My story | PJO x male reader

Chapter 39: We shouldn't get a dog

I was frozen in place, just blankly staring at the giant dog and the blood red eyes that focused on me.
"He's a Rottweiler." Percy said behind me.
"Really? That's what you say right now?" I asked.
But he was right. Cerberus was obviously a Rottweiler. Except for the fact that, you know, he has three heads, is mostly invisible and he's at least twice the size of a mammoth.

I watched as the 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's grip tightened. "I'm afraid it's because we're getting closer to being dead." That's a lovely sentence to hear when your in hell.
The dogs middle head craned toward us and sniffed. "Alive..." A deep gravelly voice growled.
"It can smell the living," I said.
"But that's ok," Grover said, trembling. "Because we have a plan."
"Right," Annabeth said. Her voice was smaller than ever before. "A plan."
We moved toward the monster.
The middle head looked at us, growled and then barked so loudly I almost lost my balance.

I understood what he said but I didn't know what it meant. It was like- I still don't know.
"Can you understand it?" Percy asked us.
"Oh, yeah." Grover said.
"Somewhat." I added.
"What's it saying?"
"I don't think humanely have a four-letter word that translates, exactly." That's why.
Percy quickly opened the backpack and pulled out a large bedpost Percy broke off one of Crusty's beds.
"Hey, Big Fella," Percy called up. "I bet they don't play with you much."
I could understand what Cerberus said next. "A Stick?" Cerberus said, unamused. The middle head seemed somewhat excited, though, as its eyes followed the movement of the stick Percy was waving.
"Good boy," Percy said weakly.
"Fetch!" Percy threw the stick into the gloom, a pretty good throw if you ask me. We couldn't see it but we heard it go ker-sploosh in the River Styx.

Cerberus just glared back at Percy, unimpressed. So much for that.
Cerberus growled. "You have ten seconds to pray to a god of your choosing. We are very hungry."

"Hey," I said. "Percy?"
"Yeah?"
"You better think of something, quickly. We have about eight seconds left."
"Wait!" Annabeth said. She started rifling through her pack.
"Five seconds," Grover said. "Do we run now?"
Annabeth produced a red rubber ball the size of a grapefruit. It had a label that read: WATERLAND, DENVER, CO. Before I could stop her, she raised the ball and marched straight up to Cerberus.

She shouted, "See the ball? You want the ball, Cerberus? Sit!"
Cerberus looked as stunned as we were.
All three heads cocked sideways. Six nostrils dilated.
"Sit!" Annabeth called again. She has to be crazy, she's gonna get turned into a chew toy in a second.

But instead, Cerberus kicked his three sets of lips, shifted on his haunches, and sat, immediately crushing a dozen spirits, while the middle head kept repeating, "Ball, Ball..."

Annabeth said, Good boy!"
She threw Cerberus the ball.

The middle mouth caught it. It was barely big enough for him to chew.
"My ball!" Said the other heads as they  started snapping at the middle, trying to get the new toy.
"Drop it!" Annabeth ordered.

Cerberus's heads stopped fighting and looked at her. The ball was wedged between two of his teeth like a tiny piece of gum.
He growled. "Fine." Then dropped the ball, which was almost chewed in half, at Annabeth's feet.
"Good boy." She picked up the ball, ignoring the monster spit all over it.
She turned to us. "Go now. EZ DEATH line— it's faster."
I said, "Annabeth—"
"Now!" She ordered, in the same voice she used on Cerberus.
Me, Percy and Grover inched forward.
Cerberus growled. "Hey! No-"
"Stay!" Annabeth ordered Cerberus. "If you want the ball, stay!"
"Ball!!" The middle one said.
"But Hades—" The left one started.
"Ball!" They were arguing like two year olds.
"Fine."

"Are you going to be ok?" I asked Annabeth as we passed her.
"I'll be fine, Y/N," she muttered. "At least, I'm pretty sure..."
We walked between the monster's legs.
I was half expecting Cerberus to sit on us. Thankfully, that didn't happen and we made it through. Cerberus wasn't any less terrifying from the back.
Annabeth said, "Good dog!"
She held up the half chewed ball, and I'm pretty sure we all came to the same conclusion I did— if she rewarded Cerberus, there'd be nothing left for another trick.

She threw the ball anyway. The monster's left mouth immediately snatched it up, only to be attacked by the middle one. The right one was left out and just moaned in protest, "I want to play too."

While the monster was distracted, Annabeth walked briskly under its belly and joined us at the metal detector.
"How did you do that?" Percy asked her, amazed just like me.
"Obedience school," she said breathlessly, and I was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "When I was little, at my dad's house, we had a Doberman..."
"Never mind that," Grover said, tugging at Percy's shirt. "Come on!"
We were about to bolt through the EZ DEATH line when Cerberus moaned pitifully from all three mouths. "Ball?" Annabeth stopped.

She turned to face the dog, which had done a one-eighty to look at us.
Cerberus panted expectantly, the tiny red ball in pieces in a puddle of drool at its feet.
"Good boy," Annabeth said, but her voice sounded melancholy and uncertain.

The monsters heads turned sideways, as if worried about her.

"I'll bring you another ball soon," Annabeth promised faintly. "Would you like that?"
"But I want ball." The dog whimpered.
"God dog. I'll come to visit you soon. I—I promise." Her voice breaking. I grabbed her hand and lightly tugged on it.
"Let's go." I whispered.
"Let's go." She agreed.
Percy and Grover pushed through the metal detector, which immediately screamed and set off flashing red lights.
"Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"
Cerberus started to bark but I wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying.
We burst through the EZ DEATH gate, which started even more alarms blaring, and raced into the Underworld.

A few minutes later, we were hiding, out of breath, in the rotten trunk of an immense black tree as security ghouls scuttled past, yelling for backup from the Furies.

Grover murmured, "Well, Percy, what have we learned today?"
"That three headed dogs prefer red rubber balls over sticks?"
"No," Grover told him. "We've learned that your plans really, really bite!" I tuned them out as I saw Annabeth start to wipe away tears as she listened to the mournful keening of Cerberus in the distance.

I wanted to hug her but I felt like that would just make her feel worse. I decided to just lightly grip her hand, in hopes that it would help her, somewhat.