❛ 𝐓𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐒 ❜ ━━ 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐘 𝐉𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐱 𝐎𝐂

𝐗𝐋𝐈𝐈

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐈𝐈 ༄ 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐖

𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐟𝐚𝐲𝐞
[𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐓𝐖𝐎]
୨⎯ ❝𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐛 𝐠𝐮𝐧𝐬❞ ⎯୧
ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ: ʰᵒᵐᵉˢⁱᶜᵏ ⁻ ʷᵃᵛᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵉᵃʳᵗʰ
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     WHAT AMAURIE NOTICED FIRST were the man's faces. Both of them. They jutted out from either side of his head, staring over his shoulders, so his head was much wider than it should've been, kind of like a hammerhead shark's looking straight at him, all Amaurie saw were two overlapping ears and mirror-image sideburns.

He was dressed like one of those New York City doormen: a long black overcoat, shiny shoes, and a black top hat that somehow managed to stay on his double-wide head.

"Well, Annabeth?" said his left face. "Hurry up!"

"Don't mind him," said the right face. "He's terribly rude. Right this way, miss."

Annabeth's jaw dropped. "Uh . . . I don't . . ."

Tyson frowned. "That funny man has two faces."

"You can also see it?" Amaurie was relieved. For a hot minute, he thought he was high again.

"The funny man has ears, you know!" the left face scolded. "Now come along, miss."

"No, no," the right face said. "This way, miss. Talk to me, please."

The two-faced man regarded Annabeth as best he could out of the corners of his eyes. It was impossible to look at him straight on without focusing on one side or the other. And suddenly Amaurie realized that's what he was asking—he wanted Annabeth to choose.

It seemed Percy noticed as well because a sense of worry washed over him.

Behind him were two exits, blocked by wooden doors with huge iron locks. They hadn't been there our first time through the room. The two-faced doorman held a silver key, which he kept passing from his left hand to his right hand.

Amaurie wondered if this was a different room completely, but the frieze of the gods looked the same.

Behind the group, the doorway they'd come through had disappeared, replaced by more mosaics. They wouldn't be going back the way they came.

Amaurie tightened his grip around the pistol he had lingering in the pocket of his hoodie. Whatever this thing was didn't seem to be on their side. Well, maybe one head was. Amaurie decided he'd blast both heads off.

"The exits are closed," Annabeth said.

"Duh!" the man's left face said.

"Where do they lead?" she asked.