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halothenthehorns · 3 months

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Chapter 16: WE STEAL SOME SLIGHTLY USED WINGS

"Like chicken wings?" Magnus asked in concern when he read the new title. He couldn't be that judgy though, he'd gotten hungry enough to eat plenty of...used food.

"What an odd souvenir for this quest," Jason murmured. He couldn't imagine how the object to get a kid killed would come in handy.

"I always hated the use of the phrase new and improved. If it's new then it can't be improved on already. If it's improved then it can't be that new! This, might actually qualify as both though..." Nico finished with a mutter to himself.

Somewhere in the back of all of their minds, they had to know what this was really referring to. It was to much of a coincidence Percy had dreamed of the very wings Daedalus had invented that had failed his boy.

"This way!" Rachel yelled.

"Why should we follow you?" Annabeth demanded. "You led us straight into that death trap!"

"As opposed to the other two death trap options you had?" Will said blankly.

"Percy almost died again not twenty-four hours after he came back to life," Thalia sighed defensively. "Cut her some slack."

"It was the way you needed to go," Rachel said. "And so is this. Come on!"

Annabeth didn't look happy about it, but she ran along with the rest of us.

Rachel seemed to know exactly where she was going. She whipped around corners and didn't even hesitate at crossroads. Once she said, "Duck!" and we all crouched as a huge axe swung over our heads. Then we kept going as if nothing had happened.

"Therapy, every one of us," Magnus sighed, as even he hadn't blinked this time. Talk about being desensitized to horrors.

I lost track of how many turns we made. We didn't stop to rest until we came to a room the size of a gymnasium with old marble columns holding up the roof. I stood at the doorway, listening for sounds of pursuit, but I heard nothing. Apparently we'd lost Luke and his minions in the maze.

"Look at this place actually coming in handy," Percy grumbled.

Then I realized something else: Mrs. O'Leary was gone. I didn't know when she'd disappeared. I didn't know of she'd gotten lost or been overrun by monsters or what. My heart turned to lead. She'd saved our lives, and I hadn't even waited to make sure she was following us.

"She can shadow travel," Nico said quickly, watching Percy's face crumble like that had to be worse than giving him the slightest bit of hope she was okay. "It's how she got there so fast. I'm sure she just teleported away to wherever she wanted to when she was done using those monsters as chew toys."

"Yeah?" Percy asked with that bit of hope. He didn't care the headache he got for hearing this, he smiled all the same for the certainty it gave him he would see her again.

Ethan collapsed on the floor. "You people are crazy."

"As opposed to the none crazy plan that would have gotten him out alive," Alex sniffed.

He pulled off his helmet. His face gleamed with sweat.

"Ugh, I forgot he was running with you in armor," Magnus grimaced. "That's some extra level training."

"Have to do it at Camp too," Percy shrugged, it hadn't crossed his mind to be impressed since he'd deduced Ethan had training.

Annabeth gasped. "I remember you! You were one of the undetermined kids in the Hermes cabin, years ago."

Will frowned that he still didn't remember an Ethan Nakamora, but he wasn't perfect. Maybe the guy had come and gone before he'd gotten there, maybe he'd been to young to yet realize the disappearances and patterns to it.

He still felt guilty no matter what he told himself.

He glared at her. "Yeah, and you're Annabeth. I remember."

"What—what happened to your eye?"

Ethan looked away, and I got the feeling that was one subject he would not discuss.

"You guys are strangers on a first-name basis," Jason lightly defended. "None of us are gung-ho to share that kind of thing."

"Yeah," Percy still agreed with a troubled frown. It wasn't the eye, but there was something about him Percy instinctively mistrusted now like he hadn't back then. He hadn't been at Camp so he obviously couldn't be the traitor, but still, the idea bothered him a lot where he'd been and what he'd been up to since Annabeth had last seen him.

"You must be the half-blood from my dream," I said. "The one Luke's people cornered. It wasn't Nico after all."

"Congratulations on not getting caught Nico," Magnus said heartily.

"It's a life goal I'm currently not living up to," he smirked.

"Who's Nico?"

"Never mind," Annabeth said quickly. "Why were you trying to join up with the wrong side?"

Ethan sneered. "There's no right side.

"The side that doesn't casually kill kids sure doesn't seem like a wrong side," Will said hotly for his Camp. Nobody was going to sit around arguing the point, but Will also knew there had been a lot of unrest about the gods too, even from Percy and him.

They were the better side because of the half-bloods running it, not what the gods represented they could be.

The gods never cared about us. Why shouldn't I—"

"Sign up with an army that makes you fight to the death for entertainment?" Annabeth said. "Gee, I wonder."

"That Athena smarts really does come in handy," Alex chuckled.

Ethan struggled to his feet. "I'm not going to argue with you. Thanks for the help, but I'm out of here."

"We're going after Daedalus," I said. "Come with us. Once we get through, you'd be welcome back at camp."

Thalia really did admire that about Percy so much. He didn't think twice about the fact he'd found Ethan trying to join Luke, or refusing to talk about his life before he wound up lost in the labyrinth. That instinct to help, to welcome him back at Camp was the only thought that crossed his mind.

Will had to stop himself from giving Nico a superior look for much the same thoughts as he watched out of the corner of his eye his friend studying Percy with very obvious shock.

"You really are crazy if you think Daedalus will help you."

"He has to," Annabeth said. "We'll make him listen."

"Has Annabeth ever tied somebody up before and tried to get information out of them?" Percy asked Thalia in mild concern she seemed so convinced this was going to be true.

"Not that I'm aware of," Thalia scratched her nose without concern. "Don't underestimate her adaptability though."

"Right," Percy sighed...an uneasy feeling in him as he wondered how far they were going to go to save their camp.

Ethan snorted. "Yeah, well. Good luck with that."

I grabbed his arm. "You're just going to head off alone into the maze? That's suicide."

He looked at me with barely controlled anger. His eye patch was frayed around the edges and the black cloth was faded, like he'd been wearing it a long, long time. "You shouldn't have spared me, Jackson. Mercy has no place in this war."

Then he ran off into the darkness, back the way we'd come.

A part of Percy felt sorry for that guy. He knew that kind of anger, that blind acceptance that there was nothing you could do to fix a situation because it was out of your hands. Ethan deserved better, but he had to accept there was another way.

The larger part of him had wanted to throw a rock at the ingrate and instead had made himself turn away.

Annabeth, Rachel, and I were so exhausted we made camp right there in the huge room. I found some scrap wood and we started a fire. Shadows danced off the columns rising around us like trees.

"Something was wrong with Luke," Annabeth muttered, poking at the fire with her knife. "Did you notice the way he was acting?"

"Like the usual trigger happy, talks to himself, needs crabs in his shorts nutjob?" Alex scoffed.

Thalia bit her lip, her stomach in knots. She knew that's how the others all saw him...but she could never make herself see him that way first.

"He looked pretty pleased to me," I said. "Like he'd spent a nice day torturing heroes."

"It's what all the best clubs and camps are up to," Nico sneered. "You have to pay top dollar for those shows!"

"I hope he got a lovely spray-on tan as a bonus," Thalia tried to say with her usual sarcasm, but it just didn't sound right to her own ears.

"That's not true! There was something wrong with him. He looked...nervous. He told his monsters to spare me. He wanted to tell me something."

"Sparing one out of three does not make you one-third less of a monster," Magnus said with a pit in his own stomach. He didn't think he'd ever hate anybody for sparing his cousin, but man did Luke find a way to make even that feel horrible.

