Chapter 24: The Land of the Dead
August and Anatolios were airborne yet again, flying to DOA recording studios with Newman running close behind. August was happy that she could make a new friend, but now she had some explaining to do. As they approached the studio, Anatolios landed in a parking deck.
"You two stay here. I don't want people to suspect you." August told the horse and the cat. The horse nodded, and August heard Newman's voice in her head agree. She nodded and headed out of the structure to the front of the building, and saw that Ariadne and Ed were waiting for her just outside. As soon as Ariadne spotted her, she raced over and grabbed August's shoulders.
"Are you ok? How'd it go? Is it dead? Do you need us to come and help you?" Ariadne's questions shot out one after the other like a moving train.
"Yes, I'm just fine and it went rather well, and no you guys don't need to come help me. Let's get inside, shall we?" August answered coolly. Ariadne nodded and gave her another tight hug.
"I'm just glad your OK." Ed said, joining in on the hug. August wriggled out from between them.
"Enough emotional junk, time for some action!" August said, smiling and taking her backpack off. "Put these on," August took out the silver dog tags and handed one to each of them, "they'll make us seem dead." She put her own on, and instantly felt the cold of the metal through her shirt. Her whole body felt numb and cold, like she had taken a bath in ice. She looked down at her hands, which were pale and sickly as opposed to their normal tanned honey gold color. August looked up and saw that her friends had met a similar fate. Ed's leg fur was a darker brown, peppered with gray; his face pale and bags hung under his eyes. Ariadne looked like a vampire with her paler than ever skin, blue lips, and darker than night hair.
"Well this is… odd." Ed mumbled, looking at his hands.
"I feel numb." Ariadne said in a flat voice.
"We all look dead, that's what matters. C'mon, let's get inside and get this over with." August nodded towards the door and entered, her friends following. The studio lobby was sterile and white, with a few couches and chairs, also white. August walked up to the secretary. The secretary was blonde with dark eyeliner, and very red lipstick. August thought she looked oddly similar to Harely Quinn, but didn't mention that.
"We're here for our appointment." August said, leaning against the counter. The secretary looked up from her Spin Magazine and typed something into the computer.
"Right this way." She got up and led them to an elevator, pressing the down button. "Take the elevator down to the River. Don't forget to pay the boatman, and follow orders. Have a nice time." The elevator dinged and opened up. August thanked the secretary, and walked in. The other two followed in, not wanting to be left behind. They road the elevator down for what seemed like forever until the numbers started to reach the negatives.
"How far do you think it goes?" Ed asked, watching as the red numbers ticked lower and lower.
"Pretty damn far apparently." August responded. Her nerves began to act up as she remembered how dark it got in the mines. What would the underworld be like?
"The map says to get to the right of the judgment pavilion. The only problem is that it's heavily guarded." Ariadne explained, looking at the map. "Also, we should remove the dog tags before we get close to Cerberus. He can only sense the dead, so he won't be able to tell we're there if we take them off."
"But what happens after that? Even if he doesn't smell us, they'll know that something's up when they sense living people." August argued, worried.
"We just need to sneak past, then we'll put them back on right after." Ariadne suggested. August nodded and took another deep breath as she felt the elevator come to a halt. The doors opened up, revealing a large gondola made of what looked like petrified driftwood, with a hooded figure in the driver position. The trio walked up to the boat, and the driver motioned them on.
"So young. Demigods I assume?" The driver asked August as they took a seat on the boat. August worked her pitiful look and nodded.
"Furies, too many for the three of us to handle. I should have called in for backup, but I thought we could handle it." August lied, trying to make their fake death seem believable.
"Such hubris from one so young. If you try again, maybe you'll take back the lesson of humbleness." The driver chided as he rowed his long oar along the river. August looked down at the water to see toys, papers with good grades, promotional documents, even new cars and wispy apparitions of animals all floating by. It made August very sad to look at.
"Dead dreams. Everything that everyone ever gave up on comes here." The driver explained, noticing August eyeing the river. The cavern was dark, barely lit by torches. August wished she could have extended Helios, but she didn't want to risk giving away their position.
"That's so sad." Ariadne said next to August, looking over the other side. Ed was silent throughout the trip, though August could tell he was nervous. The boat approached a large pathway leading to a gate made of what looked like rusty iron. Just as August was about to get out, she remembered that she had to pay the boatman.
