We play jail break

After a couple of minutes we were completely lost. We so far past some roman pictures of the gods, and in my opinion Dionysus was not that handsome and Hermes did not have a big pointy noise. After that we found a skeleton of a milk man who died in here and finally we found a door being protected by Janis the two faced minor god. He was dressed like a New York City doorman: a long black overcoat, shiny shoes, and a black top-hat that somehow managed to stay on his double-wide head "Well, Annabeth?" said his left face. "Hurry up!" he said "Don't mind him," said the right face. "He's terribly rude. Right this way, miss." Annabeth's jaw dropped. "Uh...I don't..." Tyson frowned. "That funny man has two faces." He said "The funny man has ears, you know!" the left face scolded. "Now come along, miss." He said "No, no," the right face said. "This way, miss. Talk to me, please." The two-faced man regarded Annabeth as best he could out of the corners of his eyes. It was impossible to look at him straight on without focusing on one side or the other. And suddenly I realized that's what he was asking - he wanted Annabeth to choose.

Behind him were two exits, blocked by wooden doors with huge iron locks. They hadn't been there our first time through the room. The two-faced doorman held a silver key, which he kept passing from his left hand to his right hand. I wondered if this was a different room completely, but the frieze of the gods looked exactly the same. Behind us, the doorway we'd come through had disappeared, replaced by more mosaics. We wouldn't be going back the way we came "The exits are closed," Annabeth said. "Duh!" the man's left face said "Where do they lead?" she asked "One probably leads the way you wish to go," the right face said encouragingly. "The other leads to certain death." He said "I - I know who you are," Annabeth said. "Oh, you're a smart one!" The left face sneered. "But do you know which way to choose? I don't have all day." He said "Why are you trying to confuse me?" Annabeth asked. The right face smiled. "You're in charge now, my dear. All the decisions are on your shoulders. That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

"I - "

"We know you, Annabeth," the left face said. "We know what you wrestle with every day. We know your indecision. You will have to make your choice sooner or later. And the choice may kill you." I didn't know what they were talking about, but it sounded like it was about more than a choice between doors. The color drained out of Annabeth's face. "No...I don't - "

"Leave her alone Janus" I said and they looked at me "I'll see you soon enough, Perseus Jackson," said the right face. "But for now it's Annabeth's turn." He laughed giddily. "Such fun!" he said "Shut up!" his left face said. "This is serious. One bad choice can ruin your whole life. It can kill you and all of your friends. But no pressure, Annabeth. Choose!" With a sudden chill, I remembered the words of the prophecy: the child of Athena's final stand. "Don't do it," I said "I'm afraid she has to," the right face said cheerfully. Annabeth moistened her lips. "I - I chose-"

Before she could point to a door, a brilliant light flooded the room. Janus raised his hands to either side of his head to cover his eyes. When the light died, a woman was standing at the fountain. She was tall and graceful with long hair the color of chocolate, braided in plaits with gold ribbons. She wore a simple white dress, but when she moved, the fabric shimmered with colors like oil on water, in other words lady Hera. "Janus," she said, "are we causing trouble again?" she asked "N-no, milady!" Janus's right face stammered "Yes!" the left face said "Shut up!" the right face said "Excuse me?" Hera asked "Not you, milady! I was talking to myself." He said "I see," Hera said. "You know very well your visit is premature. The girl's time has not yet come. So I give you a choice: leave these heroes to me, or I shall turn you into a door and break you down." She said "What kind of door?" the left face asked "Shut up!" the right face said "Because French doors are nice," the left face mused. "Lots of natural light." He said "Shut up!" the right face wailed. "Not you, milady! Of course I'll leave. I was just having a bit of fun. Doing my job. Offering choices." He said "Causing indecision," Hera corrected. "Now be gone!"