"Probably, 'Hi, Annabeth! Sit here with me and watch while I tear your friends apart. It'll be fun!'"

"I hope Annabeth would have turned him down if he didn't offer popcorn," Alex sniffed.

Thalia was debating with herself if she should release one of those fart arrows to shut them up, and only stopped herself because she knew it wouldn't do any good.

"You're impossible," Annabeth grumbled. She sheathed her dagger and looked at Rachel. "So which way now, Sacagawea?"

"Is that racist now?" Jason asked blankly.

"Everything's racist now," Alex rolled his eyes. "Considering we're trying to keep track of ancient Greek mythology and none of us have finished high school, I don't think we're qualified to decide that." His dark brown skin spoke of experience for itself, so nobody pestered that further.

Instead Magnus all to happily lobbed at Percy, "what is with you always trying to interrogate her while she's holding that knife? Are you actively trying to get stabbed?"

Thalia didn't hear Percy's sarcastic answer. She'd noticed that too, and it brought back the feelings of pride and joy all to easily to the surface of the first time Luke had given her that knife, how Percy seemed to instinctively and yet accidentally keep bringing that up.

Rachel didn't respond right away. She'd become quieter since the arena.

Now, whenever Annabeth made a sarcastic comment, Rachel hardly bothered to answer. She'd burned the tip of a stick in the fire and was using it to draw ash figures on the floor, images of the monsters we'd seen. With a few strokes, she caught the likeness of a dracaena perfectly.

"Girl's going to make a killing on the market," Alex said with pride for those skills.

"If she even sells them," Percy grinned, "she strikes me as the type of giving it all away."

"We'll follow the path," she said. "The brightness on the floor."

"The brightness that led us straight into a trap?" Annabeth asked.

"How many times is she going to harp on that?" Nico asked, exhaustion already in his voice. "It's not her fault what the maze does."

"Lay off her, Annabeth," I said. "She's doing the best she can."

Annabeth stood. "The fire's getting low. I'll go look for some more scraps while you guys talk strategy." And she marched off into the shadows.

Percy was rubbing his temples. How could one girl be the cause of like, seventy percent of his headaches?!

Rachel drew another figure with her stick—an ashy Antaeus dangling from his chains.

"Annabeth's usually not like this," I told her. "I don't know what her problem is."

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure you don't know?"

"What do you mean?"

"Boys," she muttered. "Totally blind."

"Hey, don't you get on my case, too! Look, I'm sorry I got you involved in this."

"Dudett, I want to introduce you to a new world called jealousy," Alex told him with a mild touch of sympathy.

"What's Annabeth got to be jealous of?" Percy frowned. "Does she want to be mortal that bad?"

Alex faced palmed and Thalia patted Percy's shoulder with a stage whisper to the others, "he's hopeless."

"What?" Percy protested.

Magnus had the book. He was very tempted to just stop and enlighten Percy what those two girls were actually jealous of.

But frankly, that just wasn't a conversation he wanted to hear, let alone be a part of.

"No, you were right," she said. "I can see the path. I can't explain it, but it's really clear." She pointed toward the other end of the room, into the darkness. "The workshop is that way. The heart of the maze. We're very close now. I don't know why the path led through that arena. I—I'm sorry about that. I thought you were going to die."

Percy instantly wanted to comfort her. To make her laugh. The freckles on her face had all been scrunched up, there was a troubled look in her green eyes that he recognized. She still had huge streaks of gold in her red hair. Her blue hairbrush had been sticking out of her pocket with a few of Tammi's wild, tangled black hairs caught in it he'd swear were trying to whisper into the fire.

Why was every moment he'd shared with Rachel two parts awkward and one part terrifying?

She sounded like she was close to crying.

"Hey, I'm usually about to die," I promised. "Don't feel bad."

Thalia smacked him, again, with another eye roll to boot. "Maybe if you'd stop almost dying we wouldn't feel bad!"

"I can't control that," Percy pouted, really wishing she'd been along on this quest right now. He bet she would have gotten through to Annabeth there was nothing to be jealous about.

She studied my face. "So you do this every summer? Fight monsters? Save the world? Don't you ever get to do just, you know, normal stuff?"

There was a long-standing pause as somebody tried to pull up something 'normal' Percy had done without something causing trouble...and all seven of them were coming up blank.

Percy instantly brushed it off as a non-issue though. If he'd ever had a normal life, he'd probably be dead by now. His boring lazy days at the skate park and walking around New York were usually what led to him being off his game by the time he came back to camp the next summer. He'd get Annabeth or some other camp killed if he let himself have a day off like that.

I'd never really thought about it like that. The last time I'd had something like a normal life had been...well, never.

"Ah the one thing every half-blood has in common," Will nodded.

Nico frowned. His memories had shown a normal life...but he couldn't remember any details to know for sure if there had been monster attacks in their youth or any strange happenings before he'd gone into that hotel. It was odd, actually kind of hoping there had been some abnormality to his life so he wouldn't be left out of that stupid general statement.

"Half-bloods get used to it, I guess. Or maybe not used to it, but..." I shifted uncomfortably.

Something about the careless, almost numb way Percy described his horror of a life really struck Jason. The near deaths, the battles, the concept of his camp, none of it had felt out of place to him. It bothered him a lot that it didn't bother him more.

"What about you? What do you do normally?"

Rachel shrugged. "I paint. I read a lot."

Okay, I thought. So far we are scoring a zero on the similarities chart.

"Oh come on Perce," Alex pleaded for some kind of right-brain activity. "Your mom had to encourage some of that!"

"I bet I could do a really awesome blood splatter and frame it," Percy offered.

"I accept that," Alex looked more than pleased while Magnus swallowed the question of whose blood it would be.

"What about your family?"

I could sense her mental shields going up, like this was not a safe subject.

Percy wasn't that surprised, after the way she'd responded to Annabeth asking earlier, and Ethan had just run off into the maze rather than considering discussing such a thing. Sensitive topic, Percy was well aware. He just wanted to be a friendly ear. Just because it didn't get better didn't mean you had to live with it in silence.

"Oh...they're just, you know, family."

"You said they wouldn't notice if you were gone."

She set down her drawing stick. "Wow, I'm really tired. I may sleep for a while, okay?"

"Oh, sure. Sorry if..."

But Rachel was already curling up, using her backpack as a pillow. She closed her eyes and lay very still, but I got the feeling she wasn't really asleep.

"Are you sure Percy," Thalia gave him a disparaging look of pity. "Are you completely confident about that? I'm worried your lack of being able to take a hint caught onto the fact she instantly fell asleep!"

"Nico told me to never let anyone say that about me," Percy actually looked a little wounded, and Thalia sighed, instantly feeling bad. This idiot had no idea what he was doing, but at least he was a well-meaning idiot.

A few minutes later, Annabeth came back. She tossed some more sticks on the fire.

Percy huffed and decided he was grateful she didn't try to throw him in the fire.

She looked at Rachel, then at me.

"I'll take first watch," she said. "You should sleep, too."

"You don't have to act like that."

"Like what?"

"Like...never mind." I lay down, feeling miserable. I was so tired I fell asleep as soon as my eyes closed.

"See, Rachel might not have been faking it," Percy waved at the book.

Thalia looked like she was watching a limping puppy try to beg for treats when the bag was all out.

In my dreams I heard laughter.

The way Magnus's face brightened for a moment was sad. He really seemed to think for a split second Percy was going to have a nice dream, maybe something silly about his favorite character rescuing him and telling a good joke.

Cold, harsh laughter, like knives being sharpened.

