DON'T BE A SILENT READER
Amara pov
The boys and I tried to blend into the crowd in the asphodel fields, keeping an eye out for security ghouls. I couldn't help looking for familiar faces among the spirits of Asphodel, but the dead are hard to look at. Their faces shimmer. They all look slightly angry or confused. They will come up to you and speak, but their voices sound like chatter, like bats twittering. Once they realize you can't understand them, they frown and move away.
The dead aren't scary. They're just sad. We crept along, following the line of new arrivals that snaked from the main gates toward a black-tented pavilion with a banner that read:
JUDGMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATION
Welcome, Newly Deceased!
Out the back of the tent came two much smaller lines. To the left, spirits flanked by security ghouls were marched down a rocky path toward the Fields of Punishment, which glowed and smoked in the distance, a vast, cracked wasteland with rivers of lava and minefields and miles of barbed wire separating the different torture areas. Even from far away, I could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus patches or listen to opera music. I could just make out a tiny hill, with the ant-size figure of Sisyphus struggling to move his boulder to the top. And I saw worse tortures, two — things I don't want to describe.
The line coming from the right side of the judgment pavilion was much better. This one led down toward a small valley surrounded by walls — a gated community, which seemed to be the only happy part of the Underworld. Beyond the security gate were neighborhoods of beautiful houses from every time period in history, Roman villas and medieval castles, and Victorian mansions. Silver and gold flowers bloomed on the lawns. The grass rippled in rainbow colors. I could hear laughter and smell barbecue cooking.
Elysium.
In the middle of that valley was a glittering blue lake, with three small islands like a vacation resort in the Bahamas. The Isles of the Blest, for people who had chosen to be reborn three times, and three times achieved Elysium. Immediately I knew that's where I wanted to go when I died.
"That's what it's all about," Luke said like he was reading my thoughts. "That's the place for heroes."
But I thought of how few people there were in Elysium, how tiny it was compared to the Fields of Asphodel or even the Fields of Punishment. So few people did good in their lives. It was depressing.
But I froze when I saw a familiar person walking as he was heading back to the gated community. My eyes filled with tears when I saw him coming to me smiling.
" Amara kid...how are you doing dear?"
" Grandpa...GRANDPA!" I broke down in his ghostly arms and surprisingly I was able to hug him. I could not stop the tears from coming down as I hugged my grandpa close.
"How are you here? I thought you will be in heaven in the other world" I said
" well, Elysium is connected to all worlds in a way. So Hades heard your coming, word got to my ears and I asked him if I can guide you to him....as one more memory. He is quite amused you got his guard dog to play." he said
" and Gwen, Kevin? Rook?" I asked
" they all in Elysium even Kevin," he said
"ok, that is a surprise he tried to kill me when I was 10...But that is amazing" I said smiling as Grandpa wipes my tears. " Oh, Grandpa let me introduce you to my friends! That is Luke, Grover, and Percy"
" Hi !" hello!" The boys greet Grandpa.
" Nice to meet you all. I am so happy amara got more friends. Well, shall we go kids? The king of the place is waiting to meet you"
"I suppose it's too late to turn back," Grover said wistfully.
"We'll be okay," I said I was a bit glad that Grandpa is here.
"Maybe we should search some of the other places first," Grover suggested. "Like, Elysium, for instance ..."
"Come on, goat boy." Percy grabbed his arm. Luke yelped. His sneakers sprouted wings and his legs shot forward, pulling him away from us. He landed flat on his back in the grass.
"Luke," Percy chided. "Stop messing around."
"But I didn't—" He yelped again. His shoes were flapping like crazy now. They levitated off the ground and started dragging him away from us. "Maia!" he yelled, but the magic word seemed to have no effect. "Maia, already! Help!"
I got over being stunned and made a grab for Luke's hand, but too late. He was picking up speed, skidding downhill like a bobsled. We ran after him.
Grover shouted, "Untie the shoes!"
It was a smart idea, but I guess it's not so easy when your shoes are pulling you along feet first at full speed. Luke tried to sit up, but he couldn't get close to the laces. We kept after him, trying to keep him in sight as he zipped between the legs of spirits who chattered at him in annoyance. I was sure Luke was going to barrel straight through the gates of Hades's palace, but his shoes veered sharply to the right and dragged him in the opposite direction. The slope got steeper. Luke picked up speed. Annabeth and I had to sprint to keep up. The cavern walls narrowed on either side, and I realized we'd entered some kind of side tunnel. No black grass or trees now, just rock underfoot, and the dim light of the stalactites above.
"Luke!" I yelled, my voice echoing. "Hold on to something!"
