Percy grinned at Annabeth's irritation. Despite her pouting and threatening, he had managed to keep his mouth shut.
"Percy either you tell me where we are going, or I'll go back home right now."
"Fine. I'll drop you home, but you will never know where I was going to take you and you'll miss out on a lot of fun."
Annabeth groaned in frustration. They were in his car, on their way to the escape room. He had already booked a slot but haven't decided the theme yet as he thought that Annabeth might want to choose the theme. Once they reached, Annabeth let out a squeal. Yes, the great and almighty Annabeth squealed. Her eyes lit up with excitement. She grabbed his hand and started dragging him inside, rambling about how she always wanted to go to an escape room and different strategies to win the game. Percy smiled at her child like excitement. That was one of the reasons he liked her. She was so passionate about the things she loved. She didn't hold back at all. He was glad that she was having fun. He had to thank his soulmate. He had remembered how is soulmate had complained about her crush being rude at times and how she hated it, which resulted in him being himself today.
There were three rooms which were vacant at that point of time. Each room had a different theme. After listening to all the themes, Annabeth chose the bank heist themed one.
"Bank heist, huh? Who would have thought that a good girl wanted to rob a bank?"
"Oh, shut up! I've done plenty of bad things."
"Uh huh, like?"
"Like..... like I once ought a textbook on Amazon, finished it in two days and returned it. That way I didn't have to pay for it." Annabeth said proudly with a smug smile on her face.
Percy let out an exasperated sigh. "A textbook Annabeth? Like seriously? From which angle did you think it was a bad thing to do? And did you just say that you finished it in two days? That is one of the nerdiest things you have done."
Annabeth pouted and glared at him. "I can be bad when I want to be."
Percy grinned and kissed her nose. "Sure sweetheart, sure."
Percy had to remind himself that he would be dating Annabeth only for a week and shouldn't get too attached to her. He would break up with her as soon as he found a flaw in her. The only problem? She was so goddamed perfect. The more time he spent with her, the more he liked her.
"Percy! Concentrate!!!! We are about to enter the room. We only have an hour to finish this."
"Calm down, Annabeth. You are taking this wayyyyy to seriously."
"I need to win this."
***
(A/NI am describing the room from the door. So, when you look from the door this is how the room would look. I am trying my best to describe it accurately. Please bare with me.)
The room was moderate in size. On the right wall were four frames hanging with pictures and small write ups. Along the left side was a huge bookshelf filled with a lot of files and books and in front of Percy was a vault. A huge one. Which needed a password to open. obviously. At the middle was a table with two drawers each on the left and right. Two of the four drawers were locked. On the door through which they entered, was a dartboard with the darts already stuck on the board. Beside the door was a red button which could be pressed whenever they needed help from the people managing the room. Beside the vault was a white button and there was another white button under one of the photo frames.
(A/N Here is picture to help you visualize it.)
The layout-
Annabeth immediately went to the bookshelf and started going through the files.
"Annabeth there are so many files! How are we supposed to go through all of them?"
"Wait."
"Annabethhhhhhhh! Can we start somewhere else?"
"Fine. What do you think about the buttons?"
"What buttons?"
"The white ones, Percy."
Annabeth went and pressed the button near the vault but nothing happened. Percy then went and pressed the button under the frame. Again nothing.
"What if we press them together?"
On the count of three, both Percy and Annabeth pressed the button. And...... nothing. They waited for sometime hoping something would happen but nothing did, nothing that they could see anyway.
Annabeth groaned and went to the table, examining it carefully. Ten minutes were up already and not a single lead. Annabeth went back to examine the files in the bookshelf while Percy examined the table.
Suddenly, Annabeth exclaimed in surprised. "Percy, look!"
Behind the files was another button. Excited, Annabeth pressed it. And... you guessed it right, nothing.
Maybe we should press all the three buttons together," Annabeth suggested.
"But we are two people and there are three buttons which are far apart," Percy said, pursing his lips.
Annabeth then went to the table and started pushing the table towards the bookshelf.
"What are you looking at? Help you put the table."
Annabeth made sure that the table was halfway between the bookshelf and vault. Clueless, Percy stared at Annabeth, proudly as she worked. How was she so smart?
"Percy, I need you to sleep on the edge of the table."
"What?"
"Just do it."
Percy sighed and followed, sleeping on his stomach facing the vault.
"Now I need you to push the button near the vault with your leg while you push the button near the bookshelves with your hand. I would have done it myself but you are taller."
Realizing what she was trying to do, Percy complied. He had to stretch his hand to the maximum to reach the button near the bookshelf. His body felt like it was tearing apart. Annabeth rushed towards the third button and pressed it.
Immediately the room was filled with some sort of neon light. Annabeth whooped with joy and examined the room. Percy too, tried to look around the room through his area of vision was limited. That's when he noticed something different about the frames.
"Annabeth! The frames!"
Jerking, Annabeth looked up at the frames and gasped. Under the pictures were the write ups but one letter from each of the writer was highlighted. She quickly memorized the four letters and told Percy to relax. They had finally found a lead! Percy was sweating buckets by the time he he reached Annabeth. She pecked him on the lip and went to the vault to try the code. The code didn't work.
Annabeth went to the table. Both the drawers on the right side were unlocked and empty. On the left side, the drawer on the top had an alphabet lock while the bottom one had a number lock. Since the code comprised of letters, Annabeth tried the top one and the drawer opened.
The thing with escape rooms is that the first clue is always the hardest to find as you don't know where to search for. But once you find it, it is easier. Like a chain reaction.
Inside the drawer was a notebook and a key. That's it. But all the locks were either alphabet locks or number locks, none of them included a key. That meant that there was another lock that they hadn't discovered yet. Pocketing the key, Percy looked around the room for another lock. Annabeth joined in the search.
Suddenly an idea popped in Percy's head. Yes, ideas do pop in for Percy's head occasionally. Maybe there was something behind the frames. He searched there but found nothing. He then tried to push the bookshelf.
It was lighter than what he imagined it to be which meant one thing. It was meant to be pushed. With a new burst of energy, Percy started pushing the bookshelf. Annabeth came over and helped. In two pushes they had moved it slightly and Percy saw something. There was a hole behind the bookshelf.
The room was designed for three to five people come together which was why Percy and Annabeth found some difficulty in the clues. But Percy's strength was that of three people. Being the captain of the swimming and basketball teams ensured that he was in good shape. Not that Annabeth was any less. She could judo flip Percy anytime she wanted with ease.
Soon the bookshelf was moved. And they saw a small hole in the wall. Just big enough for them to crawl through. Inside the hole was pitch black. Swallowing Percy started crawling ......
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-Aroha