Axel: Into the Lion's Maw III
A thunderous crack startled Axel out of sleep. At first, he thought Hecate had darkened the Mist into onyx.
His memory kicked in: black marble walls. Jack had moved Pax and Axel to their own room in Mount Tamalpais. Jack attempted separate rooms, but, of course, Pax ended up in Axel's room within twenty minutes of being split, fifteen more minutes than the Sabotage unit had bet on, leaving Prometheus with a score of 7 to 1 on prediction. [Footnote 1]
Mementos from the dead scattered and clanged all over their carpet. Axel had left all other decorating to Pax. That was why Praetor Julian's medallions, a centurion's unicorn necklace, and other items clattered onto a pink shag carpet with paint splotches. Axel hoped they were paint splotches. Pax had, allegedly, found the carpet dumpster-diving with Matthias.
Panic hadn't set in yet. Axel sat up, clutching something to his chest: the Triple A Chimera helm. A hiss erupted from the top of the plumes, something far too weak to be the helm's gravely tones.
Honey, the weasel, appeared quite distressed by the movement, hissing and squirming to find comfort.
Above Axel, he could see Pax peering over his bunk, his amber eye glistening in their room's night light. Matthias had installed it at the same time he installed Pax's bunk. Axel had replaced the original cover: a British aristocrat's glowing ass, the monocled and top-hatted man peering over his shoulder while mooning them. Now, it was a winking dryad. Still inappropriate but a massive improvement.
"Baller is upset," Pax said, his voice trembling, "Was that an earthquake? Like, did Poseidon just take a massive shit? Imagine if that is what took out the titans—"
"Axel! Pax! My boys!"
Their door flew open.
The scene was a flashback overlapped into real time. Jack stood in his pink, monogrammed PJs, the back of a toilet seat raised like a baseball bat to attack potential intruders. The only difference from the first time was that the walls and toilet seat were black. Prometheus often quipped that Kronos might have an aneurism if their new camp didn't have the right SS aesthetic.
"You're okay!" Jack exhaled, lowering the lid with a thunk. The effort had made his arms shake. "The room next door collapsed. I thought—"
"You were going to dig us out where a toilet cover?" Pax asked, voice quivering.
"Yes, next best thing to a shovel—"
"Jack," Flynn's snap quieted Jack. He took a step back.
The Leader of Assault and Battery was mid-tugging a shirt over her chest as she came into view. Axel averted his gaze. "Luke is hurt," she said. There was a faint jingling noise, signaling that she must have been wrapping her bun. She'd taken to wearing the goofy hair trinkets Pax made for her. "Ajax with me. We're mobilizing to dig Luke out. Axel, with Kampe. She's decided she's leading the charge to camp Half-Blood while Kronos is occupied under rumble."
Axel's gaze shot up. "She's what?" Her command was already taking effect. Axel sat up fully, careful to assure the helm and weasel stayed safe against his chest.
"She thinks they might be able to beat Percy Jackson back to his camp—"
"He was here?!" Pax yelped. He, too, appeared under Flynn's command. He scurried down from the top bunk, only pausing to collect Honey from Axel's helm. She squeaked indignantly. Axel appreciated it: a battlefield was no place for a newborn Mistform, no matter how fierce.
Flynn glowered. She liked to be interrupted (especially by children) as much as the soldiers of Mount Othrys liked doing Monster Laundry Duty.
Fortunately, Jack had no such reservations. He picked up one of their newly minted Orpheus Metal shirts from the ground and slipped it over Pax's head. As if he were five years younger, Pax obediently lifted his arms to make it easier. Jack's motion was frantic, and Axel had to wonder if Luke could get hurt after receiving the Curse of Achilles. "Well, kiddo, unless some other demigod's parent has earned the title of 'Earthshaker,' then that's our perpetrator—"
Someone's words overtook Jack's. It was Luke's voice, but not. A second voice reverberated under the first, the same way Kouta, Axel's older brother, made announcements for the circus, but maybe if Kouta was hyped up on some demonic energy drink. It was a two-toned cacophony, rusty and vile. As it roared, the building shook again, a hateful scream of, "Percy Jackson! After them—after them—"
Everyone froze. Even Flynn's hold on the boys snapped.
Before, when Luke and Axel used to meditate together or when Luke had convinced Jack to allow Axel to join them at the Horizontal Monster Mash, Luke had described that voice. Between Luke's gulps of beers, the color would drain from his face and his eyes would go hazy. He recalled the sublime and awful tauntings that haunted his nightmares, that would seep into his waking hours to remind him he was useless, merely a vessel, a stuffed animal disemboweled of its stuffing. (That last one, Axel knew, would upset Pax immensely.) [footnote 2]
That voice made Luke feel small, the way Axel's father's voice had for him. He didn't need to ask why Luke followed its orders. It was impossible to resist when it was in your head all day.
Now it was Luke.
