──── chapter eight

{ 🔮 }  · endora doesn't know which god she likes more . ݁ ٬٬ ࣪

IF ENDORA HAD TO say what her biggest fear was, she wouldn't be able to answer you. And that wasn't because she was not afraid of anything, but she didn't really know. Many things scared her, she wasn't afraid to say it, but she didn't know what she feared the most.

For now.

"Nico, you could come with us," Percy blurted out. Endora raised her eyebrow, but she agreed. Even if the boy was a capable demigod, just the thought of leaving him alone made her both uncomfortable and guilty.

Nico shook his head. Endora suspected that none of them had slept well in the demon ranch house, but Nico looked worse than anybody else. His eyes were red and his face chalky. He was wrapped in a black robe that must've belonged to Geryon, because it was three sizes too big even for a grown man.

"I need time to think." his eyes wouldn't meet neither Percy's nor Endora's, but the girl could tell from his tone he was still angry. The fact that his sister had come out of the Underworld for them and not for him didn't seem to sit well with him.

"Nico," Endora said. "Bianca just wants you to be okay." she put her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off and trudged up the road toward the ranch house. Maybe it was her imagination, but the morning mist seemed to cling to him as he walked.

"I'm worried about him," Annabeth told them. "If he starts talking to Minos's ghost again ─ " 

"He'll be al right," Eurytion promised. The cowherd had cleaned up nicely. He was wearing new jeans and a clean Western shirt and he'd even trimmed his beard. He'd put on Geryon's boots. "The boy can stay here and gather his thoughts as long as he wants. He'll be safe, I promise." 

"What about you?" Percy asked.

Eurytion scratched Orthus behind one chin, then the other. "Things are going to be run a little different on this ranch from now on. No more sacred cattle meat. I'm thinking about soybean patties. And I'm going to befriend those flesh-eating horses. Might just sign up for the next rodeo."

Percy nodded, "Well, good luck."

"Yep." Eurytion spit into the grass. "I reckon you'll be looking for Daedalus's workshop now?" 

Annabeth's eyes lit up. "Can you help us?"

Eurytion studied the cattle guard, and Endora got the feeling the subject of Daedalus's workshop made him uncomfortable. "Don't know where it is. But Hephaestus probably would." 

"That's what Hera said," Annabeth agreed. "But how do we find Hephaestus?"

Eurytion pulled something from under the collar of his shirt. It was a necklace ─ a smooth silver disk on a silver chain. The disk had a depression on the middle, like a thumbprint. He handed it to Annabeth.

"Hephaestus comes here from time to time," Eurytion said. "Studies the animals and such so he can make bronze automaton copies. Last time, I ─ uh ─ did him a favor. A little trick he wanted to play on my dad, Ares, and Aphrodite. He gave me that chain in gratitude. Said if I ever needed to find him, the disk would lead me to his forges. But only once."

"And you're giving it to me?" Annabeth asked. 

Eurytion blushed. "I don't need to see the forges, miss. Got enough to do here. Just press the button and you'll be on your way."

Annabeth pressed the button and the disk sprang to life. It grew eightmetallic legs. Annabeth shrieked and dropped it, much to Eurytion'sconfusion.

"Spider!" she screamed, hiding behind Endora and using the girl as a human shield.

"She's, um, a little scared of spiders," Grover explained. "That old grudge between Athena and Arachne."

"Oh." Eurytion looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry, miss."

The spider scrambled to the cattle guard and disappeared between the bars.

"Hurry," Percy said. "That thing's not going to wait for us."

Annabeth didn't seem anxious to follow, but they didn't have much choice. Th group said their good-byes to Eurytion, Tyson pulled the cattle guard off the hole, and they dropped back into the maze.  

Endora wish she could've put the mechanical spider on a leash. It scuttled along the tunnels so fast, most of time the girl couldn't even see it. If it hadn't been for Tyson's and Grover's excellent hearing, they never would've known which way it was going. 

The group ran down a marble tunnel, then dashed to the left and almost fell into an abyss. Tyson grabbed Percy and hauled him back before the boy could fall. The tunnel continued in front of us, but there was no floor for about a hundred feet, just gaping darkness and a series of iron rungs in the ceiling. The mechanical spider was about halfway across, swinging from bar to bar by shooting out metal web fiber.

"Monkey bars," Annabeth said. "I'm great at these."