"Nobody would laugh during that noise, why would you even know that?" Magnus huffed, looking particularly put out when he did know better.

"Maybe it was just a chef who enjoys his job to much," Alex offered. "Laughing it up with his buddies about what sea creature they're going to eat."

"Right," Magnus chuckled just for Alex even trying.

I was standing at the edge of a pit in the depths of Tartarus.

"I thought he was in a coffin now?" Jason frowned. "I liked the idea of that better, easier to throw into an active volcano."

"Without a body, he still exists wherever he wants," Thalia oh so cheerfully explained. Just like Gods, their consciousness able to be in multiple places at once.

Below me the darkness seethed like inky soup.

"So close to your own destruction, little hero," the voice of Kronos chided. "And still you are blind."

The voice was different than it had been before. It seemed almost physical now, as if it were speaking from a real body instead of...whatever he'd been in his chopped-up condition.

"And here most people always try to say what makes a person is their heart," Nico shook his head. "Percy has identified it as the larynx."

"I'm just mixing it up, I refuse to use a boring metaphor," Percy shrugged.

"I have much to thank you for," Kronos said. "You have assured my rise."

Percy looked about as impressed as if some school bully had taunted him. "Does that also mean I assure his downfall? Is that how that works?"

"You really want to Yin and Yang Kronos Percy?" Will sighed. "Are you getting this tattooed somewhere?"

"I might," he smirked, while Magnus read on swiftly before that escalated into actual dare territory.

The shadows in the cavern became deeper and heavier. I tried to back away from the edge of the pit, but it was like swimming through oil.

"So you can't swim through anything," Jason nodded seriously like he was taking notes.

"I knew that," Percy frowned, "I wasn't going to the desert and trying to swim through sand! Just because you put swimming in it doesn't make me immune."

'I don't think he's using that word right,' Magnus frowned as he signed to Alex.

'Let it go,' he sighed back.

Time slowed down. My breathing almost stopped.

"A favor," Kronos said. "The Titan lord always pays his debts. Perhaps a glimpse of the friends you abandoned..."

"I don't want to know, I do not want to know," Magnus wished he could cover his ears and just pretend he couldn't hear what this slimy pit considered a reward, but he had the dang book in his hand and the voice in his head really never did shut up.

The darkness rippled around me, and I was in a different cave.

"Hurry!" Tyson said. He came barreling into the room. Grover stumbled along behind him.

Percy never knew relief could hurt this much. The slam of emotions hearing them being alive and yet running for their life would have given him gray hair if he didn't have that already.

There was a rumbling in the corridor they'd come from, and the head of an enormous snake burst into the cave.

Will's arm dropped off the back of the couch, his whole body tried to shrivel up into the corner arm as his feet leaped off the floor to knock into Nico's legs. He was far to lanky to be scrunching up that much, but it wasn't stopping him from trying. The yelp was more shock than distress, but his mind still couldn't help but instantly imagine a mammoth-sized snake trying to force its way through the door.

"Sorry Will, would have warned you if I could," Thalia offered. "Nobody's ever mentioned this part to me."

"Oh, him you'd share every detail with," Percy pitched his voice into the highest mocking. "Me, I can blow up a volcano with no warning."

"Exactly," Thalia rolled her eyes, "the worst he'll do is make a bad pun, not cause another eruption in the room!" Meanwhile Nico was patting Will's shoe that was dug into his hip.

"Well at least I know one part that's not going to make it into the next play," Magnus said with apology clear in his tone he didn't know how to gloss over that.

"Stop encouraging him!" Percy groaned.

I mean, this thing was so big its body barely fit through the tunnel. Its scales were coppery. Its head was diamond-shaped like a rattler, and its yellow eyes glowed with hatred. When it opened its mouth, its fangs were as tall as Tyson.

Will felt like red flashes of light should be shooting across his eyes, a warning sign unneeded as he shivered harder than ever.

"It's okay Will," Nico said in a quiet voice that none-the-less sounded strong and confident. "His defense sucks. You could knock him out with one basic Apollo Follower card."

Will couldn't believe he found himself laughing right now, but he was as his eyes darted from Nico holding firmly to his shoe to help keep it supported in place and the door that obviously did not have a snake coming through it.

It lashed at Grover, but Grover scampered out of the way.

"Having the bottom half a goat does seem to come in handy more than the top half," Jason nodded.

The snake got a mouthful of dirt. Tyson picked up a boulder and threw it at the monster, smacking it between the eyes, but the snake just recoiled and hissed.

"It's going to eat you!" Grover yelled at Tyson.

"How do you know?"

"It just told me! Run!"

"Why don't these animals ever say anything secretly helpful to Grover," Alex pouted, "like oh no, I hope you don't accidentally hit me in my weak spot located right behind my left nostril!"

"You would think they'd slip up a little more hissing taunts, since most demigods they try to eat don't get to hear them," Magnus agreed. "They might want to stop and chat more."

"Not this time," Will pleaded, he had unclenched himself enough he just looked like a very big dog in a very small space wanting the thunder to end.

Tyson darted to one side, but the snake used its head like a club and knocked him off his feet.

"No!" Grover yelled. But before Tyson could regain his balance, the snake wrapped around him and started to squeeze.

"Ooh, this is my worst nightmare," Will whimpered, his arms crossing and uncrossing to try and not feel as restricted as possible and literally fighting himself over it.

"It's my worst nightmare, get your own," Percy wasn't looking much better, the intensity on his face warring between battle and concern. The worst part was, he wasn't going to wake up this time. He was trapped not knowing if they were okay.

Tyson strained, pushing with all his immense strength, but the snake squeezed tighter. Grover frantically hit the snake with his reed pipes, but he might as well have been banging on a stone wall.

The whole room shook as the snake flexed its muscles, shuddering to overcome Tyson's strength.

Grover began to play with pipes, and stalactites rained down from the ceiling. The whole cave seemed about to collapse...

I woke with Annabeth shaking my shoulder.

His shoulder jerked and rotated like a muscle he had no control over. Annabeth wasn't here to wake him up from this one, and he missed her like a physical ache on that side of him.

Will felt bad for sighing in relief while Percy was twitching like he was having a fit, but he couldn't help it. In his heart, that snake was crushed in the collapse while Tyson and Grover made it out without a scratch.

Nico's hand flew away the moment Will's foot unwedged itself to slowly lower back to the ground, but the two couldn't help but grin at each other for a moment as Will whispered, "turns out you did get on my lap."

"Sitting on your shoe is nowhere close," Nico tried his hardest not to blush as he managed a halfhearted scowl.

"I'll try harder next time," Will promised, relaxing back to normal and trying to stretch out again like nothing had happened. His feet still stayed suspiciously hovering over the ground for a few paragraphs though.

"Percy, wake up!"

"Tyson—Tyson's in trouble!" I said. "We have to help him!"

"First things first," she said. "Earthquake!"

"Those gosh dang priorities," Jason groaned.

Percy's heart was pounding so hard in his chest his hand crumpled up his orange shirt over it on reflex. Was he causing this because of his nightmares? Was he that unstable?

"Easy Perce," Thalia placed her hand on his still trembling shoulder. She was familiar, and a friend, and he was all the more mad at himself he couldn't just relax and believe her like he wanted to. The constant stress of being away from the rest of his friends and family for so long was really getting to him.

Sure enough, the room was rumbling. "Rachel!" I yelled.

Her eyes opened instantly. She grabbed her pack, and the three of us ran.

"I knew she was faking that sleeping!" Percy said with that same old smile. It was troubled, and not as genuine as it could have been, but it was still Percy's.

