CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

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Finding the place was easy. Percy led them right to it, on an abandoned stretch of hillside overlooking the ruined Forum. 

Getting in was easy too. Jason's gold sword cut through the padlock, and the metal gate creaked open. No mortals saw them. No alarms went off. Stone steps spiraled down into the gloom.

"I'll go first," Jason said.

"No!" Piper yelped.

Tori and both boys turned toward her.

"Pipes, what is it?" Jason asked.

Tori studied Piper, the latter being lost for words. "That image in the blade...you've seen it before, haven't you?"

Piper nodded, her eyes stinging. "I didn't know how to tell you. I saw the room down there filling with water. I saw the four of us drowning." The other three frowned.

"Tori and I can't drown," Percy said, though he sounded like he was asking a question

"Maybe the future has changed," Jason speculated. "In the image you showed us just now, there wasn't any water."

"Look," Percy said. "Me and Tori will check it out first. It's fine. Be right back."

Before Anyone  could object, the two siblings disappeared down the stairwell. The stairwell was a cramped corkscrew of masonry, no more than six feet in diameter. Tori kept her eyes out for traps, but there wasn't anything. With every turn of the stairs, she anticipated an ambush. Tori realized in such close quarters, their swords wouldn't do much good.

As they wound their way underground, Tori saw old graffiti gouged into the stones: Roman numerals, names and phrases in Italian. That meant other people had been down here more recently than the Roman Empire, but Tori wasn't reassured. If monsters were below, they'd ignore mortals, waiting for some nice juicy demigods to come along.

Piper counted silently as she and Jason waited for them to come back. Somewhere around thirty-five, she heard their footsteps, and they appeared at the top, looking more baffled than relieved.

"Good news: no water," Tori said. 

"Bad news: I don't see any exits down there." Percy added, "And, uh, weird news: well, you should see this...."

They descended cautiously. Percy and Tori took the lead, with Riptide and Tidal drawn. Piper followed, and Jason walked behind her, guarding their backs. Finally they reached the bottom.

Percy turned. "Watch this last step."

He jumped to the floor of the cylindrical room, which was five feet lower than the stairwell. Why would someone design a set of stairs like that? Piper had no idea. Maybe the room and the stairwell had been built during different time periods.

The curved walls had once been painted with frescoes, which were now faded to eggshell white with only flecks of color. The domed ceiling was about fifty feet above. Around the back side of the room, opposite the stairwell, nine alcoves were carved into the wall. Each niche was about five feet off the floor and big enough for a human-sized statue, but each was empty.

The air felt cold and dry. As Percy had said, there were no other exits.

"All right." Percy raised his eyebrows. "Here's the weird part. Watch."

 He stepped to the middle of the room. 

Instantly, green and blue light rippled across the walls. There was the sound of a fountain, but there was no water. There didn't seem to be any source of light except for the three blades.

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