Hi guys! Apologies for the late post, but thanks for bearing with me. I was actually finishing and editing this in school, but I am a bit busy with homework and all that. I have been working on bringing suspense up, but let me know if you have any suggestions or comments. Thanks again for reviewing, it has been so helpful, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter #7

Annabeth's POV

We were walking down the hallway, and all was normal. Then, suddenly out of the blue, the Ceuthonymus attacked. It spiraled out from a small hallway, the shadows along the rest of the hallway seemed to join it. It was about 50 yards away, and spiraling towards us. I ducked, not daring to say anything, but I just hoped Nico had the sense to stay quiet as well.

Nico hit the floor next to me with an oomph, and we lay flat on our stomachs for a few seconds, processing what had just happened. I was about to get back up, but Nico pushed me onto the floor again, and the Ceuthonymus roared past, inches away. On instinct, my hand went for my dagger, but then I remembered it was still tucked under my bed. I silently cursed myself.

This wasn't like fighting normal monsters, we had to be dead quiet. I struggled to keep myself from gasping for air. The Ceuthonymus might even pick up on loud breathing. That would make it hard for Nico and I to work together. Thankfully, he hadn't made a noise yet, but it could happen to either of us. We got to our feet slowly, careful with our footsteps.

In the direction we came from, the Ceuthonymus stopped. The coiling darkness and evil seemed to suck the light of the hallway. In other words, it was terrifying. Nico drew his wand as if it was a knife. It was the only potential weapon we had, even though it wasn't actually that sharp. This was because we had promised Chiron that we wouldn't carry weapons around the school.

I suppose we'd have to fight like wizards then. Only problem, you can't 'fight' a Ceuthonymus.

I drew my wand, wishing it was sharp. Another problem was that we couldn't actually do a spell without talking. I began trying to formulate a plan in my head, but the odds were not in our favour. Something metal fell out of Nico's pocket, and clanged to the floor. His ring.

The Ceuthonymus froze-literally. The wisps of darkness emanating off of it stopped in mid air. Then, before we could move, it shot towards us. Nico tried to throw up a wall of stone, but couldn't finish it in time. He ducked and rolled. I rolled, but I crashed into the stone wall. Smoke started filling the room, blurring my eyes and making me cough. Nico's hand grabbed mine, and he pulled me out of the thick of it. Coughing, we squished into an alcove, out of the Ceuthonymus's charging range.

"Okay, I don't think we can fight it, no weapons, and not nearly enough experience with spells. Should we run?" Nico whispered, so quietly I could barely hear him. I shook my head.

"No, I think our best chance is to trap it. Even if it's only temporary. You got anything on you?" He shrugged, spreading his hands wide. We had nothing. I scanned the room for anything that could be of use. our school supplies were scattered around the floor, and I didn't think we would be able to reach them in time. There. On the other side of the hall, there was a matching Alcove. But that one had two sconces.

"I have an idea. Stay here, watch my back." I told Nico. Peering around the side of the alcove, I saw the Ceuthonymus swirling. I looked as if it was trying to locate us again, with either a scent or a noise. I was dismayed when I realized it was slowly moving in our direction.I took my shoes off, leaving them with Nico. I Dashed across the floor, my feet making no noise against the stone. I ducked into the alcove, pressing myself against the walls. I gripped one of the sconces, and yanked.

The rim was quite sharp, and it cut into my fingers. I kept pulling carefully, although it grated against concrete and stone. It came loose, and It was all I could do to not drop it. Now, onto the next. This one was harder. With a grunt, I pulled hard, and It came free. Rubble crumbled down, and the stone wall started moving. It slid open slowly.

"Annabeth!" Nico shouted. The door was open now. I turned to Nico. alarmed, and turned straight into a mass of darkness.

