The Death's Game

32. Game of Prisoners

The mermaid got them as far as she could, meaning on the edge of the waterfall, which indeed was a big black hole that felt like a second unknown world they were about to explore. The view was making Percy feel uncomfortable. She thought of herself as a good swimmer but that big dark abyss was simply too much for her. Through a quick brief glance at Kyle, she realized that he, too, did not feel very confident with the vision of not only falling into this black hole but also the uncertainty of what lies within. How bad could an underwater prison be? What did one end up here for? So many questions that were left unanswered.

"Good luck," the mermaid bid them goodbye and was on her way back to the Capital.

"Wait, how do we come back after?" Percy yelled, wondering if they had to be back at their starting point.

Without stopping, the mermaid replied, "just swim up!"

All of them looked up, wondering how deep they were since neither could see the surface from here.

"We don't have much time", Kyle also checked the time on his watch. "So, we need to get this done quickly."

"Let's not wait then." Percy shakingly emerged into the black depth, wondering what will wait there for her. Surprisingly, for a longer distance there was absolutely nothing except of black water going deeper into the abyss. She wondered if this was the correct place or if they were lured here to get lost in time and not return until the designated hour.

Kyle kept his guard up, scanning the surroundings and looking for any obstacles, while Blake kept silent. Percy couldn't tell if he was with them on this mission or still in his thoughts, but she hoped his dead ex-girlfriend wouldn't bring doom onto him. He needed to stay focused if they were about to leave the Underwater Kingdom safely. They were so close to success—only one more thing to do.

"Guys," Percy whispered when the dark water began to get thicker in some places.

The horrific view rose upon them as she realized that this was no ordinary prison but also one made out of water. The thick water created a prison system built on a wheel, which was an endless number of prison cages that, to Percy's surprise, were not at all as well guarded as she would have expected. On the contrary, Percy was sure that through the not-so-well-created bars made of thick water, anyone could easily get out and escape. She had expected to find an underwater version of a maximum-security prison; meanwhile, from such cells, even a toddler would have had no problem finding a way out.

This left her shocked and in terror, as the prisoners began approaching the bars. She could not see their faces in the dark waters, but she could hear them approaching. Kyle and Blake were ready to fight, but no one swam up to them. No prisoner even tried to get out of his cell. They all stayed terrified in their designated areas.

Percy gathered her courage and swam up to one of the prisoners.

"Don't!" Blake hissed but was unable to stop her.

Finally, she was able to see the face of one of the prisoners, made whole of ghostly scales forming something like spikes. And while it was certainly a creature that would have taken the sleep or even the life of many, it now looked at Percy with horror and disbelief.

"You better leave this place, little girl," he whispered, puzzled if Percy was a real being or maybe just another of his hallucinations.

Years or centuries might've passed since he was put here. It was so long that he himself wasn't even sure anymore what for he was put in here.

"I need to find a ball that has fallen in here."

"A ball," the creature repeated, trying to regain any memories about the ball. He saw a ball. But was it really a ball? "He has no use of the ball. But he keeps things."