"What?" he yelled back.
He was grabbing at the gravel, but there was nothing big enough to slow him down. The tunnel got darker and colder. The hairs on my arms bristled. It smelled evil down here. It made me think of things I shouldn't even know about — blood spilled on an ancient stone altar, the foul breath of a murderer.
Then I saw what was ahead of us, and I knew I act fast so with a twist I transformed into.
"HERO TIME!....XLR8!" I used my speed and got the shoes off him and carried him in my arms. The shoes circled around us angrily and kicked our heads in protest before flying off into the chasm.
" Thanks for the fast rescue," Luke said shaking as I let him down and the other checked on him"I don't know how . . .I didn't . . ."
"Wait," I said. "Listen."
I heard something — a deep whisper in the darkness...Kronos. Another few seconds and Percy said, "Amara this place — "
"Shh. I know" I stood.
The sound was getting louder, a muttering, evil voice from far, far below us. Coming from the pit.
Grover sat up. "Wh — what's that noise?"
Luke heard it too, now. I could see it in his eyes. "Tartarus. The entrance to Tartarus." Percy uncapped Anaklusmos and pull me behind him. The bronze sword expanded, gleaming in the darkness, and the evil voice seemed to falter, just for a moment, before resuming its chant. I could almost make out words now, ancient, ancient words, older even than Greek. As if . . .
"Magic," I said.
"We have to get out of here," Luke said.
Together, we started back up the tunnel. My legs wouldn't move fast enough. M. The voice got louder and angrier behind us, and we broke into a run as Grandpa calls from outside the cave to hurry out. Not a moment too soon. A cold blast of wind pulled at our backs as if the entire pit were inhaling. For a terrifying moment, I lost ground, my feet slipping into the gravel. If we'd been any closer to the edge, we would've been sucked in.
We kept struggling forward and finally reached the top of the tunnel, where the cavern widened out into the Fields of Asphodel. The wind died. A wail of outrage echoed from deep in the tunnel. He was not happy we'd gotten away.
"What was that?" Grover panted when we'd collapsed in the relative safety of a black poplar grove. "One of Hades 's pets?"
Percy and I looked at each other. I could tell he was nursing an idea, probably the same one he'd gotten during the taxi ride to L.A., but he was too scared to share it. That was enough to terrify me.
He capped his sword and put the pen back in my pocket. "Let's keep going." I looked at Luke. "Can you walk?"
He swallowed. "Yeah, sure. I never liked those shoes, anyway."
He tried to sound brave about it, but he was trembling as badly as the boys and I were. Whatever was in that pit was nobody's pet. It was unspeakably old and powerful. Even Echidna hadn't given me that feeling. I was almost relieved to turn my back on that tunnel and head toward the palace of Hades.
Grandpa immediately hugs me and runs his hand through my hair. he always knew how to calm me down and gently guides us to Hades palace.
The Furies circled the parapets, high in the gloom. The outer walls of the fortress glittered black, and the two-story-tall bronze gates stood wide open. Up close, I saw that the engravings on the gates were scenes of death. Some were from modern times — an atomic bomb exploding over a city, a trench filled with gas mask-wearing soldiers, a line of African famine victims waiting with empty bowls — but all of them looked as if they'd been etched into the bronze thousands of years ago. I wondered if I was looking at prophecies that had come true.
Inside the courtyard was the strangest garden I'd ever seen. Multicolored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and weird luminous plants grew without sunlight. Precious jewels made up for the lack of flowers, piles of rubies as big as my fist, and clumps of raw diamonds. Standing here and there like frozen party guests were Medusa's garden statues — petrified children, satyrs, and centaurs — all smiling grotesquely.
In the center of the garden was an orchard of pomegranate trees, their orange blooms neon bright in the dark. "The garden of Persephone," Luke said. "Keep walking."
I understood why she wanted to move on. The tart smell of those pomegranates was almost overwhelming. I had a sudden desire to eat them, but then I remembered the story of Persephone. One bite of Underworld food, and we would never be able to leave. I pulled Grover away to keep him from picking a big juicy one.
We walked up the steps of the palace, between black columns, through a black marble portico, and into the house of Hades. The entry hall had a polished bronze floor, which seemed to boil in the reflected torchlight. There was no ceiling, just the cavern roof, far above. I guess they never had to worry about rain down here.
Every side doorway was guarded by a skeleton in military gear. Some wore Greek armor, some British redcoat uniforms, and some camouflage with tattered American flags on the shoulders. They carried spears or muskets or M-16s. None of them bothered us, but their hollow eye sockets followed us as we walked down the hall with Grandpa Max, toward the big set of doors at the opposite end.
