FREE FALLING | percy jackson

viii. into the maze

HANA LEUNG

Greek myths were legendary, that much was obvious. The fact that they were created a thousand years ago and they were still relevant in the modern day world was nothing short of incredible. Though, since Hana came to the realization that all of those myths were true, the horrors of the stories felt so much more real. If she were going to live in a world full of monsters and tragedy, she was going to be remembered for it. She wasn't going to live through hell just for the fun of it, she decided. She was going to go down in history.

This was why she quickly accepted Annabeth's offer to join her on her quest. Sure it was dangerous and she might die, but she wasn't going to be remembered if she just stayed at camp. Those stories she grew up listening to were about the brave and courageous heroes, not the timid ones.

After the council, Hana immediately headed towards the Aphrodite cabin. She, Annabeth, Percy, Grover and Tyson were supposed to leave at dawn.

Hana wasn't sure why she suddenly wanted to be remembered. Maybe it was just her way of coming up with an excuse as to why she made possibly the most irrational decision of her life. Percy just told her about how Bianca Di Angelo died on a quest and then the next day Hana goes and decides to be a part of a dangerous quest. What was she thinking?

The Aphrodite cabin was empty when Hana arrived. Everyone must've been doing the camp activities, she figured. She made her way over to her bunk bed and she pulled a container out from under her bed. Alongside all of the clothes that the girls had bought the first day Hana arrived, Lillian insisted that they needed to buy a few necessities. Thankfully, she considered a backpack a necessity, something Hana was confused about at first, but now she was grateful she had something to pack. She never would have thought she needed to have a backpack for a quest so early on.

Hana placed her backpack on her bed and she walked over to her drawers. When she was deciding what to pack, Hana went for function over fashion. She doubted the Labyrinth was where she was going to meet Bella Hadid and get scouted as a fashion designer for the runways. That was just an assumption though, she would never know where she'd end up in the Labyrinth.

She packed a couple orange camp t-shirts and multiple jean shorts. She didn't think she would have time to change into her pajamas to sleep in so Hana didn't even bother trying to pack those. The least she could pack, the better.

Hana wished any of her siblings were with her. Maybe they could've given her some advice on how to come back alive. Even what to pack. The whole thing was new to her—hell, the godly world was still new to her. Now she was expected to know what to do to prepare?

If they were there, Hana also wouldn't be forced to be alone with her thoughts. The weight of her decision felt like it kept getting heavier and heavier with each shirt she put into the bag. She repeated the prophecy over and over again in her head. It didn't feel complete but Hana had nothing to compare it to. Most of the lines seemed to rhyme. Maze and raise, hand and stand, breath and—blank. Something had to be missing, and judging by Annabeth's reaction, it wasn't good. She racked her brain with possible answers; breath and meth—Hana felt pretty confident that was not it, unless they were dealing with Daedalus the drug dealer. The only other word she could come up with wasn't good, but it fit. Death. Gods, Hana hoped that wasn't it, but she wasn't sure what else it could be.

Hana bit her lip, death could mean a whole lot of things too. Maybe death was for the traitor?

Then, she grabbed whatever maps Annabeth had given her. She had to stop thinking about the prophecy, she was only going to freak herself out more and she'd be no help if she was scared shitless the entire time. The maps led from nowhere to nowhere but it was all she had to navigate the maze. They had to mean something, right? They couldn't be completely useless, could they?