chapter eighty

─── luke is convinced i have a death wish

          𝕬nnabeth and Rachel were arguing again, which wasn't great for the whole cardio thing as we were running away from an army.

"Annabeth, follow her!" Luke brushed past me, giving the younger girl a gentle shove, shooting me an exasperated look.

The auburn haired girl whipped around corners and didn't even hesitate at crossroads. Once she said, "Duck!" and we all crouched as a huge axe swung over our heads. Then we kept going as if nothing had happened.

We didn't stop to rest until we came to a room the size of a gymnasium with old marble columns holding up the roof. I stood at the doorway, listening for sounds of pursuit, but I heard nothing. Apparently we'd lost them.

Then I realized something else: Mrs. O'Leary was gone. I didn't know when she'd disappeared. I didn't know of she'd gotten lost or been overrun by monsters or what. My heart turned to lead. My poor little puppy.

Ethan collapsed on the floor. "You people are crazy." He pulled off his helmet. His face gleamed with sweat.

Annabeth gasped. "I remember you! You were one of the undetermined kids in the Hermes cabin, years ago."

"Annabeth!" Luke turned, his eyes flashing. "That's rude. Ethan, if I remember right?"

"Yeah. You're Luke." Ethan stated simply and I wasn't surprised that he knew my boyfriend. Everyone knew Luke.

"What—what happened to your eye?" Annabeth's voice was quieter now, but Ethan merely looked away.

"You must be the half-blood from my dream," I said. "The one Puck's people cornered. It wasn't Nico after all."

"Who's Nico?"

"Never mind," Annabeth said quickly. "Why were you trying to join up with the wrong side?"

Luke sighed and Ethan sneered. "There's no right side. The gods never cared about us. Why shouldn't I—"

"Sign up with an army that makes you fight to the death for entertainment?" Annabeth said. "Gee, I wonder."

Ethan struggled to his feet. "I'm not going to argue with you. Thanks for the help, but I'm out of here."

"Is that a good idea?" Luke asked, having found his way over to me to check to make sure that I was unscathed.

"We're going after Daedalus," I smiled. "Come with us. After that, we're going back to camp and you're welcome to join us."

"You really are crazy if you think Daedalus will help you."

"He has to," Annabeth huffed. "We'll make him listen."

Ethan snorted. "Yeah, well. Good luck with that."

He turned to run away, but I grabbed onto his arm, pulling him back gently. "You're going back in?"

"You shouldn't have spared me, Jackson. Mercy has no place in this war." I sighed, knowing that this wasn't something I could change his mind with, so I grabbed a pack of ambrosia from my pack.

"Andi-"

"I hope you're wrong." I pressed the ambrosia into his hands, before watching as he ran back into the darkness. Turning, I caught eyes with the others. "Let's make camp."

They nodded, as Luke and Annabeth went to find wood and I checked Riptide over for any cracks or nicks. The pair returned shortly afterwards, starting the fire quickly, before all of us sat around it.

"Something was wrong with Puck," Annabeth muttered, poking at the fire with her knife. "Did you notice the way he was acting?"

"Yeah," I muttered. Luke sat beside me, his face drawn.

"He looked nervous." Luke put the feeling into words, something he always managed to do. "He told his monsters to spare me. I think he wanted to say something."

I shot him a look. I had a feeling how that would have gone down, knowing that Kronos probably wanted an older, stronger, more experienced leader back on his side. He had picked Luke first, I had meddled, and he'd needed to use his second choice, but he would always want Luke back to come and lead the armies.

"So which way now" Annabeth broke the silence, looking at Rachel as Luke and I scowled. We didn't want to deal with another argument.

Rachel didn't respond right away. She'd become quieter since the arena. Now, whenever Annabeth made a sarcastic comment, Rachel hardly bothered to answer. She'd burned the tip of a stick in the fire and was using it to draw ash figures on the floor, images of the monsters we'd seen. With a few strokes, she caught the likeness of a dracaena perfectly.

