Before the Barrier

Chapter One

            “Thalia!” She screamed. “Help!”

            Annabeth. I thought, freezing. “Oh gods, kid . . . I’m coming!” I cried, running towards the young girl’s voice.

            Then, in the other direction, a deeper voice, one I knew well. “Thalia!” No . . . It had Luke too.

          I was torn. Which direction to run? Save the little seven year old or my best friend? I couldn’t save them both . . . but no . . . I had to. I couldn’t think like that.

           “Thalia!” Luke. But this time his voice came from the same direction that Annabeth’s had. That decided it.

            “I’m coming!” I screamed, and sprinted towards the voice.

        The mansion was like a maze. It had walls of stone, dark, with small torches barely illuminating the hallways enough to see. I kept finding dead ends,  or a hallway coming to a split where I had to decide which side to take. I kept hearing my friends’ screams, and that egged me on. For all I knew, the beast could be roasting them right now.

          I ran hard, sweat breaking out above my brow, and tears began blurring my vision. I had to save them.

            I had to.

            Annabeth’s scream. Closer this time. The poor girl must be scared out of her wits. But . . . no. Even though she’s undoubtedly terrified, little Annabeth would never let her fear control her. Even at her age. She was smart. Quite the little strategist. I couldn’t wait to get to know her once we were safe. Grover said we were close. To safety. After being on the run for so long, constantly under the threat of monsters, well, safety sounded better than Olympus itself.

         “Please!” Annabeth cried . . . from the other side of the wall to my left. If only I could find an opening . . . a door. Anything. I pressed my hand to the wall and kept running, fingers trailing on the moist, cold stone walls. As I searched for a way in, I heard something. Something heavy being shoved across the floor, screeching as it went.

           Suddenly my hand on the wall found open air—an entrance into the heart of the maze, where Annabeth and Luke were. Frantically, I ran through the opening and found myself in a cavernous room, half the size of a football field. The walls were lined with torches unlike the dim hallways, and I could see clearly around the rectangular room. Shadows were thrown across the walls, flickering malevolently, adding to the overall ominous feeling.

            Annabeth and Luke were nowhere to be seen.

       Dead center of the room, there was a cauldron (which explained the sound of something scraping against the floor) above a roaring fire.

         But what made me stop dead in my tracks was the monster tending the fire. It was huge. Easily ten feet tall. It was humming a tune as it put logs in the fire, stoking it. The beast was so close to the fire that every time it put in another log, its hands would go into the fire. But, after dropping the log into the flames and pulling away, its hands remained unscathed. Its back was to me, so I scoped the area for a place to hide for a better look. Annabeth and Luke had to be in here. I heard their screams from this room. I was positive.

           But now I needed a place to hide. I scanned my surroundings. There were some barrels on the other side of the room, but to get to them, I’d have to run right into the monster’s vision. I needed something I could sneak to. My gaze fell to the pile of firewood right beside the monster. It was too close . . . and yet perfect.

          I had to be absolutely silent. I considered activating Aeigus, my shield, but the metal sliding into place would surely attract the creature’s attention. So, unarmed and entirely vulnerable, I darted across the room, hoping I was silent, and not at all regretting my wardrobe choice of all black.

         I was right behind the monster, probably three yards behind it. The wood pile was to the left and a few steps forward. I took a shaky breath and exhaled slowly. I had to do this. If it meant saving my friends? Well; that was a cause I was prepared to die for.

       With that thought in mind, I ran to the wood pile right as the beast stoked the flames, his attention undivided, not at all considering that a daughter of Zeus might be plotting his death at this moment from behind the logs.

      I crouched behind his firewood, and carefully peered over the top, just to see what type of monster I was facing. Its arms and legs were thick, and it wore nothing but a loin cloth. Its skin had a sickly gray tint from staying in darkness, and, though the roaring flames were making me sweat even behind the wood, it did even appear to have a drop of perspiration on it. But what startled me the most about this monster wasn’t its great hands, or its muscles, or even its rotting loin cloth. What startled me the most was its single, giant eye in the middle of its forehead.

       I caught my breath, hoping he didn’t hear my gasp. A cyclopes. That’s why the fire didn’t burn him. There was no way I could defeat a grown cyclopes on my own. But I had to try.

       I heard Annabeth scream. “Thalia!! Luke!!” I flinched as I heard the desperation in her voice, and looked around frantically, trying to find her. It had sounded like she had shouting from right in front of me.

       Right where the cyclopes was sitting.

      I knew I was right. But where was she? The cyclopes wasn’t holding her, as both of its hands were in the fire. Certainly the cyclopes had her trapped, he could be sitting on her, or—

       “Thalia!” The cyclopes screamed, in an exact imitation of Luke’s voice. “Help!”

     I froze. It was the cyclopes. The cyclopes was the one screaming, not my friends. It was mimicking voices, making me think I had heard my friend, luring me into his trap. That’s what this was. I had just walked into his trap.

         My fists clenched, and, on instinct, I activated Aeigus and my spear, not caring in the slightest if I got noticed. I jumped from my hiding spot and shouted, “Hey! You big idiot! I’m over here!” Not the best insult, I admit, but I was pressed for time. I clashed my two bronze magic items together, getting a nice, loud, annoying but effective clang that echoed in the large room.

        The cyclopes turned towards me faster than I thought possible. It lunged for me, but I was fast, leaping to the side and plunging my spear into its meaty arm. It roared in outrage. But I knew that my best weapon, my celestial bronze spear, was merely a splinter to this thick skinned beast. I yanked my spear from its skin and ran to the other side of the cauldron, so that we were across from each other, with the huge fire and heavy cauldron between us.

       Then, the cyclopes plunged forward, knocking the cauldron over, dousing me in boiling water. I felt myself start to scream, and that’s when the cauldron hit me, and everything went black.