Ch.14

To be honest I didn't want to go straight to LA, I wanted to stop in Vegas and get a card from the Lotus Hotel and Casino. Those things had infinite money, but I knew there would be no guarantee that I wouldn't be lured in forever. Plus I doubt Percy or Grover would let me make a detour as Percys latest dream had his panties balled up.

When we got to LA we went straight to the beach. It took us a minute to get a parking spot that wasn't pay by the hour or ten bucks for all day parking. Walking to the surf I looked at Grover,

"Hey bud you're gonna have to wait here for a minute, you can't breath underwater so I need you to watch the car. You think you could change the plates without anyone noticing?"

"Don't worry I'll take care of it, you guys be safe," Grover responded

"Thanks buddy," Percy said.

"Let's go Purse," As I pulled Percy into the water.

We walked down into the shoals. I could sense the rolling texture of the bottom. I

could make out sand-dollar colonies dotting the sandbars. I could even see the currents, warm and cold streams swirling together. It was honestly amazing how the ocean flowed and honestly lived, the ocean was a living thing and it felt like it was embracing me.

I felt Percy jump all the sudden and when I looked down I saw why, a five foot long mako shark had rubbed against him and was now rubbing against me. Heeling like a dog. I touched its dorsal fin. It bucked a little, as if inviting me to hold tighter. I grabbed the fin with both hands. It took off, pulling me along. The shark carried me down into the darkness. It deposited me at the edge of the ocean proper, where the sand bank dropped off into a huge chasm. It was like standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon at midnight, not being able to see much, but knowing the void was right there. Looking back I saw a second shark pulling Percy after me. It was quite the sight, he looked both happy and scared.

"Having fun?" I asked while laughing.

"Oh shut up you know that was fun," Percy said while rolling his eyes.

Looking around I turned back to Percy,

"What do you think we'd find at the bottom of the ocean? Maybe some treasure?"

"We should look for some one day, imagine getting rich from pirate gold. Mom would never have to work again." Percy said, looking excited.

Then a voice interupted us, a woman's voice, like my mother's, called: "Percy and Adrian Jackson."

As she got closer, her shape became clearer. She had flowing black hair, a dress made of

green silk. Light flickered around her, and her eyes were so distractingly beautiful I hardly

noticed the stallion-sized sea horse she was riding.

She dismounted. The sea horse and the mako shark whisked off and started playing

something that looked like tag. The underwater lady smiled at us. "You've come far, boys. Well done."

"How do you know us?" I asked.

"It has been many years since a child of the Sea God has been born. We have

watched you with great interest. I am a Nereid, a spirit of the sea. I serve in your fathers court."

"If our father is so interested in us," Percy said, "why isn't he here? Why doesn't he speak to us?"

A cold current rose out of the depths.

"Do not judge the Lord of the Sea too harshly," the Nereid responded. "He stands at the brink of an unwanted war. He has much to occupy his time. Besides, he is forbidden to help you directly. The gods may not show such favoritism."

"Even to their own children?" Percy asked.

"Especially to them. The gods can work by indirect influence only. That is why I give you a

warning, and a gift."

She held out her hand. Three white pearls flashed in her palm along with a card.

"Just remember: what belongs to the sea will always return to the sea."

"What does that mean?" Percy asked.

"Should you find yourself in danger destroy these at your feet. I know you journey to Hades's realm," she said. "Few mortals have ever done this and survived: Orpheus, who had great music skill; Hercules, who had great strength; Houdini, who could escape even the depths of Tartarus. Do you have these talents?"

"I believe we do," I responded.

"What makes you so sure?"

"I believe I know our limits better then anyone." And I did, all the fighting in Yharnam had let me know my limits. I couldn't fight gods as of yet but soon enough.

"What about the warning?" Percy interrupted.

Her eyes flickered with green light. "Go with what your heart tells you, or you will lose all.

Hades feeds on doubt and hopelessness. He will trick you if he can, make you mistrust your own judgment. Once you are in his realm, he will never willingly let you leave. Keep faith, and good luck young heroes."

She summoned her sea horse and rode toward the void.

"Good-bye, young heroes," she called back, her voice fading into the depths. "You must listen

to your heart." She became a speck of glowing green, and then she was gone.

Turning around I grabbed Percy,

"Lets go man."

"Wish we could see dads court," Percy said.

"Maybe someday, but we gotta go save mom. I think this card will help us." I said while holding out the card that was given with the pearls, on it was an address to DOA Recording Studio... It took a second but I realize it was an acronym for Dead On Arrival, pretty funny if you ask me.

We wandered for miles on foot, looking for DOA. Nobody seemed to know where it was. It

didn't appear in the phone book either.

I froze in front of an appliance-store window because a television was playing an interview

with somebody who looked very familiar—our stepdad, Smelly Gabe. He was talking to Barbara Walters—I mean, as if he were some kind of huge celebrity. She was interviewing him in our apartment, in the middle of a poker game, and there was a young blond lady sitting next to him, patting his hand.

A fake tear glistened on his cheek. He was saying, "Honest, Ms. Walters, if it wasn't for

Sugar here, my grief counselor, I'd be a wreck. My stepsons took everything I cared about. My wife ... my Camaro ... I—I'm sorry. I have trouble talking about it."

"There you have it, America." Barbara Walters turned to the camera. "A man torn apart. Two

adolescent boys with serious issues. Let me show you, again, the last known photo of this troubled young fugitive, taken two days ago in Oklahoma."