"We'll follow the path," she said. "The brightness on the floor."

"The brightness that led us straight into a trap?" Annabeth asked.

"Lay off her." Luke hissed, shaking his head at Annabeth.

Annabeth stood glaring at Luke. "The fire's getting low. I'll go look for some more scraps while you guys talk strategy."

And she marched off into the shadows.

Rachel drew another figure with her stick—an ashy Antaeus dangling from his chains.

"Annabeth's usually not like this," I told her.

"I don't know what her problem is." Luke muttered as Rachel and I shot him a look.

"Ignore Luke, he's blind." I muttered, drawing a list in the sand as Luke's eyes narrowed. "Sorry again for getting you involved with this."

"No, you were right," she said. "I can see the path. I can't explain it, but it's really clear." She pointed toward the other end of the room, into the darkness. "The workshop is that way. The heart of the maze. We're very close now. I don't know why the path led through that arena. I—I'm sorry about that. I thought I'd gotten you killed."

She sounded like she was close to crying.

"Andi has the survival ability of a cockroach, she'd be fine." Luke sent me a soft grin, as I poked at his ribs. He chuckled briefly, finding my hand in the dark so that he could squeeze it.

She studied Luke's face. "So you do this every summer? Fight monsters? Save the world? Don't you ever get to do just, you know, normal stuff?"

"Half-bloods get used to it, I guess. Or maybe not used to it, but..." I shifted uncomfortably at Luke's words. "What about you? What do you do normally?"

Rachel shrugged. "I paint. I read a lot."

"What about your family?" I asked.

I could sense her mental shields going up, like this was not a safe subject. "Oh...they're just, you know, family."

"You said they wouldn't notice if you were gone."

She set down her drawing stick. "Wow, I'm really tired. I may sleep for a while, okay?" 

She closed her eyes and lay very still, but I got the feeling she wasn't really asleep. I looked back at Luke, who pulled a face and made a so-so motion with his hands. That meant he also thought there was something going on with her family.

A few minutes later, Annabeth came back. She tossed some more sticks on the fire. She looked at Rachel, then at me and Luke.

"I'll take first watch," she said. "You two should sleep, too."

I went to protest, but Luke wrapped one strong arm around my waist and pulled me back until I was lying down. I rolled my eyes, before trying to get comfortable and letting my eyes fall close. It was easier to sleep in the labyrinth when Luke was there anyway.

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In my dreams I heard laughter. Cold, harsh laughter, like knives being sharpened. I was standing at the edge of a pit in the depths of Tartarus . Below me the darkness seethed like inky soup.

So close to your own destruction, little heroine, the voice of Kronos chided, and still you are blind 

The voice was different than it had been before. It seemed almost physical now, as if it were speaking from a real body instead of his blended form.

You have assured my rise, child.

The shadows in the cavern became deeper and heavier. I tried to back away from the edge of the pit, but it was like swimming through oil. Time slowed down. My breathing almost stopped.

I shall gift you this. Perhaps a look at the friends that you abandoned.

The darkness rippled around me, and I was in a different cave.

"Hurry!" Tyson said. He came barrelling into the room. Grover stumbled along behind him. There was a rumbling in the corridor they'd come from, and the head of an enormous snake burst into the cave.

It lashed at Grover, but Grover scampered out of the way. The snake got a mouthful of dirt. Tyson picked up a boulder and threw it at the monster, smacking it between the eyes, but the snake just recoiled and hissed.

"It's going to eat you!" Grover yelled at Tyson.

"How do you know?"

"It just told me! Run!"

Tyson darted to one side, but the snake used its head like a club and knocked him off his feet.

"No!" Grover yelled. But before Tyson could regain his balance, the snake wrapped around him and started to squeeze. Tyson strained, pushing with all his immense strength, but the snake squeezed tighter. Grover frantically hit the snake with his reed pipes, but he might as well have been banging on a stone wall.

