Chapter 4: Wolves, Hunters, and Rocks, Oh My

Chapter 3

Central Park is an interesting place for us Demigods. During the Second Titan War, when fighting got to New York, many Demigods died here, along with a lot of Nature Spirits, and monsters. There was also a Titan trapped in a Maple Tree, but that’s a story for another time.

Argus, the camp chief of security, dropped us off at the outskirts of the Park. We got out and lined up at the park borders.

“This is as far as he can go,” Steve said. “He needs to get back to camp, we’ll send him an Iris message when we get back.” Then he started off into the park. I shrugged and followed, I had no idea where this path to the underworld was located, other than central park. Let me tell you, the park is huge. We walked for a while, Steve stopping a few times to get his bearings.

“We are close,” he said after a couple of hours of us wandering around.

“You mean you don’t know where it is?” I asked.

“Only Nico knows where it is, and he left camp before you got the prophecy, so we couldnt get the exact location from him. I started up a tracking spell before we left camp, it should get us there.”

Well. Peachy.

We walked a little more when the hairs on the back of my neck started to rise. I don’t know how, but I knew what it meant.

“Stop, circle up and get ready for a fight.” I said. Alex activated her body armor and slipped her bat out, Steve slipped his knives out of their sheathes on his backpack strap. I grabbed some pencils from my backpack strap.

“What are they, evil teachers?” Alex asked in an annoyed voice. Then the growling started. Red eyes appeared in the woods around us.

“A child of Rome, with a child of Ares and a child of Hecate. Not what we were expecting, but you will do for a snack.” Said a raspy voice from the woods.

“Show no fear, if they see weakness, they will attack.” I said. Steve’s hands burst into their purple flames.

“Your parlor tricks will not harm us child of the torches. We are immune to most weapons of man.”

“Except silver.” I responded. Lycaon’s pack. Lycanthropes. Alex swore.

“You know us child of Rome. You smell....familiar.” The voice growled. A wolf moved closer to us, but at a bark from the leader it moved back.

“Our master broke the pack into parts to evade those accursed hunters. We follow an emissary of the earth, who ordered us to guard this location. You will all die.” With that, the wolves charged. Alex swung the bat sending one wolf flying. Alex lit two of them on fire, then turned to face another pair that were trying to find an opening. Three charged me and I pointed my pencils at them. I hope this worked.

I pressed the hidden button on the cap and the pencil flew out. Just as it left the cap it turned into a silver dagger, the points pointing straight at the wolfs. One wolf took the dagger in the eye, the other dodged to the side and took the dagger in its side. Four of the pack down, and I counted another sixteen running around. I grabbed another couple of pencils, slipping the used caps into my pants pocket. The dagger would, hopefully, return soon.

Alex had her back to a tree and was swinging her bat to hold off three wolves. I fired a couple of the daggers in her direction, hitting two of the wolfs in the flank, then quickly drew another pencil and fired it at the third. Seven down, thirteen to go. Steve had surrounded himself with a protective barrier and was making his way to Alex, three more wolves on fire and running away. Ten and ten. I was down to two pencils left, and none of the used ones had returned. This could get ugly. Then I heard a twang. My first thought, before I saw the silver arrow, was that Jackie had not believed me and followed us. The arrow removed that thought. The first twang was followed by nine others, and the ten remaining wolves lay on the ground or were running away.

Then the pencils reappeared in my pocket. Great timing.

Steve still kept his fire shield thing going, Alex leaned against the tree, breathing hard. I moved toward her, ready to help her up, when I found an arrow still on its bow with the string pulled back pointed at my face. I decided it would be better to not move for now.

“Jane, he is just a boy, he wasn’t bitten.” Came a voice from behind me. An extremely attractive girl materialized from the shadows holding the bow, pushing me further into the clearing. I kept my eyes on her grey ones, watching for any indication I was about to get a new hole in my neck to breathe through.

“How is she Pheobe?” Jane asked to someone behind her, but there was no answer. Then Agni, Alex’s sword, was rested on Jane's shoulder, right next to the neck.

“I would put down the bow. Jane, was it?” Alex asked calmly. Once the arrow was removed from my jugular I let go of the breath I was holding and stepped back again. Behind Alex was another girl, pretty beefy, wearing camo gear to blend in with the park’s greenery. She just shook her head and walked up to Jane, whispering something in her ear.

