Lara had been to some beautiful places in her life, but there was something truly exceptional about Mytilene. The city was built directly on a small bay that fed into the sea. The urban sprawl crawled out from the bay, and high into the rolling hills of the mountainous island. Lush greens and blues reflected off the marble white rooftops in the late evening sun.

Lara watched their approach from to the city from the top of the ferry. Reveling in the warmth of the evening sun and the subtle spray of the sea splashing across her cheeks. She felt as Percy approached from down below, leaning his hips against the railing and gazing back towards the innards of the ship.

"Just got off the phone with an old colleague of mine. She told me that Sappho likely lived near the Southern edge of the city. Near the gardens. Her exact home is unknown but she supposedly came form a wealthy family, and back in the day that was where most of the money in town was."

Lara nodded.

"Then we start there."

"Question."

"Answer."

"Smartass."

Lara chuckled. "What's up Percy?"

"So the chances are good that wherever she lived is probably not there anymore. Even if it is there, it's probably a national monument. My point with all of this being that we almost certainly be allowed to start poking our noses around and start digging."

"Well I suppose you should get used to the idea of breaking a few rules," she teased, grinning up at him. "Unless you're a bit too much of a boy scout for a little rule breaking."

Percy rolled his eyes, nudging her foot with his. "I'm just saying is all."

Lara chuckled. "I appreciate the word of warning Percy, but I'm not exactly a saint myself. Still, you raise a good point." She groaned, using the railing to stretch her back before standing up and looking up at him. "I don't exactly feel comfortable digging around some poor bloke's backyard."

"Plus…we don't strictly know what is we're looking for, and only very vaguely know where to look."

Percy scratched at his chin in thought. "Well, I suppose if all else fails we just improvise."

Lara chuckled, "You seem like the type to need to think on your feet a fair bit."

"Guilty," laughed Percy. "Long-term planning and forethought have never been my strong-suit." He fell silent as the ship approached the harbor. They watched the approach, and once more Lara was captivated by the beauty of the scene before her. The way the orange sun reflected off of the deep blue of the water in a complementary portrait made real…it was relaxing.

In another hour, they had disembarked from the ferry and had checked into the hotel that Lara had found. They waited a couple of hours for night to fall completely before heading out. It had been Lara's suggestion that because of the nature of what they were looking for and where they were, they might need to trespass and such an action was better suited for the dark of night.

That night was especially suited to their task. It was a new moon in the sky, and save for the minute light from the street lamps, the darkness was invasive. It took some time to clamber through the streets. Percy, it seemed, was not nearly as adept at navigating dry land as he was the sea. Poor man got turned around more than once.

The Southern edge of the city was most certainly the historical district. While the effect of time had most certainly played its hand in the reconstruction of the ancient city, there were still remnants of the past. Lara could see it in the way that much of the city had been rebuilt using the former framework of the ancient town.

"Feels a little…strange," said Lara. But she received no response. She glanced over to Percy, who staring off into space in a darkened alley. A strangely pinched expression on his face.

"Percy?" She reached out and tugged at his jacket sleeve. He jumped, his eyes darting from the alley and back to her. His pupils were dilated, and his shoulders and back were tense. Incredibly so.

"You look spooked," she said softly. "You nervous about this or something?"

Percy hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah…yeah I guess so. Just haven't done something like this on a long time. Thought I saw something in the alley, but I guess it was just my imagination."

She elbowed him gently, hoping to take some of the edge off.

"Well don't worry, if anything happens I promise I'll protect you."

He chuckled, "I don't doubt that." He glanced at his watch and sighed. "We're burning moonlight, and this could take all night." He waved an arm vaguely around them. "We'll cover more ground around here if we split up, what do ya think?"

She mulled it over for a moment. He certainly had a point, she decided. On the one hand, a pair of foreigners wandering around alone in the dark might be suspicious, but could easily be passed off as simply being lost. There also was a lot of ground to cover, and they didn't exactly know what they were looking for either. It made more sense for them to split up she decided.

"All right, call me if you find anything. Let's plan to meet back up at the Hotel in three hours if we haven't found anything."

"You do the same," nodded Percy.

