Chapter Five

One moment Percy was closing his eyes and the next, the closed metal elevator had been replaced by an open wooden barge. He heard an abrupt feminine shriek by his ear and turned to see that Grover had been scared by Charon's appearance. The Son of Poseidon couldn't blame him. The thick, black hood, eerily glowing hellfire eyes and gleaming bleached skull would have frightened anybody.

"Man, I wish I had eyes like that," Nico enthused quietly. "Where are we?"

"The River Styx," Charon told him, "Where the remains of all mortal dreams come to die."

"It looks so polluted," Bianca said. The river water was a smooth, inky black that made it appear as though the raft was slipping through melted glass, the air thick with coils of dirty grey fog. Around them, Percy could see objects float by; a worn teddy bear with one ear chewed off and a bicycle with melted tires. All of it gave off a heavy feeling of sadness and regret.

"Not to mention haunted," Annabeth added, wrapping her arms around herself. They had just left sunny L.A. but it felt so much colder now.

"What did you expect? Mortals have lived and lost for centuries. This river is everything they once were or wanted to be, left forgotten and broken in times that simply passed them by."

"You words are too depressing." The dark-eyed boy slipped his hand from Percy and darted forward, reaching one hand out to the fog. In a second later, he was pulled back to the side of an irritated Son of Poseidon and then promptly hit over the head by his older sister. Charon watched in amusement.

"Not all dreams are cursed but I would be wary of picking up divine toys wherever you may find them," the Gatekeeper advised, his bleached skull splitting in a terrifying grin, "What treasure did you find, little demigod?"

"Nico? Did you grab something?" Percy demanded, anxiety rising. The Italian boy took one look at the irritated older demigod and ducked his head.

"Just this," Nico mumbled. He opened his hands and there was a spherical gold watch in his hand, embossed with the faded picture of a blue bird with a long beak.

"Put that back in the river," Bianca paled, "We don't know where it's from."

"If I may, this artifact is a pocket watch that belonged to a man named Halcyon Green," Charon interjected, "The bird is a kingfisher, fabled to calm the wind and waves during the winter solstice."

"Is there a reason why it was the first thing my brother grabbed?"

"Perhaps? Treasures have a nifty little way of ending up where they need to be."

"Halcyon Green? Should I find him?" Nico asked, "I don't want to steal this if it's important to him."

"Dead men have no need for time," the Gatekeeper chuckled. It was a gravelly, echoing sound that caused Nico to wince. Eyes of hellfire lingered between them and Percy scowled back at the deity. "Keep it, little demigod. I have heard that Poseidon and Zeus need be calmed 'for the Solstice."

'And I'm the poor sap who has to do it,' Percy thought sourly. 'Most fathers have the decency to check their kids homework or take them to baseball games. I get neither and on top of that, my deadbeat dad wants me to confront the God of the Dead to end a war that could rip the whole country in two.'

It was the sort of responsibility that he should at least be in high school to take on.

The Italian boy whose shirt he still had one tight grip on had no such worries. He was looking around with awed eyes, softly breathing out, "It's beautiful here."

Percy wouldn't have necessarily agreed. Then again, he didn't disagree either. The misty river, the dark waters, the glimmering stalactites protruding like monster teeth from the cavernous walls, all did contribute to a haunting sort of beauty. If he looked to the sides, he could find smaller rivers branching off, leading to softly glowing lights that were too far away to discern their destination.

Eventually there is a minor nudge against the raft, briefly making all but Cheron stumble and leading Nico to fall back against Percy's chest. The Son of Poseidon straightened him up before retaking his hand, partially to keep the enthralled boy from running off and partially because the script had flipped. Nico, whose pale skin exuded a comfortable coolness in the surface, had gone the opposite route and become warm and toasty here. The only warm and toasty thing really because Percy's own fingers felt like they were being licked by nips of frostbite.

'They will come to no harm there.'

The Nereids words echoed in his ears, even as Percy shook his head to dislodge them. No, it was… it was absurd to think of amicable, kickass Bianca and kind-hearted, lively Nico being children of Hades.

He pushed the thought from his mind immediately as they walked down the narrow path leading to a distant palace of obsidian towers. A sense of alienness filled his mind, as pressure weighed down his limbs and his senses became alert for danger. A Son of Poseidon had no place here. Even Percy, newly introduced to the demigod world could see that. His eyes turned to his friends and saw that Annabeth was shivering too, while Grover, who appeared to handle the atmosphere better, looked apprehensive. Bianca, in turn, had a look of utter fascination on her.

"Is it just me or does the Underworld look like the world's worst airport security lines?"

That stopped Annabeth's shivering quickly. "Dammit, Percy, show some respect!"

"Y-yeah!" Grover squeaked, looking up frightfully, "He didn't mean that, Lord Hades! Your kingdom looks fearsome and grand to me!"

