Chapter 146:

We ruin Rachel's life.

Rachel dropped to the floor and started sucking in air like her life depended on it. Heaving deep sighs while her body shook from both shock and the immense relief of being released from that place.

I myself was in a slightly better state, but even I felt like praising the sun after experiencing my time in that school.

I looked back at the building. It was just like a normal school, nothing out of the ordinary about it. Yet, somehow, it had almost trapped us forever.

"So. It's true what they say about school, it really is a death trap." Nyx mused, following my look. "It really does last an eternity."

"That was not a normal school day." I protested, still I couldn't help but to grin.

'It was the maze,' Chaos said. She sounded fascinated by it. 'Somehow, your school became part of Minos' labyrinth.'

'Yeah, what the fuck? How does that even work?'

I felt Chaos shrug and shut up. Not providing me any more useful information and leaving it to me.

"Nyx, that was the maze." I said.

"Undeniably," she agreed. "That's why my powers didn't work properly inside. The laws of space and time are warped inside. We should try again."

"FUCK NO." Rachel got to her feet and yelled.

This sudden outburst caused the people who passed us to send us some odd looks. I was still holding my ice sword and Nyx was herself.

However, we were still in New York so people only gave us one odd look and then continued, uncaring about the idiots on the sidewalk of a school.

"You two owe me some explanations!" She pointed her finger at me.

"That building," Nyx waved in a dismissive way at the school. "Is a metaphysical construct that intersects local space time and reconfigures itself into a network of elaborate and sadistic death traps."

Both Rachel and I stared blankly at Nyx, not sure what to say.

"Okay, you in particular owe me an explanation!" Rachel said, looking at me. "You know stuff, so explain."

"Okay, you know the myths? The stories about the Greek Gods, the monsters and all the heroes? Well, they are all real. Everything still exists, it is just hidden by a magical substance called the Mist. Most mortals can not see through it. You are an exception."

"I knew it!" Rachel clenched her fist. "Everyone told me I was crazy. For seeing all of that crazy shit but I was right! Thank you! Thank you!" She held my hands and was shaking them.

She realized what she was doing and let go.

"So uh, you have not introduced yourself. Nor have I…" Rachel said, taking a step back and blushing.

"Yeah, that's how this stuff usually goes. You meet someone, you either fight them or flee with them. And then you introduce yourselves." I frowned. "Wait, you called me by your name."

Rachel perked up at that. "Well, I just," she brushed her fingers through her red coloured hair. "I guess I just knew." Oracle stuff, probably. "Besides, you knew my name as well."

I grinned. "I just knew as well."

She pouted but didn't elaborate on it. "Instead she focused on another point. "Wait, you said mortals, does that mean-"

"My name is Percy Jackson, I am the Son of Poseidon and Sally Jackson. Demigod, and translator of Dolphins, at your service." I offered her my hand with a playful smile.

'Are you trying to flirt or what?' Hemera asked, I decided wisely, to ignore her utterly.

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare." She gave my hand a suspicious look, as if my craziness was contagious, and she could catch it if we touched.

"Nyx," Nyx simply introduced herself. "I exist."

Rachel nodded and ignored the weirdness. She was growing used to this very fast.

"So what exactly happened? I was just going to my orientation but nobody was there, until I saw you two."

"Well, I am still puzzled about it myself," I admitted. "We entered the school, and to us it looked like it was a regular orientation. But then, well we suddenly found ourselves alone."

"Somehow, the school turned into an extension of the maze."

"Maze?"

"You know the maze from the Minotaur myth?" I asked quickly, hoping to avoid Nyx's explanation. "The maze still exists in the present day. It lies underneath the surface world, goes through tunnels and sewer systems, connecting parts of the underground to itself."

"Ah," Rachel said, again the vacant look of not-really-getting-it-but-also-not-caring-enough to-ask-more, present in her face. "So what now?"

"Well. For your safety I would suggest for you to ignore everything you just saw today. Try living a normal life and avoid anything that seems Greeky to you."
"I can't. Now I know I can not go back to that anymore." She shook her head, her hair swinging from side to side.

