THE GOD OF DECEPTION

Chapter Fourteen: Waiting For You

Percy

…

It felt unbelievably good to be back with his friends. Even better that they weren't literally dead, which would not be great. Alive and together was obviously way better than dead and together. Though they probably wouldn't be together, since the underworld one hundred percent fit the description of tearing people apart from their friends and family.

Percy squeezed Annabeth's hand as they followed Grover through a pathway of the maze, trying to figure out the best place to make camp. Unfortunately, wandering around a maze that had a reputation for being endless and confusing was not great, and eventually, they settled on just ducking into a small corner and setting their things down.

Grover, looking at the two of them closely, raised an eyebrow, and suggested that he scout out the surroundings, reasoning that the two of them should set everything up. Percy smiled at him gratefully as he walked away. Once Grover was mostly out of sight, Percy turned to Annabeth. "Hey," he said softly, his arms encircling her waist. He couldn't help but grin just at the sight of her.

"Hey," she responded, her eyes scanning his face, just as they always did.

"I was really worried about you," he pulled her closer to him.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, just as she did every time he said something stupid. "You worried about me? Percy, I was eternally worried about you. You don't know how hard it was for me seeing you had to face the gods like that, being unable to help."

"I just really missed you." Percy looked deeply into her eyes. "I didn't realize how hard it would be to be without you. Especially after…" Tarturus. They both knew what he was trying to say. Everything had changed when they got out of Tartarus. Percy would say that they had become more dependent on each other, but not necessarily in an unhealthy way. But, they'd spent so much time together, it was hard to just be apart from her. In that moment, those moments.

Annabeth hugged him closer. "I'm glad that you're okay. Fighting someone like Kampe alone isn't easy."

Percy chuckled, motioning over to his arm, which had several cuts newly adorned onto it. "You think?" He joked, and Annabeth swatted him. She then leaned forward to give him a small peck on the tip of his nose, and Percy shook out his hair. "That's all I get?" He was trying to say, before Annabeth cut him off by pressing her lips to his.

He smiled against them. It always felt good to be with her. After everything they'd been through, nothing could make him tired of moments like these. Moments that felt so perfect, almost nothing could ruin.

That is, until it ended. Annabeth pulled away, breathing a little bit, then pushing Percy closer into an even tighter hug than before. "I love you," she whispered, and Percy mumbled the same words back.

"We should probably get this all set up," Percy waved down at the ground which had two packs on it, one from Grover and the other from Annabeth. "I feel bad I didn't get my bag. It had Ambrosia and Nectar in it. Could have been useful."

"Percy, we were all about to die." Annabeth poked him, "there was no way you could have gotten it. Plus," she elaborated, "I always keep a little bit in my bag, so we're good. Grover has two water bottles, and both of us have blankets that we can lie out. It's not going to be super comfortable, but I imagine you'll be able to deal with it considering the rest you've had these last couple of days."

With any other person, Percy might've taken offense to that statement, but with Annabeth, he knew what she was saying. They just automatically understood each other. He joined her in shaking out the blankets, and they laid them on the floor. Once those were finished, he turned to see her, rubbing her eyes. "Have you gotten any sleep?"

"Not really. Been pretty preoccupied. It's been what, a week or something?"

"Or something." When you thought about it relatively, it hadn't been too much time. But it had felt like a long time. It felt like eternity. This was one of the easier expeditions that Percy had been on, but that wasn't saying much. It was also one of the shorter was, which was saying a lot, because he'd been involved in a prophecy that had lasted years. And then one, The Prophecy of the Seven, which had lasted a shorter amount of time, but still. "Have you heard anything from the seven?" He knew he was asking a lot of questions, but Percy felt he deserved answers, though he didn't want to exhaust Annabeth.

They settled onto the ground, waiting for Grover. "No," Annabeth finally responded. "They're all busy. Nothing from Thalia or the hunters either. I don't even know if the Roman camp knows, but I'm guessing they do because of the gods connection. As far as I know, everyone is safe."

Percy had a theory. And it was one that he thought needed to be brought up to Annabeth, since he didn't know if it was logical or not. "Do you think maybe Jason was affected?"

"Why him?"

"I guess… I don't know, doesn't there have to be an equivalency?"

Annabeth paused for a moment. "I don't think you should worry about it. Jason is probably fine, and think about it, if something like that existed, the Roman's would have had their own Titan war going on, which they didn't. So no."

"Okay," Percy nodded, "that makes sense. You make everything make sense."

Annabeth's cheeks reddened for a second, and then she frowned. "When do you think Grover's going to get back? I feel like he should've been able to scout the area by now."

Percy bit his lip. In truth, in the heat of the moment, he'd forgotten all about his friend. Which made him feel really bad, because Grover was one of the people who had saved him. As both of them got up from their sitting position, almost on cue, a bleat that closely resembled Grover's was let out, somewhere from the tunnels. Percy grabbed the Riptide, and Annabeth readied her sword. They jogged to see where it was coming from, to see not a ferocious monster, but a Satyr with a wound. "What happened?" Annabeth asked, bending down.

"I'm not sure," Grover grunted, trying to cover it up. "I was standing one second, and then I was on the ground. I saw the flash of a figure, but not anything else."

