H: Oh…thanks for letting me know. :]

Chapter Twenty-Six:

Night one.

Percy peeked down below, where he had pushed Clarisse. She hadn't floated up to the surface yet, and he was beginning to have second thoughts about pushing over. He was just about ready to jump in after her, but saw a few bubbles, and then more, and more, until he saw her head pop just over the water's surface.

She screamed slightly, "Ah! Jackson! Why did you push me? I'm going to get you for this!"

He waved teasingly, "Sorry, Clarisse!" He decided to make a run for it before she made it back; he strapped his pack on snugly. Percy continued to look at the map while he was walking; despite the fact that he hadn't had any luck yet on finding a way out, the map made it a lot easier on him. Without the map, it was like being blind down here. Percy saw that the cavern he was in led to a large open area. Even though he couldn't tell time down here, he knew that it was getting to be nighttime, since his eyelids were getting heavier by the second and that he was yawning like a madman. He thought the open space would be a good place to set up camp for the night. After walking another fifteen minutes or so, he finally made it.

"Before you turn in," His guide spoke, "I think this would be a good time to get familiarized. I'm Eros."

"Uh…hey, Eros." Percy waved, as if Eros was actually there, in front of him.

"Obviously, I know who you are, so you don't need to introduce yourself." He added, sounding slightly annoyed. His earpiece got quiet, so Percy assumed that Eros had gone night-night. Percy liked the sound of some shut-eye, and set his backpack down on the floor, and rested his head on it. His bedding situation was no mattress, but it was good enough for him. Clicking off his flashlight and settling down, his eyes lightly shut.

Day two.

Percy had been sleeping like a baby, until someone screamed into his ear, "Rise and shine, Jackson!" It took him a second to remember whose voice it was: Eros's. Percy groaned slightly and scratched behind his ear.

"Hmph...Thanks for waking me up."

"I forgot to tell you…the twins, um…Travis and Conner, were eliminated from the competition. They each failed the same tests." Eros said.

Percy's stomach did a slight flip, "What? There not hurt, are they?"

Eros seemed taken aback when he said, "Oh! No, no! They're fine, just a few scrapes and cuts. I'm not sure about that Apollo or Athena kid, and you know the most about La Rue."

He sighed, disappointed slightly, "Well…okay. Thanks anyway."

"Yeah, yeah. Eros out." There was the beep, and then silence in his ear. Percy's stomach growled like an angry bear, which he kind of felt like. He rolled over, leaning on his elbows, and unzipped the ration compartment, where he grabbed a protein drink and granola bar. He would've picked bacon and waffles over that any day, but he didn't have much of a choice. He chugged it down quickly, and munched down the bar. Since there was no trashcan in sight, he just set them down in the corner. Quickly picking up his bag and grabbing the map, he took a quick look at it. Today's hike looked like a long one, it was another tunnel, leading into an identical area like the once he was in now. There were about three more of the same tunnels and areas, until it showed what appeared to be an exit. And he was going to take it. Percy lightly tucked the now folded map into one of his back pockets.

He switched on his flashlight, and examined the entrance of the tunnel. It looked like all the others, dark, musty, and caked in spider webs. Even though it was the same old, same old, he still felt scared to go in. There was still potential that there were traps, monsters and many other surprises there. But Percy felt he could easily handle anything that was watching and waiting for him right now. Percy walked at a brisk pace and tried to think of happier things while he was walking, kittens and puppies were a possibility, but that was too happy. Instead, he thought about what he was going to do the remainder of his summer at camp.

The images of Camp Half Blood disappeared when he heard a faint grinding sound behind him. The hairs on the back of his neck tingled, and a cold shiver jolted through his spine. He looked over his shoulder slightly, and then turned fully, his flashlight aimed in the direction of the sound. Rows and rows of something skinny and shiny powered towards him, spikes.

"Oh-my-GODS!" Percy screamed above the racket from the wall, dropping his flashlight in his haste and breaking into a full sprint in the opposite direction. He felt something prick against his shoulder, which gave him a burst of energy.

"Don't look back, don't look back!" He shouted once again over the spikes. Percy kept running at the same pace for another five minutes, never looking back or pausing to catch his breath. He finally let out a gasp, and his knees suddenly felt like Jell-O. He wavered in the air slightly, and fell down on his back, barely missing the wall of spikes by his head. His Adam's Apple bobbed up and down slightly, he was trying to coat his parched mouth, and then remembered that he had seen emergency water pouches and canteens conveniently placed in his bag. He opened it in a hurry, fumbling around until he found a full canteen. Percy eagerly drank the whole thing, and felt the unnerving feeling of water sloshing around. He burped loudly, and shoved the empty canteen into his bag.

He sighed to himself, "Great…no flashlight, no light." He blinked a couple of times, trying to process what just happened to his vision, it had turned green, why? And not only that, he could see his surroundings again. "Sweet! Night vision contact lenses!" Percy said in awe, and continued on.

