Chapter 17 - Okay cool, Gods=Birds…yippee

Penelope looked through the new opening, I quickly stumped to a stand, following her gaze. Opal was a lot less interested, she took off her shoes, starting to shake rocks out of her shoes. The path we were about to take was a lot more…scary than the hallways before it. It was dirt, like completely dirt, the walls, the ceiling, the floor. All dirt with small rocks scattered around, creepy. Penelope started to walk down the hallway with no hesitation, Opal quickly shoved her shoe back on, following her quickly. "Hey wait up!" I called out, following after the two, Penelope still didn't make any indication she'd heard me but Opal slowed down a bit. "Sorry. We should probably try and stay together" Opal suggested quietly. I caught up to the two, Penelope's ear still had a small bit of blood on it, but it wasn't actually coming from her eardrum. Where she had previously had a small silver earring, a chunk of her ear was missing. "Oh my Gods!" I cried out in shock, covering my mouth, I paused dead in my tracks, causing Opal to stop too and follow my gaze. "Uh Penelope" She tapped on Penelope's shoulder, Penelope turned back "Hm?" "What happened to…" I wasn't sure what to say. "What happened to your ear?" Opal asked not nearly as nervous as I was though she did seem a little grossed out by the missing chunk of ear. "Oh yeah…that. When the explosion went off I kind of jumped a little and my earring musta snagged on something. I didn't feel it at first so I just kind of…yanked it, it doesn't feel all that bad just…stings a little" Penelope mentioned. Opal breathed out heavily, with noticeable annoyance. "Penelope, you brave, strong, capable, idiot. A FULL CHUNK OF YOUR EAR IS MISSING!" I yelled at her, Penelope reached up to touch her ear as if she didn't believe me. Her eyes widened as her hand connected with the bloody edge of the wound "Oh…" That was all she said. I heard Opal fall to the ground with the distinct sound of somebody dry heaving came from behind me, a sound I knew all too well, both from when I had been sick and certain patients my mother had. Sometimes she had to help seriously sick individuals, a lot of them lost their appetite so they didn't have anything to throw up. I think Opal would've thrown up if we weren't all starving. "Don't touch it," I scolded "You might get some sort of germ or dirt from off your fingers into the wound. I'd suggest that we bandage it but we don't have anything clean to use right now, we should find our way back. I don't think we'd be able to use the string anymore anyways, it probably got cut when the wall closed up" I mentioned. Penelope nodded "Got it…everythings so quiet" She commented "Yeah, I think you messed up your ear, Basil will know what to do, he's always been better at this kind of stuff than me. I'm all plants and he's all bandages" I admitted. Normally I'd be far too embarrassed to admit anything like that, but we were pretty much all dead already so it's not like it mattered anyways. And I still had a feeling, maybe…maybe if I made myself seem more human, more…interesting, then maybe I'd get a box or two and…then maybe we might last a little bit longer. Goddess above, it feels so wrong to have to think like that. Knowing that in an instant, if I got to boring, they could kill me. They could set another fire, or make a loud noise that drew him in our direction, or maybe close off a wall and let me starve or…just crush me in one of those powerful stone beasts. "I thought so, you seem to know what you're doing when it comes to what's edible and what's not but Basil dealt with Miriam's burn quite nicely" Penelope confirmed. Opal got up from the ground, she was shaking like a leaf and might just topple back over at the slightest breeze. Luckily there isn't any wind in here…or trees…or animals…or like any nature thing. So I guess that's more unlucky. "C-Can we please keep going, I think I'm going to be sick" Opal admitted, her voice low, I nodded. Penelope gave me a confused look "Opal wants to keep going, she says she thinks she might throw up" I repeated, my voice louder that Opals had been so that, hopefully, Penelope would hear me. She nodded, finally signaling she's heard me and understood. We started to walk again, somehow I managed to miss the mosaics we had become used to. Sure the tiles weren't the most comfortable but the mosaics really were beautiful, why is this place so beautiful? There