[Y/N's POV]
When I finally woke up, I felt warmth. Like, someone had lit a fire nearby. I opened my eyes and looked around at my surroundings. This was a workshop. I tried to sit up, but my whole body was still sore.
"Careful, kid. You're not in good condition. Don't do anything stupid. And don't touch anything." a voice boomed. I looked around, realizing I was leaned up against what looked like the seat back for an old car.
In front of me were a bunch of hydraulic lifts. Underneath the nearest one, which held a toyota, a pair of legs stuck out. The lower body of a massive man in grubby gray pants, with one mangled leg in a metal brace.
He wheeled himself forward and sat up, revealing a giant bearded man. "Lord Hephaestus..." I muttered. The forge god nodded, wiping his grimy face with an equally dirty rag.
(Nick Offerman as Hephaestus)
"Your mother warned me you might be coming through here." he reached down to something at his side, and tossed a dirty bag my way.
I wondered if it was always that dirty or if the workshop made it that way. I knew Hephaestus as the god of fire, and forges, so I was thankful I hadn't been incinerated yet, but also confused as to what was in this bag sailing towards me.
"Call it a care package. Least that's what she told me." He said like he has read my thoughts. "There's not much, because I'm not sure she realized how banged up you would be." he pointed at my crooked leg as I caught the bag. Inside it was a small helping of ambrosia, and a vial of nectar.
I'd never been so glad to see these things before. I wolfed down the ambrosia immediately, and uncorked the nectar, downing it like it were water. My dry throat burned still, but it was immediately made up for, with my leg snapping back into place harshly, and the powder that were my ribs, starting to take shape once again.
Everything still hurt like hell, but for the first time in however long I'd been stuck in the labyrinth, I felt like I could breathe. I tried taking a deep breath, and while it burned still, it was the easiest breath I've had since I got down here. I looked up at the god of forges who was tinkering with one of his smaller inventions.
"Thank you, Lord Hephaestus." I weakly sputtered. The god nodded faintly and kept working on his device. "Do you know what day it is, Y/N?" he asked, never taking his eyes off his machinery.
I shook my head. "Last I remember, it was May." Hephaestus frowned. "It is a miracle you've survived this long, boy. It's the second week of June."
My throat already felt drier than it ever had been. "I've been gone for a month?" I shook, the warm feeling of ambrosia being replaced by the cold grip of terror. I told Percy I'd be back this weekend. "It's been about six weeks." Hephaestus answered. Oh, gods... I could only imagine how worried everyone was.
And since I've been gone so long, would they come in here looking for me? I couldn't let that happen. "Uncle, how do I navigate the labyrinth?" I said, putting that calm facade over my words. I knew if I let myself waver I was going to break down. I was barely holding together as it is.
I wasn't sure who I was trying to convince more. Hepahaestus or myself. "I need to find my friends before they come down here, before they get hurt too."
"'Before they get hurt'" the god mocked, rolling his dirty eyes. "I don't pretend to understand mortals, child, but one thing I know about you is that you're far too eager to throw yourself into harm's way for people. It's no way to live."
"If my friends get hurt because of me, then why should I live?" I staggered to my feet, feeling nervous, and terrified at the same time. Not because of the god's presence, but because of my newfound worry that my friends might try and find me. I couldn't risk their safety.
"I need to find them, before something or someone else does." My dry throat croaked like a frog. I was so tired, I could fall asleep right here, and right now. But I needed to know.
"You already have the means to navigate the labyrinth. You just can't remember it." My knees buckled, and tired laughter streamed from my mouth. I wiped my dirty hair back, and grimaced, as my shoulder was still sore.
"If I could have remembered it, why couldn't it have been while I was lost?! I've been stuck in here for a month! How... How could you say I knew already..."
I took a deep, quivering breath, feeling pain jolt through my body. I looked up at the forge god, trying to make him see reason.
"Hephaestus, I have to find them. I need a way to navigate the maze. I need to make sure they don't come down here."
Hephaestus frowned. There was silence for a moment, aside from the constant clanging of metal, and flying sparks, along with my shaky breath.
Suddenly, I heard rapid, metallic scuttling run past me, and saw a little, round metal spider crawl up toward the forge god. "Well, what have we here?" he asked, inspecting the small device.
I tried to stand and look at the device myself, only be forced back to the ground by something that was shaking. And another thing, and another, and one that was really damn heavy that kept me pinned to the floor.
"Tyson, be careful!" a voice cried out. It was a voice I knew... One I heard first at Yancy academy about two years ago.
Percy.
