to get through.”
Fiona saw the ordered list of families on the plaque vanish. . and the names return scrambled to the top portion, except the Janis family became the Clan Soto.
“Ah,” Jeremy said, leaning over her shoulder and noting this as well. “Nothing to it.” He rattled off the proper sequence.
Fiona touched the names, the gate rose, and she marched through-then the gate slammed shut after her.
Sarah exhaled, relaxing now that she was no longer alone on this side of the arch.
One by one they went through, Jeremy finishing last and following.
“So far so good,” Fiona declared.
The room they stood in was lined with brick and looked like the interior of a blast furnace, with scorch marks and patches white from extreme heat. Fiona didn’t like it. . wondering if the place would fill with fire if they missed an answer.
No way. She couldn’t believe they’d really hurt students who failed. Miss Westin had to be psyching them out. That’s all.
Still. . she had no intention of finding out.
There were three exit arches.
“So which way?” Robert asked Eliot.
Eliot nodded to the gate on their left.
Fiona examined the plaque by it. There was the impression of a tree with many branches, each with a tiny blank rectangle. At the base of the tree trunk like so many fallen apples lay jumbled the names of gods and goddesses.
This would be easy.
She directed Amanda how to arrange the names in the family tree of Immortals.
. . even the Fates on their own separate branch.
The portcullis rose.
There was a commotion in the main cavern. The next group had entered. They scattered-each student running toward a different gate and question plaque, and each covering their answers so none of the others could see.
One boy from Team Eagle ran toward the gate that led to this room, but seeing them
“Hurry,” Sarah rasped to Amanda. “Before the others understand what we are doing.”
Amanda moved through the arch, and the portcullis dropped behind her.
Fiona watched as the names in the brass trees fell to the bottom. “Aphrodite” faded, and “Loki” appeared in its place.
But Fiona knew them all still, and she helped the rest of her team through.
She paused just before she walked through. This was easy.
She didn’t think so. As Jezebel had said, Miss Westin hadn’t prohibited them from pooling resources. Maybe no one at Paxington had thought about it because working together for a common good was an alien concept for them.
So selfish.
Team Scarab efficiently moved through four more passages and four more rooms.
There were questions covering the development of alchemy, the rise and fall of the now-extinct gypsy shamans in Eastern Europe (which was a trick question because they hadn’t covered that yet in class-but Mitch knew anyway), the Battle of Ultima Thule, and the Treaty of the Under-Realms. [36]
As they entered the fifth room, however, Fiona noted it had but one exit-so they had to get the question on the brass plaque to proceed.
It was on the Angelic Alphabet.
Jezebel was the closest thing they had to an expert on the subject. . but she puzzled a long time over the odd language which comprised lines, arcs, circles, and tiny squares.
Fiona had seen those letters before. Once in class-just a passing reference by Miss Westin, and also in that book Eliot had been so excited about this summer,
She also vaguely recalled some extra credit reading on John Dee, but she’d skipped the footnotes on all his variations of the invented languages of the angels.[37]
“Very close to Infernal dialects,” Jezebel murmured. Concentration furrowed her brow. “But their grammar. . so many rules.”
Mitch peered over her shoulder but quickly moved back, shaking his head. “Way out of my league,” he whispered.
Eliot moved to her side and asked, “Do you mind?”
“If you think you can,” Jezebel snorted, “be my guest.”
Eliot set his palms over the raised symbols as if it were Braille, closed his eyes, and traced their edges.
“I have it,” he whispered to her. “I’ll need your hands.”
She looked at him and then her hands, confused. “I. . I don’t know. . ”
“Here.” Eliot gently took them and moved them over the letters.
She inhaled sharply-but before she could say anything, he was helping her move the scrambled letters like the pieces of a jigsaw.
Jezebel’s eyes widened. Her colorless cheeks tinged pink.
Fiona took a step back. It felt weird. . almost intimate to see the two of them, hands atop one another.
Eliot finished. He quickly removed his hands and without a word took a step back.
The portcullis rose.
Jezebel looked at the deciphered passage-and then covered her eyes as if she’d just stared into a flashbulb.
The text, apart from looking like a geometry problem, didn’t look like anything legible to Fiona.
An English translation, however, emerged at the bottom of the brass plaque:
“How did you do that?” Jezebel whispered to Eliot.
“You better go on,” Eliot told her. His eyes were darker than usual, the color of blue smoke. “I’ll need to get the next person through.”
Jezebel moved to the other side and watched intently as Eliot helped the rest of the team.
Fiona noted that Eliot didn’t touch anyone as he had Jezebel, rather just instructed them where to place the odd geometric letters.
Eliot went through last and told them, “I think there’s only one more question ahead.”
“About bloody time,” Jeremy replied. “Men weren’t meant to be underground like so many rats.”
“No worries,” Fiona said, trying to sound confident. “One more gate. We get through and we’re finished.”
“Come on.” Robert grabbed a torch off the wall and led the way.
The tunnel angled up, zigged and zagged, and then a light appeared far down the passage.
It was blurry and dim, but definitely the same fog-covered sunlight she’d seen earlier this morning. And there was no gate!
They broke into a trot.
Fiona’s heart raced. They’d done it. Made it through the entire maze-got every question right! They’d all get As and show the rest of the class what teamwork could accomplish.
The light brightened, and Fiona found herself blinking as she ran out onto grass.
She whooped and cheered and whirled around.
. . but her victory dance spun to a stop.
They were inside the Ludus Magnus.
The jungle gym loomed before her. It was taller now, eighty feet high. She saw the balance beam she had
