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"splattered with ichor"
FROM THE PORT to the Acropolis, Ariadne didn't see anything of Athens except dark, putrid tunnels. The snake men led them through an iron storm grate at the docks, straight into their underground, which smelled of rotting fish, mold and snakeskin.
The atmosphere made it hard for Ariadne to not be reminded of Tartarus, and Annabeth seemed to be in a similar boat. Both girls took shaky breaths and kept moving in fear of seeing the other pale and grey. Piper kept up the son. If she stopped for longer than a minute or two, Kekrops and his guards started hissing and looking angry.
"I don't like this place," Annabeth murmured. "Reminds me of when I was underneath Rome."
Kekrops hissed with laughter. "Our domain is much older. Much, much older."
Ariadne slipped her hand into Percy's and Annabeth gripped the back of her best friend's shirt. The brunette had the blonde huddle closer to them and Percy grew stern in his expression. Piper felt downhearted. She wished Jason were with her. Hell, she'd even settle for Leo.
Piper's voice echoed through the tunnels. As they travelled further into the lair, more snake people gathered to hear her. Soon they had a procession following behind them--dozens of gemini all swaying and slithering.
They passed through crude stone chambers littered with bones. They climbed slopes so steep and slippery it was nearly impossible to keep their footing. At one point, they passed a warm cave the size of a gymnasium filled with snake eggs, their tops covered with a layer of silver filaments like slimy Christmas tinsel.
More and more snake people joined their procession. Slithering behind them, they sounded like an army of football players shuffling with sandpaper on their cleats. Ariadne wondered how many gemini lived down there. Hundreds, maybe even thousands.
She thought she heard her own heartbeat echoing through the corridors, getting louder and louder the deeper they went. Then she realized the persistent boom ba-boom was all around them, resonating through the stone and the air.
I wake, A woman's voice, as clear as Piper's singing.
Percy froze. "Oh, that's not good."
"It's like Tartarus," Annabeth said, her voice edgy. "You remember...his heartbeat. When he appeared--"
"Don't," Ariadne said. Amethyst eyes haunted by visions in her head. "Just don't."
"Sorry." On the light of their swords, Ariadne and Percy's faces were like large fireflies--a hovering, momentary smudge of brightness in the dark.
The voice of Gaia spoke, louder: At last.
Piper's singing wavered. But slowly, it grew stronger, for her friends' safety and for Gaia, too. Finally they reached the top of a steep slope, where the path ended in a curtain of green goo.
