「015. meet your in-laws with a bonus of mortal compasses (not moral) 」

WHEN BARBIE says she was panicking. she means she was panicking. she'd never properly met percy's mom, also known as mrs jackson. annabeth said she was a total sweetheart. but barbie wasn't so sure of it. she'd only ever met ms garcia. but even then, she immediately bonded mainly because val and barbie were related. she woke up early the next morning, making sure she actually looked presentable. because if she was going to see mrs jackson and stress herself out, and then get herself all jealous and angsty when meeting a certain rachel elizabeth dare (because apparently her middle name was so important) then she was going to do it with style.

she bunched up her hair, looking at herself in the mirror, tilting her head from side to side. was the ponytail a good look? she used her other hand and twirled her hair and then grabbed it, making a thinking face at the top bun. she shook her head, before she left her hair (that had been curled by accident due to the fact she slept in loose braids) on her shoulders and simply put on a bit a lip gloss (no other makeup. shocker, i know) before she grabbed a few clothes which weren't too flashy, but just enough flashy for her.

she inspected herself finally in the mirror once more, nice graphic t-shirt (sailor moon. val was way too obsessed with it. which meant barbie was forced to watch it whenever she went to the garcia's. and... yeah, she liked it. a lot.) and a cute pair of mom jeans along with some semi-nice sneakers. probably not the best thing to wear as they'd be going into the labyrinth afterwards, but she'd prayed to her mom the night before to charm her clothes to be indestructible (and yeah, her mom had granted it. she had a suspicion it wasn't because she wasn't happy with her mom after the whole 'marooned' situation). which basically meant she was safe from potentially ripping the only sailor moon graphic t-shirt she had. because gods forbid she even damaged sailor moons 'perfect fucking face' or sailor jupiters 'iconic fucking hair'. val would most likely kill her.

jerald, you still have my supplies? right? asked barbie to her mist friend.

yup! i got you, responded jerald, and barbie could tell by her otne of voice she was grinning, let's go meet your mother-in-law!

jerald i swear to the gods-

there was a knock at her door. and she didn't get to finish her train of thought. she jumped slightly, looking to the doo,r her cabin mates complaining she was up too early.

"shut that noise up!" groaned drew, her silk eye mask making her look amusing as she complained in a faint voice.

"shut it up," groaned val, twisting so his pillow was over his ears before he let out another frustrated noise.

"where are my crayons?" called nessa, which finally shook barbie out of her amusement.

"getting the door," she quickly rushed, grabbing her glow flower and quickly snapping her fingers, letting the flower pot float behind her, glowing brightly after percy had given her a vial of salt water the night before.

she rushed to the door, jumping strategically over the pillows that had been thrown at the source of noise (which was either her or the knocking) and opened it in a hurry, her hair flying over parts of her face.

"percy," she greeted.

and then suddenly all of her siblings were up. funny how that works.

"percy's here?" called nessa, "does he have anything for me?"

"nessa don't get greedy," scolded silena, "but percy's here? how's our loverb-"

"silena!" coughed barbie, before she said with barred teeth, "lets. not."

"percy what's up bro?" called val, his face covered from a pillow as his hand shot up, waving at nothing in particular. barbie turned from her siblings to percy, her face showing how unimpressed she was.

"hey val!" called percy from outside the door, before looking at barbie again with his gorgeously dorky grin as he said, "so, doll, you ready?"

"doll?" giggled one of her siblings silently before the rest of her siblings started to silently (it wasn't silent by the way) giggle as well.

"i-uh, yeah," she blushed, turning quickly to her siblings and mouthing the words 'shut! up!' in a furious manner before she turned back to percy smiling, "give me a moment."

"sure, barbie doll."

oh so now he goes back to the normal nickname?!

she turned to her siblings, glaring as she slammed the door in percy's face. putting her hands on her hips at her giggling half-siblings. she huffed slightly, pushing the pieces of hair flopping around her face behind her as she growled, "not funny, you guys."

her sibling's responses were just giggles.

