──── chapter fourteen

{ 🔮 }  · no one makes rational decision anymore. . ݁ ٬٬ ࣪

JUMPING OUT A WINDOW five hundred feet above ground is not usually Percy's idea of fun. Especially when he's wearing bronze wings and flapping his arms like a duck. He plummeted toward the valley and the red rocks below. Annabeth yelled from somewhere above the boy, "Spread your arms! Keep them extended."

The small part of Percy's brain that wasn't engulfed in panic heard her, and his arms responded. As soon as he spread them out, the wings stiffened, caught the wind, and his descent slowed. Percy soared downward, but at a controlled angle, like a kite in a dive. Experimentally, he flapped his arms once. The boy arced into the sky, the wind whistling in his ears. "Yeah!"

The feeling was unbelievable. After getting the hang of it, Percy felt like the wings were part of his body. He could soar and swoop and dive anywhere he wanted to. Son of Poseidon turned and saw his friends ─ Endora, Rachel, Annabeth, and Nico ─ spiraling above him, glinting in the sunlight. Behind them, smoke billowed from the windows of Daedalus's workshop.

"Land!" Annabeth yelled. "These wings won't last forever."

"How long?" Rachel cried.

"I don't want to find out!" Annabeth said.

They swooped down toward the Garden of the Gods. The five of them soared across the valley, over a road, and landed on the terrace of the visitor center. It was late afternoon and the place looked pretty empty, but they ripped off our wings as quickly as they could. Looking at them, Percy could see Annabeth was right. The self-adhesive seals that bound the wings to their backs were already melting, and were shedding bronze feathers. It seemed a shame, but they couldn't fix them, and couldn't leave them around for the mortals, so the group stuffed the wings in the trash bin outside the cafeteria and Endora set it on fire.

Percy used the tourist binocular camera to look up at the hill where Daedalus's workshop had been, but it had vanished. No more smoke. No broken windows. Just the side of a hill.

"The workshop moved," Annabeth guessed. "There's no telling where."

"So what do we do now?" Percy asked. "How do we get back in the maze?"

Annabeth gazed at the summit of Pikes Peak in the distance. "Maybe we can't. If Daedalus died. . . he said his life force was tied to the Labyrinth. The whole thing might've been destroyed. Maybe that will stop Luke's invasion."

Percy thought about Grover and Tyson, still down there somewhere. And Daedalus. . . even though he'd done some terrible things and put everybody Percy cared about at risk, it still seemed like a pretty horrible way to die. And still, the boy wanted to make sure he was not hallucinating when he saw the girl from his dreams among Luke's army, staring right into his soul.

"No," Nico said. "He isn't dead."

Endora, looking at the distance, nodded along, "Yeah, he's still alive somehow."

"How can you be sure?"

"I know when people die. It's this feeling I get, like a buzzing in my ears."

The brunette turned to young boy, "You get buzzing? Boy, I feel like my soul is going to rip apart when someone dies. Either that or I see them in front of judges."

Nico rolled his eyes, "Don't mention them."

Rachel opened her mouth, then quickly closed it, "Not going to ask."

"What about Tyson and Grover, then?" Percy asked.

Nico shook his head. "That's harder. They're not humans or half-bloods. They don't have mortal souls."

"We have to get into town," Annabeth decided. "Our chances will be better of finding an entrance to the Labyrinth. We have to make it back to camp before Luke and his army."

"We could just take a plane," Rachel said.

Percy shuddered. "I don't fly."

"But you just did."

"That was low flying," Percy said, "and even that's risky. Flying up really high ─ that's Zeus's territory. I can't do it. Besides, we don't even have time for a flight. The Labyrinth is the quickest way back."

"So we need a car to take us into the city," Annabeth said.

Rachel looked down into the parking lot. She grimaced, as if she were about to do something she regretted. "I'll take care of it."

"How?" Annabeth asked.

"Just trust me."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow, but she nodded. "Okay, I'm going to buy a prism in the gift shop, try to make a rainbow, and send an Iris-message to camp."

