PERI'S POV
Despite the midday heat and the raging storm of death energy, a group of tourists was climbing over the ruins. Fortunately there weren't many, and they didn't give our ragtag group of demigods a second look.
After the crowds in Rome, I had stopped worrying too much about getting noticed. If we could fly our warship into the Roman Colosseum with ballistae blazing and not even cause a traffic slowdown, I figured we could pretty much get away with anything.
Nico led the way. At the top of the hill, we climbed over an old retaining wall and down into an excavated trench. My Imperial Gold sword revolved around my head protectively, possibly in response to my peaking anxiety. Walking on the earth was one thing, but going below the surface was just asking for trouble. I couldn't fight the idea that we were walking into a trap, but it's not like we could turn back now. Finally we arrived at a stone doorway leading straight into the side of the hill. Panic set in at the sight of the darkness passed the earthen threshold.
I had a feeling the Doors of Death would be underground, but seeing the cave before me filled me with an overwhelming sense of dread. All I could think about was the last time that I was underground, when I nearly died. Last time I had Nico's Stygian Iron sword to act as an anchor to this world. Now I had two black blades of my own at my hip, but I wasn't sure if that would be enough to keep me conscious, to keep me alive. Leo's fingers threaded with mine, and he squeezed my hand firmly. I wondered if he could feel my tension or if he could simply hear my accelerated heartbeat pounding in my chest. It sounded loud to me.
The death storm seemed to originate right above our heads. Looking up at the swirling tentacles of darkness, I felt like I was trapped at the bottom of a flushing toilet bowl. A mixture of drowning and sinking. Wonderful. That really didn't calm my nerves.
Nico faced the group. "From here, it gets tough."
"Sweet," Leo said. "'Cause so far I've totally been pulling my punches."
I was grateful for Leo's attempt at lightening the mood, but Nico glared at him. "We'll see how long you keep your sense of humor. Remember, this is where pilgrims came to commune with dead ancestors. Underground, you may see things that are hard to look at, or hear voices trying to lead you astray in the tunnels. Frank, do you have the barley cakes?"
"What?" Frank asked dumbly. He seemed to be in his head as much as me.
"I've got the cakes," Hazel said. She pulled out the magical barley crackers they'd made from the grain Triptolemus had given them in Venice.
"Eat up," Nico advised.
I chewed my cracker of death and tried not to gag. It reminded me of a cookie made with sawdust instead of sugar. Then I remembered the slop I used to eat at St. Mary's and decided this wasn't so bad.
"Yum," Piper said. Even the daughter of Aphrodite couldn't avoid making a face.
"Okay." Nico choked down the last of his barley. "That should protect us from the poison."
"Poison?" Leo asked. "Did I miss the poison? 'Cause I love poison."
"Soon enough," Nico promised. "Just stick close together, and maybe we can avoid getting lost or going insane."
I wondered if it was too late for the latter. I hadn't even stepped foot inside yet, and the stench of the earth was already wafting from the cave entrance, making me feel woozy and restless. I decided to unsheathe one of my black blades for stability. A cooling relief washed over me, reminding me why I was here, what I was doing all this for. Percy and Annabeth.
I followed the others inside. Bringing up the rear made me feel a tiny bit better— closer to the exit and being able to watch our backs gave me something to focus on besides the sensation of being swallowed by the earth. The tunnel spiraled gently downward, the ceiling supported by white stone arches that reminded me of a whale's rib cage. I definitely felt like I was in the belly of a massive beast.
As we walked, Hazel ran her hands along the masonry. "This wasn't part of a temple," she whispered. "This was… the basement for a manor house, built in later Greek times."
I found it eerie how Hazel could tell so much about an underground place just by being there. I'd never known her to be mistaken.
"A manor house?" I asked. "Please don't tell me we're in the wrong place."
"The House of Hades is below us," Nico assured. "But Hazel's right, these upper levels are much newer. When the archaeologists first excavated this site, they thought they'd found the Necromanteion. Then they realized the ruins were too recent, so they decided it was the wrong spot. They were right the first time. They just didn't dig deep enough."
Usually I found Nico's incredible knowledge of history fascinating. Right now, in the heart of Gaea's territory, it was just plain creepy though. If I were those archaeologists, I wouldn't have wanted to dig deeper either. We turned a corner and stopped. In front of us, the tunnel ended in a huge block of stone.
"A cave-in?" Jason asked.
"Don't say that," I said with a scowl.
"It's just a test," Nico said. "Hazel, would you do the honors?"
