A/N: Sorry for not updating sooner. That being said I have a lot planned for this story and upcoming stories in my Fate In Our Hands verse. Even A few smut stories.

Also here will be the theme regards the Crusades brought up and other aspects so don't feel offended by those sentences or just skip them, I gave an info about the fact that it will stand in the fic anything other is your doing.

XVIII. Let's play fetch

Persephone could really not understand why some people looked pale, Cerberus was a cute dog, sure he was also a vicious guardian, that she admits, but seeing how the three will be alive in the future they got through. Also she was starting to have a guess why Athena's daughter may be visiting them sometimes on her own, at lest will she get over her prejustice towards her husband.

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

"Those two colours usually look really elegant together." Silena mused to herself, but she guessed that here this was partly to represent that Lord Hades was both the God of Death and Riches.

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

"The last part can not be seen by mortals." Henry pointed out with a grin.

"I would be worried if they could see it." Will said as the others nodded their heads in agreement.

It was almost midnight,

"The best time to want for someone to go to the Underworld." Silena said with a shudder.

"Thank you for the reminder." Annabeth said, she was still worried about meeting Cerberus.

but the lobby was brightly lit and full of people. Behind the security desk sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece.

En grinned at the mentioning of her granduncle.

I turned to my friends. "Okay. You remember the plan."

Annabeth said, "What happens if the plan doesn't work?"

"We can only hope that it works, whatever it is." Malcolm told his sister.

"Don't think negative."

"Right," she said. "We're entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn't think negative."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, mostly those who had been down there.

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.

Those who knew what those pearls could do started grinning; they were a good enough backup to get away.

Annabeth put her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Percy. You're right, we'll make it. It'll be fine."

"Good, think positive." Gwen said encouragingly though Poseidon, Athena and Pan still looked slightly pale. The only ground Dionysus was calm was because he knew that his uncle was fair in most of his regards, beside that according to the legacies being here and mentioning all three in the present tense they got out.

She gave Grover a nudge.

There were a few small snickers at this.

"Oh, right!" he chimed in. "We got this far. We'll find the master bolt and save your mom. No problem."

"Let me guess, he didn't sound exactly convincing." Chris said while looking at the legacies.

"He certainly didn't." come the reply form his son.

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,

"Please don't remind me." Annabeth said with a shake of her head, she will make sure that they leave out that experience in the future.

and now they were trying to be brave for my sake, trying to make me feel better.

"We kind of owe you for saving us." Annabeth mumbled, she was really glad that Percy had been with them.

I slipped the pearls back in my pocket. "Let's whup some Underworld butt."

Hades rolled his eyes while Ace leaned closer to Lance.

"That one will have to wait till the fifth book." he whispered to his cousin who nodded his head, that part will be epic.

We walked inside the DOA lobby.

Here Persephone stopped a frown on her beautiful face.

"I find the description how it looks nice, but anything other…" here she turned to her father and uncle while giving them a cold glare. "Stop making my husband's life even harder then it already is." she snapped at the perplexed pair before continuing, her step-grandchildren and the legacies meanwhile nodded their heads in agreement at the statement while Hades started massaging his forehead as he readied himself for the next lines.

Music played softly on hidden speakers.

Apollo and his kids had some smiles on their lips, that didn't sound as a bad start.

"To bad that this had not been installed when I went down there." he whispered to Enysswe who turned her head a bit to look at him.

"Installing that in this time would have been a bit complicated and poising a band on the side of Styx would have looked weird." she whispered back. 'Beside that uncle Josef kind of went with the idea and people regard this as morbid which the Underworld can already be on its own.' she added in for herself.

The carpet and walls were steel gray. Pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather,

"Well, in a way it kind of sounds classy." Chris said carefully.

and every seat was taken.

"I already find the start of this part dreadful." Hades groaned and he just knew that it would be worse, mostly after his wife gave him a sympathetic look, the others looked just confused.

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.

"Well, that kind of sounds crowded." Connor said while Hades bit back another groan.

"No need to tell me demigod, each passed away soul creates paperwork which depending on their life, age and death moves between sixty to one hundred twenty pages which all need to be read and signed one after another and there are cases which bring twenty extra pages to look through." Hades explained in a pained tone while everyone stared at him gapping.

"Brother…just kind of how many pages do you look through each day…?" Poseidon asked carefully, even one the worst days in Atlantis was his paperwork together counted not more then like two hundred pages.

"On a good day? One thousand fifty-two, on a bad day like after war the double amount with additional tasks which require from me to do some field work to solve the problems like taking a seat as one of the Judges and such." Hades answered back at which Poseidon flinched while Persephone gave them a new glare before she continued reading.

"I would go mad having to read and write so much." Travis whispered to Connor who nodded his head.

The security guard's desk was a raised podium, so we had to look up at him.

He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-coloured skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style.

"Charon." said all children of the Night Goddess in union after hearing the description.

"Poor guy needs to do overtime again with Thanatos." Eris said while shaking her head, that incident with Atlantis put an effective stop to ending their shifts early.

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.

"I don't know what the outfit is he is wearing, but it is nice that he keeps to his habit to always have one of mother's roses with him." Nemesis said with a fond smile on her lips, she really could not remember a time when she had seen her older brother without a black rose from their mother's garden.

"He was always adamant to have one of them with him." Hemera agreed, it had been cute watching the small dark skinned toddler trail behind their mother with one of his little hands holding onto her dark blue-violet dress, emboldened with stars and constellations, while in the other he gripped a black coloured rose.

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

A good deal of jaws dropped at this sentence.

"He did not just say that…" Aether groaned, Charon was a really patient child, but he really hated it if someone confused his name with that of Chiron due to the one letter difference in them.

The rest of his siblings groaned in agreement and hoped that he will not react too badly; it usually depended on who made that mistake and in which situation that happened or if it was simply a slip of the tongue due to the likeliness of the names. By the later one he tended to brush it of in a matter of seconds and be his usual self again, well also depending if you were family or not, he was much more affectionate towards the former.

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.

