Forgotten memories

Not another one!

The dirt tunnels turned to stone. They wound around and split off and basically tried to confuse us, but Rachel had no trouble guiding us. We told her we needed to get back to New York, and she hardly even paused when the tunnels offered a choice.

To my and Percys surprise, Rachel and Annabeth started up a conversation as we walked. Annabeth asked her more about her background, but Rachel was evasive, so they started talking about architecture. It turned out that Rachel knew something about it from studying art. They talked about different facades on buildings around New York—"Have you seen this one," blah, blah, blah, so Percy, Christine and me hung back and walked next to Nico in uncomfortable silence.

"Thanks for coming after us," Percy told him at last.

Nico's eyes narrowed. He didn't seem as angry as he used to—just suspicious, careful. "I owed you for the ranch, Percy. Plus...I wanted to see Daedalus for myself. Minos was right, in a way. Daedalus should die. Nobody should be able to avoid death that long. It's not natural."

"That's what you were after all along," I said. "Trading Daedalus's soul for your sister's."

Nico walked for another fifty yards before answering. "It hasn't been easy, you know. Having only the dead for company. Knowing that I'll never be accepted by the living. Only the dead respect me, and they only do that out of fear."

"You could be accepted," Percy said. "You could have friends at camp."

He stared at him. "Do you really believe that, Percy?"

Percy didn't answer. The truth was, I didn't know, if he did. Nico had always been a little different, but since Bianca's death, he'd gotten almost...scary. His eyes, that intense, manic fire that made you suspect he was either a genius or a madman. And the way he'd banished Minos and called himself the king of ghosts—it was kind of impressive, but it made me uncomfortable too.

Before I could figure out what to tell him, I ran into Rachel, who'd stopped in front of me. We'd come to a crossroads. The tunnel continued straight ahead, but a side tunnel T'd off to the right—a circular shaft carved from volcanic rock.

"What is it?" I asked.

Rachel stared down the dark tunnel. In the dim flashlight beam, her face looked like one of Nico's specters.

"Is it that way?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Rachel said nervously. "Not at all."

"Why are we stopping then?" Percy asked.

"Listen," Nico said.

I heard wind coming down the tunnel, as if the exit were close. And I smelled something vaguely familiar—something that brought back bad memories.

"Eucalyptus trees," I said. "Like in California."

Last winter, when we'd faced Luke and the Titan Atlas on top of Mount Tamalpais, the air had smelled like that.

"There's something evil down that tunnel," Rachel said. "Something very powerful."

"And the smell of death," Nico added, which made me feel a whole lot better.

Annabeth and Percy exchanged glances.

"Luke's entrance," she guessed. "The one to Mount Othrys—the Titans' palace."

"I have to check it out," Percy said.

"Percy, no."

"Luke could be right here," Percy said. "Or...or Kronos. I have to find out what's going on."

Annabeth hesitated. "Then we'll all go."

"No," I said. "It's too dangerous. If they got hold of Nico, or Rachel for that matter, Kronos could use them. We can stay here and guard them." I said while looking at Percy.