[2] 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍 ― p.jackson

006.

「006. kombucha girl/lizard  」

THE BRIGHT side to the new pathway they were running down was that, for once, there were no side exits, twists, or turns. it was simply a straight tunnel. the bad news to the whole situation (because there always seems to be a bad side) was that it was a dead end.

after cadie and the rest of them had sprinted about a hundred yeards, they 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 on their tail.

cadie was beginning to get sick of the labyrinth, actually.

"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 down the roof, but hurry!"

the boulder finally gave way with a horrible grinding noise. tyson pushed it into a small room and they all dashed behind it.

"close the entrance!" annabeth hissed.

together, they all got on the other side of the boulder and pushed, cadie's arms straining as she pushed along with the rest of them. whatever was chasing them wailed in frustration as they heaved the rock back into place and sealed the corridor.

"we've trapped it," percy said, relief washing over his face.

sometimes, cadie hated to burst people's bubbles. "er... or we've essentially trapped ourselves."

they all turned and found themselves in a twenty-foot-square cement room and the opposite wall covered with metal bars.

they'd essentially tunnelled themselves straight into a cell.

"it's always us, isn't it?" cadie grumble.

"didn't think i'd ever see myself behind bars," cam said glumly, strolling around.

a few minutes passed before the six of them tried to do anything. at first, percy began to tug on the metal bars, and when that didn't work- both cam and cadie proceeded to tug on the cell walls.

"so are we stuck here?" cadie said after a while.

"maybe," mumbled percy, quickly looking away from her as she made direct eye contact with him. he turned and proceeded to scratch the back of his neck, walking around a circle in a very bored manner.

cam held in a snort.

cadie turned to him, confused. "this is funny?"

"no... well- maybe," he shook his head. "can't believe this is just our luck we got stuck here. of course we did-i mean, look who's on the quest." he gestured to percy, "we've got the son of poseidon in our ranks."

"hey! that's- .... very true," mumbled percy, frowning.

"it's nobody's fault but this stupid labyrinth," muttered annabeth tugging at the bars. it sounded blasphemous the way she said the statement. coming from annabeth, it was almost like cursing a newborn or threatening to club a few baby seals.

as expected, the bars didn't budge.

through the bars, though, cadie could see rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard- at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks.

"so this is a prison," nodded cam.

percy frowned, "maybe tyson can break-"

"shh," said grover. "listen."