Luke P.O.V.

I was about to die.

There was no other way to put it. I could already feel the pain numbing my body, and life slipping away from me.

It was almost a good feeling. I would never have to be under Kronos' control again, never have to hurt the people I loved, never have to think about how I betrayed everyone who ever cared about me…I would finally be at peace. But I still had one thing I needed to do.

With all my strength, I reached up to grip Percy Jackson's sleeve. Percy, the young camper who I'd battled for 5 years. I would entrust my last wish to him, because I knew he would carry out. I gripped his sleeve in my hand, and he didn't flinch away. That was all I needed.

"Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it…don't let it happen again."

"I won't," he said. "I promise."

I nodded to him, and suddenly had the odd sensation that I was being carried into the air, and I felt a jolt as I saw my own body being taken away by the Three Fates themselves. But they were stopped before they could take me away…by my father.

Hermes looked as though he were trying to be brave, trying not to cry. "He loved me," I realized with a shock. "He always loved me!"

But I was being carried away by the father I would never have the chance to love back, and down into Los Angeles, at a lounge. Standing at the desk was a man in a beige Italian suit, who was counting drachmas greedily. Charon.

I stared around in wonder at the ghosts who were sitting on chairs, leaning against walls, all looking dejected, as though they'd have to stay in this place for years. Knowing Charon, they probably would.

I marched straight to the front desk and deposited the five gold drachmas on his desk that I had been carrying around. His eyes flickered to mine, then widened in shock. They took in the drachmas next, and he smiled, eyes glittering.

"Not sure why you're so eager to face your judgment, Luke Castellan," he grinned. "But I'm not sure if I care either. Come."

He beckoned me to an elevator that was almost full, and it started downwards. As it went, Charon's suit changed into a dark robe, and his face turned gaunt and skeletal. He leered at me, and I tried not to shudder.

We suddenly were going sideways, and the elevator changed into a rowboat, an oar shoving across the River Styx, and headed to the land of the dead.