Chapter 7

We visited Theo's mother to say that Theo was alive. We had chocolate chip cookies in an alarming shade of blue. I tried them out and washed it down with water. To my utter delight, they tasted awful. Theo and Annabeth introduced me to his mother and explained how their quest was going. Theo's mother was very pleasant and kind to me.

After finishing off the blue cookies and saying goodbye to Theo's mother, we headed for Times square where we met the girl called Rachel, the clear sighted girl Theo was talking about. She was painted from top to bottom with gold, including her hair and face. She stood with five other kids painted in other metallic colors. Copper, silver, bronze. By Rachel's feet was a sign with the words, "URBAN ART FOR KIDS, DONATIONS APPRECIATED".

We stood there for like five minutes, staring at Rachel and I suddenly blurted out, "Maybe if we push her."

"Yeah, maybe." Annabeth nodded, with her eyes still fixed at Rachel.

Theo shook his head. After a few minutes later, another guy in silver took Rachel's place and she came up to us.

"Hey Theo!" She grinned. "Good timing! Let's get some coffee."

We went up the road to west 43rd street and to a place called Java Moose. Rachel had an espresso extreme and the rest of us had fruit smoothies. I thought I could try it out. (I have no memory of tasting fruit smoothies.) We sat at a table underneath a stuffed moose. The smoothie tasted brilliant.

"So, it's Annabell, was it?" Rachel asked.

"Annabeth," Annabeth corrected. I saw she was deeply frustrated with her. Rachel turned to me and squinted her eyes.

"And you are?"

"Hey, I'm Percy. Nice to meet you."

"So you two are Half-blood too?"

"Shh!" Annabeth said looking around to see if anybody heard. "Just announce that to the world, how about that!"

"Ok." Rachel stood up and shouted. "Hey, everybody! These three aren't human! They're half Greek god!"

Nobody looked at her. She shrugged and sat down. "They don't seem to care."

"That's not funny, mortal girl." Annabeth growled.

Wow. These two seemed to get along very well. I sat back in silence, not intending to join in the rowl.

"Hold it, you two!" Theo interrupted. "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," I 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."

"Was it hard?" Annabeth asked.

They really did not like each other.

"Okay, stop!" Theo intervened. "Rachel, we've got a problem. And we need your help."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at Annabeth. "You need my help?"

Theo explained how they needed to the through the Labyrinth to get Theo and Annabeth's friends out and Daedalus and see what Luke is up to. I explained that we had to find Daedalus to get some of my memory and identity back because he supposedly the only one who has any clue of who he is.

"So you want me to guide you," she said. "Through a place I've never been."

"You can see through the Mist," I said. "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." Theo added.

"I could die?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you said monsters don't care about mortals. That sword of yours—"

"Yeah," Theo said. "Celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals. Most monsters would ignore you. But Luke…he doesn't care. He'l use mortals, demigods, monsters, whatever. And he'll kill anyone who gets in his way."

"Nice guy," Rachel said.

"He's under the influence of a Titan," Annabeth said defensively. "He's been deceived."

I wondered if there was any relationship between Annabeth and Luke. Rachel looked back and forth between us.

"Okay," she said. "I'm in."

"Are you sure?" Theo asked.

"Hey, my summer was going to be boring. This is the best offer I've gotten yet. So what do I look for?"

"We have to find an entrance to the Labyrinth," Annabeth said. "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 sort of terrible condition, but 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 letter, glowing in blue."

"Like this?" Rachel drew the symbol Delta in water on our 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?" Annabeth said.

"Because there's an entrance like that in the hotel basement, where we store our costumes. It's got the mark of Daedalus."

The entrance of the Labyrinth was hidden behind behind a load of Laundry bins full of rotten hotel towels. Rachel showed us the blue delta sign which was glowing very faint.

"I hasn't been used for a very long time," Annabeth said.

"I tried pressing once," Rachel said., "Just out of curiosity. it's rusted shut."

I looked closely at the blue delta. I pressed the button and the Door slid open revealing a dark staircase leading downwards. Now the delta was glowing bright blue. I looked back at the others.

"Wow." Rachel looked calm.

"Doesn't seem to be." I said.

"Well, it only activates when a half blood touches it." Annabeth said.

"So, after you?" Rachel made way for Annabeth.

"You're the guide," Annabeth said with mocking politeness. "lead on."

We went down the stairs which lead to a spacious brick tunnel. Theo and Annabeth packed flashlights and handed me one. As I clicked them on Rachel yelped. There lying in front of us was a skeleton grinning at us. It was at least ten feet and it had been strung up, chained up by its wrists and ankles. It was hanging in our was a single empty eye socket in the center of its skull. Cyclops.

We carried on, through the giant skeleton's arm, and ended up in a cross road. Ahead, the brick tunnel continued. To the right, the walls were made of ancient marble slabs. To the left, the tunnel

was dirt and tree roots.

Theo pointed left. "That looks like the tunnel Tyson and Grover took."

Annabeth frowned. "Yeah, but the architecture to the right—those old stones—that's more likely to lead to an ancient part of the maze, toward Daedalus's

workshop."

"We need to go straight," Rachel said.

We all looked at her.

"That's the least likely choice," Annabeth said.

"You don't see it?" Rachel asked. "Look at the floor."

I saw nothing except well-worn bricks and mud.

"There's a brightness there," Rachel insisted. "Very faint. But forward is the correct way. To the left, farther 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."

I didn't see anything like she was describing, but I nodded. "Okay. Forward."

"I agree. She is the guide." Theo added.

We went straight on.

"No traps?" I asked.

"Nope. Nothing."

There was a sudden creaking noise ahead of us, like huge doors opening.

"What was that?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know." Rachel said. "Metal hinges?"

"Oh, very helpful." I remarked.

Then we heard heavy footsteps shaking the corridor.

"Run?" Theo asked.

"Run." Rachel agreed.

We turned and fled the way we came. We didn't get far before meeting 2 dracanae pointing javelins at our chests and a empousa.

"Well, Well." The empousa said. "What have we got here."