「016. daedalus just said fuck off in the language of walking 」
BARBIE LET out a long string of curse words as they finally reached the workshop and walked towards it. none of them stared at her, except for rachel, who had here brow raised as she said, "so you just... swear like this, casually?"
"and you don't?" countered barbie, panting still from running as she patted her chest, making sure she had her sunglasses clipped on her shirt, "c'mon. let's just go see daedalus and tell him to give us that fucking string."
"it's more than just string," explained annabeth, "it's-"
"annabeth, right now, i don't care about the backstory," sighed barbie, "i just want to get this string, get out of here, and get a manicure. and maybe some cheetos."
"solid," nodded percy as they walked closer towards the workshop.
what barbie expected to see, was not what she saw. she expected to see an old man, probably with a walking stick. an old man named daedalus. she expected to see some ancient greek, or some old plans the former greek hero had. instead, she saw somebody she never thought she'd ever see again. barbie didn't even need to ask annabeth if she was angry. or even look at her to know how furious annabeth was. the emotions reeking from her alone were enough to tell barbie that annabeth was restraining her self (just barely) at ripping the damn bastards head off.
"you," growled annabeth with a large scowl on her face, her blonde hair a wild mess as she seethed, "what have you done with daedalus?"
quintus smiled faintly, as if he were waiting for them to get something, "trust me, my dear. you don't want to meet him."
"if we don't have to see him to get the fucking string, then that's cool," added barbie, "but where is he? and what are you doing here?"
barbie felt angry. but she wasn't exactly sure if what she was feeling was her own emotions or annabeth's. because the anger radiating from annabeth was enough to fuel the rage of a large army.
"look, mr traitor," seethed annabeth, "i didn't fight a dragon woman and a three-bodied man and a psychotic sphinx to see you. now where is daedalus?"
quintus came down the stairs, and barbie felt herself getting more annoyed by the minute. what was this? a fucking t.v show? why was quintus being so dramatic? she scowled at his attire that consisted of jeans, boots and his counsellor's t-shirt from camp half-blood. which seemed like an insult now that they knew he was a spy.
"you think i'm an agent of kronos," quintus said, almost sounding as if he found it funny they thought that, "that i work for luke."
"no shit, sherlock," snapped barbie. and it as true, they'd all seen the evidence at the ranch. and him abandoning mrs o'leary just made it even worse. it was like he was trying to make himself look bad or something stupid like that.
"it's honestly not that hard to fucking guess," snapped annabeth.
"you're an intelligent girl," complimented quintus before he said, "but you're wrong. i work only for myself."
"luke mentioned you," argued percy, "geryon knew about you too. you've been in his ranch."
"of course," nodded quintus, as if it wasn't something new to him, "i've been almost everywhere. even here."
this is slowly becoming very fucking creepy, noted jerald out loud, but-
"i know that voice," quintus suddenly said, looking at barbie, "i remember it briefly. i've met the owner of that voice."
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."
barbie scrunched up her nose and made a funny face. feet, for some reason, weirded her out after she'd seen the shiny toes of zeus' angels in hoover dam. and now, she just didn't like them at all. but no matter how stupidly weird it was, it sounded oddly interesting.
"you see?" smiled quintus, " girl of many talents."
"but you don't even look like him," percy argued, "i saw him in a dream.. and..."
"yes," quintus said stiffly, "i guess you've finally guessed the truth."
"you're an automaton. you made yourself a new body," percy finally said and barbie let out a squawk.
"percy, people can't do that!" argued barbie, "what the fuck is this?" she screeched, suddenly losing it, "in all my years of being a fucking half-blood. which by the way, is longer than you've realised you've been one percy! i have never, ever! come across some kind of sci-fi alien bullshit like this! rachel, you're taking me out of here. i quit."
barbie stumbled off to rachel, the whole 'automaton' thing freaking her out too much. she briefly heard annabeth say to percy, "that's not possible... th-that can't be an automaton."
quintus chuckled, but added, "somebody should checkc on your dear friend over there. she looks stressed and confused. but my dear," he turned to annabeth, "do you know what quintus means?"
