The Cult of Dionysus

Leo

The outside of the building is beautiful. It looks recently remodeled, with a gold inscription across the top of the entrance.

Del Vino Recording Studios

There's a patio outside, with a gorgeous garden full of flowering plants. Jasmine and honeysuckle bushes line the walkway up to the door, which is made of two rows of concrete paving stones. The building itself is multiple stories tall, made of white marble, and covered in enormous windows that seem to be blocked by some one-way film.

I stop in my tracks before we walk down the entrance path. The two jaguar statues on either side of the gate are giving me bad vibes. I notice a small sensor behind each jaguar. Reaching out more, I can feel something explosive in the paving stones. And up in the doorway, there's a welcome mat that definitely has spikes underneath it. Up in the corner is a security camera that shoots lasers.

"Reminds me of Midas's house." I mumble. "How are you going to get us from here to there without dying?" I ask my captors.

The girl raises an eyebrow at me. "I'll deactivate the security systems." She reaches underneath a ledge on the jaguar pedestals and I feel all the traps deactivate at once. "Any more issues?"

"Uh, no." I shake my head. "Let's keep boogying."

We walk up to the door, which is incredibly clean glass. Inside, the place looks like the ground floor of an office building, with a large marble reception desk and modern wine-colored couches along the walls. It looks like it could be any other building, unless you look at the details.

Along the top borders of the walls, the marble is engraved with intricate designs of grapevines. Marble statues of different Greek gods sit in porticos down the hallways. Gorgeous paintings of very familiar Mediterranean coastlines hang in various locations. And the people that walk around... it's mostly satyrs, who shamelessly walk around with their furry hindquarters in full view. Most of them carry clipboards or stacks of documents or handfuls of staplers (either to use as office supplies or to snack on, I'm not sure.) I see a few kids walking around too, all armed with some sort of weapon. Every single satyr and demigod has an earpiece in, with the same clicking mechanism that Henry used to send a message.

"This way." Shelby drags us to a golden elevator, reminding me of the elevator we found in the sewer that took us to Medea's department store. Somehow, though, this place doesn't feel evil. It feels joyful. Everyone seems to be smiling or talking to each other, even the satyrs who appear to be working seem happy. It reminds me of Camp Half-Blood.

Inside the elevator, the walls are again, very clean mirrors. The only labeled buttons are the first two. The first button simply says Lobby, and the second says Studio, Offices. The other numbers, three through twelve, are blank.

Shelby hits the second button, and the doors close. The music that plays in the elevator is different from your standard elevator music. It's a reggaeton song that I haven't heard before, but I like it.

"So, uh, where are you taking us?" I ask. "Not that I don't like the tour and all, I'm just-"

"Dude," Henry scoffs. "Chill, We're taking you to see our boss."

"Your boss." I try not to sound too scared. "Your boss won't, like, kill us or anything, right?"

The dude gives me a weird look with those gray eyes of his. They look remarkably like Annabeth's. "Probably not."

Shelby scoffs. "Maybe."

"Oh, good." I nod. "Probably not is good."

The doors open with a pleasant ding! and we're led down a hallway. On either side of us are doors to various offices, most of which are blocked from view by blurred glass. I can make out large tables with multiple chairs at each one, with a big bright window in each room. On our other side, is a clean white wall, with just a couple doors down the side. The placards beside each door read Studio 1, Studio 2, Studio 3...