The Gods 3: The Underworld

4

Cole pulled me into a hug and I stood there shocked. Rose, Alex, and Becky all gasped and looked back and forth between Cole and I.

"You're not dead?" He asked pulling away. I shook my head. "So you're okay? You didn't get killed by Chaos." Cole paused. "Your hair is red." Percy pulled me closer to him, despite everything he still didn't trust Cole.

"Yeah." I managed to finally get out, Percy hung onto my arm. "My hairs been red since the fight with Chaos. And I'm as okay as I can be while getting stuck in the Underworld. You're in Elysium."

"Yeah, I guess me helping you managed to get me in here, you shoulda heard the argument the judgment dudes had."

"Yeah, I bet that was pretty heated."

"So why are you in the Underworld?"

"The ground opened up beneath us and we fell in."

"Did you-"

"Why does everyone assume it's always me?" I complained.

"So you didn't break the earth with your scary powers?"

"I mean I do on occasion, but not this time around."

"We need to get to Hades." Percy added in. "Anyway you can help us with that?"

"Or perhaps some shoes, and ambrosia?" I said quickly.

"Yeah, we can definitely help. What shoe size are you?"

"Eight."

"Rose, go find her something-"

"On it." Rose said running off.

"Becky, pack them some supply bags to take with them." Becky nodded and walked away slowly. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Water." Both Percy and I said in unison.

"Okay." Cole said going back into his room. Alex came up to me.

"You're cute." He said.

"Um... Thank you." I said, stepping closer to Percy. Cole came out with two bottle of water and handed them to us. Percy still looked like he wanted to punch Cole, but maybe a little less now. Becky came back with two small brown backpacks, and handed them to us. I swung mine on and helped Percy with his. Rose came running up too me.

"I found these super cute sandals, that I thought would be perfect for you." She said handing me a pair of sandals. I sat down and put them on, they were gladiator style with a strap that wrapped around my leg up to the center of my calf. 

"Cool, thanks." I said with a smile. Shoes weren't really my thing but she was right, these shoes are super cute. I stood up and she gave me a hug. I hesitated before I hugged her back.

"Okay then." Percy said. "We really should get going, know any short cuts out of here?" Rose stopped hugging me.

"Of course I know a shortcut through Elysium, I am a daughter of Athena after all."

"Rose, I don't think they're going to like your shortcut." Cole protested.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad." Rose argued.

"Launching them through the air, is not a good way to travel."

"Sure it is, it's fast, and effective just what they need."

"Um... I don't-"

"Sure, that will be fine, what's the landing like?" Percy said cutting me off. I looked at Percy, he gave me a look that said "Just go with it."

"You'll land in a pool, fun right?"

"Yeah." I said, the pool sounded better than the pile of mattresses we had already fallen on. Hopefully it wouldn't feel like crashing into cement. I know Percy said he could handle a fall like that into water, but we still weren't sure if I could do it, and it's not just something that you can test and walk away from.

"Great." Rose said grabbing mine and Percy's arm. She dragged us back out of the house, with Cole, Alex and Becky following behind us. Cole walked up beside me.

"How do you know that you're still going to be alive when you hit the pool?"

"After you died, I learned that I can also manipulate water, not as well as Percy obviously. But hopefully it will work."

"So, you're just going off of hope. Your going to get yourself killed."

"That's my problem not yours." I said. Cole rolled his eyes. "Plus half of the time you were trying to kill me, so why do you care?"

"I didn't kill you in the end, I tried to save you."

"I can handle myself." I hissed. Percy could tell that I was starting to get upset.

"Can I hit him?" He whispered in my ear. I looked at him.

"You can hit him the next time we see him." I whispered back.

"Ta da." Rose said showing off a catapult. "I spent quite a while building this, it turned out quite good. Get in." 

"Um... Okay." I said, Percy climbed in first and I sat down beside him. Rose moved a couple of levers.

"Have fun." She said, right before she pulled a lever and sent us flying through the air. Now the appropriate response to something like this would be to scream. Which is exactly what we did as we flew through the air. Percy grabbed my arm a few seconds before we plunged into the water, which helped, with the landing. Unfortunately I can't breathe underwater, and I inhaled all of the water my lungs. My vision started turning black, and my lungs burned. Percy pulled me out of the water, and expelled the water from my lungs. I coughed a lot, then took a few deep breathes.

"Great idea, Percy." I said said before I started coughing again. I rolled on my side, and Percy rubbed my arm.

"We should get going." Percy said, after I had calmed down. I nodded and he helped me up. I looked around.

"Wow, she wasn't kidding about  a short cut." I said. A couple feet away was the border of Elysium, then the fields of Asphodel. 

"Yeah, now we just have to get through the fields and all the way to Hades. Should be a piece of cake." Percy said. We walked out of Elysium and into the grey fields of Asphodel. The ground was hard and crunched with each step and people were standing around looking blankly at anything. Nobody payed us any attention as we walked past.

"Your not holding her chest anymore." I pointed out.

"Yeah, the water helped." We walked in silence for awhile, until Percy got uncomfortable.

"So was Mattie, at the door this morning?"

"Yeah."

"What did you two talk about?"

"He just came to apologize then we ended up fighting again. We're better off not together." I said. "Although him and Annabeth are probably worried about us." Percy made a face, like he was just realizing this.

"Annabeth's going to kill me for disappearing again."

"Yeah, she is. Why do you think that Hades wanted us down here?"

"I don't know, Gods are weird."

"Where do you think Jacob went?"

"I also don't know, but I think he might have been a demigod."

"Don't we know who all the demigods are."

"Yeah, but when the doors of death were open, some came back and are living again, so he might be one of them."

"Maybe." We walked for another half an hour, and talked. Until we agreed that we take a break. We sat on the dead grass, and opened our bags, there was some water and snacks. Along with a sweater. I put the sweater on and ate a granola bar. There sweater, was a bit baggy, with a red chest, and dark blue, arms and pockets. Percy had a sweater as well, his was black.

"We should try and get a bit of sleep." Percy said curling up on the ground. I curled up as well and fell asleep, in a few minutes.