Percy Jackson: Bitten

Chapter 5

     Maelan’s P.O.V

I didn’t understand why Katrina was so scared. We have faced worse than this and she has always been so confident.  That one time with the dracanae? She destroyed them.  But right now she was very pale, and looked like she was about to pass out.  This was nothing compared to the things we normally did.

As we descended deeper it got darker and harder to breathe.  It didn’t affect Nico and only slightly affected me.  Now, I may be a son of Hades but this was starting to get creepy.  Ugh!  It’s hard to act confident like this, but I have to.  For their sake.

Eventually the silence got to be too much.  I decided to break it.  “So,” I asked, “Did any of you guys think you’d ever get into this kind of mess?  Wandering around the underworld I mean.”

“I’ve been in the Underworld before.” Annabeth muttered.

“I used to live in the underworld.” Nico replied, gloomily.

“Maelan, it’s nice that you’re trying to start a conversation and liven the mood, but I don’t think it’s going to work.” Kylee said, giving me a sympathetic look.

I nodded and just continued to walk. The silence re-enveloped us.  Finally the walls opened up into a cavern. Katrina whimpered. I have to admit that it was a pretty scary cavern. It was damp and in the middle was a river.  The styx.  We walked to the bank and saw Charon in his boat.  I walked up to him.  

“Scary dude.” Tyson muttered.

“We would like passage across the river.” I stated “How much do I need to pay you?”

“You do not need to pay me anything.” he muttered in his husky, deep voice. “Your suffering will be pay enough on this quest of yours.”

I was slightly freaked out but muttered my thanks and boarded the boat.  I waved for the others to get on and they did.

The boat ride was long and dull.  It’s kind of hard to start a conversation with a robed skeleton looming over you. It took a lot not to scream out with panic. Kylee looked like she was about ready to freak out. Annabeth was neutral. Katrina looked about ready to die. Nico was trying to get her to talk by whispering to her.

We crossed the river after what seemed like hours.  We then saw the lines of ghosts. Nico paled. I glanced at him.

“What’s wrong?” I asked him.

He shook his head slowly.

“It’s nothing… just someone I know.” he said in a hoarse whisper.

Just then Cerberus came out.  

“Hey boy…” I said with a grin. Nico stared at me like I was nuts, and frankly I am.

Then something that surprised everyone happened.  The giant dog came up to me and barked quietly.  I had remembered Annabeth’s last encounter with Cerberus, and brought the appropriate equipment.  I pulled a red rubber ball from my pocket.  Annabeth, and everyone in the group stared at me.  Cerberus perked up and I waved the ball around and said, “You want the ball, Boy?  Want the ball?” He barked, I took that as a yes.  I threw the ball and the left head got it. They started fighting over it but I said “Stop!”

He looked at me curiously, the left head chewing softly on the ball.  I pulled out two more rubber balls, one yellow and one blue.  I threw them to him and they played around with them.  For a while we took turns throwing them back and forth.  Then I said “good boy you can keep them” Cerberus gave a soft bark, unhappy that his playtime was over, and let us pass.  I looked over at Nico, and found that he was hugging Katrina.