Young Writers Society

Lotus and I were already waiting at the gates about a half hour before the others showed up.

The gates loomed up above us, stretching so high that I lost sight of them in the clouds, but I knew they were still multiple feet taller. There were engravings of skulls in the volcanic rock they were constructed of, carving a mural of death. The rock was polished so well that it reflected the light from the lava rivers.

“So,” Lotus started, staring out at the land beyond the gates, “I wonder what all the fancy stuff in the prophecy means. I doubt it’s anything good, but it would be helpful to actually know, right?”

“Yeah, it definitely would,” I agreed. I was about to add more when I heard an excited bark to my left.

Cerberus bounded toward us, his bright yellow eyes lighting up with excitement the instant he recognized me. All three of his heads broke into gigantic grins, while his huge tail wagged back and forth. Barking with delight, he crashed into us and knocked us over.

“Ouch! Off, off,” Lotus told him with a laugh, trying to squirm out from underneath him. Cerberus relented, and Lotus rolled away then sprang to her feet, dusting off her camo cargo pants.

“Hey, Cerbie. What’s going on?” I asked him, shakily standing up.

Cerberus barked sadly, his eyes watering a bit. His tail stopped wagging and he nuzzled me, so close I could feel the waves of despair rolling off of him. Don’t go, his eyes seemed to be begging.

Oh, shoot. I completely forgot about how Cerberus would feel about this quest! I’m so freaking stupid! What is WRONG with me? I thought, inwardly rolling my eyes at my idiocy. How had I not considered this?

Just then, I heard a thump coming from behind me. Lotus and I whipped around, but fortunately, it was just Savannah, who had leapt over the gates.

“Savannah Lynn Starstruck, did you just jump over the gates?” Carter’s voice called incredulously from the gloom. “What is wrong with you? You could’ve seriously injured or even killed yourself! Or you could’ve landed on Vic or Lotus and have injured one of them!”

“What would you prefer I had done, flip over the gates?” she yelled back. She clenched her battle axe and mouthed, I am SO CLOSE to skewering him.

“Calm down, Carter,” I said to my cousin. "You too, Savannah. How about we just get going and get this over with? Sounds good to me; let’s go.” I spun around hurriedly and started speed walking over to Lotus.

Lotus laughed, but she quickly tried to mask it as a cough. “You heard Vic,” she told them, nodding in my direction and picking up her bag. “Let’s go. Oh, and also try not to die. That’d be great.”

Once Carter, Taylor, and Delly had walked through the gates, we grouped up next to Cerberus and tried to figure out which way was west.

“That way, for sure,” Taylor said, pointing in the exact opposite direction of the gates. “Look at the way the stars are aligned. You can actually see the constellations, now that we’re out of the Underworld.” Savannah nodded in agreement.

“All right then, star master,” I told him, handing him a map I’d found earlier. “Lead the way.”

Delly spit in disgust. “So, you won’t let me, a mighty daughter of Zeus, lead, but you’ll let a lowly son of Hermes lead? Clearly, there are so many things wrong with you.”

“Such as letting you come along? Yeah, I agree,” I fired back. “Now shut up and let Taylor do his thing.”

“Listen here, daughter of Hephaestus,” she snarled, “you watch your mouth, or you’ll be picking gravel out of your kneecaps for at least eighty years, if you even live that long.”

“OR,” Carter butted in, “both of you could just be quiet and get this over with.”

“No!” Delly yelled. “I refuse to let a child of Hermes lead, or a daughter of Hephaestus! This isn’t fair! My father is Zeus, so clearly I should lead!”

“It doesn’t matter that your dad is Zeus! What matters is whether or not you’ll cooperate and not get in our way!” Savannah replied.

“EVERYBODY SHUT UP,” Lotus shouted. Once we’d all quieted down, she added, “Now, how about we all just be calm, let Taylor guide us, and finish this stupid quest already, as Vic and Carter said? Yes, let’s do that. Taylor, go ahead.”

Taylor sighed with relief and nodded. “Okay, yes. Follow me. This way,” he called, jogging west.

We followed him in that direction, and I tossed a treat over my shoulder to Cerberus so that he’d be distracted and wouldn’t follow.

The gates slammed shut behind us, sounding like a muffled thunderclap and volcanic eruption and the same time, and sending a feeling of dread crawling all over us. There would be no turning back now, no chance to flee.

We were on our own, except for maybe the gods. Although they sounded pretty angry when the gates closed, so that probably still wasn’t good.