Where You Go ― Jason Grace

v. fear and panic come to call

THREE PITS LAY SIDE BY SIDE like finger holes on a recorder. Each one was perfectly round, two feet in diameter, tiled around the rim of limestone; each one plunged straight into darkness. Every few seconds, seemingly at random, one of the three pits shot a column of fire shot into the sky. Each time, the color and intensity of the flames were different. 

"They weren't doing this before." Annabeth walked a wide arc around the pits. She still looked shaky and pale, but her mind was now obviously engaged in the problem at hand. "There doesn't seem to be any pattern. The timing, the color, the height of the fire... I don't get it." 

"Did we activate them somehow?" Piper wondered. "Maybe that surge of fear you felt on the hill... Uh, I mean we all felt." 

Annabeth didn't seem to hear her, but Ophelia gave her a weird look. 

"There must be some kind of mechanism... a pressure plate, a proximity alarm." 

Flames shot from the middle pit. Annabeth counted silently. The next time, a geyser erupted on the left. She frowned. "That's not right. It's inconsistent. It has to follow some kind of logic." 

Ophelia's ears started to ring. Every time one ignited, a horrible thrill went through her—fear and panic, sharp and burning. 

"It isn't rational," Piper said. "It's emotional." 

"How can fire pits be emotional?" Ophelia questioned. 

Piper held her hand over the pit on the right. Instantly, flames leaped up. Piper barely had enough time to pull her hand back. 

"Piper!" Annabeth ran over, Ophelia right behind her. "What were you thinking?" 

"I wasn't. I was feeling. What we want is down there. These pits are the way in. I'll have to jump." 

"Jump?" Ophelia repeated. "You want to jump into the fiery geyser?"

"Are you crazy?" Annabeth asked. "Even if you don't get stuck in the tube, you have no idea how deep it is." 

"You're right." 

"You'll be burned alive!" 

"Possibly." Piper unbuckled her sword and tossed it into the pit on the right. "I'll let you guys know if it's safe. Wait for my word." 

"Don't you dare, Piper McLean," Ophelia warned. 

Piper jumped. 

"Are you fucking—" Ophelia cut herself off with a groan. 

"Remind me never to let Piper and Percy go on a quest together," Annabeth grumbled. 

A minute or so later, Annabeth called down the pit, "Piper?" 

"Yeah!" Piper's voice sounded far away, like she was yelling up a chimney, but she didn't sound hurt or scared. 

"Thank the gods! You okay?" 

"Yeah. Hold on a sec." 

 After much longer than a sec, Piper called up, "Guys, it's a long drop, but it's safe to come down. Maybe... uh, you have a rope you could fasten so we can get back up?"

"On it!" Annabeth said. She rifled through her pack and grabbed a length of rope. She and Ophelia fastened it to a nearby tree, then dropped it down the center pit. 

She and Annabeth shimmied down, Ophelia's winged shoes fluttering restlessly as she went. 

"Piper McLean," Annabeth grumbled, "that was without a doubt the dumbest risk I've ever seen anyone take, and I date a dumb risk-taker."