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Chapter Text

Fifteen: Axel

If You’re Tired of Being Electrocuted, Clap Your Hands

(or: On the Shore of Two Underworlds)

            When the ahuitzotl’s hand-tail released Axel’s leg, he knew what game this monster wanted to play. It hoped he would thrash towards the underground river’s surface for a desperate escape. Although Chiich’s horrific stories about the creature rattled his concentration the same way stories about Ronald McDonald might terrify Pax, Axel flicked out the obsidian stilettos attached to his wrists and dove straight towards where he sensed the monster’s movement.

            Under the water, with nothing but the eerie gas light trickling down from the cavern above, Axel couldn’t see anything. His mouth and nose were clogged with muck. He couldn’t use his lighter for a spell. If he didn’t end this fight quickly—

            Something wrapped around his neck before he could jam his blades into the monster.

            The ahuitzotl’s fingers tightened—it was going to snap his head to the side if he didn’t act quickly.

            Axel grabbed the tail’s “wrist” with one hand and jabbed his blade through the tendons.

            The ahuitzotl writhed.

            Pain twisted his stomach. Claws dug in—

            Then, a brilliant burst of light sparked through the water in the cavern, illuminating the ahuitzotl’s terrifying frame: its massive jaws lingering a few feet away, the twists of murky blood coming from its front paw and trailing to Axel’s abdomen, Axel’s obsidian stiletto sliced clean through the hand that was strangling him—

            When Axel startled out of his typical nightmare—the way the Leonis Caput systematically disarmed his little brother, so it could break Pax to pieces and eat him—Axel couldn’t move. His body wouldn’t respond. Voices came in dulled murmurs around him.

            Everything kicked back in at once.

            He tried to cough, choked, and rolled to sputter out the water in his lungs. His sight was blurry as he searched around. The world smelled like a swamp on fire. As much as he could get himself to move—his entire body tingled like Leo had misted him with gasoline to only sort of set him aflame—he fumbled around.

            His weapons were gone. So was his armor, including the lion pelt.

            Someone took his hand.

            “Axel! Hey, Cat’s Breath, relax,” a girl said, though the voice sounded wary.

            The fuzzy shapes around him slowly came into focus. He leaned on his side, gasping.

            Someone standing over him giggled. “Does he really have cat’s breath?”

            “I don’t know, but look at those claws! And those ears!”

            “They’re so fuzzy! It’s cute! He must be one of those Mesoamerican shifters!”

            More giggling.

            Axel reflexively reached up to rub on his Mist mask.

            The effort almost made him collapse.

            “Axel, I told you to knock it off,” someone hissed. “And you guys can shut up!”

            When Axel glanced at the person kneeling beside him, he could see a Blink-182 band shirt. Thalia’s face was bright red as she scowled at the people standing around them. Her typically spiky, black hair was plastered to the side of her face. She was soaking wet.

            After feeling himself shiver, Axel realized he was too.

            The sound of rushing water made him search for the ahuitzotl, wondering what could have happened.

            They were on the shoreline of a cavern river, a few feet from the water. Axel could see footsteps and lines where Thalia must have dragged him. There were three giggling girls around them, holding lanterns.

            On the cavern wall of the opposing shoreline, there were painted glyphs and wall reliefs. The brilliant blues, turquoise, and green stuck out beautifully against the browns. The characters in the depiction wore ornate headdresses and loincloths. Although Axel couldn’t see enough to know the art piece’s story in the dim lighting, the reliefs reminded him of his father’s temple.

            Their side of the cavern was also painted with frescos, but these subjects were either naked or wore chitons. The composition was foreign to Axel. The clash of art styles made his nausea worse.

            Instead, he tried to focus on the girls standing over Thalia and him. Was there a polite way to ask if they were daughters of Chak that would turn into snakes and chase them away? Or would it be rude to assume they’d sprout reptilian tails and try to kill them to amuse the gods? Axel was uncertain of the etiquette, considering he’d last been greeted by a slimy fluffball’s firm handshake around the neck.          

            Despite the Mayan reliefs on the far wall, and the previous battle with the ahuitzotl, these girls looked Mediterranean—ancient Mediterranean. Their dark hair was plaited and they wore loose-fitting tunics with decorative belts, golden jewelry, and sandals.

            Axel tried not to wince at the rancid scent of perfume in the air. He hated perfume.

            A teenage boy, dressed similar, with short, curly dark hair, stood slightly behind the others. He held Thalia’s silver parka and examined her a bit too carefully. “Oh, don’t be so upset, daughter of Zeus. They’re just excited. We rarely get visitors from Hellas anymore—”[1]

            “America,” she snapped.

            He looked confused. “I’m less knowledgeable of that city-state—”

            “Country—”

            “But it is uncommon for us to see, Hellenes, like yourself, and even rarer to get a jaguar warrior, like your friend.”

            Axel noticed something uncomfortable: other than the bow and quiver strapped onto Thalia’s back, her supplies was gone. No backpack. No mace. No hunting knives. Even her Aegis shield bracelet was gone.  

            These people must have disarmed them.

            Axel sat up, grunting at a spike of pain in his abdomen. Thalia steadied him, glaring at the boy that was probably about her age. Or, apparent age.

