Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Book Six
“The Dark Olympians”
Chapter Six: Welcome to the
Underworld—I mean,
If
you’ve never been to
We
parked about a block away from police headquarters, which looked more like a
fortress than a station. We walked through metal detectors and passed gangsters
who watched us too closely for comfort as we headed toward the counter. It was
weird, though. Packed into the station were hundreds of beings, people looking
tired and desperate and sad. They crowded in the seating area, in the
bathrooms, and even behind the bulletproof glass, where an officer sat. They
seemed separate and desolate compared to ones sitting in the chairs with their
hands handcuffed behind their backs.
“They’re…dead,”
Nico said, and one snagged his sleeve.
“My
lord, please. Help us! Help us get to the Underworld!” an elderly female cried.
She tugged and tugged at Nico, even as he tried to
disengage.
Another
came forward, seizing the hood of Nico’s sweatshirt.
“My lord, I’ve been waiting longer than he!”
“And
I don’t belong here,” a third claimed. “Help me get home.”
“What
about me? I was protecting a friend! I should—”
“—get
back where you belong!” A twenty-something man with a backwards hat stepped
forward. “I deserve out of here, man. I’ve lived in this sick town my whole
life!”
“Hey, hey, hey!” Luke swatted the ghosts away from Nico and placed himself in front of the kid. “Back off, all
right?”
Thalia, Annabeth, and I made a
circle around Nico, keeping the spirits at bay.
Nico placed a hand on my arm. “No, they’re like the
seahorses who come to you for help.”
“Yeah,
well, the horses usually don’t grope me.”
Nico pushed past Thalia and Luke, and put his hands up. “First,
no touching of the sweatshirt, okay? I got this from Hot Topic. Second,
what are you all doing here? Why aren’t you crossing over in
“There’s
no one to move them, what with Charon abandoning his
post,” the officer behind the bulletproof glass interjected. I turned to see
him reading what appeared to be Hellraiser comic book and sipping black coffee. “Damn Dark
Gods.”
Luke
took point. “We’re here to see the commissioner.”
“No
one sees the commissioner unless you’re a city official, shot and bleeding, or
dead.”
Nice
fellow. I pushed Luke out of the way and leaned my elbow on the counter. “You
want a thousand tons of the
The
man spat out his coffee and glared directly at me. “Half-bloods?”
“Not
just that, Tenebrae,” an officer came from behind the
first one, wearing an impossibly black suit and tie. He had a hard face with
graying hair and stern eyes. He had a scar down his left cheek, reminding me of
Luke, and a scary smile. “We are honored to have Percy Jackson and his friends
here in
We
were buzzed in immediately and led up a flight of stairs. When we were pushed
into the office, I felt the heat of a fire as strong and overwhelming as that
of the Underworld, and behind the desk sat the complete opposite of Thanatos. Where the Greek God of Death was young and
handsome, this man was thick with a tough face and sunken, dark eyes. Massive
rings hugged his fingers like a godfather of a mob. He stared each of us down
before his gruff voice grounded out, “So you are the pride and joy of the
Olympians, aren’t you?”
Why
did it sound like he was accusing us of something? “I wouldn’t go that far,
sir, but I’m—”
“Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon. Yes, I am aware.”
Luke
crossed his arms. “Then you know why we’re here,
“Mors?” the man laughed and motioned toward the suited man
who let us in. “My assistant is
Okay,
Greek gods are hard to deal with, but now we have to work with the Roman ones,
too? I was getting a headache.
Annabeth, thankfully, had more tact with gods than me. “My
lord, we’re here on an important quest to the Underworld, and we need your
assistant’s help.”
She
explained about the prophecy and the Doors of Death, and Pluto listened
quietly, his eyes never moving from her face.
“So,
we need to know where the Doors are and how to get passed them.”
Pluto
knotted his fingers upon his desk and met her sternly. “What do I get out of
it?”
“You have a transportation problem.” Nico leaned against Pluto’s desk with an easy smirk. “So, you need to get these souls to the Underworld, and we need to get past the Doors of Death. Why don’t we make a deal?”
Pluto narrowed his eyes, and his desk chair creaked as he tilted back. “I’m listening.”
Nico matched all our eyes, and one by one, we nodded. He drew all the shadows from the Underworld around him to prove his place. “Thalia, Percy, and I rip open a new portal to the Underworld. Annabeth’s an architect. She can build a structure to keep it open, and Luke can fly the dead souls hanging around here.”
Luke already had taken a seat upon the floor and opened the bag I saw what Hermes had given him. Winged sneakers fluttered in the air.