The left face muttered, "Party power," then he raised his silver key, inserted it into the air, and disappeared. Then Hera turned toward us, and fear closed around my heart. Her eyes shined with power. Leave these heroes to me. That didn't sound good. For a second, I almost wished we could've taken our chances with Janus. But then the woman smiled "You must be hungry," she said. "Sit with me and talk." She waved her hand, and the old Roman fountain began to flow. Jets of clear water sprayed into the air. A marble table appeared, laden with platters of sandwiches and pitchers of lemonade. "Who...who are you?" Grover asked "I am Hera." She smiled. "Queen of Heaven."

I'd seen Hera once before at a Council of the Gods, but I hadn't paid much attention to her. At the time I'd been surrounded by a bunch of other gods who were debating whether or not to kill me. I didn't remember her looking so normal. Of course, gods are usually twenty feet tall when they're on Olympus, so that makes them look a lot less normal. But now, Hera looked like a regular mom. She served us sandwiches and poured lemonade "Grover, dear," she said, "use your napkin. Don't eat it" she said "Yes, ma'am," Grover said. "Tyson, you're wasting away. Would you like another peanut butter sandwich?" she asked and Tyson stifled a belch. "Yes, nice lady." He said "Queen Hera," Annabeth said. "I can't believe it. What are you doing in the Labyrinth?" Hera smiled. She flicked one finger and Annabeth's hair combed itself. All the dirt and grime disappeared from her face. "I came to see you, naturally," the goddess said.

Grover and I exchanged nervous looks. Usually when the gods come looking for you, it's not out of the goodness of their hearts. It's because they want something. Still, that didn't keep me from chowing down on turkey-and-Swiss sandwiches and chips and lemonade. I hadn't realized how hungry I was. Tyson was inhaling one peanut butter sandwich after another, and Grover was loving the lemonade, crunching the Styrofoam cup like an ice-cream cone "I didn't think - " Annabeth faltered. "Well, I didn't think you liked heroes."

Hera smiled indulgently. "Because of that little spat I had with Hercules? Honestly, I got so much bad press because of one disagreement." She said "Didn't you try to kill him, like, a lot of times?" Annabeth asked. Hera waved her hand dismissively. "Water under the bridge, my dear. Besides, he was one of my loving husband's children by another woman. My patience wore thin, I'll admit it. But Zeus and I have had some excellent marriage counseling sessions since then. We've aired our feelings and come to an understanding - especially after that last little incident." She said "You mean when he sired Thalia?" I guessed. As soon as I said the name of our friend, the half-blood daughter of Zeus, Hera's eyes turned toward me frostily. "Percy Jackson, isn't it? One of Poseidon's...children." I got the feeling she was thinking of another word besides children. "As I recall, I voted to let you live at the winter solstice. I hope I voted correctly." She turned back to Annabeth with a sunny smile. "At any rate, I certainly bear you no ill will, my girl. I appreciate the difficulty of your quest. Especially when you have troublemakers like Janus to deal with." Annabeth lowered her gaze. "Why was he here? He was driving me crazy." She said "Trying to," Hera agreed. "You must understand, the minor gods like Janus have always been frustrated by the small parts they play in the universe. Some, I fear, have little love for Olympus, and could easily be swayed to support the rise of my father."

You know after she said that something came into my head, since Kronos is my dad's dad I guess that made Kronos my grandfather, but that thought was so weird I put it out of my mind. "We must watch the minor gods," Hera said. "Janus. Hecate. Morpheus. They give lip service to Olympus, and yet -" she said then I cut her off "That's where Dionysus went," I remembered. "He was checking on the minor gods." I said "Indeed." Hera stared at the fading mosaics of the Olympians. "You see, in times of trouble, even gods can lose faith. They start putting their trust in the wrong things. They stop looking at the big picture and start being selfish. But I'm the goddess of marriage, you see. I'm used to perseverance. You have to rise above the squabbling and chaos, and keep believing. You have to always keep your goals in mind." He said and I totally agree with that "What are your goals?" Annabeth asked. She smiled. "To keep my family, the Olympians, together, of course. At the moment, the best way I can do that is by helping you. Zeus does not allow me to interfere much, I am afraid. But once every century or so, for a quest I care deeply about, he allows me to grant a wish."

