~ floor twenty-nine ~

"Whatever it is that puts lightning in your veins, do that. That is what you must do."

Percy woke up in a muddy ditch, with his cheek digging painfully into a sharp rock.

He stirred, rolling onto his back with a groan. Where the hell was he now? He remembered killing Aruli, and getting stabbed, but everything after that was a blank. Did he pass out?

He looked down at his shirt; it was covered in mud and blood. He found that his wounds had healed completely, though the one on his stomach had left a narrow scar. He could live with that though; it meant Aruli's power had worked.

He sat up straight; he was utterly soaked by the heavy rain.

Where the hell was he, anyway? And where were his friends? Percy crawled out of the ditch, revealing a large open field. Most of it was mud or grass, with a large forest in the distance. What caught his attention though, were the sounds of battle.

All around him he saw soldiers, armed to the teeth, fighting to the death. Some wore refined, well made armor while others were fighting with whatever they had found lying around. The field was littered with bodies and puddles of blood and death. It was a hellish view, and Percy was utterly disgusted at the sight. He heard a screech from above, where large airborne monsters were raining hell down onto the battlefield below.

It was hell.

Percy slid back into the ditch. How had he ended up here? Was he on a different floor? His weapons were gone, and so were his friends. He doubted they would've left him behind, so they must've been in danger of some kind. So many questions, and no answers at all.

He took a deep, steadying breath. First things first; he needed to get out of here safely.

Percy peeked his head out again; he zoned into the forest that was bordering the field. If he could reach the treeline, he would have cover. He didn't know why these two armies were fighting, or who they even were, but he wasn't intending on finding out.

With one strong leap, he hopped out of the ditch and began making his way through the packed battlefield. He dodged arrows, rocks and even swords that were flying around as he slowly progressed. He heard a scream of utter rage to his right, and noticed a soldier charging towards him.

Percy dodged the lazy strike of the man's battleaxe with ease, before backhanding the soldier in the face so hard, his helmet dented. He fell like a sack of potatoes. Percy pulled the man's axe out of the ground and flicked the mud off; it was a simple one-sided axe with a wooden handle. He hadn't fought with an axe before, but it'd do for now.

This continued for some time; Percy slowly made his way across the giant field, dodging or subduing soldiers left and right. Until he heard a familiar voice. The person roared as he stormed into Percy's field of vision, sword raised high.

"Nathaniel?" Percy said incredulously. He deflected the man's strike easily. "What the hell are you doing?"

Nathaniel didn't reply, instead he swung again. Percy dodged the horizontal swing, before catching a brief glimpse of the other demigod's eyes. They were glassy and crazed, filled with rage and hatred. He looked like he was out of his mind.

"Nathaniel!" He barked, hooking the axe blade behind the guard of Nathaniel's sword, before ripping the weapon away forcefully. The sword sailed through the air and landed far away. "Get a hold of yourself, man!"

"Die!" Nathaniel roared back, balling his fists before taking a wide swing. Percy grunted in frustration as he dodged the attack, before hitting the man in the head with the handle of his weapon. Nathaniel's eyes rolled back as he fell unconscious in the mud.

Percy released a short, frustrated puff. Nathaniel hadn't been in his right mind, that much was clear. The same thing probably applied to the rest of these crazed warriors. He looked to the sky with narrowed eyes; it had seemed dark and reddish before, but now he was beginning to see the reality of the situation.

A crimson mist hung over the field; gas? Maybe it was controlling the people? Then why wasn't he affected?

He quickly lifted the son of Athena onto his shoulder, before trudging forward. It was no easy task, defending himself while having another person to carry, but he could manage. It made him realize how far he'd come in terms of strength.

Though his luck quickly ran out; something collided with him from behind. He rolled through the mud, Nathaniel slid off his shoulder. Percy grunted, annoyed, before turning around to face whoever had attacked him.

"You have got to be kidding me." He muttered.

Percy was standing face to chest with the biggest human he'd ever seen, or at least, he looked human. The man was bare-chested and wore leather pants, runic tattoos covered most of his right shoulder. He wielded an axe similar to Percy's own. He looked more like a viking than anything else.

"We can't talk about this, can we?" Percy asked.

The answer was a definitive no. The man swung his axe to behead him, but Percy dodged it quite easily. He was big, but slow. Percy ducked low and swiped at the man's legs, cutting into his shins.

