It didn't take that long before Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and I reunited with each other. Percy had already snapped out of it and once the two of us met up we found Annabeth and Grover and snapped them out of it too.

When we headed to entrance doors the bellhop hurried over to us. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"

"We're leaving," I told him.

"Such a shame," The bellhop said. Believe it or not he sounded like he actually meant it. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."

He held out four cards. It was tempting, but we had a quest to complete. Who knows how long it's been in the few seconds we've been talking to this guy.

Grover reached for the card but Annabeth yanked back his arm and said, "No thanks."

We walked toward the door, and the temptation to go back was very strong, but we kept going…and then we went through the doors of the Hotel and Casino and we ran down the sidewalk. I was hoping and praying that not that much time had passed, maybe we still had six days left, or five, or four.

As I ran I noticed that the weather had changed significantly. It was raining cats and dogs, lightning flashed throughout the sky as if any moment something very very terrible could happen.

Percy ran to the nearest newspaper stand and took out a newspaper. "Guys, look at this."

Annabeth, Grover, and I ran over to him.

"Read the date," Percy said.

The year was still the same year we went in. That's a good start. But then we saw the actual date. It was June 20th. We'd been there for five days.

We only had one day left to retrieve the bolt and complete our quest…

Annabeth had an idea, she loaded us into the back of a Vegas taxi.

"Los Angeles, please," Annabeth said.

The driver chewed his cigar and sized us up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front."

I was pretty sure we still had mortal cash, I don't know if it'll cover a drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles though.

"You accept casino debit cards?" Annabeth asked.

He shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em through first."

Annabeth handed him her green LotusCash card.

He looked at it skeptically.

"Swipe it," Annabeth said.

He did. His meter machine rattled. The lights flashed and an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign. His cigar fell out of his mouth and he looked back, his eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles…uh, Your Highness?"

"The Santa Monica Pier," Annabeth sat up straighter with a slight smile on her face. She definitely liked the "Your Highness" title. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.

On the way there we had a lot of time to talk, so we spared no time.

I told them how I met Hermes in the Lotus Hotel, how he helped my snap out of the trance the place put me in, and how he gave me my own set of winged shoes. Grover seemed a tiny bit down and at the same time relieved that he wasn't the only one who had to deal with flying stuff.

After that was done, Percy told us about a dream that he had. But he didn't seem to remember it that clearly, most likely because of the effects of the Hotel. The dream was apparently about Hades again. A servant inside of a pit called something "my lord" or some special name or titles

"The Silent One?" I said. "The Rich One? Both of those are aliases for Hades."

I was thinking, Percy and I have similar dreams. Before the quest with vague dreams of the conflict between Zeus and Poseidon. So if he's having a dream about a monster in a pit…oh gods. He's trying to get Percy too.

"Maybe…" Percy said.

"That throne room sounds like Hades'," Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."

Percy shook his head. "Something's wrong. The throne wasn't the main part of the dream. And that voice from the pit…I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice."

And it was confirmed.

Annabeth and I both looked on edge.

"What?" Percy asked, noticing the change in our demeanors.

"Oh…nothing. I was just-No, it has to be Hades. Maybe he sent his thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong-" Annabeth said.

"Like what?"

"I-I don't know," Annabeth said. "But if he stole Zeus' symbol of power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things can go wrong. So this thief had to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."

My hands gripped my pants.

"But if I'd already retrieved the bolt," Percy said. "Why would I be traveling to the Underworld?"

"To threaten Hades," Grover suggested. "To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."

"You have evil thoughts for a goat."

"Why, thank you."

"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for two items," Percy said. "If the master bolt is one, what's the other?"

Grover shook his head.

Percy took a look at Annabeth and I. "You both have an idea what might be in that pit, don't you? I mean, if it isn't Hades."

"Percy…let's not talk about it. Because if it isn't Hades…No. It has to be Hades."

I couldn't get it out of my head. Kronos, he's tried to manipulate me into being his soldier. I don't know how long he's been trying to do it to Percy but he's clearly planning something. If Hades isn't behind this whole thing, then it must be him, somehow.

Wastelands rolled by. We passed a sign that said: CALIFORNIA STATE LINE, 12 MILES.

