Chapter 4
Unfortunately, Verna did not have a particularly good night's sleep. The chaotic memory of the furies attacking replayed again and again like a tape-recorder in her dreams which was why she looked disturbed in the morning. Another was that Chiron had said that what had happened so far was clearly a sign that a quest had to happen. After the attacks from monsters all she could think from that was that she couldn't understand why everything had to happen and now. She wished that everything that happened was nonsense, which, of course, it wasn't.
Even though Chiron had told her to meet in the Big House after breakfast to discuss the quest, she didn't have an appetite at all after his talk and trudged to the forest. The forest's morning air was fresh, light and clean. It made her feel better and it was better than having breakfast even if she had to wear a dress again. In fact the dress made her feel like she was floating through the trees.
She reached a forest clearing and sat down making wildflowers sprout… well wildly. There was a tiny creek, trickling water over gray pebbles and making a quiet melodic sound Verna stared at the glinting sun peeking through the thick leafy branches. This was absolutely peaceful. She spotted the nymphs gliding quietly among the trees, apparently keeping watch for monsters, she supposed.
A steady amount of time slowly went by as she lay on the grassy floor. Verna suddenly remembered a song that her dad taught her. She hummed and sang it. The melody was sweet and lilting and it seemed to have one of the romantic languages in it. Was it Spanish, French or Italian? Her dad had sung that song often which had caught her mother's attention. Another reason apparently was that he had a floral shop back home in Washington. No surprise there, she thought. Of course a flower shop had caught the attention of Persephone.
Suddenly, Verna heard the bushes rustle. She sat up and whipped her head around. The woods seemed to have heightened her senses, allowing her to feel everything moving in the forest. Her eyes caught a clump of shadows wavering near some berry bushes. She narrowed her eyes for a moment and then sighed. She stood up and walked to an oak tree. Her body then camouflaged into the bark and disappeared.
A quiet minute passed by and there was nothing moving except for the swishing trees. The shadows quavered a bit uncertainly. Then Verna melted out of the berry bushes on the opposite side of the clearing and pounced on the shadows.
"What the—" Nico said before Verna put her hands around his eyes.
"Now you learn that the forest is my domain," Verna smirked. "I could see you all the time." Verna let go of his eyes. "I thought if I could see you, I could do stuff that the nymphs can do."
"Well you got me that time," Nico muttered feeling disgruntled.
"Why were you hiding though?"
Nico blushed and mumbled something inaudible. "What did you say?" Verna asked.
"Well, you were singing an Italian song that my sister liked."
Verna noted the past tense in 'liked' and decided not to bring it up.
"All right then. But why did you come into the forest?" Verna asked.
Nico looked dismayed. "Chiron told me to get you. He was talking about a quest for you."
Verna had been expecting it, but she felt irritated by it all the same. To think she had found a safe haven but then having to leave immediately was just more than depressing. She sighed again (a habit of hers when she was irritated and tired) and nodded tiredly. She could just imagine her temporary adrenaline fading away by hearing depressing details from Chiron about a quest. Just great, she thought.
After they got out of the forest (Verna went back to T-shirt and jeans) and they walked to the Big House. Verna had already known what the quest was based about obviously. But Chiron was probably going to give her the details of a suicidal attempt which made her very much unhappy. Nico led her into the recreation room and she saw Chiron in wheelchair form, a mildly bored looking Mr. D (she supposed he was putting on an act) and to her surprise, Percy and Annabeth. Well, they were the leaders of the camp, she thought.
"So, I'm about to be sent to the Underworld?" Verna drummed her fingers on the ping-pong table. Annabeth and Chiron exchanged looks.
"Well," Chiron hesitated. "We thought you gathered that at least from, well, what's happened so far."
"Wait, what?" Percy said blankly.
Annabeth groaned. "You still can't tell, Seaweed Brain? Honestly, she's been hunted down by Underworld monsters and has been claimed by Persephone. You should know that Hades will pretty much try and kill her in anyway unless she goes on a quest."
Verna felt distressed. "Are you asking me to attempt suicide? I'm going to go on a quest right into his kingdom? Won't he be ready with monsters and all?"
"That sounds like my quest that I had years ago," Percy said. "Well, maybe I should give you some advice about what happened with my quest."
"Oh gods, Percy giving advice?" Annabeth muttered. "By the way it was my quest too."
"Hey!" Percy protested, "Anyway, about that quest—"
"We're going to try and take a shortcut instead of you dawdling across the country." Annabeth cut in. Percy looked offended.
"Shortcut… what kind of shortcut is it?" Verna asked curiously.
"Nico's the son of the Underworld," Chiron nodded. "I suppose you understand what we're implying."
