𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟖: 𝐂𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐓𝐘

"Why does no one listen to me?"

   ANNABETH ORDERED THEM A CAB.

    She practically shoved them all in the backseat of the car and told him, "Los Angeles, please."

The cab driver chewed on his cigar as he eyed them, "There's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front."

"You accept casino debit cards?" Annabeth asked.

     He shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em through first."

     Annabeth handed him her green Lotus Cash card. He looked at it eyed it uneasily .

    "Swipe it," Annabeth told him.

     He did.

    His meter machine started rattling. The lights flashed. And Eris' eyebrows raised as an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign.

    The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth. He looked back at us, his eyes wide. "Where to in Los Angeles...uh, Your Highness?"

    "The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter with a small smirk. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

   Eris looked at her like she was crazy. Was Annabeth seriously going to give away all of her money?

    The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.

     On the road, they had plenty of time to talk. Percy told them all about his latest dream, he seemed to struggle remembering certain details.

    "The Silent One?" Annabeth offered. "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades."

    "Maybe..." Percy said, but he still sounded unsure.

   "I'm sure you'll get your memories back," Eris said quietly, leaning against Annabeth.

     "That throne room sounds like Hades's," Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."

   Percy shook his head. "Something's wrong. The throne room wasn't the main part of the dream. And that voice from the pit...I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice."

    Annabeth's eyes widened.

"What's wrong?" Eris asked.

     "Oh...nothing. I was just—No, it has to be Hades. Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong —"

"Like what?"

"I—I don't know," she said. "But if he stole Zeus's symbol of power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things could go wrong. So this thief had to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."

"But if I'd already retrieved the bolt," Percy said, "why would I be traveling to the Underworld?"

"To threaten Hades," Grover offered. "To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."

Percy whistled. "You have evil thoughts for a goat."

"Why, thank you."

"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for two items," Percy said. "If the master bolt is one, what's the other?"

Grover shook his head.

"You have an idea what might be in that pit, don't you?" Percy asked her. "I mean, if it isn't Hades?"

"Percy...let's not talk about it. Because if it isn't Hades...No. It has to be Hades."

   "It's just..." Eris started hesitantly and bit her lip, "Why would Hades take or want the bolt in the first place? I mean..just because he's the God of Death doesn't mean he's a villain. I-If he's in the Underworld with Persephone and happy with his life...why would he be trying to start a war? H-He's probably looking for something but not Zeus' bolt," They remained silent and Eris looked down, "Sorry, forget what I said, it was dumb."

Eris didn't believe that just because Hades was the God of Death meant he was a terrible person. She didn't like to believe the worst in people. She didn't know him personally and didn't necessarily believe he was good person but she didn't want to stereotype him based off of his Godly title that he didn't even choose himself. It wasn't like he could control the fact he ruled the dead.

   But if Hades was living a happy life with the love of his life why would he even bother his brothers? It didn't make any sense to Eris. What was his motive in trying to take the bolt from Zeus?

"No, Eris," Annabeth said, rubbing her eyes like she didn't want what Eris said to be true, "You...you may be on to something."

Wasteland rolled by. They passed a sign that said CALIFORNIA STATE LINE, 12 MILES.

    "But it has to be in the Underworld," Annabeth said, "Percy saw the sprits of dead. That's the only logical place it could be. We're doing the right thing."

   For the first time Eris thought Annabeth was wrong. What would Hades even be gaining from stealing the Master Bolt? It didn't make any sense.

   It was like they were missing an obvious answer.

   The cab continued to head west and at sunset it dropped them off at a beach in Santa Monica. There were carnival rides lining the pier, palm trees along the sidewalks and smelling homeless men sleeping on the sand.

  They walked down to the edge of the surf.

   "What now?" Annabeth asked.

   Percy ignored her and stepped into the water.

   "Percy," Annabeth called, "What are you doing?"

   Percy kept walking deeper and deeper into the water.

   "You know how polluted that water is? There're all kinds of toxic—"

   Then Percy went under the water, cutting Annabeth off.

  "That idiot," Annabeth muttered.

   "I'm sure he'll be fine," Eris said quietly.

   Annabeth turned to her, "Hey, Eris, there was actually something I wanted to ask you?"

  "Y-Yes?"

Annabeth bit her lip, "When you...when you talk to yourself," she started and Eris froze, "I mean...you haven't in a while but when you do are you actually talking to yourself?"