"Ok, he is taking his age into consideration and will not snap." Geras said with a sigh, he was sure that if the boy would have been older then his twelve years his brother would have reacted much worse to the comparison, it may be that they had not quick tempers like the third and fourth generations gods descending from their aunt the Earth Goddess, but it could be more dangerous if someone irked their wrath.

"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?"

It was really difficult for most of the divinities and spirits to not let out a small chuckle at this.

"I really hope not or that dance would be pretty problematic." Melinoe giggled, before realizing her slipup.

"Dance?" Zagreus asked his sister suspiciously while Macaria looked on curiously.

"Erm…it is nothing I once only did some scare with a ghost fest on that judge who you remember always picked death sentences even if a deed was not proven." she explained hurriedly, but her brother looked not fazed.

"Again, when will you go dancing with Charon." this time it was not a question, he will have a chat with the ferryman regards his sister pretty soon.

"Leave her alone Zagreus." Macaria finally spoke up as she pulled at her brother's arm while giving her elder sister a beaming smile which made her blush.

'Great, I will be having a long chat with mother and father after either of those two get a hold on them, please Fates let it be Macaria telling mother and not Zag getting to father first.' she thought in dismay, she really should have not opened her mouth a few minutes ago.

"N-no."

"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."

Melinoe was perfectly aware about the fact that her brother was still looking at her suspiciously, she really wanted to hit herself for letting it slip that Charon had invited her to a dance which will be held in Athens to celebrate her mother's return to the living world. It had not been the ground for the party that she had agreed, but more for the one inviting her…she really wanted to groan regards her blunder.

"Charon."

"Amazing! Now: Mr. Charon."

"Mr. Charon," I said.

"I think he noticed that Percy panicked from him." Aether said as he shook his head.

"Well, at least he is over it now which is good, I doubt those three wish to see him angry, it is not positive when directed at you." Hemera pointed out, the last time Charon had been really furious was when that disgraceful mortal trapped Thanatos, they all had been enraged for that deed and went out to search for him. Ares had at that time unknowingly saved that mortal from the terror they all would have inflicted on him for they did not hesitate in their punishments for those wronging one of their closest kin.

"Well done." He sat back. "I hate being confused with that old horse-man.

All of his present siblings, nephew and niece nodded their heads in agreement at this together with those few unlucky who did that confusion at least once in their immortal lives… well you don't really want to repeat that mistake to often if you know what his healthy for you.

"See, this is how he learned the difference in the first hand." Sally told her grandfather smiling who at least took his hand from his heart.

"Though he is lucky to have got only a correction, grand-uncle really despised the misuse of his name." Enysswe said while shaking her head.

"He is not the only one." Chiron said, he thought that their jobs and beings would certainly help separate them, but alas that was not the case.

And now, how may I help you little dead ones?"

"At least he has manners." Hera said remembering the time Zeus decided to put up an entrance guard to the gates of Olymphos, let's just say that after a week she had given her husband and ultimatum to either fire him form that post or she would use the Master Bolt to blast the guard to shreds.

His question caught in my stomach like a fastball. I looked at Annabeth for support.

"I thought that you guys had a plan?" Katie said while turning to the legacies.

"That plan kind of got unexpected changes after that question startled them, really he is there to help out the souls so of course he would ask." Henry said while shaking his head while those who had travelled down there and meet Charon nodded their heads.

"We want to go the Underworld," she said.

Charon's mouth twitched. "Well, that's refreshing."

"Certainly agree with him, most souls either protest, get hysteric, start crying, pleading, bribing, a few amusingly even threaten or try to run away, I should not even mention some reactions to Thanatos, beside the occasional flirting attempts to get out, or the Keres." Hades said, he hated such complications, but they were everyday happenings. "To get a soul willingly wanting to come is once every hundred years."

"I certainly agree, Sisyphus should be more then happy that we were lenient after his actions and he was not thrown directly into Tartaros after his trickery." Persephone hissed in annoyance while Enysswe and Henry glared at their laps, the Queen hated those who appealed to her kindness and it becomes apparent that they had used her.

"I agree with you." Hades told his wife who gave him a small smile before turning her gaze back to the book, but then Frank held up his hand.

"Uh…did you just say that some flirt with Death?" he asked in slightly bewilderment, the other demigods seemed to share his view.

"You will get your answer dad in the seventh book." Henry said, he had meet his cousin's granduncle pretty often and he really needed to admit that he was good looking, but due to his busy job does he not exactly find time to look around for a partner for any term of time.

"It is?" she asked.

"We were informed that it certainly is." Travis said still a bit unsure how someone would find Death attractive.

"Straightforward and honest. No screaming. No 'There must be a mistake, Mr. Charon.'

"That happens at least sixty times if it is a good day." Hades said while everyone was looking at him, the gods did not exactly know of these troubles in the Underworld.

He looked us over. "How did you die, then?"

I nudged Grover.

"I think one of you should have said something." Persephone said blinking after reading the next upcoming line, some satyrs are really terrible at this as it seems.

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

There was a dead silence at the statement before Hermes and his kids flung their hands to their hearts while groaning in a despaired tone.

"I don't care what anyone says, boys you will theach that satyr how to lie." Hermes gasped in utter mortification at such a ridiculous thing to say from all the perfect opportunities.

"You can bet on that dad." Chris said, seeing how Travis was frozen down and Katie was trying to get a reaction from him, Connor and Trickster on the other hand outright fainted while by the couch not far from them were the heroes of old looking nervously at a pale Odysseus.

"Please tell me someone adds in something believable and intelligent." Clarisse said in an unbelieving tone.

"Against this was Percy's 'circus caravan' comment more believable." Octavian pointed out as he shook his head, somehow he doubted that they would be standing in front a dense deity.

"I hope that he does not take Charon for an idiot." Hades said while looking unbelievingly at the book.

"I know that there are some weird deaths, but seriously?" Lance whispered to Ace.

"All three of you?" Charon asked.

"Please something believable." Hermes pleaded as outside the others braced themselves that this could only go downwards from here, no pun intended.

"He has heard even at that time about some ridiculous incidents, but the fact that he wants elaboration means that he is suspicious." Enysswe informed while Hades nodded his head remembering the embarrassing death of a man who wanted to flee from his lover's bedroom, but slipped while hastily trying to get dressed, fell out of the window still mostly naked and landed right on the spear of the returning husband.

