AN: Just wanted to thank the people who reviewed. Didn't expect so many! Lol. Anyway, answering a reviewer's question: I know the prophecy sounds a little strange but you'll get it later on in the story. And all the demigods met in the amphitheatre because they suspected it was a serious prophecy. Obviously, normally they didn't do it like that.
I meet the Boulder man
Once again, we needed to go on another dangerous quest- though all quests are dangerous, this one sounded pretty grave. But first, I had to obey a certain god's request. And I did not want to get on his bad side…though I figured I had already to a certain extent. Either way, I was planning to descend to the Underworld again. One question nagged me: why would Hades request my presence when he so clearly hated my guts? Beats me. So, a little suspicious, I decided to bring the whole crew along- Annabeth, Tyson, Nathan Grey (turns out he's Dionysus' kid) and Amelia Burns (a daughter of Athena): just in case Hades decided to lock me up again. Besides, he never told me to come alone did he? Anyway, I was packing my stuff with Tyson in our cabin when he started asking me some embarrassing questions. Seriously, he was like mom number two, except younger and more kiddish.
"So Annabeth is your girlfriend now?"
He said it so matter-of-factly that I blushed. "Uh… yeah, she is."
"Does she love you?"
Outside
I heard snickering. If I was right, those were eavesdroppers from the
Aphrodite cabin. Oh gods, I had to stop this- somehow.
"Uh,
yeah, probably. Otherwise she wouldn't be my girlfriend would she?'
"Yay!" he said, clapping his hands together. "Then you will get married and have kids and I can play with them! Mini Percy's and mini Annabeths!"
"Oookaaaaay," was the only thing I could say.
I really didn't get Tyson sometimes.
Just then, someone knocked on the cabin door.
"Come in," I said, stuffing my jacket into the bag.
The door opened and Annabeth came in, her bag already packed.
"You guys finished?"
Tyson shook his head. "Percy is slow."
"Thanks for the support big guy."
"No problem," he replied happily, oblivious to the sarcasm.
Annabeth laughed. "Well, Argus is waiting for us. Speed it up a bit Percy."
"Yeah okay," I said, rolling my eyes.
I finished stuffing my pj's into my bag and slung it on my shoulder. I turned to Annabeth.
"See? Done. Let's go."
Tyson, Annabeth and I exited the cabin, were joined by Nathan and Amelia and jogged down to Argus, who was leaning against the van. It was before a foreboding quest but we talked and chatted like nothing was wrong. Tyson had gotten better at not puking in the car/van, but he still looked a little queasy, and I kept glancing at him to check he wasn't going to empty his stomach on me.
We arrived at the subway in LA and Argus dropped us off. I had never actually heard the guy talk- rumour has it that he has an eye on his tongue so he doesn't speak. Which does make sense, I wouldn't want to flash an eye on my tongue at people every time I talk to them. Anyway, after a while, we found ourselves being ferried across the River Styx by Charon. I'd been here a couple of times before but it still gave me the creeps, especially with all the souls of the dead moaning and groaning. The only difference was that this time, Charon was waiting for us so I was relieved (I'd brought a few drachmas in case I had to persuade him). Plus, I noticed that he had on a new teal pinstripe suit.
"So… Hades given you a pay rise yet?" I asked tentatively.
Charon snorted, though I wondered how, considering he had nothing inside him. His paddling became a little indignant and the bones of his skeletal arm clacked together. Tyson winced.
"Hardly," he replied shortly.
That was the end of our conversation.
He dropped us off in front of the gates and we clambered out of the boat. Amelia and Nathan looked a little nauseated, and I had forgotten that it was their first time in the Underworld.
"You guys okay?" I asked them.
Amelia Burns nodded, though her face was pale. "It's a little creepy but I don't think I'd like to be visiting here too often."
"I'll say," agreed Nathan.
"Can't blame you," said Annabeth, shuddering.
Whether it was her voice he heard or because he smelled her, Cerberus, the three headed dog came bounding out from the shadows, barking at the top of his lungs. Amelia and Nathan cried out in terror and backed away, drawing their swords. Cerberus nosed a red ball slick with slime towards a surprised Annabeth and woofed for approval. He greeted her with a wet slobbery kiss. Now when somebody else, even a disgusting, mega sized three headed dog… I mean especially a disgusting, mega sized three headed dog kisses my girl, I get angry.