I met Thalia’s intense gaze and nodded. This was doable. Not bad, Nico.
Pluto creaked forward in his chair. “Make it happen, and we’ll talk.”
I didn’t like the half-promise there, but it was as good as we were going to get. We headed outside, and Luke looked about dirty and decrepit city. “Okay, Nico, now how do we do this?”
Nico wasn’t paying much attention to us. He already headed down the street, his eyes narrowed and crooked, looking like a drug dealer trying to hide his stash. We followed behind, Annabeth making notes in her book about possible structures. Thalia and I brought up the rear, making sure no gangsters or slumlords tried to jump us.
When Nico stopped so abruptly, Luke slammed into him but failed to knock the kid over. “Hey, watch it!”
Nico didn’t even look perturbed. “Here,” he announced.
“Here?” I glanced about the area. “You sure?”
“Positive.”
Nico stood directly on the insignia of the New Jersey
Devils’ hockey team, bricked in the ground of what was
This was to be the new opening to the Underworld.
Annabeth wiped the dirt from the tiles. “We can crack open the ground to make a tunnel.” She stood and dusted off her hands, while looking about the area. “We can line the walls with the tiles for support until I can create a more permanent structure and ask the Hephaestus cabin to build it.”
“Um…but how are we going to hide it?” Thalia asked. “We just can’t leave a huge hole to the Underworld open. Mortals are bound to fall into it.”
Annabeth once more circled the area, her eyes resting on a structure not far from us. “The hockey player statute. We’ll use it as a cork.”
Well, that solved it. “One sick nasty tunnel to the Underworld coming up!”
The four demigods glared at me with open hostility. “What?”
“Why do you use that phrase?” Nico asked.
“Uh, because it’s totally the latest slang.”
“He thinks it makes him all cool,” Thalia replied, getting into position.
“I am cool,” I defended.
Annabeth kissed me on the cheek. “It’s okay, Percy. I’m already going out with you. No need to try to impress.”
Luke made kissing noises my way. “You can impress me, Percy.”
I elbowed him in the gut.
Thalia cracked her knuckles. “Here goes the neighborhood.”
One large punch, and she broke through the tiles. A second one, and she broke the surface of the Earth. Then, with her spear, she drew clouds from the sky, forming a small but powerful thunderstorm just above our heads. No doubt lightning would crack from the sky to the Earth in a few moments.
I added backup, coaxing water from
the nearby
A soft rumbling first sounded, like an earthquake or a large tidal wave. I turned to Nico. “Are we almost there?”
He shook his head. “No, not even close.”
Then, bursting through my water
screamed a figure all in dirt, dripping mud like it was sweat. Her features
were hard and angry, like we had awoken her from a restful sleep, but her dress
appeared more like a belle from the
“And just what do you think you five are doing to my terrain? It’s bad enough I get it from developers and construction crews. Now I have to be disturbed by demigods, too?”
I gulped. “I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to—”
“Well, now that excuses everything, doesn’t it?”
Why did I have the feeling it didn’t?
Annabeth curtseyed, despite wearing jeans and boots. “Goddess Gaia, we’re sorry to have disturbed you, but we’re in dire need of your help.”
“There’re better ways to ask for it.”
Gaia? As in, goddess of the earth? As in the mother of Antaeus, the brother I killed two years ago in the Labyrinth? Not good.
I slowly started to back away. Then, a tentacle of mud snapped like a whip and snatched my ankle, tugging me to the ground.
“You are very inconsiderate.” Gaia scolded, tsking at me. “This lovely girl and I were having a conversation, and you try to leave without so much as an ‘excuse me’? Who is your godly parent?”
I remained silent.
“Come on. Don’t be shy.”
“Uh, Poseidon, Goddess.”
“Poseidon?” She shook her head. “I’m going to talk to him about—” She stopped, and I watched as knowledge burned through her eyes. She slowly rotated toward me, her muddy features finding a way to retain their scorned expression. “You wouldn’t happen to be Percy Jackson, now would you?”
I just had to be, right? I nodded hesitantly.
She quickly whirled toward Nico. “You’re trying to build an entrance to the Underworld right here? I might as well let you finish, so I can throw this little whippersnapper into the fire myself!”
That was when I again proved what a brain surgeon I was.
I pulled from the pit of my stomach all the water I could, focusing it directly on Gaia herself. Under the pressure, her mud self dissolved and the ground weakened.
“Keep it going!” I ordered and dashed away from the hole, hoping to attract Gaia’s attention.
From the pots of the newly planted trees, she popped. “You can’t escape me, Percy Jackson!”
