VIDEO GAMES! (p. jackson) (#1)

- fourteen

THE METAL DOOR WAS HALF HIDDEN BEHIND A LAUNDRY BIN OF DIRTY TOWELS.

"it hasn't been used in a long time," rose said.

"i tried to open it once," rachel said, "just out of curiosity. it's rusted shut."

"no." annabeth stepped forward. "it just needs the touch of a half-blood."

sure enough, as soon as annabeth put her hand on the mark, it glowed blue. the metal door unsealed and creaked open, revealing a dark staircase leading down.

"wow." rachel looked calm, but rose couldn't tell if she was pretending or not. she'd changed into a ratty museum of modern art shirt and her regular marker-colored jeans, her blue plastic hairbrush sticking out of her pocket. her red hair was tied back, but she still had flecks of gold in it, and traces of the gold glitter on her face. "so... after you?"

"you're the guide," annabeth said with mock politeness. "lead on."

the stairs led down to a large brick tunnel. it was so dark they couldn't see two feet in front of them, but annabeth, percy, and rose had restocked on flashlights. as soon as they switched them on, rachel yelped.

a skeleton was grinning at them. it wasn't human. it was huge, for one thing—at least ten feet tall. it had been strung up, chained by its wrists and ankles so it made a kind of giant X over the tunnel. but what really sent shivers down anya's spine was the single black eye socket in the center of its skull.

"a cyclops," annabeth said. "it's very old. it's not... anybody we know."

it wasn't tyson, she meant. but that didn't make rose feel much better. she still felt like it had been put here as a warning. she wasn't thrilled at the idea of meeting something that could kill a grown cyclops.

rachel swallowed. "you have a friend who's a cyclops?"

"tyson," percy said. "my half brother."

"your half brother. "

"hopefully we'll find him down here," percy said. "and grover. he's a satyr."

"oh." her voice was small. "well then, we'd better keep moving."

she stepped under the skeleton's left arm and kept walking. annabeth and rose exchanged a look. annabeth shrugged. they followed rachel deeper into the maze.

after fifty feet they came to a crossroads. ahead, the brick tunnel continued. to the right, the walls were made of ancient marble slabs. to the left, the tunnel was dirt and tree roots.

percy pointed left. "that looks like the tunnel tyson and grover took."

rose shook her head. "we're not going left."

annabeth frowned. "yeah, but the architecture to the right—those old stones—that's more likely to lead to an ancient part of the maze, toward daedalus's workshop."

"we need to go straight," rachel said.

"that's the least likely choice," annabeth said.

"you don't see it?" rachel asked. "look at the floor."

rose saw nothing but well worn bricks and mud.

"there's a brightness there," rachel insisted. "very faint. but forward is the correct way. to the left, farther down the tunnel, those tree roots are moving like feelers. i don't like that. to the right, there's a trap about twenty feet down. holes in the walls, maybe for spikes. i don't think we should risk it."

rose nodded. "she's right about the roots. i can hear them."

rachel stared at her. "you can hear them?"