Starcrossed: A Leo and Calypso Fanfic

Chapter Fourteen: Second Level

Frank

After a few twists and turns, I felt completely lost. The stairs split in three different directions. As soon a Hazel chose a path, the stairs split again. They wound their 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/Athena's symbol?" Jason murmured.

"The screech owl is one of Hades's sacred animals," Nico said. "It's 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.

I felt like he was leaving the world of the living. My skin tingled, and I wondered if it was a side effect of the poison. The pouch with the firewood seemed heavier on my belt. In the eerie glow of their magic weapons, my friends looked like flickering ghosts, pale and fierce looking.

Cold air brushed against his face. I'm his mind, Ares and Mars had gone silent, but Frank thought he heard other voices whispering in the side corridors, beckoning him to veer off course, to come closer and listen to them speak.

Finally they reached an archway carved in the shape of human skulls--or maybe they were human skulls embedded in the rock. In the purple light of Diocletian's scepter, the hollow eye sockets seemed to blink.

I almost hit the ceiling when Hazel put a hand on my arm.

"This is the entrance to the second level," she said. "I'd better take a look."

I hadn't realized that he'd moved in front of the doorway.

"Uh. . .yeah. . ." I made way for her.

Hazel traced her fingers across the carved skulls. "No traps on the doorway, but something strange is here. My underground senses 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. "

I wasn't sure how she knew that, but he believed her. The voices in the darkness seemed to whisper louder. I caught glimpses of movement in the shadows. From the way my friend's eyes darted around, I guessed they were seeing things too.

"Where are the monsters?" I wondered aloud. "I though Gaea had an army guarding the Doors."

"Don't know," Jason said, his pale skin looked as green as the poison from the chalice. "At this point I'd prefer a straight-up fight."

"Careful what you wish for, man." Leo summoned a ball of fire to his hand, and for once I was glad to see the flames. "Personally, I'm hoping nobody's home. We walk in, find Percy and Annabeth, destroy the Doors of Death, and walk out. Maybe stop at a gift shop."

"Yeah," I said. "That'll happen."

The tunnel shook. Rubble rained down from the ceiling. Hazel grabbed my hand. "That was close," she muttered. "These passageways won't take much more."

"The Doors of Death just opened again," Nico said.

"It's happening, like, every fifteen minutes," Piper noted.