The Haunted Orphanage

Chapter 56

Mark's POV

I grinned as my eyes swelled. Jack's green hair was a mess on his head, his blue hoodie was ripped open across his stomach and had blood stains covering the left sleeve, and his jeans were torn open in several places.

Jack chuckled as he caught me staring at his ripped up clothes. He posed. "What? Having trouble taking in the sight?"

I laughed as I called across the hall, "Well, I'll be honest, I've seen worse."

Jack smiled brightly as he dashed across the hallway and dove into a hug. I felt my face heat up a bit, but I ignored it and hugged back. We stayed there for what felt like years, though in reality, it was only a minute or two.

Jack broke away when he saw prisoners walking toward us. "Shit! We're gonna miss dinner!" he yelled as he grabbed my hand and raced me through the hallways. He stopped once we made it to the cafeteria entrance and looked around. "Buffet?"

"Buffet!" I cheered as we charged toward the buffet table. I swiped a plate off of the table and scanned over the food. "Wait, they serve ramen noodles?"

Jack nodded. "They serve just about anything! Plus, Underworld food is just as good as human world food, if not, better!"

"Seriously? They probably use dark magic on it or something," I chuckled.

Jack stopped shoveling food onto his plate. "I've never seen them make the food. They actually might use dark magic." He paused for a moment before continuing, "Well, I've been eating it for the past few days and I feel alright. We'll be fine."

Jack and I sat down at one of the empty tables and began eating our food. He hadn't been joking, the food down here tasted incredible. The chefs either used some sort of dark magic, or the fact that I hadn't had a proper meal in about a week was to blame.

Probably the latter.

I shrugged away the thought and continued stuffing food into my mouth. I finished not long after and looked up to find that Jack had finished as well.

"Alright, question time," I decided.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you–"

"Nope!" I interrupted him. "First question, you didn't seem all that surprised to see me. Do you mind telling me why that is?"

He chuckled, "Oh, what? Were you planning on making a grand entrance to rescue me and all that?"

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Umm, that's beside the point! How did you know I was coming?"

"Oh! I actually needed to talk to you about that! I completely forgot! Apparently, Thomas told Logan that you were here, and Logan told me. For once, he wasn't an annoying smart-ass! He actually gave me valid information!"

"Wait, Logan?" I asked.

"Oh, he's the guy on the other end of the intercom in my cell. He, uh, also told me some other news."

I looked at Jack expectantly. When he didn't add anything, I inquired, "What news?"

"He, uh, said that you and I have to break out of here before tomorrow night. More specifically, before that boy is executed at noon."

"Why? I mean, I planned to break out of here with you, but why before the execution–"

"According to Logan, after that boy is killed, you and I are next."

We sat in silence for a few minutes before I replied, "So speaking of that boy, he's the demon version of Percy and we need to save him so that the human version of Percy doesn't die."