☽

THE next morning, chiron moved them to cabin three and cabin one. They didn't have to share with anybody. They had plenty of room for all their stuff: percy had the right minotaur's horn while pandora had the right, they had each one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. They got to sit at their own dinner table: both of them staring at each other with frowns on their faces, pick all their own activities, percy calling "lights out" whenever he felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.

And they were absolutely miserable. Just when they'd started to feel accepted, to feel they had a home in cabin eleven and they might be normal kids—or as normal you can be when you're a half-blood—they'd been separated out as if they had some rare disease.

Nobody mentioned the hellhounds, but pandora and percy got the feeling they were all talking about it behind their backs. The attack had scared everybody. If sent two messages: one, that they were the daughter and son of the sky god and sea god: and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill them. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.

The other campers steered clear of pandora and percy as much as possible. Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with them after what they'd done to the ares folks in the woods, so their lessons with luke and leah became one-on-one. They pushed pandora and percy harder than ever, and wasn't afraid to bruise them up in the process.

"You're going to need all the training you can get," He promised, as they were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try thy viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."

Annabeth and midas still taught them greek in the mornings, but they seem distracted. Every time percy or pandora said something, annabeth scowled at them, and midas frowned at them, as if the siblings had poked them between the eyes.

After lessons, annabeth and midas would walk away, annabeth muttering to herself: "Quest..Zeus?...
Poseidon?..Dirty rotten...Got to make a plan.."

Even clarisse kept her distance, though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill liz for breaking her magic spear. Percy and pandora wished she would just yell or punch them or something. They'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored.

Percy knew somebody at camp resented them, because one night he came into his cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the New York Daily News, opened to the metro page. The article took him almost an hour to read, because the angrier he got, the more the words floated around on the page and made him sneak into his sister's cabin to let his frustration out by cursing and waking her up with his hushed yelling.

BOY, GIRL AND MOTHER STILL MISSING
AFTER FREAK CAR ACCIDENT

BY EILEEN SMYTHE

Sally Jackson and her kids percy and pandora are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's badly burned '78 camaro was discovered last saturday on a north long island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken. The car had been flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding.

Mother, daughter and son had gone for a weekend vacation to montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident.

Ms. Jackson's husband Gabe Ugliano, claims that his stepson and stepdaughter, Pandora and Percy Jackson, are troubled children who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past.

Police would not say whether son and daughter, Percy and pandora are suspects in their mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out foul play.

Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson, Pandora and Percy. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free-crime-stoppers hotline.

The phone number was circled in black marker.

Percy wadded up the paper and threw it away, then flopped down in the bunk next to pandora, "Stupid Ugliano." The girl muttered and pulled the covers over her head. "Lights out." Percy told himself miserably.

That night, they had their worst dreams yet. They were running along the beach in a storm. This time, there was a city behind of them. Not new york. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance. About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing greek tunics, one trimmed in blue , the other in green.

they grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.

Percy and pandora had to stop them. They didn't know why. But the harder they ran, the more the wind blew them back, until they were running in place, their heels digging uselessly in the sand.

Over the roar of the storm, they could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, Give it back! Give it back! Like a kindergartener fighting over a toy. (which was kind of funny to pandora)

The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying percy and pandora with salt. Percy yelled, Stop it! Stop fighting!

The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned percy and pandora's blood to ice. Come down. Little heroes, The voice crooned. Come down!

The sand split beneath them, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. Their feet slipped, and darkness swallowed them.

Percy woke up, sure he was still falling. Percy was still in bed in cabin one. His body told him it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. He hadn't dreamed that.

He turned to his sister who was tossing and turning in her sleep, sweat rolled down her forehead, her chest heaved up and down as her eyes shut tightly.

He quickly got of the bunk and slapped her ever so lightly, "dory, dory, dory!" Her eyes snapped open and she looked at her brother who was looking at her with concern.

He opened his mouth to say something but they heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold.

"Come in?" Pandora said, grover trotted inside, looking worried. "Mr. D wants to see you."

"Why?" The two chorus, "He wants to kill...i mean, i'd better let him tell you." Pandora's eyebrows raised and percy went back to his cabin to get dressed.

They both followed grover, sure that they were in huge trouble. For days, they'd been half expecting a summons to the big house. Now that they were declared a son and daughter of poseidon and zeus, two of the big three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, they figured it was a crime to just be alive.

The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish them for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict.

Over long island sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in their direction. They asked grover if they needed an umbrella.