We were almost to the far tunnel when a column next to us groaned and buckled. We kept going as a hundred tons of marble crashed down behind us.

We made it to the corridor and turned just in time to see the other columns toppling. A cloud of white dust billowed over us, and we kept running.

"You know what?" Annabeth said. "I like this way after all."

"All it took was a little encouragement," Will said brightly.

"What would be a lot of encouragement in this case?" Nico muttered.

It wasn't long before we saw light up ahead—like regular electric lighting.

"There," Rachel said.

We followed her into a stainless steel hallway, like I imagined they'd have on a space station or something. Fluorescent lights glowed from the ceiling. The floor was a metal grate.

I was so used to being in the darkness that I had to squint. Annabeth and Rachel both looked pale in the harsh illumination.

"This way," Rachel said, beginning to run. "We're close!"

"This is so wrong!" Annabeth said. "The workshop should be in the oldest section of the maze. This can't—"

She faltered, because we'd arrived at a set of metal double doors.

Inscribed in the steel, at eye level, was a large blue Greek .

"We're here," Rachel announced. "Daedalus's workshop."

"Actually, that, kind of makes sense," Jason admitted with a curious smile and his head tipped to the side. "Daedalus is an inventor, he'd be upgrading his place as time went on, not leaving it in rocks and mud."

"She's still missing the obvious of trying to be logical about this place from the beginning," Nico rolled his eyes. He wasn't as nervous as he was last time about knowing he was going to show up in this room. He'd finally gotten rid of Minos like everybody else figured out from the start and hadn't tried to murder anyone, so at least he didn't have to worry about being the source of trouble for once.

Annabeth pressed the symbol on the doors and they hissed open.

"So much for ancient architecture," I said.

Annabeth scowled.

Alex sniffed and dramatically dabbed at his eye. "This is better than any romantic subplot I've read in my life. You two are meant to be!"

Percy was surprised he hadn't finished with a dramatic wail as Percy flipped him off.

Together we walked inside.

The first thing that struck me was the daylight—blazing sun coming through giant windows.

Which made plenty of sense. Daedalus had lived to much of his life trapped beneath the sun with no means of escape. Here, in his own corner of hell, he'd make sure to have the widest view, and an easy way out.

Not the kind of thing you expect in the heart of a dungeon. The workshop was like an artist's studio, with thirty-foot ceilings and industrial lighting, polished stone floors, and workbenches along with windows. A spiral staircase led up to a second-story loft. Half a dozen easels displayed hand-drawn diagrams for buildings and machines that looked like Leonardo da Vinci sketches. Several laptop computers were scattered around on the tables. Glass jars of green oil—Greek fire—lined one shelf. There were inventions, too—weird metal machines I couldn't make sense of. One was a bronze chair with a bunch of electrical wires attached to it, like some kind of torture device. In another corner stood a giant metal egg about the size of a man. There was a grandfather clock that appeared to be made entirely of glass, so you could see all the gears turning. And hanging on the wall were several sets of bronze and silver wings.

Thalia didn't know how to describe the word she felt for that. She'd lived in a tent mounted with trophies, but these were something more. Like a memory of his mistakes.

A memorial, she finally realized.

"Di immortals," Annabeth muttered. She ran to the nearest easel and looked at the sketch. "He's a genius. Look at the curves on this building!"

"Thing's that never cross a man's mind," Thalia snorted in delight, clearing away her melancholy mood a bit.

"I resent that," Alex sniffed.

"I bet Daedalus never looked at his curves from behind in a mirror," Thalia insisted relentlessly.

"And we are ending this conversation!" Percy pleaded, which Magnus needed no further encouragement on.

"And an artist," Rachel said in amazement. "These wings are amazing!"

The wings looked more advanced than the ones I'd seen in my dreams. The feathers were more tightly interwoven. Instead of wax seals, selfadhesive strips ran down the sides.

Will appreciated nobody had the heart to make a quip about that. That Daedalus had spent lifetimes agonizing over the perfect design of what could have saved his son's life long after it didn't matter to the one it was meant for, just in case it might be used to save someone else someday.

I kept my hand on Riptide. Apparently Daedalus was not at home, but the workshop looked like it had been recently used. The laptops were running their screen savers. A half-eaten blueberry muffin and a coffee cup sat on a workbench.

"You really would make a great detective someday if you'd ever stop getting in trouble with the law," Jason grinned.

"So, never," Percy agreed.

I walked to the window. The view outside was amazing. I recognized the Rocky Mountains in the distance.

"How do you recognize a mountain?" Will looked at him strangely.

"Cross the continental U. S. enough times buddy, you start picking up that stuff," Percy sighed.

We were high up in the foothills, at least five hundred feet, and down below a valley spread out, filled with a tumbled collection of red mesas and boulders and spires of stone. It looked like some huge kid had been building a toy city with skyscraper-size blocks, and then decided to knock it over.

"Annabeth," Magnus stage whispered.

"No, no, say it loud and proud as she would," Percy chuckled.

"Annabeth!" Alex happily shouted right in Magnus's ear.

"Where are we?" I wondered.

"Colorado Springs," A voice said behind us. "The Garden of the Gods."

Standing on the spiral staircase above us, with his weapon drawn, was our missing sword master Quintus.

"Dam," Alex scowled. Percy got the feeling he wasn't referring to wanting a snack bar. "Luke is right behind you isn't he?"

Thalia knew it all got sorted out soon, and even if it didn't hurt Percy she'd still rather wait. Alex had really wanted to like Quintus, and she didn't have the heart to correct earlier than necessary he'd never even been Quintus, the cool guy with a dog.

"You," Annabeth said. "What have you done with Daedalus?"

Quintus smiled faintly. "Trust me, my dear. You don't want to meet him."

Nico fought hard not to snort with laughter. Did this guy think he was the Hulk or something?

"Look, Mr. Traitor," she growled,

"Annabeth, with the sick burns," Will snickered. "Next she'll call him a stinky head."

"She saves her important insults for me," Percy reminded.

"I didn't fight a dragon woman and a three-bodied man and a psychotic Sphinx to see you.

"Who would be worthy after that kind of trip?" Magnus said fairly. "I feel like even the person she's been fighting to see isn't worth all that."

"The ending never lives up to the journey," Alex nodded sagely.

Now where is DAEDALUS?"

Quintus came down the stairs, holding his sword at his side. He was dressed in jeans and boots and his counselor's T-shirt from Camp HalfBlood, which seemed like an insult now that we knew he was a spy.

"You'd think he'd know he lost his element of surprise," Percy scowled, twitching fingers trying their best not to draw his sword. "No need to keep up appearances!"

"He was probably doing it just to piss you off," Jason frowned, it had clearly been working.

I didn't know if I could beat him in a sword fight. He was pretty good. But I figured I would have to try.

"How to sum up Percy in three sentences," Thalia said warmly, giving him a light punch on the arm.

Percy blushed in surprise, momentarily breaking his anger and rubbing at his arm as he shrugged and muttered it's what anybody would do.

"You think I'm an agent of Kronos," he said. "That I work for Luke."

"Well, duh," said Annabeth.

"Has anybody told Mr. D. that the kids do still say that?" Jason asked randomly.

"Updating him on everything we said during our quest is my top priority," Percy promised with all the mocking in the world.

"You're an intelligent girl," he said. "But you're wrong. I work only for myself."

"Luke mentioned you," I said. "Geryon knew about you, too. You've been to his ranch."

"Of course," he said. "I've been almost everywhere. Even here."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it, he could write the next Odyssey," Thalia rolled her eyes, not particularly impressed with him.

