Indy was looking through the pictures of the tablets that he was able to shade in. Reading through each part, Indy jot down some notes, and then compared it to the map. Tina was sitting next to the archaeologist, curious about what he was doing. Looking through the notes, she managed to read some parts of it, but it was all confusing to her.
"Dr. Jones, what does this phrase mean?" Tina asked, as she was pointing to a line on the notebook.
"As the battle raged on, blood was spilled onto the land, creating the rivers and lakes of the land," Indy read, "This right here is talking about the battle between the gods and the titans. My guess is that this might be a point of interest of where the blood of gods are."
"Do you really think the blood of gods is real?" Tina asked.
"Well, I have just seen someone transform from a mythical beast to a human being, so honestly I don't even know what to believe is real," Indy answered.
Tina looked down, glumly as she didn't mean to anger Dr. Jones. Indy notice this and sighed, "Sorry, kid. It is just everything that has happened to us, it's very hard to believe. Worst part about it is that once we do find this blood of the gods, our adventure will not be finished. I feared there will be more to this quest than what we are led to believe," Indy said.
"What do you mean by that Dr. Jones?" Tina asked, looking up at the archeologist.
"I don't know, but ever since finding those tablets, I just have a bad feeling about it," Indy said. He then put his hand on his chin and thought a bit. "What do you know about the Collector?" Indy asked.
"Nothing much, just legends about him and his kind I heard as a kid. Apparently, he is the last of his kind, trapped in a crystal ball for all of eternity," Tina explained.
"Is there anything we can use to stop him?" Indy asked.
"Not that I can recall, but the collector is a being who enjoys playing games," Tina said.
"Games?" Indy asked in shock.
"Yeah, weird is it," Tina said.
"Actually, it does make a bit sense, considering he has the mind of a child," Indy said. He decided to put this thought in the back of his mind, ready to be used at a time's notice.
"So were you able to solve any of the riddles?" Tina asked.
"Yeah, the second tablet gives a mention to Hades again. Since he is the god of the underworld, my guess is that it will have to be buried somewhere in a grave. However, the riddle it asked was about the myth of Persephone," Indy explained.
"What is it about?" Tina explained.
"The myth of Persephone is about Hades wanting to find a wife, so Zeus gave him the go ahead and the god of the underworld kidnapped Persephone. To make a long story short, Hades offered Persephone a pomegranate, which she ate four of the seeds. This caused her to return to the underworld every four months," Indy explained, "Which would mean, the blood of the gods is not in a grave, but in fact buried under a pomegranate tree."
"Well, that will be easy then," Tina said.
"Not really, there are so many pomegranate trees in Greece, so we don't know where to start," Indy said, "Unless it is not just any pomegranate tree."
Indy looked at the markings of the tablet and traced it on the map. Whispering under his breath, Indy then went to a pile of books he picked from a library and opened it. Smiling, he then returned to the map, with book in hand. Grabbing his pencil, Indy marked a spot on a map. Looking at the location and the book, Indy couldn't believe himself.
"As Persephone ate the pomegranate seeds, she didn't realize that she became bound to Hades," Indy recounted, "The tablets were not talking about the pomegranate, but the relationship between Hades and Persephone. The blood of the gods is buried under the sacred pomegranate tree in the temple of Necromancy. The temple of Nekromanteion of Acherontas to be exact, which is the temple of Hades and Persephone."
"So do you think that is where we will be able to find the blood of the gods?" Tina asked.
"Has to be, no way can this be a coincidence," Indy said, sure of himself.
As the two were looking at the map, they heard a knock on the door. Guessing it was room service, Indy sends Tina to open the door. When she did, she was met with a barrel of a pistol being pointed at her. The mysterious man put a finger on his mouth, and moved his gun to guide the girl back into the room.
"Hey, Tina, did they bring up any silverware too?" Indy asked.
Before the archeologist received an answer, he was met with a man holding Tina hostage. The man smiled an evil smile and greeted himself. "Hello, you must be Dr. Jones. It is an honor to meet you. But unfortunately our time ends here," the man said, as he threw Tina towards Indy.
He then proceed to aim his gun at the archeologist and said, "Nam aurea custodia."
Before the man pulled the trigger, there was a voice calling out, "Dr. Jones, I have your room service here." The voice was the old Italian bellhop that one of the kids, Gus, befriended.
