"Christ's crucifix shall be made an excuse for executing criminals." - William Blake

"Welcome to Tartarus," Kampe said as she dragged Percy to his cell.

      "Is it called Tartarus because of the smell?" Percy asked. "It stinks worse than Smelly Gabe."

     Kampe curled her lip and said, "Half-Blood Prison is worse than it smells. I hope you enjoy your stay here."

"Are you sure I can't choose a different prison?" Percy asked.

Kampe was already walking away.

"Fine, I'll have to give you this place a bad review on ratemyprison.com," he shouted.

She either didn't hear him or pretended to not. Percy sighed and looked around at his cell. The first two things that he realized were that it was really small and he had a cellmate. His cellmate looked more interesting than the cell itself: a small, dingy space only decorated with two cots. Percy's cellmate was a blonde man a little taller than him with blue eyes and a scar near his lip. He was wincing and touching a purple bruise on his forehead.

"I got hit on the head with a brick," he explained. "My name is Jason. What's your's?"

"I'm Percy," Percy said. "This place looks like it could use some decorating."

"And what do you propose?" Jason asked.

"Well, aside from the fact that this cell is entirely too small for one person, it lacks any homeliness or warmth," Percy said. "I would personally suggest that the prison gives us beds or even bean bags because these cots look very uncomfortable."

"Tell me about it," Jason said. "I got here yesterday and it was like sleeping on the sidewalk."

     "Is there anything good here?" Percy asked.

      "Unless you like prison girlfriends, no," Jason said. "The food tastes like cafeteria food. This one prisoner named Jake told me he straight out converted just so she could get kosher food."

    "It's that bad?" Percy said. "I'm guessing they don't have blue food?"

     "Unless you like blue gunk, then no," Jason said.

     "Blue gunk?" Percy asked.

      "I'm not sure what else to call the monstrosity that the prison food is," Jadon said.

"Dinner time!" Kampe said a few hours later. "Line up and stay silent in line or I'll beat you to the ground."

      Jason and Percy stood in line after Kampe opened their cell door. The prison cafeteria looked like a school cafeteria and the lunch lady had a scowl on her face as she gave Percy a tray of what Jason had dubbed "blue gunk." Her nametag read "Alecto" and her smile looked more like a leer.

     Percy sat down beside Jason. He began eating his gunk and realized that blue had failed him for once; it tasted like rotting fish soaked in vinegar and had the texture of slimy oatmeal.

     "I hope dinner is different tomorrow night," Percy said.

     "It better be," a buff woman whom Jason had introduced to Percy as Clarisse said. "I can't wait until tomorrow."

     "Why is that?" Percy asked.

      "Because we get to see the chaplain," Clarisse said. "Mr. Chiron is the only nice guy here."

    Percy hoped that was not the case, but his first day in prison had been fairly miserable. Even jail seemed like paradise compared to this. Oh no, Percy thought, you never want to get nostalgic for your time in jail. That's when he decided that this place really must be Tartarus.