❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒳𝒱. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒟𝒶𝓂 𝒮𝓃𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝐵𝒶𝓇

𝓐 few steps from the door, Zoe stopped. "Guys, we shouldn't leave him alone. It's probably not safe. I'll wait for him, we'll meet you in the cafeteria."

"You sure?" Thalia asked, glancing back at Percy, who was talking to seemingly nothing over the side of the dam.

"Yeah. Get me some dam french fries, okay?"

The three campers cracked smiles, and Grover nodded, the trio going inside, leaving the daughter of Aphrodite by the doors.

A kid yelled, "Hey!" A group of men that were passing through them turned, his face changing momentarily into a skull.

As soon as her brain processed, Zoe sprinted up the stairs, almost running into Percy.

"What are you doing?" Percy grabbed her hand pulling Zoe back towards the stairs. "I thought you went inside!"

"We couldn't leave you alone," Zoe pulled him to a stop when she heard tires squeal. "Doesn't matter, there's no time. Skeletons!"

On the west side of the dam, a black van swerved to a stop in the middle of the road, nearly plowing into some old people.

The van doors opened and more skeleton warriors piled out. The duo was surrounded.

They bolted down the stairs and through the museum entrance. The security guard at the metal detector yelled, "Hey, kids!"

But they didn't stop. Percy and Zoe ran through the exhibits and ducked behind a tour group. They looked for their friends, but couldn't see them anywhere. Where was the dam snack bar?

"Stop!" The metal-detector guy yelled.

There was no place to go but into an elevator with the tour group. The duo ducked inside just as the door closed.

"We'll be going down seven hundred feet," the tour guide said cheerfully. She was a park ranger, with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and tinted glasses. She seemed familiar to Zoe, but she couldn't place where she'd seen the woman before. "Don't worry, ladies and gentlemen, the elevator hardly ever breaks."

"Does this go to the snack bar?" Percy asked her.

A few people behind them chuckled. The tour guide looked at the two demigods. Something about her gaze made Zoe's skin tingle.

"To the turbines, young man," the lady said. "Weren't you listening to my fascinating presentation upstairs?"

"Oh, uh, sure. Is there another way out of the dam?"

"It's a dead end," a tourist behind them said. "For heaven's sake. The only way out is the other elevator."

The doors opened.

"Go right ahead, folks," the tour guide told them. "Another ranger is waiting for you at the end of the corridor."

They didn't have much choice but to go out with the group.

"And kids," the tour guide called. Percy and Zoe looked back. She'd taken off her glasses. Her eyes were startlingly gray, like storm clouds. "There is always a way out for those clever enough to find it."

As the doors started to close, Zoe connected the dots and called out, "Thank you, my lady."

Athena nodded as the elevator doors closed between them.

A ding came from around the corner startling the two out of their daze. The second elevator was opening, and they heard an unmistakable sound—the clattering of skeleton teeth.

Zoe ran after the tour group, pulling Percy with her through a tunnel carved out of solid rock. It seemed to run forever. The walls were moist, and the air hummed with electricity and the roar of water. They came out on a U-shaped balcony that overlooked this huge warehouse area. Fifty feet below, enormous turbines were running. It was a big room, but there weren't any other exits, unless they wanted to jump into the turbines and get churned up to make electricity. That didn't appeal to the brunette.