Daughter of Neptune

Stupid Dog

Stupid Dog! Esme thought as she ran after Bruce. What was he doing running off like that? Esme lost his tracks so she slowed to a walk and listened for twigs snapping or leaves being crushed underfoot.

An echoing bark sounded to her left and she swerved in that direction. As she followed the barking, it became louder and more urgent. Esme found herself at the top of a drop off and sure enough, Bruce was at the bottom.

Esme ran back to the others and found Jason on his feet looking around wearily. Ben and Hannah jumped up when they saw her and ran towards her. Jason staggered after them.

"Bruce is at the bottom of a drop off. Come help me get him." Then Esme turned and walked into the forest, carefully retracing her footsteps. Ben helped Jason walk to through the trees, as he was still gluggy, he probably had a concussion.

She led them to the cliff. Hannah pushed Jason backwards when he neared the edge. If he'd lost his balance he would be down there with Bruce. Bruce barked twice when he saw the demigods and tried jumping to them.

"Jason has to go down and get him. He's the only one who can control wind." Ben suggested a solution to the problem.

"Or we could climb down with my rope." Esme said as she pulled out a coil of rope. Esme walked to the nearest tree and after a few seconds, had tied a secure knot.

She pulled on the knot twice to check it was sturdy and then threw the end over the cliff.

Esme climbed down with Ben following. Hannah stayed at the top so she could keep Jason away from the edge. When Esme's feet hit the ground she stumbled on the rocky, uneven ground.

She carefully made her way over to Bruce who was standing near a wall of dirt. She reached for his collar and tried to pull him towards the rope but Bruce stayed put.

Esme pulled harder but Bruce refused to move. He started barking and jumping at the dirt wall. Ben came over to help and took Bruce's collar of Esme.

Ben pulled but Bruce only moved a few centimetres. Esme took a closer look at the wall. She touched the wall and felt it give way under her hand. She inspected the sides and found it peeling and cracking.

"Hannah, get down here! Bring Jason with you. Ben, come help me with this." She called. She wiped her hand over the dirt and small rocks came loose. Ben came over and started to brush the rocks off as well.

Hannah was soon by their side with an almost back-to-normal Jason who happily sat by Bruce. With the three of them working together the job was done quickly.

"Just as I thought." Esme said. With all the dirt covering it, it appeared to be a normal dirt pile, but if you looked closer, and removed the door you found a steel wall. Jason was now on his feet and looked like he was all right. Except for the lump on his head.

A faintly etched line in the wall signified a door, to which Esme searched. After a few seconds she let out a groan.

"The only way through is with a key."

"But we don't have a key." Jason pointed out.

"Have a look around. The key should be steel, like the door." Ben told them. They split up and searched the small cavern for a key. They even looked in the trees and bushes surrounding the drop off.

10 minutes later they came back together empty handed.

"Maybe the lyre has a clue." Hannah suggested pulling out the lyre they got from Whakapu Music Store. Hannah inspected it and then passed it to Ben, who passed it to Jason when he finished looking at it.

Jason plucked a few strings, looked into the sound hole and then gave it to Esme. She took a bit longer looking at it, checking the mermaid carving. She gave little tugs to each of the pegs the string was tied around to check if they came loose. Esme shook the entire thing to make sure nothing was loose inside, gave up, and gave it back to Hannah.

"Great! We've got nothing." Hannah said sarcastically. Bruce jumped on his hind legs and grabbed the lyre in his teeth, pulling it from Hannah's grip. He shook it in his mouth and then threw it on the ground.

Everyone was too shocked to move so Bruce did it again. He picked up the lyre and threw it further away from himself.

A sickening crack alerted the demigods to the lyre breaking as it hit the ground.

"Bruce!" Esme yelled. "How could you?" Jason ran over to the broken pieces of the lyre and picked them up, carefully surveying them.

"Hey guys...come look at this." Jason brought the pieces back over to them and showed them the larger wooden back. Hidden inside the lyre was a secret compartment.