Ch.15

We followed the spirits up a well-worn path.

The entrance to the Underworld looked like a cross between airport security and the Jersey Turnpike. There were three separate entrances under one huge black archway that said YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS. Each entrance had a pass-through metal detector with security cameras mounted on top. Beyond this were tollbooths manned by black-robed ghouls like Charon.

The howling of the hungry animal was really loud now, I could see the massive Rottweiler."

looking dog with three heads growling.

"Damn, Cerberus is huge," I said.

"Huh? Where," Percy asked.

"You can't see him?"

"No," Percy and Grover said together. Both looked confused, lokking at me as if I was crazy.

"Oh well, let's go," I said while walking forward.

The dead queued up in the three lines, two marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one

marked EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line was moving right along. The other two were crawling.

"What do you figure?" Percy asked me.

"Ummm, I don't know," I said while shrugging my shoulders.

We got closer to the gates. The howling was so loud now it shook the ground at my feet. When we were about fifty foot away from Cerberus Percy and Grover gasped.

"Hah, told you he was huge."

Percys jaw hung open. All he said was, "He's a Rottweiler."

The dead walked right up to him—no fear at all. The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted

on either side of him. The EZ DEATH spirits walked right between his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without even crouching.

"I'm starting to see him better," Percy muttered. "Why is that? And why could you already see him?"

"I don't know, maybe I just have better vision then you," I said while shrugging my shoulders.

The dog's middle head craned toward us. It sniffed the air and growled.

"It can smell the living," I said.

"But that's okay," Grover said, trembling next to us. "Because we have a plan."

We moved toward the monster.

The middle head snarled at us, then barked so loud my eyeballs rattled.

"Satyrs can speak to animals right? Can you understand it?" I asked Grover.

"Oh yeah," he said. "I can understand it."

"What's it saying?" Percy asked.

"I don't think humans have a four-letter word that translates, exactly."

Cerberus was now making a new kind of growl, deeper down in his three throats.

"Um," Grover said. "Guys?"

"Yeah?"

"I just thought you'd want to know."

"Spit it out already!" I yelled.

"Cerberus? He's saying we've got ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice. After that...

well ... he's hungry."

"Adrian, what do we do?" Percy yelled at me.

"I'm right next to you damnit don't yell." I yelled right back, "I don't know."

"Five seconds," Grover said. "Do we run now?"

"Grover gimme your damn shoes." I said, " You're the only one here who can run without em."

"B-but Luke gave me these." Grover whinned.

"I don't care hurry up." My hand out stretched.

Handing me his shoes while looking depressed, I looked at Cerberus,

"Here boy, want the chew toy?"

Cerberus looked as stunned as Percy and Grover.

All three of his heads cocked sideways. Six nostrils dilated.

Cerberus licked his three sets of lips.

"When I say fetch, you guys bolt for the EZ DEATH line." I whispered.

"We can't leave you Adrian." Percy said.

"You ain't leavin me damnit, just shutup and listen to me."

I threw one of the shoes.

He caught it in his middle mouth. It was barely big enough for him to chew, and the other heads started snapping at the middle, trying to get the new toy.

"Good boy," holding up the other shoe I called, "Want the other? FETCH."

Throwing the shoe to my right, I watch as Percy and Grover ran. Looking over I saw Cerberus running for the shoe.

Catching up to Percy and Grover I could hear the three heads fighting over the shoes.

"How'd you know that would work?" Percy asked me.

"I didn't but I figured he's just a really big dog," I said while shrugging my shoulders.

'Get rid of one problem though, no cursed shoes to pull Grovers ass away.' I thought to myself.

"Never mind that," Grover said, tugging at our shirts. "Come on!"

We pushed through the metal detector, which immediately screamed and set off flashing red lights. "Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"

Cerberus started to bark.

We burst through the EZ DEATH gate, which started even more alarms blaring, and raced

into the Underworld.

A few minutes later, we were hiding, Percy and Grover were out of breath, in the rotten trunk of an immense black tree as security ghouls scuttled past, yelling for backup from the Furies.

Grover murmured, "Well, Adrian, what have we learned today?"

"You can't bring magic items into the underworld?"

"No," Grover told me. "We've learned that your plans really, really bite!"

"How was I supposed to know there would be a magic item detector?" I asked, "I got us past Cerberus easily, that was a good plan."

___

Imagine the largest concert crowd you've ever seen, a football field packed with a million fans.

Now imagine a field a million times that big, packed with people, and imagine the electricity has gone out, and there is no noise, no light, no beach ball bouncing around over the crowd. Something tragic has happened backstage. Whispering masses of people are just milling around in the shadows, waiting for a concert that will never start.

If you can picture that, you have a pretty good idea what the Fields of Asphodel looked like.

The black grass had been trampled by eons of dead feet. A warm, moist wind blew like the breath of a swamp. Black trees—Grover told us they were poplars—grew in clumps here and there.

