❛005❜

THE GOOD NEWS: the left tunnel was straight with no side exits, twists, or turns. the bad news: it was a dead end. after sprinting a hundred yards, they ran into an enormous boulder that completely blocked their path. behind them, the sounds of dragging footsteps and heavy breathing echoed down the corridor. something—definitely not human— was on their tail.

"tyson," percy said, "can you—"

"yes!" he slammed his shoulder against the rock so hard the whole tunnel shook. dust trickled from the stone ceiling.

"hurry!" grover said. "don't bring the roof down, but hurry!"

the boulder finally gave way with a horrible grinding noise. tyson pushed it into a small room and they dashed through behind it.

"close the entrance!" annabeth said.

ivy created a pink energy beam, lifting the boulder and placing it back in its place. now, using that much power didn't even wind her up, which she couldn't have done six months ago. whatever had been chasing them wailed in frustration from the other side of the rock.

"we trapped it," percy said.

"or trapped ourselves," grover said.

the brunette raised an eyebrow. "why are you talking about we? i did everything!"

they ignored her, turning to look at their surroundings.

percy sent her a lazy wink, "you did amazing, princess."

ivy crossed her arms, trying to not make her delight at his words of praise obvious. "of course i did amazing. i am amazing."

"that you are," he said with a chuckled, walking past her.

finally, she turned to look at where they were. they were in a twenty-foot-square cement room, and the opposite wall was covered with metal bars. they had tunneled straight into a cell.

"what the fuck?" annabeth tugged on the bars. they didn't budge. through the bars they could see rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard—at least three stories of metal doors and metal catwalks.

"it's some sort of prison," ivy said.

percy ran his calloused palm against the metal door. "maybe tyson can break—"

"shh," said grover. "listen."

somewhere above them, deep sobbing echoed through the building. there was another sound, too—a raspy voice muttering something that ivy couldn't make out. the words were strange, like rocks in a tumbler.

"is that latin?" annabeth whispered to ivy.

the brunette shook her head, "no, i've never heard anything like that."

tyson's eye widened. "can't be."

"what?" percy asked.

he grabbed two bars on their cell door and bent them wide enough for even a cyclops to slip through.

"wait!" grover called.

but tyson wasn't about to wait. they ran after him. the prison was dark, only the pink beam of light guiding them along with a few dim fluorescent lights flickering above.

"i know this place," annabeth said. "this is—

"alcatraz," ivy cut off.

"you mean that island near san francisco?"

the daughter of athena nodded. "my school took a field trip here."

ivy bit down on her lip. "it's a museum. i came here a few times when i was little, my dad used to say something about our history being important or something like that."

now, those were two occasions where she is facing something of her past. revisiting old memories, most she didn't even remember having brought her bittersweet feeling. on one hand, it gave her something to remember her dad by, since she didn't even have pictures of him to hold. on the other hand, the memory of everything she didn't and couldn't have anymore dug into her heart like a jagged knife. hera had said she had to come to terms with her past, perhaps this wouldn't be the only encounters with slices of her childhood.

"freeze," grover warned.

but tyson kept going. grover grabbed his arm and pulled him back with all his strength. "stop, tyson!" he whispered. "can't you see it?"

ivy looked where he was pointing, and her stomach did a somersault. on the second-floor balcony, across the courtyard, was a monster more horrible than anything she had ever seen before.

it was sort of like a centaur, with a woman's body from the waist up. but instead of a horse's lower body, it had the body of a dragon—at least twenty feet long, black and scaly with enormous claws and a barbed tail. her legs looked like they were tangled in vines, but then ivy realized they were sprouting snakes, hundreds of vipers darting around, constantly looking for something to bite. the woman's hair was also made of snakes, like medusa's. weirdest of all, around her waist, where the woman part met the dragon part, her skin bubbled and morphed, occasionally producing the heads of animals—a vicious wolf, a bear, a lion, as if she were wearing a belt of ever-changing creatures. ivy got the feeling she was looking at something half formed, a monster so old it was from the beginning of time, before shapes had been fully defined.

swallowing thickly, ivy had to remember all the ridiculous trials gabriel and tobias put herself through to get over her phobia of snakes.

"it's her," tyson whimpered.

"get down!" grover said.

they crouched in the shadows, ivy having put out the pink light as a precaution. the monster wasn't paying them any attention. it seemed to be talking to someone inside a cell on the second floor. that's where the sobbing was coming from. the dragon woman said something in her weird rumbling language.

"what's she saying?" percy muttered. "what's that language?"

"the tongue of the old times." tyson shivered. "what mother earth spoke to titans and... her other children. before the gods."

