"The Labyrinth exists to fool you. It will distract you." -Daedalus
"There's no way out." - Chris Rodriguez
"You make it sound like it's alive." - Percy Jackson
And yet...
"Keep your mind on what matters most. If you can do that, you might find the way." -Daedalus
oOo
I kept pressing one hand against the same wall I leaned against, as if it'd tell me any sooner than my spine if the grainy rock was going to give out. Movements were slow, dragged down by terror and the creaks and groans in the distance and the blackness of night in the maze.
My little blue flame was definitely not helping my night vision. But it was too cold to go without.
It's snowing outside! I told you to bundle up, stolto! I should let you freeze off your fingers and toes, so you'll learn, she'd tell me as she had many times before. Her cap would slide sideways like it always does when her scarf and puffed coat mess with her thick, dark hair. Once I had voiced it to her, that she should pin her hair back or something, but she hadn't replied.
Then she would grab my gloves from the shelf with all the chips in it no one would tell me about and hold up my hands in hers, press them against the little streams and valleys in her palm, and pretend to bite my fingers off one by one as she put the gloves on.
It was alright, though. She never really bit off my fingers. Her smile was as nice and kind as it always was when her teeth gently touched my knuckles. Though sometimes I wondered what I'd have to do to make her mad enough that she did it for real.
If she ever did, I'd have told her, "Now I don't need the gloves."
Now I was crouching before a fire here in the dead of winter, unbitten fingers splayed wide in the cobalt flames, soaking up the meager warmth.
After five minutes, I switched hands. The maze had taken on a particularly cranky jeremiad during my wandering thoughts.
I swallowed thickly. An unhappy maze was not something I wanted to face. Around me, its cranky, lusting groans continued.
One to the right, far, far down a corridor. Another, sharper one to the left and much closer.
One behind me.
I turned, the cold sinking its relentless teeth into my bones and making them creak as I was forced to slowly, slowly look.
The wall was still there.
Still well beyond any fast movement, I faced the fire again, breath held and eyes scanning the devastating blackness.
Maybe, if I moved slow enough, the monsters and maze would mistake me for dead.
I could not see very well into the dark, not at all, but something told me there was nothing out there. At least, not very close.
Above me, the Labyrinth snickered and stretched.
I wrapped my arms around my torso. Though it hurt I was glad in the past two or so days my stomach had accepted nothing it would now reject.
I didn't dare start to think again. The maze could read minds. It would find her, it would see the sweetness in her smile and the light in her laugh and the way things didn't hurt when she was around, and see nothing but prey.
They'd come. They'd come for her and, worse, they'd come for me.
Demon bites hurt much worse than two day's worth of starvation.
I looked around again. Again. The sounds were closer.
Demons bites hurt much worse than lack of sleep, too.
I stamped out my blue flames and didn't think, just thought of her and ran down the nearest corridor.
oOo
I'd never been to this part of the maze before.
What have you done? Have you tricked me?
Well. If the maze did, it was not with this stone. The stone was real. I knew because it didn't give way to anything but my sword and the moisture I was able to lick from it was dripping out of cracks and sported a rusty tang.
Metal, I corrected. Metal and rock were kind of the same thing in the earth.
But the stone wasn't just stone. It was carved and chiseled and chipped at, long ago spent at the expense of someone else's pleasures. It'd been used like they didn't care if it was stone or metal or that it leaked water.
I couldn't name what these things were. The carvings. I could recall pictures, dimly, from a poster that had been hung at Westover Hall. But not what they meant.
The maze reads minds, Minos had warned me before I'd sent him away. It knows everything about you. It knows things that you don't even know. It'll eat you up, but not before letting you run around like a little rat. It doesn't like half-bloods much.
The maze wanted to eat me. It was a demon. He hadn't said that part, but I felt it. I'd run straight into the belly of a beast.
I closed my eyes and grit my teeth. I didn't care what the maze did to me. I used these tunnels as much as they used me; they were a hiding place. Demons, now, I'd come across down here. But not people. Not Percy or Annabeth or Connor or Travis.
And if walking into its gaping maws day after day was what it took to find Bianca, I'd be willing.