"sorry about that," she huffed as she slammed her door, her siblings still giggling as she turned to a star-struck percy. she sighed, before saying, "what?"

"nothing," he said, shaking his head, grinning slightly, "c'mon. let's get going."

the two of them began walking up towards the hill, talking to each other, a small cloud of awkwardness hanging between them. barbie brushed it off. it was probably the fact they hadn't spoken in two weeks. and the last she'd seen of him, was when she'd kissed him. and she didn't even know if he rem-

"barbie! barbie!" yelled a loud voice. barbie stopped in her tracks, turning to find cherry, running towards, them, a determined look on her face.

"wha-oof!"

cherry suddenly jumped and hugged barbie tightly, hugging her tightly, leaving barbie to wheeze slightly. cherry kept hugging her tightly, as if making sure she was a solid person as she said in a muffled voice, "you're coming back alive!"

"i will," laughed barbie as cherry released her from her death-grip hug before she added, "make sure val behaves. and... make sure nessa doesn't get into another... crayon incident."

"please do," called percy from up ahead, shivering dramatically, "man... i probably still have nightmares about that."

"shut up you dramatic dumbass," scoffed barbie, a fond smile on her eyes as she rolled her eyes. cherry saluted to her, grinning at their light-hearted humour.

she continued, running back where she had come from. stumbling slightly and tripping. barbie was about to go help her when cherry stood up quickly, brushing off the dirt on her dungaree shorts and yelling back to barbie and percy, "i'm ok!"

"she's fun," grinned percy, "i forgot you've adopted a thirteen-year-old.... is that even legal?"

are you even legal? she thought, seriously, you're so attractive it hu-

"finally!" called annabeth. she was smiling at barbie before sending a small frown at percy, as well as running down to them, argus behind her on the top of the hill, his eyes all blinking at the same time (which was really, really fucking creepy), "what took you guys so long?"

"my siblings," grumbled barbie, frowning with annoyance as she thought back to what had happened moments before, "bunch of asswipes."

she didn't mean it, really. but right now, their teasing made her way too embarrassed to speak one compliment about any of them.

"asswipes?" repeated percy before he added in a thoughtful tone, "i thought they were really nice. i've never really talked to most of them. except for vel and... nessa," he shivered slightly, looking at his arms as if remembering where nessa's killer crayons ahd stabbed him (and yes, he had actually needed ambrosia to heal from it), "i swear to the gods, nessa hates me."

the statement made barbie laugh slightly before coughing, trying not to show percy she was properly forgiving him. she'd promised annabeth to make his life just a little tricky between them, because he deserved it for leaving them for two weeks. (and hey, barbie didn't necessarily think she was wrong).

her mind suddenly went away from her embarrassment from her siblings as she said, "nessa's a sweetheart really. she just shows her affection to people differently."

"and is that why i get crayons stabbed in my arms but hugs annabeth whenever she sees her?" asked percy, still very unconvinced.

"that's because i don't screw shit up," grumbled annabeth in a sour tone. she looked to percy, sensing she'd gone a bit too far and barbie nodded, agreeing with the thought she guessed was running through her head as annabeth suddenly grinned once more and said, "now c'mon you guys!"

as soon as they knocked on the door to percy's appartment where his mom lived, barbie was panicking. annabeth was shooting her looks, as if to say 'calm down!' or 'please stop making pink mist form around us!'. barbie would've probably responded with something sarcastic or full of her renowned 'barbie attitude', but the door opened before she could. a woman with sparkly blue eyes like the sea opened the door, wearing the biggest smile barbie had ever seen as she pushed a strand of her brown hair behind her ear.

suddenly, without warning, the woman grabbed percy and gave him a bone-crushing hug. and barbie had to stop herself from giggling at percy's squashed face that looked like he was making an excellent impression of a fish.

after finally letting go of percy, the woman grinned and looked to the other girls, before she spoke with an animated and happy voice, "oh annabeth! lovely to see you again an- oh! who's this... percy?" asked the woman barbie assumed was mrs jackson, and gave him a pointed gaze that clearly said: 'introduce her, be polite'.