"Annabeth, get back right now," I told her a little vehemently.
She turned to me, raising an eyebrow. "What?"
Then I got a hold of myself and said, "I mean… this isn't the time. Tell him to go away so we can meet Hades quickly and get out of here."
Cerberus growled dangerously at me, all three heads of him.
With gentle words and lots of patting, Annabeth finally got rid of him and we continued forward. On the way, we met some of our lost friends. Beckendorf and Silena were happy in Elysium, along with Michael Lee, Lee Fletcher, Ethan Nakamura (yes him too), Castor and many other campers who had died in the fight against Kronos. I was happy to see them, and glad to see Beckendorf and Silena reunited. On the other hand, we couldn't see Luke.
"Where's Luke?" I asked Beckendorf.
He shook his head. "That guy is amazing, he's trying three times for the Isle of the Blest."
I nodded. Before Luke died, he'd told us about him doing just that. I glanced back at Annabeth. She no longer seemed to show any sign of defensiveness or sadness every time she heard Luke's name, but habitually I checked if she did. She didn't. Instead, she nodded as well, smiling.
"That's Luke, always going for gold."
"Are you guys talking about Luke Castellan? The dude whose body was controlled by Kronos?" asked Nathan. Then he blushed, self conscious, as we turned to look at him.
Tyson nodded gravely. "Yes. Traitor who turned good in the end."
There was an uncomfortable pause.
"Yeah, well, he was a hero in the end and that's what matters isn't it?" said Amelia.
"Of course," I said quickly. "Okay, let's move on."
Reluctantly we said our goodbyes to our dead friends and moved on.
Skeletal soldiers in tattered US army desert combat fatigues barred our way in front of the doors to Hades. Once they recognized us they let us into the palace. The five of us walked into the palace garden. I felt a sense of déjà vu, though this time I hadn't been dropped from a couple metres above by a certain fury. Seated on his skeletal throne was my least favourite God, Hades. His lips curled in distaste when he saw me, which turned into a smirk when he saw our new companions Nathan and Amelia. Hades snorted.
"Right, let's get down to business. Jackson, I didn't call you over here to exchange pleasantries."
Me neither, I wanted to say but I kept quiet.
He got up from his throne and paced around. The five of us watched us, puzzled. Finally, after a while, he looked up at me, his coal black eyes fixing me to the spot.
"This so called global warming" he waved his hand derisively as he said the term, "is affecting my kingdom. Maybe I'm the God of the dead, but even my kingdom is alive. I maintain it by the very essence of my existence. The ceiling and walls begin to crumble as it is also part of the earth, though it is very deep down in the earth." His nostrils were flaring now- I could tell he didn't want my help, but he didn't have much choice because of the prophecy. I hid a smirk. He breathed out.
"I require your help, Percy Jackson. You must ask Sisyphus for direction. That is all."
"Um… you brought me here to tell me that you're kingdom is being affected by global warming?" I asked.
Hades' mouth twitched. "Yes. Do you have a problem with that Percy Jackson?"
"Well…"
"I needed you to know how serious this quest is. Do you understand that?" Oh, so he was worried now.
Annabeth and Tyson assumed grave expressions. Nathan and Amelia just looked pale- well, meeting the lord of the dead for the first time wasn't exactly pleasant.
"So where is this… uh, Sisyphus?" I asked.
There was an evil glint in the frigid eyes of Hades. "Tartarus."
"Oh, right."
I fought down a smirk. Hades noticed and his eyebrows went v-shaped.
"Now scoot! All of you!"
We hurried out of his palace and were met by Persephone. Now, last time, she had let me be locked in one of Hades' cells so I wasn't exactly glad to see her.
"Um, excuse me."
She sensed the annoyance in my voice and sighed dramatically.
"Come with me, I'll take you to Sisyphus."
We all looked at her. She smiled, knowing she had caught our attention.
I stared at her.
"I'm his supervisor, duh," she explained exasperatedly.
"Oh."
And with that, she transported us through the air so fast I couldn't even see anything properly. With a jolt, we stopped, back on our feet. I shook my head to clear it and gazed around me. It was damp, cold and dark. In front of us loomed a huge hill- I don't even think it's classified as a hill anymore- but it was a hill alright.
"Whoa," muttered Nathan behind us.
"Big hill," agreed Tyson.
