Percy POV
"Ok, we only have one hour to figure out the four-digit code and escape," Annabeth said firmly. She was already on her feet, searching for clues.
"What are we trying to find?" I asked.
"Anything suspicious. Numbers and/or letters."
Annabeth was currently at the table and chairs looking for any clues. I had no idea what we were trying to find. Regardless, I went to the far side of the pool to look in the boxes and equipment piles.
There were dozens of crates and boxes filled with swim equipment ranging from scuba gear to pool toys. There was even a whole box filled with goggles. Elysium was smart in the sense that this room was packed with hiding spots for clues.
Almost 20 minutes passed with zero progress.
"Annabeth, this is hopeless. There are so many places where a small clue could hide. It doesn't make sense for them to make us search everything in an hour," I said loudly.
She paused and looked up from a nearby barrel crate. Her eyes widened as she seemed to make a realization.
"Oh my god, Percy, you're totally correct," she expressed much to my surprise. "They only gave us an hour to find an escape. It's highly improbable that they want us to search everything."
"So, what are you saying?" I asked. I picked up a toy boat and threw it into the pool, where it initially sank before floating.
"We should look near places that are more open and obvious," Annabeth said firmly.
She turned away from the far side of the pool and walked back to the middle. Her eyes scanned the walls and general architecture of the room. My eyes narrowed at the wall between the two Olympics posters near the northeast corner of the pool area.
There was a secret door and hallway. I know what I saw before they took me to the race. I assumed that Sector 3 had many similar secret doors.
"There's a locked box on the lifeguard platform," Annabeth exclaimed.
The lifeguard platform was in the middle of the east length of the pool. Lifeguards had to climb a metal structure to reach the floorboard with a chair. A lifebuoy was on the chair. Under it was a small black box (it was hard to see, but it was an obvious location).
Annabeth climbed onto the top of the platform. She almost slipped on the first step, and I instinctually reached out to her. However, she was a whole pool length away.
"Annabeth-"
"I got it," Annabeth exclaimed as she held up the black box.
Suddenly, a loud buzz exploded through the room. The lifeguard platform exploded. I watched in horror as Annabeth was launched into the pool. I simply froze as I watched Annabeth sink into the pool. A streak of red was permeating the water.
The explosion shot metal planks and rods through the room. One of them evidently hit Annabeth who was slowly sinking to the deep end of the pool.
"Wise Girl," I shouted frantically as I dived into the pool.
I was a fast swimmer, and I reached her in no time. I swam into the deep end and wrapped my arms around an unconscious Annabeth.
Her blonde hair blotted my vision as I swam to the surface. Red blood was stemming from a gash on Annabeth's upper arm. Oh God.
I pulled her out of the water. My sore muscles ached as I climbed out of the pool and crouched next to her. I was hardcore panicking right now. I couldn't lose her. We entered this together, and I needed her to live.
"Annabeth, Wise Girl," I shouted as I tapped her face. "Come on, Annabeth."
I quickly checked her pulse. She was breathing and had a pulse, so that was one bonus. However, she was bleeding out of her arm. A pool of blood was growing on the wet pool floor. "Come on, Annabeth," I shouted again.
Suddenly, she splurted out water and sat up.
I smiled in relief as she continued to cough out water. She gasped as her hand fell on my arm. Her hand was on the metal cuff on my right arm. I shifted my position so that I could feel her skin without Elysium's technology blocking our connection.
"What happened?" she gasped as her gaze locked onto mine.
I gulped my emotions down as I stared at her. I couldn't express how happy I was that she was okay. I couldn't fathom what I'd do if she wasn't.
I went forward and hugged her. I didn't even want to let go as my grip tightened around her.
Her prior words were'we barely know each other.' However, I ignored those words ringing in my head Maybe, we had only known each other for a couple of days. Regardless, I cared for her more than anyone else here.
"I am so grateful that you're okay, Wise Girl. I actually thought I lost you," I expressed. My eyes were burning. Not from the chlorine, but from the tears.
Annabeth's arms wrapped around me as she calmed her breathing. I gasped suddenly as I pulled away.
"You're injured," I said as I tore off my shirt.
I gently reached for her left arm. Her upper arm had an ugly gash, and it was still bleeding slightly. Annabeth winced as I touched her injury.
"May I?" I asked as I suggested wrapping her slice.
She nodded silently, and I got to work. I used a torn scrap of my shirt to bandage her arm. Will Solace would've done much better since he was an EMT. Regardless, I did my best to stop the bleeding.
Annabeth placed her hand on my cheek as I finished wrapping her. I looked into her gray eyes with concern, but she was smiling reassuringly. "I'm okay, Seaweed Brain."
"We need to get the black box," she nodded towards the pool. "We only have about 25 minutes left."
"Yeah, I'll get it. Just take it easy," I said quietly.
I dove back into the pool and swam towards the black box. It was at the bottom of the deep end. My ears popped due to the pressure before I got the locked box. Several scraps of metal were littered through the pool as I climbed out.
Annabeth had moved to the table on the near side of the pool. I followed towards her and set the box on the table.
"It's locked, and we need a key," Annabeth observed.
"It's a small-ass key. It could literally be anywhere in this room," I expressed.
I looked through the large room. It was intimidating. Like finding a needle in a haystack. Highly improbably if the key was hidden somewhere specific.
"The black box was in an open location. Maybe, the key is too," Annabeth said.
She was rubbing her bandaged arm just as I rubbed the cuff on my arm. My right arm felt so stiff and uncomfortable due to the metal.
