CHAPTER ELEVEN
—dumb tests

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  —WHEN taking a vote on the next step in their plan, Judith had voted to go straight back into the maze. Because, apparently, it had been seven days since she entered the maze the first time. It had only felt like two or three days max, but of course, time moved differently in the labyrinth. So truly, that meant that they had to utilize every minute possible.

  But every other hand had gone against her, saying they needed a night of actual rest.

  "Judith, you look dead on your feet," Percy said as explanation, like it would convince her that they weren't on a tight schedule. "When was the last time you slept?"

  "Not important. I'm not keen on returning to the labyrinth either, but if we're going to get to Daedalus before Luke, we really can't afford to stay up here."

  Annabeth walked up and was about to settle a hand on Judith's shoulder before thinking better of it. "We can afford one night. At first light, we'll head out."

  And that had been the compromise.

   The daughter of Ares was able to get a few hours of shut eye in one of the guest bedrooms, her body relishing in the comfortable, plush bedding until the nightmares struck. With her heart racing, Judith jerked awake. The labyrinth was able to play tricks on her even as she slept miles away from it.

  The girl huffed and threw the heavy comforter off. The morning was just starting to bring in the warmth through the open windows so the temperature was almost perfect. She walked over to the closet and dressers in curiosity, hoping to find some alternatives to her ripped shirt and pants.

  And she found the jackpot.

  When Geryon said that questers came through all the time, he wasn't kidding. There was a large sum of orange Camp Half-Blood shirts, some dating back way before their time as the font was faded and the dust layer was massive. There was another collection of purple shirts that had the letters S.P.Q.R. scrawled on the front. She lingered on them for a moment, wondering where they they came from before moving on. Purple wasn't her color.

  The girl's eyes fluttered to a close as she noticed a shimmery jacket out of the corner of her eye. The recent memory of Bianca and Zoë Knightshade was too fresh. Judith reached out to finger the material but retracted her hand within an inch.

  She then scanned the assortment of miscellaneous shirts and jackets, finding a baggie, black, graphic t-shirt with some Greek band logo, 'Harmonic Harpies.' Judith matched it with an equally as dark leather jacket, an item she had always wanted.

  In that moment, looking in the mirror near the door, Judith looked like her father.

  Satisfied with a simple pair of jeans, the daughter of Ares exited the room and quietly creaked down the stairs to the living area.

  "What are you doing up?" She asked, spooking the boy sat upright on the couch.

  Percy jumped and looked at her over his shoulder. "A little warning, maybe?"

  Judith just shrugged and made her way to lounge on the sofa as well. "We'll see. So?"

  "Couldn't sleep," he said absentmindedly as his stare was glued to the National Geographic Channel on the tv.

  "Bad dream?"

  He just nodded his head in deep thought. He did that for more than necessary then finally turned to look at her. "You're coming with us, right?"

  Judith could admit that she really hadn't thought about what came next for her. She wanted to go with Annabeth's quest, but there was Nico that she had to think about now. And he had made his stance pretty clear. Her hesitance made Percy shuffle closer. "I know Nico doesn't want to come with us, but you have to try and convince him. He won't listen to me, but he might with you."

  Judith shook her head, just knowing it wouldn't be that easy. "I'll try ... " He muttered a quick thanks. "So, how awful was the maze for you guys?"

  "Ugh," Percy groaned and flopped back into the cushions, "first there was this guy, Janus." Judith recognized the Roman God's name. "He was so pushy and annoying. Then there was Alcatraz —"

  Judith smirked. "You guys went to Alcatraz?"

  "Showed up there, more like. We met a Hundred-Handed-One named Briares. He was an emotional wreck, but we managed to help him escape Kampê."

  The monster rung in Judith's head. "How did you manage to do that?" The only thing the girl could recall about the monster was that even the Big Three were scared of her.

  "We ran. That was the only thing we could do. We got out in the maze and booked it. And then we came here," Percy summed it up. "But I don't think I could have endured any of that by myself. How long did it take you to find Nico?"

  "I only found Nico the day before coming here. Before that I met two of my brothers, Phobos and Deimos —"

  "I met them once," Percy interjected, darkly.

  Judith recalled Clarisse mentioning her run in with the minor gods when returning their father's chariot a few months ago. She had mentioned Percy also being there, though they weren't on great terms so he wasn't expanded upon.

  "They're a hoot," the boy said sarcastically.

  "Hoot, right. Anyway, they helped me with my Odikinesis. Although, I would have preferred that they didn't. It was torture," Judith scowled. "Then I exited the maze at a state fair. Met one of Medusa's sisters. That was fun."

