Chapter 22: The Prophecy Comes True

WE were the first heroes to come back alive at Camp-Half blood, so everybody treated us as if we had won a contest or something. According to camp tradition, us heroes had to wear laurel wreaths to a big feast prepared for our accomplishment. Anyways, being the son of Poseidon, I still didn't have any roommates, so the Ares cabin had volunteered to make my shroud. They used an old bedsheet and painted smiley faces with X'ed out eyes around the border, and the word LOSER was painted really big in the middle of the bedsheet. It looked really fun to burn the shroud. As Apollo's cabin led all the music and passed out the food, I was surrounded by my old Ares cabin mates, Annabeth's friends from Athena and Grover's satyr buddies, who were admiring the brand new seacher's licence he had received from the Council of Cloven Elders. The only ones, who looked like they didn't want to party were Clarisse and her cabinmates, and everytime I looked at them their faces looked like they would never forgive me after disgracing their dad. But that was okay, I can get over it. Even Dionysus's welcome back speech wasn't enough to dampen my spirits, is announcement was, "Yes, yes, so that little brat didn't kill himself, but now he will have a bigger head. In other announcements, there will be no canoe races this saturday." I wondered why there was no canoe races, was it because I would win each race I was in, or what. Anyways, I moved back to cabin three, but I didn't feel so alone anymore. I had my friends to train with everyday. At night, I lay awake and listen to the sea, knowing that my father is out there somewhere. Maybe he wasn't quite sure about me yet, he didn't want me to be born, but I know he is watching me. At least, he is proud about what I had done. As for my mother, she had a chance for a better and a new life. Her letter arrived a week after I had been to camp. She told me that Gabe had left mysteriously without telling her, my mother reported Gabe to the police, but she had a funny feeling that it will be almost impossible to find him. My mother also sold her first life size concrte sculpture, named The Poker Player, to a collector, through an art gallery in Soho. Surprisingly, she got a lot of money for the sculpture, she had put a deposit down on a new apartment and made a payment on her first semester's tuition at NYU. At the bottom of the letter, she wrote a P.S, "Percy I have found a good private school here in the city, I have put a deposit down to hold you a spot, in case you want to go to seventh grade. But if you want to go year round at Camp, I will understand." Every night before I went to sleep, I read over and over, trying to think about how to answer her.

On the fourth of July, the whole camp gathered at the beach for a fireworks display by cabin nine. The Hephaestus kids weren't going to settle for lame red white and blue fire works. They had anchored a barge off shore and put a lot of rockets in it, the size of Patriot missiles. Annabeth had seen this show before, and told me that the blasts would be sequenced so tightly they would lock like frames of animation across the sky. She also told me that the finale was supposed to be a couple of a hundred foot tall Spartan warriors who would crakle to life above the ocean, fight a battle, then explode into a million of colors. As Annabeth and I were spreading a picnic basket, Grover showed up to tell us good bye. He was dressed like his usual self, wearing jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers, but in the last few weeks Grover looked like he had grew older, almost High school age. His goatee had gotten thicker, he gained a lot of weight, and he had to wear his rasta hat everyday because his horns grew longer. I tried to feel happy for him. After all, it wasn't everyday a satyr got permission to look for the great God Pan. It was hard saying bye, to Grover. I had only known Grover for a year, yet he was my oldest friend. Annabeth gave him a hug and I wished him good luck. I asked him where he was going to search at first. He wouldn't tell me, because it was a secret. I'm gonna miss Grover, and I hope that he becomes the first satyr to find Pan and come back alive. He had to be the first one to come back, I could feel it.

July passed. I spent days trying to make new strategies for capture the flag and making alliances with the other cabins to keep the banner out of Ares's hands. I got too the top of the climbing wall for the first time without getting hurt and burnt by the lava. From time to time, I would walk past the Big house, look up at the attic windows, and think about the Oracle. I tried to convince myself that the Oracle's prophecy had come to completion. I knew what the Oracle said to me. I can explain it, now. "You shall go west, and face the God who has turned." That God turned out to be Ares rather than I expected, which was Hades. "You shall find what was stolen, and see it safe returned." One master bolt delivered. And the Helm of Darkness back on Hades's head. "You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend." This one was still bothering me. Ares had pretended to be my friend, then betrayed me. I guess this is what the Oracle meant. "And you shall fail to save what matters the most, in the end." I failed to save my mom, but only because I had let her save herself, I knew that was the right thing to do. But I still saved her.

