Hola, this wasn't that long between updates! I am proud of myself; I guess I've got the spirit of giving a little early! Enjoy the chapter where I really don't own anything.
Zack, Lauren, and I set off to find the Door of Orpheus. We figured it would be easier to reach than the Los Angeles entrance to the Underworld because it was still in New York.
"Okay, Nicole and I will bring Zack through the forest using our amazing wilderness travel powers, and then we can all walk around in Central Park and find the door." That's a daughter of Athena for you; she has a plan already formed after only a few seconds. Well, since it's the only plan we have, we're going with it.
"Got it, but how do we use our amazing wilderness travel powers exactly?" I was kind of new to the Hunt, so I'm not sure if Lauren was exaggerating how awesome our traveling really was or not.
"Oh, right, well, you just walk through the forest and take the path with the sign for wherever you want to go. Just don't tell Lady Artemis that we showed Zack." Whoa, I didn't know the Huntresses had such epic traveling techniques! I wish I had known that during Capture the Flag; it would definitely explain how the campers have never won a game in, how many years now?
"That's great, but don't we have to use music to open the door? I can't sing and my iPod is out of batteries." Zack turned to Lauren first, then to me. I'm not sure whether I'm insulted by the fact that he looked to Lauren before me or not.
"Well, I'm tone deaf and left my old MP3 player behind when I joined the Hunt, but Nicole is talented and guards her iPod religiously." Why thank you Lauren, I feel appreciated. Who would have known that my obsession with music would actually be useful one day? Definitely not me!
"So, it's all settled? Lauren is taking us to Central Park because I don't trust Nicole when she didn't even know that you could wilderness travel until five minutes ago; and then Nicole's going to do her part and get us through the door?" I am OFFENDED! Did he know that Hunters could wilderness travel before Lauren told us; I don't think so!
"Yeah, yeah, sure, let's get going already!" Lauren grabbed both of us by the arm and literally dragged us by the arm into a bunch of trees. We walked past the first one, and I immediately saw the rows and rows of signs saying everything from 'Yellowstone' to 'trees behind Charlotte High School'. From Zack's expression, he obviously didn't see the huge 'CENTRAL PARK' sign right in front of his nose. Lauren led us down the leaf strewn path, and we walked for about ten seconds before emerging into the dazzling sunlight that covered New York this day.
"I guess Lord Apollo is happy tod-wait, where are we?" Did Zack seriously just interrupt himself? That's kind of sad, just saying.
"We're in Central Park. I told you that we had amazing wilderness travel powers! Now let's go find that door!" All of us walked off in different directions, then looked around and turned around only to walk three separate ways once again. This was going to be one long day.
It took over an hour, but we eventually found the Door of Orpheus. Unfortunately for us, it just looks like a pile of rocks, so we had to search for it extremely carefully. Once we found it however, we still couldn't open it.
"Well Nicole? This is where we need the music to open the door!" Gosh Zack, no need to turn all snappy on us, we're only trying to help you find your sister! It's not like you should be thanking us or anything *mental sarcasm*.
"Okay, Lauren, what do I have to do with my iPod? I can turn up the volume so that it's pretty loud through the headphones, or am I supposed to sing to this pile of rocks?" Yeah, I was not singing a cappella for this part of the wall. Maybe if I could turn up my iPod loud enough, it would work.
Turning up the volume was easy enough, but trying to find a good song was hard. Eventually, we all decided to just put it on shuffle and choose the first song that came up. The next song to pop up was Tik Tok by Ke$ha, and it was hilarious to see Zack and Lauren's reactions. Especially when I started to sing the parody at the top of my lungs once it reached the chorus.
By the time I was singing about purple socks, the door had apparently had enough, because it was opening ever so slowly. All three of us high-fived each other and ran through the door right before it clicked shut again. We ducked down behind a stalagmite so that we could survey the scene before us.
We looked around the underworld, and sure enough, there was Cerberus. Aw, he is so ADOREABLE! In the "back up or I'll eat your head off because it's my job" kind of way. I'm pretty sure I've had that look myself before, so it wasn't really anything new.
