Percy expected something scary.

Airport security was not scary.

Because that was what the judgement area looked like.

A large black banner hung above the gate with Welcome to Erebus written in glowing white letters. There were several stations with long lines of people. On one side, there was a tent with a sign that said EZ Death. That line was moving much faster.

"The fast line goes straight to Asphodel," Annabeth said. "It's for the spirits who don't want to risk Punishment."

A ghost glanced nervously at the Fields of Punishment and then demonstrated what she had said.

"Oh, yeah," Grian said. "He'd go to Punishment." He turned to Ren and Gem. "I think we would, too, just because Hades doesn't seem to get that it isn't our fault."

"That what isn't your fault?" Annabeth whined, but she seemed to be losing some of her determination.

"Do you... know him?" Percy asked, gesturing to the ghost that was now in line.

The three... Hermits, they had called themselves, didn't answer.

Grover glanced at them sympathetically. "Let's take EZ Death," he said. "It's faster."

"Wait, who said we have to go through a line?" Ren said.

"Them," Annabeth said, pointing to some security ghouls who were dragging a spirit put of the EZ Death line.

"That one gets a special punishment," Percy mumbled. "The ones who are really bad get punishments tailored specifically for them."

"Nice," Gem said weakly.

They got into the EZ Death line and waited. It wasn't long before they ran through the metal detector and ran into Asphodel amid flashing lights and blaring alarms.

"Unauthorized magic detected!" A cheerful female voice came from hidden speakers.

Percy pushed through crowds of ghosts with the others right on his heels.

"Guys, stop," Annabeth said suddenly, grabbing Ares' backpack and yanking Percy back.

Percy yelped as he hit the ground and probably got a gigantic bruise on his butt.

"What was that for?" Percy demanded.

Annabeth just stared up at seemingly air.

And then it rippled, and Percy saw it. His jaw dropped.

"He's a Rottweiler," Percy said dumbly.

"He's not a wolf," Ren said, squinting in an attempt to see the giant three-headed dog better.

"Of course he's not a wolf," Annabeth said. "Why would he be a wolf?"

"Because wolves are the only dogs we've seen," Ren said.

Annabeth seemed to get her anger back.

"How is that-" she started.

"Oh, yeah. And also Obi-Wan Kenobi," Ren said. "He's a Chihuahua."

Percy shuddered. "I don't think I like Chihuahuas anymore," he said.

"Me neither," Annabeth agreed. "But we have to get back on track. Remember the plan."

"The plan," Percy said. "Yeah, the plan. The plan's definitely going to work."

Hiding how terrified he was, Percy took a large stick out of his backpack and stepped in front of Cerberus.

"I bet they don't play with you much," he said, waving it.

Cerberus stared at him with a somehow confused expression.

"You're making him mad," Ren said helpfully.

"You want the stick?" Percy asked. Then he threw it as hard as he could. "Go get it!"

"Yeet," Ren observed.

The stick landed with a plop in the River Styx.
Cerberus watched it go before turning back to them and growling.

"Um, guys?" Grover asked. "He says we have ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice. After that... well, he's hungry."

Annabeth rummaged in her backpack and pulled out a bright red Waterland ball.

"Where did you get that?" Grian said, half yelping.

Annabeth stomped up to Cerberus. "See the ball, Cerberus? You want the ball?"

Cerberus whimpered.

"Sit!" Annabeth demanded.

Cerberus whimpered again and sat, squashing a bunch of unfortunate ghosts.

Do ghosts reappear at the gates, or are they gone? Percy thought absently.

"Good boy!" Annabeth said. She threw Cerberus the ball.

Percy, Grover, Ren, Grian, and Gem just stared.

Cerberus stood up and caught the ball in his middle mouth. The other two heads promptly attacked it.

"Go!" Annabeth whispered.

"But I kinda wanna adopt him..." Ren said.

"No! Go, you idiot!" Grover said, pushing him.

Percy followed them. He glanced back to see Gem, standing exactly where she had been before and staring at the ground.

"Gem," Annabeth hissed. "We don't have all day."

"But- but lava," Gem stammered.

"Think about the Greek version," Ren said.

Gem closed her eyes.

Ren ran back to her, although Percy wasn't sure what he could do to help if Gem was hallucinating a Floor is Lava game.

Cerberus dropped a soggy pile of red mush before starting to growl at them.

"No," Ren said sternly.

Cerberus stopped.

"Good boy," Ren said.

Cerberus looked around.

Gem nervously stepped forward and then quickly pulled her foot back as it caught on fire.

"WHAT?" Annabeth said.

HOW IS THERE FIRE? Percy thought.

Gem tried again, and thankfully this time she seemed to be fine.

Cerberus started growling at them.

Ren gazed up at him. "I really wanna adopt you," he said to the dog.

Cerberus whimpered as if he agreed.

