"I want to fight her!"
They arranged a meeting in times square. Cassandra, Percy, and Annabeth found Rachel Elizabeth Dare in front of the Marriott Marquis, and she was completely painted gold.
Her face, her hair, her clothes, everything. Her and five other kids stood as still as statues, also painted in various metallic shades. They were frozen in different poses while tourists hustled past or stopped to stare. Some passers-by threw money at the tarp on the sidewalk.
The sign at Rachel's feet said, URBAN ART FOR KIDSโDONATIONS APPRECIATED.
They stood there for solid five minutes, staring at Rachel, but if she noticed them she didn't let on.
"Are we supposed to be doing something? I really don't want to stand here for another hour watching a bunch of kids stand here like statues" Cassandra said, tapping her foot on the ground.
Like most demigods she had ADHD so standing still wasn't one of her best abilities.
"Maybe if we push her over" Annabeth suggested.
Cassandra shrugged, "I'm in."
"Cassie, no" Percy interrupted, putting his hand on her shoulder.
She huffed and shrugged his hand off of her shoulder. "Fine."
After another few minutes of staring at her, a kid in silver walked up from the hotel taxi stand where he had been taking a break. He took a pose right next to Rachel. She unfroze and stepped off the tarp with a grin.
"Hey Percy" She grinned. "Good timing! Let's get coffee."
They walked down to a place called the Java Moose on West 43rd. Rachel ordered an Espresso Extreme, Cassandra, Percy, and Annabeth got fruit smoothies. The four sat down at a table right under a stuffed moose. Nobody even looked twice at Rachel in her golden get-up.
"So" She said. "It's Annabelle, right?"
"Annabeth" Annabeth corrected her.
Rachel waved her off and turned to Cassandra. "And you're Cassidy right?"
"Cassandra" She corrected, through gritted teeth. "And you're Rochelle?"
"It's Rachel actually" Rachel corrected.
"Do you always dress in gold?" Annabeth interrupted, before Cassandra could retort.
Percy grabbed her hand, and placed it on his knee so she wouldn't try to stab Rachel.
"Not usually" Rachel said. "We're raising money for our group. We do volunteer art projects for elementary kids 'cause they're cutting art from the schools, you know? We do this once a month, take in about five hundred dollars on a good weekend. But I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that. You guys are half-bloods too?"
"Shhh!" Annabeth said, looking around. "Just announce it to the world, how about?"
"Okay" Rachel stood up and said really loud, "Hey everybody! These three aren't human! They're half Greek god!"
Nobody even looked over. Rachel shrugged and sat down. "They don't seem to care."
"That isn't funny" Cassandra said. "This isn't a joke. Our lives are dangerous, unlike yours mortal girl, whose only concern isโ"
"Hold it, you two" Percy said. "Just calm down."
"I'm calm" Rachel insisted. "Every time I'm around you, some monster attacks us. What's to be nervous about?"
"Look" Percy said. "I'm really sorry about the band room. I hope they didn't kick you out or anything."
"Nah. They asked me a lot of questions about you. I played dumb."
"Couldn't have been too hard for you, right?" Cassandra asked, glaring at the girl.
"Be nice" Percy muttered, squeezing her hand.
She scowled, harshening her glare, but didn't retort.
"Rachel, we've got a problem" Percy said. "And we need your help."
Rachel narrowed her eyes at the two girls. "You two need my help?"
Annabeth stirred her straw in her smoothie. "Yeah" she muttered. "Maybe."
Her gaze turned to Cassandra, who shrugged. "I'm only here for the smoothies."
Percy squeezed her hand again and told Rachel about the Labyrinth, and how they needed to find Daedalus. He told her what had happened the last few times they'd gone in.
"So you want me to guide you" Rachel said, "through a place I've never been."
"You can see through the Mist" Percy explained. "Just like Ariadne. I'm betting you can see the right path. The Labyrinth won't be able to fool you as easily."
"And if you're wrong?"
"Then we'll get lost. Either way, it'll be dangerous. Very, very dangerous."
"I could die?"
"Yeah."
"I thought you said monsters don't care about mortals. That sword of yoursโ"
"Yeah" Percy said. "Celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals. Most monsters would ignore you. But Luke... he doesn't care. He'll use mortals, demigods, monsters, whatever. And he'll kill anyone who gets in his way."
"Nice guy" Rachel noted.
"He's under the influence of a Titan" Annabeth said defensively. "He's been deceived."
Cassandra sighed, taking a sip of her smoothie. She was starting to get nervous about how defensive Annabeth was of Luke. If it came to a fight to the death she was worried that Annabeth wouldn't be able to deliver the final blow.
