RAGING SEAS Chapter 28
A/N:- New Chapter, here we go!

When Percy woke up, he found out that he was sitting in the bunk bed in cabin 3.

He woke up quickly, went to the washroom, freshened up, showered, and got ready, wearing an orange camp-half-blood t-shirt, black jeans, black boots, and a black hoodie. He had his medieval gauntlets in bracelet form, something that he had learned himself. He just had to click the button on the side and then the gauntlets would appear in their full glory.

Hector woke up shortly after, drooling and his hairs were ruffled.

Soon he got ready as well, putting everything in his bag. A canteen of nectar and a few cakes of Ambrosia.

After a few minutes, Annabeth met up with Percy and Hector near Thalia's tree, ready to go.

Hector used Annabeth's phone to make a phone call to Rachel and arranged a meeting in Times Square.

-TIME-SKIP-

They found Rachel Elizabeth Dare in front of the Marriott Marquis, and she was completely painted gold, her face, her hair, her clothes-everything. She was standing like a statue with five other kids all painted metallic-copper, bronze, silver. They were frozen in different poses while tourists hustled past or stopped to stare. Some passerby threw money at the tarp on the sidewalk.

The sign at Rachel's feet said, 'URBAN ART FOR KIDS, DONATIONS APPRECIATED'.

Annabeth, Percy, and Hector stood there for five minutes, staring at Rachel, but if she noticed them, she didn't let on. She didn't move or even blink. Rachel looked like a statue of somebody famous, an actress or something. Only her eyes were normal green.

"Maybe if we push her over," Annabeth suggested.

After another few minutes, a kid in silver walked up from the hotel taxi stand, where he'd been taking a break. He took a pose like he was lecturing the crowd, right next to Rachel. Rachel unfroze and stepped off the tarp.

"Hey, Hector." She grinned. "Good timing! Let's get some coffee."

They walked down to a place called the Java Moose on West 43rd. Rachel ordered an Espresso Extreme, Annabeth and Hector got fruit smoothies, and Percy got an Iced Coffee, and they sat at a table right under the stuffed moose. Nobody even looked twice at Rachel in her golden outfit.

"So," she said, "you're Percy and you're Annabel, right?"

"Annabeth," Annabeth corrected. "Do you always dress in gold?"

"Not usually," Rachel said. "We're raising money for our group. We do volunteer art projects for elementary kids 'cause they're cutting art from the schools, you know? We do this once a month, taking in about five hundred dollars on a good weekend. But I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that. You're a half-blood, too?"

"Shhh!" Annabeth said, looking around. "Just announce it to the world, how about?"

"Okay." Rachel stood up and said really loud, "Hey, everybody! These people aren't human! They're half Greek god!"

Nobody even looked over. Rachel shrugged and sat down. "They don't seem to care."

"That's not funny," Annabeth said. "This isn't a joke, mortal girl."

"Hold it, you two," Hector said. "Just calm down."

"I'm calm," Rachel insisted. "Every time I'm around you, some monster attacks us. What's to be nervous about?"

"Look," Hector said. "I'm really sorry about the band room. I hope they didn't kick you out or anything."

"Nah. They asked me a lot of questions about you. I played dumb."

"Was it hard?" Annabeth asked.

"Okay, stop!" Percy intervened and threw his Iced Coffee on both the girls. "Annabeth, shut up! Rachel, we need your help."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at Annabeth. "You need my help?"

Annabeth stirred her straw in her smoothie. "Yeah," she said suddenly. "Maybe."

Hector told Rachel about the Labyrinth, and how they needed to find Daedalus. Percy then told her what had happened the last few times they'd gone in.

"So you want me to guide you," she said. "Through a place, I've never been."

"You can see through the Mist," Percy said. "Just like Ariadne. I'm betting you can see the right path. The Labyrinth won't be able to fool you as easily."

"And if you're wrong?"

"Then we'll get lost. Either way, it'll be dangerous. Very, very dangerous." Hector said.

"I could die?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you said monsters don't care about mortals. That sword of yours-"

"Yeah," Hector said. "Celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals. Most monsters would ignore you. But Luke...he doesn't care. He'll use mortals, demigods, monsters, whatever. And he'll kill anyone who gets in his way."

"Nice guy," Rachel said.