  "I met Medusa my first quest," Percy chimed in remembrance, then shivered at the memory. "Hated her."

  The daughter of Ares looked at his disturbed face and chuckled. "Well, if her sisters are anything like her then I agree. Got this." She showed off the snake-like ring that was now coiled around her finger.

  "See, that's cool. We only got her severed head last time." Judith made a repulsed face. "I know, right?"

  "After that, I found Nico and we had to fight off a Laistrygonian."

  "Sounds like you had a great time."

  Judith actually laughed. "Oh, loads of fun."

  Percy let his own laughs settle down before he paused. He faced her head on. "Judith, I really think you should come with us."

  "I'll think about it."

  A small voice echoed behind their heads. "I knew it." Nico's shoulders were tense with fury as he heard their exchange. "You said you wanted to help me, but you don't. Not really."

  Judith stood up, but Nico was already on a fast track to the front door. "Nico, I do want to help you."

  He was shaking his head, a foot out the door. "You were going to leave, just like that. Just — just leave me alone."

  He was jumping to conclusions, but how could she blame him? His sister had chosen the Hunters and left on a quest only to not come back. And now Judith had just confessed to possibly leaving him behind, not that she had any intention to do that. Judith wanted to chase after him — to tell him he had it all wrong — but she understood better than anyone that what he needed right now was to cool down. She knew he wouldn't enter the Labyrinth so soon.

  The girl turned back around to see Percy approaching her. "He'll be okay."

  She said nothing, brushing past Percy to sit back down as he tried to get her attention.

  —DAYLIGHT came faster than Judith expected, partially because she had fallen asleep on the couch mid conversation. Luckily, Percy hadn't minded her sudden cut-off because her head had plopped right on his shoulder. He had also allowed his drowsiness to capture him, an odd feeling fluttering around in his chest all the while.

  The two refused to acknowledge the position they had woken up in as everyone moved to gather by the cattle guard where the entrance to the Labyrinth was. Nico was already sulking by the time Judith was out there. She had a feeling that convincing him to join the questers would not be happening.

  She pulled him aside anyway, but the look on his face showed that he'd rather do anything other than talk to her.

  "Nico, earlier at the house, I never said I didn't want to help you —"

  "But you were thinking of going with them!"

  "Yeah, if you had agreed to as well. I wouldn't leave you like that," Judith promised.

  Nico looked into her eyes in belief, but his gaze turned guilty. "You have to."

  Judith took a small step back. "What?"

  Nico looked like he wanted to say one thing but another came out of his mouth. "I'll have to shadow travel places. I can't do that with another person, it's too draining. I —" again he stumbled to say something, "— I won't be going back to camp, anyways."

  Judith knew he was avoiding telling her something but she didn't want to pry in fear that he'd blow up. "Nico, don't go in the maze again. You've seen how it is now. And just know, you will always have a place at Camp Half-Blood."

  The boy nodded, averting his gaze. Instead of joining the farewell, Nico took one last glance at Judith and started back up to the house, the morning mist clinging to him.

  As Judith turned to face Percy, he looked disheartened, knowing Nico had refused. But she gave a brief and solemn smile as she joined him near the grate.

  "What are you doing?" He asked.

  "I'd be dead weight to Nico as he has to shadow travel places. He said he won't be going in the Labyrinth anymore," she responded.

  Annabeth leaned over. "But how can you be sure?"

  Judith breathed deeply. "I can't. But he will never trust us —"

  "— if we never trust him..." Annabeth finished wisely.

  "Exactly," Judith agreed.

  Percy looked up to where Nico had walked off to for only a moment before turning to Judith with as much of a smile as he could muster. The girl didn't return the sentiment, but he didn't expect her to. He knew that Judith viewed Nico as her responsibility, especially after the brief meeting with Bianca. And to have him reject her further helping him was rough.

  "Let's just go," she announced, seeing Percy's eyes starting to turn empathetic. That was the last thing she wanted.

  But he had more to say on the matter. Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson entered the Labyrinth, but the boy kept her above ground for a minute. "You can stay, you know that right? I know what this means to you."

  "Jackson," Percy almost flinched at the old use of his last name, "I'm not doing this for you. I'm coming." And she hopped down into the cattle grate.

  The boy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing after her. She was so confusing.

  The group followed after a small spider automaton that would lead them straight to Hephaestus's forges within the maze, courtesy of Eurytion. Judith was very close on its tail, as was Percy, but Annabeth was taking up the rear, not even comfortable with a robotic spider.

  They ran down a marble tunnel, then dashed to the left and almost fell into an abyss. Well, Percy almost fell into it, Judith had enough mind to stop on a dime, reaching her hand out to yank Percy back by the collar of his shirt. He thanked her profusely and dusted himself off casually, like he wasn't fazed. But his erratic breathing reached Judith's ears.

