𝕚𝕧𝕪; annabeth chase

viii.

"the island in san francisco?"

"cool," maddie grinned. 

"yeah, my school took a trip here. it's like a museum."

it only then hit maddie just how powerfully confusing the labyrinth was. they had only been travelling for what felt like a few hours, and had already come across two gods, a skeleton, and had ended up in san francisco.

"freeze," grover warned, but tyson paid him no attention. 

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

when maddie spotted what grover was pointing to, she nearly vomited. she had faced and fought a titan, gotten poisoned, stabbed, twice, and yet this creature sent fear so deep into her she forgot how to breathe.

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. wrapped around her legs was what maddie initially thought were vines, but on closer inspection she realized they were snakes. they sprouted from her head too, reminding maddie of medusa. and below the waist, things only got weirder. 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.

"it's her," tyson whimpered, his voice laced with more fear then maddie had ever heard from him.

"get down!"

maddie pressed herself into the wall until she felt the shadows cast a protective veil over her and her friends. 

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

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

maddie felt lightheaded, but from what she wasn't sure. as she listened to the raspy voice closely, she could feel her body grow more and more weak, as if each word was drawing her strength from her body. her laurel felt heavy and irritating on her head. she hadn't realized her breathing had become more and more scarce until she felt a cold hand on her arm.

she looked up to see percy studying her with a concerned expression. "mads? you okay?"

she shook her head. "i— i don't— i can't—"

"hey, hey," she felt percy place his other hand on her shoulder. "easy, maddie, breathe."

maddie placed a shaky hand on her chest, trying to control her panicked state. a second later, she felt a hand cover hers.

"that's it, maddie. in and out."

she glanced up, and was met with a piercing pair of grey eyes, looking so deeply into hers that maddie felt as if annabeth was reading her mind. 

something in the girl kept her eyes firmly fixed on annabeth's. the deep grey seemed so alluring that for a moment, maddie forgot everything around her. it was only a minute later that she realized her breathing had completely slowed down.

she was suddenly aware of the four pairs of eyes staring at her like she was a porcelain doll about to crack. ripping her hand away from annabeth's, and running it through her hair, she blew out a long breath. 

"don't know what happened— just sorta . . . "

"is it the being underground that got to you?" annabeth asked, concern written into her features.