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FIC: The Impossible Maze, Chpt 16
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 Open A Forbidden Door
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Grover Underwood, Tyson, Hephaestus
Word Count: 4,997
Chapter Summary: Hephaestus sends Annabeth and Percy on an errand … which may prove fatal for one of them.
Notes: The references to Annabeth's previous meeting with Hephaestus come from my earlier story, Necklace of Harmonia.
On Mount St Helens … this scene has been in the making for a long time, ever since I found out that it has an actual crater glacier. The extended myth about the telkhines is quite vague, with accounts that they either died by flood, thunderbolt, trident, or Apollo-as-a-wolf. I've gone with a merging of Poseidon and the flood, for plot purposes naturally.
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The good news was, we'd escaped the Sphinx. The bad news: we'd lost our mechanical guide. Grover tried to play a tracking song, but it reverberated in the tunnel, making it impossible for his melody to locate the trail. It was only thanks to Tyson and his superhuman hearing that we finally picked up a rhythmic clanging noise.
We followed it to a metal door. The mechanical insect was dangling from a thread (I shuddered), making a loud plink every time it swung into the door.
'I guess this is it,' I said.
It looked like the entrance to an underground bunker, or a high-security vault: thick, solid, and wheel-operated. Hephaestus's Êta was etched into the metal.
'Ready to meet Hephaestus?' Grover asked.
'No,' Percy said.
Tyson grabbed the bunker wheel. 'Yes!'
The door slid open with a groan of shifting metal (it could have done with some serious oiling). We found ourselves in the largest room yet. It was sectioned into a dozen workspaces, each with its own table and drafting board. Some sections had projects as big as Mack trucks sitting on hydraulic lifts next to the table; others were smaller and cluttered with tools and little metal pieces-screws and springs and the like. On a corkboard over one table hung a jewel-embedded gold necklace. The sight of it sent shivers up my spine. I hoped Hephaestus had kept his promise and removed the curse on it.
A forge fire burnt merrily in the corner, stoked by a weird contraption. It looked like a robot, but had only one long, thin poker arm that reached in and out of the fire. Several bronze weapons were cooling in the slack tub by the fire, which was supplied by a thin, U-shaped pipe that sucked water in from the dirt ceiling.
I blinked. It was my pipe-the one I'd made as an assignment from Hephaestus last spring. We must be under the junkyard of the gods.
A rhythmic banging came from one of the workstations. This one had an ancient blue car jacked up on a hydraulic stand. It took me a moment to realise that the metal brace sticking out from under the car at a weird angle wasn't part of the machinery. It was connected to a massive leg.
Its owner emerged from under the vehicle, lying on a trolley. 'Well, well, what have we here?'
Last spring, I'd negotiated with an automated proxy for Hephaestus, a burly work-robot called Hephaeston. The god himself was a warped, twisted version of his self-insert automaton. Or maybe it was the robot who was the cleaned-up, fully-functional version of the real thing. Hephaestus looked like he'd been moulded by someone who didn't know what humans were supposed to look like. Most gods usually chose to take whatever appearance they wanted, but either Hephaestus was the exception to the rule, or he just didn't give a crap what he looked like.
The little metal insect scurried into Hephaestus's hands. He sat up. With lumpy fingers that couldn't possibly move as quickly and deftly as they did, he reassembled the disc.
I cringed. The new version looked so much more spider-like that it was impossible to pretend otherwise.
Hephaestus scrutinised us. His eyes were uneven, one wider than the other. 'I didn't make you, did I?'
'Er …' Did he recognise me? Granted, we'd only spoken through a video link on Hephaeston's smock. 'No, sir.'
Hephaestus examined us with the expert gaze of a master craftsman. 'Good,' he said at last. 'Shoddy workmanship.'
Percy and I exchanged nervous looks.
Hephaestus muttered under his breath a lot as he sized us up, still acting like we were some of his machines. He didn't seem convinced that we were real humans, even after Percy assured him that we'd met before. He appreciated Tyson more, which had to be a first for the big guy. It usually took a while before people got comfortable with a Cyclops. No wonder he'd been keen to meet Hephaestus.
'There'd better be a good reason you're disturbing me,' Hephaestus said. He motioned to the car on the hydraulic stand. 'The suspension on this Corolla is no small matter, you know.'
'Sir, we're looking for Daedalus,' I said quickly 'We thought-'
He cut me off with a bellow that shook the ceiling of the workshop. 'Daedalus? You want that old scoundrel? You dare to seek him out?'
Flames erupted from his bushy beard. Belatedly, I remembered that Hephaestus was also the god of fire. I swallowed. 'Yes, sir, please.'
Hephaestus harrumphed under his breath. He started fiddling with the scattered metal fasteners on his worktable. Like his son Beckendorf, he didn't seem comfortable unless his hands were busy.
'You're wasting your time,' he told us as he shaped a metal falcon from the bits and bobs on his table. It actually took off from his hands and did a lap around the room, to Tyson's delight.
Tyson's enthusiasm seemed to appease Hephaestus. He regarded Tyson more genially. 'I sense you have something to tell me, Cyclops.'
Tyson gazed at Hephaestus in wonder. His voice wobbled as he told the god about our encounter with Briares. I guess the disappointment of losing his hero still bugged him.
'There was a time when I admired the Hundred-handed Ones,' Hephaestus said. 'Back in the days of the first war. But people, monsters, even gods change, young Cyclops.' He fixed his eyes on Tyson, but I got the sense he was addressing me, too. 'You can't trust 'em. Look at my loving mother, Hera. You met her, didn't you? She'll smile to your face and talk about how important family is, eh?' His expression darkened. 'Didn't stop her from pitching me off Mount Olympus when she saw my ugly face.'
Percy frowned. 'But I thought Zeus did that to you.'
'Mother likes telling that version of the story.' Hephaestus hawked an impressive glob of spit into a nearby pot. 'Makes her seem more likeable, doesn't it? Blaming it all on my dad. The truth is, my mother likes families, but she likes a certain kind of family. Perfect families. She took one look at me and … well, I don't fit the image, do I?'
In my mind's eye, a seven-year-old girl turned back for a last look at her home before she ran away. Her family was inside the house: two parents, two kids-a perfect family, with no weird stuff to trouble them.
Even though I got along much better with my family now, the sting of feeling like a blemish on their lives didn't fade that easily.
