𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐢━━Nico di Angelo

60

Leo coughed. "You two know each other? Like Underworld chums, or—"

"Silence, fool." Pasiphaë's voice was soft, but full of venom. "I have no use for you demigod boys—always so full of themselves, so brash and destructive."

Ajax felt a stab to his gut.

"Hey, lady," Leo protested. "I don't destroy things much. I'm a son of Hephaestus."

"A tinkerer," snapped Pasiphaë. "Even worse. I knew Daedalus. His inventions brought me nothing but trouble."

Leo blinked. "Daedalus...like, the Daedalus? Well, then, you should know all about us tinkerers. We're more into fixing, building, occasionally sticking wads of oilcloth in the mouths of rude ladies—"

"Leo." Hazel put her arm across his chest. She had a feeling the sorceress was about to turn him into something unpleasant if he didn't shut up. "Let Ajax take this, okay?"

"Listen to your friend," Pasiphaë said. "Be a good boy and let the women talk."

"I'm not a woman" Ajax spoke with confidence he didn't have. He thought of Nico- I would see you as a guy, even if you had long hair.

He had never been a woman.

"Alright"

Ajax blinked. Was that it?

Gods, he loved being Greek.

Pasiphaë paced in front of them, examining Ajax, her eyes so full of hate it made Ajax's skin tingle. The sorceress's power radiated from her like heat from a furnace. Her expression was unsettling and vaguely familiar....

Somehow, though, the giant Clytius unnerved Ajax more. He was supposed to oppose his mother, of course he hated him.

He stood in the background, silent and motionless except for the dark smoke pouring from his body, pooling around his feet. He was the cold presence Ajax had felt earlier— , powerful and indestructible and completely devoid of emotion.

"Your—your friend doesn't say much," Ajax noted.

Pasiphaë looked back at the giant and sniffed with disdain. "Pray he stays silent, my dear. Gaea has given me the pleasure of dealing with you; but Clytius is my, ah, insurance. Just between you and me, I think he's also here to keep my powers in check, in case I forget my new mistress's orders. Gaea is careful that way."

Ajax straightened his back and tried to look confident. Suddenly the binder he was wearing seemed a little uncomfortable.

"Whatever you're planning," Ajax said, "it won't work. We've cut through every monster Gaea's put in our path. If you're smart, you'll get out of our way."

Gale the polecat gnashed her teeth in approval, but Pasiphaë didn't seem impressed.

"You don't look like much," the sorceress mused. "But then you demigods never do. My husband, Minos, king of Crete? He was a son of Zeus. You would never have known it by looking at him. He was almost as scrawny as that one." She flicked a hand toward Leo.

"Wow," muttered Leo. "Minos must've done something really horrible to deserve you."

Pasiphaë's nostrils flared. "Oh...you have no idea. He was too proud to make the proper sacrifices to Poseidon, so the gods punished me for his arrogance."

"The Minotaur," Ajax winced.

The story was revolting and grotesque. Pasiphaë had been cursed to fall in love with her husband's prize bull. She'd given birth to the Minotaur—half man, half bull.

"Yes," Pasiphaë said at last. "My disgrace was unbearable. After my son was born and locked in the Labyrinth, Minos refused to have anything to do with me. He said I had ruined his reputation! And do you know what happened to Minos, Ajax Avery? For his crimes and his pride?"

"He tried to trick Nico" Ajax recalled what Nico had told him, "He wanted to be brought back to life. He wanted to come back in place of his sister"

Hazel stared at him like even she didn't know this.

Oh.

Ajax stopped talking.

"He failed with that. I suppose that's all he's good at, manipulating people. In any case, he was rewarded. He was made a judge of the dead in the Underworld, as if he had any right to judge others! Hades gave him the position, your father!"

She looked at Hazel with an accusatory gaze.

"Pluto, actually."

Pasiphaë sneered. "Irrelevant. So you see, I hate demigods as much as I hate the gods. Any of your brethren who survive the war, Gaea has promised to me, so that I may watch them die slowly in my new domain. I only wish I had more time to torture you two properly. Alas—"

In the center of the room, the Doors of Death made a pleasant chiming sound. The green UP button on the right side of the frame began to glow. The chains shook.

"There, you see?" Pasiphaë shrugged apologetically. "The Doors are in use. Twelve minutes, and they will open."

Hazel looked petrified. "More giants?"

"Thankfully, no," said the sorceress. "They are all accounted for—back in the mortal world and in place for the final assault." Pasiphaë gave her a cold smile. "No, I would imagine the Doors are being used by someone else...someone unauthorized."

Leo inched forward. Smoke rose from his fists. "Percy and Annabeth."

Ajax couldn't speak. He wasn't sure whether the lump in his throat was from joy or frustration. If their friends had made it to the Doors, if they were really going to show up here in twelve minutes...

"Oh, not to worry." Pasiphaë waved her hand dismissively. "Clytius will handle them. You see, when the chime sounds again, someone on our side needs to push the UP button or the Doors will fail to open and whoever is inside—poof. Gone. Or perhaps Clytius will let them out and deal with them in person. That depends on you three"

Ajax mouth tasted like tin. He didn't want to ask, but he had to. "How exactly does it depend on us?"

"Well, obviously, we need only one set of demigods alive," Pasiphaë said. "The lucky two will be taken to Athens and sacrificed to Gaea at the Feast of Hope. A boy and a girl"

"Obviously," Leo muttered.

"So will it be Hazel and one of you two, or your friends in the elevator?" The sorceress spread her hands. "Let's see who is still alive in twelve...actually, eleven minutes, now."

The cavern dissolved into darkness.