Axel couldn't help but think of Pax, pitching their cause to new demigods: Have you heard the good word of Kronos? Overlaid with a blasphemous verse from his days at a Catholic elementary school: he has risen, just as he said. [footnote 3]
Kronos had risen.
Axel didn't realize the Luke-Thing was still screaming. Not until Lucille stepped into their doorway.
She wore her battle armor. Her blonde hair was neatly braided back, and she carried a Greek-style helm under one arm and a pilum in the other. With her frail frame, she looked like a costumed Barbie. Their training taught Axel otherwise.
"Flynn. Axel." Her tone was grave, the same way it always got before battle. "The strike force is moving out." Her icy blue eyes shifted. "Jack, Pax, I'm sorry." Giving them a fragile smile. It failed to comfort anyone.
Flynn's gaze narrowed. "I'm not leaving Jack alone." Ever again, Axel thought he could hear. Maybe with another faint echo of, Especially not with that thing. "What if the Ol'sissies double back while Luke is out of commission? A child of the Big Three? Maybe two if that earthquake wasn't from Jackson?"
Lucille nodded. The half-sisters had a respect for each other's combat intuition.
Despite trembling at Luke's shrieking and the fear of angering Flynn, Pax whimpered, "B—but Mercedes said—"
That she could make Axel and Pax be part of the Sabotage Unit, away from the main battles. But, Axel knew it would be futile after his second cage match had gone so well, especially after the assault on the lab.
Lucille explained this gently, "I know, sweetie. But, Axel has proven himself over and over. It will boost everyone's moral if he's there." She pressed her lips together. "And gain him favor with any new… changes in command."
Axel had a gut-sinking feeling Lucille was right. The helm hummed in his grip. Now, more than ever, he needed to be seen fighting along the monsters' side. If they were to survive assassinating Kronos after the war, they needed the full backing of Alabaster's monster family.
Axel stumbled to the armor at the base of their bunks. His legs felt leaden. The fingers touching the helmet buzzed with painful anticipation, an electricity that made him lightheaded and eager. The opposite sensations left him disoriented. He needed to focus on one. He unwove a strip of leather from his armor and tethered the helm around his neck. That would need to do for now. He should leave it. They needed to test these in a controlled environment. But, instinct—
You'll need me, Lieutenant.
Axel wanted to snap that he didn't need anyone. A glance around the room proved no one had heard that but him. Maybe it couldn't talk outside of Hecate's realm.
Lucille had already lifted his breastplate to offer it to him.
Jack tugged at his hair, frantically looking from Axel, to Flynn, to Pax. "Oh, Lucille, keep my boy safe! He's too young and pretty to die! We haven't even gotten him a girlfriend or a solo in one of our concerts!"
Lucille giggled weakly. She couldn't cover her mouth with a pilum in hand. "I'll do what I can." As Axel finished strapping on his armor, she turned to Pax. "Can you do me a huge favor?"
Three sets of eyes were intent on her: Pax's multicolored ones, and the beady eyes of the two weasel kits.
"Go to the nursery and check on Charlie and Ethel for me." Her eyes softened at the names.
Oh, Fortune bless Lucille. That would get Pax out of harm's way. Besides, he was an excellent playmate for Charlie.
They walked as Axel finished strapping on his armor. Lucille led him out. Goodbyes—did they properly say goodbye? He remembered ruffling Pax's hair, trying to ignore how Pax's eyes welled with tears, the same way they always did before his cage matches—Don't you dare die—and ducking under Jack's attempted hug.
Their hallway was an offshoot from the main one. The main one had descended into chaos. Monsters and demigods jostled past each other. The Luke-thing's howls left them panicked, disorganized, and disoriented. Its order was so primal: after them.
"Please proceed to battle in an orderly fashion. Please keep your voices low so you can standby for more orders!" Lucille's charmspeak was sweet and kind. She never had the projection that Flynn's snarls had, but all the soldiers within hearing distance slowed, relaxed, and fell more into military lines. The calming effect rippled to the others rushing by.
With the mob partially tamed, Axel could see down the hall towards Luke's quarters. Part of the ceiling was collapsed. Krios, one of the Titan lords, stood beside the rubble with his arms folded, tapping his left bicep. "If you can't ask nicely for help," he said, voice booming, "then you needn't bother asking at all."
"Imbecile," the not-Luke snarled back.
Krios rolled his eyes. "Some things never change."
At least the Titan Lords seemed unbothered by Luke's and Kronos' unholy matrimony.
Something about seeing Krios standing there left Axel confused. "Kampe is leading us?" he asked. Hadn't Luke mentioned something about Krios leading them through the labyrinth? Axel finished strapping on his old helmet. It wasn't anything fancy, but it would keep his skull intact. His own confusion at the chain of events—going to Hecate's realm, Flynn's charmspeak, Kronos' screams—was clearing.