The whole room shook as the snake flexed its muscles, shuddering to overcome Tyson's strength. Grover began to play with pipes, and stalactites rained down from the ceiling. The whole cave seemed about to collapse.

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"Andi!" I woke up with a start, my eyes full of fear. "Get up!"

"Tyson's in trouble. We've got to help."

"Yeah, well we're also in trouble." Luke hissed, as I took notice of the shaking ground. Earthquake.

Had I done that in my sleep? I didn't feel weaker and my bones weren't feeling like they were cracking.

"Rachel!" Luke pulled the sleeping girl upright, her eyes opening instantly.

She grabbed her pack, and the four of us ran. We made it to the corridor and turned just in time to see the other columns toppling. A cloud of white dust billowed over us, and we kept running.

"You know what?" Annabeth said. "I like this way after all."

It wasn't long before we saw light up ahead—like regular electric lighting.

"There," Rachel said.

We followed her into a stainless steel hallway, like I imagined they'd have on a space station or something. Fluorescent lights glowed from the ceiling, causing me to squint. Annabeth and Rachel both looked pale in the harsh illumination.

Luke was sprinting behind us, but I could assume that he also looked like a ghost.

"This way," Rachel said, beginning to run. "We're close!"

"This is so wrong!" Annabeth said. "The workshop should be in the oldest section of the maze. This can't—"

She faltered, because we'd arrived at a set of metal double doors. 

"We're here," Rachel announced. "Daedalus's workshop."

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Annabeth pressed the symbol on the doors and they hissed open.

"So much for ancient architecture," I said.

Annabeth scowled. Together we walked inside.

The first thing that struck me was the daylight—blazing sun coming through giant windows. Not the kind of thing you expect in the heart of a dungeon. The workshop was like an artist's studio, with thirty-foot ceilings and industrial lighting, polished stone floors, and workbenches along with windows. A spiral staircase led up to a second-story loft.

Glass jars of green oil—Greek fire—lined one shelf. There were inventions, too—weird metal machines I couldn't make sense of. There was a grandfather clock that appeared to be made entirely of glass, so you could see all the gears turning. And hanging on the wall were several sets of bronze and silver wings.

"Di immortals," Annabeth muttered. She ran to the nearest easel and looked at the sketch. "He's a genius. Look at the curves on this building!"

"And an artist," Rachel said in amazement. "These wings are amazing!"

"I don't like this." Luke muttered, having crept closer to me as I looked at the wings. They were more advanced than the ones I had seen in my dreams.

"Neither." I kept my hand on Riptide, looking around cautiously.

Apparently Daedalus was not at home, but the workshop looked like it had been recently used. The laptops were running their screen savers. A half-eaten blueberry muffin and a coffee cup sat on a workbench.

I walked to the window. The view outside was amazing. I recognized the Rocky Mountains in the distance. We were high up in the foothills, at least five hundred feet, and down below a valley spread out, filled with a tumbled collection of red mesas and boulders and spires of stone. It looked like some huge kid had been building a toy city with skyscraper-size blocks, and then decided to knock it over.

"Where are we?" I wondered.

"Colorado Springs." Luke muttered.

"The Garden of the Gods." Came a voice from behind us.

Standing on the spiral staircase above us, with his weapon drawn, was our missing sword master Quintus.

"You," Annabeth said. "What have you done with Daedalus?"

Quintus smiled faintly. "Trust me, my dear. You don't want to meet him."

"Look, Mr. Traitor," she growled, "I didn't fight a dragon woman and a three-bodied man and a psychotic Sphinx to see you. Now where is Daedalus?"

Quintus came down the stairs, holding his sword at his side. He was dressed in jeans and boots and his counsellor's T-shirt from Camp Half-Blood, which seemed like an insult now that we knew he was a spy.

I didn't know if I could beat him in a sword fight. He was pretty good but Luke and I might stand a chance if we fought together.

