CHAPTER LXXVI:The Owl, The Demigod, And The Elevator

I had woken up to an owl screeching in my ear. I'm ashamed to say that my first thought was that it was a alarm, so I smacked the nightstand. Then I felt a shockwave of pain go through my body. I sat up quickly to see an Arctic Owl on my nightstand and that my finger was bleeding. On the owls ankle was a small name tag that read 'Hedwig' in blue cursive lettering.

"Penny!" I yelled.

I could hear Penny run upstairs and into my room. Hedwig flew to her and chirped politely. Penny gently patted his head gently. Penny whistled and Hedwig flew away.

"Did he bite you?" Penny asked sitting next to me on the bed.

I nodded a bit, "To be fair, I did smack him thinking he was some sort of sick joke of an alarm. Isn't that Athena's class owl?"

Penny smiled. "Yeah, I sent him up here to wake you up. Everyone's already downstairs." She slowly got some Hydrogen Peroxide and a clean cloth.

Penny slowly disinfected the bite as I looked at her. "Are you sure I'll be fine?" I asked.

"Hedwig is a special breed of Phoenix that Helios made. While the two vary in appearance Hedwig dies, then comes back. That bird's bite is safer than a cat scratch," Penny answered. "By the way, your pain tolerance is incredible."

"Yeah, I've been adventuring for awhile. Plus the peroxide just stings a bit." I said.

After getting some gauze on my finger, and getting dressed in my normal clothes, I was downstairs with Seth, Adam, Olivia, Mino, and Penny. I was eating a fried egg and baloney sandwich while Adam was on his phone next to me. I was tuning out his conversation but I heard him call the person on the other end of line Silver Princess, so I knew he was talking to Luna. Olivia and Penny were both on the balcony, while Seth and Mino were looking over a weapon diagram.

I finished eating my sandwich as Adam hung up. "How'd your conversation go?" I asked.

"Luna's safe at school, and The Huntresses didn't take any casualties." Adam answered.

I almost forgot that Adam and Luna shared a bond similar to Apollo's and Artemis'. They had that same, I hate the way you are but I'd take a knife to the heart for you, mentality towards each other. Adam went over to Seth as Penny walked in and started gathering our gear. I went over towards her and started helping her. I gathered our rations and water, as well as extra ammo and ambrosia. I loaded a small package of sandstone and seashell arrowheads, meant for Olivia's dagger, and put them next to Adam's golden tipped Sun Arrows.

I hadn't seen Olivia use her dagger often, mainly because water control was highly inopportune at some points, but she was prepared to use it at all times. I packed some modified crossbow bolts with Phoenix feathers tied to the tip, and I packed the smaller crossbow bolts I had gotten Seth for his birthday.

I went back upstairs and to the guest room I was staying in. I grabbed my belt with my sword and dagger and put it on. I quickly jogged back downstairs.

"We ready to go?" Olivia asked walking inside.

I double checked everything before we left. We still had three reinforcement cards for our trip. We had one for Athena's hidden legion, one that called Apollo's Arrow, and another that called Cerberus. I didn't understand that one, Hades knew something that he wasn't telling me and it frightened me.

"Yep, everyone in the elevator." Penny answered ushering everyone into the elevator.

Penny and me grabbed our gear and went into the elevator. Penny typed in a set of numbers on the elevator and it shifted. The elevator started going down, at least it felt like it was going down, at a slow steady pace.

"We couldn't take the stairs Owl Eyes?" Adam asked.

"Athena's elevator works as a teleportation device, put in your desired coordinates and you'll appear there. It's similar to how gods can manifest themselves wherever they want." Penny explained. "And don't call me Owl Eyes, Sun Boy."

The elevator moved slowly and then came to an abrupt stop that made my heart jump in my throat. The elevator dinged and it's doors opened. We all got out and the elevator doors closed, and disappeared in an instant. I looked in front of us to see a walled off area with two demigod guards at a gate. Next to each of them was a stone lion, probably similar to Persephone's stone guards, and a large red button.

"Names, and purpose." The guard on the left, who had a metal name tag on his breastplate that read 'Ian Stone', said in a commanding tone.

Penny stepped forward holding up a metallic disk. "Penny White, with five guests in total, with the purpose of seeking unavailable knowledge. The guests names are Mary Riley, Seth Riley, Olivia Neptune, Adam Flores, and Theseus King."

The guard on the right, whose name was Viktor Akimov, opened the gate. We all walked in the see a statue of Mercury, Hermès' Roman form, next to a large stone sign covered in twisting vines that had 'MARCO REY ESTATE' in bold black letters. I smiled to myself a bit, according to the stories of The First Roman, when Hermès first introduced himself to Cristiano Moretti Hermès had said his name was Marco Rey. Around the area was guards moving in patrols and several houses that had been remodeled to fit Roman army standards.

The group slowly moved towards the main house, which was more of a mansion, and I noticed the guard detail had tripled. We all walked in and our weapons were taken by two centurions, as well as our gear.

"Please remove your rings ma'am." A Legionnaire, whose name was Jeremiah, said to me.

I squeezed my fists and set down the dagger that had slid in my hands. I stepped away and the rings had appeared back on my fingers. Oh great, I thought, they follow me too.

"Ma'am!" Jeremiah shouted.

"She's fine Jeremiah, they have a binding cure." Eva Rossi said coming downstairs.

Jeremiah bowed, "Alright, Lady Rossi."

"We've been over this Jeremiah, just Eva is fine. I prefer being treated like a human, not a goddess." Eva said going to him.

"Of course, Lady Ros-" Jeremiah caught himself before he finished his sentence. "I mean Miss Eva."

Eva smiled, "That's better, Centurion. Follow me you six."

We all followed Eva as she walked into a hallway and to the right. She led us into a large open library with thousands of books. On a table, near a window, was a set of books.

"I could spend a few days in here." Penny said looking around.

"Sadly we don't have that time, anyway I have went through my collection and have gotten what you need. I kindly request that you finish your main reading before going through the rest of my collection. I highly suggest starting with Joseph Otto's personal journal, it should help get you started." Eva said, through a polite smile.

And just like that we were reading several books on modern mythology. Penny was reading Joseph's journal, me and Seth were going over a book on lost temples, Adam was going through a book on abandoned temples in the United States, Olivia was reading a map and crossing off locations that the temple couldn't be at, and Mino was looking at an international map listening to Penny read the journal. The whole room was reading and talking to each other trying to find this temple. We had been told that we could stay the night, but I would like to be gone before then. We continued reading as time slowly ran out in the background.