Indigo Eyes

Chapter 93

"Nah," she said as she licked the end of her straw. "It's your idea, Captain Nemo. You got it under control."

He huffed but continued speaking. "Rachel, we've got a problem. And we need your help."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at Annabeth. "You need my help?"

Annabeth stared down at her smoothie. "Yeah," she said sullenly. "Maybe."

Percy then launched into the tale about the Labyrinth and how they needed to find Daedalus, and what happened the last couple times they'd gone into the maze.

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

"You can see through the Mist," Percy said. "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. Very, very dangerous."

"I could die?"

"Yeah."

"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."

Rachel looked between the three half-bloods. "And her magic is going to stop me from going crazy in the maze?" she asked as she pointed to Cressida.

"Yep," Percy confirmed and Annabeth hissed something at her best friend in Ancient Greek, too fast for Percy to understand. Cressida snapped something back and Annabeth quietened, the angry look in her eyes fading a little.

Are you really going to help her with this?

No, I'm helping you complete your first quest as leader. You're still my leader as far as I'm concerned.

"Ok," Rachel said, ignoring the girl's exchange. "I'm in."

Percy blinked as if he didn't believe that it would be that easy to convince her. "Are you sure?"

"Hey, my summer was going to be boring. This is the best offer I've had 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."

Annabeth probably said the word mortals with a little more venom than necessary but Rachel wasn't fazed. "Ok. What does an entrance to the Labyrinth look like?"

"Literally anything," Cressida answered. "A section of wall. A doorway. A crack between boulders."

Percy rolled his eyes at that last one.

"But it would have the mark of Daedalus on it," Annabeth said. "A Greek Delta, glowing in blue."

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

"That's it," Annabeth said in amazement.

"You know Greek?" Cressida asked.

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

"Why?" Annabeth asked.

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

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The metal door was half hidden behind a laundry bin full of dirty hotel towels. Percy was blind to where the mark was at first until Rachel pointed it out.

"It hasn't been used in a long time," Annabeth said.

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

"No, it isn't," Cressida informed her as Annabeth stepped forward.

"It just needs the touch of a half-blood."

And in a rather dramatic fashion in Cressida's opinion, Annabeth pressed her hand on the mar and it glowed blue. The metal door unsealed and creaked open, revealing a dark staircase leading down.

"Wow," Rachel remarked, looking rather calm. She'd changed into a ratty Museum of Modern Art T-shirt and her regular marker-coloured jeans, her blue plastic hairbrush sticking out of her pocket. Her red hair was tied back, but she still had flecks of gold in it, and traces of the gold glitter on her face. "So... after you?"

"You're the guide," Annabeth said with mock politeness. "Lead on."

"And our guide is forgetting something," Cressida said as she stepped in front of Rachel, the two girls the same height. "I mean, unless you'd like to lose your mind."

"What do I have to do?" Rachel asked genuinely.

"Just stay still," Cressida answered. And she pressed her hand to Rachel's forehead as a halo of flames wrapped around her red hair.

"Whoa," Rachel marvelled as she tried to look up at it and Cressida's brows furrowed as she pushed Rachel's head back down.

"Don't move," she ordered.

"Sorry," Rachel muttered before her eyes widened as she felt something change inside her and the halo of flames burned brighter.

"Whoa, whoa!" Percy said as he steadied Cressida who stumbled. "You good?" he asked as he held her arms, her back against his chest as her eyes found it a little hard to focus.

"Just tired. After everything," she answered as Annabeth dug a small canteen out of her bag.

"Here," she said as she handed it to her. "Clarisse gave it to me and said to make sure you only take two sips at a time or else you'd die because you'd drink the whole thing in one go like the idiot you are."

Cressida glared at her friend who held her hands up in surrender. "Her words, not mine."

Cressida took a sip before turning to Rachel. "You're mortal which means your mind is weaker than ours. I'll probably have to do another session in a little while."

"Yeah, but not anytime soon. You've done enough. You need some rest," Percy said and Cressida moved out of his hold.

"I'm fine. I slept in the van. Can we go now?" she asked as she took another sip and Annabeth snatched the canteen back immediately after.

With Rachel leading, the four of them ventured into the maze.