"uh, well," spoke percy awkwardly, looking as if he was concentrating as he said, "that's barbi- barbara allen. uh... a friend from... camp."

"oh," nodded mrs jackson in a knowing tone before she suddenly gasped and said, "wait! barbara- i know that name! oh, percy's spoke so much about you! it's lovely to put a face to a name! and he wasn't lying when he said you're very pr-"

"mom!" percy suddenly complained, an embarrassed blush on his face as he rushed out awkwardly.

"well, uh..." spoke barbie, panicking in her mind as she stuck out her hand, "nice to meet you, mrs jackson."

"please!" insisted mrs jackson with a bright smile, pulling her in for a hug instead, "call me sally!"

after a long hug from sally jackson, that wasn't as bone-crushing as percy's, barbie was left dazed out of shocked. she knew annabeth said sally was a 'total sweetheart' and amazing. but she never expected this. she looked to annabeth, who was amused after a hug from sally as well, an all barbie could do was mouth the words 'wow'. because there really wasn't any other way to describe sally jackson, mother of the year, because she truly was a 'wow'.

"i told them you were all right," grinned sally with delight as if the weight of the world had been taken off her shoulders, "and i was right!"

sally jackson led them into their humble abode with a happy grin on her face, offering them cookies that were blue (note, don't be scared of the colour. they tasted fucking amazing). she had to hold herself back from cursing in a mix of languages (french, a general language all aphrodite kids knew, ancient greek... annabeth had taught her, and english. which was just the language she always spoke). the cookies sally made could almost past for ambrosia in barbie's mind. they were just the right amount of crispy, without being too dry. they were just the right amount of chewy, but not being too chewy that it felt like you could never swallow it. and it was just the right amount of fudgy. suddenly, barbie realised why percy was so obsessed with his mom's cooking. if she had a parent like that (besides ms garcia, of course) she'd never stop talking about how amazing they were.

"man," she sighed, grabbing another cookie, "sally, you're one of the coolest moms i've ever met. you're tied with ms garcia."

"that's a big thing, mom," nodded percy, "ms garcia is sick. rember last february? val's birthday?"

"and this... val... he's your brother?" asked sally, smiling at barbie.

"yeah," nodded barbie, "me and him and both kids of aphrodite. the godess of love."

"and beauty," added percy, causing barbie to almost choke on her cookie. was he just adding that for knowledge? or was he calling her beautiful? damnit, percy, she thought to herself, stop sending me mixed signals!

after a few moments of silence, sally's demeanour seemed to be dropping as annabeth grabbed a cookie and munched on it silently. suddenly, the only sign of noise was sally sighing slightly as she added as an afterthought of her sigh, "i wish paul were here... he wanted to speak to you."

paul... blowfish? no, blofis! jerald reminded her, the guy sally's dating right? i swear percy talked about this.

he probably did, barbie thought, but thanks for the reminder, jerald.

"oh... right, school," spoke percy, trying to sound neutral about the topic before he added, "what did you tell him?"

sally shook her head, smiling at his curiosity as he said, "what could i say? he knows... something is different about you, percy. he's a smart man.  he believes that you're not a bad person. he doesn't know what's going on, but the school is pressuring him. after all, he got you admitted there, he needs to convince them the fire wasn't your fault. and, since you ran away, that looks bad."

barbie looked to annabeth, slightly alarmed by the news as she mouthed 'fire?'. to which annabeth responded with 'empousa. cheerleaders. rachel. stupid mortal. percy's a dumbass'. and for some reason, she understood perfectly what annabeth was trying to briefly summarise.

the two of them looked back to percy as he began to speak, "after the quest, i'll talk to him. i'll even tell him the truth if you want me to."

