The Blood of Three

Chapter 39

A red light flashed in the dark room like a strobe light as a booming alarm pierced my ears. Kyle flinched at the sudden, loud noise. "What is that?" he asked, sitting up.

Placing a hand on my temple, I shook my head. "I don't know."

Kyle walked to the door and placed his ear on the surface. "I don't hear anyone outside." He waited there a few moments before sitting back down beside me. We sat against the wall for about fifteen minutes, listening to the alarm blare throughout the room.

"Riley! Kyle!" a distant voice yelled, muffled by the alarm.

Kyle jumped to his feet and ran to the door. "We're in here!" He pounded his fists on the surface. "In here!"

"Kyle? Riley?" The voice grew closer. In mere seconds we heard the jingling of keys and fumbling with the doorknob. Dylan burst through the door.

"Get us out of here," Kyle told him. The Hades-born helped me stand and smiled from ear to ear. "I told you we were going to get out of here."

I smiled. "The sooner, the better."

The two boys took off into the corridor and I followed close behind. Dull rectangular lights hung from the ceiling and dozens of closed doors lined the walls. The red lights on the top of the wall continued to flash, without any sign of stopping anytime soon. We reached the end of the hallway and met a set of double doors. Travis and a few other demigods stood there waiting for us.

Travis' eyes caught ours immediately. "Are you two okay?"

"No, I'd like to get out of here," Kyle urged on.

Travis inspected us up and down, double-checking for major injuries, and after not finding any, he nodded. "Come on." He and ten other demigods led us deeper into enemy territory.

We followed them down one hallway after another. The building was a maze. Each hallway led to more hallways, all of them having multiple doors along the walls. I didn't know how Travis knew where he was going—every corridor looked the same.

We ran through another set of double doors and intercepted a couple of harpies. Luckily, Kyle and I were in the back of the group because the two of us were defenseless without our weapons. In seconds, the demigods had killed all the creatures and once they all faded to mist, we continued into another hallway.

"Are you sure you know where we're going?" Kyle asked my unspoken question. "All these hallways look exactly the same."

"Tell me about it." Travis sighed. "We barely found our way to you two."

Kyle raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't answer my question," he said uneasily. Travis didn't reply. I don't think he was sure, himself. We continued down seemingly endless hallways, no pattern to which direction we turned. Suddenly, Kyle slowed to a stop. "Guys, hold up."

Everyone stopped and turned to face him, looking for a problem. His forehead was beaded with sweat and his face had turned pale. He bent over and rested his hands on his knees.

"What's wrong?" Dylan backtracked to where Kyle and I stood.

"Any chance there's a trash can nearby? Or even better, a bathroom?" I asked.

"Don't tell me he's going to puke," Dylan cringed. "That's disgusting."

"It's not like he can help it at the moment," I snapped.

"Well, sorry, but I don't know where a trashcan or a bathroom is," Dylan spoke in a mocking manner.

Kyle sighed and slowly straightened his spine. "It's okay, I think I'm fine."