"Ugh…I hope that we say something other." Annabeth groaned, she could not believe that from all things Grover said that they drowned in a bathtub.

We nodded.

"Forget it." Hermes groaned together with the others while Pan patted his father's hand in reassurance.

"Big bathtub." Charon looked mildly impressed.

"At least he seems to find your lie entertaining." Persephone said, she had known Charon long enough to know how to determine his reactions and not let herself be fooled.

"At least there is that." Poseidon said sighing, the children were close to solving the problem though really that comment from the young satyr…

"I don't suppose you have coins for passage.

Hades suddenly tensed in his throne while the others looked at the book strangely.

Normally, with adults, you see, I could charge your American Express, or add the ferry price to your last cable bill.

"At least I will have this positive fact then hoping while looking up if the deceased had any uncleared debts when such trouble arose." Hades said sighing in relief, at least this part would not be that troublesome, but he knew that this is only a small comfort.

"So, this is why." Michael said in a thoughtful tone, his stepfather was a lawyer and he had often cases where such irregularities in the finances of a dead person appeared and no one had a clue what it was bout.

"Only a small comfort." En said sighing.

"Somehow I had felt it." Hades replied back while the other gods looked back and forth between them, to be honest they really had not clue beside Persephone what is going on down there.

But with children ... alas, you never die prepared. Suppose you'll have to take a seat for a few centuries."

Before anyone could comment regards this Hades spoke up in a pained tone.

"How much?" he asked while others looked confused.

"You needed to raise the rotation time for such cases, due to the ancient rites being vastly ignored, to three hundred years, this was the shortest manageable time." Enysswe told him while Hades nodded his head, Persephone gently touched his hand to show her support before she continued reading.

"Oh, but we have coins." I set three golden drachmas on the counter, part of the stash I'd found in Crusty's office desk.

"Good boy." Hermes said approvingly, his mood was slowly raising thanks to his cousin.

"That will tip him of that something is not right." Hades pointed out, but did not elaborate and some were even still mulling about what was meant by 'rotation time'.

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

"A really long time and this will tip him of seeing that there is only one possibility how three children could be in possession of those." Hades said while hoping that they will find out how to work with Charon's instincts regards the price of their travel through the river, he took the rules regards that more then serious and held himself to them.

His fingers hovered greedily over the coins.

"His instincts started reacting to the fact that you presented him with the payment." Enysswe explained, most people tended to confuse it with greed, but that was actually not the case by him it was purely instinct.

We were so close.

Then Charon looked at me.

"Let us guess, he has a way to check on his suspicion." Jay said while massaging his forehead, he agreed whith Percy, they were so close.

"In a way yes, he can and seeing how he had alrady encontered demigods going on a quest down there." Hades said while Orpheus, Hercules and Odysseus had sheepish smiles on their lips and Dionysus concentrated on the small wine plant he had made in his hand.

"Well, if they had brought more of the coins with them then they can use Charon's instincts to get thorugh, they kind of make him unable to refuse payment." Persephone said.

"Huh, what type of instincts are those?" asked a confused Dakota, sure payment was not bad, but not being able to refuse?

"It is a nature he had been born with, all of Lady Nyx's children were born to fill a certain role unlike most of the gods now who find their nature while groving up they had it already with them. This means that Charon had born to fulfill the task as the ferryman of the Underworld and that binds him to bring those over who can pay while making those who can't wait out a certain amount of time." Hades explained before adding. "Most people who are not in clear about this trait of the Night Goddess's children may missinterupt it as simply greed, thoug it is not the case regards him." he finished explaining while everyone nodded carefully when Athena spoke up, her gray eyes on her uncle.

"Uncle, would it be possible for the two of us to sit down sometime and talk about these tings for I don't remember having read about this in the lybrary." she siad while Hades nodded to her, he did not turst his voice at the moment after a second of his nieces wished to freely spend time around him. "Wonderful, I have many questions I wish to discuss with you." Athena said happily she had not known that her uncle knew such informations and she really wished to know more.

"You will certainly be speaking with the Premodials Zeus or if you still refuse, then with your daughter after she finishes talking with our borhter." Hera whispered harshly to Zeus.

That cold stare behind his glasses seemed to bore a hole through my chest.

Both Zeus and Hermes visibly shuddered at this which made others look at them strangely, Hercules could hide his own shudder for he had seen a similar look on Death's face when he stopped him.

"He has inherited his mother's look." Hermes explained with a shudder as he remembered those icy indigo coloured eyes dotted with silver and violet.

"Actually all of her children and grandchildren have inherited that look, it certainly gets to people." Enysswe said smirking as she noted the nods of agreement from those who had seen that look before.

"Well, at least you know to not annoy either of your lovers." Michael whispered to Will who was glad that at least this time he could keep himself from blushing at the reminder that he will be in the future together with two guys.

"Here now," he said. "You couldn't read my name correctly. Are you dyslexic, lad?"

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

Cue groans.

"As stated beforehand, I hope that they don't think that he is an idiot." Hades repeated as he shook his head, now he really hoped that they will work on his instinct regards the payment.

"At least we know that they had gone through." Katie said while turning back to Travis, she was slowly getting worried that he still didn't react, but at least was not out cold like Connor and Trickster were.

Charon leaned forward and took a sniff. "You're not dead. I should've known. You're a godling."

"Erm…he can smell the living?" Castor asked carefully.

"He can note the differences seeing how much time he spends around dead and the nature of some of his siblings." Hades informed the young demigod who nodded his head in understanding.

"We have to get to the Underworld," I insisted.

Charon made a growling sound deep in his throat.

"It seems that at that he had not forgiven what was at the time of the twelfth labour." Hestia said softly, she had been the one aiding her nephew at that time to get past the other.

"He certainly didn't feel pleased about another living hero daring to approach him with the idea to bypass, added to it some of the other incidents from a few fools." Hades said, that insulting mortal who thought that he could just waltz into his domain and take his wife had been sorely mistaken and would suffer for that blatant insult for all of eternity, and he was even merciful for not throwing him right into Tartaros when he saw him.

