riley doesn't like the angry sphinx
"were you aiming for him or me, 'cause i really couldn't tell!?"
"i was attacked!!"
"i was just tryna scare him!!"
"are you out of your mind??!!!"
"get in the car!!"
"the case! throw it!!!"
i sat up, gasping. my dreams (they weren't really dreams) had consisted of yelling. there were different voices, all yelling at each other. i wasn't sure what was happening, but i knew i was feeling very stressed out.
"are you okay?"
percy's voice made me jump.
i placed a hand to my racing heart. "gods, you scared me. but yeah, i'm feeling better now." i rubbed the little crescent scars on my palm that the ambrosia hadn't healed. i wasn't too worried because i knew, they'd fade within time.
"you scared me — all of us," he corrected hastily.
i smiled lightly, "well, it's nice to know you all care so much about me."
"are you kidding me? grover nearly fainted after seeing you faint. i had to carry you the couch here, and annabeth didn't want to sleep until you woke up. tyson looked ready to bawl. it took a lot of convincing, and even nico wanted to wait."
i sighed, "sorry. didn't mean to scare you guys."
"it's not your fault," percy brushed it off. "just... be careful."
"i'll try my best."
we sat in a comfortable silence before percy broke it. "in your sleep, you were shifting a lot. nightmares?"
i thought about it, "i don't think it was a nightmare per se. there was just a lot of yelling. i knew i was there, also yelling, and very stressed out. but... i don't know, i couldn't see anything. speaking of nightmares, is that what's keeping you up?"
percy bit his lip. he told me about how he dreamed of luke on mount tam/othrys. something about safe passage, and luke had given kampe the 'honor' of carrying ariadne's string. he told me how kelli — the empousai — ripped through his throat waking him up.
i had a feeling he was hiding something, but i let him. if he didn't want to relive his entire nightmare, he didn't have to.
"how long's it been since we left camp?" i asked, changing the topic.
"it's june thirteen."
"a whole week?!"
"shh," percy motioned to a snoring grover. "but yeah, times travels faster in the labyrinth."
"grover's deadline," i muttered in realization.
percy didn't respond. the two of us sat in the silence until the sun rose.
"nico, you could come with us," percy blurted at the last second.
we were at the cattle guard, getting ready to leave. after a breakfast of barbeque, and annabeth and nico fussing over me, we were finally ready to leave.
nico shook his head. he looked horrible. none of us had gotten a good amount of sleep last night, but nico looked worse than all of us. his eyes were red and his face was chalky. i wondered if he had been crying last night.
"i need time to think," nico told percy. he sounded a little angry.
"nico," i tried, "bianca wants you to be safe. you know that."
he bit his lip, but didn't answer.
"trying to bring her back is going to draw kronos' attention. bianca wants you to be okay," annabeth put a hand on his shoulder.
nico shrugged it off, and trudged back to the demon dude ranch house.
i wrung my hands nervously, "i'm worried about him. if he starts talking to minos' ghost ag—"
"he'll be all right," eurytion promised. "the boy can stay here and gather his thoughts as long as he wants. he'll be safe, i promise."
i nodded, slightly reassured that eurytion would be watching over him.
"what about you?" percy asked the cowherd.
eurytion scratched orthus behind one chin, then the other. "things are going to be run a little different on this ranch from now on. no more sacred cattle meat. i'm thinking about soybean patties. and i'm going to befriend those flesh-eating horses. might just sign up for the next rodeo."
"well, good luck."
"yep." eurytion spit into the grass. "i reckon you'll be looking for daedalus's workshop now?"
my posture straightened, "can you help us?"
"don't know where it is. but hephaestus probably would."
"that's what hera said," i remembered. "but how do we find hephaestus?"
eurytion pulled something from under the collar of his shirt. it was a necklace — a smooth silver disk on a silver chain. the disk had an impression on the middle, like a thumbprint. he handed it to me.
"hephaestus comes here from time to time," eurytion said. "studies the animals and such so he can make bronze automaton copies. last time, i — uh — did him a favor. a little trick he wanted to play on my dad, ares, and aphrodite. he gave me that chain in gratitude. said if i ever needed to find him, the disk would lead me to his forges. but only once."
"and you're giving it to me?" i asked, examining it in awe.
eurytion blushed. "i don't need to see the forges, miss. got enough to do here. just press the button and you'll be on your way."
i pressed my thumb into the button and the disk sprang to life. it grew eight metallic legs. i jumped back, and it fell out of my hands, "jeez!" i muttered in shock.
annabeth did not take to the metallic spider as well as i did. "spider!" she screamed.
