¹ON THIS SPRING DAY. p. jackson

016.

ON THIS SPRING DAY
━━━━━ chapter sixteen

━━━━━ THE METAL DOOR was half hidden behind a laundry bin full of dirty hotel towels. AJ didn't see anything strange about it, but Rachel showed them all where to look, and he saw a faint blue symbol etched in the metal.

               "It hasn't been used in a long time," Annabeth noticed, narrowing her eyes to the symbol of Daedalus.

               "I doubt anyone could even see if behind all this shit." AJ crossed his arms. "Besides, I doubt if any mortal could see it, that they'd be smart enough to think ..." He trailed off, glancing Rachel's way. "Er—no offense."

               "None taken," she grumbled. "I tried to open it once, just out of curiosity I guess. It's rusted shut."

               "No." The daughter of Athena 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 enough, but AJ saw the way her eyebrows pinched and she started shifting her feet all so suddenly. Flakes of gold still glittered on her face and red hair as she looked at the three demigods beside her. "So ... after you guys?"

               AJ's smile was amused, but not so happy. "Aren't you the guide?"

               Rachel swallowed and looked at the dark staircase. "... Yeah."

               "Then lead on," Annabeth spoke up with mock politeness, gesturing her hand forward.

               The stairs led down to a large brick tunnel. It was pretty dark, but it didn't necessarily bother AJ. He supposed it had to do with the fact he could just tell nothing dangerous was right in front of them. The others didn't seem so keen on keeping the darkness. As soon as Percy and Annabeth switched their flashlights on, Rachel yelped.

               A skeleton was grinning down 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. And it had a single black eye socket in the center of its skull.

               "A Cyclops," AJ declared, a small gasp of shock escaping him. Maybe he could tell nothing was waiting to kill them, but he hadn't been able to sense the skeleton waiting to jumpscare them.

               "It's very old." Annabeth swallowed nervously, glancing back at Percy, who suddenly looked green. "It's not ... anybody we know."

               It wasn't Tyson, Annabeth meant. AJ supposed that was for Percy, who was Tyson's older half-brother. But a chill still crawled down AJ's spine—the placement of the skeleton felt like a threat. Whoever could kill a grown Cyclops wasn't someone to mess with.

               For Violet, AJ repeated to himself for the thousandth time. But he knew the moment—and not if he did, but when—he was going to strangle the daughter of Eros for doing something so fucking stupid. But convincing himself going into the Labyrinth was getting harder the longer he stared at the skeleton.

               Rachel swallowed. "You have a friend who's a Cyclops?"

               "Tyson," Percy answered. "My half-brother."