"I'm still apologetic that the task was thus made harder." Hestia told her brother no matter if he tried reassuring her, a part of her was also at fault here and she would not deny it.

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.

"I almost forgot that your mood tends to affect the shades." Persephone said while everyone looked nervous.

"Then getting Caron angry is not the best idea." Apollo said carefully, when Hades and Persephone nodded their heads he held back a sigh, another thing to ad to the list why he needs to try getting this crush down, first his uncle did not seem to be interested in any other divinity in his bed and getting into his realm unnoticed is not even for a got makeable.

Not far away Aphrodite raised her head again, she was not really curious and frustrated about the fact who of the other council members was in love with someone.

"Leave while you can," Charon told us. "I'll just take these and forget I saw you."

"He is trying to find a way between his option to not deal with them and his instincts." Hades noted, if now one of them manages to sway him.

"If it would not mean war I would really appreciate what he is doing." Poseidon mumbled to himself, unfortunately he knew that they had no other choice.

He started to go for the coins, but I snatched them back.

"Good, quick hands," Travis said grinning as he finally come back from his shock, though they had till now not much luck with waking Connor and Trickster so they decided to let them come to be on their own.

"No service, no tip." I tried to sound braver than I felt.

"Good, even if he does not know it, but he is now getting closer to sway him." Hades said, usually he would not approve of the misuse of his co-worker's nature, but this was an emergency.

"Good." Orion said grinning when he noticed something form the corner of his eyes. 'Orpheus will certainly be annoyed when he notices that Theseus is drooling on his tunic.' he thought while trying to hide that he noticed anything.

Charon growled again—a deep, blood-chilling sound.

"I think we heard something similar from his mother…before they pain come." Hermes added the last part carefully while Zeus shuddered at the memory, Hercules kind of did the same, but he had not experienced pain.

"They need to continue fast before he hurts them." Gwen said in a scarred tone.

"Don't worry, he would actually only throw them out, literally." Hades reassured the girl while the others turned to him.

"How do you know?" Demeter asked while her brother narrowed his eyes at her.

"Because I work with him since decades and he does not kill or injure the ones trying to trespass into our realm, he will only do the later if they attack first." Hades told her in a flat tone, he thought that the fact of Charon working for him would be obvious that the two of them had some type of contact.

"Uh…that is good to know." Demeter replied back while averting her eyes, she should have not asked such a stupid question.

The spirits of the dead started pounding on the elevator doors.

"I'm really hoping that Lord Hades is right." Malcolm whispered worriedly to Mitchell who gave him what he hoped to be a reassuring smile, he knew that this was not the time, but he was happy that his lovely Owl was finally interacting with him.

"It will be fine." he told the blonde gently.

"It's a shame, too," I sighed. "We had more to offer."

"Say kids, is your dad by any chance good at bribery?" Hermes asked the Jackson siblings.

"He is, but only rarely uses that tactic." Luke told the god who turned to Poseidon.

"He got that from his mom, nice pick uncle P" he said grinning before quickly adding as he remembered something "sorry, was not meant as an insult aunt Trite."

"It is fine Hermes, I think till now I'm really managing to stay neutral with that woman and this will only be in millennia." Amphitrite replied which made Poseidon relax somewhat, he really did not wish to see his wife upset, he was terrible with those situations…now that he remembered it only Hestia and Hades seemed to know what to do in those situations.

I held up the entire bag from Crusty's stash. I took out a fistful of drachmas and let the coins spill through my fingers.

"Brilliant kid, I'm certainly proud to have him as my cousin." Hermes said while Travis also grinned with his dad, Percy sounded brilliant.

"I don't know if I should be worried at this or not." Hera whispered to Demeter.

"At least you don't have one of your children married to one of his." she whispered back, first she looses Kore to Hades and now another of her children will marry one of Hermes's, she dreaded to know what that 're-decoration' done to her wheat fields had entailed.

Charon's growl changed into something more like a lion's purr. "Do you think I can be bought, godling? Eh ... just out of curiosity, how much have you got there?"

"He is still trying to stand against his nature." Persephone said in surprise while exchanging surprised looks with Hades before both turned questioningly to their grandchildren.

"There was a kind of small incident during the XIIth century that the Catholic Church started their so called Crusades to cleanest the world from sinners in the name of their God." Enysswe started in a disgusted tone, she accepted other religions seeing that there were a few Pantheons remaining on this sphere of the world, but that did not mean that she would not give a critique to some things. "Basically they saw other religions below them and tried to destroy them, either you changed willingly or were forced, it that did not get you to give up your original beliefs then those were burned alive." she continued while the gods looked outraged. "The really ironic thing is that they preach that their God loves everyone every person, but they look at the love between same gendered people as sin, those who believe that there is more then one God are sinners and need to be punished if they don't see the right way. They had even set up a court made out of priests called the Inquisition which murdered a record number of people, under them one of their later saints the maiden Jean D'Arc calling her a witch after she had helped them in their fights and set the new kind on the throne." Artemis looked furious at this news. "Their deeds in the so called 'Name of their God' had they left a carnage behind which had caused a massive overloud in the Underworlds of the Pantheons which decided to stay here due to the large number of souls from different age groups who all died before their time. Though the worst was their imagination regards the afterlife and with that idealisticall babbling about if you follow God's will you will surely enter Heaven."

"Right, murdering the records will tell how many people and each of us who rule over the Underworld of the respective juridicism will gladly let them go, I will when that time comes gladly send them immediately to the Isle of the Blest." Hades said sarcastically, those mortals sounded completely ludicrous and were sorely mistaken that he will put them anywhere else then punishment if they are not cowards and flee to Asphodel.

