•as the world caves in•

•old memories in a taxi•

I hailed a taxi and shoved us all in. For once, I was being smarter then Annabeth. "Los Angeles, please."

The driver looked at us. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay upfront."

"You accept casino debit cards?"

He shrugged. "Some of them. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe them through first."

I handed him my LotusCash card. He eyed it skeptically. "Swipe it,"

He did and it started rattling. The money kept coming up until there was an infinity sign next to it.

The cigar fell out of his mouth and he looked at us. "Where to in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?"

"The Santa Monica Pier." I sat a little straighter. I could get used to people calling me something like that. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

I definitely shouldn't of said that because we were going over 95 the entire way.

•.•.•.•

Percy told us about his dreams. Some voice from a pit with a servant who he swears voice sounded familiar.

"The Silent One? The Rich One?" Annabeth suggested. "Both of those are nicknames for Hades."

"Maybe..."

"The throne room sounds like Hades's," Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."

Percy shook his head. "Somethings wrong. The throne room wasn't the main part of the dream. And that voice from the pit... I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice."

Me and Annabeth looked at each other, eyes wide.

Percy looked between us. "What?"

"Oh... nothing." I stammered. "We were just—No, it has to be Hades."

Annabeth nodded. "Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong—"

"Like what"?

"I—I don't know," Annabeth admitted. "But if he stole Zeus's symbol of power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things could go wrong."

"So this thief has to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow." I added. "Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."

Percy looked at us like there was something wrong with us. "But if I'd already retrieved the bolt, why would I be traveling to the Underworld?"

"To threaten Hades," Grover suggested. "To bride of blackmail him into getting your mom back."

Percy whistled. "You have evil thoughts for a goat."

"Why, thank you."

"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for two items. If the master bolt is one, what's the other."

Grover shocked his head. I genuinely had no clue, but Annabeth seemed to be working something out with that Athena head of hers.

"You have an idea what might be in that pit, don't you?" Percy asked her. "I mean, if it isn't Hades?"

The voice better be Hades, because if it's what I'm thinking it is, we are in for it.

"Percy... let's bit talk about it. Because if it isn't Hades... No. it had to be Hades."