"I'll go with you," Nico said. "I'm hungry."

The blonde turned towards the brunette, "Dora, you coming?"

Endora pursed her lips, "I can teleport us, maybe, but ─ "

"Oh hell nah," Percy shook his head. "You're not doing anymore magic as of today. You've done enough. Don't think I didn't see your nose bleed. Is she doing it again?"

Endora sighed and nodded, "I learned how to shut her down, but when I'm fighting and using my magic, she finds way into my mind."

Percy put his hand on the girl's shoulder, "And that's why you shouldn't try and teleport us. I know you can do it, believe me, we all know. But, maybe and don't think of this as an insult just coming from someone who cares, don't overuse it."

The son of Poseidon might have been hallucinating, but he swears she saw pink dusting the girl's cheeks as she looked him in the eyes. Her eyes were beautiful, Percy always liked to admire them. They were combination of brown and green, blending together and making the most beautiful sight he could stare at for days.

Endora cleared her throat, "Yeah, okay, I'll try. . . I'm going with Beth then. Maybe get to talk to Lou."

"I'll stick with Rachel, then," Percy said. "Meet you guys in the parking lot."

Rachel frowned like she didn't want the boy with her, but he followed her down to the parking lot anyway. She headed toward a big black car parked at the edge of the lot. It was a chauffeured Lexus, like the kind Percy always saw driving around Manhattan. The driver was out front, reading a newspaper. He wore a dark suit and tie.

"What are you going to do?" Percy asked Rachel.

"Just wait here," she said miserably. "Please."

Rachel marched straight up to the driver and talked to him. He frowned. Rachel said something else. He turned pale and hastily folded up his magazine. He nodded and fumbled for his cell phone. After a brief call, he opened the back door of the car for Rachel to get in. She pointed back in Percy's direction, and the driver bobbed his head some more, like Yes, ma'am. Whatever you want. Son of Poseidon couldn't figure out why the driver was acting so flustered. Rachel came back to get him just as Endora, Nico and Annabeth appeared from the gift shop.

"We talked to Chiron," Annabeth said. "They're doing their best to prepare for battle, but he still wants us back. They're going to need every hero they can get. Did you find a ride?"

"The driver's ready when we are," Rachel said.

The chauffeur was now talking to another guy in khakis and a polo shirt, probably his client who'd rented the car. The client was complaining, but Percy could hear the driver saying, "I'm sorry, sir. Emergency. I've ordered another car for you."

"Come on," Rachel said.

She led them to the car and got in without even looking at the flustered guy who'd rented it. A minute later they were cruising down the road. The seats were leather. There was plenty of legroom. The backseat had flat-panel TVs built into the headrests and a mini-fridge stocked with bottled water, sodas, and snacks.

"Where to, Miss Dare?" the driver asked.

"I'm not sure yet, Robert," she said. "We just need to drive through town and, uh, look around."

"Whatever you say, miss."

Percy looked at Rachel. "Do you know this guy?"

"No."

"But he dropped everything to help you. Why?"

"Just keep your eyes peeled," she said. "Help me look."

Which didn't exactly answer the boy's question.

The group drove through Colorado Springs for about half an hour and saw nothing that Rachel considered a possible Labyrinth entrance. Percy was very aware of Rachel's shoulder pressing against his. He kept wondering who she was exactly, and how she could walk up to some random chauffeur and immediately get a ride.

After about an hour they decided to head north toward Denver, thinking that maybe a bigger city would be more likely to have a Labyrinth entrance, but they were all getting nervous. Time was running. Then, right as they were leaving Colorado Springs, Rachel sat bolt upright. "Get off the highway!"

The driver glanced back. "Miss?"

"I saw something, I think. Get off here."

The driver swerved across traffic and took the exit.

"What did you see?" Percy asked, because they were pretty much out of the city now.