The berserker-looking man didn't even flinch. He roared, a sound that shook him to the core, before attacking once more. Percy deflected his blow, and rolled back to create some distance. He was starting to get annoyed.

"I'm sorry, buddy." He grunted as dark lightning sprung to life in his palm. He saw the man's eyes widen in confusion, but it was already too late. Percy fired the bolt; it hit the man square in the chest.

To his credit, the soldier wasn't down for the count just yet. He was stumbling and groaning, trying to regain awareness, but Percy decided it was time to end the fight.

He raised the axe above his head, before tossing it at him with a mighty throw. The axe cleaved straight into the man's chest, right where the bolt had previously hit him.

He sank to his knees, though the grip on his weapon didn't falter. Percy saw the man's lips move in a whisper, but somehow he still heard the single word that was spoken.

"Valhalla."

Percy frowned at the corpse. What the hell did that mean? He shrugged it off, snatching up a random sword that was laying in the mud. It wasn't Greek or Roman at all, it resembled those weapons the medieval knights used. He tripped another soldier that was charging into his path, before picking up Nathaniel again. He'd almost reached the end of the field; there was a small strip of grass just before the treeline that was untouched by the battle going on behind him.

He jogged the last few meters, into the forest, and ducked behind a tree. He let Nathaniel slip off his shoulder and placed the man upright against the tree. Almost on queue, the demigod began to cough. Percy took a few steps back, sword raised.

"Ow." Nathaniel groaned, his eyes squeezed shut as he rubbed the back of his head. "Fuck, I feel like a train hit me."

"You said it." Percy sighed. "You're not in the mood to attack me again, are you?"

Nathaniel frowned. "Again? What does that even mean?" He took a brief look at their surroundings. "And where the hell are we, anyway?"

"I thought you'd have the answer to that. I woke up in that piece of shit." Percy gestured at the battlefield where hundreds of people were still fighting. "And you attacked me. Where are the others?"

A look of understanding appeared in Nathaniel's eyes, and he let his head fall back against the bark of the tree. "We're on the twenty-ninth floor, that's for sure. The field must be cursed, or something. I don't remember attacking you, or even entering the floor at all."

Percy cursed under his breath. "Get up." He grunted. "We need to find the others."

The son of Athena's eyes widened. "In there?" He nodded at the battlefield. "No way. That's a death sentence."

"We have to."

"You have to." Nathaniel bit. "I don't have to do anything. I agreed to help you get off the last floor, nothing more. Just because those three monster wannabes-"

He was cut off by the tip of a sword digging into the base of his throat. Nathaniel looked up to see Percy regarding him with an icy look in his eye.

"Don't test me, Bleeze." Percy growled, applying some more pressure. The other demigod gasped, backing up into the tree as far as he could. Percy flicked the sword away; a thin, but shallow cut appeared on Nathaniel's collarbone.

"I could've left you there to die, but I chose to save you. You owe me." Percy nonchalantly flicked his finger over the tip of his blade, wiping the drop of blood away. "And don't speak of my friends like you know anything about them. You wouldn't know friendship if it punched you in that scarred face of yours."

He shifted his focus back on the battlefield. He couldn't see his friends anywhere, but that didn't mean they weren't there; there were hundreds of soldiers on the field.

"My weapons." Percy broke the silence. "Who has them?"

"The elf girl." Nathaniel replied. "She took them after we found you, then we went through the door."

"She's Fey, first of all." He said. "Why didn't you wait until I was conscious?"

"We couldn't. The civilians and guards were coming out of their hiding places. If they saw us, we'd have been toast."

"Hm." Percy hummed, not satisfied with the answer. Luck wasn't on his side today.

A small light in the distance caught his eye. Percy frowned, squinting as he tried to see. It was a tower made of brick, with a roof shaped like a spear head. It stood somewhat far into the forest, but Percy could still see the light from one of its windows.

"For what it's worth, it doesn't look like monsters are affected by the curse, or whatever." Nathaniel said. "I only see humans, or demigods."

"What's your point?"

"My point." Nathaniel sighed. "Is that your friends won't be affected by the red mist. At least, I don't think so."

His jaw clenched. Nathaniel had a point. It also meant his friends were probably in the forest too.

"Then why wasn't I affected?" He asked.

Nathaniel raised a single eyebrow. "Well, you're hardly human anymore, aren't you?"

Percy was starting to hate the son of Athena with a passion. They had been trudging through the forest for about two hours now, with Percy leading the way as he hacked through the thick vines that hung close to the ground. It was more of a jungle than a forest in that regard. Some vines had blueish thorns growing out of them, and the two demigods agreed to steer clear of those.

