Chapter 19

"Customers!" A voice boomed from the inside the store making the four of them jump.

Walking from the inside of the store was a raptor in a leisure suit that looked like it came from the Lotus Hotel. It looked like it belonged in the 70s. He was seven feet tall, with absolutely no hair. He had gray, leathery skin, thick-lidded eyes, and a cold, reptilian smile. He was moving towards them slowly.

"Welcome! My name is Crusty," he said with a tartar yellow smile.

"Ahhh! So that's what the sign said!" Percy exclaimed.

Annabeth elbowed him.

"Ow!" Percy complained.

Annabeth ignored him. "Sorry about my friend here. He can't read very well. Anyway, we're here to ask for directions."

The salesman seemed sceptical. "You mean hide from those no good kids?" He grumbled. "They hang around every night. I get a lot of people here thanks to them."

"Oh hell no! We took care of them." Naruto said.

"Well, good for you then. Say, you want to look at a water bed?" Crusty offered.

"We're not here for–" Annabeth tried to protest.

Crusty ignored her. He placed a hand on Percy's shoulder and steered him further inside the store.

"Hey!" Percy protested.

The daughter of Athena sighed in frustration.

While they were walking, Naruto asked, "Uhh guys, don't you think Crusty is short for something?"

"Hmmm…" Annabeth tried to think.

As the both blondes were thinking, Grover dove into one of the mattresses. "Guys! This is cool! We can get massages." He urged his friends.

"Hmmm," Crusty said as he was stroking his chin. "Almost, almost."

"Almost what?" Percy asked.

Crusty ignored him. Instead he turned to Annabeth and showed her to another mattress. "Do me a favour and try this one here, honey. Might fit."

"What do you mean might fit?" Naruto asked.

Again, Crusty didn't reply. He just patted Annabeth on the shoulder and led over to the Safari Deluxe model with teakwood lions carved into the frame and a leopard-patterned comforter and urged her to lie down. When she refused to do so, Crusty pushed her.

"Hey!" She protested.

Crusty snapped his fingers. "Ergo!"

Ropes sprang from the sides of the bed, lashing around Annabeth, holding her to the mattress.

Grover tried to get up, the same thing happened to his black satin mattress while it was shaking from his million-hand massage. "N-not c-c-cool!" he yelled. "N-not c-cool a-at all!"

The giant looked at Annabeth, then at the duo.

They both took a step back, but his hand shot out and clamped both of them around the back of the neck – well at least he tried, for Naruto. The blonde was way too slippery for Crusty to catch.

"Let them go!" Naruto demanded.

"Oh, sure, sure, eventually. I just have to make them fit first.

"What?" was the blonde's puzzled response.

"All the beds are exactly six feet long. Your friends here are too short. I got to make them fit."

The two kept struggling.

"I can't stand imperfect measurments. Crusty muttered. "Ergo!"

A new set of ropes leaped out from the top and bottom of the beds, wrapping around Grover and Annabeth's ankles, then around their armpits. The ropes started tightening, pulling them from both ends.

"Don't worry," Crusty told the two, "These are stretching jobs. Maybe three extra inches on their spines. They might even live. Now why don't we find a bed you like, huh?"

"Percy! Naruto!" Grover yelled.

Percy's mind was racing. He was trying to think of a way to free his friends, preferably with Naruto's help. He knew he couldn't take the Crusty on his own. If he tried to reach for his sword now, Crusty would snap his neck, easily.

"So, your name's not Crusty, is it?" Percy asked.

The giant shook his head. "No, it's–"

Naruto spoke up. "Procrustes, the Stretcher. I imagine that name won't work for your business."

Crusty's eyes lit up. "Yeah! That's why I go as Crusty."

"It has a nice ring to it." Percy commented.

"You guys think so?" the giant asked.

Both boys nodded.

"You know what? Since you're such a good host, the least we can do is check out the water beds." Naruto said.

Crusty seemed to be elated and led the two boys to the next water bed.

"What are you guys doing?!" Annabeth complained. "A little help here!"

Naruto winked at her as a clone appeared behind him and made its way to Annabeth and Grover to free them.

Crusty didn't seem to notice since he was preoccupied explaining the bed's specifications.

After the giant was done, Naruto said, "These beds are amazing and all, but not all your customers are six feet, I assume?"

Crusty shook his head, "Unfortunately not. They are so inconsiderate. Then, they go complaining about the fitting."

