plague bringer - a heroes of olympus insert

𝗑𝗑𝗏. 𝗐𝖺𝗅𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝗈 𝖺 𝖽𝖾𝖺𝗍𝗁 𝗉𝗂𝗍

Finding the place was easy. Percy led them right to it, on an abandoned stretch of hillside overlooking the ruined Forum. Getting in was easy too. Jason's gold sword cut through the padlock, and the metal gate creaked open. No mortals saw them. No alarms went off. Stone steps spiraled down into the gloom. It seemed a little sketchy, but sketchy was better than being immediately swarmed by monsters.

"I'll go first," Jason said.

"No!" Piper yelped.

Aria and the boys turned toward her.

"Pipes, what is it?" Jason asked. "That image in the blade...you've seen it before, haven't you?"

She nodded, her eyes stinging. "I didn't know how to tell you. I saw the room down there filling with water. I saw the four of us drowning."

They all frowned.

"I can't drown," Percy said, though he sounded like he was asking a question.

"Maybe the future has changed," Jason speculated. "In the image you showed us just now, there wasn't any water."

"Yeah, maybe everything will turn out alright, Pipes." Aria shot her a small smile, but she understood Piper's concerns. She also suspected they wouldn't be so lucky.

"Look," Percy said. "I'll check it out first. It's fine. Be right back."

Before anyone could object, he disappeared down the stairwell.

Aria counted silently as they waited for him to come back. Somewhere around thirty-five, she heard his footsteps, and he appeared at the top, looking more baffled than relieved.

"Good news: no water," he said. "Bad news: I don't see any exits down there. And, uh, weird news: well, you should see this...."

They descended cautiously. Percy took the lead, with Riptide drawn. Aria and Piper followed, and Jason walked behind his girlfriend, guarding their backs. The stairwell was a cramped corkscrew of masonry, no more than six feet in diameter. Even though Percy had given the "all clear," Aria kept her eyes open for traps. With every turn of the stairs, she anticipated an ambush. She had her weapon, but they were in close quarters and today was Gaea's deadline. Going underground was making her antsy.

As they wound their way down, Aria saw old graffiti gouged into the stones: Roman numerals, names and phrases in Italian. That meant other people had been down here more recently than the Roman Empire, but Aria wasn't reassured. If monsters were below, they'd ignore mortals, waiting for some nice juicy demigods to come along.

Finally, they reached the bottom.

Percy turned. "Watch this last step."

He jumped to the floor of the cylindrical room, which was five feet lower than the stairwell. Why would someone design a set of stairs like that? Aria had no idea. Maybe the room and the stairwell had been built during different time periods. Or maybe this was a death trap like Piper thought. Honestly, who knows?

She jumped down with Percy and drew her sword before she turned to the stairs where Piper was hesitating to go down. After a moment, she clambered down as Jason followed.

Aria was sure she had never been in a room like this before. The curved walls had once been painted with frescoes, which were now faded to eggshell white with only flecks of color. The domed ceiling was about fifty feet above.

Around the back side of the room, opposite the stairwell, nine alcoves were carved into the wall. Each niche was about five feet off the floor and big enough for a human-sized statue, but each was empty. The air felt cold and dry. As Percy had said, there were no other exits.