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FIC: The Impossible Maze, Chpt 2
Title: The Impossible Maze (Daughter of Wisdom 4)
Author: shiiki
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, Tyson, Grover Underwood, Rachel Dare, Nico di Angelo, various others, Gen with developing Percy/Annabeth
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Summary: Annabeth Chase has finally gotten her chance to lead a quest, but the stakes have never been so high. With war on the horizon, she and her friends must navigate the Labyrinth to find its creator and convince him to help Camp Half-Blood. But the Labyrinth is more than just a physical maze-in its twist and turns, Annabeth must not only confront the Titan army’s monsters, but her own fears, hopes, and scariest of all, her developing feelings for her best friend. An alternate PoV retelling of The Battle of the Labyrinth.
In this chapter
Chapter Title: I Play Baseball With Hippogriffs
Rating: PG
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Mrs Chase
Word Count: 2,223
Chapter Summary: Monsters rampaging in the city … just another day in San Francisco.
Back to Fic Content Page
It wasn't the first time I'd run into monsters in San Francisco. The city had always been the most dangerous place in the country for demigods, even before Mount Othrys had settled here. Mount Tam was the modern Mountain of Despair, where Atlas held up the metaphorical sky. Its magic attracted monsters like flies. Now that it was Titan headquarters, even more monsters kept coming down to terrorise the city. They showed up on an almost weekly basis. I guess the Titan army just got tired of being cooped up on a mountain peak all the time. Or maybe they just needed supplies from Target.
Either way, if I could take out a few, that would be a few less to attack Camp Half-Blood this summer.
I got off the bus.
There were five hippogriffs, about the size of rhinoceroses, with equine hindquarters and proud griffin torsos. Strong, curved beaks protruded from their faces, which looked fully capable of snapping a demigod in half-if their nasty front talons didn't lacerate you first.
The lead hippogriff was decked out like a rapper, with long chain necklaces draped across its chest and a bling jacket thrown over its beak. A baseball cap perched backwards on its eagle-like head capped off this ghetto fashion statement. The other hippogriffs had pieces of Target merchandise on them as well: capes, shawls, blankets … one even sported an upturned stainless steel pot as a helmet.
The store's burglar alarms were blaring. Security officers chased after the hippogriffs. Possibly they looked like looters, or their getaway cars. I could never tell how the Mist distorted scenes for mortals. Pedestrians screamed and dove aside to avoid being trampled. Cars veered and screeched to a stop as the rampaging beasts strayed across their paths.
I sprinted after them. The hippogriffs ran straight into a baseball diamond, where a bunch of college kids were having evening practice. The lead hippogriff knocked over the batter, whose throw went wide.
'Strike one-hey, what the hell?' cried the umpire. The pitcher's ball hit one of the hippogriffs in the face. It stopped dead, swayed on the spot, then keeled over.
I didn't stop to think. I hurled my knife at the KO-ed hippogriff. The monster disintegrated into a pile of ash and feathers the moment the blade sank into its flesh. Its steel-pot helmet clattered to the ground.
Its companions all stopped and turned to the baseball team with murderous glares in their steely bird eyes.
The baseball players might not have known what they were seeing, but they knew they were in trouble. Dropping their mitts, they ran screaming for the exit.
'Hey, punk birds!' I yelled. Five raptor-like heads swivelled to face me.
The good thing was, I'd distracted them from the fleeing mortals. The bad thing: their attention was now fixated on me.
And my knife was fifty feet away, buried in a pile of hippogriff feathers.
This was exactly why I always told Percy you should never go into battle without a plan. Too late for that now. I'd have to borrow a leaf from his book and improvise.
I dove for the discarded baseball bat and took a wild swing as the first hippogriff charged towards me. The clang of the metal bat against the monster's talons set my teeth rattling. Fortunately, the bat stayed intact. I'd never played baseball before, but maybe I should start. These bats made pretty decent weapons.
