The Gods 3: The Underworld

7

"Tarturus?" Jake asked. "How do you know?"

"Cause I've been there before." Percy said. I folded up the note and stuck it back in the envelope.

"But you barely made it out." I said. "You shouldn't have to go back, I'll go just me."

"Sam, you can't do it alone." Percy argued. "Plus your still hurt."

"I know, I'm still hurt." I said looking at Jacob. He looked at the ground for a second then back up.

"I'll go with her." Jake said. Percy looked like he was in pain. Probably because he was debating if he trusted Jacob or not. 

"I'll come with you." Percy finally said. "I suppose I kinda know the layout."

"Percy-" I started.

"Don't try and argue, I'm coming with the both of you."

"Do you know where the entrance is?" I asked. Before Percy could answer Jake quickly responded.

"I know where it is. I sadly know this place like the back of my hand." Jake said. "We should probably eat something first before we head down there."

"You know where their is food?" I asked, clearly knowing my priorities. 

"Well, yeah their is a kitchen here, and we could probably find you some clean clothes too." He said.

"Sounds good." I said. Percy seemed just as satisfied. Jacob guided us down some halls, all made in the same black marble with torches and pictures of screaming souls on the wall.

"Well, this place is cheerful." Percy mumbled, as we walked. After a couple of minutes we ended up in a small kitchen. Jacob rummaged through a few cupboards before he handed us a couple of granola bars and some  soda's. 

"Well, isn't this a hearty breakfast." I said, opening up my granola bar.

"Hey, its all I have right now unless you want to cook something." Jacob said defensively. 

"No, this is fine." I mumbled, taking a bite of the granola bar. Percy looked at me and smirked. We finished our granola bars in silence then grabbed a couple bottles of water and put them into Percy's pack. My back starting hurting again but i ignored it, figuring it should probably feel this way considering I got stabbed in the back. We headed out of Hades palace, once we got outside I realized we were in Persephone's garden. It was dark and gloomy and most of the plants were dead.

"Well, this is cheerful." Percy said plucking some sort of dead fruit off of a branch. Jacob gave him a look and he dropped it.

"Lets just get through here as quickly as possible, the Garden isn't very safe when Persephone isn't around. " Jacob said looking around wearily. 

"Whats that supposed to mean?" I asked. I had a strange feeling that we were being watched.

"Lets just get outta here." Jacob said leading the way as we started to walk. The garden didn't feel safe at all, and I could tell that the others felt it too. Percy's hand twitched around his pocket with his sword in it, and Jacob kept looking around as if something was going to jump out at us. The garden was huge, tree's blocked the view of the palace, and the way out of here. Jacob at least seemed to know where he was going. I was completely lost.

"Jacob, you do know where we are going right?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, I do, we just have to be careful." Jake said.

"Careful of what?" I asked, looking around.

"Catoblepas." Jacob said, just as he said that I saw something very large and dark out of the corner of my eye. I shot around to see a strange creature. Its large head that resembled a wild boar hung down to the ground like it was to heavy for it. Its body was that of a buffalo, with scales on its back, and it had a thick mane around its head, making it hard to see its feet.

"Holy crap." Percy said quickly drawing his sword.

"Don't look at its eyes, they'll turn you to stone." Jake quickly said, pulling a dagger out of his pocket. Percy quickly looked at him skeptically, but his eyes quickly drifted back to the monster. Unfortunately for me, I was the closest one to the monster, without a weapon, and still to weak to use my powers.

"Shit." I said right before the monster charged into me sending my flying over him, like a person hit by a car, before I landed in a tree, with little sticks stabbing me everywhere. Everything hurt, and I watched as Percy quickly attacked the beast only to have his sword bounce of his scales. Jake baseball slid under the monster with his eyes closed. His glasses bounced off of his face. He stopped sliding when he was halfway under the monster. The monster opened his large mouth, and just as quickly as he had slipped underneath him, Jacob thrust his dagger into the roof of the Catoblepas's mouth. The monster screamed and turned to dust. Jacob wiped of his face with his shirt, and opened his eyes. Percy stared at him in shock.

"Dude, that was pretty awesome." Jacob nodded and picked his glasses up off of the ground. He tucked his dagger back into his pocket, and rubbed his arm where the monsters teeth had left  few small cuts. Percy helped Jacob up, then they both stared at me up in the tree.

"Comfy up there?" Percy asked, turning his sword back into a pen.

"Totally." I said sarcastically, as I slowly made my way down the tree, most of the pain had subsided, except for the one in my back.

"You good?" Percy asked, once I finally got to the bottom.

"Yeah, I think so." I said, wincing as I stretched a little. Percy nodded.

"I don't mean to rush you,  but I really do. The faster we get out of here the better, the monster can get back to the garden pretty fast."

"How fast is fast?" Percy asked.

"Little under an hour last I checked. We should be be good, as long as we go now." Jacob quickly lead us the rest of the way out of Persephone's garden, took me a bit longer cause I was limping a little but we made good time. A few minutes after we got out of her garden, we heard the Catoblepas scream in rage. We had made it out just in time. A few feet in front of us, was a glowing red hole. There is was. The entrance to Tarturus.