Percy
_
"The other way," I said.
We bolted down the catwalk. This time Briares was happy to follow us. In fact he sprinted out front, a hundred arms waving in panic.
Behind us, I heard the sound of giant wings as Kampê took to the air. She hissed and growled in her ancient language, but I didn't need a translation to know she was planning to kill us.
We scrambled down the stairs, through a corridor, and past a guard's station—out into another block of prison cells.
"Left," Killian said. "I remember this from the tour."
We burst outside and found ourselves in the prison yard, ringed by security towers and barbed wire. After being inside for so long, the daylight almost blinded me. Tourists were milling around, taking pictures. The wind whipped cold off the bay. In the south, San Francisco gleamed all white and beautiful, but in the north, over Mount Tamalpais, huge storm clouds swirled. The whole sky seemed like a black top spinning from the mountain where Atlas was imprisoned, and where the Titan palace of Mount Othrys was rising anew. It was hard to believe the tourists couldn't see the supernatural storm brewing, but they didn't give any hint that anything was wrong.
"Keep moving," Briares wailed. "She is behind us!"
We ran to the far end of the yard, as far from the cellblock as possible.
"Kampê's too big to get through the doors," I said hopefully.
Then the wall exploded.
Tourists screamed as Kampê appeared from the dust and rubble, her wings spread out as wide as the yard. She was holding two swords—long bronze scimitars that glowed with a weird greenish aura, boiling wisps of vapor that smelled sour and hot even across the yard.
"Poison!" Lilly warned. "I can feel it... Don't let those things touch you or..."
"Or we'll die?" I guessed.
"Well...after you shrivel slowly to dust, yes."
"Let's avoid the swords," Killian decided.
"Briares, fight!" Zoe urged. "Grow to full size!"
Instead, Briares looked like he was trying to shrink even smaller. He appeared to be wearing his absolutely terrified face.
Kampê thundered toward us on her dragon legs, hundreds of snakes slithering around her body.
For a second I thought about drawing my sword and facing her, but my heart crawled into my throat. Then Zoe 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?" Lilly asked.
"Too slow," Killian said. "We have to go back into the maze. It's our only chance."
"We need a diversion," Zoe said.
Killian ripped a metal lamppost out of the ground. "I will distract Kampê. You run ahead."
"I'll help you," I said.
"No," Killian said. "You go. Lilly, give me Azalea."
"What is-" Before I could finish asking, Lilly reached up into her hair and pulled the flower pin out. She pressed something, and a pink shield sprung to life her in hands. She gave it to Killian, who hefted it expertly.
"Go!" he shouted. "I'll meet you over there."
I hated leaving him, but we had little choice. There was no time to argue, and I had no better idea. Zoe, Lilly, and I each took one of Briares's hands and dragged him toward the concession stands while Killian bellowed, lowered his shield and pole, and charged Kampê like a jousting knight.
She'd been glaring at Briares, but Killian 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.
Killian jumped back as Kampê'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 cell blocks, the last thing I saw was Killian picking up a Dippin' Dots stand and throwing it at Kampê. Ice cream and poison exploded everywhere, all the little snakes in Kampê's hair dotted with tutti frutti. We dashed back into the jail yard.
"Can't make it," Briares huffed.
"Killian is risking his life to help you!" I yelled at him. "You will make it."
As we reached the door of the cellblock, I heard an angry roar. I glanced back and saw Killian running toward us at full speed, Kampê 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!" Zoe 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!" Zoe said.
"There!" Lilly touched a tiny scratch, and it became a Greek ∆. The mark of Daedalus glowed blue, and the stone wall grinded open.
Too slowly. Killian was coming through the cellblock, Kampê's swords lashing out behind him, slicing indiscriminately through cell bars and stone walls.
I pushed Briares inside the maze, then Zoe and Lilly.
"You can do it!" I told Killian. But immediately I knew he couldn't, Kampê was gaining. She raised her swords. I need a distraction—something big.
"Sorry, Lilly!" I shouted as I ripped her sword from her side. I threw it like a boomerang. Unfortunately, the blade didn't hit her, but the hilt smacked her right in the face and she faltered just long enough for Killian to dive past me into the maze. I was right behind him.
Kampê charged, but she was too late. The stone door closed and its magic sealed us in. I could feel the whole tunnel shake as Kampê 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.
