Grian couldn't help but admit he was nervous.

This quest had been fine so far, Grian would have even went so far as to say it was fun, but now he could tell it was coming to an end.

They stood at the entrance to the Underworld, less commonly known as DOA Recording Studios. Everything was made of black marble.

There was a sign on the glass door that said No solicitors. No loitering. No living.

That was the only way that Grian knew they were at the right place.

DOA Recording Studios seemed normal from the outside. It even looked normal on the inside, from what Grian could see outside the door.

Until they looked closer.

Inside, several benches and chairs stood on the polished tiled floor. Every seat was filled, and there were a bunch of people standing as well. A mean-looking security guard in sunglasses and a fancy suit sat behind a desk with an extremely bored expression.

But on a closed glance, the people who appeared to be waiting were semi-transparent.

Percy, who was at the front of the group, turned back to look at the others. "Okay. Remember the plan."

"Yeah, the plan," Grover said nervously, chomping on his shirt because he didn't have anything better to eat. "I love the plan."

"What happens if the plan doesn't work?" Gem asked, clutching her sword.

"Think positive," Grian reminded everyone.

"Right," Annabeth said sarcastically. "We're entering the Land of the Dead, and we're supposed to think positive."

Percy took the three pearls out of his pocket and looked at Ren, Gem, and Grian. "Are you sure you guys will be okay if we need to escape? I don't... I don't want to leave anyone behind."

"You mean when we need to escape," Ren muttered.

Grian put his hand in his pocket and felt the soft object, about the size of his fist, that Ren had passed out to him and Gem. "We'll be fine."

He winced, because most of his experiences with this particular object had involved Scar. It didn't feel right to be doing this without him.

"Okay," Percy said. He looked down at the pearls somewhat doubtfully.

"We can give you some too," Ren offered.

Percy shook his head. "I don't think they'll work for us," he said, glancing at Annabeth.

"Why not?" Annabeth demanded.

Percy pretended not to hear her.

Grian didn't really care if everyone knew about Hermitcraft. The dangerous people, namely Hades, already knew. It was pointless to hide it.

But Ren and Gem had insisted, and Grian was outvoted.

Annabeth put a hand on Percy's shoulder. "You're right. We'll make it. It'll be fine. Everything will be fine."

She elbowed the person closest to her, who happened to be Ren.

"Yeah," he said. "We got this far, didn't we? We can do this without getting caught by Hades and dying and not res-" he clamped his mouth shut.

Grian didn't really know why, but he felt a little bit of satisfaction at Ren slipping up.

"We're going to get the master bolt and your mom back," Grover said, putting on a brave face.

Percy looked significantly more confident. He slipped the pearls back into his pocket and said, "Let's whup some Underworld butt."

They walked inside DOA lobby.

In movies that Grian had watched at Camp Half-Blood, after a statement like that, the main characters would either make a dramatic entrance or the movie would cut to when they were already inside.

This was anything but dramatic. If this was a movie, it would be one of the ones that skipped the entrance.

Random thought: I'm exited for the Percy Jackson series but I'm a little scared it will ruin the books for me, like leave out parts that I felt were important. I know that Rick Riordan himself is working on it, but I still have my doubts... btw I haven't watched the PJO movies and I don't intend to

They just walked in. Nobody stopped them.

Percy led the way right up to the desk.

The security guard looked at them. "Hello. How can I help you little dead ones?" His voice had a faint accent that Grian couldn't place. Maybe because he wasn't from this world or something.

"We need to go to the Underworld," Percy replied.

The security guard cracked a smile. "Well, that's refreshing."

They stared at him.

"No 'its not possible,' or, 'Mr. Charon, there must be a mistake!' How did you die?"

"We... drowned," Percy said.

Grian almost blew their cover by reminding the Son of Posideon that Sons of Posideon couldn't drown.

"In the bathtub," Grover added helpfully.

The security guard, whose name tag read Charon, looked impressed. "All of you?"

They nodded.

"Big bathtub," he muttered.

"Your name is Chiron?" Percy asked.

Oh, right. He's dyslexic. Like Scar... was.

Charon slammed his hands on the table. "I am sick of getting mistaken for that old horse-man! Repeat after me. Charon."

"Karen."

"NOT AGAIN! CHARON."

"Charon."

"Good. Now, Mr. Charon."

"Mr. Charon."

"Thank you. Do you have coins?"

"Well - no," Percy said.

Charon sighed. "Then I can't let you across. Usually I take Debit cards, but unless you have those..."

Grian didn't know what a Debit card was. He didn't have his Lotus Casino card anymore, either.

"We have these," Percy said, holding up the sack of drachmas from Crusty's Waterbed Palace.

Charon stared. "Well," he said. "I haven't seen those in a while..."

Percy took out a handful and let them fall in between his fingers, back into the bag.

