The room was completely silent. Percy had no idea how long ago the man had left the room, but she was relieved when he did. She still wore the blindfold tightly across her eyes and she was chained to a chair that kept scratching her the more she moved, she was certain that she was going to get splinters from it. He had told her that she was to get out of the chair and fix the puzzle on the door to exit the room and she had to do that with the blindfold on. Percy wasn't a fan of the blindfold, not in the slightest it was like the man had taken a limb from her and her body was still reeling in pain.
So she had no choice but to rely on the other senses that hadn't been blocked out. The man had chained her to the chair using multiple different metals so she knew cutting them was no use. She had to use the little amount of surviving wit that she had to get out of the chair and then sold the puzzle at the door, the puzzle provided its own issues. The fact that she couldn't see it meant that she didn't know what the puzzle looked like, therefore wouldn't be able to solve it. Gosh, it was times like this she really wished Annabeth was there. She really did wonder how her friend was so smart. Yes, she was indeed a daughter of Athena, but her friend was smart in other ways that she never would have expected. Yes, it took a while but she was able to see outside the box in a way that Percy couldn't. Especially considering right now Percy's brain is going a million miles an hour and refuses to back down so having Annabeth there with her would have made it so much easier. But, this man didn't want it to be easy. He wanted to make her suffer to torture her as though he himself had been tortured. But she hadn't done anything to this man. He didn't look nor sound like anyone she knew. Yes, she could only see what was in front of her and couldn't actually see his face due to the mask but his voice, his height and the way he looked with the of it was familiar to the young demi goddess , she just couldn't understand who he was. Percy sat there for a very, very long time for all she knew it could have been hours or even minutes, but to her it felt like hours. She started to wriggle around with the chains trying to find some way to slip free. She realised that her first move would be to get rid of the chains that were around her collarbone, but that provided its own difficulties she had no physical way of lifting it off her. She tried to slump down then slump up but it didn't work. None of it would move ,the dress made it no easier. The fabric just pooled around her small frame, making it near impossible for her to see whether she was making any improvement or not. Suddenly Percy felt a rush of cold at her feet ,water. Cold water Percy was relieved for a moment, realising that perhaps she could use her own powers to get her out of here but then again her powers weren't working but this water. it wasn't like she had expected. It was ice cold as though it had been directly taken from the Antarctic. There was only a little amount just covering the bottom pads of her feet but it wasn't there before she knew the room was going to be filled with it. Normally that won't be a problem, but she had a feeling that it wasn't just the ice cold water that was in Store for her if she didn't get out of this room fast. She had no other hope of getting any of the chains off of her so she had to work around the chains. She'd have to break the chair and then perhaps use the broken shards to untangle herself from the chains. But how would she break the chair? Percy sat there for a moment then thought what if she made enough movement to snap the wood? Surely that would work if her movements weren't strong enough She wouldn't be able to snap it. Her only option would be to rock her body back and forth. She did so moving the chair from side to side speeding up the force she did it in to hopefully provide enough force for her to snapp the chair when it impacted the floor. She rocked it for several minutes till it came crashing down. Percy hit her head on the floor, the ice cold water soothing away the pain as it bit into her skin mercilessly. The chair made a cracking sound so Percy used the fact that her limbs were attached to the legs of the chair and pulled the wood more causing her legs to snapp free from the wood. She then used her new found freedom to break the rest of the chair. Once free from the horrid chair she used her hands to navigate the room as the water began to fill up more she heard zapping. Stingrays at least that's what she thought. She felt them zap her legs as she completed the puzzle which was remarkably similar to one of the ones Annabeth had given her before. It was quite the task getting around as the blindfold stuck to her face. When she opened the door she hoped to hear water flooding the area in front of her but instead it was like an invisible bubble had been cast and the water remained in the room. A hand grabbed hold of her arm pulling her from the room.
"Well I must say you did well princess." Percy's body was drenched in water; her thighs had burns from the zapping of the sting rays that she was certain had been created just for the task as normal Stingrays never burn her before. The man had pulled her back into her room and removed the blindfold. "You did well," he said with a twisted smile on his face, "you can now have access to the balcony." with that he waved his hand and the forcefield was pushed back allowing percy access to the balcony but not the sky beyond that. "See you do as you're told and you will be rewarded," he said, his smile growing as he came closer to Percy grabbing her shoulders and pushing her out to the balcony. "Keep up the good behaviour and you will get grander rewards. I can be a very understanding and giving man when you have earned it and it would seem that the little princess of the sea does want to earn good things isn't that so."
"I want to go home, I can't do that if you kill me here."
A bellowing laugh left the man. "Whatever helps you sleep at night princess." with that he left.
The woman appeared a few moments later. "You passed," she grinned excitedly.
"Yeah I did. Could you tell me something?"
"Of course,"
"Tell me about one of the others,"
The women hesitated but poke nonetheless. She told her about the first girl who didn't make it past the first trial, she had managed to anger him so much that he simply gave her a fate worse than death. She had fought back and fought back hard. She was a warrior, her father was one, in fact her father had been a general in Greece, he had taught her how to define herself but it was no use.
Percy had bit her lip listening there were more girls whose stories all ended the same but she was determined to get as much information about these girls then maybe she could see if her uncle hades could do something for them. Reunite them with their families maybe in the underworld or something.
On Olympus*
Aphrodite was strolling through the streets thinking of what could possibly be causing her friend the physical pain that he was feeling. It was obvious to the love goddess that Ares had feelings for Percy whether he acknowledged them or not he still had deep feelings for her. She toyed around with some possibilities but never got an answer. Eros had walked up to her and asked if she was alright.
"I'm fine," replied the goddess.
"Its jackson isn't it,"
"Yes, it's horrid what that man is doing to her."
"Is it really that bad?" Erose asked, raising a brow, "one might say his actions are misguided."
"What!"
"I mean think about it this ain't the first time something like this has happened because of love,"
"You think this man could be in love with her,"
"Is that so much of a stretch? I mean there are many people who admire her for her beauty so I wouldn't be surprised."
Aphrodite hadn't thought that there was a chance that this man could be in love with percy but she wasn't sure.