According to Amber's glasses, her friends slept for four hours and twenty-three minutes. Jason kept on shifting his head in her lap as she slept, but she didn't mind. The one thing she did mind was Emerald. The snake teased her the entire time, saying she had a crush on Jason, which was not true. Yes, he was both extremely hot and cute and had such adorable habits from what she could tell, but she did not like him like that.

Just face it, Amber, Emerald hissed. You are hopelessly in love with him already.

Emerald I swear to the gods if you say that one more time I will chuck you in the sewer water.

You love me too much for that.

Amber rolled her eyes. Wanna bet?

Amber, honey, you've loved me since you rescued me from that hellhound all those years ago, Emerald pointed out.

Well--whatever, Amber thought, knowing it was true.

Oh, hey, he's waking up, Emerald hissed.

Oh, he is, Amber thought. Shit, what am I supposed to say? There's a good chance he's going to act awkward after this, and then I'll follow his lead and also be extremely awkward, then we won't even talk unless it's absolutely necessary.

Stop overthinking it and just act natural, as if it were Leo who was on your lap and not Jason, though according to you there shouldn't be any difference between the two in this situation, Emerald told her.

There's a big difference! I've known Leo for over a month and he's grown to be one of my best friends! I just met Jason a few days ago.

Jason opened his eyes and immediately blushed, making Emerald go into another round of, 'Aww, isn't he so cute? and Don't you just want to kiss him right now?'s.

They woke up everyone else, avoiding eye contact, and broke camp and started down the tunnel.

It twisted and turned and seemed to go on forever. Amber wasn't really sure what to expect at the end--a dungeon, some sort of mad scientist's lab, or maybe a sewer reservoir where all Porta-Potty sludge ends up, forming an evil toilet face large enough to swallow the world (the last one was Emerald's suggestion).

Instead, they found polished steel elevator doors, each one engraved with a cursive letter M. Next to the elevator was a directory, like for a department store.

"M for Macy's?" Piper guessed. "I think they have one in downtown Chicago."

"And they just have an entrance in the sewers, like all fancy stores," Amber deadpanned.

"Maybe M for Monocle Motors?" Leo said. "Guys, read the directory. It's messed up."

Amber read it, glad her magical glasses made reading hurt far less than it used to. Now, all she got was a minor headache when she read something. 

Parking, Kennels, Main Entrance: Sewer Level

Furnishings and Cafe M: 1

Women's Fashion and Magical Appliances: 2

Men's Wear and Weaponry: 3

Cosmetics, Potions, Poisons, and Sundries: 4

"Kennels for what?" Piper said. "And what kind of department store has its entrance in a sewer?"

"It's almost like I was just saying that, Pipes." Amber rolled her eyes. "It's most likely run ny that mortal enemy we have to watch out for."

"What kind of department sells poisons is the bigger question," Leo said. "Man, what does 'sundries' even mean? Is that like underwear?"

"Sundries are items that aren't important enough to have their own section. Miscellaneous stuff," Amber informed him.

"Ah, gotcha."

Jason took a deep breath. "When in doubt, start at the top."

"Jason, I don't think that's a legitimate thing," Amber said, though she still entered the elevator with all of them.

The doors slid openon the fourth floor, and the scent of perfume wafted into the elevator. Amber stepped out first, Choisant in her right hand and a small knife that was lighter and put less stress on all the muscles in her left.

Jason was right behind her. "Guys," he said. "You've got to see this."

Piper joined them and caught her breath. "This is not a Macy's."

It's almost like Amber has been saying that the entire time, Emerald, who had been surprisingly quiet, grumbled.

The department store looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope, so bright it made Amber's eyes hurt even though her glasses were supposed to protect her from that sort of thing. The entire ceiling was a stained glass mosaic with astrological signs around a giant sun. The daylight streaming through it washed everything in a thousand different colours. The upper floors made a ring of balconies around a huge central atrium, so they could see all the way down to the ground floor. Gold railings glittered so brightly, Amber avoided looking at them.

This place looks better than Olympus, Emerald breathed.

Aside from the stained glassceiling and the elevator, Amber couldn't see any other windows or doors, which was a really bad thing if they ever had to escape, but two sets of glass escalators ran between the levels. The carpeting was a riot of oriental patterns and colours, and the racks of merchandise reminded Amber of the camp store the one time Connor and Travis snuck in and reorganized everything for a prank. There were shirt racks and shoe trees mixed with armoured manikins and beds of nails.

Leo stepped to the railing and looked down. "Check it out."

In the middle of the atrium a fountain sprayed water twenty-six feet into the air, changing colour from red to yellow to blue. The pool glittered with gold coins, and on either side of the fountain stood a gilded cage--like an oversize canary cage.

Inside one, a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed. Somebody had imprisoned the storm spirits, and the cage shuddered as they tried to get out. In the other, frozen like a statue, was a short, buff satyr, holding a tree-branch club.

"Coach Hedge!" Piper said. "We've got to get down there."

The thing that really bothered Amber, though, was a vent beside the fountain. As soon as her eyes found it, she couldn't tear them away. It made her shudder and gave her chills. It felt like a million spiders were crawling up her back, which didn't help with her efforts to force her fear down and tear her gaze away. The worst thing about it was it seemed to be the size of a normal person, meaning if it was a trap or something--though her glasses didn't identify it as one--someone could fall down it for gods-know-how-long.

 A voice said, "May I help you find something," effectively making Amber look away from the vent.

Jason, Piper, and Leo jumped back while Amber raised her katana in warning as she turned around.

A woman had just appeared in front of them. She wore an elegant black dress with diamond jewelry, and she looked like a retired fashion model--maybe fifty years old, though it was hard for Amber to judge, and her glasses were still loading as they gathered information on her.Her long dark hair swept over one shoulder, and her face was gorgeous in that surreal super-model way--thin and haughty and hold. With their long red-painted nails, her fingers looked more like talents.

Amber was already cautious, seeing as they had been alone moments earlier, but that caution seemed to overload as her glasses finally told her who the woman was.

Medea.

Y'all this is so short I'm sorry. 

And I took so long to update.

And it's unedited.

But I felt I needed to get something out, so yk.

So that happened.

Also, sorry for not really updating Lyrics at all. Don't think I'll be able to write it this month.

Anygays, cya.

-Eevee