The Silver Archer 2️⃣ (Percy Jackson)

35. Gold Statue

Adira

We arranged a meeting in Times Square. We found Rachel Dare in front of the Marriott Marquis, and she was completely painted gold.

I mean, her face, her hair, her clothes—everything. She looked like she'd been touched by King Midas. She was standing like a statue with five other kids all painted metallic—copper, bronze, silver. They were frozen in different poses while tourists hustled past or stopped to stare. Some passerby threw money at the tarp on the sidewalk.

The sign at Rachel's feet said, URBAN ART FOR KIDS, DONATIONS APPRECIATED.

Brett, Percy, Annabeth and I stood there for like five minutes, staring at Rachel, but if she noticed us she didn't let on. She didn't move or even blink that I could see. Being ADHD and all, I could not have done that. Standing still that long would've driven me crazy. She looked like a statue of somebody famous, an actress or something. Only her eyes were normal green.

"Maybe... if we push her over," Annabeth suggested.

"Maybe.... We can," I smirked, and Annie and I both let out laughs. "Would you mind... maybe sending a gush of wind at her? Or... ooh! Make her fall off her rock pedestal with your geokinesis!"

I laughed even more, falling onto Brett.

Rachel didn't respond. After another few minutes, a kid in silver walked up from the hotel taxi stand, where he'd been taking a break. He took a pose like he was lecturing the crowd, right next to Rachel. Rachel unfroze and stepped off the tarp.

"Hey, guys." She grinned. "Good timing! Let's get some coffee."

🪨

We walked down to a place called the Java Moose on West 43rd. Rachel ordered an Espresso Extreme, the kind of stuff Grover would like. Annabeth and Percy got fruit smoothies, while me and Brett got cappuccinos. We sat at a table right under the stuffed moose.

Nobody even looked twice at Rachel in her golden outfit.

"So," she said, "Brett, right?"

He nodded. Rachel stuck her hand out for him to shake, and he shook it. "Sup, Rachel. I'm Adi's twin. Much older, cooler twin."

"By 34 seconds!" I exclaimed.

"Wait, you're younger than HIM," Percy said, pointing. I glared at him, and he put his hands up in defeat.

"It's Annabell, right?"

"Annabeth," Annabeth corrected. "Do you always dress in gold?"

"Not usually," Rachel said. "We're raising money for our group. We do volunteer art projects for elementary kids 'cause they're cutting art from the schools, you know? We do this once a month, take in about five hundred dollars on a good weekend. But I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that. You're a half-blood, too?"

"Shhh!" Annabeth said, looking around. "Just announce it to the world, how about?"

"Okay." Rachel stood up and said really loud, "Hey, everybody! These four aren't human! They're half Greek god!"

Nobody even looked over. Rachel shrugged and sat down. "They don't seem to care."

"That's not funny," Annabeth said. "This isn't a joke, mortal girl."

"Hold it, you two," Percy said. "Just calm down."

"I'm calm," Rachel insisted. "Every time I'm around you, some monster attacks us. What's to be nervous about?"

"Look," I said. "I'm really sorry about the band room. I hope they didn't kick you out or anything."

"Nah. They asked me a lot of questions about you. I played dumb."

"Was it hard?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Okay, stop!" Percy intervened. "Rachel, we've got a problem. And we need your help."

Rachel narrowed her eyes at Annabeth. "You need my help?"

Annabeth stirred her straw in her smoothie. "Yeah," she said suddenly.

"Maybe."

Percy told Rachel about the Labyrinth, and how we needed to find Daedalus. He told her what had happened the last few times we'd gone in.

"So you want me to guide you," she said. "Through a place I've never been."

"You can see through the Mist," I sighed. "Just like Ariadne. I'm betting you can see the right path. The Labyrinth won't be able to fool you as easily."

"And if you're wrong?"

"Then we'll get lost. Either way, it'll be dangerous. Very, very dangerous."

"I could die?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you said monsters don't care about mortals. That sword of yours—"

"Yeah," Percy said. "Celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals. Most monsters would ignore you. But Luke...he doesn't care. He'll use mortals, demigods, monsters, whatever. And he'll kill anyone who gets in his way."

"Nice guy," Rachel said.

"He's under the influence of a Titan," Annabeth said defensively. "He's been deceived."

Rachel looked back and forth between us. "Okay," she said. "I'm in."

I blinked. I hadn't figured it would be so easy. "Are you sure?"

"Hey, my summer was going to be boring. This is the best offer I've gotten yet. So what do I look for?"

"We have to find an entrance to the Labyrinth," Annabeth said. "There's an entrance at Camp Half-Blood, but you can't go there. It's off-limits to mortals."

At one point, Annie was right. But at a wedding a few years, between some kid from Ares and another from Athena, they had their mortal parents come, they just need to be allowed by Chiron, and he doesn't allow it unless they promise not to ever show it to another mortal.

She said mortals like it was some sort of terrible condition, but Rachel just nodded. "Okay. What does an entrance to the Labyrinth look like?"

"It could be anything," Annabeth said. "A section of wall. A boulder. A doorway. A sewer entrance. But it would have the mark of Daedalus on it. A Greek ∆, glowing in blue."

"Like this?" Rachel drew the symbol Delta in water on our table.

"That's it," I asked. "You know Greek?"

"No," Rachel said. She pulled a big blue plastic hairbrush from her pocket and started brushing the gold out of her hair. "Let me get changed. You'd better come with me to the Marriott."

"Why?" Brett said.

"Because there's an entrance like that in the hotel basement, where we store our costumes. It's got the mark of Daedalus."