"the fifth in latin, but-"
"this is my fifth body," he responded simply.
barbie, barbie, pestered jerald, if you keep having an existential crisis, you're not going to see this. also you've seen a giant mental dude cut your hair. how is this so hard to believe?
it's creepy, barbie screeched in her mind, i don't like it!
well shut up and like it, jerald suddenly said, because you're about to see something!
what do you-
the swordsman, josh (because she definitely wasn't calling him daedalus or quintus), held out his forearm and pressed his elbow and part of his wrist popped open. underneath a rectangular hatch of his skin, bronze gears whirred and wires glowed.
"that's amazing!" gushed rachel.
"that's weird," corrected percy.
"it's fucking creepy," shuddered barbie, holding one side of her head.
"you... you found a way to transfer your animus into a machine?" annabeth asked, "that's... not natural."
"oh i assure you, my dear, it's still me. i'm still very much daedalus. our mother, athena, makes sure i never forget that." he tugged back the collar of his shirt. and at the base of his neck, was a mark of a dark shape, a bird, grafted to his skin.
"a murder's brand," annaebth murmured.
"for your nephew, perdix," percy guessed, "the boy you pushed off the tower."
quintus' face darkened, "i did not push him. simply-"
"-made him lose his balance," interrupted percy, looking unimpressed as he added, "and let him die."
quintus gazed out of the windows at the purple mountains, "i regret what i did, percy. i was angry and bitter. but i cannot take it back, and athena never lets me forget. as perdix died, she turned him into a small bird- a partridge. and she branded the bir's shape on my neck as a reminder. no matter what body i take, the brand appears on my skin."
"you really are daedalus," percy decided, "but why did you come to our camp? why spy on us?"
the shock and creepiness of daedalus being a walking automaton was slowly warring off. and the fear and confusion barbie was feeling was slowly filling with annoyance as daedalus (yes, she'd finally dropped the name josh) said, "to see if your camp was worth saving. luke had given me one story. i preferred to come to my own conclusions."
"so you have spoken to luke," snapped barbie, looking at daedalus as if he might suddenly press a big red button with the words 'capture' on them.
"oh yes. several times," nodded daedalus, "he is quite persuasive."
"but now you've seen the camp!" annabeth persisted, "you know we need you help. you can't let luke through the maze!"
daedalus set his word on the workbench, "the maze is no longer mine to control, annabeth. i created it, yes. in fact, it is tied to my life force. but i have allowed it to live and grow on it's own. that is the price i paid for privacy."
"privacy from what?"
"the gods," he said, "and death. i have been alive two melennia, my dear, hiding from death."
"but how can you hide from hades?" asked percy.
"yeah," nodded barbie, "doesn't he have the kindly ones? furies? i've never seen them up close. but they look fucking scary."
"my dear girl, they do not know everything," he said, "or see everything. you have encountered them, percy. you know that this is true. a clever man can hide quite a long time, and i have buried myself very deep. only my greatest enemy has kept after me, and even him i have thwarted."
"you mean minos," guess percy.
daedalus nodded, "he hunts for me relentlessly. now that he is sa judge of the dead, he would like nothing better than for me to come before him so he can punish me for my crimes. after the daughters of cocalus killed him, minos' ghost began to turture me in my dreams. he promised that he could hunt me down. i did the only thing i could. i retreated from the world completely. i descended into my labyrinth. i decided this would be my ultimate accomplishment. i would cheat death."
"and you did," annabeth marvelled, "for two thousand years."
annabeth actually sounded kind of impressed.despite the horrible things daedalus had done. and barbie kind of knew why. daedalus was basically annabeth's hero. he'd made something that stood for basically two millennia. his architectural mind was what annabeth strived for.
just then, a loud bark echoed from the corridors. suddenly, mrs o'leary bounded into the workshop. she licked percy's face once and trotted over to barbie, letting the redhead pet the hellhound before mrs o'leary knocked daedalus over with an enthusiastic leap.