Lara watched as Percy walked down the road, turning down the alley he had been staring down a couple minutes before. She watched him until he had disappeared into the darkness before she too turned on her heel and began meandering down into the heart of the Southern district.

She lost track of how long she wandered around the town. As she walked, she began to deeply regret agreeing with Percy that they should split up. She had no idea what she was looking for, where she was going, anything. So instead, she was stuck wandering the empty streets looking for a clue that she didn't even know if she would recognize if she saw it.

She sighed, coming to a stop outside the entrance to an ancient, dilapidated building. It looked slightly out of place in the city, but it wasn't the first derelict structure she'd wandered past. As time moved on, this part of the city had been passed over. The Southern part of the city very clearly was no longer where the wealth was accumulated.

Her eyes wandered around the street for a moment, before landing on a small park about a block down the road. She didn't remember making a conscious decision to approach the park. One moment she was on the street, the next she was wandering through the short, surprisingly well-kept grasses.

There were several large pillars marking an ornately carved, ancient-looking bench near the far side of the park. Her danced along the worn-down marble. Its rough edge felt course and gritty under her palm. She decided to sit down for a bit and think over her next couple of steps. She sighed, holding her head in her palm as she thought through her predicament. This was certainly one of the cleaner and less rigorous journeys she'd been on. It was infinitely better to sleep on the soft down of a hotel bed than the forest floor. But she was also realizing with a start that she had jumped into this situation without doing much of any preparation beforehand. She was relying heavily on Percy's expertise and knowledge. Sure, she had done some of her own research, but she wasn't nearly as well read on the subject as Percy.

Then there were the visions, the voices, the dreams.

A haunted part of her psyche told her that schizophrenia was genetic, and that she was reaching the age where it would begin to manifest. But she struck that voice down and locked it away. Everyone else might have believed her father to have been crazed, and maybe he was, but not in the clinical sense.

But maybe that was what she had just been telling herself.

She sighed, stretching her arms out to the side of the bench and gazing up at the skies. But as she gazed up at the twinkling starts, her fingers danced along something on the marble bench. She paused, looking over at the offending mark. At first, it looked no different than a crack. Natural structural damage caused by normal wear and tear. She got up from the bench and leant down to inspect the crack.

Except it wasn't a crack. It was definitely in the shape of something, she just couldn't decipher what it was. She pulled her phone out, flicking the flashlight on and shining it on the shape. The added light helped a touch, but it still wasn't precisely clear. It looked like whatever it was, it had been chiseled in by someone who hadn't had much skill whatsoever in stone masonry. It was entirely possible that the small crack was nothing but the result of some children having a bitt too much fun and getting into some mischief. But leave no stone unturned and all that.

Still, something about this strange etching feel off to her. She couldn't place it, but as her fingers danced along the marble, a strange sensation fluttered through her stomach. Like an electric current, though not unpleasant. It was an oddly familiar sensation, but it was so fleeting that she couldn't place what it was.

She frowned, tracing her finger along the crack. It was strangely avian. Like the wings of a bird or butterfly perhaps? She stood up, gazing around the small park. There was something about the park as well that was familiar to her. Something she couldn't place off the top of her tongue. She gazed back at the bench, and the realization hit her. The most famous painting of Sappho depicted her in a garden. Was that this garden? That would make sense. It was in the heart of the Southern district. It would have been far more overgrown several centuries ago, and there had have been plenty of solitude for a wounded and bleeding heart such as the one rumored to belong to Sappho.

But could she really be so lucky? Could she really have wandered onto something important? Well she wasn't going to look a gift-horse in the mouth, but did that mean anything? She bit her lip, and flipped her phone open again. She hastily typed into a search engine "Ancient Greece Bird Symbol." Her eyes darted along the rows of search results. Not seeing anything, she switched over to the "images" tab, and almost immediately her eyes landed on something.

It was a picture of a dove, an olive branch clutched tightly in its beak. Supposedly the symbol of Aphrodite, it was said that doves were the messengers of Aphrodite herself, and carried her messages and feelings of love to and from the people of the earth.

But now what did that have to do with Sappho. Something Percy had said danced back to the forefront of her mind.