I must've really been losing it by now, because I was imagining voices, imagining that I wasn't just struck down by one of Hephaestus' creations. And it just so happened that I was hallucinating the voices of my friends I'd been dying to see for the last (apparently) six weeks.
Some of what was weighing me down eventually lifted off of me. But whatever it was, I just couldn't get rid of it all. Maybe it was some carburetor that was slicked in old sticky oil.
I tried to sit up and peel whatever it was off of me so I could try and reason with Hephaestus again, but I stopped when I heard sobbing.
"It's okay, Y/N." she whispered into my ear. "It's all going to be okay..." the voice quietly cried. It was the one voice I've wanted to hear again for so long. The one I wanted to never be apart from again... and here she was.
I turned and saw a bushel of curly blonde hair pressed up against my shoulder. When she looked up, I caught a glimpse of the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
She was holding onto me tightly, her tears falling like rain. Her grip was real, and the warmth of her embrace was undeniable. It made up for the cold grasp of the labyrinth. Her smile tugged at my heart and stole my breath all at once. It wasn't one of Hephaestus' inventions; it was her.
"Annabeth..." I whispered, the ghost of a smile forming on my face. Annabeth gave me a wide smile, despite the full flow of tears rolling down her cheeks. She squeezed her arms tighter around me.
I looked around and saw three others I wasn't expecting to see today. Percy, Grover, and Tyson, all looking a mix between stunned, and ecstatic.
It felt like a dream, too surreal to be true. I had spent so long lost in the labyrinth that I had almost forgotten what it was like to be with my friends. I waited for a moment with nothing but silence passing between us.
"Hey, guys..." I whispered, finally finding my voice.
That was all it took before I was dogpiled again.
[Percy's POV]
"You look like shit, dude." was the first thing that came to mind. "Sorry," he croaked, his expression frozen on disbelief. He took a bunch of shaky breaths, and gathered himself, wrapping his arms as best as he could around all of us. But something felt off about him.
"Y/N is not missing anymore!" Tyson cheered, as we all pulled away from him.
I finally got a really good look at Y/N. Geryon hasn't lied. He really did look terrible. His eyes had sunken in, and his hair had grown down to his shoulders. The shirt he wore vaguely resembled a Linkin Park tour shirt, but it was so torn apart, it was really hard to tell.
He was covered in scars and bruises, and looked as if he really needed a nap. His skin was caked in dirt and grime, but that didn't stop Annabeth from all but sitting in his lap, holding onto him. He looked over us as if he didn't believe we were real. But still weakly cradled Annabeth in his arms.
She was sobbing into his neck, and I could only imagine how relieved she was to see him again. I was pretty happy that he was alive, since he was my friend, but I had nothing on her right now.
She ran a hand through his greasy hair, and smiled sadly at him. "You need a bath." she joked, a sob slipping into her words, tears still slowly dropping down her face.
"A few of them." Grover added, but Y/N still wasn't acting right. We were all grateful that he hadn't gone mad in the labyrinth, but something about him was different.
His eyes didn't have that same devil may care glimmer that he did when I saw him last. They looked hollow. Like all the life had been sucked from them. He didn't smile when he saw us. Maybe a faint grin but that was it. He regarded us with worry more than anything.
"Well, Y/N, seems like you were a bit late in warning people not to come down here." We all turned to face the god we'd forgotten was here. I'd seen Hephaestus once before, on Olympus. I guess he'd cleaned up when I saw him on Olympus, or used magic to make his form seem a little less hideous.
Here in his own workshop, he apparently didn't care how he looked. He wore a jumpsuit smeared with oil and grime. 'Hephaestus,' was embroidered over the chest pocket. His leg creaked and clicked in its metal brace as he stood, and his left shoulder was lower than his right, so he seemed to be leaning even when he was standing up straight. His head was misshapen and bulging.
He wore a permanent scowl. His black beard smoked and hissed. Every once in a while a small wildfire would erupt in his whiskers then die out. His hands were the size of catcher's mitts, but he handled the spider with amazing skill. He disassembled it in two seconds, then put it back together.
"There," he muttered to himself. "Much better."
The spider did a happy flip in his palm, shot a metallic web at the ceiling, and went swinging away. Hephaestus glowered up at us. "I didn't make any of you, did I?"
"Uh," Grover said, "no, sir."
"Good," the god grumbled. "At best, shoddy workmanship." He studied Annabeth and me. "Half-bloods," he grunted. "Could still be automatons, of course, but probably not. Too many emotions for that."
"We've met, sir," I told him. "Have we?" the god asked absently. I got the feeling he didn't care one way or the other. He was just trying to figure out how my jaw worked, whether it was a hinge or a lever or what. "Well then, if I didn't smash you to a pulp the first time we met, I suppose I won't have to do it now."
