Percy sat there puzzle box in hand, her small fingers flowing over the wood gracefully, she tried to remember the types of puzzle boxes Annebeth and the rest of the Athena cabin had scattered around but none of those were like this one. This one was more intricately carved, this one looked so simple yet was so hard at the same time. This puzzle box had several holes in the box that were all several different sizes, there were several lines where the different pieces would slot together, there was a panel of these strange cubes. She had to look back at the note to see what the rules were. Luckily there were only three that revolved around the puzzle itself: no researching from books around the room, no breaking the puzzle and no using any tools other than your hands to solve it. She looked at the box, the holes look like they help the pieces of the box to move like a rubix cube. But the holes are too small and by using just her hands to move them even percy's tiny fingers wouldn't work. Therefore she had to use the cubes on the side to begin. Pushing on the cubes did nothing but there were a few that were loose, wiggling them she noticed that she could only move them in some directions, some were able to go left and right others could only go one direction, but the direction they could twist would change given what happened to the other cubes around them. Percy took a long time for percy to solve it, by the time she had the sun had set in the sky the stars were bright in the sky. The cubes were the first part ones she had completed. That bit she had to use the holes now to put them in the correct orders as well as having the holes in the correct order as well.
Inside the box was a necklace, a remarkable necklace with gems that were as blue as the deepest part of the sea, percy would be lying if she wasn't at all a little bit in awe of the item. She ran her finger over the item next to it was another note with a few words on it. 'Wear this at dinner tonight'
"It will go wonderfully with your dress," the woman who Percy was speaking to earlier was hovering over her shoulder. Of course the dress percy almost forgot that she had to have dinner with the guy, she didn't want to but then again she didn't want to get hurt again.
"I guess," said percy, it was clear that the woman was more excited about the item than percy was.
Slowly Percy got up and walked over to the wardrobe where she grabbed the dress that he had told her to put on. It was much like the night gown but more form fitting, it was a deep navy blue, it had a deeper v neck this time which percy wasn't at all happy about, the v was lined with a silver trim, towards the bottom of the dress were some silver stars. Percy picked up the necklace and put it around her neck, the cold metal biting into her skin. She looked at herself in the mirror not liking what she saw, yes she looked rather pretty but she was incredibly uncomfortable, this wasn't something she would wear. But the longer she stared into the mirror she saw twelve other girls all of whom were at least a year older than her but none older than 25 years old. They all wore necklaces that were fairly similar to the one she had on.
"Who are they?" asked percy looking into the mirror.
"They are the others,"said the woman, her voice sounding hollow void of any emotion other than deep sadness.
"The others?"
"Yes child. They all had a task similar to the one you just completed."
"Really?"
"Yes but they all had different puzzles. This box wasn't given to any of them."
Percy looked into the mirror each and every one of them were gorgeous but they all looked hollow like they had their very purpose for living stripped away from them.
"This one," the woman said pointing to a girl who had brown hair that cascaded down her back, "she didn't make it to the dinner."
"What,"
"She never solved the puzzle and well he got frustrated that it took her so long so he…"
"He what what did he do," asked percy fear rising in her voice, she had noticed that the girl was the only one not wearing a necklace.
"It isn't important, what is important is that you do as you have been told so you do not share the same fate."
Percy couldn't argue there so she put the blind fold on and not even three minutes went by when she felt hands on her shoulders. To say Percy was afraid was an understatement, she had never felt so helpless before.
She was sitting in a chair then the blindfold was removed. She was sitting in a huge ball room of sorts, all the huge windows had been covered up and a plate sat in front of her with a steak dinner. The man was sitting at his seat at the other end of the table. He bore a wolfish grin, she had a mask over his face so Percy couldn't see him properly.
"So nice of you to join me little princess."
"Didn't have much of a choice."
"That you didn't. So far you haven't failed me so i have this meal here for you. I'm a man of my word. You do as you are told and you are rewarded." They sat in silence as they ate and percy could feel his eyes staring at her the whole time