Avery's POV
Walking through the Underworld, I found it was nearly nothing like what I imagined it to be. It seemed to be an airport, like security to get into the land of the dead. Thalia grabbed her stomach, obviously thinking it looked like an airport too and not enjoying the memories. The two lines that Charon had mentioned were there but what I didn't expect was a huge dog, twice the size of a mammoth standing above the lines, each of its heads sniffing people as they walked by.
"Cerberus." Luke managed under his breath.
One of Cerberus' ears flicked on the medium head before all three heads turned to look at us and growled lowly.
"Great." Thalia congratulated sarcastically. "I've always wanted to know how being a chew toy would be like. Especially by the guardian of the Underworld. Definitely scratch that off the bucket list!"
With a deep growl, Cerberus stepped forwards, making Luke and Thalia step back. I stayed put, curiously looking at the dog. Cerberus walked forwards and with each step, his growling becoming more powerful. He stepped on a few spirits, but he didn't care, and they didn't seem to mind being squished by a ginormous paw.
Threateningly, as if his size wasn't threatening enough, Cerberus stalked forwards, a low growl deep in his throat. Thalia latched onto Luke's arm while Luke had his other arm outstretched to me. He tried to walk forwards but Cerberus didn't allow him to, snarling viciously when he moved.
Whispering my name, Luke called to me, "Avery." He pleaded. "Avery come here."
My face scrunched up in concentration as I took another step forwards.
"Avery!"
Panic was clearly in his voice and he sounded emotional. He went to take another step again but immediately stepped back when Cerberus gave a ground shaking bark. Luke jumped back but still called my name. "Avery, Avery please."
"Hang on," I gestured for them to wait for a moment but I knew that all Luke wanted was to grab me. They just had to wait for just a little more.
I walked forwards again, stepping cautiously. Cerberus gave me the evil eye but didn't actually do anything besides continue a low growl in the back of his throat.
Thalia joined in the soft calling of my name, both her and Luke sounding desperate but still I continued forwards, cautiously walking as I slowly moved my hand back to my side. Cerberus' eyes sharply followed my every move, even when I swept the hair from my face. His left paw moved forwards as if he were about to jump at me, but I knew he wouldn't attack me since he hadn't already.
Sneaking a nervous look behind my shoulder, they both had given up on trying to call me back. Thalia was biting her lip and hiding her eyes behind her hands, taking quick peeks once in awhile as if to check if I'd been eaten yet. Luke was at her side, tensed, his hand on the hilt of his sword. I could tell he was ready to attack at any moment and race to my rescue and that comforted me. There was this feeling, that told me to approach Cerberus, and I knew I had to, but that didn't make it any less nerve racking. I knew Cerberus wasn't going to attack me, but with the way he acted around my friends, I couldn't say the same for them so I was still cautious and scared out of my mind, praying I didn't do something wrong.
Breathing out, I kept walking until I was at the base of Cerberus paw. I looked up at him, his three heads towering over me, all three pairs of eyes blinking down at me and his breath going down my shirt. All three heads were tilted and I heard a small whimper in the back of one of his throats.
"Why aren't you screaming away in terror?" The right head asked, sounding completely puzzled.
A wide grin spread across my face. "Because you're so cute!" I exclaimed throwing my arms around his trunk-like front leg, burying my face into his fur.
Cerberus stiffened before barking in delight then licking me with all three tongues. I laughed and scratched him until he flopped on his stomach, squishing spirits who were in the way. I laughed again before using both of my hands to scratch him while his legs pawed the air playfully in pure bliss.
Thalia yelled at me in a whisper. "What in Hades name are you doing?!"
Upon hearing his master's name, Cerberus' ears flicked on his middle head, the other two heads still enjoying the belly rub. The middle head growled at Thalia then gave me a big lick before barking at the other two to focus.
I was surprised when the head that spoke was a girl, and even more surprised when the other two heads who answered with an apology, were both boys. From all the Mythology that I had ever read, Cerberus was always described as a boy, not a girl, and not a mix. Cerberus was always mentioned as "he".
"Technically," The middle head spoke, making me jump as my thoughts shattered. "We are a boy. Two male heads and me as a female. More of one gender equals the whole gender."
"She's just jealous." The left head announced.
With a snap of her teeth, the middle head threatened him, growling for him to shut up.
Nodding my head I answered, "It makes sense but... how did you..."
"Know what you were thinking?" The left head finished for me and I nodded.
"Common question. And you are a child of Artemis," the middle head tilted her head. "Artemis was the one to decide."
