Revealed

Chapter 14 (Lou Ellen)

Amos woke us up the next day really early. Apparently, he had something urgent to tell us. I quickly dressed and took my weapons before following him. 

"I've had our diviners try to see what's ahead and scry what's happening in the world. You have to be cautious if you are to succeed in this quest," Amos said.

"What did they see?" Carter yawned, stretching his arms above his head. 

"There's a cloud of darkness that blocks everything somewhere in the northern part of U.S. right before Canada. It's spreading quickly and none of the scrying magic could penetrate it," Amos said.

I raised my hand. "That's probably Erebus," I suggested. "Anything else?"

"There are demigods who have bunched together near Asia. We have asked the other nomes to assist them as it seems they are your questers to free Hecate," Amos answered. 

I breathed out a sigh of relief I didn't know I was holding. At least Annabeth and the others were safe. Right now I only have to worry about my own quest that I have to lead. Magnus asked Amos a question.

"How do we come back to America? And when? The faster we can save Hemera the faster we can defeat Erebus" 

"You'll be taking a portal right up to New Mexico. The scribes have sensed unknown magic in that area. I believe it may be Hemera," 

What's in New Mexico again? Oh, right. The Carlsbad Caverns. Where Annabeth, Percy, Grover, and Rachel originally met Pan before he died. I got ready along with the others and within the hour we were ready to leave. The portal was opened at noon and we stepped right into the sand, this time expecting how it would feel after taking it once. 

We emerged in front of a cave in New Mexico, around dusk. We collected ourselves, looking around. Finally, I saw a dim light somewhere to the south. I called everyone over and talked to them.

"Maybe we should rest first," I suggested.

"But we just had our sleep," Cecil answered me.

"It's almost dark. We won't be able to do anything at night if it's too dark to see," I replied. 

Magnus responded by becoming our source of light. Literally. He started glowing, bright enough for me to feel like it was the day. When I asked what he did, he just answered me with "I don't know, actually," 

"Then how are you able to do that?" I asked

"My dad is Frey, the god of summer. I kind of inherited some traits," 

"I wish I could do something like that," Will chimed in. "I'm the son of Apollo, god of the sun, music, healing, and poetry but all I got are his healing and music skills. I want to do something with light,"

"At least you got music," Though I can heal, too," Magnus said. They had a long discussion after that, while we were walking. How Will could still look at Magnus straight without squinting or covering his eyes, I don't know. He was glowing so bright I have to raise my arms to cover my eyes in order to look at him.

We reached one of the entrances to the Carlsbad Caverns and went in, not minding about bringing our flashlights and torches since Magnus still lit the way. We passed by dozens- maybe hundreds of stalagmites and stalactites, and also a lot of pillars or is it columns? Whatever. It was damp inside and I kept on slipping, but I can't help but think that without the light I would have already slipped and maybe get hurt. 

A few minutes later they had run out of conversation topics so we walked in silence the rest of the way. We were all silent and thinking and contemplating by ourselves until we were already walking on ground soil, which I was expecting. From the stories around camp, when Annabeth, Percy, Grover, and Rachel went to find Pan they were also around these caverns and they walked on soil. 

We were still walking in silence when I realized that there was something wrong. We were too silent. I may have only known the others for a few days, but I could tell that we're a bunch of sassy loudmouths that silences like this are impossible. I stopped and turned to the others, and they seemed to come to the same conclusion.

I was going to ask if there was something wrong but I found that I couldn't speak. It wasn't that I lost my voice or my mouth was shut, but when I open my mouth and form the words, there is no sound. The eerie silence penetrated into our group as we realized this. 

We bunched together, holding our weapons, out, back against each other. I noticed that Magnus' light was getting dimmer and before I even knew it he was already stumbling and losing consciousness. Luckily, Will caught him before he could hit the floor. He started tending to Magnus while we stood around them protectively. Now we had no source of light and no way to communicate/

Then I had an idea that could help. I started the chant in my head, knowing full well that if my concentration broke I could just as well have started a hair transformation chant instead of the illumination one I wanted. I finish within a few seconds, and the whole cavern was suddenly illuminated with a bright light, casting light on everyting so that there were no shadows. We could see everything now.

The light suddenly sputtered, back came back. I had to concentrate to keep it on. I signalled this to the others so that they understood we had to go fast. Will helped Magnus stand and we went on, brisk walking deeper inside until we found a large set of doors. They were all heavy duty steel, criss-crossed with chains and padlocked heavily.

A/N: sorry I'm a lousy updater. It took so long to write this.

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