During these two hours, Nathaniel hadn't once shut his mouth. Percy could tolerate a lot, the Stoll brothers still being alive was a testament to that, but his patience was starting to grow thin.

"Would you ever just shut up?" Percy growled, roughly slicing through a curled vine that hung in his path. Nathaniel's constant ranting was the opposite to Annabeth's; her lectures at least had some useful information, and came from a place of genuine interest, but Nathaniel did nothing but complain.

"Sorry, oh mighty hero." The man replied sarcastically. "Sorry that I'm a bit bummed out for having to walk through a forest infested with monsters."

"I might feed you to one of them if you keep that up." He grumbled. His gaze drifted upwards; the brick tower was just barely visible through the canopy. It was the only real sign of intelligent life in the forest, so Percy had decided it was their best bet.

"And why don't I have a weapon, anyway?" Nathaniel continued. "How am I supposed to defend myself?"

Percy sighed. "Bleeze, if you had the dullest sword in existence, you'd still manage to kill yourself with it." He said. "Just stop talking."

Nathaniel's response was cut off by the sound of a cord being strung, like a guitar, before the demigod gave a loud yell. Percy frowned and turned; Nathaniel was hanging upside down from a rope by one of his legs, arms dangling uselessly below him.

Percy almost laughed, but kept his composure. "Well, that was convenient." He joked. "Something actually managed to shut you up."

The other demigod's face was red with anger and embarrassment. "Jackson, get me the hell out of this trap!" He yelled. His voice echoed through the forest, and a sudden chill ran up Percy's spine. He looked over his shoulder, peering into the dark forest, but saw nothing.

If that was a trap, then who placed it here?

"Yeah." Percy sighed after a moment of tense silence. He raised his sword and sliced clean through the rope holding Nathaniel in the air. He fell on his back with a loud groan, and immediately began to scramble to his feet.

"Any more clever tricks?" Nathaniel said to no one in particular, dusting off his pants in frustration. Percy would have laughed, if he hadn't heard twigs and leaves being crushed somewhere behind them. A low growl followed, and Percy jumped into flight mode.

"Run!" He commanded, giving the demigod a rough push towards the opposite direction. Nathaniel frowned in confusion, but quickly understood what he meant when the sound of something large running towards them reached his ears. Nathaniel took off, zigzagging through the trees with Percy not far behind him.

They heard loud barks from either side of them; dogs? No, wolves?

They leapt over a fallen log; Percy quickly pulled Nathaniel down as he ducked. A shadow with gnashing teeth and sharp claws soared over them, Percy almost immediately recognized the creature. It was a crimson red direwolf the size of a small car, with eyes as black as the night. He'd encountered the creatures on floor three, Lohi used to ride one of them, yet this time it had a different rider.

Percy straightened himself as the wolf came to a stop, circling around to face him. The rider of the wolf was... peculiar. It looked like a humanoid creature with deathly pale skin and all-white eyes. They had long, sharp nails that resembled a bird's talons. What caught his eye the most was the shark-like fangs in its mouth as it grinned maliciously at the two demigods.

Two more wolves strode up from both sides, and Percy could hear one more behind them.

He cursed internally; usually, taking on this many of them wouldn't be a problem. If he could do it on floor three, he could sure as hell do it now after receiving three major boosts in strength, not to mention his skill with the sword had increased drastically. This time though, he wasn't alone. He wasn't sure if he could defend Nathaniel and fight all four duos at the same time.

"How did two demigods escape the curse of blood thirst, I wonder?" The leader hissed, his snake-like tongue slithering along his fangs, as if he couldn't wait to devour both of them. Percy honestly thought that was probably the case.

"What's it to you?" He grunted. "And what the hell are you, anyway?"

"These are my hunting grounds, demigod." The monster replied, and his companions hissed in agreement. "We are Vrykolakas, but I doubt you've heard of us."

"You'd be right." He replied, glancing at the forest beyond the monsters. The tower was still too far away to make a run for it.

The monster's expression darkened. "Of course. I believe your kind would call us... vampires?" He spat as if it was the most disgusting thing ever. "Damn those movies. Tarnishing our good reputation."

"I'm guessing you don't twinkle in the sunlight?" Percy asked sarcastically. The wolf-rider to his right snarled.

"No, we don't." The leader replied. "But we do eat demigods, especially those who willingly wander into our territory."

