Underground Angels

Chapter Forty-Two || The Big Downstairs

Chapter Forty-Two

The Big Downstairs

The air was thin and cold, seeping into their bones. The snowy ground stretched out in all directions, a landscape of white. Not far from the rock now, the little troop of demigods where silent.

Constantine was still recovering from his run in with the sirens, embarrassed that he had been tricked. Lola looked nervous, not knowing what might await her below. Stephan was hungry.

Noel walked just behind them, looking back every now and then. The Pegasi were long gone now, not even specks in the distance. Her heart sped up the closer they got to the rock, craning their necks to try and see the peak that had disappeared into the clouds.

"It really does look like a dick." Stephan observed, falling back to walk with her.

"Hm." Noel wouldn't really know, not in detail anyway. She got the idea though. "You don't seem scared."

Stephan actually giggled. "Scared? I'm shitting my pants."

"You don't look it." Said Noel with mild disgust, our lovable germaphobe.

"My take on it is the less scared I look, the less scared I'll be." He shrugged. "Learned that from Gabriel, you know."

"He never looked scared." Noel recalled, thinking of every time she had seen Gabriel fight something.

"Sad, isn't it?" asked Stephan softly. "That he got to the point were fear wasn't even a facial expression anymore."

"I hadn't thought of it that way." They fell silent for the rest of the walk, and soon they reached the base of the rock. A skinny, tall crack was the only opening or blemish on the rock's smooth surface.

"Well." Constantine looked at them. "Here we are."

They all stared at the opening. "I can't believe we made it this far." Lola said. "I mean, I thought we would but it still seems crazy."

"We're literally going to hell." Stephan jumped up and down slightly, trying to keep warm. "Any guesses on what the temperature will be like?"

"If there aren't hot geysers like in cartoons I'll be heavily disappointed." Said Noel gloomily.

"Well." Said Constantine again. "Let's go."

One by one, they slipped through the crack.

The rock sealed as they stepped through, plunging them into darkness.

"Whose got the flashlight?" inquired Constantine as Lola yelped.

"Who grabbed my butt?!"

"Sorry," said Stephan, not sounding sorry at all, "I thought it was my backpack."

"Be serious Stephan, please." Constantine turned on his flashlight, illuminating the cramped passageway. "Looks like the only way is down."

"The big downstairs," Stephan grumbled. "For some reason, I thought I'd be going up."

"Really?" Lola quipped. "I'd expect you'd be right at home."

"Stop it." Noel said quietly. "We need to be focused."

The two sobered, and together they made the descent down the steep, turning steps. Somehow it got even colder the deeper they went, until everyone was shivering in their heavy coats. It seemed like forever before they reached a for in the road, one pitch black, the other had a faint glow.

"Any ideas?" asked Stephan.

They all agreed the light tunnel was the best option, and Noel tried not to remember the "myths". The journey of the dead she recalled involved finding a fork in the road, and being judged – sent to either Asphodel, Elysium or Tartarus. The light grew brighter, until they entered what appeared to be a very clean, modern waiting room or lobby.