Percy Jackson, The Missing Hero.

47. Are You There, Random God? It's Us, The Scooby Gang.

"So, anyone know how to pick a lock?" Percy asked, wishing desperately that they had Leo with them. The son of Hephaestus was well renowned for his opinion that locks were just a minor inconvenience that could be swiftly bypassed. He looked to Luke and Icarus in his place; knowing the former could do the task with his eyes closed or through sheer force of will, and the latter had picked up a few tricks from his father.

"You know I can pick a lock, Goldfish Brain," Luke laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Normally I'd step aside and allow the son of Hermes to do his thing and pick the lock, but I've been wanting to put the skills I've learned straight from the source – Hermes himself – to the test for years," Apollo spoke before Luke could step any closer. "So, allow me."

Luke simply laughed again and gestured for Apollo to do as he pleased.

After what felt like an age, but was likely only half an hour later, Apollo was still trying to wriggle a hairpin into the first lock.

"I've nearly got it!" He assured them. "Just a little more time and I'll have it open."

The rest of them had sat down and left him to it about five minutes in, knowing that they would be stuck there waiting until the god admitted defeat and allowed someone else to try.

Percy had a feeling that they were going to be there a while.

"So maybe I haven't nearly got it," Apollo finally conceded. "And I may have slightly overestimated how much knowledge I absorbed while Hermes was trying to teach me how to pick a lock. In my defence though, I'd chipped my nail polish and needed to take it all off and repaint them, but I really was listening to him while I was painting them."

"At least you gave us some entertainment," Luke informed him cheerily, before rising to his feet with bolt cutters in his hands.

"Seriously, Castellan?" Apollo pouted when he noticed. "You really just sat there and watched while I looked stupid?"

"It would be a shame to break a habit of a lifetime." Luke grinned.

"Where did you even get those from?" Apollo asked.

"Leo's bag," Luke responded. The mood instantly dropped. They were all well aware that the son of Hephaestus had suffered a potentially fatal wound and all they could do was hope that sending him away had been the best thing Will could have done for him.

"Wait!" Nico's sudden cry stopped Luke from cutting the first link of the chain that he had placed the cutters around.

"What's up?" Luke asked, confusion on his face.

"Why is it locked from this side?" Nico asked. "If I went to all of the trouble of kidnapping a god, I wouldn't leave the door to his cell unattended – locked or not."

"Nico has a point," Percy realised. "Why is it locked but unguarded?"

"Am I the only one who noticed the multiple corridors filled with the skulls of the dead that we had to walk through to get here?" Jason asked. "Because that seemed like a good enough deterrent for me. We're the only bunch of idiots who would see a path lined with skulls and go 'oh, down there seems fun' and not turn and run in the opposite direction."

"Zappy has a point," Apollo pointed out. "Though I would like to say that I disagree with your assessment that we're a group of idiots. Speak for yourself."

"Seriously? Percy gets Seashell, Nico gets Moonshine, and I get Zappy?" Jason huffed.

"She's Sparky, you're Zappy. Unless you prefer 'Lightning McQueen', Baby J?" Apollo gestured first to Thalia and then to Jason. "Are you actually more concerned about your nickname than the creepy door that could lead to our gruesome demise?"