Ron kept hold of Percy's arm until the passage had finished closing.
Then he let go and pointed at the altar.
"Can that map show us the way back?"
Hermione examined the lines. She found the chamber they occupied and followed its connection toward the library.
A blank section interrupted it.
"I cannot see how we crossed this part."
Percy looked at the wall that had closed. He disliked the choice the room was giving them.
"One route brought us here. The other opened when that thing reacted."
"That is a description," Ron said. "I was hoping for a plan."
Percy returned to the trident. Its light had weakened, but the orb brightened when he stood beside it.
Hermione held her wand above the altar.
"These marks match the ones around the door."
"Do you think it opens it?"
"I think there is a connection. We still do not know what it does."
Ron looked between them.
"Remember the book? We did not know what that did either."
Percy had not forgotten. His shoulder was making sure of that.
He examined the trident without touching it. The shaft was solid, long enough that carrying it through the narrow tunnel would be awkward.
It also seemed to be the only object in the room that answered him.
"I will try once," he said. "If it opens the door, we check the passage. We do not split up."
"And if it drops us through another floor?" Ron asked.
Percy had no answer that improved the proposal.
Hermione moved beside him, leaving enough room to step back.
Percy took the shaft.
It was colder than he expected. Warmth followed through his hand and arm before he could consider letting go.
The golden marks brightened.
Stone scraped behind the altar.
Ron raised his wand toward the sound. The closed passage moved inward, revealing a corridor wider than the one that had brought them here.
Torches lit along its walls.
Percy looked at the trident. He could still feel the water beneath the room, but something else was pulling his attention toward the opening.
"Does it hurt?" Hermione asked.
"No."
"Does that mean it is safe?"
"No."
She seemed relieved that he had not claimed otherwise.
They went to the doorway. Ron inspected the first part of the floor with his wand before stepping onto it.
It remained a floor.
Percy took that small success seriously.
The corridor descended through several bends. Carvings showed figures on either side of a repeated arch.
Some held weapons. Some held nothing. Percy could not decide whether they were fighting or performing parts of the same task.
Hermione stopped to examine one.
"The marks repeat, but the figures change."
"Different people doing the same thing?" Percy asked.
"Perhaps."
Ron looked farther down the passage.
"I would prefer to meet one who knows the exit."
A faint sound followed them. Percy could not locate it, and Hermione's light showed nothing beyond the walls.
The trident grew heavier in his hand. He changed his grip rather than pretending it was easy to carry.
At the next bend, the corridor opened into a large hall.
A stone arch stood at its center. Beneath it lay a round pool, lit from somewhere below the surface.
Percy stopped before he reached the edge.
The water was still. He could sense it, but it did not behave like the small flows in the tunnel.
Hermione lifted her wand toward the arch.
"The same pattern again."
Ron looked at the pool.
"Is that an entrance?"
Percy did not answer immediately. He wanted to say yes because the pull in his chest had become stronger.
Wanting an answer was not the same as having one.
"It might be."
The pool moved before they could examine it further.
One ripple crossed the surface. Light gathered above it and took the outline of a cloaked figure.
Ron stepped back.
Percy held the trident between them and the pool. He could not know whether that would help.
The figure raised one hand.
"Percy Jackson. Guardian of the Bridge."
The words reached Percy without the ordinary movement of a voice in a room.
Hermione had heard them too. She looked at him, then at the figure.
"Who are you?" Percy asked.
"The keeper of the threshold. What remains of it."
"What threshold?"
"The passage between realms."
Percy looked at the pool again. He knew one place between worlds, and this did not resemble it.
That did not prove the figure was lying. It gave him reason to ask more.
"Why did you bring us here?"
"You awakened the relic."
"After somebody dropped us through a library floor."
The figure did not answer that part.
"The balance is threatened. You must choose whether to protect the bridge or allow it to fall."
Ron moved closer to Hermione.
"That seems to leave out a few details."
Percy agreed.
"What would protecting it require?"
The figure looked toward the trident. Light passed through the pool in lines that matched the carvings on the arch.
Percy saw images rather than instructions. Water crossed a gap. People stood on stone around it. Something struck from the darkness beyond.
The images ended before he could establish who the people were.
"You may become the bridge," the figure said.
Percy tightened his grip.
"I would prefer to remain a person."
Hermione touched his elbow. The small movement reminded him that the others were still beside him.
"Ask what changes," she said.
He did.
The figure's light weakened.
"You will carry the connection. You may hold it against what seeks to break it."
"And if I refuse?"
The pool darkened at the edges. A movement passed beneath the water, too large for Percy to measure from where he stood.
"The darkness will find another way."
That sounded like a warning. It also sounded like pressure from someone who had chosen the room, the time, and the available answers.
Percy looked at Ron and Hermione.
Both were frightened. Neither had moved away from him.
"I have not agreed yet," he told the figure.
The trident warmed again. He could feel the connection waiting in it, ready to answer if he moved closer.
The chamber shook.
Dust fell from the arch. Ron pulled Hermione away from one falling piece of stone.
Percy raised the trident without knowing what he intended to do with it.
The figure pointed toward the pool.
"Choose now, Guardian of the Bridge, before the darkness closes in."
Percy stayed at the edge. He had wanted a way out of the room.
Someone was offering him a responsibility instead, and he needed to decide how much of the offer he could trust.
To Be Continued... Next week!
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Another cliffhanger!!! MUAHAHHAHAHA!
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