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Chapter 1

A Deal With the Devil

Black marble walls surrounded Percy, a bronze floor beneath his feet. In front of him was a horrid throne of human bones fused together. Seated on the throne was a figure that Percy had hoped he would never see again.

Hades, the Lord of the Dead.

He looked exactly as he had a month ago when Percy had been in the Underworld for his quest with albino skin, black silk robes, and a crown of gold upon his head of shoulder-length jet-black hair.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Percy beat him to it. "What do you want?"

"I shall forgive your disrespect this once, nephew," Hades said lowly. "Do not presume to interrupt me again or I will ensure that you regret the day you were born."

Percy glared at him.

"Look, I don't know if you've heard," he said angrily, "but I was just bitten by a pit scorpion a few minutes ago, and I'm either already dead – and if so, then I really hope this isn't my afterlife – or I'm passed out and you're invading my dreams when I really wish you wouldn't."

Hades gave Percy a flat look. "I am well aware of your current predicament — it is because of your situation that I have summoned you here in the first place, Percy Jackson. I have an offer for you."

"What could I possibly do for you, now?" Percy asked incredulously. "It wasn't enough to save your precious helmet, but now you have another quest for me?"

"A quest, no." Hades's eyes glinted. "An offer. One I am sure you will accept."

"Well you already said you couldn't give me my mother back," pain shot through Percy's chest at the thought of his mother – an echo of the blinding flash and eardrum-shattering boom that had killed her filled his mind, "so I don't see why I should accept any offer you give me."

"No, I cannot give you back your mother." Hades looked genuinely regretful and upset about it, which confused Percy. "What I can do is something much more important, in the grand scheme of things."

Percy was still furious, considering everything that had happened, but he was willing to hear Hades out – it wasn't as if he had a choice, really. "And what's that?"

"I can give you power and the tools you need to get your revenge on the one who has caused all of your troubles," Hades told him in a slow, silky tone. "Luke Castellan."

Fury raged through Percy like a hurricane. That traitor had pretended to be his friend – the only demigod at Camp Half-Blood to do so until the quest with Annabeth, but even she had been a bit distant with him because of the Athena-Poseidon rivalry, which was frankly stupid, in Percy's opinion. Why were they expected to hold a grudge against people simply because the parents who ignored them for their entire lives didn't know how to get along after four thousand years?

Things had only gotten worse since their return from the quest. With his mother dead, Percy had nowhere to go, so he had thrown himself into training. He ate and slept, but other than that, he could almost always be found in the sword arena, slashing dummies to pieces.

But Percy knew better than to trust Hades without question.

"What do you get out of this?" he asked. "Why should I trust you when you tried to kill me?"

"I am afraid that you are incorrect once again, nephew," Hades drawled. "I have never once tried to kill you. Ah-ah!" he added, raising a hand when Percy went to interrupt. "I swear that I have not. Yes, I sent Alecto to your school, but she was only meant to gather information and report back to me. She showed you her true self in an attempt to intimidate you – without realizing that you knew nothing."

"You expect me to believe that?" Percy said incredulously. "She tried to rip my face off!"

"Irrelevant," Hades dismissed. "Regardless of what happened, she was under orders not to kill you. I had no desire to start a war with Poseidon for killing his only child."

"What about the Minotaur?" Percy demanded, ignoring the mention of his father.

Hades's eyes softened ever so slightly.

"Asterion was only meant to kidnap your mother," he explained. "I do not know why he decided to attempt to kill you, as well, but I suspect that my father has something to do with it. Had I truly wished you dead, you would have been pursued by my legions as Thalia Grace was."

At least that made sense.

"Unlike my youngest brother," Hades continued, "I am not so deluded as to ignore the signs that the Titan Lord is returning to power, especially not when recent events are taken into account. While I do not care for the continued rule of the Olympians —"

"I can't blame you," Percy muttered. He didn't care much for Olympus, either, after the king of the gods murdered his mother and his father had barely acknowledged him the one time they had met in person. The only other Olympian he had met was Dionysus, and the fat drunk had hardly made a good impression on Percy, reminding him as much as he did of Smelly Gabe.

"— but I have no desire to see my father returned to power," Hades finished. "It would mean even more troubles for the Underworld when it is still far too crowded from the two world wars because those pesky mortals don't seem to know how to just… stop killing each other!"

Hades sounded so exhausted that Percy couldn't help but feel pity for him. He easily recalled how crowded the Fields of Asphodel had been, the lines of souls awaiting judgement, the lobby up in DOA Recording Studios – all filled to the brink with the dead.

"So what do you get out of this deal?" Percy asked.

"In return for my helping you gain power and your revenge," Hades said, "you will become my champion and bring respect to the House of Hades. You will represent and act in my name in the mortal world. Together, we will show Olympus just why they made a mistake in separating me from my own family for reasons beyond my control."

It sounded like a pretty good deal, if Percy was honest with himself. But he didn't like the idea of being someone else's puppet.

That was when Hades brought out the deal-cincher.

