Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief

Annabeth Does Obedience School

We stood in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, looking up at gold letters etchedin black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS.Underneath, stencilled on the glass doors: NO SOLICITORS. NOLOITERING. NO LIVING.It was almost midnight, but the lobby was brightly lit and full of people.Behind the security desk sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and anearpiece.I turned to my friends. 'Okay. You remember the plan.''The plan,' Grover gulped. 'Yeah. I love the plan.'Annabeth said, 'What happens if the plan doesn't work?''Don't think negative.''Right,' she said. 'We're entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn't thinknegative.'I took the pearls out of my pocket, the three milky spheres the Nereid hadgiven me in Santa Monica. They didn't seem like much of a backup in casesomething went wrong.Annabeth put her hand on my shoulder. 'I'm sorry, Percy. You're right, we'llmake it. It'll be fine.'She gave Grover a nudge.'Oh, right!' he chimed in. 'We got this far. Well find the master bolt and saveyour mom. No problem.'I looked at them both, and felt really grateful. Only a few minutes before, I'dalmost got them stretched to death on deluxe waterbeds, and now they weretrying to be brave for my sake, trying to make me feel better.I slipped the pearls back in my pocket. 'Let's whup some Underworld butt.'We walked inside the DOA lobby.Muzak played softly on hidden speakers. The carpet and walls were steel grey.Pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was blackleather, and every seat was taken. There were people sitting on couches, peoplestanding up, people staring out the windows or waiting for the elevator. Nobodymoved, or talked, or did much of anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I couldsee them all just fine, but if I focused on any one of them in particular, theystarted looking... transparent. I could see right through their bodies.The security guard's desk was a raised podium, so we had to look up at him.He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-coloured skin and bleached-blond hairshaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit thatmatched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag.I read the name tag, then looked at him in bewilderment. 'Your name isChiron?'He leaned across the desk. I couldn't see anything in his glasses except myown reflection, but his smile was sweet and cold, like a pythons, right before iteats you.'What a precious young lad.' He had a strange accent – British, maybe, butalso as if he had learned English as a second language. 'Tell me, mate, do I looklike a centaur?''N-no.''Sir,' he added smoothly.'Sir,' I said.He pinched the name tag and ran his finger under the letters. 'Can you readthis, mate? It says C-H-A-R-O-N. Say it with me: CARE-ON.''Charon.''Amazing! Now: Mr Charon.''Mr Charon,' I said.'Well done.' He sat back. 'I hate being confused with that old horse-man. Andnow, how may I help you little dead ones?'His question caught in my stomach like a fastball. I looked at Annabeth forsupport.'We want to go the Underworld,'she said.Charon's mouth twitched. 'Well, that's refreshing.''It is?'she asked.'Straightforward and honest. No screaming. No "There must be a mistake, MrCharon".' He looked us over. 'How did you die, then?'I nudged Grover.'Oh,' he said. 'Um... drowned... in the bathtub.''All three of you?' Charon asked.We nodded.'Big bathtub.' Charon looked mildly impressed. 'I don't suppose you havecoins for passage. Normally, with adults, you see, I could charge your AmericanExpress, or add the ferry price to your last cable bill. But with children... alas,you never die prepared. Suppose you'll have to take a seat for a few centuries.''Oh, but we have coins.' I set three golden drachmas on the counter, part ofthe stash I'd found in Crusty's office desk.'Well, now...' Charon moistened his lips. 'Real drachmas. Real goldendrachmas. I haven't seen these in...'His fingers hovered greedily over the coins.We were so close.Then Charon looked at me. That cold stare behind his glasses seemed to borea hole through my chest. 'Here now,' he said. 'You couldn't read my namecorrectly. Are you dyslexic, lad?''No,' I said. 'I'm dead.'Charon leaned forward and took a sniff. 'You're not dead. I should've known.You're a godling.''We have to get to the Underworld,' I insisted.Charon made a growling sound deep in his throat.Immediately, all the people in the waiting room got up and started pacing,agitated, lighting cigarettes, running hands through their hair, or checking theirwristwatches.'Leave while you can,' Charon told us. 'I'll just take these and forget I sawyou.'He started to go for the coins, but I snatched them back.'No service, no tip.' I tried to sound braver than I felt.Charon growled again – a deep, blood-chilling sound. The spirits of the deadstarted pounding on the elevator doors.'It's a shame, too,' I sighed. 