The Shadow Summoner | Book Three - PJO Universe

fourteen

MEG..?

The wonders never ceased.

The key card worked. The elevator did not incinerate them or drop them to their deaths. Unlike the previous elevator they had taken, however, this one did have background music.

They rose smoothly and slowly, as if Nero wanted to give them plenty of time to enjoy it.

Next to them, Austin fingered the keys of his saxophone. Ariana could tell he, too, was worried about the soundtrack.

"Wish it was Miles Davis," he said.

"That would be nice."

"Hey, if we don't get out of this -"

"None of that talk." Apollo chided.

"Yeah, but I wanted to tell you, I'm glad we had some time together. Like ... time time."

Apollo smiled and squeezed his shoulder, not trusting himself to speak.

The elevator doors slid open. They stepped into a hallway with a floor mosaic depicting a triumphal procession through a burning New York cityscape.

Clearly, Nero had been planning for months, perhaps years, to unleash his inferno no matter what they did.

Ariana found this so appalling and so-in-character for him.

They topped just before the end of the hall, where it split into a T. From the corridor to the right came the sounds of many voices in conversation, glasses clinking, even some laughter.

From the corridor on the left, Ariana heard nothing.

Austin motioned for me to wait. He carefully removed a long brass rod from the body of his sax.

He had all sorts of nonstandard attachments on his instrument, including a bag of exploding reeds, tone-hole cleaners that doubled as zip-ties and a stiletto knife for stabbing monsters and unappreciative music critics.

The rod he chose now was fitted with a small curved mirror on one end. He edged this into the hallway like a periscope, studied the reflections, then pulled it back.

"Party room on the right," he whispered in her ear. "Full of guards, bunch of folks that look like guests. Library on the left, looks empty. If you need to get to the southeast corner to find Meg, you'll have to go straight through that crowd."

Ariana clenched her fists, ready to do whatever was necessary.

From the party room came the voice of a young woman making an announcement.

"Thank you all for your patience she told the crowd. "The emperor is just finishing up a few matters in the throne room. And the, ah, minor disruptions on the lower floors will be taken care of very soon. In the meantime, please enjoy cake and beverages while we wait for -" her voice cracked - "the burning to start."

The guests gave her a polite smattering of applause.

Apollo readied his bow. Ariana wanted to charge into that crowd, free Areca, shoot everybody else and stomp on their cake.

Instead, Austin grabbed their arms and pulled m them back a few steps towards the elevator.

"There's too many of them," he said. "Let me cause a distraction. I'll draw as many as I can into the library and lead them on a chase. Hopefully that'll clear a path for you two to get to Meg."