We finally stopped in a room full of waterfalls. The floor was one big pit, ringed by a slippery stone walkway. Around us, on all four walls, water tumbled from huge pipes. The water spilled down into the pit, and even when I shined a light, I couldn't see the bottom.
Briares slumped against the wall. He scooped up water in a dozen hands and washed his face. "This pit goes straight to Tartarus," he murmured. "I should jump in and save you trouble."
"Don't talk that way," Zoë told him. "You can come back to camp with us. You can help us prepare. You know more about fighting Titans than anybody."
"I have nothing to offer," Briares said. "I have lost everything."
"What about your brothers?" Zoe asked. "We can take you to them."
Briares's expression morphed to something even sadder: his grieving face. "They are no more. They faded."
The waterfalls thundered. Zoe looked shell shocked at the revelation.
"What exactly do you mean, they faded?" Killian asked. "I thought monsters were immortal, like the gods."
"Killian," I said, "even immortality has limits. Sometimes...sometimes monsters get forgotten and they lose their will to stay immortal."
I remembered something Medusa had told us once: how her sisters, the other two gorgons, had passed on and left her alone. Then last year Apollo said something about the old god Helios disappearing and leaving him with the duties of the sun god. I'd never thought about it too much, but now, looking at Briares, I realized how terrible it would be to be so old—thousands and thousands of years old—and totally alone.
"I must go," Briares said.
"Kronos's army will invade camp," Lilly said. "We need help."
Briares hung his head. "I cannot, demigod."
"You are strong."
"Not anymore." Briares rose.
"Hey," I grabbed one of his arms and pulled him aside, where the roar of the water would hide our words. "Briares, we need you. We just risked our lives for you because we believe in you."
I told him about everything—the invasion plan, the Labyrinth entrance at camp, Daedalus's workshop, Kronos's golden coffin.
Briares just shook his head. "I cannot, demigod. I do not have a finger gun to win this game." To prove his point, he made one hundred finger guns.
"Maybe that's why monsters fade," I said. "Maybe it's not about what the mortals believe. Maybe it's because you give up on yourself."
His pure brown eyes regarded me. His face morphed into an expression I recognized—shame. Then he turned and trudged off down the corridor until he was lost in the shadows.
Zoe stood and shouldered her backpack. "Come on, guys. This pit is making me nervous. Let's find a better place to camp for the night."
We settled in a corridor made of huge marble blocks. It looked like it could've been part of a Greek tomb, with bronze torch holders fastened to the walls. It had to be an older part of the maze, and Zoe decided this was a good sign.
"We must be close to Daedalus's workshop," she said. "Get some rest, everybody. We'll keep going in the morning."
"How do we know when it's morning?" Lilly asked.
"Just rest," she insisted.
Lilly didn't need to be told twice. She pulled a heap of straw out of his pack, made a pillow out of it, and was snoring in no time.
I tried to fall asleep myself, but I couldn't. something about getting chased by a large dragon lady with poison swords made it real hard to relax. I picked up my bedroll and dragged it over to where Annabeth was sitting, keeping watch.
I sat down next to her.
"You should sleep," she said.
"Can't. You doing all right?"
"Sure. First day leading my second quest. Just great."
"We'll get there," I said. "We'll find the workshop before Luke does."
She brushed her hair out of her face. She had a smudge of dirt on her chin, and I imagined what she must've looked like when she was little, wandering around ancient Greece with her sisters. I wonder what kind of father Atlas was back then, and what, exactly, drove her to join Artemis.
"I just wish the quest was logical," she complained. "I mean, we're traveling but we have no idea where we'll end up. How can you walk from New York to California in a day?"
"Space isn't the same in the maze."
"I know, I know. It's just..." She looked at me hesitantly. "Percy, I was lying to myself. I have no idea how to track things down here. I've led us in all the wrong directions."
"Hey, you're doing fine," I assured her. "We've gotten so far in such little time. That's a good thing."
"Yes, but what if I-" She caught herself.
"What if you what?"
She looked over to where Killian and Lilly were sleeping. "What if I end up getting one of you killed down here? What if I'm cursed as a leader. The number of people I've seen die because of choices I made..."
"Hey, hey, don't worry about that. You've seen how resilient these two are. They'll be able to brave anything that comes their way."
She sighed. "I hope so. I don't know what'd I do if..."
"If what?" a sinister voice asked.
Zoe and I jumped.
