Chapter Eight: Avalon Gaery
I was happy to get off the plane as fast as possible. I hadn't been able to sleep for the eight hours of flight, but most of the others did. They were still a bit sleepy as I steered them as far away from the airport as possible and towards the Coliseum. For one thing, I was still pretty shaken up with the whole I-was-more-than-twenty-thousand-feet-in-the-air thing. For another, I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, and when a child of Apollo gets chills up their spine, you usually want to heed their warnings. Or so I'm told. I never got those sayings about the kids of Apollo. But the ones I was told about Hermes's kids...
I had to swap some of the American dollars I had for some Euros. Everyone was asking about what I was saying, since I was speaking Italian, but I just told them to be quiet and I'd explain later. We then managed to grab a motoscafi, a sort of taxi they have in Italy that goes by water, and started going to the Coliseum. I am never taking another motoscafi in my life again. Almost half of my money was spent just getting from the airport to somewhere remotely close to the Coliseum.
"Dove sono i tuoi genitori?" the man asked.
I translated it for everyone else. "He's wondering where our parents are."
"Tell him we're orphans," Derick said, leaning back in his seat.
"Tell him our parents are meeting us at the Coliseum," Annabeth said.
"Ci stanno riuniti al Colosseo," I told the driver.
He eyed me as if he didn't believe me. "Oh, capisco."
"What did he say?" Grover asked.
"'Oh, I see'," I told him.
"I don't think he believes us," Annabeth said.
"Ti ho visto da qualche parte?" the driver asked.
I shook my head, translating the sentence silently as, Have I seen you somewhere? "Ne dubito."
"Sei sicuro? Cose strane sono al telegiornale."
I narrowed my eyes. He had just said, Are you sure? Weird things have been on the news.
"Che strana cosa?"
"I sequestri di persona. Strane forme nelle ombre." He shivered. "Molte persone stanno iniziando a credere nei fantasmi. Anche a me."
"Non sei il solo."
He looked at me curiously.
"Di dove sei?" the taxi driver asked.
"United States, New York," I said, "Sono nato in Oregon, però."
I hadn't realized how fast our conversation had been. Everyone was looking at me with confused expressions.
"What about New York and Oregon?" Johnny asked.
"He thought he had seen me before and when I told him I didn't believe so, he wasn't so sure, since he had heard some strange things in the news. He had been hearing about kidnappings and strange shapes in the shadows. Many people around are starting to believe in ghosts, even him. Then he asked where I was from."
"Monsters?" Annabeth suggested, looking at Grover.
He covertly sniffed at the wind. "There's something big around here," Grover said nervously, "I haven't smelled anything this strong since the Titans were walking around free range."
Everyone looked a bit anxious at that.
"Che cosa stai dicendo?" the driver asked.
"Volevano solo sapere cosa e io stavamo parlando."
He nodded.
"He was wondering what we were talking about," I told them before the others could ask.
"So, when we get to the Coliseum, what are we going to do?" Derick asked.
Annabeth was just about to answer, when my eyes widened. She looked at me curiously. "What is it?" she asked.
I swallowed dryly. "I know what we're looking for," I said quietly, "The guy we're looking for, well, it's more like he's been looking for us."
The boat docked at the pier about a mile from the Coliseum. I thanked the driver before we started towards the Coliseum. Annabeth and the others were badgering me about what I meant.
I chewed my lip. "He's looking for us," I said, "I don't know how else to explain."
I looked over my shoulder. The apparition was still there, looking around with his cold, grey eyes. His face was all scratched up, as if a bird had been flapping in his face for several decades. His black hair was tied back in a pony tail. I don't know why, but at the time, I couldn't explain to the others what the guy looked like, or bring myself up to say anything about the man who seemed as if he was searching for us.
"What are you looking at?" Johnny asked.
"Nothing," I told him, which was mostly true. They couldn't see the apparition. When we had docked, the man had been standing right in front of us. They didn't say anything. In fact, Grover had walked right through him, scattering the apparition for a moment, and had only frowned at the look that had been on my face. "I just feel like someone's watching us."
"Don't we all?" Derick said mockingly.
The others could tell something was off when I didn't retaliate. Dominic grabbed my wrist to get me to stop.
"Okay, what is wrong?" he asked.
I looked over his shoulder to the pier. The guy wasn't there anymore. I put a hand to my head. "I... I don't know. Maybe it's just Iapetus toying around with my mind or something."
They looked troubled by this, but didn't have much time to think about it, seeing how the guy at the pier appeared right next to me.
"Oh, my father is definitely toying with you," he said as all the blood drained from my face, "And no, I'm not a part of your imagination. You really do have a gift, you know."
I backed away, as did the others. "Prometheus," I said shortly.
"Avalon Gaery," he replied.