"she's, um, a little scared of spiders," grover explained annabeth's reaction. "that old grudge between athena and arachne."
"oh." eurytion looked a little embarrassed. "sorry, miss."
the spider scrambled to the cattle guard and disappeared between the bars.
"hurry," i said, excited that we finally had a lead. "that thing's not going to wait for us."
annabeth wasn't anxious to follow, but we didn't have much choice. we said our good-byes to eurytion, tyson pulled the cattle guard off the hole, and we dropped back into the maze.
it was fast.
i barely even saw it. if it wasn't for grover and tyson's super-hearing, we would've been lost a long time ago. we ran down the tunnel, and turned left and almost fell into an abyss. percy and i were at the front, since we were the fastest. tyson grabbed onto the back of our shirts and hauled us back.
the tunnel continued, but there was no floor for about a hundred feet. instead, there were metal rungs on the ceiling that the spider was swinging from.
"monkey bars," annabeth came to the front, "i'm great at these."
she went first, and began swinging her way across. leave it to annabeth to be scared of tiny metallic spiders, and not falling to her death. i'm not going to lie, the idea of swinging across a giant pit terrified me. it's where my fear of falling came in.
i turned to percy, "you swing. i'm gonna try something."
percy looked doubtful, but he went on. i turned to tyson, "if i fall, catch me."
tyson nodded, and i stepped into the abyss. i opened my eyes (when did i close them?) and realized i was okay. little energy platforms were appearing beneath my shoes. i got into a running position and ran across, reaching a second before percy.
"why didn't you swing?" he asked me.
"fear of falling," i told him simply.
we turned around, and i saw tyson carrying grover on his back. tyson made it across in three swings, which was a good thing because the last rung broke behind him.
we kept moving. we passed a skeleton in the chamber (not gonna lie, the fact that i was now okay around skeletons freaked me out a little.)
the tunnel opened up onto a large room. a blazing light hit us. once my eyes adjusted, the first thing i noticed were the skeletons. dozens littered the floor around us. some were old and bleached white. others were more recent and a lot grosser. the smell was nearly as bad as geryon's stables, which is saying something.
that's when i saw the monster. she stood on a glittery dais on the opposite side of the room. she had the body of a huge lion and the head of a woman. she would've been pretty (as pretty as you could be when you're mainly lion), but her hair was tied back in a tight bun and she wore too much makeup. she looked like one of my dad's employee's that he'd fired a long time ago. (she was kind of a prick, and we went out to dinner to celebrate)
a blue ribbon was pinned to her chest, "this monster has been rated exemplary," i read out for percy and annabeth.
tyson whimpered, and percy seemed to grow a protective stance around his half-brother. i stepped forward, in hopes that the monster would let us cross.
she did not let us cross.
the sphinx roared, showing fangs in her otherwise human face. bars came down on both tunnel exits, behind us and in front.
immediately the monster's snarl turned into a brilliant smile.
"welcome, lucky contestants!" she announced. "get ready to play... 'answer that riddle!"
applause blasted from the ceiling. the adhd part of me wondered if she had the remote that sam did in icarly. spotlights swept across the room and reflected off the dais, throwing disco glitter over the skeletons on the floor.
"fabulous prizes!" the sphinx said. "pass the test, and you get to advance! fail, and i get to eat you! who will be our contestant?"
i was getting ready to go forward, when annabeth grabbed my arm. "i've got this," she whispered. "i know what she's going to ask."
i pursed my lips, but nodded. i wasn't a hundred percent sure what she was going to ask, and i was smart in a completely different way than annabeth.
she's more 'i get a hundred on a test without studying', while i'm 'yeah, i became an expert on advanced architectural structures overnight, but sometimes i forget my own birthday'.
i figured she had the best shot.
she stepped forward to the contestant's podium, which had a skeleton in a school uniform hunched over it. she pushed the skeleton out of the way, and it clattered to the floor.
"sorry," annabeth told it, wincing.
"welcome, annabeth chase!" the monster cried, though annabeth hadn't said her name. "are you ready for your test?"
"yes," she said. "ask your riddle."
"twenty riddles, actually!" the sphinx said gleefully.
"what? but back in the old days—"
"oh, we've raised our standards! to pass, you must show proficiency in all twenty. isn't that great?"
applause switched on and off like somebody turning a faucet.
annabeth glanced back at us nervously. i gave her two thumbs-up, and percy nodded encouragingly.
"okay," she told the sphinx. "i'm ready."
a drumroll sounded from above. the sphinx's eyes glittered with excitement. "what... is the capital of bulgaria?"
annabeth frowned. i was definitely confused, because i knew she knew the answer. "sofia," she said, "but—"
"correct!" more canned applause. the sphinx smiled so widely her fangs showed. "please be sure to mark your answer clearly on your test sheet with a number 2 pencil."
