

Almost everyone stared at her.

"What?"

"Would you shut up? At least for once?!" Connor asked.

Clarisse deadpanned.

Annabeth put her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Percy. You're right, we'll make it. It'll be fine."

"That is the sign for something bad going to bad." Clarisse said.

"WOULD YOU EVEN SHUT UP FOR ONCE!?"

She gave Grover a nudge.

"Oh, right!" he chimed in. "We got this far. We'll find the master bolt and save your mom. No problem."

Poseidon groaned.

Hades grinned.

I looked at them both, and felt really grateful. Only a few minutes before, I'd almost gotten them stretched to death on deluxe water beds, and now they were trying to be brave for my sake, trying to make me feel better.

Hestia smiled kindly. Good friend...Good friend...

I slipped the pearls back in my pocket. "Let's whup some Underworld butt."

Everyone chuckled expect for Hades who look offended.

We walked inside the DOA lobby.

Muzak played softly on hidden speakers. The carpet and walls were steel gray. Pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather, and every seat was taken. There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people staring out the windows or waiting for the elevator. Nobody moved, or talked, or did much of anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them all just fine, but if I focused on any one of them in particular, they started looking ... transparent. I could see right through their bodies.

The security guard's desk was a raised podium, so we had to look up at him.

He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-colored skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag.

I read the name tag, then looked at him in bewilderment. "Your name is Chiron?"

Everyone facepalmed. How he could be this stupid?

He leaned across the desk. I couldn't see anything in his glasses except my own reflection, but his smile was sweet and cold, like a pythons, right before it eats you.

"What a precious young lad." He had a strange accent—British, maybe, but also as if he had learned English as a second language. "Tell me, mate, do I look like a centaur?"

"No, dumbass." Hades rolled his eyes.

"N-no."

"Sir," he added smoothly.

"'Smoothly'?! What the fuck?!" Hades yelled and showing that he is dissatisfied at Charon.

"Sir," I said.

He pinched the name tag and ran his finger under the letters. "Can you read this, mate? It says C-H-A-R-O-N. Say it with me: CARE-ON."

"What is this? Kindergarten?" Clarisse taunted angrily.

"Charon."

"Amazing! Now: Mr. Charon."

"Okay, this is official. I hate him."

"Mr. Charon," I said.

"Well done." He sat back. "I hate being confused with that old horse-man. And now, how may I help you little dead ones?"

His question caught in my stomach like a fastball. I looked at Annabeth for support.

Clarisse sighed.

"I knew this will happen..."

"We want to go the Underworld," she said.

Charon's mouth twitched. "Well, that's refreshing."

"It is?" she asked.

"Straightforward and honest. No screaming. No 'There must be a mistake, Mr. Charon.'" He looked us over. "How did you die, then?"

I nudged Grover.

"Oh," he said. "Um ... drowned ... in the bathtub."

The room went silence and then went full of laughter.

"WHAT...THE ...FUCK?!" Leo cracked up between laughter.

"All three of you?" Charon asked. We nodded.

"There is no way in hell that Charon will believe it." Hades snorted.

"Big bathtub." Charon looked mildly impressed. "I don't suppose you have coins for passage. Normally, with adults, you see, I could charge your American Express, or add the ferry price to your last cable bill. But with children ... alas, you never die prepared. Suppose you'll have to take a seat for a few centuries."

"Oh, but we have coins." I set three golden drachmas on the counter, part of the stash I'd found in Crusty's office desk.

"Well, now ..." Charon moistened his lips. "Real drachmas. Real golden drachmas. I haven't seen these in ..."

"For three millennia.." Hades muttered.

His fingers hovered greedily over the coins.

Everyone expect Hades and Nico shuddered.

We were so close.

Then Charon looked at me. That cold stare behind his glasses seemed to bore a hole through my chest. "Here now," he said. "You couldn't read my name correctly. Are you dyslexic, lad?"

"No," I said. "I'm dead."

"Idiot. Then he knew that your alive." Hades muttered about stupid kids.

