After a few minutes of silently contemplating the offer, Hades soon nodded. "Very well, I agree to your terms. But there will be a day where I will have need of you, seeing as I wouldn't trust any other and my servants would only draw attention to themselves. I trust you will keep your word?"
"With my life." Jakob nodded, and Hades could see that the boy meant it as he saw no sign of deceit in his eyes so he nodded.
"However, I will return the mortal woman to you ONCE I have my Helm back." Hades said, shocking them and Andromeda looked ready to argue when Hades cut in. "I trust the Son of Thor to keep his word, but I do not trust one of Poseidon's lineage. Agree to these terms, and you will return without harm."
"...Very well." Jakob nodded after a moment of contemplating it himself. He should've expected Hades to do this, but he couldn't really fault him. Hades wanted to make sure he would not be betrayed in any way, and Jakob trusted the God of the Underworld to keep to his end of the agreement.
"What? No! I'm not leaving-" Andromeda startd but Jakob grabbed her.
"Andie, this is the only way to ensure her safe return! If we go back with her and confront Ares, the God of War may target her to throw us off. I promise you, I would not make this bargain unless I wasn't sure I don't trust Hades to keep his word." Jakob said, trying to make her understand.
"I..." Andromeda started but couldn't find the words to speak, worried for her mother. The reason she had went on the quest in the first place.
"Do you trust me?" Jakob asked, putting his hands on her cheeks to ensure her sea green eyes stared into his blue ones.
After staring into his eyes for a long moment, Andromeda finally nodded. "I do."
"Then trust me to know what I'm doing right now, and you will have your mother back when this is all over with." Jakob said, getting another nod from Andromeda. "The pearls."
Andromeda nodded and took them out, but a part of her still hesitated. However, she trusted Jakob to keep his word and ensure her mother was returned. She handed a pearl to each of them, one for herself, one for Jakob, one for Annabeth and one for Grover.
"Are you sure about this?" Annabeth asked, looking between Jakob and Andromeda.
"Ares is behind all of this, we have the bolt which is what we were sent on the quest to find. Ares has the Helm, which I'm going to take from him and ensure it's retuned to it's owner." Jakob said firmly. "There will be no war while I have something to say about it."
Everyone grasped a pearl in their hand while Jakob turned to Hades.
"I will be watching." Was all the God of the Underworld had to say, giving the Son of Thor a small nod.
Jakob nodded back before they threw the pearls down at their feet. For a moment, nothing happened.
"Give it a second." Hades said with a small smirk.
A second passed, and the pearl fragments at their feet exploded with a burst of green light and a gust of fresh sea wind. They were each encased in a milky white sphere, which were starting to float off the ground.
They started to float off the ground which surprised Andomeda, Grover and annabeth more while Jakob was calm as he had been used to flying.
"Look up." Grover yelled. "We're going to crash!"
Sure enough, they were racing right toward the stalactites.
"How do you control these things?" Annabeth shouted.
"I don't think you do!" Andromeda shouted back.
"Just stay calm! We'll be fine!" Jakob called.
They yelled as the bubbles slammed into the ceiling and… darkness.
Andromeda winced her eyes shut, thinking they were dead, but opened them to realize they were going through the earth. For a few more minutes, she couldn't see anything out the magic bubble, then the spheres broke through the ocean floor as the four soared upwards through the water. With a whoosh, they broke through the surface, in the middle of Santa Monica Bay, knocking a surfer off his board with an indignant, "Dude!"
Andromeda grabbed Grover and hauled him over to a life buoy. Out the corner of her eye, she saw Jakob surace and grab Annabeth, pulling her over with him. A curious shark was circling them, a great white about eleven feet long.
Andromeda said. "Beat it."
The shark turned and raced away.
The surfer screamed something about bad mushrooms and paddled away from them as fast as he could.
Andromeda wondered what time it was, thankfully Jakob took a quick look at the sky and informed them that it was around early morning
Meaning it was June 21, the day of the summer solstice.
"Ohh... how can I be so nauseous without a stomach?" Mimir asked with a groan, Jakob having lifted the head out of the water in case he drowned... if it was possible for him as a reanimated head.
"We made it at least." Jakob said with a sigh before he looked out at the city of LA, which looked just as perfect and normal as when they had entered the Underworld. But that wasn't their main concern.
They had to get to shore and get Zeus' Master Bolt back to Olympus.
And most of all, Andromeda and Jakob had a God of War to 'chat' with...
~~~~~~~~~~
A Coast Guard boat picked the group up, but they were too busy to keep them for long, or to wonder how four kids in street clothes had gotten to the middle of the bay. Probably had other things to worry about than four kids.
They dropped the questers off at the Santa Monica pier with towels around their shoulders and water bottles that said: I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD!
They then sped off to do their job.
Their clothes were sopping wet, even Andromeda's.
Andromeda was also barefoot, because she had given her shoes to Grover. Better the Coast Guard wonder why one of them was barefoot than wonder why one of them had hooves... or why one of them was carrying a head on his hip, but Jakob would've just used the 'early Halloween decoration' excuse.
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