The last night of the summer session came all too quickly. All the campers had one last meal together. Then we burned part of our dinner for the Gods. At the bonfire, the senior counselors awarded the end of summer beads. I got my own leather necklace, and when I saw the bead for my first summer, I was glad the firelight covered my blushing. The design was pitch black, with a sea green trident shimmering in the center. Luke gave me the bead and he announced, "This bead represents the first Son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!" Everybody went on their feet and cheered for me. Even the Ares cabin stood up and cheered for me. Athena's cabin steered Annabeth to the front so she could share in the applause. I'm not sure I would ever feel happy or sad as I did at that moment. I finally found a family, that cared for me, and thought i had done something right. But then, most of them would be leaving in the morning, for the year. The next morning, I found a form letter on my bedside table. I knew Dionysus must have filled the letter out, because he stubbornly insisted on getting my name wrong. This is another thing about ADHD. Deadlines aren't real to me until I am reading one in the face. Summer was already over and I still hadn't answered my mother if I was staying at Camp-Half Blood or not. Now I had only a few hours to decide whether or not I should stay at the camp or not. The decision should have been easy. I mean nine months of hero training and nine months of sitting in a classroom. But there was my mom to think about, still. For the first time, I had the chance to live with her for a whole year, and the best part about it was that I won't be seeing Smelly Gabe anymore, Thank God. The campgrounds were mostly deserted, shimmering in the August heat. All the campers were in their cabins packing up, or running around with brooms and mops, getting ready for the final inspection. Argus, by the way, was helping some of the Aphrodite kids roll their Gucci suitcases and makeup kits over the hill, where the camp's shuttle bus would be waiting to take them to the airport. I told myself, "Don't think about leaving yet, Just train." I went to the sword fighters arena and found that Luke had had the same idea. He was there working solo, whaling on battle dummies with a sword I had never seen before. His orange counselor's shirt was dripping with sweat. His expression was so intense, his life might have really in danger. Finally, he noticed me and took out a six pack of cokes. I stared at the cokes wondering how Luke had gotten them. There were no mortal sodas at the camp store, but I took it anyway, what will it do to me. Luke asked me if I wanted to o down to the woods and looked for some monsters lying around there. Then all of a sudden Luke summoned a scorpion that can kill anyone in 60 seconds. I started to go for my pen. Luke warned me, "I wouldn't do that, Pit scorpions can jump up to 15 feet. Its stinger can pierce right through you clothes." Something hit me, "You will be betrayed by one who calls you friend." "You." I said. He was the one that was going to betray me. Luke told me that he had been having dreams exactly like the dreams I used to had. The scorpion went on my leg. "Kronos, that's the person you served. He told you to steal the Helm and the Master Bolt, Kronos talked to you in your dreams. And you believed him." The scorpion is now on my knee now, staring with its glittering eyes." I asked him, why he didn't bring the items to Kronos, He said, "I got over confident, Zeus sent out his sons and daughters, even Artemis, Apollo, my father Hermes. But it was Ares who caught me. He made me give the items to him, I tried to defeat him but he was too strong." I noticed Luke was the person who started everything from when I was here at camp. He was the one who summoned the Hellhound and the flying shoes were actually cursed. The scorpion then lunged, I swatted it away with my hand, took out my pen and sliced it in half. I was going to congratulate my self until I looked down at my hand. My palm had a huge red welt, oozing and smoking with yellow guck. The thing had gotten me after all. My whole body was aching. The water, I thought. It healed me before. I stumbled in the creek and dipped my hand in the water but nothing seemed to happen. The poison was too strong. "Help, please." There were nymphs that stirred from their trees, two of them took my arms, pulling me along. Then everything went black.

I was back at the sick room with Annabeth sitting beside me and Argus just standing there. Once again I was drinking the chocolate chip cookies which was nectar. I said to Annabeth, "Well here we are again." Chiron was also there standing. He smiled, but his face looked weary and pale, the way it did when he had been up all night marking Latin papers. Chiron told me that Luke went back to Olympus, I had to go there and stop him, but they didn't let me, since I was still weak. I told Annabeth that I wanted to go outside, she also didn't let me, but I didn't listen to her. My legs were really wobbly, I put a lot of pressure on Annabeth while I went for the front door. Then I finally made it to the railing, when I looked around the camp looked deserted, there was nobody at the volleyball pits and everywhere else. Chiron said that I had to train more, and wait until my time has come. Annabeth said quietly, "I'm going home for the year, Percy." Annabeth was going to get together with her family again. I was really happy for her. They were outside the camp waiting for her to come to them. "We are going to look for Luke next summer, Okay." I said to Annabeth, it was a deal. "Take care, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth told me, "Keep your eyes open." "You too wise girl." I watched her walk up the hill and join her family. She gave her father an awkward hug and looked back at the valley for one last time. For the first time at camp, I felt truly alone. I ha made my decision. I wondered if Poseidon were watching, would he approve my choice? I promised that I will be back at the camp. I asked Argus to take me down to cabin three, so I could pack my bags for home. Well this will be my last time writing on you, it was a great time writing on you, now I can always look back and remember everything that had happened in the past. GOOD BYE I will miss writing on you, journal!

Chapter 21: I Settle My Tab

It's funny how humans wrap their mind around things like dreams and wishes, then fit them into their version of reality. I remember Chiron saying this to me when I came to camp. As usual, I didn't like his wisdom until much later. Anyways, according to the L.A news, the explosion at the Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car, I think that crazy kidnapper was Ares. He accidentally hit a gas main that had ruptured during the earthquake. This one person's point of view, "This crazy kidnapper was the same man who had abducted me and two other people in New York and brought us across country on a ten day journey of terror." Then suddenly, I saw this article about me, and it said, "Poor little Percy Jackson wasn't a worldwide criminal after all. He had caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from his captor. Then it talks about what I had been through over the past days, like when I was in Denver and when I fought Ares in Los Angeles. The reporters fed us this whole story. We acted like we weren't the people, we just nodded and acted tearful and exhausted which wasn't that hard to do. We also played as victimized kids for the cameras. I said, "All I want, is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew that we would be okay, somehow. After I did this, the police and reporters were so moved that they passed a hat around and they raised enough money for three tickets on the next plane to New York.

