[Percy's POV]
I lost hope when I saw the horses' teeth. As I got closer to the fence, I held my shirt over my nose to block the smell. One stallion waded through the muck and whinnied angrily at me. He bared his teeth, which were pointed like a bear's. I tried to talk to him in my mind. I can do that with most horses.
'Hi,' I told him. 'I'm going to clean your stables. Won't that be great?'
'Yes!' The horse said. 'Come inside! Eat you! Tasty half-blood!'
'But I'm Poseidon's son,' I protested. 'He created horses.' Usually this gets me VIP treatment in the equestrian world, but not this time. 'Yes!' The horse agreed enthusiastically. 'Poseidon can come in, too! We will eat you both! Seafood!'
'Seafood!' The other horses chimed in as they waded through the field. Flies were buzzing everywhere, and the heat of the day didn't make the smell any better. I'd had some idea that I could do this challenge, because I remembered how Hercules had done it. He'd channeled a river into the stables and cleaned them out that way.
Yeah, Hercules sucked, but the point stands. I figured I could maybe control the water. But if I couldn't get close to the horses without getting eaten, that was a problem. And the river was downhill from the stables, a lot farther away than I'd realized, almost half a mile.
The problem of the poop looked a lot bigger up close. I picked up a rusted shovel and experimentally scooped some away from the fence line. Great. Only four billion shovelfuls to go.
The sun was already sinking. I had a few hours at best. I decided the river was my only hope. At least it would be easier to think at the riverside than it was here. I set off downhill.
When I got to the river, I found a girl waiting for me. She was wearing jeans and a green T-shirt and her long brown hair was braided with river grass. She had a stern look on her face. Her arms were crossed. "Oh no you don't," she said. I stared at her. "Are you a naiad?"
She rolled her eyes. "Of course!"
"But you speak English. And you're out of the water."
"What, you don't think we can act human if we want to?"
I'd never thought about it. I kind of felt stupid, though, because I'd seen plenty of naiads at camp, and they'd never done much more than giggle and wave at me from the bottom of the canoe lake. "Look," I said. "I just came to ask-"
"I know who you are," she said. "And I know what you want. And the answer is no! I'm not going to have my river used again to clean that filthy stable."
"But-"
"Oh, save it, sea boy. You ocean-god types always think you're soooo much more important than some little river, don't you? Well let me tell you, this naiad is not going to be pushed around just because your daddy is Poseidon. This is freshwater territory, mister."
She looked like she'd finished with the argument for a moment before picking her angry face back up and shouting, "And the last guy who asked me this favor. Oh, he was way better-looking than you, by the way, he convinced me, and that was the worst mistake I've ever made! Do you have any idea what all that horse manure does to my ecosystem? Do I look like a sewage treatment plant to you? My fish will die. I'll never get the mulch out of my plants. I'll be sick for years. NO THANK YOU!"
The way she talked reminded me of my mortal friend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, kind of like she was punching me with words. I couldn't blame the naiad. Now that I thought about it, I'd be pretty mad if somebody dumped four million pounds of manure in my home. But still...
"My friends are in danger," I told her. "Well, that's too bad! But it's not my problem. And you're not going to ruin my river."
She looked like she was ready for a fight. Her fists were balled, but I thought I heard a little quiver in her voice. Suddenly I realized that despite her angry attitude, she was afraid of me. She probably thought I was going to fight her for control of the river, and she was worried she would lose.
The thought made me sad. I felt like a bully, a son of Poseidon throwing his weight around. I sat down on a tree stump. "Okay, you win." The naiad looked surprised. "Really?"
"I'm not going to fight you. It's your river." She relaxed her shoulders. "Oh. Oh, good. I mean- good thing for you!"
"But my friends and I are going to get sold to the Titans if I don't clean those stables by sunset. And I don't know how." The river gurgled along cheerfully. A snake slid through the water and ducked its head under. Finally the naiad sighed. "I'll tell you a secret, son of the sea god. Scoop up some dirt."
"What?"
"You heard me."
I crouched down and scooped up a handful of Texas dirt. It was dry and black and spotted with tiny clumps of white rock... No, something besides rock. "Those are shells," the naiad said. "Petrified seashells. Millions of years ago, even before the time of the gods, when only Gaea and Ouranos reigned, this land was under the water. It was part of the sea."
