Ghosts - A Percabeth Story

Welcome to the Great and Very Gray Underworld. . .

Percy hated Elysium. He hated it because Annabeth wasn't there, but yet he was happy at the same time that she wasn't. She was still alive and safe at Camp Half-Blood, and that lightened his spirit.

Everything was just so. . . gray and dismal. The grass, the ground, the buildings. . . everything was boring and gray. The zombies and ghosts didn't help much with the creepy factor, although Percy himself was technically a ghost now. He had tried talking to the ghouls in his part of Elysium, but they seemed to have been there for centuries and had given up on trying to be cheery.

Since he had fought well while he was alive, he got to have a small house on the Isle of the Blest. It was like Cabin 3 -- his cabin -- back at Camp Half-Blood, though all washed-out in color like everything else was in the Underworld. That just made him miss all the demigods more.

"All of the deceased, please stay inside the lines. Do not wander out, or Cerberus will eat your head. Or what's left of it, anyway." The droning, disembodied voice Percy had grown accustomed to echoed in the distance.

It had been what Percy assumed was a few days since he had gone to see Annabeth, but time was strange in the Underworld. It could've just been a few hours or maybe months; daylight never touched anything. All the same, his happiness was dissipating again.

He walked down the cobblestone pathway through the center of the Island, then came to stop and gazed down at the Fields of Punishment. He could see the poor souls of many people, some he recognized even; the enemies he had fought during his time at Camp Half-Blood. He quickly turned away, he didn't understand why he even looked at those Fields.

He had to get Camp Half-Blood off his mind, it would only make his eternal time in the Underworld that much harder to bear. Maybe he could ask Hades to put him in the Fields of Punishment, then he would actually have something to do while he was stuck here. . .

Maybe he should ask to see Annabeth again, except for a longer time. He quickly dismissed the idea, though it hurt him doing so. Hades would begin to get annoyed, he should wait a little longer. . .

His thoughts were interrupted by a scream, which he ignored at first, but then noticed it didn't come from the Fields of Punishment. He whipped around and gazed over in the direction of the Main Gate. He noticed Cerberus's frenzied barking and saw the scattering of ghosts, all of them fleeing down the bank or diving into the Styx. He couldn't see what the trouble was.

He hurried down to the edge of the Island in an attempt to see what was going on. Then he saw it. He couldn't tell what 'it' was exactly, but just looking at its dark shape sent shivers up his spine.

Cerberus broke free of his chain and lunged at the creature, but it lightly touched the giant dog on the nose and Cerberus went absolutely still, frozen mid-leap in the air. He didn't even fall, as if the air particles around him had been frozen as well.

Percy instinctively reached for his pocket and pulled out his blue ballpoint pen. He uncapped it, and Riptide instantly appeared. He smiled slightly at seeing the sword, but it quickly faded as his gaze returned to the creature.

It was heading towards the Fields of Punishment. Everything in its wake turned an even darker shade of gray and shriveled a little more than it already was.

Percy looked down at the gray sludge of water that made up the small, pathetic ocean surrounding the Isle of the Blest. It wasn't even blue. What an insult to Poseidon, and himself. Maybe, just maybe, he could bend it to his will. . .

The sludge rose a few feet, then flopped down again with a splat. Percy cursed in anger and looked up again.

The creature was now at the Fields, wandering among the damned. With each spirit it passed, the spirits stopped what they were forced to do and followed the creature.

Percy watched in disbelief as the creature sauntered through the Fields, unleashing every soul who had been unfortunate enough to end up there.

Percy heard a shout, and he recognized it as Hades. He couldn't take his eyes off the creature though as it raised its cloaked arms, then quickly brought them down again. The creature and the spirits it had freed vanished.

Percy blinked, but the scene didn't change. Where had the creature and the spirits gone?

A horrid thought struck him: What if they were heading to the mortal world?

If that was the case, the mortals and demigods wouldn't stand a chance against all of them.