This Dark Night ― Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase¹

―xviii. flying by the belt-loop of her pants

NAOMI WAS FLYING BY THE SEAT OF HER PANTS. No, not even the seat of her pants—she was flying by a freaking belt-loop.

Cerberus peered down at her, making no move to attack, which was just about the only good thing Naomi had going for her.

"Good boy," Naomi said, her voice still shaky. If Cerberus could smell her fear, he didn't make any show of it. "Now... I need you to let my friends and I pass."

Cerberus whimpered, sounding confused. He cocked his heads to the side, which might have been kind of adorable if he wasn't the size of a building.

"Uh, Nay... he's not convinced," Grover spoke up. 

Naomi chewed on her lip. A plan started to form in her mind—the roughest of rough drafts, but it was still something. "Um... Cerberus, how... how would you like a friend to play with?"

Cerberus tilted his heads to the other side. He barked, and the sound caused a mini-earthquake.

"He likes the sound of that," Grover translated weakly. "Um... do you have a friend in mind, Nay?"

"Maybe," she answered. She was half-convinced the plan wouldn't work, and not only would she have signed her and her friends' death warrants, but it would also be really embarrassing.

Please let this work.

She put two fingers in her mouth and whistled as loudly and sharply as she could. The sound echoed in the open air.

"Please, please, please, please," she chanted under her breath.

It was silent for what felt like forever, but couldn't have been more than a few seconds. Naomi's shoulders dropped in defeat—nothing was happening. Her plan was stupid, of course that wouldn't work, how could she expect her to—

Another bark sounded from behind her, and an unstoppable smile spread across Naomi's face as she turned.

"Skia!" she called. "Here, girl!"

The beast that had saved Naomi from the Cyclopes and brought her to Camp Half-Blood leaped over Naomi's companions' heads, landing at Naomi's side with her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

Skia barked again, licking the side of Naomi's face.

"Good girl!" Naomi praised, hugging the hellhound's neck. "Good girl!"

Trying to stifle her grin, she returned her attention back to the three-headed beast still looming over her. "Cerberus, this—this is my friend, Ski—"

Two of Cerberus's heads barked excitedly, the other nipping harmlessly at Skia's ear. Skia barked as well, clearly just as excited, and tried to pounce on Cerberus's left head. She missed, but she popped back up, barking happily.

"They know each other," Grover explained, gulping. "Old friends."

"So... what now?" Percy asked.

Skia sprinted toward the ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines, scattering spirits and ghouls alike. Naomi worried for a moment Cerberus would stay to keep guarding the doors, but he chased after Skia almost immediately.

"Now, we go," Annabeth said. "EZ DEATH line—it's faster."

They made it through the line almost completely without incident.

And then they passed through the metal detectors.

The machine immediately screamed and set off flashing red lights. "Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"

Behind them, Cerberus started to bark.

They burst through the EZ DEATH gate, which started even more alarms blaring, and raced into the Underworld.