Charon leaned forward and took a sniff. "You're not dead. I should've known. You're a godling."

"We have to get to the Underworld," I insisted.

Charon made a growling sound deep in his throat.

Immediately, all the people in the waiting room got up and started pacing, agitated, lighting cigarettes, running hands through their hair, or checking their wristwatches.

"Leave while you can," Charon told us. "I'll just take these and forget I saw you."

Hades jaw dropped and then become pissed.

"CHARON! YOU DAMNED MOTHERFUCKER! YOU SHOULD'VE KEEP THEM AND THEN BRI—"

Two sons of Rhea and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named glared at Hades murderously and you could sense an dark aura surrounded them. Nearly everyone tried to move away from them.

Hades chuckled nervously.

"Kidding..." Hades lied weakly.

He started to go for the coins, but I snatched them back.

"No service, no tip." I tried to sound braver than I felt.

Charon growled again—a deep, blood-chilling sound. The spirits of the dead started pounding on the elevator doors.

"It's a shame, too," I sighed. "We had more to offer."

Hades gasped dramatically.

"Oh no..."

I held up the entire bag from Crusty's stash. I took out a fistful of drachmas and let the coins spill through my fingers.

Charon's growl changed into something more like a lion's purr. "Do you think I can be bought, godling? Eh ... just out of curiosity, how much have you got there?"

"A lot," I said. "I bet Hades doesn't pay you well enough for such hard work."

Hades groaned and muttered about damned Poseidon's kid.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it. How would you like to babysit these spirits all day? Always 'Please don't let me be dead' or 'Please let me across for free.' I haven't had a pay raise in three thousand years. Do you imagine suits like this come cheap?"

"You deserve better," I agreed. "A little appreciation. Respect. Good pay."

"NO!" Hades cried. "THAT DAMNED ITALIAN SUIT! CURSED THEM!"

Two sons and three daughters of Rhea and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named stared at Hades blankly.

"What? It horrible.." Hades shivered.

With each word, I stacked another gold coin on the counter.

Charon glanced down at his silk Italian jacket, as if imagining himself in something even better. "I must say, lad, you're making some sense now. Just a little."

I stacked another few coins. "I could mention a pay raise while I'm talking to Hades."

"Oh he better not..." Hades muttered.

He sighed. "The boat's almost full, anyway. I might as well add you three and be off."

He stood, scooped up our money, and said, "Come along."

We pushed through the crowd of waiting spirits, who started grabbing at our clothes like the wind, their voices whispering things I couldn't make out. Charon shoved them out of the way, grumbling, "Freeloaders."

He escorted us into the elevator, which was already crowded with souls of the dead, each one holding a green boarding pass. Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to get on with us and pushed them back into the lobby.

"Right. Now, no one get any ideas while I'm gone," he announced to the waiting room. "And if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?"

"Harsh.." Jason muttered.

He shut the doors. He put a key card into a slot in the elevator panel and we started to descend.

"What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?" Annabeth asked.

"Nothing," Charon said.

"Seriously 'nothing'?" Jason asked. "I don't think that isn't nothing."

"For how long?"

"Forever, or until I'm feeling generous."

"Hades, since when—"

Hades cut off Zeus sentence.

"End of the story." Hades warned. "If you dare...Your children will be Underworld hereafter for eternity."

"Oh," she said. "That's ... fair."

Charon raised an eyebrow. "Whoever said death was fair, young miss? Wait until it's your turn. You'll die soon enough, where you're going."

"We'll get out alive," I said.

"Ha."

Poseidon growled.

I got a sudden dizzy feeling. We weren't going down anymore, but forward. The air turned misty. Spirits around me started changing shape. Their modern clothes flickered, turning into gray hooded robes. The floor of the elevator began swaying.

I blinked hard. When I opened my eyes, Charon's creamy Italian suit had been replaced by a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses were gone. Where his eyes should've been were empty sockets—like Ares's eyes, except Charon's were totally dark, full of night and death and despair.

He saw me looking, and said, "Well?"

"Nothing," I managed.

