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Lewis turned his face so Michael couldn't see his scowl, but he held his tongue from saying anything too scathing.
"…Easy?" he remarked, trying not to laugh at the sheer hubris that lurked underneath words like those.
My gods, who does this guy think he is? Many a demigod has died down here, and he has the nerve to call it easy?
"Well, the instructions are easy. Not actually doing them."
Addy stopped, and signaled for everyone else to stop as well. She heard a noise, like a loud thud sound ahead of them, followed by some hissing. "Oh gods," she whispered. "I think it's an Echidna."
(Isn't there only one Echidna?)
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"An echidna?" Lewis murmured, "There's only one Echidna, and- a-are you even sure?"
He made sure his crossbow was ready again.
Michael glanced forward. "Should we go for it or head back?"
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"Well, yes and no. There's also an animal echidna, but this one… this one is a snake lady- mother of monsters," Lewis explained quickly, "Do we even have anywhere to turn back? Or another direction to take?"
(Sorry, greek monster grammar is difficult to remember…)
"Maybe it's not," Addy ventured. Why is that the first thing I thought of? There are other snake monsters. but then she thought a little longer. Argus had killed Echidna, but Zeus had allowed her and her children to live to torture future heroes. Her children were most of the monsters that they fought, but everyone knew that she was still out there. It was possible that the gods had put her in the labyrinth…
"Run," she whispered to everyone, and she bolted down a tunnel to her left, away from the hissing.
"Keep formation!" Michael whispered harshly, grabbing Addy by her sleeve. "You never know what you'll run into in the Labyrinth."
"We can stay in formation while running," Addy whispered, jerking her arms away. The hissing behind them grew angrier and faster, and with a chill, Addy realized they were being followed.
Michael turned towards the noise and held his gun ready. "C'mon, let's go."
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Lewis held his place in the formation. He once again checked his crossbow and cast a glance over his shoulder.
"Do we have a chance of getting away?" he whispered.
"We won't know unless we do it," Zyra whispered back, throwing glances back every so often. "And, Addy, why don't you try blinding it with your light?"
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"Won't that give us away?" Lewis asked, "It's fine if we're going to fight, but…"
He shuddered at the thought. He'd had enough monsters for the day. LEwis' jaw was clenched tightly with all the tension and fear that sat in his chest.
"If it comes to it, I'll do whatever I need to to get it away from us. But there's still a chance we can get away."
"Step lightly, but quickly," Michael said. "Let's go."
"I could try and blind with, but with darkness," Zyra muttered quietly, looking tense as they walked.
"So what exactly is the plan here?" Daisy asked, arching an eyebrow. "Run, unless we can't? Are we fighting or not?" She wasn't exactly good at planning, and at this point she didn't even know why she argued with them. But this uncertainty was putting her on edge.
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"Well, if we can't come to a consensus," Lewis grumbled, "I think we're unfortunately going to be fighting."
He was trembling, to the point he wasn't sure if he could aim his crossbow. But he'd try and do what he could to help the group.
"Yeah, well now we're going to fight now that you've talked loudly when sneaking away from a large monster." Michael made sure his gun was loaded and kept it ready. "Melee fighters to the front, ranged people stay here."
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Lewis felt a rush of anger pass over him. Gods, that guy pissed him off. He moved towards the edge of the group, his gaze trained on the darkness in front of them as he waited to see what he might be shooting at. Still seething, he noted to himself that it wasn't worth protesting against Michael- at least not now.
Daisy rolled her eyes and went to the front of the group. This guy was getting on her nerves as well, though she had no great love for anyone in the group. All she’d wanted was to know what they were doing but apparently that led to them having to fight. At least she’d be ready, she decided as she pulled out her knives and steeled herself.
Sweat beaded on Addy's forehead, and she stood with her bow ready. She would have to work on some teamwork exercises if they survived this.
Everyone waited in silence, the tension radiating off the walls. The sound of shuffling approached them, and Addy held her breath in anticipation. The monster rounded the wall, and…
"Mrs. O'Leary?" Addy said, lowering her bow. The massive dog pawed at the earth and lolled her tongue, clearly happy to see some friends.
"Thank the gods," Daisy sighed, relaxing. "I thought we were about to get killed. You guys have really got to learn some teamwork." She completely ignored the fact that she hadn't been much of a help, either, but whether she didn't care or didn't realize was unclear.
Ignoring Daisy's comment, Addy approached the dog and pet her enlarged snout. "Hey, girl," she said gentle. The dog wagged her tail. "What are you doing down here?" of course she didn't speak hellhound, but she was still happy that her friend was here. She felt a little bit if hope, too. Maybe Percy or Nico had sent her.
"Can you get us out of here?" she asked, and Mrs O'Leary made a little whining sound. "We should all get on her back," Addy decided. "She's big enough to hold us, even if it's a little squished."
"Fine." Michael holstered his gun.
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“Talk about lucky,” Lewis mused, “I’ve never been happier to see a hellhound in my life.”
He walked up and stroked the dog’s ear.
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