She leaped onto the first rung and started swinging her way across. She was scared of tiny spiders, but not of plummeting to her death from a set of monkey bars. Go figure. Annabeth got to the opposite side and ran after the spider. Percy followed. When he got across, Tyson gave Grover a piggyback ride ( or was it a goatyback ride? ). The big guy made it across in three swings, which was a good thing since, just as he landed, the last iron bar ripped freeunder his weight.

"Shit! How is Endy gonna ─ "

Endora didn't even let him finish his sentence as she snapped her fingers and disappeared from the spot where she was. With a blink of an eye, Endora stood next to Percy with her arms crossed over her chest. She raised an eyebrow at his expression ─ mouth opened in amazement. The girl let out a laugh and closed his mouth with her hand; her burning touch lingering on Percy's skin.

"I'm a witch, dumbass," she smirked, "Did you forget?"

They kept moving and passed a skeleton crumpled in the tunnel. It work there mains of a dress shirt, slacks, and a tie. The spider didn't slow down. Percy slipped on a pile of wood scraps, but when Endora brought the blue fire towards them she realized they were pencils ─ hundreds of them, all broken in half.

The tunnel opened up onto a large room. A blazing light hit them. Once her eyes adjusted, the first thing Endora noticed were the skeletons. Dozens littered the floor around the group. Some were old and bleached white. Others were more recent and a lot grosser. They didn't smell quite as bad as Geryon's stables, but almost. 

Then the girl saw the monster. She stood on a glittery dais on the opposite side of the room. She had the body of a huge lion and the head of a woman. She would've been pretty, but her hair was tied back in a tight bun and she wore a bit too much makeup. She had a blue ribbon badge pinned to her chest that took the girl a moment to read: THIS MONSTER HAS BEEN RATED EXEMPLARY!

Tyson whimpered. "Sphinx." 

Annabeth started forward, but the Sphinx roared, showing fangs in her otherwise human face. Bars came down on both tunnel exits, behind them and in front. Immediately the monster's snarl turned into a brilliant smile.

"Welcome, lucky contestants!" she announced. "Get ready to play. . . ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!" 

Canned applause blasted from the ceiling, as if there were invisible loudspeakers. Spotlights swept across the room and reflected off the dais, throwing disco glitter over the skeletons on the floor.

"Fabulous prizes!" the Sphinx said. "Pass the test, and you get to advance! Fail, and I get to eat you! Who will be our contestant?"

Annabeth looked at her two friends. "I've got this," she whispered. "I know what she's going to ask."

Endora didn't argue too hard. She didn't want Annabeth getting devoured by a monster, but she figured if the Sphinx was going to ask riddles, Annabeth was the best one of them to try. Daughter of Athena stepped forward to the contestant's podium, which had a skeleton in a school uniform hunched over it. She pushed the skeleton out of the way, and it clattered to the floor.

"Sorry," Annabeth told it.

"Welcome, Annabeth Chase!" the monster cried, though Annabeth hadn't said her name. "Are you ready for your test?"

"Yes," she said. "Ask your riddle."

"Twenty riddles, actually!" the Sphinx said gleefully.

"What? But back in the old days ─ "

"Oh, we've raised our standards! To pass, you must show proficiency in all twenty. Isn't that great?"

Applause switched on and off like somebody turning a faucet. Annabeth glanced at them nervously. Percy gave her an encouraging nod and Endora sent her a smile.

"Okay," she told the Sphinx. "I'm ready."

A drumroll sounded from above. The Sphinx's eyes glittered withexcitement. "What. . . is the capital of Bulgaria?"

Annabeth frowned. "Sofia," she said, "but ─ " 

"Correct!" more canned applause. The Sphinx smiled so widely her fangs showed. "Please be sure to mark your answer clearly on your test sheet with a number 2 pencil."

"What?" Annabeth looked mystified. Then a test booklet appeared on the podium in front of her, along with a sharpened pencil.

"Make sure you bubble each answer clearly and stay inside the circle," the Sphinx said. "If you have to erase, erase completely or the machine will not be able to read your answers."

"What machine?" Annabeth asked.

The Sphinx pointed with her paw. Over by the spotlight was a bronze box with a bunch of gears and levers and a big Greek letter Ȇta on the side, the mark of Hephaestus.

"Now," said the Sphinx, "next question ─ "

"Wait a second," Annabeth protested. "What about 'What walks on four legs in the morning'?"

"I beg your pardon?" the Sphinx said, clearly annoyed now.

"The riddle about the man. He walks on four legs in the morning, like a baby, two legs in the afternoon, like an adult, and three legs in the evening, as an old man with a cane. That's the riddle you used to ask."

