𝐏𝐘𝐑𝐑𝐇𝐈𝐂 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

19 - a dead robot man traitor

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪

AS ELIA HAD BEGUN TO LEARN, even statues crumble if they're made to wait. Her world felt like it was crumbling around her, pieces of her carefully constructed facade falling to the ground beneath her feet.

And when she woke to the room crashing down around her, her feeling was truly solidified.

"Earthquake!" Annabeth shouted, grabbing Rachel by the arm and hauling her off of the ground. The mortal looked around frantically before snatching up her bag.

Elia blinked sleepily. What? Then a piece of marble crashed to the ground next to her foot and she let out a shriek, pressing closer to Percy in shock. The son of Poseidon untucked his face from her blonde hair with a bleary hum, before his eyes settled on Elia's wide ones.

"Whoa, okay!" he shouted, scrambling up from the ground and pulling the blonde with him. "Time to go!"

Rachel managed a panicked nod before running toward the far tunnel, the other three teens following close behind. The marble columns around them resonated a dangerous cracking sound as chunks of the ceiling plummeted to the ground behind the group, prompting them to run faster. Just as they entered the dark tunnel, the ceiling of the room they'd left crashed to the earth, sending a cloud of fine, white dust billowing over them.

Elia coughed the grit out of her mouth, scowling grumpily at the room they'd left. The lack of sleep and general trauma from her breakdown the previous night had left her feeling cranky, holding Percy's hand with her lips pulled into a frown.

Annabeth stared at the ruins of the columned room, wide-eyed before nodding in slight shock. "You know, I like this way after all," she said softly as she let Rachel and Elia pull her along, the four of them running down a strange-looking, stainless steel hallway.

The floor beneath their feet was a metal grate, rattling with every pounding step. Each of their faces looked harsh in the bright lights flooding from fluorescent bars across the ceiling as Rachel managed to pant, "This way! We're close."

Annabeth frowned, her sharp eyes scanning their surroundings before she shook her head in denial. "No, this is all wrong!" she protested. "The workshop should be in the oldest section of the maze. This can't—"

The daughter of Athena faltered, freezing in her tracks. Elia slowed to a stop beside her, finally pausing to catch her breath. She was so exhausted, weariness seeming to seep into her bones and drag her body down. She just wanted to go home and lay in Lee's arms and sleep.

The double doors were metal, the stele inscribed with a large blue Greek ∆. It seemed to glow with a strange power, something technological, but not quite real enough to be made by mortal hands. The type of glow that Elia tended to see in Annabeth or Percy; they just seem a little more than human, a little more beautiful, a little more perfect.

"We're here," Rachel breathed, staring straight ahead with those bright green eyes that looked like portals. "Daedalus's workshop."

Elia stared. This seemed kind of anticlimactic for her, but she wasn't quite sure what she was expecting either. This quest had felt so long, all to find this place. Something felt off.

Annabeth leaned forward to press the symbol on the doors and they hissed open.

"So much for ancient architecture," Percy muttered, sending a sidelong glance at his best friend.

Annabeth scowled, glaring at the dark-haired boy with those scary sharp eyes that seemed to know everything about you in a glance. Annabeth's gaze was always analytical, her mind always working to figure out everything around her.