Flowergirl, Percy Jackson

006. Cages and Chains

006───────ஐ〰ฺ･:*:･✿cages and chains

     THE TUNNEL IS A DEAD END. There's a dead body there, slumped in the corner; ironic, Lila can't help but think. It really was a dead end for everybody — the end of the path, the end of life. Lila wonders if that's some kind of depressing twist of fate by the gods — they are going to die here, and it truly is their own dead end. Perhaps this is where everybody dies, this is the dead end of the universe, where everything ends.

      She can hear footsteps from behind them, heavier than a titan, cracking the fragile floor with every step. Rasping, asthmatic breathing fills the corridor, louder with every shake of the ground. 

     "Tyson — " Percy hisses, looking behind himself nervously. "Can you — ?"

     Tyson's eyes widen as if he hadn't thought about it, but he nods excitedly. "Yes!" Lunging forward, he slams into the tunnel, the rock quaking as if it has it's own miniature earthquake contained inside. Dust begins to fall from the ceiling, scattering their shoulders and hair. Annabeth looks a decade older with greying hair. 

     "The ceiling won't fall down," Lila whispers nervously, eyeing the roof above them. "Right? It's magic or — or something."

      Nobody answers, but Lila sees Annabeth squint at the ceiling, before tactfully deciding to say anything. Grover gulps. Lila feels even less confident that Daedalus will help their cause, should they somehow find him. What kind of person builds a death trap such as this? A bad person, one who likes to kill and destroy. 

     The boulder blocking their path finally gives way with a raucous grind, scratching away at the walls, probably leaving uncountable scratches. Tyson pushes it forward into a small room, and Annabeth and Grover rush forward. Lila reaches for Percy's wrist at the same time as he reaches for her's — their hands brush, they jump away from each other as if lit up with a thousand Volts of electricity. Lila doesn't dare look at him but her face is burning. 

     Annabeth, practical as always, spins around to glare at them. "Hurry up!" She drags Lila forward into the room. Together, they push the boulder into the wall, using all of their combined strength. From the other side of the boulder is a guttural scream of fury, echoing through the tunnels. Whatever is chasing them accepts defeat regretfully and moves on to prey on another. Lila is selfishly relieved.

     "We trapped it," Percy grins. 

     Grover swallows so loud Lila can hear his nervousness floating through the thick of the air. "Or trapped ourselves."

     They turn. The opposite wall is covered with bars; the room has no entrance, no exit. Only four walls of ash-grey bricks, as if the sides of the wall had been burnt away and rebuilt from their own ashes. 

     "What in Hades?" Annabeth tugs at the bars, kicking one of them slightly. There's no movement — not even an inch. 

      "A prison," Percy says. "Maybe Tyson can break — "

      "Shhh," Grover interrupts, leaning forward to peer through the bars. "Listen."

     Lila listens. For a moment, she hears nothing — and then she hears it, the sonorous echoes of sobbing drifting through the building. It's eerie, seemingly coming from every direction. There's another sound; snarling and muttering and hissing, but not loud enough to be heard. It's so close. Lila feels the same as she does when she reads sometimes — the words are so close, too close, just out of range. She tries to reach out and understand them, to grab them, but they slip through her fingers.