Percy felt that he arrived to today's objective much earlier than he had the day before. But there were obvious reasons: Mud-Men, dead ends, and a Crazy Clarisse, they can slow a person down a little. So, he felt he could make it through one more tunnel. It felt about mid-morning to him, around lunch time. He took off his armor and grabbed one of the spaghetti rations and flipped the package around to look at its different sides and finally found a clump of words. He checked to see if they were directions, and found that they were.

Percy looked up, trying to remember if he spotted some sort of cooking set that he could make his food in. He rummaged through, swearing that he remembered one. Then, at the bottom of the bag, he found a bowl, a small fuel canister, and a set of plastic utensils. He scanned the directions again. I need a pouch of water. He grabbed for one and poured its precious contents into the bowl. He tore of one of the ends of the spaghetti ration off with his teeth, and glanced at what it looked like. There was a smaller, separate bag inside that had been labeled: Red Sauce. Percy left that aside for now, and carefully dropped the pasta into the bowl, and set the bowl above the butane canister. He stared at it slightly.

"Well? Aren't you going to cook?" Percy asked the canister. Obviously, it didn't answer him. He lifted the bowl and plopped it on the floor, carelessly, and some of the water sloshed out. After examining the fuel a little better, he found that there was a wick sticking out of the top of it. But how was he going to light it? He knew he didn't have matches. He clicked Riptide, point upwards, in the air, and then brought it down on the wick. Percy twirled the sword between his hands, by the handle, in effort to create some friction to get the wick to ignite.

He continued this process for about another half an hour, and his arms were getting more and more tired by the second. As he was just about to give out, he saw a small plume of smoke float up above his greenish vision. Percy sped it up a little more, his arms constricting from the sudden jerk of strength. A spark or two flew, and he sped it up to the max. His arms were shaking now, but it was all worth it, since there was a small flame that had settled on top of the wick. Percy set this bowl onto the flame, this time, a little more gentle this time. In about five minutes, the food should be done, He thought to himself. He tossed the hot water out, and poured the ready-made sauce onto the pasta. It was definitely better than any lunch lady could conjure up. Percy glanced around, and saw something in the corner: A set of glowing slivers that looked white in his contacts. He leaned forward slightly to get a better look at it. Its outline looked like that of a wolf, or a dog…it could only be one thing: a Hellhound. Percy wasn't going to wait around for Fido to tear him to pieces, and slowly grabbed for his half-eaten bowl of pasta and bag. He slowly sidestepped his way towards the tunnel. It growled at his every move, and finally went after him.

"Look out!" Eros shouted.

After the hound finally made its move, he did, too. His lungs were still slightly weakened from his evasion of the spikes, but he could still run okay. But he was no match for the Hellhound. It got ahold of his foot and clamped it in his teeth. Percy was immediately yanked back and fell face first onto the cold dirt floor. His foot began to throb with pain, since the hair-splitting sharp teeth were digging through his shoes and into his tender feet. The pressure the hound was putting on them didn't help any, either. They weren't moving much, other than his foot practically getting yanked out of its socket. He felt it go slack and it hit the ground, it had let go of him. But what was about to come, he was willing to let it gnaw on his foot anytime.

With its razor-sharp claws, it tore through the skin on his back, tearing through muscles and tendons with ease. Percy was paralyzed with pain and fear, so much that he couldn't even let out a scream, or anything. He heard the sound of a blade cutting through flesh, a yelp, and then the feeling of pressure being released from his back. When he turned, he hoped to see a person, the one who killed the hound and saved him from anymore excruciating pain. He didn't see what he wished to. Instead, he saw that one a trap had killed it, a swinging axe. He gripped the dirt, shuddering at every movement he made towards his backpack. He knew there was some ambrosia and nectar in his pack, but not much. Percy clawed through his bag, his vision was beginning to blur.

"Woah," Eros said in a calming voice, "Careful, there. Get some ambrosia into your system, and then get some nectar onto your back. Don't eat too much."

Percy grabbed for a pack of gum that read: Apollo's Ambrosia Chewing Gum. He tore a piece open, and chewed vigorously. There was immediate relief, but only a small dose of it. He slowly tore off what was left of his shirt, and set it aside. It could be a good bandage or sling later. He splashed some nectar over his shoulder, careful to keep enough for his foot. He felt the wounds close up slowly, and the pain disappearing. When he felt strong enough to sit up, he untied the laces of his shoe and shook his foot out. His sock had been destroyed, so he peeled it off from his hot, sticky from blood and sweat, foot. He poured the remainder of the nectar on his foot, and watched as the bite marks went away for good. His foot was still a little swollen, but he could live with that.

"Alright, you should get moving, kid." Eros's message followed with a beep, and then silence. Percy staggered to his feet, and with a slight limp, and walked in the direction he needed to go in.

If you didn't notice, this chapter was about twice as long as a regular chapter of mine. I want a maximum of thirty chapter, plus an epilogue, maybe.

Later,
~iGwyn12