"How did you know that Artemis is my mom?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows together.
"There is a certain aura about you from when you first entered." The left head explained.
Understanding, sort of - I nodded slowly, "Alright just one more question. Are you all named Cerberus?"
All three of them shook their heads. "Together," the right head spoke, "we are Cerberus, but each head has a separate name if referring to only one of us. I am Ceb."
"Ce Ce," the middle head spoke, her eyes flashing in happiness.
"I am Ceber."
"So you all start with the letter C?"
They nodded in unison.
"Avery," I jumped when Luke touched my shoulder, him and Thalia walking up to me when Cerberus and I were distracted. Cerberus growled but I held my hand up, silently explaining they were friends. They obeyed but were still wary of them, all three heads growling before licking the top of my head.
"What are they saying?" Thalia asked, eyeing the dog skeptically.
I turned to Luke, about to explain but frowned when I saw his hand still on his sword. Gently, I moved his hand away while he stiffly allowed me to.
"Don't make any harsh movements," I warned. "Just let them sniff you,"
Luke and Thalia gave me a weird look but I shrugged, not giving in to their looks. Cerberus stepped forwards and started to sniff Thalia first.
"All godlings." Ceb noted.
Ce Ce gave a small snort sniffing Thalia. "Zeus's spawn, as if he needed to be sleeping with more people."
I gave a small snort of laughter, thankful Thalia couldn't hear.
While sniffing Thalia, Cebet didn't know his own strength and knocked her over. Thalia shot up and gave Ceber a glare which he returned.
Once all three of them were satisfied with Thalia, each head went to Luke. He gave me a worried sideways glance but I held his hand to reassure him. He pursed his lips but allowed them to come closer.
Taking a step towards him, Cerberus moved forwards to sniff him, but all three heads suddenly shot back, as if they'd been burned.
"What?" I asked, seeing their looks. All three heads looked at each other then finally their eyes landed on Ce Ce, who was clearly the one in command; the alpha. Ce Ce narrowed her eyes, skittering backwards nervous. "Kronos." She said distastefully.
Both Cerber and Ceb whimpered at the name.
"Kronos?" I repeated.
Luke flinched making me turn to him. I rubbed his hand reassuringly knowing how he felt, or at least thinking I knew how he felt. I was scared of Kronos, and I assumed everyone felt the same way
"What does he have anything to do with Luke?" Thalia cut in, her voice sharp. Cerberus gave her a low growl then turned to me.
"Be wary little one." Cerber warned
I blinked, not understanding but nodded anyway.
"We wish you good fortune with our Lord." Ce Ce gave a small bow to me with her head.
Muttering under his breath, Ceb noted, "There is no good fortune in the Underworld." But immediately he was shut up when Ce Ce snapped her jaws at him And he whimpered before staying quiet.
"And you, Son of Hermes." Ce Ce turned to Luke who tensed when their eyes landed on him. "Be certain of what you are doing."
Without another word, Cerberus gave a small bow to me before returning to their post.
The three of us simply stood there, blinking. Finally, Thalia shook off her surprise, straightening. "Let's move." She commanded. "We need to speak with Hades as soon as possible. We can't just wait around." She walked off with a purpose, her face determined. I looked over at Luke who was still staring in the distance, lost in thought.
"Hey," I squeezed his hand and he snapped his head to me, his eyes wide. "You alright?" I asked softly.
"Yeah." He shook his thoughts away. "Yeah I'm fine. Come on."
Everything about the Underworld was dark, and not the kind of dark that I liked. Walking, everything about the place had a bad feeling to it, everything was gloomy.
All of us tried to hide it, but we were all terrified.
Hoping to find comfort in sensing my surroundings, I opened my senses only to regret it immediately. What I heard scarred me, things that I knew I could never erase from my mind. Horrible screams of agony from the Field of Punishment filled my ears, the screams piercing through my ears and sounding perfectly clear. I could hear every groan of agony, every yell of pain. I knew that no many how many times I could try, those sounds would haunt my dreams for months.
Hearing the screams, I fell to my knees, falling behind Thalia and Luke. I let out a cry, covering my ears as the screams continued to ring despite my senses turning off. Tears streamed from my eyes from the pain that I could hear in those voices. Even though I had shut off my senses as soon as I realized what I was hearing, the screams didn't seem to stop.
Luke and Thalia heard me cry out and turned to look at me.
"Avery!" Luke rushed to my side while I curled up closer to the ground, my ears still covered as I shook my head. "Avery, what happened?" He pleaded, panic in his voice as he lifted my face to see me.