He walked past me like I was no threat at all and stood by the window.

Percy's scowl kicked up another notch, so much so the others started checking the floor already.

"The view changes from day to day," he mused. "It's always some place high up. Yesterday it was from a skyscraper overlooking Manhattan. The day before that, there was a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. But it keeps coming back to the Garden of the Gods. I think the Labyrinth likes it here. A fitting name, I suppose."

Magnus was starting to wonder if he'd been slowly inhaling the ocean water without noticing. He felt so sick and his stomach gave a tsunami of a roll at everybody reminding him this place was alive!

"You've been here before," I said.

"Oh, yes."

"That's an illusion out there?" I asked. "A projection or something?"

"No," Rachel murmured. "It's real. We're really in Colorado."

"Has she been to Colorado and knows this exact view?" Alex frowned.

"I'm still waiting for the nightmare fuel of the maze just whispering in her ear," Magnus groaned.

Quintus regarded her. "You have clear vision, don't you? You remind me of another mortal girl I once knew. Another princess who came to grief."

"Enough games," I said. "What have you done with Daedalus?"

Quintus stared at me. "My boy, you need lessons from your friend on seeing clearly. I am Daedalus."

"Ooooohhhh," Jason said with a blank face. "Yeah, I didn't see that coming." The tiniest twitch of his face almost flickered into a hysterical laugh but he tried to keep it straight.

"I'd be worried if you did," Magnus looked in physical pain. "What? How? What? Why? What? When? What-"

"I really didn't think he managed that project," Alex's double-toned eyes danced with fascination. "Magic and machines really can do anything."

"But he's not an inventor," Percy frowned. "He's just good with a sword."

"Is that all you're good at Percy?" Thalia shook her head. "Just a sword?"

Percy wasn't going to argue the point, but he still looked pretty unconvinced.

Alex still had to smack Magnus to get him to concentrate on the book again rather than the suddenly very real possibility of an AI take over that was being hinted at.

There were a lot of answers I might've given, from "I knew that" to "LIAR!" to "Yeah right, and I'm Zeus."

"You definitely should have gone with the first one Percy," Jason chuckled. "Nobody would have believed you, but you still should have tried to sell it to Annabeth and Rachel."

The only thing I could think to say was, "But you're not an inventor! You're a swordsman!"

"I am both," Quintus said. "And an architect. And a scholar. I also play basketball pretty well for a guy who didn't start until he was two thousand years old. A real artist must be good at many things."

"Fair," Alex drew out the word with all his breath as he forced himself to agree with the cool artist/ swordsman/ dog owner/ traitor.

"That's true," Rachel said. "Like I can paint with my feet as well as my hands."

"I will never forgive Oceanus for making this girl vanish before I could see that," Alex sighed.

"You see?" Quintus said. "A girl of many talents."

"Flattery gets you everywhere," Nico chuckled with his own amusement. He'd always wondered why Percy had tried to stay behind and help Daeadlus after he'd betrayed the Camp. Percy's loyalty to him should have been broken, and yet Percy had resisted leaving until the last moment, possibly because of just this one moment where the old swords master still took time to talk to them like this.

"But you don't even look like Daedalus," I protested. "I saw him in a dream, and..." Suddenly a horrible thought dawned on me.

"Yes," Quintus said. "You've finally guessed the truth."

"You're an automaton. You made yourself a new body."

"Can Rachel see that?" Magnus asked. "Does he even have a skeletal system in there?"

"She didn't say anything to me," Percy sounded a touch awed himself by the idea. "I bet she could have made a wicked cool painting about it though."

"Percy," Annabeth said uneasily, "that's not possible. That—that can't be an automaton."

"The amount of things she keeps saying isn't possible like her mom isn't an immortal goddess who sprang out of her dad's head," Nico said in exasperation.

"We all take things at our own pace," Will shrugged, deciding against bringing up the fact some people were more comfortable with certain topics than others so as not to put Nico on the spot.

Quintus chuckled. "Do you know what Quintus means, my dear?"

"The fifth, in Latin. But—"

"This is my fifth body." The swordsman held out his forearm. He pressed his elbow and part of his wrist popped open—a rectangular hatch in his skin.

"That's terrifying!" Alex said in the most jazzed voice.

Jason started poking at his elbow in worry he could be an android and not even know it.

Underneath, bronze gears whirred. Wires glowed.

"That's amazing!" Rachel said.

"That's weird," I said.

"Does anything impress you Percy?" Thalia scoffed. She really wished she'd seen that in person.

"Recognizing Tony Hawk," Percy sniffed and took an imaginary sip of wine. Thalia smacked 'it' out of his hands and Magnus quickly kept reading before that turned into a whole slap fight.

"You found a way to transfer your animus into a machine?" Annabeth said. "That's...not natural."

"See, she gets it!" Percy wished for the gazillionth time she was here so she could high five him and call him a seaweed brain for understanding her point or something.

"Oh, I assure you, my dear, it's still me. I'm still very much Daedalus. Our mother, Athena, makes sure I never forget that." He tugged back the collar of his shirt. At the base of his neck was the mark I'd seen before—the dark shape of a bird grafted to his skin.

"A murderer's brand," Annabeth said.

"What's the marketing like for that brand?" Alex smirked. "Murder two kids get this free? Did Athena make that up on the spot especially for him?"

"Really not funny Alex," Will said in complete disapproval.

"Sorry, kind of," Alex shrugged. He was struggling not to think of Quintus as a two-faced traitor right now.

"For your nephew, Perdix," I guessed. "The boy you pushed off the tower."

Quintus's face darkened. "I did not push him. I simply—"

"Made him lose his balance," I said. "Let him die."

"Don't you give him any slack Percy," Thalia nodded approvingly.

"Could cut him a little slack," but Will's was mostly a mutter out of the corner of his lip to nobody. He was sure Daedalus regretted many, many things he did and didn't do over the course of that many lifetimes.

Quintus gazed out the windows at the purple mountains.

"Who said they were purple? What?" Magnus knew he was not caught on the right detail there, but that was a weird description. His brain was probably still broken on anything else really.

"It's not literal Magnus, just light refraction and junk," Percy shrugged, "trust me, they looked it though."

"I regret what I did, Percy. I was angry and bitter. But I cannot take it back, and Athena never lets me forget. As Perdix died, she turned him into a small bird—a partridge.

"Why do the gods keep turning kids into things instead of, you know, saving them," Percy asked the girl who had once been turned into a tree.

"Not stepping on Hades's toes?" She shrugged, "makes for a better life story? They want credit for inventing the most shit? Why would I know that Percy?"

"At least I got the all mighty and wise Thalia to admit she didn't know something," Percy shrugged that was answer enough.

She branded the bird's shape on my neck as a reminder. No matter what body I take, the brand appears on my skin."

I looked into his eyes, and I realized he was the same man I'd seen in my dreams. His face might be totally different, but the same soul was in there— the same intelligence and all the sadness.

Percy vividly recalled the first time he'd met him was defending his dog, the innocent good girl, and wearily shaking his hand. The first time he'd dreamed about him had been right after his first tumble into this maze.

Which was the true man to be believed? The imprisoned old guy who had grown bitter enough to murder after losing everything, or the guy who had let Annabeth get away with a whole conversation over breakfast? How long did you have to be alive before one turned into the other, if that was even possible?

And how the heck did he go to the bathroom in between each new body?

"You really are Daedalus," I decided. "But why did you come to the camp? Why spy on us?"

"To see if your camp was worth saving. Luke had given me one story. I preferred to come to my own conclusions."

