Eleutheromania

23)

FINDING THE PLACE WAS EASY. Percy led us right to it, on an abandoned stretch of hillside overlooking the ruined Forum.

Getting in was easy too. Jason's gold sword cut through the padlock, and the metal gate creaked open. No mortals saw us. No alarms went off. Stone steps spiraled down into the gloom.

"I'll go first," Jason said.

"No!" Piper yelped.

We turned toward her.

"Pipes, what is it?" Jason asked. "That image in the blade...you've seen it before, haven't you?"

She nodded. "I didn't know how to tell you. I saw the room down there filling with water. I saw the four of us drowning."

We all frowned.

"I can't drown," Percy said, though he sounded like he was asking a question.

I groaned. "Water, again."

"Maybe the future has changed," Jason speculated. "In the image you showed us just now, there wasn't any water."

"Look," Percy said. "I'll check it out first. It's fine. Be right back."

Before I could object, he disappeared down the stairwell.

I counted silently as we waited for him to come back. Somewhere around thirty-five, I heard his footsteps, and he appeared at the top, looking more baffled than relieved.

"Good news: no water," he said. "Bad news: I don't see any exits down there. And, uh, weird news: well, you should see this...."

We descended cautiously. Percy took the lead, with Riptide drawn. I followed behind Percy and Piper followed me with Jason walked behind her, guarding our backs. The stairwell was a cramped corkscrew of masonry, no more than six feet in diameter. Even though Percy had given the "all clear," I kept my eyes open for traps. With every turn of the stairs, I anticipated an ambush.

As we wound our way underground, I saw old graffiti gouged into the stones: Roman numerals, names and phrases in Italian. That meant other people had been down here more recently than the Roman Empire, but I wasn't reassured. If monsters were below, they'd ignore mortals, waiting for some nice juicy demigods to come along.

Finally, we reached the bottom.

Percy turned. "Watch this last step."

He jumped to the floor of the cylindrical room, which was five feet lower than the stairwell. Why would someone design a set of stairs like that? I had no idea. Maybe the room and the stairwell had been built during different time periods.

I jumped down and the rest followed behind.

The room had curved walls had once been painted with frescoes, which were now faded to eggshell white with only flecks of color. The domed ceiling was about fifty feet above.

Around the back side of the room, opposite the stairwell, nine alcoves were carved into the wall. Each niche was about five feet off the floor and big enough for a human-sized statue, but each was empty.

The air felt cold and dry. As Percy had said, there were no other exits.

"All right." Percy raised his eyebrows. "Here's the weird part. Watch."

He stepped to the middle of the room.

Instantly, green and blue light rippled across the walls. I heard the sound of a fountain, but there was no water. There didn't seem to be any source of light except for Percy's and Jason's blades.