CHAPTER FIFTEEN
—dumb redheads

🗡🗡🗡

  —RACHEL Elizabeth Dare was not at all what Judith was expecting, and she wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

  "Can I push her over?" She asked casually as they watched the redhead in her golden statue get up. She stood precariously upon a spray painted plastic crate that matched the shimmery bronze on her skin and clothes.

  Percy huffed and crossed his arms, eyes finding hers with a silent plead to restrain herself. But he didn't explicitly tell her no, leaving her tempted to test fate.

  Annabeth, who was slowly warming to the idea of a mortal companion, just marveled over how still the girl was against the backdrop of bustling New York. All three of the demigods started to twitch at even the thought of trying to restrain themselves like that. "How does she do that?" She asked.

  The daughter of Ares rolled her shoulders around, stretching at the phantom tension she felt.

  "I have no idea." Percy shook his head.

  Soon, a boy donned in all silver paint replaced her and Rachel stepped down from her pedestal. "Hey, Percy." She grinned while Judith grimaced, wishing she would go back to frozen and mute. "Good timing! Let's get some coffee."

  The idea of coffee placated Judith just enough to not make a rude comment about the girl's appearance. The group of four arrived at someplace called the Java Moose on West 43rd. Rachel ordered an Espresso Extreme, a drink that Judith would have never matched with the preppy girl. The daughter of Ares got a mocha while Annabeth and Percy got mixed smoothies.

  "So," she struck up, "Annabell and Jezebel, right?"

  Judith clenched her fists underneath the table, knowing when someone was trying to get a rise out of her.

  Annabeth just rolled her eyes. "Annabeth and Judith," she corrected politely. "Do you always dress in gold?"

  "Not usually," Rachel said. "We're raising money for our group. We do volunteer art projects for elementary kids 'cause they're cutting art from the schools, you know? We do this once a month, take in about five hundred dollars on a good weekend. But I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that." She was spot on. Judith would rather do anything other than talk about Rachel's pastimes. "Are you guys half-bloods, too?"

  "Shhh!" Annabeth said, looking around. "Just announce it to the world, how about?"

  "Okay." Rachel stood up and said really loud, "Hey, everybody! These three aren't human! They're half Greek god!"

  Judith reached across the table and yanked the girl back down into her seat by her gold-covered jean-jacket. She made an 'oomph' and stared incredulously at the harsh reaction. She gave a blunt and pointed, "Ow."

  The daughter of Ares shrugged. "You deserved that one."

  "Sure," Rachel muttered, rubbing at her backside.

  "Okay, guys, just chill out." Percy leaned on the table, cradling his blueberry smoothie cup.

  Rachel forced a smile — for his sake and not Judith's. "I am chill. Every time I'm around you, some monster attacks us. What's to be nervous about?"

  "Look," Percy started. "I'm really sorry about the band room. I hope they didn't kick you out or anything."

  "Nah. They asked me a lot of questions about you. I played dumb."

  "Bet that was easy, huh?" Judith asked, ignoring Annabeth's exasperated sigh.

  Percy placed a hand on her tense shoulder only to have it brushed off brusquely. "Judith, stop," he said quietly. "Rachel, we've got a problem. And we need your help."

  Rachel narrowed her eyes at the three across from her. "You need my help?"

  Annabeth stirred her straw in her smoothie, mixing up the strawberry and banana concoction. "Yeah," she answered.

  "Maybe," Judith replied at the same time, making sure her answer overpowered the daughter of Athena's. "Remains to be seen whether you'd even be able to help us."

  Percy told Rachel about the Labyrinth, and how they needed to find Daedalus ( which led into a whole side conversation about who the guy even was ). And then he told her what had happened the last few times they'd gone in.

  "So you want me to guide you," she said slowly, "through a place I've never been."

  "You can see through the Mist," Percy explored. "Just like Ariadne. I'm betting you can see the right path. The Labyrinth won't be able to fool you as easily."

  "And if you're wrong?"

  "Then we'll get lost. Either way, it'll be dangerous."

  Judith leaned back into the booth with crossed arms, brushing shoulders with Percy, his hand finally falling back to his lap from where it rested behind her. "Very, very dangerous."

  "I could die?" Rachel looked at her warily.

  "Yeah," Percy answered solemnly, shooting one fleeting look at Judith for trying to scare the girl unnecessarily.

  "I thought you said monsters don't care about mortals. That sword of yours — "

  "Yeah," Percy said. "Celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals. Most monsters would ignore you. But Luke ... he doesn't care. He'll use mortals, demigods, monsters, whatever. And he'll kill anyone who gets in his way."

  "Nice guy," Rachel said.

  "He's under the influence of a Titan," Annabeth said defensively. "He's been deceived." Both Judith and Percy looked down at that, neither agreeing or disagreeing.