I knew there was no choice but to fly. I hoped Zeus would cut me some slack, but it was still hard to force myself on board the flight. The takeoff was a nightmare. Every spot of turbulence was scarier than a Greek monster popping out and attacking us. I never took my hands off the armrests until we touched sown safely at La Guardia. When we got off, the local press was waiting for us outside security but we managed to evade them, thanks to Annabeth. Then we split up at the taxi stand. I told Annabeth and Grover to go back to Half-Blood hill and let Chiron know what had happened. They protested, they didn't want to go after all that we had been through over the past days. But I told them that I wanted to finish the last part of the quest by myself. Then I hopped on to a taxi headed to Manhattan. Thirty minutes later, I walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building. I don't know, but it looked like everybody thought I was a homeless kid asking for help, because of my tattered clothes and my scraped up face. Oh yeah, I forgot that I also hadn't slept for a day. Anyways, I went up to the guard at the front desk and said, "Six hundredth floor please." The guard was holding a book that looked like it was about wizardry. He took a long time to look up at me, then he said, "No such floor, kiddo." The guard wouldn't let me in until I showed him my back pack and took out the master bolt. Then his face turned pale. I think he knew what it was, so he gave me a key card and told me what to do with it. I did as he told me. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I slipped the card into the slot. The card, then, disappeared and a new button appeared on the console, a red button that said 600. I pressed the button and waited and waited. Finally, the doors slid open. I stepped out and almost had a heart attack. I was standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air almost the height of an airplane would fly. When I looked down it was Manhattan. It was so SCARY. In front of me were white marble steps wound up the spine of the cloud, and the stairway led into the clouds. From the top of the clouds rose a peak of a mountain, it's summit was covered with snow. On the mountainside, there were mansions everywhere. Roads wound crazily up to the peak, where the largest palace was. This place can't be here, I told myself. The tip of a mountain hanging over New York City like a billion ton asteroid. But here I was. My trip through Olympus was a daze. I passed through a lot of weird things, like wood nymphs throwing olives at me, several of them just turned to watch me pass by. I climbed the main road, toward the big palace at the peak. It was a reverse copy of the Underworld. Everything had been black and bronze in the Underworld, here, every thing glittered white and silver. I guess Hades must have built his own palace to resemble this one, here. He wasn't welcomed into Olympus except on the Winter solstice. When I went up the steps that led to the central courtyard, past that was the throne room.

When I went to the throne room, there were twelve thrones, except for two that was missing. They were at the end, the head throne on the right and the other one immediate left. I already knew who the two gods were that were sitting there, waiting for me to approach. I came to them with my legs trembling. The Gods were in giant human form, as Hades has been. Zeus was wearing a dark blue pinstriped suit. He sat on a simple throne of solid platinum. The god sitting next to him was his brother, without a doubt, but he was dressed differently. He wore leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts and a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it. His throne was a deep sea fisherman chair. It was the simple swiveling kind, with a black leather seat and a built in hole for a fishing rod. Instead of a pole, it was a bronze trident. The God's weren't moving or talking to each other, but they seemed to have finished an argument. I approached the fisherman's throne and knelt, saying, "Father." My heart was racing. The Gods finally talked, Zeus said, "Should you not address the master of this house first." I kept my head down and said nothing. Then Poseidon said that he wanted to hear me talk, and he also called me a wrongdoing, which kind of hurt my feelings. But, then Poseidon told me to look up at him, but he didn't say anything. I got the feeling Poseidon really didn't want to know what to think of me. Finally he spoke, "Address Lord Zeus, tell him your story," So I told Zeus everything that had happened and then I took out the metal cylinder. I laid the master bolt on his feet, then Zeus held out his hand and the master bolt went right at his palm. I told him that Ares was the one that stole it, by using someone to steal the master bolt. I guess Zeus was now happy and all the fighting came to an end. The good thing was that, Zeus let me live. I talked to my father for a while, until I had to go, He told me to always remember that I was the son of the Sea God, and that I should never forget that. Fifteen minutes later, I was back on the streets of Manhattan. I caught a taxi to my mom's apartment, rang the doorbell, and there she was, my beautiful mother. She was so happy to see me! She hugged me so tight, I was relieved to see her again. We talked for a while, until Gabe interrupted from the living room. My mom told me that Gabe is not happy about me. Then my mother took me to the living room, and Gabe was not happy at all. He thought I was in jail. Gabe actually hit my mother for the first time. I was full of rage, I wanted to uncap riptide and just slice him in half. But I forgot, the sword only works for half-bloods. My mom went with me to my room and on my bed, it was a package. I ripped it open and it was the address going to Mount Olympus. Suddenly, I understood what Poseidon had said at Olympus. A package. A decision. I asked my mother if she wanted Gabe out of the house. She said, "Yes, I do, Percy, but I can't." I told her I could solve it for her. I took a last look around my bedroom, and headed for the front door. I told my mother that I was going back to Half-blood hill. I was not happy, because I won't see my mother for a long time again, but I'm happy she's back. Finally, everything is over!!!

