Satellite Call by Sara Bareilles
(Hey my faithful readers! I am not dead. I said that to only reassure you that this is a new chapter, and I am still writing them. Anyway, this chapter's kind of sad for Auslly. You guys might be sad or mad, because someone's true intentions are revealed! Oh, and because the gods are still meddling in Austin and Ally's lives. Hopefully I can get another chapter up this week as well, because it's Spring Break! I'm going to stop typing now before this becomes an entire weekend recap! Okay, bye!)
ANNABETH:
"Ally?" I asked. "Are you okay?"
"No, Annabeth. I'm not. Where were you? Nelly, Sarah Rose, and a redhead with terrible fashion sense just got sucked into Hell. And now I'm a broken-down mess." Her words were choked out, and accompanied by shaky breathing.
"I was chasing Nelly. I found her at a coffee shop four blocks from here, talking to someone on a disposable phone."
"Well, she's gone. She stole one of Hades' keys, made a door with it, and probably is in Tartarus by now."
"Hades' keys. How did she get one of those?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe one of her contacts gave it to her."
"One of her contacts?"
She told Didi that she was going to get one of her friends to give her a ride to the Roman camp. Also, Didi is also known as Sarah Rose."
"I'm going to take a guess and say Didi is Roman."
"Correct. And that badly dressed boy is her brother, Dez."
"Did they know that Nelly was going into the Underworld?"
"No idea." I replied. "But luckily, I know a way into Hell, and a really easy way too." I wrapped my arm around Ally's shoulder, and pulled her to her feet. "It's in Manhattan. Central Park. The south side."
"Cool. Can we stop at the music store before we go? I need to finish up a few things." Ally looked unsure for a moment, and then it faded.
"Alright." I wasn't sure Ally wanted to leave Miami at all.
AUSTIN:
I sat down at the piano and began to flip through Ally's book, looking for some sign, anything that would make her leave. Most of her songs are about love—Ally could have had a boyfriend. I felt a twinge in my stomach, nothing large, but a nagging, annoying feeling that I couldn't promptly ignore. Finally, I decided to sing a bit of the last song she had written, which was oddly exactly the situation we were in—or at least I had been.
"You can have Manhattan,
I know it's for the best,
I'll gather up the avenues and leave them on your doorstep,
And I'll tiptoe away,
So you don't have to say you heard me leave.
You can have Manhattan,
I know it's what you want,
The bustle and the buildings,
The weather in the fall,
And I'll bow out of place,
To save you some space for somebody new,
You can have Manhattan because I can't have you,
Ah, ah, ah."
[1]
ALLY:
I had my bag, I had hugged my father, and now I was hearing him through the door, and the obvious pain in his voice as he sung the opening lines of 'Manhattan'. And as I began to turn the knob, I realized that I couldn't do it, I couldn't burst in, and leave. So I stood there, listened and strained through the thick wood door to hear the words, searing and sad on my broken heart. I let my feet finally lead me down the staircase I loved, across the tile floors I used to clean, through the mall I used to shop in, and down into the parking lot, where a car Annabeth had gotten from gods-knows-where, was sitting to carry me away. And it did. It wasn't until we were across the city limits that I remembered my book, but I didn't care. I had lied to Austin, a boy that I had known for a matter of two days, and I'd left my book as a parting gift to him. The songs would have at least held him until he found a new partner.
New York seemed muted when we arrived, the leaves not quite as green; the buildings weren't their actual height. Everything seemed to be stunned as much as myself, and I wanted to scream. Annabeth parked the car in an alley, two blocks away from Central Park. I saw her slip the keys into her back pocket, although we both knew we wouldn't be needing them again, most likely.
"Welcome to Central Park." Annabeth said brightly, trying to get me to enjoy myself as we passed through the gates of the southern entrance. How could I? I had just broken someone's heart.
"Cool." I said, not really paying attention, and looked down at the dark earth below us.
"Here it is!" Annabeth suddenly stopped in her tracks, and I ran straight into her back. Luckily, Annabeth caught me before I fell, steadying me.
