ANTI-HERO, j.grace

NINETEEN

       Three of the demigods find no issue with the front door of the mansion being unlocked, thinking nothing more than that there was no reason for it to be locked when there's so many traps leading up the walkway. Klein isn't sure how any of them have survived a day in their lives with such a non functional safety radar.

Maybe it was unfair to say that all three of the others lacked any sort of survival instinct, for Leo Valdez disarmed every single trap with the correct tool before it could even be triggered. But for every trap he disabled was another trap that Jason Grace almost got himself killed with. And given just how close the son of Zeus was walking to Klein Maddox, he would have gotten her killed at least a dozen times over in the process.

To the daughter of Apollo, the traps were a bad enough sign that means they should truthfully just be turning on their heels and heading back in whatever direction they came from. Finding the front door to the mansion unlocked was like passing into the next level of a video game - an easy threshold for the next challenge that would prove to be an even bigger pain in the ass.

The house was dark, so much so that it would have been pitch black without the faint glow of the outside lights peeking through the breaks of the long velvet curtains. Statues were lined across the wall, Greek heroes poised with weapons raised. Klein regarded them wearily, for as solid as they looked, so had Boreas' ice sculptures.

"Where's the light switch?" Jason asked, voice hushed but still sounding brash in the silence of the room.

"Don't see one."

"Fire?" Piper suggests.

Leo holds out his hand, urging a flame to arise to little success. "It's not working."

If that wasn't a sure sign that something was wrong, then nothing else would be.

Klein looked down at her own hands, waiting for the golden glow to sparkle around her fingers. It never happened.

Bad. Bad, bad, bad.

Piper looked rather unnerved, "What do we do - explore?"

Leo shook his head, "After all those traps outside? Bad idea."

"With our track record, we should probably clear the area." Klein offered, "After Chicago and Detroit-"

"Thank you for reminding us of the cyclopses." Piper's voice was clipped, "That's definitely what we need right now."

Klein whipped her head to face the McLean girl with a dangerous scowl, but Jason started to speak before she could (and when she proceeded to glare at him, he did his best not to notice). "Look, it's only a few hours until dawn, and it's too cold to wait outside." He seemed to decide the plan of action, "Let's bring the cages in and make camp in this room. Wait for daylight; then we can decide what to do next."

"What about this house says 'safety' to you guys?" Klein questioned, "The lasers? The forty-seven traps leading up to the front door alone?"

"We should all stay together." Jason emphasized the last word, "Everyone can get some sleep, and maybe tomorrow we'll have a better idea of what to do."

The Maddox girl was practically insistent that the better idea was to ditch the mansion and find somewhere else for the night. But Klein had no choice but to silence her complaints as the group settled across the various 'u' shaped couches of the room, which - unfortunately for her and her arguments - were wildly comfortable.

She all but sunk into the cushions, half waiting for some sort of electric whoopee cushion to shock her to death. But when it didn't happen, and when her body registered far more comfort on the couch than it did when riding on the dragon, she couldn't help but let herself relax the slightest bit.