"you would do that?" asked sally, a look of surprise mixed with a proud look on her face as she looked at percy.

"well, yeah," spoke percy, not entirely noticing the proud look on his moms face, "i mean, he'll think we're crazy."

"he already thinks that," spoke sally, looking at percy with a slightly amused look on her face.

"well then, we have nothing to loose," grinned percy.

for some reason, seeing percy talk to his mom with such energy and amusement made barbie blush. it was nice seeing him not all focused on a quest, wanting to get it done with. he acted like a normal teenager when he was with his mom. it was nice to see him in a non-dangerous situation. and to be honest, it probably made her fall for him harder.

"thank you percy," smiled sally. she sighed slightly, before looking up as if thinking of something before she added, "i'll tel him when he gets home... but what happens now?"

"well," annabeth said in a sour tone, "percy has this... plan."

annabeth glared at percy as if to say: ' you tell her!' but percy just turned to barbie with those big puppy-eyes that pleaded: 'you tell her'. the two of them kept looking at her. the constant messages of 'percy tell your mom!' and 'barbie, please tell my mom!' went back and forth.

after a few moments of silence full of silent conversations between the three of them, barbie sighed and said, "percy, stop it. just tell your mom your plan."

dang, i never make peace, she grumbled, it's hard.

percy sighed, looking back to his mom. he took in a deep breath, and then, he began to explain the exact plan barbie had heard to mrs jackson. as he went on, she found herself getting angrier and angrier. she hadn't admitted it to herself properly, but she had forgiven percy last night for disappearing for two weeks. but hearing the stupid plan again, it made her angry, jealous and it felt like there was lava churning in her stomach, mixed with the strongest poison. it didn't sit well with her. and she hated it.

"it sounds dangerous," decided sally after a few moments, "but.... it might work."

"you have the same abilities, don't you?" asked percy in an eager tone, "you can see through the mist."

sally, his mom, sighed slightly, "not so much now... when i was younger, it was easier. but yes, i've always been able to see more than what was good for me. it' s one of the things that caught your father's attention when we first met. just be careful. and... promise me you'll be safe. the three of you," added sally.

"we'll try," spoke annabeth.

"we always try," added barbie, before she added as a selfish little jab at percy (that made her feel so much better), "but keeping your son safe is a big job."

"very big," nodded annabeth, a small frown on her face as she stared at percy. barbie could already tell why annabeth was upset. percy, not only being barbie's friend, was annabeth's best friend. they had been through thick and thin with each other. and when percy got landed on ogygia, it probably felt like he was trying to escape her. annabeth was very rpotective of her friends, and didn't like seeing them be far from her. she was clingy like that. but in a good way.

and with the whole quest.... and percy's idea? that definitely hurt annabeht's pride. one time, when barbie and annabeth had been arguing when they were nine, barbie had made the mistake of questioning annabeth and as a result, questioning her intelligence, which hurt annabeth's pride. they didn't speak for three months, the two of them had blown up on each other so bad that barbie had charmspeaked annabeth into a cave full of spiders (it was a mistake. and now they look back on it laughing).

and yeah, what barbie did was bad. but annabeth got her revenge. for two whole weeks, she'd bribed the apollo cabin to give barbie a rhyming curse. meaning for two whole weeks, she spoke in rhyming couplets. after that, she found all her nice jeans had been replaced with low rising jeans (her worst enemy). annabeth had exposed her to her fashion fears, and barbie had exposed her to her greatest fear. after they made up, they decided to call it even.

but ever since then, barbie learnt not to question annabeth's plan. not only because she didn't want to get into another three months argument and feud. but because annabeth's plans were usually always right and showed how to get the true answer.

barbie, just noticing annabeth was still glaring at percy added, "but it's whatever. we'll... try our best." she let out a huff before she added to herself, "maybe your son won't get marooned again. and try blow himself u-"

percy coughed loudly, making barbie pause and look at him with a frown. sally, finally noticing how tense the situation was overall the nice food and quest-talk finally said, "are you guys fighting or something?"

yeah, spoke jerald out loud for the first time, they are.

sally yelped, looking around in panic before barbie rushed out, "sorry, sally. that's jerald. she's a spirit bound to my mist... a gift of aphrodite."