I ducked and rolled to avoid the next incoming hippogriff. This one ploughed head-on into its friend when I rolled out of their way. Its momentum carried them both to the tip of the baseball diamond, where they lay groaning on their sides.
The third hippogriff nearly gored me with its beak. The sharp point ripped a hole in my jeans. I swung blindly at it and missed. But the hippogriff's dodge took it straight into the netting behind the batter's oval. While it struggled to free itself, I turned my attention to the last hippogriff. This one was the leader, with all its bling, and it hadn't charged with the others. Instead, it was sizing me up with its beady eyes, possibly strategising the best way to kill me. When it actually attacked, I'd be in serious trouble.
So I made the first move. Grabbing one of the baseballs from the full basket by the pitcher's plate, I tossed it up and slammed my bat into it. The ball flew towards the hippogriff with blinding speed. I hoped it would connect with the beast's hide, but the hippogriff clenched its powerful hind quarters and launched itself into the air.
A shadow fell over me. Wings the size of my Sopwith Camel blotted out the sun.
Of course-the cursed things could fly.
And the other hippogriffs were stirring.
I dashed to first base, where I'd stabbed the first hippogriff. The flying leader came at me with a loud screech. I snatched up my dagger and kept running on to second. There, the hippogriffs that had head-butted finally raised their heads and shook them groggily.
I jumped one from behind and stabbed it in the butt before it could react. The other snarled and swiped at me. I dodged and swung. My knife connected.
Three down.
The flying hippogriff landed and chased me to third base. I used the base plate to make a sharp right-angle turn. Feathers rushed past me as the angry hippogriff charged straight on, not expecting my sudden change in direction.
I ran for home base. The hippogriff tangled in the pitcher's net was now ripping it to shreds. It was going to free itself before I could get to it.
I hurled my knife again, landing another stick in this hippogriff's hide. But I didn't stop to watch it disintegrate. My eyes were on the home plate-or more precisely, the bat lying next to it.
I slid home and snatched up the bat just as the last, bling-wearing hippogriff caught up to me. Its baseball cap was askew and its bling jacket all muddy. This only seemed to feed its fury.
I swung the bat as hard as I could.
The hippogriff cawed mockingly as it swerved out of my way. Swing and a miss! it seemed to be taunting. Its talons dug into the dirt where I'd flung my blade into its last comrade. Bronze flashed through the air.
I gasped. Dropping the bat, I launched myself at the hippogriff just before it could abscond with my precious dagger. My fingers closed around feathers and one of the chain necklaces dangling from the hippogriff's chest. With a jerk, my feet left the earth.
The hippogriff's enormous wings beat the air, carrying me aloft. The chain was seriously heavy duty, as it didn't snap in my grip. Maybe the hippogriff had stolen it from the hardware section.
It wasn't easy to pull myself onto the hippogriff's back. It bucked and twisted, but somehow I crawled my way up between its wings. I tugged on the chain around its neck as if it were the control yoke on my plane. The hippogriff made a strangled noise and climbed higher.
No, I needed it to land. I knew what to do if it were a plane, but the chain made a poor substitute for a joystick. I slackened my grip. The hippogriff levelled off, but didn't descend.
Then I had a brainwave. I reached forward, swiped the baseball cap from the hippogriff's head, and flung it towards the earth.
It worked. With a murderous cry, the hippogriff dove for its falling cap. We sped towards the ground, straight at the red-and-white Target sign. The hippogriff's talons curled up under its belly to give it a more aerodynamic shape for the dive.
Bingo.
I gripped the hippogriff's hide as firmly as I could with my thighs and leaned to the left, reaching, reaching … stretching my hand just a little further …
My fingers closed around my blade.
Ignoring the pain as the sharp edge sliced into my palm, I wrenched it out of the hippogriff's slackened talons.
It was not a second too soon. The hippogriff's talons stretched forward and opened to snatch up its falling cap. But we were coming in too hot. Unable to pull up in time, the hippogriff crashed through the window of the megastore, straight into the electronics department.