"there is my old friend!" daedalus said, scratching mrs o'leary behind the ears, "my only companion all these long lonely years!"
"you let her save me," percy said, "that whistle actually worked."
"of course i did, percy. you have a good heart," nodded daedalus, "and i knew mrs o'leary liked you. i wanted to help you... and perhaps... i-i felt guilty as well."
suddenly the annoyance went straight up to anger and wariness as barbie took it upon herself to snappily ask daedalus, "guilty about what?"
he stayed quiet. which was when barbie started to sense something was wrong. annabeth looked at her cautiously, a look of panic and horror in her eyes. her mind was obviously thinking of all the possibilities of what quintus was saying. barbie stepped closer to him, snapping her fingers and manipulated the pink mist to lift him up as she walked closer, "guilty. about. what?"
"that your quest would be in vain," he said, struggling against the pink mist that was jerald.
"what?" annabeth suddenly said, "but you can still help us. you have to!" she stuttered, "give us ariadne's string so luke can't get it!"
"yes, the string," sighed daedalus, looking to barbie, "can you put me down?"
"no," she said simply, making him wheeze as she tightened the mist around his neck before letting it loosen, still holding him up by the mist as she snapped, "just continue with what you were saying, jos- i mean daedalus."
"i... i told luke that the eyes of a clear-sighted mortal are the best guide. but he didn't trust me. he was so focused on the idea of a magic item. and the string works. it's not as accurate as your mortal friend here, perhaps. but it's good enough. good enough," he explained.
"where is it?" annaebth asked.
he gave them a look of shame as he stopped struggling against the mist. which was exactly when barbie realised. she let him down, dropping him with a loud thump as he eyes widened as she murmured, "no."
he wheezed slightly, before saying, "with luke... im sorry, my dear. but you are several hours too late."
"no," percy said, "no-"
"kronos promised me freedom," quintus said, "once hades is overthrown, he will set me over the underworld. i will reclaim my son icarus. i will make things right with poor young perdix. i will see minos's soul cast into tartarus, where it cannot bother me again. and i will no longer have to run from death."
barbie looked at daedalus, absolutely shocked and annoyed. her looked of shock suddenly morphed into a look of anger as she suddenly seethed, "y-you're so... so selfish! you're going to let luke destroy our camp? and kill hundreds of demigods? all because you want some stupid family reunion and to see some prissy king get served karma?!"
"i-"
"news flash, dumbass! life is shit!" she shouted, feeling angry at the fact this selfish inventor was choosing a few people over the whole world, "you're just going to let the whole world be fucking destroyed? for a few dead people? grow the fuck up! even i know better!" she stopped for a few seconds, and she flashed him a mocking smile, "do you think they'll actually help you? did they swear on the river styx? you're just a puppet to them. they'll cheat you like you did with death... you're no better than them to us."
"your cause is doomed, my dear," he continued, looking only a little guilty as he continued, "i saw that as soon as i began to work at your camp. there is no way you can hold back the might of kronos."
"that's not true!" annabeth said with a distraught look on her face, "you're wrong!"
"i am doing what i must, my dear. the offer was too sweet to refuse," sighed daedalus and barbie wanted to smack him back to long island, "i'm sorry."
in a storm of rage, annabeth suddenly pushed over an easily, glaring at the ground as she kicked away architectural drawings, making them scatter across the floor.
she let out a screech of rage as she turned back to daedalus, her fist clenched and her tone spiteful as she said, "i used to respect you. you were my hero! you.. you bult amazing things! you solved problems. now... i don't know what you are. children of athena are supposed to be wise. not just clever. maybe you are just a machine. you should have died two thousand years ago."
instead of getting mad, daedalus hung his head, "you should go warn your camp. now that luke has the string-"
suddenly mrs o'leary pricked up her ears.
