A 1

spool.
By the time she reached the spot, the image had faded, and she’d run out of string on her first
As she was attaching a new line, she glanced across the tunnel. There was a broken section in the
brickwork, as if a sledgehammer had knocked a hole in the wall. She crossed to take a look. Sticking
her dagger through the opening for light, Annabeth could see a lower chamber, long and narrow, with
a mosaic floor, painted walls, and benches running down either side. It was shaped sort of like a
subway car.
She stuck her head into the hole, hoping nothing would bite it off. At the near end of the room
was a bricked-off doorway. At the far end was a stone table, or maybe an altar.
Hmm…The water tunnel kept going, but Annabeth was sure this was the way. She remembered
what Tiberinus had said: Find the altar of the foreign god. There didn’t seem to be any exits from the
altar room, but it was a short drop onto the bench below. She should be able to climb out again with
no problem.
Still holding her string, she lowered herself down.
The room’s ceiling was barrel-shaped with brick arches, but Annabeth didn’t like the look of the
supports. Directly above her head, on the arch nearest to the bricked-in doorway, the capstone was
cracked in half. Stress fractures ran across the ceiling. The place had probably been intact for two
thousand years, but she decided she’d rather not spend too much time here. With her luck, it would
collapse in the next two minutes.
The floor was a long narrow mosaic with seven pictures in a row, like a time line. At Annabeth’s
feet was a raven. Next was a lion. Several others looked like Roman warriors with various weapons.
The rest were too damaged or covered in dust for Annabeth to make out details. The benches on
either side were littered with broken pottery. The walls were painted with scenes of a banquet: a robed
man with a curved cap like an ice cream scoop, sitting next to a larger guy who radiated sunbeams.
Standing around them were torchbearers and servants, and various animals like crows and lions
wandered in the background. Annabeth wasn’t sure what the picture represented, but it didn’t remind
her of any Greek legends that she knew.