"What is this?" I asked, looking at the large rock pile in front of me, like a mini mountain. It was arranged in such a way that there was no crevices or cracks between the rocks.
"The entrance." Annabeth said, as if it was obvious.
"But there's no way through." I replied.
"That's where you come in. You have to sing to get through to Hell."
"Great."
"It's one of the nicer ones. I know a few other entrances if you want." Annabeth retorted stonily.
"No need to get snippy." I replied. "What do you want me to sing?" I asked, trying to stall for time. Even if I had gotten over my stage fright, performing in front of people was still hard. Singing "Parachute"[2] in front of Austin had been a one-time thing. I had felt something, no matter what it was, and now I had felt faint.
Annabeth clearly hadn't understood. She shrugged, "Anything you remember is good."
"Fine." I took a deep breath, and decided to finish what Austin began.
"You can have Manhattan,
The one we used to share,
The one where we were laughing and just being there,
Hang onto the reverie,
Do that for me,
Cause I'm just too sad,
You can have Manhattan cause I can't have you,
And so let go,
One foot after the other,
Til black and white begin to color,
And I know holding us in place
In fear of what's already changed,
Ah, ah, ah
You can have Manhattan,
I'll settle for the beach,
And sunsets facing westward with sand beneath my feet,
I'll wish there's a way,
Dismissing the days,
When I was 1/2 of two,
You can have Manhattan because I can't have you."
[1]
"Wow." Annabeth was taken aback. "You're good!"
"Yeah, um, Annabeth, why are the rocks moving?" I pointed where the rocks were beginning to roll and shift, barely making a large enough space in the ground for two people, i.e. me and Annabeth to fit through.
"Because that's the way in, Miss Dawson." Annabeth took a few steps back, and then started to run, headfirst into the hole. The rocks swallowed her up so quickly that I thought I might have missed my chance to follow her, but Annabeth shouted, "Come on, Ally!" She sounded panicked.
I jumped feet first into the small opening, hoping Annabeth would catch me. She didn't. "Ow." I said, sitting up. As I rubbed my eyes back into focus, I realized that Annabeth wasn't paying attention to me, but to the river of fire next to us. "Where are we?"
"Tartarus. The gate didn't lead us to the river Styx, but to the River of Fire. We are in the deepest, darkest, most horrifying part of the Underworld, Ally."
"How?" It suddenly struck me that the air was funny, and that it was much more heavy than regular air. Poison. Which I had originally thought to be stones digging into my hands were actually broken glass shards. The shards were sharp and covered every square inch of ground I could see, most likely for miles.
"Do you remember when Nelly went into New York last month? When she said she went to see Central Park without our permission?"
"Yes." I said.
"She messed with the entrance." Annabeth grimaced.
"Annabeth, that entrance has sat there for centuries! How could a fourteen year old Aphrodite demigod suddenly turn up and charm it or something to transport people to Tartarus instead?"
"If she's working for someone quite more powerful than us. A god."
"And which one would that be?"
"Tartarus himself."
"But he's a place."
"When Percy and I were stuck down here last year, Ally, we saw Tartarus in a physical form, like a human."
"He's that powerful?"
"Yes, unfortunately."
"But why would Nelly be working for him?" I asked, hesitation lingered in my voice.
"Because she wants you to die. You are the one least of blood. The one who's meant to defeat Tartarus's mortal form once and for all."
AUSTIN:
I was still at the piano, pounding out notes that made no sense, filled with frustration and sadness. "No!" I finally yelled. I wanted to move, to get away, but I couldn't. The music bound me to the place I least wanted to be. Standing on trembling muscles, I took a step toward the door. And the handle rattled from the other side. I scrambled backwards into a chair. "Hello?" I called. And the door flung open. The young woman, barely older than 18, looked like a rotating cycle of girls I had liked at some point in the past few years. There was Cassidy, Brooke, the European supermodel, Kira, and yes, Layla. Then there she was. Miss Ally Dawson.