We landed in a pile of broken glass and smashed television sets. Employees screamed. Customers fainted. A SPECIAL OFFER: $99.99 sign fluttered from the ceiling and landed on the hippogriff's butt.
I flipped my dagger into my good hand and plunged it into the hippogriff's hide, right next to the discount sign. It disintegrated beneath me, scattering hippogriff feathers around the broken televisions. I tumbled to the floor in front of an emergency exit door. The exit light glowed green. Below it, just above the door frame, was a triangular symbol cast in a radioactive-looking blue light. I'd seen this symbol before: the Greek letter Delta.
Before I could examine it more closely, store security came barging onto the floor.
Crap. I wasn't just covered in monster ashes and feathers. I was also draped in the hippogriff's stolen bling, with its baseball cap lying by my feet.
I sighed and raised my hands in surrender.
+++
On the up side, I got a free ride home. On the down side, it was in the back of a squad car. My stepmother opened the door when the officers rang the doorbell. She already looked annoyed; I was late for dinner as it was. When she saw the uniformed cops flanking me, the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees, the way it did when you walked into the dodgier city districts. Her lips pursed so tightly, you could barely see the thin line they made across her face.
Fortunately, I had managed to get through the last school semester without any major incidents, so the cops were willing to let me go with only a warning. They nodded to my stepmother and left her to deal with me.
'You're hurt,' Janet said sharply.
Uh …' My hand clenched reflexively over my palm. I'd wrapped it in my t-shirt during the ride home to stem the bleeding. 'It's nothing. Blade slipped.'
Janet pressed her lips together again. 'Let's put something on it anyway.'
She helped me clean and dress the wound in the kitchen, where my stepbrothers had already started eating.
'Was it monsters, Annabeth?' Bobby's eyes were wide with awe. He and Matthew thought my tussles with monsters was the height of cool, like the judo-fighting spy in their favourite cartoon.
'Yeah,' I said, and told them about the hippogriffs at Target.
'Neat!' Matthew said.
Janet closed her eyes like she was counting to ten, the way she often did when we tried her patience.
'So you went after these … hippogriffs,' she said.
I winced. 'It wasn't like I was trying to get framed for shoplifting. The monsters ran out in front of my bus and-'
'You thought jumping into a fight was the right idea.' Janet's voice had a sharp edge to it. 'I can understand it when you're attacked, Annabeth, but to go looking for trouble-'
'I wasn't looking for trouble!' I jumped to my feet. 'Lu-the Titans are building an army! I have to do everything I can to stop them!'
'Yes, you've said.' Her tone turned icy. 'Including throwing your whole future away.'
We stared furiously at each other. Bobby and Matthew busied themselves with their food. They knew better than to draw their mother's attention when she got like this.
I knew where this argument was headed. It wasn't about the cops after all … or at least, it was only tangentially connected to them. Janet and I had been getting along better this year-she had even helped me with school-but last month, we'd had a tiff about where I was going for high school. She'd pushed me to try for the most prestigious design school in the state, and I'd gotten in … only to turn it down. I'd chosen to forego their compulsory summer induction programme so that I could return to camp.
I guess I could sort of see her point of view. But it wasn't like I didn't want to go to architectural design school. Camp just needed me more.
'This isn't wise, Annabeth. You're a smart girl. You could be more than just-'
My fingers balled into fists. 'My mother is the goddess of wisdom. Don't tell me I'm not being wise.'
I stalked out of the kitchen. In the hallway, I ran into my dad, who had just come through the front door.
'Annabeth? What-'
I pushed past him and stomped upstairs to my room, leaving Janet to explain what had just transpired. I threw myself on my bed and glared at the ceiling.
Not wise, indeed. Did she think I'd made any of my choices lightly?
Well, it didn't matter what Janet or anybody else thought. I'd be on my way back to camp tomorrow, to prepare for a battle that was coming whether any of us liked it or now. And nobody there would tell me I'd made the wrong choice.