"There you go Nicole, that's Cerberus. Are you happy now? Is your life complete?" Wow, Zack is being even more sarcastic than I am when I'm in a bad mood because I had way too much homework.
"I'm ecstatic thank you very much! And no, my life isn't complete until I annoy as many people as demigod-ly possible!" The best way to retort to a sarcastic comment is to have a sarcastic comeback! Zack looks pretty mad, so cross one more person off of my list of people to annoy!
"Will you two shut up so that I can think of a way to get us past him without getting eaten?" Lauren interrupted our whispered argument with another whisper of her own. We actually were being pretty quiet, but the tone says everything. Like when you're teacher is being mean and you know they would totally be yelling at you if they didn't have to be nice to you.
"Why don't we just walk past him? He's busy watching the dead file past like good little souls." I didn't wait for an answer from either of them, which they definitely were not happy about. Walking out from our hiding place, I strode right past the giant guard dog while pulling out my iPod. I learned from Harry Potter number one, Fluffy liked music, maybe Cerberus does too.
It turned out that it was somewhat true, Cerberus did like the music, but it didn't put him to sleep. He turned one of his three heads towards me, and I grinned like the Cheshire Cat. Cerberus growled, but it was in a friendly way. I know that sounds impossible, but it's absolutely true.
I smiled, said "good boy" and strutted past Cerberus like it was something I did everyday. Lauren and Zack were staring after me, before jumping out and following me. I giggled at their expressions of shock when nothing happened; no security alarms went off, no Cerberus chomping your head off, no random axe murders jumping out at you like a haunted house.
"I can't believe that actually worked. Good plan Nicole." Lauren and Zack had both caught up with me by now, and we started off in the direction of Hades's palace. This was going to be one interesting family visit!
The three of us walked right up to Lord Hades's palace. It was a very derelict building with black paint covering every visible surface and a bunch of faces of people being tortured. To put it simply, it was very depressing and extremely "Lord of the Dead-ish".
Zack pulled the door open himself, and Lauren and I followed him inside. Three demigods just walking through the front doors of the Palace of Death (as I am now referring to it) apparently doesn't happen very often, because we got a lot of strange looks from the skeleton servants that are walking around. We must be a rare sight in here, I feel proud.
"So we got into this place without a problem and we just walk right through the doors without anyone stopping us; this can't be normal. I've always heard that quests were supposed to be extremely hard and this was way too easy. What's going to happen next?" Almost as soon as Lauren finished her last sentence, the loud, tired, and annoyed sounding voice of Lord Hades himself rang through the place.
"All demigods in here are expected to report to the Throne Room at this very instant. That means NOW!" Pleasant way to greet your guests, I think we should all yell something sarcastic like "Nice to meet you too!" but that might not be good in the presence of a god.
"Um, guys, where's the throne room?" Hmm, Zack actually has a good point for a boy. How are we supposed to report somewhere we don't know how to find? Almost as if reading my thoughts from a distance, we were instantly transported into a huge domed room and standing in front of Lord Hades and Lady Persephone. Taelor was also standing there, and she smiled as she saw us and ran to greet us, much more polite than Lord Hades's welcome if you ask me.
"What are FOUR demigods doing in my palace at the same time? Why are you here?" Lord Hades got directly to the point while Lady Persephone looked a little guilty, or maybe just embarrassed by her husband's actions. I really couldn't tell which, and studied her expression a little longer while Zack and Lauren explained our quest.
Lord Hades didn't look impressed by our story, and especially not by the fact that I didn't even take part in the retelling of it. He seemed to dismiss it as a lie, and looked murderous, even for the God of Death.
"Anyway, all four of you will be out of here in ten seconds or you will be stuck in the Underworld forever." Wow, that's not a very fair choice is it? We were all turning around to leave when Lady Persephone stood up and said the only thing she has said in front of us.
"You will not speak to Taelor and Zack like that. I do not like people being rude to my children."
Muwahahaaaaa! Yes, I know I'm an evil little . . . demigod! The next chapter should be up soon. Please review!
~monkeypicklez