Thanks also to Braveheart532 who also reviewed the chapter before my last chapter
PART 3. CHAPTER 11.
A Portal to the Below-World
I hesitantly jumped off the hellhound and moved behind Nico. It was dark, strange down here. Everything was cold, and Nico and the hellhound seemed nervous about something, like they were feeling or hearing things, things no one else understood. He placed his hand on the door and pushed open, and I heard a deep voice that made us all jump, "Hello, son,"
Nico hesitantly walked in, and when I recognized the voice, I begged I stay outside, "C'mon, Ethan," Percy begged me, but I sat in my spot and shook my head.
But Percy didn't give me much of a choice, he grabbed my hand and dragged me in. I stood and looked up, thankfully Hades still had not noticed me yet, he was too persistent on Nico, staring him down hard like an eagle. Nico almost looked as though he were shuddering, and I took my time to carefully hide behind the hellhound. I sat down with my back against the hound as they all talked.
"Nico," I could feel the presence of Hades rising and moving towards his son, "So long since I've seen either you or your sister. I know why you are all here, and there is no soul for you to exchange." I closed my eyes tightly and begged for Nico not to bring me up, but his mouth stayed closed, and no one except the god spoke a single word. "You must show me a soul to trade before I give any of you passage to see your friend."
Finally, Percy spoke, "Why are you so rude to us? We haven't done anything wrong!"
Hades roared in laughter, "Nothing wrong, that's a good one," he shook it off and got back to serious once more. "You have done much more than you can imagine, Mr. Jackson. You are breaking almost every possible rule for interrupting me in the first place, entering my lair with no permission. Plus, you want to attempt to bring someone back. Ha! I have been behind everything you are trying to set. I was there when you decided to be the first 'half-blood' couple, so I helped Kronos kill your friend so it could never happen. Then, you wanted to be the first to bring someone back? Well, then I just-"
Hades stopped, and I could feel his presence growing stronger, he was walking towards me. He moved around the hellhound and stopped. I looked to my right and saw him standing there. He walked over and grabbed me by the back of the collar of my shirt, carrying me like a kitten.
He threw me on the floor, and I could feel my arm crackling under me, the pain shot up and told my brain this exact message: Dude, this fucking thing is broken!
I leaned to my other side and got up and sluggishly pushed myself up to a single knee and looked at Hades before I fell over again and started to breath heavily. "You tried to defy my power once, it shall never happen again!"
"But he's the soul we wanted to transfer!" Thalia cried. I felt like I was being used all of a sudden.
"This thing?" Hades mocked. "This soul wouldn't be worth the life of a fly, but I guess if you can convince your friend then we shall make the transfer. But no matter the outcome, your young friend Ethan," he said my name as though it were a curse word, "shall still lose his life,"
"I'll stay here" Nico told Percy, "I'll keep Mrs. O'Leary here too, you and Thalia go talk to Annabeth, see if you can convince her enough to come back to Earth." Nico placed his hand on Percy's shoulder and shook it, like a good friend, "Good luck,"
Hades clapped his hand and an odd portal appeared, "Step through here to get to your friend in the Elysium." he walked to me and stepped with his foot in my stomach. "You'll stay here,"
"Good luck," I coughed as Percy grabbed Thalia's hand, who looked as though she were blushing and stepped through the portal. The hellhound gave a bark in good luck too before the portal disappeared.
The next chapter might take a few days to write. It shall be incredably long, and I won't rest until it is at least four pages long on Microsoft Word.
READ AND REVIEW!
-Dj