The cavern ceiling was so high above us it might've been a bank of storm clouds, except for the stalactites, which glowed faint gray and looked wickedly pointed. I tried not to imagine they'd fall on us at any moment, but dotted around the fields were several that had fallen and impaled themselves in the black grass.

Percy, Grover, and I tried to blend into the crowd, keeping an eye out for security ghouls.

They will come up to you and speak, but their voices sound like chatter, like bats twittering, I could make out a word here and there but I assumed my insight needed to be much higher to fully understand them.

Once they realize you can't understand them, they frown and move away.

The dead aren't scary.

They're just sad.

We crept along, following the line of new arrivals that snaked from the main gates toward a black-tented pavilion with a banner that read:

JUDGMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATION

Welcome, Newly Deceased!

Out the back of the tent came two much smaller lines.

To the left, spirits flanked by security ghouls were marched down a rocky path toward the

Fields of Punishment, which glowed and smoked in the distance, a vast, cracked wasteland with rivers of lava and minefields and miles of barbed wire separating the different torture areas. Even from far away, you could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run

naked through cactus patches or listen to opera music. I could just make out a tiny hill, with the ant-size figure of Sisyphus struggling to move his boulder to the top. And I saw worse tortures, too—things like re-living your worst memories over and over again.

The line coming from the right side of the judgment pavilion was much better. This one led down toward a small valley surrounded by walls—a gated community, which seemed to be the only happy part of the Underworld. Beyond the security gate were neighborhoods of beautiful houses from every time period in history, Roman villas and medieval castles and Victorian mansions. Silver and gold flowers bloomed on the lawns. The grass rippled in rainbow colors. I could hear laughter and smell barbecue cooking.

Elysium.

In the middle of that valley was a glittering blue lake, with three small islands like a vacation resort in the Bahamas. The Isles of the Blest, for people who had chosen to be reborn three times, and three times achieved Elysium. Immediately I knew that's where I wanted to go when I died.

But I thought of how few people there were in Elysium, how tiny it was compared to the

Fields of Asphodel or even the Fields of Punishment. So few people did good in their lives. It was depressing. Would saving people in Yharnam count? Was it worth it? How would I even know?

We left the judgment pavilion and moved deeper into the Asphodel Fields. It got darker. The colors faded from our clothes. The crowds of chattering spirits began to thin.

After a few miles of walking, we began to hear a familiar screech in the distance. Looming on the horizon was a palace of glittering black obsidian. Above the parapets swirled three dark batlike creatures: the Furies. I got the feeling they were waiting for us. I guess Alecto had told the other two about me and Percy.

"I suppose it's too late to turn back," Grover said wistfully.

"We'll be okay." Percy tried to sound confident.

"What are you boys scared for? We have done so well this entire time, you'd think you guys would grow a pair." I said while looking at them like they were babies.

Walking forward we past some kimd of tunnel, the pack Ares gave us got heavy immediately. I smirked, we now had two godly itemsin our possession and Grover didn't have to almost die.

The Furies circled the parapets, high in the gloom. The outer walls of the fortress glittered black, and the two-story-tall bronze gates stood wide open.

Up close, I saw that the engravings on the gates were scenes of death. Some were from

modern times—an atomic bomb exploding over a city, a trench filled with gas mask-wearing soldiers, a line of African famine victims waiting with empty bowls—but all of them looked as if they'd been etched into the bronze thousands of years ago. Honestly looked pretty cool to me.

Inside the courtyard was the strangest garden I'd ever seen. Multicolored mushrooms,

poisonous shrubs, and weird luminous plants grew without sunlight. Precious jewels made up for the lack of flowers, piles of rubies as big as my fist, clumps of raw diamonds. Standing here and there like frozen party guests were Medusa's garden statues— petrified children, satyrs, and centaurs—all smiling grotesquely.

In the center of the garden was an orchard of pomegranate trees, their orange blooms neon

bright in the dark.

The tart smell of those pomegranates was almost overwhelming. I had a sudden desire to eat them, but I knew the story of Persephone. One bite of Underworld food, and we would never be able to leave. I pulled Percy and Grover away to keep them from picking a big juicy one.

We walked up the steps of the palace, between black columns, through a black marble portico, and into the house of Hades. The entry hall had a polished bronze floor, which seemed to boil in the reflected torchlight. There was no ceiling, just the cavern roof, far above. I guess they never had to worry about rain down here.

Every side doorway was guarded by a skeleton in military gear. Some wore Greek armor,

some British redcoat uniforms, some camouflage with tattered American flags on the shoulders.

They carried spears or muskets or M-16s. None of them bothered us, but their hollow eye sockets followed us as we walked down the hall, toward the big set of doors at the opposite end.

Two U.S. Marine skeletons guarded the doors. They grinned down at us, rocket-propelled

grenade launchers held across their chests.

"You know," Grover mumbled, "I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door

salesmen."

