On the palm of my hand, was a branded number 7. It looked to be scarred deep in my skin; inflamed red skin surrounded the seven. I noticed the seven's coloring was odd. Unlike the darker red you'd expect after being burned, it was a bright, vibrant red. The coloring was very similar to the color of three of the buttons I was looking at earlier.

Hmm…

The answer of the first equation is ten.

An equation is must involve math.

There are the math signs on the door.

The multiplying, addition and division sign are red, the same red as the seven on my hand.

The answer is 10!

7 x 7 = 49

49 + 7 +7 + 7 = 70

70 / 7 = 10!

The revelation hit me like a ton of bricks. Hope filled my formally vacant heart once more as I quickly made my way towards the keypad. Thoughts of the bomb in my chest raged against my brain as I did so. Something told me if I made a mistake here it'd be my last. Gingerly I touched the keypad.

It was extremely cold to the touch, so cold it made me withdraw my hand the second I touched it. Barely audible over the roaring water and beeping coming from the bomb, was an extremely soft beep. Not like the beeping coming from my chest, it sounded more like it was confirming something rather counting down.

It was only a scanner so there was no way of me knowing if the number seven was actually put in. I sent another quick prayer that my solutions was the correct one and pressed the multiply button and pressed my hand against the scanner.

I was hoping for a confirmation beep of some sort but the same low beep emitted from the keypad. Swallowing my nervousness I continued to put in the rest of my equation. As I touched my hand for the last seven the keypad turned a striking red. If not for the sounds I heard directly afterwards, I would have thought I was wrong.

Those sounds were the same low beep played three times consecutively, accompanying the sound of an unlocking door. My body reacted before my brain did; I twisted the doorknob and shoved. Surprisingly, the door opened easily.

My momentum from pushing so hard sent me crashing to the ground outside the door. Water gushed out of the room, seemingly happy to be released. The fall may have hurt me and got me extremely wet but I was so happy I was out of the room I didn't care to notice.

I would have been content with celebrating now but a certain ticking noise prevented me from doing so. The Ringmasters words rang deep in my mind, "You all have ten minutes to get downstairs to the lobby otherwise… well the janitor is going to have a lot of cleaning to do."

The fact that this was all a game to her angered me greatly. I've never been one to promote the taking of one's life but I seriously wanted the Ringmaster dead, 10 years old or not. Shaking of those thoughts off, I looked around at my environment.

The walls were completely made of steel with no decorations. The carpet that wasn't covered be water looked to be completely white. Numerous doors seemed to stretch down a never ending hallway that was weakly lit. The door I case out was at the end of the hallway, meaning I had to trek that entire distance.

Ringmaster said to meet in the lobby in ten minutes. I knew at least half of that time was lost during my little breakdown earlier. This meant I had less than five minute to find the unknown location of a lobby.

Seeing as she said lobby, this must have meant I was truly in a hotel. That being said, the lobby must have been downstairs. Not wasting anytime I sprinted down the seemingly endless hallway.

Though I knew it wasn't, it felt as though I had been running for ten minutes when I reached an elevator. Without skipping a beat, I pressed the down button located on either side of the elevator.

Unfortunately, there was no response.

A cool sweat began to form on my neck as I began to frantically look around. The dimly lit hallway made it hard to truly distinguish everything but I was able to find a sign, a staircase sign. The second I made my way towards it the beeping in my chest became much more rapid, communicating a message to me.

Only one minute left!

What weariness I had from the previous run I just finished vanished. I wave of pure adrenaline coursed through my blood as I ran to the staircase. I sprinted down the staircase, stumbling and falling a few times.

The rapid beeping was the only thing keeping me from collapsing with exhaustion. I was vaguely aware of the fact I had gone down seven stories when I finally reached the bottom door. I heaved the door open and promptly collapsed upon entering the room. My body was too tired to go on, this would be my grave. My eyes closed as my limbs began to feel numb. I was vaguely aware of two familiar voices calling my name.

