A Dark Cloud Over the Future Ch 3

Chapter 3: Entering the Labyrinth
“Hey, you’re Annabell, right?!” Rachel said enthusiastically. “You were with Percy when the band room caught on fire. Where’s Percy?”

“Annabeth,” she said annoyed. “That’s what we’re here to talk you about.”

“And a few other things,” Thalia added.

“Great, there is this great coffee shop a block from here. Follow me,” and within a second, she spun around and started walking down the street as a trail of gold dust lead the way for Thalia and Annabeth. It wasn’t long before they arrived at Java Moose. Rachel ordered an espresso supreme, with Thalia and Annabeth ordering fruit smoothies.

“So you two are half-bloods?” Rachel asked after taking a sip of her drink. Thalia nearly choked on her smoothie and Annabeth placed her finger to her mouth and made a quiet sound.

“Tell it to the whole world how about,” Annabeth yelled in a whispered tone.

“OK,” she said before standing on her chair. “Hey everyone, these two are half Greek god!”

No one even turned around and Rachel sat down in her seat. “They don’t seem to care.”

Annabeth seemed about ready to burst until Thalia broke out into laughter.

“That’s New York for you,” Thalia said. “No wonder Percy was able to accept everything so well.”

“So where is he?” Rachel asked, but wished she hadn’t after watching the smiles fade from their faces. “Is he hurt or something?”

“He’s gone,” Thalia said, knowing Annabeth couldn’t handle saying it out load to someone she barely knew. “But we need your help.”

“You need my help?” Rachel said a bit surprised, then turned to Annabeth who was playing with her drink.

“Ya, maybe,” Annabeth scowled. Accepting help from a mortal was hard; it wasn’t only gods that saw regular humans as being inferior. Annabeth then began to explain all the different traps set up in the labyrinth and all the ways it had tried to fool them. Thalia who had never been inside the labyrinth was starting to get worried about it just from the way Annabeth was describing it. Annabeth then explained how Theseus navigated the maze with the help of a clear sighted mortal.

“So you want me to guide you through the labyrinth?” Rachel asked looking at the two. “A giant maze that is under most of America, a maze that is filled with traps meant to kill us, and there is an army of monsters walking through the maze that we could walk into at any time?”

“That pretty much sums it up,” joked Thalia as Rachel’s description pretty much hit the nail on the head. Rachel looked blankly for a few minutes before saying…

“OK, this is actually the best offer I’ve had all summer. So how do we get inside?”

Annabeth explained how the entrance worked and Rachel knew where one was, in the basement of the Marriot. As they entered the maze and passed an old Cyclops skeleton strung up to scare anyone following the path. Thalia wasn’t doing so well underground as she was the daughter of the sky god and being underground wasn’t her element. Rachel managed to navigate through the tunnels pointing out traps as they went. Annabeth kept talking about how all the old tunnels should lead to Daedalus, but Rachel kept talking about all the traps. They went down a tunnel and all of a sudden, Annabeth and Rachel heard the sound of metal hinges.

“Uh oh,” Thalia said. The two up front turned around and saw that her foot had sunk about 6 inches into the floor. She had activated a trap and the three were forced to run as a huge bolder could be heard rolling down the hall toward them.

“Run?” Annabeth asked

“Run,” was Rachel’s only reply as the three turned around and started running. “There’s a tunnel on the left up ahead, we just have to get to it.”

The large boulder could be seen now as Thalia turned around to see it. The three sprinted as fast as they could and turned the corner. The bolder rolled past down the hall but Annabeth bumped into something and fell over.

“What do we have here, demigods and a puny mortal girl,” came the snake like voice of an empousi. Before they could even react, two giants grabbed Thalia and Annabeth and the empousi reached around Rachel’s neck. They carried them back down the hall and before long the sound of a roaring crowd could be heard in the distance. They were forced past two large doors and entered a large room that looked like a basketball arena. All of a sudden, a large man rose from his seat in the front row of the stands and leaped into the ring.

“Welcome monsters and mortals alike,” he yelled to the cheering crowd. “Welcome to Antaeus’ Arena! Today we have a rare treat. Master Luke has offered to supply us with entertainment!”

“In exchange for safe passage,” Luke added, not wanting to be cheated out of his deal.

“Only if you supply sufficient entertainment,” he said back to Luke. Thalia and Annabeth looked at looks form. He seemed different somehow but neither could figure out what it was. The three were forced to watch as several monsters were made to fight each other including a fight between a giant and a centaur. However, Antaeus was not pleased as he just applauded weakly to the show. Luke noticed this and finally unveiled his ace in the whole.

“How would you like to see how a daughter of Zeus fairs in your arena?” Luke asked. It was then that Thalia realized that Luke had just put her on display to fight to the death.

“Interesting,” was all Antaeus said as he called the giant over and it tossed her into the ring. He snapped his finger and an empousi appeared from the other side. It held a net and lance, classic weapons that Thalia could easily beat. As it charged toward her, Thalia’s silver bow appeared in her hand and before the monster could react, a silver arrow sailed into its’ head and it was gone, turned to dust. The crowd complained about the fast fight and Antaeus was becoming angry at the turn of the crowd. Many monsters wanted to see the daughter of the god Zeus die in the worst way possible. That gave him an idea and a smile crossed his face. “Open Gate 11!”

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive  20:44, July 12, 2011 (UTC)