"someone's coming!" rachel warned.
the doors of the workshop burst open, and nico was pushed inside, his hands in chains. then kelli and two laistrygonians marched in behind him, followed by the ghost of minos. he looked almost solid now, a pale bearded king with cold eyes and tendrils of mist coiling off his robes.he fixed his gaze on daedalus.
"there you are, my old friend."
daedalus's jaw clenched. he looked at kelli and said, "what is the meaning of this?"
"luke sends his compliments," kelli said, "he thought you might like to see your old employer, minos."
"this was not part of our agreement," daedalus said.
barbie really wanted to yell i told you so! at that moment. but she was a bit preoccupied by the fact nico was in chains.
"no indeed," kelli said, "but we already have what we want from you, and we have other agreements to honour. minos required something else from us, in order to turn over this fine young demigod."
she ran a finger under nico's chin, "he'll be quite useful. and all minos asked in return was your head, old man."
daedalus paled as he spoke in barely a whisper, "treachery."
"get used to it," kelli snapped back with a faux smile one her face.
"nico," percy said, looking over to nico with a look of worry. it almost reminded barbie of how she looked at cherry. percy continued, asking, "are you okay?"
he nodded morosely, "i-i'm sorry, percy. minos told me you were in danger. he convinced me to go back into the maze."
"you were trying to help us?"
"i was tricked," he said, "he tricked all of us."
barbie glared at kelli and then percy asked in a menacing tone, "where's luke? why isn't he here?"
the she-demon smiled like they were sharing a private joke, "luke is... busy. he is preparing for the assault. but don't worry. we have more friends on the way. and in the meantime, i think i'll have a wonderful snack!"
her hands changed to claws. her hair burst into flame and her legs turned to their true form – one donkey leg, one bronze.
"percy," rachel whispered, "the wings. do you think-"
"get them, barbie... use you mist," percy said, "i'll try to buy you some time."
"last time you said that you nearly died," mumbled barbie.
and with that, all hades broke loose.
annabeth and percy charged at kelli. the giants came right at daedalus, but mrs o'leary and barbie leapt to his defence. you may be wondering why the hell she'd help him. and that's obviously because she was going to humiliate him later, so she might as well save him for now.
nico got pushed to the ground and struggled with his chains while the spirit of minos wailed, "kill the inventor! kill him!"
rachel grabbed the wings off the wall. nobody paid her any attention due to fact she was mortal. barbie probably would have joked about this in a slightly insulting way, had she not been dealing with her own problems. kelli slashed at annabeth. percy tried to get to her, but the demon was quick and deadly. she turned over tables, smashed inventions and wouldn't let them get close.
mrs o'leary growled at one of the giants and bit him with his fangs whilst barbie slashed at the giants with her dagger. the pink mist swirled around the room, barbie continued to run one of the giants. jerald came to help her. as she slashed and managed to stab the giant, she commanded jerald to use the mist to push the giant. and to make some sort of barrier. it was her first time trying such a thing, and she could already tell it was going to take a lot of energy out of her. she could already feel the tugging sensation in her stomach. like needles poking at her slightly. she brushed it off, and forced the barrier to stay.
the giant cried out in rage and slammed his fist against one of daedalus' workbenches. a clay jar of greek fire broke on the floor and began to burn, green flames spreading quickly. barbie ran from the bench and tried to use the mist to try to hold off both giants.
"to me!" minos cried, "spirits of the dead!"
he raised his ghostly hands and the air began to hum.
"no!" nico cried. he was on his feet now. he'd somehow managed to remove his shackles.
"you do not control me, young fool," minos sneered, "all this time, i have been controlling you! a soul for a soul, yes. but it is not your sister who will return from the dead. it is i, as soon as i slay the inventor!"
spirits began to appear around minos -shimmering forms that slowly multiplied, solidifying into cretan soldiers.
