Chapter XIII

Katya

The metal door was half hidden behind a laundry bin full of dirty towels. I didn't see anything strange about it, but Rachel showed us where to look, and I recognized 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, but I couldn't tell if she was pretending or not. She'd changed into a ratty Museum of Modern Art T-shirt and her regular marker-colored jeans, her blue plastic hairbrush sticking out of her pocket. Her red hair was tied back, but she still had flecks of gold in it, and traces of the gold glitter on her face. I thought about how I must look. I had brushed my hair, what? Like, before I went and blew up Mount St. Helens. Plus, I was still healing, so I was probably looking really pale and washed out. "So… after you?"

"You're the guide," Annabeth said with mock politeness. "Lead on."

The stairs led down to a large brick tunnel. It was so dark I couldn't see two feet in front of us, but we had restocked on flashlights right before we left. As soon as we switched them on, Rachel yelped.

A skeleton was grinning at us. It wasn't human, either. It was huge—at least ten feet tall. It had been strung up, chained by its wrists and ankles so that it made a giant X over the tunnel. The thing that really got to me was the single eye socket in the middle of its skull.

"A Cyclops," Annabeth said. "It's very old. It's not…anybody we know."

Rachel swallowed looking at the warning skeleton. "You have a friend who's a Cyclops?"

"Tyson," Percy said. "My half-brother."

"Don't ask," I told Rachel. Percy glared at me and I rolled my eyes.

"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 skeletons left arm and kept walking. I exchanged looks with Percy and Annabeth who shrugged. Annabeth went through, followed by me, and Percy brought up the rear.

After fifty feet we 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 dirt and tree roots.

Percy pointed to the 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' workshop."

"We need to go straight," Rachel said.

We 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 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 Percy nodded. "Okay. Forward."

"You believe her?" Annabeth asked.

"Well," I said, "if you look at it one way, if she leads us to our deaths, she'll be leading herself to her death too. I don't think she's suicidal."

Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue, but she waved Rachel to lead on. Together we kept walking down the brick corridor. It twisted and turned, but there were no more side tunnels. We seemed to be angling down, heading deeper underground.

"No traps?" Percy asked anxiously.

"Nothing?" Rachel knit her eyebrows. "Should it be this easy?"

"I don't know," Percy said. "It never was before."

"So, Rachel," Annabeth said, "where are you from, exactly?"

She said it like, Did you come from the sewers? But Rachel didn't look offended.

"Brooklyn," she said.

"Really?" Percy asked. "Katya is, too."

"Won't your parents be worried if you're out too late?" Annabeth asked.

Rachel exhaled. "Not likely. I could be gone a week and they'd never notice."

"Why not?" This time Annabeth didn't sound as sarcastic. Having trouble with parents was something she understood. She had spent many nights with me having sleepovers in my cabin complaining about her parents.

Percy just didn't want to let go off us living in the same borough of New York City. "Have you guys met?" He asked. "You could be neighbors and never know it."

"I don't think so," Rachel said. "I live in an apartment building penthouse and I've never seen Katya before."

"Yeah, I live in a five story mansion on the edge of the East River," I said.

Rachel looked at me. "You live in that place with all those kids making things explode?"

"Yep, that's Brooklyn House."

"Cool!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Explosions?" Annabeth asked. "I don't even want to know," she shook her head.

"You have an albino crocodile in your pool!" Rachel exclaimed. "And a basketball playing baboon!"

"Ugh," Percy said.

"And penguins!" Rachel threw her hands up wildly. "How'd you get so many penguins?"

"Albino crocodiles, and baboons, and penguins. Oh my!" Annabeth exclaimed.

I started laughing so hard that it sounded like a walrus, at least to me it did. "I love that movie! When I was little I even had a pair of ruby slippers that I wore around all the…" I stopped laughing when I remembered that I wore them Menshikov broke into my house, I ran outside in them, running for my life, and eventually leaving them behind.

Percy seemed to have slipped out of his 'ugh' mode and looked at me worriedly. "Are you alright?" Annabeth asked. "Katya!"

I shook my head in hopes of ridding myself of the memories. Running, being chased, starving, alone. "Let's keep moving. Lead the way Rachel."

We started moving again, they didn't talk to me about my massive mood-swing but I could tell that they hadn't forgotten it. I fell to the back of the line as we trudged on.