"I bet they don't pay you much here," Percy said.

"They don't," Charon admitted. "Are you dyslexic, lad?"

"No," Percy said. "I'm dead."

Charon probably narrowed his eyes underneath the sunglasses. "Godlings," he growled. "I should have known."

He reached for the bag of drachmas, which Percy had set on the desk. "How about I take these, and you leave here alive."

Percy took them back. "No passage, no pay."

Charon's fingers twitched. He hadn't moved his hands, so they just hovered above the desk.

"I'm sure this job is very stressful," Percy said with a sympathetic tone.

"It is," Charon complained. "'Mr. Charon, can I get across for free? Mr. Charon, can you let me leave, please? Mr. Charon, Mr. Charon,' ARGH! And for as little as I get, too..."

"I bet you haven't gotten a pay raise in a very long time," Gem said.

"No, I haven't!" Charon moaned.

Percy stacked drachmas on the table. "They don't pay you much for all this stress, and dedication, and dealing with annoying demigods who want to come through," he said.

Charon stared at the money. "I guess it's almost full anyway," he mumbled, and took it.

Slightly to Grian's surprise, he stood up and went toward the elevator. Spirits grabbed their clothes as they followed, whispering pleas in unintelligible chatters. Or, Grian thought they were pleas. It was kind of sad, really.

Once they were all in the elevator, Chiron pushed a few freeloaders out and then the doors hissed shut.

Grian didn't know how far down they went. Only that it would have been below bedrock back home.

He had been down below bedrock before. It hadn't exactly been a good experience...

They kept going down. Grian blinked, and then suddenly all of the ghosts were wearing black robes. Their skeletons were clearly visible, glowing white beneath their skin. Chiron was a ghoul as well.

"Well?" he asked, probably hoping for them to scream.

"Nothing," Grian said, just as smugly.

He shook off a spirit that was tugging at his sweater.

Yes, he had kept it, even though there were clothes at the Lotus Casino. He would only leave his previous red sweater behind when it was unwearable. And even then, he could always stick a Mending enchantment on it, repair it at the enderman farm, and then use a grindstone to take the enchantment back off.

It took Grian a minute to notice that they weren't going down anymore. The elevator was going sideways like the Great Glass Elevator that Impulse had briefly considered building and then scrapped. All it took was another blink to see that it was a boat instead.

They were sailing along a black river - except suddenly it wasn't a black river anymore. It was lava, and their surroundings were red volcanic rocks and lava falls - but then it was back to the black river running with weird objects. And then back to the fiery landscape.

Grian rubbed his eyes. The fiery side of the Underworld was awfully familiar-

Grian thought it was Gem grabbing his sleeve, but no, it was that ghost again. And then Gem actually did grab his sleeve. "Do you see that?" she asked quietly.

"It's the Nether," Grian said. "This place looks exactly like the Nether."

"Except when it's the Styx," Ren said.

"I wish it was the Aether," Gem whimpered.

"I think Olympus would be the Aether," Grian whispered.

Annabeth and Percy were holding hands, probably to remind themselves that they were alive.

"Oh my goodness, stop it already!" Grian yelled at the annoying ghost.

"Concentrate," Ren advised. "If you concentrate on the Greek Underworld, you see less of the Hermitcraft one."

The annoying ghost pointed at a Nether fortress - but that ghost shouldn't have been able to see it.

Ren's concentration method seemed to work, and from Gem's sigh of relief, it had helped her too.

The boat scraped up against a bank of black gravel - or was it magma blocks? Grian was careful on the shore just in case.

The annoying ghost pulled on Grian's sleeve one last time, and, failing to do... whatever he was trying to do, hung his head in a strangely familiar way and followed the other spirits towards judgement.

Then he tripped over a rock.

And then it clicked.

The way the ghost moved and carried himself, the determination to get Grian to recognize him, even how he somehow tripped on the only large rock on the entire bank, all reminded him of-

"Scar," Ren breathed. "I'd bet you a diamond block that ghost is Scar."

So he's really dead. Actually, truly dead.

Or just exploring the Nether, a part of Grian's brain thought. But he had never seen ghosts in the Nether before. Soul sand and a crap ton of skeletons, but no ghosts.

A single tear went down Gem's face.

"What's wrong?" Grover asked her.

She quickly wiped it with her sleeve. "Nothing. Just... the Underworld is scary."

Grover whimpered. "Satyrs aren't meant to be underground."

They stepped onto the bank, leaving Charon alone in that boat. "Don't forget about that pay raise!" he called.

The five demigods and satyr turned toward the Underworld.

"Let's go get the Master Bolt back, I guess," Gem said.

Grian waited for the Underworld to come back before he stepped in where a pool of lava had been in the Nether.

This was going to be a lot harder when most of the floor was lava.