Suddenly I saw what she meant. There were little pieces of ancient sea urchins in my hand, mollusk shells. Even the limestone rocks had impressions of seashells embedded in them. "Okay," I said. "What good does that do me?"
"You're not so different from me, demigod. Even when I'm out of the water, the water is within me. It is my life source." She stepped back, put her feet in the river, and smiled. "I hope you find a way to rescue your friends." And with that she turned to liquid and melted into the river.
* * *
The sun was touching the hills when I got back to the stables. Somebody must've come by and fed the horses, because they were tearing into huge animal carcasses. I couldn't tell what kind of animal, and I really didn't want to know. If it was possible for the stables to get more disgusting, fifty horses tearing into raw meat did it.
'Seafood!' one thought when he saw me. 'Come in! We're still hungry!'
What was I supposed to do? I couldn't use the river. And the fact that this place had been under water a million years ago didn't exactly help me now. I looked at the little calcified seashell in my palm, then at the huge mountain of dung.
I remembered something. Something that felt like a long time ago. It was something Y/N told me at Waterland. "You're the son of the water god! Act like it!" Problem with that, is I didn't know how to go about acting like it.
Frustrated, I threw the shell into the poop. I was about to turn my back on the horses when I heard a sound. Like a balloon with a leak. I looked down where I had thrown the shell. A tiny spout of water was shooting out of the muck. "No way," I muttered.
Hesitantly, I stepped toward the fence. "Get bigger," I told the waterspout. SPOOOOOOOSH! I was acting like who I was supposed to be. Water shot three feet into the air and kept bubbling. It was impossible, but there it was. A couple of horses came over to check it out. One put his mouth to the spring and recoiled.
'Yuck!' he said. 'Salty!' It was seawater in the middle of a Texas ranch. I scooped up another handful of dirt and picked out the shell fossils. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I ran around the length of the stable, throwing shells into the dung piles. Everywhere a shell hit, a saltwater spring erupted.
'Stop!' The horses cried. 'Meat is good! Baths are bad!'
Then I noticed the water wasn't running out of the stables or flowing downhill like water normally would. It simply bubbled around each spring and sank into the ground, taking the dung with it. The horse poop dissolved in the saltwater, leaving regular old wet dirt. "More!" I yelled.
There was a tugging sensation in my gut, and the waterspouts exploded like the world's largest car wash. Salt water shot twenty feet into the air. The horses went crazy, running back and forth as the geysers sprayed them from all directions. Mountains of poop began to melt like ice.
The tugging sensation became more intense, painful even, but there was something exhilarating about seeing all that salt water. I had made this. I had brought the ocean to this hillside.
'Stop, lord!' a horse cried. 'Stop, please!'
Water was sloshing everywhere now. The horses were drenched, and some were panicking and slipping in the mud. The poop was completely gone, tons of it just dissolved into the earth, and the water was now starting to pool, trickling out of the stable, making a hundred little streams down toward the river.
"Stop," I told the water.
Nothing happened. The pain in my gut was building. If I didn't shut off the geysers soon, the salt water would run into the river and poison the fish and plants.
"Stop!" I concentrated all my might on shutting off the force of the sea. Suddenly the geysers shut down. I collapsed to my knees, exhausted. In front of me was a shiny clean horse stable, a field of wet salty mud, and fifty horses that had been scoured so thoroughly their coats gleamed. Even the meat scraps between their teeth had been washed out.
'We won't eat you!' the horses wailed. 'Please, lord! No more salty baths!'
"On one condition," I said. "You only eat the food your handlers give you from now on. Not people. Or I'll be back with more seashells!" The horses whinnied and made me a whole lot of promises that they would be good flesh-eating horses from now on, but I didn't stick around to chat. The sun was going down. I turned and ran full speed toward the ranch house.
I smelled barbecue before I reached the porch, and that made me madder than ever, because I really love barbecue. The deck was set up for a party. Streamers and balloons decorated the railing. Geryon was flipping burgers on a huge barbecue cooker made from an oil drum. Eurytion lounged at a picnic table, picking his fingernails with a knife.
