THE PROPHECY ² / Percy Jackson !

12

THEY MADE IT A FEW HUNDRED FEET BEFORE THEY WERE HOPELESSLY LOST. 

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

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

Annabeth tried her best to guide her friends. 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. They 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. None of them 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 eighttunnels. As far as Viviene could tell, they were identical. "That way," she said.

"How do you know?" Percy asked.

"Deductive reasoning."

"So...you're guessing."

"Just come on," she said.

Viviene hit Percy's head with her hand, sending him a glare.

Percy gave her an innocent look and planted a quick kiss on her lips.

The tunnel she'd chosen 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 was the loudest noise in the maze. "I can'tstand it anymore," he whispered. "Are we there yet?"

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

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

They kept shuffling forward. Just when Viviene was sure the tunnel would get sonarrow it would squish them, it opened into a huge room. 

Viviene shined her light around the walls and said, "Whoa."

The whole room was covered in mosaic tiles. The pictures were grimy and faded, but Viviene could still make out the colors—red, blue, green, gold. The frieze showed the Olympian gods at a feast. There was Percy's dad, 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. The pictures were beautiful, but they weren't very accurate. She'd seen the gods. Dionysus was not that handsome, and Hermes's nose wasn't that big.