Chapter Twenty Nine

At the bottom of the beach, we all waited as Lee tried to come up with a plan. I paced around excitedly.

Was this really happening? This was the moment we had been waiting for! Heck - was this my destiny? I chuckled at the thought and tried to calm myself down.

I glanced at Ducky, who was laying on the shore. He was playing with the water, morphing it into balls and shooting it an undignified Harlow.

Lee was also pacing, but he halted a few meters from the gaping hole into the cove. It was pitch black, like a looming monster's mouth with how large and wife it was. It gave me shivers just looking at it.

"Okay, I have a plan." Lee announced. I stopped fiddling with the hem of my shirt and hurried over to him, where we were gathered in a ragged circle. "We should stick together until- or even if- it breaks into separate passages." He announced. "I think the best groups would be Aidan and Harlow, since they've both fought together before."

I shot Harlow a grin and she returned it, her golden speckled eyes sparkling in the late morning sun.

"Gabriel and Scarlett should work together, since they have an offence and a defensive power each." I felt a prickle of hostility shiver down my spine, but tried to keep my face neutral. I refused to be a jealous, possessive girlfriend. "And Ducky and I should work together."

"What happens after?" I asked.

"That depends on what we find." Scarlett pointed out. "Let's agree to meet back here in - oh I don't know... an hour."

She turned and led the way with Gabriel into the cove, with Ducky and Lee following, leaving Harlow and I to bring up the rear.

I walked along warily in the darkness. Harlow and I had agreed to hold hands, but I think it was for my comfort more than hers. But I was grateful none the less.

The darkness was suffocating me, with only Harlow's weak phone torch to light our path. My phone? My torch had shattered ages ago.

The cove stretched ahead of them, tall and wide, becoming darker and darker as they moved away from the source of light at the entrance.

My feet throbbed from the unsteady, rough surface and I almost tripped a couple of times. The raw cold probed my bare skin and I shivered.

As a kid, the dark was my mortal enemy. I could never sleep without a night light, and to this day I still couldn't. Something about it just bugged me. I had to sleep with my bed pressed against the wall so I felt like no one would sneak up on me and I couldn't walk through a dark Corridor.

Now fate was really kicking me up the backside by forcing me into these damned caves.

To try an disactact myself from the ringing in my ears, I drew in a deep breath through my nose - only to be met with the sharp tang of wet sand and concrete, and an eggy fart that I was positive came from Ducky at the front.

I tensed as a fern brushed my leg and sent shivers up my spine. My flight or fight reflexes her kicking in and right now all I wanted to do was turn heel and run from the cove.

But Harlow's tight grip on my hand was telling me otherwise.

All I could hear was the distant crash of waves, the steady but soft breathing of the group and my own footsteps.

Even though it was clear that we were in no danger, it didn't stop goosebumps from prickling my skin.

It seems quiet and safe. I thought, biting my lip. But there must be something down here.

It didn't take long for us to reach a splitting point. Three ways, actually. Convenience, much?

The roof of the cave was completely dark now, with an interlacing mesh of tree roots above us. Each of the tunnels slid down steeply into darkness, further into the ground, and I suppressed another shiver at the thought of all of that mud and rocks above us.

"This is where we split up," Lee said. "Ducky and I will meet you guys back at the entrance. Good luck to of you."

My eyes were wide but when Harlow nudged me and started striding into one of the tunnels, with a confidence I wish I had. I took a deep breath in hopes to calm my racing heart and followed her.

Almost at once, all of the remaining light faded away and we walked along in almost complete darkness apart from the torch.

My bag lay heavy on my back and every time I took a step the knives smacked against my thigh.

I strained to hear even the slightest sound from the passageway, but there was nothing.

It was getting narrower the further we went in, now, it was about a meter above my head and less than on either side, forcing Harlow and I to walk single file.

A gust of cold wind blew from the left side of my face and I paused. The faint sound of lapping water could be heard.

"Should we go that way?" Harlow called back to me. "It must be another passage."

I took the torch from her and shone it around the tunnel. The one we were headed into was just getting narrower and narrower, small, spiky stalagmites appearing on the ground.

It would eventually lead to nothing, but I turned the torch to the side where the air came from and I took a step.

Here was a small tunnel heading off the main one from the ground. It looked as though my shoulders couldn't fit through the opening.

I crouched beside it and shone the torch through the hole. Cold water wafted towards my legs, causing shivers to go running down my spine.

I couldn't get a good look of anything inside the tunnel, but I knew there was open space, as if there was a wall between them.

"There's definitely Something behind there," I reported, handing the torch back to Harlow, but she pushed it back towards me and cracked her knuckles. I frowned. "What are you doing?"

She grinned, her golden eyes flashing like a sunrise on a river. "I'm going to put my super strength to good use."

So I watched, my mouth hanging open as she crouched beside the opening with only the light of the torch and attempted to slide through.

"Wait- Harlow. Let me," I wasn't going to let her leave me behind.

Harlow glanced back at me, her intricately braided hair flipping over her shoulder. "You can't fit through here. Your shoulders are too wide."

I bit my lip, my insides squirming. So I stood, helpless, as she slid into the small tunnel like thing and disappeared on the other side.

"Harlow?" I called, my spine prickling. I hated the idea of being alone in here. "Did you get through?" My voice echoed in the chamber, before going silent. I waited. "Harlow?"

Then I had to take a step back as rocks tumbled down the side of the caves, landing at my feet until there was an arching entrance to this other cave I could just walk through. Handy.

Harlow shot me a grin in the darkness and I returned it, stepping through the archway.

Immediately, I had to shield my eyes, a blinding, blue light spiralling out of a small, clear pool. Small gravel rocks lay at the bottom, the water tinted blue.

I brought my hand down and squinted at the surface. "Woah." I breathed, my lungs reusing to cooperate as I brought it into my lungs and out again. It looked as if there seemed to be some glass in there, distorting a round section of the water, almost like glass.

"It's an orb." Harlow breathed. My eyes flicked up to meet hers.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that thing can tear a hole into Mount Olympus itself."

I searched her gaze. "Meaning?"

She was steady. My rock whilst the stormy sees of my emotions were tempted to rip me off and into the murky depths of my fear.

"Meaning, that thing can get us to Tartarus."

My breathing hitched, vanishing from my body for a split second.