The two-headed dog sniffed the ribs and burgers that were frying on the grill. And then I saw my friends: Tyson, Grover, Annabeth, and Nico all tossed in a corner, tied up like rodeo animals, with their ankles and wrists roped together and their mouths gagged.
"Let them go!" I yelled, still out of breath from running up the steps. "I cleaned the stables!" Geryon turned. He wore an apron on each chest, with one word on each, so together they spelled out: KISS—THE—CHEF. "Did you, now? How'd you manage it?"
I was pretty impatient, but I told him.
He nodded appreciatively. "Very ingenious. It would've been better if you'd poisoned that pesky naiad, but no matter."
"Let my friends go," I said. "We had a deal."
"Ah, I've been thinking about that. The problem is, if I let them go, I don't get paid. I lost out on more than enough with that fast bastard that you guys are looking, and I'm not letting money walk out on me again."
"You promised!" Geryon made a tsk-tsk noise. "But did you make me swear on the River Styx? No, you didn't. So it's not binding. When you're conducting business, sonny, you should always get a binding oath."
I drew my sword. Orthus growled. One head leaned down next to Grover's ear and bared its fangs. "Eurytion," Geryon said, "the boy is starting to annoy me. Kill him."
Eurytion studied me. I didn't like my odds against him and that huge club. "Kill him yourself," Eurytion said. Geryon raised his eyebrows. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me," Eurytion grumbled. "You keep sending me out to do your dirty work. You pick fights for no good reason, and I'm getting tired of dying for you. You want to fight the kid, do it yourself."
It was the most un-Ares-like thing I'd ever heard a son of Ares say. Geryon threw down his spatula. "You dare defy me? I should fire you right now!"
"And who'd take care of your cattle? Orthus, heel."
The dog immediately stopped growling at Grover and came to sit by the cowherd's feet. "Fine!" Geryon snarled. "I'll deal with you later, after the boy is dead!" He picked up two carving knives and threw them at me. I deflected one with my sword. The other impaled itself in the picnic table an inch from Eurytion's hand.
I went on the attack. Geryon parried my first strike with a pair of red-hot tongs and lunged at my face with a barbecue fork. I got inside his next thrust and stabbed him right through the middle chest.
"Aghhh!" He crumpled to his knees. I waited for him to disintegrate, the way monsters usually do. But instead he just grimaced and started to stand up. The wound in his chef's apron started to heal.
"Nice try, sonny," he said. "Thing is, I have three hearts. The perfect backup system."
He tipped over the barbecue, and coals spilled everywhere. One landed next to Annabeth's face, and she let out a muffled scream. Tyson strained against his bonds, but even his strength wasn't enough to break them. I had to end this fight before my friends got hurt.
I jabbed Geryon in the left chest, but he only laughed. I stuck him in the right stomach. No good. I might as well have been sticking a sword in a teddy bear for all the reaction he showed. Three hearts. The perfect backup system.
Stabbing one at a time was no good....
I ran into the house.
"Coward!" he cried. "Come back and die right!"
The living room walls were decorated with a bunch of gruesome hunting trophies. Stuffed deer and dragon heads, a gun case, a sword display, and a bow with a quiver. Geryon threw his barbecue fork, and it thudded into the wall right next to my head. He drew two swords from the wall display. "Your head's gonna go right there, Jackson! Next to the grizzly bear!"
I had a crazy idea. I dropped Riptide and grabbed the bow off the wall. I was the worst archery shot in the world. I couldn't hit the targets at camp, much less a bull's eye. But I had no choice. I couldn't win this fight with a sword.
I prayed to Artemis and Apollo, the twin archers, hoping they might take pity on me for once. Maybe since I was trying to find Artemis' son, and what seemed to be Apollo's favorite nephew. 'Please, guys. Just one shot. Please.' I notched an arrow.
Geryon laughed. "You fool! One arrow is no better than one sword." He raised his swords and charged. I dove sideways. Before he could turn, I shot my arrow into the side of his right chest. I heard THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, as the arrow passed clean through each of his chests and flew out his left side, embedding itself in the forehead of the grizzly bear trophy.