"you understand it?" ivy asked. "can you translate?"

tyson closed his eyes and began to speak in a horrible, raspy woman's voice. "you will work for the master or suffer."

annabeth shuddered. "i hate it when he does that."

ivy took a deep breath, calming her racing heart. after remembering so much of her childhood, she didn't think it was a good idea to recall the night of her father's death. even if she just remembered miniscule things.

like all cyclopes, tyson had superhuman hearing and an uncanny ability to mimic voices. it was almost like he entered a trance when he spoke in other voices.

"i will not serve," tyson said in a deep, wounded voice.

he switched to the monster's voice: "then i shall enjoy your pain, briares." tyson faltered when he said that name. ivy frowned, she has heard that name before. tyson let out a strangled gulp, then he continued in the monster's voice. "if you thought your first imprisonment was unbearable, you have yet to feel true torment. think on this until i return."

the dragon lady tromped toward the stairwell, vipers hissing around her legs like grass skirts. she spread wings that ivy hadn't noticed before—huge bat wings she kept folded against her dragon back. she leaped off the catwalk and soared across the courtyard. they crouched lower in the shadows. a hot sulfurous wind blasted her face as the monster flew over. then she disappeared around the corner.

"h-h-horrible," grover said. "i've never smelled any monster that strong."

"cyclopes' worst nightmare," tyson murmured. "kampê."

ivy paled in recognition of the name.

"who?" percy asked.

tyson swallowed. "every cyclops knows about her. stories about her scare us when we're babies. she was our jailer in the bad years."

annabeth nodded. "i remember now. when the titans ruled, they imprisoned gaea and ouranos's earlier children— the cyclopes and the hekatonkheires."

"the heka-what?" percy asked.

"the hundred-handed ones," ivy said. annabeth gave herself an unnecessary headache using the ancient names. "they get their name because... well, they had a hundred hands. they were elder brothers of the cyclopes."

"very powerful," tyson agreed. "wonderful! as tall as the sky. so strong they could break mountains!"

"cool," percy said. "unless you're a mountain."

ivy cleared her throat, only because that stopped the laugh that bubbled at her throat. she said, "kampê was krono's jailer. she kept the hundred-handed ones and cyclopes locked up in tartarus, torturing them for thousands of years. then zeus came, he killed kampê and freed them to help fight against the titans during the war."

"and now kampê is back," percy said.

"bad," tyson summed up.

"so who's in that cell?" the son of poseidon asked. "you said a name—"

"briares!" tyson perked up. "he is a hundred-handed one. they are as tall as the sky and—"

"yeah," percy said. "they break mountains."

ivy looked up at the cells above them. she knew of the hundred-handed ones by reading, not because she had seen any. she wondered how something as tall as the sky could fit in a tiny cell, and why he was crying.

"i guess we should check it out," annabeth said, "before kampê comes back."

as they approached the cell, the weeping got louder. when ivy first saw the creature inside, she wasn't sure what she was looking at. he was human-size and his skin was very pale, the color of milk. he wore a loincloth like a big diaper. his feet seemed too big for his body, with cracked dirty toenails, eight toes on each foot. but the top half of his body was the weird part. he made janus look downright normal. his chest sprouted more arms than she could count, in rows, all around his body. the arms looked like normal arms, but there were so many of them, all tangled together, that his chest looked kind of like a forkful of spaghetti somebody had twirled together. several of his hands were covering his face as he sobbed.

"either the sky isn't as tall as it used to be," percy muttered, "or he's short."

ivy pinched the small of his back. percy let out a small sound of complaint, even if the pinch didn't even hurt. he gave her a pained look as he rubbed the spot.

"a little more sensitivity, please!" she whisper-shouted, rolling his eyes at his dramatics.

tyson didn't pay any attention. he fell to his knees.

"briares!" he called.

the sobbing stopped.

"great hundred-handed one!" tyson said. "help us!"

briares looked up. his face was long and sad, with a crooked nose and bad teeth. he had deep brown eyes— completely brown with no whites or black pupils, like eyes formed out of clay.

"run while you can, cyclops," briares said miserably. "i cannot even help myself."

"you are a hundred-handed one!" tyson insisted. "you can do anything!"

briares wiped his nose with five or six hands. several others were fidgeting with little pieces of metal and wood from a broken bed, the way tyson always played with spare parts. it was amazing to watch. the hands seemed to have a mind of their own. they built a toy boat out of wood, then disassembled it just as fast. other hands were scratching at the cement floor for no apparent reason. others were playing rock, paper, scissors. a few others were making ducky and doggie shadow puppets against the wall.

"i cannot," briares moaned. "kampê is back! the titans will rise and throw us back into tartarus."

"put on your brave face!" tyson said.

immediately briares's face morphed into something else. same brown eyes, but otherwise totally different features. he had an upturned nose, arched eyebrows, and a weird smile, like he was trying to act brave. but then his face turned back to what it had been before.