"Before finding the box, I noticed something on one of the posters. Ugh, my head is so cloudy. I can't remember what I observed," Annabeth said in frustration. She lowered her head into her hands as she pounded her forehead.
"Hey, Annabeth, stop," I said quietly as I reached forward. I gripped her wrists and pulled her hands away from her face.
"Wise Girl, take your time. I'll search for a key. You focus on the posters," I said firmly. "Just don't beat yourself up like this. You were in a freaking explosion, and mental clouding is natural."
I noticed her eyes scan the posters. I liked the way her face relaxed when she was thinking. Most people had contorted faces while they analyze material, but her face relaxed. Annabeth was naturally beautiful and intelligent and powerful.
"Wise Girl, I don't eat fish," I said openly.
Annabeth laughed as she turned her attention to me. It was such a random thing to say, but I wanted to see and hear her laugh. I wanted her to be all right.
"That's so random, Seaweed Brain. But, I suppose that it makes sense considering how much you love the water and the ocean," she said while smiling.
"Yeah, I am weird like that," I expressed.
She continued to laugh as she looked around the room. I smiled before getting up to search for a key.
Annabeth said to look in obvious locations. Unsurprisingly, she was correct. The golden key was taped to a flag near the pool doors. The flag was heavily weighted down. I noticed this anomaly before seeing the key.
"Wise Girl, I got the key," I said while quickly rushing over.
"And, I figured out the posters. Which do you suggest we look at first?" she asked.
"The locked box will be faster," I suggested.
I inserted the key into the box and turned it. The lock clicked loudly and the box opened slowly. It was a mechanical box that revealed a slip of paper.
"I don't get it," I expressed loudly in frustration.
Annabeth carefully analyzed the piece of paper. It was a freaking empty piece of paper. Nothing was on it. Not a single character or clue.
"Okay, we're probably missing something. Maybe we should shift our attention to the posters," Annabeth paused as I nodded.
"Okay, so, there are seven Olympics posters throughout the room. Each for some country. They have a description under each title and logo. There's a mistake in each of those posters," Annabeth explained.
I looked around the room before settling on the Canada Olympics poster. The description was brief, but I noticed the mistake. The number 3 had replaced the letter 'e' in a word in the second sentence.
"That gives us seven numbers?" I hypothesized in confusion.
Yup. Seven numbers: 7, 8, 6, 3, 4, 3, and 1.
"Well, the door code is four numbers. Figuring out a combination through trial-and-error is highly impossible. Plus we only have ten minutes," I said in confusion.
"You're kinda cute when you're confused," Annabeth blurted out. I simply stared at her in shock as she blushed slightly. "Sorry my head is still out of it," she reciprocated.
"I'll take the compliment," I expressed with a smile. "Anyway, this paper has to mean something. They wouldn't just give us a blank paper."
"Unless they're trying to mislead us," Annabeth affirmed. Her eyes sparkled as she had a lightbulb moment. "But, I have an idea"
Annabeth took the paper and walked towards the pool. I had no clue what she was doing, but I followed her. She held her hand out over the water and dropped the paper into the pool.
"Woah, Annabeth, what are you doing?" I asked in shock.
"This room is special because it relies on the water. The clues should be connected in some way. Look," Annabeth said while pointing.
My eyes widened as I stared at the paper floating atop the water surface. A black ink bled onto the paper revealing a secret message: ODD IN ORDER.
"Wait, so that means the code is only odd numbers and-"
"They're in order. The code must be 1,3,3,7."
Annabeth and I nodded towards each other before walking to the locked door. This had to be our escape. If not, we had no more ideas.
Annabeth entered the code while I gently touched her arm. She was still bleeding through my shirt bandage, so I applied pressure while supporting her body. I was incredibly tired (due to having two phases in two days without food), but I helped her regardless.
The door clicked and burst open. Annabeth and I practically fell into the hallway due to the sudden force.
"Oh my gosh, we did it," Annabeth exclaimed as her arms wrapped around my waist. I hugged back tightly as a smile graced my face.
Honestly, I wasn't confident in our performance. While Annabeth and I were a great team, we had also just fought. Furthermore, we hit several snags during this phase. This social experiment emphasized the importance of group union and cohesion.
"You guys made it. Thank the gods," Jason exclaimed as the group rushed over.
I sighed as I let go of Annabeth. Everyone ran towards and tackled us with hugs. They had just escaped from the dorm room, which also had a phase 4. I suppose all the rooms had a phase 4 of some sort.
Rachel's eyes narrowed on my and Annabeth's interaction. I instinctually distanced from Annabeth as Rachel hugged me.
"I'm so glad that you're okay, Percy," Rachel whispered into my ear.
"Yeah, back at ya," I confirmed.
"You two were the only ones that weren't in the dorm room. We escaped pretty easily, but we were so worried about you guys," Thalia said genuinely.
"We're okay. Um, Will, can you please look at Annabeth's arm?" I asked with worry.
"Yeah, of course."
Will ushered Annabeth away followed by a few of our friends. I simply watched their retreating figures. I had so many unanswered questions.
"Everything okay, Percy?" Jason asked while patting my shoulder.
I nodded as we walked back to the dorm room. I needed a shower and dry myself. More than anything, I wanted to rest.
Through this experience, I realized that I do trust Annabeth. She was hiding secrets (big ones), but she wasn't a bad person. I cared about her, and I trusted her.
But, that didn't mean that I wasn't going to search for answers.
...