A Moment of Stars | PJO Chaos

Nineteen

"OH MY STARS I FOUND IT."

A shrill yell makes Elara and Percy jump. They both were only sitting there for a few hours before Celyn burst from her tent, several large sheets of paper clutched in her hands as she rambles incoherently.

The other hunters come out of their tents, eyes sharp and alert from the sudden noise.

Bianca and Phoebe frown in confusion as Nia squares her shoulders and tries to calm the excited hunter.

"Celyn, what? Okay, wait. Breathe first. What's going on?"

Percy and Elara rise from their positions and approach the commotion, just as confused as everyone else.

"I found the exit!" She says, eyes wild and excited. "It's so obvious! How didn't I notice this? I—"

"Woah woah woah." Nia tries to get the nearly hysterical hunter to slow down. "You mean we can get out of here?"

"Yes!" The moment she says that, the tense air dispersed into excitement. Percy's heart makes a happy dance as the statement. We'll finally be able to get out of here. "We can't use the tunnels though. It's almost like the Labyrinth; it's constantly changing and altering to confuse its inhabitants."

"Celyn, we're in a tunnel right now." Phoebe sighs. "How are we going to avoid not using them?"

"Well, the real question is 'how are we not supposed to use them?'" Celyn grins. "Instead of abiding by the rules and using the tunnels—"

"—we break through and create our own." Percy finishes. She turns to him before nodding.

"Right." She says. "In fact, the area where we are right now isn't too far from that one nice town we visited before we got trapped." Percy frowns; he assumes she's talking about the destroyed area Elara and he encountered before being attacked by the doves.

"So you're suggesting we go up." Bianca says. Everyone looks up at that. The ceiling of the cavern they're in is at least thirty feet over their heads. How are they going to pull that off?

"We need someone to get up there and create an opening." Celyn explains. "Afterwards, we can get through and report to the IMA or CSRU."

"But who's going to be able to get up there and break through all that solid rock?" Phoebe asks. "We don't know how much we need to get through, and it's very possible for us to get crushed."

"I can do it." Elara offers. "I'm least likely to get hurt by rubble." With that, she unfurls her wings, ready to start.

"But we need you to fly us up there." Nia says, a slight frown on her face. "We need someone else to withstand it." Percy notices Bianca starting to speak, and he immediately takes action.

"I—"

"—I can do it." Percy says, cutting off her first syllable. "Poseidon is also the god of earthquakes, right? If I'm able to use that and the water molecules to my advantage, I can force an opening for you all to go through. If things go wrong, I'll be able to sustain the cavern for a while. You can pull me up afterwards." Bianca's eyebrows pull into a frown, but everyone slowly nods in agreement.

"That can work."

"It might be our only choice."

Though he's sure the daughter of Hades is far stronger than when they were younger, he wasn't going to let Bianca sacrifice herself again. He'd rather it be himself than anyone else to get hurt in this process.

The hunters begin to pack away their things—compacting the tents and gathering the supplies as Percy and Bianca try to find a weak spot in the ceiling. Turns out, Bianca also has some form of control over the ground due to her heritage.