𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬'𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 • 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘫𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯

The Ghost King

A/n: I'm planning on writing two new books. One where Y/n is a daughter of Hades, and another one which is Percy Jackson x Reader one-shots. Would you guys like that?

Y/n's Pov:

"This way!" Rachel yelled.

"Why should we follow you?" Annabeth demanded. "You led us straight into that death trap!"

"It was the way you needed to go," Rachel said. "And so is this. Come on!"

Annabeth didn't look happy about it, but she ran along with the rest of us. Rachel seemed to know exactly where she was going. She whipped around corners and didn't even hesitate at crossroads. Once, she said, "Duck!" and we all crouched as a giant axe swung over our heads. Then we kept going as if nothing had happened.

I lost track of how many turns we made. We didn't stop to rest until we came to a room the size of a gymnasium, with old marble columns holding up the roof. I stood in the doorway, listening for sounds of pursuit, but I heard nothing. We'd lost Luke and his minions in the maze.

Then I realized something else: Mrs O'Leary was gone. I didn't know when she'd disappeared. I didn't know if she'd got lost or been overrun by monsters or what. My heart turned to lead. She'd saved our lives, and I hadn't even waited to ensure she was following us.

The other demigod with us collapsed on the floor. "You people are crazy."

He pulled off his helmet. His face gleamed with sweat. He suddenly became recognizable.

Ethan Nakamura, a worthy hand-to-hand teammate.

Annabeth gasped. "I remember you! You were one of the undetermined kids in the Hermes cabin, years ago."

He glared at her. "Yeah, and you're Annabeth. I remember."

"You still owe me a re-match, Ethan," I told him.

He looked at me. "Y/n. Long time no see."

Annabeth frowned at him. "What—what happened to your eye?" 

Ethan looked away, and I got the feeling that was one subject he would not discuss.

"You must be the half-blood from my dream," I said. "The one Luke's people cornered. It wasn't Nico after all."

"Who's Nico?"

"Never mind," Grayson said quickly. "Why were you trying to join the no-no side?"

Ethan sneered. "There's no right side. The gods never cared about us. Why shouldn't I—"

"Sign up with an army that makes you fight to the death for entertainment?" Annabeth said. "Gee, I wonder."

Ethan struggled to his feet. "I'm not going to argue with you. Thanks for the help, but I'm out of here."

"We're going after Daedalus," Percy said. "Come with us. Once we get through, you'd be welcome back at camp."

"You really are crazy if you think Daedalus will help you."

"He has to," Annabeth said. "We'll make him listen."

Ethan snorted. "Yeah, well. Good luck with that."

Percy grabbed his arm. "You're just going to head off alone into the maze? That's suicide."

He looked at Percy with barely controlled anger. His eye patch was frayed around the edges and the black cloth was faded like he'd been wearing it a long, long time. "You shouldn't have spared me, Jackson. Mercy has no place in this war."

Then he ran off into the darkness, back the way we'd come.

~

Annabeth, Percy, Rachel, Grayson, and I were so exhausted, that we made camp right there in the huge room. I found some scrap wood, and we started a fire. Shadows danced off the columns rising around us like trees.