A/N: Yo! hehheh this isn't awkward at all. It's not like I haven't posted in over a year or something! wait a second...

Seriously, though I'm really sorry I haven't updated in forever. At least these are just lil ficlets and not full-length, complete-with-plot-and-actual-grammar-fics, right? Anyway, I was searching through my documents and I found this lil guy from last Halloween. I didn't do a grammar check on it, although I did come at it with some major shearing tools (because this ficlet was UGLY m'dears) but hopefully it makes sense and everything. I know it's not seasonally relevant, but I meant to post this during Halloween 2015, so it was back then. Oh, well. :( Hopefully I'll get better at updating. Speaking of that- enjoy!

Disclaimer: do not own characters (although I'd like to)

Chapter 10: Halloween

The Haunted Hedge Maze wasn't that scary. Underneath all of the low-budget costumes and makeup and the even worse props, Percy could tell that these were just normal teenagers, pretending to be zombies or haunted dolls just trying to make a couple extra bucks during Halloween season and have some fun.

But nobody else in his group thought so.

The first to bail, surprisingly, had been Jason, even with him "all geared up" for the night with his scary movie marathon. Percy, however, upon seeing Jason's reaction to the "Haunted" Maze (that wasn't really a maze at all), suspected that it had merely been Piper's influence that had convinced Jason to watch any scary movies, let alone marathon them. He left muttering to himself about popcorn and Piper and he screamed at the top of his lungs when a guy with a chainsaw leaped out at him right before he reached the exit.

Frank had almost bailed at the "fire demon" portion of the trail (which was too oddly specific to scare Percy or the rest of the group), but Hazel coaxed Frank into staying. In the end, it was Hazel who'd left, too creeped out by the zombie dentist patients to continue.

The rest of the group stuck together in a big clump. Annabeth and Percy in the lead, Frank clutching Piper's shoulder in a way that looked painful, and Reyna trailing behind the group, looking as unperturbed as Percy felt. They stuck like that until Bozo the evil clown came out, face alight with a malicious grin, a mysterious red substance trailing down his mouth, and eyes that seemed to glow in the night. That was it for Frank, who had been dying to leave since Hazel's exit mere minutes ago.

Piper and Reyna made it another few passes through the maze, but they broke at the living dolls. "They had no souls," Reyna protested when Nico, upon hearing the tale of the Haunted Trail, called her a chicken.

Finally it was just him and Annabeth. In a way, Percy was sort of relieved that it was just the two of them left. Who knew what cute couple moments would spawn out of this horror sequence?

And while his friends had been terrified enough to leave, it was Annabeth that had almost broken their mortal covers in the next room. It had started with soft scuttling noises that gradually gained volume until giant spiders descended from the ceiling. Annabeth lost it. She swung her sword wildly, fake spider web debris trailing her, as she made a mad dash for the exit. But someone had a cruel sense of humor, because just as Annabeth was about to leave the tent, a spider, bigger than the rest descended right in front of the door.

Annabeth didn't even scream. She just froze up and refused to move, even though it clearly looked rubber.

But Percy wasn't about to take any chances, so he scooped her up, pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, and ran as fast as he could.

A/N: Liked it? Hated it? Leave some constructive criticism or, better yet, praise, to stroke my ego. (Like I need it.) But seriously, go review! It is greatly appreciated, and honestly all your reviews have made me feel SO guilty this past year for not updating, so just know you finally broke me. This all sounds really bad. What I'm trying to say is that your reviews have really inspired me to get back into fic-writing and they just plain make my day. :D Thank you to everyone who commented/favorited!

ALSO: important! If you would be a dear and leave me a prompt in the reviews, that would be great. My mind has run dry of ideas that make any coherent sense, so leave a prompt and I will get back to you ASAP! I would love to write them, just know I won't do them proper justice. But please, please, please leave a prompt.

xx love ya!

~ StrawberryofLife ~