Child of Hades {Interactive Story} (PJO/HOO/TOA)

SIX: Choice Two

 CHAPTER SIX: CHOICE TWO

Hades stood ten-feet tall in black silk robes that glimmered with moving faces. He looked down at me with a pursed-lipped frown, black slick hair the opposite of his porcelain skin. He had a golden braided crown adorned on his head, and though he was kind of scrawny, I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that told me he should be calling the shots. I shook my head, that must've been a god thing, because when I looked at Zeus, equally as tall but more masculine, with a salt-and-pepper beard and stern blue eyes, I felt the same aura of power.

"Help you?" I raised an eyebrow. I didn't know what I'd just walked into, but I couldn't stop staring at him. My dad. The god of death. I heard footsteps, some demigods had followed me in to see if I was a charred Y/N-skebab.

Zeus looked at Hades and shrugged. "Problem solved."

"Thanks for all your help, brother." Hades bit. With the same hot-headedness, he turned back to me. "Y/N, there's something wrong in the Underworld. The River Lethe was poisoned on Monday. Do you know what that means?"

I heard Matt suck in a breath of air behind me, unmistakably him.

I shook my head.

Hades looked at me like I should have known. I flinched when he raised a hand. He snapped, and the room around me fell away - the white marble, Zeus, the demigods behind me, even Hades disappeared until I was alone in the middle of nothing, just blackness. I swallowed hard, and lifted my sleeve, pressing harshly into my wound.

As soon as I did, the world lit up with such intensity I had to shield my eyes before they could adjust. When I dropped the hand in front of my face, I clenched my jaw. Before me ran a milky white river, weaving through a large and open field in what I could only describe as a cavern. Dotted along the shore on either side were hundreds of poppies, red and vibrant in contrast to the white water.

"The River Lethe is the river of forgetfulness," Hades whispered in my ears. "The souls who are neither good nor bad, but neutral, drink from the Lethe before they can reside in the Fields of Asphodel. This is so they cannot remember their past life. Heroes who choose rebirth must also drink from its waters. On Monday, a demigod appeared..."

I watched a shadowy figure approach the Lethe, and open a vial no bigger than my ring finger. He poured its purplish green contents into the water, which immediately bubbled to a dirty grey colour. The poppies around the water shrivelled up and died. I wondered how such little formula could do something so drastic, but then again, Hades was my dad. Anything was possible. The figure stood, and headed towards a big obsidian palace in the distance.

"He poisoned the Lethe, and with a sword forged from four metals attacked my palace while I was distracted. I begged Zeus to assist, but that arrogant king of the gods has never helped me, and he won't."

I blinked and we were back in the marble palace of Zeus.

"The souls of Asphodel can't forget their lives, and while I try to fix my problem, they are escaping from the Underworld - despite my best defences." Hades continued. "I cannot fix the Lethe and keep the spirits at bay, so I require help. The longer this drags on, the more risk of the souls returning to loved ones. It's only a matter of time before the mortals begin to see them. You have until the twenty-first until the dead take over the living. You will help. Tomorrow morning, you will come to the Underworld armed with your best weapons, and you alone will find out what is wrong with the Lethe and fix it."

I paused, then casually stepped closer to the angry god, standing beside another angry god. "You want me to — me, alone, to — hang on, I can't do that."

"You must," Zeus said, "and maybe then Hades will stop approaching me in my palace."

"If you helped from time to time, I wouldn't be here at all!" Hades turned to his brother. Zeus furrowed his brows, and I could tell they were about to brawl again.

"I'm schizophrenic," I added, and the two turned to glare at me.

"She can't go alone," I heard Caleb agree from behind me. I was surprised, after the whole Francine-incident he was the last person I expected to A) stick up for me, and B) stick up for me to not one, but two gods.

Hades waved a hand aside like he wanted the conversation to move along. "You are my child. I don't want nuisances running around the Underworld; I already have enough problems."

I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn't find the words. Me, a schizophrenic who wasn't allowed a weapon, was only just starting to learn about monsters, didn't know much about the Underworld or weird green-purple poisons and how to cure them...

"Um... No?" I said meekly. "I really can't do this alone."

Hades furrowed his brows, and stared at me like I'd punched him in the face - not that I could reach his face from here. I swallowed, and heard demigods behind me take an audible step back.

"You can not say no to me." Hades replied.

I'd decided I didn't want to fight monsters. Now? Now I was deciding I didn't want to fight gods. As I stared at him, I felt a familiar weight on my chest. I hadn't yet put two and two together. Hades, the god of the Underworld, the ruler of death. My mom. I knew from the legends that people couldn't be brought back from the Underworld. Knowing my mom, even if I could, she'd tell me it wasn't the right thing to do. But if I had to go to the Underworld... What was the harm in seeing my mom, one last time? Telling her I loved her?

"Okay." I said. Hades set his jaw, and nodded at me.

Zeus nodded, but his angry expression didn't falter. "Good. Now get out of my palace. I have half a mind to cancel your pesky trips to Olympus all together."

Eleo steered us out, muttering about how bad a mood he was in because of Hades, immediately followed by a whispered "Don't smite me,".

~

"I told you something was off." Matt told me immediately as we continued the tour. "In my cabin - why I couldn't sleep. I knew it was something with the Lethe; we have a small fountain of it. It stopped flowing. I didn't know what was up..."

"And it's been like that since Monday?" I asked. He nodded. I thought it was funny how Monday had been my worst break in a while, and how it had also been a bad day in the Underworld. Then I wondered how I could possibly do something like this on my own. No weapon, I was a schizophrenic...

Simon caught up to us. "You can't go on this quest alone."

I sighed. "I know."

Simon frowned at me. Matt frowned at me. What were we going to do?

"Will Chiron let me go?" I asked.

"You were given a quest from a god." Simon said. "Chiron won't like it, but he has no choice."

"I'll admit, I don't like it either" Matt agreed.

I thought hard. Hades certainly wouldn't let me die — I faltered. Like he'd let my mom die. I shook my head. That wasn't his fault. The Underworld was his domain. I could do this alone, he'd protect me. I was sure of it.

"Let's just talk to Chiron when we get back." Matt offered. I nodded, and put my headphones in. We made our way back to the white Delphi Strawberry co. vans.

I was almost sure of it.