Hazel stepped forward. She placed her hand on the rock, and the entire boulder crumbled to dust.
The tunnel shuddered. Cracks spread across the ceiling. My entire body stiffened. For a terrifying moment, I imagined we'd all be crushed under tons of earth— a disappointing way to die, after all we'd been through. Gaea would be most pleased. Then the rumbling stopped. The dust settled.
A set of stairs curved deeper into the earth, the barreled ceiling held up by more repeating arches, closer together and carved from polished black stone. The descending arches made me feel dizzy, as if I were looking into an endlessly reflecting mirror. I wondered if it had been built that way intentionally, just to spite me. Painted on the walls were crude pictures of black cattle marching downward.
"I really don't like cows," Piper muttered.
"Agreed," Frank said.
"Those are the cattle of Hades," Nico said. "It's just a symbol of—"
"Look." Frank pointed.
On the first step of the stairwell, a golden chalice gleamed. I was pretty sure it hadn't been there a moment before. The cup was full of dark-green liquid.
"Hooray," Leo said halfheartedly. "I suppose that's our poison."
Nico picked up the chalice. "We're standing at the ancient entrance of the Necromanteion. Odysseus came here, and dozens of other heroes, seeking advice from the dead."
"Did the dead advise them to leave immediately?" Leo asked.
"I would be fine with that," I admitted.
"Same here," Piper nodded fervently.
Nico drank from the chalice, then offered it to Jason. "You asked me about trust, and taking a risk? Well, here you go, son of Jupiter. How much do you trust me?"
I wasn't sure what Nico was talking about, but Jason didn't hesitate. He took the cup and drank.
Everyone passed it around, each taking a sip of poison. As I waited my turn, I tried to keep my legs from shaking and my gut from churning. Goldie twirled overhead, as if warning me this was a bad idea.
Like I didn't know that already.
I gripped the hilt of the black blade. Leo handed me the chalice. I went last. The taste of the green liquid reminded me of spoiled apple juice. I drained the chalice. It turned to smoke in my hands.
Nico nodded, apparently satisfied. "Congratulations. Assuming the poison doesn't kill us, we should be able to find our way through the Necromanteion's first level."
"Just the first level?" Piper asked.
Nico turned to Hazel and gestured at the stairs. "After you, sister."
In no time, I felt completely lost. The stairs split in three different directions. As soon as Hazel chose a path, the stairs split again. We wound our way through interconnecting tunnels and rough-hewn burial chambers that all looked the same— the walls carved with dusty niches that might once have held bodies. The arches over the doors were painted with black cows, white poplar trees, and owls.
"I thought the owl was Minerva's symbol," Jason murmured.
"The screech owl is one of Hades's sacred animals," Nico said. "Its cry is a bad omen."
"This way." Hazel pointed to a doorway that looked the same as all the others. "It's the only one that won't collapse on us."
"Good choice, then," Leo said.
I began to feel like I was leaving the world of the living. My skin tingled, and I wondered if it was a side effect of the poison or just the earth draining my energy. In the eerie glow of our magic weapons, my friends looked like flickering ghosts.
I tried not to let it affect my mental state, but that was easier said than done. Cold air brushed against my face. In my mind, I heard voices whispering in the side corridors, beckoning me to veer off course, to come closer and listen to them speak. I did my best to ignore them.
Finally we reached an archway carved in the shape of human skulls— or maybe they were human skulls embedded in the rock. In the purple light of Diocletian's scepter, the hollow eye sockets seemed to blink.
Frank almost hit the ceiling when Hazel put a hand on his arm.
"This is the entrance to the second level," she said. "I'd better take a look."
Frank must not have realized that he'd moved in front of the doorway.
"Uh, yeah…" He made way for her.
Hazel traced her fingers across the carved skulls. "No traps on the doorway, but... something is strange here. My underground sense is— is fuzzy, like someone is working against me, hiding what's ahead of us."
"The sorceress that Hecate warned you about?" Jason guessed. "The one Leo saw in his dream? What was her name?"
Hazel chewed her lip. "It would be safer not to say her name. But stay alert. One thing I'm sure of: From this point on, the dead are stronger than the living."
I wasn't sure how she knew that, but being a daughter of Pluto, I believed her. The voices in the darkness seemed to whisper louder. I caught glimpses of movement in the shadows. From the way my friends' eyes darted around, I guessed they were seeing things too.
"Where are the monsters?" Frank wondered aloud. "I thought Gaea had an army guarding the Doors."
