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

- fifteen

THEY MANAGED TO LOSE THE ARMY CHASING THEM.

"this way!" rachel yelled.

"why should we follow you?" annabeth demanded. "you led us straight into that death trap!"

"it was the way you needed to go," rachel said. "and so is this. come on!"

annabeth didn't look happy about it, but she ran along with the rest of them. rachel seemed to know exactly where she was going. she whipped around corners and didn't even hesitate at crossroads. once she said, "duck!" and they all crouched as a huge axe swung over their heads. then they kept going as if nothing had happened.

rose lost track of how many turns they made. they didn't stop to rest until they came to a room the size of a gymnasium with old marble columns holding up the roof.

rose realized mrs. o'leary was gone. she didn't know when she'd disappeared. she didn't know of she'd gotten lost or been overrun by monsters or what. her heart turned to lead. she'd saved their lives, and they hadn't even waited to make sure she was following them.

ethan collapsed on the floor. "you people are crazy." he pulled off his helmet. his face gleamed with sweat.

annabeth gasped. "now i remember you! you were one of the undetermined kids in the hermes cabin."

he glared at her. "yeah, and you're annabeth. i remember."

"what—what happened to your eye?"

ethan looked away, and rose got the feeling that was one subject he would not discuss.

"you must be the half-blood from my dream," percy said. "the one luke's people cornered. it wasn't nico after all."

"who's nico?"

"never mind," annabeth said quickly. "why were you trying to join up with the wrong side?"

ethan sneered. "there's no right side. the gods never cared about us. why shouldn't i—"

"sign up with an army that makes you fight to the death for entertainment?" rose said. "gee, i
wonder."

ethan struggled to his feet. "i'm not going to argue with you. thanks for the help, but i'm out of here."

"we're going after daedalus," percy said. "come with us. once we get through, you'd be welcome back at camp."

"you really are crazy if you think daedalus will help you."

"he has to," annabeth said. "we'll make him listen."

ethan snorted. "yeah, well. good luck with that."

percy grabbed his arm. "you're just going to head off alone into the maze? that's suicide."

he looked at percy with barely controlled anger. his eye patch was frayed around the edges and the black cloth was faded, like he'd been wearing it a long, long time. "you shouldn't have spared me, jackson. mercy has no place in this war."

then he ran off into the darkness, back the way they'd come.

the four of them were so exhausted they made camp right there in the huge room. percy found some scrap wood and they started a fire. shadows danced off the columns rising around us like trees.

"something was wrong with luke," annabeth muttered, poking at the fire with her knife. "did you
notice the way he was acting?"

"he looked pretty pleased to me," rose said. "like he'd spent a nice day torturing heroes."

"that's not true! there was something wrong with him. he looked... nervous. he told his monsters to spare me. he wanted to tell me something."

"annabeth, i love you so much, but i need you to let go of this idea that luke is going to change his mind and suddenly call off this fucking war. it's not going to happen."