"Ren," Grian said. "We'll have enough problems without smuggling out a gigantic partly invisible dog."

Ren pouted but followed the rest of them into Asphodel.

"AH!" Grian yelled. "Oh, wait. It's you."

The ghost who had been bugging him ok the boat had returned.

"Scar?" Gem asked, still looking nervously at the floor as if it would dissolve and dump her into lava at any second. "Is that you?"

Percy tried to examine the ghost's face, but it was hard to look at. Mostly, he just saw glowing white bones. But the glowing white bones nodded.

"You just went straight to Asphodel?" Ren asked.

The ghost nodded again.

Percy figured this must have been Scar. He hadn't talked to the undetermined demigod much before he died. Too late now.

What he did remember about Scar was that he loved cats, hated pandas, and had an unexplained rivalry with Bdubs, another one of the Undetermineds. And that he and Grian were nearly inseparable.

The ghost chattered something in an almost playful tone.

"I can't understand you," Grian said. "Sorry."

Scar stamped his foot in frustration. He pointed to Grian, and then to the ground.

"Yeah, I see it," Grian said. "It's the Nether."

Scar shook his head and did the pointing thing again.

"I think he's asking what you're doing here," Annabeth said.

Scar pointed at her and nodded.

"Well, they had a quest," Ren said. "Then Grian and I got kidnapped by monsters-"

"After you ran away," Gem interrupted.

"-and then we met them and decided to tag along," Grian said.

"Well, that's not the whole thing," Percy said. "Grian and Ren turned up, Grian decided to come, Grian's friends all came to us at a water park-"

Scar started jumping up and down wildly.

"Look, Scar, I know you're mad at us for going to a water park without you, but it's too late now," Grian sighed.

Scar hung his head.

"And then they all left except Ren, Grian, and me," Gem finished.

Scar folded his arms and slumped his shoulders.

"We're going to Hades' palace," Ren said. "You're welcome to join us."

Scar shrugged.

And that was when it all fell apart.

The Fury swooped out of nowhere and grabbed him, and at the same time, Grover's shoes acted up and dragged him away, screaming.

"SCAR!" Grian screamed.

"Oh, no," Gem gasped. "They're going to Hades."

"GROVER?" Annabeth shrieked, and ran after the satyr. Percy was quick to follow.

So quick, that he didn't notice that the Hermits weren't behind him.

"Maia!" Grover yelled. "Maia, already!"

The shoes didn't drop him.

They took a sharp turn and before they knew it, were in a side tunnel, going down a steep slope.

"Untie them!" Percy yelled.

Grover tried to sit up. As one might expect when they were being dragged down a hill, it didn't work very well.

Grover started grabbing at gravel, trying to get a hold on something.

They reached the end of the tunnel, and Percy froze.

"This is it," he murmured. "This is the place from my dreams."

Before them lay a huge hole in the ground, going down to unfathomable depths.

And Grover was at the very edge of it, hanging onto seemingly the only big rock in the entire cavern.

His shoes seemed to be trying to drag him into the abyss.

Thankfully, they had always been big on him. One slipped off and flew into the void.

The other came off as well, then kicked each one of them in the forehead before going to join its twin.

The three of them just sat there and panted for a minute.

Then Grover said, "Wait, where are the others?"

"What?" Annabeth turned around. "Where did they go?"

"That's not good," Percy said.

"We need to go find them," Grover said, getting up.

An unintelligible voice came from the pit.

"What..." Annabeth said, narrowing her eyes at the pit. Then they went as big as dinner plates. "It's chanting. Run."

Percy had never gone so fast up a hill, and it was good that he did. As soon as the voice finished its changing, there was a blast of air like the pit trying to suck them in.

Percy's backpack felt like it weighed a ton. They finished climbing the slope and got back into Asphodel.

"The Fury came and took Scar," Grover said fearfully. "The others were probably taken as well."

"We need to get to them," Percy said. "Hades is going to kill them."

"Why is Hades after them?" Annabeth said.

"They're probably being taken back to the palace," Grover said.

Annabeth grabbed Percy's arm. "What the heck is going on?"

"I-" Percy said. "I promised I wouldn't tell."

Annabeth stamped her foot. "I need to know what's wrong! I'm sick of being left out of everything!"

Percy pursed his lips and made a split-second decision.

"I'll give you the short version," he said. "There from another world called Hermitcraft, where the laws of the universe are different and everyone knows about magic. When they die, they respawn, so Hades is after them because they keep cheating death."

"W-what?" a voice said.

The three of them turned.

"I thought-" Ren said. "I thought I could trust you."

He was alone, which led Percy to believe that something bad had happened to Grian and Gem. Then he looked at the ground, shook his head, and walked away.

"Ren-" Percy started. "It was an emergency!"

But his bright red shirt was already lost among millions of dark black robes.

~~~

Tragedy strikes our noble questers...

-Indigo