"Okay" Rachel said. "I'm in."
Percy blinked. "Are you sure?"
"Hey, my summer was going to be boring. This is the best offer I've had yet. So what do I look for?"
"We have to find an entrance to the Labyrinth" Annabeth explained. "There's an entrance at Camp Half-Blood, but you can't go there. It's off limits to mortals."
She said mortals like it was some horrible condition. Rachel just nodded, "Okay. What does an entrance to the Labyrinth look like?"
"It could be anything" Annabeth said. "A section of wall. A boulder. A doorway. A sewer entrance. But it would have the mark of Daedalus on it. A Greek delta glowing in blue."
"Like this?" Rachel drew the delta symbol in water on the table.
"That's it" Annabeth said. "You know Greek?"
"No" Rachel said. She pulled a big blue plastic hairbrush from her pocket and started brushing the gold out of her hair. "Let me get changed. You'd better come with me to the Marriott."
"Why?" Cassandra asked, her eyebrows raised.
"Because there's an entrance like that in the hotel basement, where we store our costumes. It's got the mark of Daedalus."
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The metal door was half-hidden behind a laundry bin full of dirty hotel towels. Cassandra didn't notice anything strange about it, but then Rachel pointed out the faint blue symbol etched in the metal.
"It hasn't been used in a long time" Annabeth said.
"I tried to open it once" Rachel said, "just out of curiosity. It's rusted shut."
"No" Annabeth stepped forward. "It just needs the touch of a half-blood."
Sure enough, as soon as Annabeth put her hand on the mark, it glowed blue. The metal door unsealed and creaked open, revealing a dark staircase leading down.
"Wow" Rachel looked calm, which Cassandra had to give her some credit for, "So... after you?"
"You're the guide" Annabeth said with mock politeness. "Lead on."
The stairs led down to a large brick tunnel. Not much was visible because it was so dark, but Cassandra, Annabeth, and Percy all took out their flashlights and switched them on. As soon as they did, Rachel yelped.
A skeleton was grinning at them, but it wasn't human. It was huge, at least ten feet tall and strung up, chained by its wrists and ankles so it made a kind of giant X over the tunnel. There was a single black eye socket in the center of its skull.
"A Cyclops" Cassandra muttered. "But it looks really old. It's not Tyson."
Rachel swallowed. "You have a friend who's a Cyclops?"
"Tyson" Percy said. "My half-brother."
"Your half-brother?"
"Hopefully we'll find him down here" Percy said. "And Grover. He's a satyr."
"Oh" Her voice was small. "Well then, we'd better keep moving."
She stepped under the skeleton's left arm and kept walking. Cassandra, Annabeth, and Percy all exchanged looks. Annabeth shrugged, and they all followed Rachel deeper into the maze.
After about fifty feet they came to a crossroads. Ahead, the brick tunnel continued. To the right, the walls were made of ancient marble slabs. To the left, the tunnel was earth and tree roots.
Cassandra pointed left. "That looks like the tunnel Tyson and Grover took."
Annabeth frowned. "Yeah, but the architecture to the rightโ those old stonesโ that's more likely to lead to an ancient part of the maze, toward Daedalus' workshop."
"We need to go straight" Rachel decided.
The demigods looked at her.
"That's the least likely choice" Annabeth said.
"You don't see it?" Rachel asked. "Look at the floor."
Cassandra looked down, but didn't see anything but well-worn bricks, mud, and a little bit of frost she had made because of her nerves.
"There's a brightness there" Rachel insisted. "Very faint. But forward is the correct way. To the left, father down the tunnel, those tree roots are moving like feelers. I don't like that. To the right, there's a trap about twenty feet down. Holes in the walls, maybe for spikes. I don't think we should risk it."
Percy nodded. "Okay. Forward."
"You believe her?" Cassandra asked, her eyebrow raised.
"Yeah" Percy said. "Don't you?"
"No actually, I don't" Cassandra muttered, but followed Rachel down the corridor.
They continued straight, walking down the brick corridor. It twisted and turned, but there were no more side tunnels. They seemed to be angling down, deeper underground.
"No traps?" Percy asked anxiously.
"Nothing" Rachel knit her eyebrows. "Should it be this easy?"
"No" Cassandra said. "This maze is designed to kill you. Something's wrong."
"Always a pleasure, Ms. Sunshine" Percy muttered.
"So, Rachel" Annabeth interrupted. "Where are you from, exactly?"
She said it like she was asking Rachel what planet she was from, but Rachel didn't seem to be bothered.
"Brooklyn" She responded.
"Aren't your parents going to be worried if you're out late?"
Rachel exhaled. "Not likely. I could be gone a week and they'd never notice."
