The Next Generation: The Beginning

Chapter 11 - I talk to some dead people and jump off a cliff

Time skip to August of next year

Mia's POV

Time passed. Lucas and I started dating, we all became close, and ended up adding two more people to our friend group- Ashauna from Aphrodite Cabin and Paul, Joey's cousin who was a cyclops. Joey and my papà still didn't like Lucas but everyone else seemed fine with him so I figured it was nothing.

One day I had to go get my backpack from the underworld because I had left it there the last time I had gone, like two days ago. Not that I minded going alone, I still wanted to bring Lucas, Helen, and Joey along with me this time. After getting them all to agree, we walked over to Mrs. O'Leary, who my papà had permitted for us to use. She saw me approaching and started to wag her tail and get in a playful pounce position.

"Heya, girl!" She pinned me down, licking my face. I laughed. "Ok, ok!" I managed to get her off of me. "You want to go visit Cerberus?" Her tail started to wag again and she let out a bark. "We just have to give some people a ride." She continued to wag her tail as if saying I don't care, I just want to see Cerberus! I turned to my friends. Making an exaggerated gesture, I said

"All aboard the Mrs. O'Leary express!" They all cautiously climbed on.

"Now Joey, you know what shadow travel feels like," he nodded. "But for the rest of you, just hold on tight, keep your arms and legs on the dog at all times and enjoy the ride!" I patted Mrs. O'Leary on the neck and she took off like a bullet towards the nearest shadow. Helen, Joey, and Lucas all screamed because she was headed straight for a huge tree. But at the last minute, we dissolved into the shadows.

I don't really know how to describe shadow travel- for children and legacies of Hades, it's like a surge of power, of strength that you can't get from anything else. But coincidently, I am also a legacy of Apollo, so this is like the last thing you would ever be caught dead (pun intended) doing. So for me, when I'm in the act of shadow traveling, I feel so powerful, the pleasant squeezing feeling of being sucked into the darkness, the rush of the wind, the dark abyss. I feel like I'm home. But once it's over, I feel very drained or unpleasant. This time, however, shadow traveling to the underworld, just left me with that feeling of power. I had messaged my Nonno beforehand to make sure this was ok. So arriving at the entrance to his palace, everyone climbed off very dizzy and disoriented.

"Thanks, girl," I said to Mrs. O'Leary. She then licked me, and then the hellhound took off to find her best friend with a big, red ball in her mouth. Turning to the group I said

"I present to you Hades' Palace!" I started to walk in like I was just walking into my cabin, while they followed cautiously behind me. Reaching the giant double doors I waved to the skeleton guards.

"Hi, Boris! Hi Dave!" They waved back.

"Hey, Mia! Back already? Wait- did ya die?" Dave joked. I laughed. Underworld humor.

"Nope! Still alive." Dave squinted.

"Who are they?"

"Them? Oh, they're just my friends. Grandpa said I could bring them. How is he by the way?" Boris shrugged.

"Ya know how he is. He's been pretty grumpy though. The gods just had an emergency meeting about some kind of imposter lose from Tartarus and naturally, everyone's blaming him. But otherwise nothing exciting." I nodded. (A/N: *foreshadowing* wink wink nudge nudge)

"Thanks. Have fun... you know, doing whatever you do."

"See ya, Mia!" And they let us through. Giving my friends a quick tour of the first floor, we eventually made it to my room on the second floor.

"Ok I just need to grab some stuff and then we can head out." My room was fairly large, but considering it was a palace, that wasn't too shocking. The four-poster bed matched the other furniture in the room with its black color. I had a yellow fluffy rug, yellow bedspread, and yellow curtains because why the hell not even though it was stupidly cliché. I saw my teal backpack in the corner where I had left it and began going around the room collecting my things.

"Woah! Mia, your room is huge!" Helen exclaimed. I shrugged.

"I guess." Then Lucas chuckled.

"But seriously, though- black and yellow?" I blushed.

"Well, I mean Hades and Apollo..." I thought back to the weapons Joey made me. Shaking my head to clear it, I turned to them. "Well I got everything, we can go now." I led the way back out. Walking through the throne room this time, figures were occupying the chairs.

"Nonno! Nonna!" Hades and Persephone shrunk down to a reasonable height and hugged me.

"Hi, Mia," Hades said. His voice was deep and gravely but to me, it sounded safe, comforting. They let go. Persephone held me at arm's length.

"Are you ok? Are you eating enough? You look so skinny..." I cut her off.

"I'm fine." Hades turned to the people behind me.

"So, are these your friends?" He gave them the look my papà uses to scare people, only much more intimidatingly. I rolled my eyes and nodded.

"Nonno, Nonna, meet my friends- Helen, Joey, and my boyfriend Lucas." They all waved timidly.

"Sorry, but we have to go now. Arrividerci (see you soon)!" They said goodbye and we left. We started to walk back to get Mrs. O'Leary. We were passing the edge of Tartarus when Lucas broke the comfortable silence that had been surrounding us.

"Shoot! I'll be right back guys, I forgot something." We stopped to wait when after a minute the ground started to shake. Wait, what?! Can an earthquake happen in the underworld? I didn't have time to ponder my thoughts because we were rolling towards the edge of the cliff! Then as suddenly as it started, the shaking stopped. I sat up, disoriented, and looked around. Helen was with me.

Wait, where's Joey?!

"Joey?!" I heard a grunt and turned to see his black hair peeking over the edge. "Joey!" I ran to him and grabbed his hand. I got a hold of him but my hand was slipping.

"Mia, you need to let go."

"What?! NO!" tears were now streaming down my face. We both knew I couldn't pull him up without taking myself down.

"Mia, you need to let go. I'll be fine." I squeezed my eyes shut.

"I will never let go of you." I opened my eyes. He gave me a sad smile.

"I know." And he let go of my hand, falling into the depths of Tartarus.

"Noooooo!" I reached down as if I could somehow save him. But he was gone. I stood up and rummaged through my bag. I found what I was looking for. I turned to Helen and gave her the Drachma, which she took

"I need you to go back to the palace and tell my grandfather what happened. Then have him call us with this." She looked at me, scared.

"What-"

"Just promise me!" She started to cry too. She nodded and pulled me in for a hug. We stood there for a moment, knowing it could be the last time we saw each other.

"Be safe." She whispered. I nodded, turned around, got a running start, and jumped off the cliff.

I'm coming, Joey.

Mwahahahaha 😈  what a... cliffhanger... ok I'll show myself out