I swiped with Riptide, cutting her mud self in half, and dashed toward the river. It wasn’t great cover, but it was the best advantage I had.
I turned
the corner by Penn Station, about a block away from the
“Clarisse?! What are you—”
“The Dark Olympians bring forth what my father wants more than anything, Percy, and I have been drafted into an even better role than you.”
Gaia formed from the little dirt particles on the road and chortled. “Ah, the Makhai. I shall let them finish you off for me!”
With that, she retreated to a potted plant.
One problem solved…I think.
I clutched my sword tighter. “What’s going on, Clarisse? How could you just leave camp like that? We need you.”
Clarisse brayed. “Oh, come on, Percy. Don’t you know what’s most important to me? War. Each quest, each prophecy, each conflict is just another excuse for my father to be head of the Olympians, and now, I can help him achieve that as part of Makhai.”
Nico had been so worried that his father would turn, and he’d have to side with Hades. Instead, none of us realized the true nature of the Ares cabin—why they refused to join us at the war councils, even though they should have been leading our troops. Instead, Ares had joined the Dark Olympians to help spur the war, and now, we’d all pay.
“Clarisse, before you kill me, can I ask just one question?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Go ahead.”
“What the does ‘Makhai’ mean?”
Clarisse laughed again. “It means goddesses of battles and fights, Percy.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
I dashed around the corner.
I hardly heard Clarisse scream, “AFTER HIM!” before the first warrior sprang in front of me. It wasn’t one of the girls, as I expected, but actually a gangster. I checked him across the face with bunt of my sword and whirled, clashing my blade with Clarisse’s.
“You can’t win, Percy!”
The second girl warrior lunged, and I managed to disengage my sword and back flip as she flew by. I grunted as her sword sliced through my T-shirt and snatched a little skin.
The third came at me from behind, but I didn’t even notice until the attack was deflected by a bronze dagger. I glanced over my shoulder to see Annabeth there, standing back-to-back with me.
“What are you doing here?”
“Saving your life yet again, Seaweed Brain.”
I kicked another gangster away, and as the second warrior came at me again, Thalia’s spear sunk into her shoulder. “Luke’s already begun transport! We just need to hold up until he’s done!”
Easier said than done. The Makhai could spur others to fight, and gangsters came from the alleys, attacking us, throwing food at us, even spitting. Then, I saw a worse problem. Off to the side, I noticed a man in tight black jeans, a Kiss T-shirt, and slicked back hair. A soul patch clung to his chin, and he waved at me like I should know him.
Instinctively, I did. Moros—Fate. He had come to once more take Annabeth.
Not this time.
I whirled and saw Annabeth fighting with Clarisse, the two doing battle like only demigods could. I was surprised Clarisse hadn’t overpowered Annabeth yet (y’know, since she was supposedly now a goddess), and without thinking, I lunged at Annabeth. Hiding her out of the way, I intercepted a stab in the shoulder meant for her, but I didn’t notice where I hit Annabeth—until I heard the gasp.
She landed at the feet of one of Clarisse’s cronies, who lifted her sword.
“NO!” I screamed, and once again, I’d be too late. By trying to save Annabeth, I’d killed her.
She put up her hands like they would stop the blade, and just as it was about to slice her, a being swooped down and carried her away.
“We have to go! NOW!” Luke screamed and swiped with Backbiter at the oncoming gangsters. His sword passed harmlessly through the mortals.
He’d reforged it without the steel.
A flare of fire threw the Makhai cronies back, and Nico motioned. “Come on, Percy!”
I tugged Riptide loose from Clarisse’s. “This isn’t over.”
“You won’t get away that easily!” she promised and lunged, but she was met with Thalia’s spear.
“Yes, we will.”
Nico stamped once, cracking open a chasm between us and the goddess.
Thalia grabbed my arm, and we took off.
*^*^*
“What are you thinking? Scratch that. I know what you were thinking,” Annabeth shouted from the passenger seat of the van. We tore down the Turnpike, Luke driving, Thalia and Nico in the back with me, all of us nursing our wounds and bruised egos.
Still, Annabeth continued, “I get the whole ‘running-from-Gaia’ thing because yeah, you caused her son by your dad to dissipate for a little while, but I don’t need you to protect me.”
“You’re my girlfriend.”
“But that doesn’t make me your property.”
I scrunched my hands in my raven hair. “I don’t care what you think, but I saw Moros—”
“You don’t care what I think?” She whirled in her seat. “You don’t care what the daughter of the goddess of wisdom thinks!”
