The Skullcap Chronicles

Chapter Six

 My phone vibrated as a call came in. I pulled it out and checked the Caller ID- Kai.

 "Yo."

 "I- um- can I come back over?" She asked, her voice shaky.

 "Why?"

 "I met Cain."

 "Oh, shit."

 I hung up after telling her to come over in twenty minutes, and then a series of knocks in a melody rapped against the door from the other side. I repeated it, and then thought. The door would open to the dining room- it was barely a foot from the other door. What purpose did it serve?

 I leaned my head against it, listening.

 Suddenly, it swung open, opening out the other way. I lurched forward and barely caught myself on the door frame, and then stared down the darkness in front of me. The opposite wall was just a few feet away, cement bricks piled together. A ladder was rusted into the wall, enticing me to journey down. A cold draft wafted out of the hole, and I took a deep breath, just to see it puff white into the darkness.

 I went upstairs to my room to change. If this went where I thought it did, it wouldn't do to wear yoga pants. I changed quickly, tugging on dark skinny jeans, a gray sweater, and a black leather jacket. I shifted into my sneakers and ran back downstairs, and then took a deep breath.

 It took some scrambling and overcoming my fear of heights, but I finally got onto the ladder. I started down, worried the whole time about the cobwebs I was likely sticking my fingers in. But strangely, there were none. I carried on down the ladder through the darkness for a seeming eternity, until I finally reached the bottom, where a passage led down stairs of onyx beneath arching walls of Greek paintings. Depictions of heroes dying and gods fighting lined the way to a distant blue glow, and i started down. As I took my first step away from the ladder, the light above vanished with a thump as the door closed.

 I started down the passage, noticing skulls and skeletons and coffins lining the way here and there. The macabre decor was simultaneously fascinating and haunting; I knew I'd never forget this, but I couldn't decide if that was good, bad, or a little of both. It was like an Edgar Allen Poe story had leapt to life before my eyes, but we all know how his stories end.

 As I moved further downward, my breath began to come short, as if there wasn't enough oxygen. My heart went from slow pounding to staccato palpatations, and more than once I grew dizzy and had to stop to catch my breath as the world blurred before me.

 I finally reached the bottom to find myself in a wide, spacious room, a large mantle in the center with a blazing blue fire and multiple facets. On the side of it I could see, a woman sat in an armchair with a glass of wine and flowers in her hair.

 "Come, sit," she said, a quiet command in a crisp voice. I stepped forward, conscious of every movement, and sank to the chair and then looked over. She was beautiful- honey brown skin and dark eyes reflecting the blue fire, carefully composed curls supporting blossoms, defined thick lips, and a rhubarb-colored ancient Greek toga dress, bound with golden clasps.

 It took me a moment to find my voice, though I could breathe more easily now. "Are you Persephone?"

 "Yes. How did you know?"

 So this is the underworld. "The setting and flowers were a dead give-away."

 Her expression didn't change. No joking, then. Got it.

 "You are Alys Manendottir, correct?"

 I nodded, and then said quickly, "Yes, ma'am."

 "Do not call me 'ma'am.' The word is French in origin; I'll not hear it. However, that aside, you're a skullcap. Your very existence is making my life hell, because Hades can't control his temper unless he's getting what he wants. Typical men. But the thing is, your grim reaper has made quite a case for you- you have somehow impressed him. He believes the less you know about skullcaps, the safer we are, and we can therefore let you be. Do you agree with this?"