"I really hate that I find that a noble and valid answer," Jason frowned.

"Yeah, yeah, open-minded, blah, blah, he should have asked us first and believed us!" Percy still scowled this guy had come in disguise and unsure if their camp was worth saving the moment he'd arrived.

"So you have talked to Luke."

"Oh, yes. Several times. He is quite persuasive."

"I haven't heard a hint of that," Magnus huffed, "he's mostly just been a pest."

Percy's heart sunk though as he couldn't fully agree. The way he was going about it was wrong...but that arena to Poseidon his dad had never put a stop to...Calypso...there were to many things in the gods name that would never sit right with him...

"But now you've seen the camp!" Annabeth persisted. "So you know we need your help. You can't let Luke through the maze!"

Daedalus set his sword on the workbench. "The maze is no longer mine to control, Annabeth. I created it, yes. In fact, it is tied to my life force. But I have allowed it to live and grow on its own. That is the price I paid for privacy."

"I want to go home now," Magnus decided he'd officially hit his limit of overwhelmed. He didn't care 'home' was a sleeping bag in the park and no secure source of food.

There was a sentient maze tied to some guy's life force who may or may not doom the home of his cousin. This was his limit.

"That took much longer than me," Percy gave him a sympathetic nod. "Good to know your limits," he then happily mocked Jason, who gave him a casual grin.

"If we knew how to kick you guys out without it being a major concern we would," Thalia sighed. Agitating a Titan into doing it didn't seem like a bet even they were willing to play though.

"Privacy from what?"

"The gods," he said. "And death. I have been alive for two millennia, my dear, hiding from death."

"Man, I can't even blame him after everything he's been through," Alex couldn't help but sympathize. The number one reason he wasn't stressing about getting up top was the privacy away from Loki.

"But how can you hide from Hades?" I asked. "I mean...Hades has the Furies."

"And that's just one of many," Nico said with an ominous smirk. The kind that made his face flicker in shadows and send a thrill of fear up all of their spines. Nico wouldn't be killing Daedalus for his soul or anything like that, but he still wasn't fond of the guy who had cheated death and gave his dad a bad name.

"They do not know everything," he said. "Or see everything. You have encountered them, Percy. You know this is true. A clever man can hide quite a long time, and I have buried myself very deep. Only my greatest enemy has kept after me, and even him I have thwarted."

"I think thwarted is to strong a word," Jason sniffed. "He's been relentlessly after you and still scheming away."

"I can see why Daedalus likes tag so much, he really doesn't want to be It," Percy frowned.

"You mean Minos," I said.

Daedalus nodded. "He hunts for me relentlessly. Now that he is a judge of the dead, he would like nothing better than for me to come before him so he can punish me for my crimes. After the daughters of Cocalus killed him, Minos's ghost began torturing me in my dreams. He promised that he would hunt me down. I did the only thing I could. I retreated from the world completely. I descended into my Labyrinth. I decided this would be my ultimate accomplishment: I would cheat death."

"And you did," Annabeth marveled, "for two thousand years." She sounded kind of impressed, despite the horrible things Daedalus had done.

Percy debated for a moment before deciding he wouldn't take his fist bump back, but he would have been sure she'd see his 'you need better roll models' look this time she'd missed while ogling him.

Just then a loud bark echoed from the corridor. I heard the ba-BUMP, baBUMP, ba-BUMP of huge paws, and Mrs. O'Leary bounded into the workshop. She licked my face once, then almost knocked Daedalus over with an enthusiastic leap.

"That's got to be one of the best feelings in the world," Alex's smile looked different when he talked about Mrs. O'Leary, a kinder expression than his usual slightly mocking grin. "When your pet shows up from out of nowhere and you didn't call them. They just wanted to be where you are."

Magnus couldn't help but smile right along with him, a feeling he suddenly knew he'd never take for granted again.

"There is my old friend!" Daedalus said, scratching Mrs. O'Leary behind the ears. "My only companion all these long lonely years."

"You let her save me," I said. "That whistle actually worked."

Daedalus nodded. "Of course it did, Percy. You have a good heart. And I knew Mrs. O'Leary liked you. I wanted to help you. Perhaps I—I felt guilty, as well."

"Guilty about what?"

"That your quest would be in vain."

"He decided you guys were a lost cause that fast huh?" Magnus looked a little offended on the Camp's part...and also like he kind of understood where Daedalus was coming from.

"What?" Annabeth said. "But you can still help us. You have to! Give us Ariadne's string so Luke can't get it."

"And hopefully burn it," Will shivered.

Jason's eyes brightened with understanding though, and dread. Where had Kampê been in that arena? Off to fetch her honorable position?

"Yes...the string. I told Luke that the eyes of a clear-sighted mortal are the best guide, but he did not trust me. He was so focused on the idea of a magic item.

"Does it have other properties, or was he just refusing to believe a mortal could be of help?" Magnus frowned.

"Wasn't there for that conversation," Percy huffed.

And the string works. It's not as accurate as your mortal friend here, perhaps. But good enough. Good enough."

"Where is it?" Annabeth said.

"With Luke," Daedalus said sadly. "I'm sorry, my dear. But you are several hours too late."

Sizzling anger washed over Percy as he realized why Luke had looked so happy in that arena. They'd been to late.

He wondered if Daedalus had stalled for time. If he'd looked at the door to his workshop hoping they'd show up and have an excuse not to be a traitor.

He also wondered where Luke had kept that string. Had it been his shoelace the whole time?

With a chill I realized why Luke had been in such a good mood in the arena. He'd already gotten the string from Daedalus. His only obstacle had been the arena master, and I'd taken care of that for him by killing Antaeus.

"Well the obvious solution here is, stop being so good at killing monsters Percy," Thalia smacked his shoulder.

"I'll get right on that," Percy sighed.

"Kronos promised me freedom," Quintus said. "Once Hades is overthrown, he will set me over the Underworld. I will reclaim my son Icarus. I will make things right with poor young Perdix. I will see Minos's soul cast into Tartarus, where it cannot bother me again. And I will no longer have to run from death."

Damn if that wasn't a persuasive argument though, Will sighed. How was it Luke had probably only read Daedalus' stories while dreaming of nothing but Kronos's schemes and still managed to say the exact right thing to get him what he wanted?

To much practice is what it was.

"That's your brilliant idea?" Annabeth yelled. "You're going to let Luke destroy your camp, kill hundreds of demigods, and then attack Olympus? You're going to bring down the entire world so you can get what you want?"

"Hades would be pisssssed," Jason said with confidence. "We already know he doesn't want that at all, and then someone usurping his throne! Oh, this guy's in for a bad day when he hits the Underworld."

Nico wasn't sure if Jason meant Luke or Daedalus, but either way he was going to be surprised at the outcome.

"Your cause is doomed, my dear. I saw that as soon as I began to work at your camp.

The fact that he never referred to it as our Camp, as his Camp bothered Percy. Like he'd never given the place a chance, or refused to let himself be attached to anything. He remembered first waking up there, how insane it had all felt, how alien everything seemed...and yet he'd already considered the place home before he even realized it. A feeling that all Half-bloods should share no matter how old they get.

There is no way you can hold back the might of Kronos."

"That's not true!" she cried.

"I am doing what I must, my dear. The offer was too sweet to refuse. I'm sorry."

"So what I'm hearing is we need to violently cut out his sweet tooth," Alex sneered.

"If you think that'll help," Magnus sighed in a long-time resigned voice for somebody who had only known him a few days.

