The Son Of Asclepius, Divine Doctor

Tragedy.

The door Rachel was talking about was half hidden behind a laundry bin full of dirty hotel towels, and etched into it was the infamous faint blue symbol of Daedalus.

"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." Annabeth 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, but looks could be deceiving. She'd changed into a ratty Museum of Modern Art T-shirt and marker-coloured 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 (Y/N) couldn't see his own sandled feet, so he gently shook his staff. The tunnel lit up, and Rachel yelped.A skeleton 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 actually took the son o Asclepius' attention was the single black eye socket in the centre of its skull. 

"A Cyclops," Annabeth said. "It's very old. It's not...anybody we know." 

It wasn't Tyson, she meant. 

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

"Tyson," Percy said. "My half brother."

"Your half brother?"

"Poseidon can't keep it in his pants," muttered (Y/N).

"Hopefully we'll find him down here," Percy 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 three following her deeper into the maze. After fifty feet they came to a crossroad. 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. Percy pointed left. 

"That looks like the tunnel Tyson and Grover took." 

Annabeth frowned. "Yeah, but the architecture to the right—those old stones—that's more likely to lead to an ancient part of the maze, toward Daedalus's workshop." 

"We need to go straight," Rachel said. Annabeth and Percy both looked at her. 

"That's the least likely choice," Annabeth said. 

"You don't see it?" Rachel asked. "Look at the floor." 

(Y/N) saw nothing except well-worn bricks and mud, but he understood. 

"There's a brightness there," Rachel insisted. "Very faint. But forward is the correct way. To the left, farther down the tunnel, those tree roots are moving like feelers. I don't like that. To the right, there's a trap about twenty feet down. Holes in the walls, maybe for spikes. I don't think we should risk it." 

"Okay. Forward." 

"You believe her?" Annabeth asked. 

"Yeah," Jackson said. "Don't you?" 

Annabeth looked like she wanted to argue, but she waved at Rachel to lead on. Together they kept walking down the brick corridor. It twisted and turned, but there were no more side tunnels. The tunnel seemed to be angling down,heading deeper underground.