The Tyrant's Tomb

Nightmare carousel
Totally let your kids ride
I’m sure they’ll be fine
“NICE NIGHT FOR A hike,” Lavinia said.
The sad thing was, I think she meant it.
By that point, we’d been trekking through the Berkeley Hills for over an
hour. Despite the cool weather, I was dripping sweat and gasping for breath.
Why did hilltops have to be uphill? Lavinia wasn’t satisfied with sticking to
the valleys, either. Oh, no. She wanted to conquer every summit for no
apparent reason. Like fools, we followed her.
We had crossed the borders of Camp Jupiter without a problem.
Terminus hadn’t even popped up to check our passports. So far we had not
been accosted by ghouls or panhandling fauns.
The scenery was pleasant enough. The trail wound through sweetsmelling
sage and bay laurel. To our left, silver luminescent fog blanketed
the San Francisco Bay. Before us, the hills formed an archipelago of
darkness in the ocean of city lights. Regional parks and nature reserves kept
the area mostly wild, Lavinia explained.
“Just be on the lookout for mountain lions,” she said. “They’re all over
these hills.”
“We’re going to face the undead,” I said, “and you’re warning us about
mountain lions?”
Lavinia shot me a look like, Dude.