Percy POV

"What kind of name is Percy?" The Asian boy, Minho, asked.

"What kind of name is Minho?" I countered. He smirked.

"A cool name." He said. The boy with the messy brown hair, Thomas, was staring at us. He seemed like the calmest, most approachable one out of the three boys who introduced themselves. There was Minho, Thomas, and Newt. I painfully turned to Thomas.

"Do you people have a leader? Who's the leader here?" I asked him. He smirked.

"The one with the 'cool name'." He said pointing to Minho. "You seem pretty chipper for just being struck by lightning." He continued. I just realized that Minho looked much more beat up than I felt. He was also groaning. I don't know how I didn't notice that before. That somehow reminded me that being here was my punishment. I already missed Annabeth and Grover. Newt was staring at me.

"You sure don't seem like a crazy person. Are you a crank? Are you just not fully gone yet? Or was WICKED wrong about cranks?" He seemed to be talking to me, but I got the feeling that he was just talking to himself.

"I honestly have no clue what you're talking about. What's a crank?" I said to him. Before he could respond, a man jumped down from a whole in the ceiling. All the 'Gladers' turned in his direction.

"My name is Jorge. I am the king of this place. you intruded on my property." The man said. "Also, I'm a crank." At this, all the Gladers gasped. Thomas and Newt scooted against the wall. A bunch of other people jumped down from the hole in the ceiling. They all looked half crazy. Or more than half. Plus, all of them carried weapons. One man was carrying a screwdriver with what I assumed was blood on the tip. Another was carrying a shovel with a jagged edge. And yet another girl was carrying a small knife that had a red stain on the sharp side. It ended up that Newt Didn't need to explain. Cranks were crazy. Insane.

Jorge came over to Minho and me and stopped five feet in front of us. I couldn't run away or even or block myself if he tried to hurt me. I couldn't move at all actually.

Are you happy, Zeus? I thought. It was him that gave me this punishment, but this was actually the Gladers's world. My punishment was someone else's reality. And it was a reality filled with cranks. I shuddered.

Jorge brought his foot back and kicked Minho in the shin. Hard. Minho screamed in pain.

"Say your sorry!" The crank yelled. I must have missed something when I zoned out.

"I'll be nice and give to the count of ten." Jorge said. then he started counting.

"One."

Thomas looked at Minho with look that said 'do it' all over.

"Two."

Minho didn't even look in Thomas's direction.

"Three."

Minho stared up at Jorge.

" Four."

Thomas said it aloud.

"Five."

Minho stared at Jorge.

"Six."

Minho stared.

"Seven."

"I'm sorry." Minho said.

"I don't think you meant that." Jorge kicked Minho again. Minho screamed again. "Say it with meaning, Hermano."

"Eight."

Minho glared.

"Nine."

"I'm sorry!" Minho said with fake feeling.

Jorge smiled to himself. He seemed pleased that he had gotten to kick Minho and still get him to say sorry. But I saw some disappointment in his eyes along with crazed pleasure. It was almost as if he had wanted to kill Minho, or what ever he was going to do if Minho didn't say sorry in time. But as soon as he turned his back, Minho leaped to his feet and tackled the crank 'king'. Jorge shrieked as he fell to the ground with Minho on top of him. And Minho punched him hard in the face. Over and over again. I thought it was rather amusing that he could get struck by lightning and still beat someone up, but the look on the other Gladers's faces was a mix of terror and dread. Thomas and Newt snapped out of their shock first and ran over to Minho and puled him off of Jorge. Minho didn't struggle, but he was smiling slightly. Jorge got to his feet and wiped a trail of blood from his mouth. I then saw why the Gladers were terrified. The look in his eyes had gone from slightly crazy to downright insane with loathing for Minho.

"You made me look weak in front of my people. That will not go unpunished." Jorge spat at him. "I will kill you myself tomorrow morning." All of the cranks behind him cheered, except for one. The girl with the small knife. Thomas jumped up.

"Can I talk to you please, in private?" he asked. So maybe he wasn't the most intelligent.

"Why would I do that? Or do you have a death wish, too?" Jorge laughed.

"Because I might have information you need." Jorge looked skeptical. "Please? Just ten minutes."

Jorge finally nodded. "Okay, but just ten minutes."

Then Jorge led him down a hallway and away from anyone who could help him in time. Ten minutes went by with the Gladers and me staring at the blood thirsty Cranks. Then they both came back, Thomas not looking harmed in the slightest. His shoulders even seemed more relaxed than before. Jorge turned to the Cranks.

"I have decided not to kill the boy who attacked me. But, since he punched me with both hands, I will cut one finger off each hand." This didn't get any cheers, but a few pleasured grumbles and happy laughs. I heard Thomas and Minho whispering to each other beside me. I only caught snippets of their conversation.

"What the-"

"I tried to-"

"-sure."

" I couldn't-"

"-why not?"

I stopped trying to listen.

"I'm going to take these people to go get food and I'm taking Brenda with me." Jorge announced. I sincerely hoped that Brenda was the girl with the knife. She didn't look that enthusiastic about killing Minho and also didn't seem all that crazy. The girl with the knife stepped and shoved her knife in her pocket.

Theses people were insane.