FicWad

The next day, a sunny Sunday afternoon, Herry was in his backyard playing fetch with his dog, Pepe. The dog had originally belonged to his grandmother, but after she had passed away, Herry and Pepe had both moved in with Hercules.

"Awesome, Pepe!" Herry cheered as the dog leaped in the air and caught the stick between its teeth.

Pepe barked happily and began to jump up and down.

"Wanna try again?" Herry asked, making a gesture to throw the stick.

But Pepe didn't usually start to run, as he usually did. Instead, the dog turned around and started to growl.

"Pepe?" Herry said, puzzled, "What's wrong?"

The small dog began to run very fast and disappeared into the woods behind Herry's house.

"Pepe!" Herry called, "Come back, boy!"

Five minutes later, there was still no sign of the dog, so Herry started to search for him.

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An hour later, Pepe still couldn't be found. Herry let out a big sigh and called Odie.

"Hello?" Odie answered.

"Odie, it's Herry," Herry said, "Pepe's gone."

"Gone?" Odie asked, "Gone where?"

"I don't know!" Herry said, exasperated, "If I knew where, don't you think I would have found him?"

"Okay, chill out man," Odie said, "I'll come over and we put up lost dog posters, okay?"

"Okay," Herry muttered, "Thanks."

"No problem," Odie said, "See you later."

"Bye," Herry said. He closed the phone and walked up to his house.

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The next morning at school, Atlanta's head was buzzing with different thoughts. Why had Trent been holding her like that on Saturday? Did he throw off her blankets deliberately to see her in her underwear? But I thought he was my friend! Maybe Hilda was right. Maybe girls and boys can't be friends. But Trent had been her friend for thirteen years! Had it been a lie all this time? But that was impossible, wasn't it?

Thinking hurt sometimes.

"Atlanta!" a voice yelled. Atlanta whirled around. It was Trent, running after her.

"Go away, Trent," Atlanta said, feeling her eyes watering.

"Please, let me explain..." Trent began.

"There's nothing to explain," Atlanta told him, walking away

"What's eating her?" Neil asked, coming up from behind Trent. Odie was with him.

"Nothing," Trent said.

"Nothing?" Odie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Trent let out a sigh. Neil and Odie were two of his best friends. He knew he couldn't hide anything from them.

"Okay, this is what happened," Trent started, "Atlanta was sick on Saturday so I came over, and while we were watching a movie, we both fell asleep. When I woke up, Atlanta had kicked the blankets off herself, and all she was wearing was her underwear. So I freaked out and tried to put them back on, but then she started to wrap her arms around my neck. Then she woke up and thought I took the blankets off and put her arms around me myself, so she started to scream and now she won't even talk to me!"

"Dude," Neil said.

"Maybe if you just explain..." Odie told Trent.

"Don't you think I tried that?" Trent snapped, "She doesn't listen!"

"Trent, it's okay," Neil said.

"No, it's not okay!" Trent shouted, making the two boys jump, "Don't you get it? It's not okay!"

Trent stomped off, his friends watching him with worry.

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Atlanta walked into the music room and slammed the door. If there was one thing that always calmed her down, it was playing her guitar.

But where was it? She remembered taking it into the car when her mother dropped her off at the bus stop...

That's where it was, in her mom's car.

Dang.

Atlanta walked along the shelves, looking at the various instruments, and stopping at a brass golden thing that was similar to a harp. Should be easy to play....

She took it down from the shelf and began to stroke the strings gently.

It was very easy to play. The strings slid off her fingers gently, making a soft, tinkling sound. Atlanta got so into it that she didn't realize that someone else had entered the room.

After playing a few songs on the instrument, Atlanta heard a sighing noise behind her. Whirling around, she realized that it was Apollo, the school band teacher.

"That was luv-fe-ly," he told her, "I did not know you could play the lyre, Atlanta!"

"The lyre?" Atlanta asked, confusedly, "Oh, this thing? Not really, I just..."

"Nonsense," Apollo insisted, "That was bootiful. I eensist that you play for my moosic class next week."

"Um... okay?" Atlanta answered.