Then there was a creaking noise in front of us, 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 we heard heavy footsteps shaking the corridor, coming towards us.

"Run?" Percy asked.

"Run." I agreed.

We turned and fled the way we'd come, but we didn't make it twenty feet before we ran straight into some old friends. Two dracaenae leveled their javelins at our chests. Standing between them was Kelli, the empousa cheerleader.

"Well, well," Kelli said.

We drew our weapons, well except Rachel, she didn't have one. But before Riptide was even out of pen form, Kelli pounced on Rachel. Her hand turned into a claw and she spun Rachel around, holding her tight with her talons at Rachel's neck.

"Taking your little mortal pet for a walk?" Kelli asked us. "They're such fragile things. So easy to break!"

Behind us, the footsteps came closer. A huge form appeared out of the gloom—an eight-foot-tall Laistrygonian giant with red eyes and fangs.

The giant licked his lips when he saw us. "Can I eat them?"

"No," Kelli ordered. "Your master will want these. They will provide a great deal of entertainment." She smiled at Percy. "Now march, half-bloods. Or you all die here, starting with the mortal girl."

It was awful. We marched down the tunnel flanked by dracaenae, with Kelli and the giant in the back, just in case we tried to run for it. And even I, who had done some really stupid things knew that trying to run would be stupid.

Up ahead I could see bronze doors. They were about ten feet tall, emblazoned with a pair of crossed swords. From behind them came a muffled roar, like from a crowd.

"Oh, yessssss," said the snake woman on my left. "You'll be very popular with our hossssst."

I'd never gotten up close to dracaenae before, and I really wasn't happy of being given the opportunity. She would've had a beautiful face, except her tongue was forked and her eyes were yellow with black slits for pupils. She wore bronze armor that stopped at her waist. Below that, where her legs should've been, were two massive snake trunks, mottled bronze and green. She moved with a combination of slithering and walking, as if she was on skis.

"Who's your host?" Percy asked.

She hissed, which might've been a laugh. "Oh, you'll sssssee. You'll get along famousssly. He'ssss your brother, after all."

"My what?" Percy asked. Now that I thought about it, when a monster tells you you'll get along with someone, it usually means that you'll end up fighting that someone, one way or another.

The giant pushed past us and opened the doors. He picked up Annabeth by her shirt and said, "You stay here."

"Hey!" She protested, but the guy was twice her size and she didn't have a weapon.

Kelli laughed. She still had her claws at Rachel's neck. "Go on, Percy. Entertain us. You too, Katya. We'll wait here with your friends to make sure you behave."

Percy looked at Rachel. "I'm sorry. We'll get you out of this."

She nodded as best she could with a demon at her throat. "That would be nice."

The dracaenae prodded me toward the doorway at javelin-point, and we walked out onto the floor of an arena.

A fight was going on between a giant and a centaur. The centaur looked panicked. He was galloping around his enemy, using sword and shield, while the giant swung a javelin the size of a telephone pole and the crowd cheered.

The first tier of seats was twelve feet above the arena floor. Plain stone benches wrapped all the way around, and every seat was full. There were giants, dracaenae, demigods, telekhines, and stranger things: bat-winged demons and creatures that seemed half human and half you couldn't really tell—bird, reptile, insect, mammal.

But the creepiest thing were the skulls. The arena was full of them. They ringed the edge of the railing. Three-foot-high piles of them decorated the steps between benches. They grinned from pikes at the back of the stands and hung on chains from the ceiling like horrible chandeliers. Some of them looked very old—nothing but bleached white bone. Others looked a lot fresher. With washed out yellow flesh still sticking to parts of the cheeks and foreheads. Bile rose in my throat looking at them.

In the middle of all this, proudly displayed on the side of the spectators wall, was something that made no sense to me—a green banner with the trident of Poseidon in the center. It was the one thing that didn't belong.

"Luke," Percy said.

I looked where he was glaring. Sure enough, sitting in a seat of honor, was Luke.

He smiled coldly. He was wearing camouflage pants, a white T-shirt, and a bronze breastplate.

But he still wasn't wearing his sword, which I thought was strange. Next to him sat the biggest giant I'd ever seen, except when Carter was fighting Set and they grew really big, but technically he wasn't a giant. He wore only a loincloth—that was really disturbing—his red skin was tattooed with blue wave designs. I figured he must be Luke's bodyguard or something.

