Falling for You

Percy: XV

Percy: XV

As far as Percy had worked out, only the hellhounds seemed to obey him.

He had tried with a dracaena, but it hadn't gone so well. He had lured one over with a little wave, and the monster had followed. Whether it was hungry or just perplexed, he never found out, because it leapt towards him as soon as they met face to face behind the rock. Percy had been prepared for it however, and it exploded in the air before it so much as scratched him.

He had been sending his kamikaze hellhounds in every few minutes since then, in an attempt to wipe a pathway through, but it was like trying to split up sand: more just moved into the gaps from nowhere. Where had they even got so many monsters from? Had they all been getting busy recently? He snorted.

An idea popped into his head.

Percy caught sight of another hellhound and summoned it, flashing his shoulder from behind the rock provocatively to tempt one that he had been watching for a while. He felt like an exotic dancer taunting the audience from the edge of the stage. He saw a few heads (some on only one body) turn, and ducked quickly, back out of view. The aura he projected was more powerful than he had thought; they seemed to sense his presence before they could see him. He... he had no idea how to stop that. His Nyx tattoo tingled, and Percy frowned as an idea came into his head. Would that work? He tried to imagine himself small and defenseless. When he peeked back round, their heads had dropped. Okay, he thought in surprise. That worked.

The hellhound was dutifully marching forwards, rounding the corner, before stopping in front of him. Percy beckoned it closer. The low growl it emitted would have scared the pants off of Percy before, but now he just clicked his fingers impatiently at it.

"C'mon." he mouthed. "Stop sulking."

The hellhound came further behind the rock, and with a quick hop, Percy clambered on to its back. It bucked a little with a growl as he flattened himself against it, trying to hide. Hunks of thick black fur in each hand, Percy dug in with his elbows. He felt a little bad to hurt a dog, but quickly reminded himself that his specific type of dog could and would bite his head off given the chance. He elbowed it again.

"Go towards the doors." he muttered. "Do not give me away, or draw attention."

The hellhound began to step forwards reluctantly, and then they were moving. The hellhounds body rocked from side to side, and a dim thought in the back of Percy's mind was that it would be a good place to sleep. Percy lifted his head slightly to have a look, and just caught sight of them entering the crowd before he slammed his head back down so as to avoid being seen.

It was when he was halfway through the crowd that Percy began to rethink what he had just planned. In fact, upon second thought, it was one of the stupidest plans he'd ever concocted. What if he messed up? Discard his chances of getting out? The one thing he had been apprehensive to do was to throw himself straight into the thick of it, and- yep- Percy looked around at the rows upon rows of monsters surrounding him in every direction- he had put himself in the worst possible position if he got caught.

So just don't get caught, a voice said in his head, in a casually obvious tone that sounded suspiciously like Annabeth.

Yeah, easy for you to say, he replied, before mentally smacking himself. Rule number one of not going crazy- do not reply to disembodied voices.