Lucille nodded, helping up a demigod who had fallen in the chaos. "Yes."
The younger camper blushed, thanked her, and darted after the others.
Axel felt skeptical. "But, she's a jailor." Did they give battle lessons in Grecian jail school?
"Luke gave her Ariadne's string," Lucille said, "The others are going to follow her." She nodded to the disciplined line up at the labyrinth entrance. Because of newly established order, support was able to come through. Matthias could be seen walking down the line, chest puffed up and shoulders pulled back, as he handed out goody bags of ambrosia and, if Axel had to guess, fart bombs. He and a dracaena checked monster and demigod armor and handed out extra weapons.
Lucille continued, "She's known to be a powerful entity—like Atlas. Why do you think Luke wanted Atlas when he had the other Titans?"
Recognition meant a lot to mythological beings. Axel clenched his jaw. Just another mythological aristocracy, as Alabaster would say. "Being a famous jailor doesn't make a good strategist."
They were approaching the labyrinth entrance. Axel had steered clear of this place, especially after Chris Rodriguez never came back. Selene Beauregard had told Luke that he was alive at Camp Half-Blood, but that he'd been left to babbling incoherence. Chris was the only one who had come out alive.
Another foolish scheme to send a demigod when a monster could thrive in the labyrinth.
Axel could see the mark of Daedalus. Alabaster had explained the symbol to him: a glowing blue D above the labyrinth entrance. Any time he walked in the hallway, it stuck out sorely: an exploitable security risk that had, indeed, been exploited. He didn't understand why everyone had treated it like a kitty door for coatimundi to wander in. Jack and Pax had given him a weird look the day he'd growled, "It's like no one else can see it."
Watching how the others felt along the wall until finding a grip on the door, Axel realized the others really couldn't see it.
Lucille glanced at him. "Are you nervous, Axel? It isn't like you to protest so much." She reached over to squeeze his arm. With Lucille's status in the Attack and Battery unit and Axel's recent rise to fame, no one minded how they cut in line. From the queasiness on some of the demigod's faces, he assumed they wouldn't have minded either way.
Axel stared at the entrance as they stepped up to it. He couldn't stop his ears from twitching. Something felt wrong about this place. The strategist in him screamed. They were going underground—underground —chasing after a demigod that could cause earthquakes. "What if Percy doubles back and collapses the tunnels on us?"
"Recent rumor has it, Percy sprinted away from Luke and did not look like he was coming back. He was scared of Kronos. We're in his army and I'm scared of Kronos…." Her brow furrowed. "I'm glad Pax agreed to check on Charlie. I can only imagine how terrifying those shouts are for them." She frowned, and reached to twirl a lock of hair that was tucked too far back to reach.
Axel winced. Them. She meant Charlie and Ethel. Ethel didn't handle this kind of shouting well, and Charlie was only a kid. "If there's one thing Ajax is good at doing, it's distracting people from terror." And he and Lucille both knew Pax would be a she (instead of a he) if it would make Ethel more comfortable.
Lucille might have been about to thank Axel.
"Move it," a quivering voice came from behind them. Feigned bravado. Axel suspected the waiting was about the same as waiting for a delayed tooth extraction: sometimes you just want to get something over with.
Axel took a deep breath. "If I lose my mind and forget who I am, promise me you won't let Ajax convince me I'm a famous weasel catcher on Discovery Channel."
That earned a real giggle. Axel remembered how cute he thought Lucille was the first time he met her at Monster Donut, before he knew about Ethel. That seemed so long ago.
"Oh, don't make me promise that! I think you'd make a charming show host." She suddenly hopped onto the tips of her toes, coming close to his height. She rearranged her pilum, so she could hold it and her helmet in the same hand. With her hand freed, she gracefully lifted it up and lowered it towards Axel.
It took Axel a heartbeat or two to realize she was offering her hand the way she might for a ballet partner to spin her. Or for a partner dance? It was called something in French that Alabaster would have known.
Axel took his friend's hand, sheepish at how scarred and rough his looked compared to her dainty fingers. The absurdity of it—a ballet pose before battle—made him laugh.
Axel had no delusions. She was holding his hand for his sake. A return laugh for the one his joke incited.
He and Lucille stepped into the darkness, hands held high, into one of the most dangerous parts of the mythological world.
Thank all of you for reading! I think I rediscover my footing a bit better as a writer in the next chapter. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy! (AND THANK ALL OF YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR COMMENTS, ASKS, REBLOGS, AND SWEETNESS! You're making it so worth coming back! 3)
Footnotes:
1 Jack, "You're old enough now that you can have your own room where your fanclub will know how to find you alone and, potentially, underdressed—" Axel, "Ajax and I are still sharing a room." Jack, "B—but your fan club!" Lou Ellen, "But your fan club!"
2 Pax, "ARE YOU INSINUATING LUKE WAS ONCE A BABY PANDA-?!"
3 Mathew 28.