Unlikely Heroes

Chapter 89: The Queen of Olympus

Note: I will let the previous chapter open for longer than normal. That way everyone can talk about what would be fun. Another thing to be aware of is that I will have a final decision moment at the end of this story. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

Winter

—

Annabeth Chase

This place makes me crazy. There's no logic to the tunnels. No matter which method I try to make sure I know how to return, I fail. We are lost. The Hades siblings were useless as well as we traversed the tunnels.

"How is it we can't keep track of anything here!" I say irritated. "There's no logic to this maze!"

"Sorry... I thought we could at least sense the ground, but it changes too often and randomly," Bianca says as we continue walking. The walls are dirty and covered in webs. It slowly becomes older as we trudge forward, but still, it does not soothe my anxious feelings. It should be a sign as the older pets are more at the center.

"Pan is here? There's nothing that would even be remotely connected to him! And just like Bianca and Zoe, I can't see a path to help us traverse this," Grover says as he looks around wearily. "Never mind the pungent and strong scent of monsters! Do you smell it too, Tyson?"

The large boy nods. "Yes. They are always present in large numbers underground," he answers.

"Great..." Grover grumbles.

"We've been walking for hundreds of meters! This-" Percy starts to complain but is hushed by me. I point to what I see in front of me. The walls were turning to an older era, the ground starts to resemble marble. Slowly but surely we start to see Roman-themed architecture.

"Roman. There is something up ahead," I say softly.

"A God is close, Annabeth. Be wary of his tricks," Aileen says in my head. Great, a God. Why not that too? We are lost and now we're meeting a God. Our group starts to enter a small but reasonably sized plaza. It is dark, but I can make out that there are a fountain, benches, and old tables placed around. It is as if this was part of a Roman garden and put here after a party. Or a party that is yet to come.

"Annabeth! Hurry up!" A voice says. Our attention goes to the voice. There stood a man with two faces that share a head. His appearance is one that of a doorman. There is no doubt that he is a god, but it eludes me which Gods he is.

"Do not listen to him! He is terribly rude. Right this way," the other face says. Behind him are two passageways. For now, they are shrouded and do not show any difference as they are blocked by doors. Do I have to make a choice?

"The funny man has two faces," Tyson says pouting at the man.

"The funny man has ears too!" The left face says in a scolding voice. "Now come along, miss Chase."

"Janus. Why are thee here?" Zoe asks the God.

Janus looks at her as best he could. "My dear Zoe, pleasure meeting you here. Why, we are here to give Annabeth a choice. One that she has to make," Janus' right face explains.

"Where do these doors lead to?" I ask him with some reluctance.

"One probably leads to where you want to go. The other leads to certain death," one face explains to me with some weird enthusiasm.

"He lies. There are no good choices as both lead to a difficult path. Although one will be better than the other. But which you must choose, I do not know," Aileen says to me.

"Pesky Goddess, this is not for you to influence," Janus scolds as he looks at my hand.

"I do not care. Deal with it," Aileen says as the ring flashes brightly for a moment.