"If you were to lose your companions here?" the voice continued. It was distinctly masculine, but seemed to be coming from everywhere. It bounced on the walls. Zoe and I looked around frantically but couldn't locate the source. "If you were to be separated, to lose sight of them?"
The walls of the labyrinth began to shake.
"Killian!" I shouted frantically. The son of Hyperion sat up instantly, still dazed from sleep.
"Wha-What?"
"Get over here! Quick!"
He nodded and began to pick himself up. Then a sudden wall slammed down, cutting us off from each other.
"Killian!" I shouted, running at the wall. I slammed my shoulder into it, but it didn't budge. "Lilly!"
The voice laughed. "Poor demigods, too weak to even stay together. How can you hope to defeat Kronos if you cannot even conquer a maze?"
"Show yourself!" Zoe yelled, bow in hand and arrow notched. She turned in circles, scanning the darkness for any sign of life.
"No, I don't think I will. Your friends will meet my better half soon, and I will be forced into slumber. But you will meet me soon enough, nephew."
It laughed again before fading away.
I ran up to Zoe. "Are you alright?"
She nodded. "What about Killian and Lilly? Are they...?"
I shook my head. "I can't hear them on the other side. I don't know if we can get through the wall."
I expected Zoe to be upset, or cry at the loss of our friends, but instead, she got angry. Her face tightened, her knuckles turned white on her bow.
She raised her bow, began to yell, and charged the wall. She slammed her bow into the wall. With a snap, her weapon exploded into pieces. She wasn't done, though, as she slammed her fist into the wall.
The room shook, but the wall held. She didn't stop, though, punching the wall over and over again. After a couple minutes, I finally walked up to her.
"Zoe," I called over the shaking of the room. I put my hand on my shoulder. She stopped, looking over her shoulder to glare at me. "It's no use. The labyrinth's shifted by now. I doubt they're still on the other side."
She sighed, lowering her fists. I looked at the wall, which was now covered in her blood.
"You're right," she finally said. "I just...It's my fault. If I had been more observant, if I knew where we were going..."
"If that's the case, then I'm just as guilty. I've been through this already. I should know where to go, what to do. Yet I've been as useful as a fish in the air."
"You've been fine, Percy," Zoe told me. She looked at her knuckles. They were broken and bloody. She sighed. "I guess we both need to step up. Can't let these young demigods take the burdens we so recklessly tossed aside." She raised her fist and punched the wall one last time.
This time, though, the wall shattered into a million pieces. On the other side was sunlight.
We shielded our eyes from the brightness as we stepped out of the labyrinth. The sound of cars and people filled my ears.
"Where are we?" Zoe asked.
"I think..." I glanced along the skyline. Yup, there it was. "New York. There's the Empire State."
"Olympus?" Zoe looked around. "We're back in New York? How?"
"The labyrinth puts you all over the place," I said. "C'mon, let's get going. Who knows how much time has passed?"
I grabbed her hand, making her wince. It was wet with blood, but it didn't bother me that much. We walked along the streets, making our way toward the Empire State Building.
"Maybe Artemis can get us to camp," I suggested. "Or even Apollo or Hermes. I have good relationships with them."
"I'd prefer my lady," Zoe admitted. "I can see that Apollo has grown up recently, but Hermes...I still see him as the man who gutted a turtle when he was two days old, not even minutes after promising not to."
"Like you said, he was barely even two days old," I said as we passed a store with a bunch of televisions on display. "Even as a god, you can't expect them to be..." I faltered.
The scene displayed by the screens made me feel sick. I knew that mountain, knew what was there.
"Eruption of Mount St. Helens," Zoe read out. "Citizens are ordered to evacuate the area until the we are sure it is safe. What could have caused that? St. Helens has been quite stable for some time. Why would it suddenly erupt?"
"Me," I croaked.
Zoe whirled on me. "What?"
"I did that," I said shakily. "Last time. To destroy telchines. They were using Hephaetus's forge to make a new weapon for Kronos. I caused the volcano to erupt and was blown...I was blown all the way to Ogygia."
"You've met Calypso?" Zoe gasped.
I nodded. "I was on her island for two weeks. They thought I was dead, but I was allowed to come back on a raft."
Zoe's face became guarded. "She let you go?"
"Yeah." I stared at the cloud of ash that sprouted from the mountain's tip. "The problem is...Typhon is under that mountain. And whoever did this has stirred him."
