Unlimited Power

CHAPTER ONE - Bianca

Bianca Di Angelo was dead.

She woke up in a huge black bed in the biggest room she'd ever seen. It was decorated with glittering jewels, torches, and... were those human skulls? Bianca sat up so quickly, that she felt her stomach do a cartwheel. Black spots danced in her eyes, and she slowly lowered herself back down. It didn't help. If she was dead, why did it suck so bad? She barely managed to turn to the end of the bed and vomited everything left in her stomach straight onto a white carpet.

"That carpet was a gift from Zeus," A deep voice boomed. Bianca raised her head to see a middle-aged man with curly black hair and a silver skull ring. He had a ghoulish complexion and black eyes. She flopped back on the bed, watching him.

"Sorry," Bianca croaked, wincing at the sound of her voice.

"Eh. I never liked it anyway. Doesn't match." The man flicked his wrist, and it disappeared. He studied her for a moment. "I was going to ask how you felt, but considering you puked on my carpet, I'll assume it's 'not good.'" The longer she looked at him, the more familiar he seemed.

"You're Hades," she tilted her head.

"And you're Bianca." His black eyes glinted.

"You know my name?" Bianca didn't hide her surprise. Why would the god of the Underworld even know who she was? Kind of unsettling.

"I only have two children, so not much to remember." he said. Bianca gaped at him. Children? "Your... uh, your stepmother wanted me to tell you- I mean she..." He muttered something incomprehensible. "Join her for dinner. I mean us." She opened her mouth, but Hades interrupted. "Don't worry, we got it from above ground, so you won't be stuck in the Underworld forever. Um..." His left eye twitched. "I'll send a maid or something."

"Wait, but you're-" Hades disappeared before Bianca could finish. "My father," she muttered. Hades, the god of the dead was her father, and he was an awkward, middle-aged man. The concept didn't seem to click in her mind. That meant she was a child of the Big Three. The Big Three. The prophecy applied to her. She shook the thought out of her head. She was a Hunter of Artemis, which meant she wouldn't age, like Zoë. She would never be 16 against all odds.

The relief didn't last long. Bianca was dead. The prophecy wouldn't apply to her because she was dead. She died for a noble cause while helping Percy Jackson rescue his "friend" Annabeth Chase. They better get together after all that. The thought made a smile tug at her lips. Bianca decided to focus on the present.

The canopy above her head shimmered mysteriously, and she couldn't make out why. Bianca lifted her head tentatively. A wave of nausea washed over her, but she ground her teeth, determined not to make a fool of herself twice. After a few moments, her head cleared and she could move again. Slowly, she moved inch by inch, taking deep breaths every time she felt like throwing up. Eventually, Bianca was sitting down, legs dangling on the side of the bed. It was so tall and big, her toes didn't even brush the ground. She traced circles on the covers, admiring the sculpted vines that decorated the legs of the bed, reaching to the canopy. Small red jewels glittered in between the leaves.

Her legs were painfully thin as if she hadn't eaten in weeks. Had she? Did she even need to eat now that she was dead? Bianca shivered. Without the covers, her body was exposed to the cool air circulating. Gods probably didn't feel heat or cold. Bianca hadn't been in the whole 'Greek gods are real' universe for long, so she had no idea.

Her attention shifted to the bare floor. It was, of course, black and not very captivating. Anything so that she didn't have to look at the skulls. They decorated the archways, gleaming rubies placed in their eye sockets. Bianca could almost hear them whispering, taunting her.