Rampage! (6 page)

Athena’s shield was
the
most revered object in the Underworld. Crafted from a wide circle of bronze and coated with silver, its face was dominated by the Gorgon Medusa’s head. And I mean
the
Gorgon’s head. You see, years ago, Athena’s nephew Perseus had borrowed the shield to kill the snake-haired monster whose stare turned people to stone. Using the shiny inside of the shield like a mirror, he’d stalked Medusa through the cave-tunnels of her lair and, using her reflection to avoid her deadly gaze, had killed her. Triumphant, he’d brought back her severed head as a present for his aunt Athena, who’d magically fused it into the shield, seamlessly
melding the monster’s head beneath the metal, veiling Medusa’s face in silver. The goddess never let anyone else carry it, never mind take it out of her sight.

Jason prodded the Gorgon’s lumpy face rudely with his finger, making Alex flinch. You see, even though visitors to the Underworld Zoo still shivered fearfully from behind her ghost’s stare-proof screens, Alex was truly fond of her. After all, it’s hard to be terrified of someone once you know how they like their porridge in the morning, and now he found himself hoping that Hex would remember that Medusa liked hers steaming hot, with a squirt of grasshopper syrup.

‘Observe!’ smiled Athena and lifted her hands high into the air. ‘I, Pallas Athena, command you to awaken and reveal!’

A sudden wind sprang up from the back of the cave and whistled around the shimmering walls, snapping at the curls of the goddesses’ hair and making them squeal. Then, twisting back through the group, it rattled the shield furiously before sweeping out of the cave and gusting along the beach, leaving a trail of spinning sand dunes in its wake.

Alex stared. The surface of the shield was rippling, its lustrous coating running like liquid, shuddering over the Gorgon’s features and dribbling over the etched scales of the snakes. Suddenly the Gorgon’s eyes snapped open. Two orange topazes, glittering like fire, replaced the monster’s deadly eyes and they sparkled furiously as five living snakes spiralled out around her head, like
party poppers, from the squirming mass of asps below. With their tails held in the metal of the shield below, they rocked and hissed, slithering over one another, luxuriating in the cool air.

Aphrodite screamed and ran out of the cave whilst everyone else stepped backwards. Everyone else, that is, apart from Alex, who, recognising them from their ghost-twins at the zoo – the sandy-brown horned viper, an adder with a bumpy snout, a black-and-white striped krait, a rather elderly, copper-skinned cobra and a grass snake, no more than a whip of greenish grey
19
– wished he’d brought his jar of dried locusts with him.

The Gorgon slid her blazing eyes sideways to look at Athena. ‘What do you want?’

‘You’ve a mission,’ said Athena.

‘Miss-s-s-ion?’ muttered Cobra, fluttering his collar sleepily.

‘Is that it?’ growled Medusa, screwing up her face. ‘Wake me from the middle of a wonderful snooze for this, would you? I’d just dreamed that my cave was filled with a thousand statues of hunky men. Now it’s blasts of wind under my chin, a deafening clang in my ear-holes and everybody up!’

‘You’ll be travelling with a hero,’ said Jason smoothly.

The Gorgon glanced in his direction. ‘Oh, lucky me.’

Alex stifled a smile. After all, if it hadn’t been for a
hero
like Perseus she’d still be wearing her head in its proper place: on her shoulders. He blushed as her blazing eyes caught sight of him and winked, knowing that her head was psychically linked with her ghost back in the zoo, and that she would realise that Alex was the one who cared for her.

Lifting the shield from the rock, Athena slid it on to her forearm and held it out in front of her as the snakes continued to writhe. ‘These are the Serpents of Strife!’

‘S-s-soldiersss in s-s-scalesss!’ hissed Krait, swishing out so that his stripes flashed past like a zebra’s tail. He quivered his pink tongue gleefully. ‘We helped protect Medus-s-s-a for c-c-centuriesss! Picking up the s-s-scentsss of intrudersss ––’

‘Their vibrationsss,’ continued Viper, ducking as Cobra began to wheel round happily.

‘Their nas-s-sty s-s-swordsss and intentionsss,’ muttered Adder, unfurling his brown, diamond-patterned body backwards as the old snake spun by.

‘And made s-s-sure s-s-she didn’t trip over all their los-s-st s-s-shields in the dark,’ said the little green one.

Alex smiled. Grass Snake was the only non-venomous serpent in the gang and had always been more of a ringlet than a tress in Medusa’s terrifying hair-do.

