Maze of Memories

The face of fear

"Christine!" I yelled.

Percy did the same, but for Annabeth and he was tackled to the gound.

"Shhh!" an invisible hand clamped over my mouth and wrestled me down behind a big bronze cauldron. "You want to get us killed?"

I found her head and she took of her hair tie. She shimmered into existence in front of me, scowling, her face streaked with ash and grime.

"Orion, what is your problem?"

"We're going to have company!" I explained quickly about the monster orientation class. Her eyes widened.

"So that's what they are," she said. "Telekhines. I should've known. And they're making...Well, look."

We peeked over the cauldron. In the center of the platform stood four sea demons, but these were fully grown, at least eight feet tall. Their black skin glistened in the firelight as they worked, sparks flying as they took turns hammering on a long piece of glowing hot metal.

"The blade is almost complete," one said. "It needs another cooling in blood to fuse the metals."

"Aye," a second said. "It shall be even sharper than before."

"What is that?" I whispered.

Annabeth shook her head. "They keep talking about fusing metals. I wonder—"

"They were talking about the greatest Titan weapon," I said. "And they...they said they made my father's trident."

"The telekhines betrayed the gods," Annabeth said. "They were practicing dark magic. I don't know what, exactly, but Zeus banished them to Tartarus."

"With Kronos."

She nodded. "We have to get out—"

No sooner had she said that than the door to the classroom exploded and young telekhines came pouring out. They stumbled over each other, trying to figure out which way to charge.

"Put your cap back on, and you with your tie," I said. "Get out!"

"What?" Annabeth shrieked. "No! I'm not leaving you two!"

"We got a plan. I'll distract them. You can use the metal spider—maybe it'll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what's going on." Percy said.

"But you'll be killed!" Annabeth shrieked.

"I'll be fine. Besides, we've got no choice." He awnsered.

Annabeth glared at him like she was going to punch him. And then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed him. Me and Christine glanced at each other, and she became red. I grabbed the hair tie and placed it in her hair. She dissepered as she yelped.

"Be careful, Seaweed Brain." She put on her hat and vanished.

Percy probably would've sat there for the rest of the day, staring at the lava and trying to remember what his name was, but the sea demons jarred him back to reality.

"There!" one yelled. The entire class of telekhines charged across the bridge towards us. We ran for the middle of the platform, surprising the four elder sea demons so much they dropped the red-hot blade. It was about six feet long and curved like a crescent moon. I'd seen a lot of terrifying things, but this unfinished whatever-it-was scared me worse.

The elder demons got over their surprise quickly. There were four ramps leading off the platform, and before I could dash in any direction, each of them had covered an exit.

The tallest one snarled. "What do we have here? A son of Poseidon?"

"Yes," another growled. "I can smell the sea in his blood."

"And what is this? A scent I haven't smelled?" another growled back.

Percy raised Riptide. I raised my gold sword. My heart was pounding.

"Strike down one of us, demigods," the third demon said, "and the rest of us shall tear you to shreds. Your father betrayed us. He took our gift and said nothing as we were cast into the pit. We will see him sliced to pieces. He and all the other Olympians."

I wished I had a plan. I wished I hadn't been lying to Annabeth and Christine. I'd wanted her to get out safely, and I hoped she'd been sensible enough to do it. But now it was dawning on me that this might be the place I would die. No prophecies for me. I would get overrun in the heart of a volcano by a pack of dog-faced sea-lion people. The young telekhines were at the platform now, too, snarling and waiting to see how their four elders would deal with me.

Before I could make up my mind, the tallest telekhine said, "Let us see how strong he is. Let us see how long it takes him to burn!"

He scooped some lava out of the nearest furnace. It set his fingers ablaze, but this didn't seem to bother him at all. The other elder telekhines did the same. The first one threw a glop of molten rock at me and set my pants on fire. Two more splattered across my chest. I dropped my sword in sheer terror and swatted at my clothes. Fire was engulfing me. Strangely, it felt only warm at first, but it was getting hotter by the instant.

"Your father's nature protects you," one said. "Makes you hard to burn. But not impossible, youngling. Not impossible." One growled towards Percy.

They threw more lava at us, and I remember screaming. My whole body was on fire. The pain was worse than anything I'd ever felt. I was being consumed. I crumpled to the metal floor and heard the sea demon children howling in delight.

Percy let it loose in one horrible scream. Afterward, I could never describe what happened. An explosion, a tidal wave, a whirlwind of power simultaneously catching me up and blasting me downward into the lava. Fire and water collided, superheated steam, a huge explosion, just one piece of flotsam thrown free by a million pounds of pressure. Before I got killed I remembered something. My ring

The ring I got at start of summer from my mother. I forgot all about it, but now in certen danger, my mothers words rang in my head: This ring grants a power, a tool to navigate the intricacies of your fate. Use it wisely, for the threads of destiny are delicate, and sometimes, veiling oneself is the key to unveiling the truths that lie ahead.

With all my willpower I ordered the ring to get me back in the labyrinth. A crack formed in the moonstone. I was guided in the other directions of the water. I was shoved inside the labyrinth. It was exhausting. The last thing I remembered I saw a pair of shoes. A pair that looked a little familiar, I groggily looked up, my vision var blurred and the person got down on his knees. There I felt a rush of fear. The last thing I saw before passing out was a face. 

The face of Luke Castellan.