¹𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀. percy jackson

XXXIII.

ｔｈｅ ｂａｔｔｌｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｌａｂｙｒｉｎｔｈ

THE METAL DOOR WAS HALF HIDDEN BEHIND A LAUNDRY BIN FULL OF DIRTY HOTEL TOWELS. Rachel showed them where to look, and they recognized the faint blue symbol etched in the metal.

"It hasn't been used in a long time," Annabeth said.

"I tried to open it once," Rachel said, "just out of curiosity. It's rusted shut."

"No." Lucia stepped forward. "It just needs the touch of a half-blood."

Sure enough, as soon as Lucia 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 Lucia couldn't tell if she was pretending or not. She'd changed into a ratty Museum of Modern Art T-shirt and 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 Lucia couldn't see two feet in front of them, As soon as she willed herself to glow, Rachel yelped.

"Wha—"

"Apollo is my dad," Lucia explained indifferently

"The sun guy?"

Lucia scoffed, she didn't think she would ever defend her father, but something about Rachel minimizing her to be the sun guy's daughter made her angry. Or maybe it was just Rachel herself. "And music, healing, truth, prophecy, knowledge, plague, do you want me to continue?"

"Cool." Rachel said, she stared at Lucia for seconds longer "You know you look like you bathe in liquid sunlight? Woah, do you? "

"uh no?" Embarrassment gnawed at Lucia's stomach, the anger dissipated as instantly as it appeared. Lucia had every right to be upset maybe even jealous (she'd rather take her chances in Tartarus than admit she was) but she knew there was no reason to take it out on Rachel unprovoked.

She opened her mouth to apologize but the redhead let out another scream.

Percy and Annabeth turned on their flashlights fully revealing the skeleton that 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 sent shivers down Lucia'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 Lucia feel much better. She still felt like it had been put there as a warning. Whatever could kill a grown Cyclops, She didn't want to meet.

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," He 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. The trio exchanged looks. 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.