THE GOD OF DECEPTION
Chapter Fifteen: Leaving the Labyrinth
Annabeth
…
Annabeth was having a hard time focusing. Everything was moving too fast, and she could barely process one thing, before having to move on to another. It went, there's a big monster, Percy's being attacked by that big monster, Percy's back, Percy's arm is hurt, the Leucrotta is having a tumor, then, needing to find shelter. She had barely processed the fact that Percy was back.
As they walked silently along the tunnels of the Labyrinth, Annabeth wondered if they'd even be able to get out. Or if, when they got out, they'd be in some far away place like Djibouti. The Labyrinth liked playing tricks, and Annabeth didn't particularly like those tricks. How would they even get back to camp before something else happened? And if something happened to camp directly, how would they know? Even if they came back up in California, across the world, it would take a while to get back.
Then again, they had friends in California. Ones in high places.
Or perhaps not. If they camp back up in California, what if Camp Jupiter was affected? Apart from what was happening at Camp Half Blood, Annabeth had no idea how Dolos could affect other places. It scared her how little she knew. It terrified her even more that her ignorantness on the subject could hurt their trio.
Percy looked at her, and then took her hand silently, centering Annabeth again. "You okay?" He whispered, into her ear.
"Just thinking." She said. Percy looked at her to elaborate. Annabeth sighed. "I just don't know what's going to happen, and that scares me."
"None of us do," Percy told her.
A slight breeze went by, even though they were underground. Annabeth perked up. "I know that, but I'm supposed to know things. That's my thing." she said quickly, and then looked to see if Percy had noticed that breeze.
He was undeterred. "Annabeth, don't do this," Percy said, squeezing her hand tighter. "We're all in the same boat. If you don't know something, then none of us know that something. It's simple. Don't beat yourself up about it."
"It's hard not too," Annabeth said a little bit louder. Grover turned around from in front of them, and Annabeth suddenly felt bad. Back during the first Great Prophecy, they were all close, though Annabeth had to admit, some third wheeling was done. Neither of them had been in contact with Grover for a long time, and now that they were back, things had changed. A lot. For the better and for the worst. Hopefully, mostly for the better, but then again, not everything could turn out fine and dandy.
Grover cleared his throat. "We're all in this together."
"High School Musical quotes are always so inspiring," Percy smirked at Grover, and then whipped a fake tear from his eye. "Once we know what we are, we're all stars." He crooned.
Grover grinned. "You're not going to make me do this Percy."
"Finish the lyric," Percy warned, and Annabeth chuckled. "I know you know it!"
It felt like they were falling back into their old rhythm. Grover shook his head adamantly. "I'm not."
"You will." Percy did puppy dog eyes. "For me, please?"
In a high pitched, whiny voice, Grover sang— or more like screeched, the next lyrics. Once he was finished, Percy looked at him satisfied. But the satisfaction didn't last long. A breeze, a little bit stronger than the one before came by.
"Did you feel that?" Annabeth said, taking her hand from Percy. "I felt it earlier, but no one said anything. I thought it might have been just me trying to create delusions for myself. But you two had to have felt that, right?"
Grover and Percy looked at each other, and nodded. "I think an opening is close."
"Hopefully it's somewhere in New York." Annabeth added.
"Or in Maine."
"Why Maine?" Grover frowned, scratching his head.
Percy shrugged. "I think I might have friends in Maine."
"You have friends in a lot of places, Percy." And enemies too, a matter a fact. "But let's focus on following that breeze." This really was making Annabeth get her hopes up. An escape, a near one. That would be amazing.
"And hope it's not a wind spirit trying to kill us," Percy muttered under his breath cheerfully.
Grover nodded, and then Annabeth did. It was an extremely valid hope. They raced forward, trying to figure out where the breeze was coming. As they seemingly got closer, the breeze got stronger, until they reached a dead end. "What?" Annabeth frowned. "There was to be a way out," she looked across the walls, furrowing her brows.
She looked over to Percy and Grover for help, but they were both looking up. There was a hole in the wall, just a couple feet away, where a flurry of wind was coming through. Both of the boys walked over to it. Annabeth imagined once under, they'd be blown away, but neither were. "I think this was a trap." Percy coughed. "Uh, a not so good one."
"No traps are good." Grover told him. "Unless it's Hephestus trying to catch Aphrodite cheating. The gods say those are always good."
"I would know." Percy muttered. "This random guy made me write about it once."
A lot of people (mostly gods) had made Percy do stuff before, so this really wasn't a surprise. Annabeth walked over to where Percy and Grover were standing, and looked up. "Well, that was a lost cause."
"A lost cause times ten. That's so inconvenient."
"Or is it?" A voice came behind them. Percy jumped, and Annabeth turned around quickly. The man in front of them took up many forms, and Annabeth knew it was Dolos. As the people among it changed, they universally smiled, and Annabeth universally frowned. Well, not universally, because she wasn't multiple people, but now really wasn't the time she wanted to start policing her own language.
"Why are you here?" Percy narrowed his eyes. Although Annabeth and Grover hadn't directly told him what Dolos was, he seemed to be coming to his own conclusions.
Dolos smiled, teeth forming into an alarming grin. "To help you, of course."
"I don't think that's right," Grover rolled his eyes. "You're going against us, against the gods. So no. You have to be lying."
"The lines aren't all that clear. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. That's your decision."
Grover cleared our throat. "I think our decision is pretty clear. We don't trust you."
Percy nodded. "I mean, you look like ten different people at once. That's not really screaming, 'I'm the good guy.'"
"Perseus," Dolos chuckled, "you must know by now, that there isn't such a thing as a good guy. Only a powerful one."
