The Battle of the Labyrinth

They don’t have mortal souls.”
    “We have to get into town,” Annabeth decided. “Our chances will be better of finding an entrance to the Labyrinth. We have to make it back to camp before Luke and his army.”
    “We could just take a plane,” Rachel said.
    I shuddered. “I don’t fly.”
    “But you just did.”
    “That was low flying,” I said, “and even that’s risky. Flying up really high—that’s Zeus’s territory. I can’t do it. Besides, we don’t even have time for a flight. The Labyrinth is the quickest way back.”
    I didn’t want to say it, but I was also hoping that maybe, just maybe, we would find Grover and Tyson along the way.
    “So we need a car to take us into the city,” Annabeth said.
    Rachel looked down into the parking lot. She grimaced, as if she were about to do something she regretted. “I’ll take care of it.”
    “How?” Annabeth asked.
    “Just trust me.”
    Annabeth looked uneasy, but she nodded. “Okay, I’m going to buy a prism in the gift shop, try to make a rainbow, and send an Iris-message to camp.”
    “I’ll go with you,” Nico said. “I’m hungry.”
    “I’ll stick with Rachel, then,” I said. “Meet you guys in the parking lot.”
    Rachel frowned like she didn’t want me with her. That made me feel kind of bad, but I followed her down to the parking lot anyway.
    She headed toward a big black car parked at the edge of the lot. It was a chauffeured Lexus, like the kind I always saw driving around Manhattan. The driver was out front, reading a newspaper. He wore a dark suit and tie.
    “What are you going to do?” I asked Rachel.
    “Just wait here,” she said miserably. “Please.”
    Rachel marched straight up to the driver and talked to him. He frowned. Rachel said something else. He turned pale and hastily folded up his magazine. He nodded and fumbled for his cell phone. After a brief call, he opened the back door of the car for Rachel to get in. She pointed back in my direction, and the driver bobbed his head some more, like Yes, ma’am. Whatever you want.
    I couldn’t figure out why he was acting so flustered.
    Rachel came back to get me just as Nico and Annabeth appeared from the gift shop.
    “I talked to Chiron,” Annabeth said. “They’re doing their best to prepare for battle, but he still wants us back. They’re going to need every hero they can get. Did we find a ride?”
    “The driver’s ready when we are,” Rachel said.
    The chauffeur was now talking to another guy in khakis and a polo shirt, probably his client who’d rented the car. The client was complaining, but I could hear the driver saying, “I’m sorry, sir. Emergency. I’ve ordered another car for you.”
    “Come on,” Rachel said. She led us to the car and got in without even looking at the flustered guy who’d rented it. A minute later we were cruising down the road. The seats were leather. There was plenty of legroom. The backseat had flat-panel TVs built into the headrests and a mini-fridge stocked with bottled water, sodas, and snacks. We started pigging out.
    “Where to, Miss Dare?” the driver asked.
    “I’m not sure yet, Robert,” she said. “We just need to drive through town and, uh, look around.”
    “Whatever you say, miss.”
    I looked at Rachel. “Do you know this guy?”
    “No.”
    “But he dropped everything to help you. Why?”
    “Just keep your eyes peeled,” she said. “Help me look.”
    Which didn’t exactly answer my question.
    We drove through Colorado Springs for about half an hour and saw nothing that Rachel considered a possible Labyrinth entrance. I was very aware of Rachel’s shoulder pressing against mine. I kept wondering who she was exactly, and how she could walk up to some random chauffeur and immediately get a ride.
    After about an hour we decided to head north toward Denver, thinking that maybe a bigger city would be more likely to have a Labyrinth entrance, but we were all getting nervous. We were losing time.
    Then, right as we were leaving Colorado Springs, Rachel sat bolt upright. “Get off the highway!”
    The driver glanced back. “Miss?”
    “I saw something, I think. Get off here.”
    The driver swerved across traffic and took the exit.
    “What did you see?” I asked, because we were pretty much out of the city now. There wasn’t anything around except hills, grassland, and some scattered farm buildings. Rachel had the driver turn down this unpromising dirt road. We drove by a sign too fast