𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑, percy jackson

CHAPTER 55! because percy thought her only good quality was being beautiful

he chose not to question it when he woke up.

just after dawn, the quest group met at zeus's fist. it was a clear morning. the fog had burned off and the sky was blue.

campers would be having their lessons today, flying pegasi and practicing archery and scaling the lava wall.

meanwhile, the group would be heading underground.

juniper and grover stood apart from the group. juniper had been crying again, but she was trying to keep it together for grover's sake. she kept fussing with his clothes, straightening his cap and brushing goat fur off his shirt.

chiron, quintus, and mrs. o'leary stood with the other campers who'd come to wish them well, but there was too much activity for it to feel like a happy send-off.

a couple of tents had been set up by the rocks for guard duty. beckendorf and his siblings were working on a line of defensive spikes and trenches.

chiron had decided they needed to guard the labyrinth exit at all times, just in case.

annabeth was doing one last check on her supply pack.

cherry was standing right beside her, making sure her makeup looked perfect.

when tyson and percy came over, annabeth frowned.

"percy, you look terrible." annabeth spoke.

"like usual." cherry grinned.

"says you." percy retorted.

"you think i'm beautiful." cherry joked.

percy didn't argue.

annabeth looked between them.

"he killed the water fountain last night," tyson confided.

"what?" annabeth asked.

before percy could explain, chiron trotted over. "well, it appears you are ready!"

he tried to sound upbeat, but it was obvious that he was anxious. percy pulled him away to ask for a favor.

moments later, he trudged back over, ready to go.

chiron wished them luck, as they made their way towards the rocks.

tyson and grover were waiting at the entrance.

"well," grover said nervously, "good-bye sunshine."

"hello rocks," tyson agreed.

cherry couldn't help herself from giggling.

the sound of her laughter made percy laugh.

wow, she was so funny. (she hadn't said anything) and hilarious.

and giving.

and kind.

and loving.

and open minded.

and-

percy's thoughts were cut off when annabeth pushed him into the the boulder.

tyson let cherry go ahead of him, to which cherry refused.

after a couple seconds of 'no, you!', they just agreed to go together.

the group made it a hundred feet before they were hopelessly lost. the tunnel looked nothing like the one annabeth, percy and cherry had stumbled into before. now it was round like a sewer, constructed of red brick with iron-barred portholes ever ten feet.

percy shined a light through one of the portholes out of curiosity, but he couldn't see anything. it opened into infinite darkness.

cherry listened closely, but the voices she heard disappeared.