"The answer is in the Underworld," I said. "You saw the spirits of the dead, Percy. There's only one place that could be. We're doing the right thing. I guess this might be a good time to say…I've been having dreams too. Dreams that are close to what you're saying. Except, this monster that you're speaking of, in all of my dreams it's been talking to me. Trying to recruit me for something."

"Hades," Percy said. "Has been trying to recruit you?"

"Yes, Hades," I lied. "Has been trying to recruit me even before we left camp. I've refused to, but it looks like he might just be trying to do the same to you? Or just use you or something."

"But Hades hates demigods," Grover said. "Especially Big Three demigods. Why would he want to recruit you?"

I shouldn't have said anything. "I don't know."

As we continued riding on Annabeth tried to cheer us up by telling us strategies we could use for when we get to the Underworld.

It was sunset when the taxi dropped us off at the beach in Santa Monica. It smelled and looked terrible. There were carnival rides lining the Pier, palm trees lined the sidewalks, homeless guys sleeping in the sand dunes, and surfer dudes waited for the perfect wave to come by.

The four of us walked down to the edge of the surf.

"What now?" Annabeth asked.

After a moment, Percy stepped into the surf.

"Percy," Annabeth said. "What are you doing?"

Then he was up to his chest in the stuff.

Annabeth called after him. "You know how polluted that water is? There's all kinds of toxic-"

And then his head went under. He was gone.

"He's a son of Poseidon," I said. "He'll be fine…maybe."

A couple minutes later Percy popped out of the water, entirely dry despite just being underwater. He walked toward us and told us what happened. He had met a Nereid under water and she gave him four pearls.

Annabeth grimaced. "No gift comes without a price."

"They were free."

"No," She shook her head. " 'There is no such thing as a free lunch'. That's an ancient Greek saying that translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. You wait."

"She's right, Percy," I said. "But I don't think we have the time to argue about whether those pearls are good news or not."

Finally using the mortal money in my pocket, we took a bus into West Hollywood. Percy showed the bus driver an Underworld address slip that he apparently had taken from Aunty Em's, but the bus driver had not heard of DOA Recording Studios. After some convincing the driver took us to the next stop.

We walked on foot for miles, looking for DOA. Nobody we asked knew where it was, we tried checking in a phone book but we didn't even see it in there either. We had to duck into an alleyway twice just to avoid cop cars going past us. We continued walking, but Percy stopped, causing us to stop too.

He was looking through the window of an appliance-store because the television was playing an interview. The person being interviewed was a fat man who wore a thrift-store shirt that looked worn out with stains on it, a double chin, he was mostly bald except for the three strands of hair going horizontally across his head.

The man was sitting at a poker table with four other guys with a young blonde woman sitting next to him patting his hand while he cried fake tears.

"Honest, Ms. Walters, if it wasn't for Sugar here, my grief counselor, I'd be a wreck. My stepson took everything I cared about. My wife…my Camaro…I-I'm sorry. I have trouble talking about it."

"There you have it, America." The newswoman turned to the camera. "A man torn apart. An adolescent boy with serious issues. Let me show you, again, the last known photo of this troubled young fugitive, taken a week ago in Denver."

The screen cut to an image of me, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover standing outside the diner, talking to Ares.

"Who are the other children in this photo? Who is the man with them? Is Percy Jackson a delinquent, a terrorist, or perhaps the brainwashed victim of a frightening new cult? When we come back, we chat with a leading child psychologist. Stay tuned, America."

"C'mon," Grover said, yanking Percy away. Percy looked like he was about to break the window.

"So I'm guessing that's your step-dad," I said.

"Sadly, yes," Percy continued walking. Didn't seem like he wanted to talk, so I didn't push any further.

It got dark outside, and some shady people started coming out: gangbangers, bums, and street hawkers who looked like they were going to mug us at any time. We hurried past them and into an alley again. "Hey, you."

For some reason, we stopped.

The next second we were surrounded by six white kids with expensive clothes and faces that you just wanted to punch. Percy uncapped his pen and his sword appeared. The kids backed off, but their leader didn't.

Their leader was either very brave, or very stupid because he kept walking toward us…

And Percy swung his sword…

It went right through the kid, and I mean literally, as in it passed through the kid as if the kid was just a hologram. Celestial Bronze weapons only work on monsters, they're not supposed to hurt humans.