‘S-s-so,’ said Viper, narrowing his yellow eyes as the doddery cobra twirled past yet again. ‘Where are we going?’

‘The Amazon,’ said Athena.

‘A new battle!’ hissed Krait and stretched bolt upright. Beneath him, the asps squirmed and rasped, twisting over each other in a tangle of knots. ‘Attention! Let’sss make a s-s-start!’

‘Cherry tart?’ said Cobra, stopping abruptly to regard the other with dim, clouded eyes.

‘No!’ Viper prodded the old snake rudely with his snout.

‘Besidesss,’ explained Adder importantly, ‘tart, cherry or otherwise-s-se, is a refres-s-shment enjoyed for lunch or s-s-supper. Were you to turn your aged s-s-snout towardsss the beach, you might s-s-scent how low the tide isss, clearly making it the middle of the afternoon.’

‘Already?’ said Alex, shocked. Snatching up the writhing shield, he looked at Persephone. ‘We have to go. Which door is it?’

‘This way,’ she said.

Alex and Aries turned away from the syrupy chirrup of goodbyes for Jason, and followed the queen to the pooled blackness at the back of the caves. Stopping at the foot of the last stairway, she flicked her long plait back over her shoulder and reached for the hoop of keys hanging from her belt. For a moment she fumbled beneath the guttering torchlight until she found the right one and unclipped it from the others. It was a large iron key attached by a chain to what appeared to Alex to be a strange-looking wooden bird with blue feathers, but which we would have recognised as a parrot.

‘This key opens the door to the Amazon,’ she said,
looking earnestly into their faces as Jason caught up with them. ‘From the Underworld to Earth and back home again from the rainforest. So, whatever you do, don’t lose it!’

‘We won’t!’ breezed Jason, plucking it from her fingers and leaping onto the staircase.

Flying up the steps, taking two at a time, he then sprinted over the walkway, pausing for a moment to stand beside the portal, hand on hip, waving the key over his head.

‘See you all soon!’ he announced to the cheering crowd. He glanced down at Alex. ‘I’ll lead the way! You, boy, bring the luggage!’ Then turning, he vanished through the door behind him.

‘Luggage?’ snorted Aries. ‘Boy? Did you hear him?’

‘Come on,’ urged Alex, looking into the ram’s furious eyes. He unfastened the sword – the heaviest of the gifts – in the hope of reducing Aries’ now dismally sagging back and, turning away from the goddesses, leaned closer to whisper in Aries’ ear. ‘Remember, this is all for Rose.’

Aries nodded and, clearly summoning up his last remaining scraps of dignity, turned away and thundered up the surf-slicked steps. Rams are amazing climbers, with tough hooves able to snag rocky cusps and soft pads as grippy as any climbing shoe, and I’m delighted to tell you that happily the craggy steps gave him no trouble at all. Soon at the top, he glanced back over his shoulder at Alex before turning and clattering along the boardwalk.

Relieved to finally be leaving, Alex followed him up the stairs, clutching the sword and shield tightly. How he wished that his parents could see him now. He smiled, remembering how proud they’d been that morning, their faces pink with delight, when he’d rushed back to tell them that he’d been chosen to travel with Jason – yes, mother,
the
Jason – and now, reaching the top of the steps, his whole body buzzed with the excitement of another quest, imagining Rose’s delighted face when she saw them again, bursting out of the jungle to help her.

So, it was unfortunate that the old wood of the boardwalk chose that moment to start clacking rudely beneath Aries, thunking like a warped xylophone, whilst the lyre, bouncing in the narrow gap between the ram’s bustling haunches and the wall, began to twang. Miserably. Far from being the sort of melody that would charm birds and soothe lions, it sounded to Alex more like something that would make the fire-breathing bulls hurl themselves on to the ground and fling their legs up in surrender. Awash with the dreary sound, Alex felt his burst of optimism fade away and with it the image of Rose’s face as he realised the enormous danger of their mission. Because not only did they have to survive Earth, armed with a cocktail stirrer, a picture of Zeus and some rather attractive pieces of embroidery,
and
trek through a vast jungle filled with Hades-knew-what to face the wrath of a scheming sorceress at the end of it, but for them to have the teeniest chance of success, Aries and Jason would need to work together.

As if in reply, the lyre gave its longest mournful sigh yet and, feeling a cold shudder of worry, Alex hurried after Aries as the ram bustled noisily through the portal.

