❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒳𝒳𝐼𝐼. 𝒞𝑒𝓇𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓊𝓈 𝐿𝒾𝓀𝑒𝓈 𝑅𝑒𝒹 𝑅𝓊𝒷𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝐵𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓈

𝒯𝒽𝑒 howling of the hungry animal was really loud now, but Zoe couldn't see where it was coming from. The three-headed dog, Cerberus, who was supposed to guard Hades's door, was nowhere to be seen.

The dead queued up in the three lines, two marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one marked EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line was moving right along. The other two were crawling.

"What do you figure?" Percy asked them.

"The fast line must go straight to the Asphodel Fields," Annabeth said. "No contest. They don't want to risk judgment from the court, because it might go against them."

"There's a court for dead people?" Percy questioned.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Three judges. They switch around who sits on the bench. King Minos, Thomas Jefferson, Shakespeare-people like that. Sometimes they look at a life and decide that person needs a special reward-the Fields of Elysium. Sometimes they decide on punishment. But most people, well, they just lived. Nothing special, good or bad. So they go to the Asphodel Fields."

"And do what?"

"Nothing." Zoe said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, they literally do nothing."

"Imagine standing in a wheat field in Kansas," Grover cut in. "Forever."

"Harsh," Percy said.

"Not as harsh as that," Grover muttered. "Look."

A couple of black-robbed ghouls had pulled aside one spirit and were frisking him at the security desk.

"He's that preacher who made the news, remember?" Grover asked.

"Oh, yeah." Percy nodded. "What're they doing to him?"

"Special punishment from Hades," Grover guessed. "The really bad people get his personal attention as soon as they arrive. The Fur-the Kindly Ones will set up an eternal torture for him."

"But if he's a preacher," Percy said, "and he believes in a different hell..."

Grover shrugged. "Who says he's seeing this place the way we're seeing it? Humans see what they want to see. You're very stubborn-er, persistent, that way."

They got closer to the gates. The howling was so loud now it shook the ground at their feet, but Zoe still couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

Then, about fifty feet in front of them, the green mist shimmered. Standing just where the path split into three lanes was an enormous shadowy monster.

They hadn't seen it before because it was half transparent, like the dead. Until it moved, it blended with whatever was behind it. Only its eyes and teeth looked solid. And it was staring straight at Percy.

The son of Poseidon's jaw hung open.

"He's a Rottweiler." Percy pointed out.

"Yes, thank you captain obvious. I hadn't seen that." Zoe's voice dripped with sarcasm as she rolled her eyes.

Cerberus was a purebred Rottweiler, except he was twice the size of a woolly mammoth, mostly invisible, and had three heads.

The dead walked right up to him-no fear at all. The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted on either side of him. The EZ DEATH spirits walked right between his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without even crouching.

"I'm starting to see him better," Percy muttered. "Why is that?"

"I think ..." Annabeth gulped. "I'm afraid it's because we're getting closer to being dead."