Disclaimer:
I DO NOT own this series. That goes to the wonderful Rick Riordan and Hyperion Books. I am just borrowing the story and characters. I will say that the story lines will be written down because it makes it much easier to follow along and know the current placement, especially if it has been a while since reading the book. Also, this is not beta'd so there will most likely be a few mistakes, feel free to let me know. Enjoy!
Oh, this is also only my second story ever so please be gentle. I've been really enjoying getting to share how I would imagine characters would react to their tales and I hope to continue to do so.
Book
'thoughts'
"speech"
Hello! Here's the next chapter. Just letting y'all know, it's my first week of my new semester so the next chapter may take a bit for me to get out. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!
Annabeth Does Obedience School
"I don't even want to know where any of you people's minds went!" Annabeth screams.
"It's definitely nothing untoward guys!" Percy said arms waving frantically.
"Ooh big word there Perce." Grover snickered loving the embarrassment on his friends' faces.
The campers were left struggling to catch their breaths as the couple continued to blush and began to hide their faces in their hands.
Unfortunately, Zeus was quickly frustrated with the group. They were so close to hearing about his beloved bolt!
"QUIET!" He bellowed, "Let the boy start already!"
"Have some patience brother dear." Hades drawled. It was his domain they were entering, but you didn't see him acting so improper.
Connor chose the safe route for the group and began reading.
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.
It was almost midnight, but the lobby was brightly lit and full of people. Behind the security desk sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece.
I turned to my friends. "Okay. You remember the plan."
"The plan," Grover gulped. "Yeah. I love the plan."
Annabeth said, "What happens if the plan doesn't work?"
"Don't think negative."
"Right," she said. "We're entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn't think negative."
"Definitely not a good way to start entering anyway." Chris muttered.
"They shouldn't even be able to get past Charon." Hades commented, not noticing the poorly hidden grimaces of the trio.
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.
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 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.
I slipped the pearls back in my pocket. "Let's whup some Underworld butt."
We walked inside the DOA lobby.
Muzak 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.
The campers all had small shivers rake through their bodies.
"Man, I'll ask again, why are your descriptions so detailed?" Travis whined.
"I have no idea." Was all Percy could say.
"It really is a 50/50 shot if it sounds cool or horrifying." Rachel adds.
"Sure seems that way."
The security guard's 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.
I read the name tag, then looked at him in bewilderment. "Your name is Chiron?"
Everyone turned to the demigod with looks of disbelief.
"I read his name tag wrong! I do still have very bad dyslexia you know!" Percy threw his hands in the air.
The other demigods and his mother all reluctantly agree, they probably would have done the same. Especially after meeting Chiron at camp, Sally fully aware of her son's struggles could only understand the situation.
Meanwhile the gods couldn't understand the issue, after all they've never had to deal with that problem. To them it seemed like a petty excuse, well to all, but those close to some demigods themselves.
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.
"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.
"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.
Charon's mouth twitched. "Well, that's refreshing."
"It is?" she asked.
"Straightforward and honest. No screaming. No 'There must be a mistake, Mr. Charon.'" He looked us over. "How did you die, then?"
"Oh boy, here we go." Clarisse muttered holding her head. Just what dumb idea will this trio come up with now?
"Yeah, not our best idea that's for sure." Grover mumbled.
Annabeth could only snort at the memory.
I nudged Grover.
"Oh," he said. "Um... drowned ... in the bathtub."
The campers burst out with laughter, Connor having to set the book down to clutch at his aching stomach.
Poseidon let out some hearty chuckles while Hermes and Apollo were in similar situations as the kids.
Hades had face-palmed and was scrubbing his face at the sheer stupidity of the lie.
The rest of the gods seemed to have blue-screened and were silent and blank-faced. Apparently, the lie threw them for a loop.
Stomach sore, Connor managed to grab the book from the floor and attempt to continue reading.
"All three of you?" Charon asked. We nodded.
"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."
"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.
"No. No. And additionally, no." Hades growls. "That damned ferryman's greed is his downfall."
