Hey guys, here's Ryan's "solution"... hehe... Review!
Disclaimer- Not my characters except Ryan and Eric and all the frills. The rest are Rick Riordan's.
PS- Hmmm, nice prediction Orochi-Ne but no, none of those. Dogs are related to them but... I basically centered the town, Claret, around them. Look deep for clues... but I'm so dang secretive, aren't I :DDD
Chapter 10- Holy flying feathers!
"This is your solution?" Eric asked, peering down the dark mineshaft. I squeezed past the mine carts at the mouth and shined my flashlight down the tunnel.
"Yep." I said.
"But I don't see anything around here. Just sand." Katie observed, feeling the rough rock walls.
"Not here." I pointed down the tunnel. "Down there."
"Are you crazy?" she practically shrieked. I shrunk away a little.
"Maybe a little." I said after a pause. "But I have a hunch there's something down there. I don't know about you, but I'm going to check it out." She scowled. I noticed she was cute when she was angry.
"Is it dangerous?"
"A little." I admitted. "But I'm willing to risk it." I put our backpacks in the last cart, just in case. Then, I climbed into the first one.
"You coming?" I asked. My two companions apprehensively climbed into the next two. "Okay, so, keep your heads down, otherwise, lets go." I took a deep breath and pushed off the wall. The cart line moved pretty fast, but not anything breathtaking. My flashlight provided a little light in the dark tunnels. There were torches on the wall and those wood slat things every few feet. We rode for a while, when I noticed the rough-hewn walls were gone.
"It should have ended a few feet ago..." I said to the two. The walls were now an extremely smooth stone I could see as I ran my flashlight down them. I had just crouched down when the breath was pulled from my lungs. I had been holding my flashlight over the side, and it was ripped from my hands in the speed. We were flying down a steep fall, like a roller coaster. I held on so tight I thought my fingers would fall off. I could here Katie screaming behind me.
And suddenly, the steepness petered out, and we were moving a quick pace. It was still pitch black, which wasn't pleasant.
"You guys okay?" I said loudly. Apparently so. The carts then slowed down and stopped. I could see light down the tunnel. It was completely stable. I climbed out.
"Light." Eric said. I could barely make out the two in the dim light. Katie grabbed our arms.
"What's down there? Why are the walls different?" she said quietly, but I could sense determination there.
"Don't worry about it." I went for my bag, and with some fumbling, found my sword. Eric drew his knife. Katie shivered and grabbed her sword too. We grabbed everything inside the carts and continued on.
I lead the way down the tunnel, which got smaller and smaller. Then, it opened up into a huge cavern. The walls were made of clear crystal and the ceiling was cathedral- height.
"Woah." Eric said. The weirdest thing? There seemed to be fire burning inside the walls of crystal on the far side. I could see my hazy reflection in them.
"I knew there was something down there." I muttered, in shock. Eric bent down.
"Why is there a feather down here?" he asked, holding it up. I walked over and took it. It was reddish and a foot long, with dark stripes. The end was long and thick.
"Red-tailed hawk feather. Common birds around here." I said, squinting at the end. "Wait a second..." I noticed the hole at the end. "It's hollow." Katie walked over and took a closer look.
"It's not a feather." She took it. "It looks like a... whistle." She took the end, put it in her mouth and blew. The sound that it created sounded high and tinny- like when you leave a teapot on the stove and it whistles.
The feather whistle turned into cinders in Katie's hands. And all of a sudden, the glowing wall exploded.
We screamed and backed up to the other wall. Shards of crystal flew everywhere, but none seemed to hit us. Everything cleared, and in front of us was what I could only call a huge, flaming hawk. Its talons were the size of doors, and it's wingspan was too big to estimate. Its eyes were a golden, glowing color.
"Strangers to the Cave of Fire, state yourselves! Are you friend or foe of the Olympians?" A booming caw that faded into a voice filled the cave.
"Friends!" I yelled, terrified. The thing leaned down, folding it's flaming wings, until it's eyes were level with us.
"Halfbloods! Very well, caller of the Phoenix, friend of Phoebus Apollo and Olympus, I am permitted to take you to your destination of choice!" I looked around at my friends, a little more relaxed.
"We need to go to Angeles National Forest!" I called, shifting my backpack.
"As you wish, caller." The Phoenix leaned down, as if inviting us to climb onto it's back. I nodded at Eric and Katie and moved foreword.
You'd think Phoenix feathers would be hot, due to the flames on the ends of its wings and tail, but they were smooth and cool, reds, yellows and oranges. We climbed on until we were right behind the bird's head. I sat on the edge, then Katie, then Eric. I breathed deeply, looking over at my companions. Eric looked excited, Katie slightly scared but smiling.
"Caller, are you ready?" asked the Phoenix.
"Yes." I said.
"Then on we go." The bird stretched out its huge wings, and exploded into the air, straight vertical. The crystal ceiling exploded and we exploded out of the desert mountain.
The bird swooped low over Claret, Eric's coyote's barking after us. The Phoenix rose up and we were flying way over the desert, high in the cloudless sky. I stopped screaming and let my heart slow down, watching the desert WAY below us.
"This. Is. So. Cool!" Eric yelled over the rush of the wind.
"Agreed." I grinned.
After just a few minutes, we were past the desert and into normal California. Cars and people were way below us, but mortal eyes are not the same. I don't think they saw us.
We flew over water and forest and city. Seeing it all from literally, a birds-eye view was just amazing.
I thought about the prophecy.
"Three will travel to a home place/ Where fire, earth and evil's the case" That part already made sense.
"One shall use things learned and known" Learned and known. I am the brains of this operation, I thought with a smile.
"One shall grow and shall have grown" Grow and grown. Grow... plants? Katie, duh. Shall have grown. In height? I doubted it, more like grown personally or something. Guys aren't good with girls' feelings, especially nerd-guys like me. Especially nerd-guys who acknowledge it.
I looked over to her, her brown hair loose of its ponytail, flying behind her. She looked up from watching the ground and am I chasing? I asked myself with a sigh.
"One shall shift and learn their fate" Eric then. He will shift. He'll shift? Like shape-shift? I dismissed that thought. It just wasn't humanly possible.
"Hurry and douse before it's too late" Douse the fire. Douse the evil. Wow, it sounded worse when you though about it. And before it's too late. Before things to bad to contemplate crash around us.
"Thank you." I said, after sliding off the Phoenix. He had dropped us off somewhere in the forest, in a clearing.
"My duty if fulfilled." The bird said, it's eyes glowing. "You are at the foot of the greatest of the mountains here. A majestic place, to be sure. I sense fire near, alas. Eternal, evil fire, not like my own. Take heed, adventures. What you have already found, abilities you already have will help you. Good luck." And with that, the bird rose, engulfed in flames. The last sweep of its wing had magically made all the dirt; dust and sweat leave our bodies.
I felt clean and refreshed.
"What we already have..." Eric muttered.
"This is it." I said, "The real thing is here."
"Yeah." Katie said, a touch of anger in her voice. "And I smell trees burning."
Ooo! Here begins the real deal... As you can see, I made up the Phoenix, but it was a big part of Greek mythology :D