•as the world caves in•

•the tunnel of love•

Like a net.

Like Hephaestus had done to Ares and my mom all those years ago.

This was meant for them, not us.

"We have to get out,"

"Duh!"

Percy grabbed the shield and we ran, but trying to get up was harder then coming down.

"Come on!" Grover and Annabeth yelled. They were trying to hold open the net, but wherever they touched, it began to wrap around them.

The Cupids's heads popped open and there were video cameras in its place. Spotlights came up, blinding me for a second.

A loud speaker came up. "Live to Olympus in one minute..."

"Hephaestus!" Annabeth almost screamed. "I'm so stupid! Eta is 'H.' He made this to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"

We were almost up when the mirrors on the pool opened and thousands of metallic things poured out.

I froze and looked at Annabeth, who even in her panicked state looked at me with pleading eyes.

"Coriane Tucker, you listen to me! Don't you dare go back to that place!"

Thousands of tiny scorpions started scuttling towards us, and I screamed. I fell backwards and started kicking at them, but obviously, it wasn't enough.

Percy pulled me up into the boat, and looked at me with upmost concern.

"Cor!" He yelled at me. My head snapped to his. His sea green eyes were almost calming right now. "I don't know what's happening, or why you're freaking out so much, but I promise you'll be okay, just help me on this."

"Thirty, twenty-nine," the loudspeakers announced.

"Coriane! Please!"

I nodded and twisted my ring, tossed it up and came back with my sword. I held it out and tried to swing at them, but not much was working and I couldn't stop myself from freezing every five seconds.

"Fifteen, fourteen,"

"Grover! Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!" Percy yelled.

"But—"

"Do it!"

"Five, four,"

Nothing was happening.

That's it, this is how I actually die.

To a bunch of robot scorpions made for my mom.

Thanks mom, you're just so kind.

"Two, one, zero!"

Suddenly water exploded out of nowhere and I was pulled into a seat. The scorpions were swept away, and we just spun in circles, after getting soaked.

I looked at the cameras and knew this was being streamed all over Olympus at the moment.

Oh wow.

My mom was watching this.

Suddenly we shot through the tunnel and both me and Percy were screaming.

As soon as we got in, we were out and going through the night air.

Annabeth is definitely going to have to do my braid again.

"Unfasten your seatbelt!" Percy yelled at me.

"Are you crazy?"

"Unless you want to get smashed to death." Percy strapped Ares's shield on his arm. "We're going to have to jump for it."

I understood what we had to do and looked at everything. I knew exactly when to jump.

Annabeth had spent countless days teaching me random things I'd need to know in case I ever went to school or something, and from when she taught me physics, I could remember everything in this one moment.

I grabbed Percy's hand as the gates got closer, trying to calm myself.

"On my mark," Percy said.

"No! On my mark!"

"What?"

"Simple physics! Force times the trajectory angle—"

"Fine! On your mark!"

I waited, and waited. Watching as it came closer. "Now!"

We jumped and flew into the air, but there was a little too much power. We flew over everything and started to come down towards the concrete.

Something grabbed my arm and I winced in pain. "Ouch!"

I looked behind to see Grover holding Percy by his shirt and obviously me by my arm.

"You're too heavy! We're going down!"

We spiraled toward the ground, and we smashed into the ground.

I groaned and took time to catch my breath. I stood up and so did Percy. I looked down to see we were still holding hands.

I pulled mine away, my cheeks heating up, him doing the same.

We helped Grover out of a photo board and Annabeth crushed me into a hug.

"Tell me you didn't go back to then."

"I didn't. Percy distracted me."

"Good."

Percy looked at the Cupid's, who were still recording.

"Show's over!" He yelled. "Thank you! Good night!"

The Cupid's turned back to their normal positions, the lights shut off and everything was quiet again.

Percy turned back to us. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."