"Exactly why we changed the test!" the Sphinx exclaimed. "You already knew the answer. Now second question, what is the square root of sixteen?"

"Four," Annabeth said, "but ─ "

"Correct! Which U.S. president signed the Emancipation Proclamation?"

"Abraham Lincoln, but ─ "

"Correct! Riddle number four. How much ─ "

"Hold up!" Annabeth shouted. 

Endora wanted to tell her to stop complaining. She was doing great! She should just answer the questions so they could leave. Curse her and her fatal flaw.

"These aren't riddles," Annabeth said.

"What do you mean?" the sphinx snapped. "Of course they are. This test material is specially designed ─ "

"It's just a bunch of dumb, random facts," Annabeth insisted. "Riddles are supposed to make you think."

"Think?" The Sphinx frowned. "How am I supposed to test whether you can think? That's ridiculous! Now, how much force is required ─ "

"Stop!" Annabeth insisted. "This is a stupid test."

"Um, Annabeth," Grover cut in nervously. "Maybe you should just, you know, finish first and complain later?"

"I'm a child of Athena," she insisted. "And this is an insult to my intelligence. I won't answer these questions."

Endora really wanted to be proud of her best friend for standing up for herself, but, in this moment and situation, she really wanted to yell at her for letting her pride get the best out of her.

The spotlights glared. The Sphinx's eyes glittered pure black. "Why then, my dear," the monster said calmly. "If you won't pass, you fail. And since we can't allow any children to be held back, you'll be EATEN!"

The Sphinx bared her claws, which gleamed like stainless steel. She pounced at the podium. 

"No!" Tyson charged. He hates it when people threaten Annabeth, Endora or Percy.

He tackled the Sphinx in midair and they crashed sideways into a pile of bones. This gave Annabeth just enough time to gather her wits and draw her knife. Tyson got up, his shirt clawed to shreds. The Sphinx growled, looking for an opening. Endora sparked her hands and Percy drew Riptide. Both of them stepped in front of Annabeth.

"Turn invisible," Percy told her.

"I can fight!" Annabeth argued.

"No!" Endora yelled. "The Sphinx is after you! Let us get it. If you don't turn invisible, I'll do it for you."

As if to prove the girl's point, the Sphinx knocked Tyson aside and tried to charge past Endora and Percy. Grover poked her in the eye with somebody's leg bone. She screeched in pain. Annabeth put on her cap and vanished. The Sphinx pounced right were she'd been standing, but came up with empty paws.

"No fair!" the Sphinx wailed. "Cheater!"

With Annabeth no longer in sight, the Sphinx turned on the pair. Percy raised his sword, but before he could strike, Tyson ripped the monster's grading machine out of the floor and threw it at the Sphinx's head, ruining her hair bun. It landed in pieces all around her.

"My grading machine!" she cried. "I can't be exemplary without my test scores!"

The bars lifted from the exits. They all dashed for the far tunnel. Endora could only hope Annabeth was doing the same.

The Sphinx started to follow, but Grover raised his reed pipes and began to play. Suddenly the pencils remembered they used to be parts of trees. They collected around the Sphinx's paws, grew roots and branches, and began wrapping around the monster's legs. The Sphinx ripped through them, but it brought them just enough time.

Tyson pulled Grover into the tunnel, and the bars slammed shut behind them. 

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled.

"Here!" she said, right next to Percy. "Keep moving!" 

The group ran through the dark tunnels, listening to the roar of the Sphinx behind them as she complained about all the tests she would have to grade by hand. 

Endora thought they'd lost the spider until Tyson heard a faint pinging sound. The group made a few turns, backtracked a few times, and eventually found the spider banging its tiny head on a metal door.

The door looked like one of those old-fashioned submarine hatches ─ oval, with metal rivets around the edges and a wheel for a doorknob. Where the portal should've been was a big brass plaque, green with age, with a Greek Ȇta inscribed in the middle. 

They all looked at each other.

"Ready to meet Hephaestus?" Grover said nervously.

"No," Percy admitted.

"Yes!" Tyson said gleefully, and he turned the wheel.

As soon as the door opened, the spider scuttled inside with Tyson right behind it. The rest of them followed, not quite as anxious.

The room was enormous. It looked like a mechanic's garage, with several hydraulic lifts. Some had cars on them, but others had stranger things: a bronze hippalektryon with its horse head off and a bunch of wires hanging out its rooster tail, a metal lion that seemed to be hooked up to a battery charger, and a Greek war chariot made entirely of flames.