When Hephaestus said, 'You can't trust others; all you can trust is the work of your own hands,' I couldn't help feeling a strange kinship with this unusual god.
Percy made a soft, disgruntled noise in the back of his throat. For some reason, I thought of his readiness to accompany me on this quest, despite his misgivings. I touched the grey streak that ran through my ponytail, the twin to the one in his hair.
Hephaestus grunted, reading Percy's expression. 'Oh, this one doesn't like me. No worries, I'm used to that.' He scratched under his arm. 'What would you ask of me, little demigod?'
'We told you.' Percy explained our quest and the urgency of our mission to find Daedalus.
'I told you, boy, looking for Daedalus is a waste of time. He won't help you.'
'Why not?' Percy demanded.
Hephaestus considered this for a while. 'Some of us get thrown off mountainsides,' he said. 'Some of us … the way we learn not to trust people is even more painful.'
My shoulders ached like the strain of the sky's weight had fallen on them again. I swallowed hard.
Percy caught my eye. The weight lifted.
'Ask me for gold,' said Hephaestus. 'Or a flaming sword. Or a magical steed. These I can grant you easily. But a way to Daedalus? That's an expensive favour.'
I noticed he didn't say it was impossible. 'So you know where he is.'
'It isn't wise to go looking, girl,' he warned.
'My mother says looking is the nature of wisdom.'
Hephaestus's dark eyes were like X-rays. 'Who's your mother, then?'
I told him.
'Figures. Fine goddess, Athena. A shame she pledged never to marry.' But the mention of my mother seemed to do the trick. 'All right, half-blood,' he said. 'I can tell you what you want to know. But there is a price. I need a favour done.'
I didn't hesitate. 'Name it.'
I figured it might be something like the last task I'd completed for him-creating a tool, or maybe fixing a machine. But Hephaestus brought up a LCD screen. I thought it was playing the Nature Channel at first, like on Geryon's ranch. The screen panned out on a snow-capped mountain with smoke curling from its peak. From the coniferous trees lining the slopes, I guessed it was somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.
'One of my forges,' Hephaestus explained. 'I have many, but that used to be my favourite.'
Grover peered at the screen. 'That's Mount St Helens.'
'Wait-you said it used to be your favourite.' I frowned at the mountain. 'What happened?'
'Well, that's where the monster Typhon is trapped,' Hephaestus said. 'You know, used to be under Mount Etna, but when we moved to America, his force got pinned under Mount St Helens instead.' He rubbed his beard thoughtfully. 'Great source of fire, but a bit dangerous. There's always a chance he will escape. Lots of eruptions these days, smouldering all the time. He's restless with the Titan rebellion.'
I wasn't sure I liked where Hephaestus was going with this. I didn't think Typhon had come in on the gods' side in the last war.
Percy voiced what I was thinking: 'What do you want us to do? Fight him?'
Fortunately, that wasn't the favour. I quite agreed with Hephaestus that that would have been a suicide mission. But the one he set for us wasn't much better. He explained that he'd been sensing intruders on the mountain, enemies who hid when he went to check them out himself, but whose evil, ancient presence lingered. None of his automaton scouts had come back to report.
'You want us to find out who it is,' Percy summarised.
'Aye. Go there.' Hephaestus furrowed his brow. 'They may not sense you coming. You are not gods. Go and find out what you can. Report back to me … and I will tell you what you need to know about Daedalus.'
An enemy that the god himself described as ancient and evil. One that had disabled all his automatons. This would be an incredibly dangerous spy mission. But we didn't have much of a choice. Not if we wanted answers about Daedalus.
I squared my shoulders. 'All right. How do we get there?'
Hephaestus threw down the spider automaton-which looked more than ever like the wretched real thing after his repairs. I sighed and resigned myself to another harrowing chase through the tunnels.
Either Hephaestus's tune-up had made the spider more considerate of our limitations, or it wasn't in a hurry to become the next victim of the automaton disappearances. It skittered along at a more manageable pace this time. We passed a corridor full of stacked carts, wove through a curved, undulating passage, and crawled out from a long, cement-block tunnel into a dirt cave. Roots crept down the walls like creeper vines, some of them dangling in our faces. There was a little offshoot tunnel dug deep into the earth. I would have shot past it had Grover not stumbled to a stop in front of it.
The spider kept on going. I looked over my shoulder. Percy had stopped, too.
'Come on,' I urged them. 'We have to keep moving.'
Grover didn't seem to hear me. His nose was turned to the earthy passage as if the smell of cooking enchiladas was wafting through it. 'This is the way-this is it!'
Percy shone his flashlight down the tunnel. More tree roots curled inside it, thicker than all the others in the cave. 'What way? You mean … to Pan?'
'Don't you smell it?'
Tyson wrinkled his nose. 'Earth. And plants.'
'Yes!' Grover hadn't sounded this excited since last winter, when he'd heard the lost god speak. 'This is the way, I'm sure of it!'
'We'll come back on our way back to Hephaestus,' I assured him.
Grover put his hand on one of the tree roots lining the hole. 'The tunnel will be gone by then. I have to follow it. A door like this won't stay open!'
'But we can't! The forges!'
'I have to, Annabeth. Don't you understand?'
I did, sort of. This was really important to Grover. But … it was also my quest. And the spider wasn't waiting. I could hear its legs tapping on stone up ahead. If we lost it, Hephaestus would never help us find Daedalus.
You can't trust others, Hephaestus's voice repeated in my head.
Percy looked between Grover and me, and came to a decision. 'We'll split up.'
My eyes widened. He couldn't be serious. 'No, that's way too dangerous. How will we ever find each other again? And Grover can't go alone.'
Tyson took a deep breath and gripped Grover's shoulder. 'I will go with him.'
'Tyson, are you sure?' Percy asked.
'Goat boy needs help,' Tyson said resolutely. 'We will find the god person. I am not like Hephaestus. I trust friends.'
I stared guiltily at my shoes. It wasn't them I didn't trust. It was the maze. This was how the tributes in the early days had gotten picked off one by one. The Labyrinth had been designed to create divisions in groups, trick people into turning on each other or leaving their friends behind … leaving them alone to face the dangers within.
There was a hollow, sinking feeling in my chest as I watched Tyson and Grover disappear down the hole of earth and roots. 'This is bad. Splitting up is a really, really bad idea.'