"No." Bianca looked around dubiously. There was a long line of people on an ATTENDANT ON DUTY line waiting for judgement. A shorter, faster line had the words EZ-DEATH on it and seemed to be a one-way path to the Fields of Asphodel. "I'm with Percy. I expected better."

"And it'll let all the jerks of the world get out of their rightful punishment too," Nico fumed, glaring at the EZ-DEATH path. "Wait until I have a word with Ha- Ooh, puppy!"

'Not in any world,' Percy summed up, 'Would I call that a puppy.'

They had found Cerberus. A giant rottweiler with three heads crouched down on the floor, ghosts having to squeeze around his girth or under his paws to get through, blocking the pathway forward. One of his heads looked up, sniffing the air shortly, before six beady eyes were focused directly on them. Nico's puppy growled something.

Grover helpfully translated. "We have ten seconds before he kills us."

A second later, the satyr paused and added. "The blonde one, the goat and the boy who smells like water anyway. The other two will be fine."

Annabeth's pale eyebrows rose and a second later, an accusing glare was directed at Percy. The Son of Poseidon merely sent a hangdog expression back. 'Why is it always me?'

Nico frowned. "Well that's not nice."

He tried to take a step forward and realized that Percy had one hand firmly attached to his and no intentions of letting go. Instead, it was Bianca's turn to do something suicidal.

A perfectly friendly smile pasted on her lips, the Italian girl cooed to the rottweiler. "Aren't you an adorable little puppy. You don't want to hurt our friends, do you?"

The look on Cerberus' faces conveyed that he would not be adverse to that idea, no.

'I'm surrounded by self-suical morons,' Percy briefly mused. 'Now I know how Annabeth feels.'

He was about to uncap Riptide and take their chances when Bianca's mouth opened again and a song flowed out. "Non piangere cagnolino. Vogliamo solo passare attraverso. Noi non ti faremo del male.
Non che si può, e 'molto più grande di noi, e si dispone di grandi denti troppo."

Much to everyone's shock, the song seemed to work. Slowly one head and then another had its eyes slowly drip close as Bianca stepped even closer and continued her soft, accented alto. The Italian looked over, a smirk on her face. "Mio fratello ha una cotta per un ragazzo con gli occhi verdi di mare. Lui non sa come dirlo. La sua cotta non è molto luminoso."

When the melody was done and Cerberus was fully asleep, Bianca looked back at them, justifiably proud. Annabeth was impressed. Grover was awed. Percy was self-congratulating himself for bringing the di Angelos on their journey. Nico just kicked her.

"Ow! Nico!" Bianca hopped on one foot but it didn't wipe the grin on her face.

"Oh, shut up!" The red-faced boy tossed back as he tightened his grip on Percy's hand and dragged them forward. "Let's just go visit Hades already."

They passed the Asphodel Fields and Elysium. The former was massive, swampy and dismal, even by Underworld standards, with twisted, gnarled black trees and gates of barbed wire. It was populated by people wandering aimlessly, not that they could move much with the crush of bodies around them, with distant eyes, unknowing, unseeing, lifeless and gone. At the very edges of Percy's view were the Fields of Punishment, its rivers of lava gleaming a viridiscient orange-red splash of color in an otherwise dark and dismal field.

The other side of their route held Elysium. It was like any gated community in the upper world except that the houses ranged from medieval castles to Roman villas to Victorian mansions to modern-day skyscrapers. How a skyscraper could exist in a cavern, Percy didn't know, but it extended high up into the air, further than his gaze could follow, into a sky blue ceiling. There were far less people here but they were laughing and enjoying themselves. None of them appeared to notice the scraggly demigods inching past them, though Percy looked hard on each one they passed. If his mother had died, if Aries had lied to him, she would be here. There was no way that Sally Jackson, the kindest woman he'd ever known, would have been sent anywhere else but here.

'She's not here.' A sense of relief filled him when a curly brunette with heterochromatic eyes didn't make herself present. He didn't fool himself into thinking that it meant Aries was correct- his mother could have been inside one of the villas, for all he knew- but it meant there was still a chance.

"Percy, look!" Grover's hushed whisper draws his attention up to where the harpies are flying amidst the obsidian towers of Hades' castle.

"Who's that?" Nico asked, tugging on his hand. Percy's groaned answer of 'my algebra teacher' elicited another amazed look. "Can I go to your school?"

"Probably shouldn't. I got expelled," the demigod answered. "Also, how did you possibly survive for so long with that for a sense of self-preservation?"

"My fault," Bianca was glib. "Keeping him alive is troublesome but he's also the only brother I've got."

"Sound reason- AH!" Grover's words fell into a shriek as the shoes on his feet sprouted wings and began to flap. The satyr fell backwards, banging his head harshly on the floor as the shoes rocked forward and down a side tunnel none had noticed yet.