"Uhmm, so what about if the customer is over six feet?" Percy asked.

"Easy!" Crusty said as he let go of Percy to get his double bladed axe. "I just– Hey!"

He didn't get to finish. Naruto and the clone he made earlier pushed Crusty into a water bed. Before he could get up, Percy snapped his fingers and shouted "Ergo!" Ropes lashed around the giant securing him onto the mattress.

"Center him just right." Naruto said.

The ropes readjusted themselves at the shinobi's command. Crusty's whole head stuck out the top. His feet stuck out the bottom.

"No! Wait! We can talk about this!" Crusty tried to bargain.

"Percy, will you do the honours?" Naruto said.

"With pleasure." Percy uncapped his pen.

"You drive a hard bargain," he told Percy. "I'll give you a discount, 30% off on selected floor models!"

"I think I'll start with the top." Percy raised his sword.

"No money down! No interest for six months!" Crusty added.

"Just do it already seaweed brain!" Annabeth scolded as she walked up to the too.

Percy swung his sword at Crusty's head.

"You look taller." Naruto joked.

"Ha ha very funny." Annabeth said.

Grover went to look at the bulletin board behind Crusty's sales desk. There was an advertisement for Hermes Delivery Service, and another for the All-New Compendium of L.A. Area Monsters: The only Monstrous Yellow Pages you'll ever need! Under that, a bright orange flier for DOA Recording Studios, offering commissions for heroes' souls. The flier said, 'We are always looking for new talent!' DOA's address was right underneath with a map.

"Guys, I know where the studio is!" The satyr told his friends.

"Where?" Percy asked as he recapped his sword.

"It's a block from here." Grover said showing the map.

"Cool, then let's go." Naruto said.

When the blonde said that, the group heard the doors open and two female voices talking to each other.

Naruto drew a kunai and hid behind the mattresses. This prompted his friends to draw their own weapons and scurry off to hide. He signalled his friends to stay quiet. Due to the commotion of the group, a pen fell from the desk revealing their presence inside the store.

The two girls became cautious drew their weapons and shouted, "We know you're there. Come out!"

The demigods came out of hiding to face them with weapons still drawn.

In front of them were two girls maybe about 14 years of age wearing silver jackets and camo pants. They were holding their bows ready to fire.

As soon as the girls saw Naruto, they lowered their bow and said, "Wait! You! What are you doing here?"

Grover expression instantly became dreamy at the sight of them, while Annabeth had a relieved look on her face. For Percy, well, he was looking clueless at who the new people were.

"I'm here on a quest with my friends. Wait, you know me?" The blonde inquired.

"Yes of course. There's a lot of talk around the Hunt about you ever since our mistress claimed you." One of them answered.

"Wait, by Hunt you mean, my mom's Hunt?" Naruto asked.

"Duhh, of course. What else?" The other hunter answered, then looked him up and down. "You don't look like much. All the talk around camp was nothing like the real thing."

"Phoebe! You don't want the Lady to hear you saying that." The first one scolded.

"I know you're thinking the same thing, Liz." Phoebe replied.

"Yeah! But still…"

Annabeth decided to stop their argument. "Ahem! So, what are you girls doing here?" She asked.

"We came to slay a giant." Liz answered.

"You mean Crusty?" Percy asked.

Both girls nodded.

"Yeah about that…" Naruto said. "We already took care of him."

"What?!" Phoebe exclaimed. "Now you come and take our jobs too?"

"No, it's not like that." Annabeth explained. "We got caught so they freed us."

"Is it true?" Phoebe asked?

All of them nodded, except for Grover who was still looking at the girls dreamily.

"Anyway, it was nice to meet you, and sorry about my sudden arrival. I take it you girls were stirred up when you heard the news." Naruto said.

"Are you kidding?" Phoebe said. "A lot of the hunters would very much like to have your head. They still can't accept that you are the Lady's son."

"Oh… That's a bummer." Naruto looked down with sadness on his face. "I was thinking that you guys could be my sisters or something like that."

He looked up to them, this time with a smile, "So, I still have to gain your trust, and I know you don't have much of an opinion on boys, but I would really like to get along with you guys."

"We will have to see. For now, you have quest am I right?" Liz reminded.

"Oh yeah! Almost forgot!"

"We should really get going. We still have to get to the underworld." Annabeth said.

Naruto bid them farewell with a huge smile on his face. "I will be seeing you again right?"

Both of them nodded and watched the demigods go on their way."

