DEVIL TOWN ━━ jason grace²

xiv. dead man's deception

Hazel frowned. "No traps on the doorway, but something is strange here."

Hea made a vague humming noise. Her features glowed in the bronze reflection of her sword. "You sure you're not just sensing Leo?"

"Hey!"

But Hazel shook her head at the both of them. "My underground sense is... fuzzy, like someone is working against me. Hiding what's ahead of us."

"Is that possible?" Annais asked at the same time as Jason murmured, "The sorceress that Hecate warned you about? The one Leo saw in his dream? What was her name again?"

Hazel hesitated. "It would be safer not to say her name. Just stay alert. One thing I am sure of; from this point on, the dead are stronger than the living."

While everyone wallowed in anxious silence, Hea let out a soft laugh. It was more of an exhale of breath through her nose as her lips twisted with mirth. "Ten points for the ominous tone, little sister," she said, hefting her sword for good measure. "But the dead have nothing on me."

Annais never had reason to doubt Hea. If there was anyone she always counted on, in the good and the bad, it was her big sister. But as the shadows continued to whisper, slowly but surely picking up in fervour, she stopped for a second. Wondered. Was Hea, for once, in over her head? Were they, again?

"Where are the monsters?" Frank asked, a muscle in his jaw ticking. He seemed on edge all of a sudden. Restless. "I thought Gaea had an army guarding the doors."

"Don't know," Jason said, his breath hot on Annais' neck as he leaned some of his weight on her. In the dim light, she could just make out the sweat-slick column of his throat. "At this point, I'd almost prefer a straight-up fight."

"Same," she confessed.

"Careful what you wish for, Mr and Mrs Grace," Leo shot at them. Unfortunately for Annais, he summoned a ball of fire, and the red hot embers revealed the pale pink blush that crept to the tips of her ears. Despite his sickly pallor, Jason mustered a smile. "Sorry to expose you there, Annie. But personally, I'm hoping nobody's home. We walk in, find the lovers, destroy the Doors of Death, and walk out. Maybe stop at the gift shop."

"Yeah," Frank snorted. "Like that'll happen."

Out of nowhere, rubble rained down from the ceiling, coating the group in a thin layer of dust. The tunnel shook like the walls were closing in. Fortunately for Annais and unluckily for Leo (who was alone as Mel lingered beside Hea) Annais was held steady by Jason's hand, waiting with bated breath. She would've laughed at the sight of Leo bear-hugging Hea's back in an attempt to remain upright if the tunnel-shaking hadn't increased in its intensity before abruptly pausing.

"That was close," Hazel sighed once she was sure that, for the time being, they were safe. "These passageways won't take much more."

"The Doors of Death just opened again," Annais confirmed.

With a concerned frown, Piper noted, "It's happening, like, every fifteen minutes."

Hea nodded solemnly. "Like birth contractions."

"Yes..." Piper seemed disconcerted by her reply.

Nico shook his head at them. "Actually, it's every twelve minutes," he corrected Piper. Annais couldn't be bothered to ask how he knew this. "We'd better hurry. Ezra, Percy and Annabeth are close. They're in danger. I can sense it."

Annais could, too, but it was hard to separate their danger from her own. It formed a damning, fatal combination together in her chest, knocking the breath right out of her lungs. As they travelled deeper into the tunnel, she felt like she'd ran a marathon just to get there, inhaling and exhaling sharply with each dragging step. Thankfully, the ceilings rose several metres higher, allowing some distance between her and the bodies forced in close proximity. The only one she kept close was Jason.