"what?" annabeth looked mystified. i couldn't blame her, i was also confused. then a test booklet appeared on the podium in front of her, along with a sharpened pencil.
"make sure you bubble each answer clearly and stay inside the circle," the sphinx said. "if you have to erase, erase completely or the machine will not be able to read your answers."
"what machine?" annabeth asked.
the sphinx pointed with her paw. over by the spotlight was a bronze box with a bunch of gears and levers and a big greek letter eta on the side, the mark of hephaestus.
"now," said the sphinx, "next question—"
"wait a second," annabeth protested. "what about 'what walks on four legs in the morning'?"
"i beg your pardon?" the sphinx said, clearly annoyed now.
"the riddle about the man. he walks on four legs in the morning, like a baby, two legs in the afternoon, like an adult, and three legs in the evening, as an old man with a cane. that's the riddle you used to ask."
"exactly why we changed the test!" the sphinx exclaimed. "you already knew the answer. now second question, what is the square root of sixteen?"
"four," annabeth said, "but—"
"correct! which u.s. president signed the emancipation proclamation?"
"abraham lincoln, but—"
"correct! what regiment did captain america storm an enemy facility for?"
"the 107th infantry regiment."
spots appeared in my sight and i internally groaned as i was pulled back into another vision.
"i still haven't gotten a letter from him," the brunette was telling the blond (oh look, he was built again.)
"it's alright freckles," steve assured her, "you'll get one."
"but what if—"
"don't do that," he told her. "he's going to be all right. meanwhile, you still have a job. people to heal. go do that, it'll keep your mind off of everything."
the brunette looked unconvinced, but she nodded anyways, "steve, i'm scared."
steve put his hands on her shoulders, "hey, look at me freckles. your brother's going to be okay. i promise you."
"don't promise something you can't be sure of."
"correct! riddle number five. how much—"
"hold up!" annabeth shouted.
i blinked twice, back in the old world.
"no no no no," i muttered gripping percy's forearm. "just answer her questions. please just answer her questions."
"these aren't riddles," annabeth said, stubbornly.
"what do you mean?" the sphinx snapped. "of course they are. this test material is specially designed—"
"it's just a bunch of dumb, random facts," annabeth insisted. "riddles are supposed to make you think."
"think?" the sphinx frowned. "how am i supposed to test whether you can think? that's ridiculous! now, how much force is required—"
"stop!" annabeth insisted. "this is a stupid test."
"um, annabeth," grover cut in nervously. "maybe you should just, you know, finish first and complain later?"
"please," i added.
"i'm a child of athena," she insisted. "and this is an insult to my intelligence. i won't answer these questions."
i felt like a deflated balloon. her fatal flaw was hubris, and it was going to get us all killed.
the spotlights glared. the sphinx's eyes glittered pure black.
"why then, my dear," the monster said calmly. "if you won't pass, you fail. and since we can't allow any children to be held back, you'll be eaten!"
the sphinx bared her claws, which gleamed like stainless steel. she pounced at the podium where annabeth was.
"no!" tyson charged.
he tackled the sphinx in midair and they crashed sideways into a pile of bones. this gave annabeth just enough time to gather her wits and draw her knife. tyson got up, his shirt clawed to shreds. i whipped out some energy in the palms of my hands. the sphinx growled, looking for an opening. percy drew riptide and we both stepped in front of annabeth.
"turn invisible," i told her.
"i can fight!"
"no!" i protested. "the sphinx is after you! let us get it."
as if to prove my point, the sphinx knocked tyson aside and tried to charge past percy and i. grover poked her in the eye with somebody's leg bone. she screeched in pain.
annabeth put on her cap and vanished. the sphinx pounced right were she'd been standing, but came up with empty paws.
"no fair!" the sphinx wailed. "cheater!"
with annabeth no longer in sight, the sphinx turned on percy and i, who were standing elbow to elbow. i raised my palms, energy whips ready. percy readied riptide but before either of could strike, tyson ripped the monster's grading machine out of the floor and threw it at the sphinx's head, ruining her hair bun.
it landed in pieces all around her.
"my grading machine!" she cried. "i can't be exemplary without my test scores!"
the bars lifted from the exits. we all did a mad dash for the far tunnel. i could only hope annabeth was doing the same. the sphinx started to follow, but grover raised his reed pipes and began to play. suddenly the pencils remembered they used to be parts of trees.
they collected around the sphinx's paws, grew roots and branches, and began wrapping around the monster's legs. the sphinx ripped through them, but it brought us just enough time. tyson pulled grover into the tunnel, and the bars slammed shut behind us.