“Alex, you can put the sword away. None of my hunters are going to attack you or your friends.” The first girl said. I turned to look at her. She also wore camo gear, but had spiky black hair with a silver tiara and electric blue eyes. Thalia Grace, the Preators sister. He told me about her.

I did the only thing I could think of, I saluted her and spoke in Latin, “Greetings to Thalia Grace, sister to the Preator Jason. May your hunt always end well.”

Jane, apparently thinking anything any male did was an insult lifted her bow again, but Thalia raised her hand in warning and then replied, also in Latin.

“You honor me Centurion. Stand down.” Then she returned the salute.

“Our wolves caught the scent of some of Lycaons pack, that’s why we are here. Why are you three in Central Park?” She asked. As the lieutenant of Diana the Huntress, I was duty bound to answer, which I did without hesitation.

“We are here on a quest Huntress.” I replied. I was going to say more, but Alex put a hand on my shoulder.

“That is all you need to know right now Thalia, we are in a hurry. Thank you for your assistance with the wolves, I was not as well equipped to deal with them as the boys were.” She pulled at my shoulder, indicating we should get moving. Thalia drew a sheathed knife out of her bag and held it to Alex, hit facing out.

“Here, in case you run into more. Our offer is still open Alex.” Alex took the knife and nodded thanks, then indicated we should get a move on. Thalia had offered Alex a spot as a hunter of Diana. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. The hunters blended back into the shadows, all except Thalia who stood there and watched us until we disappeared from her sight.

“You got an offer to join the Hunters?” Steve asked Alex, she ignored the question.

“Where is the tunnel?” She asked. He pointed to a pile of rocks. The rock pile was...unimpressive. I mean, for a hidden entrance to the underworld it worked pretty well, but that just made it more disturbing. Any poor mortal could walk by this place, never knowing that he, and every person he ever knew and loved would be just down that tunnel. Which was hidden. Which meant he would never know that...this train of thought was giving me a headache so I dropped it before I thought about it too much more.

“So now we need music to get in, alright hammer boy, how we going to do this.” Alex turned towards me, still apparently angry about whatever Thalia had implied about the offer. I pulled out Lucy and brought her to full guitar mode, switching on her built in speakers. They may not be as good as amps, but for what I needed her to do, they would be more than enough. I picked out the oldest song I knew and started playing it. When I was finished nothing happened.

“Really?” Alex asked. “Tumballalika?” I turned towards her, somewhat impressed that she knew the song. Sadly, not many did.

“Oldest song I know.” I replied. There was a rumble behind me, we turned toward the pile of rocks. A few fell off the top, but nothing much else happened.

“I think I know why it didn’t work,” Steve said. “Orpheus played his heart out, his music was heartfelt, had meaning to him. Does this song have meaning to you Mark?”

“Yes,” I responded. “But I don’t know why, it has something to do with my missing memories.” Alex’s face softened a bit.

“Hmm....try playing a song that has a lot of meaning to you currently, might work better.” Why not, I figured. I turned towards the rocks again, tuned Lucy up a bit, and started to play of the song “Monster” by Skillet. The song had a lot of meaning to me, as I had a monster inside myself that came out in times of extreme anger. After I started the first few notes I began to hear the other instrument parts, I figured it was in my head, supplying the parts that complete the song for me. As usual, in such situations I started to sing the words, mostly to myself, but I seemed to be singing them louder than I usually do.

I finished the song, and then realized that the additional instruments were not in my head. Surrounding me were glowing purple figures playing the remaining instruments that complete the song, as well as a glowing purple microphone in front of me. I looked at Steve.

“It wouldn’t have worked if you didn’t know why it meant anything to you. The spell I mean. Well...the door too.” I gave him an annoyed glance as I put Lucy away. Alex was staring at me with a shocked look on her face.

“You can sing,” she whispered. Then she blushed when she noticed I was looking at her and probably heard what she said. Then she turned and walked towards the now open path of Orpheus. I grabbed a set of digging helms from my bag and tossed one to Steve and put the second on my head. I caught up with Alex before she entered and handed her the third. We reached to the top of the helms we were carrying and turned the lamp’s on, then stepped inside. The rocks behind us rumbled and the path sealed behind us. We turned our head back towards the tunnel itself and started down into the darkness.

Chapter 5