Answers to reviews:
Guest250: Doubt that will happen.
user: May consider Piper, but sure as hell not Hera.
Guest: Well, Jakob gets on well with Loki so I'm sure he'd get on well with the Word Serpent. He already knows Fenrir.
chungorion15: The subject of Jakob's mother will remain a mystery.
branphillips001: I have a way of making them work.
AlexBeowolf2: Jakob was the name he was born with, he hasn't come up with a alias for his last name to hide under. Not that he really needs it since the Olympians and Camp Half-Blood know who he is.
Disclaimer: I do not own God of War or Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I only own the OC Jakob Thorsson.
It was Annabeth's idea.
She loaded them into the back of a Vegas taxi, as if they had enough money to pay for it. Well, Jakob might have some money, but not enough for a taxi. Annabeth told the driver, "Los Angeles, please."
The cabbie chewed his cigar and sized them up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front."
"You accept casino debit cards?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe them first."
Annabeth handed him her green LotusCash card.
He looked at it skeptically.
"Swipe it," Annabeth insisted.
He did.
His meter machine started rattling. The lights flashed. Finally, an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign.
The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth.
The driver looked back at them, his eyes wide. "Where to Los Angeles… uh, your Highness?"
"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat a little straighter. They could tell she liked the 'Your Highness' thing. "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 road, they had plenty time to talk. Andromeda told them about her latest dream, but the details got a bit sketchier the more she tried to remember. The Lotus Casino seemed to have short-circuited her memory. She couldn't recall what the invisible servant's voice had sounded like, but it was familiar somehow.
The servant had called the monster something other than 'my lord'… some special title or something…
"The Silent One?" Annabeth suggested. "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades."
"Maybe…" Andromeda said, though neither sounded quite right.
"That throne room sounds like Hades's," Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."
Andromeda shook her head. "Something's wrong. The throne room 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."
Jakob's eyes widened as he connected the dots. Dark pit... evil voice that doesn't sound like a god's...
"What?" Andromeda asked Annabeth and Jakob, seeing their similar expressions.
"Oh, nothing," Annabeth answered. "I was just – No, it has to be Hades."
"No, it wasn't." Jakob said seriously, realizing he was right. Hades couldn't be behind all of this.
"No! It-it has to be Hades. You said the servant failed, right? So, the bolt is still out there. He must think we have it. It would explain the Furies coming after us." Annabeth tried to explain all this while paling rapidly.
"But if I'd already retrieved the bolt," Andromeda said, "why would I be travelling to the Underworld?"
"To threaten him?" Grover suggested. "To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mum back."
"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for two items," Andromeda said with a knitted eyebrow. "If the master bolt is one, what's the other?"
"It would have to be something really important for Hades to send the Furies after us," Mimir said. Jakob sat silently as he thought about it. Who would want to bring ruin to the gods by sending a servant to steal the bolt? The only enemy that he could think of was a Titan, but they were locked away, imprisoned. The only Titan that he could think of that could do all that was…
All of a sudden, his thoughts came to a halt as he realized the answer. The dread that was building up was because he was trying to deny the truth. But now that it was more clear, he now knew.
"Kronos," Jakob whispered, and instantly all the people in the cab got a cold feeling.
"What did you say?" Andromeda asked.
"Kron–"
"Don't say the name!" Annabeth said sharply, startling everyone. "No, it can't be! It-it has to be Hades."
"Annabeth," Jakob said, now serious. "It can't be Hades. He hails from the Underworld, not Tartarus, the pit. It has to be Kronos." And again, the cold experience came back again. To Jakob, it felt like small knives scraping down his back. But he continued. "He's the only one who we can fully suspect that's behind all of this. We're going the wrong way."
Annabeth shivered, probably feeling the same way the rest of the group felt. "You really shouldn't say his name like that, Jakob. I'm serious."
"I don't really give a damn. Fear of a name only increases the fear of the thing itself." Jakob said with an eye roll. He didn't understand the whole not using the name thing.
"Right, so there's a possibility the bloody Cannibal Titan himself is rising... wonderful." Mimir said sarcastically.
"So, Kron – the Crooked One is the one behind all this?" Andromeda asked.
"When it comes to someone who'd want to see the Olympians brought to ruin the most, it would be him." Mimir said darkly. "After all, his own children are responsible for his fate and imprisonment in Tartarus. He's had a very, very long time to reform and plan his return."
Wasteland rolled by. They passed a sign that said CALIFORNIA STATE LINE, 12 MILES.
"The answer is in the Underworld," Annabeth assured them. "You saw spirits of the dead, right? There's only one place that could have them. We're doing the right thing."
She tried to boost the morale by suggesting clever strategies for getting into the Land of the Dead, but the team wasn't really into it.
At sunset, the taxi dropped them at the beach in Santa Monica. The place smelled a bit foul. There were carnival rides lining the Pier, palm trees lining the sidewalks, homeless guys sleeping in sand dunes, and surfer dudes waiting for the perfect wave.
Grover, Annabeth, Jakob and Andromeda walked down to the edge of the surf.
