DON'T BLAME ME! (p. jackson) (#2) (ON HOLD)

- twenty five

FINDING THE PLACE WAS EASY.

rose 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.

"i'll go first," rose said.

"no!" piper yelped.

all three of them turned toward her.

"piper, what is it?" jason asked. "that image in the blade... you've seen it before, haven't you?"

she nodded. "i didn't know how to tell you. i saw the room down there filling with water. i saw the four of us drowning."

jason and percy both frowned.

"i can't drown," percy said.

"maybe the future has changed," jason speculated. "in the image you showed us just now, there wasn't any water."

"look," percy said. "i'll check it out first. it's fine. be right back."

before piper could object, he disappeared down the stairwell.

after about thirty seconds, rose 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. rose and piper followed, and jason walked behind them, 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," rose kept her eyes open for traps.

as they wound their way underground, rose 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 rose 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? rose had no idea. maybe the room and the stairwell had been built during different time periods.

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.

"alright." percy raised his eyebrows. "here's the weird part. watch."

he stepped to the middle of the room.

instantly, green and blue light rippled across the walls. rose heard the sound of a fountain, but there was no water. there didn't seem to be any source of light except for percy's and jason's blades.

"do you smell the ocean?" percy asked.

rose hadn't noticed at first. she was standing next to percy, and he always smelled like the sea. but he was right. the scent of salt water and storm was getting stronger, like a summer hurricane approaching.