"annabeth!" grover yelled.
"here!" she said, right next to me. "keep moving!"
we ran through the dark tunnels, listening to the roar of the sphinx behind us as she complained about all the tests she would have to grade by hand.
we lost the spider.
i was certain of it, until tyson heard a faint ping-ping. we followed his lead to see the spider banging his head on a brass door. the door had a greek eta carved into it, and it was green with age. the submarine knob looked quite rusted.
we exchanged nervous glances.
"ready to meet hephaestus?" grover asked.
"nope," percy said bluntly.
"yes," tyson said gleefully, turning the handle.
as soon as the door opened, the spider scuttled inside, tyson close behind it.
the rest of us followed, not quite as anxious.
the room was enormous. it looked like a bigger version of my dad's garage, with several hydraulic lifts. some had cars on them, but others had stranger things: a bronze hippalektryon with its horse head off and a bunch of wires hanging out its rooster tail, a metal lion that seemed to be hooked up to a battery charger, and a greek war chariot made entirely of flames.
tony stark would be jealous.
i was so amazed by the different projects i didn't even realize what was happening until hephaestus spoke.
"well, well," a deep voice boomed from under the corolla. "what have we here?"
under the nearest hydraulic lift, which was holding a '98 toyota corolla, a pair of legs stuck out — the lower half of a huge man in grubby gray pants and shoes even bigger than tyson's. one leg was in a metal brace.
hephaestus moved out from under the car, and i tried not to gasp. i knew he was ugly, but i wasn't prepared for this. i had to remind myself that this was my mother's husband, and i should behave myself.
hephaestus disassembled the spider within a minute, and reassembled it. "there you go."
the spider did a happy flip in his palm, shot a metallic web at the ceiling, and went swinging away.
hephaestus glowered up at us. "i didn't make you, did i?"
"uh," i faltered, "no, sir."
"good," the god grumbled. "shoddy workmanship."
he studied annabeth, percy and me. i wanted to shrink under his gaze. "half-bloods," he grunted. "could be automatons, of course, but probably not."
"we've met, sir," percy told him.
"have we?" the god asked absently. "well then, if i didn't smash you to a pulp the first time we met, i suppose i won't have to do it now."
he looked at grover and frowned. "satyr." then he looked at tyson, and his eyes twinkled. "well, a cyclops. good, good. what are you doing traveling with this lot?"
"uh..." said tyson, staring in wonder at the god.
"yes, well said," hephaestus agreed. "so, there'd better be a good reason you're disturbing me. the suspension on this corolla is no small matter, you know."
i peeked over. "you could add a c-350 booster, near the c.v. shaft. i've found that they work well with corollas."
"c-350 booster, eh? smart kid. you one of mine?" the god asked. his expression didn't change, but he had a little twinkle in his eye. it reminded me of my dad or i, when we found out what was making all the noise in the stark 8.
"uhh... no sir. my dad's a mechanic." i wasn't sure how he would react to my mom being his wife, so i went with the safe option.
"tell your dad he has my compliments," he grunted.
annabeth nudged me, and i remembered why we were here. "sir," i said hesitantly, "we're looking for daedalus. we thought—"
"daedalus?" the god roared. "you want that old scoundrel? you should be smarter than to ask for him. you dare to seek him out!"
his beard burst into flames and his black eyes glowed. something told me he would've reacted worse if it was annabeth or percy who had asked.
"uh, yes, sir, please," i said.
"humph. you're wasting your time." he frowned at something on his worktable and limped over to it. he picked up a lump of springs and metal plates and tinkered with them. in a few seconds he was holding a bronze and silver falcon. it spread its metal wings, blinked its obsidian eyes, and flew around the room.
tyson laughed and clapped his hands. i smiled fondly at the bird. the bird landed on tyson's shoulder and nipped his ear affectionately.
hephaestus regarded him. the god's scowl didn't change, but i thought i saw a kinder twinkle in his eyes. "i sense you have something to tell me, cyclops."
tyson's smile faded. "y — yes, lord. we met a hundred-handed one."
hephaestus nodded, looking unsurprised. "briares?"
"yes. he — he was scared. he would not help us."
"and that bothered you."
"yes!" tyson's voice wavered. "briares should be strong! he is older and greater than cyclopes. but he ran away."
hephaestus grunted. "there was a time i admired the hundred-handed ones. back in the days of the first war. but people, monsters, even gods change, young cyclops. you can't trust 'em. look at my loving mother, hera. you met her, didn't you? she'll smile to your face and talk about how important family is, eh? didn't stop her from pitching me off mount olympus when she saw my ugly face."
