❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒳𝒳𝐼𝒱. 𝐻𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓈

𝒯𝒽𝑒 Furies circled the parapets, high in the gloom. The outer walls of the fortress glittered black, and the two-story-tall bronze gates stood wide open.

Up close, Zoe saw that the engravings on the gates were scenes of death. Some were from modern times an atomic bomb exploding over a city, a trench filled with gas mask-wearing soldiers, a line of African famine victims waiting with empty bowls-but all of them looked as if they'd been etched into the bronze thousands of years ago. Zoe wondered if she was looking at prophecies that had come true.

Inside the courtyard was the strangest garden she'd ever seen. Multi-colored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and weird luminous plants grew without sunlight. Precious jewels made up for the lack of flowers, piles of rubies as big as her fist, clumps of raw diamonds. Standing here and there like frozen party guests were Medusa's garden statues - petrified children, satyrs, and centaurs - all smiling grotesquely.

In the center of the garden was an orchard of pomegranate trees, their orange blooms neon bright in the dark. 

"The garden of Persephone," Annabeth said. "Keep walking."

Zoe understood why Annie wanted to move on. The tart smell of those pomegranates was almost overwhelming. She had a sudden desire to eat them, but Zoe knew the story of Persephone. One bite of Underworld food, and they would never be able to leave. They pulled Grover away to keep him from picking a big juicy one.

They walked up the steps of the palace, between black columns, through a black marble portico, and into the house of Hades. It all reminded Zoe of Olympus, just dark and gloomy. The entry hall had a polished bronze floor, which seemed to boil in the reflected torchlight. There was no ceiling, just the cavern roof, far above.

Every side doorway was guarded by a skeleton in military gear. Some wore Greek armor, some British redcoat uniforms, some camouflage with tattered American flags on the shoulders. They carried spears or muskets or M-16s. None of them bothered the quartet, but their hollow eye sockets followed them as they walked down the hall, toward the big set of doors at the opposite end.

Two U.S. Marine skeletons guarded the doors. They grinned down at the four, rocket-propelled grenade launchers held across their chests.

"You know," Grover mumbled, "I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door salesmen."

Zoe snorted, but covered it with a cough.

"Well, guys," Percy said. "I suppose we should... knock?"

A hot wind blew down the corridor, and the doors swung open. The guards stepped aside.

"I guess that means entrez-vous," Annabeth said.

The room inside was a vast throne room with black marble walls and bronze floors. The throne was made from human bones fused together, with Hades sat atop it.

Hades was at least ten feet tall and dressed in black silk robes, with a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn't bulked up like Ares, but he radiated power. He lounged on his throne, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther.

The Lord of the Dead resembled pictures Zoe'd seen of Adolph Hitler, or the head of Hydra, or Napoleon, or the terrorist leaders who direct suicide bombers. Hades had the same intense eyes, the same kind of mesmerizing, evil charisma.

"You are brave to come here, Son of Poseidon," he said in an oily voice. "After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish."

Percy stepped forward. "Lord and Uncle, I come with two requests."

Hades raised an eyebrow. When he sat forward in his throne, shadowy faces appeared in the folds of his black robes, faces of torment, as if the garment were stitched of trapped souls from the Fields of Punishment, trying to get out.