"They were awful!" I managed to stutter, tears still running for my cheeks. I crawled into his arms and held on tightly to him, breathing heavily into his chest as I tried to calm down.
He didn't know what had happened, but he wrapped me close to him and rubbed my back, soothing me with his words. I wasn't sure what he said exactly but just his voice made me calm down.
Finally regaining my composition, I moved from him and knelt on the ground, wiping my tears with my hands.
"Avery...." Luke spoke softly, "what-"
"I'm fine." I waved him off, not wanting to admit my small break down. I needed to be strong for them. "I'm sorry, I'm fine."
"Sure doesn't look like it," he scowled, knowing I was hiding something before gripping my forearms and helping me up. I stumbled when I found my feet so Luke wrapped his arm around my waist and allowed me to use some of his weight.
Thalia had been silent, staring at me with complete confusion and worry. "What happened?" She asked frantically, knowing that whatever it was, it must have been bad for me to act that way.
"Nothing," I managed to say, swallowing with effort. "It's nothing.
Luke stopped and tilted my chin to look up at him. "It wasn't just nothing," he said, his voice full of warning before growing soft. "What happened."
I turned my head away, walking from his grip and discretely trying to catch another tear falling from my face. "I don't- I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?"
Both Thalia and Luke looked at each other before giving me a hard stare. I was worried that they were going to make me tell but Thalia looked up into the sky and spoke, relieving me from further interrogation. "We need to get out of here." She eyed our surroundings nervously. "This place gives me the creeps."
The three of us agreed, Thalia walking off in the lead. Luke gave me a worried look but I tried to ignore him and take a step forwards only to stumble. Thankfully, Luke caught me and looked deep in my eyes, searching my own.
"We're going to talk later." He decided
My heart sank but I nodded, knowing he was stubborn and wouldn't give up on this unless I told him
"And you are most definitely not okay," he frowned at my own stubbornness. "Now let me help you."
I went to open my mouth to argue but soon closed it in defeat of Luke's look. "Fine." I grumbled and allowed him to help me forwards until my strength returned. It was odd that something like that could drain me so bad.
We walked around for a while, going forwards until we stopped at a huge map. It showed the whole layout of the underworld like a map to the zoo. The difference was that our map constantly changed, growing bigger.
"The Underworld is always expanding for new spirits," Thalia mumbled more to herself but we all nodded, agreeing. Our eyes were all glued to the map watching it shift and change.
"It looks like the fastest way is through the Fields of Asphodel." Luke said pointing from where we were then trailing his finger up to where Hades palace was.
"We need to make sure to avoid guards." I mentioned, looking around as skeleton guards with military outfits stalked around the place. "Not only are they creepy, but if we get caught, we're dead."
"Ha." Thalia sarcastically said, not looking amused. "Hilarious. Now come on."
"Duck!" Luke whisper - shouted to us. With a yelp we obeyed and missed more guards storming past, their guns ready
"Move." Thalia told us then repeated herself when we stood wide eyed at the guards."Go! Now!" Thalia motioned as the three of us ran to the middle line and crept in before making a run for it until we were safe, hidden in the wheat.
As we walked through the Fields, you felt alone, even though there were hundreds of souls wandering around in the shoulder length wheat around us. Despite there being hundreds of people, not a single person crossed paths, never meeting another soul and yet you could be less than an inch from someone.
"This is horrible." I voiced my thoughts out loud. "You don't see anyone, never talk to anyone. You- you're... Alone."
Feeling the loneliness creep into my heart, I took Luke's hand suddenly when someone turned before they met our path.
Luke held my hand tightly, rubbing his thumb over my hand to reassure me.
Thalia spoke up, her voice shaking slightly. "Lets just go fast. I want to leave."
I turned to look at her, my face sympathetic. Thalia wasn't one to ever show fear or weakness so to hear the weakness in her voice made me understand how scared she really was. Then again, I knew we were all scared.
Despite feeling anxious and wishing we could bolt at every second, we pressed forwards.
After walking for a long time, Thalia voiced her complaints. "It just keeps going!" She groaned.
Frowning, I agreed trying to stand on the tips of my toes to see over the wheat. I shielded my face as I looked them, "I can see the palace but..." I returned to the flats of my shoes, frowning in thought. "It seems like the more we walk, the farther away we get."
Luke squinted in the distance. "Well, the Underworld has to expand for more souls right? Just like you said, so..."
"It might go on forever." I finished for him, my voice crestfallen. He looked over at me and nodded sadly.
"Great!" Thalia there her arms up. "So basically we're never going to get there!"