Geryon dropped his swords. He turned and stared at me. "You can't shoot. They told me you couldn't..." His face turned a sickly shade of green. He collapsed to his knees and began crumbling into sand, until all that was left were three cooking aprons and an oversized pair of cowboy boots.
I got my friends untied. Eurytion didn't try to stop me. Then I stoked up the barbecue and threw the food into the flames as a burnt offering for Artemis and Apollo.
"Thanks, guys," I said. "I owe you one." The sky thundered in the distance, so I figured maybe the burgers smelled okay.
"Yay for Percy!" Tyson said. "Can we tie up this cowherd now?" Nico asked. "Yeah!" Grover agreed. "And that dog almost killed me!"
I looked at Eurytion, who was still sitting relaxed at the picnic table. Orthus had both his heads on the cowherd's knees. "How long will it take Geryon to re-form?" I asked him. Eurytion shrugged. "Hundred years? He's not one of those fast reformers, thank the gods. You've done me a favor."
"You said you'd died for him before," I remembered. "How?"
"I've worked for that creep for thousands of years. Started as a regular half-blood, but I chose immortality when my dad offered it. Worst mistake I ever made. Now I'm stuck here at this ranch. I can't leave. I can't quit. I just tend the cows and fight Geryon's fights. We're kinda tied together."
"Maybe you can change things," I said. Eurytion narrowed his eyes. "How?"
"Be nice to the animals. Take care of them. Stop selling them for food. And stop dealing with the Titans." Eurytion thought about that. "That'd be alright."
"Get the animals on your side, and they'll help you. Once Geryon gets back, maybe he'll be working for you this time." Eurytion grinned. "Now, that I could live with."
"You won't try to stop us leaving?"
"Shoot, no."
Annabeth rubbed her bruised wrists. She was still looking at Eurytion suspiciously. "Your boss said somebody paid for our safe passage. Who?" The cowherd shrugged. "Maybe he was just saying that to fool you."
"What about the Titans?" I asked. "Did you Iris-message them about Nico yet?"
"Nope. Geryon was waiting until after the barbecue. They don't know about him."
Nico was glaring at me. I wasn't sure what to do about him. I doubted he would agree to come with us. On the other hand, I couldn't just let him roam around on his own. "You could stay here until we're done with our quest," I told him. "It would be safe."
"Safe?" Nico said. "What do you care if I'm safe? You got my sister killed!"
"Nico," Annabeth said, "that wasn't Percy's fault. And Geryon wasn't lying about Kronos wanting to capture you. If he knew who you were, he'd do anything to get you on his side."
"I'm not on anyone's side. And I'm not afraid."
"You should be," Annabeth said. "Your sister wouldn't want-"
"If you cared for my sister, you'd help me bring her back!"
"A soul for a soul?" I said. "Yes!"
"But if you didn't want Y/N's soul. Who else would have cheated-"
"I'm not explaining anything to you!" He blinked tears out of his eyes. "And I will bring her back."
"Bianca wouldn't want to be brought back," I said. "Not like that."
"You didn't know her!" he shouted. "How do you know what she'd want?" I stared at the flames in the barbecue pit. I thought about the line in Annabeth's prophecy: You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand. That had to be Minos, and I had to convince Nico not to listen to him. "Let's ask Bianca."
The sky seemed to grow darker all of a sudden. "I've tried," Nico said miserably. "She won't answer."
"Try again. I've got a feeling she'll answer with me here."
"Why would she?"
"Because she's been sending me Iris-messages," I said, suddenly sure of it. "She's been trying to warn me what you're up to, so I can protect you." Nico shook his head. "That's impossible."
"One way to find out. You said you're not afraid." I turned to Eurytion. "We're going to need a pit, like a grave. And food and drinks."
"Percy," Annabeth warned. "I don't think this is a good-"
"All right," Nico said. "I'll try." Eurytion scratched his beard. "There's a hole dug out back for a septic tank. We could use that. Cyclops boy, fetch my ice chest from the kitchen. I hope the dead like root beer."
***
We did our summons after dark, at a twenty-foot-long pit in front of the septic tank. The tank was bright yellow, with a smiley face and red words painted on the side: HAPPY FLUSH DISPOSAL CO. It didn't quite go with the mood of summoning the dead. The moon was full. Silver clouds drifted across the sky.