Chapter 3
Author: shiiki
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan, Tyson, Grover Underwood, Rachel Dare, Nico di Angelo, various others, Gen with developing Percy/Annabeth
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Summary: Annabeth Chase has finally gotten her chance to lead a quest, but the stakes have never been so high. With war on the horizon, she and her friends must navigate the Labyrinth to find its creator and convince him to help Camp Half-Blood. But the Labyrinth is more than just a physical maze-in its twist and turns, Annabeth must not only confront the Titan army’s monsters, but her own fears, hopes, and scariest of all, her developing feelings for her best friend. An alternate PoV retelling of The Battle of the Labyrinth.
In this chapter
Chapter Title: I Play Baseball With Hippogriffs
Rating: PG
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Mrs Chase
Word Count: 2,223
Chapter Summary: Monsters rampaging in the city … just another day in San Francisco.
Back to Fic Content Page
It wasn't the first time I'd run into monsters in San Francisco. The city had always been the most dangerous place in the country for demigods, even before Mount Othrys had settled here. Mount Tam was the modern Mountain of Despair, where Atlas held up the metaphorical sky. Its magic attracted monsters like flies. Now that it was Titan headquarters, even more monsters kept coming down to terrorise the city. They showed up on an almost weekly basis. I guess the Titan army just got tired of being cooped up on a mountain peak all the time. Or maybe they just needed supplies from Target.
Either way, if I could take out a few, that would be a few less to attack Camp Half-Blood this summer.
I got off the bus.
There were five hippogriffs, about the size of rhinoceroses, with equine hindquarters and proud griffin torsos. Strong, curved beaks protruded from their faces, which looked fully capable of snapping a demigod in half-if their nasty front talons didn't lacerate you first.
The lead hippogriff was decked out like a rapper, with long chain necklaces draped across its chest and a bling jacket thrown over its beak. A baseball cap perched backwards on its eagle-like head capped off this ghetto fashion statement. The other hippogriffs had pieces of Target merchandise on them as well: capes, shawls, blankets … one even sported an upturned stainless steel pot as a helmet.
The store's burglar alarms were blaring. Security officers chased after the hippogriffs. Possibly they looked like looters, or their getaway cars. I could never tell how the Mist distorted scenes for mortals. Pedestrians screamed and dove aside to avoid being trampled. Cars veered and screeched to a stop as the rampaging beasts strayed across their paths.
I sprinted after them. The hippogriffs ran straight into a baseball diamond, where a bunch of college kids were having evening practice. The lead hippogriff knocked over the batter, whose throw went wide.
'Strike one-hey, what the hell?' cried the umpire. The pitcher's ball hit one of the hippogriffs in the face. It stopped dead, swayed on the spot, then keeled over.
I didn't stop to think. I hurled my knife at the KO-ed hippogriff. The monster disintegrated into a pile of ash and feathers the moment the blade sank into its flesh. Its steel-pot helmet clattered to the ground.
Its companions all stopped and turned to the baseball team with murderous glares in their steely bird eyes.
The baseball players might not have known what they were seeing, but they knew they were in trouble. Dropping their mitts, they ran screaming for the exit.
'Hey, punk birds!' I yelled. Five raptor-like heads swivelled to face me.
The good thing was, I'd distracted them from the fleeing mortals. The bad thing: their attention was now fixated on me.
And my knife was fifty feet away, buried in a pile of hippogriff feathers.
This was exactly why I always told Percy you should never go into battle without a plan. Too late for that now. I'd have to borrow a leaf from his book and improvise.
I dove for the discarded baseball bat and took a wild swing as the first hippogriff charged towards me. The clang of the metal bat against the monster's talons set my teeth rattling. Fortunately, the bat stayed intact. I'd never played baseball before, but maybe I should start. These bats made pretty decent weapons.