Chapter 20: I Battle My Jerk Relative

A coast guard boat picked us up and brought us to the shore. I bet they were wondering how three kids in street clothes had gotten in the middle of the bay. They looked really busy to keep us for a while, their radios were jammed with distress calls. They dropped us off at the Santa Monica Pier and they gave us towels and a water bottle that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! They left us there and they went flying off to save more people that also need help. Our clothes were so wet, speaking of this I wondered why when the guards took me out of the water my clothes were still wet because usually when I get out of the water I am perfectly dry. I guess my water proof abilities abandoned me. I was also barefooted, because I gave my shoes to Grover after the incident. It's better than the guard thinking that one of us are satyrs. After reaching dry land, we went stumbling down to the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise. My backpack was really heavy because of the master bolt, but my heart was even heavier from seeing my mother. Annabeth told me she was so sorry for my mother. I tried not to hear what she had said, because every time I talk about my mother I start crying like a little kid. "The prophecy was right," I told Annabeth and Grover. But it wasn't Hades, Hades didn't want war among the big three. Obviously, someone else stole Zeus's master bolt Hades helm of darkness, and then someone framed me because I was Poseidon's son. Grover asked "Who could be that sneaky?" "Gee, let me think." I said. There he was waiting for us, in his black leather duster and his sunglasses. His motorcycle rumbled beside him. "You are supposed to die, Percy." Ares said, "You tricked me, you stole the Helm and the Master Bolt." I said. Ares then, took out this ski cap like the bank robbers wear and placed it between the handle bars, then the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze helmet. We gasped, "The Helm of Darkness!" Ares said, "Exactly, that means Hades will be mad at Zeus and Poseidon because he doesn't know who took the Helm. Then there will be a three way fight." "But they are your family!" Annabeth protested. Ares shrugged. "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest ones. Nothing like watching your relatives fight." I said, "The backpack you gave me had the Master Bolt, it was in there the whole time." "Yes and No, The backpack was the Master bolt sheath, it just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, just like the sword you have." I wondered how he knew about the sword, but I guess he should know because, he is the God of War. "You ordered the theft," I guessed. "Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you down to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go. You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around." Ares said, "I am the God of War. I take no orders from anyone!"

I asked Ares to fight me. He laughed, "You've only got one talent, kid, running away. You ran away from the Chimera. You ran from the Underworld. You don't have what it takes." "Are you scared to fight me?" I asked him. Annabeth said, "Percy run!" The giant boar charged. I wasn't going to run away from the boar or from any monster anymore. As the boar rushed me, I uncapped my pen and side stepped. Riptide appeared in my hands. I slashed upward. The boar's severed right tusk fell at my feet, while the animal ran to the sea. I shouted, "Wave!" Immediately, a wave surged up from nowhere and engulfed the boar, the wave wrapped around it like a blanket. The beast squealed in terror. Then it was gone, swallowed by the sea. Then I turned backed to Ares. and asked him again, "Are you going to fight me now or send in one of those pigs and hide behind him." Ares was full of rage, his face was turning purple. "Watch it kid, I can turn you into something." Flames danced along the top of his sunglasses, "Oh man, you are really asking to be smashed into a grease spot." "If I lose you turn me into anything you want, but if I win, the Helm and the Bolt are mine and you have to go away." He swung the baseball cap off his shoulder. "How would you like to get smashed, classic or modern?" I showed him my sword. "Classic it is." Ares said. Then the baseball cap turned into a two handed sword. Annabeth was forcing me not to fight Ares, but I couldn't help myself, he is too much of a jerk. Then she gave me something for good luck, even Grover gave me something for good luck. Ares warned me, "My strength is unlimited. I can never die. What have you got?" I didn't say anything, then he cleaved downward my head, but he missed me. The water pushed me into the air and I catapulted over him, slashing as I came down. But Ares was just as quick. He grinned, "Not bad, not bad." He was slashed again and I was forced to jump onto dry land. Then Annabeth screamed, "Percy, Cops!" I couldn't stop fighting Ares. I could hear car doors slamming. "There officer! See!" somebody told the officer. I heard the cop say, "Looks like that kid on tv....What the Heck... The other guy is armed, we need some backup. Me and Ares were still fighting each other not caring about the police. More sirens came. I stepped farther back into the water, but Ares was fast. A police voice on a megaphone said, "Drop the guns! Set them on the Ground. Now!" Guns? I looked at Ares sword, and it seemed to be flickering, sometimes it looked like a shotgun and sometimes it looked like a sword. Ares turned to glare at our spectators, which gave me a moment to breathe. He told them that this was a private matter and we continued. It was the same thing all over again, I slashed him, he deflected it, he slashed me then I deflected it. I felt the rhythm of the sea, the waves growing larger as the tide rolled in, and suddenly I had an idea.

A six foot wall of water smashed Ares full in the face leaving him cursing with a mouth full of sea weed. I landed behind him with a splash and feinted toward his head, as i'd done before. He was really mad, but I noticed that he was injured. He was in pain, shock and disbelief he had been wounded. He went toward me, muttering greek curses. Then something stopped him from going to me. The darkness lifted and Ares was stunned. Then his body began to glow, Annabeth said, "Percy, Don't watch him!" I turned away as the God turned into his true immortal form. I somehow knew that if I looked, I would disintegrate into ashes. I looked back and Ares was gone. Then Mrs. Dodds said, "We saw the whole thing, so it truly was not you, Live well Percy Jackson. Become a true hero." Then they disappeared. Now it was time to go. I told Annabeth and Grover that we had to go to New York and fast. Today, was a very weird day, especially fighting Ares.