"An Ode to Aphrodite…" She whispered absently. No sooner had the words escaped her lips, that something very strange happened. She was nearly thrown from her feet as an enormous gust of wind swept through the park. The force of the gale pushed her back, and she was forced to bring her arms up to shield her face and eyes as dust, twigs, and dirt were thrown up into the air.

Squinting through the maelstrom, Lara's eyes widened in shock. A bright light pulsated from the symbol on the bench. A deep, golden glow, that almost seemed to emanate a strange, otherworldly heat. Then, as abruptly as the strange gale had begun, it ended. The wind stopped, the glow and heat disappeared, and silence returned to the park.

Lara's heart hammered in her chest, her arms lowering and her eyes darting anxiously around the park. What the hell had that been? Her temples throbbed, and she fell to the ground on her knees. It felt as though someone had taken a cricket bat to the side of her head.

Then the singing started. It was a somber, melodious tune, and while Lara didn't understand the words being said, she could feel the pain and sorrow of the singer from deep in Lara's own soul. The throbbing in her temples subsided, as a new calm and understanding washed over her. She knew instinctively where she needed to go. She needn't think, as her feet simply carried her in the right direction.

She didn't know how long or how far she walked. She didn't know what direction. But soon, she was back on the Southern shoreline. Meandering along the beach. It was close. She knew that. The sandy beach soon turned into rocky crag. She ignored the large boulders awash on the beachhead. Climbing and clambering over them with ease. Soon, with the moon still high in the sky, she came across a rather odd-looking rock formation built into the cliffside. This was her destination. An otherwise completely unassuming stretch of rock. Otherwise inaccessible and innocuous to the casual passerby.

But it not to her. Not now. She knew what was there. Knew how to get inside the cliff-face. There was a gap in the rocks. Between where the rocks touched up against the cliff was a small gap. Hardly even noticeable. She shoved some of the smaller rocks out of the way, exposing a hole in between the rocks that led into the cliffside. It wasn't large, barely big enough for a grown man to fit through, but easily big enough for Lara to squeeze into.

She squeezed down the hole. Feet first. It was an odd sensation. Feeling both a sense of shock and a total lack of surprise at the same time. But that was the strange sensation that washed over her as she pulled herself free into the open cavern. It was spacious, and large. It would have been a simple matter for even a locomotive to sit comfortably inside. She could have sworn that she recognized the inside of the cavern from somewhere, but her mind was too otherwise occupied at the moment to dwell on it.

She walked forward, her feet carrying on of their own accord. The inside of the cavern was mostly barren. The only light coming from the evenly spaced braziers along the cave walls. She was idly curious as to how the braziers were even lit, but it was more of a passing curiosity than a serious line of inquiry.

It was difficult to tell how long she walked for. The singing had not stopped since it had begun, and it had all been one continuous flow of lyrics, none of which that Lara truly understood. After some time, she came to a cave wall. Unlike the entrance to the cavern itself, there was no noticeable entrance or exit. There was only the rocky wall of the cavern.

The singing began to fade, as something new took its place. The same voice speaking in that same soft, melodic voice. This time however, Lara understood exactly what was being said.

"If you wish to discover what's been lost…you must make the same sacrifices I made…you must prove your desire for the truth…a sacrifice to those above…a sacrifice of life, flesh, and blood."

Once more, her body began to move on its own. She felt herself walk up to the cliff wall, and pull her pocket knife free from its holster. Without a moment's hesitation, she sliced the flesh of her palm. She hardly even noticed the sting of the blade, or the warm drip of the crimson liquid down her palm. Idly, Lara noted that her blood had strangely golden tinge to it. As though it had been poorly colored with food dye. She reached out and smeared the blood on the wall. She didn't know how she knew that this was what was needed, only that it was necessary.

The reaction was instantaneous. The entire cavern seemed to shift and shudder. The roof creaked and groaned, as dirt and dust cascaded down onto Lara. A light, similar to the light created before, erupted from the wall. The light shone as bright as the sun for the briefest of moments before dimming. Less than a minute after it began, the shaking stopped and the light faded away. What had once been an empty cavern, was now an open hallway.

Lara collapsed to the ground. Her temples throbbing once more. Her eyes stung as the pain grew in intensity. Her stomach heaved, and she lost the battle with herself as she bent over and profusely vomited over the stone floor. Coughing and spluttering, she rolled onto her back, her eyes screwed shut.

