JAWBREAKER

𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣

They made it a hundred feet before they were hopelessly lost.

The tunnel looked nothing like the one Warren and Percy had stumbled into before. Now it was round like a sewer, constructed of red brick with iron-barred portholes every ten feet.

Warren shined a light through one of the portholes out of curiosity, but she couldn't see anything. It opened into infinite darkness. She thought she heard voices on the other side, but it may have just been cold wind whistling through the abyss.

Annabeth tried her best to guide them. She had this idea that they should stick to the left wall. "If we keep one hand on the left wall and follow it," she said, "we should be able to find our way out again by reversing course."

Unfortunately, as soon as she said that, the left wall disappeared. The group found themselves in the middle of a circular chamber with eight tunnels leading out, and no idea how they'd gotten there.

"Um, which way did we come in?" Grover said nervously.

"Just turn around," Annabeth said.

They each turned toward a different tunnel. It was ridiculous. No one could decide which way led back to camp.

"Left walls are mean," Tyson said. "Which way now?"

Annabeth swept her flashlight beam over the archways of the eight tunnels. As far as anyone could tell, they were identical.

"That way," she said.

"How do you know?" Warren asked.

"Deductive reasoning."

"So...you're guessing."

"Just come on," she said.

The tunnel Annabeth had chosen narrowed quickly. The walls turned to gray cement, and the ceiling got so low that pretty soon everyone was hunching over. Tyson was forced to crawl.

Grover's hyperventilating was the loudest noise in the maze. "I can't stand it anymore," he whispered. "Are we there yet?"

"We've been down here maybe five minutes," Warren told him.

"It's been longer than that," Grover insisted. "And why would Pan be down here? This is the opposite of the wild!"

They kept shuffling forward. Just when Warren was sure the tunnel would get so narrow it would squish them, it opened into a huge room. She shined her light around the walls and said, "Whoa."

The whole room was covered in mosaic tiles. The pictures were grimy and faded, but she could still make out the colors— red, blue, green, gold. The frieze showed the Olympian gods at a feast. There was Poseidon with his trident, holding out grapes for Dionysus to turn into wine. Then there was Ares, flexing his muscles, spear in hand. Zeus was partying with satyrs, and Hermes was flying through the air on his winged sandals.