I don't own Percy Jackson, blah blah blah, I do not own Camp Half Blood and such. If you want to see my full Disclaimer, then refer to my first chapter.
Author's Note: Okay, peoples, this chapter is gonna be a long one, so get comfortable, get ready, and lets GOOOO!Chapter 6: The Heiress of Hades
As soon as my eyes shut and I went under, another dream shot into my mind. It was a dream of the Underworld, which looked normal. That is, until, I looked closer. There weren't any sounds of destruction, or pain, or anguish, or anything! Normally, the air was filled with stuff like that, because, well, it's the Underworld. I was perched up on a rock ledge like an eagle, trying to see what was causing this when I saw where all the souls were. I flew down (remember, this is a dream, I can fly if I want to) to the commotion and looked down overhead. The souls were all attending a 'court', and I call it a 'court' because there wasn't really any other way of describing it.
First off, it looked exactly like a court, except for the fact that the prosecuted was on their knees, arms and legs shackled. I swooped down a little lower and saw that it was a girl, about my age, with obsidian-black hair, and dark, piercing eyes. She looked at the 'judges' with annoyance, and I could tell just by looking at her face that this seemed like a waste of time to her. I perched up on a ledge nearby and listened as the court began. The judge, some little demon dude, slammed his gavel onto the wooden table, which was slightly burnt.
"We are here today to settle the case of Shade Tasios, daughter of Hades. This trial is to determine where she will be sentenced, and the fate of her soul. Shade Tasios, stand forth." The girl-Shade-struggled to her feet.
"What?" She spat at the judge, "What do you want from me?" Her tone of voice was defiant and angered, but her voice was surprisingly soft.
The judge ignored her and asked, "Shade Tasios, have you or have you not been sentenced to imprisonment in a mortal jail seven times for murder?" Shade didn't answer.
She nodded her head and the crowd gasped. The judge continued, "Shade Tasios, have you or have you not stolen three ancient artifacts from the Smithsonian." Shade nodded again. The judge motioned for bailiffs to come in and take her. "Put her in the Fields of Punishment." Shade didn't make any movement as the bailiffs started to take her away. Suddenly, the door burst open, and two people that obviously weren't expected burst in.
Can you guess who they were? No? Then, I'll just tell you. Carmen and I had burst in, my bolt crackling with electricity. And, right as Carmen opened her mouth to speak, the dream ended and faded to darkness. "Carson!" I heard Carmen's voice , but it was distant, "Carson! Wake up!" I groggily opened my eyes and my senses exploded in overload. The sound of crackling fire surrounded me, and the smell of smoke and burning wood was everywhere.
I coughed and sat up quickly, my eyes taking in the site. Carmen was panicking, racing to get our stuff, as fire raged in the woods around us. I squinted, trying to find the source, but I gave up and thought for a second. What to do… What to do… Then, it hit me. If, I wondered, Zeus was the god of the skies, and since I am his heir, couldn't I create a storm? "Worth a shot." I said aloud, much to Carmen's confusion. I mentally willed for a storm to come, and right after the thought left my head, a raindrop landed in my eye.
"VICTORY!" I cried aloud, putting one hand to my eye. Carmen stopped what she was doing for a moment to see what the commotion was, and then continued her packing. I went over and helped her, and we finished and mounted up in 5 minutes flat. We took to the skies and began our flight towards Hollywood, the entrance to the Underworld. We had just flown over Des Moines, when a cawing noise filled the air.
"What is that?" I yelled out, trying to get my voice to be louder than the wind. Carmen could apparently hear me, cause she shrugged a reply. Then, the sky darkened, and a shadow covered us. I looked up, and saw… what looked like pigeons flying over us. One tried to pull off a dive-bomb, aiming for my head, but met my sword and turned to ashes. My eyes widened, and so did Carmen's.
"It… turned to ash." Carmen stated plaintively, "So that means… MONSTERS!" She yelled out.
"Evasive maneuvers!" I cried out in reply. Our Pegasi twirled, twisted, looped, and dodged like pros, while pigeons continued to attack us. "What are they?"