I thought he was grinning, but that wasn't it. The flesh of his face was becoming transparent, letting me see straight through to his skull.

The floor kept swaying.

Grover said, "I think I'm getting seasick."

"Seasick? I think it airsick." Jason said.

Leo snickered.

"No it's 'elevator-sick'!" Leo laughed hysterically. "Oh Gods, I hate even breathe! Oh my Gods!"

Jason look at Leo and gave him a weird look.

When I blinked again, the elevator wasn't an elevator anymore. We were standing in a wooden barge. Charon was poling us across a dark, oily river, swirling with bones, dead fish, and other, stranger things—plastic dolls, crushed carnations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

Everyone expect for Hades and other people who been on the underworld before gasped in horror.

"H-how?" Zeus stammered.

Hades shrugged.

"Mortals."

"The River Styx," Annabeth murmured. "It's so ..."

"Polluted," Charon said. "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you come across—hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."

"Bastard!" Artemis roared. "BASTARD MORTALS!"

Mist curled off the filthy water. Above us, almost lost in the gloom, was a ceiling of stalactites. Ahead, the far shore glimmered with greenish light, the color of poison.

When someone heard this their face turn green.

Panic closed up my throat. What was I doing here? These people around me ... they were dead.

"No shit Sherlock." Thalia said sarcastically.

Annabeth grabbed hold of my hand.

Hades groaned and foreknew what is going to happen.

"EVERYONE COVERED YOUR EARS! Hades shouted.

Everyone groaned and then quickly covered their ears.

Aphrodite squealed so loud.

"Percabeth! PERCABETH FOR LIFE!" Aphrodite screamed like a fan girl who wanted a kiss from their idols.

"WOMAN! SHOULD YOU EVEN SHUT THE HELL UP!" Hades shouted.

After a thirteen minutes of 'Aphrodite-fan-girl-screaming'.

"Woman...Are you done yet...?" Hades groaned. "I think I have lost a hair cell.."

Aphrodite pouted.

Under normal circumstances, this would've embarrassed me, but I understood how she felt. She wanted reassurance that somebody else was alive on this boat.

I found myself muttering a prayer, though I wasn't quite sure who I was praying to. Down here, only one god mattered, and he was the one I had come to confront.

The shoreline of the Underworld came into view. Craggy rocks and black volcanic sand stretched inland about a hundred yards to the base of a high stone wall, which marched off in either direction as far as we could see. A sound came from somewhere nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones—the howl of a large animal.

"Oh no." Poseidon paled. "Cerberus...Why my son get a worst luck?"

"Old Three-Face is hungry," Charon said. His smile turned skeletal in the greenish light. "Bad luck for you, godlings."

"Could you be helpful for once?!" Poseidon said angrily. "He is going to Hades to tell him to pay a raise!"

The bottom of our boat slid onto the black sand. The dead began to disembark. A woman holding a little girl's hand. An old man and an old woman hobbling along arm in arm. A boy no older than I was, shuffling silently along in his gray robe.

Charon said, "I'd wish you luck, mate, but there isn't any down here. Mind you, don't forget to mention my pay raise."

"Bastard.." Hades growled.

He counted our golden coins into his pouch, then took up his pole. He warbled something that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he ferried the empty barge back across the river.

We followed the spirits up a well-worn path.

I'm not sure what I was expecting—Pearly Gates, or a big black portcullis, or something. But the entrance to the Underworld looked like a cross between airport security and the Jersey Turnpike.

There were three separate entrances under one huge black archway that said YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS. Each entrance had a pass-through metal detector with security cameras mounted on top. Beyond this were tollbooths manned by black-robed ghouls like Charon.

The howling of the hungry animal was really loud now, but I couldn't see where it was coming from. The three-headed dog, Cerberus, who was supposed to guard Hades's door, was nowhere to be seen.

Hades rolled his eyes. Fool.

The dead queued up in the three lines, two marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one marked EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line was moving right along. The other two were crawling.

"What do you figure?" I asked Annabeth.