Two U.S. Marine skeletons guarded the doors. They grinned down at us, rocket-propelled grenade launchers held across their chests.
"You know," Grover mumbled, "I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door salesmen."
"Well, guys," I said. "I suppose we should . . . knock?"
A hot wind blew down the corridor, and the doors swung open. The guards stepped aside.
"I guess that means Entrez-vous," Grandpa said trying to cheer us up. Even he is scared to let us kids meet a god. He always said I am the braver tennyson he has ever seen.
The room inside looked just like in my dream, except this time the throne of Hades was occupied and he really struck me as godlike. He was at least ten feet tall, for one thing, and dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn't bulked up like Ares, but he radiated power. He lounged on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther.
I immediately felt like he should be giving the orders. He knew more than I did. He should be my master. Then I told myself to snap out of it.
Hades's aura was affecting me, just as Ares's had. The Lord of the Dead resembled pictures I'd seen of dark villains from storybooks in fantasy. Hades had the same intense eyes, the same kind of mesmerizing, evil charisma but he was still a just and better ruler than thunder pants.
"Lord Hades, they are here" Grandpa gently bows and he was let stand aside. I immediately got on one knee and bowed to lord hades and the boys followed quickly.
"greeting lord hades," I said not looking at him
" Welcome, blessed child of the first primordial...Do rise children" he greets me " I heard much of your adventures from your family. Grandpa Max is one of my few favorite mortals spirits."
"thank you for the kind words hades," I said. To be fair he was nicer than I expected " Forgive us for entering your realm but we have a quest in which we had to see you"
"I see...You are brave to come here, Son of Poseidon," he said in a regal voice to percy "After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish."
Numbness crept into my joints, tempting me to lie down and just take a little nap at Hades's feet. Curl up here and sleep forever which I quickly fought the feeling as Percy stepped forward
"Lord and Uncle, I come with two requests." He said. Hades raised an eyebrow. When he sat forward in his throne, shadowy faces appeared in the folds of his black robes, faces of torment, as if the garment were stitched of trapped souls from the Fields of Punishment, trying to get out.
"Only two requests?" Hades said. "Arrogant child. As if you have not already taken enough. Speak, then. It amuses me not to strike you dead yet."
I swallowed. This was going about as well as I'd feared....he went from nice to scary... Now I know how those felt when i pretend to be a villain for Grandpa's test.
I glanced at the empty, smaller throne next to Hades's. It was shaped like a black flower, gilded with gold. I wished Queen Persephone were here. I recalled something in the myths about how she could calm her husband's moods. But it was summer. Of course, Persephone would be above in the world of light with her mother, the goddess of agriculture, Demeter. Her visits, not the tilt of the planet, create the seasons...No wait it is better she is not here...She is scarier than Hades.
"Lord Hades," Percy said. "Look, sir, there can't be a war among the gods. It would be . . . bad."
"Really bad," Grover added helpfully.
"Return Zeus's master bolt to me," Percy said. "Please, sir. Let me carry it to Olympus."
Hades's eyes grew dangerously bright. "You dare keep up this pretense, after what you have done?"
I glanced back at my friends. They looked as confused and I smacked my forehead. Men are idiots
"Urn . . . Uncle," He said. "You keep saying 'after what you've done.' What exactly have I done?"
The throne room shook with a tremor so strong, they probably felt it upstairs in Los Angeles. Debris fell from the cavern ceiling. Doors burst open all along the walls, and skeletal warriors marched in, hundreds of them, from every time period and nation in Western civilization. They lined the perimeter of the room, blocking the exits.
Hades bellowed, "Do you think I want war, godling?"
I wanted to say, Well, these guys don't look like peace activists. But I thought that might be a dangerous answer.
"You are the Lord of the Dead," I said carefully. "A war would expand your kingdom, right?"
"A typical thing for my brothers to say! Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?"
"Well . . ."
"Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I've had to open?"
I opened my mouth to respond, but Hades was on a roll now.
"More security ghouls," he moaned. "Traffic problems at the judgment pavilion. Double overtime for the staff. I used to be a rich god, Percy Jackson. I control all the precious metals under the earth. But my expenses!"
"Charon wants a pa...." I immediately smack his head and shuts him up
"Don't get me started on Charon!" Hades yelled. "He's been impossible ever since he discovered Italian suits! Problems are everywhere, and I've got to handle all of them personally. The commute time alone from the palace to the gates is enough to drive me insane! And the dead just keep arriving. No, godling. I need no help getting subjects! I did not ask for this war."