"No," He said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."

Percy pointed to the storm. "What the heck is that, then?" He asked, Grover glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."

They realized he was right. In the week they'd been there, it had never been overcast. The few rain clouds they'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley. But this storm..this one was huge.

At the volleyball pit, the kids from the apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. Dionysus's twins were walking in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow. Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.

Grover, Percy and pandora walked up to the front porch of the big house. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped hawaiian shirt with his diet coke, just as he had in their first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheelchair. They were playing against invisible opponents—two sets of cards hovering in the air.

"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrities."

Percy and pandora glanced at each other and waited. "Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to kowtow to you, mortal, just because old barnacle-beard and papa lightning are your fathers."

A net lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house. "Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said. Chiron feigned interest in his pinochle cards.

Grover cowered by the railing, his hooves clopping back and forth. "If i had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp:. to keep you little brats safe from harm."

"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D." Chiron put in. "Nonsense," Dionysus said. "They wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, i've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father." He directed to percy.

"Mr. D—" Chiron warned. "Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when i get back, i'll turn him into an atlantic bottlenose. The girl can stay or not, maybe i'll turn her into an eagle. Do you understand?"

Pandora snorted quietly, "Perseus and Pandora Jackson, if you're all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what chiron feels you must do." Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass.

He snapped his fingers. The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.

Chiron smiled at them, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, percy, pandora, please. And grover." They did.

Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't got to use. "Tell me, percy, pandora," he said. "What did you make of the hellhounds?"

Just hearing the name made them shudder and looked at each other with horrified expressions, Chiron probably wanted them to say, Heck, it was nothing. We eat hellhounds for breakfast. But they didn't feel like lying.

"It scared us," Percy said. "If you hadn't shot them, we'd be dead."

"You'll meet worse, Percy, pandora. Far worse, before you're done." The girl glanced at percy out the corner of her eye and looked at chiron. "Done...with what?"

"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?" He asked, percy and pandora looked at grover, who was crossing his fingers. "Um, sir," Percy said, "You haven't told us what it is yet." Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."

Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as percy and pandora could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.

"Poseidon and Zeus," Pandora said. "They're fighting over something valuable..something that was stolen, aren't they?" The girl tilted her head at Chiron who exchanged looks with grover.

Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"

Pandora face felt hot. She wished she hadn't opened her big mouth, she frowned and sighed. "The weather since christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then we talked to annabeth and midas, and they'd overheard something about a theft. And...we've also been having these dreams." She gestured to percy and herself.

"I knew it," Grover said.

"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered.

"But it is their quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"

"Only the oracle can determine." Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, pandora, you are correct. Your father and percy's father are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."

Percy and Pandora looked at each other and laughed nervously. "A what?"

"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play." Pandora snorted, chiron looked at her and she looked down. "Sorry."

"I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."

"Oh." Percy and pandora chorused.

"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the cyclopes for the war against the titans, the bolt that sheered the top off mount etna and hurled kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."

"And it's missing?" Percy asked. "Stolen," Chiron said.

"By who?"

"By whom," Chiron corrected. Once a teacher, always a teacher. "By you." Percy and his sister's mouth fell open in shock.

"At least—" Chiron held up a hand—"that's what zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother rhea always liked you best,' 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' et cetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose."

"He immediately blamed poseidon. Now, a god can't ursup another god's symbol of power directly—that is forbidden by the most ancient divine laws. But zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."

"But i didn't—" Percy tried, "Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes poseidon has taken the master bolt, which might be used to topple zeus from his throne."

"The only thing zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in new york over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."

"But i've never been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy! And he openly claimed dory, too! What if my dad convinced zeus's daughter and not me?" Pandora turned to him with her mouth hanging to the floor. "Excuse Me?! You're the crazy one! You stole the master bolt."

"We've been together this whole entire time, so if anything, we stole the master bolt." Pandora paused and turned to chiron, "Yeah, this doesn't make sense, they're both crazy."

Chiron and grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around them, as grover had promised. They were rolling straight over their valley, sealing them in like a coffin lid.

"Er, percy...dory..?" Grover said. "We don't use the c-word to describe the lord of the sky."

"Perhaps paranoid," Chiron suggested. "Then again, poseidon has tried to unseat zeus before." Pandora leaned over, "Guess who's the crazy one now." She whispered and percy pushed her head away.

"I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam.." He looked at them as if he actually expected them to remember question thirty-eight.

