NICO'S POV:
The room went silent at Percy's poorly timed sense of humor. I however found myself stifling a laugh with my right hand, left gripping the loops in my jeans in an attempt to look casual.
"What?", He asked. "Alright, alright I guess it's not the time to laugh then.", Percy retorted.
He took out a ball point pen and pressed the cap into a divot in the brick wall. A small indent that would have otherwise been indistinguishable from the rest of the wall to anyone who didn't know about it.
The brick he had fiddled with earlier retracted to form a sort of grip the Percy then used to swing a larger section of the wall open. In a door like fashion. I glanced behind me towards my friends in a, "Are you seeing this?", type way.
"Alright come in.", Percy said, beckoning us in with a hand gesture from just inside the tunnel.
"First we find Hazel.", I said trying to stand my ground.
Percy poked his head back around the door.
"I can't leave her behind.", I said.
Percy gave me a funny look that I couldn't quite interpret.
I heard Leo shift nervously behind me. I tried to keep my eyes on Percy's in an attempt to convey how serious I was about the situation. "His eyes are blue again.", I realized in the back of my mind. A question for later.
He let out a huff of exasperation.
"On the contrary, I'd urge that you can leave her behind."
Some one tall behind me stiffened at the confrontation. Probably Jason, I figured.
Percy sighed and walked up to me, his expression morphing into one much more serious.
"Listen. I understand why you don't want to leave her. But I am telling you, that while visiting I was given no reason to even think the she is someone involved in this. I could be wrong. I could've missed something. But if she isn't involved in this mess that you yourself know so little about than the damage that will happen to her means she isn't worth taking."
"Well-", Leo spoke up awkwardly. "Even if she isn't involved with whatever mystery thing happened yesterday then doesn't her involvement of us as her friends change that?"
"Not enough.", Percy said.
I let out a harsh breath of air and shook my head.
"What exactly are good reasons to trust you?", Jason said.
Annabeth nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Nothing but destruction has happened since you came to our school yesterday."
With the scrunched up face Percy made I could tell what she said struck a nerve.
"You don't have many good reasons to trust me." He softened his glare almost manually and turned his attention to the group behind me. "But I've kept you alive haven't I?"
"And?", Annabeth retorted, crossing her arms.
"And knew what to do when Leo's hands lit on fire, which you have conveniently seemed to forget upon getting a single night's sleep."
Annabeth frowned, looking down at the ground.
Leo watched the verbal tennis match nervously, wringing his hand back and forth.
"I know you don't want to leave your lives behind. And maybe once things settle down something can be worked out. But right now I can't in good conscience let you go. And I especially in good conscience just let you drag your family and friends into this without you understanding the gravity of the situation."
After some tense silence, Annabeth conceded.
"Then get on with it and take us wherever you were gonna take us.", I snapped back at him.
Time Skip
We had been making our way through the tunnel for what seemed to be around two maybe three hours by now, Percy in the lead.
"It's hard to see using your dinky flashlight from all the way back here.", Leo called out.
"Yeah well it's all I have. Unless you wanna pull out that candle lighter you've got hidden in the insides of your flannel pocket.", Percy hollered back.
"Wha- how did you KNOW that?!"
"Ow-!", Annabeth yelled out probably being elbowed by Leo's dramatic jump back in shock.
"Sorry.", Leo said more quietly.
"It doesn't take a genius to see the way part of your jacket stands out against the rest of your chest."
A sound of indignation sounded from the hyper man.
"Hey Percy-", Annabeth started from behind me.
"If you're asking when we'll reach the destination, don't bother it's coming up in a few minutes."
"Ass.", I heard Annabeth murmur.
"Hey.", I asked Percy quietly, catching up to him and the pace he was walking.
"Why do your eyes change? I wanna know that."
He looked back at me. "Absolutely none of your business, captain curious."
I snorted. "When I'm sorry that I want to know why your eyes seem to have some superhuman function.", I continued prying in a half whisper.
"It's just a result of the abilities I was forced to deal with.", he snapped, trying to shrug the question off.
"Okay but why does it happen? What does it mean?" I sped up my pace, trying to keep up with his increasing the speed in his stride.
"That is especially none of your fucking business and it's best if you leave that subject alone."
"Okay jeez- sorry.", I wheezed, starting to fail at the task of keeping up with him.
"Okay.", Percy announced, with a sigh to regulate his anger. "We're here."
He banged on an indent in the tunnel. "Hey asshat!"
"You got more runts to take care of?!", I jumped at a voice coming from the other side of tunnel.
Percy glanced back at the rest of the group who were catching up to the both of us. "No shit."
"What's the current color?", snapped the brash voice from the other side of the tunnel's left wall.
"Blue.", Percy groaned, as if the question was severely annoying to him, but not new.
"Come in dipshits.", The voice said from the other side.
A part of the wall that turned out to be a painted, cleverly disguised piece of wood popped out and swung wide open.
"Home Base.", Percy said.
YOU ARE READING
The Asylum.
Hayran KurguWhen Nico and his grade go on a field trip to volunteer at an asylum, they're not certain what to expect. The experience of learning people's stories however is much more insightful than they might have considered. The chill day was thrown out the w...
