A/N: Hi. Hope you all enjoy chapter 7.

Amy POV

I kept hearing this fly buzzing around my head. At least, that's what I thought at first. However, as we progressed down the hallway and the buzzing continued and even increased in noise, I began to feel the hair on my arms stand up. A sense of dread began to form in me for some unknown reason.

A sort of itchy nervousness surrounded me. A memory was tugging at the back of my mind. I knew what the buzzing was. I just couldn't reach it. This was going to bother me now.

I felt more than heard Jason slip closer to me. His warm hand rested on the small of my back. It was comforting, though unnecessary. I wasn't some damsel in distress. I could handle walking down a hallway in enemy territory.

We continued walking down the hallway. This one seemed so much longer than the others, yet it held only a few doors. Most likely they few rooms were large ones, but it was still unsettling. If it hadn't been a Madrigal base before, I would have thought we entered some medieval fun house revamped for a carnival.

Jason had moved to my side now, slightly jostling me over so he was between me and the wall. His hand slid up to my shoulder.

Hazel began to slow down up ahead. I could see another fork in the path, but unlike the first time, she wasn't touching the wall.

Percy, having switched with Jason as the back guard, took a wide berth from us, I noted as he moved slightly past us. I felt Jason's head shift next to me, most likely nodding at his cousin.

And then he shoved me.

I looked up from Percy's arms in time to see Jason light up like lightning. A huge boom! went off like exploding dynamite.

"Jason!" Please don't let him be dead. I can't lose any more. Please.

But, no. There he was.

Jason was bathed in a frightening display of lightning. The air crackled and popped. The electricity—that's what it had to be—seemed to skitter and weave around him. Now I could understand all the religious artwork, with the angels surrounded in a halo of light. This, however, wasn't comforting—it was terrifying and awe inspiring. The blonde demigod didn't seem to be hurt as he was just standing there, unmoving with his head tilted down like he was listening or even absorbing the lightning.

I slumped in Percy's arms, allowing him to pull me up as the light died down. He gathered me in a hug, blocking Jason from my view. I rested my head in the crook of his neck, trying to stop the shaking and calming my breaths like I had taught Dan for his asthma attacks.

Soon, though, I was transferred to another set of arms. Jason pulled me tight, one hand rubbing my back. I just wanted to stop the shaking. It was ridiculous. There was no reason for it. Everything was fine, well, as fine as it could be at this point.

"Sh," Jason told me, brushing some hair off my ear. "Stop thinking so hard. I'm alright. You're alright. We are all okay."

I pulled away to look at his face. I searched him for any damage. Nothing, not even the slightest hint of injury.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. Shoving some stray hair behind my ear, I dragged my hands over my face once blowing out the breath in one long puff. I nodded again. Jason gave me a small smile and ran a hand down my arm before intertwining our fingers.

Percy and Hazel, now that the walls weren't hopefully going to explode on us again, were figuring out the next pointed us to the left, so that's the way we went. Percy dropped behind Jason and me again while Hazel took point.

It went like the other hallways had (with a lot less lightning, thankfully). Hazel paused in the middle of the hallway though, spinning on her heel to back track a couple of steps.

The three of us moved to the other side of the hallway, letting her do her thing. She pressed both hands on the wall, as though she were about to push it.

"Right here," she said, frustration leaking into her voice. "It should be right here."

"The hostages?" I asked. My heart was suddenly beating too loud. I was afraid of not being able to hear her reply.

"No," she answered, looking slightly apologetic. Jason squeezed my hand. "The main control room."

That was good too. Not as great as the hostages, but it was something I could work with.

The four of us trailed our hands across the walls, searching for any hidden switch or lock or whatever an evil family of terrorists who kidnap and shoot innocent people on their days off use to hide their main control room.

Eventually, I slumped crossed legs on the floor. There just didn't seem to be a way in. The demigods sat down with me. We all stared at the wall. The stone wall was old, but it was in good condition, so it didn't seem plausible that the door would be anything more than a regular door. It would be too heavy to lift up, especially without any gears that I was confident that we'd be able to find readily enough. So that meant there were hinges, probably on the inside. The stone may also be slightly thinner.

I could feel the traces of a nasty headache forming at my temples.

"If only we could just say the magic word," Percy lamented. "It would just swing open."

"What would the magic word be?" Jason asked him.

"Or phrase," Hazel added. "It could be a magic phrase."

"Probably something like Vespers rock!" Percy suggested.

The wall remained stony and immovable.

"It's probably more like Destroy the Cahills," I muttered, resting my forehead on my legs. I probably looked like a ragged praying monk teen, but I didn't really care.

"It might be their moto or goal," Jason said.

"This is assuming that it even is a password," I snapped back, intending for a harsh rebuke of their fantasy door, but I ended up sounding more desolate and hopeless than I had ever heard myself. It was as though a whole other person had spoken—a person that had been broken and beaten down.

I straightened my spine. I was not beaten down yet, not while Dan was waiting for me to come get him. I shoved myself up. "I'm done with this sick game Vesper One's playing." I told them, facing the wall.

Percy placed a hand on the wall. "Look, maybe we're overthinking this," he said. "He obviously wants you to play this game, right?"

I nodded, turning my focus onto the black haired teen.

"Well, then we can assume he probably wants you to make it the boss level or whatever you want to call it."

"And?" Hazel asked, her eyes glinted with curiosity and confusion.

"And," I said, finally understanding, "that means he wants me to win the levels up until then."

"So there must be a way in," Jason finished.

I pulled out the Vesper phone. I scrolled to the last received text message, trying to look desperately for some riddle or clue to opening the door.

"This last line's out of character," I said, tilting the screen to Jason. "Look, he hopes I'm ready. Why would he say that?"

"Ready for what?" Percy asked.

"Game day," Jason read.