Annabeth pushed over an easel. Architectural drawing scattered across the floor.

Nico felt that in his core. He wondered if Tyson had wanted to shove something over too after he'd rescued Briares.

"I used to respect you. You were my hero! You—you built amazing things. You solved problems. Now...I don't know what you are. Children of Athena are supposed to be wise, not just clever. Maybe you are just a machine. You should have died two thousand years ago."

Instead of getting mad, Daedalus hung his head. "You should go warn your camp. Now that Luke has the string—"

Suddenly Mrs. O'Leary pricked up her ears.

"Someone's coming!" Rachel warned.

"Rachel's hearing is as good as a hell hounds confirmed," Alex said with one of those diabolical smiles that meant nobody knew what he was going to do with that information.

"Or worse, the maze warned her," Magnus shivered like he half expected her to become possessed by the place staring at its secrets to long.

The doors of the workshop burst open, and Nico was pushed inside, his hands in chains.

Magnus's voice stuttered in surprise while Nico fought hard not to scowl at all of them. He didn't owe anyone an explanation for being weak and getting caught! That Minos had led him right into a trap and he'd been to stupid to realize it...

To Nico's shock however, no one did any such thing. Will in fact leaned forward in his seat. Not much, but enough his arm was dangling close to the collar of Nico's jacket and sending chills up his neck.

Then Kelli and two Laistrygonians marched in behind him, followed by the ghost of Minos. He looked almost solid now—a pale bearded king with cold eyes and tendrils of Mist coiling off his robes.

"All the easier to stab," was all Thalia seemed to hear.

"Is this like one of those if you wish hard enough your dream comes true?" Percy mock whispered out of the side of his mouth.

He fixed his gaze on Daedalus. "There you are, my old friend."

Daedalus's jaw clenched. He looked at Kelli. "What is the meaning of this?"

"It's called a double cross," Alex said with almost pity. "It's what happens when you make deals with monsters and traitors."

"Luke sends his compliments," Kelli said. "He thought you might like to see your old employer Minos."

"And here Daedalus was just complimenting Luke on his good persuasion skills," Jason said snidely. "See, this doesn't sound very persuasive. You'd think a smart guy like Luke would know the greatest inventor would be more helpful to have on your side than a grumpy old ghost."

Nico cleared his throat but uneasily offered, "I assume Minos tried to drive Luke insane when he first ventured into the maze and Luke struck this deal with him all the way back then. He would have already been under Kronos's favor and had the weight to hold up a deal like this."

Jason still felt like the obvious answer should be to double cross the ghost then, not Daedalus, but he noticed Thalia swallowed bile at this so casually being talked about, so was grateful Magnus didn't stick around for any details.

"This was not part of our agreement," Daedalus said.

"No indeed," Kelli said. "But we already have what we want from you, and we have other agreements to honor. Minos required something else from us, in order to turn over this fine young demigod." She ran a finger under Nico's chin.

Percy gave an exaggerated shudder as he tried to give Nico a sympathetic smile about how intoxicating and awful that must have been, before he did a double take and asked, "hey, were you-"

Then he shut his mouth just as fast with a guilty look at him and Thalia. Right, wait for him to volunteer if he'd been attracted to the pretty demon.

Nico was touched beyond words at the level of self-restraint Percy had just shown in regards to him. Not enough to answer a truth that really should have been an early indication he had not looked back on fondly about himself.

He had not found the empousa appealing in the slightest. He had not fallen for her charms, and wanted to be as far away from her as possible. All he'd felt were Percy's green eyes asking if he was okay. Nico had wanted to be beside him, wanted to prove himself worthy. Her horse and roses smell had been pungent and entirely unappealing to him like a girl with way to much perfume on he'd wanted to cough and retreat from.

"He'll be quite useful. And all Minos asked in return was your head, old man."

Daedalus paled. "Treachery."

"Get used to it," Kelli said.

"That doesn't sound like a very school spirit kind of attitude," Will said in as snooty a voice as possible. "I thought we were all in this together at Goode!"

"To many cartwheels must have dislodged her brain out of her ear," Alex scoffed.

"Nico," I said. "Are you okay?"

He nodded morosely. "I—I'm sorry, Percy. Minos told me you were in danger. He convinced me to go back into the maze."

"I am really, really glad you guys are okay," Will's voice shook with nerves like he wasn't saying this with full knowledge they were all right in front of him and this had happened years ago.

Nico still wasn't quite used to hearing that, but he found himself smiling at Will this time, at least acknowledging he'd heard it with still no idea what to say. Will's smile felt like an answer anyways, just like usual now.

"You were trying to help us?"

"I was tricked," he said. "He tricked all of us."

I glared at Kelli. "Where's Luke? Why isn't he here?"

"Vengeance will be swift," Alex savored.

"Good to hear you defending the kid's honor back then," Jason agreed with a forlorn smile.

Nico was a miserable huddle of black jacket, and it wasn't a stretch to figure out what was causing this jumble of painful emotions. His only friend for months had just betrayed him, he'd given up the idea of getting his sister back, and the outcome of everything he was going through was Percy realizing he was to weak to take care of himself.

The she-demon smiled like we were sharing a private joke. "Luke is...busy. He is preparing for the assault.

Thalia's eyes felt strained all at once. Like she wanted to sleep, but she knew the moment she got up from her comfortable spot the feeling would vanish. A breath shook past her lips, and the moment was gone.

She knew it was coming back soon.

But don't worry. We have more friends on the way. And in the meantime, I think I'll have a wonderful snack!" Her hands changed into claws. Her hair burst into flame and her legs turned to their true form—one donkey leg, one bronze.

"Percy," Rachel whispered, "the wings. Do you think—"

"Get them," I said. "I'll try to buy you some time."

And with that, all Hades broke loose.

"You were right Jason," Nico managed a chuckle. "Hades would have been pissed at his kingdom being broken loose. Percy is way to liberal with his choice of words."

"I think of Hades as a naturally pissed and yet helpful guy who would be happy to see his kingdom break lose to get one guy back," Percy insisted.

"Then you need to study more," Nico rolled his eyes.

"Hard pass when I'll live it eventually," Percy scoffed.

Annabeth and I charged at Kelli.

The giants came right at Daedalus, but Mrs. O'Leary leaped to his defense.

Nico got pushed to the ground and struggled with his chains while the spirit of Minos wailed, "Kill the inventor! Kill him!"

Nico sighed, if that wasn't the story of his life right there. Pushed aside and associated with nothing but death, nobody's concern.

Rachel grabbed the wings off the wall. Nobody paid her any attention.

Nico gave himself a good mental shake though as he heard that. Rachel was off doing her own thing that certainly saved all their lives. The lowly mortal none of the monsters had thought to pursue key to their escape. He had made himself be seen.

Kelli slashed at Annabeth. I tried to get to her, but the demon was quick and deadly. She turned over tables, smashed inventions, and wouldn't let us get close. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. O'Leary chomp her fangs into a giant's arm. He wailed in pain and flung her around, trying to shake her.

Daedalus grabbed for his sword, but the second giant smashed the workbench with his fist, and the sword went flying. A clay jar of Greek fire broke on the floor and began to burn, green flames spreading quickly.

The chaos, crashing and smashing of a fight, speckled blood, and heavy thick smoke lingering in the nose just didn't have the same echo in here like it did in Percy's mind. Magnus's voice was shaky, he was waiting for somebody to get really hurt, like Annabeth. The silence of the room was a defining kind of noise all its own as everyone except Percy held their breath to see how to get out of this.

