Destiny Calls (A Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

23: Mazes suck. Labyrinths suck even more

I ran across the narrow hallways of the labyrinth, with only my quick instincts keeping me alive. Dodging a swinging ax that came rushing down towards me, I continued to sprint forward, with no other way to go.

Styx, why was I so stupid?

I thought I could survive the Labyrinth by myself, with no guide to bring me through. I grunted in pain as I was pushed to one side of the hallway as the hallways grew narrower and evaporated into pure thought, zooming ahead. I continued to rush forward, and since I wouldn't be affected by the poison darts that just zoomed through me, I continued on full speed. Holding on to my breath, I darted through a cloud of white smoke, coughing as dots appeared in my vision when I left the smoke.

And then I heard a sound. It sounded like sneakers hitting the ground, ones that were light and fast like they were Nike Airs, and running, and soon I heard panting along with it. Heavy, high-pitched pants, notifying me that it was a girl, but it couldn't be Alice. Alice Blades may be a killer, but she wasn't stupid enough to run headfirst into the labyrinth, even if there was Pasiphaë on their side.

Shifting into the form of a wolf, my ears pricked as they picked up the sound of the running girl's foot steps, and my nose sniffed the air. It was a slight smell of perfume, ones that some girls in my school used to wear. To be exact, it was definitely the smell of the Saint Patrick's day special, Lucky Clovers, which did not spell like clovers at all, it smelt like mint. I began to pace towards the smell before I froze.

"Where is she? Where is she? God why am I in such a mess?" I heard the girl's voice mutter. Shifting into pure thought again, my mind seized with panic. Lucky Clovers perfume, Nike Air sneakers? 

Oh gods.

Emily.

I shifted back into human form and yelled, "Emily!" Emily's familiar blonde hair appeared around the corner, and her lime green eyes met my silver ones.

"Thea!" she smiled. "I found you!"

"What in Hades are you doing here?" I hissed, herding her towards the 'corner', "you will DIE in here! It's the Labyrinth for gods' sake!"

"Its a what?"

"The Labyrinth! Maybe the thing that made everyone turn crazy? A maze that will GROW ON IT'S ON?" I looked down and saw her holding a whip. A bronze whip, with a familiar spiral symbol on it's leather grip. "And where in Olympus did you find that?"

She glanced at me in surprise. "This?" She asked, holding up the whip.

"Yes!" I answered, exasperated. "This is Tom's whip!"

"Well that's weird." she frowned. "I found this near an opening that smelt like eucalyptus."

Where she was dawned on me. "Oh gods." I muttered. "Wait, how did you get here? How did you open the door to the Labyrinth?"

Emily was soon her perky self again. "Oh that! I saw this boy wearing all dark clothes with a big black dog and they were being followed by the cops because the boy was holding this creepy silvery black sword. I helped him out by, you know, the rich parents card and they let him go. He thanked me and said if he got repay me anyhow so I told him that I wanted to enter the Labyrinth. He tried to talk me out of it but I wasn't taking no for an answer so he just said 'well this wasn't my fault' and turned us into shadows and we appeared in the basement somewhere and he opened the door and let me through." She rambled around.

"Nico." I grumbled. "The boy was Nico di Angelo, son of Hades, and the dog was Mrs O'leary, my brother's dog. Well, hellhound. And we've got to get to San Francisco, and unfortunately, the nearest Labyrinth exit is Mount Tam."