The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians 4)

“But I thought Zeus did that to you,” I said.

Hephaestus cleared his throat and spat into a bronze spittoon. He snapped his fingers, and the robotic falcon flew back to the worktable.

“Mother likes telling that version of the story,” he grumbled. “Makes her seem more likeable, doesn’t it? Blaming it all on my dad. The truth is, my mother likes families, but she likes a certain kind of family. Perfect families. She took one look at me and…well, I don’t fit the image, do I?”

He pulled a feather from the falcon’s back, and the whole automaton fell apart.

“Believe me, young Cyclops,” Hephaestus said, “you can’t trust others. All you can trust is the work of your own hands.”

It seemed like a pretty lonely way to live. Plus, I didn’t exactly trust the work of Hephaestus. One time in Denver, his mechanical spiders had almost killed Annabeth and me. And last year, it had been a defective Talos statue that cost Bianca her life—another one of Hephaestus’s little projects.

He focused on me and narrowed his eyes, as if he were reading my thoughts. “Oh, this one doesn’t like me,” he mused. “No worries, I’m used to that. What would you ask of me, little demigod?”

“We told you,” I said. “We need to find Daedalus. There’s this guy, Luke, and he’s working for Kronos. He’s trying to find a way to navigate the Labyrinth so he can invade our camp. If we don’t get to Daedalus first—”

“And I told you, boy. Looking for Daedalus is a waste of time. He won’t help you.”

“Why not?”

Hephaestus shrugged. “Some of us get thrown off mountainsides. Some of us…the way we learn not to trust people is more painful. Ask me for gold. Or a flaming sword. Or a magical steed. These I can grant you easily. But a way to Daedalus? That’s an expensive favor.”

“You know where he is, then,” Annabeth pressed.

“It isn’t wise to go looking, girl.”

“My mother says looking is the nature of wisdom.”

Hephaestus narrowed his eyes. “Who’s your mother, then?”

“Athena.”

“Figures.” He sighed. “Fine goddess, Athena. A shame she pledged never to marry. All right, half-blood. I can tell you what you want to know. But there is a price. I need a favor done.

“Name it,” Annabeth said.

Hephaestus actually laughed—a booming sound like a huge bellows stoking a fire. “You heroes,” he said, “always making rash promises. How refreshing!”

He pressed a button on his workbench, and metal shutters opened along the wall. It was either a huge window or a big-screen TV, I couldn’t tell which. We were looking at a gray mountain ringed in forests. It must’ve been a volcano, because smoke rose from its crest.

“One of my forges,” Hephaestus said. “I have many, but that used to be my favorite.”

“That’s Mount St. Helens,” Grover said. “Great forests around there.”

“You’ve been there?” I asked.

“Looking for…you know, Pan.”

“Wait,” Annabeth said, looking at Hephaestus. “You said it used to be your favorite. What happened?”

Hephaestus scratched his smoldering beard. “Well, that’s where the monster Typhon is trapped, you know. Used to be under Mount Etna, but when we moved to America, his force got pinned under Mount St. Helens instead. Great source of fire, but a bit dangerous. There’s always a chance he will escape. Lots of eruptions these days, smoldering all the time. He’s restless with the Titan rebellion.”

“What do you want us to do?” I said, “Fight him?”

Hephaestus snorted. “That would be suicide. The gods themselves ran from Typhon when he was free. No, pray you never have to see him, much less fight him. But lately I have sensed intruders in my mountain. Someone or something is using my forges. When I go there, it is empty, but I can tell it is being used. They sense me coming, and they disappear. I send my automatons to investigate, but they do not return. Something…ancient is there. Evil. I want to know who dates invade my territory, and if they mean to loose Typhon.”

“You want us to find out who it is,” I said.

“Aye,” Hephaestus said. “Go there. They may not sense you coming. You are not gods.”

“Glad you noticed,” I muttered.

“Go and find out what you can,” Hephaestus said. “Report back to me, and I will tell you what you need to know about Daedalus.”

“All right,” Annabeth said. “How do we get there?”

Hephaestus clapped his hands. The spider came swinging down from the rafters. Annabeth flinched when it landed at her feet.

“My creation will show you the way,” Hephaestus said. “It is not far through the Labyrinth. And try to stay alive, will you? Humans are much more fragile than automatons.”

***

We were doing okay until we hit the tree roots. The spider raced along and we were keeping up, but then we spotted a tunnel off to the side that was dug from raw earth, and wrapped in thick roots. Grover stopped dead in his tracks.

“What is it?” I said.

He didn’t move. He stared openmouthed into the dark tunnel. His curly hair rustled in the breeze.

“Come on!” Annabeth said. “We have to keep moving.”

“This is the way,” Grover muttered in awe. “This is it.”

“What way?” I asked. “You mean…to Pan?”

Grover looked at Tyson. “Don’t you smell it?”