"i am the son of hades," nico insisted, glaring at mino, "begone!"
minos laughed, "you have no power over me. i am the lord of spirits! the ghost king!"
"no," nico drew his sword, a fierce and determined look on his face, "i am."
he stabbed his black blade into the floor, and it cleaved through the stone like butter. whilst he did so, barbie had managed to contain the giants momentarily and raced off to the direction of percy and annabeth.
"never!" minos's form rippled, "i will not -"
the ground rumbled. the windows cracked and shattered to pieces, letting in a blast of fresh air. a fissure opened in the stone floor of the workshop, and minos and all his spirits were sucked into the void with a horrible wail.
percy seemed to not being paying attention because kelli pounced on percy so fast he didn't have any time to defend himself at all. she let out a snarl as she knocked his sword away. his sword skidded away and he hit his head on the worktable.
"no!" shouted barbie, running over to kelli with a determined look in her eyes.
"you will taste wonderful!" she bared her fangs, a malicious grin on her face as she stared down at percy.
barbie was so close, but way too far away. and then suddenly, she had an idea. she quickly snapped her fingers and jerald shot towards kelli in the shape of a sword and what was weird was it looked like it was celestial bronze. it rammed into kelli quickly and her body went rigid, a shuddering gasp escaping the monster's lips.
"no... school... spirit..."
and then the jerald disintegrated and the sword disappeared into pink mist again. barbie rushed over as annabeth helped him up. she groaned slightly, her head pounding and her stomach twisted and turned. it felt like somebody was perhaps sowing her limbs together in a painful way. she fell onto her knees with a loud groan.
you've used too much mist, spoke jerald, you can do it barb, get up!
a roar behind them was heard and barbie turned to see the giants had gotten out of the barrier she had poorly made. and it seemed that mrs o'leary and daedalus were locked in combat with them.
more monsters were coming towards the workshop.
"we have to help daedalus!" percy said.
"no time," rachel said in a panicked tone, "too many coming!"
she'd already fitted herself with wings and was working on nico, who looked pale and sweaty from his struggle with minos. the wings grafted instantly to his back and arms.
"now you!" she told percy.
in seconds, nico, annabeth, rachel and percy fitted themselves with coppery wings. barbie began to scramble to fit on the wings. she pulled at the chain that seemed to be tangled. she let out a groan, pulling the chain again until finally, it snapped, "it's broken!" she cried.
"no!" cried nico, "we have to-"
"there's no time!" cried rachel.
"so you suggest we just fucking we leave her?" screeched annabeth over the chaos.
"no! i can... the mist," murmured barbie, her head feeling dizzy.
"but you already used-"
"i can do it!" she shouted, "i can do it!"
barbie's head was killing her. she winced slightly as she snapped her fingers and she looked to her feet to see the pink mist had slightly solidified to form wings. the mist flickered and barbie knew it wouldn't last long. but she carried on, holding herself up and willing to keep the wings in a solid state.
"daedalus!" percy yelled, "come on!"
he was cut in a hundred places-but he was bleeding golden oil instead of blood. he'd found his sword and was using part of a smashed table as a shield against the giants. he turned to them all, a look of regret on his face, making barbie feel a sudden slight of guilt at shouting at him. but she wasn't even sure if what she was seeing was right, she was feeling terribly dizzy and every seemed to be so muffled. but she could make out daedalus yelling, "i won't leave mrs o'leary! go!"
there was absolutely no time to argue. and even if they did, or if they stayed, barbie actually had no idea if they would be of any help. her mist was failing her slightly and jerald had gone silent. probably out of weakening. she felt like somebody was bashing cymbals at the sides of her head. everything was all to dizzy.
"none of know how to fly!" nico protested loudly. although to barbie it mostly sounded muffled.