"Hi there, Mr. Moon. Sorry to barge in so quickly, but I heard you recently split from your songwriter, Layla Grayson, and you just have to hear my client! She's the hottest new singer-songwriter in Miami; recently relocated from Sweden actually. The name's Aphrodite. Now, may I present to you, Roxy Rocket!" Aphrodite pushed me back onto my seat. She was strong and beautiful.
I definitely expected a timid, little, shy girl to walk into the room. I was wrong. On sight, Roxy was different from anyone I had ever worked with. She looked as if you made her mad, she'd rip your toenails off with a single yank of her fingers. Her white-blonde hair was covered in blue streaks, most likely from the use of blue raspberry Kool-Aid.[3] She was wearing orange fishnet leggings, a pink jumper, and a black blouse underneath, along with heavy eyeshadow and multicolored necklaces and rings around her neck and on her fingers. Scuffed combat boots completed the look. But most of all, Roxy was different, and I liked it.
"Um," I said. Roxy did look somewhat like Ally, if you tilted your head, and looked at her the right way. "Hi." I finally got out.
"Hey." Her accent was sweet and lyrical, like honey. "Here's my newest song," she held out a packet of papers in my direction, "I call it Cassiopeia."
"Cool. Is it okay if I sing it?"
"Actually," Roxy bit her lip, and looked at Aphrodite, "can I? It's sort of personal at the moment, but if you'll have me be your partner, you can sing the rest."
"All right." I handed the papers back, bracing myself.
"Coming close,
Now it's time to tell a story,
Long ago,
And so many years before me,
Every word,
Every dream that even could be,
There it was in her very first heartbeat,
All alone in the corner of the night sky,
Spiral bones of a supernova starlight,
Fell in love with another burning bright,
She dreamed of a way to ignite,
She said,
Tonight,
C'mon, c'mon collide,
Break me to pieces,
I think you're just like heaven,
Why,
C'mon, c'mon collide,
Let's see what a fire feels like,
I bet it's just like heaven,
Just like heaven,
Just like heaven,
Such a shame nowhere,
Near even a near miss,
Light years away from the hope of being sun kissed,
Anchored home in her interstellar sea,
But poor lonely Cassiopeia,
So she sighs and she burns with desperation,
Learns to cry over love of constellations,
Then a spark from a star shooting too close,
They both smiled,
What a day to explode!
She said,
Tonight,
C'mon, c'mon collide,
Break me to pieces,
I think you're just like heaven,
Why,
C'mon, c'mon collide,
Let's see what a fire feels like,
I bet it's just like heaven,
Just like heaven,
Just like heaven,
Long ago in a sky built before us,
A supernova grew up to be stardust."
[4]
"So?" Aphrodite clapped her hands together, "What did you think?" She stares at me with Brooke's intense stare, Kira's hair, and Ally's eyes.
"That was great!" I said. And I meant it.
"Do I get the job then?" Roxy asked.
My smile faded. Ally was still my songwriter. Couldn't she leave me alone for one minute of my life? The answer was no. "I'll get back to you soon." Aphrodite threw a card at me, probably a phone number on it, and was flouncing out the door when she suddenly stopped and turned.
"Austin, she's sorry, but she's gone. She's never coming back from where she is. Ally Dawson will die there. But I always love a good tragic love story. Call me once you decide." And at the end of the day, I still felt like Hell.
ATHENA:
"Thank you, Aphrodite." I said. She pulled me into a hug in response.
"You're welcome, Athena, but you realize the girl, Ally, she will die."
"For a good cause, Aphrodite. If she realizes that her own cousin is the new host of Tartarus..."
"You mean, possessed by him?"
"Yes. Since he can't leave Tartarus, he is going to use the girl, Nelly, your very own daughter, to destroy the world, and be free of his prison once and for all."
[1]-Manhattan by Sara Bareilles.
[2]-Parachute by Laura Marano.
[3]-I don't own Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid or any type of Kool-Aid at that.
[4]-Cassiopeia by Sara Bareilles.