The Haunted House [Heroes Of Olympus Fanfiction] [Halloween]

X ~ Alone

October 31st, 7:41PM:

They had been walking for what felt like hours. Percy kept holding onto Annabeth's hand, determined to never let go. But as they looked for a way out, it seemed as if the place tried to stop them at every step.

Annabeth stopped for a second. With her free hand she wiped some sweat off her forehead. "This is hopeless." She exclaimed. "We're never going to find a way out!"

"I know, but we just need to stay calm and keep a level head." Percy said.
"It reminds me of the Labyrinth." Annabeth sighed, staring down at her feet.

"Me too." Percy agreed. "But not as scary. This seems more tame, for some reason. More illusions rather than tricks."

"I know." Annabeth tried to smile, but it was strained. They continued on.

Corridor, after corridor they explored, finding doors and more rooms, like this was some sort of massive maze. Finally, Percy stopped at one door. He pushed it open and they walked into a completely empty room.

"Huh." Annabeth said, letting go of Percy's hand and folding her arms. She realised her mistake too late.

Percy's eyes widened. They waited in silence for ten, twenty seconds. Percy breathed a sigh of relief. "Annabeth, I -" And then suddenly, he was gone.

Annabeth stared at the space where he had just been. "Percy?" She asked, but there was no answer. Percy was gone and Annabeth was alone.

The room seemed to enlarge ten times. Annabeth shrunk down into a ball and sobbed heart-wrenching cries. And then there was a noise. A scuttling, hissing noise that sounded like thousands of spiders crawling towards her.

Annabeth slowly looked up to see what she had thought she'd heard. A thousand spiders pounced on her, and she screamed in terror, trying to push them off, but they wouldn't go away.

Terror pulsed through Annabeth's veins. She screamed, and the spiders swarmed over her like moths to a flame.

•••

31st October, 8:00PM:

It had been what felt like two hours to Annabeth. But in reality, it had probably been only ten minutes since time seemed to slow down or speed up in the maze-like house.

Annabeth had been lying curled up on the floor ever since the spiders left. She was supposed to be strong, but now she looked weak. Her arms shakily pushed her body up and she stood, gazing around at the room.

The walls were a light orangey colour, with a wooden floor and a bare ceiling. There was plenty of light, but Annabeth couldn't spot a source, and to make matters worse, she couldn't find any doors either.

Suddenly, a figure materialised in front of Annabeth. It was a dracaena, a woman with two serpent tails for legs but an upper body adorned with armour.

"Die, demigod scum!" The dracaena hissed, and began to move towards Annabeth.

Annabeth backed up, not having a weapon to defend herself. She backed into a wall, and then waited for the dracaena to move closer and then kicked it in the legs - or well, snake tails. But the dracaena didn't falter. She came closer, her spear dripping with what looked like poison...