It had to be. They all looked at each other. "Dolos."

It wasn't like they had any proof. But it had to be, because who else would do this? The gods were blissfully living in their own ignorance, camp didn't seem to care, and they hadn't heard monsters scampering around this area of the cage. Dolos was the only person Percy could think of that could disappear and reappear like that. Which meant from now on till they escaped this godforsaken place, they had to stay together. Annabeth and Percy held Grover up as they walked back to their makeshift campsite quickly. Percy laid him down on the ground, and Annabeth chipped off a piece of the Ambrosia she had, and fed it to the Satyr, he leaned back against the ground, and stretched his legs out. Percy ripped off a piece of fabric to cover up his wound, which had been bleeding heavily. The Ambrosia helped, and stopped the bleeding, but Percy still put the fabric over it to make sure the wound didn't get infected.

The only reason the two of them knew this was because Will Solace once took an entire day at camp to teach first aid. Nico was his assistant, and Percy has to say, there's a certain level of irony when the literal son of death is teaching you how to heal. Although it was one of the most boring days ever, it paid off now.

"You good G-man?" Percy asked, and Grover put a meak thumbs up.

"Let's get out of here as soon as possible," The Satyr groaned. "This place hasn't given me great vibes. Not very eco-friendly."

"How do you know that?"

"I don't." Grover frowned. "But I assume that if it's giving off some bad energy, then it's not very eco-friendly."

Percy decided to leave it at that, and just label it as a "lord of the wild thing." Who was he to argue more about it? "Let's all just get some sleep," Percy looked over to Annabeth, who was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. She didn't sleep that much normally, working up late, analyzing designs and just thinking. "I'll take the first watch," he offered.

Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue, but Percy put his hand to her lip. "Get your rest. I'll get mine later."

"Percy, I'm sorry," Annabeth said, "but I can't in good conscience let you sit and take a look—" she yawned, and then rubbed her eyes, "—when you barely got any sleep in that place."

"I'm still hyped up on the Adrenaline though," Percy said, and he was being honest. He was super sleepy, just tired. If all he had to do was sit and stay awake, he could do it. If anything bad happened, he could easily wake the others.

Grover groaned, and shook his head. "I'll do it." He said.

"But you're injured!" Percy said.

Annabeth frowned. "Why is this even an argument? In the end, we're all going to get the same amount of sleep."

"So I'll take the first watch!" Percy said.

Grover put his hands up. "Fine. If you put it into perspective like that, then sure. I'll take a second."

Annabeth grumbled. "And I'll take third."

"Perfect," He grimaced, tapping his fingers against the side of his leg. Annabeth shut her eyes, and Grover did so too. Seconds later, that was telling of how tired they all were, both fell asleep. And Percy was alone in the dark once more. Images of fighting Kampe flashed back to him, and Percy felt himself stiffen. Even more than usual.

He tried to focus on his surroundings, but his mind kept going back to not so happy places. The darkness reminded him of many things he was afraid of. Tartarus. Caves. Kampe. As much as he tried to tell himself he wasn't afraid of the beast, encountering her again did not do his heart or mind any favors. Percy had always had an easy going personality when it came to talking to monsters, and although he had gotten used to Kampe, during the nights in that big, dark cave, flashes and images of her coming toward him, trying to kill him always came.

Percy always told himself that there was no need to worry. There wasn't. He was strong, and powerful and ready to fight. But that reassurance didn't always work. Especially when he was left all alone.

…

Percy woke up the next morning after switching the watch, with his hand tensed, gripping the ground. Everyone looked exhausted. Wordlessly, they collected their supplies, and got up, strapping it evenly on their backs.

Annabeth yawned and Grover groaned. Percy wiped his eyes, which had a lot of eye boogers? Was that what you called them? Well, whatever they were, he had a lot of them. They all elected to go left and start walking. And they walked, and walked, and walked. Because that was all you could do in the Labyrinth, it seemed, except for fighting monsters and going insane.

The cave was no longer as dimly lit, though it was still hard to see. Grover was smart enough to always have a flashlight with him, which he switched on, and aimed in front of them. And they all walked in silence, which Percy had gotten used to. He didn't know when they would stop, but if they kept going, an end would come near. Hopefully, of course. That's what Percy relied on the most.

…

disclaimer: RR has much better things to do than writing this. Which he hasn't, I can confirm.

a/n: another chapter done. Finally. Honestly, school is making it so hard to write. Also, to those wondering: I've made the decision that the More Than True sequel is going to come a little bit later, just cause I'm going to need more time to plan it. Hopefully, I can get ahead on this story and work on it more, but for now, that's what I'm going to say.

8ball3: if all goes as planned, there will be twenty-six chapters.

1234booklover: ty! I'm using just testing out a new style for this one.

ScarletAvenger: thank you! I have a lot more planned in the coming chapters.

Aby (guest): for Heartbreak, which was novella-length, chapters were 1k-2k words, for More Than True, which was novel lengthened, chapters were 3k-4k, and for this, chapters are 2k-3k. ItWasn'tMyFault: I'm as happy as you are about it lol!

PurpleBunny5540: I'm glad you're enjoying it! Definitely not RR though lol.

—TheLil'Lion