Smaller projects cluttered a dozen worktables. Tools hung along the walls. Each had its own outline on a Peg-Board, but nothing seemed to be in the right place. The hammer was over the screwdriver place. The staple gun was where the hacksaw was supposed to go.

Under the nearest hydraulic lift, which was holding a '98 Toyota Corolla, a pair of legs stuck out ─ the lower half of a huge man in grubby gray pants and shoes even bigger than Tyson's. One leg was in a metal brace. The spider scuttled straight under the car, and the sounds of banging stopped.

"Well, well," a deep voice boomed from under the Corolla. "What have we here?"

The mechanic pushed out on a back trolley and sat up. Endora'd seen Hephaestus once before, briefly on Olympus, so she thought she was prepared, but his appearance made the girl gulp. 

The daughter of Hecate guessed he'd cleaned up when she saw him on Olympus, or used magic to make his form seem a little less hideous. Here in his own workshop, he apparently didn't care how he looked. He work a jumpsuit smeared with oil and grime. Hephaestus, was embroidered over the chest pocket. His leg creaked and clicked in its metal brace as he stood, and his left shoulder was lower than his right, so he seemed to be leaning even when he was standing up straight. His head was misshapen and bulging. He wore a permanent scowl. His black beard smoked and hissed. Every once in a while a small wildfire would erupt in his whiskers then die out. His hands were the size of catcher's mitts, but he handled the spider with amazing skill. He disassembled it in two seconds, then put it back together.

"There," he muttered to himself. "Much better."

The spider did a happy flip in his palm, shot a metallic web at the ceiling, and went swinging away.

Hephaestus glowered up at them. "I didn't make you, did I?"

"Uh," Annabeth said, "no, sir."

"Good," the god grumbled. "Shoddy workmanship."

He studied Endora, Annabeth and Percy. "Half-bloods," he grunted. "Could be automatons, of course, but probably not."

"We've met, sir," Percy told him.

"Have we?" the god asked absently. Endora got the feeling he didn't care one way or the other. he was just trying to figure out how their jaws worked, whether it was a hinge or a lever or what. "Well then, if I didn't smash you to a pulp the first time we met, I suppose I won't have to do it now."

He looked at Grover and frowned. "Satyr." Then he looked at Tyson, and his eyes twinkled. "Well, a Cyclops. Good, good. What are you doing traveling with this lot?"

"Uh. . ." said Tyson, staring in wonder at the god.

"Yes, well said," Hephaestus agreed. "So, there'd better be a good reason you're disturbing me. The suspension on this Corolla is no small matter, you know."

"Sir," Annabeth said hesitantly, "we're looking for Daedalus. We thought ─ "

"Daedalus?" the god roared. "You want that old scoundrel? You dare to seek him out!" his beard burst into flames and his black eyes glowed.

"Uh, yes, sir, please," Annabeth said.

"Humph. You're wasting your time." he frowned at something on his worktable and limped over to it. He picked up a lump of springs and metal plates and tinkered with them. In a few seconds he was holding a bronze and silver falcon. It spread its metal wings, blinked its obsidian eyes, and flew around the room. 

Tyson laughed and clapped his hands. The bird landed on Tyson's shoulder and nipped his ear affectionately. Hephaestus regarded him. The god's scowl didn't change, but Endora thought she saw a kinder twinkle in his eyes. "I sense you have something to tell me, Cyclops."

Tyson's smile faded. "Y-yes, lord. We met a Hundred-Handed One."

Hephaestus nodded, looking unsurprised. "Briares?"

"Yes. He-he was scared. He would not help us."

"And that bothered you."

"Yes!" Tyson's voice wavered. "Briares should be strong! He is older and greater than Cyclopes. But he ran away."

Hephaestus grunted. "There was a time I admired the Hundred-Handed Ones. Back in the days of the first war. But people, monsters, even gods change, young Cyclops. 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? Didn't stop her from pitching me off Mount Olympus when she saw my ugly face."

"But I thought Zeus did that to you," Percy said.

Hephaestus cleared his throat and spat into a bronze spittoon. He snapped his fingers, and the robotic falcon flew back to the worktable.

"Mother likes telling that version of the story," he grumbled. "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?" 

He pulled a feather from the falcon's back, and the whole automaton fellapart.

"Believe me, young Cyclops," Hephaestus said, "you can't trust others. All you can trust is the work of your own hands."

Maybe Endora didn't exactly trust the work of Hephaestus, but she couldn't help but frown at the statement. One time in Denver, his mechanical spiders had almost killed Annabeth and Percy during their quest; Endora still remembers watching it anxiously in the Hermes' cabin on Olympus TV. And last year, it had been a defective Talos statue that cost Bianca her life ─ another one of Hephaestus's little projects.

