𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒¹

𝐻𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑛

‧̍̊˙· 𓆝.° ｡˚𓆛˚｡ °.𓆞 ·˙‧̍̊

ASTORIA CALLED A taxi. Percy looked at her like a madman, but she was the one who knew what would work and what wouldn't, not him. The car swiftly pulled up to the hotel lot, so she could only assume that was the vehicle she was searching for. The girls entered first, Astoria taking shotgun. The boys sat with Annabeth in the backseats.

"Los Angeles, please," Chase told the driver.

The man chewed his cigar, which smelled horrible and traumatizing in Astoria's eyes, and sized the children up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front."

"Here." Astoria pulled out the Lotus Hotel card from her backpack and handed it to him. "It's got as much money as you need." Percy and Grover once again looked at her like she was crazy.

He looked at it skeptically.

"Swipe it," Annabeth invited.

The man accepted and this bright electric machine on the dashboard started rattling. The lights flashed. For some time, it kept shaking and lighting up like a flashlight until the infinity symbol finally came up next to the dollar sign. The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth. He looked at Astoria, then the others, eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?"

"Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter. Astoria knew she liked being referred to someone grand. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

When Astoria read the part where Percy regretted Annabeth telling the taxi driver that, she thought he was overreacting. Nope. Ninety-five miles per hour through the Mojave desert felt like she was entering a different dimension. Her head was practically glued to the headrest. She couldn't move forward and the turns nearly knocked the wind out of her.

The other three were in a slightly better situation, and that's when Percy told them of his dreams. Some details here and there were missing, but they got the gist.

"The servants called him some sort of title..." Percy dug in his brain to try to remember.

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

"Maybe..." He glanced at Astoria who shook her head.

"That throne room sounds like Hades'." Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."

Percy shook his head. "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."

Annabeth's eyes widen and she looks at Astoria, who nervously smiles.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Oh... nothing," Annabeth halfheartedly answers. "I was just- No, it has to be Hades. Maybe he sent this thief," Astoria winced, "this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong-"

"Like what?"

"I-I don't know," she said stiffly. "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 somehow. Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice in your dream said, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they though we had retrieved the bolt." By the time she finished talking, Annabeth was really, really pale. Like she was a part of Hades' realm itself.

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

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