We Find Out The Truth, Sort Of
"Finally," Zeus sighs, rolling his eyes.
Imagine the largest concert crowd you've ever seen, a football field packed with a million fans.
Now imagine a field a milllion times that big, packed with people, and imagine the electricity has gone out, and there is no noise, no light, no beach ball bouncing around over the crowd. Something tragic has happened backstage. Whispering masses of people are just milling around in the shadows, waiting for a concert that will never start.
If you can picture that, you have a pretty good idea what the Fields Of Asphodel looked like. The black grass had been trampled by aeons of dead feet. A warm. moist wind blew like the breath of a swamp. Black trees- Grover told me they were poplars - grew in clumps here and there.
"I've never heard anyone explain the underworld in such a strange way," Hades says with a grimace.
Zeus and Poseidon burst out laughing at the sight of their brother's face. Meanwhile, Persephone struggles to hold back her laughter as she looks at her husband's expression.
"Don't worry, Dad, if Ariel isn't describing things in a strange way, then you should start worrying. That's normal for her," Nico says with a wave of his hand.
"Hey!" Ariel shouts, offended.
"What? Am I wrong?" Nico asks, raising an eyebrow.
Ariel doesn't respond, she just crosses her arms, sulking.
"You're adorable when you sulk," Apollo whispers in Ariel's ear, causing her to blush.
The cavern ceiling was so high above us might've been a bank of storm clouds, except for the stalectites, which glowed faint grey and looked wickedly pointed. I tired not to imagine they'd fall on us at any moment, but dotted around the fields were several that had fallen and impaled themselves in the black grass. I guess the dead didn't have to worry about little hazards like behing speared by stalactites the size of booser rockets.
Annabeth, Grover and I tired to blend into the crowd, keeping an eye out for security ghouls. I couldn't help looking for familiar faces among the spirits of Asphodel, but the dead are hard to look at. Their faces shimmer. They all look slightly angry or confused. They will come up to you and speak, but their voices sound like chatter, like bats twittering. Once they realize you can't understand them, they frown and move away.
"That's a bit creepy," Travis says quietly to Connor.
"Yeah, but that's what makes it so exciting!" Travis adds.
"Idiots," Chris mutters.
Clarisse snorts upon hearing her friend's muttering.
The dead aren't scary. They're just sad.
"Exactly, that's what I always say!" Nico exclaims, pointing at the screen.
"Calm down, sweetheart," Will says, pulling Nico back with a playful smile.
A small smile appears on Hades' face as he looks at his son.
We crept along, following the line of new arrivals that snaked from the main gates towards a black-tented pavilion with a banner that read:
JUDGMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATION
Welcome, Newly Deceased!
"Oh, how nice, they're even greeting each other," Hermes snorts.
