Chapter 25 - Titans Lie
The last time Luke had been in the Labyrinth, he had never left. The son of Hermes had entered, and Kronos had strode out. But Luke still remembered the twists and sudden turns in the maze, how the walls had constantly changed and altered the layout of the Labyrinth. Initial forays into the structure had driven half-bloods insane and only a handful returned to Othrys, but without news to please the Titan Lord. Instead, disappointment after disappointment returned and each and every one refused to renter the maze.
The presence of a clear-sighted guide, or Ariadne's string, made the maze far more traversable, but even then they were liable to make mistakes.
Immortals were not prone to mistakes.
Kronos' presence wasn't obvious, even to Luke. He only knew the Titan was still in his head from the golden trail along the floor, scattered like the remains of some giant snake monster that encompassed the dark corridors.
"This is creepy," Piper said. "Everything is so... dark."
"It's worse than it was before," Luke admitted to Piper. "The death of Daedalus collapsed most of the structure. But like everything else in the world of Greek mythology, the maze just reformed itself. Only now without Daedalus to temper it." He brushed a hand over the wall, feeling a warmth from the walls that was unnatural. "Some of the demigods whom entered came out babbling nonsense about it being sentient. But I don't think that's too far from the truth anymore."
"Have you talked to Chris recently?" Annabeth questioned.
Luke shrugged. "No. He's been avoiding me. And now all this Gaea business has started… something tells me I won't get a chance."
Before Annabeth or Piper could respond, the corridor opened out into a large cavern. Kronos' trail extended straight across to an exit the other side. Luke peered into the darkness edging the room, just in case Kronos had decided to lead them into a monster's den – which honestly wouldn't surprise Luke – but there were no demigod skeletons or scattered piles of golden dust, so Luke started across the room.
Under his feet, something cracked.
Luke froze.
"What was that?" Annabeth asked sharply.
Luke peered down at his feet. It was dark, almost too dark to see anything, but he could still make out the webbed cracks extending out from his feet. "The floor's not stable," he said, not moving an inch as he spoke. He cursed Kronos under his breath.
Annabeth pressed her lips together. "Can you step back over here?"
Luke slid his foot back along the floor, causing more cracks to extend out, but he managed to grab hold of Annabeth's hand and was soon back in the corridor. Luke scowled at the golden trail, which still told him to cross the cavern.
"It looks like... ice," Annabeth said.
"But I don't hear water underneath," Piper murmured. "And it's not cold enough for there to be ice down here."
"Hey, Annie," Luke said, "there's a rock by your feet. Would you mind passing it here?"
Understanding what Luke wanted to do, Annabeth picked up the rock and threw it onto the ice. It bounced once, twice, and then thrice before sliding to a stop.
Luke glanced at the cracks cutting through the ice near his feet. Something about this whole situation was ringing alarm bells in his head. Something he'd heard before, something that Kronos had told him. It wasn't nearly cold enough for ice to form, and yet here was a solid sheet of dark ice stretched over a lake in the Labyrinth.
"Kronos?" Luke murmured. "A little help here?"
"Luke?" Piper questioned, raising an eyebrow.
The Titan was suspiciously silent.
The son of Hermes frowned, crouching down and sweeping a hand over the ice. Much to his surprise, under the immediate covering of crushed ice it was translucent. Through the ice, he initially only saw darkness, until something even darker twisted in the depths of the lake. Only a second later, Luke saw two stark yellow eyes even through the ice.
"Ah, girls, I think we're about to have company," Luke said, jerking up and taking a few dozen rapid paces back. He dragged Annabeth and Piper back with him.
The ice erupted up, some bouncing off Luke's chest and the rest shattering against the walls and even the roof of the cavern a hundred feet overhead.
For a brief moment, Luke's gaze flicked over the monster, and then he focused on it's gaping pair of jaws.
Behind him, Piper squeaked. "What is that?" She demanded.
The sea serpent – in the middle of the Labyrinth (WHAT THE HELL KRONOS) – hissed and coiled its head back to strike. Luke stumbled back, but fortunately the serpent couldn't fit its head inside the corridor.
"Sea serpent," Luke said flatly.
"In the LABYRINTH?" Piper exclaimed.
"At least we know why the ice was there," Annabeth said helpfully.
The serpent hissed, withdrawing back into the cavern. The scaly serpentine body crushed the remaining ice with ease, each scale greater than Luke's hands cutting through the water.
"That's not just a sea serpent," Annabeth whispered in amazement. "That's the Ketos Aithiopios!"
"The what?" Piper questioned.
"Ethiopian Sea Monster," Luke said as he watched the dull green serpent twist in the lake, coiling its far-too-large body over itself. "But what's it doing here?"
The serpent slipped back beneath the surface of the water, immediately fading away into the depths.
"Perseus killed it, didn't he?" Piper questioned. "With Medusa's head."
