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We only got one hundred feet before we were completely lost. The cylindrical like a sewer, made from red bricks with iron-barred portholes every ten feet. A cold wind rustled past me, and I caught whispers from it.
"We should stick to the left wall," said Annabeth. "If we place a hand on the left wall and follow it, we theoretically should be capable of retracing our steps back."
Of course, with our luck from the Fates (I really wanted to punch them), the left wall soon ended. We arrived in a circular room with eight tunnels branching off in different directions.
"Um...which way?" Grover asked anxiously.
"Just reverse directions," Annabeth responded.
We all picked a different tunnel, attempting to discern the route back to Camp Half-Blood. My nostrils flared, picking up millions of different scents, but not one of them was a camp smell. When that didn't work, I narrowed my eyes and concentrated. My vision blurred forward, whizzing down hundreds of corridors and passages; I stumbled backward with my head spinning. It was all too much for my brain to process.
"Can you use your tracking, Ainsley?" Percy asked hopefully.
"It doesn't work like that, Percy," I said. "I can track animals and people by scent and vision, but when I don't what exactly we're tracking, then I can't."
While I was explaining, Annabeth was examining the arches of the tunnels with her flashlight. "This way," she declared.
"What makes you so sure?" said Percy skeptically.
"Logic."
"Translation: you're guessing?"
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Just move, Seaweed Brain."
Her chosen tunnel grew increasingly narrow every second. The walls shifted to being construction of gray cement, the ceiling lowered so far that we had to stoop. Raiden, being 6'5, had to crawl along with Tyson so that they didn't suffer from a concussion.
Grover's hyperventilating echoed through the maze. "I can't do this. Are we almost there?"
"You can do this," I assured him. I summoned a small lavender plant from a crack in the floor and broke it off. "Here, eat this; it'll calm you down."
"Thanks." Grover grabbed the plant from me and started chewing on the purple flower. "But how long have we been down here?"
"Ten minutes, twenty-five seconds, and nine nanoseconds," answered Raiden automatically. When everyone besides Agro and I stared at her, she said, "What? I automatically know the time. It's one of the powers I inherited from dear ol' dad."
Very soon, the tunnels widened into a huge room adorned with mosaic tiles, though they appeared grimy and faded. Amid the colors—red, blue, green, gold, I could see the scenes depicted: an Olympian feast. Artemis stood proudly beside Apollo, donning a silver tunic and wielding her silver bow. Yet, there was something off about the mosaic; my mother's auburn hair was a shade too dark, while the sun god's golden eyes were more neon-yellow. In the middle was an extremely dry fountain with three tiers.
"What kind of place is this?" muttered Percy.
"Roman," Annabeth responded. "These are two-thousand-year-old mosaics."
"But how is that possible?"
"The Labyrinth is a medley," Raiden said. "It's always expanding, adding new pieces. It's the only architectural work that is animated; it's basically alive."
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Twins of the Hunt - Book 4: The Labryinth
FanfictionThe trauma, pain, and anger left behind in the wake of Zade's and Zoë's death has left Ainsley Theron with a closed heart and a stoic face. She has vowed on then Styx to never leave the Hunt again. But, of course, since when have the Fates made life...