"Unfortunately for you uncle, yes." Percy cringes, remembering his idiotic comments in the throne room.
"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.
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?"
"No," I said. "I'm dead."
The group let out various snorts of laughter at the line.
"Oh us, that's fantastic!" Apollo looked like he was dying from laughter.
"Oh, I wish I could see this in person!" Hermes grinned.
"Please let me read, I wanna see if this gets funnier!" Connor pleads.
Getting nods he continues.
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.
"No service, no tip." I tried to sound braver than I felt.
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."
"Ooh well done; bribery always works." Hermes claps.
"More often than it should, but yes, yes it does." Percy nods.
"If this works, I will never be able to look at that him with any sliver of respect again." Nico commented.
"Never really had any for him either way." Annabeth shrugged.
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.
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?"
"A lot," I said. "I bet Hades doesn't pay you well enough for such hard work."
"Nephew…" said god rumbled.
"It was just a play on his greed Uncle, I promise." Percy explained, hands raised in surrender.
"It had better be boy."
"Oh, you don't know the half of it. How would you like to babysit these spirits all day? Always 'Please don't let me be dead' or 'Please let me across for free.' I haven't had a pay raise in three thousand years. Do you imagine suits like this come cheap?"
"You deserve better," I agreed. "A little appreciation. Respect. Good pay."
With each word, I stacked another gold coin on the counter.
"Oh, I can picture the damning stars of greed in his eyes." The Underworld God sighed, "I really need to talk with him or just hire a new guard completely."
"Probably would be the best idea, Uncle." Hermes nodded belatedly. He was still thinking about Percy's amazing bribery skills.
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."
I stacked another few coins. "I could mention a pay raise while I'm talking to Hades."
He sighed. "The boat's almost full, anyway. I might as well add you three and be off."
He stood, scooped up our money, and said, "Come along."
"Gracious, I need to fire that idiot." Hades scrubbed his face hard.
"To be fair, he is better than say those on the judging panel." Nico mentioned, remembering his issues with Minos.
"Unfortunately, that is very true."
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?"
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 it's your turn. You'll die soon enough, where you're going."
"Well, death is much fairer than life…" Percy muttered.
"Agreed, death doesn't discriminate. Whereas life sucks in general." Will surprised the group with the comment, but they couldn't help but agree.
Well, most agreed, Hera and Ares seemed to not have an opinion.
"We'll get out alive," I said.
"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, 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.
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."
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.
"It's gotten that bad?" Apollo questioned.
"I've told you all for years how busy I am! The river is just one issue in my domain, and that's only right now! Who knows what else we'll learn is wrong?!" Hades yelled.
"And we never truly believed you." Poseidon sighed scrubbing his face. He always knew his elder brother's domain was struggling, but not so much that the god was that worried. He figured it was just Hades having his time to rant and rave due to lack of being allowed to Olympus.
"Alas, you never did."
None of the gods could hide their looks of guilt.
Panic closed up my throat. What was I doing here? These people around me... they were
dead.
"Wow, I would have never guessed, Peter." Dionysus said, voice oozing sarcasm.
Percy could only shrug. Looking back, it was rather dumb but, "It all just kinda hit me at once where we were."
"Fair enough." Chris nodded, the other campers joining in. To them it made perfect sense, they would have most likely reacted similarly.
Annabeth grabbed hold of my hand. 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.
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.
"Technically we would've still heard you." Hermes acknowledged.
"But helping you? Probably not, not against Uncle H." Apollo added unhelpfully.
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."
"Actually, I miss Cerberus." Percy smiled, Annabeth as well.
"WHAT?!" Hades and some of the group yell.
"Well, he was only doing his job. He wasn't like the other monsters who were sent after me or just attacking because they can." The son of Poseidon reasoned.
"Also, he's a total sweetheart." Annabeth chuckled.
"You can't mean that daughter?" Athena asked very much concerned for her child's sanity.
"Oh, they're being serious. They come down every so often for doggy playdates." Nico smirked adding to the confusion and concern of the gods.
