The Forbidden Daughter | PJO Book One

thirteen

CERBERUS LIKES ARIANA

It was almost midnight, but the lobby was brightly lit and full of people. Behind the security desk sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece.

Percy turned to his friends. "Okay. You remember the plan?"

"Yeah." Ariana nodded. "My plan is to let you do all the talking."

"The plan." Grover gulped. "Yeah. I love the
plan!"

Annabeth said, "What happens if the plan doesn't work?"

"Don't think negative!" Ariana rolled her eyes at her.

"Right." Annabeth said. "We're entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn't think negative."

"You're being dramatic."

Percy took the pearls out of his pocket, the four milky spheres the Nereid had given him in Santa Monica. They didn't seem like much of a backup in case something went wrong.

Annabeth put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Percy. Ariana's right, we'll make it.
It'll be fine."

She gave Grover a nudge.

"Oh, right!" he chimed in. "We got this far. Well find the master bolt and save your mom. No problem?"

Ariana rolled her eyes once more.

Percy looked at them, Only a few minutes before, he had almost got them stretched to death on deluxe waterbeds, and now they were trying to be brave for his sake, trying to make him feel better.

He slipped the pearls back in his pocket. "Let's whip some Underworld butt."

They walked inside the DOA lobby. Muzak played softly on hidden speakers. The carpet and walls were steel grey.

Pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather, and every seat was taken.

There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people staring out the windows or waiting for the elevator.

Nobody moved, or talked, or did much of anything. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see them all just fine, but if she focused on any one of them in particular, they started looking... transparent.

Ariana could see right through their bodies.

Ariana felt a weird sort of feeling in her stomach the more she looked at them. The security guard's desk was a raised podium, so they had to look up at him.

He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-coloured skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style. He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag.

Percy read the name tag, then looked at him in bewilderment. "Your name is Chiron?"

He leaned across the desk. Ariana couldn't see anything in his glasses except her own reflection, but his smile was sweet and cold, like a pythons, right before it eats you.

"What a precious young lad." He had a strange accent - British, maybe, but also as if he had learned English as a second language. "Tell me, mate, do I look like a centaur?"

"N-no."

"Sir." he added smoothly.

"Sir." Percy said.

Ariana focused on the tag. She knew that if Percy carried on talking her realise they were dyslexic and therefore were demigods and weren't dead.

"It says Charon. That's your name." She said with confidence.