"This way!" Rachel yelled.
"Why should we follow you?" Annabeth demanded. "You led is straight into that death trap!"
"It was the way you needed to go." Rachel said. "And so is this. Come on!"
"Let's just go, okay?" I placed a hand on Annabeth's shoulder and gave her an encouraging nod.
Annabeth didn't look happy about it, but she rang along with the rest of us. Rachel seemed to know exactly where she was going. She would whip around corns and didn't hesitate at crossroads. She would warn us to duck when a huge axe swung over our heads.
We didn't stop until we made it to a room the size of a gymnasium with old marble columns holding up the roof. Percy stood at the doorway, listening for any sounds of pursuit. At some point, the hellhound had disappeared, most likely heading back to camp.
"You people are crazy." The demigod who ran with us said.
He pulled off his helmet and I recognized his face: Ethan. He was sporting an eye patch that I now remember he did not have when he was at camp.
"I remember you!" Annabeth gasped. "You were one of the undetermined kids in the Hermes cabin, years ago."
"Yeah, and you're Annabeth." Ethan looked at her. "I remember."
"Ethan, right?" I crossed my arms, biting back a hiss from pain, trying to rack my brain for any other information on him.
"Surprised you remember. Camp Princess, right?" Ethan raised a brow at me with a mocking tone.
I glared at him, silently fuming. I've always hated it when the campers called me that. Percy has made his way back to us. He stood besides me, eyeing Ethan with crossed arms.
"What-what happened to your eye?"
Ethan looked away. Seemed as if his eye patch was a sensitive topic for him.
"You must be the half-blood from my dream." Percy said. "The one Luke's people cornered. It wasn't Nico after all."
"Who's Nico?"
"None of your business." I dryly told him.
"Never mine." Annabeth quickly said. "Why were you trying to join up with the wrong side?"
"There's no right side." Ethan sneered. "The gods never cared about us. Why shouldn't I-"
"Sign up with an army that makes you fight to the death for entertainment?" Annabeth cut him off. "Gee, I wonder."
"I'm not going to argue with you." Ethan struggled to his feet. "Thanks for the help, but I'm out of here."
"We're going after Daedalus." Percy informed him, trying to convince Ethan to stick with us. "Come with us. Once we get through, you'd be welcome back at camp."
"You really are crazy if you think Daedalus will help you."
"He has to." Annabeth said. "We'll make him listen."
"Yeah, well." Ethan snorted. I narrowed my eyes at him. He knew something. "Good luck with that."
"What do you know?" I inquired, wincing when I moved my wrist the wrong way.
"You're just going to head off alone into the maze?" Percy grabbed his arm. "That's suicide."
"You shouldn't have spared me, Jackson." Ethan looked at Percy with barely restrained anger. "Mercy has no place in this war."
Ethan then shrugged Percy off. He ran into the darkness in the direction we had come from.
🍇
Thankfully, we made camp where we were at. We were too exhausted to find another area. Percy found some scrap wood and we started a fire. Shadows danced off the columns rising around us like trees. We sat around the fire, Percy right beside me. Every now and then he would touch his pinky against mine before drawing it away.
"Something was wrong with Luke." Annabeth muttered from beside me. She poked at the fire with her knife. "Did you notice the way he was acting?"
"He seemed kind of nervous." I nodded, making Annabeth look up at me.
"He looked pretty pleased to me." Percy said, momentarily glancing at me. "Like he'd spent a nice day torturing heroes."
"That's not true! There was something wrong with him. Ivy's right, he looked...nervous." Annabeth noted. "He told his monsters to spare me. He wanted to tell me something."
I nodded in agreement. My wrist was cradled in my lap. Now that I was able to look at it, it was swollen. I'd have to look in my bag for some ambrosia. Maybe something to wrap it as well.
"Probably, 'Hi, Annabeth! Sit here with me and watch while I tear your friends apart. It'll be fun!'"