"He's under the influence of a Titan," Annabeth said defensively. "He's been deceived."

Rachel looked back and forth. "Okay," she said. "I'm in."

"Are you sure?"

"Hey, my summer was going to be boring. This is the best offer I've gotten yet. So what do I look for?"

"We have to find an entrance to the Labyrinth," Annabeth said. "There's an entrance at Camp Half-Blood, but you can't go there. It's off-limits to mortals."

Rachel nodded. "Okay. What does an entrance to the Labyrinth look like?"

"It could be anything," Percy said. "A section of wall. A boulder. A doorway. A sewer entrance. But it would have the mark of Daedalus on it. A Greek glowing in blue."

"Like this?" Rachel drew the symbol Delta in water on our table.

"That's it," Annabeth said. "You know Greek?"

"No," Rachel said. She pulled a big blue plastic hairbrush from her pocket and started brushing the gold out of her hair. "Let me get changed. You'd better come with me to the Marriott."

"Why?" Annabeth said.

"Because there's an entrance like that in the hotel basement, where we store our costumes. It's got the mark of Daedalus."

As they were walking forward, Percy pointed to the poster of 'Santa Claus Conquers the Martians!' which was torn up in such a way that only the S was visible.

"Oh look, a big S! Hope that doesn't stand for shit!"

"Oh yeah, that movie is shit," Rachel said.

-TIME-SKIP-

The metal door was half-hidden behind a laundry bin full of dirty hotel towels. There was a faint glow of the blue delta symbol etched on the metal door, but it was really faint.

"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."

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 exclaimed. She'd changed into a 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. "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 dark but Hector and Percy had restocked on flashlights. As soon as they switched them on, Rachel yelped.

A skeleton was grinning at them. It wasn't human. It was huge, at least ten feet tall. It had been strung up, chained by its wrists and ankles so it made a kind of giant X over the tunnel. There was a single black eye socket in the center of its skull.

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

Rachel swallowed. "You have a friend who's a Cyclops?"

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

"Our half-brother." Percy reminded him.

"Hopefully we'll find him down here," Hector said. "And Grover. He's a satyr."

"Oh." Her voice was small. "Well then, we'd better keep moving."

"Monsters have skeletons?" Hector asked Percy. "I thought they were supposed to disintegrate right?"

"How am I supposed to know Hector? Ask Tyson once we meet him."

Rachel stepped under the skeleton's left arm and kept walking.

After fifty feet they 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.

Hector pointed 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's workshop."

"We need to go straight," Percy said and Rachel nodded.

Annabeth and Hector both looked at them.

"That's the least likely choice," Annabeth said.

"You don't see it?" Rachel asked. "Look at the floor." Percy pointed to the ground.

"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."

Hector nodded. "Okay. Forward."

"You believe her?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah," He said. "Don't you?"

Annabeth shook her head, but she waved at Rachel to lead on.

Together they kept walking down the brick corridor. It twisted and turned, but there were no more side tunnels. They were heading deeper underground.

"No traps?" Hector asked anxiously.
"Nothing," Percy said, crouching down.

Rachel knit her eyebrows. "Should it be this easy?"

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

Percy and Rachel were bonding like they were on Buzzfeed Unsolved, trying to solve a paranormal case.

"I'm scared, Percy…" Rachel said when they neared a metal door.

"Don't worry, Rachel, everyone is scared of something," Percy said, reassuring her.

"Even you?"

Percy took a deep breath. "No."

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

"Brooklyn," she said.

"Aren't your parents going to be worried if you're out late?"

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

"Why not?"

Before Rachel could answer, there was a creaking noise in front, the huge doors were opening.

"What was that?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know," Rachel said. "Metal hinges."

"Oh, that's very helpful. I mean, what is it?" Annabeth said sarcastically.

Heavy footsteps were shaking the corridor-coming toward them.

"Run?" Hector asked.

"Run," Rachel agreed.

They turned and fled the way they'd come, but didn't make it twenty feet before they ran straight into some old friends.

Two dracaenae-snake women in Greek armor-leveled their javelins at our chests. Standing between them was Kelli, the empousa cheerleader.

A/N:- So, again… a short chapter… don't have time to write more, so enjoy this, the next chapter will be double the length, alright? Bye! Have a nice day! Leave reviews down below!