"Minos should be here by now," Nico said, frowning. "It's full dark."
"Maybe he got lost," I said hopefully. Nico poured root beer and tossed barbecue into the pit, then began chanting in Ancient Greek. Immediately the bugs in the woods stopped chirping. In my pocket, the Stygian ice dog whistle started to grow colder, freezing against the side of my leg.
"Make him stop," Tyson whispered to me. Part of me agreed. This was unnatural. The night air felt cold and menacing. But before I could say anything, the first spirits appeared. Sulfurous mist seeped out of the ground. Shadows thickened into human forms. One blue shade drifted to the edge of the pit and knelt to drink.
"Stop him!" Nico said, momentarily breaking his chant. "Only Bianca may drink!"
I drew Riptide. The ghosts retreated with a collective hiss at the sight of my celestial bronze blade. But it was too late to stop the first spirit. He had already solidified into the shape of a bearded man in white robes. A circlet of gold wreathed his head, and even in death his eyes were alive with malice.
"Minos!" Nico said. "What are you doing?"
"My apologies, master," the ghost said, though he didn't sound very sorry. "The sacrifice smelled so good, I couldn't resist." He examined his own hands and smiled. "It is good to see myself again. Almost in solid form-"
"You are disrupting the ritual!" Nico protested. "Get-" The spirits of the dead began shimmering dangerously bright, and Nico had to take up the chant again to keep them at bay. "Yes, quite right, master," Minos said with amusement. "You keep chanting. I've only come to protect you from these liars who would deceive you."
He turned to me as if I were some kind of cockroach. "Percy Jackson... my, my. The sons of Poseidon haven't improved over the centuries, have they?"
I wanted to punch him, but I figured my fist would go right through his face. "We're looking for Bianca di Angelo," I said. "Get lost."
He cackled. "Lost... like your little friend in the maze. Sure. I'll get right to that." I think Annabeth was going to try and strange a ghost tonight if Tyson didn't hold her back.
The ghost chuckled. "I understand you once killed my Minotaur with your bare hands. But worse things await you in the maze. Do you really believe Daedalus will help you?" The other spirits stirred in agitation. Annabeth drew her knife and helped me keep them away from the pit. Grover got so nervous he clung to Tyson's shoulder.
"Daedalus cares nothing for you, half-bloods," Minos warned. "You can't trust him. He is old beyond counting, and crafty. He is bitter from the guilt of murder and is cursed by the gods."
"The guilt of murder?" I asked. "Who did he kill?"
"Do not change the subject!" the ghost growled. "You are hindering Nico. You try to persuade him to give up on his goal. I would make him a lord!"
"Enough, Minos," Nico commanded. The ghost sneered. "Master, these are your enemies. You must not listen to them! Let me protect you. I will turn their minds to madness, as I did the others."
"The others?" Annabeth gasped. "You mean Chris Rodriguez? That was you?"
"The maze is my property," the ghost said, "not Daedalus's! Those who intrude deserve madness. It's unfortunate that poor Y/N got away. It would've been fun to see him go mad. Alas, Nico wasn't quite ready for an attack yet."
We turned to Nico hesitantly. He fumbled over his words. "I ran into him in Nashville, and he followed me into the labyrinth. I didn't think he'd get lost down there! I figured he could find a way out!"
Grover brayed nervously. "Well, you figured wrong. Because Y/N's been missing since the spring." Nico blushed through his clear terror. "I... I didn't mean to-"
He focused again, changing the subject and turning to the ghost in front of him. "Be gone, Minos!" Nico demanded. "I want to see my sister!" The ghost bit back his rage. "As you wish, master. But I warn you. You cannot trust these heroes."
With that, he faded into mist.
Other spirits rushed forward, but Annabeth and I kept them back. "Bianca, appear!" Nico intoned. He started chanting faster, and the spirits shifted restlessly.
"Any time now," Grover muttered. Then a silvery light flickered in the trees. A spirit that seemed brighter and stronger than the others. It came closer, and something told me to let it pass. It knelt to drink at the pit. When it arose, it was the ghostly form of Bianca di Angelo.