had to have been artists working down here but…why? Why must a place of death for my people bare the mark of what our patron goddess taught so many mortals? Soon the dirt started to turn to stone, the walls had beautiful carvings in them that must have taken days. There were intricate patterns of swirls and lines, small creatures, bones and skulls, and greek letters. Though there were a few that caught my eye. There were twelve panels, separated by thick lines carved into the stone with great care. Each one held a bird carving surrounded by insanely detailed designs. There was a dove, a swan, a vulture, a crane, a peacock, an eagle, a goose, a screech owl, a pelican, a turtle dove, a quail, an egret, which is this silly little bird I saw a painting of in the nearby museum once, a heron and phoenix sat together in one of the spots, and…an owl. There was a small moment of silence as we all stopped, just standing there starring at the owl carving. The owl had always been a huge symbol that you could find all over Athens, the symbol of our goddess, the wise and creative Athena. "Hold up, there's twelve panels and one of those birds in an owl, so is this just the twelve olympians?" Penelope asked "But there's thirteen birds" I argued, gesturing to the panel with both a phoenix and a heron. "That one could be Dionysus and Hestia. They've both been the twelfth olympian before and some people think of the two of them as olympians. That would mean the eagle is Zeus, the dove is Aphrodite, the vulture is likely Ares, the peacock is clearly Hera, I know the screech owl is Hades, the pelican is probably Poseidon, turtle doves can be Demeter, the quail is Hephaestus because the goose is Artemis…" Opal paused. "I know Hermes is the egret" I offered "The what?" Penelope asked, confused, turning to look at me. "The egret, that thingy" I gestured to the panel to our left which had the egret on it. Penelope made a small noise of understanding "Heron would be Hestia, that's one of her sacred birds. and Dionysus is probably the phoenix since he's got that whole thing with rebirth right?" She offered. "That would make Apollo the swan and Athena-" Opal started "The owl" We all finished at once "Jink!" I called out pretty much on instinct. Opal almost let out a small laugh, Penelope looked unimpressed. "Let's just…keep going" Penelope suggested but nobody moved, we all just continued to stand, staring at the owl carving. It felt good to be so close to something so familiar, a symbol we had grown up seeing, a symbol of comfort, a symbol of protection and the goddess we had heard so much of our whole lives. "Maybe we should just stay here for the night. My mom always used to say that rest can help with the healing process" I offered. That wasn't necessarily true, it was more something she said to convince patients to rest and get some sleep though it wasn't entirely false either. It did help recharge their bodies or something, don't quote me on that, I'm just a smart idiot who used big words so it sounds like I know what I'm talking about even when I have no clue. I'm faking it till I make it baby, Lets go! Oh Goddess above I need a nap. "Alright fine, we'll sleep here for the night but we're getting straight back to finding a way back to the fountain as soon as we wake up. And I do mean as soon as we wake up, the moment any of us wake up, wake everyone else up" Penelope intructed sternly. "But Penelopeeee," Opal wined "Can't we just sleep? I think we all need it" She looked at me, hoping I'd agree. "Opal's right, I'm tired as Hades and you need rest too, I can see the bags under your eyes," I mentioned. Penelope started to argue before I interrupted her "Ah, na, doctors orders, get some sleep…both of you" I looked at Opal too, who gave me a small look of gratitude. Penelope sat down against the wall, her head dropping down after a few seconds as she closed her eyes, her breathing starting to even out. "Thank you," Opal whispered, careful not to wake her sister up. "I'm so tired" She commented "Yeah me too, I think Penelope would have us walking for days if she could" I joked. Opal let out a small laugh, laying down under the panel with the owl carving. I layed down next to her, thankful for some semblance of a comforting symbol. We pretty much just passed out on the cold stone floor at this point but I think we were all so tired and hungry we could've fallen asleep anywhere. I hope Miriam's doing okay.