𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙗 | 𝙥. 𝙟𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙨𝙤𝙣

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For obvious reasons (or not), Astrid never would have thought of the idea to ride a taxi from Vegas to L.A. But Annabeth did and that's where they were now; en route to the Underworld. She didn't even want to think about the gas prices with that distance.

Although, in the beginning, the driver was understandably wary if they could pay or not, but with a quick swipe of Annabeth's LotusCash card and a promise to keep the change with its infinity dollars, they quickly sped through the Mojave Desert.

Their conversation on the way was dark, to say the least, literally. Astrid thought it was unironic considering their destination.

Percy filled them in on his latest dream, but the details got sketchier the more he tried to remember them. The Lotus Casino seemed to be messing with his memory. He couldn't recall what the invisible servant's voice had sounded like, though he was sure it was somebody he knew.

"The Silent One?" Annabeth suggested. "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades."

"Maybe ..." Percy said, unsure.

"That throne room sounds like Hades's," Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."

"Surely, Hades can't be the only god with a dark throne room?" Astrid wondered out loud.

Percy shook his head. "Something's wrong. The throne room wasn't the main part of the dream. And that voice from the pit ... I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice."

Annabeth's eyes widened.

"What?" He asked.

"Oh ... nothing. I was just—No, it has to be Hades. Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong—"

"Like what?"

"I—I don't know," she said. "But if he stole Zeus's symbol of power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things could go wrong. So this thief had to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."

Annabeth went on with her theories, getting paler by the second.

"But if I'd already retrieved the bolt," Percy said, "why would I be travelling to the Underworld?"

"To threaten Hades," Grover suggested. "To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."

Percy let out a low whistle. "You have evil thoughts for a goat."

"Why, thank you."

"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for two items," He said. "If the master bolt is one, what's the other?"

Grover shook his head, clearly mystified.

Astrid and Annabeth shared a look, both unwilling to speak their thoughts out loud.