──── chapter thirteen

{ 🔮 }  · he is who? . ݁ ٬٬ ࣪

"THIS WAY!" Rachel yelled.

"Why should we follow you?" Annabeth demanded. "You led us straight into that death trap!"

"It was the way you needed to go," Rachel said. "And so is this. Come on!"

Annabeth didn't look happy about it, but she ran along with the rest of them. Rachel seemed to know exactly where she was going. She whipped around corners and didn't even hesitate at crossroads. Once she said, "Duck!" and they all crouched as a huge axe swung over their heads. Then the group kept going as if nothing had happened.

They didn't stop to rest until they came to a room the size of a gymnasium with old marble columns holding up the roof. Endora listening closely for sounds of pursuit, but nothing was heard. It looked like they had lost Luke and his army in the maze.

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

The brunette girl beside him slid down the stone wall, her hand at her side and letting out a long string of curse words. Endora looked at the girl surprised, "Nihongo? Japanese?"

The girl looked up and tilted her head to one side, "E e, anata wa sore o shitte imasu ka? Yeah, you know it?"

"Chotto dake. Just a bit." the witch said and her eyes averted towards the boy, her curious expression morphing into a glare, "So you wanna join the Titans too, huh, Ethan? Where is the boy who talked shit about them?"

Ethan looked at the girl and let out a breathy laugh, "It's nice to see you too, Dora?"

The rest of the group watched the staring ( more like glaring from Endora's side ) contest before Percy spoke, "You know each other?"

Endora looked away from the boy and towards the son of Poseidon, "Ethan Nakamura, son of Nemesis, disappeared on the same day as my brother. You can say we. . . know each other."

"Oh, now, Dora ─ "

"I will not hesitate to burn your ass if necessary."

The black haired boy laughed, "Oh, I know you wouldn't."

Annabeth stepped forward, putting her hand on Endora's shoulder, "Why were you trying to join up with the wrong side?" she looked towards the brunette girl who listened to everything but opted to stay quiet, "And who's she?"

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." he grabbed the girl's hand, "Let's go, Jo."

"But ─ " Jo, begun, but her brother tugged her up.

"We're going after Daedalus," Percy said. "Come with us. Once we get through, you'd be welcome back at camp. Your sister too."

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

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

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

Percy grabbed his arm. "You're just going to head off alone into the maze? That's suicide."

"You'll both get killed." Endora added.

Ethan looked at the son of Poseidon with barely controlled anger. His eye patch was frayed around the edges and the black cloth was faded, like he'd been wearing it along, long time. "You shouldn't have spared me, Jackson. Mercy has no place in this war."

Then he ran off into the darkness, pulling his sister with him. Jo looked at the group with mournful eyes before the siblings disappeared back the way they'd come.

Now, when Endora says she was amazed by the Daedalus's workshop, she means she was truly amazed ─  not a lot of things can surprise the witch.

The first thing that struck them 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. Half a dozen easels displayed hand-drawn diagrams for buildings and machines that looked like Leonardo da Vinci sketches. Several laptop computers were scattered around on the tables. Glass jars of green oil ─ Greek fire ─ lined one shelf. There were inventions, too. One was a bronze chair with a bunch of electrical wires attached to it, like some kind of torture device.

In another corner stood a giant metal egg about the size of a man. 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 immortales," 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!"

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.

Percy pulled Endora towards the window and the girl slightly gasped when she saw the view. She recognized the Rocky Mountains in the distance. They 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?" Percy wondered.

"Colorado Springs," a voice said behind them. "The Garden of the Gods."

Standing on the spiral staircase above us, with his weapon drawn, was their 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 at 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 counselor's T-shirt from Camp Half-Blood, which seemed like an insult now that they knew he was a spy.

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

"Well, duh," said Annabeth.

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

"Luke mentioned you," Percy 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 Percy and Endora like they were no threat at all ( but he looked at Endora with a twinkle of respect in his eyes ) 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," Percy said.

"Oh, yes."

"That's an illusion out there?" the son of Poseidon asked. "A projection or something?"

"No," Rachel and Endora murmured in union. "It's real. We're really in Colorado." the two girls looked at each other before averting their gazes.

Quintus regarded the redhaired girl. "You have clear vision, don't you? You remind me of another mortal girl I once knew. Another princess who came to grief." he looked at Endora, "And, of course, you can't hide anything from a witch." he said the last part as if he was referring to something more.

"Enough games," Percy said. "What have you done with Daedalus?"

Endora looked at the man, her head tilted a bit to the side as she squinted at him. Her first question that no one asked was how did he even got here without anything happening to him? Her second question was how did he know so much about the Labyrinth? Even from reading, that wouldn't be possible? The cogs were turning in her head and she just thought if this is how Annabeth feels all the time with all of her ideas.

The realization slowly drew on her. And as it did, she could see it.

"You're Deadalus." she said in a small voice that carried though out the room, "You are Deadlus. That's why my spells always returned to the Camp. They showed where you were."

Quintus looked at her with small smile creeping onto his face, "Like I said, nothing could be hidden from a child of magic."

"But you're not an inventor! You're a swordsman!" Percy said.

"I am both," Quintus said. "And an architect. And a scholar. I also play basketball pretty well for a guy who didn't start until he was two thousand years old. A real artist must be good at many things."

"That's true," Rachel said. "Like I can paint with my feet as well as my hands."

"You see?" Quintus said. "A girl of many talents."

"But you don't even look like Daedalus," Percy protested. "I saw him in a dream, and. . ."

Suddenly a horrible thought dawned on Endora when Percy had said that statement.

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

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

"Percy," Annabeth said uneasily, "that's not possible. That ─ that can't bean 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 weird," Percy said.

