Underworld, Part 1

Archaeological fantasy, 224 pages, set partly in Ancient Sparta circa 450 BC, partly in modern England. Laconia, Greece, 2006 — Archaeologists excavate a village, burned in antiquity.Volunteering on the dig is schoolgirl Lucy Whitelaw, holidaying in Greece with her parents and her friend Sophie. Lucy meets an old woman with piercing eyes, who lures her to a cave and utters a prophecy. She says that Lucy is Penelope, that she must enter the cave and help Odysseus.Through the cave, the girls find themselves lost in wild primeval country. They encounter two strange feral boys, Lysander and Theron. The boys are Spartans, living rough in the wilderness, enduring the rite-of-passage called the krypteia. Lysander's initial hostility fades when Lucy tells him of the old woman and her prophecy. He agrees to help, and the girls find themselves on a terrifying adventure which takes them back to the village, on the eve of its destruction...Laconia, Greece, 2012 — Millionaire philanthropist Anthony Maroulakis mounts a research expedition into the cave. He knows it's a portal into the Past; he wants to use it to obtain genetic data from a living ancient population. After witnessing a massacre, he decides to bring back the only survivor: a badly wounded Spartan soldier.The soldier is Lysander. Remembering the prophecy, Lysander knows he is Odysseus, and that he must find Lucy, who is Penelope. But how can he do this, when he is trapped amongst strangers. In a world he barely understands?