"Stymphalian Birds!" Carmen replied. "Run!" She cried out. Carmen took off, her Pegasus galloping at top speed. I took off after her, pulling out the Master Bolt and sending blasts of lightning at the Stymphalian Birds that attacked us. Fried ashes fell to the ground, and their numbers quickly diminished until all but three were left. Those ones were the fastest, and the most evasive. They dodged every shot, every blast with perfect precision.
Suddenly, all three of them cried out at once, screaming, "Carson Lycus! Give us the master weapons!" they screeched. I looked back, and saw a huge surprise. Instead of birds, three harpies were chasing us, talons outstretched at us, ready to rip us to ribbons.
"Jeez!" I yelled out, and urged Astrapee to fly faster, farther. Carmen followed suit, and I fired lightning to keep the harpies from getting too close to us. FWOOOSH! Fired burned past me, nearly lighting my body on fire. I looked back, and saw embers falling to the ground from the harpies' mouths.
"THEY CAN BREATH FIRE! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" I yelled out. Another fireball blasted towards me, and Astrapee and I did a barrel roll, narrowly dodging the fireball. It continued down to the ground, and set fire to the woods below. Another few fireballs flew by me, and hit the woods below. Quickly coming up in my line of sight was a city, and I wasn't about to let these harpies set fire to a city.
"This is going too far!" I cried out, turning abruptly and charging at the harpies, wielding the Master Bolt like a lance. I caught them by surprise, and impaled one, turning it to ash. The other harpies wised up, and began to do some evasive maneuvers. On instinct, I willed the Bolt to turn into a lightning-white sword.
Carmen had caught on and turned to join me, drawing her sword and charging to join me. "Attack!" the biggest harpy screeched. They charged at us, their claws bursting into flames. I took on the biggest harpy, and Carmen charged at the other. The harpy fighting me clawed at me, but I fired lightning at her, which made her institutionally move to dodge.
Right into my sword.
I chopped at her body, aiming to cut her in half, but she spun and blocked the bolt with her claw. Sparks flew, momentarily blinding her, and I took my chance. I grabbed at the harpy's neck with my free hand, pulling her towards me and into my blade.
"HA!" I yelled out, victorious. I turned to check if Carmen needed any help, but she was holding her own. I could tell just how well she was doing by how hard she was breathing, and she was barely panting. I flew over to the forest, and willed for a large rainstorm to form over the burning forest, which immediately doused the flames.
I turned back to check on Carmen, who was busy flying away towards Hollywood. "Wait up!" I yelled after her, and Astrapee and I took off like the wind.
Ten Minutes Later…
Carmen and I quickly closed in on Hollywood, and let me tell you, the lights truly are blinding. We touched down behind in a forest near the Hollywood sign, and Carmen got busy making camp. I, however, had no part to play in that, so I walked off to play guard. The sun fell over the horizon, and the stars quickly came out, but I wasn't there to stargaze. I was there to keep guard.
Suddenly, I felt a small tremor shake the ground under me. I was slightly stunned, but I didn't really get worried. Until the second tremor nearly knocked me on my butt. I rolled away, drawing the Master Bolt, and turning to a vantage point where I could easily see both the hillside and the forest. I expected a monster to come out, but nothing happened. Shaking it off, I walked over to my position, when a third tremor knocked me on my butt and set me rolling down the hill.
"AAAAHHHH!" I screamed as I fell. I heard similar screaming uphill, where Carmen was rolling out of the forest and into the clearing I was just in. I nimbly climbed up the hill after recovering and found Carmen walking into a set of stairs that led deep underground. "Carmen? What are you doing?"
"A tremor knocked me off of the hill up where our camp was, and I landed in this. I'm going down to see what it is. You coming?" She asked me. I nodded and followed her into the stairs, down, down, down into the dark earth.
After what felt like an eternity, we got the first clues as to what the stairs could lead to. What we heard was a river, the crackling of fire, and screaming. Lots of screaming. "Well, that doesn't sound good at all!" I stated, eyes wide with fear. "What is that?" Carmen shrugged.
