¹Royal Cries, p. jackson

011.

ROYAL CRIES
━━ chapter eleven

━━ ELISA WAS ALREADY out of the arena by the time Rachel yelled, "This way!"

"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!"

The daughter of Athena didn't look happy about it, but she kept running after the redhead. 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 they all crouched as a huge axe swung over their heads. Then the five kept going as if nothing had happened.

Elisa had lost track of how many turns they had made. They didn't stop to rest until they came to a room the size of a gymnasium with old marble columns holding up the roof. The brunette listened anxiously with a racing heart for any sound of a trailing army, but there was no sound of roaring anger. Somewhere along the way, they had lost Luke and his minions in the maze.

She slammed her back against the walls of the maze, sliding down until her knees came into contact with her chest. Elisa took a couple of deep breaths, feeling like her lungs were starting to collapse in on themselves.

Ethan collapsed on the floor after Elisa. "You people are crazy." He pulled off his helmet. His face gleamed with sweat.

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

He glared at her. "Yeah, and you're Annabeth. I remember." Ethan turned a cold eye to Elisa, who was sitting opposite the corridor from him. "And you."

Elisa gritted her teeth, racking her mind for the thing to say that would make Ethan the angriest. "What happened to your eye, huh?"

The boy looked away, and Elisa got what she wanted; the topic of Ethan's eyes was one he did not want to discuss.

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

"Who's Nico?"

"He's none of your business," snapped Elisa.

Annabeth gave the brunette a warning look. She said quickly to Ethan, "Why were you trying to join up with the wrong 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 countered coldly. "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 suddenly. "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, looking at Elisa. "I expected something like that from them. But you, I thought you'd be smarter than that."

Elisa's face was formidable. "No one ever said you were smart."