“Annabeth, I don’t think that’s what he meant,” Luke soothed. “That’s not what you meant, right, Percy?”
I tugged my hands from my hair. I didn’t even know why I was explaining this. “No, Luke, I meant it. Just where is Athena when you need her the most, huh? Or Hermes or Zeus or Hades? None of look out for us, so we have to look out for each other.”
“They can’t, Percy,” Thalia stressed with barely held-in angry. “You know the Ancient Laws—”
“Oh, screw the Ancient Laws!” I shouted, and I couldn’t believe I had. Didn’t Jack say that just how long ago? “People will die because our parents refuse to do anything, and I will not do nothing.”
“Then you’ll get yourself killed!” Annabeth screamed.
“Then I’ll get killed, but I at least won’t fail to save the world again.”
“No, you’ll just let it happen,” Nico muttered.
Annabeth shook her head as Luke pulled us into the hotel’s parking lot. “That’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it? You’ll do anything to prove you’ll never be Jack, even battle through the Doors of Death and take the rest of us with you.”
“Well, if you don’t trust me, then you don’t have to go on this quest with—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Luke screeched into the parking space of the motel. “Okay, before we say things we’re going to regret, why don’t we take a few breathers?”
“Good idea,” Annabeth agreed and took a sharp inhale. “Look, Percy, I didn’t mean—“
“But that’s what you said, right?” I slammed open the back doors. “You’ll listen to Luke, but you won’t even hear me.”
“That’s not true!”
“Luke, who served you to Kronos how many times!”
“Percy!” Thalia cried.
I couldn’t stop, even though I knew I should have. “And you left to join the Hunters because you wanted away from a prophecy, Thalia.”
“Percy Jackson!” Annabeth shrieked. “Just—”
“STOP!”
Everyone turned to Nico, who stood with the full force of the Underworld behind him. “I don’t know if you realize this or not, but the world is ending again.”
“Nico’s right,” Thalia interjected. “Whether we like it or not, we’re all in this together, and we have to deal with this together.”
I heaved a few, rough gasps. “You don’t think I can lead this quest.”
Annabeth turned her face away.
“THEN GO!” I shouted. “Why are you even still here?”
Tears streaked her red cheeks. “Because I love you.”
“Yeah,” I rasped and headed out the back of the van. “And that’s exactly why you shouldn’t be.”
The four of them went inside, or so I thought. I just remained on the back bumper of the van, looking up into the sky. The moon didn’t show.
It didn’t take long before I heard footsteps on the pavements, but I didn’t turn my attention from the all-consuming sky. Luke groaned as he sat next to me and leaned his arms upon his thighs.
“Kinda sucks when the gods don’t act like gods for their kids, doesn’t it?”
“Leave me alone, Luke.”
He tsked and shook his head. “No can do. Annabeth sent me out here, so I can’t go back in there without some good news.”
I thought about fighting Luke, but let’s be honest. I didn’t think I could take him. “What do you want from me?”
“Well, best cast scenario: You go inside, apologize to everyone, and we try to find another way to the Doors of Death. Worst case scenario: You sleep in the van.”
I stood up and stared out toward Route 3. I really didn’t care what Annabeth thought at the moment. I just wanted to be alone.
Luke couldn’t have that. “I know what it’s like not to feel loved, Percy. The gods, they’re all powerful, right? What stops them from helping us?”
I stopped. That was exactly what I was thinking, plus or minus a few Greek swears.
Luke rose from the van and started toward me, shouting over the cars zooming by. “The Ancient Laws are very specific, and you saw how the Roman gods lost their powers.”
“Because they loved their kids.”
“And how
did that save their kids? Look at you. Look at
“Poseidon has the power, but he refuses to use it.”
Luke now stood next to me. “Maybe because he knows that if he does, only more hardship will befall upon you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Look at me!” He motioned up and down his body. “My dad comes to see me every night now. He gave me those shoes I used today, and I also helped to dig a hole to Hell. Great times, huh?”
When I refused to answer, he sighed. “Look, I get it, okay? More than you know. Our parents can save everyone else but us. Us, they watch die. Us, they let suffer, and why? If they’re so powerful, why can’t they protect us? Hell, come to a birthday party once a year.
“They choose to let us rule our own lives, for better or worse. I chose to join Kronos. I stole the Helm and the Bolt, and yeah, I was wrong. I was punished for it, and now I’m trying to make amends.”
“But none of that would have happened if your dad would have helped you.”