"A wish?"

"Before you ask it, let me give you some advice, which I can do for free. I know you see Daedalus. His Labyrinth is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. But if you want to know his fate, I would visit my son Hephaestus at his forge. Daedalus was a great inventor, a mortal after Hephaestus's heart. There has never been a mortal Hephaestus admired more. If anyone would have kept up with Daedalus and could tell you his fate, it is Hephaestus." She said "But how do we get there?" Annabeth asked. "That's my wish. I want a way to navigate the Labyrinth." Hera looked disappointed. "So be it. You wish for something, however, that you have already been given." She said "I don't understand." Annabeth said "The means is already within your grasp." She looked at me. "Percy knows the answer."

"I do?"

"But that's not fair," Annabeth said. "You're not telling me what it is!" Hera shook her head. "Getting something and having the wits to use it...those are two different things. I'm sure your mother Athena would agree." The room rumbled like distant thunder. Hera stood. "That would be my cue. Zeus grows impatient. Think on what I have said, Annabeth. Seek out Hephaestus. You will have to pass through the ranch, I imagine. But keep going. And use all the means at your disposal, however common they may seem." She said "Wait did you just say ranch?" I asked and she nodded. That got me to remember what Nicole said 'oh and Percy while your there you should stop at the ranch, I'm sure you'll find what you need' she had said. Then Hera pointed toward the two doors and they melted away, revealing twin corridors, open and dark. "One last thing, Annabeth. I have postponed your day of choice, I have not prevented it. Soon, as Janus said, you will have to make a decision. Farewell!" She waved a hand and turned into white smoke. So did the food, just as Tyson chomped down on a sandwich that turned to mist in his mouth. The fountain trickled to a stop. The mosaic walls dimmed and turned grungy and faded again. The room was no longer any place you'd want to have a picnic.

Annabeth stamped her foot. "What sort of help was that? 'Here, have a sandwich. Make a wish. Oops, I can't help you!' Poof!" she said "Poof," Tyson agreed sadly, looking at his empty plate. "Well," Grover sighed, "she said Percy knows the answer. That's something."

They all looked at me.

"But I don't, I mean I might have a general idea but I don't have enough evidence to support it" I said truthfully and Annabeth nodded "All right. Then we'll just keep going." She said "Which way?" I asked. I really wanted to ask what Hera had meant - about the choice Annabeth needed to make. But then I heard something coming from the right corridor and I had a feeling Grove and Tyson both knew to because they tensed. They stood up together like they'd rehearsed it. "Left," they both said. Annabeth frowned. "How can you be sure?" she asked "Because something is coming from the right," Grover said. "Something big," Tyson agreed. "In a hurry." He said "There right," I said and Annabeth nodded and together we plunged into the dark corridor.

The good news: the left tunnel was straight with no side exits, twists, or turns. The bad news; it was a dead end. After sprinting a hundred yards, we ran into an enormous boulder that completely blocked our path. Behind us, the sounds of dragging footsteps and heavy breathing echoed down the corridor. Something - definitely not human - was on our tail.

"Tyson, can you - " I said "Yes!" He slammed his shoulder against the rock so hard the whole tunnel shook. Dust trickled from the stone ceiling. "Hurry!" Grover said. "Don't bring the roof down, but hurry!" The boulder finally gave way with a horrible grinding noise. Tyson pushed it into a small room and we dashed through behind it. "Close the entrance!" Annabeth said. We all got on the other side of the boulder and pushed. Whatever was chasing us wailed in frustration as we heaved the rock back into placed and sealed the corridor. "We trapped it," I said "Or trapped ourselves," Grover said. I turned. We were in a twenty-foot-square cement room and the opposite wall was covered with metal bars. We'd tunneled straight into a cell "What in Hades?" Annabeth tugged on the bars and I looked at her and she smiled shyly "Um no offence" she said and I rolled my eyes and looked around. The bars didn't budge. Through the bars we could see rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard - at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks "A prison, maybe Tyson can break - " then I stopped an lessened "what is it?" Annabeth asked "Shh," said Grover. "Listen."

