Chapter 9: Traversing the Underworld

Rose fells like they’ve been walking all day long. She has no idea how long they actually have been walking. They are all exhausted from Justin’s pace. “Justin, we need to stop. We need rest.”

As soon as she gets the words out of her mouth, Justin stops. He props himself up against the rocks. Dripping with sweat he says, “You’re right. We’re no good if we are dead on our feet.”

Rose removes her back pack and sits down on a boulder. “Grace, Gabe, Charley and Ally, you guys should try and grab some sleep. I’ll keep watch with Justin.”

They nod to her and try to find a comfortable spot to lay down.

Rose gets up and walks over to Justin. He looks up to her and tries to smile, but he is too tired.

“You look like crap Barnacle Brain.”

“Like you have room to talk Ro.”


“Are you implying that I look bad?” she says teasingly.
His eyes widen, “Gods no! You look great, I mean, you always do, and right now, you look nice, but tired.” His face growing redder by the second.

Rose loves messing with Justin like this. It’s so easy to make him word vomit. She starts laughing at his face. “Oh, so you think that I’m hot?” She raises an eyebrow at him.

He gives a deer-in-the-headlights look. Rose has rendered him speechless, mission accomplished. She cracks up laughing. “If I had a golden drachma for every time you put your foot in your mouth, I’d be loaded.”

“Take it easy on me, I’m exhausted,” he says chuckling.

“Not a chance Barnacle Brain, I will never ever make things easy for you.”

She sits down next to him and puts her head on his shoulder. She couldn’t believe their circumstances. Here they are, in the Underworld, with no back up and walking toward an army. They weren’t even adults yet. Then her mind wandered to the conversation with her mother, and whether Justin should know.

“What’s on your mind Ro?” He is looking at her with concern.

“How do you know something is on my mind?”

He gives a slight smile. “Well first, you are a daughter of Athena, so you are always thinking about SOMETHING. Second, you are chewing your bottom lip. It’s your tell.”

She suddenly became very aware of the fact that she is chewing on her lip. She stops immediately and says, “Nothing, only that so far this has been easy. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“I know what you mean, I figured we’d be neck deep in monster dust by now. I guess we should count our blessings.”

“What other blessings do we have?”

“Well, we were able to get Stygian Iron weapons, we got a chance to rest, and also, you are with me.” He gives her a smile.

Rose playfully nudges him, then gives a yawn.

“You should sleep. I’ll get the watch for a bit,” he says to her.

She wants to argue, but she is so tired. “Alright, but if you get tired, wake me up. Don’t be a hero.”

He nods.

“Alright, good night,” he winks at her as she shuts her eyes. Her dream wasn’t very encouraging.

She was back at camp in the war room. Chiron had everyone around the ping pong table.

“Alright we only have four days left. Kate has informed me that she believes they are close. We haven’t had an update from Justin’s quest, but that was expected. We need to make preparations for a large battle if we must.”

Jimmy the counselor from Hephaestus spoke up and said, “Hephaestus cabin has already began working on defense fortifications that Ares cabin will put in place.”

Chiron nods, then he said, “We must expect an attack as soon as Minos has reached full power, should either quest fail.”

Phillip, Hermes counselor asks, “Attack from what?”

That’s when Rose was awoken by a loud roar. But not a roar that she knew. It almost sounded like the bellow from a cow.

Her eyes burst open to see Justin standing, ready to fight, Riptide drawn. He looks to Rose, “Better get ready. The Minotaur found us, oh, and he brought some friends.”

Notes