"So after the small summary, some of these idiotic teachings got to the head of a few demigods, whom of course had no clue about their parentage or they would be running like mad to the next church and demand an exorcism or be burned for having been sired in sacrilege by either a devil, an Incubus or their female counterpart the Succubus, both counting as demons. Ah, did I mention that the are saying that the snake is the preferred form of the devil as is the unclean creature the goat?" now looked Pan murderous while the gods who had the snake under their sacred animals looked even more angry as they tried to control their anger, the Roman demigods were just glad that En did not mention that the religion had it's strongest roots in Italy and Old Rome. "So as I was saying they got swayed by the idea and of course being bound to our world found their way to the Underworld and did the idiocy to well…let's just say that granduncle Charon, like all children or my great-grandmother are, not someone you wish to subject their anger upon you, there was a large deal of cleaning needed after that." Hades nodded his head, he could understand now much better why Charon is so adamant about trying to force his own nature back.

"So some of our children will be doing terribly foolish things due to these teachings." Athena concluded.

"The problem is not the belief or their God in itself, one of his followers did beat the House of Life in a magical duel which is saying something, it is mostly the fact that most of those following it seem to not actually be able to understand what is really asked from them due to the fact that their God is mostly passive and rarely interacts in actual words with his followers." Henry took over the explaining. "As En had said, Jean D'Arc herself had been lead by his voice and he had in a way sent his own child to the mortals with a bit of magical help, it would take long to explain how he did it for it would lead us back to some of the ignored ancient methods" Henry said carefully while looking at Zeus who luckily had noticed the glare Enysswe was sending him as a warning to stay put. "And there were a few others, but yes the religion has a good number of things wrong and not many chances to clarify for those who could help were either killed by others whom had enough of the forced religion changing champagain or their own people." he finished with his part of the explaining.

"I really don't know if I want to know more about the future that will come or not." Apollo said, during the explanation had he seen glimpses about bloody wars, unjust judgements, torture and suffering, he still shuddered at the memory of people being nailed with their hands and feed at a strange form which seemed to be a different straight headed version of the Ankh he had seen once when he was younger and strolling much farther away then he should and meet a young girl with dark skin, raven black hair and cat-like eyes.

"Sometimes we don't wish to be part of it, but these are things that can't be changed much." Enysswe told her grandfather who nodded his head at the truth in her words.

"I think we should continue reading, there is probably not much left from the chapter." Misty said while Persephone checked.

"Only nine more pages." she told them.

"Then we should really continue, the book is also soon over." Artemis agreed and Persephone started reading again.

"A lot," I said. "I bet Hades doesn't pay you well enough for such hard work."

"In any other case I would be angry at this, but it is needed and before someone comments I pay him well and he also keeps half of the payment for the ferry." Hades said when he saw some of the other gods turn in his direction, though even after his explaining they were still looking at him, beside Hermes who in turn was busy staring like him at the others. "What?" he asked in annoyance.

"You pay him?" asked a confused Poseidon, the others minus his aforementioned nephew nodding their heads which on the other hand made Hades raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why should I not pay my staff?" he asked, really they are all suffering with him down there and because he can hardly get free time for himself so for getting some for them was almost impossible so he found this as an alternate.

"We should read, daughter if you would please." Demeter told Persephone while both Hades and Hermes looked in confusion at each other, they did not understand the others.

"Why do I think that your dad and Lord Hades are the only ones whose staff gets paid, my dad does not count seeing how he mostly uses automatons and the few Cyclopes in his forges love working to much to want anything other." Jake whispered to Travis seeing how Connor was still out.

"Yup, don't know how the others keep their workers motivated in any other way." Travis whispered back.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it. How would you like to babysit these spirits all day? "Oh, you don't know the half of it. How would you like to babysit these spirits all day?

Persephone was about to continue when a sudden scream could be heard, startling everyone.

"YOU WILL NOT HELP HIM WITH THAT JOB IN THE FUTURE!"

"Didn't that just sound like Zagreus?" Persephone asked her husband as the two exchanged confused glances with eachother.

"After my knowledge is he in the Underworld, you know that the children don't exactly like coming up here." he reassured both her and himself before they turned an accusing look at the some of the other present gods whom squirmed in their seats.

"That is certainly true." Persephone said as she returned to the book so she did not notice Pan letting out a small, relieved sigh, it was not that he had a problem with his cousin, it was only that well... with him being the Lord of the Wild and the other in a way the God of Dead Wild…they kind of clashed.

"What was that about?" Misty whispered harshly to Nathan who used air waves to tune in to the conversation or more like argument outside.

"So, what is it? We were almost caught." Henry whispered to his co-praetor while their guest started relaxing and paying again attention to the book.

"I'm not sure, but your aunt Melinoe may fancy Charon…" Nathan said carefully while he tried not to show that he felt kind of disturbed by that thought.

"Well, that would explain why she goes since a while pretty often up to the lobby to help out with the sprits." Henry replied with a shrug as he turned back to catch the last parts of the sentence which was read.

three thousand years. Do you imagine suits like this come cheap?"

"Ugh…so this chaos is going on since three millennia and what has anything to do with the outfit?" Hades asked in confusion while Nathan, Henry and Misty exchanged fleeting glances with each other, they now kind of had a guess.

"You deserve better," I agreed. "A little appreciation. Respect. Good pay."

"He gets all three, but the sweet talk will help getting him to give in." Hades said while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

With each word, I stacked another gold coin on the counter.

"That will certainly break his resolve, that guy is brilliant, really if we would not have been confirmed that he is uncle P's I would think that he is mine." Hermes said grinning.

"I don't know which of you would be worse to en up being his father." Athena mumbled to herself, but Ares heard her and leaned closer.

"Well, you certainly like his grandson." he whispered to the blushing goddess.

"Shut up." she hissed at him.

"Only stated a fact." replied Ares grinning while leaning away from his still blushing and glaring half-sister.

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."

"Good, he is finally giving in, that took a while." Hermes said while everyone crossed their fingers in anticipation.

I stacked another few coins. "I could mention a pay raise while I'm talking to Hades."

Silence.

"Erm…that on the other hand would not be a wise idea to say…" Apollo said carefully, from the tibbits of information they had heard here from Hades, Persephone, their grandchildren and even Nathan would the dark haired god not be in the best of moods when they see him.

"Percy…" Poseidon and his awake sons whined while Theseus let out a whimpering sound as Orpheus pulled away from him with a slightly appealed look on his face when he finally noticed the drool moistening his tunic.