Somewhere above us, deep sobbing echoed through the building. There was another sound, too - a raspy voice muttering something that I could barely make out. The words were strange, like rocks in a tumbler "Man that is a very old language" I whispered. Tyson's eye widened. "Can't be." He said "What?" I asked. He grabbed two bars on our cell door and bent them wide enough for even a Cyclops to slip through "Wait!" Grover called. But Tyson wasn't about to wait. We ran after him. The prison was dark, only a few dim fluorescent lights flickering above "I know this place," Annabeth told me. "This is Alcatraz." She said "You mean that island is near San Francisco?" She nodded. "My school took a field trip here. It's like a museum."

It didn't seem possible that we could've popped out of the Labyrinth on the other side of the country, but Annabeth had been living in San Francisco all year, keeping an eye on Mount Tamalpais just across the bay. She probably knew what she was talking about "Freeze," Grover warned. But Tyson kept going. Grover grabbed his arm and pulled him back with all his strength. "Stop, Tyson!" he whispered. "Can't you see it?" I looked where he was pointing, and my stomach did a somersault. On the second-floor balcony, across the courtyard, was a monster more horrible than anything I'd ever seen before.

It was sort of like a centaur, with a woman's body from the waist up. But instead of a horse's lower body, it had the body of a dragon - at least twenty feet long, black and scaly with enormous claws and a barbed tail. Her legs looked like they were tangled in vines, but then I realized they were sprouting snakes, hundreds of vipers darting around, constantly looking for something to bite. The woman's hair was also made of snakes, like Medusa's. weirdest of all, around her waist, where the woman part met the dragon part, her skin bubbled and morphed, occasionally producing the heads of animals - a vicious wolf, a bear, a lion, as if she were wearing a belt of ever-changing creatures. I got the feeling I was looking at something half formed, a monster so old it was from the beginning of time, before shapes had been fully defined. I didn't know why put I felt like I should know her "It's her," Tyson whimpered "Get down!" Grover said. We crouched in the shadows, but the monster wasn't paying us any attention. It seemed to be talking to someone inside a cell on the second floor. That's where the sobbing was coming from. The dragon woman said something in her weird rumbling language. "Man I can barely make out what she's saying" I said "The tongue of the old times. What Mother Earth spoke to Titans and… her other children, before the gods" Tyson said n"You understand it right? So can you translate?" I asked.

Tyson closed his eyes and began to speak in a horrible, raspy woman's voice. "You will work for the master or suffer." Annabeth shuddered. "I hate it when he does that." You see like all Cyclopes, Tyson had superhuman hearing and an uncanny ability to mimic voices. It was almost like he entered a trance when he spoke in other voices "I will not serve," Tyson said in a deep, wounded voice. He switched to the monster's voice: "Then I shall enjoy your pain, Briares." Tyson faltered when he said that name. I'd never heard him break character when he was mimicking somebody, but he let out a strangled gulp. Then he continued in the monster's voice. "If you thought your first imprisonment was unbearable, you have yet to feel true torment. Think on this until I return."

The dragon lady tromped toward the stairwell, vipers hissing around her legs like grass skirts. She spread wings that I hadn't noticed before - huge bad wings she kept folded against her dragon back. She leaped off the catwalk and soared across the courtyard. We crouched lower in the shadows. A hot sulfurous wind blasted my face as the monster flew over. Then she disappeared around the corner. "H-h-horrible," Grover said. "I've never smelled any monster that strong." He said "Cyclopes' worst nightmare," Tyson murmured. "Kampe."
That when I realized why I she sounded familiar, because Aunt Athena was supposed to teach me about her the year. Tyson swallowed. "Every Cyclops knows about her. Stories about her scare us when we're babies. She was our jailer in the bad years."