My thumb rested on my ring. "What do you want?" I hissed.
"I want to offer you a deal," he said as if that was obvious, "You want your friend, I want my brother. I know where my father has Perseus Jackson, among other various things. All I need you to do is get my brother back and all you want to know is yours."
"Let's do it," Derick said.
"Wait," Annabeth snapped, "Epimethius, right? That's who you want?"
"Yes, I want that guileless fool of a Titan," Prometheus answered, but he never looked away from me, "Will you take the challenge?"
"What's the catch?" I asked, hoping my voice was stronger than I felt, "I've heard a lot about you, Prometheus. You never help another fairly. You always have another goal in mind."
He tapped his lips as if thinking. "Yes, I suppose I am very much like my father in that way," Prometheus said slowly, "But the last few times I went against the gods, well..." He winced.
"You got tied to a rock with vultures pecking out your liver," I growled, "Yeah, we know."
Prometheus flinched. "Don't bring up the vultures," he said, "Anyways, the last time I went against the gods, nothing good came out from it. Epimethius is a fool, but he and I both helped in the creation of mankind. And he's still my brother. I might not care for you or anyone you know, daughter of Apollo, but I know you care about Perseus Jackson. You help me, and I'll help you. Who knows? Your father might think you brave for trusting a titan."
For one scary moment, I had a vision of my father praising me. He was happy, speaking in poems that were, for once, pretty good. And then I remembered the creepy voice that had spoken to me on several occasions. Shaking my head, I put my hands to my temples and took a step back.
"Stop it," I whispered, "I'm not that much of a fool to go for temptations with bigger things on the line."
"Hmm." He looked at me curiously. "Your father must be proud. You aren't as vengeful as he is."
I had to fight the urge to pull out my knife and run him through with it.
"Don't you tell me what my father thinks," I hissed.
Prometheus raised his hands in surrender. "Maybe you are just as vengeful," he mused, "But I'll tell you where my brother was taken and I'll let you all think about what I have said. Epimethius is within Medea's lair. I already gave you the map to an entrance into her prison. Find my brother, convince him you are friends, and bring him back to me. I will tell you everything I can about where the son of Poseidon is, after you bring Epimethius to me, of course."
I glanced at the others. They didn't seem all too sure. If he double crossed us...
"Swear on the River Styx," I blurted out.
He laughed. "At least one of your friends know that won't do much," he said, "Why would you even offer?"
"You know it would be different for you and I to swear on the River Styx together," I said, "And you need your brother. If you really want your brother back, swear on it."
Prometheus's laughing stopped abruptly. His whole demeanor went from relaxed to tense and cold in seconds. "You drive a hard bargain," he told me in a monotone, "but I will do as you say. I swear on the River Styx."
Thunder rumbled in the distance.
"You already gave us the map?" I asked stonily.
"Yes," he said curtly, "Now go fetch my brother."
"What was that about?" Johnny asked.
I didn't reply. I had taken the map from Annabeth and was now leading us to where the entrance to Medea's lair was. She seemed to understand Prometheus's and my talk. After all, she knew about me being immortal.
"Avalon, I'm talking to you," Johnny said, getting angry and irritated now, "Can you at least look me in the face?"
"I can't explain, Johnny," I said coldly, "Not yet at least."
"But that was a Titan!" Johnny said, "A predecessor to the gods! And he just, I don't know, he just sort of freaked out. How did you do that?"
"I don't know, Johnny," I lied, "I said a few words and he stopped laughing. I don't know everything."
"Well, you obviously know something about this!" he shouted, "We aren't stupid enough to not notice that something's been going on and you haven't told us!"
I stopped walking. "I can't explain," I seethed, "Trust me on this. If I did, none of us would have any chance of getting Percy back. He'd probably die a really, really painful death. Now, can we just move along and get to wherever Iapetus is hiding him?"
Johnny still looked like he wanted to argue, but he kept his mouth shut and continued to walk. Grover looked a bit pale at what I said, probably because he and Percy had an empathy like, which sort of meant that if one of them died, the other would die also. We reached the end of the red line the Titan had showed us. I put the map away and jumped back in surprise at what I saw.
A man with a loosely fitting shirt and pants with bright green eyes and dark hair was standing around, looking at a grille near the side of the Coliseum. I could hear some sort of music, lovely music, coming from below the grille. As I watched, the man seemed to relax and started looking for a way to open the grille.
"What is it?" Dominic asked.
"You don't see him?" I replied.
"See what?" several of them said.
I shook my head. "It must be another apparition," I decided, "It's nothing huge, but can you hear any music?"
We listened as hard as we could. Soon, the apparition slid down the chute. I walked over to the grille. The closer I got, the more I was sure I could hear something. There was someone singing, and the playing of a harp or maybe a lyre was in the background. If my father heard this music, he'd be jealous of whoever it was who was playing it. I barely even noticed my hand stretching out to open the grille until someone grabbed my hand.