He looked at Grover and frowned. "Satyr." Then he looked at Tyson, and his eyes twinkled. "Well, a Cyclops. Good, good. What are you doing traveling with this lot?"
"Uh..." said Tyson, staring in wonder at the god. "Yes, well said," Hephaestus agreed. "So, there'd better be a good reason you're disturbing me. I've got to get back to work on a Corolla, but your friend there fell out of my ceiling, and his mother gave me quite a stern warning if I were to encounter him. So get on with it, and please, take him with you."
"Sir," Annabeth said hesitantly, "We were looking for Y/N, and now we've found him." she said shakily. "Now we need to find Daedalus. We thought-"
"Daedalus?" the god roared. "You want that old scoundrel? You dare to seek him out!" His beard burst into flames and his black eyes glowed. "Uh, yes, sir, please," Annabeth said. "You're looking for Daedalus? The maze maker?" Y/N asked. We nodded at him, and his expression darkened.
"Humph. You're wasting your time." Hephaestus frowned at something on his work table and limped over to it. He picked up a lump of springs and metal plates and tinkered with them. In a few seconds he was holding a bronze and silver falcon. It spread its metal wings, blinked its obsidian eyes, and flew around the room.
Tyson laughed and clapped his hands. The bird landed on Tyson's shoulder and nipped his ear affectionately. Hephaestus regarded him. The god's scowl didn't change, but I thought I saw a kinder twinkle in his eyes. "I sense you have something to tell me, Cyclops." Tyson's smile faded. "Y-yes, lord. We met a Hundred-Handed One."
Hephaestus nodded, looking unsurprised. "Briares?" Y/N's head shot up. "You met Briares too?" Annabeth explained that she saw him in her dreams meeting the creature, and that we'd been trying to find him for weeks.
"Paul told me you got into Goode. Your grades were solid enough even though you missed finals." he nodded, and I could've sworn I saw a faint hint of a pride on his face.
"Was the jailer there?" Y/N asked. Annabeth nodded, and returned to resting her head in the crook of his neck. "Kampê was there." Tyson stated plainly. "How'd you survive the poison?" Grover asked. Y/N shook his head. "I have no idea." he choked out. But he didn't sound sure about that. "But what happened with Briares?"
"He- He was scared. He would not help us." Tyson whined. "And that bothered you?" Hephaestus asked.
"Yes!" Tyson's voice wavered. "Briares should be strong! He is older and greater than Cyclops. But he ran away." Hephaestus grunted. "There was a time I admired the Hundred-Handed Ones. Back in the days of the first war. But people, monsters, even gods change, young Cyclops. You can't trust 'em."
He turned to his work table. "Look at my loving mother, Hera. You met her, didn't you? She'll smile to your face and talk about how important family is, eh? Didn't stop her from pitching me off Mount Olympus when she saw my ugly face."
"But I thought Zeus did that to you," I said. Hephaestus cleared his throat and spat into a bronze spittoon. He snapped his fingers, and the robotic falcon flew back to the worktable.
"Mother likes telling that version of the story," he grumbled. "Makes her seem more likable, doesn't it? Blaming it all on my dad. The truth is, my mother likes families, but she likes a certain kind of family. Perfect families. She took one look at me and... well, I don't fit the image, do I?"
He pulled a feather from the falcon's back, and the whole automaton fell apart. "Believe me, young Cyclops," Hephaestus said, "you can't trust others. All you can trust is the work of your own hands."
It seemed like a pretty lonely way to live. Plus, I didn't exactly trust the work of Hephaestus. One time in Denver, his mechanical spiders had almost killed Y/N and Annabeth. And last year, it had been a defective Talos statue that cost Bianca her life, another one of Hephaestus's little projects.
He focused on me and narrowed his eyes, as if he were reading my thoughts. "Oh, this one doesn't like me," he mused. "No worries, I'm used to that. What would you ask of me, little demigod?"
"We told you," I said. "We need to find Daedalus. There's this guy, Luke, and he's working for Kronos. He's trying to find a way to navigate the Labyrinth so he can invade our camp. If we don't get to Daedalus first-"
"And I told you, boy. Looking for Daedalus is a waste of time. He won't help you."
"Why not?"
Hephaestus shrugged. "Some of us get thrown off mountain sides. Some of us... the way we learn not to trust people is more painful. Ask me for gold. Or a flaming sword. Or a magical steed. These I can grant you easily. But a way to Daedalus? That's an expensive favor."