"Don't know," Jason said. His pale skin looked as green as the poison from the chalice. "At this point I'd almost prefer a straight-up fight."
"Careful what you wish for, man." I muttered. "Not much room in here, and I already feel half-dead."
Leo summoned a ball of fire to his hand. "Personally, I'm hoping nobody's home. We walk in, find Percy and Annabeth, destroy the Doors of Death, and walk out. Maybe stop at the gift shop."
"Yeah," Frank said. "That'll happen."
The tunnel shook, and I yelped in fright. I was too freaked out to even feel embarrassed for the slip up. Thankfully the others didn't give me any flak. Rubble rained down from the ceiling, and I remembered my last dream.
I am the earth, Gaea had said. I am everywhere.
"It's okay," Leo whispered, taking my hand in the darkness once more. "I'm right here."
That's what worries me.
"The Doors of Death just opened again," Nico said.
"It's happening like every fifteen minutes," Piper noted.
"Every twelve," Nico corrected, though he didn't explain how he knew. "We'd better hurry. Percy and Annabeth are close. They're in danger. I can sense it."
As we traveled deeper, the corridors widened, but that didn't make me feel any less claustrophobic. The ceilings rose to six meters high, decorated with elaborate paintings of owls in the branches of white poplars. The extra space should have made me feel better, but all I could think about was the tactical situation. The tunnels were big enough to accommodate large monsters, even giants. There were blind corners everywhere, perfect for ambushes. Our group could be flanked or surrounded easily. We would have no good options for retreat.
All of my instincts told me to get out of these tunnels. If no monsters were visible, that just meant they were hiding, waiting to spring a trap. Even though I knew that, there wasn't much I could do about it. We had to find the Doors of Death. We had to find Percy and Annabeth. We continued on.
Leo held his fire close to the walls. I saw Ancient Greek graffiti scratched into the stone. I skimmed the texts and only felt more creeped out. They were prayers and supplications to the dead, written by pilgrims thousands of years ago. The tunnel floor was littered with ceramic shards and silver coins.
"Offerings?" Piper guessed.
"Yes," Nico said. "If you wanted your ancestors to appear, you had to make an offering."
"Let's not make an offering," Jason suggested.
Nobody argued.
"The tunnel from here is unstable," Hazel warned. "The floor might… well, just follow me. Step exactly where I step."
She made her way forward. Frank walked right behind her, and our group formed a single file line to follow each other closely. Everything was going fine until Frank stopped dead in his tracks. Sorry. Poor choice of words since he looked part ghost right about now.
"Frank?" Jason whispered behind him. "Hazel, hold up a second. Frank, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," Frank murmured. "I just—"
He cut himself off as though someone else started speaking, but none of us had said a word. I realized with a start that he must be listening to the ghostly voices. He shouldn't be doing that! We had to break him out of this trance before he was led astray.
"Frank, don't move." Hazel sounded alarmed.
He looked down and realized he'd been about to step out of line.
"Lead where?" he asked aloud.
"Uh, big guy?" Leo said. "Could you not freak out on us? Please and thank you."
We were all looking at him with concern.
"I'm okay," he managed. "Just… a voice."
Nico nodded. "I did warn you. It'll only get worse. We should—"
Hazel held up her hand for silence. "Wait here, everybody."
I didn't like it, but she forged ahead alone. I counted to twenty-three before she came back, her face drawn and pensive.
"Scary room ahead," she warned. "Don't panic."
"Those two things don't go together," Leo murmured. But we followed Hazel into the cavern.
The place was like a circular cathedral, with a ceiling so high it was lost in the gloom. Dozens of other tunnels led off in different directions, each echoing with ghostly voices. The thing that made me the most nervous was the floor. It was a gruesome mosaic of bones and gems— human femurs, hip bones, and ribs twisted and fused together into a smooth surface, dotted with diamonds and rubies. The bones formed patterns, like skeletal contortionists tumbling together, curling to protect the precious stones— a dance of death and riches. It was very much giving me Lord of the Underworld realness. 10/10 on the creep scale.
"Touch nothing," Hazel said.
"Wasn't planning on it," I muttered.
Jason scanned the exits. "Which way now?"
For once, Nico looked uncertain. "This should be the room where the priests invoked the most powerful spirits. One of these passages leads deeper into the temple, to the third level and the altar of Hades himself. But which—?"
"That one." Frank pointed suddenly.
Hazel frowned. "Why that one?"
"You don't see the ghost?" Frank asked.
"Ghost?" Nico asked.
