Mark's POV

After Jack and Thomas sluggishly picked themselves up off the ground, all of us began walking in the direction where Dark and Anti had taken out the guards. As we walked, we quietly went over the plan.

"Where are we supposed to go while the four of you distract Felix? Where's Percy specifically?" Thomas asked.

"All I know is that he's locked up in the dungeon, and to be perfectly honest, I have no idea where that is," Anti replied.

"So how are we supposed to find it?" Jack inquired. "I don't imagine they'll have a huge sign that says 'Come see the soon to be executed boy! Straight ahead and to your left!'"

"Not likely, but I wouldn't be all that surprised if that's exactly what happens," Dan murmured.

I stopped walking, getting everyone's attention. "I'm asking a question and we aren't repeating what happened last time."

Dan and Phil exchanged glances. I got the feeling neither of them had heard the full story. Anti spoke, "The only way to repeat what happened last time is for you to be upset with the reply."

"Then I won't be upset with the reply, but I need you all to answer truthfully. What the hell happened between you guys and Felix? When I first mentioned him, all of you got super uptight, and now you're all saying that you know him fairly well. I'm assuming that means that at some point in time, all of you were friends."

Silence fell over the hallway. It was relieved a moment later when Dark mumbled, "At one point, yes."

Logan's ears almost seemed to perk up. "Doesn't that mean–"

Anti, with a worried expression, slammed his hand over Logan's mouth. "We aren't talking about the past. We aren't talking about how we know Felix. That's all a story for another time. Right now, we really need to focus on saving Percy. Mark, I promise, I'll explain how we know Felix later, but right now I kind of just don't want to think about it."

Without pause, Jack commented, "If Felix hurt any of you in any way, I'd be happy to slap the human version. Just give me the word."

"I'd slap the demon version if he hurt any of you guys," I added. "Jack slaps the human version, I slap the demon version. That works out, right?"

"I'll have more fun doing my part, but yeah, that works," Jack chuckled slightly.

Dan and Phil glanced at each other with knowing looks. Dan grumbled, "I think I know someone you could slap instead."

Phil elbowed him slightly while Anti stared daggers at him. "You need to stop making assumptions," Phil whispered to Dan.

Dark seemed confused, but shrugged it off and scratched Chica's head. I was beginning to feel like Anti knew something no one else did. Dan was probably figuring it out, but Phil seemed to not believe whatever theory Dan had come up with. Dark seemed to be either completely oblivious to what was happening, or he was simply trying to stay out of it.

Whatever the case, like always, I had more questions. "I know you said that you don't want to talk about it, but did Felix betray one of you, or did one of you betray Felix?"

"We aren't talking about this right now," Anti decided. "We need to stay focused on finding out where the dungeon is. Any ideas?"

"Aren't dungeons typically underground?" Thomas asked. "Maybe a basement."

All of us started walking again while Dark replied, "That sounds like a good place to start. Once we get up here a bit farther, we need to split up into the two groups."

"Yup," Anti continued, "Dark, Dan, Phil, and I will go find and distract Felix. Mark, Jack, Thomas, and Logan will go get Percy."

"Quick question: Where are we going to meet back up once we've saved Percy?" Logan inquired.

"Follow up question," Jack pointed at Chica, "where's she going to go?"

Dark peeked around a corner while Dan suggested an answer, "We could meet back up at the window we came in through."

Thomas nodded. "Sounds good–"

"What about Chica?!" Jack excitedly asked.

Phil chuckled, "She should probably go with you guys. She's actually relatively good at tracking people by scent."

"Chica can help us find Percy?" I questioned as I bent down and scratched her back.

"Yeah?" Dark replied, sounding confused. "Isn't the Chica in the human world an incredible tracker?"

I stared at him for a moment. "Umm, not particularly, no."

"Really?" Anti asked. "The Chica here is a police dog. How is your Chica 'not particularly good' at tracking?"

I shrugged while Jack replied, "Maybe she has special talents that none of us know about."

"That isn't exactly important at the moment," Dan stepped into the conversation. "Shouldn't we be more focused on putting the plan into action?"

"Right!" Dark exclaimed as he led us around the corner. He stopped in front of a door labeled 'Knights Only'. "Alright, if I remember correctly, behind this door should be a set of staircases. You need to take the one that leads down. Once you start getting close to the bottom, ask Chica to find Percy. She should lead you to wherever Percy is. I assume the four of you can fight well?"

Jack and I nodded, but Thomas and Logan seemed to be thinking about it. "I could probably figure it out," Thomas guessed.

"That's good enough for me. What about you, Logan?" Dark turned to face the embarrassed demon.

There was a second of silence before Logan answered, "I've, uh, actually never been in a fight, so I wouldn't know."

"I find that hard to believe seeing as you're the most annoying–"

I covered Jack's mouth. "We'll cover you, don't worry."

"Wait, how have you never been in a fight?" Phil asked. "Isn't there a law somewhere that you have to have been in a fight to get your wings?"

"I guess I've just never been in a fight where I've had to punch someone." Logan shrugged.

"So you do debate?" Anti smirked.

"No, I'm just really good at dodging. I guess people get tired of swinging their punches and just leave."

I saw Jack smirk out of the corner of my eye. "So I could practice my punches and you would dodge them?"

Logan sent Jack a skeptical glance. "I'd imagine so, why?"

Jack shrugged. "No reason in particular." His glance moved from Logan to Anti.

Anti smirked and took a step toward Logan. He got into a punching stance before swinging his first at full power toward the back of Logan's head. Logan's ears seemed to perk up, similar to a dog's, before he ducked down and dove to the left. Anti proceeded to barely miss Jack's nose.

Logan sprung up from the floor. "Rude."

"It was worth a shot," Jack replied, smiling slyly.

"Please don't go down in our history books as the loons who tried to save a thirteen-year-old from execution, but ended up killing each other instead," Dark grumbled.

"I would only hurt Logan," Jack muttered under his breath.

"I heard that!" Logan yelled.

"We're supposed to be here secretly. Could you all at least try not to make so much noise?" Dan asked as he looked around, making sure no knights were coming for us.

Dark nodded. "To get ourselves back on topic, Mark, Jack, Logan, and Thomas need–"

"And Chica!" Jack interrupted.

Dark sighed, "Yes, and Chica, need to go down the stairs until Chica can pick up Percy's scent."

"How long will you guys be able to distract Felix?" I inquired.

"As long as it takes," Anti replied.

"We'll know if everything worked out by the execution being delayed or canceled. The second you get Percy, get back to the window we came in through. We'll meet you guys there, then we'll go down to the car and drive back home," Phil explained optimistically.

"Then, we get to go back to our world," Jack added, grinning at me.

I chuckled quietly, "Can't wait to try to explain this."

"You," Anti took a deep breath, "you might not have to. Explain everything, I mean."

Jack and I glanced at each other, then looked at Anti. "What do you mean–"

Before I could ask my question, a wall fell between the group of us, separating Anti and Dark from everyone else.

There were a few seconds of silence before Phil asked, "I guess all of us are going to go get Percy?"

A/N

OKAY SO I TOOK ONE OF THOSE TESTS SO THAT I DIDN'T HAVE TO DO ALGEBRA 1 AND I THOUGHT I COMPLETELY FAILED THE TEST AND I'VE BEEN STRESSING OVER IT FOR THE LONGEST TIME.

IT JUST SO HAPPENS THAT I SCORED WELL ENOUGH TO TAKE HONORS GEOMETRY AND I JUST *SCREAMING*

I'M SO HAPPY YESSSSS

Anyways, BUH-BYE BROTATOES!