Mark's POV

I slowly turned away from the wall and faced Dan and Phil. "Why did a wall just materialize?"

Dan walked forward and put his hand against the wall while Phil put his hands up defensively. "Don't look at us. We didn't ask to throw the plan down the drain."

"What do ya think Anti was gonna say?" Jack asked, pulling his attention away from the wall and toward me.

I shook my head. "I have no idea. How would we fill everyone in on what happened down here without explaining it?"

"They may have already found out somehow," Logan suggested. "But Anti has no way of knowing what's happening in the human world, so he must've meant something else."

"I hate breaking up this conversation, but shouldn't we be more focused on the task at hand?" Dan questioned. "I mean, a wall just appeared out of thin air. It just happened to separate Anti and Dark from the rest of us, but didn't block our path to the door."

"Are you suggesting that we're expected to go down that staircase?" Thomas asked.

"I'm just saying that the wall was placed very strategically. Leaving us to the door, but keeping Anti and Dark out in the hallway."

Phil's eyes widened. "Someone knows we're here."

"There's no way of knowing for sure, but that's what I think," Dan replied. "And I'll give you one guess who."

"It'd likely be Felix," Phil murmured, barely audible.

"Bingo."

"That's just a guess, though," Jack retorted. "It's just as likely that none of that is what's really going on."

I nodded in agreement. "I think we should continue with the plan. Anti and Dark have probably already begun searching for Felix. I say we complete our side of the mission."

Thomas smiled confidently. "Plus, we still have Chica!" Chica barked excitedly at the mention of her name. "We should be able to complete our task pretty easily. Not to mention Anti and Dark seemed to be the ones getting singled out. I don't think anyone expects us to put up much of a fight."

"All the more reason for us to go cause as much trouble as possible!" Jack cheered.

Dan and Phil exchanged glances. Dan turned back to face the rest of us and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, I commented, "You know, the two of you do that quite a lot."

They glanced at each other again. "Do what?" Phil asked.

"I've hardly known the both of you for an hour and I've noticed it, too," Jack replied. "You look at each other—for what I assume is reassurance—literally all the time." Thomas nodded in agreement, but Logan seemed about ready to burst into laughter.

Phil smiled shyly. "I-It's, umm..."

"I like the way his face looks?" Dan suggested his answer.

Logan smirked. "Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason."

Both Dan and Phil's cheeks lit up. "Can we stop talking about this?" Dan irritatedly asked.

"Sure, just as soon as you explain it," Jack replied.

Logan looked at Dan and Phil, then to me and Jack. "No one ever explained the basics of demons to you, did they?"

"I thought the basics were that they all had wings and met literally no stereotype of demons at all," Jack responded.

"Well, every now and then, some demons are born with special talents that develop once they turn eighteen. Dan and Phil–"

"We aren't talking about this right now!" Dan yelled, causing all of the attention in the area to fall on him.

"I agree with Dan!" Phil quickly added. "If it becomes important, you'll find out."

Jack and I looked at each other while Logan sighed, "You'd better explain all of this before they leave. You wouldn't want the human versions–"

"Shut up!" Dan and Phil yelled in sync.

Thomas approached the door. "We should be getting back to the mission now, right?"

"Aww, you don't want to get them to spill?" Logan asked, sounding genuinely disappointed.

"No, I'd rather not get on their bad side," Thomas replied as he opened the door.

Behind the door were two staircases, one leading up and one leading down. The one leading down was dimly lit and had dust collecting on the railings, while the one leading up was brightly lit, with golden railings. Both staircases had black carpets with bright blue lines on the sides.

"They said the dungeon was downward, right?" Thomas asked.

Logan nodded while Dan answered, "Should be."

We all walked through the door, Chica trotting steadily beside me, and began making our way down the staircase. While we walked, Jack attempted to start a conversation. "So some demons have special talents?"

Logan nodded. "Yeah, and for some reason, they're embarrassed by them."

"Okay," Jack continued, "but what kind of talents are they?"

"I guess 'talents' isn't really the right word to describe them as. They're more like...powers?" Logan replied as we turned a bend. "Something similar to that, I suppose."

"I'd say 'curse' is closer to the right word," Dan grumbled from behind us.

Phil chuckled, "Oh come on. It isn't that bad!"

"That's because you've gotten used to it," Dan replied through gritted teeth. Phil stared at Dan for a second before Dan sighed, "Whatever. It isn't important right now. We should be more focused on getting Percy out."

After we walked down a few more flights of stairs, we reached a small landing. There was a door on the opposite wall from the staircase. We all stood on the landing while Logan went over the plan, "The first thing we need to do is find Percy, assuming they haven't moved him yet. We only have an hour before the execution, so we need to move fast. How do we get Chica to sniff him out?"

There was a short pause before Thomas replied, "Did Dark ever explain how to do that?"

"He just said that she would pick up his scent," Dan answered before frowning. "If she isn't charging at the door, do you think she smells him at all?"

Jack clenched his hands into fists and marched to the door. He wrapped his hand around the doorknob. "We've come too far for this plan to fall apart. Dark said that Chica would pick up on Percy's scent once we get close enough. All we have to do is walk Chica around the dungeon until she gets his scent."

He turned the door handle and swung the door open. We followed Jack into a dark hallway. Small noises were sounding from all around us, but what caught my attention was the occasional person yelling something along the lines of, "Get out while you can," in a weak voice.

I shuddered. "Well, this is just as bad as I imagined it."

"I second that," Thomas replied, taking a deep breath.

"Come on!" Phil tried to encourage us. "Just like Jack said, all we have to do is walk Chica around!"

I heard Jack gulp from beside me. "Yeah, just walk Chica...where'd Chica go?"

I reached down to my side but didn't feel her. "Damn," I muttered before looking around us.

"She's still in the stairwell," Logan commented, nodding his head toward the stairs. Sure enough, Chica was sitting next to the stairs, wagging her tail with a tilted head.

I bent down slightly and called Chica over. She trotted to me happily and looked up at me. "You smell Percy?" I asked in a tone I would use with a small child. Chica continued staring at me while she licked her nose, then sat down. I straightened up and sighed, "So we just walk her around?"

Jack nodded. "Yup."

We began walking throughout the dungeon with Chica trailing behind. Every now and then, one of the prisoners would reach out of their cell and touch one of us. According to Dan, they only seemed to be stroking him.

We turned a corner, and that was when Chica's tail stopped wagging. Her head pulled up and her ears perked. However, she didn't move.

"What do you think she's waiting on?" Thomas whispered.

"Well, trained dogs normally wait for commands. Maybe she's waiting for one of us to say something," Logan answered.

Everyone's heads turned to me. "What?" I asked.

"You're Dark's human side," Phil explained. "You'd be the person to know something like this."

"My Chica doesn't have a lot of commands. Just basic stuff and she has trouble with that most of the time."

"Alright, Chica!" Jack began in an excited tone. "Follow that smell!"

Chica darted off down the hallway to the right. I stared at Jack. "How did you know that would work?"

Jack shrugged. "If I'd helped raise Chica, I would've made commands like that."

Everyone seemed to shrug that comment off except for me and Thomas. "Yeah, but how did that work?" Thomas questioned. "Did you help raise Chica in the Underworld?"

"Don't forget that Anti and Dark do live together," Phil replied. "It kind of makes sense."

"It doesn't matter! Follow that dog!" Dan shouted.

A/N

I'm sooooo excited for summerrrrr

Please just let school be overrrrr

I've had almost no free time the past couple of weeks because of homework and ugh

Anyways, BUH-BYE BROTATOES!