The Lightning Thief [Book One]

I Will Fail To Save What Matters Most.

They walked through the front gates of the castle that now loomed over them, and through this dark and mellow garden. The plants were dead or wilting, bones littering the ground in patterns, skulls poking up through the dirt like they wanted to greet the guests. Reagan thought it looked cool in some dystopian kind of way. However, one tree looked perfectly fine. Pomegranates looked like they were floating as they hung off branches and twigs. Reagan's mouth watered at the sight and she slowly walked over to pluck one off a branch to take, but Annabeth's hand gripping her wrist caused her to stop.

"Have you got any idea on how Persephone became Hades wife?" she asked irritably.

Reagan rolled her eyes and pulled from Annabeth's grip. "I do, actually," she spat back acidly.

"Then you should know better," Annabeth scolded like Reagan was an infant.

Reagan ignored her and looked back towards the forbidden fruit, then quickly followed after the other three into the castle. Guards were everywhere. Some were naked skeletons, and the others had decaying bodies with clothes on, most from wars that were fought right now and in the past. They held bows, AK 47's, and old time-y muskets. Hades must have known they were coming, because their soulless eyes were on the four of them as they walked through the hall. The black doors were ahead, which must have been the throne room where Hades was now. Percy stormed forward confidently, one guard on either side of the door that didn't stop him as he shoved the doors open and stormed through them. Reagan, Annabeth, and Grover walked in behind him, and the doors slammed shut behind them with a bang.

Hades' throne was black and withered, matching the man that sat on it. His robes were black, horrendous screaming faces that reminded Reagan of the faces of Medusa's stone statues in her garden. Except on his black robes the faces morphed into a different screaming face of the damned. Hades looked rather irritated that they managed to get into his kingdom like this, but he was still prepared for them nonetheless. The god tapped his pale index finger against the arm of his throne impatiently. His hair was black, greasy, and slicked back. Next to the throne of death was a prettier, less scary throne. It was made of green grass closely woven together. Various flowers were blossoming all over it. Annabeth and Grover knelt immediately as they got closer to the dark throne. Percy and Reagan were reluctant to do so, but for some reason she felt compelled to do what he wanted.

"Percy Jackson," Hades sneered as they all stood up. "Where is it, boy?"

Percy looked confused. "Where is what?"

"My helm!" Hades exclaimed with a hint of anger.

"I don't..." There was a pause as Percy gripped the strap of his backpack, eyes going wide.

At Hades' order, the dead advanced upon them slowly, weapons raised. Reagan was staring down the tip of a musket. The pulled her ring out and it grew into a long spear, the flaming tip keeping the dead at bay as she urged the flames to grow larger.

"Mom!"

Reagan looked over, and was surprised at the sight of an older woman suspended in a cloud of gold dust. She looked like she was suffering. Her throat looked constricted, and her eyes were bulging. She felt a tinge of sympathy for Percy, because Reagan's own mom was alive and kicking still in Manhattan. Percy stiffly pulled out four white pearls from his pocket, staring down at them then at his mother longingly.

"Save your mom, Percy," Reagan said over her shoulder without looking away from the musket pointed at her.

"I will fail to save what matters most in the end," Percy recited the prophecy.

Before anyone could interject, Percy threw down the four pearls with so much force that they shattered. Nothing happened. Hades laughed, the cold sound echoing off the walls. With an order from the god, the corpses slowly came towards them. The musket came closer to Reagan, so close that the tip of the spear barely touched the tip of the musket now. Then a bubble swallowed her up whole before the battle could begin. The bubbles lifted them off the ground slowly at first, steadily rising up towards the ceiling of the throne room.

"Can w-we control these things?" Annabeth asked nervously from her own private bubble.

They were flying straight up towards the ceiling, jagged edges threatening to pop their bubbles. Reagan's spear shortened until it was a ring again, and she slipped it into her pocket since it was too large to fit on her finger. She was certain that they would all crash into the ceiling of the throne room, but instead they passed right through it. The last thing that was heard was Hades' roar of anger that shook the throne room.