"You think I'm an agent of Kronos," he said. "That I work for Puck."

"What gave it away?"

"You're an intelligent girl," he said. "But you're wrong. I work only for myself."

"Puck mentioned you," I said. "Geryon knew about you, too. You've been to his ranch."

"Of course," he said. "I've been almost everywhere. Even here."

He walked past me like I was no threat at all and stood by the window. "The view changes from day to day," he mused. "It's always some place high up. Yesterday it was from a skyscraper overlooking Manhattan. The day before that, there was a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. But it keeps coming back to the Garden of the Gods. I think the Labyrinth likes it here. A fitting name, I suppose."

"You've been here before?" Luke questioned.

"Oh, yes."

"That's an illusion out there?" I asked. "A projection or something?"

"No," Rachel murmured. "It's real. We're really in Colorado."

Quintus regarded her. "You have clear vision, don't you? You remind me of another mortal girl I once knew. Another princess who came to grief."

"Enough games." Luke hissed, drawing Backbiter. 

"What have you done with Daedalus?" I followed suit.

Quintus stared at me. "My girl, you need lessons from your friend on seeing clearly. I am Daedalus."

My only answer. "What the fuck?" then "Holy shit you're old!"

Luke seemed to be having a similar reaction.

"But you don't even look like Daedalus," I protested. "I saw him in a dream, and..." Suddenly a horrible thought dawned on me.

"Yes," Quintus said. "You've finally guessed the truth."

"You're an automaton. You made yourself a new body."

"Romy," Annabeth said uneasily, "that's not possible. That—that can't be an automaton."

Quintus chuckled. "Do you know what Quintus means, my dear?"

"The fifth, in Latin. But—"

"This is my fifth body." The swordsman held out his forearm. He pressed his elbow and part of his wrist popped open— a rectangular hatch in his skin. Underneath, bronze gears whirred. Wires glowed. 

"That's amazing!" Rachel said.

"That's creepy," Luke hissed.

"You found a way to transfer your animus into a machine?" Annabeth said. "That's...not natural."

"Oh, I assure you, my dear, it's still me. I'm still very much Daedalus. Our mother makes sure I never forget that." He tugged back the collar of his shirt, showcasing the brand on his skin.

"A murderer's brand," Annabeth said.

"For your nephew, Perdix," I guessed. "The boy you pushed off the tower."

Quintus's face darkened. "I did not push him. I simply—"

"Made him lose his balance," I said. "Let him die."

Quintus gazed out the windows at the purple mountains. "I regret what I did, Andromeda. I was angry and bitter. But I cannot take it back, and Athena never lets me forget. As Perdix died, she turned him into a small bird—a partridge. She branded the bird's shape on my neck as a reminder. No matter what body I take, the brand appears on my skin."

I looked into his eyes, and I realized he was the same man I'd seen in my dreams. His face might be totally different, but the same soul was in there— the same intelligence and all the sadness.

"You really are Daedalus," I decided. "But why did you come to the camp? Why spy on us?"

"To see if your camp was worth saving. Puck had given me one story. I preferred to come to my own conclusions."

"So you have talked to Puck."

"Oh, yes. Several times. He is quite persuasive."

"But now you've seen the camp!" Annabeth persisted. "So you know we need your help. You can't let Puck through the maze!"

Daedalus set his sword on the workbench. "The maze is no longer mine to control, Annabeth. I created it, yes. In fact, it is tied to my life force. But I have allowed it to live and grow on its own. That is the price I paid for privacy."

"Privacy from what?"

"The gods," he said. "And death. I have been alive for two millennia, my dear, hiding from death." 

"But how can you hide from death?" I shook my head. "They are gods."

"They do not know everything," he said. "Or see everything. You have encountered them, Andromeda. You know this is true. A clever man can hide quite a long time, and I have buried myself very deep. Only my greatest enemy has kept after me, and even him I have thwarted."

"Minos," I said.