"Great something tells me that he will ask, I only hope that in that moment he had sent out my daughter from the room they are talking in." Athena grumbled as said daughter slapped her forehead.

"And Grover." Pan piped in, that young satyr was really brave to go to the Underworld so he did not want for him to get hurt even though he needed to admit that Hades could be reasonable, if not furious that is.

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

There were some cheers at this.

"Man, he is really good at holding himself back now that is for sure." Hermes said as he looked at Apollo.

"You would have jumped the minute someone set that sack on your desk." he told his brother teasingly.

"Would have not, it would have disappeared with me even before it touched wood." Hermes replied back grinning, but on the inside was he busy planning, first he will be making sure that Pan is never without someone to keep an eye on his and then he will talk with Artemis seeing how during the reading he noticed even more strange reactions from Apollo and he wanted to know what was wrong with his favourite half-sibling.

He stood, scooped up our money, and said, "Come along."

The demigods leaned a bit closer in their seats as well as the Chases in morbid curiosity.

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.

"Your godly parent needs to posses a death aspect to their nature for you to understand them." Persephone explained before adding in a thoughtful tone. "The same goes also for divinities with me as an exception seeing that I' am their queen." she said with a happy smile at with Demeter scowled at Zeus while Apollo looked at his lap..

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?"

"Uh…could he do that?" asked Dakota carefully.

"In a way he could seeing how the decision for the length of the rotation's time is an agreement between the two of us regards how we can manage the numbers and he work they bring, but I would say that was more of an empty threat seeing that from what I have heard mortals in your time have mostly forgotten the old tales and the rules of the Underworld." Hades answered.

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

"Even getting down to the Underworld is changed in the future." Hercules whispered to Odysseus who nodded his head, in his option some things become more dangerous like the Lotus Eaters, Medusa and the Stretcher seeing how they took on lairs which are normal and an everyday sight to the mortals.

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

"Nothing," Charon said.

"That is true, they will wait till the rotation's time is up." Persephone said with a nod of her head while the Chases looked uneasy, the demigods on the other hand felt thankful that they still remembered and used the ancient rites.

"For how long?"

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

"And now he is toying with you." Persephone said with a small smile on her lips, she guessed Charon had noted from her eyes that she was Athena's and due to the question he knew that she had no clue regards the goings of the Underworld and is now having a bit fun.

"So nice to know, I will not ask that question in our future." Annabeth said, she knew how that answer and her lack of knowledge about the rotation's time will make her nervous.

"Oh," she said. "That's ... fair."

Charon raised an eyebrow. "Whoever said death was fair, young miss?

"That is true, the judgement of the Underworld is fair, but death isn't mostly in the eyes of mortals who even then don't grasp it's meaning when someone passes whose time had ended." Enysswe said in agreement to her granduncle's words.

Wait until it's your turn.

The legacies held back smirks, only one word was that separates her from this not happening.

You'll die soon enough, where you're going."

"He tells that to every hero going down there to scare them." the heroes who had gone down there said in union, it had certainly affected them in a way.

"We'll get out alive," I said.

"Ha."

I got a sudden dizzy feeling. We weren't going down anymore, but forward.

There were a few confused blinks towards the book.

The air turned misty. Spirits around me started changing shape. Their modern clothes flickered, turning into gray hooded robes.

"This is the outfit everyone wears till their judgement is done." Hades said with a nod, pleased that things started sounding familiar again.

The floor of the elevator began swaying.

I blinked hard. When I opened my eyes, Charon's 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's eyes, except Charon's were totally dark, full of night and death and despair.

Everyone who had meet Charon nodded their heads while those who didn't like the demigods and Chase family paled slightly.

"To be hones each child of Nyx seems to have the night aspect to their eyes." Artemis spoke up, she had liked Nemesis's eyes, they seemed to shine like the night sky when she was happy, it made her sad that her friend was avoiding her. 'Dumb, irresponsible father.'

He saw me looking, and said, "Well?"

"Nothing," I managed.

"He found that reaction amusing." Enysswe pointed out.

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.

More paling.

"And you will be related to him in the future." Michael told his little brother who wanted to hit him, there was really no need to point it out to him.

The floor kept swaying.

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

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,

Here Persephone stopped, her eyes narrowing at what she had read.

swirling with bones, dead fish, and other, stranger things—plastic dolls, crushed car nations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

There was a new round of silence then Hades jumped from his throne while outside the old gods and primordial's broke out in shocked and angry yells which this time were kept out from the palace due to Nathan's power.

"What happened to the Styx?!" the Lord of the Underworld yelled in indignation while the other gods and the heroes of old looked also shocked.

"It will be explained in a few minutes grandfather." Henry said in a tight tone, he hated how polluted the Styx looked.

"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,

With each word the heroes, mortal family and the demigods flinched while Hades looked annoyed.

wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."

"Most morals give up to easily or delay things till it is to late and then it all gets thrown into the Styx." Henry said bitterly while motioning to his step-grandmother to please continue, the others meanwhile looked either appealed or were starring at their laps.

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.

Will did his best to not show his interest, he had just remembered that in the future will he be residing in this place often so it would not be bad to pay attention.

Panic closed up my throat. What was I doing here? These people around me ... they were dead.

"This is a normal reaction for those not living in the Underworld, visiting it often or being with someone who delves there, in a way a last warning to turn around, but if you ignore it then it will go away." Henry pointed out to the others who nodded their heads in understanding, Will also looked relaxed that he will not be freaking out then when he goes down there for the first time.

"At least you give a final chance to return." Artemis said while looking at her uncle.

"Charon is instructed if such a visitor wants to turn around that he should take them back, but if not then what happens further is their own decision and not ours." Hades told his niece who nodded in approval.

Annabeth grabbed hold of my hand.

Under any other circumantes would Athena feel annoyed, but she guessed why her daughter did that and seeing how Aphrodite was only having a small smile on her lips she also seemed to have gotten it.

Under normal circumstances, this would've embarrassed me, but I understood how she felt. She wanted reassurance that somebody else was alive on this boat.

Again the demigods and mortal family shuddered while the heroes of old, even if never admitting it in the open, agreed that they would have felt also more reassured if someone would have been with them as they descended down there.