"You're impossible." Annabeth grumbled. I gave Percy an incredulous look and jabbed my elbow into his ribs. He winced and gave me a confused look. Annabeth sheathed her dagger and looked at Rachel. "So which way now, Sacagawea?"
Rachel didn't respond right away. She'd become quieter since the arena. Rachel burned the tip of a stick in the fire and was using it to draw ash figures on the floor, images of the monsters we'd seen. With a few strokes she caught the like was of a dracanae perfectly. Her artistic skills were good.
"We'll follow the path." She said. "The brightness on the floor."
"The brightness that led us straight into a trap?" Annabeth asked.
"Lay off her, Annabeth." Percy scolded. My stomach knotted and my jaw clenched at how quick he was to defend the red head. "She's doing the best she can."
I scoffed and scowled at the fire. Percy gave me an exasperated look, not knowing what he was doing wrong. Rachel studied the both of us. She saw how close Percy and I were sitting next to each other. How Percy would keep glancing at me while I scowled at the fire. Her brow raised as she caught on.
"The fires getting low." Annabeth stood. "I'll go look for some more scraps while you guys talk strategy. Coming, Ives?"
I nodded and stood up. Percy furrowed his brows as he saw us march into the shadows. Once we were at a far enough distance, I vented.
"I can't believe him!" I threw my hands up in frustration. Pain flared in my left wrist. I winced and cradled my wrist again. "Ugh, he gets on my nerves with how he's so attentive to her."
"And how stupid he is with him not noticing how Luke was acting." Annabeth added, picking up a small twig. She eyed my wrist. "We should probably wrap that up."
"I will once I have some ambrosia." I grumbled stepping toward another stick a few paces ahead. "Didn't want to appear weak in front of Miss Dare."
"You're not weak." Annabeth stopped, placing a hand on my shoulder. She held me back and gave me a look. "You're far from weak. Look, I know back at camp you felt like you were. Your dad doesn't really like you or your brothers being too involved. I get that. But you are not weak, do you understand?"
"Sure." I said averting my gaze toward the ground.
"Ivy, you managed to heal a good chunk of Chris Rodriguez's mind. You used your vine powers to break free back at the ranch. You almost chocked a Laistrygonian giant to death using vines if it weren't for Kelli. You're powerful, and I think it's time you acknowledge that."
"Thanks, Annie." I blushed from the praise.
"And Percy's an idiot for focusing so much on his little mortal friend than on you." Annabeth nudged my shoulder with a soft grin. "Besides, he hasn't fully stopped acknowledging you. I saw him looking at you a lot back there."
"He's still an idiot." I picked up the stick.
"I call him Seaweed Brain for a reason." Annabeth smirked. "Come on, let's finish grabbing the sticks."
A few minutes later, we returned back to the camp site. Rachel was already asleep and Percy was watching the fire. We placed the sticks into the flames. I walked over to my bag, feeling Percy's eyes watching me. Unzipping it, I found the ambrosia and tore off a small piece.
I placed the piece into my mouth as the taste of buttery popcorn hit my taste buds. Using my non-injured hand, I dug around the bag to find a wrap. I found it quickly, placing it on my shoulder to zip up the bag. I sat down and grabbed the wrap.
"I'll wrap it for you." Percy gently took the wrap from its spot on my shoulder. I looked at him with wide eyes, not hearing him near. He sat down beside me and carefully took my injured wrist. A frown appeared on his lips. "Why are you barely treating it now?"
"We were a bit busy running for our lives, Seaweed Brain." I told him.
"Okay, I am taking that as an offensive nickname." Percy glanced up at me, peering through his dark lashes.
"Good. It is." I gave him a curt nod.
"And why didn't you have one of us wrap it once we set up camp?" Percy quirked a brow, prodding the swollen wrist. I held back a wince. I kept my mouth closed, too tired to argue with him. "It doesn't feel like it's broken. Maybe a sprained wrist?"
"I think so." I muttered, eyeing him wrap my wrist with a gentleness I've never seen him do. "Ambrosia is probably already healing it, too."
