THE HEALER| Heroes of Olympus

XI

Despite the midday heat and the raging storm of death energy, a group of tourists was climbing over the ruins. Fortunately there weren't many and they didn't give the demigods a second look.

After the crowds in Rome, I had stopped worrying too much about getting noticed. If we could fly their warship into the Roman Colosseum with ballistae blazing and not even cause a traffic slowdown, I figured we could get away with anything.

Nico led the way. At the top of the hill, we climbed over an old retaining wall and down into an excavated trench. Finally we arrived at a stone doorway leading straight into the side of the hill. The death storm seemed to originate right above our heads. Looking up at the swirling tentacles of darkness,

Nico faced the group. "From here, it gets tough."

"Sweet," Leo said. "'Cause so far I've totally been pulling my punches."

Nico glared at him. "We'll see how long you keep your sense of humor. Remember, this is where pilgrims came to commune with dead ancestors. Underground, you may see things that are hard to look at, or hear voices trying to lead you astray in the tunnels. Jasper, do you have the barley cakes?"

"What?" He looked lost in thought. Probably thinking about who might appear to him. I knew who might appear to me. Unfortunately I actually have a list of who might appear. 

"I've got the cakes," I said. I pulled out the magical barley crackers we'd made from the grain Triptolemus had given us in Venice.

"Eat up," Nico advised.

I chewed my cracker of death and tried not to gag. It reminded me of a cookie made with sawdust instead of sugar.

"Yum," Piper said. Even the daughter of Aphrodite couldn't avoid making a face.

"Okay." Nico choked down the last of his barley. "That should protect us from the poison."

"Poison?" Leo asked. "Did I miss the poison? 'Cause I love poison."

"Soon enough," Nico promised. "Just stick close together, and maybe we can avoid getting lost or going insane."

On that happy note, Nico led us underground.

The tunnel spiraled gently downwards, the ceiling supported by white stone arches that reminded me of a whale's rib cage.

As we walked, Hazel ran her hands along the masonry. "This wasn't part of a temple," she whispered. "This was ... the basement for a manor house, built in later Greek times."

I found it eerie how Hazel could tell so much about an underground place just by being there.

"A manor house?" Frank asked. "Please don't tell me we're in the wrong place."

"The House of Hades is below us," Nico assured him. "But Hazel's right, these upper levels are much newer. When the archaeologists first excavated this site, they thought they'd found the Necromanteion. Then they realized the ruins were too recent, so they decided it was the wrong spot. They were right the first time. They just didn't dig deep enough."

We turned a corner and stopped. In front of us, the tunnel ended in a huge block of stone.

"A cave-in?" Jason asked.

"A test," Nico said. "Hazel, would you do the honors?"

Hazel stepped forward. She placed her hand on the rock, and the entire boulder crumbled to dust.The tunnel shuddered. Cracks spread across the ceiling. For a terrifying moment, I imagined we'd all be crushed under tons of earth – a disappointing way to die, after all we'd been through.