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.

"Well there are also other gods, but I think most of them would also not be ones you want to pray to in your situation." Hades said while Poseidon started muttering a prayer on his own in hopes that Percy's first meeting with his brother didn't go too much down hill.

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.

"Cerberus." the two rulers of the Underworld and the legacies said fondly.

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

Hercules certainly remembered those lines, as well as the vicious dog who tried eating him.

The bottom of our boat slid onto the black sand. The dead began to disembark. A woman holding a little girl's hand.

A good deal of people flinched while the rulers of the Underworld exchanged a small glance, they were already used to this.

An old man and an old woman hobbling along arm in arm.

Hera, Aphrodite and her children had soft smiles on their lips.

A boy no older than I was, shuffling silently along in his gray robe.

And people went back to flinching.

'And my daughter is queen over…this…' Demeter thought in dismay.

Charon said, "I'd wish you luck, mate, but there isn't any down here.

"True, in the Underworld is everything based on your deeds, meaning you are basically facing all consequences of each of your actions." Persephone explained while outside Tyche nodded her head, she had no power in the Underworld.

Mind you, don't forget to mention my pay raise."

"I think he should forget about it." Felix said worriedly, not liking the thought that there was a place about which her mother had no control in regards luck.

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,

"Why would I have that?" Hades asked in confusion, but no one could answer.

or something. But the entrance to the Underworld looked like a cross between airport security and the Jersey Turnpike.

"Eh?" the demigods and the mortal family were confused after hearing this, they had also imagined something else.

"The changes were needed to deal…or at least try dealing with the newcomers." Enysswe said while Hades bit back a groan.

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 tollbooths 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 Hades's door, was nowhere to be seen.

"That is because you see him only when you are close to death." Hercules said carefully.

"Ugh…nice information." Beckendorf said.

"Meaning, be happy as long as you only hear him." Silena said with a shudder.

"He is really not that bad aunt Silena." Mich said to his aunt who did not look convinced.

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.

"Because only the cowards take that line out of their free will." Hades said in a disgusted tone, but he needed to ad that to stop the large tumults which happened due to the large number of dead souls.

The other two were crawling.

"But I needed it because of this." he added with a flinch.

"What do you figure?" I asked Annabeth.

"The fast line must go straight to the Asphodel Fields," she said.

Henry tried not to flinch seeing how both his mom and grandmother had been at that time on those fields, he caught En's eyes and signalled to her that he was fine.

"No contest. They don't want to risk judgment from the court, because it might go against them."

"As said, they are cowards." Hades said while Ares nodded his head, he perfectly agreed.

"There's a court for dead people?"

"Of course, I can't do everything alone, it would be impossible." Hades said, even like this he hardly managed at some times, alone would be a disaster.

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

Apollo and his children smiled at the last name.

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."

Those who had already known this nodded their heads in agreement.

"And do what?"

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

"That place sounds nice." Demeter said while Persephone restrained herself from shaking her head violently, she avoided Asphodel as much as she could.

"Harsh," I said.

Demeter scowled at this while glowering at Poseidon who personally agreed with his son.

"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.

"Ah, someone managed to get my personal attention, too bad for him." Hades said smirking, usually those who managed that had done something he really didn't like and took the judgement into his own hands.

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 Yancy Academy 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.

There were many outraged and angry looks at this information.

"Brother, I'm glad that you take personal interest in that person." Hestia said in a tight tone, she really could not believe that he would say that the money is for children who had no family left and then spend it on himself.

"I agree with aunt Hestia." Artemis said, she was really starting to respect her uncle for taking personal care about such vile people.

I said, "What're 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."

Everyone nodded their heads in satisfaction at the knowledge, that man deserved whatever he got.

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.

"He will really be insisting to call her that." Triton said with a raised eyebrow.

"He certainly will." Luke answered his uncle.

"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."

"That is true, our Underworld is the one with the largest juridicism terrain from the remaining Underworld's." Enysswe explained with a shrug.

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.

"Good." some mumbled.

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.

Almost everyone tensed at this.

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."

"Huh?" come it from Hades and Persephone.

"Now the mortals have a dog breed which looks really similar to Cerberus, but much smaller and with only one head." Henry explained.

"Wonderful, he is facing a three headed, vicious dog and he is thinking about what type he is." Poseidon mumbled under his breath, his son will give him gray hair if he continues like this.

I'd always imagined Cerberus as a big black mastiff.

"Percy, not the time to think about dog breeds." Orion said in a worried tone, at least was Theseus still out cold.

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.

"And heavy." Hades mumbled to himself as he remembered all the times when Cerberus had thrown himself at him, it is not easy to push down such a huge dog if you also get soaked by dog drool, a great drawback of your dog having three heads.

The dead walked right up to him—no fear at all.

"He is only dangerous for the living who are not down there on invite." Henry explained.

"At least in the future will we have allowance to go down there." Annabeth mumbled while trying to figure out how they will get out of this, due to the title she guessed that she will have a part in that one, but did not know what. Meanwhile her father looked close to a heart attack, now he would prefer his daughter in a speeding taxi then in the Underworld facing that dog.

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."

Hades nodded as the other paled even more.

The dog's middle head craned toward us. It sniffed the air and growled.

"It can smell the living," I said.

Hades nodded his head again in confirmation.

"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."

We moved toward the monster.

Everyone beside the legacies looked to nervous to comment.

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."

"I think he may have picked up some cussing during the centuries." Misty whispered to Henry who nodded his head.

"You don't know how many, mostly from grandfather whenever his brothers stared a type of war." he whispered back to her.

I took the big stick out of my backpack—a bedpost I'd broken off Crusty's Safari Deluxe floor model.

"Your plan is to play fetch with him?" Clarisse asked incredulously, she may not be fully an animal person, but facing a three headed guard dog and try playing fetch was a stupid idea.

"He may like playing, but he will not do that immediately if faced by a stranger who is trespassing." Hades said while Hercules scowled in his seat, that dog looked certainly ready to play chewing toy with him when they meet.