There wasn't anything around except hills, grassland, and some scattered farm buildings. Rachel had the driver turn down this unpromising dirt road. They drove by a sign too fast for Percy to read it, but Rachel said, "Western Museum of Mining & Industry."

For a museum, it didn't look like much ─ a little house like an old fashioned railroad station, some drills and pumps and old steam shovels on display outside. "There." Rachel pointed to a hole in the side of a nearby hill ─ a tunnel that was boarded up and chained. "An old mine entrance."

"A door to the Labyrinth?" Annabeth asked. "How can you be sure?"

"Well, look at it!" Rachel said. "I mean. . . I can see it, okay?"

She thanked the driver and they all got out. He didn't ask for money or anything. "Are you sure you'll be all right, Miss Dare? I'd be happy to call your ─ "

"No!" Rachel said. "No, really. Thanks, Robert. But we're fine."

The museum seemed to be closed, so nobody bothered them as they climbed the hill to the mine shaft. When the five of them got to the entrance, Percy saw the mark of Daedalus engraved on the padlock, though how Rachel had seen something so tiny all the way from the highway, he had no idea.

The boy touched the padlock and the chains fell away. They kicked down a few boards and walked inside. For better or worse, they were back in the Labyrinth. The dirt tunnels turned to stone. They wound around and split off and basically tried to confuse them, but Rachel had no trouble guiding.

Annabeth told her they needed to get back to New York, and she hardly even paused when the tunnels offered a choice.

"So," Rachel begun as they walked, turning to Endora who was next to her, "You're very pretty, you know."

"I swear to gods ─ wait, what?" Endora said, looking at the redhead weirdly. She was so confused from where this was coming from, "Um. . . thanks. . . you're pretty too."

"Thanks," Rachel grinned, "Is your mom Aphrodite maybe? She's the goddess of beauty and love, right?"

"That's Aphrodite," Endora nodded, "I'm not her child but she's somewhat of my. . . mother figure or something. . . or is that. . . ? But no, not a child of Aphrodite."

"Then who?"

Endora tilted her head, "Really? Wasn't it obvious already?"

"I don't know much about Greek mythology, sorry," Rachel said, "So, no, it ain't obvious for me."

"Fair enough," Endora shrugged, "My mother is Hecate, goddess of witchcraft."

"Oh. . ." Rachel pursed her lips, "That makes so much sense now. Should have figured it out once you stole my voice."

"I didn't steal your voice!" Endora said in annoyed town.

They'd come to a crossroads. The tunnel continued straight ahead, but a side tunnel T'd off to the right ─ a circular shaft carved from black volcanic rock.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

Rachel stared down the dark tunnel. In the dim flashlight beam, her face looked like one of Nico's specters.

"Is that the way?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Rachel said nervously. "Not at all."

"Why are we stopping then?"

"Listen," Nico said.

Endora heard wind coming down the tunnel, as if the exit were close. And she smelled something vaguely familiar ─ something that brought back bad memories.

Percy met Endora's eyes, "Eucalyptus trees." he said, "Like in California."

Last winter, when they'd faced Luke and the Titan Atlas on the top of Mount Tamalpais, the air had smelled just like that.

"There's something evil down that tunnel," Rachel said. "Something very powerful."

"And the smell of death," Nico added.

Endora, Annabeth and Percy exchanged glances.

"Luke's entrance," the brunette guessed. "The one to Mount Othrys ─ the Titans' palace."

"I have to check it out," Percy said.

"Percy, no." Annabeth protested.

"Luke could be right there," he said. "Or. . . or Kronos. I have to find out what's going on."

"Then we'll all go." Endora said.

"No," Percy said. "It's too dangerous. If they got hold of you, or Nico, or Rachel for that matter, Kronos could use you all. Annabeth and you stay here and guard. Plus, you used enough magic and we had a deal."

"We made no deal, Water Boy," Endora said. "It will be dangerous for you to go all alone. You need someone with you."

"And you need to trust me, okay?"

"Can't really do that after you've blown yourself up and gotten marooned!"