'We'll see them again,' Percy reassured me. 'Now come on. The spider is getting away.'
Carrying on through the tunnels wasn't the same without Grover and Tyson. I'd gotten used to the clop of Grover's hooves (he'd packed away his fake feet so that he could move faster) and Tyson's loud footsteps. I also didn't like that we were about to enter a volcano without Tyson's fireproof presence.
Even Percy's attempt to distract me by asking how my mom had children didn't divert my attention for long. (Seriously, did he really want to know how I'd been born? It had been embarrassing enough talking about it with my mom.) As the walls began to glow red-hot, I thought uneasily of the Oracle and the way she'd shown me Tyson standing among walls of fire. He was supposed to be here. What would happen if he wasn't?
We arrived at Hephaestus's forge at last: an enormous cavern easily ten times the size of the camp forge. It opened right up into a lava pit that gurgled and spat scorching magma. I could tell from the heat that this was the real deal, way stronger than the diluted stuff the cleaning harpies used for our dishes, or even the lava that chased us up the climbing wall. Solid metal bridges criss-crossed over the pit, leading to a central platform with a whole bunch of machines I couldn't even begin to name.
There was a bustle of activity down below. Hephaestus was right-someone was definitely using the forge. We knelt on the ridge and watched them going back and forth on the platform, but we were too far away to discern their features. The problem was, the whole cavern was one big, open space. We were hidden behind an outcrop of rock at the top, but the winding path down the side of the cavern was clearly visible to anyone who looked up.
'We'll never be able to sneak up on them,' Percy said, squinting down from our ridge.
The spider had mercifully shrank back into a disc. I pocketed it and pulled out my invisibility hat. 'I can.' It would only take a minute. 'Wait here.'
Invisible, I clambered down the ridge. I could see Percy peering down after me, though he probably couldn't tell where I was. Offshoots from the main path led deeper into the cavern, but I ignored them and headed straight for the lava lake at the bottom.
It was scorching down by the molten lava. I wished I'd brought along my Medea's SPF 50,000+ sunscreen. A roaring river of magma fed into the lake, its rushing noise so loud, it was like the clattering of an enormous factory. Waves of heat rolled off every surface, making it feel like a hundred-degree sauna. The metal bridges were so hot, the steel was practically burning through the soles of my sneakers. I had to stick my fingers in my jeans pockets to keep from accidentally brushing them against the red-hot railings.
When I reached the platform, I understood how the intruders could withstand the heat. They had rubber hides of some insulating material that resembled tight hazmat suits. Their faces were dog-like, with long, protruding snouts and pointed ears. They had to be demons of some kind, but I couldn't place them. They reminded me of cynocephali-dog-headed men-but their lower halves were only loosely human. And just like Hephaestus had said, there was something older, more ancient, about them.
One of the demons approached the platform, holding two smaller ones by their clawed hands. When they reached the intersection with another bridge, the bigger demon patted the smaller ones on the head. It motioned up the long, upward-sloping bridge that led into a side door in the cavern wall. At the top, another of the demon creatures beckoned.
'Go on, younglings,' said the parent demon. 'Off you go.'
The two younglings shuffled up the bridge on clunky hind legs that had webbed portions sticking out the backs of their feet. They disappeared into the interior of the cavern.
Dad demon continued onto the platform. I flattened myself against a bronze cauldron as he passed, muttering, 'That's the younglings off to school, then.'
He stuck the flipper portion of his foot into a tiny black box at the edge of the platform. It made a little click, like he'd just clocked in for a factory shift.
Three of his colleagues hailed him from further down the platform, where they stood over a conveyor belt. Chunks of jagged metal pieces rolled down it. The worker demons picked them up with tongs and laid them on an iron worktable.
'Finally fusing the metals today?' The new arrival had to yell over the roar of the lava river.
'Aye, at last! Soon our work will be complete, and the blades will be ready for our army's first strike.'
A shiver went up my spine in spite of the pervasive heat. It was just as Hephaestus had suggested. These demons were part of Kronos's army. They were making weapons to supply Luke's forces. The first strike … How long before they marched on camp?
The demons hammered at the metal pieces, drowning out their conversation. I crept in closer.
'… the heat of Typhon shall mould the finest sword of this age!'
One demon inspected his work with grim satisfaction. The metal had been hammered into a thin, flat blade, coppery bright on one side and dark as steel on the other.
'Once the metal is fused, it will be stronger than all the counterfeits of those upstart Cyclopes!'
'I would see this blade pierce the heart of Poseidon himself,' growled another demon. 'Curse him for banishing us.'
An old enemy of Poseidon … equal to the Cyclopes. There was an old myth, from a time before many of the gods …
My thoughts were interrupted by a sight that made my heart stop. Percy was sprinting down one of the bridges to the platform like he had a horde of demons on his tail.
It was a miracle the demons on the platform hadn't noticed him. Engrossed in their work, they didn't even look up once. But the way he was yelling my name, it was only a matter of time before the sound carried over the banging of the forge and the rushing of the lava.
I rushed out and tackled him. 'Shhh! You want to get killed?'
His hand found the back of my neck and tangled in my hair. Then he yanked off my invisibility cap and stepped away.
'Percy, what is your problem?'
'We're going to have company,' he whispered urgently. 'I ran into a monster health class.'
'What?'
'They were-okay, never mind what they were teaching, just-telkhines! That's what's taking over Hephaestus's forges. I heard them talking about making weapons for Kronos, and getting revenge on Poseidon, and-'
The name clicked. 'So that's what they are! Telkhines. I should have known. And they're making … well, look.'
I pointed to the workstation at the centre of the platform. The four telkhines were now hammering in turns at the double-edged blade.
'The blade is almost complete,' one of them gloated. 'It needs another cooling in blood to fuse the metals.'
Another slam of the hammer. 'Aye, it will be even sharper than before.'
'What is that?' Percy said.
'They keep talking about fusing metals.' There was something uncanny about the way the blade shone in the lava light, like a dark, unspeakable magic was woven into the metal. It reminded me of Luke's sword, the wicked half-bronze, half-steel blade that could cut monsters and mortals alike.
Was this how Backbiter had been crafted?
'They were talking about the greatest Titan weapon,' Percy said. 'And they … they said they made my father's trident.'