  The tunnel continued on, 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."

  Judith shrugged as well, not bothered by the immense plummet below. She was confident in her ability to do monkey bars from the many times she'd run the obstacle courses at camp.

  "Come on, Percy," Judith called over her shoulder, one hand dangling so she could see him better.

  The boy's eyes widened as he jumped to the first iron bar. "Are you crazy? Two hands at all times!"

  Judith snickered to herself and placed her hand slowly on the next rung, "Yes, Mom."

  They all successfully made it across the deadly monkey bars, Grover having been on Tyson's back for the small journey. Annabeth was now in the lead, not wanting to lose track of the spider when it was their only lead.

  Soon, they passed a skeleton crumpled in the tunnel. It wore the remains of a dress shirt, slacks, and a tie. The spider didn't slow down. Percy slipped on a pile of wood scraps, but when he shined a light on them, they realized it was a pile of pencils — hundreds of them, all broken in half.

  The tunnel opened up onto a large room, a blazing light scarring their retinas. Once Judith's eyes adjusted, she noticed the dozens of skeletons littered around. 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 she focused on the monster ahead of them. It wasn't hostile ( yet ), so Judith didn't go on alert. The thing 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. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun and makeup was lathered all over her face. She had a blue ribbon badge pinned to her chest that took Judith a moment to read: THIS MONSTER HAS BEEN RATED EXEMPLARY!

  Tyson whimpered. "Sphinx."

  Judith wasn't sure where his fear was coming from, but his intuition hadn't failed in the past so Judith made sure to keep her eyes glued to the woman-thing.

  Annabeth started forward, but the Sphinx roared, showing fangs in her otherwise human face. Bars came down on both tunnel exits, behind the group and in front. Judith rolled her eyes, already having expected something bad.

  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. Judith held a hand over her eyes to stop the colorful light from shining in her eyes.

  "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 grabbed Judith and Percy's arms. "I've got this," she whispered. "I know what she's going to ask." Judith didn't fight her on the matter, knowing she wouldn't do well with intellectual questions, and Percy wouldn't be either, for obvious reasons.

  She 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.

  "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?"

  Annabeth glanced at her friends nervously. Judith was unsure of how to react to her expression. Having Annabeth hesitant to answer riddles to determine their fate wasn't at all comforting.

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

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

  Judith's stomach did a somersault, knowing she would have been the worst person to be up there right now. She was terrible at geography.

  "Sofia," Annabeth 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. Judith bristled at the thought of old scantrons from school. Pop quizzes sucked so hard.

  "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.

  Judith kicked a pebble in her general direction, gaining her attention. The daughter of Ares was shaking her head profusely as if to say, 'Don't do it,' but Annabeth was too prideful for that.

  "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."

  Percy made a whining sound and turned away from the scene to face Judith. "We're going to die." Judith just grimaced and agreed silently.

  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. Judith was quick to retrieve her double bladed ax, so thankful to have it back in her possession.

  "No!" Tyson charged.

  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. Judith stepped up to stand in front of Annabeth along with Percy with Riptide.

  "Turn invisible," Percy told her.

  "I can fight!"

  "Annabeth, the Sphinx is after you specifically, it'll be easier for us to fight it if it's searching for you," Judith claimed, the strategy formulating in her mind.

  As if to prove her point, the Sphinx knocked Tyson aside and tried to charge past Percy and Judith. 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 rest of them. Judith jabbed at the Sphinx before it could make any sudden moves. It yowled in pain as its shoulder blade was grazed. Before Percy could give his own 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.

  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 the group just enough time.

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

  "Annabeth!" Percy yelled.

  "Here!" She said, right next to them. "Keep moving!"

  They ran through the dark tunnels, listening to the roar of the Sphinx in the distance as she complained about all the tests she would have to grade by hand.

NOTES ;

I HATE HATE HATE THIS CHAPTER SO SO MUCH

ORIGINALLY, I WANTED TO KEEP JUDITH WITH NICO FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE WHICH MEANT HER DECLINING PERCY'S OFFER TO JOIN THE QUEST. BUT THEN I REALIZED THAT I DIDN'T WANT NICO TO BECOME DEPENDENT ON HER. ONE OF THE BEST PARTS ABOUT HIM IS THAT HE KNOWS HOW TO TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF AND HE CAN'T GROWN TO LEARN THAT IF JUDITH IS HOVERING OVER HIM.

AND THIS WAY, THERE CAN BE MORE MOMENTS FOR PERCY AND JUDITH.

edited : 09 / 07 / 2020