When an incident in Olympian High's campus garden gets the attention of resident Chosens Amelia Kingston and Zeus Olympian, they accidentally stumble upon a new Chosen who triggers a new clue on the Greek papyrus that tosses them to the cradle of th...
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Pierre found himself in the middle of a familiar cave. As the darkness embraced him from all directions, the sound of dripping moisture from fang-like stalactites echoed in his ears. He had been in the same cave for a couple of times now-this time being the third-but he never seemed to stop making him feel unnerved.
Thankfully, he knew the way out this time around.
Using his hands as support, Pierre made his way through the cave. He let the familiarity of the cave's rugged walls guide him. Every now and then a surface too sharp pricked his fingers, but he ignored it and forged on. Eventually, a speck of light appeared in front of him, just like the last time. By then he picked up speed and ran out into the open.
He emerged into the entrance of a dark, looming castle. He couldn't describe how it looked exactly. At one point, he saw the tall building as a large, obscure shadow with countless white eyes, but then he'd see it as a palace with many barred windows. Now, though, he was seeing the latter in its soot-colored glory.
A stone-paved path snaked towards the castle's entrance, where a garden of dead trees sprawled on the rest of the landscape. Their dark, gnarly branches reached for the eternal night sky like twisted hands begging. Blood-red fruits hung at the ends of the branches.
Pomegranates, just like the ones in the Greek myths Pierre learned at school. They were plump and shiny, but he didn't dare think of reaching for one and taking a bite. Even though he was quite aware that he was in a dream, he didn't want to risk getting himself stuck in the Underworld for who knows how long.
On the other hand, someone else had other ideas.
A pale, lithe man reached for one of the fruits. He had his back facing Pierre, but Pierre could recognize him from anywhere. The man was studying the fruit, testing its weight with his hand, before shrugging to himself and keeping it in the pockets of his loose gray toga.
"Just get me out of this nightmare," Pierre muttered.
Hades turned around, a pinched smile on his aging face. "You don't exactly have the power to do that."
Pierre groaned. "Can't you at least try? This is the third time, okay? And I'm sick of all this! Why can't you just choose someone else? I never wanted to be your. . . whatever you called it."
"Unfortunately, I do not have the power to do that." Hades sighed. "You and I never had the chance to choose. So whether you like it or not, you are my Chosen."
"Can you just snap your fingers so we can get this over with and I wake up?" Pierre crossed his arms. "I need to help my mom and myself. We were being surrounded by a bunch of bad guys and they knocked me out before I could do something and-"
Hades froze. "What? What happened? Who attacked you?"
"I don't know," Pierre said. "They came out of nowhere. We were just about to get on the plane. . . but this fake airline person led us to a trap and all hell broke loose."