            “You’re not going to get far in either Tartarus or Xibalba with those injuries and no weapons,” one of the three girls said. She stepped closer to the boy, giving him a knowing grin.

            If Axel had to guess, these two were siblings. Their features were too similar and the smile they exchanged looked a bit too close to when tiny Lapis, Hiro, and Pax decided to team up to “ambush and contain the colossus” (and, when Kouta also smiled like that, it meant Axel had to explain to their carnival’s contortionist how he ended up tied in a box backstage).

            Axel cleared his throat, finding his voice functional. “Where are we?” he asked, forgetting to properly introduce them.

            “And when are we?” Thalia demanded. The hairs on his arm stood up, and Axel could feel the air turn static. Axel had a sneaking suspicion she’d electrocuted him to get to the ahuitzotl and wanted to remind her that if she did it again—in fact—he would NOT go X-ray and happily skip away like a cartoon character. If the ache of his body was any indication, he’d end up unconscious in the best case scenario, with two burned lightning bolt on his forehead so Pax could chase him around calling him the Boy Who Lived: Two Bolts Edition.

            The two other girls with lanterns giggled and scampered off, towards the frescos on the cavern wall. One touched a depiction of a gimp man holding a blacksmith’s hammer. A hidden door swung open.

            They glanced back over at Axel, giggled one last time, then disappeared inside. Axel frowned. Those girls looked like they could be related to these two as well.

            The boy’s eyes flashed in the light of his sister’s lantern. She propped her elbow against his shoulder like an armrest.

            “We have a question before we answer you. What you say will help us decide if we’re going to heal you and give you back your things or chop you into pieces and throw you back in the river,” the boy said, still beaming like this was on their typical hospitality check list. Axel doubted his prior assumption that these people were Mediterranean instead of Mayan. A normal ancient Mayan problem: one moment you think you’re going to a banquet, the next moment you are the banquet.[2]

            The sister nodded enthusiastically, her dark eyes tracing Axel from head to toe, likely looking for any other weapons he’d hidden. “A very important question for our polis. Do you, or do you not…”

            The siblings leaned closer to Axel and Thalia, as though they could sniff out any lies. The combined scent of their perfume and cologne made him struggle to maintain his composure.

            Once closer, the girl finished, “Like the goddess, Aphrodite?”

            That was the last question Axel had been expecting, like he’d gone to Disney with his little siblings and been asked how many automatic rifles he would like to check in the hotel lobby.[3]

            There was no way he could lie. He had already made a disgusted face at the goddess’ name, and he could never say something remotely neutral about that wretched deity. With what little Axel knew about Thalia’s background with romance, he wondered how she was going to answer.

            “I’m a huntress of Artemis,” Thalia said in way of explanation.

            “Aphrodite and Ares bewitched me to kill my little brother,” Axel said, hoping that was enough of a diplomatic answer.

            The boy’s face lit up. “Oh, a huntress of Artemis.”

            The way he said it reminded Axel of the way his older brother, Kouta, said, “Oh, a challenge” when he met a girl that didn’t buy the whole Pax-boys-are-sexy thing.

            Not that he thought Thalia couldn’t take care of herself—she could probably rewire the electrons firing in this boy’s body to make him do the hokey-pokey (a tactic he’d have to ask her if possible)—but he didn’t like it when anyone looked at one of his friends like that. Exterior to a soccer match. Or a friendly brawl.

            The girl tilted her head towards Axel warily. “Do you… like your brother or dislike your brother?”

            Axel glared. He wanted to just respond, “It’s my brother,” like that would answer everything, but when you had brothers like Kouta…

            “I’ve spent the last five years of my life doing everything in my power to keep him safe,” Axel said.

            She looked relieved. She glanced over to her brother and he gave her a thumps up. “Okay, second question: how much do you know about mythology surrounding Aphrodite?”

            Back at Camp Othrys, Axel relied on Alabaster to debrief him on their enemy’s history. With the Traitor’s Seven, he had Merry’s uncomfortably detailed stories. He knew nothing—short of a quick Google search on Has anyone successfully rejected the goddess of love? Quick summary: it did not go well for Adonis.

            He glanced to Thalia, feeling like the lack of information was a weakness.

            Thalia was giving him the same hopeful—albeit very annoyed—glance.

            The girl giggled. “Excellent!”

            The boy clapped his hands. “We’ll be sure that you have a very relaxed um--respite here.”

            The girl ushered them towards the door in the wall. “Welcome to the island of Lemnos! And our piece of Hephaestia!”

            Judging from their uncomfortable excitement, Axel hoped this was really their home and not a prison or torture chamber. Considering their lack of weapons, supplies, and that he felt like he’d played a game of Touch the Socket after a shower, they didn’t have much of a choice about following them inside.

Thank you for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed! :D Is everyone ready for Halloween?! I hope you guys have a fun one!

Footnotes:

[1] What the Greeks called their land before the Romans came around.

[2] Just for clarification: there is evidence that some Mayan groups did eat people, but Axel wants to point out that it wasn’t an everyday occurrence, and it was a much more popular cuisine for the Aztecs.

[3] Mel’s Betacomment: “XD But that’s a real question for all of you!” Jack’s response: Only TWO of my siblings are crazy, gun-wielding wilderness-dwellers, thank you. The others prefer swords.