Andy Jackson: Child of Land & Sea

King Of The Gods

Act V — Walking On Water

Part IV — I hope you're satisfied, but if you ain't, don't blame me. You can blame my friends on the other side...

They emerged in Central Park just north of the Pond. Nico looked pretty tired as he limped over to a cluster of boulders. "The Underworld has two major entrances," he told Andy. "You know the one in L.A."

"Charon's ferry."

Nico nodded. "Most souls go that way, but there's a smaller path, harder to find. The Door of Orpheus."

"The dude with the harp?"

"The dude with the lyre," Nico corrected with a grin. "But yeah, him. He used his music to charm the earth and open a new path into the Underworld. He sang his way right into Hades's palace and almost got away with his wife's soul."

"I remember," she said; Anthony liked telling her about Greek myths. "He wasn't supposed to look behind him when he was leading her back to the world, but of course he did. And so they died. The end."

"Pretty much."

"So this is the Door of Orpheus?" Andy tried to sound impressed but she wasn't really. "How does it open?"

"We need music," Nico said. "How's your singing?"

"Um, no. Can't you just, like, tell it to open? You're the son of Hades and all."

"It's not that easy. We need music. Now sing. I'm pretty sure you can carry some notes."

"Why would you think that?"

"Child of the sea and everything," he shrugged. "Mermaids. Sirens. Naiads. The sound of waves. All music."

"I'm fairly sure if I try to sing, all I will cause is an avalanche," Andy told him. "I have a better idea." She turned and shouted, "GROVER!" Her empathy link was tingling for the first time in months. Grover! she thought more insistently.

"Hmm-hmmmm," something said. An image came into her head. She saw him sleeping above a tree.

"Wake up," she told him.

His eyes shot open.

"What?" Nico asked.

"I got through," she said out loud. "He's... yeah. He's on his way."

A minute later, the tree next to them shivered and Grover fell out of the branches. "Blah-haa-haa!" he bleated.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine," he got up. His horns had grown so much they poked an inch above his curly hair. "I was at the other end of the park. The dryads had this great idea of passing me through the trees to get me here. They don't understand height very well."

"You remember Nico?" Andy said. Grover nodded at Nico then gave Andy a big goat hug.

"I missed you," he told her. "I miss camp."

"I was worried," she said. "Where have you been the last two months?"

"The last two—" Grover's smile faded. "The last two months?! What are you talking about?"

"We haven't heard from you. Juniper's worried."

"Hold on. What month is this?"

"August."

The color drained from his face. "That's impossible! It's June. I just lay down to take a nap and..." he grabbed Andy's arms. "I remember now! He knocked me out. Andy, we have to stop him!"