'We had more to offer.'I held up the entire bag from Crusty's stash. I took out a fistful of drachmasand let the coins spill through my fingers.Charon's growl changed into something more like a lion's purr. 'Do you thinkI can be bought, godling? Eh... just out of curiosity, how much have you gotthere?''A lot,' I said. 'I bet Hades doesn't pay you well enough for such hard work.''Oh, you don't know the half of it. How would you like to babysit these spiritsall day? Always "Please don't let me be dead" or "Please let me across for free".I haven't had a pay raise in three thousand years. Do you imagine suits like thiscome cheap?''You deserve better,' I agreed. 'A little appreciation. Respect. Good pay.'With each word, I stacked another gold coin on the counter.Charon glanced down at his silk Italian jacket, as if imagining himself insomething even better. 'I must say, lad, you're making some sense now. Just alittle.'I stacked another few coins. 'I could mention a pay raise while I'm talking toHades.'He sighed. 'The boat's almost full, anyway. I might as well add you three andbe off.'He stood, scooped up our money, and said, 'Come along.'We pushed through the crowd of waiting spirits, who started grabbing at ourclothes like the wind, their voices whispering things I couldn't make out. Charonshoved them out of the way, grumbling, 'Freeloaders.'He escorted us into the elevator, which was already crowded with souls of thedead, each one holding a green boarding pass. Charon grabbed two spirits whowere trying to get on with us and pushed them back into the lobby.'Right. Now, no one get any ideas while I'm gone,' he announced to thewaiting room. 'And if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again,I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?'He shut the doors. He put a key card into a slot in the elevator panel and westarted to descend.'What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?' Annabeth asked.'Nothing,' Charon said.'For how long?''Forever, or until I'm feeling generous.''Oh,'she said. 'That's... fair.'Charon raised an eyebrow. 'Whoever said death was fair, young miss? Waituntil it's your turn. You'll die soon enough, where you're going.''We'll get out alive,' I said.'Ha.'I got a sudden dizzy feeling. We weren't going down any more, but forward.The air turned misty. Spirits around me started changing shape. Their modernclothes flickered, turning into grey hooded robes. The floor of the elevator beganswaying.I blinked hard. When I opened my eyes, Charon's creamy Italian suit had beenreplaced by a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses were gone. Where hiseyes should've been were empty sockets – like Ares's eyes, except Charon'swere totally dark, full of night and death and despair.He saw me looking, and said, 'Well?''Nothing,' I managed.I thought he was grinning, but that wasn't it. The flesh of his face wasbecoming transparent, letting me see straight through to his skull.The floor kept swaying.Grover said, 'I think I'm getting seasick.'When I blinked again, the elevator wasn't an elevator any more. We werestanding in a wooden barge. Charon was poling us across a dark, oily river,swirling with bones, dead fish and other, stranger things – plastic dolls, crushedcarnations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges.'The River Styx,' Annabeth murmured. 'It's so...''Polluted,' Charon said. 'For thousands of years, you humans have beenthrowing in everything as you come across – hopes, dreams, wishes that nevercame true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me.'Mist curled off the filthy water. Above us, almost lost in the gloom, was aceiling of stalactites. Ahead, the far shore glimmered with greenish light, thecolour of poison.Panic closed up my throat. What was I doing here? These people around me...they were dead.Annabeth grabbed hold of my hand. Under normal circumstances, thiswould've embarrassed me, but I understood how she felt. She wantedreassurance that somebody else was alive on this boat.I found myself muttering a prayer, though I wasn't quite sure who I waspraying to. Down here, only one god mattered, and he was the one I had come toconfront.The shoreline of the Underworld came into view. Craggy rocks and blackvolcanic sand stretched inland about fifty metres to the base of a high stone wall,which marched off in either direction as far as we could see. A sound came fromsomewhere nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones – the howl of alarge animal.'Old Three-Face is hungry,' Charon said. His smile turned skeletal in thegreenish light. 