"In that case, we could use your help. Nyx and I are headed for Camp Half-Blood."

"We are?" Nyx asked. "I thought you said we could go shopping afterwards."

"We need to go.," I said. "That voice, it belonged to someone bad. The others need to know before they head into the maze themselves."

"Wait, who did the voice belong to?" Rachel asked.
"Pasiphae," I whispered, not wanting to say her name too loudly. Even in the open air, I could still practically feel her whisper into my ear.

It was uncanny how the maze had rendered my powers useless. I had never met her in my past life, but the stories I've heard about her were not exaggerated. She was dangerous, and if she could even disable Nyx's shadow. She was going to be the next threat.

Just another name to add to the list of deities that were unhappy with me, I suppose.

"We are going to camp. If the Pasiphae is active right now, then the camp is in danger. Kronos and Emperors could march into camp without needing the string." I insisted.

I send Rachel a smile. "Nothing for you to worry about."

Rachel nodded dutifully.

"Anyway, we are going to camp. If you want you can come. You can learn more about the true nature of our world, and your ability to see through the mist is quite powerful. We will most likely need it in the near future."

"I will come."

"Yay," Nyx muttered in a sarcastic tone.

"Come on, let's get a taxi." I said.

"I can drive." Nyx suggested.

"You want Rachel to reach camp alive or what?" I shook my head. "We can not risk her getting injured. Right now she's the only one who can navigate the maze."

We managed to find a cab with relative ease. I briefly wondered whether I should call my mom to give her an update on how the orientation went, but decided against it.

Better to not worry her too much.

We sat in the taxi in silence. Nyx was playing on her phone, not too committed to anything.

I could see Rachel was thinking about my revelations, she seemed like she wanted to ask many questions but the taxi driver was forcing her to keep them bottled up.

The sound of the radio formed a nice background static for the long drive. Allowing me to think.

I was still mulling over the sequence of events that might play out this summer. At this point, all bets were off. The thing the Fates warned me about, how changing the future might rob me of my foresight, it had come to pass in full swing.
I had no clue what Kronos would do, or where the Emperors would make their next move. Fuck, how did Pasiphae get involved this early? Before she only bothered showing up when the Giants started to rise, yet here she was.

I assumed Nico and Meg were still down there, knowing Nico, he was probably hanging around Minos.

I was going to meet Daedalus at camp, right? I don't recall doing anything that would alter his path and Luke would message me if there were any significant progress on Kronos' side.

I rubbed my neck, annoyed at how blindsided I was. All I could do was play the game laid out in front of me, and try to advance my own goals.

I was interrupted from my thoughts when my phone started buzzing, a cheerful music started playing, urging me to answer the call. I thought it was my mom but the caller ID read unknown.

I tapped the green button and put the device to my ear.

"Percy Jackson, hello, can you hear me?" A girl's voice came through.

For a brief second I was struggling to place the voice. I had heard her before, but hearing her over the phone was truly something that I hadn't imagined in my past life.

"Arachne?" I asked the spider-queen on the other side of the phone. "How'd you got a -"

"Not important," she answered. "You wanted to know if there were any important threads being pulled in the maze?"

"Not my exact wording, but yeah?"

"Turn on the news." She ordered before ending the call.

"Excuse me sir," I asked the driver, "could you tune in to the news?"

He shrugged and changed the channel to the local news station.

"Breaking news, coming in live from the studio." A male voice began to rattle. His words were like bullets being fired from a machine gun. "A set of earthquakes has hit the west coast of the United States. No major population centers have been hit but seismic activity underneath the west coast has yet to slow down and scientists warn for more earthquakes in the near future. Evacuations are underway. Stay tuned to learn more about this recent development."

Nyx and I shared a glance.

That was not good.

A/N I Am Still Alive.

I've been helping my friend with her fics lately. I think I've already shilled the fic No More Heroes by CaptainMoonShine, but I am gonna shill her fic again. It's a spin off on this one, and unlike me, she uploads it semi-recently.

Thanks for reading. I am thinking of doing shorter chapters weekly, instead of longer chapters, a month.

Anyway, tell me your thoughts.

-Moonhorse96-