"So…" started Annabeth.
But she never got around to saying what she wanted to, because just then a distant rumble was heard, shaking the ground beneath us. We all jumped, startled. Then the rumbling got louder and louder and I looked up. Up the hill I could make out a faint outline of a human figure.
"Argh!!! Not AGAAAAAIN!!!"
Then Persephone rolled her eyes and a stone wall materialized out of nowhere in front of us. Our eyes literally bugged out of our sockets as a mega sized boulder rumbled and rolled crazily towards us. We all jumped out of the way and the boulder collided with the stone wall. The impact of the collision echoed around us, rebounding of the black walls of Tartarus.
An old, shrewd looking man with wild grey hair and tattered clothes sprinted towards us, sweating like a stallion. Amelia and Nathan wrinkled her nose. Tyson waved a big hand to ward off the smell.
The man I guessed was Sisyphus.
"Another visitor?" he asked Persephone.
The goddess just eyed him with distaste. "This is Percy Jackson and his friends. Hades asked them to ask you for direction." Then she went back to analysing her perfect fingernails.
Sisyphus noticed me staring and fixed me with beady eyes.
"What are you looking at boy?" he demanded.
"Um, nice clothes," I said stupidly.
He ignored my answer and glared at me. "So old sallow face asked you to come here did he? Well, I'm not going to lie: you're going to have to work for it."
Then face broke into a mischievous grin. "And I have just the thing for you, little Achilles."
***************
I braced myself and took a step forward. I mean, I've held up the sky before- a boulder should be no problem. Tyson, Amelia and Nathan chewed their nails. Annabeth looked worried. Did I tell you she's cute when she's worried?
Anyway, the four tried to convince Sisyphus to let them all do it with me but he just shook his head, grinning toothily.
"He's gotta feel the pain like I do."
I took a deep breath and placed my palms on the boulder. I pushed. Nothing happened. Ooookaaaaay.
I pushed again and it took some agonizing pushes before it actually moved. I pushed and pushed and pushed. By the time I was a twentieth of the way up the hill, I was sweating like crazy. Even with my super invincible strength a punishment in Tartarus did not make any task easy. Oh great.
I pushed with all my willpower and physical strength. With each step my muscles burned like mad and sweat broke out all over my forehead, trickling down like water from a tap. A million years later I rolled it up about eighty percent of the way. At the base of the hill, Amelia, Nathan, Tyson and Annabeth shouted words of encouragement and I let out a groan. Then I finished rolling it up. I panted heavily, sweat dripping every second and I leaned against the boulder, revelling in my triumph.
"Phew."
No
sooner had I said that, the boulder slipped out of my grasp and
rolled down at goodness knows what speed.
"What- move away!" I warned my team. They jumped out of the way just in time and the boulder hit the wall again. I sprinted down, furious.
I grabbed the front of Sisyphus' shirt. He rolled his eyes and cackled.
"Your efforts weren't wasted silly boy. I'll tell you where to go."
"Huh?" I asked in confusion. Annabeth grabbed my arm and pulled me away.
"Percy, the task was meant to be like that. It's the Sisyphean task- the pointless task," she whispered.
I vaguely remembered us learning about this. The guy was meant to be punished for betraying Zeus' secrets and cheating death or something like that.
"Oh," I managed.
"Yeah," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes. "Pay attention to the myths, will you?"
"Yes boy, pay attention to the myths," Sisyphus said in his annoying voice. "I'm only going to say this once: you must go to Arcas."
"Arcas?" I asked.
"Yes, Arcas," he growled.
"I thought you were only going to say it once."
Sisyphus glowered at me.
"Okay… so where is this Arcas?" I asked.
"He usually visits the fields of Asphodel."
Then without another word, Sisyphus began rolling the boulder uphill again.
I turned to Annabeth. "So who is Arcas?"
Annabeth tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ear. "Arcas is the son of Zeus and Callisto. Percy, I've been thinking- and I've discussed it with Chiron too- and I'm almost positive that the 'nest' is in Arcadia."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. You mean Arcadia, as in, the wild paradise?" I asked incredulously.
"Yeah."
The boulder slammed into the wall again. As we all rose with Persephone to exit Tartarus, I heard Sisyphus shout: "Remember Percy Jackson! Everything is pointless!"
Then he cackled manically and we were out of there.
