And now here's the real chapter for today! I wrote these in advance so now you're getting two updates in like, five minutes! Huzzah.

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE 100 REVIEWS. MY MONTH WAS COMPLETELY MADE. ASDJAKSASDKJSDASD

Let it commence.

Annabeth

I snapped shut the third phonebook I'd checked that day with a frustrated sigh. "I can't believe this. It's like this place doesn't even exist!"

We were sitting on a bench on top of a boardwalk. It was almost nighttime, we didn't have a place to stay, and we'd been looking for hours. We'd asked the friendlier-looking pedestrians if they knew where it was, but they just stared at us blankly. We then decided to get as many phonebooks as possible and start searching, but there was nothing.

"What, the recording studio or the Underworld?" Percy said, not looking up from a thick Yellowpages.

"They're the same thing, Percy," I groaned.

"No, I meant the building or—you know what, never mind. I don't feel like explaining it."

"Good, because I'm trying to read," I snapped, throwing the stupid book on the boardwalk.

I saw Percy roll his eyes, but I didn't say anything. I just stared at a forgotten ice cream cone that was melting on the wood. I wondered how long that'd been there. A seagull dropped from the sky and started pecking at the cone. When it looked at me, it had mint chocolate chip ice cream dripping off its beak. It squawked and flew away.

"This is hopeless," Percy said suddenly, slamming the book shut. I jumped and realized that I was still staring that the receding figure of the bird.

"Yeah, yeah," I said absentmindedly. "Completely hopeless."

"Well, now what are we going to do? Find out a place to stay for the night, or wander the streets until we get mugged?"

I sat there thinking for a minute. When I didn't answer, Percy stared at me.

"You aren't seriously thinking about that? I was joking!"

"No, no, I think I have an idea," I muttered. "Do you think your dad will answer a prayer?"

"I don't think so. I just had a dream from him, and he already gave me something. This, remember?" He held up the bag of coins and shook it.

"Maybe my mom will," I said, my mind churning. Would she?

Percy scratched his head. "Only one way to find out."

"Okay…alright." For some reason, I had a feeling of nervousness in my gut. Would she even answer? Percy's dad seemed to really like him, considering he had a whole conversation with him in a dream, and he got a gift that would help us in the future. I'd gotten nothing from my mom.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Mom, I really need help right now. Percy and I do. We're lost and we don't know where to go. Can you please give us guidance? Let us know where to go.

I cracked an eye open, expecting a revelation or a flash of light, or maybe a hovering arrow pointing us in the right direction.

There was nothing.

"Did you do it?" Percy asked.

I sighed. "I got nothing. I really thought she was going to answer. I guess I was wrong"

Before Percy could even reply, a bright orange paper flew out of nowhere and smacked him in the face.

I put a hand to my mouth to keep me from laughing. His face was priceless. He pried the paper off his face, which didn't seem to want to come off, and looked at it. His mouth opened and after staring at it for a long time, handed the paper to me.

"What is it?" I asked, taking the paper from him. I glanced down and saw DOA RECORDING STUDIOS printed in big bold letters at the top of the page. My jaw dropped.

"It worked!" I shouted, jumping to my feet. "She answered!"

Percy grinned as I read the rest of the paper. Underneath in italics it read: We're always looking for new talent!

"There's even a map!" I grabbed Percy's hands and pulled him up. "We're going to get our memories back!" Then, I did something that surprised both me and him.

I hugged him. Hard.

"Gah, Annabeth," he gasped. "My ribs…"

I jumped away and pulled out the baggie of crackers. I broke off a tiny corner and shoved it in his mouth. As he chewed, a look of relief spread on his face. He put his hands up his shirt and pulled off the bandage.

"Much better," he sighed, rolling it up.

I hugged him again.

He grabbed my shoulders and studied me. "Who are you and what have you done with Annabeth? I didn't think you were capable of showing emotion other than annoyance. Mostly toward me."

I took his hands off my shoulders. "Let's just get to the recording studio. I want to get my memories."

"Are you sure that this is the right place?" I asked for the seventeenth time.

Percy glanced at me, looking annoyed. "Annabeth, it says DOA RECORDING STUDIOS on the building and the door. It's obviously the right place."

Stenciled on the glass doors in thick lettering: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING.

"I guess it is."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Now let's stop loitering and just get this over with." He pushed open the doors and we walked inside.

A shiver ran through my spine. The place was eerie. There were people everywhere, standing up, sitting on the black leather couches, even sitting on the floor. Music played softly in the background, but other than that it was deathly silent.

Uh, excuse the pun.

When I looked at the people straight on, they seemed to turn transparent, and I could see right through their bodies. I realized that these were spirits waiting to get into the Underworld.

It looked like the elevator was out of service or something, because no one was pushing the buttons or getting on, so we walked over to a raised platform. A huge man was standing behind it. His hair was bleached blond, cut short, and he was extremely tanned. He had on a fancy silk Italian suit, black reflective sunglasses, and a rose was pinned to the breast pocket above a silver name tag.

He looked at us, and I had no idea what to do. It was like I was frozen to the spot, and my mind went blank.

"Um, Mr. Charon, sir," Percy said, reading the nametag. "We'd like to go to the Underworld, please."

He leaned over the desk. "Don't I know you two from somewhere? Where's your goaty friend? And how did you make it out of here alive?"

I glanced at Percy and he shrugged his shoulders. "Uh, I don't know," I said. "We just—"

"I have seen you before," he said. "Did you finally die?"

