This Dark Night ― Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase¹

―xx. flying high (until the titan wakes up, at least)

JUMPING OUT OF A WINDOW five hundred feet aboveground was about as fun as it sounded.

Naomi plummeted toward the valley and the red rocks below. Somewhere above, Annabeth yelled, "Spread your arms! Keep them extended."

Naomi did as told. As soon as she spread them out, the wings stiffened, caught the wind, and her descent slowed. She soared downward, but at a controlled angle, like a kite in a dive.

"Yeah!" Percy yelled with delight.

"Land!" Annabeth yelled. "These wings won't last forever."

"How long?" Rachel asked.

"I don't want to find out!" Annabeth said

They swooped down toward the Garden of the Gods. Percy scared a couple of climbers (wasn't everyday you saw a flying teenager while you were just trying to get some rock-climbing in). Then Naomi and her companions soared across the valley, over a road, and landed on the terrace of the visitor center. It was late afternoon and the place looked fairly empty, but they ripped off their wings as quickly as they could. Looking at them, Naomi could see that Annabeth was right—the seals that bound the wings to their backs were already melting, and they were shedding bronze feathers.

It seemed a shame, but there was no way to fix them, and they couldn't just leave the wings around for mortals to find, so they stuffed the wings in the bin outside the cafeteria.

In the distance, Daedalus's workshop had disappeared. No more smoke. No broken windows. Just the bare side of a hill.

"The workshop moved," Annabeth guessed. "There's no telling where."

"So what do we do now?" Percy asked. "How do we get back in the maze?"

Annabeth gazed at the summit of Pikes Peak in the distance. "Maybe we can't. If Daedalus died... he said his life force was tied into the Labyrinth. The whole thing might've been destroyed. Maybe that will stop Luke's invasion."

"He isn't dead," Naomi and Nico said in unison.

Nico scowled at her, but there wasn't any heat behind it.

"What about Tyson and Grover?" Percy asked. "Do you know if they're...?"

Nico and Naomi looked at each other.

"That's harder," Nico said. "They're not humans or half-bloods. They don't have mortal souls."

"We have to get into town," Annabeth decided. "Our chances will be better of finding an entrance to the Labyrinth. We have to make it back to camp before Luke and his army."

"We could just take a plane," Rachel said.

Percy shuddered. "I don't fly."

"But you just did."

"That was low flying," he said, "and even that's risky. Flying up really high—that's Zeus's territory. I can't do it. Besides, we don't even have time for a flight. The labyrinth is the quickest way back."

"So we need a car to take us into the city," Annabeth said.

Rachel looked down into the parking lot. She grimaced, as if she were about to do something she regretted. "I'll take care of it."

"How?" Annabeth asked.

"Just trust me."

Annabeth looked uneasy, but she nodded. "Okay, I'm going to buy a prism in the gift shop, try to make a rainbow, and send an Iris-message to camp."

"I'll go with you," Nico said. "I'm hungry."

Naomi sighed. "Me too. Think they have Pop-Tarts?"