"i... what?"

"don't worry mom," spoke percy with a reassuring smile, "you get used to it. eventually."

barbie swore she was going the right way. one moment, she was with annabeth and percy, trying to stop jerald from egging her on and looking around the shops on the street (seriously, she saw a sephora that was practically calling her name. but she had to remember she was on a quest, and that stuff wasn't allowed). and then, the next moment, she was stood in confusion, looking around in confusion as to where in hades her friends were.

this is totally your fault, she spoke to jerald.

i saw sephora, dude! i can't help the fact i listen to your subconsciousness more than you do!

sephora made me forget about my friends, i needed to resist that jerald! complained barbie.

ugh, fine. but they had a sale. spoke jerald.

now i need t- sale?!

yeah.

fuck the quest, she thought in an impulsive manner, i'm going to sephora.

ok, ok. so it wasn't the best thing she could've done. but all she bought from sephora was some chanel perfume. which, by the way, smelt really nice. but after buying the perfume and spraying it around her, she finally came back to reality and cursed slightly, running around trying to find her friends. it took a few minutes, but when she spotted a familiar blonde walking into a cafe of sorts, she ran to her with a determined look.

"annabeth!" she called, running over to them and jumping onto annabeth's back. out of pure instinct, annabeth stopped walking into the cafe, and carried her. she huffed slightly, and used her leg to push the door open and carry the both of them inside to a table where percy and a familiar red head were sitting at.

"i hate you," huffed annabeth as she dropped barbie, causing her to yelp.

"no you don't," she responded, sliding to a seat beside percy with annabeth sitting in the seat next to her.

"hey! i remember you!" cried the golden girl. which barbie finally chose to acknowledge. there sat rachel elizabeth dare, dressed in gold and covered in it as well. barbie smiled stiffly, not being able to help herself as she let out a weird and jealous giggle. rachel didn't seem to mind, as she continued by saying, "you're barbie!"

"barbara, actually," corrected barbie before she added with a large fake smile, "but most people call me barbie."

"cool beans," nodded rachel, looking quite relaxed around three demigods that could potentially attract enough monsters to sell out ever drink the shop offered.

"so... do you usually dress like, you're made of gold?" giggled barbie, jealousy burning inside her as she saw rachel stare at percy.

rachel looked away from percy and turned to answer barbie's question, "not really. we're raising money for our group, we do volunteer art projects for elementary kids... 'cause they're cutting art from the school, you know? we do this once a month, take in about five hundred dollars on a good weekend. but i'm guessing you don't want to talk about it. so... you're half-bloods too, right? like percy?"

"well gods," grumbled barbie to herself, "it's not as if i was there last winter. you know, the girl who nearly fucking stabbed your stupid mortal as-"

"don't go fucking announcing it!" hissed annabeth, looking around quickly in panic.

what rachel did next, should have been funny to barbie, if she wasn't repeating in her mind the gaze rachel had sent to percy, which was consequently fueling all her of jealousy as of now. that, and the fact rachel didn't seem to understand the actual severity of what was happening. the lesser redhead (not in... an oppressive way. just... barbie was battling for number one redhead right now) stood up and yelled out really (really) loudly, "hey everybody! these three aren't human! they're half greek god!"

nobody really cared. nobody even looked up from what they were doing. barbie let out a few curse words as she whispered to annabeth, "let me charmspeak her into a wall. please let me charmspeak her into running headfirst into it. pretty please-"

"later."

she didn't say no, added jerald in a helpful tone to barbie's sudden grumpy demeanor.