How could anyone accuse percy of stealing a god's weapon? He couldn't even steal a slice of pizza from gabe's poker party without getting busted. Chiron was wating for an answer.

"Something about a golden net?" Percy guessed and looked at pandora who shrugged. "Poseidon and hera and a few other gods...they, like, trapped zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"

"Correct," Chiron said. "And zeus has never trusted poseidon since. Of course, poseidon denies stealing the master bolt: He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along—the proverbial last straw."

"But I'm just a kid!"

"Percy," Grover cut in, "If you were zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then, you're brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you...wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"

"But i didn't do anything. Poseidon—my dad—he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"

Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not poseidon's style. But the sea god is too proud to try convincing zeus of that. Zeus has demanded the poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's june twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants and apology for being called a thief by the same date."

"I hope that diplomacy might prevail, that hera or demeter or hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But your arrival has inflamed zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, percy, pandora?"

"Bad? Like hell?" They guessed. "Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between zeus and poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the trojan war look like a water-balloon fight."

"Like hell," They repeated. "And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel zeus's wrath." It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.

Percy had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of him. He was furious. "So he has to find the stupid bolt," Pandora said. "And return it to my father."

"What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than have his own daughter and the son of poseidon return zeus's property?

"If poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?"

"I believe i know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy i had years ago...well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before i can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the oracle."

"Why can't you tell us where the bolt is beforehand?" Percy asked. "Because if i did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge."

Percy swallowed. "Good reason."—"Fair enough." His sister shrugged. "You agree then?" They looked to grover, who nodded encouragingly.

Easy for him. Percy was the one zeus wanted to kill.

"All right," Pandora said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin and an eagle." Percy nodded in agreement.

"Then it's time you consulted the oracle," Chiron said.

"Go upstairs, Percy and Pandora Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."

                                              ☽

Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trapdoor. "Sane..? What did he mean." Pandora muttered as percy pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.

The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else..a smell they remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes.

They looked at each other then held their breath and climbed. The attic was filled with greek hero junk: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ithaka, circe's isle, and land of the amazons. One long table was as stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things—severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters.

A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with the horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, hydra head #1, woodstock, N.Y., 1969.

By the window; sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy. Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind; but a human female body shriveled up to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lifts of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long back hair.

The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.

Looking at her sent chills up their backs. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth.

A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. They stumbled over each other trying to get to the trap door; but it slammed shut. Inside their heads, they heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around their brains: I am the spirit of delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty python. Approach, seekers, and ask.

They looked at each other and wanted to say, No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom. But they forced themselves to take a deep breath.

The mummy wasn't alive: She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around them in the green mist. But its presence didn't feel evil, like their demonic teacher Mrs. Dodds or the minotaur. It felt more like the three fates they'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stands: ancient, powerful, and definitely not human.

But not particularly interested in killing them, either. Percy got up the courage to ask, "What is our destiny?" The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of them and around the table with pickled monster-part jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer. It was smelly gabe and his buddies.

Percy's fist clenched, though he and pandora knew this poker party couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made out of mist.

Gabe turned toward them and spoke in the rasping voice of the oracle: You shall go west, and face the god who turned. His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned. The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend. Finally, eddie, their building super, delivered the worst line of all: And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.

The figures began to dissolve. At first they were too stunned to say anything, but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy, pandora cried, "Wait! what do you mean? What friend? What will we fail to save?" The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth.

She reclined back against the wall. Her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of mementos.

They got the feeling that they could stand there until they had cobwebs, too, and they wouldn't learned anything else.

Their audience with the oracle was over.

                                              ☽

"Well?" Chiron asked them. Percy and pandora slumped into their chairs at the pinochle table. "She said we would retrieve what was stolen." Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly in the remains of a diet coke fan. "That's great!"

"What did the oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed.

"This is important." Their ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. "She...she said we would go west and face a god who had turned. We would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."

"I knew it," Grover said.

Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else." They didn't want to tell him. What friend would betray them? They didn't have that many. And the last line—they would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of oracle would send them on a quest and tell them, Oh, by the way, you'll fail How could they confess that?

"No," Percy said. "That's about it." He studied their faces. "Very well, percy, pandora. But know this: The oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."

They got the feeling he knew they was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make them feel better.

"Okay," Pandora said, anxious to change topics. "So where do we go? Who's this god in the west?"

"Ah, think, pandora," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"

"Somebody else who wants to take over?" Percy guessed. "Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."

They thought about their dreams, the evil voice that had spoken from under the ground. "Hades." Chiron nodded. "The lord of the dead is the only possibility."