  Rachel hummed for a moment then looked at Judith, but more-so over her shoulder to where her weapon peeked. "One more question: is your ax celestial bronze?"

  Judith didn't understand why she was asking, but answered truthfully. "Yeah, why?"

  "Just wanted to make sure you wouldn't be able to kill me with it." The redhead smirked and rolled her coffee cup in her hands. Judith scoffed and rolled her eyes. Just because she couldn't use a weapon did not mean she wouldn't be able to find some way to kill her, but she didn't voice that out loud. "Okay. I'm in."

  Percy blinked while Judith huffed silently. "Are you sure?" He asked hesitantly.

  "Hey, my summer was going to be boring. This is the best offer I've gotten yet. So what do I look for?"

  "We have to find an entrance to the Labyrinth," Annabeth said. "There's an entrance at Camp Half-Blood, but you can't go there. It's off-limits to mortals."

  Rachel nodded. "Okay. What does an entrance to the Labyrinth look like?"

  "It could be anything," Annabeth explained. "A section of wall. A boulder. A doorway. A sewer entrance. But it would have the mark of Daedalus on it. A Greek Delta, glowing in blue."

  "Like this?" Rachel drew the symbol Δ in water on the table.

  "That's it," Annabeth said. "You know Greek?"

  "No," Rachel said. She pulled a big blue plastic hairbrush from her pocket and started brushing the gold out of her hair. Judith grimaced as the paint flakes fell onto the table. "Let me get changed. You'd better come with me to the Marriott."

  "Why the Marriott?" Judith asked. Frankly, she didn't want to run any errands for the girl, waste of time.

  "Because there's an entrance like that in the hotel basement, where we store our costumes. It's got the mark of Daedalus."

  Judith grumbled. "How convenient."

  Percy gave a pleased smile. "Perfect." He latched onto both Judith and Annabeth's arms to pull them up and out of their seats. Judith brushed him off and Annabeth just shook her head as they moved out of the cafe.

  The boy let Rachel through the door as he held it open for her. Judith eyed his actions and rolled her eyes, something she had done maybe fifty times that day already. "Lead the way."

  Frankly, Judith just didn't understand how such a nice hotel would allow high school students to just use their basement, but she didn't question it — not even when the man at the front desk waved at her politely and called her 'Miss Dare.'

  Rachel pointed to a far corner where a metal panel was hidden by a laundry bin. Judith walked over and looked around for the blue Delta, eventually finding it faded and rusted.

  "It hasn't been used in a long time," Annabeth said, walking up beside her.

  "Underneath a mortal hotel, not super conspicuous." Judith shrugged.

  "I tried to open it once," Rachel said, "just out of curiosity. It's rusted shut."

  "No," Annabeth denied. "It just needs the touch of a half-blood." She stepped forward and pressed on the symbol as it glowed. The metal door unsealed and creaked open, revealing a dark staircase leading down.

  "Wow." Rachel looked calm, but Judith zeroed in on her trembling hands that she stuffed in her marker-colored jeans. She wasn't at all surprised by the outfit she had chosen; her t-shirt and jeans resembled that of an art student. The redhead's eyes batted to Percy. "So ... after you?"

  "No, no. It's all you." Judith smiled with mock politeness, gesturing for her to head down first. "Lead on."

  "Of course," Rachel responded in a cheery tone. Annabeth ducked in after her and Percy just sighed as he stood next to Judith for a moment.

  "Can you try to get along? Please? She's only trying to help," he said, throwing in a pair of what Judith assumed was his go at 'puppy-dog eyes.'

  Judith just watched the attempted expression in disdain and then chuckled. "When she proves that your theory is correct, then I'll think about it."

  Percy rolled his eyes playfully. "Good enough for me."

  The stairs led down to a large brick tunnel. It was pitch black so Judith and Annabeth brought out the flashlights they had replaced that morning. Rachel yelped as a skeleton appeared dangling and grinning in front of them. Too big to be a human, at least ten feet tall. It had been strung up, chained by its wrists and ankles so it made a kind of giant X over the tunnel. Judith glanced at Percy as she noticed the single empty eye socket.

  "A Cyclops," Annabeth said. "It's very old. It's not ... anybody we know."

  Judith added to the reassurance by brushing her hand against Percy's arm. "We'll find them." Tyson could handle himself and Grover could as well, together they'd be a hard-pressed team.

  The boy finally tore his eyes away from the skeleton and glanced at her, nodding in thanks.

  Rachel swallowed. "You have a friend who's a Cyclops?"

  "Tyson," Percy said. "My half brother."

  "Your half brother."

  "Hopefully we'll find him down here," he said. "And Grover. He's a satyr."