"that was not funny," spoke annabeth, her slightly humorous tone she'd used with barbie dropped as she glared at rachel elizabeth (seriously, what was so important about her second name) dare, "this is no joke, mortal girl."

"hold it, you two." frowned percy, staring at barbie as if he'd heard exactly what she'd whispered to annabeth, "just... calm down."

"oh, i'm calm," rachel insisted in a joking tone, "every time i'm around you, some monster attacks us. what's to be nervous about?"

"look," sighed percy, "i'm sorry about the band room. i hope they didn't kick you out or anything."

"nah," responded rachel, waving it off as if it were nothing to witness a monster from ancient greece that had tried to kill percy, "they asked me a lot of questions about you. but i just played dumb."

"and that was easy for you, right?" taunted barbie.

"probably not," added annabeth, frowning as she inched closer to barbie, as if scared rachel would steal her too.

"okay stop!" called percy, " rachel, we've got a problem. and we need your help."

rachel narrowed her eyes, looking at barbie and annabeth as if she didn't believe they needed her help, "you two need my help?"

"i don't," shrugged barbie, sitting back, fiddling with the small contained of perfume in her hands as percy elbowed her softly.

annabeth, however, stirred her smoothie that rachel had passed to her and sipped at it before adding in a sullen tone, "yeah. maybe."

"just tell your plan, water boy," huffed barbie, snatching annabeth's smoothie and taking a sip for herself.

percy looked to the two of them, annabeth suddenly turning childish as she tried to grab her smoothie back, but barbie held it up high as she sipped some, grinning, trying to ignore rachel and percy. she watched out of the corner of her eye as percy turned to rachel and told her all about the labyrinth and how they needed to find daedalus. percy told her what had happened the last few times they'd gone in. and barbie almost had to restrain herself from talking about how he got marooned.

"so you want me to guide you," she said, "through a place i've never been."

"you can see through the mist," shrugged percy, "just like ariadne-"

"personally," called barbie, "i've never really liked ariadne. why do we need a mortal compass? hm?"

percy glared at her, as if warning her to be nice before he continued, "i'm betting you can see the right path. the labyrinth won't be able to fool you as easily."

"and if you're wrong?" questioned rachel, an eyebrow raised.

"i knew this was useless," grumbled annabeth to barbie as she stole back her smoothie, "what's the point?"

"tell me about it," grumbled barbie, hating the fact rachel was talking so easily to percy. it was like he was almost a normal teen. she was so calm and relaxed, not violent like barbie at all. heck, even her red hair was nicer. it was naturally curled, looking perfect whilst hers had been accidentally curled, looking shitty compared to rachel's.

"-then we'll get lost. either way, it'll be dangerous. very, very dangerous," spoke percy, trying to sound serious.

"i could die?" asked rachel.

"yeah."

rachel furrowed her eyebrows as if confused about the fact the labyrinth could possibly kill her (and honestly, what was so confusing about that?), "i thought you said monsters don't care about mortals. that sword of yours, and her dagger-"

"yeah," percy said, "celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals. most monsters would ignore you. but luke... he doesn't care. he'll use mortals, demigods, monsters, whatever. and he'll kill anyone who gets in his way."

"nice guy," rachel said.

"real nice," mused barbie in a sarcastic tone as she sipped some of annabeth's smoothie after stealing it again, "i loved it when he kidnapped annabeth. the kindest gesture-"

"-he's under the influence of a titan," annabeth said defensively, snatching back the smoothie, "he's been deceived."

rachel looked back and forth between them, "okay. seems legit," she shrugged before finally saying, "i'm in."

"are you sure?" asked percy, "as we said.. it is dangerous."

"hey, my summer was going to be boring. this is the best offer i've had yet. so what do i look for?" asked rachel, seeming to already be invested in the idea of semi-certain death.