"You know where he is, then," Annabeth pressed. "It isn't wise to go looking, girl."
"My mother says looking is the nature of wisdom." Hephaestus narrowed his eyes. "Who's your mother, then?"
"Athena."
"Figures. Makes even more sense why you'd come looking for this fool." He pointed down at Y/N. Annabeth glared at the god as he sighed. "Fine goddess, Athena. A shame she pledged never to marry. All right, half-blood. I can tell you what you want to know. But there is a price. I need a favor done."
"Name it," Annabeth said. Y/N sat up, and finally stood, setting Annabeth down. She looked less than excited that he wasn't holding onto her anymore. He met our eyes.
"He's going to use the labyrinth to attack camp?" He looked down at Annabeth who nodded. His expression suddenly steeled, as he looked up at Hephaestus. "What do we need to do?"
Hephaestus actually laughed, a booming sound like a huge bellows stoking a fire. "You heroes," he said, "Always making rash promises. How refreshing! And you, Y/N, still so eager. It'd be funny if it weren't so sad."
He pressed a button on his workbench, and metal shutters opened along the wall. It was either a huge window or a big-screen TV, I couldn't tell which. We were looking at a gray mountain ringed in forests. It must've been a volcano, because smoke rose from its crest.
"One of my forges," Hephaestus said. "I have many, but that used to be my favorite."
"That's Mount St. Helens," Grover said. "Great forests around there."
"You've been there?" I asked. "Looking for... you know, Pan."
"Wait," Annabeth said, looking at Hephaestus. "You said it used to be your favorite. What happened?" Hephaestus scratched his smoldering beard.
"Well, that's where the monster Typhon is trapped, you know. Used to be under Mount Etna, but when we moved to America, his force got pinned under Mount St. Helens instead. Great source of fire, but a bit dangerous. There's always a chance he will escape. Lots of eruptions these days, smoldering all the time. He's restless with the Titan rebellion."
"What do you want us to do?" I said, "Fight him?"
Hephaestus snorted. "That would be suicide. The gods themselves ran from Typhon when he was free. Pray you never have to see him, much less fight him. But lately I have sensed intruders in my mountain. Someone or something is using my forges."
The god shook his head, putting out a small flame that erupted on his overalls. "When I go there, it is empty, but I can tell it is being used. They sense me coming, and they disappear. I send my automatons to investigate, but they do not return. Something... ancient is there. Evil. I want to know who dares invade my territory, and if they mean to loose Typhon."
"You want us to find out who it is," I said. "Aye," Hephaestus said. "Go there. They may not sense you coming. You are not gods."
"Glad you noticed," I muttered. "Go and find out what you can," Hephaestus said. "Report back to me, and I will tell you what you need to know about Daedalus."
"All right," Annabeth said. "How do we get there?"
Hephaestus clapped his hands. The spider came swinging down from the rafters. Annabeth screamed when it landed at her feet.
She just about jumped into Y/N, who was still able to catch her, despite the numerous bruises and deformities his body now held. He grimaced, but still held her up. His body was shaking as Annabeth wrapped her arms around his neck for support. She was always going to be scared of spiders, and it was kind of funny, were the story behind it not so cruel.
"My creation will show you the way," Hephaestus said. "It is not far through the Labyrinth. And try to stay alive, will you? Humans are much more fragile than automatons."
We went to follow the spider along, and Annabeth, despite being so glad to see him, said, "Y/N, you should stay back. You're still hurt."
He scoffed and replied with, "Like hell. I'm not letting you guys go in there again without me. Too many things can happen in the labyrinth." He grasped Annabeth's hand tightly. Her face went red as she smiled faintly. He took a deep breath and followed after us.
We were doing okay until we hit the tree roots. The spider raced along and we were keeping up, but then we spotted a tunnel off to the side that was dug from raw earth, and wrapped in thick roots. Grover stopped dead in his tracks. "What is it?" I said.
He didn't move. He stared open mouthed into the dark tunnel. His curly hair rustled in the breeze. "Come on!" Annabeth said. "We have to keep moving." Y/N stumbled behind him, his eyes squinting in curiousity. "Is that..."
"This is the way," Grover muttered in awe. "This is it."
"What way?" I asked. "You mean... to Pan?" Grover looked at Tyson and Y/N excitedly. "Don't you smell it?" Y/N nodded. "It feels like it did in New Mexico," he said, his voice breaking. He needed water badly. "Dirt," Tyson said. "And plants."
"Yes! This is the way. I'm sure of it!" Up ahead, the spider was getting farther down the stone corridor. A few more seconds and we'd lose it. "We'll come back," Annabeth promised. "On our way back to Hephaestus."