I remembered the myth now. The telkhines had once been allies of the gods. But they'd betrayed them, used dark magic or something … I couldn't recall what exactly.
'Zeus banished them to Tartarus.'
Percy's eyes widened. 'With Kronos.'
There was something else before that, a way that Poseidon had defeated them …
But there was no point hanging around trying to figure out the details of an old story. We had to get back and report to Hephaestus.
There was a commotion at the top of one of the metal bridges. A door burst open. Dozens of little telkhines trooped out onto the ridge.
Behind us, the four telkhines on the platform stopped hammering. Our hiding place behind the bronze cauldron was out of their direct line of sight, but once the younglings swarmed us, we'd be surrounded.
'Put your cap back on-get out!' Percy said.
'What? No!' He was crazy if he thought I was going to leave him behind.
'I've got a plan,' he insisted. 'I'll distract them.'
'But-'
'You can use the metal spider-maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on.'
'But you'll be killed!' I glanced at the telkhines pouring out onto the ridge above. There had to be at least twenty of them, all armed with mismatched bronze weapons. And who knew how many more were in the cavern tunnels?
Percy drew his sword. 'I'll be fine.' He had a steely glint in his eye. 'Besides, we've got no choice.'
I hoped he did have a plan. If I could, I would have made Percy take the invisibility hat and leave, but I could see that going the same way as our first quest. He'd just come right back.
Our eyes locked. Percy's face was streaked with soot and ash. It was set with the same, fierce determination I'd seen a million times.
Time stopped. My heart thudded against my chest so hard, I was sure it must give our location away. My head was a kaleidoscope of sights and sounds: tunnels, and caverns, and crossroads, and cliffs.
And through it all, Percy. Fighting the Furies on the bus in New Jersey. Flooding out the spiders that swarmed me in Denver. Swimming after me in Siren Bay. Struggling under Atlas's burden on Mount Tam. Winding his fingers through mine in the dark. Screaming my name outside the Sphinx's room.
Janus danced across my vision, identical leering grins on his faces. Choose, Annabeth.
Percy, I thought. I choose Percy.
And I grabbed him by the shirt collar and kissed him right on the mouth.
I never imagined that my first kiss would come in the middle of an insanely dangerous mission, with evil sea demons surrounding us on every side. I mean, could there possibly be a worse moment? I had no idea what I was thinking, grabbing him like that. If I'd had a chance to plan it-and I'm not saying I did plan to kiss Percy … okay, maybe I'd thought about it once or twice-I'd have gone for something more romantic. Like on an actual date.
But I guess this kind of summed up our entire relationship. Percy threw all my plans out of whack. And here I was, pouring every thought in my head into a fierce, heart-pounding kiss: you'd better have a plan; don't you dare die!
I sensed his shock the moment our lips touched. One brief moment of hesitation, and then he was pressing back against my mouth just as fiercely.
It didn't last more than a few seconds, but when we broke apart, my heart was practically hammering through my rib cage. My finger trailed a smudge of soot across his jaw.
'Be careful, Seaweed Brain,' I whispered.
And then I had to let him go.
I darted back up the bridge, invisible, praying he was going to pull something out of his sleeve, the way he always did. I watched him weave among the machinery on the platform, ducking in and out of view of the approaching telkhines.
My bridge passed over the roaring lava river, connecting to a path that led into the heart of the cavern. A cart lay overturned in the corridor, its contents spilling out over the floor. I pushed the button on Hephaestus's metal disc and it popped back into spider form. For once, I barely even noticed its creepy arachnid legs. My mind was still on Percy, dodging telkhines on the platform.
What was it that Poseidon had done to vanquish them in the first war? The answer was just out of my mind's grasp.
The metal spider scooted down the corridor. It ended in two doors, one made of stone, with a heavy handle. The other was like the door to Hephaestus's workshop: thick metal with a wheel in the centre. Above the wheel, a bluish light glowed through a hatch portal.
'Which way?' I asked the spider.
It bounced between the two doors, as though waiting for me to choose.
I looked more closely at the metal door. Large block letters were etched into it just under the portal: DANGER: ICE CAVES!
And under that, in smaller print that made my eyes swim trying to decipher the words, Manual activation not recommended. Ensure flood evacuation protocol before opening. Hephaestus is not responsible for drowning or other related deaths.
My vision opened up. I saw walls of fire sweeping up around me, solidifying into black ice, melting into a flood of churning rapids. Telkhines floundered and gasped as they sank beneath the water's surface. That was how they'd been overcome in the first Titan war: their salty island drowned by Poseidon in a devastating freshwater flood. As sea demons, they couldn't cope with the desalination.
A snatch of the Nature Channel programme Grover and I had been listening to on Geryon's ranch nudged its way to my mind's surface.
Mount St Helens had a glacial crater.
The puzzle piece locked into place. I knew what I had to do.
The tiny warning on the door blinked at me. Hephaestus is not responsible for drowning …
If I released the ice, I'd be caught in the flood as well. And I wasn't Percy. I couldn't breathe underwater. He would survive a watery deluge, but me …
I could run, take the other door and follow the spider back to Hephaestus. I could hope Percy would make it out himself. That was the logical choice. Our task was to get in, scout the forge, and report back.
'Choose, Annabeth!'
I thought it was just a vision at first, but no-there he was, standing between the two doors, both faces grinning widely. I remembered what he'd said on our first meeting: One probably leads the way you wish to go; The other leads to certain death.
It wasn't too hard to figure out which door was which. I just hadn't expected this to be the choice I was handed.
Janus tossed his silver key from hand to hand. 'I knew a girl like you once, you know,' he said conversationally. 'She had a choice to make as well.'
I hesitated. Then I heard a scream from the lava pit behind me.
Percy.
I thought of the way he'd agreed to come on this quest. No hesitation, so ready to stick by my side. The reassuring squeeze of his hand around my fingers. My head against his shoulder, watching the sunrise on Geryon's ranch.
Tears obscured my vision, turning Janus into a blur.
Percy had always been there for me.
Not this time. This time, I was going to save him.
The child of Athena's final stand.
The ghost of our first and last kiss trembled on my lips. I was glad I'd done it.
'Percy,' I told Janus. 'I choose Percy!'
And I wrenched open the door to the ice caves.
