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

- sixteen

JUMPING OUT OF A WINDOW WAS SURPRISINGLY FUN.

experimentally, rose flapped her arms once. she arced into the sky, the wind whistling in her ears. the feeling was unbelievable. after getting the hang of it, she felt like the wings were part of her body.

"land!" annabeth yelled. "these wings won't last forever."

"how long?" rachel asked.

"i don't want to find out!" annabeth said.

they swooped down toward the garden of the gods. percy did a complete circle around one of the rock spires and freaked out a couple of climbers. then the five of them soared across the valley, over a road, and landed on the terrace of the visitor center. it was late afternoon and the place looked pretty empty, but they ripped off their wings as quickly as their could.

looking at them, rose could see annabeth was right. the self-adhesive seals that bound the wings to their backs were already melting, and they were shedding bronze feathers. it seemed a shame, but they couldn't fix them, and couldn't leave them around for the mortals, so they stuffed the wings in trash bins outside the cafeteria.

rose used the tourist binocular camera to look up at the hill where daedalus's workshop had been, but it had vanished. no more smoke. no broken windows. just the side of a hill.

"the workshop moved," annabeth guessed. "there's no telling where."

"so what do we do now?" percy asked. "how do we get back in the maze?"

annabeth gazed at the summit of pikes peak in the distance. "maybe we can't. if daedalus died... he said his life force was tied into the labyrinth. the whole thing might've been destroyed. maybe that will stop luke's invasion."

"no," nico said. "he isn't dead."

"how can you be sure?" percy asked.

"i know when people die. it's this feeling i get, like a buzzing in my ears."

"what about tyson and grover, then?"

nico shook his head. "that's harder. they're not humans or half-bloods. they don't have mortal souls."

"we have to get into town," annabeth decided. "our chances will be better of finding an entrance to the labyrinth. we have to make it back to camp before luke and his army."

"we could just take a plane," rachel said.

  percy shuddered. "i don't fly."

"but you just did."

"that was low flying," he said, "and even that's risky. flying up really high—that's zeus's territory. i can't do it. besides, we don't even have time for a flight. the labyrinth is the quickest way back."

"so we need a car to take us into the city," annabeth said.

rachel looked down into the parking lot. she grimaced, as if she were about to do something she
regretted. "i'll take care of it."

"how?" annabeth asked.

"just trust me."

annabeth looked uneasy, but she nodded. "okay, i'm going to buy a prism in the gift shop, try to make a rainbow, and send an iris-message to camp."

"i'll go with you," nico said. "i'm hungry."

rose shrugged. "i'll stay with rachel. you guys contact camp and get some food."

she handed her debit card to nico.

he stared at her. "what the hell is that?"

"are you... are you kidding?"