"The fast line must go straight to the Asphodel Fields," she said. "No contest. They don't want to risk judgment from the court, because it might go against them."

"There's a court for dead people?"

"Duh."

"Yeah. Three judges. They switch around who sits on the bench. King Minos—

Nico growled. That bastard!

—Thomas Jefferson, Shakespeare—people like that. Sometimes they look at a life and decide that person needs a special reward—the Fields of Elysium. Sometimes they decide on punishment. But most people, well, they just lived. Nothing special, good or bad. So they go to the Asphodel Fields."

"And do what?"

Nico About is say something, but Thalia covered his mouth.

"Don't." Thalia warned. "Or I will kick your ass to the sun didn't shine."

Grover said, "Imagine standing in a wheat field in Kansas. Forever."

"Oh Gods." Clarisse said in fear.

"Harsh," I said.

"Not as harsh as that," Grover muttered. "Look."

A couple of black-robbed ghouls had pulled aside one spirit and were frisking him at the security desk. The face of the dead man looked vaguely familiar.

"He's that preacher who made the news, remember?" Grover asked.

"Oh, yeah." I did remember now. We'd seen him on TV a couple of times at the Yancy Academy dorm. He was this annoying televangelist from upstate New York who'd raised millions of dollars for orphanages and then got caught spending the money on stuff for his mansion, like gold-plated toilet seats, and an indoor putt-putt golf course.

Hestia growled. Bastard!

He'd died in a police chase when his "Lamborghini for the Lord" went off a cliff.

I said, "What're they doing to him?"

"Special punishment from Hades," Grover guessed. "The really bad people get his personal attention as soon as they arrive. The Fur—the Kindly Ones will set up an eternal torture for him."

Everyone shivered.

The thought of the Furies made me shudder. I realized I was in their home territory now. Old Mrs. Dodds would be licking her lips with anticipation.

"But if he's a preacher," I said, "and he believes in a different hell... ."

"Wow. That is the first time ever I heard that he actually use the 'h' word." Nico said.

"So? It good for him." Hera smirked.

Grover shrugged. "Who says he's seeing this place the way we're seeing it? Humans see what they want to see. You're very stubborn—er, persistent, that way."

We got closer to the gates. The howling was so loud now it shook the ground at my feet, but I still couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

Then, about fifty feet in front of us, the green mist shimmered. Standing just where the path split into three lanes was an enormous shadowy monster.

I hadn't seen it before because it was half transparent, like the dead. Until it moved, it blended with whatever was behind it. Only its eyes and teeth looked solid. And it was staring straight at me.

My jaw hung open. All I could think to say was, "She's a Rottweiler."

I'd always imagined Cerberus as a big black mastiff. But she was obviously a purebred Rottweiler, except of course that she was twice the size of a woolly mammoth, mostly invisible, and had three heads.

There is no comment on that. Because the room is full of tension.

The dead walked right up to her—no fear at all. The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted on either side of her. The EZ DEATH spirits walked right between her front paws and under her belly, which they could do without even crouching.

"I'm starting to see her better," I muttered. "Why is that?"

"I think ..." Annabeth moistened her lips. "I'm afraid it's because we're getting closer to being dead."

"Fool. You are on my territory now. If your a Demigod, that mean you could actually see my realm of the dead. For mortals..They see thousands of hellfire and their worst nightmare! Sound pretty gorgeous, right?!" Hades said happily and Nico beamed. While everyone paled and some Aphrodite's kids fainted.

The dog's middle head craned toward us. It sniffed the air and growled.

"It can smell the living," I said.

"Yeah duh." Nico said stupidity.

"But that's okay," Grover said, trembling next to me. "Because we have a plan."

"I got a bad feeling about this plan.." Athena muttered.

"Right," Annabeth said. I'd never heard her voice sound quite so small. "A plan."

We moved toward the monster.

"A 'MONSTER'?! PERCY JACKSON SHE IS NOT A MONSTER! YOU IDIOT!" Nico yelled in rage.

The middle head snarled at us, then barked so loud my eyeballs rattled.