  "Oh." Her voice was small. "Well then, we'd better keep moving."

  She stepped under the skeleton's left arm and kept walking, allowing the others to follow her. After fifty feet they came to a crossroads. Ahead, the brick tunnel continued. To the right, the walls were made of ancient marble slabs, and to the left, the tunnel was dirt and tree roots.

  Percy pointed. "That looks like the tunnel Tyson and Grover took."

  Annabeth frowned. "Yeah, but the architecture to the right — those old stones — that's more likely to lead to an ancient part of the maze, toward Daedalus's workshop."

  "We need to go straight," Rachel said. Judith narrowed her eyes down that path, nothing about it striking her as beckoning.

  "And why is that?" Judith questioned, placing a hand on her hip.

  "You don't see it?" Rachel asked her, as if taunting her. "Look at the floor." Judith saw nothing except well-worn bricks and mud and gave her a look that conveyed her skepticism. "There's a brightness there," she insisted. "Very faint. But forward is the correct way. To the left, farther down the tunnel, those tree roots are moving like feelers. I don't like that. To the right, there's a trap about twenty feet down. Holes in the walls, maybe for spikes. I don't think we should risk it."

  Percy shrugged. "Okay. Forward."

  Judith groaned internally at his full-blown faith in the the girl. She understood the myth of Ariadne, and she also knew that having a mortal guide them through was a decent idea, in theory. So why was it so hard for her to just go with what Rachel was advising? Oh, yeah, because it was Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

  As they trekked forward, nothing popped out at them. "No traps?" Percy asked anxiously.

  "Nothing." Rachel knitted her eyebrows. "Should it be this easy?"

  Judith mimicked her in a squeaky voice, just quiet enough so only she could hear.

  "I don't know," Percy said. "It never was before."

  "So, Rachel," Annabeth said, striking up casual conversation, "where are you from, exactly?"

  "Brooklyn," she answered.

  "Aren't your parents going to be worried if you're out late?"

  Rachel exhaled. "Not likely. I could be gone a week and they'd never notice."

  Judith looked away silently, not wanting to relate to her last statement, but finding it hard not to. She wondered if her mother was back from Afghanistan and was thinking of her whereabouts. The girl highly doubted Dexter, her stepfather, cared at all. He wasn't even home the day she left for camp.

  "Why not?" Annabeth asked out of curiosity.

  Before Rachel could answer, there was a creaking noise up ahead, like huge doors opening.

  Judith returned to her agitated state and looked at Rachel with an expectant look. "What was that?"

  "I don't know," Rachel said. "Metal hinges."

  "Oh, for once she doesn't know," Judith mumbled and Percy pinched her arm. She pinched him twice as hard and he winced. "Helpful."

  They all returned their attention forward at heavy footsteps approaching.

  "Run?" Percy asked, already using his hand to spin Judith around. She didn't want to budge, instead moving to pull her ax off her back. But of course, they do what Rachel says.

  "Run," Rachel agreed and Percy yanked the daughter of Ares with him before Judith became dead set on fighting the threat.

  They turned and fled the way they'd come, but didn't even make it twenty feet before running straight into some monsters. Two dracaenae — snake women in Greek armor — leveled their javelins at their chests.

  "Well, well," The head empousa said. "Taking your little mortal pet for a walk?" She made a move to latch onto Rachel, and despite all harsh feelings toward the girl, Judith was the only one with her weapon out so she slashed a vertical line between the two earning a hiss.

  "Back off," Judith said heatedly. Rachel was staring in wide eyed wonder, the ax having only been two inches from her face.

  The monster hissed again and gripped onto the end of her blade and yanked. Judith, not expecting the sudden action, stumbled closer till her clawed hand was at her neck. Judith could hear Percy uncap Riptide and Annabeth's knife leave its sheath. The talons lightly pierced against her skin, making her cringe.

  "Let go of her." Percy stepped forward menacingly.

  The demon lady went to speak, but they were interrupted. Behind them, the owner of the large footsteps from earlier, emerged. "Great ... " Judith scoffed, seeing the Laistrygonian giant she had encountered with Nico. "You again."

  Recognizing her, it bounded close and grasped her chin, licking his lips angrily. "Can I eat them?" He asked hungrily. Judith did her best to pull away, but what surprised her was when the empousa assisted the movement, pulling her from the giant's hands.

  "No," she hissed. "Your master will want these. They will provide a great deal of entertainment." She then grinned at Percy. "Now march, half-bloods. Or you all die here, starting with this one." Her talons scraped against Judith's skin.

  Ugh, Judith just hated taking orders from people.

NOTES ;

THIS CHAPTER MAKES ME WANT TO DIE, IT'S BAD

edited : 09 / 11 / 2020