As much as Evelyn was scared of Hades, the underworld really did look amazing despite the gloomy atmosphere.

Evelyn and Annabeth hid behind some rocks with Percy following behind them, "Grover, hurry up!" Annabeth hissed. 

"Not in Kansas," Percy muttered besides Evelyn and she turned to him, confused, "Huh? We left Kansas four days ago."

"Yeah, no it's a..." Percy sighed, "Nevermind, I really need to get you caught up on movies."

Annabeth turned to them, "Hey, focus" she chided them. 

Grover squeezed the ball in his hands, the squeaking sound grabbing their attention, "Guys? Is that who I think it is?"

"Charon, the boatman, taking new arrivals across the River Styx," Annabeth explained as she pointed at him.

Evelyn pointed to a gate near them, "Oh, and that's the main gate...over there." She trailed off as the other three gave her a confused look, how could she have known that?

Annabeth gave her a look, she'd bring it up later, "Come on, let's go. Maybe we can get there first."

"Yeah," Grover commented as the ball squeaked louder as he played with it. 

Evelyn sighed, the ball would attract too much attention, and frankly, it was starting to annoy her, "Why don't I hang onto the ball for now?" Evelyn asked as she extended her hand and Grover nodded, handing it to her and she pocketed the ball.

They all stood up from their hiding places, and walked over to the large line of people.

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The four shoved their way past the people without souls, and Evelyn muttered apologies. She felt a little bad, even if they weren't really people. 

"Excuse me. Sorry, sorry, sorry," Percy said, shoving his way through, "We're with them, up there."

Grover huffed, "This seems so wrong."

Evelyn nodded in agreement, "Yeah, have a little tact, Percy."

"Nah," Percy brushed them off, "Only suckers wait in line."

"Percy-"

"You know, you guys should really spend some time in the city with me," Percy cut him off, "I think you'll learn a lot."

They suddenly came face-to-face with Charon who spoke to them in a raspy voice, "You're not dead."

Percy shrugged, "I mean, we're all dying..." Evelyn shared a look with Annabeth, this boy was gonna get them killed, "to some extent."

Charon sighed, "And you didn't pay to cross."

"Wait!" Percy and Grover started digging into Percy's backpack, "We- we can pay! We can pay!" Grover pulls out golden drachmas as Charon looks at them strangely. 

"Here, drachmas." Grover and Percy tried counting them before Percy just took them all and gave them to Charon, "Just, you know, take them all."

Charon took out a whistle, blowing into it and the four couldn't hear any noise, "You can buy a new whistle" Percy said, confused. 

Evelyn heard growling behind the gate. Cerberus, she realized, as giant footsteps were approaching and the four began to step back quickly.

The watchdog started to speed towards them as they began running, "Go, go, go." Percy called out. 

Cerberus started to chase them, and all of them were running as fast as they can. 

The three-headed dog ran closer, leaning down and swallowing Grover. "Grover!" Percy and Evelyn yelled, yet they couldn't stop running.

Annabeth pointed to the right and called out to Percy, "Percy, that way!", she grabbed Evelyn's hand, but the three spilt up, with the girls going right and Percy going left.

Evelyn panted, "There has to be a way for us to distract it."

Annabeth glanced at Evelyn, "I'll distract it, it's just a dog. My dad taught me tricks." 

Evelyn turned to her in shock, immediately understanding her plan, "Are you crazy? You could lose your arm!"

"I'll be fine, now go back to Percy." Annabeth assured her, and Evelyn huffed knowing there was no way to convince Annabeth, as the two spilt ways; Evelyn running to Percy and Annabeth running back to the dog.

Once she reached Percy, she checked him over, looking for any injuries. "Where's Annabeth?" He asked as the growls they heard began to calm down and they turned around to see Annabeth on the hellhound, scratching the middle head behind its ears.

"She's there, on the dog," Evelyn said sheepishly. 

Percy looked at her with panic in his eyes, "And you just let her?"

Evelyn winced, "It's Annabeth, once she has her mind set on something, you can't talk to her. And besides, she has a plan."

They both heard muffled screams coming from its mouth as Grover suddenly slipped out of the slimy mouth. Evelyn grimaced, his hair and his clothes were all covered by salvia. 

"You...are a bad...bad dog!" Grover exclaimed, pointing at the creature, as he ran to Evelyn and Percy. 

Annabeth shouted to them, "Guys, I can't hold this forever!"

"Can you fly us up there with your shoes?" Percy asked Grover, and he shook his head. He couldn't take all of them up at the same time. 

"You can do this!" Annabeth encouraged him 

Evelyn nodded, "Just one at a time, take Percy first."

"Maia," Grover spoke as he grabbed Percy. The winged shoes started flapping as the two boys began flying up. Grover then came back down to take Evelyn, and he dropped her next to Percy.

The three looked down, but couldn't see through the smoke as Cerberus started growling again, "Annabeth!" Evelyn yelled 

She was about to make Grover take her down there again when Annabeth yelled back, "Eve!"

Evelyn let out a sigh of relief, as she quickly remembered she had the ball and took it out of her pocket, squeezing the ball to make a loud enough sound for the hellhound to hear.

Cerberus roared as it tried to reach for the ball, "Guys!" Annabeth called out, she was on the edge of the cliff, trying to pull herself up.

Evelyn rushed towards her with the other two right behind her and grabbed Annabeth's arm, while Percy grabbed the other, with Grover supporting Evelyn. The three pulled Annabeth up from the edge of the cliff, as she stumbled onto the ground with Evelyn catching her. 

Annabeth picked up the ball from the ground, "Excuse me," she squeezed as Cerberus whined, and threw it into the River Styx and the hellhound ran after it. 

"Wow," Grover's eyes widened,  "That was really..." He trailed off, "I mean, how did you...?"

"My father had a dog when I was little" She pointed down to the river, frowning a little bit, "I guess I remember the tricks."

Percy spoke up, "Oh wow," They turned to see him looking out at something, "Look at that."

The three looked where Percy's gaze was to see the eye-catching structure of Hades' palace in the distance. 

"Hades' palace," Annabeth crossed her arms, "That's where he'll be keeping the master bolt."

"And your mom," Evelyn added, looking at Percy. 

Grover suddenly searched his pockets, "Oh no," he sighed.

The others looked at him, "What?"

"My pearl, I lost my pearl." They all started looking around at the ground to see if it had fallen out, "I think it's...in the dog."

Evelyn took out her pearl from her pocket, and extended her hand, "Here. Take it."

"What, no." Grover pushed her hand away, "I'm not taking your pearl, Eve."

She grabbed Grover's hand, and forcibly placed the pearl in his hand and closed his fingers around it, "Take it."

"What about you?" Grover asked.

"We'll find a way for all of us to get out," Annabeth chimed.

"Then, what are we gonna do? Now we only have 4 pearls." Grover asked.

Annabeth sighed, "I don't know. But if we don't move, it's not gonna matter. Come on."

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Oof, this chapter was a little hard to write :(