PROLOGUE
Jake sat up with a start, immediately knowing something was wrong. He looked around to find himself in an unfamiliar living room, and he blinked. He didn't remember getting here, was he kidnapped? His instincts screaming at him to get out of his haze and run. To find any sort of exit, which was weird. Was that normal? Jake didn't know, but he supposed it was. He figured that he'd bind his time and explore. But the moment he carefully swept his eyes across the unfamiliar area, he found several of his friends and others on the floor. The one that of course, caught his eye, was the one who was awake, and the blonde gulped. Jake sees Drew, eyes flickering everywhere with the same startled and cautious expression. His expression soured when he saw Jake, and Jake dropped his gaze from his ex-best friend to the floor.
To say the next few moments were awkward was an understatement, as Drew kept silent, eventually leaving without a word. He came back after a few moments, looking like he had just seen a ghost, all the while Jake tried to wake up the Music Club. He had absolutely no memory of how he got here, and that was enough to send him in overdrive, glancing nervously everywhere. He didn't even know why he was so jittery. All he knew was that he was in the Rosemeadow Auditorium one moment, having just won the competition, and suddenly, he was here. In a weird mansion, with everyone else unconscious (Jake really wants them to wake up. Maybe not Zoey though.). Drew was awake, sure, but after what happened? Yeah, he isn't going to try his luck.
.
A few moments pass, and everyone else had woken up. Fear-filled chatter and caution weighed the room, panic clear in everyone. Daisy, as always, had to try and calm everyone down ("We're not tied up, and we have a lot of people! We can try our luck finding a way to escape!"). It didn't take long for someone to finally, finally asked- "How did we even get here?".
People glanced around and shrugged, Zander rubs his temples with an annoyed sigh, "Better question, has anyone even tried going outside?"
"Yeah, nothing outside but emptiness for miles. Literal emptiness", Surprisingly, Drew was the one who had answered, a bit of venom and sarcasm in his tone but somewhat nicely nonetheless. Unsurprisingly, people didn't believe him when he said emptiness.
"That's impossible!"
Drew had shrugged, "Fine. Be my guest and see for yourselves.". They all, had in fact, seen for themselves, and realized, yes. It was actual literal emptiness for miles, like they were in an empty void. Everyone had quickly went back inside at the unsettling sight.
"What the hell is going on?!"
"Where are we?!"
"What the fuck?!"
All completely valid questions, in Jake's opinion. Speaking of, Hailey had found it concerning that he'd been silent all this time, and patted his back in a maybe soothing gesture. It helped.
It was a relatively big living room, and while some did go explore this mysterious place earlier, they all came back here. Daisy was now, again, suggesting ways to get them out of here, though she looked like she too was very unsettled. Jake really wanted to comfort her-- until a stack of books fell onto the table out of nowhere. It was surprising, but really, when you're in an empty void, nothing was all that shocking anymore.
Daisy grabbed the note falling through the air, quite slowly, might Jake add. She had read aloud, "Welcome, Rosemeadow High School Students. I apologies for the sudden kidnapping, I assume some of you must be incredibly tired. I have brought you here to read of a different dimension, very similar to your own, with a few key differences."
The room was silent for a couple of moments, before it quickly erupted into chatter. Daisy calmed them down, and finished, "There will be an unlimited stock of food in the fridge, filled with whatever you desire. Don't be too alarmed by the supernatural aspects in this home. Thank you, Nyx."
"...so we got kidnapped. By a weirdo who believes in parallel universes?"
"Well, since we're in a mansion in a void without any knowledge of how we got here, and how those books and note appeared out of thin air..It wouldn't be that surprising, would it?"
"Still freaky."
Drew picked up one of the books, reading the title, before doing a double-take, "Jake Sterling and The Olympians. The Lightning Thief." At the mention of his name, all heads whipped towards Jake.
Jake was tired, and really wanted to rest. They had just won the competition, and he was really hoping to have a smooth sailing week. But instead, he found himself in a mansion in the middle of an empty void, with his friends and ex-friends, a stack of books on the table, and no way out. They've been kidnapped by an other-wordly being to read about his adventures in an alternate universe. If it was any other day, he would've been excited at the thought there were other universes, but alas.
"So..do we start?"
Someone had asked. Liam, Jake notes. The blonde shrugged, speaking for the first time,
"Well, better to get started now than later."