Indigo Eyes

Chapter 97

It had been a morning - if it even was morning.

Cressida had woken to an earthquake before Rachel led them in a sprint. Annabeth was protesting the whole time saying that the workshop should be in the oldest section of the maze and this section was a stainless-steel hallway with fluorescent lights that blinded them.

But then she saw the metal double doors. And inscribed in the steel at eye level was a large blue Greek Δ.

"We're here," Rachel announced. "Daedalus's workshop."

"You guys ready?" Percy asked.

"Books, you should do the honours," Cressida said and Annabeth took a deep breath before she pressed the symbol on the doors, and they hissed open.

"So much for ancient architecture," Percy remarked as Annabeth scowled at him, and Cressida smacked the back of his head.

"You know sometimes your timing is so far off I'm surprised you know what a clock is," she remarked, and Percy glared at her. And together they walked inside.

For a dungeon inside an underground maze, there was a lot of daylight. And after spending gods knows how long in darkness, it took a second to adjust.

The workshop was like an artist's studio, with ten-metre ceilings and industrial lighting, polished stone floors and workbenches. A spiral staircase led up to a second-storey loft. Half a dozen easels displayed hand-drawn diagrams of buildings and machines that looked like Leonardo da Vinci sketches. Several laptop computers were scattered around on the tables. And they didn't even want to try making sense of the many inventions both completed and not that were scattered on every available surface.

"Di immortales," Annabeth muttered. She ran to the nearest easel and looked at the sketch. "He's a genius. Look at the curves on this building!"

"And an artist," Rachel said in amazement. "These wings are amazing!"

"I'm so out of my element here," Cressida muttered as they wandered around, stopping by a window. She could see the Rocky Mountains in the distance and they were at least a hundred and fifty metres up with a valley spread before them, filled with a tumbled collection of red mesas and boulders and spires of stone. "It's beautiful," she said as she felt a presence behind her.

"Breathtaking."

She huffed a laugh as she pushed Percy's face away from where he was staring at her and not the view. "Don't do that."

"Try and stop me."

"I will stop you, my brothers will stop you, my father will -"

"Ok, I will stop you. Where are we?" Percy interjected.

"Colorado Springs," a voice said behind us. "The Garden of the Gods." Standing on the spiral staircase above us, with his weapon drawn, was their missing sword master, Quintus.

"You," Annabeth said. "What have you done with Daedalus?"

Quintus smiled faintly. "Trust me, my dear. You don't want to meet him."

"Look, Mr Traitor," she growled, "I didn't fight a dragon woman and a three-bodied man and a psychotic Sphinx to see you. Now where is DAEDALUS?"

Quintus came down the stairs, holding his sword at his side. He was dressed in jeans and boots and his counsellor's T-shirt from Camp HalfBlood, which seemed like an insult now that they knew he was a spy.

"You think I'm an agent of Kronos," he said. "That I work for Luke."

"Well, duh," said Annabeth.

"You're an intelligent girl," he said. "But you're wrong. I work only for myself."

"Luke mentioned you," Percy said, not noticing the analytical look Cressida was giving Quintus as if she was trying to put something together. "Geryon knew about you, too. You've been to his ranch."

"Of course," he said. "I've been almost everywhere. Even here." He walked past Percy and Cressida and stood by the window. "The view changes from day to day," he mused. "It's always some place high up. Yesterday it was from a skyscraper overlooking Manhattan. The day before that, there was a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. But it keeps coming back to the Garden of the Gods. I think the Labyrinth likes it here. A fitting name, I suppose."

"You've been here before," Percy said.

"Oh, yes."

"That's an illusion out there?" Percy continued. "A projection or something?"

"No," Rachel murmured. "It's real. We're really in Colorado."

Quintus regarded her. "You have clear vision, don't you? You remind me of another mortal girl I once knew. Another princess who came to grief."

"My stepmother. Ariadne," Cressida spoke and the sword master nodded in confirmation.

"Enough games," Percy said. "What have you done with Daedalus?"

But Quintus didn't stare at him. Rather, his eyes were on Cressida. "Have you figured it out yet, my dear?"

And all eyes fell to her as she held Quintus' gaze. "You haven't done anything with Daedalus," she announced. "Because you are Daedalus."