Demigod

An hour after the last Cave of the Winds tour cleared out, a lantern came on. It was the only light in the place, other than the security lamps that shone over the main entrance to the cave.

Rachel led the way through the offices, finally stopping when she got to the one that read "H. Sherman." She entered the empty, cluttered office and held the lantern up to read the map on the wall. "These caves look like their blocked off."

"That one," Santana said, pointing. "In the middle there. It's the only one that is partially accessible by the route he takes for the tour."

"Let's get down there, then," Quinn said. "I'll go in front with the light. Rachel, do you have the traps ready?"

"Yeah," Rachel said, nodding.

"I'll bring up the rear," Clarisse told them. "We sticking to just one lantern?"

"Probably a good idea."

"Then let's roll."

They made their way to the service entrance of the caves, looking up every once in a while for any winged foes. They met no one, neither demigod nor creature, as they descended into the tunnels. It was slow going, creeping along with only the dim blue light to guide them. Each kept one hand on their weapon and one on the back of the person in front of them. Every once in a while, they'd stop and check the map.

"Just here," Quinn said finally. "Over this…ridge."

They'd each climbed up on the rock and were facing a wall.

"I don't understand," Santana whispered. "It says the cave entrance is right here."

"Well the maps are those weird historical ones…" Clarisse mused. "Maybe it's been blocked off. Maybe it's one of the other ones."

"No…" Rachel said, inspecting the bottom of the rock. "It's here. Look, hinges. Give me the lantern, Quinn." She ran her fingers along the rock until she was about two feet from the edge.

"Careful," Santana whispered.

"I know." Her fingers skimmed a patch of rock that felt a bit different. "Got it." She pushed, and panel rotated outward to reveal a computer screen.

"What the hell?"

"It's just a bunch of squares," Quinn said.

Rachel touched one of them. It turned blue before going pale yellow again. "It must be a touch and drag password—like on an iPhone."

"So what do you think the password is?" Clarisse asked, not taking her eyes off the cave ceiling.

"Maybe his initials?" Santana suggested. "He's narcissistic enough, and no one's supposed to know about this place to try to hack into it."

Rachel drew a capital HS on the screen. It blinked red a few times before returning to normal.

"Let's think for a moment," she said. "In case there's a certain number of times we can guess before an alarm goes off."

They stood perfectly still for a moment. Then, with a chuckle, Clarisse came forward and drew a drawn bow. "Son of Apollo, and not terribly clever. Plus, I saw a drawing of it on his desk."

They lined up on either side of the door as the rock panel slid down. A bright blue glow washed through the cave, and there was a screech as six harpies came zooming out of the cave.

Rachel had been ready for this. "Everybody together in the middle!" she said. They huddled up, facing outward, and she shot one arrow up. A net exploded from it. "Roll toward the cave!"

When the net came down, they saw five of the six underneath.

"Stay here," Rachel said. She ran back out, hand in her pocket, keeping her eyes on the sixth one. It was zooming toward her. When it was almost within reach, and the ropes on the net were snapping from the trapped harpies' claws, she threw the labyrinth puzzle down and dove toward the edge of the cliff.

This time, there was a sound like a gong going off, and the cage sprang up, trapping all of the monsters.

Rachel crawled away from the ledge and walked around the glowing structure. She took the emblem from the lock and the glow died, leaving only the blue light from the tunnel. "You guys okay?"

"Fine," Quinn said, hugging her. "Quick thinking there."

"Yeah, well, you know…" Rachel said, panting. "Daughter of Athena and all that."

They all let out some nervous laughter before moving farther into the cave.

The blue light got brighter and brighter, until the tunnel opened up into the room from Rachel's dream.

"This is super freaky," Santana muttered as they walked through the hall of frozen parents.

"Let's split up and see if there's a way to turn them back," Clarisse said.

"Then what?" Quinn asked. "There's got to be thirty people here."

"On it already," Santana said. "I put a call in to Jackson and Jason Grace. Reinforcements are on the way. We've just got to get them out of the caves."

"Come on, Rachel," Quinn said. "Let's take this half."

Rachel followed the same path as she had in her dream, but this time she kept her eyes up. She knew where her fathers were, that wasn't the problem. Any minute now, Hector was going to come back. "Quinn?"

"Do you see them?"

"There." She began to walk toward her parents, noticing that their light was dimmer than in her dream, when they all heard it.

"YOU!"

All of them turned, weapons at the ready. Hector jumped down from the platform that they had only just noticed. He slammed his hand into the wall, and the staircase receded into the rock wall.

"There's another computer up there," Quinn said.

There was a screech, and two more harpies entered the cave.

"Can you keep him busy?" Rachel asked.

"I got it. Do what you've gotta do."

Rachel shot an arrow and trapped one of the harpies in a net. Santana was fighting the other one, while Clarisse shielded her from the arrows Hector was firing. Rachel found a handhold on the rocks above her, and began to scale the wall.

"Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down," she chanted. She flinched and nearly lost her grip as an arrow went shooting by her head. After a few seconds clinging to the rocks, she began to climb again. She looked down and saw Quinn giving Hector a run for his money. The harpy was still giving Clarisse and Santana trouble…until it spotted her. "Shit," she said, climbing faster.

The harpy reached her just as she got to the top. It clawed a gash in her side as she rolled to avoid it. She clubbed it over the head with Endymion, but it just shook itself and came screeching back at her.

"Duck!"

Rachel hit the ground, and an arrow zoomed over her, hitting the harpy. Unfortunately it also hit the computer screen. Luckily, the touch pad was unharmed when she pushed the dead harpy to the ground. She went to the side panel and hit the button, making the ground shake and the stairs reappear.

By now, Santana, Quinn and Clarisse had subdued Hector. They marched him up the stairs.

"Fix them," Clarisse snarled at him.

"Oh, I can fix them all right," he said. "I put in one password, they die."

"They're connected to those I.V.s," Rachel said, pointing to the tubes coming up from the floor. "They're getting doses of…something."

"Part paralytic, part Lotus…juice," Hector said smugly. "One password adds the poison, one stops everything and brings them back."

"Shut up!" Rachel snapped. She needed to think. A hand came to rest on her shoulder, and she felt herself calm down as she looked at the destroyed screen. It was totally gone—they were going to have to get it right without any help. She looked around the control panel, spotting a mug of coffee, a Koosh ball, and a picture of Hector and an older-looking lady.

"You won't get it," Hector taunted, then grunted as Clarisse punched him in the gut.

Rachel glanced around again, eyes falling on the picture. "You mom?"

"What's it to you?" Hector wheezed.

"That answers that question. What's her name?"

"Get fuc— OW!" he yelled as Quinn hit him.

"Watch your mouth."

"I got it!" Rachel said. She pulled a sheet of paper out of her pocket. It was the map from the ranch. She drew a lambda, a theta, and a sigma on the touch pad as Hector shouted and struggled to stop her. "Their mom's initials."

Below them, the parents started to stir. Near the mouth of the cave, there was a shout.

"Clarisse!"

"Jackson! We're in here!"

"Let's go get your dads," Quinn said, smiling at Rachel.