“Dirt,” Tyson said. “And plants.”

“Yes! This is the way. I’m sure of it!”

Up ahead, the spider was getting farther down the stone corridor. A few more seconds and we’d lose it.

“Well come back,” Annabeth promised. “On our way back to Hephaestus.”

“The tunnel will be gone by then,” Grover said. “I have to follow it. A door like this won’t stay open!”

“But we can’t,” Annabeth said. “The forges!”

Grover looked at her sadly. “I have to, Annabeth. Don’t you understand?”

She looked desperate, like she didn’t understand at all. The spider was almost out of sight. But I thought about my conversation with Grover last night, and I knew what we had to do.

“We’ll split up,” I said.

“No!” Annabeth said. “That’s way too dangerous. How will we ever find each other again? And Grover can’t go alone.”

Tyson put his hand on Grover’s shoulder. “I—I will go with him.”

I couldn’t believe I was hearing this. “Tyson, are you sure?”

The big guy nodded. “Goat boy needs help. We will find the god person. I am not like Hephaestus. I trust friends.”

Grover took a deep breath. “Percy, we’ll find each other again. We’ve still got the empathy link. I just…have to.”

I didn’t blame him. This was his life’s goal. If he didn’t find Pan on this journey, the council would never give him another chance.

“I hope you’re right,” I said.

“I know I am.” I’d never heard him sound so confident about anything, except maybe that cheese enchiladas were better than chicken enchiladas.

“Be careful,” I told him. Then I looked at Tyson. He gulped back a sob and gave me a hug that just about squeezed my eyes out of their sockets. Then he and Grover disappeared through the tunnel of tree roots and were lost in the darkness.

“This is bad,” Annabeth said. “Splitting up is a really, really bad idea.”

“We’ll see them again,” I said, trying to sound confident. “Now come on. The spider is getting away!”

***

It wasn’t long before the tunnel started to get hot.

The stone walls glowed. The air felt as if we were walking through an oven. The tunnel sloped down and I could hear a loud roar, like a river of metal. The spider skittered along, with Annabeth right behind.

“Hey, wait up,” I called to her.

She glanced back at me. “Yeah?”

“Something Hephaestus said back there…about Athena.”

“She swore never to marry,” Annabeth said. “Like Artemis and Hestia. She’s one of the maiden goddesses.”

I blinked. I’d never heard that about Athena before. “But then—”

“How come she has demigod children?”

I nodded. I was probably blushing, but hopefully it was so hot anyway that Annabeth didn’t notice.

“Percy, you know how Athena was born?”

“She sprung from the head of Zeus in full battle armor or something.”

“Exactly. She wasn’t born in the normal way. She was literally born from thoughts. Her children are born the same way. When Athena falls in love with a mortal man, it’s purely intellectual, the way she loved Odysseus in the old stories. It’s a meeting of minds. She would tell you that’s the purest kind of love.”

“So your dad and Athena…so you weren’t…”

“I was a brain child,” Annabeth said. “Literally. Children of Athena are sprung from the divine thoughts of our mother and the mortal ingenuity of our father. We are supposed to be a gift, a blessing from Athena on the men she favors.”

“But—”

“Percy, the spider’s getting away. Do you really want me to explain the exact details of how I was born?”

“Um…no. That’s okay.”

She smirked. “I thought not.” And she ran ahead. I followed, but I wasn’t sure I would ever look at Annabeth the same way again. I decided some things were better left as mysteries.

The roaring got louder. After another half mile or so, we emerged in a cavern the size of a Super Bowl stadium. Our spider escort stopped and curled into a ball. We had arrived at the forge of Hephaestus.

There was no floor, just bubbling lava hundreds of feet below. We stood on a rock ridge that circled the cavern. A network of metal bridges spanned across it. At the center was a huge platform with all sorts of machines, cauldrons, forges, and the largest anvil I’d ever seen—a block of iron the size of a house. Creatures moved around the platform—several strange, dark shapes, but they were too far away to make out details.

Annabeth picked up the metal spider and slipped it into her pocket. “I can. Wait here.”

“Hold it!” I said, but before I could argue, she put on her Yankees cap and turned invisible.

I didn’t dare call after her, but I didn’t like the idea of her approaching the forge on her own. If those things out there could sense a god coming, would Annabeth be safe?

I looked back at the Labyrinth tunnel. I missed Grover and Tyson already. Finally I decided I couldn’t stay put. I crept along the outer rim of the lava lake, hoping I could get a better angle to see what was happening in the middle.

The heat was horrible. Geryon’s ranch had been a winter wonderland compared to this. In no time I was drenched with sweat. My eyes stung from the smoke. I moved along, trying to keep away from the edge, until I found my way blocked by a cart on metal wheels, like the kind they sue in mine shafts. I lifted up the tarp and found it was half full of scrap metal. I was about to squeeze my way around it when I heard voices from up ahead, probably from a side tunnel.