"Wait," Eris pleaded. "I...I understand fear. Trust me I do. I used to be the Queen of being scared so I won't fault you for that. It's okay to be scared. But...when you live a life full of fear...that's not really living you're just existing. So...please at least think about it."
Percy started to tell him about everything—Luke's invasion plan, the Labyrinth entrance at camp, Daedalus's workshop, Kronos's golden coffin.
Briares just shook his head. "I cannot, demigod. I do not have a finger gun to win this game." To prove his point, he made one hundred finger guns.
"Maybe that's why monsters fade," Percy said. "Maybe it's not about what the mortals believe. Maybe it's because you give up on yourself."
Eris glanced at Percy. That's words hit her deeply. She could remember being in Briares's place at only a couple years ago. The fear that constantly crossed her mind, all of her old annoying crying, and her old stuttering habit. It seemed like those days were only yesterday when she cried at the drop of a hat. Her life paralyzed by constant fear. But now...
It's not that Eris was fearless because she wasn't. No one was. She never stopped being scared she just learned to save her fear for later. To push it to the back of her mind so she could survive. Her mind was so angry and worried about killing Luke and saving Nico that...it pushed her fear of dying to the back of her head.
Eris Lewis wasn't scared of death because she had better things to worry about than her dying.
His pure brown eyes regarded Percy. His face morphed into an expression Eris recognized—shame. Then he turned and trudged off down the corridor until he was lost in the shadows.
Tyson sobbed and practically fell into Eris's comforting arms.
"It's okay," Grover hesitantly patted his shoulder, which must've taken all his courage.
Tyson sneezed. "It's not okay, goat boy. He was my hero."
Finally Annabeth stood and shouldered her backpack. "Come on, guys. This pit is making me nervous. Let's find a better place to camp for the night."
Ups! Tento obrázek porušuje naše pokyny k obsahu. Před publikováním ho, prosím, buď odstraň, nebo nahraď jiným.
THEY SETTL D IN A CORRIDOR MADE OF HUGE MARBLE BLOCKS. It looked like it could've been part of a Greek tomb, with bronze torch holders fastened to the walls. It had to be an older part of the maze, and Annabeth decided this was a good sign.
"We must be close to Daedalus's workshop," she said. "Get some rest, everybody. We'll keep going in the morning."
"How do we know when it's morning?" Grover asked.
"Just rest," she insisted.
Grover didn't need to be told twice. He pulled a heap of straw out of his pack, ate some of it, made a pillow out of the rest, and was snoring in no time. Tyson took longer getting to sleep. He tinkered with some metal scraps from his building kit for a while, but whatever he was making, he wasn't happy with it. He kept disassembling the pieces. Eventually after some back rubs from Eris he fell asleep with his head on her lap with Annabeth asleep on her other thigh.
