by Zara Stark
That ended this cell block of monsters. We continued further through the prison, it was a maze of dark corridors and dusty tunnels. Many empty rooms branched off of every hallway, dim and empty. We found other rooms much like ours filled with creatures. One appeared to full of elven creatures, covered in wilted flowers and sharp, pointed ears poking through their hair. Ciardha had wanted to linger there, sniffing at the flower-scented air but I pulled him along. Another room was full of muscular males different in every way from their heights to their skin and eye colors but one thing remained the same, they all glowed a bright gold like hunky night lights.
Demigods. Ciardha mouthed to me and I nodded. Interesting. A titan full-god kept a bunch of halflingGodslocked up together. Their cell was decked out with workout equipment, it looked like a giant gym. At least he provided them with some time of entertainment and outlet, we didn't get that. Did Tar care for them then? Were they his halfling sons with human women. I examined all their faces for anything resembling Tar's face, maybe the same cheekbones or brow ridge anything. We needed leverage against Tartarus to escape here and to get my guys back, I would do anything necessary.
A few months ago, I might have stayed to appraise the hot demigods in the room, maybe pop in and introduce myself. Now, these men only served one purpose, getting back in the arms of my men.
The prison seemed to go in a giant loop, the halls turning in a slow curve as we went. We walked for hours exploring the dark prison. Everything looked so disheveled and dirty. It struck me as strange. Everything godly I had seen so far, magical colosseums and libraries and monuments were all shining and well kept. This strange place was supposed to be a part of Tartarus the man. Why was it not taken care of better? I understood the dark and drab decor, it was an Underworld prison after all. I didn't understand why it was so dirty and rotted from disuse, stone walls crumbled, dust-covered things by inches.
There was a sadness here that didn't need to be. It permeated the walls, it wafted in the air. The only thing that was well-maintained were the warding runes lining the bars holding back the monsters in their cells. Every other cell block seemed open, their inhabitants not wanting to wander around like we were. Were they here by choice? The pointy-eared elves seemed content with their chatter, the demigods happy to pump iron and ignore the world around them. They lived here with no purpose but to fuel Tar's power.
We took another turn in the prison, down a much more narrow hall. At the end of the hall was the first shiny, ornate thing I had seen in the entire prison. A door made of solid gold, inlaid with rainbow-colored gemstones surrounded in swirling silver filigree. The door was not only unlocked, but it also hung open. It shined surrounded by all the darkness, even the door frame was the same gray, drab stone that composed the rest of the prison.
I pinched Ciardha's arm and he bounced with excitement. He dragged me along almost faster than my feet could carry me. We made it to the door and hesitated for a moment to slip through. Ciardha didn't dare to pull it open any more than it already was, instead ghosting us through the solid gold. It felt completely different than going through stone. It felt almost electric, passing through the gold made my invisible skin tingle like my limbs had fallen asleep.
Inside the room, the stone walls were covered in dark purple silks, strange marking stitched into the fabric with gray thread. My eyes didn't linger on the runes but instead were drawn to the center of the room. A giant swirling white light sat in the center, hovering off of the ground at what would be my chin level. The light twisted and twirled, it almost reminded me of the shape of an atom, not spherical but composed of many moving circles moving in and out of each other.
We dared to step a bit closer.
Was this a portal? I wondered. It had to be right. Walked like a duck, quaked like a duck, that made it a duck right?
I squinted my eyes looking at the center of the light. Within it, there seemed to be something flashing. I concentrated, squinting a little harder. It was ancient Rome, in the Colosseum arena where I had last seen my dragons. This was a portal, it was showing me the way out of the prison. I wanted more than anything to throw myself at the mysterious light. My last clue of where my dragons went! My heart said jump! jump! jump! but my brain held me back. I was cardless and diceless, throwing myself through the portal meant certain death. Still, my heart leaped at the very stupid thought of going where I had last seen my guys.
A deafening roar shook the prison, rattling the gold gem-encrusted door and making the dust clinging to the ceiling shake free. I was knocked out of my reverie of looking at the glowing white light. Another roar rang out and crashing sounds coming our way rang out. I could feel the same weightless feeling from before when Ciardha ghosted us through the door but instead, we started to sink through the floor.
Chapter 5
At that exact moment, a giant gold coin dropped out of the white light and clanged to the floor. I snatched it up and clenched it to my chest as we sank through the floor. It felt like that terrible feeling of falling in your dreams, the weightless plummet and the inevitable doom of knowing there was eventually going to be ground to slam into. In dreams right before you hit the ground, you shot awake but as Ciardha and I plummeted through floors and floors of stone, through the cells of peaceful creatures minding their own business and terrifying monsters that thankfully couldn't see or hear us as we fell through their homes. It felt like we were falling forever, I hadn't even realized we had wandered so high up in the prison, the incline must have been so gradual I hadn't noticed it. Or Tartarus was fucking with us. Could he move the prison around like Hogwarts castle, changing the floor plan to confuse those who were walking around without permission?
