The feeling persisted as we traveled from the beach, deeper into the city. We walked down alleys and empty streets, almost as if the city had become a ghost town. No stranger was on the street and stores were closed. Gangs in back alleys were nowhere to be found.
All the while, as we walked, I felt the cold blade pressed against my back, while I was guided by fate to the destination I already knew off.
It took us hours to finally walk down the street at which the DOA Studios were located. The familiar sign brought up memories of giant claws ripping through my body and then we entered the waiting area.
Souls, smokelike and translucent as well, some with visible wounds and some just old and frail. Thought there were two familiar souls.
Those two were the zoo transporters. They looked like they had been mauled to death, regurgitated and shit on. Their expression made me smirk.
Grover, who was extremely unsettled by our surroundings, took longer than I had expected to recognize them but when he finally did, his grin became wide enough to split his face.
Meanwhile Annabeth was currently focused on the empty reception.
The place was familiar to me and how could it not? I had literally died once and been here before. Though this time there were no Death Gods waiting. Atleast not for now.
And then we heated an elevator arrive. Speaking of the devil.... Or rather speaking of the ferryman, Charon stepped out of it.
He let his gaze wander around, checking if all ghosts were exactly where they were before. Then he moved to the register and began to check the customer count, it's dial and the amount of Drachma inside. Then finally his eyes shifted from the register to the new arrivals. The entire time he did not speak a word. Not one single sound escaped his pale and thin lips.
At first, as his eyes landed on Annabeth, there appeared a hint of sorrow for another young departed soul. Then I watched as his eyes wandered over her body, checking for traces of death. In his reaction, a slightly raised eyebrow, it was clear that he doubted her reason for being here. His suspension grew immensely as his gaze landed on Grover. There his eyebrow twitched but settled down again. His thoughts confirmed. Satyrs never appeared on the doorstep of the afterlife. They have no soul in the same way as humans. When they die they become their favorite plants. So the fact an undisguised Satyr was present was enough to tell Charon exactly what was happening here.
Finally his eyes fell on me.
His reaction was immediate and more violently sharp as with the other two. His eyes shock, like they had to recalibrate just to process the sight before him. His eyebrows shot up and there was a jolt in his body, like he wanted to run over and see if I was hurt again. If I was once again here, dead on his doorstep. But he stopped himself.
His eyes wandered, just like they had with Annabeth but they weren't as fleeting. He was inspecting every centimeter of my clothing, analyzing my posture looking for hidden injuries but not finding any. Then he relaxed.
"You three over there. What are you doing here and when did you get here?" he asked. There was no trace of kindness in his voice, not while he was looking at Annabeth.
She began stuttering, looking for a believable lie but only coming up with: "We were part of a circus and we're drown by our psychopathic uncle in a leaky bathtub."
I could tell Charon didn't believe the story for even a second. But still he acted like he did. No questions were asked when we paid in Drachma, a currency only demigods and gods had access to, he ignored how Annabeth dagger glinted in the all to familiar celestial Bronze shine. The dead don't carry weapons, not unless they died to them.
He ignored the signs, all of them but instead he turned to me and held my gaze. It was long and intense. It reminded me of the situation with Hazel and Pluto.
The Roman God wasn't able to claim her, not because he didn't want to but because him recognizing her existence would force him to return her to the underworld.
And was I not in the same boat? Did I not die and enter the Underworld? The answer to those questions is technical and vague. Maybe. That is the answer.
Because I stood at its doorstep and already put my foot inside when I entered the DOA Studios. But then I never did step in the boat and I was never judged.
But all of this was no longer important. I had given my mother to Hades, even if just so she could be safe from Zeus. I feared he would repeat what he had done to the mother of the Di Angelos. And then of course I had to stop another world war from happening because neither Zeus nor Hades thought to have their godly weapons enchanted like riptide had been.
I gave Charon a silent but determined nod. There might be a chance that I had to stay in the underworld if I entered, but if I didn't? World War 3 and possibly 4 were definitely on the table of possibilities. World War 3 because of a fight between Hades, Zeus and Poseidon. World War 4 because there was a possibly for Kronos not obliberating all the Olympians and causing another world war, not only to kill the other gods but also to erase humanity.
No. I had to enter the underworld. There was too much at stake.