I stopped licking the stone carvings, tongue dry and sticky against a carefully torn crease.
Bianca.
Slowly, I drew my tongue back in my mouth and got off my tip-toes, inching back to flat feet.
I'm almost as tall as you on my tip-toes, Sis!
You're cheating.
No I'm not! Look!
She'd chuckle. Alright, alright. You're getting taller.
Taller than you?
Maybe one day.
The freezing winds that'd chased me here curled up against my chest, gentle cat's paws waiting to unsheathe their weapons. I'd let myself think again.
Out of the corner of my eye, back the way I'd come from, I could see a silhouette standing. Standing and staring, horrifyingly still, as if it had nothing in the world to worry about.
Slowly, I backed away from the wall, sure to never look directly at it. My heart was racing. A scream had built in my throat, but it had been a long, long time since I could recall that complicated game one called verbal noise.
I wanted to scream. I did. I wanted to run to her, away from the maze and Camp and the thing watching me with such perverted interest. But I had told Bianca I was brave, and brave heroes don't run.
I couldn't let her know I'd lied.
Yet there was no middle ground. It was either break down and run, or move through gaseous sap and walk slowly away, too terrified to glance over my shoulder. By the time I next felt somewhat secure, the thing watching me had vanished.
oOo
Days later, I was not dead.
I scolded myself plenty nonetheless. You've let the maze read you too many times! Minos said the maze was smart! It's gonna get you!
But it never did.
Whatever game it was this maze liked best, hide and seek or tag or red-light green-light, it was pretty bad at it.
Hopscotch, maybe. I couldn't see such a vast, arthritic, sinister thing able to hop around ludicrously on one foot.
For whatever reason, the maze could not touch me.
It can. It can. It's just biding its time. Minos said the maze is smart. Smart means patient; Bianca told me that. It's waiting. It's going to get me.
Something's always waiting… I'm always so close to losing…
I considered calling to Minos again, just for company. For comfort. But I shuddered and cast the idea aside – Minos was scary, not comforting. His eyes were too bright for a dead man.
Dead.
No, she's not dead. Just lost. She probably tripped over her own feet and into the River, then swam ashore on the wrong side.
I closed my eyes and cradled my latest catch – some half-eaten sandwich fished from a dumpster in an alleyway not far from an exit to the maze – to my chest to protect it while I paused and engaged in the dangerous pastime called thought.
She'd yell at me for stealing. Stealing was wrong. It was a sin.
But I was hungry. Surely starving yourself was a sin, too?
I'm sorry, Bianca. But I have to steal. I have to steal to eat, and I have to eat if I'm going to rescue you. And I will. I swear.
"Hello."
My eyes opened and saw nothing. The maze had vanished, along with my body and the crusted bread in my hands. Gone. There was only the blackness and the icy breath that washed over me from the left, caressing my cheeks and nibbling at my hair.
It made a heavy panting sound to accompany each exhale.
I could not move.
"Trespasser," the dog hissed at me. "Trespasser."
My mouth moved, but speech had not been mine since the day I ran from Camp.
It's the maze. I'm not trespassing on your anything, I wanted to say.
But I couldn't. Couldn't.
The dog licked its lips and stood, yellow eyes gleaming happily. "Trespasser can be eaten. Stay still."
Eaten.
That word snapped me out of it. I threw the crumpled sandwich at it and ran, ran as if I might start flying down the inky corridors.
An ear-splitting howl sliced clean through me and I ran faster, faster as I heard the bipedal monstrosity set off after me at a steady lope.
No. No, no, I don't want to be eaten. I still have someone to live for.
I know I do.
Too late, I heard the footsteps rocketing towards me from ahead, too.
No time to halt. I kept running until I crashed into it, taking it by such surprise it landed beneath me with a disgruntled oof. It was surprisingly light and thin for another dog-headed man.
I didn't wait for the other to catch up. I sliced with my sword as hard as I could once, twice, three times just to be sure. I was not going to die here.
As scared as I was of this maze, as tempting as it sounded… not today. Not yet.
"Stop!" the thing beneath me screamed. "Great gods of Olympus, who the hell do you think you are?!"
"Die!" I yelled back. Or tried. No sound came out.