"we have to find an entrance to the labyrinth," annabeth explained, still looking icy and defensive as she explained to rachel, "there's an entrance at camp half-blood, but you can't go there. it's off-limits to mortals."

"okay. what does an entrance to the labyrinth look like?"

"it could be anything," annabeth spoke, "a section of wall. a boulder. a doorway. a sewer entrance. but it would have the mark of daedalus on it. a greek delta, glowing in blue."

"like this?" rachel drew the symbol Δ in water on their table.

"that's it," annabeth said, looking slightly impressed with rachel, "you know greek?"

"no," rachel said simply. she pulled a big blue plastic hairbrush from her pocket and started brushing the gold out of her hair, "let me get changed. you'd better come with me to the marriott."

"why?" annabeth asked.

"because there's an entrance like that in the hotel basement, where we store our costumes. it's got the mark of daedalus." explained rachel, a small smile on her face.

"for fuck sake," mumbled barbie, "how could this all get any worse?"

"probably will," grumbled annabeth, the two of them definitely not enjoying rachel helping them.

barbie really loved the labyrinth. it was really great. she loved the vibe about it, you know? lovely and dark, full of skeletons and monsters. the whole package deal. she assumed it definitely had five stars on yelp. for sure.

but do you know what she loved most about the labyrinth? it wasn't the fact anything could kill her at any moments. no. it wasn't the fact that it was dark and parts of it smelt really, really bad. no, the thing that took the cake was the fact she was running from something she couldn't see.

a sound came from behind them. and barbie looked to annabeth, who seemed to not be exactly sure what was behind them. barbie turned to percy next, and asked him, "run?"

"yeah... run," confirmed percy.

a second later, and they turned and fle the way they'd come. but they hadn't even made it six meters before they ran straight into a bunch of monsters. there were two dracaenae (snake woman) in greek armour, levelling their javelins at their chest. standing in between them, was an empousa cheerleader. barbie turned to percy, an alarmed look on her face as he mouthed 'kelli'.'

"well, well," kellie said with a grin.

instantly, barbie flicked her sunglasses down to form heartbreaker, her dagger. simultaneously, percy uncapped riptide and annabeth pulled out her knife. they were about to striek, but before they could even move or do anything, kelli had pounced on rachel. she had her hand turned into a claw and she sound rachel around, holding her tight, with her talons at rachel's neck.

"taking your little mortal pet for a walk?" kelli cooed, looking deranged as she held rachel tighter, "they're such fragile things... so easy to break!"

behind them, the footsteps came closer. and a huge form appeared out of the gloom, a three-metre-tall laistrygonian giant with red eyes and fangs. he looked like he'd just stepped out of a budget-cut dracula movie. either that, or he looked like hagrid ( a half giant from cherry's favourite book series) had a love child with dracula. barbie really did have the urge to ask the giant if her needed help with his skincare routine, but she couldn't look at it without cringing out of disgust and fear. the giant licked their lips when he saw them, as if they were his next meal (which they quite possibly could be).

"can i eat them?" asked the giant simply, his voice sounding monotonous and low.

"no," kellie spoke, before she smiled sinisterly, "your master will want these. they'll provide a great deal of entertainment. now... march, half-bloods! or you all die here, starting with the mortal girl."

"can i say something?" asked barbie innocently.

the dracaenae and the giant looked to kelli, who nodded slightly, sighing as she said, "yes, what is it, daughter of aphrodite?"

"you're a bitch," she pointed out, not even caring if kelli killed her at this point. she then turned to the giant and pointed to his face, "and you, need a skincare routine. your face is atrocious." she then turned to the two dracaenae and spoke in a mocking tone, "what's that? greek armour? sweetie, greek armour is so last millennia."