"great time to find out then!" yelled percy over the roaring of the giants behind them. and together, the four of them jumped out of the window. strait into the open sky.
barbie didn't remember much of what happened after jumping out of the window. the build-up of using so much mist without being at her best had taken a toll on her. her vision was flashing pink and from the screaming of 'eyes!' and 'pink!' from her friends and rachel, she assumed her eyes were glowing pink.
she heard rachel scream strings of curse words. she heard percy yell at her, asking her if she was ok. she heard nico's high pitched screams, mixed with blurs of italian and ancient greek swears. she heard notes of annabeth over all the chaos, screaming at them all to find land.
but after that?
yeah, she didn't remember much. she guessed logically (because annabeth had a terrible habit of affecting her like that) that she had fainted. or maybe annabeth suddenly found some really cool sleeping mask that covered sunlight completely.
percy jackson stands by his many previous statements on the matter. flying sucks. it sucked so much. when they had landed on the ground, he looked to his friends, checking if they were ok.
annabeth and nico looked pretty shaken, pale-faced and sweating looking particularly weirded out. rachel looked like she was ready to fall asleep standing up, or on the ground, whatever came first. but when he turned to barbie, he knew she was doing the worst.
she looked pale, her face looking slightly sunken and her red hair not looking as shiny and pretty as it usually was. like it was sort of lifeless. her eyes fluttered slightly and she swayed, before slumping sideways. she would have hit the ground, had he not have caught her.
"i-is she ok?" asked rachel, looking over to barbie with worry.
"she used too much of her powers," spoke annabeth, her voice sounding a mix between semi-nausea, fear and annoyance, "fucking dumbass. told her not to use- anyways, she needs ambrosia. or something that can actually heal her."
"so we get ambrosia," decided percy.
"oh gee," spoke nico sarcastically, patting his pockets in over-exaggerated manner which looked weird for the kid practically drowning in his jacket, "let me just whip up my handy-dandy ambrosia i have in my fucking pockets!"
"cool it, nico," percy said.
"no i-"
"nico."
"sorry annabeth."
there was silence for a few moments. none of them knew what to do. how were they supposed to help their friend when they didn't even know what to do.
"do you think we could ask jerald?" asked percy, "would she... like, answer us?"
"it's worth a shot," said annabeth gravely.
"so how do we-?"
"hey jerald, it's annabeth," annabeth shouted, "you may not be able to hear us but barbie is hurt. if you could just summon some ambrosia that would be great."
"but won't that use more of the mist?" asked nico, looking sheepishly over to her unconscious body, "i mean... i really was joking when i said about the ambrosia thing. please tell me she's not gonna die-"
"well if we want her to stay alive," interrupted annabeth as she looked at barbie in percy's arms, "then we will have to."
jerald still hadn't answered them yet. and after a few moments, annabeth decided she would try think practically for a few moments and decided to go find a prims to create a rainbow to iris message chiron back at camp and some food. whilst they did that, percy and rachel stayed behind, with percy still holding onto barbie gently, hoping she miraculously woke up and he could tease her about how 'worried' he was. (he actually was worried but he'd never admit that to her. she would have way too much power over him).
"so... who's jerald?" asked rachel in an awkward tone, as if trying to diffuse the situation and make percy stop worrying.
"it's her pink mist," he responded, not missing a beat as he stared at barbers unconscious figure with worry, "something about a spirit bound to it? have no idea. but it's a gift from her mom. she can summon stuff li-"
"like this?" asked rachel as a cloud of pink mist floated to her hand and formed a milkshake carton. rachel yelped suddenly as it let out a pink spark, as if glitching. after a few moments of rachel shielding her eyes, something formed.
"is that a milkshake?" she asked, eyeing it curiously.
"that's nectar, i think," corrected percy, "but i guess it could be a milkshake. unless this is some sick joke from jerald-"
suddenly a slither of pink mist slapped his cheek, as if saying no, it's not you dumbass!