Nico's chanting faltered. I lowered my sword. The other spirits started to crowd forward, but Bianca raised her arms and they retreated into the woods.
"Hello, Percy," she said.
She looked the same as she had in life: a green cap set sideways on her thick black hair, dark eyes and olive skin like her brother. She wore jeans and a silvery jacket, the outfit of a Hunter of Artemis. A bow was slung over her shoulder. She smiled faintly, and her whole form flickered.
"Bianca," I said. My voice was thick. I'd felt guilty about her death for a long time, but seeing her in front of me was five times as bad, like her death was fresh and new. I remembered searching through the wreckage of the giant bronze warrior she'd sacrificed her life to defeat, and not finding any sign of her.
"I'm so sorry," I said. "You have nothing to apologize for, Percy. I made my own choice. I don't regret it."
"Bianca!" Nico stumbled forward like he was just coming out of a daze. She turned toward her brother. Her expression was sad, as if she'd been dreading this moment. "Hello, Nico. You've gotten so tall."
"Why didn't you answer me sooner?" he cried. "I've been trying for months!"
"I was hoping you would give up."
"Give up?" He sounded heartbroken. "How can you say that? I'm trying to save you!"
"You can't, Nico. Don't do this. Percy is right."
"No! He let you die! He's not your friend."
Bianca stretched out a hand as if to touch her brother's face, but she was made of mist. Her hand evaporated as it got close to living skin.
"You must listen to me," she said. "Holding a grudge is dangerous for a child of Hades. It is our fatal flaw. You have to forgive him. And you have to forgive Y/N. Before it's too late. You have to promise me this."
"I can't. Never."
"Percy has been worried about you, Nico. He can help. I let him see what you were up to, hoping he would find you."
"So it was you," I said. "You sent those Iris-messages." Bianca nodded. "I visited Y/N in the maze as well a while back. He's... He's fighting. I hoped he would run into you before you got this far, Nico, but..."
"Why are you helping them and not me?" Nico interrupted. "It's not fair!"
"You are close to the truth now," Bianca told him. "It's not Percy you're mad at. It's not Y/N, Nico. It's me."
"No."
"You're mad because I left you to become a Hunter of Artemis. You're mad because I died and left you alone. I'm sorry for that, Nico. I truly am. But you must overcome the anger. And stop blaming them for my choices. It will be your doom."
"She's right," Annabeth broke in. "Kronos is rising, Nico. He'll twist anyone he can to his cause."
"I don't care about Kronos," Nico said. "I just want my sister back."
"You can't have that, Nico," Bianca told him gently. "I'm the son of Hades! I can."
"Don't try," she said. "If you love me, don't..."
Her voice trailed off. Spirits had started to gather around us again, and they seemed agitated. Their shadows shifted. Their voices whispered, 'Danger!'
"Tartarus stirs," Bianca said. "Your power draws the attention of Kronos. The dead must return to the Underworld. It is not safe for us to remain."
"Wait," Nico said. "Please-"
The ghostly girl turned to Annabeth. "He is barely holding on. If he loses himself, the tide of the war will be shifted. You must find Y/N before it's too late." Annabeth nodded intently.
"Good-bye, Nico," Bianca said, facing her brother. "I love you. Remember what I said." Her form shivered and the ghosts disappeared, leaving us alone with a pit, a Happy Flush septic tank, and a cold full moon.
* * *
[Annabeth's POV]
No one was very eager to jump back into the maze that night. So we all crashed on Geryon's couches. I was both hoping that I wouldn't dream of Y/N's whereabouts, and praying that I would be able to learn if he was still alive or not.
I got part of what I wanted. When I fell asleep, another dream came to me.
A faint silver glow lit the halls of the labyrinth. Y/N ducked under the swing of another's sword. He parried someone else's weapon, and rolled forward, to avoid a downward slash.
He struck forward, elbowing his attacker in the chin, grunting, his hair flailing wildly around. It looked even longer than the last time I'd seen him. Even though he had a ragged appearance, he still looked dangerous.
Y/N was battered and bruised, his once-sturdy stride replaced by staggering steps. His breathing was haggard and short.