Daedalus nodded. "He hunts for me relentlessly. Now that he is a judge of the dead, he would like nothing better than for me to come before him so he can punish me for my crimes. After the daughters of Cocalus killed him, Minos's ghost began torturing me in my dreams. He promised that he would hunt me down. I did the only thing I could. I retreated from the world completely. I descended into my Labyrinth. I decided this would be my ultimate accomplishment: I would cheat death."

"And you did," Annabeth marvelled, "for two thousand years." She sounded kind of impressed.

Just then a loud bark echoed from the corridor. I heard the sound of huge paws, and Mrs. O'Leary bounded into the workshop. She licked my face once, then almost knocked Daedalus over with an enthusiastic leap.

"There is my old friend!" Daedalus said, scratching Mrs. O'Leary behind the ears. "My only companion all these long lonely years."

"You let her save me," I said. "That whistle actually worked."

Daedalus nodded. "Of course it did, Andromeda. You have a good heart. And I knew Mrs. O'Leary liked you. I wanted to help you. Perhaps I—I felt guilty, as well."

"Guilty about what?"

"That your quest would be in vain."

"What?" Annabeth said. "But you can still help us. You have to! Give us Ariadne's string so Puck can't get it."

"Yes...the string. I told Puck that the eyes of a clear-sighted mortal are the best guide, but he did not trust me. He was so focused on the idea of a magic item. And the string works. It's not as accurate as your mortal friend here, perhaps. But good enough. Good enough."

"Where is it?" Annabeth said.

"You've already given it to Puck." Luke spoke for the first time in a while, as my heart froze.

"Kronos promised me freedom," Quintus said. "Once Hades is overthrown, he will set me over the Underworld. I will reclaim my son Icarus. I will make things right with poor young Perdix. I will see Minos's soul cast into Tartarus, where it cannot bother me again. And I will no longer have to run from death."

"You're going to let more children die because of your own grief? You're going to let hundreds of parents go through what you did?" Luke scoffed, pulling Annabeth back towards Rachel as he and I positioned ourselves in front of him.

"You're a coward." I muttered. 

"Your cause is doomed. I saw that as soon as I began to work at your camp. There is no way you can hold back the might of Kronos."

"That's not true!" Annabeth cried.

"I am doing what I must, my dear. The offer was too sweet to refuse. I'm sorry."

Annabeth growled, trying to push past Luke. "I used to respect you. You were my hero! You—you built amazing things. You solved problems. Now...I don't know what you are. Children of Athena are supposed to be wise, not just clever. You should have died two thousand years ago."

Instead of getting mad, Daedalus hung his head. "You should go warn your camp. Now that Puck has the string—"

Suddenly Mrs. O'Leary pricked up her ears.

"Someone's coming!" Rachel warned.

The doors of the workshop burst open, and Nico was pushed inside, his hands in chains. Then Kelli and two Laistrygonians marched in behind him, followed by the ghost of Minos. He looked almost solid now—a pale bearded king with cold eyes and tendrils of Mist coiling off his robes.

He fixed his gaze on Daedalus. "There you are, my old friend."

Daedalus's jaw clenched. He looked at Kelli. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Puck sends his compliments," Kelli said. "He thought you might like to see your old employer Minos."

"This was not part of our agreement," Daedalus said.

"No indeed," Kelli said. "But we already have what we want from you, and we have other agreements to honour. Minos required something else from us, in order to turn over this fine young demigod." She ran a finger under Nico's chin. "He'll be quite useful. And all Minos asked in return was your head, old man."

Daedalus paled. "Treachery."

"Get used to it," Kelli said.

"Nico," Luke called. "You alright?"

He nodded morosely. "I—I'm sorry, Luke. Minos told me you were in danger. He convinced me to go back into the maze."

"You were trying to help us." 

"I was tricked," he said. "He tricked all of us."

I glared at Kelli. "Where's Puck? Why isn't he here?"