"Well that was unexpected." Liz commented.

"I'm not sure about him yet." Phoebe said. "He doesn't seem as arrogant as other boys, tho."

"He will still have to prove himself to the Hunt for our sisters to accept him."

"Agreed. Come on! Lady Artemis will be thrilled at who we ran into today."

Liz nodded.

AT THE RECORDING STUDIO

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

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

"Oh goody!" was all they were thinking as they entered the studio.

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.

Percy turned to his friends. "Okay. Who's ready to whoop some Underworld butt?"

"With that amazing plan you said earlier." Naruto said.

"Y-yeah, about that." Grover tried to protest.

"Are you sure the plan would work?" Annabeth asked.

"Guys, guys, I think we should trust in Percy's plan." Naruto offered. "I mean we got here with each other's help, and I don't think we would go anywhere if we stop trusting each other now."

"Right." Annabeth said. "I'm sorry Percy. I trust you. I trust all of you."

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."

Percy looked at his friends, and felt really grateful. Over the course of their journey, they have almost died, felt hungry together, and evaded the police. Here they are now, about to enter the Underworld, and they were still trying to be brave.

Naruto placed a hand one Percy's shoulder. "Lead the way, captain."

Percy held the pearls in his pockets. "Let's go. We got this."

They walked inside the DOA lobby.

Muzak played softly on hidden speakers. The carpet and walls were steel grey. Pencil cacti 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 their eyes, the demigods could see them all just fine, but when they focused on any one of them in particular, they started looking ... transparent. They could see right through their bodies.

They approached the security guards desk which was raised so they 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.

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

"Do I look like a centaur to you?" The security guard said.

Annabeth sighed.

"Uhh Percy, we've been through that back in Yancy, remember?" Naruto whispered to his dyslexic friend.

The attendant leaned across the desk. There was in his glasses except the group's reflection, but his smile was sweet and cold

"Can you not read, young lad, like your friend here?" He had a strange British-style accent, but it sounded like it was his second language. "Tell me, mate, do I look like a centaur?"

"N-no." Percy slowly replied.

"Sir," he added smoothly.

"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."

"Charon." Percy repeated.

"Amazing! Now all of you say Mr. Charon."

"But…" Annabeth and Grover tried to protest, but Charon insisted. The two decided to relent to avoid any trouble.

"Mr. Charon," all of them said save for Naruto who was biting his lip trying not to laugh.

Charon noticed this, so he turned to the blonde and said, "I didn't hear you there, young lad."

Annabeth elbowed him.

"Oh right, sorry." Naruto said. "Mr. Charon."

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

Percy opened his mouth to speak, but the question was stuck in his stomach. He turned to his friends for support.

"We want to go to the Underworld." It was Annabeth who answered.

Charon's mouth twitched. His mind went blank for a second.

"Is everything alright, sir?" Annabeth asked.

Charon shook his head back to reality. "Sorry sorry, I'm just used to the usual screaming, like 'There must be a mistake, Mr. Charon.' It's just refreshing."

"It is?" Annabeth asked, not expecting his response.

"Yep, mates. Straightforward and honest, just how I like it." Charon said. "So how did you die, then?"

Annabeth nudged Grover.

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

"All four of you?" Charon asked.

"Not for me! I was taking a walk when a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way home. Somewhere along the way, I got lost on the path of life, so I didn't see the cliff in front of me." Naruto explained.

That left Charon and his friends' mouth hanging. "Mate, I don't know if that was a lie or not, but wow."

After taking in Naruto's story, Charon asked Annabeth and Percy. "What about you two? Did you drown with your friend here?"

"I…uh...died when my bus blew up." Percy answered.

"Uhm…I ate some stranger's food which was…uh…poisoned." Annabeth answered.

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." Percy set three golden drachmas on the counter, from his pocket.

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

His fingers hovered greedily over the coins.

Then Charon realized something and looked at Percy "Here now," he said. "You couldn't read my name correctly. Are you dyslexic, lad?"

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

Charon leaned forward and took a sniff. "You're not dead. I should've known. You're a godling. All of you are! Get out of here or go ACTUALLY die if you really want to pass through."

Naruto discretely unsealed one of the scrolls on his pouch and brought out a small cloth bag filled with drachmas. He opened it to reveal the contents to Charon. "Even if we have more of this?"

"Do you think I can be bought godling?" Charon raised his voice, but he was looking at the bag of drachmas. "Say, how much is in that thing anyway?" He asked curiously.