Not soon after a couple pairs of hands began dragging me somewhere. The second the hands stopped dragging me the beeping sound stopped. I felt someone sit up against a solid surface and begin to ask me questions.

"Percy? Percy!? Are you ok?" the womanly voice squeaked. It feels like it's been ages since I heard this voice. It was the voice of security when I was younger, the voice that could be so tender at times and so stern at others.

"M-mom?" I gasped out. I couldn't believe it, my mother, Sally Jackson, was here playing this game with me. My shock was doubled when I heard yet another familiar voice from behind my mom's.

"Is he going to be alright Ms. Jackson?" she asked. My red-haired nightmare decided to make another shocking appearance in my life. Rachel Elizabeth Dare was mere feet away from me.

Rachel and mine's relationship had been rather conflicted. I planned to tell her we could only be friends as my heart belonged to another tomorrow, or should I say today. Of course I hadn't been planning on getting kidnapped, so my plan was currently null and void.

Finally catching my breath I stood up and surveyed my surroundings. Rachel and my mother were looking at me worriedly, which wasn't exactly shocking me. What did surprise me were the seven people who looked at me intently.

One was a boy my age, of which looked well built. He had sandy blonde hair and striking blue eyes that I know I've seen somewhere before. He's definitely seen combat if the scar on his lip was any indication. He held and emotionless mask, though his eyes looked genuinely concerned.

Sharing that look was one of his companions. She had deeply tan skin and a skinny, athletic build. She had long flowing, brown hair that caressed down her firm shoulders. Her face was also an emotionless mask that didn't reach her eyes.

Their other companion looked at me the way a king would look at peasant. He looked like he could care less rather I lived or died. He also had blonde hair, though he was much scrawnier than the first boy I saw.

The three of them sat on a manila colored loveseat, the scrawny boy sat on the arm of the couch. On the opposite side of them was another love seat that sat two others. One was petite shaped girl who looked like she may have been a Native American, or at least a descendant of one. She had an aura of natural beauty about her I can't quite describe. Something about her reminded me of Silena. Perhaps it's because I could never exactly figure out what color her eyes were.

Next to her was a small Latino by who wore a weak smile. He looked slightly goofy; I could tell the bad situation was messing with him. He looked like he could keep us laughing, which we all may need in the current situation.

I saw two others out of the corner of my eyes at what I'd assume was the check in desk, though the second my eyes headed their way I heard a voice I had already learned to hate, thus taking my attention away from the two of them.

"Well, you all survived the first challenge. Honestly I would have been disappointed if you hadn't, looking at you Percy" the overly bubbly voice of the Ringmaster sounded in the room. The voice seemed to be surrounding us, as though the whole room was filled with speakers. If possible, her little jibe made me even madder. Luckily I kept my mouth closed; I didn't need to make the person who currently was in control of my life mad.

"As a reward, how about I give you the rules of the explanation game. Throughout the hotel you're in there are ten doors, nine of which have a random number between eleven and a hundred. Each room has number painted on it; the scanner next to that door must equal that number. Any number you put in the scanner is irreversible, so don't mess up.

Each of you has a number that is a certain color imprinted on your hand. That number is the number you put in the keypad. The color on your hand represents the buttons you're aloud to push. For example, since Percy has a red seven he can only press buttons that are red. If he presses any color that isn't red I'll be sure it's the last thing he ever does." She concluded.

Each of us was silent, waiting on her to continue. After a minute of silence her voice returned, slightly annoyed. "In each of your pockets are hints about the game. If you got it wet during the first challenge, tough luck. I'd advise you red Reyna's first. Hopefully it'll add some incentive for each of you to work faster."

With that her voice was gone, at least for now. The girl with long brown hair I noticed earlier pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. I saw her read over the note first before reading out loud. Her eyes widened and she visibly tensed. As if a spell was placed on her, she froze completely. The buff blonde put a protective arm around her and she eventually regained her composure.

Her low, nervous filled voice spoke what the note read.

"You've got ten hours to escape."