Percy's POV
We got in the eighteen-wheeler and the animals stared at us.
A zebra, a male albino lion, and some type of antelope. The lion had a bowl of turnips, while the antelope and zebra had a styrofoam plate of hamburger meat in front of them. The weird antelope had a silver balloon attached to its horn and the lion had chewing gum matted into his mane, his ribs showing.
"... humane zoo transport? Are you kidding me?"
As an enviroment worker, Grover hated anything that harmed the enviroment. We usually had one for every quest because they were good at using the enviroment.
They were looking for this lost tree.
Though nobody knew why our boss helped them so much.
Anyway, Grover looked like he would go out and beat the drivers up and I would of helped him, but the trailer started shaking and we had to sit down.
Annabeth cut off the balloon from the antelope's horn and changed the bowls of food with the long pole standing beside the cages.
We sat in silence in the shaking truck, not believing our luck.
Grover rummaged through the contents of the bag, which had a pack of double stuff oreo's, two bottles of water, a phone, two guns and ammunition, a fresh pair of clothes and a towel, and a colonge bottle of mist.
"Your dad obviously doesn't like me."
I realized there was only stuff for me and Grover. I cursed my dad in the back of my mind.
"Maybe Ares took all the stuff." I suggested.
"Girl clothes? For what?"
A sudden thought of Ares trying out women's clothes popped in my mind. I snorted, and Grover raised an eyebrow. I shook my head.
Annabeth gave me the towel to dry myself off. I was almost completely dry anyway, so there wasn't much to dry off. Soon, Grover was asleep, and Annabeth and I were leaning on the truck wall, enjoying the silence to torture ourselves with memories in our head.
"Hey."
I flinched. Annabeth glanced at me.
"... I heard about your dad."
A hard lump rose up inside my throat. I wanted to cry and smile and the same time.
"Ares told you?" I forced out.
She nodded, twisting a curl.
There was some silence.
I bit my lip. "What did he tell you? You know, about my dad."
"... not much."
"I guess that means everything?"
"Well, I know your dad is Posiedon, the brother of Zeus. And that he's... well..."
"Banished. Yeah. I know."
"And... he's done some horrible things to you?"
Make me proud.
"Gods... they're just a really twisted and sick bunch of people. Even if they're family."
She frowned. "My mom's pretty nice."
"That's what you think."
"Well, your dad seems pretty nice too."
I sighed. "He is. He's... I told you, gods are twisted. They don't know that doing stuff like that to you doesn't mean you love them."
Annabeth nodded.
"You don't understand, do you?"
"... kind of?"
I nudged her. "You don't- and it's alright. You don't have to know everything."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Deep words Seaweed Brain." She clenched her heart. "Very touching."
I laughed. "Shut up."
We stifled our laughs, and I spoke up first.
"What's it like between you and your dad?"
She flinched. The tension seemed to thicken.
"I... I haven't seen him since I was 16."
"Why?"
"Problems. The norms really- my stepmom didn't really like me, my dad didn't pay attention to me- so I ran."
"... oh."
"You're better off than me. You have a nice mom and dad."
Really?
"... family wise, I guess so."
Annabeth seemed eager to change the subject.
"Why don't you call him?"
"Who?"
"Your dad, Seaweed Brain."
"How?"
She held up the phone. I sighed.
"I might have a breakdown. And I don't think that's a good idea in this truck."
"I'm pretty sure he's really worried about you."
I hesitated.
"If you promise you'll make up with your dad too."
"What? No!"
I stared pointedly at her. She sighed. "If we get out of this situation alive."
"Alright." I slid her my gun. "You can knock me out if I go crazy, right?"
"Be glad to."
I dialed my dad's number. He picked up before I got through the first ring.
"Percy?"
Suddenly, I couldn't breathe. It felt like the horrible- horrible memories had stood up 10 feet tall and slapped me in the face.
Annabeth grabbed my hand and I remembered how to talk.
"... dad."
My voice was tight, close to breaking down in tears.
"Are you okay? You met Christine, right? Don't worry about this, I'll get it all solved-"
"No."
He was silent. Annabeth squeezed my hand. I took a long breath.
"I'm alright. I met Christine, and I'm going to see Hades."
He seemed taken a back at my cool tone. I slipped my hand out of Annabeth's grasp.
"... okay. Do you need anything? I can send someone."
"I know you can't."
"... I'm so sorry Percy. I promise I'll gt Zeus and Ares to-"
"No no- please don't."
