Maze of Memories

Bonds

Antaeus bellowed in pain. I waited for him to disintegrate. No monster had ever withstood a direct hit from my sword like that. The celestial bronze blade had to be destroying his essence. But Antaeus groped for the hilt, pulled out the dagger, and tossed it behind him. More sand poured from the wound, but again the earth rose up to cover him. Dirt coated his body all the way to his shoulders. As soon as the dirt spilled away, Antaeus was fine.

"Now you see why I never lose, demigod!" Antaeus gloated. "Come here and let me crush you. I'll make it quick!"

I tried to doge his blows, but I hit hard, and I was thrown to the crowds outside of the arena. I was hit hard, so hard in fact that I fell unconscious. I could feel some hands on me but I couldn't see who. Then I blacked out for real.

When I came back to I saw I was halfway carried by someone. I was out of the arena, I heard screaming and footsteps behind me and a voice right next to me.

"Wake up! Orion, Please!" I looked and saw a boy I didn't recognize, but she was helping me so I didn't question it further.

I lost track of how many turns we made. We didn't stop to rest until we came to a room the size of a gymnasium with old marble columns holding up the roof. I stood at the doorway, listening for sounds of pursuit, but I heard nothing. Apparently we'd lost Luke and his minions in the maze.

I Heard voices upp ahed and the girl let go of me. "Go, its your friends." The boy said

I looked closer at him and his image glimmered. Then he smiled at me and slowly began to glow brighter. I closed my eyes as the bright light shined with warmth. Then the light subsided and I was alone. Then I was alone.

I walked to the voices to mind a weird sight. Annabeth was screaming at Rachel, Christine was screaming at Percy and Percy had his head low. I cleared my throat and Percy noticed me, his deminer lightend up, but the others didn't see me.

"We left him again! He could be totured again!" Chrestine yelled at Percy. It looked like she was about to cry. I had a feeling it was mee they were talking about so I walked forward and put a hand on Christine shoulder.

She snapped my hand away. "DON'T TUCH..." She stooped in her words when she saw me. It became quiet and the others looked at me. Christine looked like she was going to hit me.

"Missed me?" I said sarcastically. Before I could say anything more, Christine slapped my face, then hugged me tightly. He was crying into my shoulder. She stayed like that for a moment.

***

We were so exhausted we made camp right there in the huge room. I found some scrap wood and we started a fire. Shadows danced off the columns rising around us like trees.

"Something was wrong with Luke," Annabeth muttered, poking at the fire with her knife. "Did you guys notice the way he was acting?"

"He looked pretty pleased to me," I said. "Like he'd spent a nice day torturing heroes."

"That's not true! There was something wrong with him. He looked...nervous. He told his monsters to spare me. He wanted to tell me something."

"Probably, 'Hi, Annabeth! Sit here with me and watch while I tear your friends apart. It'll be fun!'" Percy said sarcastically.

"You're impossible," Annabeth grumbled. She sheathed her dagger and looked at Rachel. "So which way now, Sacagawea?"

Rachel didn't respond right away. She'd become quieter since the arena. Now, whenever Annabeth made a sarcastic comment, Rachel hardly bothered to answer. She'd burned the tip of a stick in the fire and was using it to draw ash figures on the floor, images of the monsters we'd seen. With a few strokes, she caught the likeness of a dracaena perfectly.