Daughter Of Lightning - Book 1(Percy Jackson x OC fanfic)

CHAPTER 31

(Ella's POV)

We left the judgment pavilion & moved into the Asphodel Fields. It got darker. The color faded from our clothes. The crowd of spirits thinned. We heard a screech in the distance. Looming on the horizon was a palace of glittering black obsidian. Above the parapets swirled three batlike creatures:the Furies.

"I guess it’s too late to turn back," Grover said wistfully.

"We'll be okay." I said holding his hand.

“Maybe we should search the other places first,” Grover suggests. “Like, Elysium...”

“Come on, goat boy.” Annie pulled him.

Grover yelped. His sneakers sprout wings & his legs shoot forward, pulling him away from her. He landed flat on his back in the grass.

“Grover,” I chided. “Stop messing around.”

“But I didn’t-“

He yelped again. His shoes were flapping like crazy now. They levitated off the ground &
started dragging him away from us.

“Maia!” he yelled, but the magic word had no effect. “Maia, already! Nine-one-one! Help!”

I got over being stunned & made a grab for Grover’s hand, but too late. He was picking up speed, skidding downhill. We ran after him.

Percy shouted, “Untie the shoes!”

It was a smart idea, but it’s not easy when your shoes are pulling you feet first at full speed. Grover tried to sit up, but he couldn’t get close to the laces.

We kept after him, as he ripped between the legs of spirits who chattered at him in annoyance. I was sure Grover would barrel through Hades’s palace, but his shoes veered to the right & dragged him in the opposite direction. Grover picked up speed.

We sprinted to keep up. The cavern walls narrowed on either side. I realized we'd entered some kind of side tunnel. Just rocks, & the dim light of stalactites above.

“Grover!” I yelled, my voice echoing. “Hold on to something!”

“What?” he yelled back.

He was grabbing at gravel, but there was nothing big to slow him down. The tunnel got darker & colder. The hair on my arms stood. It smelled evil down here. It made me think of things I shouldn’t even know about-blood spilled on an ancient stone altar, the foul breath of a murderer. Then I saw what was ahead of us, & stopped dead in my tracks.

The tunnel widened into a huge cavern, & in the middle was a huge chasm the size of a city. Grover was sliding straight to the edge.

“Come on, Nora!” Annabeth yelled, tugging at my wrist.

“But that’s-“

“Grover’s going to fall if we don’t catch him.” She was right, of course. Grover’s thought got me moving again. He was yelling, clawing at the ground, but the winged shoes kept dragging him toward the pit, & it didn’t look like we could possibly get to him in time.

What saved him were his hooves. The flying shoes had always been a loose fit on him, & finally Grover hit a big rock & the left shoe came flying off. It sped down into the chasm. The right shoe kept tugging him, but not as fast.

Grover slowed himself down by grabbing on to the big rock & used it like an anchor. He was ten feet from the edge of the pit when we caught him & hauled him up the slope.

The other winged shoe tugged itself off & flew off into the chasm to join its twin. We collapsed, exhausted. Grover was scratched up. His hands were bleeding. His eyes had gone slit-pupiled, goat style, the way they did when he was terrified. I ran my fingers over his hands & the cuts instantly closed up.

“I don’t know how...” he panted. “I didn’t...”

“I'm so sorry...” I said choking back on tears. This was exactly what I'd seen in my dream.

But no one seemed to hear me. A muttering, evil voice below us was coming from the pit.

Grover sat up. “Wh-what’s that noise?”

Annie heard it. “Tartarus. The entrance to Tartarus. We've gotta get out,” she said.

Together, we dragged Grover to his hooves & started back up the tunnel. My legs wouldn’t move fast enough. The voice got louder & angrier behind us, & we run. A cold blast of wind pulled at our backs, as if the pit was inhaling. For a moment, my foot slipped & twisted, but Percy grabbed my hand & pulled me along. We kept struggling forward, & finally reached the top of the tunnel. A raged wail echoed from deep in the tunnel. Something wasn't happy we got away & I knew exactly what it was...

(Percy's POV)

“What was that?” Grover panted, when we’d collapsed in the safety of a poplar grove. “One of Hades’s pets?”

Before I could say anything, Nora said.

"I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I never-"

"How's it your fault?" Grover cut her off.

"I-I...saw a dream where this would happen."

We all had shock written on our faces. Nora looked up at us & I saw tears roll down her face. I went to her & hug her close. I see Annabeth glaring at her, she looked..jealous? She saw me look & smiled so I shrug it off.

"Hey, its okay. Grover's fine." I told Nora.

"B-but if I'd told you guys about it s-sooner none of this would've h-happened..."

"Nora, I'm fine. You guys saved me that's all that matters." Grover adds giving her a hug.

She gave us a small smile. "Thanks guys."

“Let’s go.” I look at Grover. “Can you walk?”

He swallows. “Yeah. I never liked those shoes.”

He tried to sound brave, but we were all trembling badly. Whatever was in that pit was nobody’s pet. It was old & powerful. Even Echidna hadn’t given me that feeling. The walls of the fortress glittered black, & the bronze gates stood wide open.

Inside the courtyard was the strangest garden I’d ever seen. Multicolor mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, & weird luminous plants grew without sunlight. Precious jewels made up for the lack of flowers & rubies as big as my fist. Standing like frozen guests were Medusa’s garden statues-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.”

I understood why. The tart smell of those pomegranates was really overwhelming. I had a desire to eat them, but I remembered the story of Persephone. One bite of Underworld food, & we'd never leave. I pulled Grover to keep him from picking a big juicy one.

We walk up the steps of the palace, between black columns, through a marble portico, & into the house of Hades. The entry hall had a polished bronze floor, which seemed to boil in the torchlight. There was no ceiling, just the cavern roof, far above.

Every doorway was guarded by a skeleton in military gear. Some wore Greek armor, some British uniforms, some camouflage with American flags on the shoulders. They carried spears or M-16s. Two U.S. Marine skeletons guarded the doors.

Grover mumbled, “I bet Hades doesn’t have trouble with door-to-door salesmen.”

My backpack weighed a ton. I couldn’t figure why. I wanted to open & see if I had picked up a bowling ball, but it wasn’t the time.

“Well,” I said. “I guess we should...knock?”

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

“I guess that means entrez-vous,” Nora said.

Vote, comment & share.
Take care my lovely readers.❤
Alice signing off.
XOXO.