"We can't go down there," Annabeth said.
I frowned. "Why not?" I couldn't see how any danger could come from the place where that music was coming from.
"Medea's down there!" she said, "She's an evil sorceress! She'll kill us just like she killed the people in the myths, which are true!"
I furrowed my brows, trying to concentrate. The music was still playing as lovely as before. I found myself saying, "I don't think she'll kill us."
Annabeth shifted nervously. "Avalon, usually when gods ask for help, they don't care if you die or not. A Titan asking for help, on the other hand... That's just unheard of."
"Prometheus was telling the truth," I said, "And Medea won't kill us. Trust me."
"We need to find Percy, don't we?" Derick said, "Prometheus wants his brother back in exchange for the information about Percy. We need to go down there."
"I'll be first," I said, pulling open the grille and sliding down the chute before anyone could stop me.
"Avalon!" I heard Dominic shout.
I slid a few more feet and stumbled into a wall before I could answer. Peeling myself off of the wall, I called up to the others. "I'm fine! It's just really dark down here."
Looking around, I couldn't see anything. I felt something dripping down my lips. Surprised, I put my hand up to my nose and looked at the Ichor on my fingers. Hurriedly, I wiped away the golden liquid as best I could. A hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder. Alarmed, I spun around, twirled my ring, and pulled back on the string. In the dim glow of light from my bow, I saw Dominic put his hands up.
"Seriously," I said, putting down my bow, "You and Derick need to work on not doing that to me."
"Sorry," he said. Annabeth slid down next to us. We waited for another person to come down, but they seemed to stop for a moment.
"What's taking them so long?" I asked.
"They're probably talking Grover into coming down here," Annabeth said, and sure enough, Grover came sliding down a few minutes later. Annabeth caught him before he could hit the wall. Soon, Derick and Johnny were down the chute also.
"Why is it so dark down here?" Johnny whispered.
"That would be because no one usually comes down this way," said a voice behind me.
We all spun around, the faint glow from my bow illuminating a beautiful lady with long black hair and piercing green eyes. Her nails had been painted red and when she smiled, it seemed as if the music got louder.
Derick said something real intelligent, like, "Um... gah... Whoa..."
Dominic, Johnny, and Grover had the same look to their faces. The sorceress looked at Annabeth with a little more than a sad welcome before looking me straight in the eyes.
"I've heard quite a bit about you," Medea said, "You can play the piano, right?"
My thoughts were foggy, but I found myself nodding anyways. She smiled at me and then looked at Annabeth again.
"You don't trust me, I see," she said sadly, "I am sure there is not a thing you should be worried about. We have tons of books by the way, and a whole entire library of architecture."
Annabeth seemed to be fighting with herself. After a moment, she managed to say thickly, "I've met your aunt once. She turned my friend into a guinea pig."
Medea shook her head. The guys were still drooling. I still couldn't let my ears stop listening to that music.
"Circe has turned sour, hasn't she?" she said, "I am not like her though, I am actually helping the gods."
"You're helping them?" Grover said absently.
"Yes," she said, "I'm keeping Epimethius away from mankind."
I frowned, looking over her shoulder in frustration. "Where is that music coming from?"
She smiled at me again. "All children of Apollo are curious about music, aren't they?"
"It has an interesting history," I told her, looking at her again, "And as long as we don't have a bow in our hands, yes, we are."
"Good to know," Medea said, "I'm sure you're all famished and tired. Why don't you come with me and I'll get you all set for the rest of your journey, wherever that may be?"
We all nodded and followed her. After a moment or so, lights came on. At first, they were blinding, but my eyes adjusted after a moment. What I saw amazed me.
Musical instruments were all over the place. Violins, violas, harps, lyres, drums – you name it, Medea had it. I even saw a grand piano. How she got everything to fit in there, I have no idea. Awed, I walked over to a display case with a full size violin. It had golden strings and a bow as beautiful as the ray of the moons. Strangely, it reminded me of Apollo and Artemis, though how I could think of those two working together, unless it was a matter of war, I had no clue. I might've started drooling at that point.
"That must cost a gazillion dollars," I breathed.
Medea laughed quietly. "You really are something."
"Where's Epimethius?" Johnny asked, though it sounded as if that was an old memory.
"More like, where's that food I smell," Derick said, "I'm staving!"
For the first time, I realized how hungry I was. I hadn't eaten since hours before the flight, which made the total somewhere around eighteen hours. From a neighboring room, delectable smell was wafting into the room in heavy doses. We all walked forward.
