Poseidon's Academy

Chapter 31. Mind Games

A pool of lukewarm water broke Hailey's fall with a splash. She lurched up, the water coming to her waist, as the hatch slammed shut above her, casting her and her friends in a blanket of darkness.

They were trapped-again. Can this nightmare get any worse? Hailey wondered, biting down the urge to cry at how completely and utterly messed up things were.

'Is everyone all right?' Aaron's voice cut through the darkness.

'No,' Demi replied, sounding on the verge of tears. 'We should have stayed in the Elysian Fields. We'll never get out of this. And it smells like a sewer.'

'You're wrong.' Hailey heard a smile in Jayden's voice. 'We're in water, which means I can use my powers to get us out of here-all I need to do is give Alec a boost with a wave, and then he can pass through the hatch and open it from the outside.'

'Uh, did you not hear the part where Hades said he'd kill us if we tried to escape again?' Alec squeaked.

'We won't get caught,' Aaron reassured him.

'We can't stay here, Alec,' Hailey agreed, sweat trickling down her brow and neck. 'We need to warn the world about what's happening before it's too late. I don't want to be responsible for bringing the gods back from the dead.' Especially when there's a prophecy that will have everyone looking to me to save the world, she added to herself.

'So, what are we waiting for?' Demi asked. 'Let's go.'

'We can't go yet,' Alec protested.

'Alec, you heard Hailey-we can't stay here,' Demi told him. 'And I don't think he was really being serious about killing us-it was just a bluff-but we're not going to get caught again anyway, so it really doesn't matter.'

'Well, we will get caught if we leave right now,' Alec argued. 'Hades was waiting for us to escape from the Elysian Fields. So I'd bet my powers he's waiting again.'

'I agree,' Aaron cut in. 'We need to stay put for now. Hades said it'll be a little while before he wakes up the other gods, so I think we can at least wait a day.'

'What?!' Demi exclaimed, kicking the water. 'I can't live down here for a day.'

Hailey wasn't happy about waiting that long to escape again, but it was the smart thing to do. If they got caught making a run for it a second time, Hailey didn't think they'd get a third chance. She wasn't sure if Hades would really kill them, but she didn't think he'd have a problem locking them away somewhere even worse than this and throwing away the key.

'There's one thing I don't understand,' Jayden said. 'Why aren't the other gods awake too? Why do they need Hades to wake them up?'

Hailey had been wondering the same thing. 'Maybe Hecate put them to sleep using something other than her wand, and made it so that Hades could enjoy some freedom before waking them up. It doesn't explain the powers though. How can we have the Olympians' powers if they're alive?'

'Maybe they did die,' Alec mused. 'And maybe Hecate gave Hades a spell to revive them.'

Was Hecate that powerful? Probably, Hailey thought, considering what her wand could do. She wished they'd never found the stupid thing. It was the reason she was trapped in Tartarus facing the possibility of never getting out. Of never seeing her mum again. Of dying down here in this horrible place.

'Do you think they've found us missing yet?' Aaron asked, pulling Hailey from her thoughts.

Hailey wiped at the sweat on her face, wishing she was a Chione so she could use her ice powers to cool this furnace down. 'If they haven't, they will soon.'