Chapter 17
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 Open A Forbidden Door
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Grover Underwood, Tyson, Hephaestus
Word Count: 4,997
Chapter Summary: Hephaestus sends Annabeth and Percy on an errand … which may prove fatal for one of them.
Notes: The references to Annabeth's previous meeting with Hephaestus come from my earlier story, Necklace of Harmonia.
On Mount St Helens … this scene has been in the making for a long time, ever since I found out that it has an actual crater glacier. The extended myth about the telkhines is quite vague, with accounts that they either died by flood, thunderbolt, trident, or Apollo-as-a-wolf. I've gone with a merging of Poseidon and the flood, for plot purposes naturally.
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The good news was, we'd escaped the Sphinx. The bad news: we'd lost our mechanical guide. Grover tried to play a tracking song, but it reverberated in the tunnel, making it impossible for his melody to locate the trail. It was only thanks to Tyson and his superhuman hearing that we finally picked up a rhythmic clanging noise.
We followed it to a metal door. The mechanical insect was dangling from a thread (I shuddered), making a loud plink every time it swung into the door.
'I guess this is it,' I said.
It looked like the entrance to an underground bunker, or a high-security vault: thick, solid, and wheel-operated. Hephaestus's Êta was etched into the metal.
'Ready to meet Hephaestus?' Grover asked.
'No,' Percy said.
Tyson grabbed the bunker wheel. 'Yes!'
The door slid open with a groan of shifting metal (it could have done with some serious oiling). We found ourselves in the largest room yet. It was sectioned into a dozen workspaces, each with its own table and drafting board. Some sections had projects as big as Mack trucks sitting on hydraulic lifts next to the table; others were smaller and cluttered with tools and little metal pieces-screws and springs and the like. On a corkboard over one table hung a jewel-embedded gold necklace. The sight of it sent shivers up my spine. I hoped Hephaestus had kept his promise and removed the curse on it.
A forge fire burnt merrily in the corner, stoked by a weird contraption. It looked like a robot, but had only one long, thin poker arm that reached in and out of the fire. Several bronze weapons were cooling in the slack tub by the fire, which was supplied by a thin, U-shaped pipe that sucked water in from the dirt ceiling.
I blinked. It was my pipe-the one I'd made as an assignment from Hephaestus last spring. We must be under the junkyard of the gods.
A rhythmic banging came from one of the workstations. This one had an ancient blue car jacked up on a hydraulic stand. It took me a moment to realise that the metal brace sticking out from under the car at a weird angle wasn't part of the machinery. It was connected to a massive leg.
Its owner emerged from under the vehicle, lying on a trolley. 'Well, well, what have we here?'
Last spring, I'd negotiated with an automated proxy for Hephaestus, a burly work-robot called Hephaeston. The god himself was a warped, twisted version of his self-insert automaton. Or maybe it was the robot who was the cleaned-up, fully-functional version of the real thing. Hephaestus looked like he'd been moulded by someone who didn't know what humans were supposed to look like. Most gods usually chose to take whatever appearance they wanted, but either Hephaestus was the exception to the rule, or he just didn't give a crap what he looked like.
The little metal insect scurried into Hephaestus's hands. He sat up. With lumpy fingers that couldn't possibly move as quickly and deftly as they did, he reassembled the disc.
I cringed. The new version looked so much more spider-like that it was impossible to pretend otherwise.
Hephaestus scrutinised us. His eyes were uneven, one wider than the other. 'I didn't make you, did I?'
'Er …' Did he recognise me? Granted, we'd only spoken through a video link on Hephaeston's smock. 'No, sir.'
Hephaestus examined us with the expert gaze of a master craftsman. 'Good,' he said at last. 'Shoddy workmanship.'
Percy and I exchanged nervous looks.
Hephaestus muttered under his breath a lot as he sized us up, still acting like we were some of his machines. He didn't seem convinced that we were real humans, even after Percy assured him that we'd met before. He appreciated Tyson more, which had to be a first for the big guy. It usually took a while before people got comfortable with a Cyclops. No wonder he'd been keen to meet Hephaestus.
'There'd better be a good reason you're disturbing me,' Hephaestus said. He motioned to the car on the hydraulic stand. 'The suspension on this Corolla is no small matter, you know.'
'Sir, we're looking for Daedalus,' I said quickly 'We thought-'
He cut me off with a bellow that shook the ceiling of the workshop. 'Daedalus? You want that old scoundrel? You dare to seek him out?'
Flames erupted from his bushy beard. Belatedly, I remembered that Hephaestus was also the god of fire. I swallowed. 'Yes, sir, please.'
Hephaestus harrumphed under his breath. He started fiddling with the scattered metal fasteners on his worktable. Like his son Beckendorf, he didn't seem comfortable unless his hands were busy.
'You're wasting your time,' he told us as he shaped a metal falcon from the bits and bobs on his table. It actually took off from his hands and did a lap around the room, to Tyson's delight.
Tyson's enthusiasm seemed to appease Hephaestus. He regarded Tyson more genially. 'I sense you have something to tell me, Cyclops.'
Tyson gazed at Hephaestus in wonder. His voice wobbled as he told the god about our encounter with Briares. I guess the disappointment of losing his hero still bugged him.
'There was a time when I admired the Hundred-handed Ones,' Hephaestus said. 'Back in the days of the first war. But people, monsters, even gods change, young Cyclops.' He fixed his eyes on Tyson, but I got the sense he was addressing me, too. 'You can't trust 'em. Look at my loving mother, Hera. You met her, didn't you? She'll smile to your face and talk about how important family is, eh?' His expression darkened. 'Didn't stop her from pitching me off Mount Olympus when she saw my ugly face.'
Percy frowned. 'But I thought Zeus did that to you.'
'Mother likes telling that version of the story.' Hephaestus hawked an impressive glob of spit into a nearby pot. 'Makes her seem more likeable, doesn't it? Blaming it all on my dad. The truth is, my mother likes families, but she likes a certain kind of family. Perfect families. She took one look at me and … well, I don't fit the image, do I?'
In my mind's eye, a seven-year-old girl turned back for a last look at her home before she ran away. Her family was inside the house: two parents, two kids-a perfect family, with no weird stuff to trouble them.
Even though I got along much better with my family now, the sting of feeling like a blemish on their lives didn't fade that easily.
