Well, it wasn't a lot longer until we landed right outside of the cave entrance. We had flown over it and it looked busy, so we didn't really want to cause a stir by landing our flying horses in the parking lot. Thankfully it was surrounded by woods, so we didn't have to go far. Which was a good thing because I was getting real sick of riding on that horse and it had made me all stiff which would have made walking miserable. And believe it or not, playing video games inside all the time does nothing for your cardio. I was exhausted by the time we had walked up to the visitor's entrance.
"Okay. Just keep your eyes open. Look or anything out of the ordinary." Walker said, looking around.
"We can start here and then we'll eventually move into the cave." Jillian said, scouting into the buildings and eyeing everyone suspiciously. I was busy steadying myself on the wall outside the Visitor center. Jillian spotted me and tilted her head.
"You seriously need to get in shape. You're making me feel pity and it is very unnatural for me." She said with a sigh. I narrowed my eyes at her and then stood up straight.
"Well…You'll see…" I said with a shrug. I panicked, okay?
"Well, get to work. We need to find ancient or magical etchings or symbols or some sort of sign telling us where to go." Walker said, scratching his head.
"All River Styx Boat Tours for the rest of the day are canceled for emergency maintenance." Someone said over the PA system. I looked up at Walker.
"I'm gonna put my money on that." I said with a chuckle. "How much maintenance does a cave need? Honestly…" I mumbled as the three of us hurried toward the cave.
Now I had never been in a legit cave before and I have to be honest. I didn't want to go in. It was dark and spooky and crowded. Not that nice kind of crowded. That we're-all-going-to-be-on-the-evening-news kind of crowded. I could hear Walker and Jillian talking while they hurried. I hoped they had a plan that didn't involve stealing a boat.
"Look, I can warp the mist, but I'm a terrible liar." Jillian said to Walker.
"Oh, and you think I'm a storyteller?" He replied.
"Well, you're going to have to be. I'm doing it to this guy." She said, stopping in front of a park ranger. The three of us stopped in a line in front of him and Jillian snapped her fingers. The ranger stood there for a moment and I looked over at Walker who blanked. The ranger shook himself and then tilted his head.
"Something I can help you kids with?" He asked.
"We're the maintenance crew for the River Styx tour." I said quickly, checking my imaginary watch. "We heard there was some crumbling on the foundation wall. Some stalactites threatening."
"Aren't you a little young?" He asked quietly.
"Wow. As offended as I am, yes. We're in high school. It's called early job experience." I said with a sigh, rolling my eyes.
"Well, is there a supervisor I can call? Or talk to? I find it hard to believe that you three are alone here." He asked, pulling out his phone. My face fell.
"Yeah, I suppose…" I mumble, looking at the ground. "We'll give you the number in a second. I just…" I hold a finger up and then take a deep breath, turning to Jillian and Walker. "Okay, guys. The ranger is going to call Mr. Iron. Maybe if he puts in a good word, he'll be gentle with the whip this time, okay?" I say with a comforting smile. I took this moment with my back turned to the ranger to smile at Jillian who hid her own smile and shook her head at me.
"The…Well…Okay." The ranger said quietly. "Look, go ahead on in, guys. Just stay in the boat. They stay on a rail." I turned back to the ranger and smiled in relief.
"Oh, thank you, sir. Hear that guys? No whip!" I said with a smile. "Thank you so so much, sir…" I took Jillian and Walker's hands then started leading them toward the cave again. I waited until we were inside and finding the start of the River Styx tour to let go of their hands.
"That was…" Walker mumbled as he stepped onto the boat. Jillian sat near the front.
"Not bad, Peter." She said with a nod. "Not bad."
The tour was kind of interesting. There was a part where we had to do some steps, but even that wasn't so bad. It was cool in there and the terror of what beast may be hiding in the dark of this cave drove me quickly up the stairs. From there we got on another boat for a small stretch. Things didn't really get that interesting until we had been on the tour for about an hour. I know. Tours should be longer than an hour, but this one was. Apparently caves are a big deal or something.
We were all on the boat and we had just passed a sign for the Bottomless Pit. Of course, there was the obligatory "How deep is it?" question that popped into my mind, but pretty quickly that changed when we heard a commotion from up ahead. It was yelling. Pretty clear yelling. A few voices back and forth. The echo made it hard to understand, but I could pick up some of it.
"-Care of the tours!" One voice said. It was male and deep. Strong and the mere sound of it, made me imagine the mountain of a guy that it belonged to.
"I did take care of the tours!" The second voice was younger, but also male. "That ranger had no idea what hit him!" My heart was pounding in my ears and Jillian, Walker and I all stood up, ready to get off at a moment's notice.
"Well, then why is there a boat coming in!?" The voice shouted back.
"It must be a glitch or something!"
"Who cares what it is!?" Another voice chimed in. This one was female. "Just stop it and kill whoever is on it." I guess, the three of us didn't need another notice. We hurried off the boat to the path on the side. I was about to turn tail, but Walker stopped me.
"We need to finish the quest." He whispered to me before taking the lead. We were able to hug the wall and slowly creepy further into the cave. The voices got louder and we could see motion up there. Nothing solid and no figures appearing fully. It made me wonder if the things talking were actually people. The closer we got, the harder my heart beat. It was nerve-wracking and I could hear this high-pitched shriek in my head that felt like it was going to tear my brain in half. The shriek eventually turned into a howl and the sound of wind blowing, hissing against the cave walls and turning the water to mist on our faces.
