18. ANNABETH DOES OBEDIENCE SCHOOL Piper read
"Why is that not a surprise?" Thalia muttered
"Hey!"
"You know it's true, Annie"
"Don't call me Annie" the blonde grumbled
We stood in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, looking up at gold letters etched in black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS.
Underneath, stenciled on the glass doors: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING.
Everyone looked at Nico
"Don't ask me, I have no idea why they have that on the glass either"
"It makes sense though" Nick said "who would want the living lurking with the dead?"
"But that would give away their cover" Jess responded
"Nah people might just think it's a joke or something"
It was almost midnight, but the lobby was brightly lit and full of people.
"I thought it said no living?" Piper asked
"Who said they still live?" Nico smirked
Behind the security desk sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece.
I turned to my friends. "Okay. You remember the plan. "
"The plan," Grover gulped. "Yeah. I love the plan. "
"Why do I feel like Percy was the one who thought of the plan" Jason said
Annabeth said, "What happens if the plan doesn't work?"
"Don't think negative. "
"How could you not think negative at a time like that?" Nick asked
"Right," she said. "We're entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn't think negative. "
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.
"Things aren't always what they seem" Rachel told Percy
Annabeth put her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Percy. You're right, we'll make it. It'll be fine. "
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. "
"I think you just jinxed it, Grover" Jason told him
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.
"That's what friends are for, Perce. You got my back and I got yours" Grover smiled at Percy and he smiled back remembering all the times that they had each others back.
I slipped the pearls back in my pocket. "Let's whip some Underworld butt. "
We walked inside the DOA lobby.
Music 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.
"So the ghost are just there at the lobby?" Nick asked and Percy nodded
The security guards 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.
"He's too fancy for a security guard" Amethyst muttered
"I don't think security guard is the right word to describe him Amy" Jess told her
I read the name tag, then looked at him in bewilderment. "Your name is Chiron?"
Reyna face palmed
"He hates that!" Nicol laughed
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?"
"N-no. "
"Sir," he added smoothly.
"A polite elegant security guard" Amethyst snickered
"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. "
"Amazing! Now: Mr. Charon. "
"Mr. Charon," I said.
"Why do I feel like he's teaching a kindergarten?" Hazel asked
"That's because he is" Annabeth laughed while Percy pouted
"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.
"We want to go the Underworld," she said.
"Annabeth seriously?!" Thalia asked her friend
"I panicked okay!"
Charon's mouth twitched. "Well, that's refreshing. "
"Who would want to go there?!" Nick asked
"It is?" she asked.
"Duh Annabeth" Thalia facepalmed
"Oh shut up"
"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. "
At this most of the demigods in the room face palmed
"All three of you?" Charon asked. We nodded.
"You could've said pool you know?" Thalia told Grover
"I panicked!" 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. " He started to go for the coins, but I snatched them back.
"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. "
"What's the point of that? They still wouldn't have coins anyway. It's not like dead children would still grow there" Piper muttered
"Oh, but we have coins. " I set three golden drachmas on the counter, part of the stash I'd found in Crustys office desk.
"Well, now . . . " Charon moistened his lips. "Real drachmas. Real golden drachmas. I haven't seen these in . . . "
His fingers hovered greedily over the coins.
We were so close.
"Oh no"
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?"
"Say no say no say no" Leo chanted
"No," I said. "Im dead. "
"No service, no tip. " I tried to sound braver than I felt.
"Don't we all go through a moment like that?" Rachel asked "To sound brave even if we're really scared"
Everyone in the room nodded in agreement
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. "
at this Alex leaned a little forward and smirked he think he knows what Percy's trying to do.
I held up the entire bag from Crustys stash. I took out a fistful of drachmas and let the coins spill through my fingers.
"Nice" Alex said "I see what you're trying to do"
Charons growl changed into something more like a lions purr. "Do you think I can be bought, godling? Eh . . . just out of curiosity, how much have you got there?"
"Uh huh you got him alright" Alex told Percy
"A lot," I said. "I bet Hades doesn't pay you well enough for such hard work. " "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?"
"He does realize wearing suits isn't part of the job description?" Hazel asked
"I don't think he does" Nico said
"You deserve better," I agreed. "A little appreciation. Respect. Good pay. " 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. "
"A little?" Percy scoffed
I stacked another few coins. "I could mention a pay raise while I'm talking to Hades. "
"Did you actually?" Hazel asked
"I think I did" Percy said trying to remember "Then again, we'll find out soon"
He sighed. "The boats 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 much?" Leo commented while thinking that he should always bring a gold drachma, you know just in case.