I held it up, and tried to channel happy dog thoughts toward Cerberus—Alpo commercials, cute little pup pies, fire hydrants.

The book received a good deal of raised eyebrows at this.

I tried to smile, like I wasn't about to die.

"Hey, Big Fella," I called up. "I bet they don't play with you much."

"Then you have lost that bet nephew, if I don't have time and Persephone is not there either one of our children play with him or I order someone to spend time with him." Hades said while his wife nodded.

"Dad certainly likes playing with him." En said at which Hades smiled.

"GROWWWLLLL!"

"Seems as if he also informed Percy regards the play thing." Chris said carefully.

"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's undivided attention. I wasn't sure that was a good thing.

"Don't worry Percy, we are also not sure it that is a good thing." Jake said weakly, he personally thought that this was a bad thing, but he didn't want to risk getting hit over the head for making everyone even more worried then they already were.

"Fetch!" I threw the stick into the gloom, a good solid throw. I heard it go ker-splooshin the River Styx.

Cue unbelieving groans.

Cerberus glared at me, unimpressed.

"I can understand why." Michael mumbled to himself, he could not imagine any dog being dumb enough to jump into that river to get a stick.

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."

"Uh…well at least is he kind of nice enough to give you ten seconds…" Gwen said while clinging to Dakota's arm.

"Wait!" Annabeth said. She started rifling through her pack.

Uh-oh, I thought.

"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.

"I think this is where the title comes in." Lee said as the others relaxed a small bit.

She shouted, "See the ball? You want the ball, Cerberus? Sit!"

Cerberus looked as stunned as we were.

"I can imagine, you are not one of his owners." Persephone said with a small laugh.

All three of his heads cocked sideways. Six nostrils dilated.

"I think he may have wanted to check if you should be one of mine." Hades said with a shrug as the others nodded their heads.

"Sit!" Annabeth called again.

I was sure that any moment she would become the world's largest Milkbone dog biscuit.

Athena gripped the armrests of her throne as she waited for what would happen, of course she trusted in Annabeth's abilities even thought she was not born in their time and knew that she would live, but she still felt worried.

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.

"A good thing that they are already dead." Travis said with a small laugh.

He caught it in his middle mouth. It was barely big enough for him to chew, and the other heads started snap ping at the middle, trying to get the new toy.

"That is a normal occurrence." said all those who had played with him.

"Drop it.'" Annabeth ordered.

"Suddenly I remember that time we sneaked into Athena's library and started messing with her books." Hermes whispered to Apollo who nodded his head, shuddering at the memory.

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.

"Good boy." She picked up the ball, ignoring the monster spit all over it.

Aphrodite wrinkled her nose at this, but did not comment.

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.

This made a few poeple laugh in amusement while Annabeth blushed.

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.

"He loves playing so he will listen." Persephone said, she really loved that large fur ball.

"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... ."

No one felt reassured by these words.

Grover and I walked between the monster's legs.

Please, Annabeth, I prayed. Don't tell him to sit again.

Though this sentence diffused some of that nervousness.

We made it through. Cerberus wasn't any less scary-looking from the back.

"Well, he does not think so anymore." Luke whispered to his sister.

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.

"As said, he is adorable." Persephone said before continuing, the chapter was soon over.

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.

"Obedience school," she said breathlessly, and I was surprised to see there were tears in her eyes.

"I'm starting to guess why I'm visiting the Underworld." Annabeth said, she had always liked dogs and Blitz the Doberman which belonged to her dad's brother and was brought over often had been for a long time her only friend, at least she now knew that she could play with Cerberus and that Percy will have a dog with which she could spend time with, the pups should not be mentioned. Frederic was also remembering how Annabeth had loved playing with Brian's dog.

"When I was little, at my dad's house, we had a Doberman... ."

"…in the backyard." Frederic finished silently, that was where Blitz always could be found if Brian brought him over.

"Never mind that," Grover said, tugging at my shirt. "Come on!"

"Yes, you need to hurry." Katie said.

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 panted expectantly, the tiny red ball in pieces in a puddle of drool at its feet.

"He can play for hours, but sadly you have no time for that." Persephone said in a soft tone, Cerberus's sad look was hard to bear if you needed to leave sooner.

"Good boy," Annabeth said, but her voice sounded melancholy and uncertain.

The monster's heads turned sideways, as if worried about her.

"Knowing him he probably was worried." Hades said, Cerberus could easily take to people who played with him.

"I will be visiting him in the future." Annabeth said with a small smile on her lips, she would have never thought that she would one day wish to freely visit down there if not for a quest or because her time had run out.

"I'll bring you another ball soon," Annabeth promised faintly. "Would you like that?"

The monster whimpered. I didn't need to speak dog to know Cerberus was still waiting for the ball.

Now were more people having small smiles on their lips, they started to slowly see what Hades and Persephone were talking about.

"Good dog. I'll come visit you soon. I—I promise." Annabeth turned to us. "Let's go."

Grover and I pushed through the metal detector, which immediately screamed and set off flashing red lights. "Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"

"So this is why they are there." Beckendorf said intrigued, the mortals metal detectors could not pick up on their weapons, but those in the Underworld could, interesting.

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.

Grover murmured, "Well, Percy, what have we learned today?"

"That three-headed dogs prefer red rubber balls over sticks?"

There were several groans and face palms at the answer.

"No," Grover told me. "We've learned that your plans really, really bite!"

"And this time almost literally." Jay pointed out while two soft groans indicated that Trickster and Connor were waking up.

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.

"He has a point there." Travis said while helping his still groggy and slightly disoriented brother up while Felix took care about Trickster.

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.

"The chapter is done." Persephone said as she handed the book to her husband.

"Should we wake Theseus?" Orion asked while looking at his brother.

"I would say at the end of the second chapter after this one." Enysswe spoke up from her spot still on Orpheus's lap, this was also the time that everyone finally noticed that she was looking closer to the age of a six years old girl then her actual age.

"Huh?" a few of the demigods asked blinking.

"You were told that I have inherited shape-shifting and it is easier to be smaller at the given time." she explained before looking at her grandfather who nodded his head and started reading.

We Find out the Truth, Sort of

To be continued…