"That was actually funny Grover," I said with a laugh. "See you're brave enough to tell jokes when we are about to see Hades himself, I don't think you should be shivering like you got a cold right now."

"Yeah Grover, you seem pretty brave to me if you're telling jokes right now." Percy agreed.

"You mean it?"

"Yeah bud, now we just need to get you some fighting classes when we get back. What do you think of a club?" I responded.

"I-" Grover was then interrupted a hot wind blew down the corridor, and the doors swung open. The guards stepped aside.

"Guess that means enter, let's go already," I said in a sing-sing voice.

By now pack weighed a lot, even I was noticing how heavy it was getting.

Hades sat in his throne.

He was at least ten feet tall, for one thing, and dressed in black silk robes and a crown of

braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn't bulked up like Ares, but he radiated power. He lounged on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther.

I immediately felt like he should be giving the orders. He knew more than I did. He should be

my master. Then I told myself to snap out of it.

Hades's aura was actually affecting me, unlike Ares's had. The Lord of the Dead resembled pictures I'd seen of Adolph Hitler, or Napoleon, or the terrorist leaders who direct suicide bombers. Hades had the same intense eyes, the same kind of mesmerizing, evil charisma.

"You are brave to come here, Children of Poseidon," he said in an oily voice. "After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish."

Stepping forward I called out,

"Uncle Hades, can I call you uncle? What is it that we have done to you? Me and my brother have just entered the Greek world, we would even be willing to swear on river styx that we haven't done anything to you."

Hades's eyes grew dangerously bright. "You dare keep up this pretense, after what you have done?"

"Um ... Uncle," Percy said. "You keep saying 'after what you've done.' What exactly have we done?"

The throne room shook with a tremor so strong, they probably felt it upstairs in Los Angeles. Debris fell from the cavern ceiling. Doors burst open all along the walls, and skeletal warriors marched in, hundreds of them, from every time period and nation in Western civilization. They lined the perimeter of the room, blocking the exits.

"Lies!" More rumbling. Hades rose from his throne, towering to the height of a football

goalpost. "Your father may fool Zeus, boy, but I am not so stupid. I see his plan."

"His plan?" Percy asked.

"You boys were the thief on the winter solstice," he said. "Your father thought to keep you two his little secret. He directed you into the throne room on Olympus, You took the master bolt and my helm. Had I not sent my Fury to discover you both at Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have succeeded in hiding his scheme to start a war. But now you have been forced into the open. You will be exposed as Poseidon's thief, and I will have my helm back!"

"I swear on River Styx we didn't do it," I blurted out.

You could hear the rumble but other than that nothing happened to me.

"What," He yelled. "Why is it in your pack then, boy."

"Ares gave us this back," I responded. "Before it only had money in it, but when we passed a tunnel on our way here it all the sudden got pretty heavy."

"Open your pack, then."

The skeletons aimed their weapons. From high above, there was a fluttering of leathery

wings, and the three Furies swooped down to perch on the back of their master's throne. The one with Mrs. Dodds's face grinned at me eagerly and flicked her whip.

Inside the pack was a two-foot-long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends, humming with energy.

Hades loosed a ball of gold fire from his palm. It exploded on the steps in front of me, and there was our mother, frozen in a shower of gold, just as she was at the moment when the Minotaur began to squeeze her to death.

Looking up at Hades,

"I already swore we didn't do it, let our mom go and I swear I'll find your helm."

"Why should I believe you?"

"Because I have an idea of who has it." I responded.

"Who."

"The god that gave us this bag, Ares."

"What makes you think you can beat him alone."

"I don't think I can but if you would be willing to help then maybe," I responded.

"What would you have me do?"

"My axe, while its great and all it's not a magic weapon, nor does it do what it was intended to. It's not a finished product, if you could make it to where it expands to three and a half times longer and can turn in a ring then I think I could maybe confront him." I really just wanted my axe to be magic, I knew that Ares wouldn't take me seriously so I'd be able to win. Especially if Percy could.

Hades snapped his fingers and I noticed I was wearing a ring now and that mom was no longer frozen. "There, now leave before I change my mind."

"Thank you, Uncle. Percy, Grover step on those pearls now." I turned to mom, "Here mom step on this Pearl I'll be right behind you."

"Ok honey," She responded as stepped on the pearl.

"One last thing uncle, I was only given three pearls, could you help me follow them?"

"Fine, but you're pushing it boy."

_____________________________________________

What do you think? I always wondered why Percy never just swore on Styx that he didn't steal anything.

Now our MC has a full blown Hunter Axe and it turns into a ring, and he has a personal quest from Hades himself. Don't worry the biggest change is about to come, it won't change cannon that much but it will be a big step towards a story away from Percy.

I tried my hardest on this but I feel I could've done better... Sorry but oh well. If you can do better then I suggest you do so cause it'll be a while before I show improvements.