Children of the underworld

chapter 5

After they got Leo calmed down, and convinced him to crash in one of Brooklyn House's guest rooms for the night, Percy, Annabeth, Anubis, and the Kanes sat down to fill in Jason and Zia on what had happened, and the progress they'd made. Thalia arrived midway through so they had to start over from the beginning, but eventually they got through it all.

When they'd finished, Jason groaned and buried his head in his hands. "Man . . . so I just Tristan McCleaned a kid who's been helping us? Who managed to make more progress in an hour than we've made in two weeks, and then was already getting bullied by some mafioso Egyptian ghost before I tackled him? Now I feel like a jerk."

"What do you mean . . . Tristan McCleaned him?" asked Percy.

"Apparently my little brother is a die-hard Tristan McClean fan," said Thalia.

Annabeth coughed like she was trying to hold back laughter.

Percy looked at her uncertainly. "Hey, isn't Piper's father –"

"A Tristan McClean fan too? In a manner of speaking. That's all we need to say on the subject of Tristan McClean," said Annabeth.

"I need to understand something first," said Percy. "What does it mean to Tristan McClean someone, Jason? I know that if you Chuck Norris them, you roundhouse kick them, usually in the face, or if you full-on Swayze them, you hit them with a haymaker, but to Tristan McClean someone?"

"You just pwn the hell out of them," explained Jason.

"Ah. I see. Ok, back to the topic at hand then . . ."

"I only see one course of action," said Thalia. "A fieldtrip to the Underworld."

"I end up going there so often, I should rent an apartment," muttered Percy.

"Hang on, you've been to the Underworld before?" asked Jason.

"Three times now," said Percy gloomily.

Thalia whistled. "That many?"

"When? How? Why?" asked Zia, looking properly horrified.

"Once to save his mom," said Annabeth. "That was on the quest after Zeus's master bolt was stolen. I was there for that one."

"Once on that sword of Hades quest," added Thalia. "Nico and I were there too."

"Then once more with just Nico, right before the Battle of Manhattan," said Percy.

"What for?" asked Zia.

"Sightseeing." Percy didn't feel like explaining the Curse of Achilles right now. Not to Zia anyway. They were getting along much better these days than they had when they first met, but Percy still felt like he couldn't completely lower his guard around her.

"Complicated tactical measures," said Annabeth, being much more diplomatic than him, as usual. "It would take too long to explain, and it's not relevant now anyway."

"Wow. So, you guys know your way around the Underworld pretty well by now?" asked Jason.

Thalia shook her head. "About as well as you know your way around New York."

Jason grimaced. "That good?"

"It's a vast place. And it's full of dead people. That makes it harder to get around," said Thalia. "Nico's useful there because the dead part for him. We're likely to have to shove our way through the crowds of shades."

"Then there's the nasties to worry about," added Percy.

"Cerberus?" guessed Jason.

"No, Cerberus is the least of our problems," said Percy.