"Uh—" Percy started.

"I can only let you down if you pay me. I take American Express, and we've added a new card, Visa. Have you gotten one of those, yet?"

"No—" I began.

He suddenly scrunched up his face, and then stared at us. I felt like a hole was being burned in my chest.

"You're still alive!" he practically shouted. "Why do you keep coming here?"

"You see—"

"Leave, now! Or else I'll get a hellhound up here and escort you out."

"Wait!" Percy yelled. "Do you take these?" He opened the backpack and pulled out the bag of coins we'd gotten from his dad.

His face suddenly looked eager. "Lemme see those. Even more than before," he said, stretching out a hand.

Percy pulled them back. "Only if you let us in the Underworld."

"Still the same," he muttered. "Why should I? Last time I did, Hades yelled at me for ages. Said I was ungrateful when I wanted a pay raise."

"You can have the entire bag. We don't need it," I said quickly. "And we won't mention anything to Hades."

"Well, I was able to buy a new suit the first time. Could always use another," he said, looking down at his silk jacket. "Alright, fine. We'll see if you get out of here alive this time, though." He took the bag from Percy's hands and gave us a wicked grin.

We stepped off of the boat with the spirits and stood on the shore.

"Thank you mighty for the tip," Charon said. "Maybe I'll see in the lobby soon." He took his pole and floated away down the polluted river.

The spirits pushed past us as they walked down a worn path, but Percy and I just stood there.

"Where the heck do we go now?" Percy asked. "And how did he know who we were?"

"I'm guessing we've been here before," I said. "Except I don't know who our 'goaty friend' is."

"Maybe you had a pet goat."

I punched him.

"Let's just follow the spirits, and if that's the wrong direction, we can come back. We've got to find the River Lethe. That's where Hypnos is," I said.

Percy rubbed his arm. "Alright. But don't punch so hard next time."

"Come on, Seaweed Brain," I said, walking down the path and leaving him behind.

"Hey!" he exclaimed as he ran to catch up. "Don't leave me here!"

We walked down the path and came upon a large open cavern. It was massive, enormous, huge, and stuffed full of dead spirits. They were standing in three lines, one with a sign that said EZ DEATH, and two others that said ATTENDANT ON DUTY.

I was completely speechless, but managed to say, "This is organized."

A howl suddenly erupted at the end of the cavern, and then what sounded and felt like mini earthquakes. It was coming towards us. I immediately grabbed Percy's arm.

"What is that?" I whispered.

Out of the mist emerged an enormous dog. With three heads. Three heads. Spirits screamed and jumped out of the way as it carved a path towards us, and it had drool coming out of all three mouths.

"It's coming to us!" Percy said.

"You think I don't know that?" I hissed. I started to walk backwards down the path, dragging Percy with me. "Let's just walk away slo—"

The dog stopped in front of us, and it's hot breath hit us, and it smelled disgusting.

I screamed and grabbed Percy and put him in front of me as a shield.

"Don't…move…" I whispered. "Back away."

The middle head stuck its tongue out, and I heard a thumping from behind it. Was that it's…tail?

"Good boy?" Percy said weakly. Six eyes swiveled toward him, and two mouths started to growl. The middle head was still looking at me expectantly.

"Annabeth," Percy said out of the corner of his mouth. "I think it knows you."

"Me?" I squeaked.

"Go…calm it down. It doesn't like me."

I moved Percy out of my way with shaky hands. "Nice doggie?" I managed to get out.

It sat down and leaned forward on its front paws, tail still wagging. All nine eyes were on me.

"H-Hello," I said, voice trembling. I stretched out a hand and it started sniffing it. It then licked me. All of me.

"Gah!" I gasped, drenched in dog drool.

Squeezing my eyes shut, praying it wouldn't bite off my hand, I patted its nose.

The other two heads whined. I patted theirs, too.

"Okay, we've got to find Lethe," I told it, feeling a bit more confident. I had no idea if it knew what I was saying, but I thought it was worth a shot. "Could you take us there?"

The dog shot to its feet and jumped over us, loping down the path we'd just come from.

Percy hid a smile behind his hand, looking at my hair, which was sticking up from the drool.

I glared at him. "Shut up, Percy. Just follow the dog."

"I didn't say anything," he said, holding up his hands, still grinning.

We walked back down the path where the three-headed dog was waiting for us. When it saw us, it ran off along the bank of the river. We had to run to keep up with it, and we skidded to a halt in front of a massive cavern where the dog was waiting for us. Blood-red poppies were growing at the opening of the cavern, and I started to feel drowsy looking at them.

Out of the cavern flowed another river, but this one looked different. It was milky white, and didn't flow quickly like the polluted one that we'd sailed on. It came out slowly, almost leisurely, and the water looked extremely thick. Just standing by the river made my mind go hazy.

"Thank you," I managed to get out to the dog. I pressed a hand to my forehead. It was starting to pound insanely.

The dog wagged its tail once and ran off, leaving behind craters where its paws landed in the soft dirt.

Percy took my hand and squeezed, and I saw that it looked like he was going to collapse from the power of the river and the poppies.

"Are you ready?" he said.

"As I'll ever be," I replied.

I squeezed his hand back, and we entered the cave.

Woohoo! Our heroes are ever closer to retrieving their memories! We'll see what happens next when Forgotten - Chapter 19 comes out...sometime soon.

I haven't written it yet XD hahahahahaha

I'll see you guys soon!

OKAY BYE.

R&R Cerberus