Yet, she found herself having respect for the the god. No matter what his mother did to him, or the way the Olympians viewed him because of his looks, or the way his wife ─ a goddess that calls Endora once a month up to Olympus for some tea ─ cheated on him publicly, Hephaestus hadn't actually smashed them to pieces. Now that is what Endora admired.

The god turned towards Endora, "Now that is not how people view me usually," he said, "I'll take it. Not bad. Not bad. It's a shame your mother sided with the Titans."

Endora furrowed her eyebrows, "She sided with the Titans?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Hephaestus mused, "Sure, she did. Got a better offer then from my father. . . you still haven't?"

The brunette crossed her arms in front of her chest, "I'm not a traitor. I wouldn't betray the Camp for a woman that doesn't want anything to do with me."

The god nodded thoughtfully then focused on Percy, "Oh, this one doesn't like me," he mused. "No worries, I'm used to that. What would you ask of me, little demigod?"

"We told you," Percy said. "We need to find Daedalus. There's this guy, Luke, and he's working for Kronos. He's trying to find a way to navigate the Labyrinth so he can invade our camp. If we don't get to Daedalus first ─ "

"And I told you, boy. Looking for Daedalus is a waste of time. He won't help you."

"Why not?"

Hephaestus shrugged. "Some of us get thrown off mountainsides. Some of us. . . the way we learn not to trust people is more painful. Ask me for gold. Or a flaming sword. Or a magical steed. These I can grant you easily. But away to Daedalus? That's an expensive favor."

"You know where he is, then," Annabeth pressed.

"It isn't wise to go looking, girl."

"My mother says looking is the nature of wisdom."

Hephaestus narrowed his eyes. "Who's your mother, then?"

"Athena."

"Figures." he sighed. "Fine goddess, Athena. A shame she pledged never to marry. All right, half-blood. I can tell you what you want to know. But there is a price. I need a favor done."

"Name it," Annabeth said.

Endora narrowed her eyes at her best friend and her immediate response. Where was her thinking when they truly needed it.

Hephaestus actually laughed ─ a booming sound like a huge bellows stoking a fire. "You heroes," he said, "always making rash promises. How refreshing!"

He pressed a button on his workbench, and metal shutters opened along the wall. It was either a huge window or a big-screen TV, Endora couldn't tell which. They were looking at a gray mountain ringed in forests. It must've been a volcano, because smoke rose from its crest.

"One of my forges," Hephaestus said. "I have many, but that used to be my favorite."

"That's Mount St. Helens," Grover said. "Great forests around there."

"You've been there?" Percy asked.

"Looking for. . . you know, Pan."

"Wait," Annabeth said, looking at Hephaestus. "You said it used to be your favorite. What happened?"

Hephaestus scratched his smoldering beard. "Well, that's where the monster Typhon is trapped, you know. Used to be under Mount Etna, but when we moved to America, his force got pinned under Mount St. Helens instead. Great source of fire, but a bit dangerous. There's always a chance he will escape. Lots of eruptions these days, smoldering all the time. He's restless with the Titan rebellion."

"What do you want us to do?" Percy said, "Fight him?" 

Hephaestus snorted. "That would be suicide. The gods themselves ran from Typhon when he was free. No, pray you never have to see him, much less fight him. But lately I have sensed intruders in my mountain. Someone or something is using my forges. When I go there, it is empty, but I can tell it is being used. They sense me coming, and they disappear. I send my automatons to investigate, but they do not return. Something. . . ancient is there. Evil. I want to know who dates invade my territory, and if they mean to loose Typhon."

"You want us to find out who it is," Endora said.

"Aye," Hephaestus said. "Go there. They may not sense you coming. You are not gods."

"Glad you noticed," Percy muttered.

"Go and find out what you can," Hephaestus said. "Report back to me, and I will tell you what you need to know about Daedalus."

"All right," Annabeth said. "How do we get there?"

Hephaestus clapped his hands. The spider came swinging down from the rafters. Annabeth flinched when it landed at her feet.

"My creation will show you the way," Hephaestus said. "It is not far through the Labyrinth. And try to stay alive, will you? Humans are much more fragile than automatons."  

niki speaks!

we all know what next chapter is. . .
i'm already squealing and kicking my legs
i just love them so much

also, am i writing the last last chapter of
this series?
yes i am
i love pain

happy halloween!
have a scary day/night!
bye!