"So she's rich" Cassandra thought.
"Why not?" Annabeth asked, not sounding as sarcastic. She understood having trouble with parents.
Before Rachel could answer, there was a creaking noise in front of them, like huge doors opening.
"What was that?" Annabeth asked.
"I don't know" Rachel said. "Metal hinges."
"Oh, that's very helpful. I mean, what is it?"
Then Cassandra heard heavy footsteps shaking the corridorโ coming toward them.
"Run?" Percy asked.
"Run" Cassandra agreed.
They turned and fled the wat they'd come, but they hadn't made it twenty feet before they ran straight into some monsters. Two Dracaenae dressed in Greek battle armor had their javelins leveled at their chests. Standing between them was a girl dressed in a cheerleader outfit. It had the name Kelli stitched onto it. Based on her name, Cassandra guessed she was the Empousa who had attacked Percy at his school.
"Well, well" The cheerleader said.
Cassandra tapped her bracelet, drawing her sword, while Percy uncapped Riptide and Annabeth unsheathed her knife. Before, they could blink, Kelli's hand turned into a claw and pounced on Rachel. She spun Rachel around, holding her talons at her neck.
"Taking your little mortal pet for a walk?" Kelli asked Percy. "They're such fragile things. So easy to break!"
Behind them, the footsteps came closer. A huge form appeared out of the gloomโ an eight-foot-tall Laistrygonian giant with red eyes and fangs.
He licked his lips when he saw them. "Can I eat them?"
"No. Your master will want these. They will provide a great deal of entertainment" Kelli smiled devilishly at Percy. "Now march, half-bloods. Or you all die here, starting with the mortal girl."
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Cassandra was having a hard time, resisting the urge to tell Kelli to rip Rachel's throat out.
She had led them directly into a trap.
They had confiscated Moonlace and her sword, and the giants hand slapped firmly over her mouth.
They were now being marched down the tunnel, flanked by dracaenae, with Kelli and the giant in the back in case they tried to run. Nobody seemed to worry about them running forward. That was the direction they wanted them to go.
Up ahead, Cassandra saw a set of bronze doors that were about ten feet tall and emblazoned with a pair of crossed swords. The muffled roar of a crowd came from behind them.
"Oh, yessssss" The snake woman on Percy's left said. "You'll be very popular with our hossssst."
"Who's your host?" Percy asked.
She hissed in laughter. "Oh, you'll sssssee. You'll get along furiousssly. He'ssss your brother, after all."
"My what?"
Cassandra resisted the urge to tell Percy that he had a lot of half-siblings. Poseidon and Zeus were pretty comparable when it came to keeping it in their pants.
The giant pushed past them and opened the doors. He picked Annabeth and Cassandra up by their shirts and said, "You two stay here."
"Hey!" Annabeth protested, but the guy was twice her size and he'd already confiscated their weapons.
Kelli laughed. She still had her claws at Rachel's neck. "Go on, Percy. Entertain us. We'll wait here with your friends to make sure you behave."
Percy looked at Rachel. "I'm sorry. I'll get you out of this."
She nodded as much as she could, "That would be nice."
Cassandra rolled her eyes.
The dracaena prodded him toward the doorway at javelin-point, and he walked out onto the floor of an arena.
Kelli marched Rachel through the door after him, and the giant followed, half-dragging and half-carrying Cassandra and Annabeth inside.
It wasn't the largest arena she'd ever been in (it was actually on the smaller side). It had a circular dirt floor, and in the center of the arena, a giant was fighting a centaur.
The centaur looked panicked as he galloped around his enemy with a sword and shield. Meanwhile, the giant swung a javelin as big as a telephone pole. The crowd was cheering in approval.
Twenty feet above the arena floor was the first tier of seats. Plain stone benches wrapped all the way around, and every seat was taken by monsters.
And you can't forget the skulls. There were skulls everywhere, surrounding the arena. They ringed the edge of the railing and huge piles decorated the steps between the benches. Some of them grinned the pikes at the back of the stands and hung on chains from the ceiling.
And directly in the middle, was a green banner with the trident of Poseidon proudly displayed on the side of the spectator's wall.
Sitting in the seat of honor was none other than their biggest mortal enemy.
"Luke" Annabeth muttered once she saw him.
Sitting next to Luke was the biggest giant Cassandra had ever seen. Much bigger than the one on the floor fighting the centaur. He must have been fifteen feet tall and was so wide he took up three seats. He wore only a loincloth, and his skin was dark red, tattooed with blue wave designs.
There was a cry from the arena floor, and the centaur crashed to the ground beside Percy.
"Help!" He pleaded.
Percy reached for his sword, but Riptide must have not appeared in his pocket yet.