"Are you ever going to let that one go?" Percy asked, closing his eyes as a sigh left his mouth.

"Bitch, if you only knew what I've been though ─ "

"Okay, lets end this here," Annabeth said, stepping between the pair. Endora and Percy kept a heated gaze between each other, making the three other demigods a bit uncomfortable.

"I'll be quick," he promised. "I won't do anything stupid."

Annabeth took her Yankees cap out of her pocket. "At least take this. And be careful."

"Thanks." he put it on.

Endora huffed. She didn't like this idea; she never liked it when the boy put himself to danger trying to keep everyone else safe. With a quick move, she wrapped her hands around his middle and whispered in his ear, "If you die, I'm dragging you from the Underworld myself and killing you again."

Percy laughed a bit, hugging her smaller body, "Noted." he said, "Here goes nothing."

And Percy sneaked invisibly down the dark stone tunnel.

Before he even got to the exit, he heard voices: the growling, barking sounds of sea-demon smiths, the telekhines.

"At least we salvaged the blade," one said. "The master will still reward us."

"Yes! Yes!" a second shrieked. "Rewards beyond measure!"

Another voice, this one more human, said: "Um, yeah, well that's great. Now, if you're done with me ─ "

"No, half-blood!" a telekhine said. "You must help us make the presentation. It is a great honor!"

"Gee, thanks," the half-blood said, and Percy realized it was Ethan Nakamura, the guy who'd run away after Percy'd saved his sorry life in the arena.

Another voice spoke, human again, "Be honored, son of Nemesis. Not a lot of people get this chance." Percy didn't quite recognize this voice. It was deep, hollow, and a bit of ingeminating.

Percy crept toward the end of the tunnel.

A blast of cold air hit him as Percy emerged. He was standing near the top of Mount Tam. The Pacific Ocean spread out below, gray under a cloudy sky. About twenty feet downhill, two telekhines were placing something on a big rock ─ something long and thin and wrapped in black cloth. Ethan and another guy were helping them open it. And Percy realized who the other boy was; the brown hair was sweeping in the wind, reviling his pale complexion to son of Poseidon. He had those earthen eyes Percy got to admire and the same button like nose as the one painted in his mind.

It was Alabaster Torrington, Endora's half-brother.

"Careful, fool," the telekhine scolded. "One touch, and the blade will sever your soul from your body."

Ethan swallowed nervously. "Maybe I'll let you unwrap it, then."

Percy glanced up at the mountain's peak, where a black marble fortress loomed, just like he'd seen in his dreams. It reminded him of an oversized mausoleum, with walls fifty feet high. Percy had no idea how mortals could miss the fact that it was here. But then again, everything below the summit seemed fuzzy to him, as if there were a thick veil between me and the lower half of the mountain.

There was magic going on here ─ really powerful Mist. Above Percy, the sky swirled into a huge funnel cloud. He couldn't see Atlas, but he could hear him groaning in the distance, still laboring under the weight of the sky, just beyond the fortress.

"There!" the telekhine said.

Reverently, he lifted the weapon, and Percy's blood turned to ice. It was a scythe ─ a six-foot-long blade curved like a crescent moon, with a wooden handle wrapped in leather. The blade glinted two different colors ─ steel and bronze. It was the weapon of Kronos, the one he'd used to slice up his father, Ouranos, before the gods had taken it away from him and cut Kronos to pieces, casting him into Tartarus. Now the weapon was re-forged.

"We must sanctify it in blood," the telekhine said. "Then you, half-blood, shall help present it when the lord awakes."

Percy ran toward the fortress, his pulse pounding in his ears. He didn't want to get anywhere close to that horrible black mausoleum, but he knew what it had to be done. Percy had to stop Kronos from rising. This might be his only chance.

The boy dashed through a dark foyer and into the main hall. The floor shined like a mahogany piano ─ pure black and yet full of light. Black marble statues lined the walls. He didn't recognize the faces, but Percy knew he was looking at images of the Titans who'd ruled before the gods. At the end of the room, between two bronze braziers, was a dais. And on the dais, the golden sarcophagus.

