XVIII

Annabeth

As they walked through the dark tunnels, Annabeth had a sudden flashback of two years ago, when they'd been here before. She was shivering all over, and hoping that everyone else didn't notice. She was supposed to be a leader- but the Labyrinth was just too creepy for her taste.

"How are we supposed to get out?" Frank whispered.

"I don't know." She replied. "On the positive side, we seem to be monster-free. Let's keep it that way."

"Think positively." Hazel whispered back. "We'll be able to get to Mount Olympus much faster this way."

"And how on Earth do you expect to know when you get there?" Percy whispered back.

The corridor opened into a chamber with a couple of exits.

"Eeny, meenie, minie, mo…" Annabeth was so exhausted that she just walked into a random tunnel.

"DUCK!" Percy suddenly yelled. A giant axe swung right over her head, missing it by mere millimeters. She heard the sound of the rope breaking, and they continued to move. "Let's just find a place where we can rest for a while." She whispered.

At the end of the corridor, she saw a light. She was beginning to think they had hit it lucky and found an exit, but as she walked through it, she saw an old friend. Her face turned completely white. Her teeth chattered even more. She knew what this meant, but after already having gone through there once, she didn't know how to face this enemy. With all of her friends around her, she couldn't bring herself to yell at the sphinx and potentially get all of them killed.

"Hello, my dears." The sphinx said, grinning evilly. A spectator stand appeared. "Why don't all of you sit down?"

None of them sat down.

"Fine, then. I'll suppose you know who I am. If you don't, I'll tell you. I am the sphinx, and I will ask you a couple of questions." Annabeth was about to volunteer, but the Sphinx tutted at her. "Tut-tut. Not you, dearie." She said. "I don't want some stuck-up girl doing my quizzes, thank you very much! Who else wants to do it? Choose carefully! Get one question wrong, and you will be eaten!" A desk, chair, answer sheet and projector appeared. "Let's see…"

"I'll do it." Leo said.

"Wait." Annabeth said. Her brain just snapped. She stormed up to the Sphinx. "Do you know how much this is insulting my mother and her children? You're supposed to give people riddles, not quizzes!"

"I think you would in fact do what I tell you." The Sphinx replied smugly. She raised up her claws, which were coated with some sort of shiny metal. "Celestial Bronze. Filed once every two hours. Quite sharp, don't you think?"

"Not at all." Annabeth was not going to back down from this monstrosity. "You think you can defeat me? Think again. We're going to send you right back down to the depths of Tartarus."

"Oh, really?" the Sphinx said. "Would you like a demonstration?" a meter-thick block of steel appeared in front of her. She sliced it into six clean pieces, like a meat-knife cutting through hot butter. Percy's face turned completely white. Annabeth figured hers wasn't any different.

"Um… I think I'll let Leo do the questions." Annabeth muttered. She did not want to fight someone like this. Especially when she realized that all their weapons had been magically transported to the other side of the room. They were hanging on a bulletin board.

"I do what I please," the Sphinx said. "And so all of you will be… suspended."

Cages came from the ceiling, enclosing all of them They were all hoisted towards the ceiling. Only Leo was outside. Annabeth saw him wincing as he quickly inserted two protrusions into his back.

"First question!" the Sphinx said delightfully. "What is the square root of 2500?"

Leo flinched a bit. "50."

The Sphinx seemed to get a little shocked by that answer, and she continued. "Great! If you would be so kind as to fill in the form in front of you?" A piece of paper appeared in front of him.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. She was absolutely fed up with this. "Stop it!" she yelled. "You have no right to be giving questions like this! This is an insult to my mother. You're supposed to make people think, not regurgitate some answer!"

"Fine." The Sphinx said. "How about I change my job to 'giving out exam questions? Does that solve your problem? Look, I have a lot of questions to ask, so if you wouldn't mind shutting up?"

"That's an even bigger insult!" Annabeth retaliated. "You're being an even bigger disgrace-"

"Enough!" Leo yelled. "Can't you just let me do the questions in peace, then we all get out of here alive! No problems! You can complain all you want!"

"But-" but as soon as Annabeth saw Leo's pleading face, and Percy's-and Jason's, Piper's, Frank's and Hazel's, she gave in. "Fine." She said grudgingly. "I'll shut up."

"Good." The sphinx said. She suddenly disappeared. Annabeth looked around the room for her, but then she heard the clanging of claws on metal.

The sphinx's head peered down from the top of her cage. "Would you like to run away now?"

Annabeth gulped. With that speed, they had no hope against this monster. She shook her head.

"Let's continue!" the Sphinx said. She dropped down, back in front of Leo. "What is the fifty-third element in the Periodic table?"

Leo flinched. "Iodine." He replied.

"Correct!" the Sphinx said. "Next, what is…"

The questions winded down, each one getting harder and harder. Leo would flinch first, then answer the questions quickly and correctly.

Then she saw the tiny little device in Leo's pocket. It was wired directly into his back, possibly connecting into his spinal cord. It was that which was flinching him.

Leo was cheating.

This didn't come as a shock to Annabeth, but she was very concerned about Leo. He hadn't even cried or even made a grunt. It had been-what, an hour? Two? She was beginning to lose her sense of time. She could only hope they wouldn't wander here forever.

She looked in her backpack and looked at what rations she had- a couple of Mars bars, a ham and egg sandwich, a bottle of nectar and a baggie of Ambrosia. She didn't like the odds of their survival. Nectar and Ambrosia could feed them for a while, but they would burn up after eating too much. Without the necessary preparation, she was pretty much dead in terms of food.

Leo was winding down the questions. Annabeth was positive she saw sparks coming from the device. What was that thing, anyway?

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the Sphinx grinned, showing off her red teeth. "If you answer this question correctly, you will get to go free!"

When Annabeth heard the question, she was positive they were dead.

"What is birthed by light and killed by darkness?"

A riddle.

Leo's device started to smoke. Leo flinched multiple times. "It's, um, a car! No, a-a train! A-a fire!"

Annabeth grimaced as Leo's device exploded. The Sphinx grinned smugly, but then walked away, as if nothing had happened. "What is the answer?"

Leo thought for a long time, muttering to himself, "A fire- it's got to be abstract-"

Annabeth grimaced for the moment when he would inevitably say the wrong answer.

"A shadow!" Leo yelled out, suddenly.

The Sphinx's eye twitched. Annabeth let go a sigh of relief.

"Fine. You may pass." The Sphinx said grudgingly. "Good job. You may pass." Weapons appeared in their hands. "Because you have passed, you may go." Annabeth was deposited on the floor.

"Seriously?" Leo asked.

"No, just kidding." The Sphinx said. "But for passing the test, I will give you two things. First an exit," a door appeared behind her, on the other side of the room, "and your weapons."

She roared. "Let's see how you'll taste like!"

She pounced.