"but i thought zeus did that to you," percy said.
hephaestus snapped his fingers, and the robotic falcon flew back to the worktable.
"mother likes telling that version of the story," he grumbled. "makes her seem more likeable, doesn't it? blaming it all on my dad. the truth is, my mother likes families, but she likes a certain kind of family. perfect families. she took one look at me and... well, i don't fit the image, do i?"
he pulled a feather from the falcon's back, and i watched as the whole automaton fell apart. that was cool.
"believe me, young cyclops," hephaestus said, "you can't trust others. all you can trust is the work of your own hands."
i narrowed my eyes at the god. that seemed lonely, especially since i didn't trust his creations too much. one time in denver, his mechanical spiders had almost killed percy and me. and last year, it had been a defective talos statue that cost bianca her life.
hephaestus focused on percy and narrowed his eyes, as if he were reading his thoughts (he probably was, gods don't have a sense of privacy). "oh, this one doesn't like me," he mused. "no worries, i'm used to that. what would you ask of me, little demigod?"
"we told you," percy said. "we need to find daedalus. there's this guy, luke, and he's working for kronos. he's trying to find a way to navigate the labyrinth so he can invade our camp. if we don't get to daedalus first—"
"and i told you, boy. looking for daedalus is a waste of time. he won't help you."
"why not?"
hephaestus shrugged. "some of us get thrown off mountainsides. some of us... the way we learn not to trust people is more painful. ask me for gold. or a flaming sword. or a magical steed. these i can grant you easily. but a way to daedalus? that's an expensive favor."
"you know where he is, then," annabeth pressed.
"it isn't wise to go looking, girl."
"my mother says looking is the nature of wisdom."
hephaestus narrowed his eyes. "who's your mother, then?"
"athena."
"figures." he sighed. "fine goddess, athena. a shame she pledged never to marry. all right, half-blood. i can tell you what you want to know. but there is a price. i need a favor done.
"name it," i spoke up.
hephaestus actually laughed — a booming sound like a huge bellows stoking a fire. "you heroes," he said, "always making rash promises. how refreshing!"
he pressed a button on his workbench, and metal shutters opened along the wall. a gigantic t.v. appeared on the wall. we were looking at a gray mountain ringed in forests. it must've been a volcano, because smoke rose from its crest.
"one of my forges," hephaestus said. "i have many, but that used to be my favorite."
"that's mount st. helens," grover said. "great forests around there."
"you've been there?" percy asked.
"looking for... you know, pan."
"wait," i held my hand in a time-out position, and turned to hephaestus. "you said it used to be your favorite. what happened?"
hephaestus scratched his smoldering beard. "see, this one's good. she listens. well, that's where the monster typhon is trapped, you know. used to be under mount etna, but when we moved to america, his force got pinned under mount st. helens instead. great source of fire, but a bit dangerous. there's always a chance he will escape. lots of eruptions these days, smoldering all the time. he's restless with the titan rebellion."
"what do you want us to do?" percy said, "fight him?"
hephaestus snorted. "that would be suicide. the gods themselves ran from typhon when he was free. no, pray you never have to see him, muchless fight him. but lately i have sensed intruders in my mountain. someone or something is using my forges. when i go there, it is empty, but i can tell it is being used. they sense me coming, and they disappear. i send my automatons to investigate, but they do not return. something... ancient is there. evil. i want to know who dates invade my territory, and if they mean to loose typhon."
"you want us to find out who it is," percy said, glumly.
"aye," hephaestus said. "go there. they may not sense you coming. you are not gods."
"glad you noticed," percy muttered.
i elbowed him.
"go and find out what you can," hephaestus said. "report back to me, and i will tell you what you need to know about daedalus."
"all right," annabeth said. "how do we get there?"
hephaestus clapped his hands. the spider came swinging down from the rafters. annabeth flinched when it landed at her feet.
"my creation will show you the way," hephaestus said. "it is not far through the labyrinth. and try to stay alive, will you? humans are much more fragile than automatons."
REY WRITES !
if any of you guys watched onward,
you remember that scene where tom
holland's character (ian) was walking
across the air, riley's energy platforms are
basically the same thing, just a pale pink
instead of blue.
i just feel like you all should know
that there's a chapter in this book
(coming soon!) called 'the life of james
buchanan barnes'. i think most of you will find
out why she's getting these visions by then.
i'm not gonna confirm nor deny anything
until that chapter, so...
theories?
thoughts?
comments?
headcanons?