The Battle of the Labyrinth

freshmen stepped back in shock. I raised my sword.
    At the last second, the empousa turned toward me like a cowering victim. “Oh no, please!” she cried. I couldn’t stop my blade. It was already in motion.
    Just before the celestial bronze hit her, Kelli exploded into flames like a Molotov cocktail. Waves of fire splashed over everything. I’d never seen a monster do that before, but I didn’t have time to wonder about it. I backed into the band room as flames engulfed the doorway.
    “Percy?” Paul Blofis looked completely stunned, staring at me from across the fire. “What have you done?”
    Kids screamed and ran down the hall. The fire alarm wailed. Ceiling sprinklers hissed to life.
    In the chaos, Rachel tugged on my sleeve. “You have to get out of here!”
    She was right. The school was in flames and I’d be held responsible. Mortals couldn’t see through the Mist properly. To them it would look like I’d just attacked a helpless cheerleader in front of a group of witnesses. There was no way I could explain it. I turned from Paul and sprinted for the broken band room window.
    I burst out of the alley onto East 81st and ran straight into Annabeth.
    “Hey, you’re out early!” She laughed, grabbing my shoulders to keep me from tumbling into the street. “Watch where you’re going, Seaweed Brain.”
    For a split second she was in a good mood and everything was fine. She was wearing jeans and an orange camp T-shirt and her clay bead necklace. Her blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her gray eyes sparkled. She looked like she was ready to catch a movie, have a cool afternoon hanging out together.
    Then Rachel Elizabeth Dare, still covered in monster dust, came charging out of the alley, yelling, “Percy, wait up!”
    Annabeth’s smile melted. She stared at Rachel, then at the school. For the first time, she seemed to notice the black smoke and the ringing fire alarms.
    She frowned at me. “What did you do this time? And who is this?”
    “Oh, Rachel—Annabeth. Annabeth—Rachel. Um, she’s a friend. I guess.”
    I wasn’t sure what else to call Rachel. I mean, I barely knew her, but after being in two life-or-death situations together, I couldn’t just call her nobody.
    “Hi,” Rachel said. Then she turned to me. “You are in so much trouble. And you still owe me an explanation!”
    Police sirens wailed on FDR Drive.
    “Percy,” Annabeth said coldly. “We should go.”
    “I want to know more about half-bloods,” Rachel insisted. “And monsters. And this stuff about the gods.” She grabbed my arm, whipped out a permanent marker, and wrote a phone number on my hand. “You’re going to call me and explain, okay? You owe me that. Now get going.”
    “But—”
    “I’ll make up some story,” Rachel said. “I’ll tell them it wasn’t your fault. Just go!”
    She ran back toward the school, leaving Annabeth and me in the street.
    Annabeth stared at me for a second. Then she turned and took off.
    “Hey!” I jogged after her. “There were these two empou sai ,” I tried to explain. “They were cheerleaders, see, and they said camp was going to burn, and—”
    “You told a mortal girl about half-bloods?”
    “She can see through the Mist. She saw the monsters before I did.”
    “So you told her the truth.”
    “She recognized me from Hoover Dam, so—”
    “You’ve met her before ?”
    “Um, last winter. But seriously, I barely know her.”
    “She’s kind of cute.”
    “I—I never thought about it.”
    Annabeth kept walking toward York Avenue.
    “I’ll deal with the school,” I promised, anxious to change the subject. “Honest, it’ll be fine.”
    Annabeth wouldn’t even look at me. “I guess our afternoon is off. We should get you out of here, now that the police will be searching for you.”
    Behind us, smoke billowed up from Goode High School. In the dark column of ashes, I thought I could almost see a face—a she-demon with red eyes, laughing at me.
    Your pretty little camp in flames , Kelli had said. Your friends made slaves to the Lord of Time .
    “You’re right,” I told Annabeth, my heart sinking. “We have to get to Camp Half-Blood. Now .”

TWO

THE UNDERWORLD SENDS ME A PRANK CALL
    Nothing caps off the perfect morning like a long taxi ride with an angry girl.
    I tried to talk to Annabeth, but she was acting like I’d just punched her grandmother. All I managed to get out of her was that she’d had a monster-infested spring in San