Chapter 11

Daylight shone through the entrance to the workshop, the sun coming through the giant glass screen. I remember the view at night. I looked around and I saw the cylindrical case that I was sleeping in. Annabeth and Rachel were gawping at the amazing architecture, designs of buildings and the art on the wall. Theo was looking tense. I realised, too that Daedalus wasn't here and I had a bad feeling that this might be a trap.

I looked at the desk which had three laptops downloading something and a half eaten blueberry muffin on the side and a coffee cup next to them.

"Where are we?" Theo asked looking out of the window.

"Colorado springs," said a voice behind us. "The Garden of the Gods."

Standing on the spiral staircase with his weapon drawn, was Daedalus.

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

Wait, what? Does Annabeth know him?

Daedalus smiled faintly. He turned to me and winked. "Trust me, my dear. You don't want to meet him."

"Look, Mr Traitor," She growled, "I didn't fight a dragon women and a three-bodied man and a psychotic sphinx to see you. Now where is DAEDALUS?"

"Wow! Annabeth!" I interrupted. "This is Daedalus!"

There was short silence.

"But you're not an inventor! You're a swordsman!" Theo blurted out. I coughed at the random statement.

"I am both," Daedalus 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."

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

"Wait, then who did you think Daedalus was?" I asked.

"He's Quintus. He came to camp around a three weeks ago. He is a swordsman trainer at camp." Annabeth said.

"But you don't even look like Daedalus," Theo protested. "I saw him in a dream, and…"

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

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

"Theo," Annabeth said uneasily, "That's not possible. That-can't be an automaton."

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

"The fifth, in Latin. But-"

"This is my fifth body." Daedalus held out his forearm. He pressed his elbow and part of his wrist popped open - a rectangular hatch in his skin. Underneath, bronze gears whirred. Wires glowed.

"That's amazing!" Rachel said.

"That's weird," Theo said.

"I hope I'm not an automaton." I said.

Daedalus chortled. "No! No you're not. Otherwise, you would remember your past. To make myself into an automaton I had to-"

"Transfer your animus into a machine." Annabeth muttered in interest. "That's ...riot natural."

Daedalus nodded. "Unfortunately, you had a severe brain damage in your hippocampus, your long term memory cortex. That's why you can't remember much about anything. Moreover, I had to design a new machine to fix that problem. I couldn't transfer your animus as it was severely damaged and if something went wrong, your soul could be affected too if you were to die in the process. So I had to preserve you and keep you healthy.

"But wouldn't that take as long as a… Oh." I realised the reason why I was at least a century old."

Daedalus nodded. "I didn't have the knowledge of how to calculate when you were fully healed. That cylindrical machine, there," He pointed at the machine. "It was linked to this remote alarm system that I had on me. And when I had got the message that you were alive, I had to go back before Luke could have found you. I left a Labyrinth exit system just before I ran away from Labyrinth so I knew when you came out of the Labyrinth before getting rid of the other demigods the other day so I knew when and where to find you."

"Can you tell me about my past then?"

Daedalus looked uneasy. "I'm afraid, that must be discussed somewhere private."

"You really are Daedalus," Theo said. "But why did you come to 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."

"So you have talked to Luke."

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

"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."

"Privacy from what?"

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

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

"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."

"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 marvelled, "for two thousand years." She sounded kind of impressed, despite the horrible things Daedalus had done. Just then a loud bark echoed from the corridor. I heard the ba-BUMP, ba-BUMP, 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.

"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."

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

"He already has it." I said. "I told you already, didn't I? Daedalus lost-"

"No," Daedalus interrupted. "I never said I lost it. I said that Luke has it."

"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."

"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?"

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

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

The doors of the workshop burst open, and a young demigod was pushed inside, his hands in chains. 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. He fixed his gaze on Daedalus. "There you are, my old friend."

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

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

"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 honour. Minos required something else from us, in order to turn over this fine young demigod." She ran a finger under the boy's chin. "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.

"Nico," Theo said. "Are you Ok?"

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

"You were trying to help us?"

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

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

The she-demon smiled like we were sharing a private joke. "Luke is…busy. He is preparing for the assault. 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, "Theo and I will buy you some time." I turned to Kelli. "I think I had enough of your insolence."

I flicked my coin and a spear appeared in my hand and I threw it straight through Kelli's chest and she disintegrated into dust. And with that, all Hades broke loose. Annabeth and I charged at Kelli. The giants came right at Daedalus. But Mrs O'Leary leaped to his defence. The demigod called Nico was pushed to the floor and he struggled with his chains. The spirit of Minos wailed, "Kill the inventor! Kill him!"