Drake Ray- Descendant of Lycaon

XII

"Okay, now we're near the Hollywood sign, where's the entrance?" Drake asked.
"We have to look around for DOA Recording Studios, that's where the entrance ACTUALLY is." Grover replied.
"And where's that?"
"Someplace around here..."
Kayla gave Grover a sceptical look. "You don't remember?"
"Of course not! It's been ten years!"
"But you remember the name of the studio?" Drake raised an eyebrow.
"Why are we even wasting time on this? Let's get on with searching for it!"

They went around for ten minutes before reaching an empty store in front of them. The sign was destroyed, but they could see some matrices and beds inside. Grover's eyes went wide. "Di immortales!"
Kayla jumped back because of the sudden outburst. "What happened?"
"I remember this shop! They used to sell matrices here!"
"Well, no doy! We can see that!" Drake scowled.
"No, no! You don't get it, it wasn't a normal human being, there was a monster. I don't remember his name. He made Annabeth and me lay on the matrices, and tied us with ropes trying to tear our bodies apart by stretching it to the max."
"Jesus! That's horrible!"
Grover and Kayla looked at Drake with a frown. He looked confused for a moment until he understood what he had done. "Oops, sorry. I'm still not used to Greek gods and all, you know..." The sky boomed, with a lightning strike just next to where he was standing.
Kayla sighed. "And you made Zeus mad. Come on, let's find the studio."

After five more minutes, they were standing in front of the entrance of DOA Recording Studios. Inside, there was a huge queue of people who looked strange and there were also many just sitting on the sofas or the floor.
"So many people in a studio? I wonder why."
The satyr rolled his eyes. "They're all dead, Drake. They're waiting for their time to enter the Underworld."
"Oh. Gotcha."
Grover stepped front and opened the door, they all entered.
"Whoa..." Drake and Kayla gaped. They were in a lobby, which had quite a few doors.
The doors said: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING. There was music playing in the background, the sort of music which bored you to death. The carpet and walls in the lobby were steel gray. There was black leather furniture all around. Raised on a podium was a middle aged man wearing a white suit with sunglasses. Behind the podium was an elevator.
They walked towards the podium and looked at the man. He was wearing a name tag, which read: CHARON.
"Hello again, Charon." Grover greeted. Drake was momentarily confused as to why he had said again, until he remembered this was the second time he was visiting the studio.
Charon looked up. "Ah, who do we have here? Two demigods and a satyr." Then he looked at Grover and raised an eyebrow. "Wait, haven't you been here already?"
"Umm, yes, I have. Ten-"
"Years ago, I remember."
"How? That was a long time ago!"
"That's because you guys had kept your promise. After your meeting with Hades, you will not believe how much of increment he gave. Five times the normal amount! Once upon a time, I hardly had money to buy ONE suit, now I have a whole wardrobe. I couldn't thank you then, so I'll do it now. Thank you." He held out his hand for a shake.
Grover was stunned for a second and took the hand. "Wow, that's... Amazing! I'm happy for you."
"Me too. Well, who are your new friends? Where the old ones?"
Grover's expression went sour. "Well, that's what we came here for."
"What do you mean?" Charon asked.
Grover retold everything, from Percy disappearing to the drakon incident. Drake didn't understand why he had to tell all of that, wasn't stating the problem enough?
After hearing everything, Charon just nodded slowly. "Okay, then. I believe you. Since you kept your promise last time, I will take you to the Doors now, without any payment."
"What payment?" Drake asked.
Charon looked at him, with a frown. "A newbie, I see. Well, boy, to enter the Underworld, each soul must pay something- a drachma or even modern money. If a soul doesn't pay, it doesn't get express service and needs to wait here, in the lobby, until the free ride opens. The souls which you see here," Charon gestured towards the whole lobby. "The newest ones are just an hour old, but the oldest ones go upto two centuries." He then pointed towards a man in military uniform, but it wasn't from recent. "He's here from World War Two?" Kayla asked.
"Worse, the First one."
"Good gods!"
"Yes. So you see, no matter how good of a hero you are, you must pay before entering." Drake nodded, thinking about what and how he would pay when he died.
"Let us not waste time. Follow me." They pushed through the crowd of waiting spirits, who started grabbing at their clothes, their voices whispering things Drake could not quite figure. Charon shoved them out of the way, grumbling, "Freeloaders." He escorted the three into the elevator, which was already crowded with souls of the dead, each one holding a green boarding pass.
"Right. Now, no one get 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 they started to descend.
"Charon, what does DOA stand for?" Drake inquired.
"Dead On Arrival, boy." After that, they were all embraced by awkward silence.