At first the elevator just began moving forward. At first it was a calm ride but then the walls began to disintegrate. As soon as they disappeared we were no longer in an elevator but in a ferry. On a river, black as tar and murky as a swamp. The boat floated across the river Styx while small waves crashed against the old boards. But that wasn't the only thing that had changed. I felt a connection to the very river we were gliding over and I felt compelled to put my hand inside. It did not help that the water reacted, stretched towards my hand as soon as I put it close. Then Charon spoke up.
"Demigodess. Don't even think about putting your hand inside. The river Styx does not like you. It will disintegrate your very soul as soon as you touch its waters."
Annabeth hastily pulled her hand back. I hadn't even noticed that she had imitated me.
"Then what about Percy? He's doing the exact same." she stated. But I couldn't help but notice how bratty she sounded.
The sudden feeling of wetness on my arm made me turn my head as if a speeding train had hit me. The river was crawling up my arm and pulling my hand below its surface. I could feel the river responding to me, changing. Then suddenly I felt my power, curse devourer, rear it's head. Immediately a blueish color spread into the depths of the river. It dispersed and faded as quickly as it had come but I felt a change. The black and most importantly the murky water seemed to thicken as it crawled up my arm, slithering below my clothes and interacting with my very being. I felt a sudden heaviness settle on my body and an itch in my eyes. Curse Devourer, even after it had stopped emitting the blueish light, even after I had retrieved my hand from the water, remained active. The black sludge still appearing on my body before being absorbed.
Charon made eye contact with me. Even though the other two hadn't noticed what was happening exactly, Charon had and his stare, as dead as those empty eye sockets were, clearly stated that he had never seen such bullshit in his life.
Soon we reached land, the boarder of the actual underworld. As soon as we stepped on the obsidian sand we were greeted by a long line of obviously dead people.
"Absolutely not." said Grover, his unwillingness and a hint of anxiety on his face and in his voice.
"If we actually wait in line we will be here even after the third millennium ended. Let's go and skip line."
Annabeth and me agreed immediately. We walked by the dead, even as they stared at us with disgust. Clearly insulted by our apparent arrogance.
Then there were the three gates. Elysium, Purgatory and Tartarus. Each one would be judged by three different judges and, depending on how nice or bad a person was, or rather on if they had entered the right line, they were either told to switch line or just pass on. That particular piece of knowledge had appeared in my mind, even though I had never heard of it and the books about the underworld clearly stated differently.
We attempted to skip the whole judgement part but cerberus, big as a high rise building with maws that could fit entire houses inside, stomped his foot right in front of us as soon as we separated to far from the lines. His throats glowed with fire even without having opened their mouths.
Annabeth jumped back into the line and Grover slowly retreated but strangely Cerberus didn't care about me. His raging eyes were fixated on Annabeth, even Grover didn't appear to be noticed. Then suddenly I felt a shift in the heavy air of the Underworld and the giant hellhound calmed down and let the three of us pass.
As we walked through the Underworld we saw many different things. There, right in front of us were endless wheatfields, rocky terrain and large empty, foggy forests. A bit further away we saw hot magma, burning fields and screaming ghost running around, stumbling over random stuff and falling into burning cacti. Not joking here. I think I just saw one particular guy, who looked a lot like a certain German dictator from the 1940s running barefoot over the rooky terrain, stumbling over glass shards only to fall down and then be absolutely violated by what looked like a hellhound crossed with a cyclops and a burning cactus that was shoved up his no-no hole. Damn I could see the stomach bulge from over here.
It seemed like a good form of torment but I could feel a sense of dissatisfaction inside me rising. I suddenly knew that I could do so much worse with the hell magic I had access to.
Soon we approached the one place I was absolutely dreading. The entrance to the pit. It brought memories back, memories of how I saw my own intestines being ripped out. Memories of how it felt as someone forced a set of bones inside my empty body. An overwhelming scent of wet blood, sweat and fear. Memories of my time as a spider inside the pit, how it felt to have essential limbs ripped off while the grating voice of dispair told me how beautiful by cries sounded. Memories of dreams, some that I never knew I had. Some of which saw me as different monsters and others that saw me disintegrating in the darkest of blackness and others that had me drown in endless streams of time.
