In which Percy Jackson finds himself tied up with the mischievous daughter of Apollo.
or
In which Juliet Alexander would do anything to make the son of Poseidon smile.
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𝟎𝟎𝟓.𝟓
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They'd ended up in the underworld, with Percy captured Mrs. Dodds, again. He'd met Grover in the Central Park and had gotten the really amazing news about Morpheus, after that he'd left Juliet a voice message telling her not to worry and plunged into the underworld.
And yeah now he was being taken hostage.
If Juliet was here she would've called him an idiot for ending up in a suicidal situation again.
"All right, traitor," Percy growled at Nico. "You've got your prize. Take me to the stupid palace."
Alecto dropped him like a sack of turnips in the middle of the palace garden.
It was beautiful in a creepy way. Skeletal white trees grew from marble basins. Flower beds overflowed with golden plants and gemstones. A pair of thrones, one bone and one silver, sat on the balcony with a view of the Fields of Asphodel. It would've been a nice place to spend a Saturday morning except for the sulfurous smell and the cries of tortured souls in the distance.
Skeletal warriors guarded the only exit. They wore tattered U.S. Army desert combat fatigues and carried M16s.
The third Fury deposited Nico next to him. Then all three of them settled on the top of the skeletal throne. Percy resisted the urge to strangle Nico. He stared at the empty thrones, waiting for something to happen. Then the air shimmered. Three figures appeared—Hades and Persephone on their thrones, and an older woman standing between them. They seemed to be in the middle of an argument.
"—told you he was a bum!" the older woman said.
"Mother!" Persephone replied.
"We have visitors!" Hades barked. "Please!"
Hades, one of Percy's least favorite gods, probably due to the fact of Patroclus never getting Elysium, Hades smoothed his black robes, which were covered with the terrified faces of the damned. He had pale skin and the intense eyes of a madman.
"Percy Jackson," he said with satisfaction. "At last."
Queen Persephone studied him curiously. He'd seen her once before in the winter, but now in the summer she looked like a totally different goddess. She had lustrous black hair and warm brown eyes. Her dress shimmered with colors. Flower patterns in the fabric changed and bloomed—roses, tulips, honeysuckle.