Something crashed hard into my face, cracking my cheek bone and sending me to an unpleasant meeting with the floor. Air vanished from my lungs.
It landed on top of me.
"No!" I yelled. For real this time. "NO!" My nails flashed up and tore like claws into flesh.
Flesh. Not fur.
"GET OFF!" I yelled, beyond caring. Whatever had tackled me, it didn't have much in it. A pained sound accompanied its absence.
I got to my feet and made to run, but a hand grabbed my ankle. I whirled to glare at it.
It was a boy.
He was Connor's age. Or maybe older. I didn't know. Tall and lanky with red-blonde hair – red edging on pink, like a strawberry (gods Bianca you loved strawberries I lied when I said I hated them I was just trying to make you argue, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry) – that hung in his eyes. Or, did. I could see the wide brown eyes now. The pale knuckles turning paler on my jeans.
Behind us, the monster's easygoing gait came closer.
"If you go that way," he rasped, "take me with you. I want to see your all-powerful butt get eaten."
"What's down there?" I demanded. The dog-man was closer still.
The boy smiled. "You don't wanna find out. It takes some pretty awesome skills to survive that tunnel, and I don't have time to teach you."
This was definitely the kind of stuck-up jerk Bianca would scold me for hanging around with, but I drew my sword and looked for a different corridor.
None.
The boy let go of me and staggered to his feet, arm wrapped around his middle. Crimson was spilling across his fingers. My sword hadn't missed him much.
"What loser's down there, running toward its doom?" he croaked, eyes gleaming even brighter. That annoying smile grew still.
I glared at him, confirming it was either his tunnel or mine. And at least mine was predictable.
Well. As predictable as things got down here.
"A wolf-man," I said. "He wants to eat me."
The boy snickered. "Scared?"
"Am not!"
"Are too, short stack."
"Don't call me short!" Bianca said I was tall!
He turned his gaze away and stood straighter, despite the cut in his side. "Well. Don't be. I'll protect you."
He didn't look like he could. Bianca told me not to trust strangers.
Plus, Percy had looked plenty capable…
"I'm not scared," I said, and turned to face the tunnel.
The cold reached us before the monster did, soaking deep into our bones. The fear that held us so still. It heralded the thing that came to eat us.
I felt sick. Hungry, thirsty, sick, tired, you name it. But for some reason, just like I had not been able to talk, my legs were no longer able to run.
The dog stopped not far from us, breathing in his slow, heavy pant.
"Two," he growled. "Two. Sit!"
"Sit!" my latest comrade mimicked. "Lie down! Play dead!"
The wolf-man growled and came forward. It wasn't until then that I noticed I was able to see, both the boy and the demon – the former was glowing. Literally.
The dog was an orangish color at its wolf-head, thick fur streaming down to its shoulders and chest where it then melded into skin. Beyond that, it was mostly human. The feet were kind of big and I swear I saw a tail, but for the most part, it was just a big human. The skin it did show between crude, salted pelts and its own wiry hairs was a slightly tanned hue. Mediterranean.
Every inch of it screamed wrong. Puppy dogs were supposed to be cute. I'd always found them scary, but not… not like this. This was, like, make-horror-movies-jealous scary.
No sooner had it glanced at us both did it lunge at me, springing to impossible heights from its massive paws and bearing down with a full set of wolf fangs.
Too big to just level my sword to its chest. Not when it came falling down like the television at the hotel.
Well. I'd never seen it fall, but Bianca had told me it would if I kept roughhousing near it.
I dropped to the ground, rolled to the side, and rushed to leap to my feet. Anything to avoid the teeth and claws.
I didn't make it there.
The dog was fast. Before it'd landed, its course had changed in the air, and those powerful hands and feet could send him barreling at me horizontally as easily as he'd gone straight up.
It was like being hit by a bus. That's the memory that surfaced; the one of Alice, the girl who'd spoken to me in Tulsa. The way the school bus had felt when she ran out into the street without looking both ways first.
Unlike that, though, the pain in my body didn't fade so quickly.
I couldn't see, couldn't breathe, but I could feel it on me. Claws raked up my arm and a horrifying snap! went off next to my head as those wolf teeth clamped shut. Nails dug into my shoulder, dragged me upward into its reeking fur, and smashed me into the ground again.