"Run!" Percy shouted and all four of us ran. I don't know why we're running, I'm pretty sure the four of us could take them on, I mean we're demigods that have been trained, well three demigods that have been trained and a satyr. But I guess we wouldn't want to add assault to the list of crimes the police have against us.

We turned a sharp cover.

"There!" Annabeth shouted.

Only one store on the block looked to be open, its windows were glaring with neon. The sign above the door looked like CRSTUY'S WATRE BDE ALPACE

"Crusty's Water Bed Palace?" Grover translated.

We burst through the doors and ran behind a water bed, and ducked. A split second later, the gang kids ran past outside.

"I think we lost them,"Grover panted.

"Lost who?"A voice boomed behind us.

All of us jumped. There was a man behind us wearing a leisure suit.

The man was about seven feet tall and had no hair whatsoever. His skin was gray and leathery, his eyes were thick-lidded and he had a cold reptilian smile. He moved towards us slowly, I kept my guard up.

"I'm Crusty" He said, with a yellow smile.

He was indeed very crusty.

"Sorry to barge in," Percy told him. "We were just, um, browsing."

"You mean hiding from those no-good kids," he grumbled. "They hang around every night. I get a lot of people here, thanks to them. Say, you want to look at a water bed?"

Crusty put his huge hand on Percy's shoulder and steered him deep into the showroom. Annabeth, Grover, and I had no choice but to follow. There were a lot of water beds, different kinds of wood, different patterns of sheets; Queen-size, king-size, emperor-of-the-universe-size.

"This is my most popular model." Crusty spread his hands over a bed covered with black satin sheets, with built-in Lava Lamps on the headboard. The mattress vibrated, so it looked like oil-flavored Jell-O.

"Million-hand massage," Crusty told us. "Go on, try it out. Shoot, take a nap. I don't care. No business today, anyway."

"Um," Percy said, "I don't think..."

"Million-hand massage!"Grover cried, and jumped in. "Oh, you guys! This is cool."

"Hmm," Crusty stroked his leathery chin. "Almost, almost."

"Almost what?" I asked.

He looked at Annabeth next. "Do me a favor and try this one over here, honey. Might fit."

"But what-" Annabeth was cut off.

He patted her shoulder reassuringly and led her over to another waterbed with weakwood lions carved into the frame and a leopard-patterned comforter. When Annabeth didn't want to lie down, Crusty pushed her.

"Hey!" She protested.

Crusty snapped his fingers. "Ergo!"

Ropes sprang from the sides of the bed, lashing around Annabeth, holding her to the mattress.

Grover tried to get up, but the ropes were wrapped around him as well. His voice vibrated from the million-hand massage. "N-not c-c-cool! N-not c-cool a-at all!"

The giant looked at Annabeth and turned toward Percy and I. "Almost, darnit."

Percy and I tried to back away but before we knew it he was at our necks with his hands on the back of our necks. "Whoa, kids. Don't worry. We'll find you guys one in a sec."

"Let our friends go," Percy said.

"Oh, sure I will. But I got to make them fit, first,"

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"All the beds are exactly six feet, see? Your friends are too short. Got to make them fit."

Oh ok, he's trying to forcefully stretch them so that they can fit in the beds.

I completely understand now, he's insane. I broke free from his grasp and shot electricity out of my hands and it hit him straight on. He was sent flying, then sliding across the floor before he started twitching.

"Percy, go free Annabeth and Grover," I said. "I'll handle this guy."

I made Hero and Aegis appear. "Maia!"

Wings sprouted from my shoes and I took to the air. I descended from the air, swinging Hero at his head. Crusty dodged and was back to his feet.

"Your name's not really Crusty, isn't it?" I asked him.

"Legally, it's Procrustes," He said.

"Of course you are," I said. "Now just stand still while I cut your head off."

I flew at him, he kept dodging my swings with Hero. He was fast. Finally he attacked back, I used the winged shoes to dodge his kick and finally I attacked back and landed it. I slashed his back. He cried out, while he was distracted I shot more electricity at him, sending him crashing onto the floor. I didn't let up on the electricity. While still electrifying him I flew down and with one stab, he was dead.

I flew over to Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. It looked like Percy used his sword to cut them free.