Gifts, thought Rose, who was at that moment stretching in her bed, blinking in the wash of morning light. Wasn’t it totally amazing how they always managed to make people feel so much better?

Yawning, she murmured a whispered thank-you to the unknown but utterly determined fan who’d sent Hazel such a fabulous present the day before.

And changed the star’s mood completely.

Rose sat up and leaned against her plump pillows, recalling how Hazel’s face had glowed when the steward handed her a gift-wrapped box, giddily festooned with pink ribbons, at dinner the night before, explaining that it had arrived only a few minutes ago, by courier, out here in the middle of nowhere.
Dang
, how determined her true fans were, said Hazel, gasping that she simply couldn’t believe it.

And neither could Rose – the change in Hazel’s mood, that was, because for the first time since leaving Barcelos airport over a week ago, Rose had caught a glimpse of the fun girl she’d met in London. The one who’d reassured her so confidently that they would find her father together; that everything truly would be all right. Rose smiled, recalling the sparkle in Hazel’s eyes as she’d ripped off the ribbons and flipped back the lid of the box to discover the most spectacular chocolate-coloured lily
inside. Breathing in the scent of its cherry-red centre, Hazel had taken the box to her cabin bedroom and placed it proudly in the middle of her dressing table.

Rose hoped that the old, good-humoured Hazel would be back again today. She stood up and slipped on her trainers, pleased to discover that the tightness behind her ribs – born of the niggling worry that perhaps the star’s world of pink planes and pink-faced fans really was too different from her own life of grey T-shirts and grey days spent in museums for them to be real friends – had finally disappeared.

And all thanks to a flower delivered in the weirdest little wicker box that had a brass catch shaped like a dragon’s face, holding a dazzling blue stone in its mouth.

Hold on a minute …

Brass dragon?

Dazzling blue stone?

In. Its. Mouth?

Oh dear.

I don’t like the sound of this, and I don’t expect you do either. But, really, there’s not point looking at me all worried, with your face scrunched up like a constipated squirrel.

I mean, what can I do?

VI

S
NAKE
Y
OUR
B
OOTY

At about the same time as Rose was brushing her teeth, Alex was grinding his in frustration. This was because ever since they’d stepped on to the plush red carpet of the portal corridor – only a few minutes before, though it felt much
much
longer – Aries had barely paused for breath.

Grumble
…

              
Moan
…

                          
Snort
…

                                    
Twang
…

‘Didn’t I say that we couldn’t trust him?’ muttered Aries, shimmying his shoulders to make the harness more comfortable and sounding like a one-ram band.

‘Only about a hundred times,’ sighed Alex.

The Serpents of Strife hissed curiously from the shield, unfurling and twirling, tasting the air for scents.

Rude word
…

            
Jingle-jangle
…

                         
BOOM!

Thunder rolled as Zeus’s bolt thwacked the walls.

‘Of all the low-down sneaky tricks!’ said Aries. ‘Can you believe he’s left without us?’

‘No, I can’t!’ replied Alex. ‘Because he hasn’t. He’s simply gone on ahead to check things out!’

‘Rather like the s-s-scoutsss who rode in
Alexander the Great
’sss cavalry,’ said Adder loftily. ‘A clas-s-sic tactic used by the bravessst of men to check out the lie of the land.’

‘Who asked you?’ grunted Aries.

‘Well, really!’ Adder curled himself into a sulky knot.

Having once belonged to the old mathematician
Pythagoras
, Adder
20
had long-considered himself the brainbox of the bunch and certainly wasn’t used to such rammy rudeness.

‘Stop it, Aries!’ insisted Alex. ‘We have to hurry up. We need to get to the Amazon. We don’t have time to moan.’

Except that Aries always had time to moan.

And never more so than when he found himself on a long, gloomy corridor cut through black rock that twinkled in the firelight and that was distinctly Jason-free. Bustling his rear importantly, he looked up crossly at Alex.

‘That’s easy for you to say,’ he muttered. ‘You’re not the one trussed up like a cheap sideshow at the
agora
, are you? All these ridiculous gewgaws!’

‘Who you calling a gewgaw?’ hissed Krait, sticking out his white chin indignantly.

‘What’sss a gewgaw?’ asked Grass Snake.

‘A gewgaw,’ sniffed Adder, from under his coils, ‘isss s-s-something pointlesss and s-s-showy.’

‘Like Jason,’ finished Aries, giving the wall an extra hard wallop with the lightning bolt, making the corridor tremble with thunder.

Alex sighed.

