§ Tasha's POV §

    I was silent during the train ride to Denver, while the others were laughing and joking around. I was thinking... thinking about the captured gods, thinking about Polyphemus, thinking about the bronze locket that Hephaestus had given me.

    The locket was hanging on my camp necklace, clinking softly against the clay beads. I still didn't know what it could do. I had tried opening it, but it wouldn't budge, even when I'd tried prying it open with a knife.

    There were intricate engravings over the front of the locket, engravings of delicate flames, and what looked like a phoenix with its wings outstretched. I didn't know what it meant, but something told me it was important.

"What is up with you? You're always thinking about something!" Jack laughed, nudging me playfully with his elbow. I shrugged, not answering him.

"Tasha? Are you okay?" Lovey asked, with a concerned look on her face, "It's not like you to be so quiet."

"Jeez, guys, I'm fine!" I exclaimed. I got weird looks from all three of my friends.

"Hey, we're just worried about you, Tasha," Mark said, putting his arm around my shoulders reassuringly.

"Well, stop worrying! I'm perfectly okay," I replied, a little annoyed. I didn't need them to be worried about me, I could handle myself.

    Okay, I'll admit it, I lied to my friends. I was definitely not okay. I was terrified of facing the cyclopes, I was confused as hell about the locket-thingy, and I was nervous every time Mark was nearby, but I didn't show it. I refused to show it.

"We're here," Jack said as the train screeched to a halt in the Denver station. We walked off of the train, and left the subway. Lovey was leading us again, having Googled the mine's location on her phone.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Mark sighed, as we stood around the mine entrance. I peeked inside. The smell hit me like a ton of bricks. It was probably five hundred times worse than the warehouse in Cleveland.

"Maybe... maybe we should just IM Artemis and tell her where we are, so... so that the gods can sort this out," I suggested shakily.

"Not happening. We are going to save my mother and Hephaestus," Lovey stated, marching into the mine. I groaned, and the boys and I followed her in.

    It was uncomfortably warm for me in the tunnels, the heat making sweat trickle down my brow. The others weren't sweating, though, in fact, they didn't seem to notice the heat. We were probably nearing the forge where the cyclopes were forcing Hephaestus to make their weapons. That would explain why I was overheating.

"Uh, Lovey? I think something's wrong with Natasha," Jack said, noticing me leaning against the wall of the tunnel.

"No... I'm okay... Just a little hot, that's all," I panted. I'd taken my jacket off, and I'd rolled up my jeans as far as they'd go, and I was still boiling. One of the disadvantages of being a daughter of Khione.

"Do you want us to stop so you can rest?" Lovey asked me. I shook my head, pushing myself off of the wall.

"Nope, I'm fine. Come on, let's go kick some cyclopes butt," I replied, smiling weakly. We continued to wander through the tunnels, the heat getting more intense as we got closer to where the forge was. Soon, all of us were sweating, me more than the others.

   Finally, we saw a fiery orange glow ahead of us. The forge. The sound of hammering metal echoed through the mine, and Ancient Greek swearing would follow soon after. Hephaestus. The bronze locket that the god of the forges had sent me grew warm against my chest, and I got the feeling that the cyclopes shouldn't know I had it.

    As we approached the entrance to the forge, we heard voices.

"-ere is it?" a harsh voice asked angrily.

"I told you, I don't have it, and I don't know where it is!" shouted another voice... the voice of Hephaestus.

"DO NOT LIE TO ME!" the first voice boomed, "I must go... but when I come back, you will tell me where you hid the key."

    Loud footsteps where heard, followed by the sound of a metal door slamming shut, and then the hammering resumed. I walked forward hesitantly, only to be stopped by Lovey grabbing my wrist.

"Tasha, what are you doing? That heat could kill you," she whispered, holding my wrist tightly.

"Hephaestus spoke to me in a dream, I have to do it. Besides, I think the cyclopes are looking for this," I replied softly, using my other hand to show them the bronze locket. I explained how I'd gotten it.

"Why didn't you show us this before?" Mark asked. The three of them had hurt expressions on their faces.

"Because I didn't know what it was for. It doesn't open, and the only interesting thing about it is the phoenix on it, but I have a hunch that it's much more important than it looks. Now, Lovey, let me go, so I can go into that forge," I hissed. The daughter of Athena dropped my wrist, but when I walked towards the forge entrance, the three of them followed me.

"He may have come to you in a dream, but the quest said the four of us, so we're doing this together," Mark said stubbornly. I smiled softly, and the four of us stepped out of the mining tunnel into the scorching heat of the forge. Hephaestus' hammering stopped immediately.

"So, child of snow, you wander into a place too warm for your fragile powers to cope with," he said gruffly, but I could hear a slight amount of amusement in his voice.

"We're here to rescue you, lord Hephaestus," Lovey spoke ignoring the fact that the god was talking to me.

"I see this. But you should free Athena first, since she's the one who needs to have that meeting with Zeus. The cyclopes won't be as prepared without her," he told us.

"Yeah... but they're attacking tomorrow. So if they get the information they need out of Athena tonight, then we're all screwed," Jack replied.

"It doesn't matter, boy, they don't have what they need to launch a full attack. The worst they can do with the weapons I have provided, is make a big noise. That's it. And I can't remake the key they need without Athena, Zeus and Ares, so they stand no chance," the god of fire explained.

    Before anything else could be said, the sound of the metal door unlocking could be heard.

"Quick, hide!" Hephaestus hissed. Lovey dragged Mark, Jack and I behind a weapons rack, concealing us from the massive beast that stomped in. I couldn't see his face properly, but the cataract-filled eye was a dead giveaway.

"Di Immortales," I breathed softly.
"It's him, it's Polyphemus."