The rest of the pack cheered and snarled, and Percy cursed his luck. He was about to tell Nathaniel to make a run for it, and stay behind to hold off the monsters, but something interrupted his train of thought.

A loud whistle; two simple notes echoed through the forest. He saw a flash in his peripheral, before an object landed in the dirt at his feet. It was Orenmir, sheathed and perfectly intact.

Percy snatched it off the ground, abandoning the other sword, and looked at the blade in astonishment. How?

A chorus of loud warcries startled him; his eyes were drawn to his left, where two familiar faces came storming out of the bushes, weapons drawn. They crashed into two different wolves, hacking and slashing through the enemy as if their life depended on it.

"Die!" Marco roared, stabbing his sword straight through the roof a wolf's mouth. The rider struggled to get free of the saddle as the wolf collapsed, but Marco quickly yanked the monster off the corpse. He turned to where Percy stood, mouth agape. "A little help?"

Percy shook himself out of his stupor, but he couldn't help the smile that came over him as he rushed in to help Marco and Lohi defeat the wolves and the Vrykolakas. He ducked under the swing of a mace, before slicing through the handle in the blink of an eye.

The leader blinked, before throwing the broken weapon away with a frustrated grunt. The wolf charged, but Percy rolled away. A slash caught the back of the wolf's hind legs, and the monster stumbled. In his peripheral, he noticed Agis in his full-grown tiger form, tearing into a wolf with ease. His grin widened.

"Damn you!" The leader of the vampires growled, commanding his wounded direwolf to walk forward. He charged at the demigod, but Percy simply met the charge with a wide hook from his metal arm. His fist crashed into the wolf's temple, and the beast crumpled.

The leader of the monsters tore himself free from the saddle with a grunt. He took a brief look around, only to see his companions being defeated by Percy's friends. "You numbskulls! Kill them!"

"Not gonna happen, pal." Percy said nonchalantly. He was scanning the area, trying to find Ember, but he couldn't spot her anywhere, which worried him more than he'd like to admit.

The Vrykolakas snarled, slashing at Percy's face with its claws. He leaned back, before flicking his sword around. It cleaved straight through the monster's wrist. Strangely enough, it didn't bleed at all.

He angled his sword to slash at its neck, but something snatched the monster away at the right time. Percy blinked; one of the surviving wolves was dragging the screaming monster leader away by the leg. If it was saving him or planning to eat him, Percy didn't know. The monsters quickly disappeared into the bushes.

Percy took a look around; all of the Vrykolakas were turned to dust, yet the corpses of the wolves remained, just like on floor three. He wondered why some bodies stayed solid. The wolves, Viktor...

He felt a hand clasping his shoulder.

"Man, have I been looking for you." Marco sighed. He seemed fine, physically, though he did have a nasty cut on his forehead, and his nose was crooked and bloody.

"You're telling me." Percy sighed. "What the hell have we gotten ourselves into now?"

Marco shrugged. "No clue." He nodded in the direction of the cursed field. It was hours away. "We all ended up in that wretched place, then Bleeze started acting weird. That's how I got this." Marco pointed at the cut on his forehead, right above his eyebrow. His expression darkened.

"He was helping me carry you at the time, so we dropped you. We were driven away by the other guys... I'm sorry we couldn't save you. I-I didn't think you'd survive that stomach thing either. I'm glad you're alright."

Percy waved it off. "You did the right thing, I can handle myself. I'm fine now, anyway." He glanced over Marco's shoulder, where a strawberry blonde head popped out from behind the bushes. Ember was tugging their backpacks along, her face smeared with dirt and a few bruises here and there, but otherwise she seemed fine. They locked eyes, and Percy could see the relief in her eyes. He returned it wholeheartedly.

Marco followed his line of sight, and huffed. "Yeah, she was in hysterics when we left the field without you." He said. "She really cares about you, you know?"

Percy tried to hum his agreement, but it came out more as a squeak. Marco scoffed. Percy cleared his throat. "Let's check the spoils, then get out of here, we can host a reunion party when we're not hunted by flesh eating demons."

Everyone seemed to agree with that.

They took a few minutes to check the items the Vrykolakas had left behind; Percy found a coat made of crimson direwolf fur and a single fang. It didn't seem like the others had much luck either, so they quickly abandoned the place.

"Here." Ember said as they continued their trek through the forest, searching for a good place to sleep.