The assassin got distracted by the bellhop, which Indy took advantage of. Jumping from his seat, Indy and the man wrestled for the gun. Indy managed to disarm the man, as the gun was toss across the floor. The bellhop came running in, seeing the assassin putting Indy in a chokehold.
"Get security!" Indy managed to spit out to the he was feeling the lights getting dimmed.
The bellhop stood there frozen in fear for a bit, but once Indy repeated the command, the old man nodded and ran out to get security. While the assassin was choking Indy out, Tina ran into another room, seeing if she can find anything to fight the strong man. Looking around, the baslik managed to find a vase and ran back to where Indy and the man were. Indy's eyes were slowly closing as his oxygen was slowly decreasing. Tina ran up and smash the vase against the assassin's head. This caused the assassin to lose his grip, allowing Indy to fall forward, catching his breath.
As he regained some consciousness, Indy saw the gun that was across the room. Crawling towards it, Indy felt something grabbed onto his legs. He looked back and saw that the assassin had a good grip on his left leg. Indy delivered a powerful kick to the man's face, causing the assassin to let go.
Realizing that grabbing the gun might not be as wise, Indy got up and got into a fighting stance. The assassin, who Indy realized was taller than him, stood up too, as he smiled a devilish grin. Indy was the first to throw the punch as the assassin stepped towards the opposite direction, causing Indy to stumble a bit. The assassin then threw a powerful punch toward Indy's abdomen, which the archaeologist felt painfully. Indy then threw another punch, this time taking in account the assassin's moves.
The two men fought each other as Indy dodged a punch and the assassin dodged a jab. They were like dancers in the night, in perfect harmony. No one was getting the upper hand, as both archeologist and assassin dodged each other's moves.
Tina, who was watching the brawl, knew she had to think of something. Thinking on her feet, she ran towards Indy's room and grabbed the whip that was coiled nicely in a drawer. Running back, Tina attempted to uncoil the whip and use it towards the assassin. The attempt was successful as the tip wrapped around the man's throat. Indy saw this and ordered, "Tina, give me the whip!"
Tina did as she was told, tossing the handle towards Dr. Jones. Indy threw the whip towards a table near a window, which wrapped itself around one of the legs of it. Running towards the table, Indy, with the help of Tina, managed to push the table out the window, causing the assassin to go wide-eyed. As he felt the whip tug, the assassin was dragged across the room and out towards the window.
After a few seconds, Indy and Tina heard a loud pop, then screams. Looking out, Indy saw the assassin's mangled corpse on the sidewalk. Tina was about to walk towards the window, but Indy said, "You don't want to see it kid, it's not pretty."
Indy then walked out of the room, towards the lobby of the hotel and outside. There he unwrapped the whipped from the dead body and the table. As he was examining the body, Jack and the rest of the kids arrived, looking surprised.
"What the hell happened?" Jack asked.
"Someone did not want any competition," Indy said. Still examining the body, Indy saw that on the neck was a tattoo. The same tattoo as the men back in New York. The tattoo of the crest of the Witterbane.
"Whatever we are doing, it seems that we are getting close to this blood of the gods," Indy said, as he stood up and dust himself off.
"How do you know?" Amity asked.
"Because Belos would not need to send any assassins if we weren't," Indy said, "Pack your bags, guys. We are going to take the first train to Greece tonight. It's time we finish this once and for all."
Everyone nodded in agreement as their faces were of determination. They all walked back to their room, entering to a worried Tina. Seeing everyone alright Tina breathed in relief, as she, along with the kids, began packing. This left Indy and Jack alone as they reorganized the room a bit.
Indy took a bite off some good homemade Italian food, drinking some scotch. Jack was sitting across from him. "Hey Indy, I feel like there is something wrong with that Hunter kid," Jack said.
"Wrong how?" Indy asked.
"I don't know, but ever since that gladiator fight we had, he has been acting quite peculiar. Not like a weird peculiarity with the other kids, but something more sinister. Ever since we gotten back to the hotel room, weird stuff always happens to him. He's afraid of his own shadow, always talking to himself. Hell, he's even afraid of his own reflection. It's as if he is hiding a secret. A very dangerous secret," Jack said, "And while we were at the Church of Santa Costanza, for a moment, I was pretty damn sure I saw his eyes change color. Gave me some chills."
Indy thought for a moment and then said, "Then we will have to keep an extra eye on Hunter."