I wasn't proud of crying.
After the tunnel collapsed, I wept and screamed like a two year old throwing a tantrum. The only saving grace was that Hazel was right there throwing a hissy fit along with me. Through her choked sobs, she said that she couldn't move the debris that separated the three of us from the others. Still, we pounded with our fists and screamed curses that a couple of girls who went to Catholic school really had no business knowing.
"I should've— why couldn't he— AGHH!" I screamed in frustration as tears rushed down my face, using the hilt of my blade as a shovel. It wasn't working very well.
I threw my sword down exasperatedly and shoved Leo backwards into the rock wall. "This is your fault! Why did you hold me back? I could've helped them, I could've—"
"You could've what?" He shouted back with glossy red eyes of his own. "Gotten yourself killed? You can barely breathe when you're down here! You think I'm going to let you fight?"
"Let me— We're demigods!" I yelled, balling up my fists. "Fighting is what we do! I bet I can take your narrow ass right now—"
"Stop it, guys!" Hazel cried, pulling me away from him. "Stop it, please."
Leo punched the rock face and hung his head low, his fists clenched and his expression unreadable behind his long curly bangs. But by the way his shoulders shook, he was probably crying too. Hazel was right; fighting amongst ourselves wasn't helping anything. But our friends on the other side...
A wave of despair washed over me. Everything Gaea had said was coming true. It was just like my dream. If only I had been faster, smarter, stronger, better.
I crouched down and put my head in my hands, sobbing. My breathing was shallow and ragged, but I suspected that it was only partly due to the breakdown that I was currently having. Gaea's laughter reverberated through my mind on a loop like a broken record.
All of your little friends will die, she cackled over and over again. It will be all your fault.
"Peri, Leo," Hazel whimpered, "I'm sorry."
I wiped my face on my sleeve and looked at her with a puzzled expression.
Leo raised an eyebrow at her and sniffled. "Okay. For what?"
"For…" She gestured around her helplessly. "Everything. For thinking you were Sammy, for leading you on. For starting that stupid jealous rivalry between us, Peri. I mean, I didn't mean to, but if I did—"
"Oh, Hazel," I sighed. "I grew up a lot when I was... off of the ship. I learned how stupid, how ugly jealousy is, and the terrible things it can make people do. It corrupted someone that... I've come to care about. It messed me up, too, for some time. It was awful... Honestly, I never want to feel jealous ever again. There's better emotions out there. I'm sorry, too."
Hazel sniffled. "I'm really glad that I met you, Peri. I'm proud to call you my friend."
"Shut up," I mumbled with a small smile. "You're gonna make me start crying again."
Leo squeezed her hand comfortingly, but I sensed nothing romantic in the gesture. "Machines are designed to work," he told her simply.
"Uh, what?" she asked.
"I figure the universe is basically like a machine," he said. "I don't know who made it, if it was the Fates, or the gods, or capital-G God, or whatever. But it chugs along the way it's supposed to most of the time. Sure, little pieces break and stuff goes haywire once in a while, but mostly… things happen for a reason. Like you and me meeting."
"Leo Valdez," Hazel marveled, "you're a philosopher."
I stared at him in awe. I had to agree with her there.
"Nah," he said. "I'm just a mechanic. But I figure my bisabuelo Sammy knew what was what. He let you go, Hazel. My job is to tell you that it's okay. You and Frank— you're good together. We're all going to get through this. I hope you guys get a chance to be happy. Besides, Zhang couldn't tie his shoes without your help."
"That's mean," Hazel chided, but the corners of her lips upturned. Her eyes roamed the two of us. "You used to be such jokesters and now... What happened to the two of you? Who did you guys meet?"
Leo and I locked eyes. The look in his eyes reflected my heart when I thought of Calypso: wistful and melancholy. Above all else was a feeling of guilt that weighed my chest down even more than the pressures of the earth that surrounded me on all sides. And was that... longing? It was confusing. Maybe this is why Leo and I didn't talk about Calypso after leaving Ogygia. It hurt too much. I wanted... to see her again. I wanted to see her radiant smile, and I wanted to hear that wonderful laugh of hers. And I'd destroy anyone, anything that made her cry or broke her heart again.
