Warning: Certain ancient Greek names matches words use of foul language but no foul language was intentionally used. Also if you haven't read them yet read 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Early Adventures' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters' 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Titan's Curse' and 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Olympians: The Magical Labyrinth' as well as the one shots 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Stolen Chariot' The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Sword of Hades', and The Tales of the Son of Poseidon & the Bronze Dragon' before reading this story as stuff that happened in them will be mentioned. Lastly, any one who wants to do a Demigods and Olympian reads story using 'The Tales of the Son of Poseidon' is allowed as long as you inform me about it.
I Take the Worst Bath Ever
Hades didn't disarm me of my thermos, not that it matters. My cell had no bars, no windows, not even a door. The skeletal guards shoved me straight through a wall and it became solid behind me.
I sat down in a meditated yoga stance trying to conserve any air I had, hoping Nico can come through in time to save me from suffocating to death.
Normally I would be mad at the kid, but I get what he's coming from. He thought he could find out about his past, and Hades fooled him. No wonder Bianca decided to join the Hunters.
Besides, out of it, I got info as well. I found out why Demeter was here (Nico actually told me that she was here back in the tunnel), and what Hades had planned for the war (stupid if you asked me. Not to mention Hades confirmed that there was a trap Kronos had in store.
I don't remember dozing off. Then again, it must've been about seven in the morning, mortal time, and I'd been through a lot.
I dreamed I was on a porch of Rachel's beach house in St. Thmas. The sun was rising over the Caribbean. Dozens of wooded islands dotted the sea, and white sails across the water. There was also a smell of salt water from the sea which made me missed it.
Rachel's parents sat at the patio table while a personal chef fixed them omelets. Mr. Dare was dressed in a white linen suit. He was reading The Wall Street Journal. The lady across the table was Mrs. Dare, though all I could see of her were hot pink fingernails and the cover of Condé Nast Traveler. Why she'd be reading about vacations while she was on vacation, I wasn't sure.
Rachel stood at the porch railing and sighed. She wore Bermuda shorts and her Van Gogh T-shirt.
I wonder if she was thinking about me, and how much it sucked that I wasn't with them on vacation. I know that's what I was thinking.
Then the scene changed. I was in St. Louis, standing down under the Arch. I'd been there before. I jumped off from the observation deck to the Mississippi River.
Over the city, a thunderstorm boiled—a wall of absolute black with lightning streaking across the sky. A few blocks away, swarms of emergency vehicles gathered with their lights flashing. A column of dust rose from a mound of rubble, which I realized was a collapsed skyscraper.
A nearby reporter was yelling into her microphone: "Officials are describing this as a structural failure, Dan, though no one seems to know if it is related to the storm conditions."
Wind whipped her hair. The temperature was dropping rapidly like ten degrees just since I'd been standing there.
"Thankfully, the building had been abandoned for demolition," she said. "But police have evacuated all nearby buildings for fear the collapsed might trigger—"
She faltered as a mighty groan cut through the sky. A blast of lightning hit the center of the darkness. The entire city shook. The air glowed, and every hair on my body stood up. The blast was so powerful I knew it had to be Zeus' master bolt. It should have vaporize its target, but the dark cloud only staggered backward. A smoky fist appeared out of the clouds. It smashed another tower, and the whole thing collapsed like children blocks.
The reporter screamed. People ran through the streets. Emergency lights flashed. I saw a streak of a silver chariot pulled by reindeer. It was Artemis, riding the storm, shooting shafts of moonlight into the darkness. A fiery comet crossed her path—most likely her twin brother Apollo.
One thing was clear: Typhon had made it to the Mississippi River. He was halfway across the U.S., leaving destruction in his wake, and the gods were barely slowing him down.
The mountain of darkness loomed above me. A foot the size of Yankee Stadium was about to smash me when a voice hissed, "Percy!"
I lunged blindly. Before I was fully awake, I had Nico pinned to the floor of the cell with the edge of my sword at his throat.
