Ben was once again shocked to hear actual gratitude from Emma. Don't get him wrong, she have freaking better had been grateful, bit she was the sort of person to never really admit it. He grew a small smile when she called him Big headed at the end of the thank you.
"Scared me there for a second, I thought you had gone and grown a heart on me. Glad to see your back to normal..........your welcome." Ben said in a very teasing manner, though the last part he said very sincerely. He didn't despise Emma, she just seemed to be the only person who could piss him off. She was just so.........Emma. Which is why she and Guy had single handedly baffled the entire Tamer community. The two seemed to completely incompatible it was scary, not opposites, just two people who seemed like they would have nothing to do with each other. Guy was a lot like a Gryphon. He was prideful, vain, a bit arrogant, he was also a bit naive. Though, his heart always seemed to be in the right place, and he was a good Tamer, which earned him brownie points with Ben. The two together though........Ben just thought it was weird.
He suddenly realized they were both demanding to know where they were going.
"Right, we're going where Jericho here leads us. He can sniff out spirits, especially freshly escaped ones. It hasn't been that long since they escaped so their trail will still be pretty hot." Ben then reached into his bag and pulled out a gray translucent piece of cloth.
"This is Grave cloth. It will get him in the right mind set for the hunt." Ben dangled the grave cloth in front of their noses and they sniffed it rapidly. HE turned to Guy.
"Guy, I would be best if you kept to the ground and stuck close to me. We're going to need Emma when we find one. Also, I have a feeling that the skies are going to be watched, specifically by the Furies." Ben shivered a bit at the mention of Hades' little pets. Vicious creatures and a swarm of them could tear an adolescent Dragon to bits in under 20 seconds......he'd seen it happen. Suddenly, Jericho's eyes began to glow yellow.
"He's got the scent, let's move!" Ben quickly grabbed onto the black volcanic collar around the middle head, and the Cerberus took off with great speed and started barreling through the forest, changing directions every so often. Two heads were stuck tot he ground sniffing like mad, while the middle head looked ever onward. He knew Guy could keep up. Gryphons were fastest in the sky, but they were still plenty speedy on the ground.
After awhile, they broke out of the forest and were now in a place with dark soil and bleak rocks everywhere. They seemed to be heading into some sort of quarry. They rounded some bends until they came to a large opening. It almost looked empty, but if you looked close, you could see faces and movement everywhere. It was filled with spirits, and none of them looked particularly happy. Jericho growled a the ones near them and they back away. Alive or dead, a Cerberus and mess you up. He called back to Emma.
"So......any of them here? I think the overabundance of activity is throwing off his scent."-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ben went a bit stiff when Alice's hands brushed against his, but he kept calm. She then bit her lower lip with a cute smile. Ben's eyebrows slightly raised. This......was going to be a good day. He hoped his other self was doing ok. She agreed and Ben's smile grew even wider. "Excellent, let's go." Ben started walk towards the cave, leading her in. Though, he still hung back a bit to be sort of next to her as they moved through the cave. They came out in the heart of the Volcano, the heat was incredibly intense in here, but Ben didn't mind. Being immune to being burned or melted helped a lot with a tolerance to heat. Though he was pretty sure if he fell into the lava he would probably die. He would rather not test the theory anyway. He decided it was too hot for his jacket, he took off his jacket so he was now only wearing his black t-shirt that said in white "Harp'in Fool."
He got out his Harmonica holder and put his back up harmonica in it. He then got out his acoustic guitar. It was beaten to hell and had some chips out of it, but he loved it. Bellamy had character, as Richard used to say. He then looked to Alice, then gave her a warm smile. He walked over to her and began tapping the tambourine with a half second pause between each tap. "Just keep that rhythm through the while song. Feel free to give it your own flair and shake it how you will. Remember, it's music. It's not about memorizing notes, it's about making you feel something without words or pictures. Just play how you feel." He said very casually, and trying to reassure her that there was no wrong way to play.
He got out his pick, then looked to her. "OK, a one, a two, a one two three now." HE then began strumming on his guitar, eventually getting louder and faster. He began to play on his harmonica in a very light and happy tone. This was a song of his own creation simply called "Maggie's lullaby." About 20 seconds into the song, he could hear the lava start to shift beow. Soon, three incredibly massive dog heads were sticking out of the lava. The heads started to howl along with the song, she recognized it and welcomed it gladly. Ben just started smiling when she started to howl and looked over to Alice with a big smile and gave a quick laugh.