I ducked and rolled to avoid the next incoming hippogriff. This one ploughed head-on into its friend when I rolled out of their way. Its momentum carried them both to the tip of the baseball diamond, where they lay groaning on their sides.
The third hippogriff nearly gored me with its beak. The sharp point ripped a hole in my jeans. I swung blindly at it and missed. But the hippogriff's dodge took it straight into the netting behind the batter's oval. While it struggled to free itself, I turned my attention to the last hippogriff. This one was the leader, with all its bling, and it hadn't charged with the others. Instead, it was sizing me up with its beady eyes, possibly strategising the best way to kill me. When it actually attacked, I'd be in serious trouble.
So I made the first move. Grabbing one of the baseballs from the full basket by the pitcher's plate, I tossed it up and slammed my bat into it. The ball flew towards the hippogriff with blinding speed. I hoped it would connect with the beast's hide, but the hippogriff clenched its powerful hind quarters and launched itself into the air.
A shadow fell over me. Wings the size of my Sopwith Camel blotted out the sun.
Of course-the cursed things could fly.
And the other hippogriffs were stirring.
I dashed to first base, where I'd stabbed the first hippogriff. The flying leader came at me with a loud screech. I snatched up my dagger and kept running on to second. There, the hippogriffs that had head-butted finally raised their heads and shook them groggily.
I jumped one from behind and stabbed it in the butt before it could react. The other snarled and swiped at me. I dodged and swung. My knife connected.
Three down.
The flying hippogriff landed and chased me to third base. I used the base plate to make a sharp right-angle turn. Feathers rushed past me as the angry hippogriff charged straight on, not expecting my sudden change in direction.
I ran for home base. The hippogriff tangled in the pitcher's net was now ripping it to shreds. It was going to free itself before I could get to it.
I hurled my knife again, landing another stick in this hippogriff's hide. But I didn't stop to watch it disintegrate. My eyes were on the home plate-or more precisely, the bat lying next to it.
I slid home and snatched up the bat just as the last, bling-wearing hippogriff caught up to me. Its baseball cap was askew and its bling jacket all muddy. This only seemed to feed its fury.
I swung the bat as hard as I could.
The hippogriff cawed mockingly as it swerved out of my way. Swing and a miss! it seemed to be taunting. Its talons dug into the dirt where I'd flung my blade into its last comrade. Bronze flashed through the air.
I gasped. Dropping the bat, I launched myself at the hippogriff just before it could abscond with my precious dagger. My fingers closed around feathers and one of the chain necklaces dangling from the hippogriff's chest. With a jerk, my feet left the earth.
The hippogriff's enormous wings beat the air, carrying me aloft. The chain was seriously heavy duty, as it didn't snap in my grip. Maybe the hippogriff had stolen it from the hardware section.
It wasn't easy to pull myself onto the hippogriff's back. It bucked and twisted, but somehow I crawled my way up between its wings. I tugged on the chain around its neck as if it were the control yoke on my plane. The hippogriff made a strangled noise and climbed higher.
No, I needed it to land. I knew what to do if it were a plane, but the chain made a poor substitute for a joystick. I slackened my grip. The hippogriff levelled off, but didn't descend.
Then I had a brainwave. I reached forward, swiped the baseball cap from the hippogriff's head, and flung it towards the earth.
It worked. With a murderous cry, the hippogriff dove for its falling cap. We sped towards the ground, straight at the red-and-white Target sign. The hippogriff's talons curled up under its belly to give it a more aerodynamic shape for the dive.
Bingo.
I gripped the hippogriff's hide as firmly as I could with my thighs and leaned to the left, reaching, reaching … stretching my hand just a little further …
My fingers closed around my blade.
Ignoring the pain as the sharp edge sliced into my palm, I wrenched it out of the hippogriff's slackened talons.
It was not a second too soon. The hippogriff's talons stretched forward and opened to snatch up its falling cap. But we were coming in too hot. Unable to pull up in time, the hippogriff crashed through the window of the megastore, straight into the electronics department.
