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🍦— 006. the tongue of the old times.
VIVI DIDN'T KNOW her first ever quest as a daughter of Hermes would be this boring and confusing. The left tunnel was straight with no side exits, twists, or turns, but, it was a dead end. After sprinting a hundred yards, the group ran into an enormous boulder that completely blocked their path. Behind them, the sounds of dragging footsteps and heavy breathing echoed down the corridor. Something ─ definitely not human ─ was following them.
"Tyson," Percy said, "can you ─ "
"Yes!" he slammed his shoulder against the rock so hard the whole tunnel shook. Dust trickled from the stone ceiling.
"Hurry!" Grover said. "Don't bring the roof down, but hurry!"
The boulder finally gave way with a horrible grinding noise. Tyson pushed it into a small room and the group dashed through behind it.
"Close the entrance!" Annabeth said.
They all got on the other side of the boulder and pushed. Whatever was chasing them wailed in frustration as they heaved the rock back into place and sealed the corridor.
"We trapped it," Percy said.
"We are trapped." Vivi said.
Everyone turned. They were in a twenty-foot-square cement room, and the opposite wall was covered with metal bars. They had tunneled straight into a cell.
"What in Hades?" Annabeth tugged on the bars.
They didn't budge. Through the bars there were rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard ─ at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks.
"A prison," Percy said. "Maybe Tyson can break ─ "
"Shh," said Grover. "Listen."
Somewhere above them, deep sobbing echoed through the building. There was another sound, too ─ a raspy voice muttering. . . how did Vivi understand that.
"What the fuck!" Vivi said. "That is not good."
Percy turned towards her, "You understand that?"
"I don't know how!"
Tyson's eye widened. "Can't be." he grabbed two bars on our cell door and bent them wide enough for even a Cyclops to slip through.
"Wait!" Grover called.
But Tyson wasn't about to wait. They ran after him. The prison was dark, only a few dim fluorescent lights flickering above.
