🔓! HIDDEN ROUTE UNLOCKED

So, there was a slight problem. Remember that plan to lounge back and have lasagna while playing Quest for Love as a giant octopus destroyed Suhani's city? Yeah, that was no longer happening. In fact, the scenario she was going through currently was so bizarre, that she couldn't tell whether she'd accidentally fallen asleep, been poisoned by the octopus aliens with some alien poison, or if she'd someone lost her memories and that was why she was running through the forest with a random person she didn't know, in a body that looked like it was drawn by an anime artist.

No matter how much she'd tried to deny it, she was definitely, really in a forest, and ahead of her, frolicking in the grass was a dude in a bright orange tee, and fur for pants. Or were his pants made of fur? Suhani hoped that was what it was, but she doubted it, because there was also a set of tiny little horns sprouting from the guy's curls.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" she yelled, "Hold up. Can you explain what's going on? Why are we running?"

"I already told you, we don't have time to waste. Just... Come to Camp with me, and I'll explain the rest later, okay?" the boy yelled, trying to grab her by the arm to resume with their escape.

A strange roar echoed through the trees, so loud and terrifying that Suhani jumped to action without another word of protest. She tried to recall how she got into this mess in the first place. Octopus, lasagna, blah blah blah, what happened after that? She launched herself onto the safety of her mattress, curled up into bed, clicked start new game, and...? And...? Nothing! That was it, there was a huge black empty spot in her memory. Next thing she knew, there was a voice in her head, booming, 'HIDDEN ROUTE UNLOCKED', before she found herself in the woods with a young, curly haired man with a wispy little beard and a Camp Half Blood T-Shirt.

The shirt wasn't a huge deal, loads of people had merch, she herself owned one of those ugly little things. It was the urgency he was dragging her along with, and the horns and hooves that threw her off. She could smell the earthy forest, and feel dew on her exposed calf, and even her scrape wound was stinging. And there was no way Suhani wouldn't recognize the opening sequence of the very game she'd played fourteen times before.

"Grover?" she tried, gasping for breath as they staggered across a steep hill.

"Don't talk, just run!"

Okay then. If this really was one of those situations where she ended up travelling dimensions, right now, Suhani was in the tutorial of Quest for Love, being chased by a cyclops. In which case, she needed to listen to Grover and shut up and run for it. There were a lot of ways the tutorial went down, depending on what option you selected on how to deal with the cyclops, but most of them ended up with you in the infirmary unless you made it to camp without even encountering the cyclops. Naturally, Suhani would opt for the option <run away> rather than <yell at the cyclops> or <attack it>.

But even though she ran until she crossed the apple tree, the home of the dryad, and the checkpoint of the Prologue, Part One, there was no status window appearing before her eyes. No annoying System suddenly showing up. There was only Grover, who kept getting frustrated every time she slowed down to do a quick spin to see if maybe there was a screen hiding somewhere behind her, under some bush, or some other place she couldn't see it.

"What are you doing?!" he finally snapped after the third time Suhani took a twirl break. Suhani snapped her head back at him. That wasn't a line. That sentence wasn't a part of any of the tutorials she'd played, and every tutorial went the same. Was this like a Free Time Event? Or maybe, did this world not follow the structure of the game at all?

She stomped up to Grover, and without a second thought, tugged on his hair, and he screeched, bleating in surprise, "A-a-ah!! Ow, ow, ouch, what's wrong with you?!"

"You're real?" She asked, blinking.

"It's the first time someone's reacted this way to seeing the legs," Grover grumbled, "They're real, okay? I'm a satyr, half man, half goat."

"I know what a satyr is!"

"The why would you pull my hair?!" Grover complained. "No, wait, we don't have time for this, we have to go. Now."

"Friiick," Suhani mumbled under her breath, her entire body whirled into action. Her legs were moving at speeds she didn't even know she could run at, and they ached so much, but she couldn't stop.

She could do things outside of the game. She could make Grover say things that weren't said in the game. There were no options to choose from or click on. This wasn't the game world. This was a real world, with infinite possibilities. There was no telling if she was even the protagonist, then..! No, she was definitely the protagonist. The story in the game always started this way, with the character fleeing to camp with Grover from a cyclops.

So maybe this wasn't the world of the literal game, but simply a parallel world where the game existed and followed the plot that Rick Riordan wrote for it? Except unlike in the game, the plot wasn't set in stone, and she could change it depending on how she behaved. No way, did that mean she was the main character of her very own isekai story? Awesome!

The fact that they had passed the apple tree, but could still hear the cyclops was bad. That meant she'd wasted too much time trying to figure things out, and now she no longer had the option to simply run away to camp safely. The cyclops would find them. Okay, okay, think. What other things could she do that would help her not land up in the infirmary? She had the other two options from the game left, to either <yell at the cyclops> or <attack it>, and both were awful.

But she wasn't tied down by the options right now. What other move could she possible make?

"Grover!" she called.

"...Yeah?" Grover asked, huffing and puffing.