"That's the one," Luke said. "I kinda feel sorry for it though. Stuck here in the Labyrinth." He took a step forwards to peer down into the depths again, and immediately froze as he met one of the serpent's giant eyes. A second eyelid flicked over the putrid yellow gaze, and before Luke could jerk back, the serpent swept the end of its tail at him.
Luke barely managed a yell before he was plunging into the water with the sea serpent.
He immediately gulped in some of the water by accident and spluttered as he breached the surface, choking and wheezing as he tried to get his breath back.
"Luke!" Annabeth cried, extending her hand out over the lake to try to reach Luke, at least until a coil of the serpent's immense length slipped out of the water between them.
Luke had managed to drop Backbiter when he fell, the shock of the freezing water causing him to release the weapon. He searched for it then, diving down and struggling to see a familiar glint of the duel-metal blade amidst the dark green coils encircling him. Out of the darkness beneath him, the monster's two fear-inducing eyes crept ever closer.
The son of Hermes was unfortunately no son of a water god. While those powers would have served him well in this circumstance – he had the sudden wish that Percy were with them – he had nothing other than his wits. Luke had to surface for air, and immediately wished that he hadn't. If he thought that the serpent had been massive from under the water, it was only when he surfaced that he realised just how immense this monster was.
And how dead he was. While Luke had invulnerable skin, this monster could swallow him whole with ease. And Luke wasn't all too fond of the thought of being digested alive.
The serpents coils had formed a shell above him, and completely around him. With its prey trapped, it could afford to take its time.
No chance of recovering Backbiter now.
Luke took a deep breath. Kronos had led them here on purpose. He had to have known that there was a serpent lying in wait. Luke shut his eyes, letting himself sink down under the water. The water muffled Annabeth's and Piper's screams.
It started slowly.
Luke's chest tingled, and then warmth spread through his limbs, chasing out the numbing cold. His eyes snapped open in disbelief. His body was glowing. He was glowing like Hyperion had when he'd first arrived in Manhattan and set his eyes on Olympus in the distance. A fierce golden glow lit up the water around him.
The serpent hissed, recoiling at the blast of sudden light.
Luke smiled.
The Blessing of Kronos.
His limbs tingled with sudden energy. Luke yelled, and a shockwave blasted out from him and into the serpent. It shrieked, jerking before his coils seemed to almost disappear from around Luke.
Luke held out his hand, and Backbiter shimmered and formed from the water even as the serpent struck. Luke wasn't sure how he did it, but the serpent slowed, allowing him time to swim to the side and stick Backbiter out.
The serpent barrelled past like a freight-train, mere inches from slamming into the son of Hermes, and drove Backbiter through its body from that gaping pair of jaws to the tip of its tail, spilling its organs and the contents of its stomach into the lake water before they dissolved into golden dust.
"I want the fangs."
Kronos.
"You'll get them," Luke promised. "Thank you," he said to the water around him.
Kronos' presence faded once again, though his Blessing stayed with Luke until he'd grabbed every single floating fang and breached the surface. It left in a rush and Luke sagged, suddenly feeling bone-tired.
"What was that?" Annabeth exclaimed. "That light-"
"Kronos," Luke said as the last of the Blessing faded, his skin returning to the standard not-glowing state he was used to. "Serpent's dead-"
"Yeah. We saw," Piper said. "Practically the entire thing was thrown towards the roof of the cavern."
The power of the Titan Lord. Luke had tossed the serpent from the water with nothing but a thought and a cry. The lake water had a golden sheen to it from the monster dust, stretching down as far as Luke could see.
"Come on," he said. "Let's go."
While Kronos' trail got mixed with the water, he could see the other end of the cavern quite clearly. Luke struck his way across and dragged himself up onto dry land the other side. Backbiter V.2. dropped from his hand to clatter against the stone floor as he sat to wait for the girls to join him.
"Are you alright?" Annabeth asked worriedly.
Luke nodded, fingering the serpent's fangs and turning one over in his hand. "Yeah. Thanks to Kronos, otherwise I'd be dead right now. And if it weren't for the Achilles Curse, I'd be dead too."
"One to suffer a fatal stroke," Annabeth muttered. "The third to last line of the prophecy."
"Only because of my Achilles Curse," Luke said. "It wasn't fatal."
"They're not burning you," Annabeth said as she observed the fangs. "They're venomous."
Luke tightened his grip. "I'd better not lose them then," he said. If he weren't so loyal to Kronos, he'd wonder what the Titan wanted venomous sea serpent fangs for.
"Can you keep going?" Annabeth questioned.
"Yeah. Of course." Luke shoved the fangs into his pocket and grabbed Backbiter before staggering to his feet.
The stone beneath their feet was slippery, but not from water.
More Ice.
Annabeth glowered at the ice. "Where has this all come from?"
Oddly enough, a few feet further into the corridor, all the ice was gone.
"Hey," Piper called from behind them. "Look at this." Luke glanced back. The daughter of Aphrodite was staring at a wall next to her. "I think it's… a hand?"