"The tunnel will be gone by then," Grover said. "I have to follow it. A door like this won't stay open!"
"But we can't," Annabeth said. "The forges!" Grover looked at her sadly. "I have to, Annabeth. Don't you understand?" She looked desperate, like she didn't understand at all. The spider was almost out of sight. But I thought about my conversation with Grover last night, and I knew what we had to do.
"We'll split up," I said. "No!" Annabeth said. "That's way too dangerous. How will we ever find each other again? And Grover can't go alone." Tyson put his hand on Grover's shoulder. "I- I will go with him."
I couldn't believe I was hearing this. "Tyson, are you sure?" The big guy nodded. "Goat boy needs help. We will find the god person. I am not like Hephaestus. I trust friends." Grover took a deep breath. "Guys, we'll find each other again. Percy and I have still got the empathy link. I just... have to."
I didn't blame him. This was his life's goal. If he didn't find Pan on this journey, the council would never give him another chance. "I hope you're right," I said.
"I know I am." I'd never heard him sound so confident about anything, except maybe that cheese enchiladas were better than chicken enchiladas. "Be careful," I told him.
Then I looked at Tyson. He gulped back a sob and gave me a hug that just about squeezed my eyes out of their sockets. "You can do it, Grover." Y/N encouraged. "You'll find him. It's your desire, buddy." Grover did his and Y/N's complex handshake.
Then Tyson and Grover disappeared through the tunnel of tree roots and were lost in the darkness. "This is bad," Annabeth said. "Splitting up is a really, really bad idea."
Y/N stood tall, watching them disappear into the depths. "Pan awaits. He'll protect them until they find him." he said, his voice ragged, but certain.
"We'll see them again," I said, trying to sound confident. "Now come on. The spider is getting away!"
[Y/N's POV]
My heart was on fire, seeing my friends again. But Erebus still haunted me. Soon, I'd have to make a decision to save them. The tunnel started to get hot. We had to be close.
The stone walls were aglow, like they were lit by backburners. And the air felt thick, like a permanent sauna had been running in here for millenia. The labyrinth felt so much different with people I cared about. The only question was what was Erebus going to ask of me to keep them safe.
The spider skidded along the wall, Annabeth in hot pursuit. It was so good to see her again. I was thankful she didn't want to kill me for disappearing, but I was also really nervous to talk to her, as if my words weren't going to be very well thought out if I let them out. That dream I had was sticking to my head like glue.
"Hey, wait up," Percy called to her. She glanced back at him. "Yeah?"
"Something Hephaestus said back there... about Athena."
"She swore never to marry," Annabeth said. "Like Artemis and Hestia. She's one of the maiden goddesses." He blinked in surprise. "But then-"
"How come she has demigod children?" He nodded. His face had gone red from embarrassment. "Percy, do you know how Athena was born?" I asked. "She sprung from the head of Zeus in full battle armor or something." he answered.
"Exactly." Annabeth continued. "She wasn't born in the normal way. She was literally born from thoughts. Her children are born the same way. When Athena falls in love with a mortal man, it's purely intellectual, the way she loved Odysseus in the old stories. It's a meeting of minds. She would tell you that's the purest kind of love."
"So your dad and Athena... so you weren't..."
"I was a brain child," Annabeth said. "Literally. Children of Athena are sprung from the divine thoughts of our mother and the mortal ingenuity of our father. We are supposed to be a gift, a blessing from Athena on the men she favors."
"But-"
"Percy, the spider's getting away. Do you really want me to explain the exact details of how I was born?"
"Um... no. That's okay." he said. She smirked. "I thought not." Percy looked back at me, and asked, "So were you-"
"I was born normally, dude. Nothing extra. Drop the subject before it gets weird." he gulped and nodded in agreement.
The roaring of the tunnel got exponentially louder. Annabeth grabbed my hand tightly and pulled me along another half mile or so, until we finally emerged from the maze.
The spider stopped and curled into a ball at our feet. We were at Hephaestus' forge. There was no floor beneath. It was just a giant cavern, with bubbling lava half a mile down. We stood on a rock ridge that circled the base of the volcano.
It was a network of metal bridges running across the cavern that let you travel. At the center of the pit, was a huge stone platform with countless machines that ran into the belly of the volcano.
Cauldrons, pots, forges, and a really big anvil. Creatures moved around the platform. "I can't make out what those are." Percy said. Annabeth picked up the metal spider and slipped it into her pocket. "I can. Wait here."
I tried to grab her arm. "Wait a minute!" Before I could, she slipped on the yankees ballcap, and disappeared.
I wanted to yell after her, but even Percy knew that wasn't smart. I was worried. I finally get to see her again, and she ran off into danger. Now I was starting to understand why people were so frustrated with me.
I looked at Percy who was jittering restlessly. "She knew we weren't just going to sit here, didn't she?" he asked. I looked nervously out in front of us, wondering just where she might be. "Let's go." I told him.
Together, we crouched and crept along the outer rim of the lava lake, fighting to get a better angle on what was going on in the middle. To see what exactly they were trying to build.
The heat almost made Florida seem like a nice place to live. I was dripping with sweat quickly, and my lungs burned from the smoke. It didn't help that more than half of my body was still in serious disrepair. We moved along, trying to not fall into the lava, but our path was blockaded by what almost looked like a minecart.
Inside was a cart full of scrap metal. I was about to vault over it when voices emerged from a side tunnel up ahead. "Bring it in?" one asked. "Yeah," another said. "Movie's just about done."
I panicked, and for once, I wasn't the dumbest one. Because Percy jumped into the cart first, dragging me by the wrist in behind him. He threw the tarp over us just as the voices closed in. Hopefully no one noticed us. I gripped gently around the doe pendant that hung from my neck.
The cart lurched forward. "Oi," a gruff voice said. "Thing weighs a ton."
"It's celestial bronze," the other said. "What did you expect?"
We got pulled along, turning a corner, and based on the squeaky wheels getting louder, we were in a tunnel. If we were about to get dumped into fire, I was going to murder Percy first. There was lots of shouting, talking, and chattering that wasn't even close to human.
It sounded like a pet shop. In the background, there was an old fashioned projector whirring and clicking along.
"Just set it in the back," a new voice ordered from across the room. "Now, younglings, please attend to the film. There will be time for questions afterward."
The voices quieted down, and I could hear the film.
'As a young sea demon matures,' the narrator said, 'changes happen in the monster's body. You may notice your fangs getting longer and you may have a sudden desire to devour human beings. These changes are perfectly normal and happen to all young monsters.'
Excited snarling filled the room. The teacher, I guess it must have been a teacher, told the younglings to be quiet, and the film continued. I didn't understand most of it, and I didn't dare look.
The film kept talking about growth spurts and acne problems caused by working in the forges, and proper flipper hygiene, and finally it was over. I just realized I listened to a documentary about monster puberty. "Ew" I heard Percy mutter. It made me want to hurl.
"Now, younglings," the instructor said, "what is the proper name of our kind?"
"Sea demons!" one of them barked. "No. Anyone else?"
"Telekhines!" another monster growled. "Very good," the instructor said. "And why are we here?"
"Revenge!" several shouted. "Yes, yes, but why?"
"Zeus is evil!" one monster said. "He cast us into Tartarus just because we used magic!"
"Indeed," the instructor said. "After we made so many of the gods' finest weapons. The trident of Poseidon, for one. And of course, we made the greatest weapon of the Titans! Nevertheless, Zeus cast us away and relied on those fumbling Cyclopses. That is why we are taking over the forges of the usurper Hephaestus. And soon we will control the undersea furnaces, our ancestral home!"
Oh, great. More monsters that wanted revenge. They created Poseidon's trident. What? Why couldn't the gods just do their own business, and not leave us to clean up the very big pain in the ass of a mess.
"And so, younglings," the instructor continued, "who do we serve?"
"Kronos!" they shouted. "And when you grow to be big telekhines, will you make weapons for the army?"
"Yes!"
"Excellent. Now, we've brought in some scraps for you to practice with. Let's see how ingenious you are."
Oh, boy.
Rapid footsteps approached the tarp. I squeezed moonlight around my neck and as the tarp was slung off, I looked at Percy and nodded. We jumped up, blades out and saw a bunch of dog things.
Well, their faces were dogs, anyway, with black snouts, brown eyes, and pointy ears. Their bodies were sleek and black like sea mammals, with stubby legs that were half flipper, half foot, and humanlike hands with sharp claws. If you blended together a kid, a Doberman pinscher, and a sea lion, you'd get something like what I was looking at.
"Demigods!" one snarled. "Eat them!" yelled another. But that's as far as they got before Percy and I slashed wide arcs, turning the whole front row of telekhines into dust.
"Back up!" I yelled at the rest, trying to sound fierce. Behind them stood their instructor, six-foot-tall telekhine with Doberman fangs snarling at me. I did my best to stare him down.
"New lesson, class," Percy announced. "Most monsters will vaporize when sliced with a celestial bronze sword. This change is perfectly normal, and will happen to you right now if you don't BACK UP!"
To my surprise, it worked. The monsters backed up, but there were at least twenty of them. My fear factor wasn't going to last long. I jumped out of the cart, yelled, "CLASS DISMISSED!" and ran for the exit, Percy hot on my heels. Either he was gonna get me killed, or get himself killed. There was no inbetween.
The monsters charged after, barking and growling. I hoped they couldn't run very fast with those stubby little legs and flippers, but they waddled along pretty well. Thank the gods there was a door in the tunnel leading out to the main cavern. I slammed it shut and turned the wheel handle to lock it, but I doubted it would keep them long. Percy huffed for air as they rammed into the door.
I didn't know what to do. Annabeth was out here somewhere, invisible. Our chance for a subtle reconnaissance mission had been blown in a big way. I ran toward the platform at the center of the lava lake.
"Annabeth!" I yelled. "Shhh!" an invisible hand clamped over my mouth and wrestled me down behind a big bronze cauldron. "You want to get us killed?" Percy stumbled towards us. I reached around the air, and found the brim of her baseball cap, peeling it off her head. She shimmered into our presence, glaring at us. Her face was covered in ash.
"What's the problem now?" I sighed, and replied, "We're going to have company." I explained quickly about the monster orientation class. Her eyes widened.
"So that's what they are," she said. "Telekhines. I should've known. And they're making... Well, look."
We peeked over the cauldron. In the center of the volcano, on a stone platform, raised over the lava, stood four sea demons, but these were fully grown, at least eight feet tall. Their black skin glistened in the firelight as they worked, sparks flying as they took turns hammering on a long piece of glowing hot metal.
"The blade is almost complete," one said. "It needs another cooling in blood to fuse the metals."
"Aye," a second said. "It shall be even sharper than before."
"What is that?" I whispered. Annabeth shook her head. "They keep talking about fusing metals. I wonder-"
Percy gulped. "A bunch of swords like Luke's?" he asked. "They were talking about the greatest Titan weapon," I said. "And they said they made Poseidon's trident."
"The telekhines betrayed the gods," Annabeth said. "They were practicing dark magic. I don't know what, exactly, but Zeus banished them to Tartarus."
"With Kronos." She nodded. "We have to get out-'' No sooner had she said that than the door to the classroom exploded and young telekhines came pouring out. They stumbled over each other, trying to figure out which way to charge.
Suddenly, a sickening chill rolled down my back. Goosebumps lifted on my skin as a cruel, grating voice filled my ears, drowning out the sound from the outside world.
"This task is something you can do only by yourself."
I took a deep breath, swallowing dryly, but nodding to myself, remembering Erebus' warning.
"Annabeth, take Percy and get out." I said. "I'll distract them!" She nearly punched me. "I just got you back, Y/N! We're not leaving you here!" she shouted, grabbing my arm tightly and trying to pull me with her.
I chuckled weakly, feeling the broken bones still in my body. "I'll just slow you down. I mean, I've been on the verge of death this whole time. Might as well go out with a bang, right?" I tried to explain. Percy looked stumped. Annabeth looked like she might hit me again or cry.
"I can't lose you again, Y/N! Don't you get that!?" she cried. "I'm sorry, Annabeth. But this has to happen. There's things even you can't understand going on right now. Use the spider to take you back to the forge. Tell Hephaestus I trashed the place. Because I think that's exactly what I'm going to do."
"But you'll be killed!" I smiled for the first time in weeks. "Yeah, I know, Einstein. I'm sorry. Now get go-"
Before I could finish my sentence, Annabeth grabbed me by my torn up shirt collar and pulled me in close, pressing her lips gently against mine.
It was like a jolt of lightning to my brain. The scorching heat of the volcano, and the clanging of metal was drowned out. I couldn't stop myself from melting into her embrace. The backdrop of the forge's flames was nothing compared to the fire that I felt light within my soul when our lips met.
It was a kiss full of desperation. It was her silent plea for me to escape the impending danger with her. Her lips were warm against mine, and for a brief moment, time stood still. My heart raced, and the gravity of the situation seemed to fade away. All I could think about was the sensation of her lips on mine, the softness of her touch.
In that fiery forge, with the world prepared to collapse around us, Annabeth's kiss pushed out all of that. It brought forward the unspoken feelings that had lingered in my mind about her for so long. The ones I never really understood.
As she pulled away, the urgency of our situation seemed to rush back in, "Come back to me, Y/N. Please." she whimpered mournfully.
I looked at Percy, to confirm what just happened, and he threw his hands up and said, "I'm not kissing you!"
I nodded at them, before ushering them away. "Go!" They ran, and had I realized the implications of what just happened, I would have run out there and kissed her again.