"How often do you do work out your upper body?"

It was an innocent question, but Grover was somehow both a mind-reader and a killjoy.

"I am not going to carry you all the way to camp, do you want me to break my arms?"

Okay, rude. She wasn't that heavy. She wasn't even asking to be princess carried, even a piggyback ride would suffice. "Come on, aren't you a goat? Wont this be faster if we just—"

"No!"

He was lucky Suhani respected body autonomy.

At this point, she had been running so long her legs felt like lead. She'd never felt so much muscle pain in her entire life and still kept moving. But she wouldn't have to run much longer. The Cyclops had found them. He was large, about six to seven feet tall, already terrifying enough like that, but to Suhani's horror, the moment he caught sight of the both of them, he cackled maniacally before growing in height and width, like someone was resizing him on procreate with a uniform select option.

Grover had started bleating and stuttering in fear, tugging Suhani along, saying the entrance was nearby, and that he wouldn't be able to cross it, but Suhani knew it would be child's play for him to simply grab them by the torso and chuck them into his large, smelly mouth. They were literally about the same size a Barbie doll would be to a stocky little girl, to the cyclops. And everyone knows how Barbies end up looking after a good ten minutes with a six year old.

Suhani tried going through various other plans in her head, disliking each and every one of them, as her and Grover proceeded to scatter, having difficulty keeping balanced as the ground shook every time the Cyclops took a step. Suhani was tempted to try to catch a lift on its own leg, but she was afraid he'd swat her away the way people did ants when they found them crawling on their legs. Also, who was to say he'd go in the direction they wanted?

"Demigod meat," the cyclops had a lisp, almost like it wasn't used to talking. Maybe it was a baby, still. "Fresh treat, after so long." It continued to drool.

Suhani dubbed him Chubby, because he kept reaching his long stubby fingers to try to pick her or Grover off the forest floor, but kept missing. Awful motor skills for a monster. "Chubs, I swear I'm not that tasty. I'm so un-tasty, in fact, that an octopus monster even ignored me entirely to go for this Mexican girl,"

It never hurt to try talking your way out of it. This time, it did. Chubby was not thrilled. Perhaps it was the nickname. Perhaps he had bad memories of octopus monsters.

"That slimy thing! Stole my prey!"

Damn, wait, he knew what Suhani was talking about? Had the Mexican girl been here too? But... how? Wait, did that make her the protagonist and not Suhani? Then what if Suhani wasn't even a demigod here? Would she even make it across camp borders? No, the cyclops had just called her demigod meat. She had to be a demigod. But then, was she still a daughter of Aphrodite, like in the game? Or someone else entirely?

"How have you faced an octopus monster? We're not even in the Sea of Monsters!" Grover screamed at her.

"I'm just that powerful?" Suhani tried.

"Then do something about this Cyclops!"

"Jesus, are you supposed to be that bossy? Aren't you supposed to be my protector, Mr. Satyr?"

"First of all, you're Greek, you shouldn't be saying that, Zeus could zap you down for it."

Was that even important right now? Suhani groaned. Chubby had also gotten sick of their back and forth, and somehow, his hands had managed to collect both her and Grover into his tight grip.

"Shut up!" Chubby commanded them, "Too loud to be good food."

"You're so right." Suhani responded, "We're awful food. You should totally let us go and find new food."

"I should?" Chubby's grip on them loosened a little, and he shrunk in size, as he tilted his head, confused.

"What's wrong with him?" I demanded Grover. "Was he dropped into a volcano as a baby?"

Chubby growled and his grip tightened again, as he shook his head from side to side. "No! No listening to the food." It seemed to have been a term he was taught over and over. Good parenting. Never listen to strangers, kids. But also, in this case, definitely listen to her. Seventeen was too young to become a kebab.

"What do we do, what do we do?" she asked, squirming, trying to free at least her arms from the monster's grip.

"Ow, my legs are sensitive, stop kicking me!" Grover hissed, "Do that again, talk to him! I think— I think he'll listen ot what you say."

"What do you mean he'll listen to what— Oh, oh, oh, oh my god, is this what I think it is?" Suhani couldn't believe what was happening. Was she able to use charmspeak? But her game character wasn't able to do that in all the other routes..! Maybe she had a cheat, since she was on the last route.

"Stop." She said, "Don't eat us."

"No eating?" Chubby asked, his eyes squeezing shut, and he looked like he was having a migraine of some sort.

"Yeah! No eating!" Suhani added with more conviction. "If you take us where we want to go, you'll find a lot more food there, you know? Fatter, more delicious food."

"What are you saying?!" Grover hissed, "Don't—"

"Just trust me," Suhani said. She didn't want to explicitly remind him that being on the receiving end of charmspeak made you forget everything you did while under it. He'd ask her how she knew that. Grover shut his mouth, surprising Suhani. She wouldn't have chosen to believe in her if she were him, but it did feel nice to have his faith.

"Chubby, come on. Do I look like a liar to you?"