When Hephaestus said, 'You can't trust others; all you can trust is the work of your own hands,' I couldn't help feeling a strange kinship with this unusual god.
Percy made a soft, disgruntled noise in the back of his throat. For some reason, I thought of his readiness to accompany me on this quest, despite his misgivings. I touched the grey streak that ran through my ponytail, the twin to the one in his hair.
Hephaestus grunted, reading Percy's expression. 'Oh, this one doesn't like me. No worries, I'm used to that.' He scratched under his arm. 'What would you ask of me, little demigod?'
'We told you.' Percy explained our quest and the urgency of our mission to find Daedalus.
'I told you, boy, looking for Daedalus is a waste of time. He won't help you.'
'Why not?' Percy demanded.
Hephaestus considered this for a while. 'Some of us get thrown off mountainsides,' he said. 'Some of us … the way we learn not to trust people is even more painful.'
My shoulders ached like the strain of the sky's weight had fallen on them again. I swallowed hard.
Percy caught my eye. The weight lifted.
'Ask me for gold,' said Hephaestus. 'Or a flaming sword. Or a magical steed. These I can grant you easily. But a way to Daedalus? That's an expensive favour.'
I noticed he didn't say it was impossible. 'So you know where he is.'
'It isn't wise to go looking, girl,' he warned.
'My mother says looking is the nature of wisdom.'
Hephaestus's dark eyes were like X-rays. 'Who's your mother, then?'
I told him.
'Figures. Fine goddess, Athena. A shame she pledged never to marry.' But the mention of my mother seemed to do the trick. 'All right, half-blood,' he said. 'I can tell you what you want to know. But there is a price. I need a favour done.'
I didn't hesitate. 'Name it.'
I figured it might be something like the last task I'd completed for him-creating a tool, or maybe fixing a machine. But Hephaestus brought up a LCD screen. I thought it was playing the Nature Channel at first, like on Geryon's ranch. The screen panned out on a snow-capped mountain with smoke curling from its peak. From the coniferous trees lining the slopes, I guessed it was somewhere in the Pacific Northwest.
'One of my forges,' Hephaestus explained. 'I have many, but that used to be my favourite.'
Grover peered at the screen. 'That's Mount St Helens.'
'Wait-you said it used to be your favourite.' I frowned at the mountain. 'What happened?'
'Well, that's where the monster Typhon is trapped,' Hephaestus said. 'You know, used to be under Mount Etna, but when we moved to America, his force got pinned under Mount St Helens instead.' He rubbed his beard thoughtfully. 'Great source of fire, but a bit dangerous. There's always a chance he will escape. Lots of eruptions these days, smouldering all the time. He's restless with the Titan rebellion.'
I wasn't sure I liked where Hephaestus was going with this. I didn't think Typhon had come in on the gods' side in the last war.
Percy voiced what I was thinking: 'What do you want us to do? Fight him?'
Fortunately, that wasn't the favour. I quite agreed with Hephaestus that that would have been a suicide mission. But the one he set for us wasn't much better. He explained that he'd been sensing intruders on the mountain, enemies who hid when he went to check them out himself, but whose evil, ancient presence lingered. None of his automaton scouts had come back to report.
'You want us to find out who it is,' Percy summarised.
'Aye. Go there.' Hephaestus furrowed his brow. 'They may not sense you coming. You are not gods. Go and find out what you can. Report back to me … and I will tell you what you need to know about Daedalus.'
An enemy that the god himself described as ancient and evil. One that had disabled all his automatons. This would be an incredibly dangerous spy mission. But we didn't have much of a choice. Not if we wanted answers about Daedalus.
I squared my shoulders. 'All right. How do we get there?'
Hephaestus threw down the spider automaton-which looked more than ever like the wretched real thing after his repairs. I sighed and resigned myself to another harrowing chase through the tunnels.
Either Hephaestus's tune-up had made the spider more considerate of our limitations, or it wasn't in a hurry to become the next victim of the automaton disappearances. It skittered along at a more manageable pace this time. We passed a corridor full of stacked carts, wove through a curved, undulating passage, and crawled out from a long, cement-block tunnel into a dirt cave. Roots crept down the walls like creeper vines, some of them dangling in our faces. There was a little offshoot tunnel dug deep into the earth. I would have shot past it had Grover not stumbled to a stop in front of it.
The spider kept on going. I looked over my shoulder. Percy had stopped, too.
'Come on,' I urged them. 'We have to keep moving.'
Grover didn't seem to hear me. His nose was turned to the earthy passage as if the smell of cooking enchiladas was wafting through it. 'This is the way-this is it!'
Percy shone his flashlight down the tunnel. More tree roots curled inside it, thicker than all the others in the cave. 'What way? You mean … to Pan?'
'Don't you smell it?'
Tyson wrinkled his nose. 'Earth. And plants.'
'Yes!' Grover hadn't sounded this excited since last winter, when he'd heard the lost god speak. 'This is the way, I'm sure of it!'
'We'll come back on our way back to Hephaestus,' I assured him.
Grover put his hand on one of the tree roots lining the hole. 'The tunnel will be gone by then. I have to follow it. A door like this won't stay open!'
'But we can't! The forges!'
'I have to, Annabeth. Don't you understand?'
I did, sort of. This was really important to Grover. But … it was also my quest. And the spider wasn't waiting. I could hear its legs tapping on stone up ahead. If we lost it, Hephaestus would never help us find Daedalus.
You can't trust others, Hephaestus's voice repeated in my head.
Percy looked between Grover and me, and came to a decision. 'We'll split up.'
My eyes widened. He couldn't be serious. 'No, that's way too dangerous. How will we ever find each other again? And Grover can't go alone.'
Tyson took a deep breath and gripped Grover's shoulder. 'I will go with him.'
'Tyson, are you sure?' Percy asked.
'Goat boy needs help,' Tyson said resolutely. 'We will find the god person. I am not like Hephaestus. I trust friends.'
I stared guiltily at my shoes. It wasn't them I didn't trust. It was the maze. This was how the tributes in the early days had gotten picked off one by one. The Labyrinth had been designed to create divisions in groups, trick people into turning on each other or leaving their friends behind … leaving them alone to face the dangers within.
There was a hollow, sinking feeling in my chest as I watched Tyson and Grover disappear down the hole of earth and roots. 'This is bad. Splitting up is a really, really bad idea.'