"no good," he said. "my scared face keeps coming back."

"how did you do that?" percy asked.

annabeth elbowed him. "don't be rude. the hundred-handed ones have fifty different faces."

"must make it hard to get a yearbook picture," the son of poseidon said.

"why would he get a yearbook picture in the first place?" ivy reasoned.

tyson was still entranced. "it will be okay, briares! we will help you! can i have your autograph?"

briares sniffled. "do you have one hundred pens?"

"guys," grover interrupted. "we have to get out of here. kampê will be back. she'll sense us sooner or later."

"break the bars," annabeth said.

"yes!" tyson said, smiling proudly. "briares can do it. he is very strong. stronger than cyclopes, even! watch!"

briares whimpered. a dozen of his hands started playing patty-cake, but none of them made any attempt to break the bars.

"if he's so strong," percy said, "why is he stuck in jail?"

ivy pinched him in the small of his back again. "he's terrified," she whispered. "kampê fucking tortured them in tartarus for thousands of years. how would you feel?"

the hundred-handed one covered his face again.

"briares?" tyson asked. "what... what is wrong? show us your great strength!"

"tyson," annabeth said, "i think you'd better break the bars."

tyson's smile melted slowly.

"i will break the bars," he repeated. he grabbed the cell door and ripped it off its hinges like it was made of wet clay.

"come on, briares," annabeth said. "let's get you out of here."

the blonde held out her hand. for a second, briares's face morphed to a hopeful expression. several of his arms reached out, but twice as many slapped them away.

"i cannot," he said. "she will punish me."

"it's all right," ivy said, coming forward. "you fought the titans before, and you won, remember?"

"i remember the war." briares's face morphed again— furrowed brow and a pouting mouth. his face brooding, imitating percy's. "lightning shook the world. we threw many rocks. the titans and the monsters almost won. now they are getting strong again. kampê said so."

"don't listen to her," percy said. "come on!"

he didn't move. ivy knew grover was right. they didn't have much time before kampê returned. but they couldn't just leave him here.

tyson would cry for weeks.

"one game of rock, paper, scissors," percy blurted out. ivy had to blink, checking if she heard right. "if i win, you come with us. if i lose, we'll leave you in jail."

ivy turned to look at percy. she blinked again. has he officially gone badshit crazy?

briares's face morphed to doubtful. "I always win rock, paper, scissors."

"then let's do it!" percy pounded his fist in his palm three times.

briares did the same with all one hundred hands, which sounded like an army marching three steps forward. he came up with a whole avalanche of rocks, a classroom set of scissors, and enough paper to make a fleet of airplanes.

"i told you," he said sadly. "i always—" his face morphed to confusion along with ivy;s. "what is that you made?"

"a gun," percy told him, showing his finger gun. "a gun beats anything."

"that's not fair."

"i didn't say anything about fair. kampê's not going to be fair if we hang around. she's going to blame you for ripping off the bars. now come on!"

briares sniffled. "demigods are cheaters." but he slowly rose to his feet and followed them out of the cell.

ivy started to feel hopeful. all they had to do was get downstairs and find the labyrinth entrance. but then tyson froze.

on the ground floor right below, kampê was snarling at them.

"the other way," ivy said.

they bolted down the catwalk. this time briares was happy to follow them. in fact he sprinted out front, a hundred arms waving in panic.

behind them, ivy heard the sound of giant wings as kampê took to the air. she hissed and growled in her ancient language, no translation was needed to know she meant to kill them.

they scrambled down the stairs, through a corridor, and past a guard's station—out into another block of prison cells.

"left," annabeth said. "i remember this from the tour."

they burst outside and found themselves in the prison yard, ringed by security towers and barbed wire. after being inside so long, the daylight almost blinded me. tourists were milling around, taking pictures. the wind whipped cold off the bay. in the south, san francisco gleamed all white and beautiful, but in the north, over mount tamalpais, huge storm clouds swirled. the whole sky seemed like a black top spinning from the mountain where atlas was imprisoned, and where the titan palace of mount othrys was rising anew. it was hard to believe the tourists couldn't see the supernatural storm brewing, but they didn't give any hint that anything was wrong.

"it's even worse," annabeth said, gazing to the north. "the storms have been bad all year, but that—"

"keep moving," briares wailed. "she is behind us!"

they ran to the far end of the yard, as far from the cell-block as possible.

"kampê's too big to get through the doors," percy said hopefully

ivy glared at him. "what a way to–"

the wall exploded.

"jinx it," she finish.

tourists screamed as kampê appeared from the dust and rubble, her wings spread out as wide as the yard. she was holding two swords—long bronze scimitars that glowed with a weird greenish aura, boiling wisps of vapor that smelled sour and hot even across the yard.

