𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐍° ! percy jackson

𝐢.𝐱𝐢𝐱 - 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐬 (𝐚)

"No," he smirked and stuck his tongue out like an annoying child.

Surprisingly, their banter didn't stop Annabeth's train of thought from taking off running. "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 had to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. 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." As she finished explaining, she looked paler than usual, as if the thought terrified her.

There was a nagging at the bottom of Aurora's gut that told her that Annabeth's suspicions were way off. But, instead of listening to herself, she decided—demanded—that Annabeth be right, and that this was one of her good plans.

"But if I'd already retrieved the bolt," Percy said, "why would I be traveling to the Underworld?"

"To threaten Hades," Grover suggested. "To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."

Percy whistled as Aurora tried to wrap her mind around the fact that Percy was doing all of this for his mortal parent. If Aurora saw her dad again... she honestly wouldn't know what she would do. "You have evil thoughts for a goat."

Grover grinned. "Why, thank you."

"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for two items," Percy added, not willing to let the subject go. "If the master bolt is one, what's the other?"

Grover shook his head, clearly mystified. Annabeth looked at Aurora, and a conversation between glances was exchanged. They both knew Percy's next question, and they were both not willing to answer. Speaking the words out loud would make it far too real for just a thought.

But, after all, Annabeth herself was just a thought before she came to be.

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

"Let's not talk about it." Aurora's voice was curt, and she sounded like Chiron to her naked ears. "It's Hades, okay? It has to be."

"Ro..." Percy chastised softly, so quietly that neither Grover nor Annabeth could hear. But Aurora did, and chose to ignore him.

But the nagging in Aurora's brain was stubborn just as much as the son of Poseidon was. The problem was: they were hurtling toward the Underworld at ninety-five miles an hour, betting that Hades had the master bolt. If they got there and found out they were wrong, they wouldn't have time to correct ourselves. The solstice deadline would pass and war would begin. And they would fail. And she would be in Hades' realm, and that would be the end of everything.

"The answer is in the Underworld," Annabeth assured them, but seemed to be talking to herself more. "You saw spirits of the dead, Percy. There's only one place that could be. We're doing the right thing."

The cab sped west. Every gust of wind through Death Valley sounded like a spirit of the dead. Every time the brakes hissed on an eighteen-wheeler, it reminded her of Echidna's reptilian voice. She had to smile at the memory of being pushed of the Arch, and she considered mentioning it again.

At sunset, the taxi dropped us at the beach in Santa Monica. It looked exactly the way L.A. beaches do in the movies, only it smelled worse. There were carnival rides lining the Pier, palm trees lining the sidewalks, homeless guys sleeping in the sand dunes, and surfer dudes waiting for the perfect wave.

They walked to the edge of the surf and Annabeth asked, "What now?"

The Pacific was turning gold in the setting sun. Aurora didn't know how long it had been since she had gone swimming somewhere that was not Camp Half Blood. She was sure her father took her when she was a baby to the pool and the lake when she wasn't being attacked by monsters, but by the time she could actually learn to swim, she was at camp.