Chapter 19:We Found Out The Truth, Sort Of

Imagine the largest concert crowd you have ever seen, for example, a football field packed with a million fans. Now imagine a stadium a million times bigger with the stadium filled with people, the all of a sudden the electricity has gone out, and there is no noise, no light, just complete darkness. Well if you can picture of that, now you know the Fields of Asphodel looked like. The black grass had been trampled on by a lot of dead feet. A warm, moist wind blew like the breath of a swamp. The cavern ceiling was so high above us it might have been a bank of storm clouds, except for this wickedly pointed needle all over the ceiling. I tried not to think they'd fall on us at any moment, but everywhere on the field were several that had fallen and penetrated themselves in the black grass. Anyways, We tried to blend in with the crowd, keeping a look out for security ghosts. I couldn't help looking for familiar faces that have came to the Underworld, but the ghosts were hard to look at. All of their faces shimmered, and they all looked slightly angry and confused. They will come up to you and speak, but their voices sounded like bats twittering. You might think that the dead is scary, but they actually aren't, they are just sad. We kept walking following the line of new arrivals that sneaked in from the main gates toward a black tented pavilion with a banner that read: JUDGEMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATION. Under the line it said, Welcome Newly Deceased!

One light coming from the right side of the judgement pavilion was much better, the line led down toward a small valley surrounded by walls, almost like a gated community, I think it was the happiest part of the Underworld. Beyond the security gate were neighborhoods of beautiful houses from every time period in history. In the middle of that valley was a blue lake, with three small islands like a vacation resort in the Bahamas. It looked like it was a place for heroes. We kind of did a tour around the Underworld and everything looked depressing except for the place for heroes.

While we were walking, we heard Grover yelp. His sneakers sprouted wings and his legs shot forward, pulling him away from Annabeth, then he landed flat on his back in the grass. Annabeth told Grover to stop fooling around, but the shoes were doing it by themselves. He was going down the hill so fast. I was sure Grover was going to go straight through the gates of Hades palace, but his shoes did a sharp right turn, then the slope got steeper, Grover picked up even more speed. Annabeth grabbed me and we went chasing after Grover. We told Grover to hold on to something so he could stop moving, well, while he was sliding down, his left shoe hit a rock, and went flying away, which left him with only the right shoe. Grover was able to stop himself by holding onto a rock and using it as an anchor. Me and Annabeth collapsed from exhaustion, Grover was scratched up pretty bad. His hands were bleeding. Then I heard something coming out from the darkness, the sound was getting louder, a muttering, evil voice from far below us. Annabeth started to hear the noise too, she said, "Tartarus. The entrance to Tartarus." I uncapped Riptide. The bronze sword expanded, gleaming in the darkness, but then the voice started to fade away, just for a moment, before resuming its words. The words sounded even older than Greek. As if it was magic. Annabeth said, "We have to get out of here!" Me and Annabeth had to pull Grover to his hooves and started to back up the tunnel. But my legs wouldn't move fast enough, because my backpack pulled me down. Then all of a sudden, the voice got louder and angrier behind us, I got so scared that I ran out of there. A cold blast of wind pulled at our backs, almost like something was trying to inhale us, and I think something was not too happy we had gotten away. Grover asked us, "What was that?" "Probably one of Hades pets." Annabeth said. Everything seemed to be fine, so I uncapped my sword, and put the pen back in my pocket. I asked Grover, "Can you walk?" He said, "Yeah I'm fine, I never liked those shoes anyway."

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 pictures were from modern times, an atomic bomb exploding over a city, a trench filled with soldiers wearing gas masks and many more. Inside the courtyard was the strangest garden I have ever seen. It had multicolored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and weird looking plants that grew without sunlight. Then we passed by the garden of Persephone, "Keep walking." Annabeth said. I knew why she wanted to keep walking. The tart smell from those pomegranates were really tempting, they smelled really good, but if we ate Underground food we would never get out of the Underworld. I spotted Grover trying to grab one, big juicy one, so I pulled him away. We walked up the steps of the palace and into the house of Hades. The entry hall had a polished bronze floor, which seemed to boil in the reflected light. When I looked up, there was no ceiling, just the cavern roof. Every side doorway was, at least one guard guarding the doorway. Anyways, we knocked at the front door. The room inside looked like the place in my dream, except this time the throne of Hades was actually occupied. He was the third God I met, he looked like he was ten feet tall, and he dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. Hades's Aura was affecting me, just as Ares's had. Finally, he spoke, "You are brave to come here, son of Poseidon. After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish." My fingers felt really numb, tempted to just lie down and take a little nap at Hades's feet. I could curl up and sleep here forever. I fought the feeling by moving forward. I said, "Lord and Uncle, I come with two requests, You give Zeus back his master bolt, and Charon wants a little raise." Then Hades rejected my requests, and said, "You, Percy, you have stolen the master bolt on the winter solstice, your precious father is keeping you a little secret, and you also stole my Helm of Darkness." "Wait, your Helm of Darkness is missing also?" Annabeth interrupted. "You and your satyr friend have been helping this hero, coming here and threatening me!" I said, "I had nothing to do with the Helm of Darkness!" I felt really offended by those words, Zeus and Hades think I stole the master bolt and the Helm of Darkness. I insisted Hades for the Master bolt, but he told me that I was the one that already possesses the master bolt. He told me it was in my backpack, I wondered why it was so heavy, so I opened it and there it was, the Master Bolt was actually there, I was shocked, I had the Master bolt the whole time. Wait, if the Master Bolt was in this Backpack, then Ares was probably the one that tricked me and the Gods. I tried to explain to Hades, but the Soldiers aimed their weapons right at us. Then Hades took out a ball of Gold fire from his palm. It exploded on the steps in front of me, and there was my mother frozen in the shower of gold. Hades would only let her go if I returned his Helm. There was only one choice to get out of here and bring the Master bolt back to Zeus at Olympus. I handed one pearl to Annabeth and Grover and I told them what to do with it. I said bye to my mother and told Hades that I was going to bring his Helm back. Then I screamed, "Now Guys!" We smashed the pearls at our feet, for a moment nothing happened. Hades yelled, "Destroy them!" We started running away, and we were in our bubbles. That was the power of the pearls, I was scared that the Sharp stalactites would pop the bubble. We screamed as the bubbles slammed into the ceiling and we were back on land. Well, now I have to go to Olympus, give Zeus the Master Bolt and tell him the Truth, oh, and I forgot one thing, The Helm of Darkness.