"And… you will be able to see your mother."

Percy's focus shot back to Hades's onyx eyes from where they had been eyeing the intricate details carved into the walls – Stupid ADHD, he cursed– positive he hadn't heard correctly.

"I cannot allow you to see her often," Hades admitted. "But once per month shall be infrequent enough as to avoid drawing the attention of higher powers who would put a stop to it."

Percy was silent for a while as he contemplated.

"How do I know you're being honest?" he asked.

Hades didn't look surprised. If anything, he looked impressed and approving.

"I swear upon the River Styx that my offer is genuine and every word I have spoken has been the truth," he vowed.

Even countless miles beneath the surface they could hear the clap of thunder that sealed the oath and proved the validity of Hades' offer.

Percy let a smile cross his face.

"I agree to your terms," he said.

Hades clapped his hands together. "Excellent! I shall send Alecto to retrieve you from your cabin after you have finished your packing. We will begin your training in the morning."

"What about the Ancient Laws?" Percy asked. "Aren't you forbidden from helping mortals?"

Hades rolled his eyes. "That is a foolish law that Zeus created to display his power and authority over Olympus. I am no Olympian, and thus it does not apply to me. Besides," he added with a sly smirk, "how will Zeus know if he cannot enter my domain without permission that I shall never grant, even if he were to request it?"

Percy snorted. "Good point, I guess."

He wasn't too happy to learn that technically Poseidon could have been a bigger part of his life as he grew up, but the hope and joy of seeing his mother again pushed it aside.

"You are waking," Hades said. "Good luck, my champion."

Percy woke with a drinking straw in his mouth. He was sipping something that tasted like liquid chocolate-chip cookies.

Nectar.

He opened his eyes.

He was propped up in bed in the sickroom of the Big House, his right hand bandaged like a club from where the scorpion had stung him. Argus, the hundred-eyed security, stood guard in the corner. Annabeth sat next to him, holding his nectar glass and dabbing a washcloth on his forehead.

"Here we are again," he said.

"You idiot," Annabeth said, which was how Percy knew she was relieved. "You were green and turning grey when we found you. If it weren't for Chiron's healing…"

"Now, now," Chiron's voice said. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit."

He was sitting near the foot of the bed in human form, his horse half compacted into his magical wheelchair, his upper half dressed in a coat and tie. He smiled, but his face looked weary and pale, the way it did when he'd been up all night grading Latin papers.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Like my insides have been froze, then microwaved."

"Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened."

Between sips of nectar, Percy told them the story of Luke's betrayal.

The room was quiet for a long time.

"I can't believe that Luke…" Annabeth's voice faltered. "I mean, he was never the same after his quest… But this?"

"This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron murmured. "I will go at once."

If Percy hadn't made that deal with Hades, he knew he would be trying to get out of bed as soon as possible. However, knowing that he was going to be starting his new training with a god in the morning, he was quite content to rest as much as possible.

"Chiron…" he said, "your prophecy from the Oracle… it was about Kronos, wasn't it?"

Chiron glanced nervously at the ceiling. "Percy, it isn't my place –"

"You've been ordered not to talk to me about it, haven't you?"

His sympathetic, sad eyes were answer enough. Percy was starting to get sick of Zeus bossing everyone around, keeping secrets and ignoring very real problems for no reason.

"You will be a great hero, child," Chiron said. "I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you…"

Thunder boomed overhead, rattling the windows.

"All right!" Chiron shouted. "Fine!"

He sighed in frustration. "The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing."

He looked intently at Percy. "You must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come."

Sooner than you might think, Percy thought.

Chiron put his hand on Percy's ankle. "You must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice…" Although Percy got the feeling that he had a very definite opinion, and it was taking all of his power not to give his advice. "… But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. The camp can provide if you choose the latter. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision."

Percy had already made his decision, but Chiron wouldn't know until he was already gone.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Chiron promised. "Argus will watch over you."

He glanced at Annabeth. "Oh, and, my dear… whenever you're ready, they're here."

"Who's here?" Percy asked.

Nobody answered – just like every other time Percy asked a question. That was another reason for accepting Hades' offer: the Lord of the Dead had kept no secrets from him and answered every question that Percy had asked as honestly as he could.

Chiron rolled himself out of the room. Percy could hear the wheels of his chair clunk carefully down the front steps, two at a time.

Annabeth studied the ice in Percy's drink.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"Nothing." She set the glass on the table. "I… just took your advice about something. You… um… need anything?"

"Yeah. Help me up. I want to go outside."

"Percy, that isn't a good idea."

He slid his legs out of bed. Annabeth caught him before he could crumple to the floor. A wave of nausea rolled over him.

Annabeth said, "I told you…"

Percy resisted the urge to snap at her. She was helping him walk, and he really needed to make his way back to Cabin Three to pack what few belongings he had before Hades' Fury arrived to take him down to the Underworld.

A sentence Percy would never in his wildest dreams believe in any other circumstance.