"ok, guess it's nectar," muttered percy before he continued his train of thought by saying, "here, hold her for a second whilst i get her to drink it."
percy handed barbie over to rachel whilst he took the nectar and dropped some of it into her mouth. he continued to do this in small proportions until all the nectar was gone. he looked up to the sky, sending a quick thank you to barbie's mom, aphrodite, and a thank you to apollo, the god of healing (amongst a lot of things percy really couldn't remember).
after a few seconds, the colour began to return to barbies face and she looked well, more alive. with a few more moments of waiting, she began to flutter her eyes, her gorgeous blue eyes mixed with flecks of pink staring back at her.
"thank the gods" he murmured, helping her stand properly before hugging her tightly, placing his head above her head, "you're awake. never scare me like that again."
"what?" she snapped back in a teasing tone, not missing a beat, "you worried about me?"
"pfft, no."
she giggled, smiling at him as she stared at him. she looked really pretty, like really pretty. her hair was nice and shiny now and her eyes sparkled, the flecks of pink looking odd but beautiful. why was she so pretty? she smelled nice too! like roses. she was truly the most extraordinary person he'd ever-
"-uh, percy? you gonna answer my question?"
"huh?" he blurted out suddenly, blinking slightly before staring back at barbie, "i mean i- can you repeat the question?"
"you're such a dumbass sometimes, water boy," she said, smiling with a little wince from what he assumed was some residual pain, "i asked where are we?"
"it uh- doesn't matter," spoke percy, still struggling to perform basic sentences after staring at barbie for too long. she stared at him for a moment, before her eyes widened as if she just realised they were still semi-hugging and tried to shove him off, but when she did so, she almost fell.
"looks like you're sticking by me," he grinned.
"i'm fucking fine, i've had nectar," she grumbled, shoving him off again. for a few seconds, she stumbled, but eventually got to her feet and seemed to be standing normally, "all the nectar is kicking in properly now."
they walked to a black car and rachel had a miserable look on her face, as if she was about to hate what she was going to do. percy looked to barbie, who was right next to him, and he noticed the small freckles dotted across her face that he'd never seen before. maybe she only just acquired them recently? he had no idea, but it suited her a lot.
her blue eyes had flecks of pink in them and she blinked slightly before looking up at him and percy tried to keep his mouth closed.
she laughed weakly at him, "what are you looking at, jackson?"
"you got a bug on your face," he blurted out quickly.
she screeched and started to swat her face and percy laughed, after a few seconds she stopped and glared at him, "you liar!"
"uh sorry-"
"am i interrupting something?" smirked annabeth.
percy glared at her before quickly saying, "uh nothing. what is it?"
"i talked to chiron," annabeth said, "they're doing their best to prepare for battle, but he still wants us back. they're going to need every hero they can get. did we find a ride?"
"the driver's ready when we are," rachel said.
the chauffeur was now talking to another guy in khakis and a polo shirt, probably his client who'd rented the car. the client was complaining, but barbie could hear the driver saying, "i'm sorry, sir. emergency. i've ordered another car for you."
"come on," rachel said. she led them to the car and got in without even looking at the annoyed guy who'd rented it.
a minute later they were cruising down the road. the seats were leather. there was plenty of legroom. the back seat had flat-panel tv's built into the headrests and a mini-fridge stocked with bottled water, drinks and snacks. they started pigging out.
barbie was feeling much better now, fully healed and strong. she tried to contain herself as she stared at percy, trying not to use jerald and strangle rachel. the frustrating thing seemed to be rachel was extremely hard to hate. she just had this... type of personality you couldn't help but liking.
barbie hated it.
she was brave, funny and had red hair like merida from brave! she was stupidly talented and the first time she'd met rache at the hoover dam she'd saved them. why was she so nice?
"is this my mom's way of telling me i'm her least favourite child?" barbie grumbled, snaking on some m&m's.