"Grover!" Overlapping screams of their friend's name was followed by a multitude of feet running over to the curly-haired, horned boy. Percy released Nico's hand, uncapping Riptide and throwing a soft golden glow amidst their procession. Annabeth reached out, as if to grab at Grover's feet but he was moving too fast and too high for her to get a good grip.

"Take them off!" She ordered.

"I- I can't! I'm moving too fast!"

"Wiggle your feet," Nico shouted, as Bianca added, "Hold your hands down!"

They were nearly past the dim tunnel now, the rocky edifice opening up to a huge chasm the size of a city block. Percy didn't have a chance to take a better look as Bianca moved away from their party, running up to a plateaued rock that jutted out almost like a ramp, swiftly crossing on lotus-embossed sneakers and then throwing her body into the air. Nico screamed.

"Got you!" Bianca's triumphant shout came soon after her hands connected to Grover's outstretched ones, the sudden onset of additional weight causing the shoes to veer out of control and plummet downwards. The satyr continued wildly kicking his feet, one sneaker flying off entirely and heading directly into the cavern.

By then the others reached them and Nico threw his body over Grover, who was over Bianca, leading to an annoyed grunt by his sister. Annabeth reached directly for the last shoe, still flapping defiantly despite the impossible weight now, and untied it. Percy stood in front of them, chilled to the bone as familiar, ancient, dark whispers came from the cavern below.

"Tartarus," Nico whispered lowly from behind him.

As the word echoed in the impossibly large cavern, the whispers seemed to grow louder and more agitated. Percy gulped. "We need to go."

"Now," Annabeth agreed, pulling Grover to his feet. "Come on!"

As they ran back out of the tunnel, the chasm seemed to have taken a deep inhale, intending to pull them back. His shoulder blades aching suddenly, as though a heavy weight was now on his back, Percy ran until his ribs ached, until there were stitches at his side and his breath came out in heavy pants. When he saw that they were back on the main pathway, Percy moved closer to his friends, subconsciously noticing that all of the demigods had the same idea. They huddled together, Nico's warm hands clutching his shirt, while Bianca's elbow at his side, Annabeth's elbow in his shoulder and Grover's knee overlapping his.

A deep, shaky breath came out from the dark-eyed Italian demigoddess. "That was… not good."

"No, it wasn't," Annabeth looked troubled. "They told me he was sleeping. He was supposed to be sleeping!"

Percy wanted to ask who 'he' was- though the Son of Poseidon thought he knew at this point- when Nico interjected. "What I want to know is why Grover's sneakers turned evil."

"Turned evil?" Grover paled. "No. No, that can't be right."

"They were pulling you into a pit of darkness, bro," Nico said gravely. "Sounds like evil to me."

"The sneakers were from a friend," Annabeth said quietly. "They must have malfunctioned."

"That was an oddly specific malfunction to have," the di Angelo boy noted. He had pulled himself free of the group hug but one hand was still firmly clutching Percy's dirty and torn shirt. "To lead you directly into Tartarus."

"Whatever was inside of Tartarus must have affected it," Annabeth's tone was dangerously cold. "Since the sneakers were from a friend."

"Of course," Bianca cut in, voice soothing and steady. "Let us move on. Hades castle is just up ahead."

Percy wouldn't claim to understand the entirety of the undercurrents exchanged here but he wasn't so blind that he didn't notice Bianca moving closer to him and Nico as well. The two di Angelo siblings were spooked. He didn't know why but he had the distinct impression that he had been delegated to the role of protector by them.

The foreign, whispery, feminine voice that had recently taken residence inside his head whispered that this would be an excellent time to bestow a 'kiss of reassurance'. Percy balked. Bianca was a nice girl and the voice had been eerily helpful thus far, but whatever deity was taking pity on him was far off the mark here.

Far from Hades' realm, inside her quarters at Olympus, Aphrodite facepalmed.

Looking almost offended, Annabeth turned and marched the rest of the way to Hades' castles. They crossed a garden of glowing pomegranate trees with fruits as plump as his fist and a brilliant ruby red hue. Statues from Medusa's Emporium stood sentinel in a wave of black grass and skeleton soldiers dressed in tattered and bloody uniforms guarded the door. Percy looked at them nervously but they didn't make any motion towards the demigods.

The doors silently swung open. They were about to meet Hades, Lord of the Underworld.

'And,' the thought inexplicably came to him, 'The God likely to be Nico's father.'

x

Translation: [1] Do not cry, little dog. We just want to go through. We will not hurt you. Not that we can, you are much bigger than us and you have big teeth too.

[2] My brother has a crush on a boy with sea green eyes. He does not know how to say it. His crush is not very bright.

I have a lot of half-written chapters and minor excerpts lying around, so in the interest of clearing out my files, I'm completing and posting them. This is the one for In Shadowed Eyes.