"Ooh, it's always nice when those happen. Mrs. O'Leary burns so much energy and gets so happy." Sally smiled.
"Mrs. O'Leary?" Poseidon had to ask.
"She's my hellhound!" Percy beamed.
"Hellhound?!" that was the gods.
"Yeah! She was a friends, but we hit it off really well, so he left her to me when he couldn't look after her anymore." The boy explained.
"Oh, was she the one that everybody thought was a poodle at school?" Rachel laughed.
"Yeah… the Mist was not helpful that day."
"Mrs. O'Leary's great. She helps protect the camp when she can't be with Percy or Annabeth." Will told his father who was shocked.
"The nicest Hellhound I've ever met." Thalia grumbled, remembering her time becoming a tree.
"I can't even process this right now." Hades sighed, "Let's continue so my brain doesn't implode from this confusion. Percy can talk more on the subject later."
Thankfully, the gods had managed to get a hold of themselves at that and settled back in to listen.
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."
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.
"Why is that the most accurate I've ever heard that described?" Nico wondered.
"Percy's weird like that." Grover sniggered.
"That… is very true." Percy begrudgingly agreed.
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.
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?"
"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."
"Does judging pass quickly?" Sally asked, ever curious.
"For the most part, yes. It's easy to determine who is damned or not. Abusers, murders, and serial killers are some examples. It's much more difficult to determine those who have lived normal lives, that is why the EZ Line exists. We just don't have the time to see to every individual person, so we had to set a criteria for once they arrive.
"Ah, I see. I can understand the havoc and annoyance now." Sally nodded.
"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.
"Oh, that's something I'd never like to think about." Connor had to pause and shudder. The idea of recognizing someone dead was both worrying and horrifying.
"This one was more like he was popular, not that I personally knew him." Percy winced, figuring out the look on the boy's face.
"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.
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."
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."
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.
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, I always pictured a Mastiff." Sally remarked.
"Me too!" Percy giggled, getting a grin from his mother, making many smile at the interaction.
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.
"I still can't see that as sweet." Clarisse shook her head.
"Oh, just give it a minute." Grover snickered.
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."
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."
"A stupid plan, but honestly the best we could come up with in the 10 minutes it took to run there from Crusty's." Grover exhaled.
"Yeah, this was one of the stupidest ideas I've ever had." Percy dropped his head.
"Hey, it made me remember what I had in my backpack." His girlfriend nudged him quietly getting a small smile in response.
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."
"I don't wanna know."
"Me neither."
"Just no, never tell us Goat Boy."
Some campers blurted out frantically shaking their heads causing some of the group to laugh.
I took the big stick out of my backpack—a bedpost I'd broken off Crusty's 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.
"Good try, nephew. It probably would work, but he can sense your fear." Hades gave the boy a small smile.
"That's only one problem." Annabeth laughed.
"Oh?" Clarisse beamed, anything on Percy being an idiot was gold.
"She means that at this time, Percy had the arms of a limp noodle if he wasn't using his sword." Grover snickered.
That led to the group of campers to giggles while said boy was flushed red, covering his face with his hands.
Poseidon gave his son's shoulder a pat, "You'll grow into it, son. It just takes time."
"Your father has a point; he was the lankiest of all of us and then he somehow became the strongest of the three of us." Hades exclaimed.
"He is not!" That was Zeus, full of denial.
Poseidon just shrugged; he didn't really care what they thought.
"Can we continue?!" Hera bellowed, getting annoyed with all the stopping.
Connor decided to press on, finally catching his breath.
"Hey, Big Fella," I called up. "I bet they don't play with you much."
"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's undivided attention. I wasn't sure that was a good thing.
"You should play with him more though, Lord Hades." Annabeth boldly stated.
The Underworld Lord could only sigh, "I would love to, but I'm always so busy. Usually, Persephone gets time to interact with him, but even then, she decides to help me with my work and attempt to thin my duties."
"Speaking of Persephone… where is Lady Demeter?" Chiron wondered.
