Poseidon's Academy

Chapter 29. Hades and Persephone

Hailey's mind returned to her body. She grimaced at the throbbing pain in her head, wondering why it hurt so much, and blinked her eyes open; iron bars greeted her.

'We're in a dungeon.' Alec sat next to her, leaning against a rock wall. A flaming torch flickered above him, casting their barred cell in a dim glow. 'So much for our plan.'

A dungeon! Hailey fought the urge to vomit as she remembered where she was-the Underworld. She'd come here to save the prisoners and ended up one herself.

This can't be happening.

She lurched to her feet, ignoring her pounding head's protests, and staggered to the bars, wrapping her fingers around the warm metal. She yanked as hard as she could, but the bars didn't budge.

Tears burned her throat. She was trapped in Tartarus, and there were two gods on the loose, maybe more. What was going to happen to her and her friends? Would the gods force them to work in the mine? Kill them? Would Hailey ever see her mum again, or would she die down here?

Stop it, she ordered herself, swiping away a rogue tear. We're going to get out of this. Hailey didn't know how, but they were, because someone needed to tell the world what was going on before it was too late and half the population became enslaved here.

'What happened?' Jayden slowly sat up, pressing a hand to his temple. 'I feel like a cyclops hit me over the head with a club.'

'The wand brought back Hades, and he kicked our arses is what happened.' Aaron stood in front of the iron bars that separated their cell from the one next door. He rattled them. 'We need to get out of here.'

'Tell me about it.' Demi, who had a bruised and bloody cheek from where the Erinys had backhanded her, was pacing a few feet away from Hailey. 'We don't even have beds-or a toilet-all we have is this stupid dirt to lie on.' She kicked the ground, dirt puffing up around her.

'I can get us out.'

Hailey's gaze snapped to Alec. 'How?'

'With my Heracles power.'

'So what are you waiting for? Let's go,' Aaron prompted.

Alec didn't budge from the ground. 'Not yet.'

Aaron looked ready to shake him. 'Why? Hades and Persephone could be coming back for us right now.'

'That's exactly why not. If we make our escape now, we could run into them on the way out, and we'd end up back here, or somewhere worse.'

Aaron cracked his knuckles, ready for a fight. 'We can take them.'

Alec scoffed. 'Like last time? How's the face, by the way?'

Aaron tentatively touched the angry gashes on his cheek. He flinched. 'Okay, point taken. So, what's your plan?'

'We wait until after they come for us. When they bring us back here, then we'll make our move.'

'I don't know about that.' Hailey leaned her back against the bars, their warmth sending beads of sweat down her neck. 'I don't think Hades will be too happy about us breaking in here and attacking the Erinyes. What if he comes and kills us?'

'He won't,' Jayden said. 'If he wanted us dead, he would have killed us in the pit. Besides, if the history books are anything to go by, Hades likes to see people suffering, not dead. I think we should do what Alec says and wait to escape. We're only going to get one chance, and we can't screw it up.'

Demi sighed theatrically. 'All right, I guess I can handle sleeping on dirt for a little bit.'

Hailey wasn't fussed on the idea of sitting around and waiting, especially when it meant putting the world in jeopardy. But she figured Hades and Persephone had been awake for almost seven months now and hadn't attacked, so the world could probably wait another few hours. 'Okay. We'll do it your way. But-'