"Nico!" I responded retreating my sword. "Sorry! I didn't mean to!"
"it's okay," Nico croaked as I let go so his throat could recover. "You were right. I should have listened to you."
"It's okay. We got what we need out of Hades," I responded. "I take it the plan worked?"
Nico nodded. "Bob is waiting for us."
I smirked. Last winter Nico Thalia Bianca and I fought Kronos' third brother Iapetus and I managed to fool him into taking a dive into the River of Lethe otherwise known as the River of Forgetfulness (Long story). Anyways, Iapetus' memory as a Titan was erased including his name and he took on the persona Bob, a Titan servant of the underworld.
"Listen Percy, if you don't want to continue our plan to defeat Kronos, I won't blame you," Nico said.
I remembered the dream vision of Typhon. "Thanks, Nico, but we've gotten too far to quit now and Olympus is going to need every bit of power we can gain to save it," I said.
Nico nodded. He pointed at the wall. A whole section vanished, revealing a corridor with a giant waiting. The guy had pure silver eyes, his face was covered with scraggily beard, and he was still wearing a ripped prison clothes.
"Friend!" he cheered as he came in and hug me. Let me tell you, a Titan's bear hug was worse than a Cyclops bear hug.
"Hey, Bob! Ouch! You can let me go!" I winced.
"Bob, we need to get out of here," Nico said, "Remember, the plan?"
"Right! Plan to help friends save the world," Bob said.
Well Bob turned out to be a great deal of help. Nico and I rode on his shoulders as he charged out of the Palace. Litterally. The guy took down every skeleton that tried to stop him.
If you haven't guess, this was our plan. Actually, I wanted to summon Mrs. O'Leary, but Nico thought it might be a bad idea incase Hades did hold me in the dungeons, and he was right. If Mrs. O'Leary was in there with me, I would have been squashed to death. Not to mention a hellhound in the holding cell might be suspicious. So instead, Bob was our main escape plan—at least part of it.
The sound of gongs rolled across the fields by time we made it there. Ahead loomed the walls of Erebos.
"Percy, now," Nico said.
I did my loudest Taxi whistle and soon Mrs. O'Leary bounded out of nowhere and helped us out. Although she apparently got the idea that Bob was a monster.
"No doggie! Get off!" Bob yelled.
"Mrs. O'Leary! Down girl! Bob is not a threat!" I ordered.
Mrs. O'Leary eventually calmed down and Nico and I switched from riding on Bob to riding Mrs. O'Leary.
"Okay, Bob! Lead the way!" I said.
"Right!" Bob said as he charged forward and Mrs. O'Leary followed him. At least now Bob can go full strength without having to worry about Nico and me.
We charged through the EZ-DEATH LINE, sending guards sprawling and causing more alarms to blare. Cerberus barked, but he sounded more excited than angry, like: Can I play too?
Fortunately he didn't follow us, and Mrs. O'Leary and Bob continue until we were far far up river and the fires of Erebos had disappeared in the murk.
Nico and I slid off Mrs. O'Leary on the black sand.
"Bob guard the area!" I ordered.
"Sure thing!" Bob responded.
"Okay Nico, we're at the river. You need to tell me what to do," I responded staring at the river of Styx. Let me tell you, the Styx doesn't look any cleaner than it did the first time I saw it. There were broken toys, ripped up college deplomas, wilted homecoming corsages—all the dreams people had thrown away as they'd passed from life into death.
"You have to prepare yourself first," Nico told me, "or the river will destroy you. It will burn away your body and soul."
"How do I do that?" I asked.
"There is only one way to stay anchored to your mortal life. You have to…"
He glanced behind me and his eyes widened. I turned and found myself face-to-face with a Greek Warrior.
The guy was tall and buff, with a cruel scarred face and closely shaved black hair. He wore a tunic and bronze armor. He held a plume war helm under his arm. His eyes were human—pale green like a shallow sea—and a bloody arrow stuck out of his left calf, just above the ankle.
"Achilles," I said.