Okay… if Frank was seeing a ghost that the Underworld kids couldn't see, something was definitely wrong. My stomach churned. I felt like the floor was vibrating underneath me. Then I realized it was vibrating. That couldn't be a good thing.
"We need to get to that exit," Frank said. "Now!"
Hazel almost had to tackle him to restrain him. "Wait, Frank! This floor is not stable, and underneath… well, I'm not sure what's underneath. I need to scout a safe path."
"Hurry, then," he urged.
He drew his bow and herded Hazel along as fast as he dared. Leo scrambled behind him to provide light, his free hand clasped around mine tightly. The others guarded the rear. Frank was seriously scaring me, but I didn't think the big guy couldn't help it. And I trusted the judgement of the son of Mars— if he said we needed to pick up the pace, then he meant it. I had a horrible feeling in my gut, and it wasn't just the sickness I felt when underground. Something big and bad was approaching.
How I wish, just once in a while, that my gut was wrong.
The cavern reverberated with monstrous roars—dozens, maybe hundreds of enemies coming from every direction. I recognized the throaty bellow of the Earthborn, the screech of gryphons, the guttural war cries of Cyclopes—all sounds I remembered from countless battles, amplified underground, echoing in my head even louder than Gaea's evil laughter.
"Hazel, don't stop!" Nico ordered.
He pulled the scepter of Diocletian from his belt. Piper and Jason drew their swords as the monsters spilled into the cavern. Goldie flew around, itching to draw blood from the beasts. I felt the same way. Perhaps slaying a few creatures with the Stygian Iron sword would strengthen and embolden me.
Unfortunately I never got the opportunity. A vanguard of six-armed Earthborn threw a volley of stones that shattered the bone-and-jewel floor like ice. A fissure spread across the center of the room, coming straight toward Leo, Hazel, and me.
No time for caution. Frank tackled us with his big bulky body, and the four of us skidded across the cavern, landing at the edge of Frank's chosen tunnel as rocks and spears flew overhead.
"Go!" Frank yelled. "Go, go!"
The three of us scrambled into the tunnel, which seemed to be the only one free of monsters. I wasn't sure that was a good sign.
Two meters in, I turned. "The others!"
The entire cavern shuddered. I looked back and my hope crumbled to dust. Dividing the cavern was a new fifteen-meter-wide chasm, spanned only by two rickety stretches of bone flooring. The bulk of the monster army was on the opposite side, howling in frustration and throwing whatever they could find, including each other. Some of the smaller creatures attempted to cross the bridges, which creaked and crackled under their weight.
Jason, Piper, and Nico stood on the near side of the chasm, which was good, but they were surrounded by a ring of Cyclopes and hellhounds. More monsters kept pouring in from the side corridors, while gryphons wheeled overhead, undeterred by the crumbling floor.
The three demigods would never make it to the tunnel. Even if Jason tried to fly them, they'd be shot out of the air.
"We have to help them," I said and tried to run towards them, but Leo grabbed my waist and held me tightly. "Let me go! There's no time—"
"No time," Leo agreed without meet my eyes.
My mind raced, doing battle calculations. I saw exactly what would happen— where and when my friends would be overwhelmed, how all six of them would die here in this cavern… unless I changed the equation. Why wouldn't he let me save them?
All of your little friends will die, Gaea mocked.
"Nico!" Frank yelled. "The scepter."
Nico raised Diocletian's scepter, and the cavern air shimmered purple. Ghosts climbed from the fissure and seeped from the walls— an entire Roman legion in full battle gear. They began taking on physical form, like walking corpses, but they seemed confused. Jason yelled in Latin, ordering them to form ranks and attack. The undead just shuffled among the monsters, causing momentary confusion, but that wouldn't last.
Frank turned to us. "You three keep going."
Hazel's eyes widened. "What? No!"
With a burst of strength, I shoved Leo off. "You think I'm gonna let you get all the glory, Frankie boy? Nuh-uh, I'm going with you—"
"You can't." Frank looked like he hated the words coming out of his mouth. "Peri, Leo, I'm trusting you two to protect Hazel. Find the Doors. Save Annabeth and Percy."
"But—" Leo glanced over Frank's shoulder. "Hit the deck!"
We all dove for cover as a volley of rocks slammed right towards us. When I managed to get up, coughing and covered in dust, the other side of the tunnel was completely blocked by massive boulders. An entire section of wall had collapsed, leaving a slope of smoking rubble.
"Frank..." my voice broke. "Piper, Nico, Jason... no! No!"