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. "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 its your turn. You'll die soon enough, where you're going. " "Well get out alive," I said.
"And that they did" Amethyst smiled
Her parents weren't going to the land of the dead again anytime soon, and if they did they'd go in and out alive.
"Ha. " 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, Charons 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' eyes, except Charons 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. "
"More like river sick" Amethyst said "you weren't even at sea Uncle Goat boy"
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. "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. " 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. Panic closed up my throat. What was I doing here? These people around me . . . they were dead. Annabeth grabbed hold of my hand. Under normal circumstances, this would've embarrassed me,
"But at present under any circumstances that would've been practically normal" Rachel said smirking at Percy who rolled his eyes.
but I understood how she felt. She wanted reassurance that somebody else was alive on this boat.
"Feelings were alive on that boat" Jess giggled
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. "Old Three-Face is hungry," Charon said. His smile turned skeletal in the greenish light. "Bad luck for you, godlings. " 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. "
"Which he will use to buy more suits as if he actually needs it"
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.
"Seriously?" Piper muttered
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 toll booths 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 Hadess door, was nowhere to be seen. 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?"
"Seriously? Why? They're already dead anyway" Leo said
"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. "
"That will really suck to 'just have lived' to not do something, be someone that could be remembered" Trina said
As a child she always wished that she would be someone who will always be remembered or to do something or create something worth remembering for centuries.
"And do what?" Grover said, "Imagine standing in a wheat field in Kansas. Forever. " "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 YancyAcademy 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. He'd died in a police chase when his "Lamborghini for the Lord" went off a cliff. I said, "What Are 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. " 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. . . . " 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. "
"I really wonder how humans see everything" Will said "Specially with the War, I mean that was crazy how could they have seen it as less that it was?"
"Power of the Mist Will" Annabeth told him "Besides it's better that way."
"But still" Thalia agreed with Will "Don't you ever wonder what they see exactly? I mean we know they're seeing less but how less and what exactly?"
"Just know that when you tell mortals what we see in the demigod world they're going to think you're crazy." Rachel said "Trust me. I know"
"Well what if all those people 'diagnosed' as 'crazy'' are clear sighted mortals after all?" Trina said "Mortals just think they're 'crazy' as they say because they don't know about the demigod world"
"But we can't tell them that" Annabeth said "No one will believe us and besides it will be dangerous for all of us if the mortals knew the truth."
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.
"Cerberus" Nico whispered to himself thinking about his father's dog.
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, "He's a Rottweiler. "
"He should get a Rottweiler when we get home" Amy told Trina
"After we tell our parents" her sister told her I'd always imagined Cerberus as a big black mastiff. But he was obviously a purebred Rottweiler, except of course that he was twice the size of a woolly mammoth, mostly invisible, and had three heads. The dead walked right up to him—no fear at all. The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted on either side of him. The EZ DEATH spirits walked right between his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without even crouching. "I'm starting to see him 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. "
"Ugh I didn't realize being pessimistic was contagious" Rachel said
"I guess when you're with Perseus for a long time you pick up a few habits" Thalia said
The dog's middle head craned toward us. It sniffed the air and growled. "It can smell the living," I said. "But that's okay," Grover said, trembling next to me. "Because we have a plan. " "Right," Annabeth said. I'd never heard her voice sound quite so small. "A plan. "
"And a back up plan" Leo said
"And a back up plan for the back up plan" Jason continued
"And a back up plan for the back up plans back up plan" Piper finished
"Oh shut up the three of you" Annabeth growled glaring at them who immediately shut up
We moved toward the monster. 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. "
"Bad dog" Amethyst pouted "I'm taking a raincheck on that Rottweiler"
"Whatever you say lil sis" Trina giggled at her sisters antics I took the big stick out of my backpack—a bedpost I'd broken off Crustys 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.
"That's it! That's the spirit people!" Leo said standing up and clapping his hands as if he were cheering in a football game.
"Sit down, Valdez!"
"Hey, Big Fella," I called up. "I bet they don't play with you much. "
"They don't" Nico said "Unless I'm there to play with him"
"GROWWWLLLL!" "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 undivided attention. I wasn't sure that was a good thing.