The ghost that was the former great warrior of all time nodded. "I warned the other one not to follow my path. Now I will warn you."
"Luke? You spoke to Luke?"
"Do not do this," he said. "It will make you powerful. But it will also make you weak. Your prowess in combat will be beyond any mortal, but your weakness, your failings will increase as well."
"I know about the weakness, sir," I responded, "I read all about it from a book given to me by the Son of Apollo gifted with the powers to see into the future. But Luke—he was like a brother to me and Kronos took him from me. This might be my best chance of stopping Kronos from taking away the rest of my family."
Achilles lowered his head. "Let the gods witness I tried. Hero, if you must do this, concentrate on your mortal point. Imagine one spot on your body that will remain vulnerable. This is the point where your soul will anchor your body to the world. It will be your greatest weakness, but also your only hope. No man may be completely invulnerable. Lose sight of what keeps you mortal, and the River Styx will burn you to ashes. You will cease to exist."
"Thank you, Great Achilles," I bowed in respect.
This made Achilles smile. "Prepare yourself, boy. Whether you survive this or not, you have sealed your doom!"
With that he vanished.
"Percy, are you sure?" Nico asked.
"Yeah," I responded.
First to prepare myself, I thought of myself in armor to pick the best protected spot. I don't want it to be in any blind spots, so anywhere in my back was out of the question.I don't want it to be my shield arm. If I lose it will be vulnerable. I thought about on my shield arm where my wrist watch was at but then I realize I lose my shield it will be vulnerable. So then I decided it should be my arm pit right where the armor latched under my Shield arm. It undignified, but it was perfect. No one thing of hitting there.
I took off my shield watch and thermos and handed it to Nico as I concentrated on that one spot and pictured it attach to a bungee cord connecting me to the world. I stepped into the river.
Imagine jumping into a pit of boiling acid. Now multiply that pain time fifty. You still won't be close to understanding what it felt like to swim in the Styx. I planned to walk in slow and courageous like a real hero. As soon as the water touched my legs, my muscles turned to jelly and I fell face first into the current.
I submerged completely. For the first time in my life, I couldn't breathe underwater, and my four years as a swim meet champ did not help either. I finally understood the panic of drowning. Every nerve in my body burned. I was dissolving in the water. I saw faces—Rachel, Grover, Tyson my mother, Thalia, all my friends in Camp Half-Blood, even Luke before Kronos took possession, but they faded as soon as they appeared.
They were pleading to me to make it through this, but I was losing the fight. The pain was too much. My hands and feet were melting into the water, my soul was being ripped from my body. I couldn't remember who I was.
The cord, a familiar voice said. Remember your lifeline, dummy!
Suddenly there was a tug in my armpit, right where I was concentrating on. The current pulled at me but it wasn't carrying me anymore. I imagine the string in my armpit, keeping me tied to the shore.
"Hold on, Seaweed Brain." It was Annabeth's voice, much clearer now. You're not getting away from me that easy."
The cold strengthened.
I could see Annabeth now—standing barefoot above me on the canoe lake pier. It seemed I'd fallen out of my canoe. She was reaching out her had to haul me up, and she was trying not to laugh. She wore her orange camp T-shirt and jeans. Her hair was tucked up in her Yankees cap, which was strange because that should have made her invisible.
"Come on. Take my hand." She smiled.
Memories came flooding back to me—sharper and more colorful. I stopped dissolving. My name is Percy Jackson. I reached up and took Annabeth's hand.
Suddenly I burst out of the river. I collapsed on the sand, and Nico scrambled back in surprise.
"Friend!" Bob yelled. "Are you okay? Are you in pain?"
My arms were bright red. I felt like every inch of my body had been broiled over a slow flame.
I looked for Annabeth, though I knew she wasn't here. It seemed so real.
"I'm fine… I think." The color of my skin turned back to normal. The pain subsided. Mrs. O'Leary came up and sniffed me with concern. Apparently, I smelled really interesting.
"Do you feel stronger?" Nico asked.
