𝐒𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖 ༄ ᴘercy ᴊᴀᴄᴋꜱᴏɴ

my exemplary disguise skills are revealed

Then I saw one person.

Thorn.

He was heading into a museum of some sort, but I couldn't read the rest. It looked like the museum of HTYRANL TROSAUTY. Which I didn't think was a thing. I didn't even think they were words.

I grabbed a bandanna off a mannequin, ignoring the man who yelled after me and took some sunglasses too (without getting caught this time,) and began to discreetly follow Dr Thorn.

He went through a room, full of dinosaur skeletons and other skeletons from extinct animals. Loud raised voices came from ahead, through a large wooden door. I hid behind a wall and watched.

Two guards were standing outside and they opened the door for Thorn, closing it immediately after.

How was I supposed to get in?

"And how are you planning on getting in?" I jumped at the unseen voice. A moment later Percy was there, leaning on the wall beside me and staring at my disguise critically.

"Working on it. You have any ideas?"

"I was planning on sneaking in after Thorn with the cap, but then I saw you here."

I glanced at the cap on his head. Then an idea struck me.

I plucked it off him and put it on me, ignoring his protests. I lifted my hand, but it wasn't there. I was invisible.

I slipped down the hall, slipping my new sword out of my bag. The guard suddenly paused. He turned his head towards me, his eyes staring directly at me but not seeing. I propelled the hilt of my sword against his face and he dropped to the ground with a thump.

His partner jumped up, staring towards her now unconscious colleague in despair and surprise. I swung again, and she slumped to the ground, muttering incoherent words. Percy stumbled after me.

"You took my hat!"

I took it off my head and put it back on his. He disappeared for a moment before reappearing, holding his cap in his hand.

"And I gave it back! Now help me move these guys in a cleaning closet or something."

He stared down at them. "No time. Just leave them."

Then he turned invisible again and cracked open the door, dragging me along with him inside.

Percy stifled a gasp beside me.

We were in a huge round room with a balcony on the second level. Unopened piles of boxes were stacked in corners and furniture with coverings scattered across the room. This time I dragged Percy, behind a pile near the door.

At least a dozen mortal guards stood on the balcony, plus two monsters-reptilian women with double-snake trunks instead of legs. They were all incredibly pretty with hooded eyes and hooked noses. The only thing that threw me off was their... well, the fact that they had trunks. For legs.

Standing between the snake women was Luke. I felt sick in my stomach. He was the traitor. I had told the enemy that we were here. I was so, so stupid.

Next to him, sitting down so that the shadows covered him, was another man. All I could see were his knuckles on the gilded arms of his chair, like a throne.

"And you, Thorn?" asked the man in the chair. His voice was deep and the ground seemed to vibrate with each word. It filled the whole room even though he wasn't yelling.

Dr. Thorn took off his shades. His two-colored eyes, brown and blue, glittered with excitement. He made a stiff bow, then spoke in his weird French accent: "They are here, General."