"Can you understand it?" I asked Grover.

"Oh yeah," he said. "I can understand it."

"What's it saying?"

"I don't think humans have a four-letter word that translates, exactly."

Hades and Nico snickered.

I took the big stick out of my backpack—a bedpost I'd broken off Crusty's Safari Deluxe floor model. I held it up, and tried to channel happy dog thoughts toward Cerberus—Alpo commercials, cute little puppies, fire hydrants. I tried to smile, like I wasn't about to die.

"Stupid." Annabeth muttered.

"Hey, Big Fella," I called up. "I bet they don't play with you much."

"GROWWWLLLL!"

"Bad...That is bad." Poseidon said weakly.

"Good boy," I said weakly.

I waved the stick. The dog's middle head followed the movement. The other two heads trained their eyes on me, completely ignoring the spirits. I had Cerberus's undivided attention. I wasn't sure that was a good thing.

"Fetch!" I threw the stick into the gloom, a good solid throw. I heard it go ker-sploosh in the River Styx.

At this point everyone laughed hysterically, and it took about half hour to calm down.

Cerberus glared at me, unimpressed. Her (A/N: Cerberus is a girl..I don't why, but I just imagine Cerberus is a female...Don't even ask...) eyes were baleful and cold.

So much for the plan.

"Knew it." Athena sighed.

Cerberus was now making a new kind of growl, deeper down in her three throats.

"Um," Grover said. "Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"I just thought you'd want to know."

"Yeah?"

"Cerberus? She's saying we've got ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice. After that... well ... She's hungry."

"HADES YOU BASTARD!" Poseidon growled.

Hades gulped knowing this might be the last time that he'll see the sun again.

"Poseidon!" Athena warned. "Calm your temper. Or I won't kiss you for a week."

Poseidon stuttered.

"W-w-w-what?!"

Athena raises her eyebrows dangerously.

"Are you questioning me?"

"N-no!"

Poseidon sit down on his throne and glared at Hades like I-will-kill-you-later glare.

"Wait!" Annabeth said. She started rifling through her pack.

Uh-oh, I thought.

"What?" Annabeth asked.

"Five seconds," Grover said. "Do we run now?"

Annabeth produced a red rubber ball the size of a grapefruit. It was labeled WATERLAND, DENVER, CO. Before I could stop her, she raised the ball and marched straight up to Cerberus.

She shouted, "See the ball? You want the ball, Cerberus? Sit!"

Hades snorted. Like that will happen.

Cerberus looked as stunned as we were.

Hades jaw dropped. What?!

All three of her heads cocked sideways. Six nostrils dilated.

"Sit!" Annabeth called again.

I was sure that any moment she would become the world's largest Milkbone dog biscuit.

Everyone expect for Hades who like offended, laughed.

But instead, Cerberus licked her three sets of lips, shifted on her haunches, and sat, immediately crushing a dozen spirits who'd been passing underneath her in the EZ DEATH line. The spirits made muffled hisses as they dissipated, like the air let out of tires.

Annabeth said, "Good boy!"

She threw Cerberus the ball.

She caught it in her middle mouth. It was barely big enough for her to chew, and the other heads started snapping at the middle, trying to get the new toy.

"Drop it.'" Annabeth ordered.

Cerberus's heads stopped fighting and looked at her. The ball was wedged between two of her teeth like a tiny piece of gum. She made a loud, scary whimper, then dropped the ball, now slimy and bitten nearly in half, at Annabeth's feet.

Athena paled.

"Good boy." She picked up the ball, ignoring the monster spit all over it.

Aphrodite and her children wrinkled their nose in disgust.

She turned toward us. "Go now. EZ DEATH line—it's faster."

I said, "But—"

"Now.'" She ordered, in the same tone she was using on the dog.

The Demigods sighed.

Grover and I inched forward warily.

Cerberus started to growl.

"Stay!" Annabeth ordered the monster. "If you want the ball, stay!"

Cerberus whimpered, but she stayed where she was.

"What about you?" I asked Annabeth as we passed her.

