[1] 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐋𝐋 ― p.jackson ✓

016.

nope, jerald said aloud, making her voice higher in pitch, he's crazy you guys.

"noted, jerald," nodded barbie, scowling at quintus as she snapped, "and what do you mean you've been almost, everywhere?"

he didn't answer her question by the way (level one hundred anger suddenly activated within barbie. continue talking for powerup!). he walked past them like they were no threat as he said (oh look, powerup time!), "the view changes from day to day. it's always someplace 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 fighting name, i suppose."

"since when was this an english lesson?" snapped barbie, "get to your point, quintus."

"so you've been here before?" asked percy, ignoring barbie's snapping tone as he looked at quintus with a touch of curiosity.

"oh, yes." nodded quintus.

"so that's an illusion out there?" percy asked, "i mean, is it like a projection or something?"

"no," rachel murmured, almost as shocked as the rest of them that she knew the answer, "it's real. we're really in colorado."

quintus regarded her and then smiled slightly (which kind of made barbie wat to slap it off his face) as he said, "you have clear vision, don't you? you remind me of another mortal girl i once knew. another princess who came to grief."

"enough games," percy said, "what have you done with daedalus?"

barbie scowled at quintus. percy's question was definitely valid. how the hades had quintus got here? why did he know so much about the labyrinth? and a princess? what was this? medieval times? the cogs were turning in her head, and she couldn't keep up with all of the ideas in her mind. suddenly she wondered if that was what it was like to be a child of athena, constantly having such loud thoughts you could barely concentrate. stuck in your own mind.

"he is daedalus," murmured barbie, not even thinking as she said the words. the group turned to her and suddenly a proper answer came to mind. she wondered if athena had suddenly blessed her with the answer because there was no way she could have gotten that on her own. ask her an algebra problem? she'd struggle. ask her what century a piece of clothing was from? yeah, she'd probably have the answers. but for some reason, she felt like the answer was correct. and she repeated it again, as if trying to make herself sound more sure, "you are daedalus."

quintus (or was it daedalus?) looked at barbie as a small smile crept up on his face, "you're a child of aphrodite-"

"and what has that got to do with it?" she suddenly snapped, getting defensive, "wh-"

"i mean no prejudice to your parentage," spoke quintus, holding up his hands in a mock of surrender as he added, "i thought i should congratulate you."

"no," percy said, shaking his head in shock as he said, "you can't-"

"oh, but my dear boy," mused... the guy (she really didn't know what to call him. maybe josh for the meantime?), "i am daedalus."

"but you're not an inventor!" percy protested, trying to bargain his way out of this shocking situation, "you're a swordsman!"

"i am both," josh (because she really had no idea what to call him) 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," nodded rachel, suddenly playing devils advocate (which made barbie dislike her even more), "it's like, i can paint with my feet as well as my hands."