The she-demon smiled like we were sharing a private joke. "Puck is...busy. He is preparing for the assault. But don't worry. We have more friends on the way. And in the meantime, I think I'll have a wonderful snack!" Her hands changed into claws. Her hair burst into flame and her legs turned to their true form—one donkey leg, one bronze.

"Andromeda," Rachel whispered, "the wings. Do you think—"

"Get them," I said. "I'll buy you some time."

And with that, all hell broke loose. Luke and I charged at Kelli. The giants came right at Daedalus, but Mrs. O'Leary leaped to his defence.

Nico got pushed to the ground and struggled with his chains while the spirit of Minos wailed, "Kill the inventor! Kill him!"

Rachel and Annabeth grabbed the wings off the wall. Nobody paid them any attention. Kelli slashed at Luke. I tried to get to her, but the demon was quick and deadly. She turned over tables, smashed inventions, and wouldn't let us get close. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. O'Leary chomp her fangs into a giant's arm. He wailed in pain and flung her around, trying to shake her. Daedalus grabbed for his sword, but the second giant smashed the workbench with his fist, and the sword went flying. A clay jar of Greek fire broke on the floor and began to burn, green flames spreading quickly.

"To me!" Minos cried. "Spirits of the dead!" He raised his ghostly hands and the air began to hum.

"No!" Nico cried. He was on his feet now. He'd somehow managed to remove his shackles.

"You do not control me, young fool," Minos sneered. "All this time, I have been controlling you! A soul for a soul, yes. But it is not your sister who will return from the dead. It is I, as soon as I slay the inventor!"

Spirits began to appear around Minos—shimmering forms that slowly multiplied, solidifying into Cretan soldiers.

"I am the son of Hades," Nico insisted. "Be gone!"

Minos laughed. "You have no power over me. I am the lord of spirits! The ghost king!"

"No." Nico drew his sword. "I am."

He stabbed his black blade into the floor, and it cleaved through the stone like butter.

"Never!" Minos's form rippled. "I will not—"

The ground rumbled. The windows cracked and shattered to pieces, letting in a blast of fresh air. A fissure opened in the stone floor of the workshop, and Minos and all his spirits were sucked into the void with a horrible wail.

It seemed that us cousins liked the overdramatics.

Kelli pounced on me so fast I had no time to defend myself. My sword skittered away and I hit my head hard on a worktable as I fell. My eyesight went fuzzy. I couldn't raise my arms.

Kelli laughed. "You will taste wonderful!"

She bared her fangs. Then suddenly her body went rigid. Her red eyes widened. She gasped.

Luke yanked his sword free, a foul glare on his face. With an awful screech, Kelli dissolved into yellow vapor. He reached down, pulling me upright.

Mrs. O'Leary and Daedalus were still locked in combat with the giants, and I could hear shouting in the tunnel. More monsters were coming toward the workshop.

"We have to help Daedalus!" I said.

"No time," Rachel said. "Too many coming!"

She'd already fitted herself with wings and was working on Nico, who looked pale and sweaty from his struggle with Minos. The wings grafted instantly to his back and arms. Annabeth was flapping her wings.

"Now you!" she told me.

In seconds, Nico, Annabeth, Rachel, Luke, and I had fitted ourselves with coppery wings. Already I could feel myself being lifted by the wind coming through the window. Greek fire was burning the tables and furniture, spreading up the circular stairs.

"Daedalus!" I yelled. "Come on!"

He was cut in a hundred places—but he was bleeding golden oil instead of blood. He'd found his sword and was using part of a smashed table as a shield against the giants. "I won't leave Mrs. O'Leary!" he said. "Go!"

There was no time to argue. Even if we stayed, I wasn't sure we could help.

"None of us know how to fly!" Nico protested.

I jumped out the window in response.

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Hiya,

Andi is just a lot of fun to be honest, and I just really love her atm. I'm living for Luke and Annabeth's siblings relationship, and Ethan ran off so sad times.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx