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FIC: The Impossible Maze, Chpt 6
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: A Mortal Crashes My Date
Rating: PG
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Malcolm Pace, Argus, Rachel Dare, Daedalus, Minos, OCs
Word Count: 4,267
Chapter Summary: Annabeth's afternoon plans are thrown out the window.
Notes: The spinning of the room with the doors is an idea blatantly stolen inspired by the Department of Mysteries in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I kind of feel like there's some potential crossover there when it comes to magical mazes!
The quote, 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,' is from Arthur Clarke. And most of the dialogue at the end of the chapter is taken from the opening chapter of canon (i.e., Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth).
Big thanks to GreekGeek6 for their eagle-eyed catch of a mistake in the Sphinx’s riddle!
Back to Fic Content Page
In my dreams that night, I found myself in an enormous room. It had no ceiling, only walls of polished marble that stretched into a cloudless, bright blue sky. Like our art and crafts cabin, the open-air layout had dedicated spaces for different projects. The corner nearest to me was a makeshift forge with a crude hearth fire for welding. Bronze tools scattered the floor around it: saws, chisels, awls.
A man sat hunched over a work table in the centre of the room. He was even older than Quintus, with greying hair and gnarled, leathery skin as wrinkled as a toad's. But his eyes were bright and intelligent, and his hands deft and nimble. They flew over the contraption he was working on, twisting each of the parts into place with mechanical precision. It was shaped like a box, with springs and coils and levers anywhere. I couldn't tell what it was supposed to be.
The old man leaned back and scrutinised his handiwork. Satisfied, he picked it up and brought it to another corner of the workshop, which was stacked with all kinds of strange machinery: an assortment of cages, planks with thick, metal rings attached, mousetraps as big as a table. There was even a bronze Sphinx prowling back and forth across the massive oak double doors that framed the room.
'That will go well in section Omega,' muttered the old man. He set his new contraption down with the others in the corner and puttered over to another worktable. This was covered in papyrus scrolls. They looked a bit like the maps Prof Daly had given me, except these seemed newly made. There were pages and pages of them, more than I had, all filled with line drawings and layouts-blueprints for a building.
The old man bent over the topmost blueprint and made a mark on it, a cross marking a spot. On closer examination, the designs were of twisting tunnels, a maze so complicated that when I followed the lines into the centre of the page, I immediately lost track of the point I'd started from.
Something creaked. The old man looked up sharply.
The metal Sphinx at the door bared its teeth. 'No password, no entry,' it said in a dull monotone. 'What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night?'
Behind the oak doors, a girl giggled. 'Man, of course!'
The Sphinx jumped aside. The doors inched open and in ran a girl of about six or seven. 'Daedalus! I found you!'
The old man opened his arms and the girl leapt into them. He lifted her off the ground, spinning her up towards the faraway sky, then set her down and held her shoulders at arm's length.
'I've told you not to play in here, Ariadne,' Daedalus said.
'Have you been making more toys, Daedalus?' The girl looked around the room with shining eyes.
Daedalus's body was tense, but he spoke gently, like he didn't want to frighten Ariadne. He held his hand out to her. 'Come. Let us return to the palace. I will show you a new puzzle.'
Ariadne took Daedalus's hand happily and let him lead her out of the workshop. When they passed the metal Sphinx, she reached out and patted its head. The automaton purred.
'I like your toys,' Ariadne said. 'You should teach this one some new riddles. That one is too easy.'
Daedalus pushed open the oak doors. 'That is because I taught you the answer.'
Ariadne tossed her head. 'Teach me a new one, then.'
They exited the room into a narrow passageway. The walls were made of the same gleaming marble, slightly lower than the room's and uneven at the top, like the stone was still being laid. Grinding and scraping noises came from a short distance away, interrupted by the occasional groan or curse. It sounded like a crew of workmen were building something nearby.
Still holding Daedalus's hand, Ariadne made to turn right down the passageway. He held her back.
'Wait.' He raised his free hand to check his watch. I wondered what time he was waiting for, then realised it wasn't a watch strapped to his wrist, but a tiny compass. The needlepoint swung straight into the wall. Daedalus frowned at it, closed his eyes in thought, then started walking in the direction that Ariadne had chosen.
'I told you!' Ariadne tugged at Daedalus's hand. 'I can find my way.'
Daedalus laughed. 'If you say so,' he said. From his placating tone, it was clear he thought she'd just made a lucky guess. Ariadne flicked her braids and carried on confidently through the twists and turns, barely pausing whenever they came to a fork or crossroads.The further they went, the more Daedalus's eyebrows knit together. Finally, they arrived at a large, circular room. The walls here were at least twenty feet tall, higher than anywhere else in the maze. They cast deep shadows across the ground. Lined up along them were a dozen identical doors, all made of iron, with metal bars running horizontally across.
A door slammed shut over the passageway Daedalus and Ariadne had just come through. As soon as it did, the room seemed to spin, such that I could no longer tell which door they had emerged from, let alone where they should go.
'See?' Daedalus said. 'The Labyrinth is designed to fool you. Even if you found your way in, you won't find your way out. Not without a guide.' He raised his arm, the one with the compass strapped to it, and turned a dial on its side, the way you might wind up an antique clock. 'Even the workers building it-when they are finished, I shall have to retrieve them, or they will be lost inside forever.'
The compass whirred. A beam of light shot from it, a thin blue line leading from one of the iron doors. At the other end of the compass, where the needle pointed north, another light emerged, this one like a wispy thread. It snaked around the room, examining each door in turn.
Ariadne clapped her hands in delight. 'Is it magic?'
Daedalus's lips curved up. 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, my dear.'
Ariadne let go of Daedalus's hand and ran forward to pick a door. 'This way!'
The compass swung round to point at her just as she lifted the latch and pushed the door open. Her footsteps left brief fluorescent prints on the ground, the same faint blue as the light from Daedalus's compass. They faded seconds after they had appeared, but the compass light followed her like she was the magnetic north.
Daedalus stared after her. 'I wonder …' he murmured, reaching out to touch the light. It curled around his finger like it was actually tangible, a real thread. Then he seemed to remember that he shouldn't leave a child alone in his maze, and hurried after her, calling her name.
Ariadne burst out of the Labyrinth onto a sea-facing cliff. The terrain was wild and windy. Aside from a few scraggly bushes that forced their way out of cracks in the parched ground, there was no vegetation. The outer perimeter of the Labyrinth was vast, stretching all the way down the cliff and far into the distance. The walls seemed to go on forever.
A little way off from the maze entrance, a path led up the hill to the gates of a glittering golden palace. A procession of men was coming down the path. The one in the lead wore a thin crown that sparkled gold in the sunlight. He gestured impressively towards the Labyrinth.
'It will be a prison to end all prisons,' he boasted. 'No criminal would ever find their way out! And if they tried …'
In the middle of this spiel, Ariadne ran into the procession, yelling to Daedalus over her shoulder, 'I told you I could find my way!'
The king's face went a deep, blotchy purple. Several of the courtiers tittered. A man in flowing magenta robes said in a heavily accented voice, 'I see just how difficult you have made it, Minos.'
Daedalus emerged from the maze. His face drained of colour when he took in King Minos and his guests. He dropped into a respectful bow.
'It is just my daughter,' Minos said, waving at Ariadne. 'Who clearly spends too much time playing make-believe.' Despite his airy words, his voice was tight with anger. I was sure that if he hadn't been shepherding a group of guests, he would have backhanded his daughter across the face. Ariadne clearly sensed this, too. She ducked behind Daedalus, hiding from her father's rage.
'We meant no harm, King Minos,' Daedalus said. 'I … merely allowed the princess to peek into the maze. We did not enter its chambers.'
Minos waved a hand dismissively at him. 'You see,' he told his guests, 'it would not be safe to take more than a few steps into the treacherous prison.' He glared at the magenta-robed man who had mocked him. 'You are, of course, welcome to attempt it if you wish, my dear Aegeus. Although I would advise you to have a succession plan in place for the crown of Athens before you do.'
There were more snickers, this time directed at King Aegeus.
'Wouldn't dream of it, my dear king,' demurred Aegeus.
'And this is the chief architect on the project,' Minos continued. 'I trust the construction is going according to plan, Daedalus?'
'Very well, sir,' Daedalus said quickly. 'As you can see, we have already erected the main structure. But the interior will still need to be-'
'Yes, yes.' Minos clapped a hand on Daedalus's shoulder. 'Do get back to work, then. We want the prison done by the time our … special guest is ready for it, don't we?'
A shadow flickered over Daedalus's face. Without a word, he detached himself from the cowering princess, bowed to the king and his guests, and disappeared into the Labyrinth. Minos snapped his fingers. One of the courtiers came forward.
'Take Princess Ariadne up to the palace. I will deal with her later.'
I got one last look at Ariadne's terrified face before the dream shifted, and I found myself in a dark stable. The smell of hay and manure clogged up my nostrils.
Minos flung the door open and dragged his daughter inside, his hand tight around her collar.
'Wretched child,' he growled. 'You embarrassed me in front of the Athenian convoy.' He shoved her into a corner of the stall and backed out of it, barring the door behind him.
'Please, Papa,' Ariadne pleaded, 'I didn't mean to-'
'If you enjoy playing in dark spaces so much, you can stay in one overnight. That will teach you to wander into places you don't belong.'
The main stable door banged shut, leaving her in darkness.
A stench of rancid meat made my stomach turn. In the next stall, there was a loud scuffling noise, like something was pawing at the ground. This was followed by an angry bellow and a loud riiiip. Ariadne drew her knees into her chest and began to cry.
The terrifying sounds emanating from the neighbouring stall ceased. The creature inside made a soft crooning noise. Ariadne ran her sleeve over her face, wiping away tears and snot.
'Who-who's there?'
The creature lowed. There was something deep and mournful about the sound. Ariadne crawled to the wall that separated the stalls. Between the stable wall and the ground was a thin gap. She put a tentative hand into it.
Something soft, wet, and breathing nosed against her palm. An animal-a cow, maybe.
'Are you okay?'
The maybe-cow nuzzled her hand.
'Are you locked in here, too?'
A soft moan.
'Me too,' she said. She settled herself cross-legged on the ground and reached both hands through the gap. To my shock, fingers emerged from the neighbouring stall and closed around hers. Startled, Ariadne withdrew her hands.
A pause, then a snuffling, braying noise-the creature starting to cry. I couldn't help feeling a wave of pity for it. Whatever-whoever-was in the next stall had been locked up, too, and was probably desperate and lonely.
'Hey!' Ariadne put her hands back. 'It's okay! You just startled me. Don't cry, it's all right. I'll be your friend. I'm Ariadne. What's your name?'
The crying stopped. Ariadne's new friend made a series of muffled clicks and slurps with his tongue. I didn't know how she expected him to answer. Did the creature even have a name, or understand words?
'My papa locked me up in here because he didn't like me playing in the maze. I don't understand why. Daedalus says it's dangerous, but I like it in there. It's not like being indoors. You can see the sky. I bet if we were in there now, we could see the stars.'
Ariadne's part-cow friend squeezed her hand.
'You like stars?'
Squeeze.
'I'm going to call you Asterion,' she said. 'That's the name of a star, you know. Daedalus says so. And I was supposed to have a baby brother named Asterion, but Mama was upset when he was born, and Papa said he was a monster and should be locked up, and-'
There was a growl from the stall. The hands Ariadne were holding slipped out of her grip.
'Oh. Oh.'
The part-cow started to cry again, with great braying sobs.
'You are Asterion. You're my brother!'
His crying got even louder.
'No, no, don't cry! Please don't cry! It's okay! I know who you are now, and I'm going to-I'm going to help you! I-I won't leave you locked up in here. Maybe … maybe you can live in the maze! It's a really cool place. You'll see.'
Asterion's cries abated. His soft, wet nose pushed into Ariadne's palm again. She patted it gently and started to sing a lullaby.
I woke with a start, completely disoriented. It was a moment before I remembered I was in a bed instead of a stable surrounded by bales of hay, next to-di immortales, a baby Minotaur.
Because I knew who Asterion had to be.
I'd never really thought about the monster having a name before. In every myth, it was simply the killer of the Labyrinth, Minos's feared executioner. Two summers ago, it had reformed and gone after Percy. I'd seen its massive horn, Percy's spoil of war. It was hard to reconcile my image of the ferocious bull man with the sad creature Ariadne had sung to in the stables. Whatever Asterion had started out as, I guess he'd changed later on.
Then I thought about the reason Ariadne had been locked in the stables overnight. She'd been playing in the Labyrinth-Daedalus's Labyrinth.
Somehow, she'd navigated it. And Daedalus had had an instrument to help him-the compass with the light that had followed Ariadne through the maze. Was that the precursor of the fabled Ariadne's string?
Struck by a sudden frenzy of productivity, I flung back my covers and pulled out the maps in my drawer. I spread them over my desk, searching for any drawings of a wide room like Daedalus's workshop, or the spinning circular room near the entrance. I couldn't say how this would help-after all, neither of those things really told me where the Labyrinth extended now-but maybe if I could just pinpoint some locations within the Labyrinth, everything else might just fall into place.
I didn't know how long I worked over the maps, trying to assimilate the information from my dream with the blueprints I had. I dimly registered my cabin mates calling me to breakfast at some point. I think I said something like, 'Go without me.' Or maybe it was just, 'Okay, good morning.' It's like that when something really gets my attention: everything else just disappears, including time.
The next thing I knew, Malcolm was shaking me firmly by the shoulder. This time, he refused to let go when I tried to shrug him off.
Irritably, I said, 'What?'
'Sorry, Annabeth, but Argus insisted I get you. He looks kind of agitated. I think he's late for his delivery schedule or something … weren't you going with him into Manhattan today?'
My hand flew to my mouth. 'Oh my gods! What time is it?'
It was already mid-morning. I should have met Argus ten minutes ago.
I groaned. There was no time to find something nicer to wear than jeans and a clean camp t-shirt. I didn't even have time to drag a comb through my hair. It wasn't like it really mattered-Percy had seen me in much worse states. But I didn't want him to think I was treating out afternoon together like just another monster fight.
At least I had the drive into Manhattan to tease my hair into a functional ponytail. My curls often drew me crazy, but the useful thing about long hair was that it generally looked presentable as long as I could tie it back. Argus didn't talk during the drive, but then he never did. He has eyes all over his body from the time he worked as Hera's personal security officer, and he hates to show off the peepers on his tongue.
After a while, he turned the radio station to Thalia's favourite alt rock channel, the one we used to listen to when he drove us back and forth to school last year. He must have forgiven me for being late. I hummed along to the music as we got closer to the city, my excitement growing with every mile.
Argus dropped me off on the corner of East Eighty-first and York, along with a wad of cash for emergencies. I didn't know if he'd actually meant to give me fifties. Surely a roll of tens would have sufficed. By the time I realised the mistake, he'd already sped off to make his first delivery.
I stuffed the notes into my pocket and checked the address. The school was on the other end of East Eighty-first, and I still had some time, so I strolled down the sidewalk. New York was as busy as ever, with cars piling up in the streets, taxis honking, some alarms going off nearby-there was always some emergency just around the corner in a city as densely populated as this.
Someone came sprinting down a side alley towards the main street. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it was Percy.
'Hey!' I said brightly. 'You're out early.'
The way he was running, like he couldn't wait to get to me, made me giddy. He was going so fast, he'd charge straight off the sidewalk if he wasn't careful. I caught hold of his shoulder. 'Watch where you're going, Seaweed Brain.'
Percy turned and looked at me as though he was only just registering my presence. His green eyes were wild and terrified-my first signal that something was very wrong.
All my excitement went crashing to the sidewalk. Percy hadn't been running to me; he'd been running away from something.
It was then that I noticed the cloud of black smoke billowing from the high school building. The scene gave me a sense of déjà-vu, probably because the last time I'd met up with Percy at school, he'd gone and blown up his gymnasium. He had a knack for getting into situations like this. I mean, sure, all of us half-bloods did, but Percy was especially gifted at it.
Unfortunately, I had a feeling it meant our afternoon wasn't going to go as planned.
I was about to ask what he'd blown up this time when a girl came barrelling out of the alley, calling Percy's name.
The girl would have been pretty if she hadn't been covered from head to toe in glittery yellow dust, the kind monsters tend to leave behind when you pulverise them. Seeing her run up to Percy and grab his arm gave me a sharp stab in the gut. I glanced back at the school, at the billowing smoke, the screaming, the fire alarms … Had they been fighting together in there? Was she a new half-blood he'd found?
There was no reason to be mad. I mean, even if tag-teaming monsters was kind of our thing, it wasn't like Percy had gone to orientation intending to fight together with this girl. The idea was absurd … wasn't it?
All the same, I couldn't help the ice in my tone when I asked Percy what had happened and who the girl was.
Percy scratched behind his ear. 'Oh, um. Rachel.' His voice was lower than I remembered it, but I barely registered this, as he turned to address his … whoever she was. 'Annabeth. Annabeth-Rachel.' Percy looked unsure how to explain me. 'Um, she's a friend, I guess.'
Rachel's eyes swept over me for the briefest of seconds. 'Hi,' she said, and turned away immediately, like I wasn't anyone important. She started to badger Percy as if I wasn't even there. Her voice came out really fast, like she was shooting bullets instead of words.
I couldn't believe this was happening. First Percy had brought along this girl. (Had he invited her with us to the movies, too? Maybe he'd never intended for it to be just us.) Then he'd introduced me to Rachel, like I'd interrupted them in the middle of something. And now this Rachel was ignoring me.
I lifted my chin. I was a daughter of Athena. Nobody ignored me. 'Percy, we should go.'
Rachel placed her hands on her hips. 'I want to know more about half-bloods! And monsters. And this stuff about the gods.'
The moment she started scrawling a cell phone number on the back of Percy's hand with an ugly black marker, I realised she couldn't be a half-blood. No half-blood, even one who didn't know their true heritage, could have owned a phone long enough to have a permanent number. (Well, unless they had a special one like mine, and what were the odds of that?) I gritted my teeth and wished I had Percy's power over water. I'd have made that ink slide right off his skin.
'You're going to call me and explain, okay?' Rachel's voice brokered no arguments. Who did she think she was, ordering Percy around? 'You owe me that. Now get going.'
Percy started to protest, like he didn't want to leave Rachel behind. I had to remind myself that we did not harm mortals. All the same, it was only the knowledge that my Celestial bronze blade would just pass harmlessly through her anyway that kept me from pulling it out and sticking it in her craw.
Percy, on the other hand … I felt like he might deserve a good stab in the hand. Right where Rachel's phone number stared at me in taunting black ink.
Rachel waved her hand, like, I've got this. 'I'll make up some story. I'll tell them it wasn't your fault. Just go!'
She turned and headed back into the school.
I flexed my fingers, resisting the urge to hit Percy in the face. If I looked at him any longer, I was going to explode. I started to run down the street, though I wasn't sure where I was headed.
Not to the movies, that was certain.
'Hey!' Percy chased after me, trying to explain himself between gasping breaths. He poured out a garbled story about empousai cheerleaders and threats to camp, but I barely heard any of it. I just kept hearing Rachel's voice demanding that Percy tell her about half-bloods and monsters.
Percy grabbed my arm. I whirled around so fast, my ponytail smacked him in the face.
'You told a mortal girl about half-bloods?' I don't know why it was the first accusation that sprang to mind. I guess I couldn't very well yell at him for the monsters.
'She can see through the Mist,' he protested. 'She saw the monsters before I did.'
'So you told her the truth?'
'She recognised me from Hoover Dam, so-'
My stomach flipped over. Hoover Dam. As far as I knew, the only time Percy had been there was last winter, when he'd been on a quest to rescue me. He'd never mentioned meeting a girl there.
'You've-' My throat was dry and crackly. 'You've met her before?'
'Um, last winter,' Percy said. 'But, seriously, I barely know her.'
I stared at him. For someone he barely knew, he seemed pretty friendly with her. 'She's kind of cute,' I pointed out.
'I-I never thought about it.' He rubbed his arms nervously. 'Look, I-I'll deal with the school. Honest, it'll be fine.'
Yeah, because his new girlfriend was making excuses for him. Behind us, police sirens wailed.
'I guess our afternoon is off,' I said cautiously, wondering if he would even bother to protest. Would he insist that we try and have a normal time anyway?
Percy didn't contradict me. My heart sank. Maybe it was for the best. 'We should get you out of here, now that the police will be searching for you.'
Percy threw a look over his shoulder, back at the burning school. Was he thinking about Rachel? Then he looked at me very seriously. 'You're right. We have to get to Camp Half-Blood. Now.'
Chapter 7
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: A Mortal Crashes My Date
Rating: PG
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Malcolm Pace, Argus, Rachel Dare, Daedalus, Minos, OCs
Word Count: 4,267
Chapter Summary: Annabeth's afternoon plans are thrown out the window.
Notes: The spinning of the room with the doors is an idea blatantly stolen inspired by the Department of Mysteries in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I kind of feel like there's some potential crossover there when it comes to magical mazes!
The quote, 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,' is from Arthur Clarke. And most of the dialogue at the end of the chapter is taken from the opening chapter of canon (i.e., Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth).
Big thanks to GreekGeek6 for their eagle-eyed catch of a mistake in the Sphinx’s riddle!
Back to Fic Content Page
In my dreams that night, I found myself in an enormous room. It had no ceiling, only walls of polished marble that stretched into a cloudless, bright blue sky. Like our art and crafts cabin, the open-air layout had dedicated spaces for different projects. The corner nearest to me was a makeshift forge with a crude hearth fire for welding. Bronze tools scattered the floor around it: saws, chisels, awls.
A man sat hunched over a work table in the centre of the room. He was even older than Quintus, with greying hair and gnarled, leathery skin as wrinkled as a toad's. But his eyes were bright and intelligent, and his hands deft and nimble. They flew over the contraption he was working on, twisting each of the parts into place with mechanical precision. It was shaped like a box, with springs and coils and levers anywhere. I couldn't tell what it was supposed to be.
The old man leaned back and scrutinised his handiwork. Satisfied, he picked it up and brought it to another corner of the workshop, which was stacked with all kinds of strange machinery: an assortment of cages, planks with thick, metal rings attached, mousetraps as big as a table. There was even a bronze Sphinx prowling back and forth across the massive oak double doors that framed the room.
'That will go well in section Omega,' muttered the old man. He set his new contraption down with the others in the corner and puttered over to another worktable. This was covered in papyrus scrolls. They looked a bit like the maps Prof Daly had given me, except these seemed newly made. There were pages and pages of them, more than I had, all filled with line drawings and layouts-blueprints for a building.
The old man bent over the topmost blueprint and made a mark on it, a cross marking a spot. On closer examination, the designs were of twisting tunnels, a maze so complicated that when I followed the lines into the centre of the page, I immediately lost track of the point I'd started from.
Something creaked. The old man looked up sharply.
The metal Sphinx at the door bared its teeth. 'No password, no entry,' it said in a dull monotone. 'What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three at night?'
Behind the oak doors, a girl giggled. 'Man, of course!'
The Sphinx jumped aside. The doors inched open and in ran a girl of about six or seven. 'Daedalus! I found you!'
The old man opened his arms and the girl leapt into them. He lifted her off the ground, spinning her up towards the faraway sky, then set her down and held her shoulders at arm's length.
'I've told you not to play in here, Ariadne,' Daedalus said.
'Have you been making more toys, Daedalus?' The girl looked around the room with shining eyes.
Daedalus's body was tense, but he spoke gently, like he didn't want to frighten Ariadne. He held his hand out to her. 'Come. Let us return to the palace. I will show you a new puzzle.'
Ariadne took Daedalus's hand happily and let him lead her out of the workshop. When they passed the metal Sphinx, she reached out and patted its head. The automaton purred.
'I like your toys,' Ariadne said. 'You should teach this one some new riddles. That one is too easy.'
Daedalus pushed open the oak doors. 'That is because I taught you the answer.'
Ariadne tossed her head. 'Teach me a new one, then.'
They exited the room into a narrow passageway. The walls were made of the same gleaming marble, slightly lower than the room's and uneven at the top, like the stone was still being laid. Grinding and scraping noises came from a short distance away, interrupted by the occasional groan or curse. It sounded like a crew of workmen were building something nearby.
Still holding Daedalus's hand, Ariadne made to turn right down the passageway. He held her back.
'Wait.' He raised his free hand to check his watch. I wondered what time he was waiting for, then realised it wasn't a watch strapped to his wrist, but a tiny compass. The needlepoint swung straight into the wall. Daedalus frowned at it, closed his eyes in thought, then started walking in the direction that Ariadne had chosen.
'I told you!' Ariadne tugged at Daedalus's hand. 'I can find my way.'
Daedalus laughed. 'If you say so,' he said. From his placating tone, it was clear he thought she'd just made a lucky guess. Ariadne flicked her braids and carried on confidently through the twists and turns, barely pausing whenever they came to a fork or crossroads.The further they went, the more Daedalus's eyebrows knit together. Finally, they arrived at a large, circular room. The walls here were at least twenty feet tall, higher than anywhere else in the maze. They cast deep shadows across the ground. Lined up along them were a dozen identical doors, all made of iron, with metal bars running horizontally across.
A door slammed shut over the passageway Daedalus and Ariadne had just come through. As soon as it did, the room seemed to spin, such that I could no longer tell which door they had emerged from, let alone where they should go.
'See?' Daedalus said. 'The Labyrinth is designed to fool you. Even if you found your way in, you won't find your way out. Not without a guide.' He raised his arm, the one with the compass strapped to it, and turned a dial on its side, the way you might wind up an antique clock. 'Even the workers building it-when they are finished, I shall have to retrieve them, or they will be lost inside forever.'
The compass whirred. A beam of light shot from it, a thin blue line leading from one of the iron doors. At the other end of the compass, where the needle pointed north, another light emerged, this one like a wispy thread. It snaked around the room, examining each door in turn.
Ariadne clapped her hands in delight. 'Is it magic?'
Daedalus's lips curved up. 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, my dear.'
Ariadne let go of Daedalus's hand and ran forward to pick a door. 'This way!'
The compass swung round to point at her just as she lifted the latch and pushed the door open. Her footsteps left brief fluorescent prints on the ground, the same faint blue as the light from Daedalus's compass. They faded seconds after they had appeared, but the compass light followed her like she was the magnetic north.
Daedalus stared after her. 'I wonder …' he murmured, reaching out to touch the light. It curled around his finger like it was actually tangible, a real thread. Then he seemed to remember that he shouldn't leave a child alone in his maze, and hurried after her, calling her name.
Ariadne burst out of the Labyrinth onto a sea-facing cliff. The terrain was wild and windy. Aside from a few scraggly bushes that forced their way out of cracks in the parched ground, there was no vegetation. The outer perimeter of the Labyrinth was vast, stretching all the way down the cliff and far into the distance. The walls seemed to go on forever.
A little way off from the maze entrance, a path led up the hill to the gates of a glittering golden palace. A procession of men was coming down the path. The one in the lead wore a thin crown that sparkled gold in the sunlight. He gestured impressively towards the Labyrinth.
'It will be a prison to end all prisons,' he boasted. 'No criminal would ever find their way out! And if they tried …'
In the middle of this spiel, Ariadne ran into the procession, yelling to Daedalus over her shoulder, 'I told you I could find my way!'
The king's face went a deep, blotchy purple. Several of the courtiers tittered. A man in flowing magenta robes said in a heavily accented voice, 'I see just how difficult you have made it, Minos.'
Daedalus emerged from the maze. His face drained of colour when he took in King Minos and his guests. He dropped into a respectful bow.
'It is just my daughter,' Minos said, waving at Ariadne. 'Who clearly spends too much time playing make-believe.' Despite his airy words, his voice was tight with anger. I was sure that if he hadn't been shepherding a group of guests, he would have backhanded his daughter across the face. Ariadne clearly sensed this, too. She ducked behind Daedalus, hiding from her father's rage.
'We meant no harm, King Minos,' Daedalus said. 'I … merely allowed the princess to peek into the maze. We did not enter its chambers.'
Minos waved a hand dismissively at him. 'You see,' he told his guests, 'it would not be safe to take more than a few steps into the treacherous prison.' He glared at the magenta-robed man who had mocked him. 'You are, of course, welcome to attempt it if you wish, my dear Aegeus. Although I would advise you to have a succession plan in place for the crown of Athens before you do.'
There were more snickers, this time directed at King Aegeus.
'Wouldn't dream of it, my dear king,' demurred Aegeus.
'And this is the chief architect on the project,' Minos continued. 'I trust the construction is going according to plan, Daedalus?'
'Very well, sir,' Daedalus said quickly. 'As you can see, we have already erected the main structure. But the interior will still need to be-'
'Yes, yes.' Minos clapped a hand on Daedalus's shoulder. 'Do get back to work, then. We want the prison done by the time our … special guest is ready for it, don't we?'
A shadow flickered over Daedalus's face. Without a word, he detached himself from the cowering princess, bowed to the king and his guests, and disappeared into the Labyrinth. Minos snapped his fingers. One of the courtiers came forward.
'Take Princess Ariadne up to the palace. I will deal with her later.'
I got one last look at Ariadne's terrified face before the dream shifted, and I found myself in a dark stable. The smell of hay and manure clogged up my nostrils.
Minos flung the door open and dragged his daughter inside, his hand tight around her collar.
'Wretched child,' he growled. 'You embarrassed me in front of the Athenian convoy.' He shoved her into a corner of the stall and backed out of it, barring the door behind him.
'Please, Papa,' Ariadne pleaded, 'I didn't mean to-'
'If you enjoy playing in dark spaces so much, you can stay in one overnight. That will teach you to wander into places you don't belong.'
The main stable door banged shut, leaving her in darkness.
A stench of rancid meat made my stomach turn. In the next stall, there was a loud scuffling noise, like something was pawing at the ground. This was followed by an angry bellow and a loud riiiip. Ariadne drew her knees into her chest and began to cry.
The terrifying sounds emanating from the neighbouring stall ceased. The creature inside made a soft crooning noise. Ariadne ran her sleeve over her face, wiping away tears and snot.
'Who-who's there?'
The creature lowed. There was something deep and mournful about the sound. Ariadne crawled to the wall that separated the stalls. Between the stable wall and the ground was a thin gap. She put a tentative hand into it.
Something soft, wet, and breathing nosed against her palm. An animal-a cow, maybe.
'Are you okay?'
The maybe-cow nuzzled her hand.
'Are you locked in here, too?'
A soft moan.
'Me too,' she said. She settled herself cross-legged on the ground and reached both hands through the gap. To my shock, fingers emerged from the neighbouring stall and closed around hers. Startled, Ariadne withdrew her hands.
A pause, then a snuffling, braying noise-the creature starting to cry. I couldn't help feeling a wave of pity for it. Whatever-whoever-was in the next stall had been locked up, too, and was probably desperate and lonely.
'Hey!' Ariadne put her hands back. 'It's okay! You just startled me. Don't cry, it's all right. I'll be your friend. I'm Ariadne. What's your name?'
The crying stopped. Ariadne's new friend made a series of muffled clicks and slurps with his tongue. I didn't know how she expected him to answer. Did the creature even have a name, or understand words?
'My papa locked me up in here because he didn't like me playing in the maze. I don't understand why. Daedalus says it's dangerous, but I like it in there. It's not like being indoors. You can see the sky. I bet if we were in there now, we could see the stars.'
Ariadne's part-cow friend squeezed her hand.
'You like stars?'
Squeeze.
'I'm going to call you Asterion,' she said. 'That's the name of a star, you know. Daedalus says so. And I was supposed to have a baby brother named Asterion, but Mama was upset when he was born, and Papa said he was a monster and should be locked up, and-'
There was a growl from the stall. The hands Ariadne were holding slipped out of her grip.
'Oh. Oh.'
The part-cow started to cry again, with great braying sobs.
'You are Asterion. You're my brother!'
His crying got even louder.
'No, no, don't cry! Please don't cry! It's okay! I know who you are now, and I'm going to-I'm going to help you! I-I won't leave you locked up in here. Maybe … maybe you can live in the maze! It's a really cool place. You'll see.'
Asterion's cries abated. His soft, wet nose pushed into Ariadne's palm again. She patted it gently and started to sing a lullaby.
I woke with a start, completely disoriented. It was a moment before I remembered I was in a bed instead of a stable surrounded by bales of hay, next to-di immortales, a baby Minotaur.
Because I knew who Asterion had to be.
I'd never really thought about the monster having a name before. In every myth, it was simply the killer of the Labyrinth, Minos's feared executioner. Two summers ago, it had reformed and gone after Percy. I'd seen its massive horn, Percy's spoil of war. It was hard to reconcile my image of the ferocious bull man with the sad creature Ariadne had sung to in the stables. Whatever Asterion had started out as, I guess he'd changed later on.
Then I thought about the reason Ariadne had been locked in the stables overnight. She'd been playing in the Labyrinth-Daedalus's Labyrinth.
Somehow, she'd navigated it. And Daedalus had had an instrument to help him-the compass with the light that had followed Ariadne through the maze. Was that the precursor of the fabled Ariadne's string?
Struck by a sudden frenzy of productivity, I flung back my covers and pulled out the maps in my drawer. I spread them over my desk, searching for any drawings of a wide room like Daedalus's workshop, or the spinning circular room near the entrance. I couldn't say how this would help-after all, neither of those things really told me where the Labyrinth extended now-but maybe if I could just pinpoint some locations within the Labyrinth, everything else might just fall into place.
I didn't know how long I worked over the maps, trying to assimilate the information from my dream with the blueprints I had. I dimly registered my cabin mates calling me to breakfast at some point. I think I said something like, 'Go without me.' Or maybe it was just, 'Okay, good morning.' It's like that when something really gets my attention: everything else just disappears, including time.
The next thing I knew, Malcolm was shaking me firmly by the shoulder. This time, he refused to let go when I tried to shrug him off.
Irritably, I said, 'What?'
'Sorry, Annabeth, but Argus insisted I get you. He looks kind of agitated. I think he's late for his delivery schedule or something … weren't you going with him into Manhattan today?'
My hand flew to my mouth. 'Oh my gods! What time is it?'
It was already mid-morning. I should have met Argus ten minutes ago.
I groaned. There was no time to find something nicer to wear than jeans and a clean camp t-shirt. I didn't even have time to drag a comb through my hair. It wasn't like it really mattered-Percy had seen me in much worse states. But I didn't want him to think I was treating out afternoon together like just another monster fight.
At least I had the drive into Manhattan to tease my hair into a functional ponytail. My curls often drew me crazy, but the useful thing about long hair was that it generally looked presentable as long as I could tie it back. Argus didn't talk during the drive, but then he never did. He has eyes all over his body from the time he worked as Hera's personal security officer, and he hates to show off the peepers on his tongue.
After a while, he turned the radio station to Thalia's favourite alt rock channel, the one we used to listen to when he drove us back and forth to school last year. He must have forgiven me for being late. I hummed along to the music as we got closer to the city, my excitement growing with every mile.
Argus dropped me off on the corner of East Eighty-first and York, along with a wad of cash for emergencies. I didn't know if he'd actually meant to give me fifties. Surely a roll of tens would have sufficed. By the time I realised the mistake, he'd already sped off to make his first delivery.
I stuffed the notes into my pocket and checked the address. The school was on the other end of East Eighty-first, and I still had some time, so I strolled down the sidewalk. New York was as busy as ever, with cars piling up in the streets, taxis honking, some alarms going off nearby-there was always some emergency just around the corner in a city as densely populated as this.
Someone came sprinting down a side alley towards the main street. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it was Percy.
'Hey!' I said brightly. 'You're out early.'
The way he was running, like he couldn't wait to get to me, made me giddy. He was going so fast, he'd charge straight off the sidewalk if he wasn't careful. I caught hold of his shoulder. 'Watch where you're going, Seaweed Brain.'
Percy turned and looked at me as though he was only just registering my presence. His green eyes were wild and terrified-my first signal that something was very wrong.
All my excitement went crashing to the sidewalk. Percy hadn't been running to me; he'd been running away from something.
It was then that I noticed the cloud of black smoke billowing from the high school building. The scene gave me a sense of déjà-vu, probably because the last time I'd met up with Percy at school, he'd gone and blown up his gymnasium. He had a knack for getting into situations like this. I mean, sure, all of us half-bloods did, but Percy was especially gifted at it.
Unfortunately, I had a feeling it meant our afternoon wasn't going to go as planned.
I was about to ask what he'd blown up this time when a girl came barrelling out of the alley, calling Percy's name.
The girl would have been pretty if she hadn't been covered from head to toe in glittery yellow dust, the kind monsters tend to leave behind when you pulverise them. Seeing her run up to Percy and grab his arm gave me a sharp stab in the gut. I glanced back at the school, at the billowing smoke, the screaming, the fire alarms … Had they been fighting together in there? Was she a new half-blood he'd found?
There was no reason to be mad. I mean, even if tag-teaming monsters was kind of our thing, it wasn't like Percy had gone to orientation intending to fight together with this girl. The idea was absurd … wasn't it?
All the same, I couldn't help the ice in my tone when I asked Percy what had happened and who the girl was.
Percy scratched behind his ear. 'Oh, um. Rachel.' His voice was lower than I remembered it, but I barely registered this, as he turned to address his … whoever she was. 'Annabeth. Annabeth-Rachel.' Percy looked unsure how to explain me. 'Um, she's a friend, I guess.'
Rachel's eyes swept over me for the briefest of seconds. 'Hi,' she said, and turned away immediately, like I wasn't anyone important. She started to badger Percy as if I wasn't even there. Her voice came out really fast, like she was shooting bullets instead of words.
I couldn't believe this was happening. First Percy had brought along this girl. (Had he invited her with us to the movies, too? Maybe he'd never intended for it to be just us.) Then he'd introduced me to Rachel, like I'd interrupted them in the middle of something. And now this Rachel was ignoring me.
I lifted my chin. I was a daughter of Athena. Nobody ignored me. 'Percy, we should go.'
Rachel placed her hands on her hips. 'I want to know more about half-bloods! And monsters. And this stuff about the gods.'
The moment she started scrawling a cell phone number on the back of Percy's hand with an ugly black marker, I realised she couldn't be a half-blood. No half-blood, even one who didn't know their true heritage, could have owned a phone long enough to have a permanent number. (Well, unless they had a special one like mine, and what were the odds of that?) I gritted my teeth and wished I had Percy's power over water. I'd have made that ink slide right off his skin.
'You're going to call me and explain, okay?' Rachel's voice brokered no arguments. Who did she think she was, ordering Percy around? 'You owe me that. Now get going.'
Percy started to protest, like he didn't want to leave Rachel behind. I had to remind myself that we did not harm mortals. All the same, it was only the knowledge that my Celestial bronze blade would just pass harmlessly through her anyway that kept me from pulling it out and sticking it in her craw.
Percy, on the other hand … I felt like he might deserve a good stab in the hand. Right where Rachel's phone number stared at me in taunting black ink.
Rachel waved her hand, like, I've got this. 'I'll make up some story. I'll tell them it wasn't your fault. Just go!'
She turned and headed back into the school.
I flexed my fingers, resisting the urge to hit Percy in the face. If I looked at him any longer, I was going to explode. I started to run down the street, though I wasn't sure where I was headed.
Not to the movies, that was certain.
'Hey!' Percy chased after me, trying to explain himself between gasping breaths. He poured out a garbled story about empousai cheerleaders and threats to camp, but I barely heard any of it. I just kept hearing Rachel's voice demanding that Percy tell her about half-bloods and monsters.
Percy grabbed my arm. I whirled around so fast, my ponytail smacked him in the face.
'You told a mortal girl about half-bloods?' I don't know why it was the first accusation that sprang to mind. I guess I couldn't very well yell at him for the monsters.
'She can see through the Mist,' he protested. 'She saw the monsters before I did.'
'So you told her the truth?'
'She recognised me from Hoover Dam, so-'
My stomach flipped over. Hoover Dam. As far as I knew, the only time Percy had been there was last winter, when he'd been on a quest to rescue me. He'd never mentioned meeting a girl there.
'You've-' My throat was dry and crackly. 'You've met her before?'
'Um, last winter,' Percy said. 'But, seriously, I barely know her.'
I stared at him. For someone he barely knew, he seemed pretty friendly with her. 'She's kind of cute,' I pointed out.
'I-I never thought about it.' He rubbed his arms nervously. 'Look, I-I'll deal with the school. Honest, it'll be fine.'
Yeah, because his new girlfriend was making excuses for him. Behind us, police sirens wailed.
'I guess our afternoon is off,' I said cautiously, wondering if he would even bother to protest. Would he insist that we try and have a normal time anyway?
Percy didn't contradict me. My heart sank. Maybe it was for the best. 'We should get you out of here, now that the police will be searching for you.'
Percy threw a look over his shoulder, back at the burning school. Was he thinking about Rachel? Then he looked at me very seriously. 'You're right. We have to get to Camp Half-Blood. Now.'
Chapter 7