Here eyes were wide in fear, just like mine. "Uh, Carson? Do you mind taking the lead?" I pushed past her, not saying a word, and vaulted down the stairs.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" I laughed as I ran all the way down the stairs in a flash.
"CARSON! I HATE YOU!" Carmen screamed at me, trying hard to catch up. After what felt like seconds, I had reached the bottom. Obviously, I had some time look around, because I was first. What I found out, however, was actually not that surprising.
"Huh. So, this is the Underworld." I said plaintively. I walked around a little, taking in the sights, when Carmen finally got down here. She emerged from the stairwell, panting hard.
"Carson-*pant*-what-*pant*-the-*pant*-heck-*pant*-was-*pant*-that?*pant*" she asked angrily. I was still laughing pretty hard, when I heard an unexpected voice behind me.
"Yo! Kiddies! So, what? Are you guys planning on coming on board, or what?" I spun around to find the source of the voice, and saw a guy wearing a captain's uniform, with a gray, raggedy cap.
"Who are you? More importantly, what are you? Some sort of ferryman?" Carmen asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
Much to our surprise, the dude smiled with pride. "I'm not just 'some sort of ferryman!' I AM THE FERRYMAN!" He yelled. Carmen facepalmed, and I fished a drachma out of my pocket, flipping it over to the ferryman. He caught it, and he let us onboard his ferry. I ran onboard, Carmen following after me, and then finally the ferryman. He brought us over into the Underworld, and Carmen and I bolted off of the boat once the ferry docked.
"All right, Carmen, let's go." I said. I remembered from my dream that we would find the heiress of Hades in the Underworld court, and if I remembered from Chiron's teaching, the Underworld court was to the left of the docks. We ran in the general direction of left, and kept going until the court came in sight.
"There!" Carmen yelled out, pointing at it. I gave her a look that said, No, really? I sprinted at the court, Carmen following behind me, remembering from my dream that we only had a small window of time to successfully rescue the Heiress. I reached the doors, and smashed through them with swift strength. I looked around, my eyes passing over everything unneeded, like the civilian souls there. I found the only door, which was behind the counter of the law office. Carmen came in, almost panting, and she pointed it out again.
"Let's go!" I yelled out, jumping and sliding over the counter and bursting through the doors of the courtroom. Carmen and I burst in right when the judge ordered for demon bailiffs to take Shade away. "Hey! Let her go!" I cried out. The entire courtroom turned towards me, and gasped. "I demand that you release that girl immediately!" I yelled.
"On what grounds?" The judge said loudly.
"On the grounds that… Um… Carmen, help me out here." I whispered to Carmen.
Carmen pushed past me and took the lead, yelling, "On the grounds that she is the heiress of Hades, and as such, it is her duty to help us find the other heirs and heiresses of the gods to restore peace to Olympus and the world!" Right after Carmen's words left her mouth, she looked visibly taken aback by her regal tone. I raised a questioning eyebrow at her while the judge thought over his next move.
"All right. Release her." That was enough for me. I shot a bolt of lightning at the chains binding Shade's arms and legs.
"Shade! Let's go!" I yelled out, turning to leave. Shade hustled and caught up with Carmen and I, and we quickly got the heck out of the Underworld, by way of the ferryman and the stairs. Right when we resurfaced, Shade collapsed and fell asleep, and Carmen looked near it, too. I led them both to the camp and put Shade down where she could sleep. Carmen shuffled over to her sleeping place, and I walked away to keep guard.
"Hey, Carson?" she whispered.
"What is it?" I asked.
"What do we do about Shade?"
"That's a problem for another day." I replied. "Get to sleep."
Author's Note: All right, readers, how was that! Tell me what you think in the reviews, and go check out my other story! It's called the Tesseract of Time. Until next time, rainstorm24 OUT!
And, FYI, if there were any problems with formatting, then don't worry. I had a problem pasting it, and I tried to fix it the best I could. I didn't have enough time, though.