Chapter Nineteen: Eddie. I Make A Great Plan, Then We Lose Again

I Make A Great Plan, Then We Lose Again
"What about me?" Natalie asked. "I've been to the temple at Tenochtitlan before - would it work then?"

"Sorry, but shadow travel's generally reserved for us death kids," Nico replied. "And Tara can only travel to places she's already been to..."

An idea sparked in my head. "What about me and Annabeth? Our mom is pretty much the goddess of knowledge - would it work if we shared a bit of Natalie's mind with Tara? So she would remember being there?"

I was answered with silence. "It might work," Cam admitted. "But you might want to send in a prayer to Quetzalcoatl and what's-his-face, the Egyptian knowledge god... Thoth."

"You up for it, Natalie?" I asked. She nodded. "Alright..." Thoth, if you're in there, help me out if you don't mind.

Annabeth and I stood across from Tara and Natalie. No idea what I was doing, I just followed the wisdom instincts I inherited from Minerva and mixed them with Thoth's guidance.

Tara's eyes flashed with images - or was that just my imagination? A great fire... a river... some mix of dog and monkey... "I got it," she said.

"Now let's see if you can use it to get us there," Jason finished.

Tara concentrated on the shadows around us and opened her eyes. Suddenly we were in front of a huge pyramid - probably American, too humid to be Egyptian.

"This is it! We're here!" Natalie exclaimed.

"You're welcome," I said.

"Where are the others, though?" Raymond asked. I looked around. Jason, Reyna, Carter, Zia, Phoenix, Cam, Nico, Annabeth, Chiron, Percy, and Clarisse were gone.

"Must still be at camp," I reasoned. "Tara's shadows could only take the New Level heroes this time. The prophecy Clarisse gave us said that four of us would go into the temple. Looks like it's coming true."

"Or maybe not," Tara said. "Look at the entrance."

I looked at the doorway to Xolotl's temple. In front of it was a woman... no, not a woman. She looked like one at first, but her body was that of a lion.

"The sphinx," Raymond gasped.

"Yeah," I said. "Remember, we go in to kill this time. Raymond, don't answer it's riddle or it'll just escape again."

"Hello again," the sphinx said before another riddle. "If a rooster lays a brown egg and a white egg, what kind of chicks would hatch?"

"Don't answer it," I repeated before setting Vicis Tincidunt Vivamus into battle mode. It was a stupid riddle anyway; all chicks are yellow.

"What, is my riddle too much of a challenge for you?" the sphinx asked.

"No, it's obvious," Raymond blurted. "There wouldn't be any chicks hatching - roosters don't lay eggs."

The sphinx grinned. "Excellent." Then it went back into the ground.

I groaned. "We lost the sphinx again! Raymond, stop answering the riddles!"

Raymond looked guiltily at the ground. "Sorry..."

I sighed. "No choice now but to keep going. If we see the sphinx again, Natalie and I will get rid of it. Raymond, just don't answer the riddle. Tara, make sure he doesn't. Deal?"

The others nodded. Guess there was a reason Megaera called me the Merge strategist.

Without another word, the other New Level heroes followed me into the temple of Xolotl.