"I know what I'm doing, Percy," she muttered. "At least, I'm pretty sure... ."

"...I'm guessing that is a no."

"Oh shut up Stolls."

Grover and I walked between the monster's legs.

Please, Annabeth, I prayed. Don't tell her to sit again.

"Oh Gods. Please don't." Poseidon whimpered.

We made it through. Cerberus wasn't any less scary-looking from the back.

Everyone chuckled.

Annabeth said, "Good dog!"

She held up the tattered red ball, and probably came to the same conclusion I did—if she rewarded Cerberus, there'd be nothing left for another trick.

She threw the ball anyway. The monster's left mouth immediately snatched it up, only to be attacked by the middle head, while the right head moaned in protest.

While the monster was distracted, Annabeth walked briskly under its belly and joined us at the metal detector.

"How did you do that?" I asked her, amazed.

"Obedience school," she said breathlessly, and I was surprised to see there were tears in her eyes.

Everyone expect for Athena look at Annabeth in a pity look.

"When I was little, at my dad's house, we had a Doberman... ."

"Never mind that," Grover said, tugging at my shirt. "Come on!"

We were about to bolt through the EZ DEATH line when Cerberus moaned pitifully from all three mouths. Annabeth stopped.

She turned to face the dog, which had done a one-eighty to look at us.

Cerberus panted expectantly, the tiny red ball in pieces in a puddle of drool at its feet.

"Good boy," Annabeth said, but her voice sounded melancholy and uncertain.

The monster's heads turned sideways, as if worried about her.

"I'll bring you another ball soon," Annabeth promised faintly. "Would you like that?"

Nico look like going to cry. He just love Cerberus, but she died by giving birth to her pups few years ago. (Just in my version..)

The monster whimpered. I didn't need to speak dog to know Cerberus was still waiting for the ball.

Nico burst in tears, everyone stared at Nico in shock like they haven't seen Nico cried before not since Bianca di Angelo's death, but most of them were their first time ever.

"Good dog. I'll come visit you soon. I—I promise." Annabeth turned to us. "Let's go."

Grover and I pushed through the metal detector, which immediately screamed and set off flashing red lights. "Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"

Cerberus started to bark.

Nico is still crying.

We burst through the EZ DEATH gate, which started even more alarms blaring, and raced into the Underworld.

A few minutes later, we were hiding, out of breath, in the rotten trunk of an immense black tree as security ghouls scuttled past, yelling for backup from the Furies.

"Oh no.."

Grover murmured, "Well, Percy, what have we learned today?"

"That three-headed dogs prefer red rubber balls over sticks?"

"No," Grover told me. "We've learned that your plans really, really bite!"

"True." The Demigods chorused who experienced Percy's plan before.

I wasn't sure about that. I thought maybe Annabeth and I had both had the right idea. Even here in the Underworld, everybody—even monsters—needed a little attention once in a while.

I thought about that as we waited for the ghouls to pass. I pretended not to see Annabeth wipe a tear from her cheek as she listened to the mournful keening of Cerberus in the distance, longing for her new friend.

"Son...What is the matter with you?" Hades asked with a worried face.

"Cerberus.." Nico said sadly and some slight tears is rolling down of his cheek.

"Yes...What about her?" Hades asked.

"She died three years ago."

"WHAT?! YOUR TELLING ME THAT A SOME SCUMBAG DEMIGODS KILLED HER?! THAT SON OF—"

"—No! That isn't about that. I'm saying that...She died during the childbirth by giving birth to her pups. Only one of them have survived, but three of them didn't make it..." Nico cried.

Hades paled.

"Y-your telling she that she got pregnant with some bastard who raped her?"

Nico gasped in horror.

"No! Fuck no! She used Lady Hecate's magic by making her pregnant!"

That leave Hades speechless.

"Are you guys done yet?" Hazel asked.

"I guess..." Nico said.

"Who want to read next?" Zeus asked.

"Me." Athena said.

Hazel handed over the book to Goddess of Wisdom.

"We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of." Athena read out loud.