Thank you for the reviews! It made my morning! :)
PercyJacksonsLittleSister: Thank you for all your reviews, they've always been so positive! But sorry, I think I've been spelling your username wrong all this time, I don't think I ever caught the "s" after Jackson.
Iheartbd's: Thank you! I know it is really similar to HG, but I'm glad you think it's original.
I had a goal of 100 reviews by the end of the story, but I don't see that possible. But either way, I'll still be happy with the amount of reviews I get. Either way, I'll give you all the stats when the story ends.
Chapter Twenty-Seven:
Day Two, early evening.
When Percy got to the entrance of the room, he collapsed in exhaustion. The extra walking and injuries had worn him out dearly. He didn't feel like settling down, he just laid there and fell asleep in the dirt…
He exhaled deeply, just awaking from a deep, deep sleep. Some dust flew up from the force of the breath. He shivered a little, and remembered that his shirt had been torn to pieces from the Hellhound. He rubbed one arm up and down the other to keep the goose-bumps down. With slight hesitation, he reached around to feel his back. The deep gashes now felt like small cat scratches, with he could live through.
He sat with his back against the wall for a few minutes, trying to wake himself up a little before the final run. While he sat there, he also continued to rub his arms together. Percy felt depressed; it was one of those burdens you had to carry when you took on a challenge, alone. He missed Annabeth a lot, especially. He was sure she was probably thinking the same thing, wherever she was. Did she have a map, too? And if she did, was she even trying to use it? He pressed his fingers to his temples; he knew he was more than ready to leave this Hell-Hole. But what about everyone else: Clarisse, Will and Annabeth? Percy stood up, pack now on his shoulders. He walked over to the damp tunnel, and looked back one final time. He sighed heavily, and stepped in. But he stopped in his tracks, turned on his heels, and walked right back out…He was going to find Annabeth, no matter what it took.
Meanwhile in Olympus…
The Gods lounged in their seats, murmuring amongst themselves. There was a speaker that was booming out information about the status on the competition.
Alec was reporting on this one, "According to Percy Jackson's guide," A certain sea god looked up, "He had been going a steady pace, after his Hellhound encounter yesterday." A few of the more…squeamish goddesses gasped loudly at this, "But strangely enough, went off course just this morning. What could be fueling this decision? We'll be back with more news on the other competitors after the break." A commercial for Demeter's Shredded Wheat came on. Poseidon sighed and pressed his hand to his forehead.
"What is he doing?" He mumbled to himself.
"I know who made his change of heart." A female voice said sternly. He let his hand go slack and he looked up, Athena stood across from him, arms crossed tightly.
He narrowed his eyes, "Do you?"
"That Sea Spawn of yours is going after my daughter." She gave him a scowl, and walked away leisurely.
Poseidon sighed again, "What does he think he's doing?"
A crack of thundered echoed through the room, and Zeus reclined in his seat. The other gods took theirs.
"So it's settled then?" Zeus started, and they all nodded. Zeus waved his hand in the air, and a scroll appeared. He unraveled it, and examined it, "Perfect, it's horrifying, yet…beautiful at the same time." The scroll raveled back again. "I want it to be formed by early this evening; it will be let out tonight. Do all of you understand?" The gods all nodded. "Good." They went back to chatting and listening to the broadcast, which had just come back on,
"A day before yesterday, Jackson had been…rescued by La Rue? As crazy as it sounds, this information comes from both of their guides, clarifying that that's the truth! The other two competitors, Will Solace and Annabeth Chase went out without any run-ins yesterday, but did get a nasty surprise when they made it out of the mud, as did Clarisse and Percy. Yesterday, La Rue finally found a way out of the ink ponds, Jackson, as I told you earlier, fought a Hellhound. Will and Annabeth assisted each other in fighting a baby Drakon, you heard me, a baby Drakon. Easier said than done, folks. Today so far hasn't brought much, other than Jackson changing course. We brought in one of Jackson's friends to explain what he thinks he's doing. Take it away, Martha!" A couple of the gods laughed at the interviewers name, even though they had heard it many times before.
"Thanks, Alec. Now, I'm here with Grover Underwood, a satyr, Lord of the Wild, and a friend of Percy Jackson." He said the name Jackson a little more bitterly than he should have. "Mr. Underwood," There was some loud chewing in the background,
"Hrrm?" Grover said.
"Do you know why Jackson had a change in heart in directions?" Martha asked.
"Well," Grover started, "It could've been for Annabeth."
"Annabeth?" Martha acted surprised, "You mean Percy Jackson's girlfriend?"
"Yeah, you didn't know that?" Grover mumbled, and another loud chomp emanated, "What type of furniture is this, 'cause it's really good."
"I'm not sure, Mr. Underwood. But could you please pay attention?" Martha asked, his patience was filing down, and he made that obvious enough.
"Jeez, no wonder why Percy said you were a complete pain." Grover complained. A few more gods laughed at his remark; Martha had a reputation for having a short temper.