The room was silent except for the crackle of the fires. Luke wasn't here. No guards. Nothing. It was too easy, but Percy approached the dais. The sarcophagus was just like he remembered ─ about ten feet long, much too big for a human. It was carved with elaborate scenes of death and destruction, pictures of the gods being trodden under chariots, temples and famous world landmarks being smashed and burned. The whole coffin gave off an aura of extreme cold, like he was walking into a freezer. His breath began to steam.

Percy drew Riptide and took a little comfort from the familiar weight of the sword in his hand. Whenever he'd approached Kronos before, his evil voice had spoken in his mind. Why was he silent now? He'd been shred into a thousand pieces, cut with his own scythe. What would Percy find if he opened that lid? How could they make a new body for him? He had no answers. Percy just knew that if he was about rise, the boy had to strike him down before he got his scythe. He had to figure out a way to stop him.

The boy stood over the coffin. The lid was decorated even more intricately than the sides— with scenes of carnage and power. In the middle was an inscription carved in letters even older than Greek, a language of magic. Percy couldn't read it, exactly, but he knew what it said: KRONOS, LORD OF TIME.

His hand touched the lid. The fingertips turned blue. Frost gathered on the sword. Then Percy heard noises behind him ─ voices approaching. It was now or never. He pushed back the golden lid and it fell to the floor with a huge WHOOOOM! Percy lifted his sword, ready to strike. But when he looked inside, he didn't comprehend what he was seeing.

Mortal legs, dressed in gray pants. A white T-shirt, hands folded over his stomach. One piece of his chest was missing ─ a clean black hole about the size of a bullet wound, right where his heart should've been. His eyes were closed. His skin was pale. Blond hair. . . and a scar running along the left side of his face.

The body in the coffin was Luke's.

Percy should have stabbed him right then. He should've brought the point of Riptide down with all his strength.

But he was too stunned. He didn't understand. As much as Percy hated Luke, as much as he had betrayed the boy, Percy just didn't get why he was in the coffin, and why he looked so very, very dead.T hen the voices of the telekhines were right behind him.

"What has happened!" one of the demons screamed when he saw the lid.

Percy stumbled away from the dais, forgetting that he was invisible, and hid behind a column as they approached.

"Careful!" the other demon warned. "Perhaps he stirs. We must present the gifts now. Immediately!"

The two telekhines shuffled forward and knelt, holding up the scythe on its wrapping cloth.

"My lord," one said. "Your symbol of power is remade."

Silence. Nothing happened in the coffin.

"You fool," the other telekhine muttered. "He requires the half-blood first."

Ethan stepped back. "Whoa, what do you mean, he requires me?"

Alabaster pushed Ethan forward, "You wanted to prove yourself," his voice deep. He was shorter then Ethan, but his aura was much stronger and powerful it made the son of Nemesis breath out and step forward.

"No!" Percy yelled. It was a stupid thing to do, but he charged into the room and took off the cap. "Ethan, don't!"

"Trespasser!" The telekhines bared their seal teeth. "The master will deal with you soon enough. Hurry, boy!"

"Ethan," Percy pleaded, "don't listen to them. Help me destroy it."

Ethan turned toward Percy, his eye patch blending in with the shadows on his face. His expression was something like pity. "I told you not to spare me, Percy. 'An eye for an eye.' You ever hear that saying? I learned what it means the hard way ─ when I discovered my godly parent. I'm the child of Nemesis, Goddess of Revenge. And this is what I was made to do."

Son of Hecate put a hand on Ethan's shoulder, "Go on, don't listen to son of Poseidon, he doesn't understand the pain and suffering we've been through."

Ethan turned toward the dais. "I renounce the gods! What have they ever done for me? I will see them destroyed. I will serve Kronos."