Luke frowned, backtracking to observe the odd pattern in the stone wall. Piper was right. Luke placed his own hand against it. The hand was twice, maybe even three times his own. From the imprint of the fingers, the ice had webbed out over the stone and extended to cover the floor.
"That ice was no accident," Annabeth said. "Someone froze that all on purpose."
Luke tried to stretch out his fingers, just to try to get a better estimate for the imprint's size. Whomever had frozen that lake and trapped the sea monster had crushed part of the wall in their grip.
Powers over ice. A giant hand. A crushing grip.
Luke had seen hands that large. In the Titans – Atlas, Hyperion, both of them would have fit that imprint, with some differences. But neither of those Titans had control over ice – only one or two Titans had that ability, and Luke hadn't personally met either of them.
"Come on," Luke said. "Whomever they were, they're long gone by now."
Piper was eyeing him with suspicion, but nevertheless followed after him with Annabeth.
Luke just knew that Annabeth would be trying to figure it out still, but he doubted she would.
The only question was, Luke mused to himself, what had one of Kronos' brothers been doing in the Labyrinth? Of course, Kronos lingering in his head had heard that last thought, and he sent a sharp jab of mind-your-own-business at the demigod.
Getting the unspoken threat, Luke turned to face Annabeth. "We should be nearly there now," he said, relaying Kronos' second message.
It took only a few more minutes before the trail stopped at a delta in the wall, and the three stepped out – still soaking wet from their dip in the lake – into Camp Jupiter.
Annabeth blinked, looking at the entrance of the Labyrinth behind them. "Do you think the Romans know that's there?"
Luke stared at the entrance with something bordering disbelief. "No. Probably not. I'm not going to tell them though."
They emerged out of the little vender's shop they'd found themselves in, into New Rome.
Within the Pomerian Line.
Terminus popped into existence next to them. "Weapons in the city!"
"Sorry," Luke apologised. "We've only just arrived… and what happened here?"
Terminus scowled. "Gaea attacked," he said. "You're not with her, are you?"
"No," Piper quickly said. "Definitely not."
Annabeth stared up at the sky. "Is that a flying ship?" She asked in bewilderment.
"Oh my gods," Piper breathed. "It's the Argo II!"
The daughter of Athena was silent for several long moments as they all handed their weapons over to the armless godly statue. "Terminus, what's the date?"
"Why, it's June 24th of course!" The boundary god exclaimed. "Good gods, young lady, are you feeling well?"
June 24th. Luke winced as the two demigoddesses turned to glare at him.
"We were in the Labyrinth for six months?" Annabeth yelped.
Luke's mouth ran dry.
"Kronos," Piper growled. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted him!"
"Well," Luke finally managed. "He did say he'll get us here in plenty of Time. Technically, six months is plenty of time."
"I'll murder him!" Annabeth snapped.
"He's immortal," Luke pointed out, as if that were the only thing wrong with a dagger-wielding demigoddess going to kill the Titan Lord. "I mean… Percy's got to be here by now, right?"
"Yes," Annabeth realised. "Yes, he should be. We can go find him now then."
"Maybe we should go find Reyna first?" Luke questioned. "They have just had a battle, from the looks of things."
"Good idea," Annabeth agreed, "maybe he'll be-" she paused at the sound of an explosion.
Luke's eyebrows furrowed. "Did our flying ship just fire on New Rome?" He asked in confusion as the ground trembled beneath their feet.
Annabeth's jaw dropped.
The son of Hermes snatched Backbiter off Terminus' platter. "Sorry!" He yelled over his shoulder at the cursing statue. "Come on," Luke hollered, "something tells me that we want to get onto that ship!"
The three demigods raced towards the ladder extended into New Rome from the Argo II, ignoring Terminus screaming profanities at their backs.
And I solved the time issue that I gave myself xD. It's useful to have someone who can control time.
AgitatedDog9288: Shame! Shame! Ha, but in all seriousness, Kronos is always playing games xD.
marinamar4: Thanks! That definitely means a lot. Yeah, I'm really going to try to give the less-loved characters some loving, while not at the expense of Percy or Annabeth (*cough*Riordan). It's a pretty useful ability, yeah. Trusting Kronos is bad, yes xD. Past Changes will continue eventually, I was just getting burnt out a bit so wanted some time to rest and come at it from a new angle, and Teen Wolf... it should. But not until something else has been finished first.
Ghostfall: yeah you win xD. Not now, maybe in the future, but I've got far too many stories on-going atm. Something needs to be finished first.
Guest: Awesome. Thanks. I hope the chapter is worth the ominous Halloween-y music xD.
ShadowsClaw: Yes. Be very worried. Yeah, I'll admit that I took some inspiration from his scene a bit, but I couldn't resist doing George's duck moment, because it so fits with him. But Luke, Annabeth and Piper went in knowing what they were dealing with, while Percy and Annabeth at first didn't have a clue. And yes - Hermes' staff seriously has bazooka mode (laser mode, really, but still). I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one too... and you can continue to be worried about Kronos' plans xD