Percy raised his wand in the dark.
"Lumos."
Nothing happened.
Hermione still held his sleeve. Ron was somewhere to their right, breathing hard enough for Percy to locate him.
The figure spoke again.
"You should not have come here, Mr. Jackson."
"Then let us leave."
Percy heard one slow step.
A weak light returned beyond the shelves. It showed the lower edge of a cloak and no face beneath it.
Hermione pulled Percy back.
"Run."
Ron reached the gate first. He pushed it open, but the bars struck the frame before he could pass through.
The lock clicked.
Ron pulled at it.
"Of course. That would have been too convenient."
The figure raised a hand.
Percy pointed his wand.
"Expelliarmus!"
Red light crossed the aisle. It passed through the cloak without moving it.
Percy had time to understand that before something struck his chest.
He hit a shelf. A book fell against his shoulder, followed by enough dust to make him cough.
Hermione called his name.
Ron left the gate and caught Percy's arm. Percy tried to stand, but the floor moved beneath his foot.
No. The floor was gone.
He reached for Ron as Hermione grabbed his other sleeve. All three fell through the space where the stone should have been.
Percy landed badly. For a moment, he could think only about drawing breath.
Then Hermione's wand lit.
"Ron?"
"Here."
"Percy?"
He lifted one hand.
"Regretting several decisions."
Ron sat beside him with both knees drawn up. Hermione checked that they could move before raising the light toward the ceiling.
There was no opening above them.
They were in a narrow tunnel. Water dripped from a crack near the wall, and marks covered the stone on both sides.
Percy stood carefully. His back hurt where he had struck the shelf.
Hermione put a hand against his shoulder.
"Can you walk?"
"I think so."
Ron looked up again.
"Can we walk back?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Percy moved toward the wall. The marks gave a faint golden light that became brighter when he approached.
He touched one with two fingers.
The stone was warm.
A sound moved along the tunnel. It was low enough that Percy felt it through his feet before he heard it.
Ron stood.
"Was that you?"
"I touched the wall."
"We have established that touching things is not working well tonight."
Percy took his hand away.
From farther along the passage came a voice.
"He has come."
Hermione turned her wand toward the sound. The light reached only more stone.
Percy could smell salt.
There should not have been salt air in a tunnel beneath a library. That did not make it less familiar.
Hermione noticed him draw a longer breath.
"What?"
"The sea."
Ron looked at the dripping wall.
"That seems like a serious problem for a castle in Scotland."
Percy examined the passage behind them. It ended in solid stone a short distance away.
The marks continued in the other direction.
"We can wait here, or see whether there is an exit."
Hermione looked at his bruised shoulder.
"We stay together."
"Yes."
Ron picked up his wand from beside his foot.
"And we avoid touching more walls."
They followed the tunnel slowly. Percy went first, with Hermione's light beside him and Ron close enough to catch his sleeve if he slipped.
Some marks looked like writing. Others showed lines crossing around circles, repeated too regularly to be damage in the stone.
Hermione studied them without trying to sound them out.
"I do not recognize the language."
"Neither do I," Percy said.
He was looking for Greek. A few shapes seemed familiar, but the rest would not become words for him.
After several turns, the tunnel widened into a stairway. They climbed, which Ron considered the first sensible thing the passage had offered them.
At the top, Hermione stopped so abruptly that Percy looked back before looking ahead.
The chamber was larger than her wand light could show. Curved walls rose on either side, with carvings above the steps.
A black altar stood near the center.
On it rested a trident.
Percy did not move for several seconds.
The weapon had three long points. Silver metal wound around the shaft, and a clear orb rested near its base.
It was not his father's trident. That should have made looking at it easier.
Instead, he remembered how badly he had wanted to see something from his old life in this one.
Ron stood beside him.
"Do you know what that is?"
"A trident."
"I noticed the three points. I meant the rest."
Percy shook his head.
Hermione approached the altar without reaching for the weapon. She lowered her wand to examine the edge.
"These marks repeat the ones in the tunnel."
"Can you read them?"
"No. I can compare them."
Percy moved closer.
The orb brightened.
He stopped. Its light weakened, then returned when he took another step.
Hermione saw the change.
"It is reacting to you."
Ron moved farther from the altar.
"That is usually where something attacks us."
Percy wanted to reassure him. He had no good reason to do so.
He could feel water somewhere below the chamber. He could also feel something passing through that water without making an ordinary current.
The orb brightened again.
Marks appeared across the walls, lit clearly enough for Hermione to follow some of their lines.
They were not moving randomly. Several shapes matched the positions around the altar.
Then a voice spoke from the far side of the room.
"Welcome, Percy Jackson."
Percy turned with his wand raised.
Nothing stood where the sound had begun.
"Who are you?"
The answer came from behind him.
He turned again. Ron did the same, while Hermione stayed where she could see both sides of the altar.
The orb gave a flash of light. New marks appeared on the black surface beneath it.
Percy could not read them. He could still feel that they were meant for him.
He disliked the distinction.
"Do either of you understand this?" he asked.
Ron shook his head. Hermione was examining the new lines with a frown.
"No. But it has connected several parts of the pattern."
Percy looked at the trident.
The feeling from the water grew stronger. It resembled recognition, although he could not tell what was recognizing him.
He moved his hand above the shaft without taking hold of it.
Hermione caught the movement.
"Percy, wait."
The orb flashed before he could withdraw.
Light filled the chamber. Percy shut his eyes and put one arm across his face.
The familiar sense of water changed. It spread past the floor and the walls, reaching places he could not name.
He tried to bring it back under his control.
The voice returned.
"Choose your path, guardian of the threshold. The time has come to awaken the bridge between realms."
Percy opened his eyes when the light weakened.
The trident remained on the altar. His hand had not touched it.
That was less comforting than it ought to have been.
The marks across the far wall had changed. Lines joined them into a pattern of passages and rooms.
Hermione held her wand higher.
"A map."
Ron stared.
"An exit would be useful."
Percy studied the shape. He recognized part of the library, then a stairway that should not have reached any known corridor.
Other lines extended beneath the familiar rooms.
"I did not make that," he said.
Hermione looked at him.
"I know. But you caused something to start."
The floor shook before he could answer.
A narrow section of the far wall moved inward. Stone scraped against stone, leaving a passage behind it.
Cold air came through the opening. Percy could smell salt more clearly now.
He looked toward the tunnel they had used. Its marks remained lit, but nothing indicated that it led back to the library.
The voice spoke once more.
"The balance is threatened. The One Who Walks Between is not alone."
Ron tightened his grip on the wand.
"I would like a name for the other person."
No answer came.
Percy kept watching the new opening. It was dark beyond the first few feet, and the wall around it trembled.
A laugh came from inside.
It sounded strained rather than pleased. Percy could not decide whether that made it better.
Hermione stepped back from the altar.
"We should not go farther without knowing what opened it."
Percy nodded. He had been about to say the same thing.
The stone began moving again.
The opening narrowed slowly, closing without any of them touching it.
Percy took one step forward, then stopped when Ron caught his arm.
He watched until only a thin line of darkness remained.
The laugh came once more. Then the passage closed.
Percy looked at the trident and the map above it.
They had found something beneath Hogwarts. Finding it had made it aware of him, and he had no idea how to leave without making another part of it answer.
To Be Continued... Next week!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A cliffhanger!!! Hahahaha! I promise I'm building up towards a actual story, stay tuned for next weeks chapter! Well, off to write the next chapter! *Whispers* Stone me!
Add the book to your library to get the next and subsequent chapters :)
Have some ideas about my story? Comment it and let me know. (constructive criticism/praise only!) NO TROLLS!