Children of the Big Three-Book One-Quest for Truth

Chapter 34-Zaylor

I woke up to Eliza shaking my shoulder.

"Wha?" I asked.

"Take second watch, will ya?"

"Sure," I said, rubbing my temples.

"Thanks." Eliza got comfortable and closed her eyes. After a minute, her breathing got heavy and she slouched down lower.

I stared out the window and watched the sky fly by.

"Isn't the view amazing?" Sydney asked, slightly turned towards me in her seat.

I looked at the clouds passing. "Yeah," I agreed.

"I've never been up this high," Sydney said. "And I've been some pretty high places. I would like to draw this someday."

I nodded.

"Thanks for making us fly on a plane," Sydney said. "I never would have been able to go against Zeus's rules."

"Well, I guess I'm a dare devil."

She smiled and picked up a magazine. I found some headphones in my backpack and listened to the mp3 player provided. That's what I did until the plane landed in Hollywood. We got off the plane and out of the airport as fast as we could.

Once we were outside of the building, Eliza said, "Man, Zaylor, I honestly didn't expect us to survive."

"Yeah, I know," I said. "Now, let's find another bus to take us to the Hollywood sign."

***

When we got off the bus, we were in front of the Hollywood sign.

"I hope you two are fans of hiking," I said.

"Are you kidding?" Sydney said. "I'm a sayter. I was born to hike."

"Technically, you were born a tree nymph," Eliza said.

"Same thing," Sydney said.

"Whatever," I answered laughing.

We started our trek up to the second O in the Hollywood sign.

"She'll be comin' 'round the mountain when she comes," I sang.

"How about we all talk about something instead of singing," Eliza suggested.

"Yeah," Sydney said. "Why don't you tell us about your recent dreams, Zaylor."

"Sure," I said as we hiked. "I've just been dreaming about my mom and me as a kid at a park."

"Anything else?" Eliza asked.

"Well, in the dreams, my mom's been talking to a woman with brown hair. Her name's Ellie and she had a daughter around my age."

"Wait, dreams? As in plural?" Sydney asked.

"Only two," I said. My backpack then got caught on a branch, but I ripped it away before the others noticed.

"Okay, anything else?" Eliza asked.

"Well, right before Eliza woke me up, Ellie was about to say my father's name," I said.

"Hades," "Posiden," Eliza and Sydney said at the same time.

"No idea," I shrugged.

The two groaned, and we continued our hike. We finally reached the Y at the Hollywood sign and we stopped to rest for a minute.

"Just a couple more minutes to the right," Sydney said. She started walking again with me behind her, and Eliza after me.

We started walking again. I didn't notice the branch had unzipped my backpack a little bit until something small fell out.

"Hey!" Eliza said, stepping on the small object. Crunch! "Camp Jupiter isn't too far from here!"

Sydney and I turned around. "NO!!" we screamed in unison.

Too late.

Eliza disappeared into thin air.

"What happened to her?!" I asked horror struck.

"Oh my," Sydney said. "You know those pearls Rachel Dare gave to you?"

I nodded.

"Well," she continued. "Looks like one fell out of your backpack and Eliza stepped on it."

"Well, where is she then?" I asked.

"Camp Jupiter," Sydney replied. "How many pearls do you have left?"

"Three," I said.

"Okay," Sydney said. "One for me, you, and your mom." She must have noticed the worried expression on my face because she added, "Don't worry. Camp Jupiter is friends with us. They'll take good care of her."

I nodded. Together we continued hiking until we finally reached the second O. When we got there, we saw none other than Skipper LeAnn leaning on the O, waiting for us.

"What took you so long?" she asked.

"Huh, funny you'd ask," I said smiling.

She walked over to us.

"Why do you have to meet us here?" Sydney asked, a hard look on her face.

"Ha, how else are you going to get into the underworld?" Skipper asked.

Sydney gave a look. Before things got bad, I said, "Thanks for meeting us, Skip."

Sydney looked shocked like Skipper was going to kill me for saying that. Instead, she answered, "Anything for a... friend."

Sydney's jaw dropped.

"Ooookay," I said. "Can you help?"

Skipper nodded. "Come here."

I walked up to Skipper who stood in front of the dirt between the two sides of the inside of the O.

"Put your hand on the dirt and say your name and business," Skipper instructed.

I shrugged. "Okay."

Skipper grabbed my shoulder, a serious look on her face. "Maximo, this is serious."

"Okay, okay," I said. I put my hand on the dirt between the inside of the O. "Zaylor Maximo, trying to find my mom."

The dirt opened up into the mouth of a cave.

"Wow," I said. "Cool."

"Step inside," Skipper said. A shadow fell across her face and she smiled. "And welcome to the underworld."