Nina's Destiny

Santa Monica and the Underworld

We called the nearest taxi that would take us from Las Vegas to L.A. Thank the gods this guy accepted casino credit cards. When he swiped the thing it came up as unlimited. I told the guy to keep the change. As soon as we were in L.A., we hopped out out of the taxi and started on our way to Santa Monica.

Santa Monica looked exactly like the California beaches you see in the movies look like. It just smelled a whole lot worse. It was kind of like when you walked over a sewer back in Manhattan. We all walked down to the edge of the water.

"What now?" asked Annabeth.

I grabbed Percy's hand and squeezed it. He looked into my eyes and smiled.

"Ready when you are," he said.

"I was born ready," I smirked back as we began trudging into the salt water.

I could feel Percy's surprise that we were still dry and I started to mentally laugh. I stuck my tongue out at him. We were now completely submerged, and breathing. A mako shark swam up to us. It nuzzled up against us like a dog. Together, Percy and I reached out our still conjoined hands and stroked its dorsal fin. It bucked a little as if inviting us to hold tighter. We did so. As soon as we had a tight grip, the mako shark shot off.

When it finally stopped, the surface was glistening maybe 150 ft. above us. I could make out the Nereid from the Mississippi making her way toward us. She dismounted the humongous seahorse. I so want one of those. It was awesome! "Percy and Nina Jackson. Well done, you have come far. It has been many years since children of Poseidon have been born. Even longer since there have been twins." She paused and looked at me. "And, never before has our lord been blessed with a little girl before. We have watched you both with great interest." I suddenly remembered the faces in the Atlantic when I was younger. The nereids.

"If our father is so interested in us, why isn't he here? Why didn't he come speak to us?" I asked. I so hope he does care.

"Do not judge the Lord of the Sea too harshly. 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."
"Not even to their own kids?" my brother asked.

The nereid shook her head sadly. "I know you journey to Hades' realm. Few mortals have come back from there alive. I have for you gifts from your father. Take these,and when you are in need, smash a pearl at your feet."

"What do they do?" asked my brother as he took the four pearls. He handed me two before we both pocketed them.

"That depends on the need," smiled the nereid. She waved to us and vanished. The mako back to us, and brought us back to the beach.

Once we were on the surface, we quickly found Annabeth and Grover. We told them everything on our way back to the city. Once we got there, we started searching for DOA Recording Studios, the entrance to the Underworld. No one could tell us where it was. Eventually, we found it because of luck.

When we entered, we saw a man in an Italian suit sitting at the front desk. We gave the man, Charon, 20 gold drachma and a promise to ask Hades about a pay raise for him in exchange for letting us through. I think he got more on his part. We traveled through the Underworld and made our way to Hades' palace. Before we got there, Grover's shoes, the ones Luke gave him started acting up. They began to drag him down to the entrance to Tartarus. Oh no, this must be Kronos' doing. We chased after him and I managed to grab him before he fell in. Luckily, the shoes had been loose on him because of his hooves.

We ran rather quickly to the palace. Guards led us through the halls and I shivered. I could still hear the screams of anguish emitting from the Fields of Punishment. Percy grabbed my hand for comfort that there was actually someone else alive there. I looked back and saw Grover and Annabeth doing the same. When we reached the throne room, I bowed to my uncle. He looked as regal as ever sitting up there on his throne.