Chapter 31 Teamwork Makes the Scream Work
A SCREAM WEDGES IN MY throat as I fall through some kind of tunnel for at least thirty seconds. Wind slaps against my face the whole way down, and in the background is an eerie moaning sound that has every hair on my body sticking straight up.
“Hello?” I call, trying to figure out if Fifi or Arjun is hurt. Maybe one of them is making the super scary noise.
Except the moment I speak, the moaning stops.
It’s instantly replaced by what sounds like a million whispers.
They’re coming from all different directions, and they’re all closing in on me at once.
I try to figure out what they’re saying, but the whispers are coming so fast the words are getting tangled together.
I can’t tell the words—or even the sounds—apart enough to even make a guess at what they’re trying to tell me.
“I can’t understand you!” I call into the darkness, hoping some of them will settle down so I can try to figure out what’s going on. But my words only make them more desperate, the whispers turning into a mishmash of pleas and wordless screams.
Terror slams through me at the sound, and I try to cover my ears, try to drown out what sounds like thousands and thousands of people in the most terrible pain. But the wind is so strong, I can’t move my arms or my body. So strong that I can’t do anything but drop.
Until, suddenly, the ground rushes up to meet me and I fall flat on my face in a field that looks an awful lot like the one I just left. Except with less trees and tons more fog.
“Where are we?” I ask Fifi, who’s pushing herself into a sitting position beside me.
She makes a face as she spits out a mouthful of dirt. “No clue. But that was—”
She breaks off as a loud, panicked scream sounds above us.
I roll over just in time to see Sullivan, Paris, and Rhea falling from the sky straight at us.
Fifi lets out a squeak and dives to the right while I roll to the left just in time to avoid ending up in another dogpile. Arjun, unfortunately, isn’t so lucky.
“Help!” he cries out, arms flailing. “Help me—”
Sullivan and Paris scramble off him just as Rhea lands, not in the dirt, but on her feet.
Big surprise.
I do my best not to roll my eyes, but come on. Surely all Athena girls aren’t this annoying.
Her eyes are filled with disdain when she looks at us. “Are y’all just planning on sitting around all day or are we actually going to try to do something here?”
A hot flush climbs up my neck to my cheeks as I scramble to my feet. “I think we need to find the chest first.”
She lifts a brow. “You mean the chest right in front of us?”
I whirl around and, sure enough, there’s an old-fashioned wooden chest directly behind me.
“What are we? Pirates?” Fifi asks.
“It looks a little like that, doesn’t it?” Sullivan answers as he moves forward and tries to flip the lock in the center of the chest. It unlocks surprisingly easily.
He glances back at the rest of us. “I think we should just go for it.” And then he squats down and starts to lift the lid.
“Wait!” Rhea and I both shout at the same time.
“What are you doing?” she demands.
He looks baffled over her lack of understanding. “Trying to get the key, obviously.”
“Yeah, but we haven’t done anything yet,” I tell him. “Dr. Minthe said if we open the chest too early, something bad will happen.”
“You don’t really believe all that, do you?” Sullivan shakes his head like we’re being ridiculous.
“I believe it,” I tell him, moving forward in case he tries to open the chest again.
“So do I,” Fifi agrees.
“I think we all do,” Paris tells him quietly. “I guess the question is, why don’t you?”
“I think he’s messing with us,” Sullivan suggests.
Rhea rolls her eyes. “Spoken like a true Zeus.”
Sullivan shrugs. “I’m just saying. What if they’re telling us that story and then figuring we’ll wait forever to try to open it?” He stands back up to face us. “But what if the real test is we just need to trust each other enough to open the chest and get the key?”
“Don’t you think that seems a little too easy?” Fifi asks doubtfully.
It’s getting harder to see her—getting harder to see everyone—because the fog is getting thicker every second that we stand here. I’m pretty sure that soon we won’t be able to see our own feet through the smoky gray mess, let alone each other.
“Actually, it makes sense to me,” Arjun says suddenly. “I say let him open the box. What’s the worst thing that can happen?”
“Says the guy who wasn’t just attacked by a giant eagle,” Paris mutters.
“Maybe he’s right,” Rhea says as she moves closer to the box. I can’t see her anymore, but I can tell her voice is coming from in front of me now. “Worst-case scenario, something bad comes out and we deal with it like we did the eagle. Best-case scenario, we get out of this ridiculous fog.”
“Are you saying you want to open it now?” Fifi sounds incredulous. “You were just arguing against it!”
“Yeah, well, Sullivan and that other kid persuaded me to think differently.”
“That other kid has a name,” I tell her. “Arjun.”
“Okay, so Arjun persuaded me otherwise.” Her voice drips with disdain. “I say you go ahead and open it, Sullivan.”
“Shouldn’t we at least have a vote?” I demand.
“It’s three–three. A vote isn’t going to do anything.”
“So we’re just supposed to do things your way without even discussing it?” Fifi asks incredulously.
“Glad you’re finally catching on,” Rhea tells her.
“That’s—” Paris starts, but he breaks off at the creaky sound of a chest opening.
As soon as I hear it, a bad feeling sweeps over me. My whole body grows cold and bile starts creeping up the back of my throat. “This is a bad idea,” I tell them as a feeling of urgency overtakes me. “You should close the chest—”
“Too late,” Sullivan tells me, his voice filled with satisfaction. “Come closer and you can see the key’s right here.”
“Grab it!” Rhea tells him. “Or better yet, I will.”
Seconds later, the fog starts to thin out and I can see Rhea standing there, her fist wrapped around the shank of a large, old-fashioned-looking key.
The moment I see her like that, the uneasy feeling in my stomach gets worse. I tell myself to ignore it, tell myself that everything is going to be fine. It’s hard to believe that, though, when the whispers are back, louder than ever.
“Do you hear that?” I ask Fifi.
“Hear what?” When she answers, her voice sounds like it’s coming from far away.
“The voices.”
“What voices?” Arjun sounds alarmed even though his voice, too, seems to be traveling through water to get to me.
I shake my head, try to clear it. But that only makes the whispers worse. And while I can’t make any of them out individually, one message is coming through from the group of them, loud and clear.
Don’t. Don’t. Don’t.
“Let go of the key, Rhea,” I tell her as my nerves turn to full-blown fear. “This is a bad idea.”
“Please,” she snorts. “You’re just trying to impress Dr. Minthe again. But this time, it’s my turn.”
She yanks the key out and slams the lid of the chest down.
“See, I told you it was no big deal.” Sullivan beams proudly. “Here, give me the key and I’ll unlock the door.”
“Eeew, no.” Rhea gives him a disgusted look. “Did you not just hear me? I’ll be the one unlocking the door.”
She heads straight for it, key in her hand.
The whispers get louder still, until it feels like they’re shouting inside my head. “Wait!” I try one more time. “Don’t—”
“Grow up, Penelope,” she snarls. “You can’t win everything.”
She sticks the key in the door’s lock and tries to turn it. But it doesn’t budge. So she tries again. And again. And again.
Nothing happens.
“What is going on?” she growls, frustrated. “Why won’t this thing just turn?”
“Maybe I should try,” Sullivan suggests in a voice that’s filled with satisfaction. “The door probably knows it was my idea.”
“Eeew, whatever,” Rhea says. But when she starts to hand him the key, it disappears.
And just like that, the voices in my head go silent again even as the fog grows heavier and heavier and heavier.