the winemaker's daughter [ percy jackson & the olympians ]

chapter twenty-seven

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙴𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴𝚁'𝚂 𝙳𝙰𝚄𝙶𝙷𝚃𝙴𝚁༉‧₊˚.[𝙿𝙴𝚁𝙲𝚈 𝙹𝙰𝙲𝙺𝚂𝙾𝙽 & 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙾𝙻𝚈𝙼𝙿𝙸𝙰𝙽𝚂]

chapter twenty-seven: we bust this dude out of jail & nearly get killed by kampê ( thanks for the hospitality at your prison by the way )

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THE GOOD news: the left tunnel they'd taken was straight with no side exits, twists, or turns.

the bad news: it was a complete dead end.

after sprinting a hundred yards, they ran into an enormous boulder that completely blocked their path. behind them, the sounds of dragging footsteps and heavy breathing echoed down the corridor. something, that was definitely not human, was hot on their tail.

"tyson," percy said breathlessly, his eyes flicking back and forth between behind them, and to the boulder, "can you –"

the cyclops slammed his shoulder against the rock so hard the whole tunnel shook. dust trickled from the stone ceiling. "hurry!" grover urged tyson. "don't bring the roof down, but hurry!" the boulder finally gave way with a horrible grinding noise. tyson pushed it into a small room and they dashed through behind it.

"close the entrance!" ashanti commanded. they all got on the other side of the boulder and pushed. whatever was chasing them wailed in frustration as they heaved the rock back into place, and sealed the corridor shut. ashanti called to the boulder, "we're safe!"

"we trapped it!" percy agreed with her, grinning accomplished.

"or," grover said with a miserable tone. ashanti had her back to him, so she didn't understand the utter despair in her friend's tone. "we trapped ourselves."

ashanti turned and felt the blood drain from her face. they were in a twenty-foot-square cement room and the opposite wall was covered with metal bars. they'd tunneled straight into a cell. "i'm too young for real-jail!" she said stressfully, "don't we get juvie instead?"

"what's the difference?" percy asked her.

"better food."

"how would you—"

"i'm a demigod, too, you know," she told him, offering nothing but a shrug in response. "i've gotten into plenty of trouble, too."

"what in hades?" annabeth said in a frustrated tone as she tugged on the bars. they didn't budge as ashanti expected, but she wasn't going to be the one to say anything. through the bars, they could see rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard—at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks.

"a prison," percy said. "maybe tyson can break—"

"shh," grover hushed percy hurriedly. "listen." somewhere above them, deep sobbing echoed through the building. there was another sound, too. a raspy voice muttering something that ashanti couldn't make out for the life of her. the words were strange, like rocks in a tumbler.

"what's that language?" percy whispered.

tyson's brown eye widened. "can't be."

"what?" ashanti asked, worry filling her tone, "tyson, what's wrong?" instead of answering, he grabbed two bars on their cell door and bent them wide enough for even a cyclops to slip through.