What's up? Chapter Two is here! Thank you all for reading and reviewing and favoriting and following!
Percy answered almost immediately.
"Uh, can we go to the kids section? I kinda just want to go before the actual kids get there so that I don't look creepy hanging out there…" The rest of the demigods looked at him strangely. Annabeth shrugged and started for the basement, so naturally, the rest followed.
They followed the signs leading to the basement, where there was a winding, wide pathway similar to a maze.
"Let's begin, shall we?" Annabeth said. They walked to the beginning of the maze, where there was a sign that said "Start here, kids!" They all audibly gulped and moved forward.
They were greeted by a large standing piece of cardboard with all of them standing together on it. Their faces were cut out to let little kids pose there so their parents could take pictures. Percy dashed up to the stepping stool behind it and stuck his head in Annabeth's figure.
"Annabeth!" Percy nearly yelled. "Come on, take a picture!" She smiled, amused, then took out her demiPhone and snapped a couple of pictures of Percy trying (and failing) to make her signature "thinking" expression. She beckoned for him to hurry up and they walked into the maze until they reached the beginning of the story. Percy jumped in shock when the wall spoke to them and images danced across what he guessed was a screen.
"Welcome to Part One: The Lost Hero," the soothing voice said. A row of pictures appeared in sequence on the wall, with a voiceover matching each picture. Jason, Piper, and Leo were featured prominently in the quest to save Hera. Heck, Percy noticed, even Annabeth showed up a couple of times. It was interesting, seeing and not just hearing for the first time what happened while Percy was at the Roman camp.
The story was abbreviated, which Annabeth told him was so demigod children (with really low attention spans) could pay attention to the tale. Also, Percy figured, if Chiron had included half of the real adventures, those children would never be able to get to sleep at night for fear of Cyclopes eating them alive or something. Every so often, there was an interactive portion of the exhibit. There was a life-size Festus children could ride for the price of two drachmas; then, in "Part Two: The Son of Neptune," there was a touchscreen kiosk where children could try to defeat Laistrygonian giants from the top of Grandma Zhang's house; after "Part Two," kids could take a quiz entitled, "Are You More Greek or Roman?" There were tons more of these types of games and activities throughout the maze.
Of course, some parts were glossed over in the exhibit. For example, Percy and Annabeth's journey through Tartarus was barely mentioned, which Percy supposed was a good thing. And in the final battle with Gaea, they didn't give specifics at all, besides mentioning that Jason, Piper, and Leo worked together to kill her and Leo almost died but didn't.
Percy's favorite part was the very end, when there was a huge touchscreen on the wall where someone could take a quiz on "Which of the Seven Are You?" It was surprisingly true-to-life- pretty much everyone got themselves on the quiz. Except for Reyna, who got Annabeth, and Nico, who refused to take the quiz altogether. Once the group finished, they looked at each other, somehow solemn despite the levity of the exhibit.
"That… that was pretty amazing," Jason said. The others nodded in assent.
"Well, I think I hear kids coming," Annabeth said with finality. "I guess we'd better go before we're asked for autographs or something."
"Nice, Annabeth," Percy teased. "Letting the fame get to your head already."
"Shut up, Seaweed Brain," she replied. "Okay, should we maybe split up?" Without thinking, everyone broke up in pairs. It was pretty standard, actually- Annabeth and Percy, Leo and Calypso, Jason and Piper, and Reyna and Nico. Percy and Annabeth were the first up the stairs, entering the spacious main hall where they first arrived. It was slowly but surely starting to flood with people.
"Whose exhibit first, Wise Girl? The main one, or the one with the handsome hero with the piercing eyes and mussed hair?"
"Oh, you mean Jason?" Annabeth joked. Percy elbowed her in the side.
"No, mine!" Percy grumbled. Annabeth snickered at her boyfriend's offended expression.
"Hmmm… I don't know…." she pretended to think. "I know! Mine!" Percy, slightly disgruntled, followed Annabeth to her exhibit on the third floor.
How'd you guys like this chapter? Thanks again for the reviews, they meant a lot. So I basically have the same things from last chapter- looking for Reyna-finds-love ideas, any suggestions for this story, etc. And I have one response for a guest who reviewed:
Bob (Guest): If you're reading this, I"m sorry but Reyna and Nico will be showing up in this fic. Don't like, don't read. No offense taken.
I believe that's it. Favorite, follow, review, oh my! (Honestly, I don't even care if you leave me a review telling me how your day went or something. It's just nice to hear from someone.)