"You're with that Athena girl, right? Don't trust her. Zeus and Ares are bad enough but Athena's worse."
I glanced at Annabeth. She was hearing every word of our conversation.
"Dad-"
"You remember her manipulating you. She's doing the exact same thing to her daughter, or her daughter's just a messed up psychopath like her. Don't-"
"Dad."
He got my tone. "Yes?"
"I don't want to remember her manipulating me. And Annabeth is not just Athena's daughter- she's my friend, I care about what you say about her."
"Percy, I told you not to trust-"
"She's right next to me."
Annabeth shrugged. Posiedon was silent again.
"Call back later. I love you."
"... yeah."
He hung up. I took a deep shuddery breath.
I had talked to him.
A weight seemed to be lifted off of my heart.
I love you.
"What does he mean by my mom manipulating you?"
"It's nothing."
She raised an eyebrow, but I wasn't going to tell her.
Not this.
~
We had to use a lot of mist to get out of the van.
So we got settled at the nearby park to take a break.
Honestly, we all needed it.
Grover seemed to sense that we had some talk when he was asleep. Annabeth was lying on a bench, her arm over her eyes.
"Did you tell her about your dad?" Grover whispered.
I nodded. Grover smiled.
"Good job."
I scratched the bridge of my nose. I wasn't sure how to reply to him. I usually became an emotional wreak when I talked to him about deep stuff, so I tried to avoid it as much as I could.
Even though it helped.
Annabeth sat up abruptly, making me flinch.
"Let's get moving."
The words sounded somewhat hopeful, but what could we do with no car or money? It wasn't fun walking in the hot summer sun. We were passing a fancy, glittering, casino when the guy helping with the parking stopped us for some reason.
"You guys look tired. Want to come in and take a break?"
"Uh... we don't have any money."
"It's alright. It's all free!"
"Really?"
He nodded enthusiastically.
Definately suspicious.
But we were blasted with cool air as the doors opened, and there were no more buts.
It felt so nice to be in an air conditioned place after walking in the hot sun for a long time. The place smelled really great- somewhat like my mom's perfume that I had bought for her on her birthday.
"Hey guys. Are you new?"
A man gave us one key card and a bottle of water each.
"We don't have-"
"It's all okay- everything's free. Your room number is on the key cards." He said, smiling. "Everything here can be paid with the card. Feel free to do anything. Have a good time at the Lotus Casino!"
And we were pushed in to a more amazing place than the lobby.
There was a huge waterslide and hundreds of arcade games. There was a bar and a club attached to it, but it seemed to be sound proofed, seeing I couldn't hear anything.
A bar.
I drank down some of the water, parched from the long walk.
"Let's go up to our rooms first. I really want to take a shower." Grover said.
"We share one room."
"What?!"
"Can't we just go up for now? We can ask them later."
Annabeth nodded, pressing her lips together. We rode the glass elevator up to our floor. Our floorwas surprisingly quiet.
"... woah."
The room was bigger than our apartment. There were no windows for some reason, but who cared?
There were three bathrooms, and there were even fresh clothes exactly my size. I came out to the big room to see Annabeth lying on the couch, watching TV. Grover was sitting on another chair, eating lettuce.
I couldn't get the bar erased from my head for some reason.
"I'll go down and get something to eat."
"Uh huh." Annabeth said, not taking her eyes off the TV.
I rode the elevator downstairs and went to the bar and ordered my drink. I felt uncomfortable, but everybody looked so happy. I suddenly felt underdressed in my T-shirt and shorts. I stared at my drink.
Something was definately wrong.
I sipped my drink, and suddenly nothing was wrong.
Lots of time passed. I couldn't remember how many drinks I had.
You need to stop.
"Sir?"
Tears were running down my face. I had lost control- again.
Why?
The staff helped me up to the room. The lights were off- how long was I at the bar? Where was Grover? Somehow, I couldn't think at all. It felt like my brain had froze- it kept cutting off my thoughts. I slept, woke up, slept again, and the next time I woke up, I couldn't see anything but black.
"Percy?"
Annabeth.
"Oh my gods. Percy?"
The lights turned on. I covered my eyes instictively, my whole body tingling and burning.
"Percy."
Annabeth's voice seemed urgent. For what? I was fine.
Was I.
I sat up, and my head exploded with pain.
Don't drink. You got me? You know what happens if you get caught drinking ever again, right?
I couldn't hear myself screaming. Was I screaming? I felt like I was screaming.