It almost felt I hadn't been stuck in a death trap for a month and a half. But when the growling closed in, I realized what I had to do. The god spoke in ancient Greek.
"Schediáste ti lepída ton skión mou."
Erebus' voice echoed in my head. He told me to listen next time I heard him, and despite my doubts that Blackout would ever work again, I gave all my brain power to the idea that the blade of shadows would appear.
To my surprise, it did. As dark and as ominous as ever. It was cold in my hand, chilling my body as I stood in the center of a volcano.
"There!" one of the sea demons yelled. The entire class of telekhines charged across the bridge toward me. I sprinted for the middle of the platform, where the stone pillar rose above the sea of lava in the belly of the forge.
I surprised the four elder sea demons so much they dropped the red-hot blade. It was about six feet long and curved like a crescent moon. I'd seen a lot of terrifying things, but this unfinished item felt so much worse than anything before.
The elder demons got over their surprise quickly. There were four ramps leading off the platform, and before I could dash in any direction, each of them had fanned out, and covered an exit.
The tallest one snarled. "What do we have here? The son of the wild?"
"Yes," another growled. "I can smell the stink of nature on him." it sniffed again. "But there's something else." it growled. I raised blackout toward them. One of them smirked in delight. "Strike one of us down, child of the moon." the other monster said, "And the rest of us are going to tear you to shreds. Your head will be on a pike when the army attacks your stupid little camp."
My old problem resurfaced. I still had no clue what I was doing. I hoped that Annabeth and Percy got out already, that they were back on their path to Hephaestus, that maybe Grover and Tyson already found Pan.
But my fate was going to take a seat right here. I wondered what line of my prophecy this was. At the moment, I couldn't think of any, but I knew I was surrounded, in the heart of a volcano, by a bunch of blood thirsty, very violent monsters.
The young telekhines were at the platform now, as well, snarling and waiting to see how their four elders would deal with me.
"Let us see how strong he is. Let us see how long it takes him to burn like kindling!" One of the elders scooped some lava out of the nearest furnace. It set his fingers ablaze, but this didn't seem to bother him at all. The other elder telekhines did the same.
I did my best to duck out of the way of all of the lava, barely able to keep a grip on my sword in the staggered hurry. It was times like this where it became painfully clear that I was still pretty badly injured. The ambrosia had only done so much.
They threw more lava at me, and I remember screaming. I felt my throat tear up from my pained cries. My whole body was on fire. The pain was worse than anything I'd ever felt. I was being consumed. I crumpled to the floor and heard the sea demon children howling in delight.
His voice echoed in the back of my mind.
"Plunge the blade into the stone."
Without even giving myself a second to consider what I was about to do, I pulled every fiber of strength I had left and stood. I shoved blackout hard into the center stone platform below me, the blade plunging through the rock with ease.
The telekhines paused for only a moment, as I slammed my eyes shut, hoping something was going to happen. But no. Nothing came. Not yet.
The telekhines started laughing at me. Then, as they reared back to throw more lava at me, the volcano started shaking.
Shadows started to sprout from the fissure I opened with blackout. The telekhines started to retreat, running in droves out of the path of the tendrils sprouting from the ground.
I felt the veins wrapping around me, as shadows crept up and enveloped my body. The darkness engulfed me. It burned, and when I screamed, letting the pain out, everything went boom.
Afterward, I could never describe what happened. An explosion, a cascade, a hurricane of power all hitting me at once, catching me in the gust, firing me down into the lava below.
Then, just before I had hit the magma, I felt the entire earth shake beneath me. Then...
BOOM!!!!
I shot upward from the heart of the volcano in a huge explosion, just one small piece of debris thrown free by a billion pounds of pressure, that had been building.
The last thing I remembered before losing consciousness was flying. But not like when I died.
No, I was flying like a bird, so high above the clouds that it felt like Zeus would strike me down for trying to go this far. The wind flew through my hair, the cool streams of the breeze seemingly glancing past me. It was such a staggering contrast to the tight confines of the labyrinth.
The sense of freedom I felt caused a final surge of emotion to flow through me. Tears slid down my face and a soft laugh trickled from my mouth. I don't know how long I flew for, but it felt like it would never be long enough.
The sun shone brightly as I finally peeked back below the clouds. My breath hitched, having realized just how high I had gotten. It was a beautiful sight. And it might just be the last one I'd get to see.
As I hurtled down towards the open water, I prayed that Poseidon felt merciful today. Just before I plummeted into the sea, my brain must've finally reached its limit, because I passed out. I never felt the impact on the water.