"Okay, well that's all from us over at Olympus tower, back to you Alec." Martha growled. It cut back to Alec, and the gods howled with laughter, even Athena couldn't help but smirk a little.
Back in the Labyrinth…
Percy started walked towards a very short tunnel, but as soon as he stepped foot inside, his vision went dark-his lenses had stopped working.
"What the-"He shut his eyes and lightly pushed down on his eyelids. He pressed on, when he saw that was no use doing. Being in the dark didn't scare him…it was what could be in the dark. After what had happened in the tunnels over the last few days, he didn't want to let his guard down.
"Percy!" A sharp whisper said from behind. He turned; the voice had sounded an awful lot like…
"Percy!" This voice sounded more like a male's and his name had been stretched out more. He turned back, and staggered back at what he heard next.
"Don't you ever feel like, what if the world really is messed up?" Annabeth's voice said. "What if we could do it all over again from scratch?" A vision of Annabeth talking to him formed right in the middle of the tunnel, "No more war." The vision changed to a soldier falling to his knees after being shot in the chest, "Nobody homeless." A vision of a homeless man with a grotesque face sitting down came into view, "No more summer reading homework." The view of him and Annabeth during The Battle of Manhattan returned,
"I'm listening." He heard himself say. Percy scratched through the vision and ran through the pitch black tunnel.
"Charlie …" Silena's dying eyes formed this time, "See Charlie." He balled his fists up, keeping in a scream. An ear shattering scream pierced his ears, and he fell to his own knees. His own life literally flashed before his eyes, Poseidon's face, his first quest with Grover and Annabeth, Luke's betrayal, the Labyrinth, Calypso's island, defeating Kronos, his and Annabeth's first kiss together…Something permanent. Beads of sweat ran down his face, he stood up, breathing heavily. He breathed in steadily, and the pain in his head went away. A light breeze ran through his hair, like one you'd feel on a warm, Spring day.
He heard his own voice say, "Don't I get a kiss for good luck? It's kind of a tradition, right?" A life-size figure of Annabeth shot up a few feet away from him.
"Come back alive, Seaweed Brain. Then we'll see." The Annabeth clone said, and she vanished. It was silent, other than his own, heavy breathing, and the sound of footsteps coming toward his direction. He walked towards them, and ran into the owner of them. They screamed simultaneously, and the person fell right on top of him.
"This better not be another vision!" He immediately knew the voice.
"Annabeth?" Percy asked, dumbfounded. Instead of any response, a blinding light from a flashlight practically scalded his eyeballs.
"Oh my gods…" She gasped, and her hand ran through his hair.
"It is you." Was all he could manage.
"Percy," Her voice trembled. He leaned on his elbows, sitting up about halfway. He felt her lips press very lightly on his, and he returned it, gently but eager. Percy stood back up on his feet.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, just a few scratches." Annabeth picked up the flashlight, "Do you have any idea which way we should go?"
"Well," He took out his map, "As I matter of fact, I do."
They trudged back, vision free, back to the tunnel Percy almost went through. The two of them walked in silence. His night vision contact lenses still hadn't come back on, but that wasn't much of a problem; Annabeth still had her flashlight on hand.
"Percy…were you having visions, too?" Annabeth asked after a while.
Percy didn't answer for the longest time, "Yeah." He was relieved she didn't press anymore questions and just left it at that.
They took a lunch break after walking a while. They swapped different foods they had and ate what was given to them…in silence. Percy munched on some snack cheese and felt an earthly rumble course through the ground and walls. Some dirt fell into some of his hair and food,
"Hmm?" He looked up. Dirt and rocks continued to fall from the crude ceiling. The debris wasn't getting any smaller, it had gone from pebble-sized to fist sized. He had been so busy sitting there gawking at the dirt that he hadn't noticed that Annabeth had tossed on her pack.
"We're leaving so soon?" Percy asked.
"C'mon, we need to leave…right now." She said; a little distressed sounding. She reached out a shaky hand to him. He took it, grabbed his pack, and stumbled behind a running Annabeth.
"What's going on?" He demanded.
"The tunnel, it's caving in." She managed while running.
A couple of rocks had hit him upside the head, but other than that, he made it through the tunnel, in practically half the time, too, since they ran most of the way. They dove out of the tunnel just as a massive boulder, big enough to crush a Cyclops with ease, blocked the way. Huffing and puffing, they got to their feet, and embraced in a small hug,
"We made it." He whispered. They released each other and looked at their new surroundings. Next to Percy's tunnel was another one. And then across the room, were two others. And then on the wall to the left was a set of metal doors. The room was dimly lit by some torches that were fixed onto the columns in the corners of the room. Percy ran over to the door and looked back at Annabeth,
"You ready to finish this?"
"Oh, yeah." She said quickly. He gripped onto the metal handles, and pulled; the doors didn't budge. He yanked them again, this time with a little more force. He tugged at them over and over, and they still continued to remain still.
"They're locked." He growled, kicking the door uselessly.
Derp…that's all I have to say. Also, I really liked the vision scene, not to brag.
~iGwyn12