His clothing was torn more than last time, his bronze and silver eyes dulled by exhaustion, and there was an emptiness in his gaze that squeezed at my heart. It was as if he was starting to lose himself, falling apart in the relentless grip of the labyrinth.
I watched in helpless horror as he stumbled through the battle, his every movement a testament to the toll the labyrinth had taken on him. The weight of his struggles was evident on his face, and I could see that he was barely hanging on.
He was covered in his own blood, and his steps were staggered, like every movement was an agonizing effort.
I finally got to see the others who were attacking him. It was two other demigods. They looked like they were here with malicious intent. Which made sense. They were going to bring him in, or bring him down.
I didn't think either was going to happen.
Y/N tried to circle them, but stumbled. His leg looked twisted, and bruised. Geryon didn't lie. It was busted and crooked. Y/N grimaced and grunted in pain.
"Nowhere to run now, is there?" one of his assailants taunted. Y/N fought for breath, gritting his teeth, and flashing a new expression. He looked disturbingly calm, given the circumstances.
The demigods, who I couldn't identify, looked between each other, and charged in. Y/N ducked, and jammed the pommel of his sword into the back of one of the demigod's heads. They stumbled, but maintained their footing.
The other slashed at him, and his leg was clearly hindering him badly, because he was sliced across his chest for his trouble. It wasn't too deep, but he was already bleeding a lot beside that.
Bruises, cuts, and blood stained his face, and every part of his body I could see. That didn't stop him from defending himself, as he parried another downward slash, sending it into the other demigod's shoulder guard.
The opponents paused to bicker, giving Y/N just enough time to cock his fist, muster his strength, and send one of the demigods to the wooden floor with a quick punch, and a pair of dull thuds. The first being his fist, and the other being them hitting the ground.
Y/N stumbled on his follow through, though, and fell into the other demigod, who cursed and threw Y/N's weakly shuddering body off of him. He turned to look at his colleague, slumped against the wall, then back at Y/N's heaving, broken up form. He smirked evilly.
"Luke said to bring you back. But, personally, I think it would be much easier for us, if you were out of the equation entirely."
Y/N's body stopped moving altogether. My heart froze with him. The demigod's expression changed to one of confusion. He stepped closer to Y/N, and then went to flip him onto his back.
The next thing that happened stunned me, more than I could have anticipated. In the blink of an eye, Y/N spun onto his knee, wielding moonlight, and ran the blade straight through his attacker's chest.
The other demigod paused in his tracks, looking down at Y/N, then up at the blade that had gone straight through him. Blood started to flow from his mouth, and his wound, as the demigod started teetering, and finally, fell back onto his unconscious companion in a heap.
Y/N wasn't taking it well. He was shaking, barely up, he was bleeding from countless wounds on his body, but all he could do was stare at the corpse in front of him. He watched his own hands tremble, as if the floor beneath him were shaking. He doubled over, and hurled whatever few contents were in his stomach.
It wasn't much, though. Still, Y/N limped as far and as fast as he could, before he collapsed, falling down against the labyrinth wall, and he just cried.
I'd never seen him cry. He always acted like nothing was wrong with him, even when something usually was. Seeing him cry was like seeing a hairless owl. I always knew it was possible, I just never thought I'd see it.
In the dream, I wanted to reach out to him, to guide him out of that torturous maze, to tell him that he didn't have to face his darkness alone. But the labyrinth's cruel design kept us just apart, as if mocking my need to help him.
Y/N was always the one who'd rush to my side if I was in trouble. He's a hero who would face any challenge head-on. Seeing him in such a vulnerable state, broken and battered in body and soul, filled me with a sense of helplessness I had never felt before.
I wanted nothing more right now than to just be there. I wished I could wrap my arms around him right now, and tell him everything would be alright.
But not only could I not tell him that, I couldn't even be sure of what was going to happen to him.
"This way! I can hear him!" a voice shouted and thunderous sounds of armor clanking rattled off of the walls as Y/N looked up in panic.
His eyes were still there. Still that beautiful color I've gotten lost in so many times before. But everything around them had changed. Y/N might not lose his mind in there, but if we didn't find him soon enough, he was going to lose his life.
I woke up to sunlight creeping through the windows, and a pain in my heart.