Percy Jackson Son of Hera and Zeus [BEING REWRITTEN]

A trip across the Styx

Percy POV:

It was around midnight, but the lobby was brightly lit and full of people. Behind the security desk sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece. I turned to the others and said "Let me handle this." 

Before I finished the sentence James rushed into the DOA lobby. We all rushed after him in an attempt to stop him from getting us all killed, when we entered we heard Muzak playing on hidden speakers. The carpet and walls were steel grey. Pencil cases grew in the corner like skeleton hands. There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people starting out the windows or waiting for the elevator. Nobody moved, or talked, or did much of anything.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them all just fine, but if I focused on any one of them in particular, they started looking . . . transparent, I could see right through their bodies. I guess that's what happens when you die I'd hate it if I died while eating a cheeseburger you might see all the little pieces inside my stomach. 

The security guard's desk was a raised podium, so we had to look up at him. He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-colored skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver nametag.

I looked beside the desk and saw James and just before I could but in I hear him say "You, Mr. Chiron, I demand you let me through I'm on a quest for Olympius!"

The man leaned across the desk, and I swear you couldn't see anything in those glasses except your own reflection, he smiled at James it was sweet and cold and it made a shiver go down my spine even though I knew it wasn't directed at me.

Before anything else could happen the Di Angelos kicked James to the ground and I went over to the man and said: "Sorry, Mr. Charon sir, my friend over there is a bit crazy forgot to take his meds you see."

Charon looked at me as if he was sizing me up and as I tensed him in suspense he chuckled. "Theirs a good little lad, now what are you four little demigods doing here when you're not dead?"

James went up to say something before Bianca put her dagger at his throat as if daring him to say something, "Mr. Charon sir, we have something to deliver to Hades we heard it was stolen, we found it while we were on our quest."

Charon looked interested but all of a sudden his eyes darted towards the Di Angelo siblings, "Well, the boat is almost full I guess you four could come and we'll be off." He said

He stood up and said, "Come along."

We pushed through the crowd of waiting spirits, who started grabbing at our clothes like the wind, their voices whispering things I couldn't make out. Charon shoved them out of the way, grumbling, "Freeloaders." 

He escorted us into the elevator, which was already crowded with souls of the dead, each one holding a green boarding pass. Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to get on with us and pushed them back into the lobby. "Right. Now, no one gets any ideas while I'm gone," he announced to the waiting room. "And if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?"

He shut the doors. He put a key card into a slot in the elevator panel and we started to descend. I got a sudden dizzy feeling. We weren't going down anymore but forward. The air turned misty. Spirits around me started changing shape. Their modern clothes flickered, turning into grey hooded robes. The floor of the elevator began swaying.

I blinked hard. When I opened my eyes, Charon's creamy Italian suit had been replaced by a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses were gone. Where his eyes should've been were empty sockets - like Ares's eyes, except Charon's were totally dark, full of night and death and despair.

When I looked over to Nico and Bianca I saw that they were less tense than before, they looked more comfortable as if they were right at home. The floor kept swaying when James said "I'm going to be sea sick!" 

I heard Nico mutter "Serves him right" and chuckled, I blinked, and then the elevator transformed into a wooden barge. Charon was poling us across a dark, oily river, swirling with bones dead fish, and other, stranger things - plastic dolls, crushed carnations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges. "The River Styx" I muttered. 

"Why is it so . . ." Bianca whispered

"Polluted," Charon said "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you come across - hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."

Mist curled off the filthy water. Above us, almost lost in the gloom, was a ceiling of stalactites. Ahead, the far shore glimmered with greenish light, the color of poison. 

Nico and Bianca looked like they were somehow enjoying the feeling of the underworld, I understood that they must feel like they belong here being the offspring of a death god but I grabbed one of their hands just for reassurance that someone else was alive on the boat.

The shoreline of the Underworld came into view. Craggy rocks and black volcanic sand stretched inland about fifty meters to the base of a high stone wall, which marched off in either direction as far as we could see. A sound came from somewhere nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones - the howl of a large animal. "Old three face is hungry, usually, that would be a problem but for you lot I qnd the lad I'd recommend removing your hand from the lady there before you reach Hades."

I turned to look at Bianca with a blush decorating her olive-pale cheeks before removing my hand from hers feeling heat rush up my own. We followed the spirits up a well-worn path.

"Let's do this" I muttered.