Annabeth nodded. "I remember now. When the Titans ruled, they imprisoned Gaea and Ouranos's earlier children - the Cyclopes and the Hekatonkheires" she said "Very powerful, wonderful! As tall as the sky. So strong they could break mountains!" Tyson said "Cool, unless you're a mountain" I said "Kampe was the jailer," he said. "She worked for Kronos. She kept our brothers locked up in Tartarus, tortured them always, until Zeus came. He killed Kampe and freed Cyclopes and Hundred-Handed Ones to help fight against the Titans in the big war."

"And now Kampe is back," I said.

"Bad," Tyson summed up.

"So who's in that cell?" I asked. "You said a name - "

"Briares!" Tyson perked up. "He is a Hundred-Handed One. They are as tall as the sky and - "

"Yeah," I said. "They break mountains."

I looked up at the cells above us, wondering how something as tall as the sky could fit in a tiny cell, and why he was crying.

"I guess we should check it out," Annabeth said, "before Kampe comes back."

***

As we approached the cell, the weeping got louder. When I first saw the creature inside, I wasn't sure what I was looking at. He was human-size and his skin was very pale, the color of milk. He wore a loincloth like a big diaper. His feet seemed too big for his body, with cracked dirty toenails, eight toes on each foot. But the top half of his body was the weird part. He made Janus look downright normal. His chest sprouted more arms than I could count, in rows, all around his body. The arms looked like normal arms, but there were so many of them, all tangled together, that his chest looked kind of like a forkful of spaghetti somebody had twirled together. Several of his hands were covering his face as he sobbed.

"Ok ether I haven't been outside so long and the sky shrunk or he's short" I said. Tyson didn't pay any attention. He fell to his knees "Briares!" he called.

The sobbing stopped.

"Great Hundred-Handed One! Help us!" Tyson said. Briars looked up. His face was long and sad, with a crooked nose and bad teeth. He had deep brown eyes - I mean completely brown with no whites or black pupils, like eyes formed out of clay "Run while you can, Cyclops," Briares said miserably. "I cannot even help myself." He said "You are a Hundred-Handed One!" Tyson insisted. "You can do anything!" Briars wiped his nose with five or six hands. Several others were fidgeting with little pieces of metal and wood from a broken bed, the way Tyson always played with spare parts. It was amazing to watch. The hands seemed to have a mind of their own. They built a toy boat out of wood, then disassembled it just as fast. Other hands were scratching at the cement floor for no apparent reason. Others were playing rock, paper, scissors. A few others were making ducky and doggie shadow puppets against the wall "I cannot," Briares moaned. "Kampe is back! The Titans will rise and throw us back into Tartarus."

"Put on your brave face!" Tyson said.

Immediately Briares's face morphed into something else. Same brown eyes, but otherwise totally different features. He had an upturned nose, arched eyebrows, and a weird smile, like he was trying to act brave. But then his face turned back to what it had been before "No good," he said. "My scared face keeps coming back." Tyson was still entranced. "It will be okay, Briares! We will help you! Can I have your autograph?" Briares sniffled. "Do you have one hundred pens?" he asked "Guys," Grover interrupted. "We have to get out of here. Kampe will be back. She'll sense us sooner or later." He said and I had to agree staying here would be suicide "Break the bars," Annabeth said. "Yes!" Tyson said, smiling proudly. "Briares can do it. He is very strong. Stronger than Cyclopes, even! Watch!" Briares whimpered. A dozen of his hands started playing patty-cake, but none of them made any attempt to break the bars.

The Hundred-Handed One covered his face again.

"Briares?" Tyson asked. "What...what is wrong? Show us your great strength!" he said "Tyson, I think you'd better break the bars" Annabeth said and Tyson's smile melted slowly. "I will break the bars," he repeated. He grabbed the cell door and ripped it off its hinges like it was made of wet clay. "Come on, Briares," Annabeth said. "Let's get you out of here." She said

After that Kampe found us and decided to chase us. After a lot of twist and turns we finally made it to the yard. But the happy fought was short lived when Kampe busted thrown the wall and scared the Tories and she even had swords "poison don't let it touch you" Tyson said and I didn't need him to tell me twice. For a second I thought about drawing Riptide and facing her, but my heart crawled into my throat. Then Annabeth said what I was thinking: "Run."