Chapter 18: Annabeth Does Obedience School

We stood there on Valencia Boulevard, looking up at the gold letters etched in black marble DOA RECORDING STUDIOS. It was almost midnight, but the lobby was brightly lit and it looked like there was a lot of people inside. Behind the security desk was a tough looking guard. I turned to Annabeth and Grover and said, "Okay, You remember the plan." We walked inside the DOA lobby. Muzak played softly on the hidden speakers. The carpet and walls were gray. There were cactuses in the corners, which was kind of scary because from a far distance they looked like skeleton bones. The furniture was black leather, and every seat was taken. There were people stnading, sitting and even staring out the windows. Nobody moved or talked, I could see them all just fine, but if I stare at them for a long time they start looking transparent,like I could see right through their bodies.The security guard's desk was a raised podium so we had to look up at him. I read his name tag then I looked at him, "Your name is Chiron?" Then the guard leaned forward and told me what it really said. The guard sounded like he had a british accent, his name was actually Charon. After he told me his name he asked what we were doing here. Annabeth said, "We want to go to the Underworld." He looked over at us again and asked us, "How did you guys die, then?" Grover said, "We drowned in a bath tub, a really big bathtub." It looked like he believed us and asked us if we had any coins to the Underworld. I set three golden drachmas on the counter, but his fingers hovered greedily over the coins, we were so close to getting in. Then Charon looked at me and sniffed me. He said, "You're not dead, you're a godling." "We have to get to the Underworld." I insisted. Charon made a small growling noice in his throat. He didn't let us go in, he was about to grab the coins but I grabbed them just in time. "No service, no tip." I said. So I took out a bag full of drachmas and spilled out the coins on the desk. Charon's growl now turned into a lion's purr, then he asked us how many we had in the bag. He really wanted everything in the bag, so he let us in into the Underworld. I told him that I would ask Hades to give him a raise. Then he escorted us to elevator and pushed the crowd of waiting spirits. The elevator was already filled with souls of the dead. The people in the lobby actually stay there for almost centuries until they are allowed to go to the Underworld.

I got a sudden dizzy feeling. We weren't going down anymore, we were going forward. The air turned misty. The spirits around me started changing shape, their clothes turned into grey hooded robes. The floor of the elevator began swaying. I blinked hard, and when I opened them Charon's clothes became a long black robe, when I blinked again, the elevator wasn't an elevator anymore, it was a wooden barge. Charon was poling us across a dark, oily river, swirling with bones, dead fish, and other strange things. It was the River Styx, but the river was so polluted. Charon said, "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you came across, like hopes dreams, and wishes that never came true. I found myself muttering a prayer, but I wasn't quite sure who I was praying to, because down here the only God that matters is Hades. The shoreline of the Underworld came into view, it looked like we were getting closer. Craggy rocks and black volcanic sand was everywhere. Charon told us about this three face dog that was really hungry, and I think I knew what he meant by hungry. So we got off the boat and followed the spirits up a well worn path. Now I know what Charon was talking about when he said that the three faced dog is hungry. It was Cerberus, that was the three headed dog name, but he was no where to be found. We kept walking until we discovered a lot of things in the Underworld, then we finally fond the dog. I took a big stick out of my backpack and tried to play with the dog, but it just satyed there growling at us. Grover said, "The dog looks very hungry, maybe we should walk away!" Then Annabeth told it to sit, the dog sat down and followed what Annabeth said. She threw a ball at the dog and the middle head caught the ball. "Good boy." Said Annabeth. Then she told us to go through the EZ death line, Annabeth distracted the monster, and me and Grover started running away. Annabeth wiped a tear off her cheek as she listened to the mornful keening of Cerberus in the distance, waiting for its new friend. Well, I kind of learned something today, that even here in the Underworld everybody even monsters needed a little attention once in a while.