"It depends actually' Nico told him
"Fetch!" I threw the stick into the gloom, a good solid throw. I heard it go ker-sploosh in the River Styx.
"Way to go, dad" Trina said rolling her eyes "Nice way to impress the dog"
Cerberus glared at me, unimpressed. His eyes were baleful and cold. So much for the plan. Cerberus was now making a new kind of growl, deeper down in his three throats. "Um," Grover said. "Percy?" "Yeah?" "I just thought you'd want to know. " "Yeah?" "Cerberus? He's saying we've got ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice. After that. . . well . . . he's hungry. " "Wait!" Annabeth said. She started rifling through her pack.
"There's mommy to save the day!" Amy cheered and at that Leo stood up again
"That's it guys! Go team!"
"I told you to sit down, Valdez and let me read"
Uh-oh, I thought.
"Yeah Uh-oh" Leo grumbled and looked at Piper
"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!" Cerberus looked as stunned as we were. All three of his 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. But instead, Cerberus licked his three sets of lips, shifted on his haunches, and sat, immediately crushing a dozen spirits who'd been passing underneath him in the EZ DEATH line. The spirits made muffled hisses as they dissipated, like the air let out of tires. Annabeth said, "Good boy!"
"I can't believe that actually worked" Nico said clearly impressed
"She's really good with dogs isn't she?" Trina whispered to her sister who nodded
She threw Cerberus the ball. He caught it in his middle mouth. It was barely big enough for him 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 his teeth like a tiny piece of gum. He made a loud, scary whimper, then dropped the ball, now slimy and bitten nearly in half, at Annabeth's feet.
"Oh my gods" to say Nico was shocked was an understatement; he didn't actually think that Cerberus would make a scary whimper at Annabeth.
"I guess everyone's afraid of Annabeth, even the dog of the dead" Will said "Good boy. " She picked up the ball, ignoring the monster spit all over it.
"Ew"
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.
A few giggles erupted in the room
"Please tell me she doesn't use that same tone on you" Percy said looking at his future daughters who immediately shook their heads
"She uses it on you though, sometimes" Trina said giggling
"Oh I remember!" Amethyst suddenly shouted "She used it to me once when I ate too much sweets and wouldn't stop"
"You and your sweet tooth" her sister said shaking her head
Grover and I inched forward warily. Cerberus started to growl. "Stay!" Annabeth ordered the monster. "If you want the ball, stay!" Cerberus whimpered, but he stayed where he 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. . . . " Grover and I walked between the monster's legs. Please, Annabeth, I prayed. Don't tell him to sit again. We made it through. Cerberus wasn't any less scary-looking from the back.
"Well that's a relief"
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.
"and that won't be the last time that you'd be amazed at Annabeth" Thalia winked at Percy
"Obedience school," she said breathlessly, and I was surprised to see there were tears in her eyes. "When I was little, at my dad's house, we had a Doberman. . . . "
"I guess that's why we have a Doberman at home" Trina told her sister who nodded
"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 painted 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?"
"I never got to bring him another ball" Annabeth said
"I could bring it to him if you'd like" Nico said
"Sure"
The monster whimpered. I didn't need to speak dog to know Cerberus was still waiting for the ball. "Good dog. I'll come visit you soon. I—I promise. " Annabeth turned to us. "Lets 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. 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.
"Uh-oh"
"Not good"
Grover murmured, "Well, Percy, what have we learned today?"
"You act like you're a teacher Grover" Rachel told him
"No" Jess said "Actually he really sounds like he's from Disney Channel. You know at the end of the show the main character would ask the kids what they learned today. Right Amy?"
"Yes. Grover the Flying Goat Boy from Disney Channel" Amy smiled "You should really write a script about that Trina"
"And then what?" Trina asked
"Then we'll sell it to disney channel!"
"Amy no"
"If you're not writing it I will" Amy huffed and pouted "It will be the next big show on Disney"
"That three-headed dogs prefer red rubber balls over sticks?" "No," Grover told me. "We've learned that your plans really, really bite!"
"Yes, yes they do" Percy said "But sometimes they work. Sometimes"
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 his new friend.
Hi guys! Finally an update yey! This took me so long and I actually didn't think I'd be able to update again. But, I really want to finish this story. See you in the next chapter and oh don't forget to leave a Review. It's been awhile but I hope you like this one.
xoxo,
Chinfev1203