Typhon's Revenge

Fire No one seemed eager to walk down the tunnel after I told them where it led to. To be honest, I wasn't very eager myself. I didn't know what I would find down there or if the Underworld was as hostile as everyone thought it was. Not even Barbara could answer that question when I asked her all those months ago. She said that only a few had ever managed to do down there and return. But not unscathed. And even though I was Hades's daughter, that didn't mean I wasn't nervous about how the Underworld would be like or if anything would attack us on our way down. Like the three-headed beast, I knew my father owned, Cerberus. I shuddered and quickly shook my head as I took a deep breath.  I had finished eating and the others were quiet, lost in thought as they looked at their hands or the fire nervously.  Clearing my throat, I got to my feet and let out a deep breath. "Well then, let's get going, shall we?" I said as I headed for my backpack and started to fold my sleeping bag, which was the only one left to fold. A slight tension ran over the group as I told them we should get going, but nevertheless, they started to get to their feet and they waited for me. "It looks pretty dark down there," the girl, Kalani murmured with uneasiness. Now that she was back to her old self, she looked worn-out and exhausted. Something I guessed was a side effect of having the darkness possess her for so long. I hadn't really talked to her and I wasn't eager to either. I didn't feel comfortable talking to her. It didn't matter who she was now, her face was imprinted in mine as I pictured her kissing Andrew.  It didn't help that she stuck to him like a leach. I had to remind myself that it was because she didn't know Mason or Alex, but I had a feeling it was much more than that. Even if she didn't want to admit it. Girls could sense things.  Pulling myself out of my train of thoughts, I smiled and picked up a thick stick that had been on the ground. "You can use this," I said as I handed the object to Kalani. She looked at me as if I were crazy and opened her mouth to speak when I quickly shot a ball of flames towards the stick until it lit up like a torch.  "There, now you can use it," I said with a shrug as I walked into the tunnel. No one said anything as I disappeared inside. I could only guess that they were too nervous to do so.  Once the darkness consumed me, I opened my hand in front of me and conjured up another flame before it floated in front of me and followed my every move. I did the same with four more flames. The illumination was uncomfortable since we were in unknown territory and we didn't know what we would find, but at least it was something. At least I could see a couple of feet in front of me.  I took a deep breath as I watched where I stepped. The ground was bumpy and I could feel the stones underneath the worn-out soles of my shoes. I knew that once this was over, my feet would be throbbing and tingling painfully. But I couldn't worry about that now. We needed to continue until we reached my father's kingdom. Behind me, I could hear the others following closely, not wanting to get caught in the darkness of the tunnel. Kalani was walking close to Andrew as he held the back of the group. She had given him the torch and he tried to look all around us, alert.  I rolled my eyes and shook my head in disbelief. If any monster came our way, we were going to need as many skilled fighters as we could, and right now, those were only Andrew and me. And Andrew had his hands too busy holding up the torch to be carrying his sword confidently.  "Aileen, how do you know we can get in? How do you know when we're supposed to stop?" Alex whispered behind me, but the walls were too close to us that her voice echoed all around the tunnel.  Without stopping, I shrugged and kept my eyes ahead. "I don't. I'm just following the compass," I said as I held the gold artifact in my hand. After all this way, it still hadn't changed direction, and I wondered how much time had passed since then. It felt like hours, but I couldn't be so sure.  "And I'm also following this feeling inside of me. I can't explain it, I just know we're going in the right direction," I finished as I came to a stop. The tunnel seemed to end in front of me and my breath hitched in my throat. There was a very narrow stairway leading further down. It was steep and the steps were small, some of them were even too worn-out that they no longer existed. The faint sound of water trickling echoed in the tunnel as we stayed silent. Only Alex and I could see what was in front of us and I could instantly feel her stiffen next to me. The worst part about passing through this path was that the walls of the tunnel were no longer close to us, they expanded around the chamber. So if we fell, it would be a painful way to go down, I wasn't even sure we'd be able to survive a fall from this high up since I could not see the end of the stairs. Taking a deep breath and turning to face the others, I said, "we are going to have to be careful. The steps are steep and there's nothing to hold on to. Try not to rush the others to move faster. And don't fall."  