Before I could decide what I felt, a voice boomed, "THERE!"
An army of the dead marched toward us. A hundred skeletal Roman legionnaires led the way with shields and spears. Behind them came an equal number of British redcoats with bayonets fixed. In the middle of the host, Hades himself rode a black and gold chariot puled by nightmare horses, their eyes ad manes smoldering with fire.
"You will not escape me this time, Percy Jackson!" Hades bellowed. "Destroy him!"
"Father, no!" Nico shouted, but it was too late. The front line of Roman zombies lowered their spears and advanced.
Mrs. O'Leary growled as Bob got ready to defend. Maybe that's what set me off. I didn't want them hurting my dg and friends.
I yelled and the River Styx exploded. A black tidal wave smashed into the legionnaires. Spears and shields flew everywhere. Roman zombies began to dissolve, smoke coming off their bronze helmets.
The redcoats lowered their bayonets, but I didn't wait for them. I charged.
Eve with a hundred muskets fired at me point range, most of them either missed or bounced off my skin. It was as if I was wearing the Nemean Lion Fur coat Jacket (believe me I know what that's like). I crashed into their line and started hacking with Riptide. Bayonets jabbed. Swords slashed. Guns reloaded and fired, and the whole time I kept moving all over the place preventing them from hitting me while at the same time making it hard for them to find my weak spot.
I whirled through the ranks destroying them one after the other. My mind went on autopilot: stab, dodge, cut, deflect, roll. Riptide was no longer a sword. It was an arc of pure destruction.
I broke through the enemy line and leaped into the black chariot. Hades raised his staff. A bolt of dark energy shot toward me, but I deflected it off my blade and slammed it into him. The god and I both tumbled out of the chariot.
The next thing I knew; my knee was planted on Hades' chest. I was holding the color of his royal robes in one fist, and the tip of my sword was poised right over his face.
Silence. The army did nothing to defend their master. I glanced back and realized why. There was nothing left of them but weapons in the sand and piles of smoking, empty uniforms. I had destroyed them all.
Hades swallowed. "Now, Jackson, listen here…"
"No you listen!" I responded, "I'll let you go, but first tell me about that trap!"
Hades melted into nothing, leaving me holding empty black robes.
I got to my feet, breathing heavily. Now that the danger was over, I realized how tired I was. This was the payment for taking a swim in the Styx. Every muscle in my body ached. I looked down at my clothes. They were slashed to pieces and full of bullet holes, but none were near my weak point, thank gods.
Nico's mouth hung open. "You just… with a sword… you just—"
"Make the skeleton army disappeared," Bob said.
"the river worked," I said.
Mrs. O'Leary barked happily and wagged her tail. She bounded around, sniffing empty uniforms and hunting for bones. I lifted Hades' robes. I could still see the tormented faces shimmering in the fabric.
I walked to the edge of the river. "Be free."
I dropped the robe into the water and watched it swirl away, dissolving in the current
"Go back to your father," I told Nico. "Tell him he owes me for letting him go. Find out what's going to happen to Mount Olympus and convince him to help."
Nico stared at me. "I… I can't. He'll hate me now. I mean… even more."
"Just go back to your father," I said, trying not to sound harsh. "Work on him. You're the only person who might be able to get him to listen."
"That's a depressing thought." Nico sighed as he handed me my thermos and wristwatch. "All right. I'll do my best. Besides, he's still hiding something from me about my mom. Maybe I can find out what. But what about Bob here? He can't stay here for sure?"
I looked at Bob. He might be able to fit in the Orpheus tunnel, plus, there's a chance he can still use a spear. It would be risky to have him fight Titans, but maybe he can watch over the Empire State Building.
"Hey Bob, you want to take a field trip outside the Underworld?" I asked.
Bob beamed. "Really?"
"Yeah, I got a special job only you could do, are you up to it?"
"Yeah! I will help," Bob agreed.
I climbed onto Mrs. O'Leary's back. "Then let's get going!"