“No, but it wouldn’t have been my life. And what do you think will happen if the gods found out he’s been helping me? They’d strip him of his powers.” Luke leaned close to me. “Between you and me, I’d kinda like to have a mortal dad for a little while, but I’d feel terrible that I was the cause of it.
“I’m not saying Poseidon is right, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t be angry. I’m just asking you to think before you make any life-changing decisions. Oh, and please sleep in the van, not out. It’ll make Annabeth feel better.”
Just after he was out of earshot, a
thick,
The man with slick back hair and
pressed suit smirked at me. “
The god nodded. “Youse and yer friends did good, kid. Pluto owes youse, and I’m here to pay his debts.” He opened his fisted hand to reveal a small, black and red butterfly. It flapped about merrily, briefly landing on my nose.
“This will take youse to the Doors of Death, and the key to getting inside is conquer yer fatal flaw.”
I pulled my head back so quickly the butterfly flapped in the air. “What!”
“Youse heard me, kid. There’s only one way to beat Death, and that’s to beat what will put youse in the Underworld.” He waved absently as he headed off toward the highway.
I blinked. “Are all Roman gods like this, keeping their word?”
He laughed, turning on his back heel. “What? Youse didn’t really think Pluto, the god of the Underworld, was going to keep his promise to a mortal? The only reason we did is yer status.”
Why do gods always talk in riddles? “My status? What are you talking—”
“You’re Jupiter’s stepson. My lord always likes to know the powers in the game before he steps up to the bat. Good luck, kid. Yer gonna need it.”
When he disappeared, I watched as the butterfly flapped and waited for me to leave.
For the first time since this quest began, I felt a foreign emotion, an overwhelming feeling of dread. Grover, through our empathy link. I knew instinctively he was behind this, and he was telling me, “NO!”
I also knew I should’ve listened to him, but as I looked back at the motel, I knew I would never go inside.
*^*^*
Jack
The Doors were easier to defeat than I thought. When you’ve already lived through the ending of the world, there’s very little to fear, and everything that was left to fight now was befor me: two of the deadliest Dark Olympians. One woman was dressed like Dog the Bounty Hunter. The other appeared like a wood nymph with pointy ears (each had five earrings) and a white halter top with a matching skirt. I knew the two better than I wanted to.
Ate, aka Ruin.
Dysnomia, aka Anarchy and Disobedience.
“You’re not
striking hard enough for a Dark Olympian, Darkling!” Ate chastised. When
“You think you can lead the new recruits?” Dysnomia chortled. “Even your own brother would be ashamed at the way you fight!”
I was
already running by then. By the time Dysnomia
finished her speech, I already had stepped before
My little, Roman demigod brother.
“Back off, bitch!”
Dysnomia flipped backwards and into a crouch. “Ah, if it isn’t the little demigod who would become a god and promise the Western Civilization victory?”
Ate leapt high into the air and came down at me. “What did he get them? RUIN!”
I repelled her attack. “SHUT UP!”
I even
managed to parry Dysnomia’s spear, but I never
thought to protect myself from
The sword tearing through my shoulder burned more than it should’ve. In fact, it felt like liquid fire racing up my veins, and glancing backwards, I didn’t recognize the eyes that were deep black when they should have been sky blue.
“…
Reaching
out to him, I sunk to my knees, the fire quickly spreading. I clenched my
trembling hands, but nothing stopped their shaking. I knew, looking up at the
dead eyes of
“The stories say the entrails must be burned for the power to be released,” a slithering, saucy voice crooned. A woman in a white toga with her long, red hair woven in a French braid knelt before me, her soft hands messaging my cheek.
“There’s only one way to save your brother, Perseus Jackson. You know that.”
She ran her hands through my hair warmly, like my mother used to when Gabe would be on a tirade. I…I hadn’t thought about him in such a long time.
Thankfully,
Nemesis was right.
I knew how to save my brother.
She knelt to meet my tired eyes. “You will get what you deserve, Percy. That I promise.”
Yes, I would.
Dysnomia’s fingernails danced across
As I accepted it, a cool rush flowed through my body, its touch so cold it burned. As I began to choke, Nemesis petted my neck, helping me to absorb the power that could only flourish in me.
After all, Bessie had been a sea creature.
My wrist suddenly burned, and white lightning crackled about me, fighting with Bessie’s power. Then, the dark lightning overwhelmed the yellow, and pain flooded through my being as I felt Paul’s band break and fall from my wrist.
As the
power drained from
His eyes finally became cognizant, and he blinked back the tears. “…P-P-Percy?”
I braced
one hand upon the floor to keep me somewhat erect. “
“Percy, what—”
“…Run.”