"Wonderful!" Apollo exclaimed, "I vill see you dan!"

As Apollo left the room, Atlanta's cell rang. She slid the small, red phone out of its mesh pocket and opened it.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Atlanta, it's Jay," the voice on the other end said.

"Oh, hey," she said, "What's up?"

"Dunno yet," Jay said, "Persephone wants to see us."

"Persephone?" Atlanta asked, a little bit confused, "What for?"

"I don't know," Jay admitted, "But it sounded kind of urgent."

"Okay, see you," Atlanta said.

"Bye," Jay said.

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As soon as Jay hung up his phone, he trotted down the hall to Persephone's solarium. He was interrupted, however, when a skinny person with blonde hair hit him head on, knocking them both to the ground.

"Shit," the person muttered," Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jay answered. When he looked up, he realized that it was Palmer. His heart began to beat faster.

She was wearing a swishy white mini-skirt over a black leotard. Pink toe shoes were on her feet and her hair was in a loose, wavy bun.

"Oh, hey!" she said when she saw that it was Jay she had crashed into.

"Hey," Jay grinned. He stood up and offered his hand to her.

"Thanks," she said, taking it, "Sorry about hitting you. My mind's just a complete buzz. I just came from gym and..."

"It's fine," Jay chuckled. Palmer smiled, her beautiful blue eyes lighting up.

Jay looked Palmer up and down before asking, "Were you dancing in gym or something?"

"You're perceptive, aren't you?" Palmer asked. Jay blushed.

"I was," Palmer answered, demonstrating by twirling in a perfect circle. Jay laughed and clapped his hands.

"Listen, I've got to go," Jay told her, "But... I'll catch you later or something, okay?"

"Alright," Palmer chuckled, placing a hand on her thin hips.

"Um, so catch you later?" Jay asked.

"Catch you later," Palmer echoed, smiling again.

Jay waved and walked down the hall to his destination.

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Odie's voice asking him, "Where WERE you?" was the first thing Jay heard when he entered Persephone's office.

The others were obviously waiting what they thought was too long. Neil was combing his hair, Herry was slurping down a can of Red Bull, Atlanta and Archie were both plugged in to different iPod's, Odie was checking something on his laptop, and Trent was looking distractedly out the window. Persephone, too, was looking a tad pissed. Her arms were folded over her chest and she was stamping her foot impatiently.

"Sorry!" Jay told his friends, "I ran into someone, and..."

"Save it," Atlanta told him, holding up her hand. She turned to Persephone. "NOW can you tell us what's wrong, Persephone?"

Persephone nodded and took a book off a high shelf. She placed it on the high table in front of her and opened it. As soon as the pages felt the air, an image of a large black dog with three horned skulls for heads and a long, orange snake for a tail flew into the air.

"Cerberus?" Odie asked, "What's so unusual about that?"

"Unless you count a giant three-headed dog as something you see everyday, then nothing," Jay answered sarcastically.

"Well, actually..." Odie began.

Persephone interrupted him. "Something IS wrong," she told the team, "Cerberus is missing!"

"Are you sure he didn't just escape into the Hall of Judgment again?" Odie asked.

"King Midas is going to be pissed!" Herry laughed.

Persephone shook her head.

"Hades has searched everywhere," she said, "But Cerberus is nowhere to be found."

"Hey, isn't your dog lost too, Herry?" Archie asked.

Herry nodded. "Do you think there's a connection?"

"It IS possible," Persephone said, "But we need to find Cerberus as fast as we can. There's no telling what he could unleash on mankind."

Neil burst out laughing. "Unleashed! That's a good one!"

The others groaned.

"We'll start looking for Cerberus immediately, Miss Persephone," Jay told the goddess.

Persephone smiled at him.

"But where do we start looking?" Atlanta asked.

"If /I /was a dog, /I'd /go hiding into the forest," Neil said.

"May I ask why?" Archie questioned.

"Think about it," Neil said, "All those fresh, healthy, never been peed on trees!"

"It's the best bet we've got," Jay said. The others nodded and followed him out of the solarium.

"Be careful!" Persephone called. But the team had already left