After the Blood of Olympus- Complete

Chapter 16 HAZEL

"May I help you, little dead half-bloods?" the guy behind the counter of the waiting room at the DOA Recording Studios asked. He was wearing a very formal suit with a plaid tie and black polyester pants.

"Um we need to get into the underworld."

"Duh. You're dead. Gods. I don't have time for this. What do you think this place would be like if everyone wanted to get on at the same time?"

"Um."

"Crazy. It would be a fricken mad house. Wait your turn, like all the others," He gestured to the hundreds of people in the small waiting room.

"Look. You don't get it. We're on a quest, and we'll have to go now," Annabeth said.

"Do I know you?"

"I've been here before yes. I'm Annabeth, and I know you're Charon."

"Okay well then you know the drill. You'll have to pay me. In drachmas."

"Um... we only have cash..." Percy piped in.

"Well then I can't-"

"Wait!" Hazel yelled at Charon.

"Yes?" Charon asked, starting to get annoyed.

"How many drachmas did you need?"

Charon paused before saying," No less than 20."

"Done," Hazel nudged Frank and he dug into his pocket, producing a single sack of hundreds of the golden coins.

"My gods!" Leo yelled, "Where on earth did you get all those fricken coins?!"

"We've had them throughout the whole quest," Frank explained.

"Yeah, we just wanted to use them when we absolutely had to," Hazel added.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Percy asked, confused.

"Well, we didn't want them to go to fast, and it's a good thing because now we really need them," Frank went on.

Charon opened the bag and poured out a handful of the golden coins into his palm. Just as he was about to reach for more, Hazel snatched the bag away from him. He grunted, saying, "Whatever, follow me."

He led them past all the dead people in the lobby and into a hallway through a doorway close to the front desk.

The atmosphere suddenly took a change got the worst.

The happiness was drained out of Hazel's body as she stepped into the unwelcoming darkness of the underworld. Terrible memories came rushing back to her. The night that she had died with her mom. All those boring years in the fields of Asphodel, looking over at Elysium, knowing she should be there, but slowly wasting away.

Directly across from them was the River Styx. It gleamed an unwelcoming silver. Behind it, the judgment pavilion, and of to the side was the EZ- Death line. Of to the left was Elysium an the isles of the Blest.

Behind all of that were the Fields of Punishment and Tartarus. You could hear the spirits of terrible people shriek in pain as they slid down giant blades into containers of pure lemon juice and ran completely naked through cacti.

Hazel knew it must have been hard for Percy and Annabeth to have to see Tartarus again after all that they had been through down there. Even though you could barely even see the top of the abyss from here, she couldn't imagine how they felt.

Charon had changed, too. He was now wearing a disturbing black cloak like the Grim Reaper or how stories depict Death. Something about this guy sent a shiver through Hazel's body, chilling her to the bone.

"Follow me," Charon said," we must now cross the river.

The 7 reluctantly followed him to the small ancient looking boat that would take them across the Styx. It was a battered thing and it only went about 2 miles an hour, seeing as it had no motor. Charon rowed for what seemed like hours.

Hazel looked down at the gleaming water. She could have sworn that she saw the faces of innocent spirits in the water. Screaming in terror. She wondered what they were doing there. This place seemed so wrong. She couldn't wait to get out.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Charon asked, noticing that hazel was staring.

"Um... yeah," Hazel replied.

It really was. The water was quite something. Hazel didn't know why, but she was drawn to it. You could only see the spirits if you looked really, really close. Otherwise, it was quite an amazing sight.

"And here we are!" Charon yelled, "The castle's over that way."

He pointed to a huge castle beside the fields of punishment. Though her dad probably would have killed her if she heard this, it looked a lot like the last castle in world 8 of New Super Mario Bros.

The walk over there was not fun. Cerberus, however, did let them pass, seeing as he new both Percy and Annabeth. But how could a walk through the underworld be fun?

"What are you doing here!" A voice yelled from behind.

Hazel turned around, slightly taken aback.

And she saw someone she didn't think she would run into in the underworld.