"Long story," I said finally. "It's... complicated."
"Maybe we'll tell you about it sometime," Leo said. "Still waiting to see how it all pans out."
"Well, at least you two have each other. Besides, the universe is a machine," Hazel said, "so it'll be fine."
"Hopefully," I said, standing to my feet and retrieving my black blade from the ground.
"As long as it's not one of your machines, Leo," Hazel added. "Because your machines never do what they're supposed to."
"Nice one, Hazel," I said approvingly. "You've gotten better with your sly digs."
"Yeah, ha-ha." Leo summoned fire into his hand. "Now, which way, Miss Underground?"
Hazel scanned the path in front of us and seemed to study our options carefully. I was utterly hopeless down here, so I was thankful that she was here with us. The flames in Leo's palm flickered and expanded, illuminating the darkness. I was thankful for him, too. As long as we had each other, then we were a leg up on Gaea— she lied and broke promises left and right in order to rise to power again. The bonds that I shared with my friends were for life. It was a strength unique to us alone.
"Hey, I'm sorry for, ya know, blowing up on you like that," I said to him softly.
"It's alright, you know I like it rough," he grinned.
"Gods!" I elbowed him lightly. "I'm trying to apologize over here!"
"No need," he waved me off. "You always wanna be the hero. I get it, but I think this one— finding the Doors— is our mission. Frank and the others are tough. They'll be fine."
I nodded, but I was still worried. "I hope you're right."
"That way," Hazel pointed decidedly. "It feels the most dangerous."
"I'm sold," said Leo.
We began our descent.
As soon as we reached the first archway, the polecat Gale found us. She scurried up Hazel's side and curled around her neck, chittering crossly as if to say: Where have you been? You're late.
"Not the farting weasel again," I complained. "It smells bad enough down here."
"If that thing lets loose in close quarters like this," Leo started, "with my fire and all, we're gonna explode."
Gale barked a polecat insult at me and Leo. Hazel hushed us so that she could focus.
It was futile for me to even try to get my bearings down here but even so, I was aware of a presence… cold, heavy, and powerful. I had never felt anything quite like it.
"Guys, be ready," Hazel whispered. "We're getting close."
"Close to what?" Leo asked.
A woman's voice echoed down the corridor: "Close to me."
A wave of nausea hit me so hard that my legs buckled. Leo and Hazel fell to their knees as well. The whole world shifted. If it was possible for me to be even more disoriented, then it was happening. Up was down, left was right, my head was up my butt.
The three of us didn't seem to move, but suddenly we were three hundred feet down the corridor, at the entrance of a chamber.
"Welcome," said the woman's voice. "I've looked forward to this."
My eyes swept the cavern. I couldn't see the speaker. I reached for a sword instinctively. The room was familiar, and when I realized why, my heart skipped a beat.
The black and white tiles on the floor. The ebony candelabras on the walls. Golden ichor spilled on the floor, sometimes in droplets, other times in large pools. I'd been here before, but only in my dreams. It looked even more chilling in person, and I shivered. Goldie picked up on my hastened heart rate and circled my body rapidly in an elliptical flash of gold.
The obsidian walls were carved with scenes of death: plague victims, corpses on the battlefield, torture chambers with skeletons hanging in iron cages— all of it embellished with precious gems that somehow made the scenes even more ghastly.
The domed roof was a waffle pattern of recessed square panels, but each panel was a stela— a grave marker with Ancient Greek inscriptions. I wondered if actual bodies were buried behind them. Then I decided that I didn't want to know.
I saw no other exits. At the apex of the ceiling, where the skylight would've been, a circle of pure black stone gleamed, as if to reinforce the sense that there was no way out of this place— no sky above, only darkness.
My eyes drifted to the center of the room.
"Yep," Leo muttered. "Those are doors, all right."
Fifty feet away was a set of freestanding elevator doors, their panels etched in silver and iron. Rows of chains ran down either side, bolting the frame to large hooks in the floor. The area around the doors was littered with black rubble. With a tightening sense of anger, I realized that an ancient altar to Hades had once stood there. It had been destroyed to make room for the Doors of Death. Beside me, Hazel also trembled with an uncharacteristic burst of rage.
