Percy Jackson and the Heir of Slytherin [Book 2]

38) Hades

I found myself lying on cold, granite floor. I shakily pulled myself up, breathing even though I somehow knew I didn't need to. I looked around.

I was in a black castle of sorts. It was menacing, and gave off a dead energy. It was something that seemed to drill into me. In the distance, I heard music. Cold, yet still harmonious. The music begged me to come to it, but I fought the pull.

"You're able to resist the song."

Looking up, I saw a throne. It was dark, made of the same material as the palace. In that throne sat a god. A powerful one.

"H-Hades," I whispered. The god nodded.

"Did you steal it?" Hades asked me.

I stood shakily, "St-steal what?"

"The master bolt. Did you steal it?" Hades asked again, this time looking a little agitated.

I frowned, feeling close to tears, "I-I didn't steal the master bolt. I didn't steal anything."

Hades seemed to frown for a moment, then said, "You remind me of my daughter. And your father. You look a lot like him.

"I've been watching you for a very long time, Perseus. Ever since you first walked into Hogwarts. So have the rest of the gods. Most don't seem to have realized who your father is. Who you are. Tell me, Perseus, did you steal the master bolt?" Hades stepped off of his throne, shrinking to a normal height to look down at me.

I shook my head, "I didn't steal the master bolt." Even as I tried to hold them in, I could feel tears slipping down my face. The music was loud. So very loud.

Then I heard a sound. A scream. My name. It sounded like Silena.

I shot my head up, looking around wildly. Hades stared at me with what looked like confusion for a moment, then realization settled across his face.

"Come, Perseus," he said, gently leading me away. I stared up at him with wide eyes, listening to the sound of more screams, and then shouts for help. They seemed to be ringing in my head, and they helped drown out the sound of the music.

He sat me at a long table. He sat right across from me. Instead of sitting at the heads of the table, however, we sat at the sides.

"What do you hear, Perseus?" Hades asked me. His dark eyes seemed warm and gentle. It was odd. It was unexpected.

"M-my friends. They're crying," I whispered, and it seemed to get louder. I flinched when I heard a sob.

"They aren't here."

I nodded, and quietly said, "I know."

Hades frowned, then said, "Did you take the master bolt?"

I shook my head, "I didn't take the master bolt."

Hades nodded and sighed, "I don't think you took the bolt. Normally, I'd be able to read your mind here. However, something is interfering. Have you noticed the weather lately?"

I nodded, "It's bad."

Hades nodded and sighed, "Yes, indeed it is. Zeus and your father are fighting. Zeus says that Poseidon stole his mater bolt. Poseidon says he did not.

"You are Poseidon's son. You were in New York on the solstice. You could have taken it, hidden from the gods straying eyes," Hades said, his eyes becoming colder for a moment. "Why were you in New York?"

"L-Luke took me to see my mother's grave," I whispered, avoiding his eyes. Hades seemed to freeze for a moment, then snapped his fingers. There was my mom. Standing there, she looked just as beautiful as the last day I saw her. She looked confused for a moment, then her eyes landed on me.

"Percy!" She pulled me out of the chair, wrapping me in a hug. My tears fell harder, and I cried. A lot.

Suddenly, my mom pulled away, she looked at me, fear and sadness pooling in her eyes, "You're dead."

I frowned, and Hades stood, "He's not quite dead. Most of his soul is here. Somehow, he has managed to leave a small part with his body. He's dead, but he has the option to go back. Somehow, I don't think it is his time. He can resist the song. He can hear his friends. It seems that the fates have plans for you, Perseus."

I nodded, then frowned, "B-but... Mom..."

My mom pulled me into another hug, this one tighter, "I'll see you again, Percy. I'll be waiting. Try not to die so soon, yeah? I don't want to see you down here for a very long time."

I felt like crying harder than ever, but heard a sound. Crying. Crying I hadn't heard before, yet I knew exactly who it belonged to.

Draco.

I nodded in her arms and said, "I love you, Mom. I love you so much."

Mom pulled away slightly, looking down at my face with tears in her own eyes.

"I love you too, Percy. So, so very much."

I held her hand, and turned to Hades, "I-I'm ready to go back. I'll save dying for another day."

Hades nodded, and turned to me, "You may not have stolen the bolt, but your fate is intertwined with it. You are intertwined with everything."

Then everything went dark.

Ooh look at papa Hades. I love him. I also really fuckin like Bianca. Like, she's cool. A real bro. Oh, and I just finished the 25th chapter of the fourth book. And I'm not entirely sure what happened, but the chapter titles started getting a little odd, so I hope you enjoy them.

And I guess it's rant time again. I know you guys probably hate this, but I don't know what else to talk about down here, so whatever. Me and my grandma went to this town near where my town is, cause it's the only place we can go to have fun. I got a bunch of books, but that's not what rant time is for. When we got back, Emblem and Kadee we're home. They asked me to go drive with them to another town nearby, because my other sister, Sam, was there and she locked her keys in her car and needed help. So I did that. But now for the real fucking rant. A long time ago, my mom started doing drugs, and all sorts of bad things happened. She did some bad things, she hung out with some bad people who did bad things, and we just saw a lot of bad things. So I don't visit her much, because I'm a little uncertain if she's still doing drugs or not, but whatever. Her boyfriend, a real dickwad, definitely does drugs. He cheated on my mom twice, stole one of my grandpa's trucks, and got kicked out of rehab for being too drugged up. Do you know how bad that is? It's crazy. But apparently, he threatened to beat Kadee's ass. She's fucking eleven. Now it's been a while since any of our mom's stupid boyfriends have hit any of us, and Kadee has never been hurt by one. She's not ever gonna know what that's like, and if she ever does... well, I know myself well enough that I can say someone's getting their ass kicked, even if it means I get beat up worse. But Kadee was super scared. Emblem was pissed. And you know what my mom did? She tried to defend him. She said that he was just 'sick'. Like, yes, we know that now. He's sick in the head. Yeah. So just fuck everyone. On a happier note, because I don't want to leave it off on that, my brother came over today. We watched Avatar, tried to fix my Xbox, and then I played Apex while he tried to not realize how stupid I was. I lost the first game terribly, but I won the second game.

I love you all, and may you never see shitty shit people. I hope you have a good Monday, and I'll see you on Wednesday.