Oh well.
I wasn't- I was-
I was done with this.
And suddenly, I could think. The pain felt normal. Time wasn't replaying or fast forwarding itself. Annabeth was there- not hot, searing lights. My throat felt raw.
"... we have to get out of here."
Grover was already ready to go. I swallowed hard.
"What happened?"
"I... I don't know. This place isn't right."
I swung my legs off the couch and followed the two out, taking the backpack my father had given me. Grover seemed a little disoriented too.
We got in the elevator, and I realized just now there was nobody going out- only people coming in.
Shivers ran up my spine.
I was in an elevator.
It didn't matter if it was glass.
But-
My head felt like it was exploding. Everything didn't make sense. Annabeth grabbed my hand tight.
Why was everyone so happy?
I felt delusional- definately out of control. Grover was muttering words, chewing on a piece of lettuce.
"Did you guys get the new platinum cards?"
"No. We're leaving."
"... what?"
Annabeth dragged us out of the casino and the hot air slapped me in the face.
I could control myself.
I took a deep breath. Grover was looking at me with wide eyes, his half chewed lettuce on the ground.
"What happened." I demanded.
"I... I don't know." She adverted her gaze. "I think they drug everyone in there."
"How long were we in there?" Grover asked, rubbing his head.
"... 3 days."
"... how are you okay?"
"Huh? Uh... I-" she bit her lip. "I'm not sure. I didn't eat much-"
"For three days?" I narrowed my eyes. "And why now? Why not earlier?"
"Well, I couldn't sense anything wrong before."
I facepalmed. "Really."
She clenched her fists. "Atleast I was sober enough to see something was wrong."
I swallowed hard. Grover sighed.
"Percy...."
"I don't know. I don't remember anything."
Grover shifted on his feet nervously. "Me neither. But Percy-"
"I get it." I muttered. "We have to go fast-"
"No!"
We stared at Annabeth. Her eyes avoided us.
"We don't have any money."
"... no."
I caught a cab and slid into the car.
"You guys have any money?" He asked, chewing a cigarette.
I gave him the LotusCash card and his eyes widened, his cigarette falling out of his mouth.
"To Los Angeles, please. Keep the change."
~
We got there in no time.
"Are you sure about this."
Annabeth glanced at me.
My uncle wasn't the person to invite visitors over to his home. I had only been there a few times when I was young, and I didn't like it at all.
Hades kept track of the people we killed. He was in charge of cleaning up the mess we made- making sure that everything looked like a natural death, or wiping out any evidence.
He was a pretty gloomy person.
But still powerful.
I went into the small building, and Charon looked up to see us. He smiled coldly.
"Well let's see who's here."
"We need to talk to Hades." I demanded.
"After all those years of neglecting him? Your uncle wanted to see you, you know?"
I gritted my teeth. "That's why I'm paying him a visit."
"Unfortunately, he has already turned his mind. You cannot go meet him unless one- maybe two of you die."
I zipped open my backpack and put a bottle of vodka on the counter.
Charon's eyes turned on.
"I heard you're not allowed to drink. All year."
He scowled. "It's the same for you too."
I grabbed the bottle and put it back in my backpack. "Take it and let us in, or I'm going to take it."
"... I could just kill all of you and take that."
"You know that's not a choice."
Charon stared at me evenly.
"Alright." He sighed. "Go on down."
I placed the bottle of vodka on the counter.
"Thanks."
I went to the hallway with Grover and Annabeth and pressed the button to the elevator.
"How did you know he liked drinking?"
I didn't really want to talk about it.
But it was Annabeth.
"He-"
"I hung out with him a lot before he got hired to work here." I said truthfully.
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, but didn't ask more. We stepped into the elevator, which was thankfully large enough for me to stay calm. We had to go a long way before we reached the only destination-
Hell.
I could hear screaming from Tartarus. The River Styx was always flowing with dirty, black water. People were mourning, sobbing. There were big rooms that I knew were filled with the gases of Hecate's new inventions.
"Don't look." I warned when I caught Annabeth looking at Tartarus.
Cerberus growled at us when we got close to him.
"Hey boy." I approached him slowly. "Do you remember me?"
He obviously didn't. He lunged at me- his teeth bared.
"Cerberus, heel!"
Cerberus immediantly calmed down and whimpered. Hades stared down at me coldly, completely ignoring my two companions.
"... Uncle."
"You look.... better."
"Thank you."
He glanced at Annabeth and Grover.
"Come in."