𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 • 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

Janus

A/n: *throws chapter into the pits of readers and runs away*

Y/n's Pov:

We made it a hundred feet before we were hopelessly lost.

The tunnel looked nothing like the one Annabeth and I had stumbled into before. Now it was round like a sewer, constructed of red brick with iron-barred portholes every ten feet. I shined a light through one porthole out of curiosity, but I couldn't see anything. It opened into infinite darkness. I thought I heard voices on the other side, but it may have been just the stiff wind.

I tried my best to guide us. Annabeth had this idea that we 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. We found ourselves in the middle of a circular chamber with eight tunnels leading out, and no idea how we'd gotten there.

"Um, which way did we come in?" Grover said nervously.

"Just turn around," I said.

We each turned toward a different tunnel. It was ridiculous. None of us could decide which way led back to camp.

"Left walls are mean," Tyson said.

"Which way now?" asked Grayson.

I swept my flashlight beam over the archways of the eight tunnels. As far as I could tell, they were identical. Somehow, the one in front of me seemed the correct way.

"That way," I said.

"How do you know?" Percy asked.

"Deductive reasoning."

"So...you're guessing."

"Just come on," I said.

The tunnel I'd chosen narrowed quickly. The walls turned to grey cement, and the ceiling got so low that pretty soon we were hunching over. Tyson was forced to crawl.

Grover's hyperventilating was the loudest noise in the maze. "I can't stand 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 be down here? This is the opposite of the wild!"

We kept shuffling forward.

"Grayson!" Grover called exasperatedly. "Your mom's Persephone. Maybe you could guide us to a greener path?"

Grayson sighed disappointedly. "I wish I could, but it's not spring, and it's not winter, it's summer. If my mom has little control of that, I have less even."

Just when I was sure the tunnel would get so narrow it would squish us, it opened into a huge room. Percy shined his light around the walls and said, "Whoa."

The whole room was covered in mosaic tiles. The pictures were grimy and faded, but I could still make out the colours—red, blue, green, and gold. The frieze showed the Olympian gods at a feast. There was 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. I'd seen the gods. Dionysus was not that handsome, and Hermes's nose wasn't that big.

In the middle of the room was a three-tiered fountain. It looked like it hadn't held water in a long time.

"What is this place?" I muttered. "It looks—"