A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"

"A fury came after percy and pandora," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man and young woman until she was sure of their identities, then tried to kill them. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."

"Yes, but—but hades hates all heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out percy is a son of poseidon and dory is a daughter of zeus.."

"Hellhounds got into the forest," Chiron continued.

"Those can only be summoned from the fields of punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use percy and zeus's own daughter to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill these young half-bloods before they can take on the quest."

"Great," Percy muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me, plus dory." Pandora sighed, she needed a stress ball, this was getting too much for her. "But a quest to.." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."

"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the underworld, knowing full well that zeus would blame poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the lord of the dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy and Pandora must go to the underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."

A strange fire burned in their stomach. The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was anticipation. The desire for revenge. Hades had tried to kill them three times so far, with the fury, the minotaur, and the hellhounds. It was his fault their mother had disappeared in a flash of light. Now he was trying to frame percy and his dad for a theft they hadn't committed.

They were ready to take him on. Besides, if their mothers was in the underworld...Whoa, kid, said the small part of their brains that was still sane. You're a kid. Hades is a god.

Grover was trembling. He'd started eating the pinochle cards like potato chips. The poor guy needed to complete a quest with them so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was, but how could they ask him to do this quest, especially when the oracle said they were destined to fail? this was suicide.

"Look, if we know it's hades," Percy told chiron, "Why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could down to the underworld and bust some heads."

"Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect hades—and i imagine poseidon does—they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it."

"No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"

"You're saying we're being used."

"I'm saying it's no accident poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."

His dad needs him. Emotions rolled around inside him like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. He didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. Poseidon ignored him for twelve years. Now suddenly he needed him.

Percy looked at chiron. "You've known we were poseidon and zeus's kids all along, haven't you?"

"I had my suspicions. As i said...i've spoken to the oracle, too." Percy got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling them about his prophecy, but he decided he couldn't worry about that right now. After all, he and pandora was holding back information too.

"So let me get this straight," Percy said. "We're supposed to go to the underworld and confront the lord of the dead."

"Check." Chiron said, pandora frowned, "Find the most powerful weapon in the universe." Percy continued.

"Check."

"And get it back to olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."

"That's about right." They looked at grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts. "Did i mention maine is very nice this time of year?" He asked weakly.

"You don't have to go," Pandora told him. "We can't ask that of you."

"Oh..." He shifted his hooves. "No...it's just that satyrs and underground places...well..." He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his t-shirt. "You saved my life, dory, percy, if...if you're serious about wanting me along, i won't let you down."

They felt so relieved they wanted to cry, though they didn't think that would be very heroic. Grover was the only friend they'd ever had for longer than a few months. They wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, but they felt better knowing he'd be with them.

"All the way, G-man." They turned to chiron. "So where do we go? The oracle just said to go west."

"The entrance to the underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course; it's in america."

"Where?" The two chorused.

Chiron looked surprised. "I thought it would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los angeles."

"Oh," Percy said. "Naturally. So we just get in a plane—-"

"No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?" Percy shook his head, feeling embarrassed. Their mom had never taken them anywhere by plane. She'd always said they didn't have the money. Besides, her parents died in a plane crash.

"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the sea god. Your father's bitterest rival is pandora's father, lord of the sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive. Pandora, however, is allowed in his domain."

Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed. "Okay," Percy said, determined not to look at the storm. "So we'll travel overland."

"That's right," Chiron nodded. "Four companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The others has already volunteered, if you will accept their help."

"Gee," Pandora said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?" The air shimmered behind chiron. Annabeth became visible, stuffing her yankees cap into her back pocket.

Midas appeared behind percy coming out of the shadows, the son of poseidon jumped, wondering where he came from. "What the—" Percy stared at midas in surprise.

"We've been waiting a long time for a quest, sparky," Annabeth said. "Athena is no fan of poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, we're the best to keep you from messing up."

"If you do say so yourself." Pandora said with a shrug, before looking at her "I suppose you have a plan, wise girl?" Annabeth's cheeks colored, midas chuckled and shook his head. "Do you want our help or not?"

Percy and Pandora looked at each other, The truth was, they did. They needed all the help they could get. "A group of six," Percy said. "That'll work."

"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in manhattan. After that, you are on your own." Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.

"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."

"Um—" Percy raised his hand slowly and chiron glanced at him, "Who's the sixth?"

"She will meet you at the hill."

                                              ☽