The centaur struggled to get up as the giant approached, his javelin ready.
A taloned hand gripped his shoulder. "If you value your friendsss' livesss" The dracaena guard said, "you won't interfere. This isssn't your fight. Wait your turn."
The centaur was unable to get up. One of his legs must be broken. The giant put his huge foot on the horseman's chest and raised his javelin. He looked up at Luke while the crowd cheered, "DEATH! DEATH!"
Luke didn't do anything, but the giant sitting next to him arose. He smiled down at the centaur who was whimpering, "Please! No!"
Then the giant held out his hand and gave a thumbs down sign.
Cassandra closed her eyes, not wanting to see what came next. When she reopened them, the centaur was gone, disintegrated to ashes. All that was left was a single hoof, which the giant took up as a trophy and showed the crowd. They roared in approval.
A gate opened at the opposite end of the stadium and the giant marched out in triumph. The giant in the stands next to Luke raised his hand for silence.
"Good entertainment!" He bellowed. "But nothing I haven't seen before. What else do you have, Luke, son of Hermes?"
Luke's jaw clenched. Cassandra guessed he didn't like being called son of Hermes. He calmly rose to his feet with his eyes glittering.
"Lord Antaeus" Luke said, loud enough for the crowd to hear, "you have been an excellent host! We would be happy to amuse you, to repay the favor of passing through your territory."
"A favor I have not yet granted" Antaeus growled. "I want entertainment!"
Luke bowed. "I believe I have something better than centaurs to fight in your arena now. I have a brother of yours" He pointed at Percy. "Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon."
The crowd began jeering at him and throwing stones. He dodged most of them, but one caught him on the cheek and made a decent sized cut.
Antaeus's eyes lit up. "A son of Poseidon? Then he should fight well! Or die well!"
"If his death pleases you, will you let our armies cross your territory?"
"Perhaps!" Antaeus said.
Luke didn't look too pleased about the "perhaps." He glared down at Percy, as if warning him that he needed to die spectacularly or he would be in trouble.
"Luke!" Annabeth yelled. "Stop this. Let us go!"
Luke seemed to notice her for the first time. He looked stunned for a moment, "Annabeth? Cassandra? I thought you were a Hunter?"
"Enough time for the females to fight afterward" Antaeus interrupted. "First, Percy Jackson, what weapons will you choose?"
The dracaena pushed him into the middle of the arena.
Percy stared up at Antaeus. "How can you be a son of Poseidon?"
"I am his favorite son!" Antaeus boomed. "Behold, my temple to the Earthshaker, built from the skulls of all those I've killed in his name! Your skull shall join them!"
"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "His mother is Gaea! Gaeโ"
The Laistrygonian clamped his other hand over Annabeth's mouth to shut her up.
She looked expectingly at Cassandra who attempted to create a wind but it wouldn't work. Maybe it was because it wasn't windy underground or she couldn't use her hands, but no wind picked up.
"You're crazy, Antaeus" Percy said. "If you think this is a good tribute, you know nothing about Poseidon."
Cassandra would have punched him if she could. He was going to get himself killed.
The crowd screamed insults at him, but Antaeus raised his hand for silence.
"Weapons" He insisted. "And then we will see how you die. Will you have axes? Shields? Nets? Flamethrowers?"
"Just my sword" He said.
Laughter erupted from the monsters, but immediately Riptide appeared in his hands, and some of the voices in the crowd turned nervous. The bronze blade glowed with a faint light.
"Round one!" Antaeus announced. The gates opened, and a dracaena slithered out. She had a trident in one hand and a weighted net in the otherโ classic gladiator style. Cassandra wasn't too nervous. They trained against these weapons at camp.
The dracaena jabbed at Percy experimentally. He stepped away. She threw her net, hoping to table his sword hand, but Percy sidestepped easily, sliced her spear in half, and stabbed Riptide through a chink in her armor. With a painful wail, the monster vaporized into nothing, and the cheering of the crowd died.
"No!" Antaeus bellowed. "Too fast! You must wait for the kill. Only I give that order!"
Percy looked over to his friends, his eyebrows knitted with thought.
"Nice job, Percy" Luke smiled. "You've got better with the sword. I'll grant you that."
"Round two!" Antaeus yelled. "And slower this time! More entertainment! Wait for my call before killing anybody, OR ELSE!"
The gates opened again, and a young warrior stepped out wearing an eyepatch.
Cassandra's nerves returned.
Percy would have a hard time killing an innocent demigod. He might not be able to do it at all.
And that was when the demigod turned to face her, his face twisted in confusion before turning back to his determined glare.
"I want to fight her!"
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author's note:
dun dun dun...