We had walked a few miles when I heard the familiar screech of the Furies. On the horizon, there was a palace of black obsidian, glittering. The Furies swirled above the parapets. They were either waiting on Percy, me, or both.
"I suppose it's too late to turn back," Grover said.
"We'll be okay," Percy told him. He sounded confident, but it faltered a bit.
"We could search some of the other places first," Grover suggested.
Annabeth shook her head, "Come on, goat boy." She grabbed his arm.
I nudged his other arm gently. "We're gonna be fine, G-Man," I told him as he yelped. I surely didn't nudge him hard enough for that. "Okay, dramatic much?"
I glanced down to see that his sneakers had sprouted wings. He was being pulled away from Annabeth and he landed flat on his back, luckily in the grass.
"Grover, stop messing around."
He shook his head. "But I didn't—"
He yelped once again. The shoes wings were flapping crazily. They lifted him from the ground and began to drag him away from us. "Maia!" he yelled. The magic word had no effect. "Maia, already! Nine-one-one! Help!"
Once they were over the initial shock, Colton and Percy both rushed forward to grab Grover. They were too late though because he was skidding downhill quickly.
"Unite the shoes!" Annabeth shouted as we ran after him. It would have been easier if the shoes hadn't been on his feet and they weren't dragging him feetfirst.
The slope continued to get steeper and we had to sprint to keep up with him. Grover attempted to hold onto something, but he grabbed at nothing but gravel. The tunnel began to get colder and darker, the hair on my arms standing. The smell of evil was so intense.
Percy stopped in his tracks, causing me to nearly run into him. "What are you doing?" I questioned, annoyed that he just stopped when Grover was heading for Hades the quick way.
My eyes followed his gaze. In front of us, the tunnel had widened into a dark cavern. In the middle, there was a chasm the size of a city block.