I noticed it immediately, as soon as Grover began to stumble even just slightly. Since when had Grover worn those damnd shoes? I knocked him over immediately and tore of the aforementioned shoes. I would be damnd before I let Grover fall into the fucked up hell that was Tartarus. Annabeth and Grover were extremely surprised by my reaction but unlike Annabeth, Grover had already guessed why I was doing this. Though it didn't matter much since his guess was proven right as soon as we saw the shoes flying up and towards the pit as if they had been cursed. Which they probably were. Annabeth just watched them, flabbergasted as to how I could have known. Grover just shot me a knowing look, one that promised that we would have another serious talk coming soon.
"So, those shoes just up and left, huh?" Grover asked, trying to lighten the mood but it didn't help much.
I helped Grover up while Annabeth just stood at the side, watching silently.
After that short interlude, we continued towards the palace of Hades, which unfortunately meant that we had to walk in extreme close proximity to the entrance to the pit before we would have to take a sharp right and enter a desert before we would finally reach the palace.
We began walking, getting closer and closer to the pit and with every step we took, I could feel my chest tighten. With every step, I could feel something in me shifting.
Then finally we were right next to it, the feeling settled down. I wasn't going to fall in and I knew I wasn't going to relive the very first nightmare I had had.
Then I felt a shove come from behind, hands that I knew didn't belong to Grover since he had stood right beside me.
He reacted immediately, even before I could fall out of his range he had grabbed onto my hand and then my weight brought both of us down. Grover slammed with his chest on the sandy ground and I slammed against the cliff side.
Then, Grover began to slip, slowly coming closer to the growing maw of Tartarus. My chest began to tighten again, this time stronger than before and even spreading to my stomach. I instinctively grabbed a hold of the edge, ensuring that even if Grover were to fall, we wouldn't fall immediately.
Meanwhile Grover was calling for Annabeth help, even though I knew she wouldn't. And she didn't disappoint as she stood there, still and calm as if she had planned the entire thing.
"Did you two really think I wouldn't notice? You were overly prepared for the quest, even though you were supposedly only aware of the divine once you had entered the camp. This entire time had been really suspicious, you know? I mean honestly, how could you even think anyone would buy it after you displayed how strong and good you were with your powers. No one is as good as you without having trained them before.
And that stunt with Charon? He didn't even question us and acted as if the two of you knew each other. And you, Grover? Even though I didn't believe it at first, my mother was right, the two of you were definitely behind the whole theft. I just haven't figured out why you would do such a thing. But regardless. Where is the lightningbolt? And don't give me the shtick about how you "Don't know what I'm talking about." I've been watching you two the entire time."
Grover tried to keep from slipping further down towards the cliff but still tried to talk to Annabeth about it, tried to make her realize how crazy she sounded but to no avail because then Annabeth answered.
"I know, as soon as my mother had told me the entire story in my dream that you two were the thieves, even though I didn't want to believe you were involved Grover. Just look at Jackson, he's not even denying it." then she stepped on Grovers back and pushed him further to the cliff.
" I don't even need to know where you have hidden the lightning bolt, known Jackson, it's probably hidden in his cabin."
And with that she shoved Grover over the edge. To our luck, I had anticipated this and already strengthened my grip on the edge that I was currently holding onto with my one free hand. The other was still holding Grovers, even as he feel towards me screaming:"No! Wait Annabeth! Don't fucking...." wham* his face hit the cliff right below me as I was still holding him. I would rather fall into Tartarus before I allowed him to fall.
Then Annabeth, who had noticed me holding onto the edge, stepped closer.
"I really thought you could have been better, Jackson. Like a proper Greek hero. But I was wrong. Your probably not even Greek, are you?" she said before she then stepped onto my fingers.
I didn't let go, not when she stepped on them and not after she stomped on them either, but then she just began to stomp down again and again. After the third time, I couldn't hold on anymore. Right before I knew I would let go, I felt the pressure in my chest rise one last time. Then we fell.