We were standing right outside where a sign marked the bottomless pit. Walker signaled that on his count we should leap out. We did. But no one was there. I couldn't see a single person. The only thing I could see was this black vortex swirling over the pit. There were these things that would split off from it then either sip out of the cave or linger and find its way into several golden boxes that circled the pit. Walker, Jillian, and I surrounded it.
"What is it?!" I shouted over the noise.
"This has gotta be the gate to Tartarus!" Jillian replied. "We need to close it!"
"We'll need to knock out the cave and close it all up!" Walker suggested. He walked around closer to me then turned to me. "Look, we've had our differences in the past, but—" Everything that happened next happened in a flash. A blade split through Walker's chest. The squelching noise of the sword being pulled out. The clatter of his weapons. The thudding of his body as it tumbled into the pit. The scream that came from Jillian. The merciless scowl on the face that appeared behind Walker right before he was stabbed. It was like it was there the whole time, but I never noticed it.
"Demigods." He said with a chuckle. Jillian ran her way around the vortex and was immediately met in combat by another person that appeared from nowhere. The butt of a sword hilt knocked her in the back of the head and she crumpled to the ground. I felt my heart sink in my chest and what was I going to do? Two children of Ares dismantled in a matter of seconds and me, just the greenest camper in all of Camp Half-Blood. I looked down at Walker's sword and with a shaky hand I grabbed it, prepared to defend myself. A large Hispanic guy and a pale girl with dark brown hair approached me, but the guy that killed Walker raised his hand to stop them.
"There's something different about you…" He said, wiping Walker's blood off on his shirt. His sword was a pale grey that looked more like stone than it did metal. I could already feel the celestial bronze weakening in my hand.
"Oh yeah? Is it the fact that I'm gonna kick your ass?" I said, not sure where this confidence came from. He quickly swung out of nowhere. I managed to block it, slowly backing away from him. He struck again and I blocked it, but this sword didn't have much left in it. I needed to save Jillian. I needed to close the pit and how in the world am I supposed to do this against three super soldiers when I can't even use a sword?
"You're pretty good blocker. Feel free to attack anytime you want." He said with a laugh.
"Why, so your little doggies back there can finish me off? I can block all day." I lied, really hoping he wouldn't call my bluff. I'd like to say that my cool demeanor and unwelcome sense of confidence scared him off. That, however, would make me an unreliable author. What really happened is that he chopped my sword into pieces, kicked me onto my ass, and then held a sword at my throat.
I looked up into his eyes. They glowed very softly, but as he looked at me and I felt the point of his sword press a little harder against my cheek, I could see them glow a bit brighter. Like gold. I held the hilt of the sword in my hand. Walker's sword. I looked down and saw his name scratched into the leather in very young handwriting. I couldn't go down like this. Seeing that made my skin start to heat up. Whatever meditation mojo, I had found control of, that was long gone. I was ready to kick ass and take names. I felt a sharp pain course through my cheek as the tip of my attacker's blade swiped across my face, warm blood leaking down my face. I looked up at him and clutched the sword hilt tighter, heat coursing through my entire body.
"It looks like someone has a secret talent." He said, looking down at me. He sheathed his sword and watched.
"Titus. Lake. Anya." He said and next to, who I assumed was Titus, appeared a small girl with red hair. "Take the boxes and go."
"Lee, they…the collection hasn't—"
"Go!" Lee shouted, looking back at them. They scrambled to gather the boxes and they quickly left. That's when Lee turned to me.
"That whole smoky skin thing. Yeah. That got old really quickly." He said with a chuckle. "You gotta get control of yourself." He said before, waving his arm at me, the ground beneath his arm turning to lava and leaping straight at me. I stopped it then redirected it back at him. He knocked it away then nodded. "Not bad. I guess, you do learn some stuff at that camp." He said with a nod. "Did you learn this?" He asked before hurling a ball of lava at me. I caught it and then threw it back. He simply countered with three more. I thought for a second then snapped my fingers. The balls of lava turned to jello then bounced harmlessly off my chest.
"I did learn that." I said with a grin. He narrowed his eyes.
"Do you not realize who you are?! Who our father is!?" He said, the ground around him starting to boil. "The power that you and I hold!" I looked at him then whipped around causing a funnel cloud to zoom out of my hands, planting him in the chest. He flew back and slammed into the cave wall.
"I don't, but if our father is anything like you then maybe I'm glad I don't know him!" I said before kneeling and slamming my hands on the ground. I could feel the power coursing through me and in my mind I pictured myself bursting through the top of the caves and crushing everything in sight. I looked over at Lee who was still recovering, but looked more surprised than anything. Finally, I heard a crack. I looked down and saw a crack split at the impact of my hand and I slammed both hands down again. I felt the earth tremble slightly and suddenly rocks were falling. They were falling all around me into the pit. I managed to move over to Jillian and take her hand, but I felt exhausted. Like all of the energy just came rushing out of me. That's when I felt a hard impact on my head and everything started to go foggy. The last thing I felt was Jillian and I being scooped up and being whisked out of the cave. I saw sunlight for a split second then everything went black.