Ten seconds to run
Cerberus, seeing the four kids take off running, shot up to his feet and shook out his fur… before letting out barks that seemed to echo through the entire Underworld.
"You remember the plan, right?" Harry shouted, pulling his wand from his pocket, glancing at the others.
"Yeah, I've got my part ready," Annabeth said right away. She knew this could go very wrong with even the smallest mistake.
"The plan… yeah… the plan…," Grover said as he ran as fast as he could, then suddenly panicked. "I forgot the plan!" he shouted.
"Of course I don't remember this part of the plan," Percy yelled confidently… even if maybe this wasn't the moment to be so cocky about it.
Harry and Annabeth couldn't help exchanging a look. Good thing they were there to balance things out a little. Though Harry couldn't hide the annoyed grimace on his face.
"You two… just get its attention for a moment," he said immediately, pulling out his invisibility cloak in one motion and starting to murmur under his breath, his wand tip lighting up… only to be covered by the cloak an instant later, disappearing from sight.
Annabeth didn't say anything else. She pulled out her Yankees cap and glanced at Grover and Percy for a second.
"Good luck," she told them, then put the cap on and vanished as well… though her footsteps were still visible in the sand nearby, moving along with them, just like Harry's.
"Oh yeah… easy for you to say. Why don't Grover and I hide, and you guys distract it?" Percy said, turning back for a moment toward Cerberus.
But, against all expectations, the dog kept barking loudly… and still hadn't come after them.
Percy frowned.
"Grover… do you know what he's saying?" Percy asked.
"Yeah… but you're not gonna like it," Grover said.
"Doesn't matter… what did he say?" Percy asked, unable to stop himself.
"He said his food arrived a little late today, so he's hungry… but he's giving us ten seconds… because it's been a while since he's gone hunting," Grover added, going pale as he said it.
"Oh… great," Percy said.
And right then, the huge dog, like an invisible leash had just been released, lunged toward them.
Even with ten seconds… in just one step, the beast had already covered a quarter of the distance. In three steps… it would catch them.
"Grover, play something with your flute!" Percy shouted in panic, feeling the massive creature closing in fast.
"Why would I play a song right now?" Grover yelled, putting every bit of strength he had into his legs.
Percy sped up too, both of them moving fast. Percy from training… Grover from being part goat. Though that probably wasn't enough to outrun a giant dog that only needed two more steps to reach you.
"To make him fall asleep, that's how we beat the last one before!" Percy shouted, anxiety rising as he could already feel the dog's kibble-smelling breath on the back of his neck.
"That's the worst idea I've ever heard!" Grover yelled, hysterical. Still, he raised his reed pipe to his mouth and started blowing as hard as he could.
"Fiu… fiu…"
But all that came out was a messy sound, not even close to a melody.
"That sounds like anything but a song," Percy said, unable to stop himself from complaining, while the satyr looked like he was about to cry.
"Have you ever tried running a marathon while playing the flute? Now add the guardian of the Underworld gates… and let's see how you do," Grover snapped, actually angry now.
Too bad for both of them… the three-headed dog was already on top of them.
A shadow swallowed them instantly, making both of them stop and look up.
"Oh yeah… we're dead," Percy said, turning just in time to see massive teeth coming down toward him and Grover.
Two enormous canine jaws snapped down over them, plunging everything into darkness. They couldn't even let out a scream before the jaws closed, swallowing them whole.
But Cerberus didn't stop there… he sniffed the air, searching for more.
Until his eyes locked onto something right beneath him…
Where Annabeth suddenly appeared, both hands raised.
"Hi," she said, right before the third head swallowed her too.
And even though he seemed to catch the scent of a fourth… it was like each head having its own bite was enough, and the dog stopped… before dropping down onto the ground, looking ready to enjoy chewing his meal.
Without noticing that, not too far away, footprints were appearing in the sand… moving away quickly, with no one visible and without making a sound.
"Ouch… Percy, you kicked me," a soft voice complained, while the goat-shaped footprints it left in the sand hopped on one leg… pressed up against two other sets of prints.
"Sorry… it's a bit cramped for three people," Percy's voice said, trying to shift, only to bump into the third owner of the footprints… making an arm suddenly pop out of nowhere for a moment before quickly pulling it back under the invisibility cloak.
"Idiot… don't push me. And shut up. Dogs have good hearing," Harry's voice said, annoyed, as he was forced to share his invisibility cloak with the two of them.
"Shhh…," came another sound from a set of footprints not too far from the three, though these seemed freer, not stuck together like them. "Keep it down or the whole plan falls apart," Annabeth said as quietly as she could… with her usual commanding tone.
At the same time, her footsteps paused for a moment as she looked back…
Where Cerberus, lying on his stomach, suddenly rolled over and then spat upward… and from one of his mouths came what looked like a huge ball, the kind you'd see at a beach or pool. It had "Waterland" written on it… and it was dressed in Camp Half-Blood clothes… specifically the clothes Percy had changed out of at Waterland.
"Oh, crap…," Harry's voice said quickly, before he slightly extended his wand from beneath the invisibility cloak.
Then that ball with clothes quickly shifted into a Percy who went flying out while screaming in panic… even his face full of tears and snot.
"Aaaaah!" he screamed before being swallowed again by another head.
"I don't sound like that…," the real Percy muttered under the cloak, watching the exaggerated version of himself.
"Shhh…," Annabeth hissed again.
Cerberus did the same thing next, this time with Grover's clothes… and a fake Grover appeared. Then an Annabeth.
That's right… Harry had used the clothes they had changed out of earlier, which still carried their scent, to trick Cerberus with an illusion… so it wouldn't be like the Chimera, which had tracked them by smell.
And it worked pretty well… letting them slip away right under the beast's nose without being noticed.
For now.
"Hey… don't you think he's acting kind of weird?" Annabeth said softly. Right now they were all invisible… three under Harry's cloak and one with her Yankees cap.
They all stopped for a moment to look back at Cerberus.
Who was still spitting the illusions out… then catching them again with his teeth… like he was juggling.
"Yeah? I don't know. I don't know many three-headed dogs… the only two I know are the one that tried to eat us while guarding a silly rock… and the one that's eating us now and spitting us out like it's playing with its food," Percy said, watching as Cerberus spat out the fake Grover again before swallowing it in one bite.
"No… I mean… it looks like he's playing," Annabeth said.
"You want to swap places with the illusion? Harry can make you a rubber ball to play with him," Percy said with a slightly mocking tone.
"A bright red one," Harry added, unable to resist, right as one of the beach balls acting as a body suddenly burst with a "pop"… under Cerberus's teeth.
"That's not what I meant," Annabeth said, annoyed. "You know what? Let's just keep moving. Soon the smell on those clothes will fade and he'll realize they're illusions," she added quickly, picking up the pace.
"Chiron's not going to be happy about us ruining three sets of camp clothes," Grover said, glancing at the orange shirts now shredded by teeth marks.
Of course, none of them were planning to go back for them. The Waterland clothes were way more comfortable at this point… and didn't have Cerberus drool on them.
As they moved farther away, Annabeth couldn't help glancing back at Cerberus one last time… as he really did seem to be having fun playing with the two beach balls. Even after they had lost the clothes covering them… like he hadn't cared about that part from the start.
She stared at it for a moment…
Cerberus spat out the illusion… and caught it again between his teeth.
He didn't look aggressive… but not harmless either.
Before Grover called her to hurry up and get away from that place.