Here comes another chapter! Things are starting to get pretty intense. There's still a ways to go before the end of the story, but sadly we are closer to the end than to the beginning. I decided to do this the other day. I'm going to have a little competition to teach a little history lesson! At the end of the chapter I will explain what it is that you will be doing. For now, enjoy the chapter :) Peace out.

~Wolfie

Chapter 25 House of Corridors

Most of the visitors were gone from the ruins by the time Sibuna arrived. There were only one or two cars in the parking lot, which probably belonged to workers of some kind. Maybe some of the archeologists assigned to the acropolis restoration.

Everyone walked in silence. They moved as ghosts across the main courtyard. Nina was amazed how a place so vibrant during the day, could be so eerie at night. With the sun barely showing over the horizon, shadows leapt from the corners as they chased away the remaining traces of light. For the first time since they arrived in Greece, clouds dotted the sky, and blocked out some of the stars. The moon was still out, glowing brighter and brighter as the sun dipped over the edge of the sea.

"Do you think it's going to rain?" Amber asked softly. She gazed up at the growing clouds and shuddered.

"It might," was Fabian's simple answer. "So what did the clue say?"

"It was just a name. It said the Stairway to Heaven," Alfie explained. "Halim said that it was at the very top of the acropolis."

"We have to get all the way up there?" Patricia asked, pointing to the ruin towering above their heads.

"Yep," Nina responded. "Let's get going. We have until midnight."

"It's almost eight thirty. We don't have much time," Fabian said quickly. "We need to hurry." With that, they all broke out into a run across the span of the courtyard. Nina and Fabian led the way, trying to remember how to get to the stairway. When the archway that marked the start of the stairs came into view finally came into view.

"You mean we have to climb all these stairs?" Amber cried out. She leaned against one of the walls, breathily heavily. "I can't run anymore."

"We don't have a choice Amber. Now tell your brain to make your feet move," Patricia snapped. The blonde scowled at being rushed, but pushed herself up from the wall.

"You're right. We have to hurry. For Mara." The seven teens nodded to each other and began the ascension to the top of the acropolis. When they got to the top everything looked as it had the first time.

"Any idea as to where we need to go now?" Jerome asked.

"This is the Stairway to Heaven," Fabian said as he pointed to the arch.

"Everyone, start looking for something that could be an entrance," Nina instructed. The group fanned out, examining the walls by the light of their cell phones. Nina went to the far side of the acropolis, but nothing seemed to be there. The carvings on the wall were so old and faded that it would be impossible to read, even if she knew how to read Greek.

"Hey guys," Fabian called out. "I think I found something." Tucked away in a corner, Fabian stood with his phone shining on some carvings in the wall.

"They look like a bunch of triangles to me," Mick commented. On four different bricks were four small carvings of triangles. One was pointing up, another pointing down. There were two others exactly the same, but each had a line drawn through it by the point.

"Nina, remember when I showed you that book about the four classical elements?" Fabian asked. "And my theory about the clues being tied into them? Well, these symbols represent the different elements."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Jerome asked. "Classical elements?"

"The ancient Greeks believed that everything was made from four elements—earth, air, fire and water. The clues that we found are each tied to one of those elements. The first clue was water…"

"The second one was earth," Nina continued.

"And the clue that led us off the island. That was fire wasn't it?" Alfie asked.

"Then what about air? What does taking us here have to do with air?" Patricia asked.

"I read something about air in Greek mythology. They had two different kinds of air, the lower air that mortals would breathe, and an upper air. It was the air the gods would breathe. Up in heaven." Fabian motioned to the staircase that loomed near them.

"Stairway to Heaven," Jerome said with understanding. "So does this mean we're going to get another clue now? Or find this place?"

"I think this is it. Each of these symbols represents the elements. Water was the first element we found, so..." Fabian carefully reached out and put his hand against the triangle with its point facing down. There was a loud grinding noise as the brick slide back, and then a loud bang. Everyone held their breath for several moments, afraid that someone could have heard them.

"Earth was the next one," Patricia whispered. Fabian looked at each of the remaining bricks, trying to remember which one was earth. His eyes rested on the point down triangle with the line through it. He pressed that one in, and another loud bang echoed through the ruins.

"Hurry up mate, someone's bound to come by any minute," Mick urged. Frantically, Fabian found the third symbol, the right side up triangle. The symbol for fire. The final brick, the symbol of air, was all that remained. When he slid the brick back with the others, there was a thundering grinding sound.

With their hands over their ears, the Sibuna members looked around for where the sound was coming from. Everyone's eyes locked on one point. The staircase. Part of the great stone stairway had actually moved aside to reveal a set of stairs leading downwards. Right underneath the ruins.

"I think we found the door," Alfie muttered.

"No wonder those Erebus people never found this place. Every square inch of these walls are covered in symbols. Looking for those four stones would like a needle in a haystack," Patricia mused as they made their way towards the staircase.

"Plus they would have to press them in the right order," Nina added. The seven of them all stood at the top of the staircase, peering down into the darkness that awaited them.

"So who wants to go down the ancient stone stairs into the dark creepy tunnel first?" Alfie asked.

Seemingly unfazed by Alfie's comment, Patricia took the first step down the stairs. Slowly everyone followed. No one was sure how old these stairs were, so they were all careful with each step they took. The entire thing could collapse at any second.