I panicked. I kicked and screamed, sword forgotten. Something achingly cold started at my fingers and raced up to my elbows. I felt the jolt of the wolf-man as the magic shot through him, felt him flinch again, and again, until he was gone.
My lungs felt like they'd shriveled into raisins by that point. Then the dog vanished and I wheezed, choked, and wheezed some more.
After a moment, I could hear the sounds of the scuffle going on nearby.
"Stop!" the dog was yelling. "Stop! Not kill you! Not kill you!"
"I kill you!" the glowing boy taunted.
"Nooo! Nooo! I must prove myself to Tribe!"
"Your tribe? Ha! Sounds like some lame after-school club! You and your tribe aren't worthy of a badass like me!" the glowing kid laughed, as breathless as I was.
I scrambled to my elbows, then to my knees. The wolf and demigod had vanished down the tunnel. Only the latter's dim glow and their loud cacophony gave away their presence at all.
Run! my mind screamed at catatonic legs. Run! Run or die!
But… it was my fight, and I'd wounded the demigod…
Doesn't matter, I thought. I'm sure it's nothing a badass like him can't handle. Besides, it's not just my life I'm breathing for, and hers is worth more than anything.
Before I could move, though, the wolf screamed in pain. Lopsided footsteps came running back to me. The Labyrinth's patchwork stone and dirt walls seemed to ripple as a glow approached.
The footsteps slowed and stopped with a sickening thud, and were echoed by a harsh panting. Then a snarl and a scream.
It'd caught him.
I saw the wolf now, jaws locked hard on a luminescent ankle, nothing but hunger revealed by the reflection in its eyes. The demigod was thrashing and kicking at those eyes as hard as he could. But his eyes were on me.
There was a wolfish grin on his face that could rival that of his captor. The blood running down his lips and high-pitched, raspy voice didn't help. "Coward. Idiot. If it doesn't… die now, it'll come… for you later."
My stomach twisted at the sight of him crumpled on the floor. I picked up my sword and launched over him, into the surprised wolf.
It whined and batted me aside, and I rolled to my feet. Its outline was hard to track in this wan, one-sided tinge of light. But for the moment it was still.
"Food," it snarled. "No take Tribe food. You are my food."
But it did not move to attack. A moment later, it stumbled forward, swayed, and collapsed.
I gaped at it and the growing pool of liquid beneath. "Did you do that?"
"Yeah," my temporary comrade grimaced. "Pretty awesome, huh?"
The wolf still writhed, but its eyes were rolling around blindly and the movements were jerked like his limbs had gone mad. A sick gurgling sound emanated from his wide jaws and trailing tongue. Now and then it would lengthen into something with a bit of breath, but I had no doubt; the wound had been fatal.
I turned to look at the demigod. "Who are-"
"Ahroooooo!"
Behind me, the injured wolf gargled again. In the distance, more wolves echoed with their eerie howls.
Tribe.
"They're more?!" I demanded, once more stopped from turning around to check.
The demigod, on his hands and knees now, glowered at me. "I warned you… not to go down… that tunnel."
I kicked the monster's blood off my boots and cursed – I'm sorry, Sis, it slipped out, it won't happen again, just please don't make me put soap in my mouth it tastes like poisoned bile – before running back the way I'd come.
The maze groaned in a way I never had and never would mistake for welcoming.
"Hey!"
Guilt stopped me again, but I still couldn't turn around.
The demigod's body made a thick dragging sound as he struggled forward. "I see how it is! …You leave me to fight… and then ditch your brave savior?"
"Is the badass asking for help?" I said.
Don't turn around don't turn around they'll get you-
But the guilt I felt inside, like a fuzzy mold growing atop living organs-
I heard the smile return to his voice. "I'm asking… for payment. Else I'll… have to take it… from you by force. And I… don't like hurting helpless cowards. It's… not fair."
Down the tunnel, the howls were getting louder.
I squeezed my eyes shut, ran until the glow was warm on my eyelids, hauled him up by the shoulders, and together we fled to whatever the maze had so delicately prepared for us next.