After Mary has taken a few more sips of nectar, she feels good enough to walk though incredibly slowly. She keeps wincing with pain every so often which made me feel bad for her at first but is now pretty annoying.
The centre of Bishop is crawling with tourists and street vendors selling sea-themed junk. If I wasn't on a quest, I would probably stop to think about how my mom would probably love a place like this. It's beautiful. The narrow terraced houses painted in pastel hues, the smell of the sea in the air, the cafes with their chequered tablecloths...it is postcard perfect and I keep wishing she was here in a way that is awfully cliché. We pass a few bait-and-tackle shops but none called Miss Hayley's.
"What kind of name is Miss Hayley's for a bait store, anyway?" Mary huffs as she struggles to keep her pace next to me. Maybe I'm being mean since it's not her fault she got mauled by a man-eating dog but after figuring out the clues in the notebook – the notebook I hadn't even told Mary about – I feel a much stronger fire in the pit of my stomach that keeps me moving forward.
"Look, Mary, I didn't choose the name, okay?" I snap at her. I feel guilty for not feeling worse about being annoyed at an injured girl but I don't apologise. Maybe it's the heat of the burning summer sun or maybe I'm just one of those guys. "We can't stop and waste any more time. We're already on the second day of our quest and we haven't even found an entrance to the labyrinth! We're losing time!"
I don't notice that Mary isn't following me anymore until I realise that she hasn't groaned for about a minute. I double back and find her leaning against the pale pink wall of a teashop, clutching her knees. A man – a tourist judging by his huge backpack and the camera slung around his neck – is patting her shoulder in a way that makes me uncomfortable. Since it turned out that a little old lady that ran a B&B turned out to be the owner of the most vicious dog alive, I don't trust this guy.
"Hey!" I call out when I'm a few steps away, "What happened?"
Instead of Mary, the guy looks at me and answers which makes me angry for some reason. He says, "The young lady said she feels sick. You her boyfriend? You should look after you girl a little better, fella. I think it's the heat. You know they say that nothing helps a little heatstroke like coconut water and –"
"Okay, thanks," I say shortly. "I can handle it from here."
The man shrugs in a fake happy-to-help way and walks away but not before shooting Mary a disgusting winning smile and a wink. "Take care now, miss."
"I don't need your help, Rodriguez," Mary says angrily. She must be in a lot of pain because her tone isn't nearly as sharp as usual and I find that I kind of miss the sting. "I'm fine."
"Doesn't look like it," I joke feebly. I dig around my bag for some ambrosia squares and hand one to Mary. She wolfs it down and immediately some colour returns to her face. "You okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Listen, I'm sorry I snapped at you, alright? I didn't mean to – it's just that we've lost so much time and –"
"And it's my fault," Mary says. I think she aimed for it come out angry but it comes out a little regretful.
"What? No!" I protest, "I wasn't going to say that!"
"Don't pretend like you didn't think it, Chris," Mary says quietly, "It was my fault we stayed at that B&B, it was me that wandered off by herself and got attacked and now it's me that can't walk for five minutes without almost passing out. I'm holding up the quest and I know it, okay?"
She feels like she's losing. I can tell. I don't want to be mad at her anymore.
"What are you talking about?" I run my hands through my hair and face her, looking her dead in the eyes. "Look, if you hadn't chosen to stay at that awful place, we would never have even come close to finding out about the entrance at Miss Hayley's and it was you that killed Laelaps. You did good, okay?"
"Okay." Mary's voice is so small that I think she's still mad at herself but her eyes don't look sad. In fact they look happier than I have ever seen them and it makes my stomach dip a little.
"Okay. So let's find Miss Hayley."
We've been walking for over an hour, heading from the centre to the outskirts of town, and we've found nothing. None of the locals seem to have heard of Miss Hayley's Bait and Tackle and I was starting to get frustrated again. We're a good few blocks away from the centre of the town and the buildings have begun to lose their fairytale looks. There are hardly any stores and most of the buildings are houses that look like they belong to people poorer than those who can afford tea in one of the Main Street cafes. The houses are so close to the ocean that I'm sure the residents' backyard must flood whenever the tide comes in which must be dangerous but they must be too poor to do anything about it.
I begin to suggest we turn back around when a splash of colour catches my eyes. Tucked in between two grey-bricked houses with their blond drawn shut is a door painted bright red. It seems like the oddest burst of colour amidst its surroundings with its vibrant rainbow-coloured welcome mat and window panes painted red to match the door. But what makes my heart leap is the brightly painted sign fixed to the wall.
"Miss Hayley's Bait and Tackle!" I laugh as I feel a weight lift from my chest. Mary laughs too, clutching her injured side, probably from relief. I dare to pray to the gods that we won't encounter another monster in the store.
Mary seems to fear the same thing because starts to frown. "What if it's dangerous? What if this is a trap?"
I shake my head and say, "We have no other choice. The next closest location is in New York City, I think. We have to go in."
I stride confidently up to the door and I hear Mary follow after me. There is no knocker so I push the door open and step through the doorway.