"What...what do you mean?"

Grover rubbed his chin, "You're right. She hasn't talked to herself in a while."

"I mean...is there something or someone you're talking too?" Annabeth asked, "Are...are you actually crazy like everyone says? It's just I've been thinking about this for days," she added, "when we were in Medusa's territory and we were hiding behind the statues...you were talking to someone weren't you?"

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," Eris muttered. "You'd just think I'm crazy, everyone does."

"I'll believe you," Annabeth said firmly and Grover nodded along with her, "I promise. Even if it sounds ridiculous I'll believe you, I promise."

The only person Eris had ever told about Willow's ghost was Chiron but his response of telling her it was only her imagination was the main reason Eris was always scared she was actually insane and was only imagining the ghost of her dead sister as a way to deal with her grief.

    Eris crossed her arms, "I don't know..."

   "We will," Grover added, "We'll believe you no matter what."

   Eris eyed them all warily, "I...I'm never talking to myself," she admitted and their eyes widened, "I...my sister she—"

   The waves of the sea opened and Percy arrived back on land completely dry and Eris immediately shut her mouth.  Percy went on to tell them about how he was given three pearls by a Nereid sent by his father.

   Annabeth frowned, "No gift comes without a price."

   "They were free," Percy told them.

   "No," Annabeth shook her head, "There's no such thing as free lunch. That's an Ancient Greek saying that's translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. You wait."

    THEY TOOK THE BUS TO WEST HOLLYWOOD. Percy tried to give the driver the address for the Underworld but the Driver had never heard of DOA recording studios.

   They walked around for miles on foot trying to find DOA but no one had seen to heard of it. They briefly stopped by an appliance store but Percy got pissed and almost punched a hole through a wall when he saw his step father being interviewed on the News. Grover ended up having to pull Percy away.

   As time passed on it was getting darker and darker outside making Eris uneasy especially in a city she had never been in before. She had never left New York in her life, L.A. was so much bigger, more complicated.

   Eris ended clutching her hand in Annabeth's as they passed gangsters, bums and street hawkers.

   As they hurried to walk down an Alleyway a voice came out of nowhere, "Hey, you."

   Normally Eris would have kept walking or made a break for it but she couldn't.

   Because like an idiot Percy stopped.

   In a matter of seconds they were surrounded. A gang of kids surrounded them all. All of them looking to be white kids with expensive taste and privilege. Eris' eyes instantly started to fill with tears.

   One of the kids stepped forward and put a hand on Eris' shoulder before they opened their mouth but before he could say anything Eris did something on pure reflex that surprised her and everyone else.

   Now, Eris was terrible during training at Camp Half-Blood. Probably by far the worst Demi-god in training. But at least one thing she was at least decent at was very basic hand-to-hand combat.

   So, the minute the kid put his hand on her shoulder due to pure survival instincts and her terrible scared nerves Eris ended up socking the kid across the face.

   The kid fell the ground clutching his cheek. He leaned over and spat out blood. Eris was pretty sure she saw a tooth come out.

   Eris' eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her now bruised hand, "O-Oh my god, I-I'm so sorry!"

   Percy didn't waste a minute, he shoved the kids blocking their exit, "Run!"

   They raced down the street with no clue of there they were going and made a sharp right turn.

   "There!" Annabeth yelled.

   There was only one store opened on the block, it had a neon glaring sign that read: CRSTUY'S WATRE BDE ALPCE

    "Crusty's water bed place," Grover translated.

   They bursted through the doors, ran behind a water bed, and ducked. Seconds later they heard kids running past the store.

   "Nice right hook," Percy told Eris quietly and Eris flushed.

   "I think we lost them," Grover panted.

   "Lost who?" A loud voice from behind them asked.

   They all practically jumped in the air and Eris scrambled to move behind Percy.

   Standing behind them was a leathery men who looked in desperate need of some lotion. He was as tall as a basketball player with a shiny bald head. His smile was ugly and tight like it was strained as he was dressed in an expensive suit. There were silver chains wrapped around his neck.

   "I'm Crusty," he smiled showing up yellow teeth.

   Crusty looked like he smelled musty.

   "Sorry to barge in," Percy told him, "We were just, um, browsing."