"Oh, here." August reached into her pocket, pulled out a few drachmas and handed them over. "Thanks for the ride."
"Your welcome. Of you three go then." The boatman nodded them forward, and they departed down the path. Once they had made it about halfway, and were sure the boatman was gone, August removed her dog tag. Ed and Ariadne did the same.
"Alright, tags off. Let's go." August directed, leading the team forward. As they approached the gate, August almost stopped dead in her tracks as she looked up to see Cerberus. He was huge, and all three of his heads were equally ugly and drooling. Thankfully, he didn't notice the living trio as they walked underneath him.
"To the right, not the left. Be quick." Ariadne instructed. August held her breath, and made a break for a large door with two serpents facing each other. As August approached, she heard Ariadne's voice call from behind.
"The door isn't used to stop mortals, just the dead! Keep running!" She instructed. August normally had a little more than hesitance about running into doors head on, but she wasn't about to slow down. She hit the door with full force, and materialized through to the other side. In front of her stood two paths. One lead to a long line of people waiting to get into a small pavilion, and the other down a long, dark path, dimly lit by floating green torches. Before August had more time to process, Ed came hurdling through the gate and fell forward, expecting to have to brace himself for the impact. August heard footsteps following, and was quick to catch Ariadne around the waste as she barreled through, so as to not let her meet the same fate. Ed stood up and brushed himself off.
"Couldn't be bothered to help a brother out?" He said rolling his eyes, but with a smile.
"Thanks for catching me, but you can let me go now." Ariadne said. August turned red as she remembered she still had Ariadne around the waste. She let go and faced the right hand path.
"This is it then. Ready?" August asked her team. They both nodded and put their tags back on before embarking down the dark path. August lead the team in silence for a few minutes, worried that anything might give away their position. Ariadne spoke up through the silence.
"Is everything ok? You've been unusually quiet since we've gotten down here." She asked August. In truth, August was terrified. There was nothing about what they were doing at that very moment that made August happy. They were literally walking to Death's door, in an underground cave with almost no light and where everything wants to kill them if they were to be found out. August wished she could have extended Helios if only to be comforted by it's glow, but knew that it was too risky. Any sign of a living mortal was a bad sign.
"Everything is fine." August responded, though it came out fast and forced.
"I'm freaking out too y'know." Ed said, taking up the back of the line. "It's not like you and I are that different in the long run. We both fear the same things."
"If I let myself be scared, it will only mean a mid-battle freak out." August took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down and continued. "I appreciate you guys trying to help, but I just need to not think."
"The best way to not think is to keep talking." Ariadne suggested, appearing by August's side. August almost felt better looking into her gray eyes.
"Alright, what do you suggest we talk about?" August asked, not really interested.
"Anything. Name the topic." Ariadne waited as August thought.
"If I were to go onto your iPod right now, what would be three songs you have a hard time explaining?" August asked. Ariadne bit her lip as she thought. Ed answered first though.
"The theme song to Dawson's Creek, No Strings Attached by Nsync, and Soulja Boy Tell 'em. Don't judge me." August laughed at Ed's confession, but knew him too well to think that he liked specifically that kind of music.
"Can we just leave it at I have the entire Glee Christmas album on mine and leave it at that?" Ariadne asked sheepishly. Ed and August both laughed at that.
"Ok my turn. Mine are…" Before August could finish, she felt the floor move underneath her feet. She had grown up in LA and knew that when the ground moved, it was an earthquake. "Guys, I think we may be in the middle of an earthquake!" August shouted, trying to find a way to get shelter from under the cave ceiling that may collapse.
"August, I hate to break it to you, but that ain't no earthquake." Ed almost whispered. August looked at the ground, still shaking and cracking, and saw skeleton hands clawing their way out of the cracks. Pulling themselves up from the ground, three undead warriors materialized and formed together, all dressed in armor made from what looked like the same type of metal that Nico's tile was forged from.
"Intruders! You may have tricked the boatman and the pavilion, but we know our own magic when we sense it. You will die for trespassing, on Royal orders of our king!" One of them said in an inhuman, guttural voice. August assumed he was the leader by the silver trim around his armor.
"And who the hell are you?" August asked, drawing Helios and ready to fight.
"We're the Knights of the Dead, and we don't take kindly to trespassers." As soon as the leader finished his sentence, all three of them jumped into battle.
One fine day in the middle of the night, two dead boys got up to fight...