"watch your mouth, daughter of aphrodite," hissed kelli, glaring at her, "or you'll be next."

they marched down the tunnel flanked by dracaenae, with kelli and the giant at the back, just in case they tried to run for it. there was nobody in front of them, guardian them. the monsters seemed to not be worried about them running forward. they walked a bit more, and up head, barbie could see bronze doors. they were about three and a half meters tall, emblazoned with a pair of crossed swords. and from behind the doors came a muffled roar, like a crowd.

"oh, yessssss," said the snake woman on percy's left, "you'll be very popular with our hossssst."

"who's your host?" percy asked, looking wary.

she hissed, which might have been a laugh, "oh, you'll sssssee. you'll get along famousssly. he'ssss your brother, after all."

"my what?"

the giant pushed past us and opened the doors. he picked up annabeth and barbie by their shirts and said, "you stay here."

"hey!" she protested, but the guy was twice her size and he'd already confiscated her knife and percy's sword.

"let me go, you brute!" cried barbie, trying to use her charmspeak, "you want to let me go, right?"

it seemed the giant couldn't hear her because the charmspeak had no effect on him and barbie let out a frustrated growl as she felt the dagger in her hand be yanked away. kelli laughed. she still had her claws at rachel's neck as she said, "go on, percy. entertain us. we'll wait here with your friends to make sure you behave."

percy looked at rachel, "i'm sorry. i'll get you out of this."

she nodded as much as she could with a demon at her throat, "that would be nice."

"are you usually this sarcastically optimistic in life or death situations, or is this the gold seeping into your skin?" snapped barbie, trying to break free. she let out another growl as she tried to swing her legs, trying to kick the giant, "let me go you asswipe! i'll fucking batter you! you'll be black and blue by the time i'm done with you!"

"aggressive," nodded the giant, not really bothered by barbie's death threats.

the dracaenae prodded percy towards the doorway at javelin-point, and he walked out onto the floor of an arena.

"percy!" barbie yelled.

annabeth shouted after her, "his mother is gaia! gai-"

and then, the fight began.

watching your best friend also known as the guy you have a crush on getting beat up is not a cool thing to experience. percy was getting bruised and barbie was pretty sure that some of those must-have hurt like a bitch. she may not have experienced the pain, but by the pain radiating from percy and the wince she had seen, he was clearly in pain, even after round two.

she didn't really know what to do. she was stuck next to annabeth, watching percy try to fight, to run away, and to charge again. and by the look on annabeth's face, she didn't seem to impressed with his battle strategy.

but then, he did something which was actually smart (not really). he took something out of his pocket that looked like a whistle and blew. it made no audible sound as it shattered into shards of ice, melting in his hand. luke laughed, "what was that supposed to do?"

"percy blowing a fucking whistle won't help us!" screeched barbie, trying to project her anger at him instead of her fear that he might actually die this time.

she was wrong, by the way. because from behind percy came a surprised yelp. the laistrygonian giant who'd been guarding barbie and annabeth flew past percy and smashed into the wall.

"aroooof!"

kelli the empousa screamed as a two-hundred-kilogram black mastiff picked her up like a chew toy and tossed her through the air, straight into luke's lap. mrs o'leary snarled, and the two dracaenae guards backed away. for a moment the monsters in the audience were caught completely by surprise.

"let's go!" percy yelled to them, "heel, mrs o'leary!"

"the far exit!" rachel cried, "that's the right way!"

together, they raced away, with mrs o'leary close behind them. as they ran through the labyrinth, barbie's legs began to burn. but she pushed herself to keep running. she was a fair runner after spending around seven years at camp doing training. but even so, she could still hear the disorganized sounds of an entire army behind them, trying to jump out of the stands and follow them.

rosie speaks!

thoughts you guys??

theories??

headcanons??

i'm not entirely back from my
semi-hiatus. but since it's a free
day for me with no school i thought
i'd post a little something to keep
you all entertained!

i hope you guys liked the chapter!!
<<33

word count: 6,180 words