That reminded Annabeth of a book she'd read a while back. "Just stop." She said. "Stop confusing us. It's obvious you want power, okay? Power to corrupt. You're making everyone turn against an innocent person, Percy hasn't done anything wrong. He's only ever done the right thing. Which means you have to stop trying to confuse us."
"Confuse you?" The god giggled. "Now that's the last thing I'd want to do."
The trio exchanged glances, and then made the executive decision through eye contact to run. One, Annabeth mouthed, two, three. They bolted, Percy pushing himself to the side, Annabeth pushing herself to the other side, and Grover going down. But just as they got close to the god, he smiled and backed away, before vanishing.
"He's still here." Percy squeezed his hands together tightly. "He has to be. This is a disappearing act."
Grover sniffed the air. "We need to get out of here," he said, "okay? I have a feeling that now isn't the time."
"Trickery needs to be deceived," Annabeth murmured to herself, out of the ear range of both of her companions. What could that mean? She understood the concept of it, but not how it could happen. Thinking about it over and over again hadn't helped at all. Maybe the answer was something glaringly obvious.
"Wise Girl?" Percy was waving his hand in Annabeth's face. She flinched. "Come back to us Annie." He knew he was the only one that could get away with calling her that. She swatted him for good measure.
"Sorry. I was just thinking."
"You do that a lot," Percy joked. His face turned sullen. "Come on. Grover and I thought we should just try to find another way out. Or we thought that Grover, with his pan pipes could music his way out of this. Since the walls are… dirt?" He knocked his hand against them. "I'm actually not sure what they're made of. But whatever. What do you think?"
"Since when was music an verb?" Annabeth muttered. She shook her head, and then walked over to where previously, wind had been circulating. She looked up. "I don't think that'll work. Let's just keep looking."
Percy sighed. "I thought so."
They turned around, and walked the opposite direction out of the dead end. Annabeth stayed a little bit ahead, guiding them. Once they got to a turn, Annabeth went the opposite way they had in, and tried to seem confident about it.
They walked for a long time in silence, just as they had before. Without any real sense of direction. Turning, and backtracking at dead-ends every twenty or so minutes. It felt like the maze would never free them. They'd be trapped inside it forever.
But then, about two hours (or was it three? Time was uncertain.) into walking, they stopped at a door. Or well, less of a door and more of a trapdoor, it was small and square. Annabeth opened it cautiously (caution was the only thing keeping them alive), and light spewed out into the dark cave tunnels. Blocking it from her face, she motioned to go through, and waited for Grover and Percy to make their ways in. Annabeth then followed.
Once she entered, everything went black for a moment, and the next time eyes were opened, she was on the ground. Grass underneath her.
That was oddly easy. Too easy. Annabeth suspected more was to come their way.
Annabeth got up, to see Grover and Percy already up, several feet away. Percy took out a hand and pulled her up. They all looked up to the mansion which loomed above them. Strange. It is a vaguely reasonable Tristian Mclean's mansion. Probably because it was. This had to mean trouble of some sort. Why would the maze let them out so easily? Or was it something else that it was waiting for. It knew something that they didn't, and it was waiting to strike.
The Trio walked towards the mansion, and rang the doorbell, shortly after knocking on the door. Two minutes passed, and then the door swung open. Piper stood there, with an odd look on her face. "What are you guys doing here?" She looked to Grover. "And who is that?"
"This is Grover." Annabeth explained. Piper nodded in recognition, they had told her about him during their travels on the Argo II.
"First question," Piper opened the door even further, beckoning them to come in. "What are you guys doing here? I thought you were staying at camp for awhile, then heading back to school."
"Plans change. Have you not heard anything?" Annabeth questioned.
Piper shrugged. "Not that I know of. Jason and I haven't been to Camp Jupiter as far as I know." She looked wistful. "I actually don't know where he is now. What's the 'anything' I haven't heard of."
"Something really weird is happening." Percy told her.
Piper waved a hand in the air. "That's normal."
"No, I mean really weird." He rephrased. "Here was what we know."
They explained the situation to her as best as they could, leaving out unnecessary parts or comments from Percy about how bad monster breath smelled. By the end of it, Piper looked at them in awe. "We need to get you guys back to camp."
"Annabeth said that they were under the influence of the Pseudologi, so that won't help much."
"I think they'll be the easiest people to convince." She looked away. "If Jason were here he'd be able to lend you guys Tempest. But—"
Annabeth put a comforting hand on Piper. She could sense something had happened between them, but wasn't sure what it was. It wasn't her business right now to ask. If Piper offered up the information, she'd talk, but forcing it out wouldn't do them any good.
"Well," Percy heaved a breath from beside her. "I have Blackjack, who's a better horse anyways, so…"
Annabeth flicked him. "Why didn't I think about that? It's so obvious! We could have been on our way back by now."
"And with a Pegsi, it wouldn't take that long of a time." Percy added. "Cause they're extra fast."
"You guys should stop wasting time and just call him then." Piper scanned the three of them. "Do you want something to eat first though?"
The three nodded simultaneously.
"Let's do that first."
…
disclaimer: um, this story has way less twists and turns than Uncle Ricks.
a/n: haha imagine replotting three different chapters in the span of two days because your fingers would not make you write the plot you originally planned for. That's me, because I did that. I just couldn't stop them from going off topic, so I eventually decided to just replot a small part of this. Anyway, not sure I'm super happy with how this came out, but it's the process that counts. I really have no time to write anything but this right now, so the More Than True sequel will come a little later than I planned for. At the time I didn't know how time consuming school would be. Thanks so much for reading! Leave a review, lmk what you think! Stay safe and healthy! Until the next chapter!
— TheLil'Lion