Indigo Eyes

Chapter 79

He had two faces. Literally.

They jutted out from either side of his head, staring over his shoulders, so his head was much wider than it should've been, kind of like a hammerhead shark. He was dressed like a New York City doorman: a long black overcoat, shiny shoes and a black top hat that somehow managed to stay on his double-wide head.

"Well, Annabeth?" said his left face. "Hurry up!"

"Don't mind him," said the right face. "He's terribly rude. Right this way, miss."

Annabeth's jaw dropped. "Uh... I don't..."

Tyson frowned. "That funny man has two faces."

"Uh, Books?" Cressida nervously, her hand reaching for her bracelet, but Annabeth was still stunned.

"The funny man has ears, you know!" the left face scolded. "Now come along, miss."

"No, no," the right face said. "This way, miss. Talk to me, please."

The two-faced man regarded Annabeth as best he could out of the corners of his eyes. It was impossible to look at him straight on without focusing on one side or the other. He wanted her to choose between the two exits behind him that were blocked with wooden doors with huge iron locks. The keys to the locks were passed from the left hand to the right hand as they noted that the door behind them, the way they came, had completely disappeared.

"The exits are closed," Annabeth said.

"Duh!" the man's left face said.

"Where do they lead?" she asked.

"One probably leads the way you wish to go," the right face said encouragingly. "The other leads to certain death."

"I – I know who you are," Annabeth said.

"Oh, you're a smart one!" the left face sneered. "But do you know which way to choose? I don't have all day."

"Why are you trying to confuse me?" Annabeth asked.

The right face smiled. "You're in charge now, my dear. All the decisions are on your shoulders. That's what you wanted, isn't it?"

"I –"

"We know you, Annabeth," the left face said. "We know what you wrestle with every day. We know your indecision. You will have to make your choice sooner or later. And the choice may kill you."

"That's it!" Cressida bellowed as she drew her thyrsus, banging the blunt end on the floor as the sound echoed and she stood protectively in front of Annabeth, whose face had drained of colour. "Back off, Janus."

"Oh. Oh. If it isn't the purple demigod," the right face said. "You're smarter than you look."

"I like to read. And if you know who I am, then you know what I'm capable of. So leave my friend alone."

The doors behind him change. Instead of being plain wooden doors, they became ornate marble, etched with carvings.

"Perhaps you would like to choose then?" the right face said. "But where Annabeth's choice was between places..."

"Yours is between people," the left finished.

Her chest rose and fell for a single moment before she cried out as she struck and Janus disappeared from her path. "Show yourself, you two-faced snake!" she spat.

But he reappeared behind her as she flinched away and Percy was the one who held her back.

"Leave them alone!" Percy said as he pushed her behind him. Who are you anyway?" he questioned, the name Janus not ringing any bells.