"Ah, that I do not know. She does not come to every solstice meeting and honestly if she were here she would be constantly complaining about grains or something or shouting at me." Hades smirked.
"I see." The centaur nodded slowly.
"Well, I'm glad we don't have to deal with her. It gets annoying having to hear the endless yelling about cereal and bread." Nico whined, "It's bad enough that her daughter turned me into a dandelion."
Percy smirked, "I forgot about that. Thanks for the memory, Ghost Boy."
"Damn it." The son of Hades groaned.
"Anyway…"
"Fetch!" I threw the stick into the gloom, a good solid throw. I heard it go ker-sploosh in the River Styx.
Cerberus glared at me, unimpressed. His eyes were baleful and cold.
So much for the plan.
"Haha! Noodle arms!" Clarisse guffawed, "Nice going Prissy!"
"Yeah, yeah."
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.
"And here comes Annabeth saving their skin, as usual." Thalia grins.
"This would have been so much cooler if I wasn't scared out of my pants." Grover awed.
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.
She shouted, "See the ball? You want the ball, Cerberus? Sit!"
"That would never work, my dear." Hades boasted, not seeing the poorly hidden smiles of the trio.
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.
The only thing the Silent One could do was let his jaw drop open in disbelief.
Of course, this just made everyone else break out with laughter at the image.
"What? But… how?" The poor god just couldn't wrap his head around the situation.
Nico wiped his tears of laughter, "Oh, man. I needed that. Thank you, Annabeth, I will never forget that, ever."
"Again, I wish we had a camera, that was amazing." Apollo was huddled on the floor sucking in air.
Hades managed to compose himself and huffed, crossing his arms.
Annabeth said, "Good boy!"
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.
"Oh my gods, you gonna do it again?!" Will screamed.
"Gosh Annie, who would've thought?" Thalia said beaming with pride.
The daughter of Athena just shrugged blush clear.
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.
"I can't even…"
"Annabeth, I wanna be you when I grow up." Travis said wonderstruck.
"Oh gods" said girl buried her face in Percy's shoulder.
Her boyfriend tightened his arm around her kissing her forehead, "Just shows how amazing you are Wise Girl."
That made her blush harder.
"Good boy." She picked up the ball, ignoring the monster spit all over it.
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.
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.
"Why would I do that?" she cried out.
"It's just one of those weird thoughts that I have during a panicked moment." Percy could only shrug, he had no idea why he thought that either.
We made it through. Cerberus wasn't any less scary-looking from the back.
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.
"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..."
"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 panted expectantly, the tiny red ball in pieces in a puddle of drool at its feet.
"Oh, the poor boy just wants to play." Rachel mumbled.
"It's why we do play time with Mrs. O'Leary. I remembered this when I was with Nico once and we had the idea and tried it out." Percy explained.
"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?"
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. "Let's 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.
Grover murmured, "Well, Percy, what have we learned today?"
"That three-headed dogs prefer red rubber balls over sticks?"
"No," Grover told me. "We've learned that your plans really, really bite!"
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.
"The poor boy!" Rachel sniffed.
There seemed to not be a single dry eye in the group. It was scarily easy to picture the mournful Cerberus and his cries.
Connor cleared his throat softly, "well who wants to read next?"
"I can," Percy said with a shrug reaching for the book.
"No, you shouldn't have to. It's all your personal thoughts and experiences, so I think it's fair you don't read." Annabeth reasoned.
"Okay… well Tyson can't really read at this level, so he's out as well." The boy said ruffling the cyclops' hair gently.
"True."
"Oh for – just give me the stupid thing!" Zeus said snatching the book from Connor.
"I can finally get answers about my bolt. And maybe there won't be as many interruptions." The god sneered.
The rest of the group very much doubted that, but let the Thunderer begin reading.
AN: And that's the chapter. Thanks so much for reading and sticking with me this far. We're getting close to the end, only about 5 more chapters to this story and we'll be onto number 2!
As always reviews are appreciated and keep me motivated to keep writing. Or if you prefer feel free to shoot me a PM instead. See y'all next time!