𝒊𝒗. 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐘𝐎𝐔

𝒙𝒊𝒊𝒊.

I didn't see anything like she was describing, but I nodded. "Okay. Forward." 

"You believe her?" Annabeth asked. 

"Yeah," I said. "Don't you?" 

Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue, but she waved at Rachel to lead on. Together we kept walking down the brick corridor. It twisted and turned, but there were no more side tunnels. We seemed to be angling down, heading deeper underground. 

"No traps?" I asked anxiously. 

"Nothing." Rachel knit her eyebrows. "Should it be this easy?" 

"I don't know," I said. "It never was before." 

"So, Rachel," Annabeth said, "where are you from, exactly?" 

She said it like, What planet are you from? But Rachel didn't look offended. 

"Brooklyn," she said. 

"Aren't your parents going to be worried if you're out late?"

Rachel exhaled. "Not likely. I could be gone a week and they'd never notice." 

"Why not?" This time Annabeth didn't sound as sarcastic. Having trouble with parents was something she understood. 

Before Rachel could answer, there was a creaking noise in front of them, like huge doors opening.

"What was that?" Annabeth asked. 

"I don't know," Rachel said. "Metal hinges." 

"Oh, that's very helpful. I mean, what is it?" 

Then Noelle heard heavy footsteps shaking the corridor—coming toward them. 

"Run?" Percy asked. 

"Run," Noelle agreed. 

They turned and fled the way they'd come, but they didn't make it twenty feet before they ran straight into some old friends. Two dracaenae—snake women in Greek armor—leveled their javelins at their chests. Standing between them was Kelli, the empousa cheerleader. 

"Well, well," Kelli said. 

Noelle scowled, going to pull her knife out along with Annabeth; but before her knife was even out of its sheath, Kelli pounced on Rachel. Her hand turned into a claw and she spun Rachel around, holding her tight with her talons at Rachel's neck. 

"Taking your little mortal pet for a walk?" Kelli asked Percy. "They're such fragile things. So easy to break!" 

Behind them, the footsteps came closer. A huge form appeared out of the gloom—an eight-foot-tall Laistrygonian giant with red eyes and fangs. 

The giant licked his lips when he saw them. "Can I eat them?" 

"No," Kelli said. "Your master will want these. They will provide a great deal of entertainment." She smiled at Percy. "Now march, half-bloods. Or you all die here, starting with the mortal girl."

~

It was pretty much Percy's worst nightmare. And he's had plenty of nightmares. They were marched down the tunnel, flanked by dracaenae, with Kelli and the giant in back, just in case they tried to run for it. Nobody seemed to worry about them running forward. That was the direction they wanted them to go.

Up ahead he could see bronze doors. They were about ten feet tall, emblazoned with a pair of crossed swords. From behind them came a muffled roar, like from a crowd. 

"Oh, yessssss," said the snake woman on his left. "You'll be very popular with our hossssst." 

He'd never gotten to look at a dracaena up close before, and he wasn't real thrilled to have the opportunity. She would've had a beautiful face, except her tongue was forked and her eyes were yellow with black slits for pupils. She wore bronze armor that stopped at her waist. Below that, where her legs should've been, were two massive snake trunks, mottled bronze and green. She moved by a combination of slithering and walking, as if she were on living skis.