"poison!" grover yelped. "don't let those things touch you or... "

"or we'll die?" percy guessed.

"depends on the poison," ivy provided. "we'll probably shrivel up and... die."

"let's avoid the swords," percy decided.

"briares, fight!" tyson urged. "grow to full size!"

instead, briares looked like he was trying to shrink even smaller. he appeared to be wearing his absolutely-fucking-terrified-face.

kampê thundered toward them on her dragon legs, hundreds of snakes slithering around her body.

for a second ivy thought about summoning pink energy and facing the monster, but her heart crawled into her throat. then annabeth said what she was thinking: "run."

that was the end of the debate. there was no fighting this thing. they ran through the jail yard and out the gates of the prison, the monster right behind them. mortals screamed and ran. emergency sirens began to blare.

they hit the wharf just as a tour boat was unloading. the new group of visitors froze as they saw the quest group charging toward them, followed by a mob of frightened tourists, followed by... ivy didn't know what they saw through the mist, but it could not have been good.

"the boat?" grover asked.

"too slow," tyson said. "back into the maze. only chance."

"we need a diversion," ivy said.

tyson ripped a metal lamppost out of the ground. "i will distract kampê. you run ahead."

"i'll help you," percy said.

a cyclops stood a chance against such monster. a demigod? it will be pulverize in seconds. ivy was about to protest when tyson did it for her.

"no," tyson said. "you go. poison will hurt cyclopes. a lot of pain. but it won't kill."

"are you sure?"

"go, brother. i will meet you inside."

ivy hated the idea. percy probably hated it even more. he'd almost lost tyson once before, and she doubted he wanted to ever risk that again. but there was no time to argue, and ivy had no better idea. annabeth, grover, percy and ivy each took one of briares's hands and dragged him toward the concession stands while tyson bellowed, lowered his pole, and charged kampê like a jousting knight.

she'd been glaring at briares, but tyson got her attention as soon as he nailed her in the chest with the pole, pushing her back into the wall. she shrieked and slashed with her swords, slicing the pole to shreds. poison dripped in pools all around her, sizzling into the cement.

tyson jumped back as kampê's hair lashed and hissed, and the vipers around her legs darted their tongues in every direction. a lion popped out of the weird half-formed faces around her waist and roared.

as they sprinted for the cellblocks, the last thing ivy saw was tyson picking up a dippin' dots stand and throwing it at kampê. ice cream and poison exploded everywhere, all the little snakes in kampê's hair dotted with tutti-frutti. they dashed back into the jail yard.

"can't make it," briares huffed.

"tyson is risking his life to help you!" percy yelled at him. his face red in anger at the hundred-handed one's dismissal for his brother.

"you will make it," ivy told briares with charmspeak strong in her words. "we all will."

they all found the last strands of effort in their tired bodies, running faster than any of them thought they could. as they reached the door of the cellblock, ivy heard an angry roar. she glanced back and saw tyson running toward them at full speed, kampê right behind him. she was plastered in ice cream and t-shirts. one of the bear heads on her waist was now wearing a pair of crooked plastic alcatraz sunglasses.

"hurry!" ivy urged with charmspeak.

they finally found the cell where they'd come in, but the back wall was completely smooth—no sign of a boulder or anything.

"look for the mark!" annabeth said.

"there!" ivy touched a tiny scratch, and it became a greek l. the mark of daedalus glowed blue, and the stone wall grinded open.

too slowly. tyson was coming through the cellblock, kampê's swords lashing out behind him, slicing indiscriminately through cell bars and stone walls.

percy pushed briares inside the maze, then annabeth and grover. when trying to do the same with ivy, she wiggled out of his grip.

"come on, tyson!" ivy yelled at the cyclopes, charmspeak activated. still, it wasn't going to be enough. kampê was gaining. she raised her swords. they needed a distraction—something big.

locking eyes with percy, they seemed to have the same idea in mind. he slapped his wristwatch and it spiraled into a bronze shield. ivy wrapped a pink energy beam around it, her hands moving to be placed in font of her. she hurled the shield at kampê as hard as she could.

smack! the shield hit the monsters in the face and she faltered just long enough for tyson to dive past them into the maze. ivy was right behind him, percy pulling her by their interlaced hans.

kampê charged, but she was too late. the stone door closed and its magic sealed them in. ivy could feel the whole tunnel shake as kampê pounded against it, roaring furiously. they didn't stick around to play knock, knock with her, though. they raced into the darkness, and for the first time (and the last) ivy was glad to be back in the labyrinth.

A SPEAKS!

percy is so funny i love him
not much to say tdy lol
maaaybe theres another chapter tmrw but thats a huge maybe

thoughts???