𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 ! [percy jackson]¹

C H A P T E R ⬩ S E V E N

L ' A M O U R

C H A P T E R S E V E N

( hera, the queen of hell )

⟶⬩♡⬩⟵

WE MADE IT a hundred feet before we were helplessly lost.

The tunnel looked nothing like the one Percy and I had stumbled into before. Now it was round like a sewer, constructed of red brick with iron-barred portholes every ten feet. I stayed close to Percy and Ashton, who were in the middle of the group with Annabeth leading and Tyson and Grover in the back. I was trying my best not to panic at the sight of the walls being so close to me and no direct way out.

Percy shone his flashlight into one of the portholes out of curiosity, but I couldn't see anything when I looked at it. It opened into infinite darkness. I thought I heard voices on the other side, but it must have been just the cold wind. Though, when I saw the look on Percy's face, I had a feeling I was just kidding myself.

We got out of there quickly.

Annabeth tried her best to guide us. She had this idea that we 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. We found ourselves in the middle of a circular chamber with eight tunnels leading out, and no idea how we'd gotten there.

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

"Just turn around," Annabeth said.

We each turned toward a different tunnel. It was ridiculous. None of us 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 I could tell, they were identical. "That way," she said.

"How do you know?" Ashton asked.

"Deductive reasoning."

"So. . . you're guessing."

"Just come on," she said.

Percy and I held back our laughter as we followed after her. The tunnel she'd chosen narrowed quickly. The walls turned to gray cement, and the ceiling got so low that pretty soon we were hunching over. Tyson was forced to crawl.

I had to take deep breaths to keep from panicking like Grover. The walls were only growing closer and I felt as though I was getting squished, but that was just my imagination. . . for now. I pushed the fear away and focused on something else, like Grover's breathing that was so incredibly loud it was hard not to focus on it.