rhea's locket | solangelo | neko! nico |

The Beginning

tw: described sort-of sensory overload, passing out

I'm not enjoying myself." I declare, as the rain plasters my hair to my face. Hazel casts me a sympathetic look as Jason shrugs helplessly.
"None of us are." He says. "But we can't afford to wait until the rain dies down. We need to move now."

Quests are supposed to be fun, yet so far, the only quests I've been on have involved me being comatose in a bronze jar, passing out repeatedly whilst shadow-travelling the Athena Parthenos to camp, and now this, sitting in the mud, freezing cold and soaking, awaiting orders from Jason and pointedly rebuking Hazel's attempts to talk about Will.

Jason chose to bring us along because apparently, this quest needs children of the Underworld to locate an artefact we are searching for. I don't see why he needs two of us, but whatever. It's his quest.

The artefact belongs to Rhea, and, like the golden fleece, is free to take for anybody who can find it: buried beneath the ground, protected by a monster. As the goddess of motherhood and children, the artefact is supposed to help people to heal injured children, and apparently it will do so instantly.

Back home, Apollo's children, namely my friend (and crush) Will, are struggling to wake a ten-year-old son of Aphrodite from a coma, and a prophecy we received told us that the only way to save him is to retrieve this artefact. Will was distraught, and is probably even worse now. We've been gone for four days, and we don't know how much longer the kid can hold on for.

Hazel must be thinking the same as me, for she sets her jaw and clambers to her feet, hauling me up after her. The three of us march through the mud towards the area where Hazel's powers tell her the artefact is most easily accessible. She opens up a chasm, and we slowly descend into it.

I'm grateful for the shelter from the rain, but the passageway ahead of us unnerves me.
"Do you feel it too?" Hazel asks me quietly. Her golden eyes seem to glow in the darkness.
"It's like the labyrinth." I murmur. Hazel nods.
"But you can control the labyrinth, right?" Jason asks nervously. "Yeah." Hazel nods, but I still feel
jumpy. There's something not right about this place.

We walk in single file as far as he can go, through twists and turns, up and down, until the rain cannot be heard any more and the only light comes from the flashlights we are holding. Abruptly, Hazel stops, causing me to almost bump into her, and holds up a hand to stop us. I realise we're at a fork in the path.

We wait a few beats, then Jason speaks quietly.
"Well?" He leans over me to get a better look at the forked paths. "Which way is the artefact?"
"I... Can't tell." She admits. "Both pathways are giving off a strong ancient power."

"Do you think there are two artefacts?" I ask. "Or maybe the two paths come back together further on?" I can't see Hazel's face, and she doesn't reply. She seems to be stretching her powers out down both pathways, focused and silent. Suddenly, she gasps, quietly, and takes a small step back.
"There's a monster in the left passage."

I groan.
"Well, that obviously means that that's where the real artefact is." I say cynically. Hazel turns to face me, and Jason behind me, looking concerned.
"I'm still confused by that other passageway. Nico, you go that way. Jason and I will take on the monster."

I feel extremely nervous about going ahead alone, but I think of the child of Aphrodite, and Will's desperate expression when he heard the prophecy, and I agree.
"Great." Hazel says, drawing her spatha.

We split up, my eyes straining to see ahead of me as my weak flashlight illuminates only what is right in front of me. The path slopes downwards, and I trip as I try not to fall down it. At times, I can hear the faint sounds of a battle taking place down the other path, but I try not to worry. Hazel and Jason are strong fighters; they'll be fine.

From experience, I know that the  labyrinth twists time, and my seemingly ten-minute walk could be lasting anything from seconds to hours. Maybe Jason and Hazel are already done, waiting for me at the opening of the passageway, or maybe their fight has barely started.

I fee the urge to run ahead, get this over with as quickly as I can so we can get back to camp and save the camper, but I feel like that would just make the labyrinth throw more tricks into my path, maybe stretching time out even further just to spite me, so I continue to walk at my steady pace.

After what feels like another ten minutes, I come out into a large, perfectly circular open area, dimly-lit by a light source I can't identify. Unlit torches hang from the walls, and between them are faded images.

In the centre of the room is a seemingly empty podium.

Nausea wells up inside me, but at the same time, I feel a pull towards the podium. I want to run, I want to hide, but even stronger than that, I want to reach out and touch the podium, feel it's smooth, cold surface against my fingertips. I take a small step towards it, and then another, and another, until I'm standing right beside it.

It's an almost-translucent, light pink colour, with golden flecks in it. On top of it sits a dainty golden necklace. It's chain looks so thin and delicate, I think it might snap if I touch it. It holds a locket in the shape of a lion's face, and that's when I notice that the walls are engraved with images of lions and other types of cats.

Rhea's animal is a lion, I know, but the other cats confuse me. What affiliation does she have to them? Nevertheless, the lion's face assures me that this is Rhea's artefact. The injured child must have to wear it.

The fear within me rises, inexplicably. I feel suffocated here, desperate and violent like a cornered animal. I remember a story Bianca read to me as a child, about how, apparently,
unicorns can only be captured if their young are cornered, as they have no choice but to stand between hunters and their foal, even if it means their death. I'm the mother unicorn; knowing my demise is staring me in the face, but unable to flee due to instincts I cannot control or understand.

Trembling, my hand reaches out without me wanting it to, hovering over the locket. Something stirs in my chest, and the cavern begins to emit a low sound that makes my ears ring, growing louder and higher with every second as my hand inches closer and closer to the locket, so slowly I can't be completely sure if it's moving at all.

At the edges of my vision, the torches spring to life, and the cats which decorate the walls seem to move, winding their way across the walls, dancing in and out of sight. The growl turns into a whine, and then a shriek. I want to slap my hands over my ears and keel over, but I can't.

My fingertips just brush the lion's face as the noise reaches fever pitch, and I think I might be screaming, but I can't know for sure, because at that moment, pain shoots across my scalp and down my spine like a lightening strike, then everything falls silent.

For a moment, I see nothing but white. My vision returns just in time for me to see the floor rushing up to meet me.

a/n: comment potential names for this fic, please!