YOU ARE IN LOVE ↬ leo valdez x reader, book two

14. he says, 'look up'

"Poison?" I asked.
"Did I miss the poison? 'Cause I love poison." Leo jittered.
"Soon enough," Nico promised. "Just stick close together, and maybe we can avoid getting lost or going insane."
On that happy note, Nico led us underground.

The tunnel spiraled gently downward, the ceiling supported by white stone arches
"This wasn't part of a temple," Hazel whispered, running her hands along the marble. "This was...the basement for a manor house, built in later Greek times."
"A manor house?" Frank asked. "Please don't tell me we're in the wrong place."
"The House of Hades is below us," Nico assured him. "But Hazel's right, these upper levels are much newer. When the archaeologists first excavated this site, they thought they'd found the Necromanteion. Then they realized the ruins were too recent, so they decided it was the wrong spot. They were right the first time. They just didn't dig deep enough."

We turned a corner and stopped. In front of us, the tunnel ended in a huge block of stone. "A cave-in?" Jason asked.
"A test," Nico said. "Hazel, would you do the honors?"
Hazel stepped forward. She placed her hand on the rock, and the entire boulder crumbled to dust. The tunnel shuddered. Cracks spread across the ceiling. Then the rumbling stopped. The dust settled. A set of stairs curved deeper into the earth, the barreled ceiling held up by more repeating arches, closer together and carved from polished black stone. Painted on the walls were crude pictures of black cattle marching downward.

"I really don't like cows," Piper muttered.
"Agreed," Frank said.
"Those are the cattle of Hades," Nico said. "It's just a symbol of—"
"Look." Frank pointed. On the first step of the stairwell, a golden chalice gleamed. I was pretty sure it hadn't been there a moment before. The cup was full of dark-green liquid.
"Hooray," Leo said halfheartedly. "I suppose that's our poison."
Nico picked up the chalice. "We're standing at the ancient entrance of the Necromanteion. Odysseus came here, and dozens of other heroes, seeking advice from the dead."

"Did the dead advise them to leave immediately?" Leo asked.
"I would be fine with that," Piper admitted.
Nico drank from the chalice, then offered it to Jason. "You asked me about trust, and taking a risk? Well, here you go, son of Jupiter. How much do you trust me?" Jason didn't hesitate. He took the cup and drank. We passed it around, each taking a sip of poison. When Frank took the last sip, the chalice disappeared into smoke.

Nico nodded, apparently satisfied. "Congratulations. Assuming the poison doesn't kill us, we should be able to find our way through the Necromanteion's first level."
"Just the first level?" Piper asked. I shrugged.
Nico turned to Hazel and gestured at the stairs. "After you, sister."

The stairs split in three different directions. As soon as Hazel chose a path, the stairs split again. We wound our way through interconnecting tunnels and rough-hewn burial chambers that all looked the same—the walls carved with dusty niches that might once have held bodies. The arches over the doors were painted with black cows, white poplar trees, and owls.
"I thought the owl was Minerva's symbol," Jason murmured.
"The screech owl is one of Hades's sacred animals," Nico said. "Its cry is a bad omen."
"This way." Hazel pointed to a doorway that looked the same as all the others. "It's the only one that won't collapse on us."
"Good choice, then," Leo said.

"This is the entrance to the second level," she said. "I'd better take a look."
"Uh, yeah..." Frank made way for her.
Hazel traced her fingers across the carved skulls. "No traps on the doorway, but...something is strange here. My underground sense is—is fuzzy, like someone is working against me, hiding what's ahead of us."
"The sorceress that Hecate warned you about?" Jason guessed. "The one Leo saw in his dream? What was her name?"
Hazel chewed her lip. "It would be safer not to say her name. But stay alert. One thing I'm sure of: From this point on, the dead are stronger than the living."