"That's fucking weird and it comes from a witch," Endora said.

"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, Athena, makes sure I never forget that." He tugged back the collar of his shirt. At the base of his neck was the dark shape of a bird grafted to his skin.

"A murderer's brand," Annabeth said.

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

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

"Made him lose his balance. Let him die."

Quintus gazed out the windows at the purple mountains. "I regret what I did, Percy. 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."

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

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

"So you have talked to Luke." snapped Endora.

"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 Luke 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 Hades?" Percy asked. "I mean. . . Hades has the Furies."

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

"You mean Minos,"

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 marveled, "for two thousand years." she couldn't help but sound kind of impressed, despite the horrible things Daedalus had done.

Just then a loud bark echoed from the corridor. Endora heard the ba-BUMP, ba-BUMP, ba-BUMP of huge paws, and Mrs. O'Leary bounded into the workshop. She licked Percy's 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," Percy said. "That whistle actually worked."

Daedalus nodded. "Of course it did, Percy. 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. No, no, no. That couldn't have been right, "But you can still help us. You have to! Give us Ariadne's string so Luke can't get it."

"Yes. . . the string. I told Luke 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.

"With Luke," Daedalus said sadly. "I'm sorry, my dear. But you are several hours too late."

With a chill, Endora realized why Luke had been in such a good mood in the arena. He'd already gotten the string from Daedalus. His only obstacle had been the arena master, and Percy'd taken care of that for him by killing Antaeus.

"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."

"That's your brilliant idea?" Annabeth yelled. She sounded angry, beyond angry, "You're going to let Luke destroy our camp, kill hundreds of demigods, and then attack Olympus? You're going to bring down the entire world so you can get what you want?"

"Your cause is doomed, my dear. 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."

Endora glared at him, "That's not true!" she cried. "You've only been at the Camp for short amount of time. You do not know what we're capable of what."

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

Annabeth pushed over an easel. Architectural drawings scattered across the floor. "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. Maybe you are just a machine. You should have died two thousand years ago."

Instead of getting mad, Daedalus hung his head. "You should go warn your camp. Now that Luke 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?"

"Luke 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 honor. 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."

Daeadalus paled. "Treachery."

"Get used to it," Kelli said.

"Nico," Percy said. "Are you okay?"

He nodded morosely. "I ─ I'm sorry, Percy. 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." Endora glared at Kelli. "Where's Luke? Why isn't he here?"

The she-demon smiled like we were sharing a private joke. "Luke is. . . busy. He is preparing for the assault. But don't worry. We have more friends on the way, one you will surly recognize. And in the meantime, I think I'll have a wonderful snack!"

Her hands changed to claws. Her hair burst into flame and her legs turned to their true form ─ one donkey leg, one bronze.

"Percy," Rachel whispered, "the wings. Do you think ─ "

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

And with that, all Hades broke loose.

Annabeth and Percy charged at Kelli. The giants came right at Daedalus, but Mrs. O'Leary leaped to his defense. Nico got pushed to the ground and before his head could hit the hard floor, Endora trusted her hand, catching him and putting his body softly to the ground. 

The spirit of Minos wailed, "Kill the inventor! Kill him!"

Endora ran to Nico's side, "Hold out." with a snap of her finger, shackles around Nico's hands fell to the ground.

Rachel grabbed the wings off the wall. Nobody paid her any attention. Kelli slashed at Annabeth. Percy tried to get to her, but the demon was quick and deadly. She turned over tables, smashed inventions, and wouldn't let them get close. 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, stumbling forwards. Endora caught his arm, steadying him.

"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!"

"Come on, Nico," Endora said, grabbing a hold of his small hand into hers, her eyes boring into Minos, "Be more persuasive. Command. Order. They fear you, not the other way around."

The younger boy nodded. He turned towards Minos, "No." with his other hand, one that wasn't holding onto Endora, he drew his sword. "I am." Endora channeled her magic through their touch as the boy 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.

The bad news: the fight was still going on all around them, and Percy let himself get distracted. Endora saw Kelli pounced on him so fast the boy had no time to defend himself. His sword skittered away and he hit my head hard on a worktable as he fell.

Kelli laughed. "You will taste wonderful!" she bared her fangs.

"No!" Endora yelled, her hand slipping from Nico's as the girl ran over to Kellie with determinate look on her face. 

With a trust of her hand, the empousa flew away from Percy, her body slamming into stone fall. Before the monster could even have strength to stand up, the witch muttered under her breath and a ball of black smoke appeared, flying straight to Kelli. The monster gasped, "No. . . school. . . spirit. . ." the black smoke left a gaping hole in the monster's body. With an awful screech, Kelli dissolved into yellow vapor.

The girl felt something drip down her nose. She wiped it off, knowing the feeling of red substance all too well. There was no time for that.

"Dora ─ " Percy begun.

"No time for that," the girl said, "We have to help Daedalus!"

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

"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.

"Now you!" she told Percy.

In seconds, Endora, Nico, Annabeth, Rachel, and Percy had fitted themselves with coppery wings. Already, the brunette could feel herself being lifted by the wind coming through the window. Greek fire was burning the tables and furniture, spreading up the circular stairs.

"Daedalus!" Percy 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 they stayed, Endora wasn't sure they could help.

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

"Well ─ "

"No the time, Dora!" Annabeth said.

"Great time to find out," Percy said.

And together, the five of them jumped out the window into open sky with a Celestial Bronze arrow flying right next to Endora's head.

niki speaks!

ahhh this chapter is just !!!
chef's kiss
I love it
small moment between nico and endora
and ethan and endora :)
jo is a baby you'll see more
in hoo
just love her

have a nice day/night!
bye!