VIDEO GAMES! (p. jackson) (#1)

- seventeen

THEY RAN UNTIL THEIR LEGS WERE NUMB.

rachel steered them away from traps, but they had no destination in mind—only away from that dark mountain and the roar of kronos.

they stopped in a tunnel of wet white rock, like part of a natural cave. rose couldn't hear anything behind them, but she didn't feel any safer.

"i can't go any farther," rachel gasped, hugging her chest.

annabeth had been crying the entire time they'd been running. she leaned against a wall, head in her hands. her sobs echoed in the tunnel. nico and percy sat next to each other. rose stood next to annabeth, a gentle arm around her shoulders.

"that sucked," nico said.

"you saved our lives," percy said. "but you, uh, kind of gave yourself away."

"what do you mean?"

"that wall of black stone? that was pretty impressive. if kronos didn't know who you were before, he does now—a child of the underworld."

nico frowned. "big deal."

annabeth lifted her head. her eyes were red from crying. "what... what was wrong with luke? what did they do to him?"

percy told her what he'd seen in the coffin, the way the last piece of kronos's spirit had entered luke's body when ethan nakamura pledged his service.

"no," annabeth said. "that can't be true. he couldn't—"

"he gave himself over to kronos," rose said. "luke is gone."

"no!" she insisted. "you saw when rachel hit him."

rose nodded, looking at rachel with respect. "you hit the lord of the titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."

rachel looked embarrassed. "it was the only thing i had."

"but you saw," annabeth insisted. "when it hit him, just for a second, he was dazed. he came back to his senses."

"god, annabeth, so maybe kronos wasn't completely settled in the body," rose said. "it doesn't mean luke was in control."

"you want him to be evil, is that it?" annabeth yelled. "you never knew him as well as i did!"

"what the hell are you talking about? we were all friends! did he groom you or something? why are you acting like this?"

"whoa," rachel said. "knock it off!"

annabeth turned on her. "stay out of it, rachel! if it wasn't for you..."

whatever she was going to say, her voice broke. she collapsed, put her head down, and sobbed miserably.

"we have to keep moving," nico said. "he'll send monsters after us."

nobody was in any shape to run, but nico was right. rose knelt next to annabeth. "hey, i'm sorry. we need to move."

"i know," she said. "i'm... i'm all right."

she was clearly not all right, but rose learned a long time ago not to push annabeth. they both got to their feet, and they started straggling back through the labyrinth again.

"back to new york," percy said. "rachel, can you—"

they all froze. a few feet in front of them, percy's flashlight beam fixed on a trampled clump of red fabric lying on the ground. it was a rasta cap: the one grover always wore.

percy's hands shook as he picked up the cap. it looked like it had been stepped on by a huge muddy boot.

after all that she'd gone through, rose couldn't stand the thought that something might've happened to grover, too. he was one of the first friends she made at camp.