Chapter 20
It was Annabeth's idea. She loaded us into the back of a Vegas taxi and told the driver, "Los Angeles, please."
The cabbie chewed his cigar and sized us up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front."
"Do 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 skeptically.
"Swipe it," Annabeth invited.
He did. His meter machine started rattling. The lights flashed. Finally, 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 in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?"
"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter. I could tell she liked the "Your Highness" thing. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."
Maybe she shouldn't have told him that. The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert.
On the road, we had plenty of time to talk. Wasteland rolled by. We passed a sign that said CALIFORNIA STATE LINE, 12 MILES.
The cab sped west. Every gust of wind through Death Valley sounded like a spirit of the dead. Every time the brakes hissed on an eighteen-wheeler; it reminded me of Echidna's reptilian voice.
At sunset, the taxi dropped us off at the beach in Santa Monica. It looked exactly the way L.A. beaches do in the movies, only it smelled worse. There were carnival rides lining the Pier, palm trees lining the sidewalks, homeless guys sleeping in the sand dunes, and surfer dudes waiting for the perfect wave.
Clarisse, Annabeth, and I walked down to the edge of the surf.
"What now?" Annabeth asked.
"Wait here, I'll be right back." I responded as I stepped into the surf.
"Percy?" Annabeth said. "What are you doing?"
I kept walking, up to my waist, then my chest.
She called after me, "You know how polluted that water is? There Are all kinds of toxic—"
That's when my head went under.
I walked down into the shoals. I felt something rub against my leg. I looked down and almost shot out of the water like a ballistic missile. Sliding along beside me was a five-foot-long mako shark.
But the thing wasn't attacking. It was nuzzling me. Heeling like a dog. Tentatively, I touched its dorsal fin. It bucked a little, as if inviting me to hold tighter. I grabbed the fin with both hands. It took off, pulling me along. The shark carried me down into the darkness. It deposited me at the edge of the ocean proper, where the sandbank dropped off into a huge chasm. It was like standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon at midnight, not being able to see much, but knowing the void was right there.
The surface shimmered maybe a hundred and fifty feet above. Then I saw something glimmering in the darkness below, growing bigger and brighter as it rose toward me. A woman's voice, like my mother's, called: "Percy Jackson."
As she got closer, her shape became clearer. She had flowing black hair, a dress made of green silk. Light flickered around her, and her eyes were so distractingly beautiful I hardly noticed the stallion-sized sea horse she was riding.
She dismounted. The seahorse and the mako shark whisked off and started playing something that looked like tag. The underwater lady smiled at me. "You've come far, Percy Jackson. Well done."
I gave her a small greeting before speaking up. "Hi, do I know you?"
"No, this is our first time meeting a child. I am a Nereid, a spirit of the sea. It was not easy to appear so far upriver, but the naiads, my freshwater cousins, helped sustain my life force. They honor Lord Poseidon, though they do not serve in his court."
"And ... you serve in Poseidon's court?"
She nodded. "It has been many years since a child of the Sea God was born. We have watched you with great interest."
"I assume my father sent you to me for something?"
A cold current rose out of the depths. "He stands at the brink of an unwanted war. He has much to occupy his time. Besides, he is forbidden to help you directly. The gods may not show such favoritism."
"Even to their own children?"
"Especially to them. The gods can work by indirect influence only. That is why I give you a warning, and a gift."
She held out her hand. Three white pearls flashed in her palm.
"I know your journey to Lord Hades' realm," she said. "Few mortals have ever done this and survived: Orpheus, who had great music skill; Heracles, who had great strength; Houdini, who could escape even the depths of Tartarus. Do you have these talents?"
"Who knows? I am going into my dad's realm."
"Ah, but you have something else, Percy. You have gifts you have only begun to know. The oracles have foretold a great and terrible future for you, should you survive to manhood. Poseidon would not have you die before your time. Therefore, take these, and when you are in need, smash a pearl at your feet."
"Okay? What about the warning?"
Her eyes flickered with green light. "Go with what your heart tells you, or you will lose it all. Hades feeds on doubt and hopelessness. He will trick you if he can, make you distrust your own judgment. Once you are in his realm, he will never willingly let you leave. Keep faith. Good luck, Percy Jackson."
She summoned her sea horse and rode toward the void. "Good-bye, young hero," she called back, her voice fading into the depths. "You must listen to your heart." She became a speck of glowing green, and then she was gone.
I kicked upward toward the shore.
When I reached the beach, my clothes dried instantly. I told Clarisse and Annabeth what had happened and showed them the pearls.
Annabeth grimaced. "No gift comes without a price."
'There is no such thing as a free lunch.' That's an ancient Greek saying that translated pretty well into American. There will be a price, just you wait.
On that happy thought, we turned our backs on the sea.
With some spare change from Ares's backpack, we took the bus into West Hollywood. We showed the driver the Underworld address slip I had taken from Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, but he'd never heard of DOA Recording Studios.
"You remind me of somebody I saw on TV," he told me. "You a child actor or something?"
"Something like that."
"Oh! That explains it."
We thanked him and got off quickly at the next stop. We wandered for miles on foot, looking for DOA. Nobody seemed to know where it was. It didn't appear in the phone book.
It got dark, and hungry-looking characters started coming out on the streets to play. We walked past gangbangers, bums, and street hawkers, who looked at us like they were trying to figure if we were worth the trouble of mugging.
As we hastened our pace down the dimly lit alley, the voice from the darkness echoed, "Hey, you."
I halted abruptly, Annabeth wasn't paying attention and bumped into me.
In less than a few minutes we found ourselves encircled by a menacing gang of kids. There were six of them in total, all wearing extravagant clothes that clashed with the aura of hostility they exuded. They resembled some of the privileged troublemakers I had encountered back at Yancy Academy: young, affluent delinquents playing at being tough.
Their apparent leader, seemingly undeterred by the sharp gleam of the switchblade in his hand, continued to advance towards me with brazen audacity.
I exchanged a quick, knowing glance with Clarisse, who cracked her knuckles with a wicked grin before confidently stepping forward. "Prissy, you thinking what I'm thinking?"
I couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh, you know it, Clarisse."
The leader, sporting an arrogant sneer, waved the switchblade menacingly. "Well, well, what do we have here, ladies and gentlemen? A couple of lost lambs wandering into our territory."
I maintained my cool, trying to diffuse the tension with humor. "Actually, we were just looking for a good spot to have a picnic. You guys don't mind, do you?"
Clarisse's laughter joined mine, creating an eerie atmosphere that momentarily seemed to confuse the gang members.
"Picnic, huh?" one of the gang members muttered, skepticism etched across his face.
"Yep," I replied, my tone as casual as possible. "We've got sandwiches, a checkered blanket, the whole shebang."
Clarisse added, "And a lovely basket of goodies. But hey, if you guys aren't into it, we can go somewhere else." The gang members exchanged puzzled glances. The leader held the knife threateningly as I looked amused at the thin blade.
"Then you have to pay up, give us all your cash... or let us have the girls, that big one looks like a hog but is pretty enough, and that blonde, well we can-" The guy didn't finish as my fists collided into his face so hard his head snapped back and he went unconscious.
"Nobody talks about my friends like that," I spat. "Who's next?" In response they drew knives and some revealed their guns, or held a metal bat. Clarisse cracked her knuckles fury in her eyes.
"I'm going to kill these bastards." she growled.