She was holding out Lifedrinker, sheathed in its custom sheath she'd made for him a while ago. He accepted it, ignoring the electric feeling that coursed through his arm when their hands touched, and slung it over his shoulder, next to the bag he'd taken from Ember.

"Thank you." He said gratefully, scratching the back of his neck. "And sorry for... you know."

"I thought you were dead." She said, her face hidden behind a mop of hair, but her voice was wavering.

Percy's heart wrenched at the sound; he reached out and gave the girl's hand a brief yet comforting squeeze. "I'm not." He said. "And I won't be."

She nodded, or at least that's what he thought she did.

A gust of wind blew past them, making the hairs on Percy's neck stand straight up. Ember shivered next to him, and he frowned.

"Cold?" He asked. She shook her head.

Percy huffed, before looking down at the red cloak. It had belonged to one of the vampire dudes, but it was thick and warm. He'd tied it around his waist due to a lack of storage space, but maybe it would have a use after all.

"Wait." He said, and the two came to a stop.

He untied the cloak from his waist, before smoothly swinging it around Ember's shoulders. It sat comfortably around her shoulders and reached down to her knees, it even had a little cord at the collarbone to fasten it.

"Better?"

She seemed annoyed, but nodded regardless. "Yeah."

"You're angry at me." Percy said. It wasn't a question, more of a statement.

Ember didn't reply, and that was all the confirmation he needed.

"Listen, I wasn't trying to get stabbed." He said, before wincing at his choice of words. Bad idea.

Ember scoffed. "I sure hope you weren't."

"You know what I mean."

"I don't, actually." She said. "If you'd have told me that you'd be literally impaled, then we'd have found a different way to beat Aruli, but no. You just had to act like the hero."

He frowned. "I wasn't trying to play the hero."

"Clearly." She breathed. "Because a real hero wouldn't leave me standing there, worried out of my mind while literally dying on the floor!"

He opened his mouth, wanting to say that he hadn't been dying, but opted not to. Instead, he sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't know it'd turn out that way." He said sincerely. "And hey, we're all fine, aren't we?"

"Not the point, Percy." She said.

"I won't do it again."

"That's an empty promise, isn't it?" She asked.

"I guess." He sighed again. "Does it help?"

She huffed. "A bit."

Percy shook his head, exasperated. Before he could say anything else, Marco called out to them from the front of the pack. He'd been leading them while Percy took up the rear.

"This spot looks pretty good, no?" He asked. They'd been going downhill for a while now, into a valley of some kind, and a large rock stuck out from the hill, forming a small cave underneath. It seemed like the safest place they'd find in this forest, Percy thought.

"Yeah." Percy shrugged. "Doesn't look like we'll find any five star hotels out here, so I guess it'll do."

Some time later, they all sat huddled under the rock, side by side. They had decided against starting a fire, since it would most likely attract all kinds of monsters, so the food that night was dry and rather unappetizing. Most of the company was asleep, but Percy sat at the edge of the cave with his back against the wall, nibbling on a dried slice of a fruit he didn't recognize. Agis was curled up at his feet, snoring contently.

Percy was standing guard, or at least that's what he told himself. He didn't feel comfortable sleeping just yet. He decided to go over his arsenal, something he hadn't really taken the time to do ever since he ended up in Tartarus.

His two swords, Orenmir and Lifedrinker, were placed upright against the wall next to him. He'd cleaned them a while ago; a habit Elmon had beaten into him during his stay in Rosehallow. It was a calming activity too, it allowed him to think.

His old backpack contained some spare clothes, the laptop, the wallet and the hellhound pelt. A dagger made of bone with a hilt wrapped in leather stuck out of one of the side pouches; it was a souvenir he'd snatched off a dead dragonkin on the twenty-seventh floor. Speaking of that floor; the last item in his bag was the book.

Cyrene's book.

Percy hadn't taken the time to read it, mostly because he couldn't read the language it was written in, but also because he couldn't bear to look at the thing. It reminded him of his past failure, and he didn't like failures. Despised them, actually.

He glanced down at the rune on the back of his hand. It wasn't very visible under the grime, blood and dirt that covered his hand. The same went for the one on his forearm. The burden still lied heavily on his shoulders, though he was used to it by now. Losing Cyrene, Chrysaor's betrayal... They had been valuable lessons about the cruelty of Tartarus. It truly was an unforgiving place.