"Where are you?" she shouted.
"Don't you see us?" taunted the woman's silky voice. "I thought Hecate chose you for your skill."
Another bout of queasiness churned through my gut. On Hazel's shoulder, Gale barked and passed gas, which really didn't help.
I tried to remember Piper and Hazel's Anti-Mist training. Dark spots floated in my eyes. I tried to blink them away, but they only turned darker. The spots consolidated into a twenty-foot-tall shadowy figure looming next to the Doors of Death.
The giant Clytius was shrouded in the black smoke, just as I'd seen in my dream, but now I could dimly make out his form— dragon-like legs with ash-colored scales; a massive humanoid upper body encased in Stygian armor; long, braided hair that seemed to be made from smoke. His complexion was as dark as the black blade in my grasp. His eyes glinted cold as diamonds. He carried no weapon, but that didn't make him any less formidable.
I kept my gaze on Clytius, my fury at him overpowering my paranoia of the underground. This giant. This thing. When I saw him in my dream, he was entering my father's holding cell. It had to be somewhere around here— possibly shrouded by Mist. But that thing knew where Anastasios was being kept. As much as I wanted to lunge at the giant, I held my ground. It was a giant, after all. I had to wait for the right opportunity.
Leo whistled. "You know, Clytius… for such a big dude, you've got a beautiful voice."
"Idiot," hissed the woman.
Halfway between us and the giant, the air shimmered. The sorceress appeared.
She wore an elegant sleeveless dress of woven gold, her dark hair piled into a cone, encircled with diamonds and emeralds. Around her neck hung a pendant like a miniature maze, on a cord set with rubies that made me think of crystallized blood drops. The woman was beautiful in a timeless, regal way— like a statue you might admire but could never love. Her eyes sparkled with malice.
"Pasiphaë," Hazel said.
The woman inclined her head. "My dear Hazel Levesque."
I raised a brow at my friend. "You two know each other?"
Leo coughed. "Like Underworld chums, or—"
"Silence, fool." Pasiphaë's voice was soft, but full of venom. "I have no use for demigod boys— always so full of themselves, so brash and destructive."
"Hey, lady," Leo protested. "I don't destroy things much. I'm a son of Hephaestus."
"A tinkerer," snapped Pasiphaë. "Even worse. I knew Daedalus. His inventions brought me nothing but trouble."
Leo blinked. "Daedalus… like, the Daedalus? Well, then, you should know all about us tinkerers. We're more into fixing, building, occasionally sticking wads of oilcloth in the mouths of rude ladies—"
"Leo." Hazel put her arm across his chest. I had a feeling the sorceress was about to turn him into something unpleasant if he didn't shut up. "Let me take this, okay?"
"Listen to your friend," Pasiphaë said. "Be a good boy and let the women talk."
Pasiphaë paced in front of us, examining Hazel closely, her eyes so full of hate it made my skin tingle. The sorceress's power radiated from her like heat from a furnace. Her expression was unsettling, and I tightened the grip on my blade anxiously.
Somehow, though, the giant Clytius unnerved me more.
He stood in the background, silent and motionless except for the dark smoke pouring from his body, pooling around his feet. He was the cold presence that I had felt earlier— like a vast deposit of magical metal that I couldn't possibly hope to move, powerful and indestructible and completely devoid of emotion.
"Your— your friend doesn't say much," Hazel noted.
Pasiphaë looked back at the giant and sniffed with disdain. "Pray he stays silent, my dear. Gaea has given me the pleasure of dealing with you; but Clytius is my, ah, insurance for your little Omega-Blood friend there. Just between you and me, as sister sorceresses, I think he's also here to keep my powers in check, in case I forget my new mistress's orders. Gaea is careful that way."
At the mention of the Earth Goddess, my head swam, and I wobbled on my feet. I wasn't sure if it was the sorceress messing with me or the effects of being underground catching up to me. Either way, I wanted to complete our mission, find my father, and get out of here as quickly as possible.