There was a cry from the arena floor, and I jumped back as the centaur crashed into the dirt beside us.

He met my eyes pleadingly. "Help!"

I reached for my sword, but it had been taken.

The centaur struggled to get up as the giant approached, his javelin ready.

Talons gripped Percy and my shoulders. My back stiffened. "If you value your friendsss' lives," the dracaenae guard said, "you won't interfere. This isssn't your fight. Wait your turn."

The centaur couldn't get up. One of his legs was broken. The giant put his huge foot on the centaur's chest and raised his javelin. He looked to Luke for permission to bring it down. The crowd cheered, "DEATH! DEATH!"

Luke didn't do anything, but the tattooed sumo dude sitting next to him rose. He smiled down at the centaur, who was whimpering, "Please! No!"

Then the red skinned giant held out his hand and gave a thumbs down.

I closed my eyes as the gladiator giant thrust down his javelin. Percy held my hand. I could feel the blood splatter against my cheek, but I didn't dare wipe it away. In memory of unknown centaur. I thought to myself. Let this blood on my cheek be remembrance to you. I managed a small smile.

When I looked again, the centaur was just a pile of ashes. All that was left was a single hoof, which the giant took up as a trophy and showed it to the crowd. They roared their approval.

A gate opened at the opposite end of the stadium and the giant marched out in triumph.

In the stands, the red skinned giant raised his hands up 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 tightened, he really didn't like being called son of Hermes. He hated his father. But he rose calmly to his feet. His eyes glittered. In fact, he seemed to be in a pretty good mood.

"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." He pointed at Percy. "Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon."

The crowd began jeering at us and throwing stones, most of which we dodged, but one scraped against my stomach.

"Agh," I gasped. As long as I didn't touch the burn, it was fine, but when something hit it, it burned like Hades.

Antaeus' eyes lit up. "A son of Poseidon? Then he should fight well! Or die well!"

"That's not all," Luke spoke again. "We have a daughter of Khione. If there death pleases you, will you let our armies cross your territory?"

"Perhaps!" Antaeus said.

Luke didn't look to happy about the 'perhaps.' He glared down at Percy, as if warning him to die in a really spectacular way or we'd be in big 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?"

"Enough time for the females to fight afterward," Antaeus interrupted.

"No," Luke interrupted. "If we let Kane wait, she'll escape. We need to get rid of her."

"Entertain me!" Antaeus shouted.

"We let her be chased by the hell hounds through the maze," Luke suggested.

"I won't see her death," Antaeus said.

"But you'll be able to hear her screams when the hell hounds catch up to her."

"Hell hounds!" Antaeus shouted.

Percy turned to me. "You can do this," he said.

I shook my head. "No, Percy. I can't. Besides, we'll be separated, in the maze, we won't be able to find each other again."

"I believe in you. Do you trust me?"

"Yes," I said.

"Then go."

I ran just as the hell hounds came from another tunnel. The crowd cheered as I disappeared down another one.

My legs pumped faster and faster with each step I took. Racing faster and faster. Tears flew from my eyes, not being able to stain my cheeks. I could hear the hounds barking and growling.

I ran for at least an hour, the hell hounds nipping at my ankles. I turned and tried to lose them but they kept on my trail. By now I had a good idea that there were about five of them, but I didn't dare look back and check.

Then I tripped, and I knew everything was over. The hellhounds pounced on me, I thought it was the end and I stopped fighting, ready to let go of the life of the living.

Then the barking stopped. I opened my eyes. The hounds had been turned into ashes were they stood and in their place stood a god.

"You're Anubis," I said stupidly as I stood up.

"That's me." He shoved his hands in his pockets, he was just how Sadie described. Tall, dark, and handsome.

"I'm Katya. Sadie's—"

"Cousin. I know."

"How do you know?" I asked.

He sighed. "I looked into the Kane family when I met Sadie."

"I need to get out of this maze," I told him. "Can you help me?"

"Go up there," he pointed to a little patch of light, a tunnel just big enough for me to crawl through.

"Thanks," I said. "Visit Sadie soon. She's becoming unbearably lovesick. But… don't tell her I said that."

Anubis chuckled. "Will do."

I crawled out of the Labyrinth.

Sorry I didn't update yesterday I was busy. Forgive me? Hope you like the chapter! Can I get some ideas for the next one?