We finally landed in the familiar hall that Tartarus had first walked me down when I arrived. I clenched the gold coin to my chest. It was as cold as ice, so cold it felt like it was scalding my skin.
Ciardha let go of me and I looked down and saw my body all solid and not see through anymore. I looked over to him and he was no longer ghostly either.
"You should not have been able to grab that, we were completely intangible," Ciardha eyes the coin. "What kind is it?"
I opened my palm. The coin was larger than any I had ever seen, larger than even a silver dollar. It was gold but tarnished, much older and less taken care of than the door. On the face of the coin was a brilliant sun with a swirl in the middle and sharp knife-like sunbeams streaming out all around it. I could feel magic humming through the coin, the same strange, alien magic I felt in the dice.
"It looks like a drachma," Ciardha whispered.
"Roman coin?" I asked.
"No it's Greek," Ciardha explained. I turned the coin over in my hand to look at the other side. The other side appeared to be a starry night, small pinprick stars edged the outer part of the coin. In the center was an atom.
"Strange, why did that portal show my childhood home and then spit out an Ancient Greek coin at you?" Ciardha asked.
"Childhood home? No, it showed me the arena after our last battle," I told him, clenching the coin in my hand again, holding it to my chest.
"Yeah, my first foster home with my brother and I, the Christmas before our foster parents died, I saw it clear as day, stockings hanging from the chimney, blinding tinsel covering everything, I could even smell the gingerbread and peppermint," His eyes looked stricken. Had he wanted to jump through the portal just as badly as I had? His last Christmas with his foster family sounded wonderful and so Norman Rockwell-esque. I couldn't even imagine a Christmas like that. My parents couldn't cook let alone bake for shit. Most of our Christmas's involved Chinese takeout, a lot of presents and snowball fights with my guys who always came over to celebrate with us. It hadn't been as picturesque as Ciardha's holidays had been but I would still do anything to go back to those idyllic times.
"So was that the portal or a trap? It showed us exactly where we wished to be. I was ready to dive head first into that portal even though I would have no way to protect m
yself," I clenched the key even harder, feeling the metal edges biting into my skin. The magic within the coin thrummed fluttering like a trapped moth in my hand but the magic remained dormant.
Another roar shook the prison.
We looked at each other with wide eyes and Ciardha grabbed my arm, making us intangible again and pulling me through the wall that would lead back to our cell.
--
We popped back into the cell and the other three popped up from the ground to their feet.
"What did you morons do? What was that roaring?" Tefra snapped at us as soon as Ciardha made us visible again.
"Nothing!" We said in unison. I opened my mouth to defend myself further when my eyes locked on Mab and Lelras. They were huddled in the corner, talking and not fighting.
"What happened while we were gone? Those two aren't fighting? Did we get dropped into an alternate universe?" I asked.
Tefra's eyes rolled. "Don't even ask. They had a heart to heart. Only after Mab cast another illusion on him that made him think his hooves were melting."
"Stop right there," I held my free hand up. "I don't want to know anymore."
"Hey! What happened out there?!" Mab looked over at me, her golden eyes bright.
Ciardha and I relayed everything that we saw, including the weird portal thing hiding behind the golden door.
"Could there be another portal that leads out?" Tefra asked.
"Of course, it seemed like prison could go on forever honestly but that's our best bet for now," Ciardha explained.
"Then our best bet is going into Octavia's version of the portal, we'll still be in this time and can fight the Concilium," Tefra sighed crossing his arms.
"Have you come across that type of portal before, you old man?" Mab asked.
"I'm not that old," Tefra scoffed.
"You sure act like it phoenix dude," I told him.
“Well fine, I’ll embrace it, everyone needs to get some sleep, tomorrow we try the portal.” Tefra waved us off. I wasn’t about to argue. I was exhausted. The others seemed so as well, I wasn’t sure how long we had wandered the prison but it felt like an entire day. Mab hooked her arm through mine and pulled me to our bedroom, not bothering to say goodnight to the guys. I plopped into my hay bed, dead to the world.
--
Have you ever had a lucid dream? Where you're totally aware you're dreaming, you're trapped and can't wake yourself up to get out?
That's where I was.
I woke up chained, trapped behind glowing green bars, throwing myself at my cage trying to free myself just like the krakens. Across the hall, in the cell opposite of mine, there were my guys. Nevada was holding the bars, his eyes blank and empty. Azar was on the floor, passed out or dead, I couldn’t tell. Behind them were Raiden and Cobalt, fighting to the death. Raiden was covered in stab wounds, bleeding all over from thousands of tiny cuts or deep stab wounds. Cobalt was burnt from lightning and Raiden kept throwing ball of lightning after ball of lightning at him. I banged my fists at the cell wall, the powerful magic wasn't shocking me like it did the krakens. Instead, they repelled me, shoving me away like opposing magnetic forces.