In the next room, a full course meal had been set up. Turkey, sandwiches, chicken, salad, practically everything. Barely anyone talked as we all wolfed down a good portion of it all. Medea sat down and ate a bit slower than the rest of us, but we all stopped eating at the same time. Everyone looked a bit tired, as if they could use a good sleep, but I felt as if something was nagging at me.
"If you must, there's a bedroom in there," Medea said, pointing over to yet another room. I was beginning to feel as if this place was a maze. "And, yes, if you want, you may look at the musical instruments," she added, glancing at me.
"Thank you," we all said.
She left us sitting at the table. Derick was already snoring. After a moment, I stood up and walked into the other room, setting down my backpack on my seat before so. There was a wide variety of instruments to choose from, but I walked over to the piano instead. Experimentally, I trilled my hand over the keys. The sound was magnificent. I had a thought that my father would really want these instruments as a gift.
But something was nagging at me.
I knew it was huge, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Usually, playing an instrument would clear my mind a bit. I vaguely remembered hearing from the teachers that they couldn't believe I had ADHD once they heard me play. I put my hands on the piano and started playing the one song I had never, ever gotten right: Chopin Scherzo No. 2 Op. 31.
Foot on the soft pedal. Trill, trill. Wait, two, three, four, play. Separate the hands. F, G, D, A – oh that was a B.
My thoughts of how the song continued with something like that. I eventually closed my eyes to think of the rest of the nine minute song. The thing that had been on my mind had started with a P and ended with an N. By the end of the song, I still couldn't put my finger on what it was. As the last note died away, a single person began clapping. I looked over, seeing a man with bright green eyes and black hair. His clothes were baggy and a bit lopsided.
A shiver ran down my spine. Epimethius reminded me of Prometheus, and both of them reminded me of their father, the one Titan I'm most afraid of. Even Kronos himself could stand in front of me and I'd at least try to stand my ground. Iapetus, though... I had an aching feeling I would cower in a corner for the rest of my life if I saw an actual, real life glimpse of Iapetus. I tried focusing more on the music that had started up again instead of those disturbing thoughts.
"Where'd you learn to play like that?" the Titan asked, "I haven't heard anything quite so nice in... hmm, let's see... well, let's just say a long while."
"Thanks," I said awkwardly, "I've been called a natural. I've been playing the same song for more than a decade and I can't get it right."
Epimethius frowned. "Looking back on it," he said, "I think I should've asked about how to play piano."
I couldn't see how his meaty hands could play the delicate keys of a piano, but I didn't say anything. I also was a bit confused on how a Titan was friendly, but I didn't say anything about that either.
"Play something," Epimethius urged.
"Er, what should I play?" I asked tentatively.
He shrugged his massive shoulders. "I don't know. I never thought about it."
There was a moment of silence. Dominic shuffled into the room, looking tired, but also a bit worried.
"Avalon, you-" He stopped when he saw Epimethius.
"This is Epimethius," I told him.
"Uh, cool," he said, as if he was trying to think of something, "I'm Dominic."
I suddenly gasped, my hands accidentally pressing down on several of the piano keys as I stood up. "That's why we're here! Percy!"
Suddenly, Dominic didn't look so tired anymore. Glancing between the two of us, he began saying something.
"Get the others," I interrupted, "Make sure Medea hasn't done anything."
He paled before dashing out of the room.
"You can't take him," whispered a voice in the corner of the room.
I turned and glared at Medea. "For one thing, you are upsetting balances up on the world above. I've noticed it, but I doubt you have. No one is reflecting on anything. Epimethius is needed up there."
Epimethius glanced between Medea and I. "The world above needs me?"
"No," Medea said at the same time I said, "Yes."
"They have been doing fine for quite some time," Medea assured him, still glaring at me, "The girl is trying to use you-"
"Your brother is worried about you," I said, "He asked me and my friends to get you out of here, to get you away from this sorceress. If it hadn't been for her, I would've been able to actually remember Percy Jackson's actual name."
"Lies," Medea spat.
"No, I'm not lying," I argued, "And you were probably trying to kill me and my friends anyways!"
She regarded me coldly. "It will not be I who kills your friends, demigod," Medea snarled, "You will."
"What?" I didn't even see how I could think of doing that, much less actually kill them, but I had a feeling Medea did.
"You're musically talented as long as you don't have a bow in your hands, is that right?" she said, "What would happen if you were holding a bow instead?"
She snapped her fingers. I barely noticed when I twirled my ring. Against my will, I pulled back on the string of my bow and aimed my arrow at the doorway leading into the other room. Grover yelped and jumped back as I let loose my arrow. The arrow lodged into the wall as I stepped forward, trying to regain control of myself. But I could feel myself slipping away, my eyesight dimming, my mind becoming more and more crazed by the second.
I managed to shout, "Run! Get out of here!" before I was completely overtaken.
