craving |PERCY JACKSON| [book 1] UNDER EDITING

XXXIV

SELENA HELD PERCY'S hand as they walked through the Fields of Asphodel. Everything was depressing and cramped. After a few miles of walking, the four kids began to hear a familiar screech in the distance. Looming on the horizon was a palace of glittering black obsidian. Above the parapets swirled three dark batlike creatures: the Furies. She had the feeling they were waiting for them.

"I suppose it's too late to turn back," Grover said wistfully.

"We'll be okay." Percy said,  trying to sound confident.

"Maybe we should search some of the other places first," Grover suggested. "Like, Elysium, for instance ..."

"Come on, goat boy." Annabeth grabbed his arm.

Grover yelped. His sneakers sprouted wings and his legs shot forward, pulling him away from Annabeth. He landed flat on his back in the grass.

"Grover," Annabeth chided and rolled her eyes, "Stop messing around."

"But I didn't-" He yelped again. His shoes were flapping like crazy now. They levitated off the ground and started dragging him away from the demi-gods.

"Maia!" he yelled, but the magic word seemed to have no effect. "Maia, already! Nine-one-one! Help!"

They got over being stunned and made a grab for Grover's hand, but it was too late. He was picking up speed, skidding downhill like a bobsled.

They ran after him. Annabeth shouted, "Untie the shoes!"

It was a smart idea, but it's not so easy when your shoes are pulling you along feetfirst at full speed. Grover tried to sit up, but he couldn't get close to the laces.

They kept after him, trying to keep him in sight as he ripped between the legs of spirits who chattered at him in annoyance.

Selena was sure Grover was going to barrel straight through the gates of Hades's palace, but his shoes veered sharply to the right and dragged him in the opposite direction.

The slope got steeper. Grover picked up speed. The three demigods had to sprint to keep up. The cavern walls narrowed on either side, and they realized they'd entered some kind of side tunnel. No black grass or trees now, just rock underfoot, and the dim light of the stalactites above.

"Grover!" Percy yelled, his voice echoing. "Hold on to something!"

"What?" he yelled back. He was grabbing at gravel, but there was nothing big enough to slow him down.

The tunnel got darker and colder. The hairs on Percy's arm bristled. It smelled evil down here. It made him think of things he shouldn't even know about-blood spilled on an ancient stone altar, the foul breath of a murderer.

Then they saw what was ahead of them made them stop in their tracks.

The tunnel widened into a huge dark cavern, and in the middle was a chasm the size of a city block.

Grover was sliding straight toward the edge. "Come on, Percy!" Selena yelled, tugging at his wrist.

 "But that's-"

"I know!" she shouted. "The place you described in your dream! But Grover's going to fall if we don't catch him." She was right, of course. Grover's predicament had him moving again.

He was yelling, clawing at the ground, but the winged shoes kept dragging him toward the pit, and it didn't look like they could possibly get to him in time.

What saved him were his hooves.

The flying sneakers had always been a loose fit on him, and finally, Grover hit a big rock and the left shoe came flying off. It sped into the darkness, down into the chasm. The right shoe kept tugging him along, but not as fast. Grover was able to slow himself down by grabbing on to the big rock and using it as an anchor.

He was ten feet from the edge of the pit when the three caught him and hauled him back up the slope. The other winged shoe tugged itself off, circled around them angrily and kicked their heads in protest before flying off into the chasm to join its twin.

They all collapsed, exhausted, on the obsidian gravel.  Grover was scratched up pretty bad. His hands were bleeding. His eyes had gone slit-pupiled, goat style, the way they did whenever he was terrified.

"I don't know how .." he panted. "I didn't..."

"Wait," Percy interrupted, "Listen. "

They heard something, a deep whisper in the darkness. After another few seconds and Annabeth said, "Percy, this place-"

"Shh." He stood and Selena soon followed, not likeing the look in his eyes. The sound was getting louder, a muttering, evil voice from far, far below them. Coming from the pit.

Grover sat up. "Wh-what's that noise?"

Annabeth heard it too, now. Selena could see it in her eyes. "Tartarus. The entrance to Tartarus." Percy said before he uncapped Anaklusmos.

The bronze sword expanded, gleaming in the darkness, and the evil voice seemed to falter, just for a moment, before resuming its chant.

They could almost make out words now, ancient, ancient words, older even than Greek. As if ...

"Magic," Selena whispered.

"We have to get out of here, " Annabeth said.

Together, they dragged Grover to his hooves and started back up the tunnel. But Percy's legs wouldn't move fast enough. His backpack weighed him down. The voice got louder and angrier behind them, and they broke into a run.

Not a moment too soon.

A cold blast of wind pulled at their backs as if the entire pit were inhaling. For a terrifying moment, Percy lost ground, his feet slipping in the gravel. If they had been any closer to the edge, they would've been sucked in.

The four kept struggling forward, and finally reached the top of the tunnel, where the cavern widened out into the Fields of Asphodel. The wind died. A wail of outrage echoed from deep in the tunnel. Something was not happy they had gotten away.

"What was that?" Grover panted when they had collapsed in the relative safety of a black poplar grove. "One of Hades's pets?"

Annabeth and Percy looked at each other. He could tell she was nursing an idea, probably the same one she'd gotten during the taxi ride to L. A., but she was too scared to share it. That was enough to terrify him.

Percy capped his sword, put the pen back in his pocket. "Let's keep going." He looked at Grover. "Can you walk?"

He swallowed. "Yeah, sure. I never liked those shoes, anyway."

He tried to sound brave about it, but he was trembling as badly as the others were. Whatever was in that pit was nobody's pet. It was unspeakably old and powerful. Even Echidna hadn't given Selena that feeling. She was almost relieved to turn my back on that tunnel and head toward the palace of Hades.