Percy hummed. He secured the wrap. I muttered a thanks, placing my wrist in my lap. There was a silence between us. It wasn't awkward, but it also wasn't exactly comfortable.
"Look, I..." Percy licked his lips anxiously. "I'm sorry for not telling you about the whole Calypso thing." I scowled, already annoyed. "But I wanted to tell you when it was just us two.It didn't feel right explaining all of that with others around."
"Then why didn't you come tell me after the meeting with Chiron and Annabeth?"
"I wanted to let you cool down. You looked pissed." Percy shrugged.
"I was, I am." I stated.
"Nothing happened and she tried to help me come back. I promise." Percy said. "I would never do that to you. It was hard being away from you for that long and frustrating on trying to find a way to come back to you. After all, I did promise I would."
"Percy...I don't ever want to feel like that again." I muttered softly, staring at the ground. I could feel all the defenses I had around me starting to crumble. "It was horrible. Thinking you died, hoping you were alive...it was torture."
"Hey." Percy reached out to interlace our fingers. I stared down at our hands, a warmness spreading in my heart. "Never again. I'll go through the Underworld to come back to you."
"I'm just glad that you're safe." I leaned my head on his shoulder. "And that you're back."
"Me too." Percy gently smiled at me, kissing the top of my head. "We good, Vine Girl?"
"We good, Shark Boy."
🍇
I was in a darker room that appeared to be in a cave of sorts. A demigod, two dracanae, and Kelli stood around something further ahead. I inched closer to see what they were looking at. Luke stood before them holding a golden glittering ball of string. My heart fell.
"Now, we can find the shop." Kelli said, a grin forming on her lips.
"So you think they beat us to it?" The demigod asked, turning to face Kelli. She looked familiar. Most likely stayed at camp before joining Luke. She was older, around Luke's age. "Jackson and the others?"
"It doesn't matter now." Luke smirked as he held it out on the palm of his hand. "We beat Jackson to it. Now it's time to use it."
"Either way," Kelli reached forward to grab a glowing sphere, "we can track them. I doubt they are there yet."
"Follow them and bring them to me." Luke ordered. Nervousness flashed in his eyes. "I'll be getting ready."
"Issss the plan at work?" One of the dracanae questioned.
"We'll meet them in a bit." Kelli smirked as she inspected the string. "Then we can catch up to Percy Jackson."
🍇
The ground shook me awake. With bleary eyes, I looked around to see that my head was still rested on Percy's shoulder. He had his head resting on the top of mine. Annabeth woke up startled.
"Earthquake." I heard her realize. She looked at me with wide eyes. "We got to go!"
"Percy, wake up!" I lifted my head, causing him to grumble. I shook his shoulder in urgency. "Perseus Jackson, wake the Hades up!"
"Tyson-Tyson's in trouble!" Percy rushed out, now awake. "We have to help him!"
"First things first." I told him, quickly standing to my feet. I helped him to stand as he saw the room shake. "Earthquake!"
"Rachel!" Percy yelled out.
Her eyes opened instantly. We scurried around to grab our belongings and ran. Dust started to fall from the ceiling. I had to blink rapidly to get it out of my eyes. We kept going as hundred tons of marble crashed behind us.
We made it to the corridor and turned just in time to see the other columns toppling. A cloud of white dust billowed over us. We continued to run.
"You know what?" Annabeth said. "I like this way after all."
It wasn't long before we saw light up ahead- like regular modern electric lighting.
"There." Rachel said.
We followed her into a stainless steel hallway. Fluorescent lights glowered from the ceiling. The floor was a metal grate. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the brighter lighting, they had gotten used to the dark.
"This way." Rachel began to run. "We're close!"
"This is so wrong!" Annabeth protested as she took everything in. "The workshop should be in the oldest section of the maze. This can't-"
She faltered. We arrived at a set of metal double doors. Inscribed in the steel, at eye level, was a large blue Greek Delta.
"We're here." Rachel announced. "Daedalus's workshop."
Just a heads head, once work starts back up for me this week, I will be able to only update at least once a week