The Son of the Deep

Chapter 3

Perseus, Grover and Annabeth stood on top of the camp hill and watched Chiron make his way towards them. 

"Chiron." Perseus greeted him. 

The old centaur just nodded his head in acknowledgement. "You three are about to embark on a quest that will decide if World War III comes about. I implore you to be careful. Perseus do you know where you are going?"

Nodding he spoke. "You said Hades was at the meeting, right?" Chiron nodded. "Well I know that he's in the west so we'll go take a visit, see what he knows." Chiron nodded. "May the Fates be with you." Perseus snorted. "The Fates? Chaos would be your better option." With that Perseus lead the quest down towards Argus while Chiron watched from the hill. 

"Thanks Argus!" The hundred eyed man smiled and drove off, leaving the demigods at the Greyhound bus stop. 

"So.....Percy? Did you get a prophecy?" Annabeth asked. Grover tensed up and looked at Perseus. "Don't. Call. Me. Percy." He said gritting his teeth. The humidity in the air rose to the point that it felt like they where sitting in syrup. Grover bleated. "Hey Perce, she doesn't know alright. She didn't know." 

The goat turned towards Annabeth, "Don't call him Percy or Perce." 

Annabeth huffed, "Well how come you get to?"

Grover got a far away look in his eyes. "Because I nearly died for him."

The three demigods sat in tense silence for the next thirty or so minutes. 

"You shall go west and face the god who has turned
You shall find what was stolen and see it safely returned 
You shall be betrayed by the one you love
And you shall fail to save what matters most in the end." Perseus said quietly. 

 "I knew Hades took the bolt!" Annabeth exclaimed.

Perseus looked over at her, eyebrow raised. "What makes you say that?"

"Well you said that we where going to go to Hades, who is in the west and the god who has turned is in the west..." Annabeth trailed off. Even though she was three years older than him that look of disappointment that he was giving her cut her deeply. 

Perseus sighed. "No, just because we are going to my Uncles palace, does not make him the god who has turned. I want to know what happened at the council from a gods perspective." 

For a split second Annabeth felt ashamed that she jumped to conclusions, then her hubris kicked in. "Well what makes you sure that he  wasn't the one who took it?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw Grover flinch but ignored the action.

Perseus got up from the pole he was leaning on and walked over to her. "Have you met the Lord of the Dead?" He said in a dangerously quiet tone. Annabeth shook her head no, her blond hair bouncing around her shoulders. 

"Then all you have to go on is stigma and stereotypes," He leaned closer to her, his mouth over her ear. He smelled strongly of the sea and fresh earth and that filled her nose to the point that she couldn't smell anything else. "You dumb, blonde, bitch." 

It was at that moment that the Greyhound bus pulled up and Annabeth had her whole world flipped upside down. Perseus got on, not sparing her a second glance and Grover followed him, shooting her an apologetic look. She shook herself out of her daze and ran after them. 

Perseus, Grover and Annabeth all sat in the bus seat, looking out the window for anything suspicious. They spotted an old looking building up ahead with flickering neon lights that the two demigods where not able to read.