'Bad luck for you, godlings.'The bottom of our boat slid onto the black sand. The dead began to disembark.A woman holding a little girls hand. An old man and an old woman hobblingalong arm in arm. A boy no older than I was, shuffling silently along in his greyrobe.Charon said, 'I'd wish you luck, mate, but there isn't any down here. Mindyou, don't forget to mention my pay raise.'He counted our golden coins into his pouch, then took up his pole. He warbledsomething that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he ferried the empty bargeback across the river.We followed the spirits up a well-worn path.I'm not sure what I was expecting – Pearly Gates, or a big black portcullis, orsomething. But the entrance to the Underworld looked like a cross betweenairport security and the Jersey Turnpike.There were three separate entrances under one huge black archway that said:YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS. Each entrance had a pass-throughmetal detector mounted with security cameras. Beyond this were tollboothsmanned by black-robed ghouls like Charon.The howling of the hungry animal was really loud now, but I couldn't seewhere it was coming from. The three-headed dog, Cerberus, who was supposedto guard Hades's door, was nowhere to be seen.The dead queued up in the three lines, two marked: ATTENDANT ON DUTY,and one marked: EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line was moving right along. Theother two were crawling.'What do you figure?' I asked Annabeth.'The fast line must go straight to Asphodel,' she said. 'No contest. They don'twant to risk judgment from the court, because it might go against them.''There's a court for dead people?''Yeah. Three judges. They switch around who sits on the bench. King Minos,Thomas Jefferson, Shakespeare – people like that. Sometimes they look at a lifeand decide that person needs a special reward – the Fields of Elysium.Sometimes they decide on punishment. But most people, well, they just lived.Nothing special, good or bad. So they go to the Fields of Asphodel.''And do what?'Grover said, 'Imagine standing in a wheat field in Kansas. Forever.''Harsh,' I said.'Not as harsh as that,' Grover muttered. 'Look.'A couple of black-robed ghouls had pulled aside one spirit and were friskinghim at the security desk. The face of the dead man looked vaguely familiar.'He's that preacher who made the news, remember?' Grover asked.'Oh, yeah.' I did remember now. We'd seen him on TV a couple of times atthe Yancy Academy dorm. He was this annoying televangelist from upstate NewYork who'd raised millions of dollars for orphanages and then got caughtspending the money on stuff for his mansion, like gold-plated toilet seats, and anindoor putt-putt golf course. He'd died in a police chase when his "Lamborghinifor the Lord" went off a cliff.I said, 'What're they doing to him?''Special punishment from Hades,' Grover guessed. 'The really bad people gethis personal attention as soon as they arrive. The Fu – the Kindly Ones will setup an eternal torture for him.'The thought of the Furies made me shudder. I realized I was in their hometerritory now. Old Mrs Dodds would be licking her lips with anticipation.'But if he's a preacher,' I said, 'and he believes in a different hell...'Grover shrugged. 'Who says he's seeing this place the way were seeing it?Humans see what they want to see. They're very stubborn – er, persistent, thatway.'We got closer to the gates. The howling was so loud now it shook the groundat my feet, but I still couldn't figure out where it was coming from.Then, about fifteen metres in front of us, the green mist shimmered. Standingjust where the path split into three lanes was an enormous shadowy monster.I hadn't seen it before because it was half transparent, like the dead. Until itmoved, it blended with whatever was behind it. Only its eyes and teeth lookedsolid. And it was staring straight at me.My jaw hung open. All I could think to say was, 'He's a Rottweiler.'I'd always imagined Cerberus as a big black mastiff. But he was obviously apurebred Rottweiler, except of course that he was twice the size of a woollymammoth, mostly invisible, and had three heads.The dead walked right up to him – no fear at all. The ATTENDANT ONDUTY lines parted on either side of him. The EZ DEATH spirits walked rightbetween his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without evencrouching.'I'm starting to see him better,' I muttered. 'Why is that?''I think...' Annabeth moistened her lips. 'I'm afraid it's because we're gettingcloser to being dead.'The dog's middle head craned towards us. It sniffed the air and growled.It can smell the living,' I said.'But that's okay,' Grover said, trembling next to me. 'Because we have aplan.''Right,' Annabeth said. I'd never heard her voice sound quite so small. 'Aplan.'We moved towards the monster.The middle head snarled at us, then barked so loud my eyeballs rattled.'Can you understand it?' I asked Grover.'Oh yeah,' he said. 'I can understand it.''What's it saying?''I don't think humans have a four-letter word that translates, exactly.'I took the big stick out of my backpack – a bed post I'd broken off Crusty'sSafari Deluxe floor model. I held it up, and tried to channel happy dog thoughtstowards Cerberus – Alpo commercials, cute little puppies, fire hydrants. I triedto smile like I wasn't about to die.'Hey, Big Fella,' I called up. 