𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑, percy jackson

CHAPTER 56! everybody seemed to fall in love with her unintentionally

"we trapped it," percy said.

0or trapped ourselves," grover said.

cherry turned.

they were in a twenty-foot-square cement room and the opposite wall was covered with metal bars.

they'd tunneled straight into a cell.

"we're just too lucky," cherry commented.

lwhat in hades?" annabeth tugged on the bars. they didn't budge. through the bars, rows of cells were visible.

they were in a ring around a dark courtyard, at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks.

"a prison," percy said. "maybe tyson can break—"

"shh," said grover. "listen."

somewhere above, deep sobbing echoed through the building. there was another sound, too. a raspy voice muttering something inaudible. the words were strange, like rocks in a tumbler.

"what's that language?" percy whispered.

"italian." cherry whispered back, sarcastically.

tyson's eye widened. "can't be."

"what is it?" cherry asked.what?"

tyson grabbed two bars on our cell door and bent them wide enough for everyone to slip through.

"wait!" grover called.

but tyson wasn't about to wait.

cherry was the first to run after him. the prison was dark, only a few dim fluorescent lights flickering above.

"i know this place," annabeth said. "this is alcatraz."

"you mean that island near san francisco?" percy asked.

"the prison?" cherry panicked.

she nodded. "my school took a field trip here. it's like a museum."

it didn't seem possible that they could've popped out of the labyrinth on the other side of the country, but annabeth had been living in san francisco all year, keeping an eye on mount tamalpais just across the bay.

she probably knew what she was talking about.

"freeze," grover warned.

but tyson kept going.

grover grabbed his arm and pulled him back with all his strength. "stop, tyson! can't you see it?"

cherry followed where he was pointing, and her eyes widened. on the second-floor balcony, across the courtyard, was a monster more horrible than anything she'd ever seen before.

it was sort of like a centaur, with a woman's body from the waist up. but instead of a horse's lower body, it had the body of a dragon, at least twenty feet long, black and scaly with enormous claws and a barbed tail. her legs looked like they were tangled in vines.

they were sprouting snakes, hundreds of vipers darting around, constantly looking for something to bite. the woman's hair was also made of snakes, like medusa's. weirdest of all, around her waist, where the woman part met the dragon part, her skin bubbled and morphed,  occasionally producing the heads of animals.

a vicious wolf, a bear, a lion, as if she were wearing a belt of ever-changing creatures.

"it's her," tyson whimpered.

"get down!" grover said.

they crouched in the shadows, but the monster wasn't paying them any attention. it seemed to be talking to
someone inside a cell on the second floor. that's where the sobbing was coming from.