Big P was so stunned by the events that he didn't even complain about offering the gang the information they needed. The group left the disgraced fun fair with a full color map of the city cut into different colored districts divided up between monstrous clans.
"So is Los Angeles the monster capital of the world or something?" Percy asked, peeking over Annabeth's shoulder.
"Looks like it." Annabeth muttered with a stunned shake of her head.
"I mean it does kinda make sense." Grover pointed out. "If you have to come back from Tartarus, you'd want to come back near your house."
"Ugh, so this is monster Beverly Hills." Alexa muttered. They took another turn and there it was, DOA recording studio. The entrance to the underworld, they had made it.
"Remember the plan." Percy muttered.
"Oh yeah…the plan…" Grover muttered nervously, his nose already twitching as they neared the door. The lobby they walked into was decorated in steel gray, with black leather chairs and couches. Despite the crowd, it was silent in there, silent enough for their footsteps to echo off the walls around them. The whole place gave Alexa the creepy shivers, like walking through an exceptionally empty church or a mausoleum. Near the end of the long waiting room, at a slightly raised desk on top of a platform, sat a man. He had his head down, his eyes focused on a ledger in front of him…or at least so Alexa assumed, since his eyes were hidden by a set of turtle shell sunglasses.
"Chiron? That's an interesting name…" Percy said, frowning at the name plaque attached to his desk.
"Can't you read, boy?" The daemon snapped. "It's Charon. I'm no horse!"
"Hey, go easy." Alexa said defensively "We've had a long day."
"Do you know how many long days I see on a daily basis? It's nothing but long days as far as the eye can see! Show me one person who doesn't 'Have a long day' that ends in coming here! The ones who were ready always wanted to say one last goodbye and the ones who weren't are even worse." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Alright, let's get you kids on your way. Manner of death?"
"Car crash." Annabeth said immediately.
"A classic." Charon said. "You got payment for passage?" He turned his eyes towards Alexa, but it was Percy who piped up.
"Right here." He said, pulling four golden drachma out of a pocket and placing them on the counter. Charon's eyes widened, then narrowed behind his glasses.
"I knew something was up…you three are halfbloods and," he paused to sniff in Grover's direction. "A satyr!"
"We have to get down to the underworld." Annabeth explained.
"Oh, I know you think you have to, but trust me when I say that's a terrible idea. The boss has been in one of his moods for months now…why don't I just…take these off your hands and forget I ever saw ya, eh?"
Charon reached for the stack of coins, Percy placed his hand on the stack. "No ride, no pay."
Charon glowered at them. "Come on kid, don't do this. Do you know how little I get paid? Most annoying job in the universe, carting these folks over the river and they don't even pay me enough to fix the radio!" He jerked his thumb over at an older looking radio plugged into the PA system.
"You really do deserve better pay." Percy said, willfully ignoring the finely tailored suit Charon was wearing and dropping another drachma onto the stack. "You know we're going to be going straight to the throne room…we could mention a payrise while we're there…"
"You really think you three can butter…wait…where's the big-" Before the Ferryman could fully finish his thought Muzak started to blare over the speakers. He turned around to find Alexa slipping her omniwrench back into her pocket, setting the radio back down on its shelf.
"Problem with one of the tubes, seriously surprised something like that still works. " She explained as she turned the volume back down to sane levels. "I gave it a little tune up but I'd seriously consider getting a new one soon."
Charon stared at her for a little bit, recognition slowly passing over his features before he smoothed it away. He turned back to Percy and looked down at the pile he presented.
"One more, and I'll take your group over." He said stiffly. Percy dropped one more coin on the stack and Charon rose. "Right! None of you touch that radio if you want to see the afterlife some time this century!"
The spirits of the dead all groaned in unison as Charon turned and led their little group to an elevator packed with people holding golden boarding passes. He slapped the down button and the doors closed with a deceptively cheery ding. The elevator car slowly started to creep downwards and as it did the people clutching their gold boarding passes began to change. Their modern clothes slowly grew into gray hooded robes. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Charon had also changed, she briefly caught a glimpse of a skeleton in a fancy suit before the suit had changed into robes with the hood down.
"What?" Charon asked "Do I have something on my face?"
Alexa said nothing. Charon chuckled. "If you can't have a good laugh at the small things when can you?"
All at once Alexa realized their downward motion had shifted. They were moving forward bobbing slightly. Water splashed around them and, all at once Alexa began to feel sick. She wobbled and grabbed onto Annabeth for support.
"Are you…oh wow…" Grover muttered "I didn't know people could turn that shade of green…"
"Ahh, that's why I don't like dealing with the living. The dead can't get sea sick." Charon muttered darkly. "If you're going to puke, do it overboard. "
Was this sea sickness? Alexa honestly couldn't say. Her first time on a boat had ended in disaster so she hadn't allowed herself anywhere near an active watercraft in years… but all the symptoms seemed to match up…the heaving stomach, the weakness in her limbs, the intense desire to just lay down until the world stopped moving.
"Just keep your eyes locked on one point." Percy whispered in her ear. "Try to focus on something else."