"But you took Zeus's master bolt," Luke said
"Lies!" More rumbling. Hades rose from his throne, towering to the height of a football goalpost.
"Your father may fool Zeus, boy, but I am not so stupid. I see his plan."
"His plan?"
"You were the thief on the winter solstice," he said. "Your father thought to keep you his little secret. He directed you into the throne room on Olympus. You took the master bolt and my helm. Had I not sent my Fury to discover you at Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have succeeded in hiding his scheme to start a war. But now you have been forced into the open. You will be exposed as Poseidon's thief, and I will have my helm back!"
" Lord Hades!" I yelled and everyone looks at me and when I saw the Ares backpack bigger I quickly understood. Of course.
"I know where your helm is!" I said " It is with the god who truly wants a war to escalate! He has tricked your brothers and you to turn on each other cause of your stolen items."
I slung the bag off Percy's shoulder and unzipped it. Inside was a two-foot-long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends, humming with energy.
"What," Luke said. "How — "
"I — I don't know. I don't understand." Percy said shocked
". . . my helm. Where is it?" He turns to me asking " Who has it?"
" He is up on the surface waiting for news to hear us dead so Poseidon will wage a war in anger at you for killing his son." I said " Allow me and my friends to return up and get your helm. In a promise you will free Sally jackson"
"You want to bargain for her."
Hades loosed a ball of gold fire from his palm. It exploded on the steps in front of me, and there was Percy's mother, frozen in a shower of gold, just as she was at the moment when the Minotaur began to squeeze her to death.
I couldn't speak and the light was as hot as a bonfire.
"Yes," Hades said with satisfaction. "I took her. I knew, Percy Jackson, that you would come to bargain with me eventually. Return my helm, and I will let her go. But how will I know you will keep your promise young tennyson"
I thought for a while and raised my hand and said. " I SWEAR ON THE RIVER STYX I SHALL RETURN YOUR HELM BEFORE THE SUMMER SOLSTICE ENDS INTO YOUR CARE. THAT IS A PROMISE!" A glow surrounds me binding my promise
" AMARA ARE YOU CRAZY!" Luke said panicking " IF YOU BREAK IT YOU WILL.."
"Child you are aware of what you have promised...if you fail....you will die suffering in horrible pain," Hades said his eyes showing worry.
"I made a promise and I will fulfill it. Let us leave the palace lord hades so I will fulfill the promise"
"Then I will keep my side of my promise if you succeed. Percy jackson uses the pearls and leaves all of you before I change my mind and keep you as my prisoners."
Percy took out the pearls and gave us one as he looked at his mom and looked at me. but I was planning someone's defeat as my anger knew no bounds knowing we were tricked.
" Percy..." Grandpa floats to him "Keep my granddaughter safe. I watch your mother till she returns"
"thank you, sir....I will." he said before turning to us holding the bag with the bolt tight and Ship safely held in Grover's arms" Now guys!"
He nods and we all smashed the pearls on the ground but first nothing happens and then the pearl fragments at my feet exploded with a burst of green light and a gust of fresh sea wind. I was encased in a milky white sphere, which was starting to float off the ground.
Luke, Percy, and Grover were right behind me. "Look up!" Grover yelled. "We're going to crash!"
Sure enough, we were racing right toward the stalactites, which I figured would pop our bubbles and skewer us.
"How do you control these things?" Luke shouted.
"I don't think you do!" Percy shouted back.
We screamed as the bubbles slammed into the ceiling and . . . Darkness. Were we dead?
No, I could still feel the racing sensation. We were going up, right through solid rock as easily as an air bubble in water. That was the power of the pearls, I realized — What belongs to the sea will always return to the sea.
For a few moments, I couldn't see anything outside the smooth walls of my sphere, then my pearl broke through on the ocean floor. The three other milky spheres, Percy, Luke and Grover, kept pace with me as we soared upward through the water. And — ker-blam!
We exploded on the surface, in the middle of Santa Monica Bay, knocking a surfer off his board with an indignant, "Dude!"
I grabbed Grover and hauled him over to a life buoy which ship emerged into a speedboat. I caught Luke and dragged him over too as percy wim up to us and hops on. A curious shark was circling us, a great white about eleven feet long.
Percy said, "Beat it."
The shark turned and raced away. The surfer screamed something about bad mushrooms and paddled away from us as fast as he could. Somehow, I knew what time it was: early morning, June 21, the day of the summer solstice.
I had to get to shore. We had to get Zeus's thunderbolt back to Olympus. Most of all, I had to have a serious conversation with the god who'd tricked us.
Ares you're going down.