I was frozen to the spot. I felt like I had just plunged my head into the river Styx, but ten times worse. Dark, whispering voices filled my head, and seeped into my bones. I felt my soul being weighed down by this mass of darkness. The darkness reminded me of every time I failed. Like the conversation with my mother on the subway. I swayed on my feet, and I just wanted to sink in, let the darkness take me away…

"ANNABETH!" I heard Nico roar. It sounded muffled, but it brought me to out of my daze. I could see everything, but it was like I was looking through a veil of smoke. Nico tried swishing his wand like a knife, but it just passed through the Ceuthonymus.

He pulled me out of the mist. My foggy mind clearing up, like someone blew all the smoke away. I got up, and grabbed the broken sconce. I chucked it as hard as I could, into the dark door. The ceuthonymus slithered into the door. I ran to the stone entrance, and pushed the door shut. Nico joined in to help. When I heard it thud, I sighed. we sank down to the ground, breathing hard.

"Come on, we have to hurry, we probably missed half of astronomy already." He grumbled. "Now we have to think of an excuse."

I Looked down at myself. My stupid robe had a few tears and scratches from the stones, but nothing too bad. My hands were bleeding, thin lines sliced across the base of my fingers. We both had a few bruises, but we'd seen worse.

We collected our books, which were scattered across the hallway, and ran to astronomy. When we arrived, everyone was quiet. All eyes on our backs as we sat down.

"Where have you been? You've missed half of the class! Unless you have a proper excuse, you will both have detention," the teacher said by way of greeting. We nodded, apologising profusely. I opened my books, and kept my head down.

Percy's POV

While Annabeth and Nico were no doubt getting along just fine in their astronomy class, Leo and I needed saving. We were in Potions, and we had a theory lesson. Meaning, no making stuff explode, just sweet, sweet writing. Our teacher, Professor Snape had us write down everything he said. And he was talking fast.

Even with dyslexia, I cringed at my terrible handwriting. I think I may have switched to ancient Greek at some point. My hands were aching from holding the fancy feather pen. I had been trying to hold it gently, to avoid crushing it, but it was hard to write fast and hold it delicately. Leo had broken one, and was on to his second. In spots on his white shirt. Why can't they just have normal pens?

Snape was either rambling on about roots of chemical reactions. I lost track. While I was trying to remember what he said in the last sentence, Leo was trying to keep his hands cool. They kept heating up, and he hat to sit on them so no one noticed.

It felt like ages of this torture before we were dismissed, with a stern warning from Snape to remember to study. When Leo and I exited, we both let out a whoosh.

"Whew! That was exhausting!" I said. Leo frowned.

"Tell me about it dude. Do you smell something burning in here?" He asked, wrinkling his nose. I took a deep sniff, but couldn't smell anything bad. We continued down the hallway, stepping around a scone, which was lying on the ground. As we trekked to morning tea, I was beginning to realise how much the attack on the painting was affecting other people. I was too focused on our problems before, but other kids were getting jumpy. People huddled in the groups, not loitering on their way to morning tea. It was odd, the Ceuthonymus set the mood so efficiently.

We arrived in the dining hall, and it seemed as if the bad news bubble was just surrounding the Gryffindor table. Either the other houses didn't know, or just pretended not to care. We sat down, facing the wizards. They all eyed us suspiciously. I might have snorted, they were terrible at hiding it.

"What's wrong?" Leo asked innocently. So he picked up on it too then.

"What? Oh, nothing, I suppose it's just the attack, we're all a bit jumpy." Ron said. He had magically gotten better in time for lunch. Hermione was still missing, although the two wizards didn't seem worried by it. Leo was throwing grapes high up in the air, and catching them in his mouth. As I was about to say something to Ron, Annabeth and Nico trudged in, shoulders sagging. They looked exhausted. I knew firsthand that they'd been in a fight, The bruises were well covered up though, I'll give them that.