'We'll see them again,' Percy reassured me. 'Now come on. The spider is getting away.'
Carrying on through the tunnels wasn't the same without Grover and Tyson. I'd gotten used to the clop of Grover's hooves (he'd packed away his fake feet so that he could move faster) and Tyson's loud footsteps. I also didn't like that we were about to enter a volcano without Tyson's fireproof presence.
Even Percy's attempt to distract me by asking how my mom had children didn't divert my attention for long. (Seriously, did he really want to know how I'd been born? It had been embarrassing enough talking about it with my mom.) As the walls began to glow red-hot, I thought uneasily of the Oracle and the way she'd shown me Tyson standing among walls of fire. He was supposed to be here. What would happen if he wasn't?
We arrived at Hephaestus's forge at last: an enormous cavern easily ten times the size of the camp forge. It opened right up into a lava pit that gurgled and spat scorching magma. I could tell from the heat that this was the real deal, way stronger than the diluted stuff the cleaning harpies used for our dishes, or even the lava that chased us up the climbing wall. Solid metal bridges criss-crossed over the pit, leading to a central platform with a whole bunch of machines I couldn't even begin to name.
There was a bustle of activity down below. Hephaestus was right-someone was definitely using the forge. We knelt on the ridge and watched them going back and forth on the platform, but we were too far away to discern their features. The problem was, the whole cavern was one big, open space. We were hidden behind an outcrop of rock at the top, but the winding path down the side of the cavern was clearly visible to anyone who looked up.
'We'll never be able to sneak up on them,' Percy said, squinting down from our ridge.
The spider had mercifully shrank back into a disc. I pocketed it and pulled out my invisibility hat. 'I can.' It would only take a minute. 'Wait here.'
Invisible, I clambered down the ridge. I could see Percy peering down after me, though he probably couldn't tell where I was. Offshoots from the main path led deeper into the cavern, but I ignored them and headed straight for the lava lake at the bottom.
It was scorching down by the molten lava. I wished I'd brought along my Medea's SPF 50,000+ sunscreen. A roaring river of magma fed into the lake, its rushing noise so loud, it was like the clattering of an enormous factory. Waves of heat rolled off every surface, making it feel like a hundred-degree sauna. The metal bridges were so hot, the steel was practically burning through the soles of my sneakers. I had to stick my fingers in my jeans pockets to keep from accidentally brushing them against the red-hot railings.
When I reached the platform, I understood how the intruders could withstand the heat. They had rubber hides of some insulating material that resembled tight hazmat suits. Their faces were dog-like, with long, protruding snouts and pointed ears. They had to be demons of some kind, but I couldn't place them. They reminded me of cynocephali-dog-headed men-but their lower halves were only loosely human. And just like Hephaestus had said, there was something older, more ancient, about them.
One of the demons approached the platform, holding two smaller ones by their clawed hands. When they reached the intersection with another bridge, the bigger demon patted the smaller ones on the head. It motioned up the long, upward-sloping bridge that led into a side door in the cavern wall. At the top, another of the demon creatures beckoned.
'Go on, younglings,' said the parent demon. 'Off you go.'
The two younglings shuffled up the bridge on clunky hind legs that had webbed portions sticking out the backs of their feet. They disappeared into the interior of the cavern.
Dad demon continued onto the platform. I flattened myself against a bronze cauldron as he passed, muttering, 'That's the younglings off to school, then.'
He stuck the flipper portion of his foot into a tiny black box at the edge of the platform. It made a little click, like he'd just clocked in for a factory shift.
Three of his colleagues hailed him from further down the platform, where they stood over a conveyor belt. Chunks of jagged metal pieces rolled down it. The worker demons picked them up with tongs and laid them on an iron worktable.
'Finally fusing the metals today?' The new arrival had to yell over the roar of the lava river.
'Aye, at last! Soon our work will be complete, and the blades will be ready for our army's first strike.'
A shiver went up my spine in spite of the pervasive heat. It was just as Hephaestus had suggested. These demons were part of Kronos's army. They were making weapons to supply Luke's forces. The first strike … How long before they marched on camp?
The demons hammered at the metal pieces, drowning out their conversation. I crept in closer.
'… the heat of Typhon shall mould the finest sword of this age!'
One demon inspected his work with grim satisfaction. The metal had been hammered into a thin, flat blade, coppery bright on one side and dark as steel on the other.
'Once the metal is fused, it will be stronger than all the counterfeits of those upstart Cyclopes!'
'I would see this blade pierce the heart of Poseidon himself,' growled another demon. 'Curse him for banishing us.'
An old enemy of Poseidon … equal to the Cyclopes. There was an old myth, from a time before many of the gods …
My thoughts were interrupted by a sight that made my heart stop. Percy was sprinting down one of the bridges to the platform like he had a horde of demons on his tail.
It was a miracle the demons on the platform hadn't noticed him. Engrossed in their work, they didn't even look up once. But the way he was yelling my name, it was only a matter of time before the sound carried over the banging of the forge and the rushing of the lava.
I rushed out and tackled him. 'Shhh! You want to get killed?'
His hand found the back of my neck and tangled in my hair. Then he yanked off my invisibility cap and stepped away.
'Percy, what is your problem?'
'We're going to have company,' he whispered urgently. 'I ran into a monster health class.'
'What?'
'They were-okay, never mind what they were teaching, just-telkhines! That's what's taking over Hephaestus's forges. I heard them talking about making weapons for Kronos, and getting revenge on Poseidon, and-'
The name clicked. 'So that's what they are! Telkhines. I should have known. And they're making … well, look.'
I pointed to the workstation at the centre of the platform. The four telkhines were now hammering in turns at the double-edged blade.
'The blade is almost complete,' one of them gloated. 'It needs another cooling in blood to fuse the metals.'
Another slam of the hammer. 'Aye, it will be even sharper than before.'
'What is that?' Percy said.
'They keep talking about fusing metals.' There was something uncanny about the way the blade shone in the lava light, like a dark, unspeakable magic was woven into the metal. It reminded me of Luke's sword, the wicked half-bronze, half-steel blade that could cut monsters and mortals alike.
Was this how Backbiter had been crafted?
'They were talking about the greatest Titan weapon,' Percy said. 'And they … they said they made my father's trident.'