He managed a step forward. Then another, still leaning heavily on Annabeth. Argus followed them outside, but kept his distance.

By the time they reached the porch, Percy's face was beaded with sweat. His stomach had twisted into knots, but he had managed to make it all the way to the railing.

It was dusk. The camp looked completely deserted. The cabins were dark and the volleyball pit silent. No canoes cut the surface of the lake. Beyond the woods and the strawberry fields, the Long Island Sound glittered in the last light of the sun.

"What are you going to do?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know," Percy lied.

Annabeth pursed her lips, then said quietly, "I'm going home for the year, Percy."

It almost sounded like she expected that to influence his decision.

"You mean, to your dad's?"

She pointed towards the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Next to Thalia's pine tree, at the very edge of the camp's magical boundaries, a family stood silhouetted – two little children, a woman, and a tall man with blond hair. They seemed to be waiting. The man was holding a backpack that looked like the one Annabeth had got from Waterland in Denver.

"I wrote him a letter when we got back," Annabeth said. "Just like you suggested. I told him… I was sorry. I'd come home for the school year if he still wanted me. He wrote back immediately. We decided… we'd give it another try."

And she was only just now telling him? She had known for weeks that she, Percy's only friend in camp now that Grover was gone on his search for Pan, was going to be leaving and she hadn't thought to tell him until the very last day when it would have been too late, had he not been stung by the scorpion?

"You won't try anything stupid during the school year, will you?" she asked. "At least… not without sending me an Iris-message?"

Maybe three weeks after it's done, Percy thought bitterly.

He managed a weak smile. "I won't go looking for trouble."

It would likely find him.

"When I get back next summer," she said, "we'll hunt down Luke. We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?"

Percy wasn't so sure that was a good idea, so he just nodded. It wasn't hard to fake that he was too tired for any other reaction.

"Take care, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth told him. "Keep your eyes open."

"You too," Percy said, hiding the hurt he felt at the 'nickname'. He had spent his entire life being called stupid and all other sorts of names, and she knew that, so it really hurt that she would jokingly call him something similar.

He watched her walk up the hill and join her family. She gave her father an awkward hug and looked back at the valley one last time. She touched Thalia's pine tree, then allowed herself to be led over the crest and into the mortal world.

Percy felt truly alone for the first time. One of his friends had tried to kill him, another was only-the-gods-knew where, the third had just left for ten months, and his mother was dead…

He looked out at Long Island Sound, wondering if his father cared about him. Poseidon hadn't said a word to him when he had returned Zeus's master bolt a month ago – at least, none after Zeus left to "cleanse the mortal taint" from his super-stick – and Percy had left after a few moments of uncomfortable silence, waiting for a dismissal that had never come.

Brushing those thoughts aside, Percy asked Argus to take him down to Cabin Three so he could get some rest.

Once Argus had left, comfortable with the knowledge that Percy was in bed, Percy shakily got to his feet and began to pack his bags, taking all of his few remaining belongings with him. He quickly wrote a note to Chiron explaining that he just needed to be on his own for a while and figure some things out, but not to worry.

Percy doubted it would work and expected to receive an Iris-message before too long.

He had just finished when the Fury who had once been Mrs. Dodds, his sixth-grade algebra teacher, emerged from the shadows in one corner.

"Hey, Mrs. Dodds," Percy said.

She snarled. "You are fortunate that Lord Hades has forbidden me from harming you, Percy Jackson, or you would not still be standing."

Percy rolled his eyes and hefted his backpack onto one shoulder with a wince.

"Yeah, whatever, let's go, already."

She grinned mischievously at him and latched onto him tightly. They melted into the shadows, and Percy felt colder than he had ever felt in his life, unable to see anything around him, the only way he knew he was alive being the touch of Alecto's claws, the cold shivers running up his spine, the wind making his face feel like it was peeling off, and the strange noises in his ears.

And then he was collapsing onto a stone floor.

Alecto cackled before disappearing.

"I suppose a gentle landing was too much to ask for," Percy grumbled.

"She is not your biggest fan, at the moment," said the familiar drawl of Hades.

Percy looked up to see the god himself standing in the doorway to the room he was in. He gazed around the room to find a large king-sized bed against the wall opposite the door, a bookshelf on one side and a desk on the other. Against one wall was a door that led to a bathroom, and the other led to a walk-in closet filled with clothes. The room was lit by burning green torches.

"This will be your room, so long as you remain here," Hades told him. "You will rest for tonight, and I will have a healer attend to your injuries. They are much more well-acquainted with pit scorpion venom than Chiron, and thus will be able to cure you faster."

"Thank you," Percy said sincerely.

"Get some rest," Hades suggested. "Tomorrow will be a long day."

He left the room, closing the door behind him.

Uncaring that he was in his filthy camp clothes, Percy crawled over to the bed and hauled himself up onto the very soft mattress and under the extremely comfortable covers. He sighed with pleasure, having never been in a more perfect bed in his life.

He fell asleep before his eyes were even closed.

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