I ran at the bars again and got thrown hard against the opposite wall. Much like how Mab had gotten kicked by Lelras but I didn't get up right away. I laid there on the cold stone floor, tracing my finger in the gaps between the stones that composed the ground. Something rolled out of my pocket. I looked down and saw the golden drachma resting on its starry night side. As if in a trance, I stood, gripping the coin between my thumb and forefinger.
I flipped it in the air catching it with a closed hand, I slapped it onto the back of my other hand. It showed me a bright sun.
"Heads," I said, my voice sounded garbled like I was hearing it through a voice changer. "What good luck."
The glowing green wards on the bars of my cell went out and the door flew open, clanging against the other side.
I stepped out and stared at the cell with my lovers in it. I flipped the coin again and caught it.
"Heads! Good luck once again" I yelled in the strange voice again. Raiden and Cobalt flew apart, landing hard against opposite walls. Slowly, all four of them rose, injuries healed and their eyes beginning to clear.
"Don't you see? Good luck or bad luck is purely up to chance," I told them. I flipped the coin again. This time it showed a starry night and atom design.
"Tails, what a rotten twist of fate," I sighed and the wards on their cell brightened. "There's no getting you free like that."
I kept walking, twirling the coin over my knuckles.
I shot awake, feeling Mab shaking me, holding my upper arms.
"Octavia, you were having a seizure or something, are you okay?" Mab asked with a worried voice.
"I know how we're going to distract Tar long enough for us to get out of here," I jumped to my feet, gripping the coin in my hand. I know I had been having strange dreams for a while but I never remembered them but I finally remembered one. Were my dreams revealing things about my powers? They had to be. They had shown me the dice before. Now I was being shown the power of the coin. It couldn't be a coincidence that the white light had given me a coin and then I dreamed about using it.
I ran down the hall and Mab trailed after me.
"Where do the others sleep?" I asked her.
"You think I know?" She asked.
"Hell yeah I do," I grinned at her.
She rolled her eyes at me. "I only know because I'm curious."
"Sure, sure, no judgment here," I told her. "Unless you're digging the horse guy and then I will judge you a little bit."
"I am not!" She told me, her much longer legs made her catch up with me. She hooked her arm through mine and directed me down the guy's hall.
"Whatever you say, dear," I chuckled at her.
She dragged me into their room. It looked much like ours, hay and burlap cots everywhere. Tefra and Ciardha occupied two but the rest had been dragged over to Lelras. Weirdly enough he had human legs.
Mab paused, in shock, before running over and kicking Lelras in the side. "You've got human legs?"
The centaur prince jolted awake, his blue eyes flew open. Before our eyes, his human legs shifted back into his black fur-covered four horse legs.
"What just happened?!" I yelled.
Tefra and Ciardha shot awake, looking around confused and sleepy.
"What's going on?" Ciardha asked sleepily.
"My Little Pony just went Ariel from the Little Mermaid and got human legs!" Mab yelled.
"What?" Ciardha asked.
"You guys didn't know that?" Tefra sighed, laying back down and turning away from us to face the wall.
"I have human legs most of the time, my four-legged form is my battle form, my two-legged form is my relaxed state," Lelras explained quietly.
"You've had four legs since you got here! I've never seen your two-legged form and I've been sharing this room with you for days!" Ciardha yelled.
"I don't trust any of you enough to stay in my two-legged form, unfortunately, I shift back if I fall into a deep enough sleep," Lelras explained, his blue eyes anxiously darted around the room.
"Probably smart not too," Tefra called out from his turned away position.
"Look we're a team, we need to at least try and trust each other," Mab said. "I'm sorry if we made you uncomfortable."
"Look at her getting all flirty now that she knows horse boy can go all bipedal," Ciardha laughed.
The centaur prince's cheeks went bright red. I decided to take pity on the poor guy.
"Hey, as interesting as this development is," I gestured at Lelras. "That's not why we barged into here. I think I know a way to distract Tar enough to get us the hell out of here."
"Really?" Tefra asked, sitting up again.
"Oh, it's nice of you to rejoin the conversation," I told him. "Yes, I got a plan. It's crazy, risky and dangerous, you guys in?"
They all nodded.
"Ciardha, do you th
ink you can steal those tarot cards from the demigod's cell?" I asked him.
"Can I? If stealing were an Olympic sport, I would take the gold," He smirked.
"Okay good, as soon as we have those, we're golden, haha," I laughed at my own joke and then launched into my insane plan. They all seemed a little horrified but on board. Lelras seemed a bit unsure his jaw set into a hard line.
"Your grace, can I talk with you alone for a minute?" I asked him, grinning.
He frowned at me. "I suppose."
I led him outside, I was sure the others were listening in but I'm he seemed a bit more comfortable away from Ciardha and Mab's teasing and mocking eyes.