We landed in a pile of broken glass and smashed television sets. Employees screamed. Customers fainted. A SPECIAL OFFER: $99.99 sign fluttered from the ceiling and landed on the hippogriff's butt.
I flipped my dagger into my good hand and plunged it into the hippogriff's hide, right next to the discount sign. It disintegrated beneath me, scattering hippogriff feathers around the broken televisions. I tumbled to the floor in front of an emergency exit door. The exit light glowed green. Below it, just above the door frame, was a triangular symbol cast in a radioactive-looking blue light. I'd seen this symbol before: the Greek letter Delta.
Before I could examine it more closely, store security came barging onto the floor.
Crap. I wasn't just covered in monster ashes and feathers. I was also draped in the hippogriff's stolen bling, with its baseball cap lying by my feet.
I sighed and raised my hands in surrender.
+++
On the up side, I got a free ride home. On the down side, it was in the back of a squad car. My stepmother opened the door when the officers rang the doorbell. She already looked annoyed; I was late for dinner as it was. When she saw the uniformed cops flanking me, the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees, the way it did when you walked into the dodgier city districts. Her lips pursed so tightly, you could barely see the thin line they made across her face.
Fortunately, I had managed to get through the last school semester without any major incidents, so the cops were willing to let me go with only a warning. They nodded to my stepmother and left her to deal with me.
'You're hurt,' Janet said sharply.
Uh …' My hand clenched reflexively over my palm. I'd wrapped it in my t-shirt during the ride home to stem the bleeding. 'It's nothing. Blade slipped.'
Janet pressed her lips together again. 'Let's put something on it anyway.'
She helped me clean and dress the wound in the kitchen, where my stepbrothers had already started eating.
'Was it monsters, Annabeth?' Bobby's eyes were wide with awe. He and Matthew thought my tussles with monsters was the height of cool, like the judo-fighting spy in their favourite cartoon.
'Yeah,' I said, and told them about the hippogriffs at Target.
'Neat!' Matthew said.
Janet closed her eyes like she was counting to ten, the way she often did when we tried her patience.
'So you went after these … hippogriffs,' she said.
I winced. 'It wasn't like I was trying to get framed for shoplifting. The monsters ran out in front of my bus and-'
'You thought jumping into a fight was the right idea.' Janet's voice had a sharp edge to it. 'I can understand it when you're attacked, Annabeth, but to go looking for trouble-'
'I wasn't looking for trouble!' I jumped to my feet. 'Lu-the Titans are building an army! I have to do everything I can to stop them!'
'Yes, you've said.' Her tone turned icy. 'Including throwing your whole future away.'
We stared furiously at each other. Bobby and Matthew busied themselves with their food. They knew better than to draw their mother's attention when she got like this.
I knew where this argument was headed. It wasn't about the cops after all … or at least, it was only tangentially connected to them. Janet and I had been getting along better this year-she had even helped me with school-but last month, we'd had a tiff about where I was going for high school. She'd pushed me to try for the most prestigious design school in the state, and I'd gotten in … only to turn it down. I'd chosen to forego their compulsory summer induction programme so that I could return to camp.
I guess I could sort of see her point of view. But it wasn't like I didn't want to go to architectural design school. Camp just needed me more.
'This isn't wise, Annabeth. You're a smart girl. You could be more than just-'
My fingers balled into fists. 'My mother is the goddess of wisdom. Don't tell me I'm not being wise.'
I stalked out of the kitchen. In the hallway, I ran into my dad, who had just come through the front door.
'Annabeth? What-'
I pushed past him and stomped upstairs to my room, leaving Janet to explain what had just transpired. I threw myself on my bed and glared at the ceiling.
Not wise, indeed. Did she think I'd made any of my choices lightly?
Well, it didn't matter what Janet or anybody else thought. I'd be on my way back to camp tomorrow, to prepare for a battle that was coming whether any of us liked it or now. And nobody there would tell me I'd made the wrong choice.
Chapter 3