Suicidal attempt, absolutely, even with Nico helping, it's going to be suicide, Verna thought. "Madness," Verna mumbled feeling especially ill.
"No I am. It's my specialty after all." He plucked his recycle tab lazily.
Verna was feeling far too ill to respond. She put her hand in her pocket and realized the wilted sprig of narcissus was there. She took it out and watched it bloom its white petals out. As far as she was concerned, she was pretty sure Flower Power wasn't going to help her in any way to appease the Lord of the Dead.
Nico interrupted her thoughts. "Well, earlier I went to check out the entrance to the Underworld in L.A. (L.A.? Verna thought. Interesting.) You know the entrance for Charon's ferry?" Verna nodded about that part but wasn't exactly sure how he got to L.A. from New York and came back. She decided not to point that out. "Well, it seems like my father boarded that entrance for now. Charon apparently is going to forbid demigods going to the Underworld."
"What!" Annabeth yelled. "Isn't that violating the ancient rules?"
"Well, it is his kingdom…" Nico said then he muttered so only Verna could hear, "Exceptions for him."
"That doesn't make any sense. Why would he close the main entrance to the Underworld?" Percy was mystified (no difference from usual, Nico sniggered in his head.)
"Because Seaweed Brain, he's clearly challenging Verna to try and go to the Underworld and make some sort of deal with him. Remember our quest?"
"Don't remind me." Percy grumbled.
"But how am I supposed to get into the Underworld?" Verna asked.
Chiron sighed and said. "There's another entrance."
Verna could not believe she was doing this.
"You said I'm going to ride a hellhound! Is that even possible for me?'
Percy and Nico exchanged glances. "She's friendly." Percy suggested, "Is that all right?" No, Verna thought. Absolutely mental, she thought.
Nico whistled and the largest black dog came bolting out of the woods and landed right on the campfire. The campfire was pretty much squashed afterwards.
"This is Mrs. O'Leary." Nico said patting her snout. Mrs. O'Leary looked at Verna curiously like a young puppy. Well, Verna thought, at least she doesn't want to eat me. That's a start. She patted Mrs. O'Leary then smiled. She pointed her hands in a circle towards Mrs. O'Leary's collar. Clumps of roses and tiny snow white daisies sprouted from there.
"Arooof?" asked Mrs. O'Leary. She pawed her collar and barked happily.
"That was… random." Percy muttered. Nico didn't say anything and looked at Verna thoughtfully. So unlike my stepmother, Nico thought.
"Have you heard of shadow traveling?" Nico asked. Verna shook her head.
"Well my father uses that way to travel around, well, in the shadows."
"So that's how you got to Los Angeles so quickly!" Verna exclaimed. "Uh, but how do I use shadow traveling?"
"That's where Mrs. O'Leary comes in. I don't know whether you can shadow travel or not but it took me about a month to learn it. Mrs. O'Leary knows how. Just tell her where to go."
"Where?" Verna asked.
"Oh right. Central Park. There's another entrance there."
Mrs. O'Leary crouched down while Verna climbed onto her back. "Mrs. O'Leary, Central Park?"
The shadow travel had been basically a dark quick blur that lasted about ten seconds. When Mrs. O'Leary had arrived she let Verna slide down her fur (fun, Verna thought) and she dropped her head tiredly. Then she suddenly noticed that her 'nature outfit' had appeared again. Nico jogged out of the shadows.
"We're here—"Nico spluttered. "You're wearing that again—?"
"Don't ask." Verna grumbled and turned to Mrs. O'Leary. "Nico, she looks tired. Is she all right?"
"She'll be fine with a nap; she just hasn't shadow travelled in a while." Nico said. He was right; Mrs. O'Leary flopped her tail down immediately and went snoring (which causing many nymphs to come out grumbling).
The nymphs looked at Verna in surprise and curtsied hastily. "Oh you don't need to do that!" Verna said, feeling embarrassed. They nodded and went back to their respective trees. "They do that all the time to you, right?" Nico said. "Ghosts do that to me too."
Verna nodded, still feeling embarrassed. Another thing they had in common.
"Well," Verna turned to a clump of boulders. "Is this another entrance to the Underworld?"
"It's the Door of Orpheus. Well, we need music to open the entrance. Can you—"
Sing? Verna thought. She liked singing but not particularly in front of an audience, (even if it was Nico) but she really wanted to finish the quest and go back to camp.
"Alright then," She sighed. She sang the song that she sang in the woods, its notes echoing against the large boulders and making its sound trembling around the rocks. Suddenly a large crevice erupted out of the rocks making a dark shadowy tunnel. She could hear small voices echoing from the core of the tunnel, which essentially wasn't a good thing.
"Oh great," Verna muttered. "Just great."
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