They trailed behind the spirits, careful to avoid the slow-moving lines.
"EZ DEATH," Annabeth read from the glowing sign above the leftmost lane. "That most likely leads to Asphodel. Most people don't do anything remarkable enough for Elysium, but they also don't deserve the Fields of Punishment."
Percy frowned. "What's Asphodel like?"
Annabeth hesitated. "If the books are right… almost torture in itself. Imagine standing in an endless wheat field. Alone. Forever."
Percy took a step back from that line. "That's awful."
They watched silently as spirits passed through the lines. Occasionally, one was dragged away, caught trying to EZ DEATH their way out of well-deserved penance.
Percy exhaled. "So. How do we get past this?"
A sudden bark tore through the air like cannon fire. Something enormous was moving behind the metal detectors. Something fast. Percy squinted into the gloom. A shadowy mass, nearly invisible like the specters of the dead, was moving closer. The sand trembled with every thunderous footstep.
Then, three pairs of glowing eyes locked onto them.
"Cerberus," Annabeth whispered, drawing her dagger.
Grover gulped. "Oh, we're so dead."
Annabeth's eyes flicked around, searching for an escape, but then her expression shifted. A slow smirk crept onto her face.
Percy hated that smirk.
"Remember that time you tamed a Hydra?" she asked, voice way too casual.
Percy's jaw fell open. "You're not serious."
"Percy, I'm closer to death than I've ever been down here. I am the most dead serious that I can possibly be."
"The Hydra was a baby!"
"Cerberus is a dog!"
Grover, already pulling out his reed pipes, did not look convinced. "Yeah, a dog that guards the gates of the Underworld! Hesiod says he eats raw flesh-"
"Hesiod also says he has fifty heads," Annabeth shot back. "As you can see, that might not be accurate."
That was not reassuring.
The translucent form of Cerberus padded closer, towering over them, all three heads drooling something awful. Percy's stomach twisted. Fresh meat was likely in low supply around here, and if he had to guess, these spirits probably weren't the most filling.
Annabeth snapped a brittle branch from a dead tree on the riverbank. "Just calm him down if you can, and I can take it from there. I've trained dogs before."
"Those were normal dogs! This is literally a monster!"
Annabeth gave him a flat look. "Are you gonna argue, or are you gonna try?"
Percy swallowed hard. He took a hesitant step forward, extending a hand. Mother, if you can hear me… he prayed, unsure if she could even reach him down here. He focused, reaching for that same energy. The one that had soothed Annabeth in the grain truck. The one that had worked before.
"This is so dumb," Grover whined.
Cerberus watched Percy with all three heads, muscles tense.
"H-hey, buddy," Percy said, cursing how shaky his voice sounded. "My name's Percy. Percy Jackson. I'm a friend. Please don't eat me."
All three heads leaned in closer.
A deep, guttural rumbling filled the air. Percy braced for a bark so powerful it would make his skull explode.
Then the right head panted like an excited puppy.
Wait. What?
Percy barely had time to process that before ten thousand pounds of hellhound barreled straight for him.
"Oh, mother, help me-" was all he managed before Cerberus steamrolled him.
"PERCY!" Grover shrieked.
Percy hit the ground so hard the breath left his lungs. Massive paws pinned him down, the left head sniffing his hair, the middle head licking his face with a tongue the size of a welcome mat, and the right head letting out a deep, rumbling whine.
The beast's tail wagged so violently that a wave of ghosts behind him were pushed out of line like leaves in the wind.
"AHH-GROSS!" Percy wailed as he was completely drenched in hellhound drool. "Bad dog! STOP!"
Cerberus let out three different-pitched whines but obediently stepped back, letting Percy sit up, soaked and absolutely mortified.
Annabeth smirked. "Told you you could do it."
Percy shook his head violently. "No, this is different! I didn't even get the chance to use my powers! What the fuck is happening?!"
Annabeth cautiously stepped forward and extended a hand. Cerberus's middle head growled. She immediately backed up again.
Her brows furrowed. "Why is he acting like that around you?" Her eyes suddenly widened. "Unless-no, that wouldn't make any sense at all…"
Percy's heart pounded. "What? What is it?"
Annabeth hesitated. Then, carefully, she asked, "Percy… have you been here before?"
"What? No! How could I have-"
But even as the words left his mouth, something about them felt like a lie.
Warmth. Laughter. A small hand reaching up, touching a giant, black nose. A soft voice murmuring, "See? He won't hurt you."
Percy's breath caught in his throat. His stomach twisted violently. Had he… been here before?
Cerberus barked once, all three heads in perfect sync. Then, gently, he nudged Percy with his massive nose, almost like he was waiting for something.
Annabeth stared, voice barely above a whisper. "I think he knows you."
Percy nodded numbly. "I think so too."
"Do you think Cerberus knows any tricks?"
Annabeth experimentally waved her Styx stick around, which Cerberus's outer heads followed eagerly while the center head continued to stare at Percy.
