𝐈𝐈𝐈. 𝐀𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐀 | 𝐏𝐉𝐎 𝐗 𝐇𝐏

𝐭𝐰𝐨, 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗯𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗵

LILITH MADE HER WAY TOWARDS THE MAZE with no problems. She hadn't stumbled upon any monsters or demigods, and she reckoned Luke and Hecate agreed to make pave her way. She sighed at the thought.

That's two people who betrayed her

"What in Hades?" She heard a voice.

"A prison," another voice said. "Maybe Tyson can break—"

"Percy, Annabeth?" She called out, just as she did yesterday. They turned around to the source of voice. "Lilith? What are you doing here?"

"I don't know." She whimpered. "I don't even want to be here!" She whined.

"Shh," said Grover. "Listen."Somewhere above them, deep sobbing echoed through the building. There was another sound, too—a raspy voice muttering something that I couldn't make out. The words were strange, like rocks in a tumbler.

"what's that language?" Percy whispered.

Tyson's eye widened. "Can't be."

"What?" Percy asked.

He grabbed two bars on the cell door and bent them wide enough for even a Cyclops to slip through.

"Wait!" Grover called.

But Tyson wasn't about to wait. They ran after him. The prison was dark, only a few dim fluorescent lights flickering above.

"I know this place," Annabeth told me. "This is Alcatraz."

"You mean that island is near San Francisco?"

She nodded. "My school took a field trip here. It's like a museum."

It didn't seem possible that they could've popped out of the Labyrinth on the other side of the country, but Annabeth had been living in San Francisco all year, keeping an eye on Mount Tamalpais just across the bay. She probably knew what she was talking about.

Lilith, understanding how Percy's mind works, said, "The Labyrinth works differently. As we move, it moves as well. Much quicker than we do too, that's why time works differently outside. I've been here for only a few hours and it's probably been about a week out there"

Percy nodded in understanding.

"Freeze," Grover warned.

But Tyson kept going. Grover grabbed his arm and pulled him back with all his strength. "Stop, Tyson!" he whispered. "Can't you see it?"

They looked where he was pointing, and they froze. On the second-floor balcony, across the courtyard, was a monster more horrible than anything they'd ever seen before. Lilith narrowed her eyes at the sight.

It was sort of like a centaur, with a woman's body from the waist up. But instead of a horse's lower body, it had the body of a dragon—at least twenty feet long, black and scaly with enormous claws and a barbed tail. Her legs looked like they were tangled in vines, they were sprouting snakes, hundreds of vipers darting around, constantly looking for something to bite.

The woman's hair was also made of snakes, like Medusa's, weirdest of all, around her waist, where the woman part met the dragon part, her skin bubbled and morphed, occasionally producing the heads of animals—a vicious wolf, a bear, a lion, as if she were wearing a belt of ever-changing creatures.

"Oh no." Lilith whispered as her eyes widened in realization.

"It's her," Tyson whimpered.