"Thalia..." I went to reason, but was cut off but a new voice.
"Lost?"
All three of us jumped, a squeal or yell escaping all of our lips. Immediately, all of our weapons were out. Luke had pushed me behind him, his arms still over me to protect me. Thalia jumped to the front, ready to attack with her shield fully extended, showing the hideous face of Medusa that made even monsters take a step back.
The owner of the voice shielded her face, taking a step back, "put that horrid thing away, daughter of Zeus."
Surprised, Thalia lowered her shield, her mouth opening and closing before ignoring the woman and rather raising her weapon and shield, her spear at the woman's chest.
Extending her hand in one graceful motion, the woman made Thalia's shield fall to the floor before exploding into flowers. Thalia handled in horror and ran to her shield that was now bright pink flowers. She tried to pick them up in her hands but they fell through her fingers. "What in Zeus' name did you do to my shield? And with pink flowers too? Yuck!" She shouted some more profanities before standing and pointing her spear at the woman's throat, obviously not getting, or caring, that this woman was powerful.
Most anyone with any sense would have cowered back but apparently this lady had none and rather stared at Thalia with an annoyed look.
Now was the first time I could see the woman clearly without Thalia's shield blocking my view. She looked young, around 20 but from her eyes, you could tell she was much older. She had soft darker strawberry blonde curls with brilliant blue eyes. She wore a beautiful deep, royal purple gown and a crown on her head.
"Who the Hades do you think you are?" Thalia fumed, her anger blinding her from knowing who the woman was. Luke touched her shoulder, trying to warn her to stop but she pushed him off. "Get off me!" She snapped before turning her attention back to the woman. "Now answer my question! Who are you!?"
Placing two dantie fingers to her lips, the woman spoke, her voice like a summer breeze. "You would make such a lovely flower." She murmured to herself can looking Thalia over.
Thalia straightened, obviously not expecting that. "What?"
"A monkshood aconitum nagarum perhaps?" She asked herself before finding what she was looking for, "No, no, a Hyacinth, Dark Dimension! Yes that's it. Perfect."
It took Thalia a few moments to compose herself again before she shook it off. She was about to shout and yell again but those few seconds might have saved her life, or from her being turned into some flower that I couldn't even pronounce.
Luke snatched her back, both of us trying to tell her to shut up with a hard glare. She gave us a confused look when she saw we were kneeling on one leg. Luke shoved her to her knees while she stayed silent in utter confusion. I raised my hand and closed my eyes, wiggling my fingers, trying to use the Mist. When I opened my eyes, I grinned to see something over Thalia's mouth, preventing her from talking. Immediately after seeing what I did to her, Thalia tried to curse at me but was kept silent to Luke's relief and my own.
"I can see you've practiced with Hecate." The woman spoke softly, sounding impressed.
Turned my gaze to her, I lowered my hand, my cheeks flushed as i looked to the ground. "Thank you.... Lady Persephone."
She smiled hearing her name. "It's good to be recognized." She nodded to Luke and I, then looked at Thalia with distaste, something I found everyone in the Underworld did. "You're lucky you had your friends with you, daughter of Zeus."
"What are you doing in the Fields of Asphodel?" I asked, confused that she was wandering around here.
"Oh," she knelt and touched a straw of wilted wheat then used her fingers to prop it up. "Someone needs to tend to the wheat. And my mother, being the goddess of harvest, I know a few tricks." She pulled her fingers over the length of the wheat before removing them but the wheat, instead of falling back down, stood upright, looking perfectly healthy. She smiled at her work then looked back at us with a gentle expression. "Now, as I asked before, are you lost?"
"Yes ma'am." Luke agreed. I could tell it was hard for him to be so respectful towards her. Even though she wasn't a major God or someone that had done anything against him, he still had a grudge against immortals.
"And I assume you are going to meet my husband?"
He nodded.
She smiled gracefully, her face brightening. "I would be more than willing to guide you if you wish."
Luke and I nodded eagerly. "Yes please." I voiced.
"Brilliant!" She beamed, " Right this way then."
Thalia stood from the ground and ripped off the cloth off from around her mouth. "Wait a second!" Both Luke and I winced. "What about my shield?" she demanded. "It's still.... flowers! I want my shield back!"
Persephone rolled her eyes and waved her hand in a non caring gesture but Thalia's shield shimmered before returning to normal. Thalia beamed then raced to her shield, tracing her finger over it.
"Such a dreadful thing," Persephone muttered before smiling and returning to her kind self. "Follow me, demigods!"