Chapter 17:We Shop For Water Beds

This was Annabeth idea. She took us into the back of a Vegas taxi as if we actually had money, to go on a taxi. Then she told the driver, "Los Angeles, please."The driver was just sitting there chewing his cigar. Then he said, "That's three hundred miles from here, that means you guys have to pay me a lot of money." Annabeth asked, "Do you accept casino debit cards?" The driver said, " If they were the same as credit cards, I will take it," Annabeth handed the driver her LotusCash card. The driver looked unsure of what it was, so he swiped the card and his meter machine started rattling. The lights started flashing. Then, an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign. The driver was in shock, with his eyes open wide, then he said, "Where to in Los Angeles, uh, your highness?" "The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth said strongly. Annabeth seemed to like the, "Your Highness" thing that the driver said. Annabeth told the driver to get us there as fast as possible. The taxi's speedometer never dipped below ninety five the whole way through the desert.

On the road, we had so much time to talk to each other. I told Annabeth and Grover about the latest dream I had. The Lotus Casino seemed to have wrecked my memory, because I don't remember anything about what the invisible voice said to me. Then Annabeth told me that my dream could have taken place at Hades. "Well, the place didn't look like it was Hades place." I said. Then Grover said,"That's usually the way they describe it." We kept arguing about the thing, until we passed wasteland, and we saw a sign that said California State Line, 12 Miles. I got this weird feeling that I was missing one simple, important piece of information. It was like when I stared at a common word I should know, but I couldn't' make sense of it, because some letters were floating around the place. Well, the more I thought about my quest, the more I was sure that facing Hades wasn't the real answer to everything. The problem was that, we were driving toward the Underworld at almost Ninety five miles an hour, thinking that Hades was the one who stole the master bolt. If we got there and found out it wasn't Hades who stole the master bolt, we wouldn't have time to look for the real person who stole the master bolt.

At sunset, we finally arrived at the beach of Santa Monica there were carnival rides lining the pier, palm trees lining the side walks. There were also homeless people sleeping in the sand dunes, and surfer dudes waiting for the right time to surf. Grover, Annabeth and I walked down the beach. Annabeth asked, "What now?". I asked myself this question while we were walking, "How could I be the son of someone that powerful?" Then, I stepped into the water, Annabeth was trying to stop me, but I didn't listen I kept going and going until the water reached my head. I held my breath at first, everyone knows that it is really difficult to inhale water, actually it's impossible. Finally, I couldn't stand holding my breath anymore, so I gasped, I started breathing normally again. Then I walked down a little farther, somehow I could tell where everything was on the ocean floor, I felt something rub against my leg, I looked down and it was a five foot long mako shark. The weird thing was it didn't try to attack me, it was like my own dog. I tried to touch its dorsal fin, it bucked a little, but it was trying to tell me to hold tighter.I grabbed the fin with both hands, then it took off, with me holding on, the shark was carried me down into the darkness, then it let me go. When I let go, I saw something glimmering in the darkness, and the thing grew bigger and brighter as it went closer to me. Then I heard a woman's voice, almost like my mother's, it called out "Percy Jackson, you have come this far. Well done." The lady was the lady I saw in the Mississippi River." Then she told me she was the spirit of the sea, the naiads, her underwater cousins helped sustain her life force. She told me things about Poseidon and how he doesn't show himself to me. Then she went away.

I went back up to the shore with Annabeth and Grover waiting for me. With spare change from the money Ares gave us, we took the bus into West Hollywood. I showed the driver the Underworld address, but the driver never heard of the place. Then he said, "You remind me about this person I saw on TV, I tried to thing of something to tell the driver, so I said, "I'm a stunt double, for a lot of child actors. Good thing the driver believed me. We thanked him and got off on the next stop. We looked for the place for hours and hours, we tried to ask the people if they knew where the place was, but nobody seemed to know. We also had to hide in alleys because we had to avid the police cars. One time, I froze in front of an appliance store window because a television was playing an interview with a familiar face, my step dad, Smelly Gabe. He was talking to Barbara Walters. She talked to him about me and it seemed like Smelly Gabe was lying. I wasn't so happy about the interview, though. So we kept walking until we met these kids that surrounded us on the side walk. I uncapped Riptide. Once, their leader got closer to me I made the mistake of swinging. The kid was a full mortal, because the blade went right through the kid's chest. He was shocked, and he was really angry, so we ran away from them until we lost them. Then when we ran into the store called CRUSTY"S WATER BED PALACE, a man who looked like the owner of the store. He asked us if we wanted a water bed, we didn't want to say no, so we just followed him. He gave us a lot of deals that we could buy but we didn't want it, anyways we didn't even have enough money. Then Crusty held Annabeth and Grover and tied them to a water bed. He said that they need to be six feet tall so that they could fit the water bed. Well, things were not looking so good because he started stretching them. His name wasn't actually Crusty, it was Procrustes. They were screaming, "What are you doing Percy, come help us!" I uncapped Riptide and when I swung the sword Crusty stopped giving us deals. Then I cut the ropes and set Annabeth and Grover free. We left the shop, and went looking for the entrance to the Underworld.