I remembered the myth now. The telkhines had once been allies of the gods. But they'd betrayed them, used dark magic or something … I couldn't recall what exactly.
'Zeus banished them to Tartarus.'
Percy's eyes widened. 'With Kronos.'
There was something else before that, a way that Poseidon had defeated them …
But there was no point hanging around trying to figure out the details of an old story. We had to get back and report to Hephaestus.
There was a commotion at the top of one of the metal bridges. A door burst open. Dozens of little telkhines trooped out onto the ridge.
Behind us, the four telkhines on the platform stopped hammering. Our hiding place behind the bronze cauldron was out of their direct line of sight, but once the younglings swarmed us, we'd be surrounded.
'Put your cap back on-get out!' Percy said.
'What? No!' He was crazy if he thought I was going to leave him behind.
'I've got a plan,' he insisted. 'I'll distract them.'
'But-'
'You can use the metal spider-maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on.'
'But you'll be killed!' I glanced at the telkhines pouring out onto the ridge above. There had to be at least twenty of them, all armed with mismatched bronze weapons. And who knew how many more were in the cavern tunnels?
Percy drew his sword. 'I'll be fine.' He had a steely glint in his eye. 'Besides, we've got no choice.'
I hoped he did have a plan. If I could, I would have made Percy take the invisibility hat and leave, but I could see that going the same way as our first quest. He'd just come right back.
Our eyes locked. Percy's face was streaked with soot and ash. It was set with the same, fierce determination I'd seen a million times.
Time stopped. My heart thudded against my chest so hard, I was sure it must give our location away. My head was a kaleidoscope of sights and sounds: tunnels, and caverns, and crossroads, and cliffs.
And through it all, Percy. Fighting the Furies on the bus in New Jersey. Flooding out the spiders that swarmed me in Denver. Swimming after me in Siren Bay. Struggling under Atlas's burden on Mount Tam. Winding his fingers through mine in the dark. Screaming my name outside the Sphinx's room.
Janus danced across my vision, identical leering grins on his faces. Choose, Annabeth.
Percy, I thought. I choose Percy.
And I grabbed him by the shirt collar and kissed him right on the mouth.
I never imagined that my first kiss would come in the middle of an insanely dangerous mission, with evil sea demons surrounding us on every side. I mean, could there possibly be a worse moment? I had no idea what I was thinking, grabbing him like that. If I'd had a chance to plan it-and I'm not saying I did plan to kiss Percy … okay, maybe I'd thought about it once or twice-I'd have gone for something more romantic. Like on an actual date.
But I guess this kind of summed up our entire relationship. Percy threw all my plans out of whack. And here I was, pouring every thought in my head into a fierce, heart-pounding kiss: you'd better have a plan; don't you dare die!
I sensed his shock the moment our lips touched. One brief moment of hesitation, and then he was pressing back against my mouth just as fiercely.
It didn't last more than a few seconds, but when we broke apart, my heart was practically hammering through my rib cage. My finger trailed a smudge of soot across his jaw.
'Be careful, Seaweed Brain,' I whispered.
And then I had to let him go.
I darted back up the bridge, invisible, praying he was going to pull something out of his sleeve, the way he always did. I watched him weave among the machinery on the platform, ducking in and out of view of the approaching telkhines.
My bridge passed over the roaring lava river, connecting to a path that led into the heart of the cavern. A cart lay overturned in the corridor, its contents spilling out over the floor. I pushed the button on Hephaestus's metal disc and it popped back into spider form. For once, I barely even noticed its creepy arachnid legs. My mind was still on Percy, dodging telkhines on the platform.
What was it that Poseidon had done to vanquish them in the first war? The answer was just out of my mind's grasp.
The metal spider scooted down the corridor. It ended in two doors, one made of stone, with a heavy handle. The other was like the door to Hephaestus's workshop: thick metal with a wheel in the centre. Above the wheel, a bluish light glowed through a hatch portal.
'Which way?' I asked the spider.
It bounced between the two doors, as though waiting for me to choose.
I looked more closely at the metal door. Large block letters were etched into it just under the portal: DANGER: ICE CAVES!
And under that, in smaller print that made my eyes swim trying to decipher the words, Manual activation not recommended. Ensure flood evacuation protocol before opening. Hephaestus is not responsible for drowning or other related deaths.
My vision opened up. I saw walls of fire sweeping up around me, solidifying into black ice, melting into a flood of churning rapids. Telkhines floundered and gasped as they sank beneath the water's surface. That was how they'd been overcome in the first Titan war: their salty island drowned by Poseidon in a devastating freshwater flood. As sea demons, they couldn't cope with the desalination.
A snatch of the Nature Channel programme Grover and I had been listening to on Geryon's ranch nudged its way to my mind's surface.
Mount St Helens had a glacial crater.
The puzzle piece locked into place. I knew what I had to do.
The tiny warning on the door blinked at me. Hephaestus is not responsible for drowning …
If I released the ice, I'd be caught in the flood as well. And I wasn't Percy. I couldn't breathe underwater. He would survive a watery deluge, but me …
I could run, take the other door and follow the spider back to Hephaestus. I could hope Percy would make it out himself. That was the logical choice. Our task was to get in, scout the forge, and report back.
'Choose, Annabeth!'
I thought it was just a vision at first, but no-there he was, standing between the two doors, both faces grinning widely. I remembered what he'd said on our first meeting: One probably leads the way you wish to go; The other leads to certain death.
It wasn't too hard to figure out which door was which. I just hadn't expected this to be the choice I was handed.
Janus tossed his silver key from hand to hand. 'I knew a girl like you once, you know,' he said conversationally. 'She had a choice to make as well.'
I hesitated. Then I heard a scream from the lava pit behind me.
Percy.
I thought of the way he'd agreed to come on this quest. No hesitation, so ready to stick by my side. The reassuring squeeze of his hand around my fingers. My head against his shoulder, watching the sunrise on Geryon's ranch.
Tears obscured my vision, turning Janus into a blur.
Percy had always been there for me.
Not this time. This time, I was going to save him.
The child of Athena's final stand.
The ghost of our first and last kiss trembled on my lips. I was glad I'd done it.
'Percy,' I told Janus. 'I choose Percy!'
And I wrenched open the door to the ice caves.
Chapter 17