I leveled my blade at the goddess. "You talk too much, magic lady. Tell me where Anastasios is before I figure out if your insides look as pretty as your outsides."
"Ooh, a threat from a hero wielding a sword!" Pasiphaë clutched her necklace with feigned distress. "That's original. What a shame... All that magic inside of you, and you're just another brain dead demigod with a lust for bloodshed. No finesse! No showmanship!"
I growled, but Hazel put her hand on my blade and shot me a look like not yet, wait for my signal. Reluctantly, I lowered my sword and allowed the daughter of Pluto to take the lead. After all, she was the one chosen by Hecate to defeat Pasiphaë. Which meant that my purpose here was elsewhere. Once again, I found myself staring at Clytius.
"She's right, Pasiphaë. Whatever you're planning," Hazel said, "it won't work. We've cut through every monster Gaea's put in our path. If you're smart, you'll get out of our way."
Gale the polecat gnashed her teeth in approval, but Pasiphaë didn't seem impressed.
"You three don't look like much," the sorceress mused. "But then you demigods never do. My husband, Minos, king of Crete? He was a son of Zeus. You would never have known it by looking at him. He was almost as scrawny as that one." She flicked a hand toward Leo.
"Wow," muttered Leo. "Minos must've done something really horrible to deserve you."
Pasiphaë's nostrils flared. "Oh… you have no idea. He was too proud to make the proper sacrifices to Poseidon, so the gods punished me for his arrogance."
"The Minotaur," Hazel suddenly remembered.
The story was so revolting and grotesque that I had always shut my ears when Gram told it by the hearth. Pasiphaë had been cursed to fall in love with her husband's prize bull. She'd given birth to the Minotaur— half man, half bull.
I scrunched up my nose in disgust. "So that's what a witch like you is into, eh?"
"Yes," Pasiphaë admitted scornfully. "My disgrace was unbearable. After my son was born and locked in the Labyrinth, Minos refused to have anything to do with me. He said I had ruined his reputation! And do you know what happened to Minos, Hazel Levesque? For his crimes and his pride? He was rewarded. He was made a judge of the dead in the Underworld, as if he had any right to judge others! Hades gave him that position. Your father."
"Pluto, actually," Hazel corrected.
Pasiphaë sneered. "Irrelevant. So you see, I hate demigods as much as I hate the gods. Any of your brethren who survive the war, Gaea has promised to me, so that I may watch them die slowly in my new domain. I only wish I had more time to torture you three properly. Alas—"
In the center of the room, the Doors of Death made a pleasant chiming sound. The green UP button on the right side of the frame began to glow. The chains shook.
"There, you see?" Pasiphaë shrugged apologetically. "The Doors are in use. Twelve minutes, and they will open."
My gut trembled almost as much as the chains. "More giants?"
"Thankfully, no," said the sorceress. "They are all accounted for— back in the mortal world and in place for the final assault." Pasiphaë gave me a cold smile. "No, I would imagine the Doors are being used by someone else…someone unauthorized."
Leo inched forward. Smoke rose from his fists. "Percy and Annabeth."
I couldn't speak. I wasn't sure whether the lump in my throat was from joy or frustration. If our friends had made it to the Doors, if they were really going to show up here in twelve minutes…
"Oh, not to worry." Pasiphaë waved her hand dismissively. "Clytius will handle them. You see, when the chime sounds again, someone on our side needs to push the UP button or the Doors will fail to open and whoever is inside— poof. Gone. Or perhaps Clytius will let them out and deal with them in person. That depends on you three."
My mouth tasted like tin. I didn't want to ask, but I had to. "How does it depend on us?"
"Well, obviously, we need only one male and one female demigod alive," Pasiphaë said. "The lucky two will be taken to Athens and sacrificed to Gaea at the Feast of Hope."
"Obviously," Leo muttered.
"Of course, your Omega-Blood friend here is doomed to die— no wiggle room there, I'm afraid." The sorceress spread her hands in mock regret. "Luckily, I get to use her for my own purposes! Let's see who's still alive in twelve... actually, eleven minutes now. That's when the real fun begins!"
The cavern dissolved into darkness.