Misunderstandings- A Solangelo Story

Chapter 1- Nico's P.O.V.

-Monday, August 8th-

Next thing I know, I'm in Central Park with Percy Jackson and Mrs. O'Leary. Not a good sign.

The hellhound is going around, sniffing and moving in the direction of the Door of Orpheus, leading down into the Underworld.

Percy gives me a concerned look, and I reassure him, "It's okay, she just smells the way home."

He frowns, like he's confused. "Through the rocks?" He questions.

"The Underworld has two major entrances," I clarify further, "You know the one in LA."
"Charon's ferry." He recalls, so I nod.

"Most souls go that way, but there's a smaller path, harder to find. The Door of Orpheus."
"The dude with the harp." He says with confidence, nodding back at me.
I almost laugh, even now. It's so endearing, everything about him... "Dude with the lyre," I correct, making sure that I don't make a face at him or anything. "But yeah, him. He used his music to charm the earth and open a new path into the Underworld. He sang his way right into Hades's palace and almost got away with his wife's soul."

As any child of Apollo would probably do. Those kids are crazy, and stupid.
"So this is the Door of Orpheus." He observes the rocks, scratching his chin, "How does it open?"

"We need music," I say, "How's your singing?"

I just wanted to hear him sing, didn't I? I'm not sure why I'm seeing this, or when it's going to go bad, but I'm not looking forward to it. What if the twist of this dream was that he started singing? How wild would that be?

"Um, no. Can't you just, like, tell it to open? You're the son of Hades and all." He doesn't answer my question.
"It's not so easy. We need music."
"I have a better idea," He turns away from me and starts yelling, "Grover!"

I remember how long it took Grover to actually show up, and I almost start singing myself in hopes that the dream follows the rules the Door of Orpheus follows. Before I can, everything goes dark and the ground disappears beneath me.

For a moment, I'm falling, but it doesn't hurt and I don't fall or anything when I'm on my feet again. I look around, alert, able to at least control myself a little. Things are still dark, but not in the same way.

"Woof!" I hear Mrs. O'Leary bark.
We're in the Underworld. Cerberus comes out of the dark and Mrs. O'Leary bounds over to him excitedly. They don't realize it isn't playtime. Their tails wag and they greet each other in the ways they always do; sniffing noses and then sniffing butts.

"Mrs. O'Leary, no!" Percy shouts, before trailing off, "Don't sniff...oh man."

I want to laugh, but I don't even know how I ended up here without all of the waiting around for Grover and the stairs that felt endless. I remember walking down those and watching Percy carefully the whole time. He was the only thing that made me feel safe and like we were going anywhere at all.

Unconsciously, I smile. Then my eyes refocus off of the sweet dogs and onto Percy Jackson. My smile drops and nothing is funny anymore. I know where this is going. I always knew where this was going, whether I had high hopes that it wouldn't or not.

"Come on. They won't give us any trouble in the line. You're with me." I tell him, but the truth was that they were expecting both of us, that's including him.

Things seem to go in fast motion as we reach our true destination; my father's castle. I don't look at Percy again the whole time. I can hear him talking to Mrs. O'Leary casually, and again, it's so endearing. He sounds nervous. He should be...should have been, I mean. This isn't happening to me--to us, right now.