"Maia," I said, landing safely on the floor. I took a look at Annabeth and Grover. "On the bright side, you guys look taller."

"Shut up," Annabeth said.

Percy walked away, he walked to a bulletin board behind Procrustes' sales desk. We followed him. On the bulletin board there was an advertisement, a bright orange flier for DOA Recording Studios, offering commissions for heroes' souls. It said 'We are always looking for new talent!' DOA's address was right underneath with a map.

"Come on," Percy said.

"Give us a minute," Grover said. "We were almost stretched to death!"

"Then you're ready for the Underworld," Percy said. "It's only a block from here."

We stood in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, looking up at golden letters that were etched in black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS.

Underneath, stenciled on the glass doors: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING.

It was almost midnight, the lobby was brightly lit and full of people. Behind the security desk sat a guard with sunglasses and an earpiece. We weren't that worried. We had a plan.

Percy and I turned back to Annabeth and Grover.

"Okay, you remember the plan?" Percy said.

"The plan," Grover gulped. "Yeah. I love the plan."

"What happens if the plan doesn't work?" Annabeth asked.

"Right, we're entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn't think negatively," Annabeth said sarcastically.

"Exactly, think happy thoughts," I told her. "You're gonna need them."

Percy took the four pearls out of his pocket.

Annabeth put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Percy. You're right, we'll make it. It'll be fine."

She gave Grover a nudge. "Oh, right! We got this far. We'll find the master bolt and save your mom. No problem."

"And if we can't get your Mom back by reasoning, then we'll take her back by force," I said.

Looked at the three of us gratefully and slipped the pearls back into his pocket. "Let's whup some Underworld butt."

We walked inside the DOA lobby.

Muzak played on the hidden speakers. The carpet and walls were steel gray. Pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather, and every seat had been taken. There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people staring out the window or waiting for the elevator. Nobody was moving, or talking, or did so much as blink.

But the more I looked at these people, the more I noticed that they were...transparent.

The security guard's desk was a raised podium, so we were forced to look up at him.

He was tall and elegant-looking, with chocolate colored skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style in a crew cut. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matches the color of his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag.

"Your name is Chiron?" Percy asked, looking at the guard's name tag.

He leaned across the desk, getting right into Percy's face. His smile was sweet and cold.

"What a precious young lad." He had an English accent. "Tell me, mate, do I look like a centaur?"

"N-no."

"Sir," he added smoothly.

"Sir," Percy said

He pinched the name tag and ran his finger under the letters. "Can you read this, mate? It says C-H-A-R-O-N. Say it with me: CARE-ON."

"Charon"

"Amazing! Now: Mr. Charon."

"Mr. Charon," Percy said

"Well done." He sat back. "I hate being confused with that old horse-man. And now, how May I help you little dead ones?"

"We want to go to the Underworld," I said.

Charon's mouth twitched. "Well, that's refreshing."

"It is?" I asked.

"Straightforward and honest. No screaming. No 'There must be a mistake, Mr. Charon'. How did you die then?"

Percy nudged Grover.

"Oh," he said. "Um…drowned…in the bathtub."

"All four of you?"

All four of us nodded.

"Big bathtub," Charon looked a bit impressed. "I don't suppose you have coins for passage. Normally, with adults, you see, I could charge your American Express, or add the ferry price to your last cable bill. But with children…alas, you never die prepared. Suppose you'll have to take a seat for a few centuries."

"Oh, but we have coins," Percy set four golden drachmas on the counter.

"Well, now…" Charon moistened his lips. "Real drachmas. Real golden drachmas. I haven't seen these in…"

His fingers hovered over the coins. Then he looked at us.

"Here now," Charon said. "Are you lot dyslexic?"

"No," Percy said. "We're dead."

Charon leaned forward and sniffed. "You're not dead. I should've known. You, the girl, and the punk. You three are godlings."

Why did I have to be called the punk? But then I took a look at my clothing. Yeah, that's fair.

"We have to get to the Underworld," Percy insisted.

Charon made a growling sound deep in his throat. Immediately, all the people in the waiting room got up and started pacing, agitated, lighting cigarettes, running hands through their hair, or checking their wristwatches.

"Leave while you can," Charon told us. "I'll just take these and forget I saw you."

