City of the Fallen - unedited

Chapter Forty-One

Arslan offers us food many times before we make our way to Pluto's gate, but Colton refuses. I'm not sure why, we'd be starving by the time we get there. I regret not insisting that we take some because my stomach already starts to grumble thirty minutes into our journey.

I try to find ways to distract myself from my hunger, but my mind always settles on the thought of the Underworld. Not having a way of anticipating what I'm going to witness brings curiosity. I only know that it's too terrifying for Colton to describe to me, as if I would rather stay up here while he rummaged through the Underworld by himself. Even if it's full of spiders and snakes, I would still go. For Nick.

Maybe I'd go just because I trust Colton. He always has a solution and a second plan in case the first one goes wrong. The more time I spend with him, the more I understand why Carter says he's the best voyager. He's never exhausted, and I do have to admit that he's pretty intelligent. I'd rather go with him to a dangerous place than remain in a safe one alone, although nowhere in Turkey is really safe.

"How are you holding up?" Colton questions.

"Good." I reply, admiring the soft dirt beneath my feet. It's much better than thick grass and plants that tickle your ankles as you walk, which is what we traveled through before. However, what is ahead of us doesn't sit right in my stomach. It's a large forest, and I can't see what's beyond it. The trees are tall and dense, leaving no room for light to seep through the thick branches and leaves. At least it means shade. I can feel my shoulders and cheeks burning up.

"How much longer from here?" I ask, but I can't tell if I want the answer to be an hour or ten minutes. I want to be done walking, but that means that I would have to face what I've been fearing for the past two weeks.

Colton examines his compass for a moment, then tucks it back into his pocket. "About half an hour. Once we get through these trees, we'll follow a road to Hierapolis, where Pluto's gate is located."

"Pluto's gate..." I repeat, "Why is it called Pluto's gate?"

He turns to me. "Because in Roman mythology, Pluto governed the Underworld. When archaeologists discovered it, that's what they called it." He answers.

I narrow my eyes. "So other people know it as Pluto's gate too? Why did they assume it was a gate to the Underworld when they found it?"

He turns back to look at me, annoyed yet amused at my curiosity. "Because it killed anything that stepped inside."

A chill runs down my spine. "You're messing with me."

He chuckles. "No, I swear. They used to sacrifice bulls in there. They would force them in there and the animal would be dead within minutes. They used to believe that it was Pluto himself that killed it with his breath."

"So if anything that steps inside of there dies, then why are we going?" I raise an eyebrow. This isn't helping me cope with my nerves.

He sighed loudly. "In 60 AD, Hierapolis was a flourishing city, but it had a darker side. Ploutonion. It was a center for the worship of Pluto. Zeus ruled the earth, and Poseidon the sea, but Pluto governed the underworld and was responsible for who lived and who died. So basically, they worshiped the ruler of the Underworld. His power was the most evident in Hierapolis. The Ploutonion is an opening large enough to admit a person, but its depth is so large that the ground is full of a vapor so dense that you can't really see the ground. Any animal that passes inside meets instant death."