Annabeth Chase and the Lightning Thief

Chapter 28 - We try to figure out who our enemy is

The boys looked at me like I was crazy when I told them my plan. It was almost as if they'd never been in a taxi before.

"Los Angeles, please," I told the taxi driver as we got in.

He frowned and looked suspiciously at us, chewing a cigar. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you've gotta pay up front."

"You accept casino debit cards?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em through, first."

I handed him my LotusCash card. He looked at me, then the card, then me again. He must have thought I was kidding.

"Swipe it," I invited.

He did. The whole machine went ballistic. It started rattling and flashing lights and creaking. Then an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign.

The driver's eyes went so big I thought that they'd pop out of his head. His cigar fell out of his mouth. He looked back, like a stunned mullet. "Where to in Los Angeles . . . uh, Your Highness?"

I sat up straighter, pleased about the title. It wasn't often, meaning never, that I was treated like royalty.

"The Santa Monica pier," I said, putting on my best royalty voice. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

The taxi driver floored it, knocking us all back into our seats. His speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way, even through crowded streets.

----||==========>

On the way, Percy told us about a dream he'd had.

He'd been standing in a dark cavern, same as before, with the same monstrous presence in the pit. This time it had been talking to another, a servant maybe. They had talked about the impending war between Zeus and Poseidon and how it hadn't been their first plan, but had worked out for the monster in the pit anyway. Then Percy's presence had been discovered and he'd been sent into another dream, this one in a throne room with black marble walls and bronze floors. There was a throne, fused out of human bones. His mother had been there and that was it. He couldn't remember everything though, the Lotus Casino having dimmed the memories. There was a name the servant had called the monster in the pit though, a title . . .

"The Silent One?" I suggested. "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades."

"Maybe . . ." Percy said, but he didn't sound certain.

"The throne room sounded a lot like Hades's," Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."

But Percy shook his head, dismissing it. "Something's wrong. The throne room wasn't the main part of the dream. And that voice from the pit . . . I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice."

Oh, Styx.

The realization hit me suddenly. Something that wasn't a god, but stuck in a pit. There was only one group of immortals like that, one that had caused problems for the gods before: the Titans. And if they were threatening civilisation again, that meant that one of them in particular was rising. The worst of them all.

Kronos.

The prophecy was coming true.

"What?" Percy asked, seeing the horror in my eyes.

"Oh . . . nothing," I answered lamely. I didn't want to tell him my suspicions. I could be wrong after all, and there was no point in scaring him unnecessarily. Percy was already scared out of his mind, although he was hiding it well. "I was just - No, it has to be Hades. Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong -"

"Like what?"

"I - I don't know." Oh how it pained me to say those words. "But if he stole Zeus's symbol of power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things could go wrong. So this thief had to hide the bolt, or he lost it some how. Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."

Percy was still looking at me suspiciously. Maybe he sensed that I wasn't telling him something. It wasn't just my suspicions either. But I didn't want to tell him about my dream. If this wasn't worrying enough, telling him that he'd died in my dream would definitely send him off the rails.

Demigod dreams were never just dreams. They're more like visions: the past, the present and the future. But the future ones are thankfully a sort of warning of what could be, not what would be. But still, I dreaded what was to come to pass, whether it be in a few days, or a few years, I didn't know.

"But if I'd already retrieved the bolt," Percy asked, confused, "why would I be traveling to the Underworld?"

"To threaten Hades," Grover suggested. "To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."

Percy looked impressed at Grover's logic. "You have evil thoughts for a goat."

"Why, thank you."

"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for two items," Percy added. "If the master bolt is one, what's the other?"

Grover shrugged, having no clue. I bit my lip, starting to understand everything that was happening around us. We were involved in a plot much bigger than we'd originally thought.

Percy was looking at me, as if he could guess my thoughts. I felt like I knew what question he was about to ask me and I desperately hoped he wouldn't.

"You have an idea what might be in that pit, don't you?" he asked, causing my heart to sink into my shoes. "I mean, if it isn't Hades?"

Kronos.

"Percy . . . let's not talk about it. Because if it isn't Hades . . . No. It has to be Hades."

The car fell silent, all of us looking out of the windows so we didn't have to look at each other. The desert outside looked miserable and sad, exactly like how we were feeling.

I felt like Percy was starting to give up on the quest. I knew he was only doing it to save his mother, but still, I felt like he could still be able to save the world as well.

"The answer is in the Underworld," I told Percy. "You saw the spirits of the dead, Percy. There's only one place that could be. We're doing the right thing."

He didn't look convinced, but he didn't argue either.

We sped on, the taxi probably the last safe haven we'd have once we reached Los Angeles.

----||==========>

We were dropped off at sunset at the beach of Santa Monica. It looked beautiful, surfers ready to catch a wave out among the breakers, palm trees lining the walkway and homeless guys crashed out on every available park bench. I would have loved to sit there and admire the view of it wasn't for the threat of the deadline hovering over my head.

We walked down to the surf, Percy leading the way.

"What now?" I asked, turning to him.

He didn't answer, looking lost in thought as he gazed out at the beach. Emotions crashed over his face, peace and tranquility battling anxiety and worry. It was almost as if the sea was at war with itself in his body.

He stepped forward, wading into the surf.

"Percy," I called, worried what he was doing. "What are you doing?"

He still didn't answer. He kept walking, the water coming up to cover first his legs, then his chest and stretching up his neck. Grover watched, looking confused but not particularly alarmed. I was starting to freak out though.

"You know how polluted the water is?" I called after him, desperately trying to think of a way to stop him. "There's all kind of toxic waste that's been dumped in there!"

He disappeared, the waves closing over his head soundlessly.