In the morning, Percy was woken up by a ball of fur nuzzling his leg. He yawned, a loud and shameless yawn, before giving Agis a few scratches behind the ears. He wasn't even aware that he'd fallen asleep, but ultimately he was thankful for it.

The sun was already shining brightly through the canopy, making it seem like he wasn't in hell after all. For some reason, however, his sixth sense was going haywire. Usually that meant something was terribly wrong, but he shoved the feeling down for now.

As he stretched, he noticed that the others were also awake. They were already busy, packing their belongings and getting dressed properly. He fastened Lifedrinker's sheath to his back, glancing at Marco who was doing the same with his weapon.

"So, what's the plan?" The fey asked.

"The tower, of course." Percy replied, nodding towards the looming building in the distance. The tip was just barely visible on the horizon. Percy had the strange feeling that it had gotten further away somehow. He must have been going crazy.

"What do you expect to find there, anyway?" Lohi asked. She had strapped the giant black sword to her back, which was funny since it made her look a lot smaller than she actually was.

He shrugged. "Information. The floor boss, if we're terribly lucky. Then again-"

"Hold on." Marco interrupted him. "What's that?" He was looking down at Percy's waist. More specifically; the sword that hung there.

A wisp of black smoke was escaping from Orenmir's crossguard.

Percy frowned, clasping the hilt before freeing the blade from its scabbard. A cloud of dark smoke poured off the silver blade in waves, though it was already dissipating rather quickly.

"Why is it doing that?" Lohi asked tensely.

Percy shook his head in confusion, staring at the sword in wonder. He'd always known the blade was cursed somehow, though he didn't believe it at first. Was this what it meant?

Orenmir hummed, a feeling only Percy could feel, and the demigod could have sworn he heard a faint, haunting whisper.

The smoke disappeared completely, and the humming stopped, as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.

A beat of silence passed as they collectively stared at the sabre.

"Whatever that was," Nathaniel said, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder. "It can't be good. Let's just get out of here."

"Agreed." Percy said, sheathing his sword.

They continued their descent while the day was still bright, ignoring the occasional howl or snarl in the far distance. Percy lead them this time, while Lohi made up the rear.

Ember strode beside him, still so uncharacteristically quiet that it unnerved him. He'd have to do something about that. She hadn't taken off the coat though, so he took that as a good sign.

Hours passed by as they walked, until the scenery made a sudden and drastic change in appearance.

A part of the forest had died.

Literally, it seemed as if a wave of death had killed a very specific area of the forest. The trees were ashy grey and bore no leaves, no plants grew anywhere and the ground was nothing but coarse dirt and gravel.

Percy's fingertips trailed across the bark of a dying tree. He could sense the malicious magic from there.

"Cozy." He muttered.

"Something tells me this wasn't a natural disaster." Marco chimed in. Percy agreed. Whatever had happened here was the work of a monster.

"Don't stop now." He urged. "It's just some dead trees. The tower is still some time away."

He didn't mention the fact that said tower hadn't gotten an inch closer since they left the cave. It was like they hadn't moved at all, but they had.

They'd found new territory, which proved that they weren't going in circles, so why weren't they making progress?

"I feel drowsy." Nathaniel whined. Percy couldn't even blame him, because he did too.

Everywhere he looked, he saw trees. No sign of life, just trees. The dead forest had been a change of sorts, but even that was starting to get repetitive.

When he looked back, Percy couldn't even see the living forest anymore. Just the grey, dead trees that populated this one.

"We're lost." Ember said after the fourth hour.

"No." Percy insisted. "We just have to keep following the tower."

"We've been doing that for ages. It hasn't gotten any closer." She replied, and Percy couldn't deny it.

"It's magic, obviously." Nathaniel said, glaring at the trees around them. "It's tricking us, messing with our minds. I bet there's not even a tower there, it's just a hallucination!"

Percy had to admit, that did sound like something you'd find in a hellish place like Tartarus.

"Then what the hell do we do?" He asked.

"There's nothing we can do." The other demigod replied. "Other than sit here and die."

Percy sighed in defeat. Agis was sniffling the leaves at his feet, growling at the floor as if it had wronged him in some way.

He frowned. "Find something, Agis?"

The sabertooth didn't reply, obviously, but its head snapped up to look at one tree in particular. Agis snarled at it.

"It's just a tree, boy." Lohi rolled her eyes. "Nothing special."

Then the tree opened its eyes.

And everyone screamed.

A/NNext floor, buzzer sound. New monsters, powers, magic and more!Review, review!