Indigo Eyes

Chapter 78

"I love you guys," she said as Pollux couldn't help but wrap his two favourite people into a hug.

"We love you too, Cress," they sang.

"You guys ready to go?" came Annabeth's voice and they reluctantly let go.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Cressida answered before her best friend nodded and she called Percy over.

"Take care," Chiron told them. "And good hunting."

"You, too," Percy said and Cressida's brothers scoffed.

"As if anything is getting past us," Castor and Pollux said in unison as they busted out a pretty cool handshake with each other, the very one he'd seen Cressida do with them a few times.

And they stared at the crack between the boulders - the entrance that was about to swallow them.

"Well," Grover said nervously. "Goodbye, sunshine."

"Hello, rocks," Tyson agreed.

"Alright, folks. Step up for your maze madness protection," Cressida said as Annabeth approached her first. Cressida placed a single hand on Annabeth's forehead and a halo of flames formed. And when the flames died down, Annabeth did indeed feel different. "Warning," she said as she faced Grover next. "Side effects may include excessive pride and arrogance because really that's the only thing that can happen when I amplify your personality so you know who you are and can tell the difference between fantasy and reality and the maze's magic can't make you think otherwise."

Tyson was smiling as he lifted Cressida up into a hug so she could reach his forehead and she smiled before he gently set her down and she faced Percy.

"You can't, you know, like see everything inside my head, right?" Percy asked nervously and the smile on her face faded instantly.

"Don't worry, Jackass. I won't see whatever the hell else you're lying to me about."

And Percy just sighed before the warmth of her hand was pressed to his forehead and a halo of purple flames appeared above him.

It was exactly as she'd said. Pride. But not like hubris pride, more like, he knew who he was, and you couldn't tell him otherwise pride, no one could know him better than him type pride.

And, together, the five of them descended into darkness.

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They made it about thirty metres before they were hopelessly lost. The tunnel looked nothing like it did when Percy and Cressida had stumbled on it before. Even with the flashlights they had, the beams of light only showed them infinite darkness. He could definitely see how someone would go crazy walking endlessly in the maze and no matter how angry she was at him, he was very glad that Cressida was on this quest with them.

Annabeth tried her best to guide them. She had this idea that they should stick to the left wall.

"If we keep one hand on the left wall and follow it," she said, "we should be able to find our way out again by reversing course."

Unfortunately, as soon as she said that, the left wall disappeared. They were then standing in a circular chamber with eight tunnels leading out and no clue how they'd got there.

"Um, which way did we come in?" Grover said nervously.

"Just turn around," Annabeth said.

But they each turned to a different tunnel and none of them could decide which way led back to camp.

"Left walls are mean," Tyson said. "Which way now?"

Annabeth swept her flashlight beam over the archways of the eight tunnels and as far as anyone else could tell, they were identical. "That way," she said after a time.