absolutely not what I needed right now. They tended to fly about angrily all over the place, and I definitely did not want to knock any of these carvings into the rising sludge. It was oozing over the toes of my boots now, and it reeked. Plus, if the black vines really did steal power like Hades said they did, the last thing I wanted was any of this Empusa's power inside me. Yuk.
I directed the vine towards the toppled spider carving, but as it got close it veered away, almost like when you try to put the wrong end of two magnets together. I concentrated, forcing the vine back towards it. But as it touched the bone, revulsion swamped me, the total opposite of the joy I felt when I connected with the earth and living plants. My breakfast rose fast in my stomach, and I snapped the vine away, heaving again.
'Life and death, light and dark... You will not master the balance,' the Empusa hissed. I looked up at her, sweat now trickling down my neck.
'Black vines it is then,' I hissed back, and a dark vine shot from my palm, smashing into the row of carvings. 'Shit!' I yelped, trying to control the whipping shoot. Get your shit together Persephone, unless you want to drown in sewage, I berated myself. With an effort, I pulled back the black vine, then sent it carefully towards the spider. Gingerly, slowly, I managed to wrap the vine around the bone carving.
A new, dark energy hummed along the vine and into my hand, spreading through my veins like fire. I saw no awful images, felt no searing heat, but I knew on every level that the power was wrong. It was fueled by fear and blood, and it didn't belong inside me. My whole damned body was sweating now, nerves and stress and fear pumping more adrenaline through me.
I could feel my temper rising, anger starting to simmer deep inside me as I hurried over to the four holes in the wall, the spider carving wrapped in my vine. The sludge was covering my boots completely now, and was half way up my shins. I found that lifting my feet out of it allowed me to move faster than trying to move through it; it was as thick as tar.
When I reached the wall, I carefully lowered the spider into the first hole, and willed the vine to let go. As it did a small click sounded, then rock began to fill the hole, growing all the way out of the wall and forming a small handle.
'Thank fuck for that,' I muttered, half panting as the brimming anger inside me abated. I gripped the handle, and discovered I could only turn it left ninety degrees, so that's what I did before turning back to the Empusa.
'Number two. My golden treasure never lacks a guard, and is held in a maze from which men are barred. What am I?'
'Golden treasure?' It had to be an animal of some sort, I thought looking at the carvings. My mind whirred, trying to think of an animal that had golden treasure. I didn't even know about half the animals in Olympus, so I'd have to hope we had the same animals in my world. What had gold treasure in a maze? 'A bee!' I shouted, as the answer came to me. I dragged my legs through the sludge, and started hunting through the shelves.
If I survived this, I was showering for a week. It took me until the sludge had reached my waist to find the fucking bee carving. The stench was becoming unbearable, my magical lavender no match for its ferocity. I carried the bee carefully over to the holes in the wall, my progress infuriatingly slow, and anger roiling inside me the whole time my black vine was cradling the carving. It was toxic, I was sure. The second I connected with the bones I could feel their dark, angry influence. I tipped the carving into the next hole as soon as I reached it and the hole filled in quickly, a second handle forming. I yanked it up and turned back to the Empusa, knowing I must have a wretched scowl on my face.
Just get it done. Just get it done. You'll be out of here soon.
The dark red light, the awful stench, the oppressive heat, the nauseating bones surrounding me; all were making the fury building inside me harder to dispel.