Chapter 16: We Take A Zebra To Vegas

Ares was waiting for us in the diner parking lot. He said, "Well, well, you didn't get yourself killed," I said "But you knew it was a trap. Then he gave me a wicked grin. I shoved the shield at him and said "You're a jerk." Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. The shield changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. "See that truck over there?" Ares pointed to the eighteen wheeler parked across the street from the diner. Then he said " That's your ride, it will take you to L.A, with one stop in Vegas." On the back of the eighteen wheeler, there was a sign that said Kindness International: Humane Zoo Transport. Warning: Live Wild Animals. "You're kidding." I said. Then when Ares snapped his fingers, the back door of the truck opened. "Stop complaining," Ares said and Ares gave us blue bag, inside there were fresh clothes for us, twenty bucks in cash, pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double stuff Oreos. I was going to tell Ares that I didn't need his stuff, but then Grover interrupted, and said "Thank You, Lord Ares. It was probably a really bad insult to refuse something from a God, but I didn't want to accept his things. Anyways, I slung the backpack over my shoulder. I still wanted to punch Ares, I just couldn't stop the feeling. The funny thing was that, Ares reminded me about every bully I faced, and all the jerk's that called me stupid when I got expelled. When I looked back at the diner, I noticed the waitress who had served us dinner was watching us nervously, almost like she was afraid that Ares was going to hurt us or something. Then the waitress took out a disposable camera and took a picture of us. Great, I bet those pictures will be at the front pages of the newspapers. I just remembered, I told Ares that he owes me the information about my mother, then Ares said "You sure you can handle the news, she's not dead." Then he left on his motorcycle. Annabeth said to me, "That was not smart." "I don't care." I said. Grover interrupted us and pointed toward the diner, it was the two men that were going to drive the truck, "If we're going to take the zoo express, we need to hurry." I didn't like Ares idea, but it was the only good idea, we ran across the street and climbed on the back of the big truck.

The very first thing that bothered me was the horrible smell. It smelled like the world's biggest pan of kitty litter. The trailer was really dark inside until I uncapped anaklusmos, and there was light everywhere. Then someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn't want to eat. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a hamburger meat. Apparently, nobody had wanted to get close enough to the lion to mess with him, but the poor thing was pacing around the small space he had. Grover yelled "This is kindness?" I could tell that Grover wanted to go outside and beat the drivers up with his reed pipes. Then we thought about splitting up and helping the animals feel better. I found a water jug and refilled all the animals bowls, then used Anaklusmos to drag the mismatched food out of their cages. I gave the meat to the lion and the tulips to the zebra and antelope. In the dim bronze light of the sword blade, it was hard to read their expressions, then Grover said "I should have told you the truth from the beginning, I thought if you knew that I was a failure, you wouldn't want me to be with you," I tried to cheer him up by telling him, "You were the satyr that tried to save Thalia, the daughter of Zeus." And I thing that cheered him up a bit. But, Grover still thought about what happened to Thalia, me and Annabeth tried to cheer Grover up, but it wasn't working, he was still guilty about everything. We rode in silence for a few miles, bumping around on the feed sacks. The zebra munched a turnip, and the lion licked the last bit of the hamburger meat, then he looked at me happily. Then I saw Annabeth rubbing her necklace like she was thinking deep strategic thoughts. I asked her what she was doing, but she didn't seem to know what she was doing, but it looked like she was thinking about her parents. I told her to write a small letter to her dad and she thought it was a good idea. I was going to tell Annabeth something but then, when I looked at her, she was asleep. So, I closed my eyes trying to sleep.

While I was sleeping I had another nightmare, and it looked like the same nightmares that I had always had before, all I remember was that I was being forced to take a standardized test while wearing a straitjacket. The other kids that I saw were going out for recess, and the teacher kept telling me to pick up my pencil and start writing. Then, I think the dream strayed from the usual, I know that I looked over at the next desk and saw a girl sitting there, also wearing a straitjacket. Somehow I know who that girl was, it was the daughter of Zeus, Thalia, she looked like she was really frustrated, and she was trying to get out of the straitjacket. Then the straitjacket melted off me, and I fell on the classroom floor, The teacher's voice changed until it was an evil voice telling me all sorts of things, she started threatening me, until I suddenly woke up. Grover was shaking my shoulder telling me that the truck stopped, then the trailer doors opened and we hurried somewhere to hide at. Then the two people went in and they were talking about sawing the animals in half. Grover told me that, the lion said the two people were animal smugglers, Grover told us "We need to get the animals out of here!" But I thought "How are going to do that?" So Grover used his animal language and tried to communicate with the animals. So, we got all the animals and started running away from the two drivers at the right time, A good thing was that the police started chasing the two smugglers. Then we freed the other animals that were in the trailer. We kept running until we made it to Las Vegas. But, I think we took the wrong turn because we found ourselves at a dead end standing in front of Lotus Hotel and Casino. There was some weird things in the hotel, the lobby was a giant game room, with old arcade games in it. Then we checked it and the man told us to go to room 4001, the man also gave us LotusCash cards, they work for everything in the Hotel. Then after we settled in our hotel rooms, we went for a little tour around the hotel. Well, things were a little weird, I asked people what year it was and people said random years, like 1977, another said 1993, another said 1985. I was kind of getting scared about everything that is happening right now. but I wished it wasn't true. I called Annabeth and told her that we had to leave because it feels like a trap to me. But she was so in to everything she didn't want to leave. Until she realized it was a trap, she asked "How long have we been here?" Then we started running, looking for Grover. Grover was playing a video game, I told him everything that was happening, then I ran to the nearest newspaper stand, and looked at the date. Good thing it was the same year, until I looked at the date, it was June 20. We had been at the Hotel for five days! That means that we only had one more day to our Quest! How were we supposed to finish our Quest Now!