"...Jimmy."

"What?"

"I am Jimmy. Not Chubby."

"Um, okay, then Jimmy." Suhani swore she saw the tear gland of the baby cyclops activate. Was Jimmy about to trauma dump on her? "Do I look like a liar to you?"

"...No?"

"Good, because I'm not. So can you take us to that place over there?"

"Mhm."

"Do you know what place I'm talking about?"

Having tamed him into being docile, Suhani almost felt bad for tricking the kid. He had even readjusted them onto his palm, so they were sitting comfortably and not being crushed. What a sweetheart. Now he was about the height of a maple tree, and he looked even more young and gullible.

"Place with more delicious food?"

"Yeah, but do you know where that is?"

"...No."

"Tell him, Grover."

"Are you insane?!" Grover whisper yelled at her. "I cant take him directly to—"

"I said tell. Him. Grover." Suhani said through gritted teeth. She hadn't just saved their butts with minimal injuries for it to go down the drain.

"3rd Avenue—"

"He's a kid he doesn't know how addresses, and we're in the middle of a forest right now." Suhani said, "Give him proper directions, would you?"

Grover gave her a look, the most murderous look he could have ever given anyone, he probably hadn't even been that sick of Polyphemus, when he got captured as his bride in the books.

"Keep walking straight, until you see a marble gate." he deadpanned.

"Oh, wow, were we that close?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Someone's ego was thoroughly bruised. But half of it was her fault, so Suhani didn't tease him about it. The Cyclops, meanwhile, covered ground for the next two minutes until we saw the entrance to Camp Half-Blood, right before us.

Chubby, er Jimmy, seemed to have gotten increasingly frustrated. He dropped us to the ground, before reducing in height til he was just six feet, so he could easily make conversation. "Where food? You promised food."

"Uhh..." Suhani hadn't thought about what would happen once they actually reached here. Wasn't he supposed to forget everything once the charmspeak wore off? Then maybe the charmspeak hadn't worn off. Must be because she promised he'd find food here. Ugh, Grover was right, she should have just sent him on his way before. "How about a game before eating?"

"No games!"

"It'll be fun, I promise," Suhani said, "Haven't you ever played tag before?"

"What's tag?" Jimmy asked curiously.

"Well, there's a person who's made 'it' and they have to go chase everyone else around until they've caught everyone."

"Chasing the prey!" Jimmy was enlightened. His whole life had been a game of tag.

"Yeah, sure. But you have to run away as fast as you can, or else I'll catch you. Sound fun?" Suhani tried to explain the game without making him feel like she'd turned him into the prey, because she had a feeling that would break the spell.

"Okay! And then food?"

Across the marbled entry, a blonde demigod had noticed her and Grover, running towards them with a sword in hand, "Grover, you're back!"

Suhani did her best to block Jimmy's view.

"I'll count to a hundred, so run as fast as you can!" she started, "One, two, three..."

She didn't even have to count the rest of the way, the cyclops was already out of sight. Suhani fell to the floor in exhaustion, finally getting to catch her breath. Had she just manipulated a twenty foot tall monster? Granted, he was just a kid. But still.

"Did you guys just get dropped off here by a cyclops?"

Suhani heard the girl from before ask them. She got up with Grover's help, and inched towards the gate. The girl looked Suhani up and down with her striking grey eyes, and Suhani knew that it was Annabeth Chase she was being scrutinised by. Suhani began feeling her excitement creep up on her again, now that she was safe. Was she really going to get the chance to romance one of her favourite characters? This was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

"Yeah, but we should warn the others and get them prepared for battle, it won't take long before he brings more back..." Grover had come up with a whole battle plan, but another girl showed up from behind Annabeth. An east asian with perfect little ringlets of hair framing her face. Drew Tanaka?

"There's no need." she said, before pointing at Suhani. An overwhelming red glow enveloped her body, and Suhani's eyes darted around, trying to take in the changes that were happening to her, from her outfit being entirely replaced, to all the body hair on her arms and legs entirely disappearing. "She's a daughter of Aphrodite — and the monster she used charmspeak on will forget everything he saw in about ten minutes."

This was it, the story was finally going to begin. Suhani took giddy steps into camp borders, but before she could even cross the threshold, her vision went black, and she woke up again, lying in her own bed in her old clothes, as if she had never disappeared. She could vaguely make out her mom's voice, yelling at her to come out for dinner. Lasagna. She remembered. She'd been so excited for the lasagna earlier, but after whatever lucid dream she'd just hopped out of, she was just left longing for more.

AUTHOR'S NOTE ✸꙳⋆

eeek this was SO much fun to write omg, and so chaotic too haha. as you can see im taking a more exaggerated and comedic direction with the writing in this story ( as of now ). i do plan for it to get angstier the more you read, but if you dont like the current direction, feel free to drop out bc im having so much fun with this haha. ty for reading, and i hope you enjoyed! i'd love to hear any and all of your thoughts. <3

til next time,

esme