Snow White- Percy Jackson¹

Chapter Fourteen

Snow And Her Best Friend: Cerberus

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Snow stood with her friends in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, gazing up at the gold letters etched in black marble: DOA Recording Studios. Underneath the stencils on the glass door read: No Solicitors, No Loitering. No Living.

What a welcoming place… 

The sky was dark, almost midnight but the lobby was bright and filled with people. Behind the security desk sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece. Behind the desk was a security guard with sunglasses and an earpiece. 

Percy turned to his friends. “Okay. You remember the plan?” 

“The plan,” Grover gulped. “Yeah, I love the plan.”

“Relax, Grover, as long as we remain calm we’ll pull it off.” Snow assured him.

“You’re worryingly optimistic.”

“Not optimistic, just… ensuring everyone and myself.”

Annabeth turned to Percy. “What if the plan doesn’t work?”

“Don’t think negative.”

“Right,” she said. “We’re entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn’t think negative.”

“See, this is the kind of thing that can make you worry and stumble.” Snow pointed out. 

Grover looked between her and Percy. “You’re both worryingly optimistic.”

Percy took the pearls out of his pocket, the four milky spheres that he got from the Nereid back in Santa Monica. Snow’s self assurance was dwindling at the sight of them. They were the only things they had to escape, if something were to go wrong- No, don’t think that, she scolded herself. There was no time for doubt, they didn’t have much time. It’s all or nothing. 

Looking at Percy, she saw the same worry in his pretty eyes. Silently, she grabbed the arm that held the pearls and smiled when he looked at him, squeezing her grip firmly. 

“Don’t worry Percy, I’m sure we’ll be fine,” she said. “We’ve got this, right guys?” She gave them a look. 

“Right. We’ll be fine.” At his silence, Annabeth elbowed Grover.

“Yeah!” He quickly chimed. “We got this far. We’ll get the master bolt and save your mom. No problem.”

Despite her own doubts and worries, Snow only smiled. That was what she was good at. 

Walking inside the DOA lobby, Muzak music played softly on hidden speakers. The carpet and walls were steel gray. Pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather, and every seat was taken. There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people staring out the windows or wait-ing for the elevator. Nobody moved, or talked, or did much of anything. When Snow looked at them closely, they started looking transparent, she could make out their skeleton if she stared hard enough. 

Snow stretched her neck to look at the guard who sat on a raised podium. He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-colored skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag.

As she was taking in his appearance, she heard Percy say, “Your name is Chiron?”

He leaned across the desk, his sunglasses opaque so it hid his eyes, but his smile was a frightening combination of sweet and cold, like a python just before it eats its prey.