'I bet they don't play with you much.''GROWWWLLLL!''Good boy,' I said weakly.I waved the stick. The dog's middle head followed the movement. The othertwo heads trained their eyes on me, completely ignoring the spirits. I hadCerberus's undivided attention. I wasn't sure that was a good thing.'Fetch!' I threw the stick into the gloom, a good solid throw. I heard it goker˜sploosh in the River Styx.Cerberus glared at me, unimpressed. His eyes were baleful and cold.So much for the plan.Cerberus was now making a new kind of growl, deeper down in his threethroats.'Um,' Grover said. 'Percy?''Yeah?''I just thought you'd want to know.''Yeah?''Cerberus? He's saying we've got ten seconds to pray to the god of ourchoice. After that... well... he's hungry.''Wait!' Annabeth said. She started rifling through her pack.Uh-oh, I thought.'Five seconds,' Grover said. 'Do we run now?'Annabeth produced a red rubber ball the size of a grapefruit. It was labelled:WATERLAND, DENVER, CO. Before I could stop her, she raised the ball andmarched straight up to Cerberus.She shouted, 'See the ball? You want the ball, Cerberus? Sit!'Cerberus looked as stunned as we were.All three of his heads cocked sideways. Six nostrils dilated.'Sit!' Annabeth called again.I was sure that any moment she would become the worlds largest Milkbonedog biscuit.But instead, Cerberus licked his three sets of lips, shifted on his haunches, andsat, immediately crushing a dozen spirits who'd been passing underneath him inthe EZ DEATH line. The spirits made muffled hisses as they dissipated, like theair let out of tyres.Annabeth said, 'Good boy!'She threw Cerberus the ball.He caught it in his middle mouth. It was barely big enough for him to chew,and the other heads 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 wedgedbetween two of his teeth like a tiny piece of gum. He made a loud, scarywhimper, then dropped the ball, now slimy and bitten nearly in half, atAnnabeth's feet.'Good boy.' She picked up the ball, ignoring the monster spit all over it.She turned towards us. 'Go now. EZ DEATH line – it's faster.'I said, 'But –''Now!' She ordered, in the same tone she was using on the dog.Grover and I inched forward warily.Cerberus started to growl.'Stay!' Annabeth ordered the monster. 'If you want the ball, stay!'Cerberus whimpered, but he stayed where he was.'What about you?' I asked Annabeth as we passed her.'I know what I'm doing, Percy,'she muttered. At least, I'm pretty sure...'Grover and I walked between the monster's legs.Please, Annabeth, I prayed. Don't tell him to sit again.We made it through. Cerberus wasn't any less scary-looking from the back.Annabeth said, 'Good dog!'She held up the tattered red ball, and probably came to the same conclusion Idid – if she rewarded Cerberus, there'd be nothing left for another trick.She threw the ball anyway. The monster's left mouth immediately snatched itup, only to be attacked by the middle head while the right head moaned inprotest.While the monster was distracted, Annabeth walked briskly under its bellyand joined us at the metal detector.'How did you do that?' I asked her, amazed.'Obedience school,' she said breathlessly, and I was surprised to see therewere tears in her eyes. 'When I was little, at my dad's house, we had aDobermann...''Never mind that,' Grover said, tugging at my shirt. 'Come on!'We were about to bolt through the EZ DEATH line when Cerberus moanedpitifully from all three mouths. 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 atits feet.'Good boy,' Annabeth said, but her voice sounded melancholy and uncertain.The monster's heads turned sideways, as if worried about her.'I'll bring you another ball soon,' Annabeth promised faintly. 'Would you likethat?'The monster whimpered. I didn't need to speak dog to know Cerberus wasstill waiting for the ball.'Good dog. I'll come visit you soon. I – I promise.' Annabeth turned to us.'Let's go.'Grover and I pushed through the metal detector, which immediately screamedand set off flashing red lights. 'Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!'Cerberus started to bark.We burst through the EZ DEATH gate, which started even more alarmsblaring, and raced into the Underworld.A few minutes later, we were hiding, out of breath, in the rotten trunk of animmense black tree as security ghouls scuttled past, yelling for backup from theFuries.Grover murmured, 'Well, Percy, what have we learned today?''That three-headed dogs prefer red rubber balls over sticks?''No,' Grover told me. 'We've learned that your plans really, really bite!'I wasn't sure about that. I thought maybe Annabeth and I had both had theright idea. Even here in the Underworld, everybody – even monsters – needed alittle attention once in a while.I thought about that as we waited for the ghouls to pass. I pretended not to seeAnnabeth wipe a tear from her cheek as she listened to the mournful keening ofCerberus in the distance, longing for his new friend.