"Hades doesn't seem like the type to play fetch with his dog," Grover said, eyeing the giant beast warily. "And since when do you know so much about dogs?"
Annabeth hesitated. "My dad had a Doberman when I was little. He was… a lot like Cerberus, actually. Big, scary, but not a bad dog. He listened. I always loved him." She gave the hellhound a soft scratch on the nose. "Good boy," she whispered.
It had taken some serious convincing on Percy's part to get Cerberus to stop growling at Annabeth and Grover. He could speak to Cerberus, so it only made sense that he counted as a domesticated animal, which Percy was still trying to wrap his head around. Despite that, he wasn't the most talkative creature. Lucky the Hydra always had something to say. Cerberus's vocabulary was more along the lines of "You have ten seconds to pray to the god of your choice" and then beyond that most of his barks were nothing more than exclamations of excitement.
"Any chance he could give us a ride to Hades's palace?" Percy asked hopefully.
Annabeth shook her head. "Cerberus has to stay at his post."
Percy frowned. "Says who?"
Annabeth sighed, like she was dealing with a particularly stubborn child. "Says Hades. Cerberus is his guard dog. There are extreme circumstances where he's left his post, like when Heracles dragged him to the mortal world for his twelve labors-"
At the mention of Heracles, Cerberus let out a low, pitiful whine, ears flattening.
Annabeth quickly shushed him with another scratch. "Anyway," she continued, "I don't think we should push our luck. Hades may be expecting you, but Grover and I? I have my doubts that he's thrilled about that, so let's not make things worse by stealing his dog."
Cerberus was kind enough to give them a lift just past the security terminal before returning to his post.
Annabeth wiped at her eyes as they continued down the beaten path.
Grover frowned. "Are you… crying?"
"Shut up," she muttered, quickly composing herself.
The ground beneath their feet was dry and cracked, the grass ashen and lifeless. Spirits drifted aimlessly across the endless fields, their eyes vacant, their forms flickering like candlelight.
"So," Grover said as they walked, "you have no idea why Cerberus knows you?"
Percy shook his head. "Not really."
He had no idea how to explain the flickering vision he had. Even if that was his mother's voice, why on earth would she have brought him here of all places?
They tried their best to blend in with the other spirits. Despite their surprisingly easy entrance, a skeleton guard had snapped at them almost immediately. It hadn't chased them, but it was enough of a warning that they weren't eager to ask for an escort.
Occasionally, spirits floated toward them, their voices incoherent. Their faces would all fall in disappointment upon realizing they could not be understood, their hollow eyes filled with longing.
Percy's heart ached. He wished he could understand them.
Instinctively, he reached out with his power, sending a ripple of calm through the air. The spirits faltered, confused, then… forgot. Their expressions went blank, and one by one, they drifted away, as if they had never seen him at all.
The dead weren't scary, Percy realized. They were sad.
Finally, after what felt like miles of shuffling through the endless gray fields, the path funneled into something new.
A massive black tent loomed ahead, standing like a festival pavilion at the heart of a very depressing carnival. Two separate lines snaked from the back of the tent. To the left, a wasteland of torment stretched into the horizon. The Fields of Punishment burned with an unnatural glow, filled with twisted structures that looked eerily like the Vegas skyline. Only here, the lights flickered like wildfires, and the distant screams were anything but celebratory. To the right-
Percy stopped.
"Wait," he said. "Is that… a gated community? In hell?"
Beyond the fence, perfectly maintained streets lined with golden houses stretched into the distance. A massive lake shimmered at the center of it all, casting an eerie glow under the crimson sky.
"Elysium," Grover murmured. "It has to be."
"That's where the heroes and the virtuous go," Annabeth added. "The original Perseus. Achilles. Isaac Newton. People like that."
Percy squinted through the iron bars. "It looks… small."
"It's bigger on the inside," Annabeth explained. She pointed toward the lake. "See that? The one at the center?"
Percy nodded.
"That's the Isles of the Blest. If you live three virtuous lives- make it to Elysium three times- you get to go there."
Percy let out a low whistle. "High standards."
Annabeth snorted. "Extremely."
As they walked by the judgement tents, Percy could have sworn that he saw Martin Luther King Junior and Michael Jackson at the tables, but they had no time to stop and ask for autographs.
As they left the judgment tents behind, the golden glow of Elysium faded and the endless despair of Asphodel returned. The deeper they walked, the more the world lost its color, like they were descending into the the Challenger Deep.
"I'm really thankful you guys are here," Percy suddenly said. "I know this quest has been… awful, and I know you both had your own reasons for coming, but I'm glad I got to do this with you."
Annabeth was the first to react. Without hesitation, she hugged him, the movement stiff but sincere. Then Grover piled on, nearly knocking him over. For a moment, they just stood there, three idiots holding onto each other in the middle of the Underworld
"We should be thanking you," Annabeth murmured. "You had no selfish reason to do any of this. You just did it because it was right."
Percy swallowed hard. "I wanted my mom to be proud of me."