If he’d had an
obol
for every time Aries had raged about Jason since they’d been down in the Underworld, he’d be sitting on a mountain of money taller than Mount
Olympus
by now. Down here, listening to Aries mutter and scorn (and twang and rumble and spark) he wished again that for the sake of their friendship he could join in and wholeheartedly side with his best friend.

Truly agree that Jason wasn’t all he was cracked up to be.

Rail against the way he was still fêted as the golden boy of the Underworld.

Except he couldn’t.

Not when he hardly knew him.

Back in old Greece, Jason had been captain of the
Argo
whilst Alex had been just a boy, up to his elbows in cold, wet clay, learning how to be a potter. To be honest, all Alex was absolutely certain of when it came to Jason was the memory of a dull ache between his shoulder blades, born of hefting trays of pots in and out of the kiln all day, and eyes that itched with tiredness from painting him on pot after pot after pot, late into the night: Jason guiding the
Argo
through the Clashing Rocks, Jason fearlessly yoking the fire-breathing bulls,
Jason climbing over the giant snake
Drako
’s back, high into the tree, to snatch down the Fleece. In his mind’s eye, he could still see the rows of pots, gleaming black and orange on the shelves, ready for the townswomen who’d buy them the next morning, cooing over them like besotted pigeons, delighted to buy a crock showing the latest adventure that Jason had sent news of by messenger dove. Smiling, he remembered his grandfather closing the door after they’d gone and shaking his old, grey-haired head, muttering about what an extraordinary man Jason must be.

How could they all be wrong?

His family, the townsfolk, the gods, the goddesses, the poets? Everybody in the Underworld?

It was too ridiculous.

You see, to Alex, Aries’ claims were rather like us having your best friend insist they’ve seen a flying saucer. You want to believe them, truly you do and you check the news, read the papers, search the net for a UFO sighting. But when there’s nothing about it, when every other person you know rolls his or her eyes and insists your friend’s addled, it makes it horribly tricky. In the end, it’s only when you see something spinning with lights land in your back garden, watch it flip open a ramp for something green and slug-like to wibble out and poke you in the ear with its finger that you’re likely to be convinced.

‘I s-s-smell Earth!’ squealed Viper.

Snapped from his thoughts, Alex narrowed his eyes
and squinted beyond Viper’s wildly writhing body to make out the shape of a door, fuzzily gold in the distance. His chest tightened in a mixture of excitement and nerves.

‘Where?’ said Cobra, swaying up to face the wrong direction.

‘It’s that way,’ whispered Alex, gently turning the snake’s head.

He watched the old snake straighten like a spear. Back in his heyday, Cobra had slithered with the Athenian Army and been called the Purge of the Persians
21
for his extraordinary talent to scent the enemy from miles away. But now, rather long in the fang, Alex knew that his heyday, much like his razor-sharp sniffing, lay far behind him.

‘According to Persephone,’ said Alex, ‘the last time she used this portal she stepped out into the middle of an orange grove. There was a garden party that day, with lots of people drinking and laughing around a fountain with one of our statues of Orpheus at its centre. That statue’s the nearest portal to the Scroll’s coordinates. Hopefully it’s still standing in that orchard.’

Tightening his grip on the sword, Alex began walking more quickly now, curious about what Jason had actually found behind the door. And, he brightened, what sort of advice he might need from him to come up with a plan
for their first move. A few moments later, they arrived at the door, which had been left slightly ajar for them. Pulling it open a fraction more, Alex frowned, puzzled to hear the faint strains of music. Hissing with curiosity, the snakes spiralled out and arranging their heads in a snaky totem pole at the gap and sniffed deeply.

‘Dus-s-st!’ confirmed Krait.

‘Bees-s-s-wax-x-x!’ added Viper.

‘But no orangesss,’ squeaked Grass Snake.

‘Hmm,’ Aries thrust his muzzle through the door and breathed in noisily. ‘So, when exactly was the queen here?’

Alex bit his lip. ‘About a hundred and fifty years ago.’ Feeling his heart start to thump harder, he looked down at the others. ‘Seems like things have changed. Remember, whatever is out there, we need to find Jason quietly. That means we mustn’t do anything to draw attention to ourselves.’

Drawing back from the column of snakes, Viper narrowed his eyes. ‘Defenc-c-c-e positionsss, ladsss!’

The snakes whipped back on to the shield and quickly froze in silver curls around the Gorgon’s head.

Steeling himself, Alex pulled open the door.