Everyone tensed as I took a step forward and slowly placed my foot on the step. I moved carefully as I balanced myself and then placed the other. Taking another step, I felt the ground underneath my foot slip from my grasp and I gasped as my weight started to move forward. "Aileen!" I heard someone scream behind me, but my heart was pumping too fast and loud to make out the voices of my friends. As I regained my balance, I took a couple of deep breaths and turned to face them. "I'm alright. Just be careful, they're slippery as well." I continued to move forward and once I was far enough, Alex followed after me and everyone else after, one-by-one. We didn't speak as we trekked forward into the darkness. My flames that were following our path spread out so each one illuminated each of our paths.  "How much longer?" Mason called out from behind me.  "I don't know," I said back as I kept on walking. My legs were starting to hurt from the strain and tension of moving very carefully. And yet, I couldn't see the end of the path. I couldn't see the ground underneath, only pitch-black darkness. I tried to move faster, since I was getting sick of this when suddenly, I heard the sound of someone losing their grip before a yelp filled the chamber and Andrew screamed, "Kalani!" I quickly turned back and saw Kalani hanging from one of the steps. Andrew was trying to reach her without slipping but it was hard since the steps were very wet.  "Andrew, don't," I said through gritted teeth and he instantly stopped. "We have to help her," he urged with a fire in his eyes that sent a pang of jealousy at my heart. I quickly shook the feeling away and tried to keep my face neutral.  "She can help herself," Mason said as he intervened, taking everyone by surprise. His tone wasn't rude nor hard, he was genuinely speaking. "She can control the wind, can't she?" Turning to Kalani, he spoke to her directly. "Can't you?" Kalani gritted her teeth but quickly nodded her head.  "Then you know what you must do," Mason murmured and he held Kalani's gaze for a moment more before she let go of the steps.  "Kalani!" Andrew yelled as he tried to reach for her, but his fingers barely grazed hers as she fell.  His shocked expression was too much for me to bear and I quickly turned away.  Suddenly, a loud, hard breeze stormed past us, almost managing to make us fall as it followed the path Kalani had taken. In a moment, the sound of the wind became louder until Kalani was standing in what seemed like a tornado of her making, safe and sound.  She smiled and looked at the wind underneath her in awe and excitement before looking at us. "I did it," she whispered.  Everyone seemed to relax as they watched her unharmed and Alex was the one to speak. "Did you see anything down there?" Kalani nodded her head. "Yes, we still have a long way to go and there's a part of the stairs that is broken, which means we'd have to jump from one side to the other. I think I can get us down there much quicker and safer," she suggested and everyone seemed to let out a sigh of relief.  "I'm in," Andrew was the first one to break the silence as he jumped towards Kalani's tornado and his eyes widened as he regained his footing.  Mason and Alex shared a look before Mason spoke up, "you go first," he said to Alex.  Alex hesitated briefly before nodding her head and taking a deep breath as she jumped. Kalani quickly extended her arm and grabbed Alex's hand to keep her from falling.  Mason jumped in after, landing gracefully on the gust of wind.  When he was safely standing, he looked at me and nodded his head encouragingly. "Come on, Aileen. You can do it," he whispered. I looked into his eyes and I saw confidence and reassurance as he held out his hands in front of him. Then I looked at the rest of the stairs and hesitated. My pride didn't want me to accept Kalani's help, it wanted to continue until I reached the ground on my own. But I was tired, and it was safer to move as a team. So swelling my pride, I took a deep breath and jumped.  Time seemed to move in slow motion as I moved in the air until I landed on the tornado underneath me. A shiver ran down my spine as I felt the coldness of the wind reach my bones. Mason was quickly helping me to my feet.  Once I was back on my feet, Kalani began to lower her arms and the breeze followed her every move as it descended. Taking Alex's hand, I tried not to look down since I was scared of heights. My friend understood that I needed her support and she quickly nudged me and squeezed my hand reassuringly.  I could feel someone watching us, and from the corner of my eye, I turned to see who it was.  Andrew was looking at me intently. He was standing on the other side of the small tornado but his eyes told me he wanted to be anywhere but far from me. Quickly, I turned away and took a deep breath. The last thing I needed was to get my feelings involved. At least until we reached the ground.  After what felt like minutes, Kalani's wind finally reached the ground and she told us to jump off. One by one, we did what she asked until all of us were standing on the ground. My legs felt wobbly from both exhaustion and nervousness, but at least we could rest a bit more.  I opened the compass and looked at the arrow. It was pointing directly towards two dark double doors on the other side. Whispers seemed to echo from it, calling to me, inviting me to follow them.  "Alright, so who's hungry?" Mason asked as he clapped his hands and the sound echoed in my mind, drowning out the whispers until they faded and I was awakened from my trance.