   "You mean hiding from those no-good kids," Crusty grumbled, "They hang around every night. I get a lot of people here, thanks to them. Say, you want to look at a water bed?"

     Percy opened his mouth to refuse but Crusty put a hand on his shoulder and led them all into the showroom.

   There were at least a hundred different water beds.

   "This is my most popular model," Crusty the musty said. He spread his hands proudly over a bed covered in black satin-sheets, with built-in Lava lamps on the headboard. The mattress even vibrated.

"Million hand-massage," Crusty told them, "Go ahead, try it out. Shoot, take a nap. I don't care. No business today, anyway."

   "Uh," Eris started to say weakly.

   "Million-hand massage!" Grover cried and jumped on the bed, "Oh you guys! This is cool!"

   "Hmm," Crusty said, rubbing his chin. "Almost, almost."

    "Almost what?" Percy asked.

    Crusty's eyes turned to Annabeth and Eris, "Do me a favor, little ladies. Try these two over here, it just might fit."

   "But what—" Annabeth started to say but Crusty started to lead both her and Eris toward two matching Queen sized beds.

"Sir, I really don't think—" Eris started to say weakly but Crusty shoved both her and Annabeth onto a bed.

"Hey!" Annabeth yelled.

Crusty snapped his fingers, "Ergo!"

Eris' eyes widened as ropes erupted from the side of the bed and started to launch themselves around her arms and legs holding her in place.

She squirmed, "What the hell?"

Grover tried to get up but ropes sprang from the side of his bed and trapped him too, "N-Not c-cool!" He yelled, his voice changing because of the message. "N-Not c-cool a-at a-all!"

Crusty turned to Percy and grinned, "Almost, Damn it."

Percy tried to walk away but Crusty's hand clamped around the back of his neck, "Woah, kid. Don't worry. We'll find you one in one sec."

"Let my friends go," Percy said firmly.

"Oh, sure I will. But I got to make them for first."

"What do you mean?"

"All the beds are exactly six feet, see? Your friends are too short. Got them make them fit," Crusty grumbled, "I can't stand imperfect measurements, Ergo!"

A fresh set of ropes leaped out of the bed, wrapping around Eris' wrist and ankles before tugging on them hard.

Eris was in so much pain she couldn't even pay attention to what else was happening.

Have you ever wondered what it was like to physically take your spine out of your body and pull on it like it was as stretchy as a piece of gum? That was exactly what Eris was feeling.

Hot tears rolled down her face as her back screamed in pain. The pain was unbearable and her vision started to become hazy. Was this what dying felt like? Did Willow feel like this when she was dying? She couldn't even speak, her mouth stayed open in a silent scream.

Dad, please she pleaded, whoever you are! Help me!

She didn't hear a response.

She didn't even know why she tried, her father had never tried to help her before anyway. No one wanted her.

Suddenly the pain stopped all at once as the ropes were cut off her body. She sat up from the bed rubbing her back. Percy helped her climb off the bed.

"Are you alright, Sweets?" Percy asked as Eris tried to wipe her tears.

"I'm alright," Eris replied, trying to stop her tears, "just overwhelmed."

Dealing with monsters and being scared for your life everyday was exhausting. She should've never came on this quest. Even if she was treated like crap at camp or beat up by Clarisse at least she never almost died. This quest wasn't built for people like Eris who hated conflict.

"You look taller," Percy told them and Eris cracked a small smile.

"Very funny," Annabeth said, "Be faster next time."

Percy blinked, "Actually, I didn't kill him," he said sounding a bit disturbed, "He just exploded in a cloud of dust."

Grover's eyes widened, "Wait, seriously?"

Percy nodded, "He just exploded. He didn't even leave a trace."

Annabeth rubbed her chin, "That's odd," she muttered.

"We don't have time to try to figure out how it happened," Percy said, walking over to the bulletin board, "Maybe it was Athena or Poseidon helping us out?" He suggested.

"Possibly," Annabeth muttered, briefly glancing at Eris who was so confused.

Crusty just...exploded? Just like that he was gone. It didn't make any sense.

"Come on," Percy said, grabbing a flyer off the board, "I've got the address."

"Give us a minute," Grover complained, "We were almost stretched to death."

"Then you're ready for the Underworld," Percy said, "it's only a block from here."

Thank you for reading! Please comment they help me update more often.

Do you have any questions?

Next time: Chapter 9: Eris Lewis Is Royalty