Suddenly the room got colder as we all looked at each other in suspicion. I wanted to get out with both Rachel and my mom. I'm sure Reyna wanted to get out with Jason (and maybe Octavian) and Piper wanted to get out with Leo. Only five of us were going through that door, and there were nine of us left alive in the building.
Reyna held a quizzical expression, as if she was finding a solution to a rather difficult equation. Before long she spoke, "What Octavian just said is true. This, however, gives us no excuse to start fighting among each other. When we find a door whoever can enter the door goes through. First one to find the number (2) card gets it, the end. If any of us plan on getting out we need to work together." Reyna spoke with such confidence that I found it hard to oppose her. I found myself agreeing with her.
I wasn't alone, before long murmurs of agreement were clearly audible inside the room. Reyna smiled brightly at us, though how much I should trusted that smile is still a mystery.
"Alright, I believe this hotel has ten floors counting this one, everyone split up and try and find a numbered door." Reyna practically demanded.
"Alright, when should we meet back here?" I heard Rachel ask. I could have sworn I heard some hostility in her words. Reyna apparently heard it as well as she narrowed her eyes at Rachel before answering.
"When we hear that clock ring twice" she said while pointing at a tall grandfather clock in the corner of the room. It read (1:30), meaning we had about thirty minutes to search. Everyone nodded in agreement and began to separate. I knew where I'd start my search, floor seven.
With the elevator still not working I took the stairs up. Walking up the stairs was almost as taxing as sprinting down them. Eventually, I made it to the hallway I had been sprinting down not half an hour ago. I noticed something now that I had a chance to fully observe the hallway. There were two holes that stuck out of the wall; they were oddly shaped, kind of looking like the letters (Ne). I was about to observe it further when I heard footsteps coming up the steps.
It was Rachel.
The awkwardness of the air seemed tangible as we just stared at each other. Let's just say the fallout between us had been a little less than peaceful. I guess I'm majority of the blame for that, during our last conversation I pretty much said why my current girlfriend, Annabeth, was better than her in every way. In hindsight that wasn't the smartest thing to do. We ended up name-calling and it ended with both of us hoping to never see the other again; that obviously worked well.
My brain was trying to figure out what she was going to say. Rachel is an unpredictable girl, I never really know what to expect. Even though I know she's unpredictable, I was still taken aback by her first words to me in days. They were barely above a whisper but I heard them loud and clear.
"I'm sorry."
I took me a bit to respond, Rachel definitely wasn't in the wrong as opposed to me.
"Rachel, what happened isn't your fault, it's mine. I…I shouldn't have said the thing I did. I'm the one that has to apologize; I just couldn't work up the nerve to do so to your face. I… I was scared." I found myself saying much more than I wanted to. Rachel always had that affect on me; like anytime we talked I had to reveal my deepest secrets.
She looked up at me, a lone tear threatening to leak out of her eye, "Why, why would you be scared of me?" Her voice sounded so hurt; I felt the sudden urge to hug her, to tell her it'd all be ok. Luckily, I stopped myself; that would've made it harder for her to get over me and the same vice versa. Plus I promised myself I'd remain loyal to Annabeth.
"Rachel I still care about you, a lot more than you'd think. I was afraid I'd messed up any chance we'd still be friends, I didn't want to ruin that any further." I told her truthfully.
She gave me a shaky smile a hugged me before I could respond. I didn't push her away for two reasons: I'm not evil, and I know that would have hurt Rachel greatly. Secondly, I was actually enjoying her presence far more than I should. Not that I'd ever go back to her, but I guess I wasn't 100% over her yet.
I'm not sure what would have happened next, luckily Jason decided for me as he chose that moment to walk in on us. He cleared his voice causing both of us to immediately separate. I felt myself turn red and saw Rachel do the same. Jason raised an eyebrow and smirked at the two of us.
"Did I… interrupt something?" he asked knowingly. I probably would have said something smart like 'um, err, duh'; luckily Rachel is smarter than me.
"No, we were just…catching up. Anyway I'm off to floor eight if you guys need me" With waiting for a response she was gone, leaving me with Jason.
"She your girlfriend?" He immediately asked when Rachel was out of earshot.
"Not quite…" I said, not sure how much I should reveal to a man who tried to kill me earlier. Jason, however, seemed to draw his own conclusion.
"Oh I see, yeah man I know the feeling. Same kind of thing with me and Reyna right now." He said in an almost patronizing way. I doubted his scenario was anything like mine but I let him think whatever he wanted to. I hadn't lied to him and he still doesn't know the truth, a win-win situation. Jason looked nervous for some reason, a feeling that looked ill suited for someone like him.
"I…I wanted to apologize for, you know, choking you earlier. I was really upset and you kind of became a scapegoat. I know it was wrong and I hope you'll accept my apology." His tone was very sympathetic, but also a bit anxious. He obviously doesn't apologize very often.
"Don't worry about it, I understand how you felt." I told him honestly. He visually relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks man. So how do you know my sis anyway?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious. I didn't know if he knew his sister was a half blood, or if he knew about half bloods at all, so I chose the safest response.
"She was good friend of mine, though she didn't mention having a younger brother." He looked somewhat shocked to hear Thaila hadn't told me about him. He quickly hid it, making me slightly curious. I decided not to pry.
"Well I need to look down the hallway for any numbered doors, I'll see in a while Jason" I told him before walking off.
After about ten minutes of searching I found nothing on floor seven and decided to go to floor ten. On my way up I ran into Leo and Piper on my way up. I decided to start a conversation while we climbed the stairs.
"Hey guys, found any numbered doors yet?" I asked them. They both shook their heads.
"I honestly thought there would be one door on every floor, we've been on two floors and haven't found one" Piper said somewhat dejectedly.
"I didn't find one on floor seven either." I informed them.
"Hey Percy, bet you a dollar we find a numbered door on floor ten" Leo challenged randomly.
"And what makes you certain we'll find one on floor ten?" I asked him.
"That's easy; Beyonce seems to love the number ten. Everything's got to do with that damn number. I wouldn't be surprised if that's where we find a numbered door." Leo said almost too casually.
"Beyonce?" Piper asked.
"C'mon now beauty queen, 'If you like it, you should have put a ring on it,' it's the perfect name for Ringmaster," Leo answered, as if should have been obvious.
Piper and I looked at one another then Leo, completely at a loss for words. I'm guessing our faces were pretty funny because Leo then broke out into a fit of laughter. Shaking my head I proceeded to floor ten, Piper and Leo catching up moments after.
We final made it to the floor ten and entered a hallway that looked just like floor seven's. That is until you notice a strange door right next to the elevator for floor 10. A metallic door, with a red painted (70) across the middle of it.