That was the end of the debate. There was no fighting this thing. We ran through the jail yard and out the gates of the prison, the monster right behind us. Mortals screamed and ran. Emergency sirens began to blare. We hit the wharf just as a tour boat was unloading. The new group of visitors froze as they saw us charging toward them, followed by a mob of frightened tourists, followed by...I don't know what they saw through the Mist, but it could not have been good "The boat?" Grover asked "Too slow," Tyson said. "Back into the maze. Only chance" he said and I nodded in agreement "We need a diversion," Annabeth said. Tyson ripped a metal lamppost out of the ground. "I will distract Kampe. You run ahead." He said "I'll help you," I said "No," Tyson said. "You go. Poison will hurt Cyclopes. A lot of pain. But it won't kill." He said "Are you sure?" I asked "Go, brother. I will meet you inside." I hated the idea. I'd almost lost Tyson once before, and I didn't want to ever risk that again. But there was no time to argue, and I had no better idea. Annabeth, Grover, and I each took one of Briares's hands and dragged him toward the concession stands while Tyson bellowed, lowered his pole, and charged Kampe like a jousting knight.

She'd been glaring at Briares, but Tyson got her attention as soon as he nailed her in the chest with the pole, pushing her back into the wall. She shrieked and slashed with her swords, slicing the pole to shreds. poison dripped in pools all around her, sizzling into the cement. Tyson jumped back as Kampe's hair lashed and hissed, and the vipers around her legs darted their tongues in every direction. A lion popped out of the weird half-formed faces around her waist and roared. As we sprinted for the cellblocks, the last thing I saw was Tyson picking up a Dippin' Dots stand and throwing it at Kampe. Ice cream and poison exploded everywhere, all the little snakes in Kampe's hair dotted with tuttifrutti. We dashed back into the jail yard "Can't make it," Briares huffed "Tyson is risking his life to help you! You will make it" o yelled at him. As we reached the door of the cellblock, I heard an angry roar. I glanced back and saw Tyson running toward us at full speed, Kampe right behind him. She was plastered in ice cream and T-shirts. One of the bear heads on her waist was now wearing a pair of crooked plastic Alcatraz sunglasses "Hurry!" Annabeth said, like I needed to be told that. We finally found the cell where we'd come in, but the back wall was completely smooth - no sign of a boulder or anything.

"Look for the mark!" Annabeth said "There!" Grover touched a tiny scratch, and it became a Greek 🔺. The mark of Daedalus glowed blue, and the stone wall grinded open. Too slowly. Tyson was coming through the cellblock, Kampe's swords lashing out behind him, slicing indiscriminately through cell bars and stone walls. I pushed Briares inside the maze, then Annabeth and Grover. "You can do it!" I told Tyson. But immediately I knew he couldn't Kampe was gaining. She raised her swords. I need a distraction - something big. I slapped my wristwatch and it spiraled into a bronze shield. Desperately, I threw it at the monster's face.

SMACK! The shield hit her in the face and she faltered just long enough for Tyson to dive past me into the maze. I was right behind him. Kampe charged, but she was too late. The stone door closed and its magic sealed us in. I could feel the whole tunnel shake as Kampe pounded against it, roaring furiously. We didn't stick around to play knock, knock with her, though. We raced into the darkness, and for the first time (and the last) I was glad to be back in the Labyrinth.

Ok everyone, I'm sorry this one is like the book but the next chapter will be better. But before I get to the next chapter I have to ask all of you, would you like Percy and Nico to start dating in this book or keep it for the fifth book, because ether way you will get a surprise in the next chapter so please review and tell me what you think I should do.