Falling Through Portals

Trapped In the Maze

Chapter 48

Percy could feel his muscles screaming. The amount of shear strength to pull himself up the thick vines was incredible. He was only half way up the wall and from what he had heard about the other boys that had made it through the night, the Grievers could climb the walls. He had to get higher.

He didn't know how to describe the terrifying sounds that echoed off of the walls towards him. They made his stomach twist into a knot. Sweat covered his body and made it difficult to keep his grip on the rough vine. He could feel his hands going raw from the times that his grip slipped and the friction between his hands and the vine made his hands feel like they were on fire.

The wall was smooth for the most part and made getting any leverage with his feet almost impossible. He had never liked the lava rock climbing wall at camp. It was incredibly steep and most of the rock out-cropping ended in sharp edges. Then of course the molten lava was always an irritation. Percy really hated it when he had to supervise some of the new campers when they tried it for the first time. More than once he would have to go put on the lava suit and fish the newbies out of the pools of lava at the bottom of the rocks. He hated handing over extra-crispy demigods over to the clinic, it was so embarrassing. But this rock climbing didn't have handy camp clinics that would be able to fix even the worst burns, if caught in time. Nope, he was scaling this wall straight up with nothing more than his hands and a vine. At least the wall at camp had foot holds. He would have taken the lava over the smooth walls.

He moved one arm after another, dragging his useless body behind him as he tried to have his legs help as much as possible. Soreness was beginning to set into his arms, and he knew what followed that soreness. If he didn't get out of there soon, his muscles would stiffen up and he would be no use. Percy thought he was in great shape, he really needed to add climbing walls for your live with vines to his daily routine.

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Lorem paced furiously in front of where the opening had been ten minutes ago. She couldn't think of any way to get in there. If something happened to him in there she would never forgive herself. It was her responsibility to keep him alive as much as it was his duty to keep her alive. They were bound. Lorem couldn't describe it, but she knew that if he died . . . she would be just a pile of rocks again. Percy held her together whether he knew it or not. But more than her concern for herself, she had to think about him. He had taken her in, he had never once blamed her for what had happened to him, he had cared for her, he had worried for her, and he was now facing his death, yet again, because of her.

Mentally shutting the door to those thoughts, she spun on her heal and headed to the lights of the shack. It was no use standing there, she had to do something. Maybe one of the boys that had made it through the night could help her. The sky was dark already. She prayed that Percy was okay.

"I am getting you out of there Percy," She said, "I swear on the river that you kept talking about the other day that apparently means something."

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Percy finally was able to describe it. It was like someone was shredding metal and then proceeding to drag it on the ground. And in what little light that there was, Percy saw it.

The Griever.

No wait, he could see something moving behind it, there were more. A frightening chill ran down his spine. He was out numbered. If the world felt like being nice then maybe he was out numbered just two to one, but the world didn't like him very much, so there were probably more like fifty all lined up for him. He really hoped he was exaggerating.

The only way that Percy could think to describe the horror that was going to try and kill him, was imagining Jabba the Hut covered in slime and without a recognizable face and different machinery and weapons sticking out of it in no particular order. Suddenly sharp spikes came out of the creature as it curled into a ball with a popping sound. Then he heard the scrape of metal as the griever sprung back out into its Jabba form, a few feet ahead of where it had been originally.