"No." I said simply. I am going to see him when we find the bolt and return it. Besides I have some business on Olympus when I get there.
"But this might be the only chance to meet him." Missy said.
"I'm not that crazy to meet him, and he clearly isn't either too crazy to meet me." I said.
"But-" Annabeth started.
"I don't think he wants to meet me." I said. "Percy go we don't have that much time." I said Percy nodded and walked in the ocean. We stood there till he was fully in the ocean. "Luke and I'll be there a little further. You guys stay here." I said to the kids they nodded. I took Luke's hand and we walked away from them. When we were far enough from them I sat down on the beach and I put my head on my shoulder. We s0at like that for about ten minutes. I got tired of the quiet so i asked quietly. "So where's the bolt?"
"In the bag that Ares gave us." Luke answered looking at the ocean.
"And what's the plan? They clearly don't have any idea." I said also looking at the ocean.
"When we get to the Underworld and when we get near the Tartarus it will pull them in to Kronos." Luke said.
"But we have to stop that now. So they don't suspect something." I said.
"Yeah. We'll figure it out when we get there. For now we're staying low." Luke said.
"And what about when we get back to camp?" I asked. "The only one who would be up to betray the gods would be Percy but I don't know if he'll actually do it. He's hard to read." I said.
"We'll see. There will probably be a celebration when we get back. I'll take Percy to the woods where we used to practice swordfighting. And I'll explain everything to him." Luke said simply.
"What about me-" I started but I was interrupted by Lercy running out of the ocean. "Percy!" I said and run towards them. Luke followed after me.
"We have to hurry up." Percy said as he panicked. We ran to the car. Luke and I in the front and kids in the back.
"Where do we need to go exactly?" I asked.
"Los Angeles." Missy said.
"That's a big city. So be more specific." I said.
"Hermes says Crusty's Water Bed Palace." Annabeth read.
"Is there like an address or something?" Luke asked. Annabeth shoke her head.
"Hand me my bag." I said. The kids gave me my bag. I pulled out my phone. I went to maps and entered Crusty's Water Bed Palace.
"You had an phone this whole time?" Percy asked.
"Yeah?" I said as I placed it in the phone holder and started the car.
"It would have been way easier if you told us you have a phone." Percy said.
"What exactly did we need a phone for?" I asked. As I started parked out. Percy opened his mouth but closed it.
"Good point." Percy said defeated.
"If we needed a phone I would have used it." I said rolling my eyes as I started following the instructions that the map gave us. After a few minutes. "So what's the plan exactly?"
"We trick Procrustes and we get to his office where the entrance to the Underworld is." Annabeth said simply.
"But like how do we trick him?" Percy asked.
"Well the beds are probably some traps right? So we just have to like get him on one and we go." Missy said
"But we can't all enter at the same time it'll be weird." Grover said.
"Well Percy and Juliet can go inside as children of Poseidon and try to convince him and if that doesn't work out Annabeth will be there with the invisibility cap." Luke suggested.
"That could work." Percy said. Everybody nodded.
"Good cause we're here I just need to park and we're good to go." I said as we drove to a parking lot and I slowly parked. "Okay let's get this over with." I said and removed my belt and we got out of the car. Percy was in front of Annabeth and me as she put on the cap. We entered the store.
"Welcome, weary travelers! Come on in and take a load off. These beds will change your-" Procrustes said excitingly until he saw Percy and I "life." The lights buzzed. "Well...hello there. Missing our mommies, are we?"
"We know who you are." I said. Procrustes swallowed.
"You're Procrustes. Son of Poseidon, and murderer of travelers." Percy finished.
"Crusty, please. And you..." he looked between Percy and me. "Both of you have got Dad's eyes." He said slowly and then continued. "Take a load off. Relax for a minute."
"The beds are a trap. That's how you do it. How you murder your guests." I said.
"I do?"
"We know there's a secret passage to the Underworld here." Percy started.
"We know you were left here to guard it." And I finished.
"But we need you to let us through." Percy said and then added. "Please?"
"In addition to being incredibly comfortable, these beds are great for your self-confidence." Procrustes started.
"Listen big brother, we're really not interested-" then he cut me off.
"They show you how to fit. Fitting's not easy for guys like us, am I right? Our parents make it so hard. Stretching us and twisting us and hacking off pieces to make us seem more like them. Anywho... these beds take all that away." Procrustes explained and walked towards one of the beds. "With these beds, you just...fit. Try it. I think you'll feel much better."
"If I wanted to murder myself I'd do it myself thanks for asking. But you first." I said he looked at me confused. And then Annabeth pushed him on the bed.
"You okay?" Annabeth asked us. Procrustes tried to move but didn't couldn't.
"Yeah." Percy said.
"You won't save her. You won't be the first to try bringing someone back from the Underworld. You won't be the first to fail." Procrustes said to Percy.
"Hey! You're lucky we're letting you keep your head, dummy. Don't push it." Annabeth shouted at him. The store door open and Grover and Missy popped their heads while Luke's behind them.
"Is it over?" Grover asked.
"Yeah, come in." I said and they entered the store. We walked towards the back of the store to the office.
"Are we sure this is the right way?" Missy asked when we saw a closed door in front of us.
"Only one way to find out." Luke said and slowly opened the door
"It's either the realm of the dead, or someone left a carton of milk in there in the 1990s." I said. You could see the word panic written on Grover's face. Annabeth took a small ball out of her bag and gave it to Grover. He squished it a few times.
"Better?" Annabeth asked.
"Much." Grover answered.
"If we get into trouble" Percy started and put his hand in his pocket as he showed us some pearls. "These are our tickets out." There was 7 pearls. Everyone took one. But there was two left in Percy's hand for his mum I guess.
"No one's turning back till we all come back." Grover said as he put his pearl in his pocket.
"No one comes back!" Procrustes shouted.
"Dude! Don't make me come back out there." Annabeth shouted.
"Everyone ready?" Everybody nodded. "Okay Percy let's go get your mom." I said.