Inside is the strangest store I have ever seen in my life. There are windows everywhere when I could swear there weren't any when you looked from the outside. They're made from coloured glass and they light up the store in rainbow colours where the sunlight pours through them. I can feel a sea breeze ruffle my hair even though none of the windows are actually open and the door has closed behind Mary. It makes the hundreds of wind chimes – made from shells, fishing hooks, sea glass and even Celestial bronze – ring. The brightly coloured shelves are stocked with regular bait but also packets labelled Hippocampi Feed: Now with 50% EXTRA.
"I think we're in the right place," Mary whispers. It is as if she thinks that if she speaks too loudly, this rainbow-coloured illusion will shatter and a monster will leap out from behind the sea-serpent bait.
"My darlings, of course you are!" comes a voice from behind us. It is so high and melodic that it is hard to tell it apart from the sound of the wind chimes.
From a doorway I hadn't noticed, emerges the most beautiful lady I have ever seen. She's tall, almost as tall as the doorway, dresses in a vibrant blue organza dress that looks similar to a Greek chiton. Long blonde hair falls in waves down to her waist and her eyes are a deep sea-green. Strangely, her skin seems to be slightly blue but her expression is so kind and gentle that I immediately warm towards her.
I don't realise my mouth is open until Mary digs me in the ribs.
"Are you Miss Hayley?" she asks. The woman must have had an effect on her too because her voice sounds calmer than I've ever heard it.
"Hmm? Oh, I suppose I am," the lady smiles kindly, "My real name is Haliae but it confuses the mortals so I adopted the name Hayley." They way she says 'mortals' isn't degrading or condescending like I've heard some of the crew members say on the Princess Andromeda which makes me like her even more.
"Are you a goddess?" I ask.
Hayley – or Haliae, whatever – laughs. Her laugh is sweet and makes her skin flush slightly blue. "No," she says, "I am a sea nymph. This area of the sea is and has been under my control for centuries. It's my job to keep it clean and healthy, you know? But it's been hard in the past few decades. So much pollution, so much rubbish..." She sniffs like she's trying not to cry and straightens a box of what looks like regular fish bait on the counter. "I've played the Miss Hayley persona for years but it's getting harder every day. There have been disturbances at sea; the fish talk, you know. The old gods are wakening...oh!"
She turns to face us so suddenly that Mary steps backwards into a display of fishing hooks. "I'm so sorry, children! I shouldn't be so gloomy! Where are my manners? May I interest you in some bait? Some tackle, perhaps?"
"Actually," I say slowly, "We were looking for an entrance to the labyrinth? Daedalus's labyrinth? DO you know anything about it?"
Miss Hayley's eyes turn the colour of the ocean in the middle of a storm and her blue-tinged skin seems to turn kind of grey, like storm clouds. But she doesn't look angry, she looks...upset. "The labyrinth, children?"
"We're on a quest," Mary explains, "We need to find a way inside the labyrinth. Can you help us?"
Some tears escape from Miss Hayley's eyes and trickle down her cheek. "But you're so young, my dears," she sniffs, "They've sent you to do this? But you're children!" She shakes her head and wipes the tears from her face. "They gods...sometimes, I think they should do their own fighting, leave the poor babies out of this. I can't – I can't let you in there. Do you know of the horrors that await you in that monstrous place? Every day I have to live with the knowledge that it's here in my shop. Did Daedalus ever ask me? No! But you did, and I'm sorry I have to say no."
"Miss Hayley, you don't understand!" I say desperately, "We need this! Please!"
The sea nymph cries harder and I look at Mary. She looks at me with the same desperate look on her face. Neither of us knows what to do with a distraught sea nymph.
"You poor kids," she sobs, "I suppose I have to – I can't mess with the Fates. It is inevitable that you must enter the labyrinth. Follow me."
She leads the way to the back of the store. The floor here isn't the same hardwood as the rest of the shop but is covered by a coloured crocheted rug. Miss Hayley pulls it away to reveal a dull brown trapdoor. It is so completely in contrast with the rest of the shop, as if it knows that what it holds at bay can never be compared to fish food and rainbow coloured windows.
"This is it?" I ask pointlessly. I know it must be because as soon as Miss Hayley touches it, a gold Δ emerges on the wood. When she opens the door, a steep set of stone stairs that remind me much too much of the ones at the B&B are revealed.
"I have to warn you again how dangerous it is," Miss Hayley frets. She is wringing the material of her dress so hard that actual salt water is leaking from the material. "Don't take this lightly, children. If you go in there, you might never come out."
One hundred and one things flash through my mind all at once: is it really worth risking my life – and Mary's life – for this? It is likely that Luke will get all the glory. I might never see my mother again. I might never get a chance to grow up, have a girlfriend, go to college...But I know I have to do this because the Titan army needs me to. This is my quest and I am a soldier. I will play a crucial role in the reawakening of the Titan Lord and he will reward me, I know it. I have to do this or I will die a coward and a traitor back on the Princess Andromeda.
I turn to Miss Hayley and say, "Thank you, for everything. But we have to do this." I am surprised by how determined and sure I sound though doubts are still ringing in my ears.
I face Mary and ask, "Ready?"
She nods, just as sure as I am.
We descend down the trapdoor to the dark fate that lies before us.