The building rumbled. A wisp of blue light rose from the floor at Ethan Nakamura's feet. It drifted toward the coffin and began to shimmer, like a cloud of pure energy. Then it descended into the sarcophagus.

Luke sat bolt upright. His eyes opened, and they were no longer blue. They were golden, the same color as the coffin. The hole in his chest was gone. He was complete. He leaped out of the coffin with ease, and where his feet touched the floor, the marble froze like craters of ice.

He looked at Ethan, Alabaster and the telekhines with those horrible golden eyes, as if he were a newborn baby, not sure what he was seeing. Then he looked at Percy, and a smile of recognition crept across his mouth.

"This body has been well prepared." his voice was like a razor blade running over Percy's skin. It was Luke's, but not Luke's. Underneath his voice was another, more horrible sound ─ an ancient, cold sound like metal scraping against rock. "Don't you think so, Percy Jackson?"

The said boy couldn't move. He couldn't answer. Kronos threw back his head and laughed. The scar on his face rippled.

"Luke feared you," the Titan's voice said. "His jealousy and hatred have been powerful tools. It has kept him obedient. For that I thank you."

Ethan collapsed in terror. He covered his face with his hands. Alabaster kneeled beside him, helping him. The telekhines trembled, holding up the scythe.

Finally Percy lunged at the thing that used to be Luke, thrusting his blade straight at his chest, but his skin deflected the blow like he was made of pure steel. He looked at Percy with amusement. Then he flicked his hand, and son of Poseidon flew across the room.

Percy slammed against a pillar. He struggled to his feet, blinking the stars out of his eyes, but Kronos had already grasped the handle of his scythe.

"Ah. . . much better," he said. "Backbiter, Luke called it. An appropriate name. Now that it is re-forged completely, it shall indeed bite back."

"What have you done to Luke?" Percy groaned.

Kronos raised his scythe. "He serves me with his whole being, as I require. The difference is, he feared you, Percy Jackson. I do not."

That's when Percy ran. There wasn't even any thought to it. No debate in his mind about ─ gee, should he stand up to him and try to fight again? Nope. Percy simply ran. But his feet felt like lead. Time slowed down around him. Percy'd had this feeling once before, and he knew it was the power of Kronos. His presence was so strong it could bend time itself.

"Run, little hero," he laughed. "Run!"

Percy glanced back and saw Kronos approaching leisurely, swinging his scythe as if he were enjoying the feel of having it in his hands again. No weapon in the world could stop him. No amount of celestial bronze. He was ten feet away when the boy heard, "PERCY!"

Rachel's voice. Something flew past me, and a blue plastic hairbrush hit Kronos in the eye.

"Ow!" he yelled.

For a moment it was only Luke's voice, full of surprise and pain. Percy's limbs were freed and he ran straight into Endora, Rachel, Nico, and Annabeth, who were standing in the entry hall, their eyes wide with dismay.

"Luke?" Annabeth called. "What ─ "

Percy grabbed her by the shirt and hauled her after him. The bot ran as fast as he've ever run, straight out of the fortress. They were almost back to the Labyrinth entrance when he heard the loudest bellow in the world ─ the voice of Kronos, coming back into control. "AFTER THEM!"

"No!" Nico yelled.

He clapped his hands together, and a jagged spire of rock the size of an eighteen-wheeler erupted from the ground right in front of the fortress. The tremor it caused was so powerful the front columns of the building came crashing down. Before it could fully close the two spaces, a flash of brightness shined through and ball of light straight towards them.

"Duck!" Endora yelled, and no one questioned her.

The ball of light flew above them and straight into the stone behind. Percy expected it to just disappear, but no. Sparks flew and a burning smell travelled through the tunnel as they plunged into the Labyrinth and kept running, the howl of the Titan lord shaking the entire world behind them.

niki speaks!

why did they let me drive into town
only on my 3rd fucking class!??
my stomach was turning the whole time
and we may have almost went into
a canal but it's fine
honestly, driving is such a good feeling
but having to remember everything. . .

have a nice day/night!
bye!