"I guess we'll never know." Naruto said pocketing the cloth bag and turned to go, with his friend following his lead.

"It's a shame too; we have more to offer you." Percy said letting the coins run through his fingers in his pockets.

"Tsk tsk, I bet your boss doesn't pay you enough." Annabeth added trying to sound confident.

That did it. "Wait!" Charon said as the group was almost at the door. "We can talk about this."

Naruto broke into a mischievous grin, with back still turned. "Gotcha." He thought.

The group turned back to the counter. "We're listening." The blonde said.

"You said my boss doesn't pay me enough, lass? 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," Annabeth agreed. "A little appreciation. Respect. Good pay."

With every word she said, Naruto taunted Charon by throwing it up and down.

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

"We could mention a pay raise while I'm talking to Hades." Percy added.

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

"There we are." Naruto said and tossed the cloth bag to Charon, who greedily caught it in the air.

He pocketed the bag and said, "Come along."

The group pushed through the crowd of waiting spirits, who started grabbing at the demigod's clothes like the wind, their voices whispering things no one could decipher. Charon shoved them out of the way, grumbling, "Freeloaders."

He escorted them 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 them 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?"

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

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

"Nothing," Charon said.

"For how long?"

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

"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."

"Oh, I doubt that." Naruto said causing everyone to look at him.

"You're naïve, demigod." Charon chastised. "Where we're going…"

"No," Percy cut him off. "We'll survive. We have to."

Suddenly, everyone got a dizzy feeling. The feeling they had of going down disappeared. Now, they were going forward. The air around them turned misty, and the spirits around them started changing shape. Their modern clothes flickered, turning into grey hooded robes. The floor of the elevator began swaying.

Even Charon's clothes changed. His Italian suit was replaced by a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses were gone, and his eye sockets were totally dark, full of night and death and despair.

"Well?" Charon asked Percy, who was staring at him.

"Nothing," Percy managed.

The floor kept swaying.

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

Apparently, even the elevator has changed. Instead, they were standing in a wooden barge. Charon was poling the barge across a dark, oily river, swirling with bones, dead fish, and other, stranger things plastic dolls, crushed car-nations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

"The River Styx," Naruto and Annabeth said together.

The two of them looked at each other for a second, but Annabeth blushed and looked away. She managed to say, "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."

Naruto, then remembered his own dream that he left in the Elemental Nation. He thought about it, and if ever he could still achieve it.

As they sailed, mist curled off the filthy water. Above them, almost lost in the gloom, was a ceiling of stalactites. Ahead, the far shore glimmered with greenish light, the colour of poison.

Percy was starting to panic as they got closer. Annabeth, too, was feeling the same, so she grabbed Percy hand. In normal circumstances, this would be embarrassing for the both of them, but given the situation, they didn't give it much thought. (Naruto didn't notice this since he was lost in his thoughts.)

A little while longer, 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 the eye could see. A sound came from somewhere nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones-the howl of a large animal.

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

"Good thing we have the plan." Percy said.

The boat they were in slid into black sand, and everyone began to disembark.

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."

That didn't help the demigods' moods.

The group followed the spirits up a well-worn path until they reached the gates of the Underworld. So far, everything that Naruto has seen in the Underworld is within his expectations. When they reached the gates, he was surprised to see that it looked so modern. (Like a cross between a Jersey Turnpike and Airport Security as Percy had said)

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.

The howling they heard earlier was really loud now, but none of them could see where it was coming from. Naruto figured it was coming from Cerberus who was supposed to be guarding the gates of the Underworld.

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.

"It looks like a line in the DMV." Grover said.

The other two boys nodded.

"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?" Percy asked.

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

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

"Harsh," Percy said.

"If you think that's harsh, what do you call the Fields of Punishment?" Naruto said.

"Hey guys look!" Grover pointed out a soul getting frisked at a security desk. "It's the preacher from the news."

"What are they going to do to him?" Percy asked after he remembered who he was.

"Special punishment?" Naruto asked.

Grover nodded. "Those who are really bad get Hades' special attention. The Kindly Ones will set up eternal torture for him."

That sent a shiver down Naruto and Percy's spines. They remembered Mrs. Dodds and their encounter with her. They were not excited to see her again.

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

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."

They were getting 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 them, the green mist shimmered. Standing just where the path split into three lanes was an enormous shadowy monster.

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N: Hey guys. Hopefully, I get to continue uploading new chapters from now on.