"What now?" Annabeth asked.
The Pacific was turning gold in the setting sun. Andromeda was reminded of Montauk as she stared at the sea opposite of the one she was so used to. How could there be a god who could control all that? What did her science teacher use to say – two-thirds of the earth's surface was covered in water? How could she be the son of someone that powerful?
Without a word, Andromeda stepped into the surf.
"Andie, what are you doing?" Annabeth asked.
The Daughter of Poseidon kept walking, up to her waist, then her chest.
The blonde called after her. "You know how polluted that water is? There's all kinds of toxic –"
Andromeda was underwater before she could finish.
"Ugh!" Annabeth threw her hands up. "Why did she do that?"
"Given she's the daughter of Poseidon and her father has summoned her here, it's most likely she'll receive him underwater than on the surface." Mimir reasoned, believing that's the cause.
"So what now?" Grover asked.
"We wait until she resurfaces." Jakob said.
They waited a few minutes, but eventually Andromeda resurfaced and came out of the water, telling them of the gift she was given. Four pearls.
Annabeth grimaced. "No gift comes without a price."
"They were free," Andromeda told her.
"When it comes to the Gods, Andie, there's always a price." Jakob said darkly.
"He's right," Annabeth said. "'There is no such thing as a free lunch.' That's an Ancient Greek saying that's translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. You wait."
With the rest of their money, they took the bus into West Hollywood. Andromeda showed the driver the Underworld address slip she'd taken from Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, but the guy never heard of DOA Recording Studios.
"You remind me of somebody I saw on TV," he told Andromeda. "You a child actor or something?"
And immediately after he said that, Jakob was quick to explain that they were stunt doubles of a new action film coming out. The guy asked for autographs as they got off at the next stop.
They wandered for miles on foot, looking for DOA. Nobody seemed to know where it was. It didn't appear in the phone book either.
Twice, they had to duck into alleys to avoid cop cars.
Andromeda saw her stepdad on the television, fake crying about how Andromeda was some terrorist in training and how he wanted his car back. They also had a grainy picture of them and Ares outside that diner in Denver. Grover had to pull her away before she tried to punch the TV and window in anger. Jakob reassured her that her stepfather would pay. Andromeda seemed happy about that.
It got dark, and hungry-looking characters started coming out on the street to play. Jakob simply told the group to stay close to him.
They walked past gangbangers, bums, and street hawkers, who looked at them like they were trying to figure if the group was worth the trouble of mugging... but seeing a severed head on Jakob's hip, they had second thoughts, wondering whether or not the head was real.
As the questers hurried passed the entrance of an alley, a voice from the darkness said, "Hey, you."
Andromeda stopped.
Before they knew it, the group was surrounded. A gang of kids had circled them. Six of them in all – white kids with expensive clothes and mean faces.
Instinctively, Andromeda uncapped Riptide.
When the sword appeared out of nowhere, the kids backed off, but their leader was either really stupid or really brave, because he kept coming at Andromeda with a switchblade.
Then Andromeda made the mistake of swinging.
The kid yelped. Well, he was 100% mortal, because the blade passed harmlessly right through his chest.
He looked down. "What the–"
"Alright, we'll do this the other way." Jakob said with a nod before he looked at his friends. "Run!" He tackled the leader into two others, causing a distraction long enough for Andromeda, Annabeth and Grover to run for it.
Jakob fought off the gang of kids easily, uncaring if he hurt them badly. One kid tried punching him but Jakob caught his fist and squeezed, causing the kid to yell in pain before Jakob drove his forehead into his face, busting his nose open, then got an elbow to the face which knocked him out cold.
Soon enough, the gang of kids laid at Jakob's feet, groaning in pain with either bleeding lips, busted noses, or even a busted open forehead. Some clutched their arms or legs in pain but Jakob didn't care as he walked over their groaning forms and jigged off to find his friends.
He caught them coming out of some store and frowned. Andromeda looked fine, but Annabeth and Grover were wincing and stretching. They suddenly looked a little taller now, for some reason.
"Hey guys." Jakob said as he stopped near them. "What happened to you?"
Andromeda gave a brief explanation on what happened.
After she was done, Jakob said, "So Annie and Grover got some bondage treatment from Procrustes the Stretcher?"
After he said that, both Grover and Annabeth turned red, while Andromeda struggled not to laugh at that. "I hate you," Annabeth said, face cherry red. "So much."
"No, you don't." Jakob smirked.
"Come on, guys," Andromeda said. "The Underworld is only a block away." She waved her hands in the direction ahead.
"To the Realm of the Dead, we go." Mimir said with false cheerfulness.
And that's it for this chapter. We're nearing the end of The Lightning Thief plotline, after which will be Jakob doing his own thing and then Sea of Monsters will come around.
Harem: Silena Beauregard, Thalia Grace, Katie Gardner, Annabeth Chase, Andromeda Jackson (Female Percy), Bianca Di Angelo, Zoe Nightshade, Thrúd, Freya, Artemis, Athena, Hestia, Skadi.