The Forgotten Hero (Book 1)

Chapter 7

I woke up and Piper was still resting her head against my shoulder. And I was still holding Jason's hand. I looked at him, smiling slightly. Something about this felt wrong, but so much of it felt right.

Piper and Leo gently woke up and my little patch of happy was broken as we packed camp.

Trekking through the sewers eventually lead to trouble. Then again, anything we did lead to trouble.

In front of us were giant metal doors, a letter M embossed on the center. A seam split the middle of the doors, and I quickly recognized them to be elevator doors. The question was, why were there pristine elevator doors in the sewer?

"M for Macy's?" Piper guessed. "There's one in downtown Chicago."

"Or Monocle Motors still?" Leo narrowed his eyes. "Read the directory. It's all messed up."

Next to the doors was a simple plaque, on it was a generic sense of what was on each floor. This included stuff like armor, potions and even kennels.

"Kennels for what?" Piper muttered. "And who has a department store entrance in a sewer?"

"Or sells poisons?" Leo adds, thoughtfully. "Man, what does sundries even mean? Is that like, underwear?"

I slightly giggled.

"When in doubt, start at the top." Jason pressed the button.

We climbed into the elevator, and I grabbed Jason's hand. I missed the feeling of his hand in mine, even though it had been less than an hour.

The doors opened and I gasped in shock. The whole room was colored with sunlight, spilling through a massive stained glass ceiling. I stared at it, the mosaic pattern enthralling me.

"This is not Macy's" Piper muttered. Looking around, there were racks of armor and fur coats, and miscellaneous articles of clothing. At the edge of each floor was a glass railing, and you could see a fountain below, changing color from red to yellow to blue. In the bottom of the fountain laid thousands of glittering gold coins. On either side of the fountain are beautiful gilded cages.

Inside one of them is a mass of storm spirits, looking like a miniature hurricane is swirling around.

In the other cage is a satyr with a club raised in the air, like he was ready to smite anyone and anything. He looked like if Phil from the Hercules movie had a baby with a gym teacher.

Piper gasps. "Coach Hedge. We have to get down there." She urges.

"May I help you with something?" The voice behind us sounded like honey butter, or sweet molasses.

As we wheel around, a woman is standing there, appearing to have come from nowhere. She had long black hair, pale skin-- even more pale than mine-- and scary yet sweet glinting black eyes. She was one of those women who look ageless. She could have been 20 or 50 and I wouldn't be able to tell.

"It's always a pleasure to meet new customers. How may I help you?" Her voice made me want to relax. My head felt almost empty, and somehow fogged over.

"Is this your store?" Jason asked politely.

The woman nodded. "I found it abandoned, like so many stores are today. I fixed it up and made it into what you see today." She spoke with a sweet accent, almost exotic, and nostalgic in one. "I love collecting and helping others." She smiled at us. "It seemed like a great way to start anew in this country."

I could feel Jason relax next to me. I smiled, leaning my head on his shoulder. I liked this place. It felt like home, and I never wanted to leave. "So you're new to America?"