Alexa tried to do as instructed but every time she tried her mind drifted back to the heaving in her gut. Just when she thought she was going to vomit the boat stopped with a gentle bump.
"All ashore!" Before Charon even got the words out of his mouth Alexa was out of the boat and gasping like a fish on the rocky shore. She could practically feel the eyes of everyone on her.
"Give….give me a minute. " She muttered. Luna pressed her cold metal nose against Alexa's face, offering what comfort she could. With some effort Alexa pulled herself upright again.
"Well…good luck kids, you're going to need it!" Charon chuckled, grabbing his pole and pushing the ferry from shore. As he left she could've sworn she heard him mutter something along the lines of "Hello GodSpace. Wait until my friends get a load of this!"
She groaned and slowly pulled herself to her feet.
"You okay?" Grover asked again. Alexa nodded wordlessly.
"Are you sure? We still have some nectar." Annabeth offered.
"Save that for a real emergency. I'm fine." Alexa assured them. She gave the group a small smile as Luna nosed her way closer. Alexa placed a hand on Luna and nodded.
The quartet began the walk up the rocky and boney beach towards the baying of a giant dog. Alexa could feel her heart pounding in her chest…this was a sight most demigods only got to see once. She hoped this wasn't going to be her only time.
They took a slight turn in the path and all at once, there it was. A massive archway with an equally massive three headed beast guarding three lines of the dead. Two of the lines were marked 'Judge on Duty' and were moving quite slow but the third marked 'EZ Death' going between Cerberus's paws was moving at a speedy pace.
"He's a Rottweiler…" She heard Percy mutter, doing an admirable job of keeping the tremor out of his voice.
"Just remember the plan!" Annabeth hissed as they made their approach. As they approached all six of Cerberus's eyes locked on their group. His lips began to raise and a thunderous growl began deep in his throats.
"Hey big guy…want the stick?" Percy ventured, holding up a stick he had dredged from the Styx. The growls only increased in volume. The message was clear, even without the translation Grover was trying to supply; Cerberus did not want the Styx stick. The middle head seemed the most likely to snap at the son of the sea god, but before it could lunge Alexa stepped in.
"Hey!" She said firmly. "We don't bite! Only bad boys bite!" Cerberus's growls stopped and all three heads tilted in confusion.
"Now I know you're not a bad boy, now are you?" Alexa ventured knowingly. The three headed dog let out a whine like a busted motor.
"That's what I thought! Now…can you step back a little?" She asked, motioning back towards the little area behind the judges' station.
"Woof?" Cerberus barked in three part harmony.
"Well I can't exactly play with such a good boy in this cramped little space! You have six eyes, you can keep one on your job while we play around a bit!" It took a bit of sweetness in her voice to get Cerberus to comply. He began to back up, bouncing and cantering at the prospect of playing, causing the whole world to shake.
"We'll keep him distracted. " She whispered to Percy, motioning to herself and Luna. "You guys go, get the bolt and your mom back!"
Percy looked about ready to argue, but he held his tongue and nodded grimly. Alexa gently grabbed his backpack, retrieved the three extra-extra-large dog treats they had bought from its depths and gave him a nod.
"You got this!" She encouraged before turning back to Cerberus.
"Good boy! Now sit!" She ordered. Obediently, the hound sat, his tail thumping happily.
"There's a good boy!" She praised. Annabeth, Percy and Grover began sneaking around Cerberus's side. The leftmost head started to growl, but immediately found himself distracted by the sight of a Frisbee sized dog treat.
"Now stay…stay…" Alexa ordered, waving the three treats high over her head. Watching out of the corner of her eye, Alexa made sure the trio were safely past the Hound of Hades before she threw the treats.
"Good boy!" She praised. Now it was Luna's turn. Her faithful dog bounded forward, tail wagging, tongue lolling, and gave Cerberus a playful nip. She looked like a bronze toy poodle compared to him but the much larger dog responded as if he were a puppy, eager to play. The two ran in circles, Cerberus trying to catch Luna, and Luna nipping and barking to keep him interested, every thunderous footfall from the great beast enough to make Alexa's teeth rattle. They played for Alexa didn't even know how long before both mutts came tromping back to Alexa and flopped down at either side of her, panting hard. Alexa responded by burying her hands in fur, one black the other bronze.
"Aww…there's my good dogs…" She cooed, really digging her fingers deep into Cerberus's under coat as she rubbed his belly. "Did you two have fun?"
While Cerberus let out a happy whine, Luna responded by laying her head in Alexa's lap. They sat like that until Alex's spotted something, far in the distance; a blue white orb flying directly towards them from Hades' palace.
"Uh oh…looks like it's time for us to go…" Alexa said, getting up and giving Cerberus a pat on the side. The three headed dog gave her a whine.
"Don't worry, we'll be back. Just wait for me okay?" As she spoke the orb hit, encasing herself and Luna in a clear bubble. They shot forward at a steep angle, passing right through the roof of the underworld. Her bubble joined three more halfway through her trip, she could just make out Annabeth and Percy, seconds before the flaw in their escape pearls' design hit her like a ton of bricks; when the bubbles stopped and let them free, it dumped them in the middle of the ocean, a good mile from shore.