What the was going on? What was this? Was this what her father had stumbled on? Had he found something similar to what Lara had found on the island? It couldn't be mere coincidence. Something was amiss. Some form of higher power beyond her control was interfering with things, and she didn't know who or why. All she knew for certain was that it had to do with those damn pages. Something about them held power. She was sure of that. Sure that they were cursed or evil or some such nonsense.

Something must have happened when she touched the poem on the boat. She hadn't been in control of her body for some time. Something had been speaking to her, singing to her. Singing and controlling her body, had forced her to come here. To cut herself.

It scared the hell out of her. Was she losing control of her body? Was she cursed? Was she going to die? She had so many questions, and she knew that it was likely that the only way to get answers would be unpleasant. So for the time being, she decided to try and bury those worries.

She groaned, wiping the sweat and bile from her face and lips and she tried to sit up. But what the hell did she tell Percy? Was he aware of what was going on? It certainly seemed like it could be possible. He had been acting strangely ever since he had first seen the documents. Did he know what they were? Did he know that they had power? It was possible, he had been unusually emphatic about joining her on this adventure. But apart from the first time he'd touched the poem back in London, he hadn't shown any outward reactions to any of the documents. Maybe it had simply been a misinterpretation on her part. Maybe she was projecting her own issues and inability to trust onto him.

She didn't know what to do.

Well…she supposed that wasn't strictly true. She knew one thing for certain. She couldn't allow these documents to continue to roam free. Whatever was going on with them, they were dangerous. Likely powerful. Even though she didn't know what they were capable of, she knew that there were others seeking out the pages. Likely they knew or were at least hopeful of the power they possessed. She had no proof of such, but she found it best in these situations to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

She looked at the opening her blood had created.

She could deal with those uncertain questions later. At the moment, she decided that she should at the very least investigate the hallway. But she hesitated. Glancing back at the entrance to the cavern, and then back at the door she'd unwittingly created.

She didn't want to go in there by herself. Not right now. Not when she didn't trust herself. Didn't trust that she would be in control of her own body. What happened if the singing started again and took over? What if she did something while she was being controlled that she couldn't take back? She didn't know what that could possibly be, but she knew she didn't want to take that chance.

Granted, there was no guarantee that she would be safe if Percy was there, but she still felt immensely more comfortable with the idea of going down the hallway with someone else. She turned back to the entrance of the cavern, and was about to leave when she was struck by a sudden realization.

She had been here before. Metaphorically at least.

This cavern, this cave. It was the same cave that she had seen in her dream. She was sure of it. Though the last time she had seen it, it had been dark. The braziers hadn't been lit, and she could only see as far as the flare had allowed. But still, she was positive it was the same cave. So the mysterious pair in her vision were really after the same pages. They were connected to all of this. How? She wasn't sure. She wasn't sure of a lot at the moment. But she would tuck that away for later. For now, she needed to get out of here.

And she needed to call Percy.

She turned tot he exit, and hesitated. Did she need to call Percy? Should she even call him? As uncomfortable as this entire situation had been, something was off about her partner. She knew that he was hiding something from her. He'd been acting strange since the day they'd met. Had been dodgy about his past, had been dodgy about his interest in the trip. Had been dodgy about everything. It was strange, because on the one hand, she didn't think she could trust the man whatsoever. But on the other, there was something about him that put Lara at ease. He had a natural gravity about him that made him easy to want to trust.

Want, being the operative word.

Lara wanted to trust him. He didn't seem like he was of any danger to her. After everything she had been through, she had good instincts about people, and didn't think that Percy bade her any ill will. But just because she didn't think Percy would hurt her, or try and take advantage of her, didn't mean that she trusted him.

She sighed, toying with the end of her ponytail.

She wouldn't call him.

Not yet. She didn't even know if there was going to be anything here yet. And while she was more than a little freaked out by the idea that she could be possessed again, whatever was going on had led her here. And brought her here for a reason. For what reason, she didn't know, but she couldn't turn back now.

Steeling her resolve, Lara turned and began making her way down the hall.

AN: Shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week

All My Love,

LilDB