The Path Of Glory (Annabeth Chase x Male Reader)

65. How To Do A Jailbreak

The good news: the left tunnel was straight with no side exits, twists, or turns. The bad news: it was a dead end. After sprinting a hundred yards, they ran into an enormous boulder that completely blocked their path. Behind them, the sounds of dragging footsteps and heavy breathing echoed down the corridor. Something—definitely not human—was on their tail.

"Tyson," Percy said, "can you—"

"Yes!" Tyson slammed his shoulder against the rock so hard the whole tunnel shook. Dust trickled from the stone ceiling.

"Hurry!" Grover said.

"Don't bring the roof down, but hurry!" Ethan added.

The boulder finally gave way with a horrible grinding noise. Tyson pushed it into a small room, and they dashed through behind it.

"Close the entrance!" Annabeth said.

They all got on the other side of the boulder and pushed. Whatever was chasing them wailed in frustration as they heaved the rock back into place and sealed the corridor.

"We trapped it," Percy said.

"Or trapped ourselves," Ethan said.

Annabeth turned. They were in a twenty-foot-square cement room, and the opposite wall was covered with metal bars. They'd tunneled straight into a cell.

"What in Hades?" She tugged on the bars. It was to no avail; they didn't budge. Through the bars she could see rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard—at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks.

"A prison," Percy said. "Maybe Tyson can break—"

"Shh," Grover said. "Listen."

Somewhere above them, deep sobbing echoed through the building. There was another sound, too—a raspy voice muttering impenetrable words. They were strange, like rocks in a tumbler.

"What's that language?" Percy whispered.

Tyson's eye widened. "Can't be."

"What?" Annabeth asked.

Tyson didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed two bars on their cell door and bent them wide enough for even a Cyclops to slip through.

"Wait!" Grover called.

But Tyson wasn't about to wait. Annabeth, Ethan, Percy and Grover ran after him. The prison was dark, only a few dim fluorescent lights flickering above.

"I know this place," Annabeth said. "This is Alcatraz."

"You mean that island near San Francisco?" Ethan asked.

She nodded. "My school took a field trip here. It's like a museum, now."

Though she knew the Labyrinth could lead you anywhere in the whole country, she had a hard time really picturing it. She remembered the photos of that field trip she'd sent Y/N, but it seemed so far in time already. Thinking about Y/N brought her back to the urgency of her situation. They needed to get back in the Labyrinth quickly if they were to—

"Freeze," Grover warned.

Tyson kept going. Grover grabbed his arm and pulled him back with all his strength. "Stop, Tyson!" he whispered. "Can't you see it?"

Annabeth looked where he was pointing, and her whole body quaked. On the second-floor balcony, across the courtyard, was a monster more horrible than anything she'd ever seen before.

It was sort of like a centaur, with a woman's body from the waist up. But instead of a horse's lower body, it had the body of a dragon—at least twenty feet long, black and scaly with enormous claws and a barbed tail. Her legs looked like they were tangled in vines, but then Annabeth realized they were sprouting snakes, hundreds of vipers darting around, constantly looking for someone to bite. The woman's hair was also made of snakes, like Medusa's. Weirdest of all, around her waist, where the woman part met the dragon part, her skin bubbled and morphed, occasionally producing the heads of animals—a vicious wolf, a bear, a lion, as if she were wearing a belt of ever-changing creatures. It was like looking at something half formed, a monster so old it was from the beginning of time, before shapes had been fully defined. Annabeth felt she must know this monster, but fear paralyzed even her mind.