Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 It was close to dawn when Marcus finally fell asleep. And right away, he tumbled into a dream. He was on a quest with Hercules to kill the monstrous Hydra, an enormous serpent with nine heads. Just one puff of her poisonous breath could kill. Marcus waded silently through the dark and misty swamp, pushing aside sharp stalks of grass. And then, just ahead, there she was: the hideous serpent. Marcus stopped, frozen, as the beast rose up from the swamp. One by one, her nine horrific heads emerged from the mist, staring at him with

glowing yellow eyes, leering with dripping, glistening fangs. And then — Huff. A burning, rotten stench rushed into Marcus's lungs. The poisonous Hydra breath! Marcus gagged and coughed. His throat burned. His chest felt as if it would explode! "Marcus! Marcus!" a voice called.

Hercules? "Marcus!" Marcus's eyes popped open, and the nightmare fell away. Tata was kneeling next to him, calling his name, shaking him awake. It was all a dream! Relief poured over him as he realized he wasn't in a swamp with the Hydra. He was on the mountain Vesuvius, with Tata. But wait… something was terribly wrong. The air was still poisonous! The Hydra was still puffing gusts of her burning breath into Marcus's lungs. But there was no Hydra. That burning, poisonous smell was here. "Marcus," Tata choked. "Get up! The air has gone bad!" Tata helped pull Marcus to his feet and they staggered together toward Peg. Marcus's head pounded. Tears poured from his stinging eyes. His lungs were on fire and he gasped for breath. He felt dizzy. They couldn't last much longer in this air!

Peg was rearing in panic, white foam spewing from her mouth. Tata fumbled with her rope, finally untying it. They all stumbled out of the grove of trees, where the air was miraculously clear. Tata and Marcus collapsed to the ground, gulping the fresh air into their lungs. "Tata," Marcus rasped. "What was that?" "Sulfur gas," Tata replied, his voice ragged from coughing. "There's no doubt. I smelled it once before, when Linus and I were visiting a gold mine in Africa. We were deep underground. Sulfur gas can be deadly. It can kill in minutes. We barely made it to the surface in time." Tata looked back into the grove of trees. "It's highly unusual to find sulfur gas above the ground," he said. He stood and climbed onto a boulder that jutted out from the grassy slope, looking all around. Marcus saw a hint of worry in his father's eyes. But mainly what he saw was curiosity, a hunger to learn and understand. It was the same look Tata used to get in Linus Selius's library when he was chasing down a new theory. Suddenly, Tata was

not a slave on the run. He was a scientist, searching for answers. And the truth was that after spending a lifetime working with Linus, Tata probably knew more about science and nature than most people in the empire. In recent years, Linus would ask Tata to join him when important guests came, eager for his friends to hear Tata's ideas. Tata hopped down from the boulder. He held out his hand to Marcus, pulling him to his feet. "Let's keep heading up the mountain," he said, handing Marcus Peg's reins. "We'll discover more as we get closer to the top." Tata set out, climbing the rocky path. Marcus took a deep breath, and gave Peg's reins a tug. But the mare didn't budge. She looked at Marcus with her wise brown eyes. Her expression was so thoughtful. Marcus would not have been shocked if she had opened her mouth and started to speak to him. "What is it?" Marcus said. The mare looked up the mountain.

She stamped her foot. "You don't want to go up there, do you?" Snort. "Me neither," Marcus said. Tata's voice shouted out. "Marcus!" Marcus and Peg eyed each other. "We can't let Tata head up there by himself," Marcus said. Peg made a noise that sounded like a sigh, and she stepped forward. Together they followed Tata toward the top of Vesuvius.