“Does he really think there’s something up that tree?” Fifi asks.
Arjun shrugs. “Maybe he just likes climbing it. He is from Zeus Hall, after all.”
She sighs. “Why do they always feel the need to show off, anyway? I mean, I can climb a tree, but you don’t see me trying to ruin my tights, do you?”
I glance down at the tights in question, which have apples with rhinestone seeds all over them. “They’re very cool tights.”
“Right?” She flips her braids over her shoulder. “Perfect for Aphrodite Hall.”
“Um, should we be concerned about that?” Arjun points to where Sullivan is now hanging upside down from averysmall tree branch.
“Surely he knows that won’t hold him—” I stop as the branch breaks and Sullivan goes tumbling to the ground.
“Or not.” Fifi shakes her head. “I guess we should check on him, huh?”
“I’m okay!” Sullivan shouts, leaping up.
“Considering he fell on his head, I have no idea how,” Arjun mutters. “But good for him.”
I wave so Sullivan knows we heard him, but before I can say anything else, a scream sounds from behind me. And it isn’t coming from Rhea.
“Paris!” I take off running toward my brother, who is standing over the wooden chest.
“Not again!” Arjun groans as he runs with me. “What did they do this time?”
Judging from the fact that long, thick vines are now shooting out of the chest, my guess is they tried to get the key again. The question is, why? Not that I can ask Paris atthe moment, considering one of those vines is currently wrapped around his mouth like a gag.
Apparently, it didn’t like the screaming any more than the rest of us—though I’m guessing it’s got very different reasons.
We’re almost to them when more vines shoot out of the box. One winds around Paris’s waist and lifts him several feet in the air, while the others do the same to Rhea.
“Oh my gods!” Fifi panics as we get close enough to be in vine range. “What should we do? I don’t want the vines to get—”
She breaks off on a shriek as a vine wraps itself around her ankles and yanks them out from under her.
“Ellie, help!” She grabs on to my hands as she falls.
I grab on as tightly as I can and do my best to hold her in place as the vine starts yanking her back toward the box. But the thing is much stronger than I thought it would be. Within seconds, it’s dragging both of us forward.
Arjun jumps in to assist, grabbing on to my waist and pulling me backward as hard as he can.
At first I think it might work, but we barely gain a few inches before more vines come shooting out at us. One circles Fifi’s wrists and yanks her away from me while the others wrap around Arjun and me.
One vine winds its way around my shoulders while another winds around my thighs, locking my legs together. I reach down to claw at it, trying to get it off me, but another one grabs on to my wrist and yanks my hand far above my head while a fourth one wraps around my neck.
And then I’m flying—or at least hovering several feet above the air—as the vines slowly start to pull us toward the chest. Panic races through me so hard and fast that, for several seconds, I stop thinking. My hands start shaking, my mouth turns desert dry, and chills race through my whole body.
I force myself to take a deep breath, force myself to try to think through the panic—which is easier said than done when under attack by some mutant plant.
But then I remind myself this is just a lesson. Just something Dr. Minthe wants us to learn from. At the moment I don’t have any idea what we could possibly learn from this truly bizarre situation, but there’s got to be something. I just have to calm down long enough to figure out what it is.
Dr. Minthe may be the head of Hades Hall, but there’s no way Dr. Themis would allow him to dispatch a bunch of first years to the Underworld on their very first day of classes. This is just another exercise we have to think our way through.
Just a lesson, I remind myself as the vines yank me around some more.
Just a lesson. Just a lesson. Just a lesson.
The mantra calms me down enough that I stop flailing around, trying to fight the unfightable. And once I stop fighting, my brain starts working again.