He went for the coins, but Percy snatched them back.

"No service, no tip," Percy said

Charon growled again, a deep blood-chilling sound.

"It's a shame too," Percy sighed. "We had more to offer."

Percy held up an entire bag filled with drachmas that he had gotten from Crusty's stash. He took out a fistful of drachmas and let them spill through his fingers.

Charon's growl turned into a lion's purr. "Do you think I can be bought, godling? Eh...just out of curiosity, how much have you got there?"

"A lot," Percy said. "I bet Hades doesn't pay you well enough for such hard work."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it. How would you like to babysit these spirits all day? Always 'Please don't let me be dead' or 'Please let me across for free.' I haven't had a pay raise in three thousand years. Do you imagine suits like this come cheap?"

"You deserve better," Percy agreed. "A little appreciation. Respect. Good pay."

With each word, Percy stacked another gold coin on the counter. This Charon guy was oddly easy to manipulate when you had the right stuff.

Charon glanced down at his silk Italian jacket, as if he was imagining himself in something possibly even better. "I must say, lad, you're making some sense now. Just a little"

Percy stacked another few coins. "I could mention a pay raise while I'm talking to Hades."

He sighed. "The boat's almost full, anyway. I might as well add you four and be off."

He scooped up our money, and said, "Come along."

We pushed through the crowd of waiting spirits, who started grabbing at our clothes like the wind, their voices were whispering things I couldn't understand. Charon shoved them out of the way, grumbling, "Freeloaders."

He escorted us to the elevator, which had already been crowded with souls of the dead, each one holding a green boarding pass. Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to board with us and shoved them back into the lobby.

"Right. Now, no one get any ideas while I'm gone," He announced to the waiting room. "And if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?"

He shut the doors. He put a key card into a slot in the elevator panel and we started to descend.

"What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?" Annabeth asked.

"Nothing," Charon said.

"For how long?"

"Forever, or until I'm feeling generous."

"Oh," she said. "That's…fair."

Charon raised an eyebrow. "Whoever said death was fair, young miss? Wait until it's your turn. You'll die soon enough, where you're going."

"We'll get out alive," Percy said.

"Ha."

Suddenly we weren't going down anymore, we were going forward. The air was now misty, spirits around us changed shape. Their clothes flickered, now turning into gray hooded robes. The floor of the elevator began swaying.

I blinked, and in that second Charon's suit had turned into a long black robe. His glasses were gone, and his eyes were just empty sockets.

As we went on the flesh on his face became transparent, and we only saw his skull.

Grover said, "I think I'm getting seasick."

Then suddenly the elevator stopped being an elevator. We were now on a wooden barge. Charon was poling us across a dark, oily river, swirling with bones, dead fish, and other weird things-plastic dolls, crushed carnations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

"The River Styx," Annabeth said. "It's…"

"Polluted," Charon. "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you come across-hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."

Mist curled off the filthy water. Above us was a ceiling of stalactites. Ahead, the far shore glimmered with greenish light, and around you could see dark black stones of the Underworld.

My hands gripped my pants again, we were going to see Hades, the god who ordered the death of me and Thalia. He's the reason she's dead, and I would be face to face with him soon enough. I felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked and it was Grover. His hand was on my shoulder in reassurance.

He didn't physically say anything, but his face spoke more than his words ever could.

We finally got to the shoreline of the Underworld. Craggy rocks and black volcanic sand stretched inland about a hundred yards to the base of a high stone wall, which marched off in either direction as far as we could see. A sound came from nearby, like the howl of a large animal.

"Old Three-Face is hungry," Charon said. His skeleton face smiled. "Back luck for you, godlings."

The dead from the boat we were on disembarked. A woman holding a little girl's hand, an old man and an old woman hobbling along arm in arm, and a boy who looked the same age as Percy, Annabeth, and I shuffled silently with his gray robe.

"I'd wish you luck, but there isn't any down here. Mind you, don't forget to mention my pay raise," Charon said.

He counted the drachmas into his pouch and then took the now empty barge back across the river.

Here we were, the Underworld. The Beginning of the end of our quests starts now…

And we kick off the New Year with the beginning of the end of the Lightning Thief storyline for the Alaster Grace universe, or the Alasterverse as I've come to call it.