Even Nico. He couldn't seem to get the idea out of his head this next display of his powers was going to send someone into a screaming fit about having him around.

"To me!" Minos cried. "Spirits of the dead!" He raised his ghostly hands and the air began to hum.

"No!" Nico cried. He was on his feet now. He'd somehow managed to remove his shackles.

Nico watched his hands carefully, suspiciously, to make sure they didn't start phasing in and out of existence without his permission. His first instance of shadow traveling, of being able to turn to pure liquid darkness. His anger at Minos had been absolute. A true testament to what would ultimately happen to an entity he did have a grudge against.

Something he was afraid of letting happen to anybody if he wasn't careful with himself.

"You do not control me, young fool," Minos sneered. "All this time, I have been controlling you! A soul for a soul, yes. But it is not your sister who will return from the dead. It is I, as soon as I slay the inventor!"

Spirits began to appear around Minos—shimmering forms that slowly multiplied, solidifying into Cretan soldiers.

"I am the son of Hades," Nico insisted. "Be gone!"

Minos laughed. "You have no power over me. I am the lord of spirits! The ghost king!"

"No." Nico drew his sword. "I am."

"Oh, snap," Alex said with pure delight. "Ghost fight?"

"Ghost fight," Nico agreed with a weary, yet proud smile. A victory he wouldn't exactly say he was proud of...and yet it was the first time he'd truly claimed his identity and knew he had to stop hiding who he used to be and accept who he was.

He stabbed his black blade into the floor, and it cleaved through the stone like butter.

"Damn Nico, you ever stuck that thing in a microwave to see what would happen?" Percy asked in a tone of one who might have some experience with that.

"Not many microwaves down in the Labyrinth to test that Percy," Nico frowned and clutched his sword tight in case he was getting ideas.

"Never!" Minos's form rippled. "I will not—"

The ground rumbled. The windows cracked and shattered to pieces, letting in a blast of fresh air. A fissure opened in the stone floor of the workshop, and Minos and all his spirits were sucked into the void with a horrible wail.

Nico's breath looked a little ragged coming out of his chest. His dark eyes glittered as he watched the book and those in the room carefully, darting to Will too, but last.

Will really wanted to kiss him right now but thought that might be inappropriate and seriously debated if he cared for several moments before Thalia said casually, "thanks for that by the way. I know this ingrate never said that."

"If I thanked every person who saved my life, my mom's wrist would cramp from all the letters," Percy sighed.

"You'd make your mom write the letters?" Jason looked at him with the kind of moral disdain he'd seen all his life in teachers.

"You're right," Percy conceded, "I'd type them and not bother to see what got spell-checked correctly."

The bad news: the fight was still going on all around us, and I let myself get distracted.

Nico actually blushed. Percy looked awkwardly away from that flush of coloring and decided he didn't want to ask.

Alex made a whooping noise of laughter to add to it all anyways, "how have you never died in a fight? Every life or death instance you've been in you notice the randomest things."

"Very talented friends and some mild talent with a sword," Percy shrugged.

Kelli pounced on me so fast I had no time to defend myself.

My sword skittered away and I hit my head hard on a worktable as I fell. My eyesight went fuzzy. I couldn't raise my arms.

Which made Alex's joke not so funny when it almost came true a second later, but Percy only seemed mildly concerned as he scratched at his neck and glanced hopefully at Nico again like he expected that sword to pierce right through her next.

Nico didn't particularly want to admit he'd fallen to his knee, his head dizzy from such a blast of his powers and hadn't even noticed he was about to die.

Kelli laughed. "You will taste wonderful!"

"I still think he'd be to salty," Magnus wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I can't imagine the seasoning you'd have to add to balance straight."

"A recipe book I pray never hits the shelves," Percy agreed.

She bared her fangs. Then suddenly her body went rigid. Her red eyes widened. She gasped, "No...school...spirit..."

And Annabeth took her knife out of the empousa's back.

"Atta girl," Jason looked so pleased and disappointed all at once he couldn't be patting her on the back. "That was perfect synchrony, using you as bait, that spectacular timing."

"Hands off Jason," Percy laughed along, remembering spitting out monster dust that had a bit of a kick to it and seeing an angel in resplendent golden hair above him with the most intense gray eyes as the point of her knife followed every mote to the floor to make sure the deed was done.

With an awful screech, Kelli dissolved into yellow vapor.

Annabeth helped me up.

Will shook his head at what an odd sentence that was to include. It was just implied that's what had happened next, like glossing over every time they stopped to swat a bug away or sneeze and brush dust off their face. A silly detail that everybody knew had happened and there really was no reason to point it out.

I still felt dizzy, but we had no time to lose. Mrs. O'Leary and Daedalus were still locked in combat with the giants, and I could hear shouting in the tunnel. More monsters were coming toward the workshop.

"We have to help Daedalus!" I said.

Thalia pressed her lips tight together upon hearing that. It was one of those moments she would have been at odds with Percy, trying to push him out the window with or without the wings for suggesting they save the traitor to their camp. It was very black and white to her.

And yet.

She often wondered if Luke had tried reaching to Percy for help, what Percy would have done. Luke had tried appealing to her and Annabeth, but there was to much history, to much resentment to get anywhere.

They'd only been friends for less than a week...but Percy might have helped Luke better than she ever could.

"No time," Rachel said. "Too many coming!"

She'd already fitted herself with wings and was working on Nico, who looked pale and sweaty from his struggle with Minos. The wings grafted instantly to his back and arms.

Nico had never been aware of the prejudice Zeus might have to children of Poseidon being in the air enough to be worried if that applied to him too. He swallowed gratefully nobody had stopped to point that out right then.

"Now you!" she told me.

In seconds, Nico, Annabeth, Rachel, and I had fitted ourselves with coppery wings.

The resemblance to Nico and Icarus had been uncanny at the moment, and Percy shivered now as he felt them graft into place minus the hot glue gun. The sound of swords clanging, the feeling of doom still licking up every inch of his skin as he surveyed that room one last time. The architecture designs curling up into black nothingness, Rachel's face a ghastly pale.

That room had been full of death, and as eager as Percy was to escape, everything about it made him want to stay and save what was going to be lost.

Already I could feel myself being lifted by the wind coming through the window. Greek fire was burning the tables and furniture, spreading up the circular stairs.

"Daedalus!" I yelled. "Come on!"

He was cut in a hundred places—but he was bleeding golden oil instead of blood. He'd found his sword and was using part of a smashed table as a shield against the giants. "I won't leave Mrs. O'Leary!" he said. "Go!"

"Oh gods," Alex touched his chest in shock at how much that meant to hear. He'd really wanted to like Quintus just for his dog, and he'd proven to be a very mixed man of honor and tragedy.

"The only depressing cliche I think my life has ever dodged," Percy smiled, his eyes still troubled even as he made a joke. "I don't think the dog dies." He winced, but it was a hopeful stabbing pain to his brain that he was right.

There was no time to argue. Even if we stayed, I wasn't sure we could help.

"None of us know how to fly!" Nico protested.

"Great time to find out," I said. And together, the four of us jumped out the window into open sky.

"Yeah, I don't recommend that Percy," Magnus looked up. The amount of times someone in this room had told him that could have filled a whole page.

"I do! Learning to fly on the way down builds character!" Alex said confidently as he snatched the book away.

"This guy would climb a mountain during an earthquake," Percy frowned in concern his mortality never seemed to be a major concern around here.

Oh, right, he was alive. There was no tension of that anywhere except his own head.

#pjo #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #Alex Fierro #Magnus Chase #Nico Di Angelo #Will Solace

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