"Your mom is proud of you," Grover insisted. "I bet she's on Olympus right now, waiting for you to come barging in with the Master Bolt so she can give you the biggest hug ever."
Tears stung Percy's eyes. He pulled Grover back into an embrace, clenching his jaw to keep from completely falling apart.
They were going to meet Hades soon.
This could be the end of the line.
Grover then jerked against Percy's hold, like something had grabbed him.
Percy frowned. "Uh, you good?"
Grover barely had time to look confused before his feet were yanked out from under him. He let out a yelp as his shoes sprouted wings-flapping hard, dragging him backward through the field.
"Maia!" he shouted, trying to stop them, but the shoes didn't listen. "MAIA!"
Percy's heart nearly stopped. Without thinking, he bolted after Grover, Annabeth right beside him.
"Untie the shoes!" she cried, but it was easier said than done. It looked like trying to do a situp hanging from your feet.
"Maybe it's taking him to Hades," Percy suggested, but right as he did the shoes took a hard left into a side tunnel. No black grass. No glowing flames. Just cold, red rocks.
"Grab something! Anything!" he shouted, but Grover was already trying. There was nothing to grab hold of.
The shoes hopped a crest and Grover let out a sound that Percy hoped he would never have to hear again.
As soon as he saw what lay ahead, his blood turned to ice. A pit. The pit. The one from his dreams. It was somehow wider than he remembered, stretching out like a yawning mouth ready to swallow them whole. And deeper. Endless. No bottom. Just darkness. Watching. Waiting.
The air changed the moment they stepped too close. Heavier, like they had walked into the mouth of some enormous, sleeping beast. It wasn't just hot or cold; it was both at once, an unnatural mix of blistering heat and soul-deep chill that didn't touch their skin, only their bones. Something in the abyss was watching, though no eyes could be seen.
"Grover!" Percy screamed. In a moment of desperation he drew Riptide from his pocket, clicked it, and hurled it with all his might. Be it luck or divine intervention, the blade sliced clean through one of the left shoe's wings. Riptide spun off into the depths of the pit, and Percy had to tell himself It will come back to keep himself from vomiting at the sight.
The shoe twisted midair, losing control. It slowed down Grover just enough to reach out.
Annabeth was faster than Percy. She lunged, grabbing Grover's wrist just as he teetered over the edge.
For half a second, she was sliding.
Percy caught her just in time, anchoring both of them to the ground.
The right shoe yanked. A final, desperate pull. Then-pop! The shoe ripped clean off Grover's hoof. The moment it was free, it plummeted into the abyss.
Annabeth wasted no time. The second Grover was no longer hovering over the pit, she tore the second shoe off and drove her dagger straight through the sole.
The tiny wing twitched, then it went limp like it had actually died.
Annabeth hurled it as far as she could into the pit.
None of them spoke for a long moment. The air still felt wrong.
Slowly, Percy turned his gaze back toward the darkness.
The pit stared back.
A voice slithered through the air. A whisper, ancient and evil.
So close.
It wasn't loud. It didn't need to be. The words crawled over Percy's skin, sinking into his bones.
It was the same voice from his dreams.
Whatever it was, it was in that pit. And it wanted him.
"Did you hear that?" Annabeth whispered.
Percy turned sharply. She had heard it too?
Grover was shaking so badly he looked ready to collapse. His pupils were razor-thin, darting wildly, his breath coming in frantic gasps. "I-I didn't know- I swear, I didn't know-"
"It's okay," Percy said automatically, but deep down he knew that it wasn't. Nothing about this was okay. Something had just tried to drag them into Tartarus. Something ancient. Something powerful. Something evil. "What matters is that you're okay."
They ran. Or more accurately, Percy and Annabeth half-carried Grover out of the tunnel, feet slipping on loose rock, lungs burning. The path stretched longer than it should have, the weight of the pit dragging at their heels. Every step felt like wading through tar, like something was still reaching for them.
Finally, the tunnel opened up into the relative safety of Asphodel. They collapsed under the nearest poplar tree, panting, hearts still hammering.
Percy pressed a shaking hand to his chest. "That… wasn't Hades. Was it?"
Annabeth swallowed hard. "No."
Percy's mind was spinning. He looked down at Grover's bare hooves and his stomach turned.
"Why did the shoes activate?" he asked. "You never said the command word."
Grover flinched like the question physically hurt. His hands were scratched to pieces, his breath still ragged. He rubbed at his arms, curling inward, shaking his head.
"I don't know," he murmured. His voice was raw. "I never liked them anyway."
Someone had hijacked the shoes. And if they hadn't acted fast enough, Grover would have been gone.
Dead.
Or worse.
Percy clapped a hand on Grover's shoulder, meaning to be reassuring, but before he knew it, he was hugging him again.
This one was different. It wasn't relief. It wasn't comfort.
It was desperation.
Like if they let go, one of them might slip away. Might be pulled back toward the pit.
They might never come back.
Grover hugged him tighter.
Annabeth didn't say anything, but she joined the hug, grounding them all. Hades was going to have to wait for a little while.