mastermind - percy jackson

vi. choices, picnics, and wishes

"one bad choice can ruin your whole life"

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

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

Annabeth tried her best to guide them. She had an idea that they should stick to the left wall.

"If we keep one hand on the left wall and follow it, we should be able to find our way out again by reversing course" She explained.

Of course, as soon as she said that, the left wall disappeared. They found themselves in the middle of a circular chamber with eight tunnels leading out.

"Perfect" Cassandra muttered.

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

"Just turn around" Annabeth instructed.

They all turned toward a different tunnel.

"This is ridiculous" Cassandra said, moving away from the wall and into the center of the room.

"Left walls are mean" Tyson huffed. "Which way now?"

Annabeth swept her flashlight beam over the archways of the eight tunnels. They all looked identical to Cassandra.

"That way" Annabeth said.

"How do you know?" Percy asked.

"Deductive reasoning."

"So... you're guessing."

"Do you have a better idea?" Cassandra interrupted.

"Just come on" Annabeth said.

The tunnel she chose narrowed quickly. The walls turned to gray cement, and the ceiling got so low that pretty soon they were hunching over. Tyson was forced to crawl.

Grover's hyperventilating and Cassandra's humming were the two loudest noises in the maze. (And yes, she was humming Into the Unknown from Frozen)

"I can't stand it anymore" Grover whispered. "Are we there yet?"

"Does it look like we're there yet?" Cassandra snapped, before going back to humming.

"We've been down here maybe five minutes" Annabeth added.

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

"That's the point!" Cassandra said, exasperated. Percy grabbed her hand and squeezed it to get her to calm down.

They continued shuffling forward. Just when Cassandra was sure the tunnel would get so narrow it would squish them, it opened into a huge room. Percy shined his light around the walls and said, "Whoa."

The whole room was covered in mosaic tiles. The pictures were covered with grime and faded, 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. Zeus was partying with satyrs, and Hermes was flying through the air on his winged sandals.

In the middle of the room was a three-tiered fountain. It looked like it had been dry for centuries.

"What is this place?" Percy muttered. "It looks—"

"Roman" Annabeth said. "Those mosaics are about two thousand years old."

"But how can they be Roman?" Percy asked.