The darkness grew with each step they took, and soon the light was gone. Even with the light of seven cell phones, the light was sparse. At the bottom, the floor felt smooth underneath their feet. They all turned their phones down to the ground to reveal that it was made of sleek, polished marble.

"Someone really took their time building this place," Amber commented as they tried to get their bearings. There was no light anywhere, but they were able to make out large white columns with their cell phone light. The staircase left them at the head of a long corridor. There was only one way to go, and that was forward.

"I just hope no one finds us down here," Nina commented. "We saw those cars, there has to be someone else here. And Adriane and Alix were supposed to come too weren't they?"

"Well hopefully those backstabbing Aspída clowns told them not to bother," Patricia muttered.

"Can we get going now? We aren't going to find the treasure standing around here," Jerome asked. Cautiously they began the trek down the corridor. The hall was narrow, there was barely enough room to walk two by two. Several times someone would cry out from getting stepped on.

After what felt like an endless amount of time, the hall began to widen out. "Is that…light? Up ahead?" Patricia asked. At the end of the corridor was a sort of room. Somehow a pale light filled the entire place.

"This is amazing," Nina whispered breathlessly.

"How is it possible?" Fabian added.

They stood in a huge circular room. The floor was made of polished, white marble. Littered around were small stones that had fallen from the ceiling over the years. Fourteen columns lined the outer wall. Somewhere up in the ceiling, was a large hole. Moonlight streamed through, right down to the center of the room. On a marble pedestal sat a glass prism. The moonlight shone down onto it, and the light was casted off through the room.

"Look at this place," Patricia said in awe. She stared at the glass prism before her. Slightly smaller than a soccer ball, it was clear, with perfectly smooth cuts along it. A stone cradle held it in place.

"That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," Amber whispered as she walked up to the pedestal. "Is this what's making it light in here?"

"It's a prism. Someone cut it so that when the moonlight shines on it, light is cast through the room," Fabian explained.

"Thanks Mr. Sweet, for the science lesson," Jerome snapped. He walked around the pedestal and pointed to a series of doors across from them. "I think these are a bit more important."

The four doorways loomed, each with a corridor that led away from the light. Above each was one of the four symbols of the classical elements. Though no one wanted to admit it, they all knew the inevitable. They would have to split up.

"I don't like this. I don't like this at all," Amber cried. "We shouldn't split up! Who knows what's down there."

"We don't have a choice Amber," Nina said worriedly. She didn't want to split up either, but they didn't have time to search each tunnel in one group. Something else then dawned on them all. There were seven of them, and four tunnels. Someone would have to go alone.

"Anyone willing to volunteer?" Nina asked hopefully.

"I have an idea," Patricia offered. She began walking around the room, picking stones off of the ground. Every once in a while she would place one of the stones in her pocket. After a minute she ran back over to the others and presented the stones. "There are seven stones here. We'll each draw one and whoever gets the smallest will have to go it alone."

"I don't like it, but we don't have another choice," Nina agreed.

"Draw them out of this," Alfie offered as he pulled off his blue cap. He held it out to Patricia, and she dropped the stones into it. Each of them closed their eyes and drew a stone out of the hat. When they each had one in their fist, they looked at each other.

"On three?" Nina asked.

"One…two…three…" All seven of them opened their fists and looked down at the stones. They studied their own stones, then look at the other ones. With fear growing across his face, Alfie stared at his own stone, which was much smaller than the others.

"It'll be OK Alfie. We know you can do it," Amber said encouragingly. In the dim light, it was still obvious that Alfie's skin was growing pale from fear.

"You'll all right, mate," Jerome said, giving Alfie a slap on the back. "You braved the cellar at school on your own."

"Yeah, the cellar. Where I could run away and go to my own bed. This is a dark, creepy, ancient tunnel that'll lead me to who knows where."

"Look, let's all meet back up here at eleven thirty. If we haven't found anything by then, we'll have to think of a different way to get Mara back."

"Do you think we could, Nina?" Amber asked.

"We'll have to."

"All right. Then let's get looking. The treasure won't find us. Patricia, can I go with you? You aren't afraid of this place."

"Yeah, sure." With a small squeak Amber jumped forward and latched herself onto Patricia's arm. Nina and Fabian looked at each other, and with unspoken agreement knew they would take one of the tunnels together. Jerome looked at the two pairs in front of him. Then he looked at Mick.

"Not on your life."

"Jerome, we don't have time for this," Patricia snapped. "Mara doesn't have time for this. Grow up and go with Mick down that darn tunnel!"

"Yes ma'am," he snapped sarcastically.

"So we're all in agreement? Meet back here at eleven thirty?" Nina asked. Everyone around her nodded. "Sibuna."

"Sibuna." They split off into their four groups, each walking down one of the four corridors. Patricia and Amber headed down the fire corridor. Mick and Jerome took the air path. Fabian and Nina chose water. Lastly, Alfie walked slowly down the earth corridor. Each one of them was afraid of what was ahead of them, but even more afraid of what would happen if they failed.

The challenge:

Somewhere in this chapter there is a number. That number represents something significant in greek mythology. Your task is to figure out what that number is, and what it means. The people who get it correctly will get a choice of a prize. I will either give them a sneak peak of the next chapter, or answer one question about the story. In a review tell me that you have an answer, then send your guess in a PM to me so no one will cheat ;) Good luck and happy researching!

~Wolfie