"What's up?" I asked casually. I really meant are you alright? She shook her head, I'll explain later. I shrugged, hoping to the gods it wasn't the Ceuthonymus. Annabeth and Nico ate a few bites, but I didn't really feel hungry anymore. My gut was trying to tell me something, but I didn't know what it was. I could see Dumbledore and a few of the other teachers deep in conversation. I sighed, they were a lot less helpful than Chiron. I knew coming to a wizard boarding school would be tough, but this wasn't what I expected. It wasn't physically challenging, but it was quite a handful. At least wizards didn't have to battle monsters 24/7.

No one on the Gryffindor table seemed to be that hungry. Most people were just pushing their food around, or playing with it absently. It was pretty boring.

"The owls are late. I wonder what holding them up." Harry muttered to Ron. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I didn't bother to question it.

"Sometimes the news and mail is delayed." Ron said. They kept looking out the far window, but the owls they were expecting did not come. Even the other students and teachers were nervously glancing up at the windows. The bell sounded and we began to shuffle off. But as we were about to reach the door, I pulled Annabeth aside, keeping my voice low, "Listen, you've got to tell me what happened. Did you fight the Ceuthonymus?"

A grim nod, steely grey eyes boring into me. She then recounted what had happened, brief, but brutal. I ran my hands through my hair. I was trying to think of some way to stop this, to help, but nothing came to me. At least, no smart Ideas came to me. "Never mind, we'll think of something. I might have a plan." I said, walking quickly to catch up with Leo and Nico, Annabeth matching my pace. I could almost feel feel her rolling her eyes when she said, "Percy, you have no common sense, and neither do your plans."

Before I could argue, we reached the wizards. They were giving us directions to the library, and then directions to where Nico and I had our magical creatures class. I was kind of excited, as long as none of the animals are my cousins. We followed Nico, (who seemed to be the only one who actually paid attention to the directions) to the library.

We plonked ourselves down at a isolated table, hidden by rows and stacks of books. We had made sure no one could hear us.

"Okay spill." Leo said. "What happened?" Annabeth and Nico shared a grim look, before Nico started to tell us what happened. When he finished I proposed my plan. It wasn't a great one, but at the moment, we haven't got anything better, not even from Annabeth.

"I think we should take a look around tonight–with our weapons of course." I said.

"Really Percy? Splitting up is a bad idea, and if someone catches us…"

"Guys." Leo said, fingers drumming against the table. "I have been trying to tell you this all day, and It's important." He said, his face grave. " I was possessed by the ceuthoni-thing." He looked down at his hands. Annabeth sucked in a breath, and Nico stiffened.

"Let him continue." I said quietly. Leo nodded, and continued describing as much as he could, but sometimes his memory failed him.

"Do you remember where you entered? Did anyone follow you?" She asked, pulling out a map of hogwarts from her robes.

"It was in a small dead end in that long hallway between the Gryffindor dorm and the dining hall."

"I think I may have seen that one." was Annabeth's only reply. She circled a spot on the corridor in thick red pen. She looked up at Leo, grey eyes dark, but gestured for him to continue.

"Harry followed me." Leo said.

"Do you realise what that means?! they'll be watching from now on! They now stand in our way, and could seriously mess things up! now we have to worry about them on our backs as well as the Ceuthonymus" Annabeth cried. Nico shushed her.

"Still can't pronounce the damn name." Leo muttered under his breath.

"It's not his fault, we can sort this out." Nico said. "I think we should give Percy's plan a shot. If he and I go and look around, maybe we can get some more information, even as to the location of the dead end." He said, his face revealing nothing. I nodded, but Annabeth didn't look convinced.

"It'll be fine, we'll bring our weapons. Nico's shadows might be able to help conceal us." I told her. She frowned,

"Just stick together, okay?" She said, writing notes down around the map. She pointed to the spot she'd circled. "What do you think this might be?" She asked me. I thought about what it could be. A secret tunnel to an underground lair... It slowly dawned on me. I wished it hadn't.

"It couldn't be." I said. There was no way it could possibly be what I thought it was. She sighed, shaking her head.

"The Labyrinth has reached Wales." She declared.