Chapter 3: Pieces of Him

After leaving camp early, we stopped at a park to eat and to call Hades. Apparently the god of the dead doesn't like being dropped in on.

Surprisingly the park wasn't packed so we were okay.

The guys went to get food while Annabeth and I called Hades. She dug through her purse and got out a drachma and went over to the fountain.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering," she said. "Lord Hades in the Underworld, please."

The coin disappeared and suddenly a figure appeared in the mist. It was a man with dark black hair and dark eyes that kind of scared me.

"Lord Hades," Annabeth said.

"Yes, what is it!" he snapped. "Can't you see I have work to do?"

"We're sorry to bother you, sir," I said. "But we have a question and we hoped you could answer it."

"Make it quick," he said.

We quickly explained what happened to me and then explained the prophecy.

"Well," he said. "so let me see, you want to save the boy who almost killed us all and stole my Helm of Darkness?"

"Yes, but in his defense he was under Kronos," Annabeth started.

"Yes, he was under Kronos control yeah yeah.." he said. "If want to save him, you have to find him."

"Find him?" Annabeth said. "Like going into Elysium?"

"No, When Luke sacrificed himself, it split into six parts. One went to the Isles of the Blest, to be reborn. In order for Luke to return, you need to collect the other five. Each of the five are attached to things he loved. Find those and come to me."

"What about the rest of the prophecy?" I asked.

"Not my problem or my quest," he said. The mist then disappeared.

The boys came back and we told them what had happened.

"Well what are some things he loved?" I asked.

"We should defiantly start at his mother's house, then find Thalia maybe," Percy said.

"Who's Thalia?" I asked. "An ex-girlfriend?"

"No," Annabeth replied coldly. "She's the daughter of Zeus who joined the Hunters of Artemis."

"Oh, let's see, did he have a sword like Percy has?" Noel asked.

"Yeah, it was called Backbiter, but after the battle… it got lost," Percy said.

"Anything else?" Nico asked.

"Well, we better head to Luke's house and then figure out things there," Percy replied.

After a few hours we stopped and got a hotel. That night, I had a dream with Luke in it.

"Juliet" he whispered.

I tried to speak, but I couldn't.

"Juliet, listen to me, there will be people who don't want me back, we both know that. You are the key to this mystery," he replied.

Since I never slept that well, I woke up and noticed it was almost daylight.

After a shower and coffee, we got going.

On the way to West Port, I got a chance to talk with Noel. Nico was the youngest on the quest. Noel was nineteen. Percy, Annabeth, and I were seventeen. He was only fourteen, but apparently he was really in his seventies. (Sometimes in this world, it's best not to ask)

Noel was the son of Apollo and cabin leader. He was rather cute with his tan skin, sandy blonde hair, and brown eyes.

"So who do you think your mom is?" he asked.

"Well, I'm not sure," I replied. "Annabeth said that it's not Athena because she claims her children years before now. Who knows, but I hope she does claim me soon," I said.

"Well, I must say you are beautiful," he muttered.

"Thanks," I replied. "You're sweet."

We finally made it to Westport, Connecticut where we saw a woman outside a house caring for her garden.

She was an older woman with blondish white hair and blue eyes that sparkled.

"I can see where Luke got his eyes from," I whispered to Annabeth.

Annabeth laughed.

"Yeah, they do look like Luke's," she said.

We got out of the van and walked up to her.

"Ms. Castellan," Percy said.

"Yes," she said standing up.

"I'm Percy Jackson and," he started before she cut him off.

"Yes, I know who you are," she replied. "Hermes told me of you would come, please come in."

We walked inside her house and sat down on the couch. She returned to us with milk and fresh cookies, which made Percy and Nico a bit uneasy, but I showed no restraint.

"Thank you so much," I said.

"You're very welcome. It's Juliet right?," she asked.

"Yes, ma'am, but how?" I replied.

"Hermes, told me everything," she stated. "Apparently, you are rescuing Luke. Luke was so independent, he wouldn't even ask for help when he was little."

"Ms. Castellan, if you please, did Luke have anything he treasured that is here?" Annabeth asked as she whipped a tear from her eye.

"Of course," she said. Ms. Castellan go up and walked into a room and came back with a baseball in her hand.

"For his birthday in one of those "cloudy" years, Hermes sent Luke a baseball signed by another son of Hermes, Babe Ruth," she said.

"Wait Babe Ruth was a son of Hermes?" Nico said.

"Yes, Hermes is also the god of athletes," she reminded him. "He loved it more than anything. I'm surprised he didn't take it to camp with him."

Percy held out his hand for the ball and examined it and passed it on.

Annabeth and I both studied it intently.

On the side of the ball, it had Greek writing on it.

"ἀπαλλάσσω"

"It means to set free or to release," she said.

I held the ball in my hand and muttered the word under my breath trying to think of what it meant while Annabeth, Nico, and Percy talked to Ms. Castellan.

As soon as I said the word, the baseball produced a blue aura and shrunk down to the size of a marble.

"What is it?" Nico asked.

"I don't know," I said. I held it up to the light and it seemed to have clouds inside of it.

"Is it one of Persephone's Pearls?" Percy asked.

"No," Annabeth said. "I think it is what we are looking for. I think it's part of Luke's soul."

We quickly finished up at the Castellan house and headed outside to the van.

As we walked outside, a monster that I recognized as an empousa, stood near the van with a Minotaur beside her. She had completely white skin, flaming hair, fangs, one bronze leg and one donkey leg, and red eyes.

"Hand over the piece of Luke's soul and you all die quickly," she said.

"How about you take the hamburger beside you and go get yourself a manicure," I snapped.

"Luke like the way I looked," she replied as the Minotaur picked up the car and threw it into the woods.

"Yeah maybe when he was possessed, I mean really who in their right mind would like you," I said.

"Thanks Juliet," Noel said. "You managed to piss her off."

She came running at me with great speed. I dodged out of the way and managed to pull out my dagger.

It seemed we were evenly matched. I saw Noel fire a few arrows at the Minotaur while Nico and Percy helped.

Annabeth came running to help me.

"Well, now I can kill you both," the Empousa said.

I dodged a few of her hits and ended up getting hit in the stomach. As I lay on the ground I saw she had smacked Annabeth and knocked her to the ground as well.

The Empousa stood over me getting ready to strike the final blow

Percy came running up behind her.

"Wait, can I get a few last words?" I asked.

"And what would that be half blood?"

"Go to hell," I said as Percy chopped her head off and sent a shower of gold dust over me.

I looked over and saw nothing was left of the Minotaur.

Since we no longer had a van and it was getting late, Nico had to get us out of there by shadow traveling.

We arrived in the middle of an opened field where a bunch of silver tents were set up.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Who knows," Percy said.

"I just transported where Thalia was," he said.

We looked over and saw a girl with shoulder length black hair and piercing icy blue eyes. She had an aura to her that made her appear to be glowing in the moonlight.

"Percy, Annabeth, Nico!" she said running towards them. "How did you? Why are you?"

"It's a long story," I explained. "I'm Juliet and you are.."

"Thalia, daughter of Zeus and a Hunter of Artemis."

Author's Note:

So I hope you enjoyed this chapter and more are to come. If you have any ideas or a have a character you want mentioned, please let me know.

-Prue