The Underworld's Curse

“Lindi?”
I didn’t open my eyes. I had just spoken to my mum through my first ever Iris message. I had to admit, the you-can-talk-to-people-through-a-rainbow thing was pretty cool, but I wished that it hadn’t been mum. I wished that I had calmed down and spoken to her normally instead of shouting at her about Greek Gods and Cyclops and swords and Apollo and why she hadn’t told me all this damn stuff before! And then she had done her mum thing of making me feel wretchedly guilty until I had run away from the Iris message.
“Lindi, c’mon.”
I sighed and sat up. “Hey Will.”
He came and sat beside me, running his hands through his stubbly haircut.
“Look, I’ve just come away from a meeting…”
Figures. He had head of the Nemesis cabin. A whole load of kids who took revenge on anyone who offended them. And then went away, muttering a whole lot of stuff about “balance.” But I didn’t mind Will. We had hung out together a few times recently, because of the time in Capture The Flag, where I had tripped over his shield and rolled down the hill, and he had slipped on some wet grass and accidently followed me. We had stayed hidden below the hill, hiding from anyone who might have noticed this embarrassing scene from two heroes, and then when our team won we sauntered back, looking as if we had won the flag for the team. In fact, I quite liked Will.
“…and the meeting was about…well, look.”
He took out a water pistol and pumped it eagerly until he had a nice little rainbow dancing in front of me.
Pretty.
Will tossed a drachma in (have you seen the size of those coins? They’re huge!) and said something to Iris. I wasn’t paying much attention. I was watching a dryad sneak back into her tree.
“Look.”
I stared into…well, it wasn’t a rainbow. It was a town, busy with people rushing about. It was a birds-eye view, and as it zoomed in closer, I gathered that these weren’t people enjoying a nice trip out at the shops.
It was the zombies again. They plodded into the square, their faces blank and expressionless. They marched up to the people shopping who screamed and ran. One woman wasn’t fast enough. The zombie came closer and closer to her and then…
The picture changed. I was now watching the news. “A prisoner who police believed was dead was seen today in the nearby town.” The image cut to a moving shot of someone strolling down a street.
One last glimpse of the zombie’s again and then the rainbow was back, and Will stopped spraying water.
I didn’t even realise I was all wet.
“They’re everywhere?”
Will sat down next to me, his legs crossed. “Yeah. Everywhere. We thought our visitor was the only one, but there are thousands of zombies.”
“And they’re…”
“Killing. And the people they killed are coming back as zombies.”
I shiver. Mum!
“But here’s the weird thing,” continued Will. “They’re not killing everyone. Sometimes they leave people alone. And the thing I just showed you on the news, “
“The man who came back from the dead!”
“Yeah. He actually did come back from the dead – it can happen, y’know. Happened with Tantalus. And only the very worst criminals are coming back from the dead.”
“The dead are becoming alive?”
He nodded. “Chiron says the dead are rising again. Ordinary people are zombies; criminals and murderers are really alive.”
I couldn’t get my head round it.
“So Lindi, we were wondering…Hades?”
Of course. Who else could it be? My best friend’s dad.
“What did Nico say?”
“Huh. Of course he said that it can’t be Hades, but I mean…who else could bring back the dead?”
No one. Hades is Lord of the Underworld. No one else can bring back the dead. No one can truly bring back the dead.
Oh man. What the hell is going on here?!

*

Melissa laughed, her big brown eyes creasing up. “Jennie, honey, no way!”
Jennie snarled, her red hair flying in the wind. “I know I heard something!”
“And does that mean I’m deaf? I didn’t hear anything, sweetie!”
“What’s up, girls?” grinned Will, flinging an arm round both of them. Melissa raised her perfect eyebrows at him.
“Jennie here thinks she heard someone crying out. Like they were in pain, apparently, but it was probably her imagination, because I didn’t hear a thing!”
Nico frowned. He had come up to Will and I as we were discussing the zombies, and was surprised that we had both shut up when he came near. Scarlet and Lee had come around too, to see what Jennie and Melissa were arguing over.
“Where was it?” asked Lee.
Jennie pointed into the woods. “Right over there,” she said. “And I did hear something! Whatever she says.” She glowered at Melissa.
“Shall we go and check it out?” I asked Lee.
He shrugged. “Nah. It’s probably nothing.”
A cry echoed out form the trees, loud and piercing. The seven of us looked at each other and dashed it the forest.