The screen cut to a grainy shot of me, Percy, and Grover sitting inside the McDonalds, talking to Ares.

"Who is the other child in this photo?" Barbara Walters asked dramatically. "Who is the man with them? Are Percy and Adrian Jackson delinquents, terrorists, or perhaps the brainwashed victims of a frightening new cult? When we come back, we chat with a leading child psychologist. Stay tuned,

America."

"C'mon," Grover said while pulling me and Percy away, "We need to keep moving."

I'm afraid to say it took us a whole day of looking to find it, we had to get a motel because it was already late at night and I didn't want to sleep on the streets. I guess it was a good thing that Ares gave us the pack even if he was trying to frame us because otherwise we wouldn't have had enough money to stay anywhere. That morning our search took us through a really shady part of town, gangs moved openly, and drugs trades were going down in broad daylight, while no one bothered us because we were homeless looking I was just glad human trafficking wasn't a large part of this area.

__<>__

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

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

Turning to Percy and Grover,

"You guys ready to visit Hades? The place not the god." I said with a smirk.

Grover started chewing a plastic wrapper he pulled from his pocket and Percy just shook his head at me,

"Let's go Adrian," Percy responded.

"You's the boss man, handbag." I said while punching his arm.

We walked inside the DOA lobby.

Muzak played softly on 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 was taken. There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people staring out the windows or waiting for the elevator. Nobody moved, or talked, or did much of anything. I remembered that in the book they were see through but for me I could see them as if they were alive and well, I guess my insight had already started to change how I saw things.

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

He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-colored skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was

pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag. For some reason though his skin shimmered, like he didn't actually have skin and all we could see was an illusion.

I guess Percy tried to read his name tag as he asked,

"Your names Chiron?"

He leaned across the desk. I couldn't see anything in his glasses except my own reflection, but his smile was sweet and cold, like a pythons, right before it eats you.

"What a precious young lad." He had a strange accent—British, maybe, but also as if he had

learned English as a second language. "Tell me, mate, do I look like a centaur?"

"N-no." Percy stuttered

"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.

I couldn't stand it anymore and I bust out laughing,

"Dude, your dyslexia gets worse every day."

"Shut up, you have it too."

"Yeah but at least I don't blurt stuff out like that." I responded while laughing.

Turning towards Charon I said,

"Sorry for my younger brother he's special,"

"Hey," Percy winned.

"Shh" I said before turning back and holding up ten drachmas, "We need passage to the underworld"

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

seen these in ..."

His fingers hovered greedily over the coins.

"Do you think I can be bought, godling?" He asked suddenly, "Eh ... just out of curiosity, how much have you got there?"

"Enough to ensure us a safe passage. How does five per person sound?" I responded while putting 15 on the counter.

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

He stood, 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 whispering things I couldn't make out. Charon shoved them out of the way, grumbling, "Freeloaders."

He escorted us into the elevator, which was already crowded with souls of the dead, each one holding a green boarding pass. Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to get on with us and pushed 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?"

I got a sudden dizzy feeling. We weren't going down anymore, but forward. The air turned

misty. Spirits around me started changing shape. Their modern clothes flickered, turning into gray hooded robes. The floor of the elevator began swaying.

I blinked hard. When I opened my eyes, Charon's creamy Italian suit had been replaced by a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses were gone. Where his eyes should've been were empty sockets—like Ares's eyes, except Charon's were totally dark, full of night and death and despair.

'I knew it, insight let me see through his illusion just a little, soon enough it'll be like it was never even there.'

The floor kept swaying.

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

When I blinked again, the elevator wasn't an elevator anymore. We were standing in a

wooden barge. Charon was poling us across a dark, oily river, swirling with bones, dead fish, and other, stranger things—plastic dolls, crushed carnations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.

"Look at this river." I said while shaking my head.

"Polluted," Charon said. "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in

everything as you come across—hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true all into this river, The River Styx. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."

Mist curled off the filthy water. Above us, almost lost in the gloom, was a ceiling of

stalactites. Ahead, the far shore glimmered with greenish light, the color of poison.

The shoreline of the Underworld came into view. 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 somewhere nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones—the howl of a large animal.

"Old Three-Face is hungry," Charon said. His smile turned skeletal in the greenish light. "Bad luck for you, godlings."

The bottom of our boat slid onto the black sand. The dead began to disembark. A woman holding a little girl's hand. An old man and an old woman hobbling along arm in arm. A boy no older than I was, shuffling silently along in his gray robe.

Charon said, "I'd wish you boys luck, mate, but there isn't any down here."

He counted our golden coins into his pouch, then took up his pole. He warbled something that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he ferried the empty barge back across the river.

_____________________________________________

I did my best, but honestly I didn't know what to do with this chap or really any of the rest while they're in Hades. I think I'll rush through it because the big changes I want to make will start right after the meeting on Olympus. Then I swear it'll get better... I think, the interaction will be different and we will meet never before seen gods and demigods so look forward to it I guess.

For anyone upset about BB being gone for now, I promise it will be back soon. Also big happenings are soon to come. I won't spoil it but if you're worried Adrian will only follow Percy do not worry. After this arc we prolly won't see or hear much from him till the labyrinth arc or the 3rd book.

Please tell me what you thought. Sirry this chap wasn't good but I don't really know what to change to make it better. :(

Have a nice day.