"the fates and your mom wouldn't let you suffer," annabeth spoke quietly to barbie before added, "and you're definitely not your mom's least favourite child."
"you're right, that's drew," nodded barbie, trying to calm herself down.
the two of them probably would've continued their conversation for a longer time, had rachel not suddenly yelled, "get off the highway!"
the driver glanced back, looking confused as he asked, "miss?"
"she said get off the highway deadass!" yelled barbie, repeating the phrase rachel had said, but her voice was full of charmspeak, and a potent one at that.
almost immediately, the driver swerved across traffic and took the exit, barbie had tograb onto annabeth so she didn't climb out of the vehicle and hurtle out at lightning speed whilst she saw rachel physically have to restrain percy.
"percy!" rachel cried out in an alarming tone, "what did you do?"
"just a bit of charmspeak. he seriously should be able to resist it i've seen him resist drew's," huffed barbie, looking fondly at him before snappin gher fingers and making a slapping motion infront of her, which resulted in percy getting a slap in the face by a pink misty hand.
percy let out a groan, and seemed to come back to his senses, as he complained, "gods dammit barbie doll! are you for real?"
"learn to fucking control yourself, dumbass," barbie snapped back, "if annabeth can semi-control herself why can't you?"
"maybe i like listening to you," he snapped back, a small teasing smile on his face.
she looked down, a small blush on her face as she hissed, "shut up, water boy."
"so what did you see?" asked percy, looking around in confusion at both windows, "this doesn't look very scary and monster-filled. just... grass."
and for once (well not really, it had happened before) percy was right. there wasn't really anything except hills, grassland and some scattered farm buildings. rachel continued by having the driver turn down an unpromising dirt road.
they drove by a sign that was too confusing and fast for barbie to read, even if she wasn't heavily dyslexic. but rachel seemed to understand it, and read the words, "western museum of mining and industry."
for a museum, it didn't look like much. just a little house like an old-fashioned railroad station, some drills and pumps along with some old steam shovels on display outside.
"there."
rachel pointed to a hole in the side of a nearby hill, a tunnel that was boarded up and chained.
"an old mine entrance?" asked barbie in confusion, "mortal girl, do you need your eyesight checked?"
"no, barb. i think she means a door to the labyrinth. but, are you sure?"
"well look at it!" rachel spoke, gesturing wildly to the tunnel. they all looked to each other and gave each other a 'what is happening?' look and she sighed before saying eventually, "i mean... i can see it, okay?"
barbie chose to trust rachel on her statement. because she was a gracious and kind person like that. but for all she knew, rachel could potentially be leading them to their death or another underground fighting ring. and personally, barbie didn't like any of those sinister options. barbie only hoped the whole 'true sight' thing was actually what rachel had and not a really big imagination.
as they pulled over, rachel thanked the driver. but what confused barbie was the fact the driver wasn't even asking for money. or even like a tip or some sort of bank detail. he only said, "are you sure you'll be alright, miss dare? i'd be happy to call your-"
"no!" rachel suddenly rushed out, startling the driver before rushing out, "no, no, really. thanks, robert, but we're fine."
the museum seemed to be closed, so nobody actually bothered them as they climbed the hill to the mine shaft. when they got to the entrance, barbie scanned it for the mark of daedalus, with her eyes eventually landing on the padlock engraved with the familiar but hated mark. how rachel had actually seen that from the highway, was a question still left unanswered to barbie.
"huh," barbie spoke, trying not to show too much how amazed she was, "good job... mortal girl."
rachel mumbled a quick thanks as percy touched the padlock and the chains flew away. they kicked down a few more boards and soon, they walked inside. for better or for worse (she really hoped for better), they were back in the labyrinth. barbie just hoped none of them got fucking marooned again.
rosie speaks!
comments may not
work, so if they don't,
then don't be shy in
commenting your
thoughts on my message
board !!!
this is off hold right now,
but will have really slow
updates.
love you all<<33
thoughts?
word count: 7,063