Mrs. O'Leary whined in the darkness, the sound echoing. She was pressed close to me—or rather, I was lying against her on the wet ground, having finally collapsed from the exertion.
"I'm okay," I assured her, reaching out to touch her fur. The words might have been ruined by the coughing fit that followed, though. Although my wounds had healed, I felt ill, probably as a side effect of creating so much water—and while said water had fixed pretty much everything else it hadn't healed the damage it caused itself. On top of that, I felt dry in a way that no amount of drinking seemed to fix. Maybe if I drank it all but…well, there was a lot of water and it didn't taste great. "It wasn't your fault."
Mrs. O'Leary whined again, the sound one of disagreement and remorse.
I patted her consolingly but honestly didn't have the energy for much more. But there were still things I had to ask.
"Do you know what happened?" I asked. "Do you know where the others are? I just woke up, but…are there others?"
Mrs. O'Leary barked loudly enough to deafen me briefly, a paw scratching at the floor and peeling up massive shavings. It seemed like she was trying to tell me something.
Unfortunately, I didn't speak dog very well.
"Could you take me to any of them?" I asked, rolling slightly to press a cheek into her side. When she went silent and still, I closed my eyes and sighed. "Do you know if…if I'm here, do you think any of the others are alive?"
She whimpered.
"I hope so, too," I said before coughing again. Mrs. O'Leary shifted slightly, nearly bowling me over with a twitch. Her face brushed close, pressing against me in concern, and I opened my eyes quickly when I realized I was falling asleep. "I need water. And…someplace safe. To recover. Do you…?"
She was silent for what seemed like a long, long time before shaking once and rising to her feet. After a moment, she picked me up in her mouth—far more gently than last time, of course—and began running. I felt it when she slid into the shadows again, but I didn't realize I'd blacked out until the shock of water reawakened me.
When I opened my eyes, I was sinking slowly, looking up at Mrs. O'Leary's face as she stared down at me worriedly from above the water. Only a moment after I realized we'd arrived, I felt the sharp edge of exhaustion that I'd been ignoring dull and fade away. Energy flowed into me from the water and I opened my mouth to take a deep breath, filling my lungs with the stuff. Then, once they were full, I began to swallow it instead, quenching my thirst. I didn't leave the water yet, though—or rather, I didn't dare to. By now, all my injuries had healed, but that didn't mean that the exhaustion had simply faded, except perhaps some of the physical side of it. Still, if I was going to do anything about…this, I'd need to recover my strength and think things through.
It was hard. As a demigod—and especially as a son of Poseidon—sitting around doing nothing didn't come easily to me. Though my mind now felt free of the exhaustion that had been weighing it down, that just left it free to worry and race. I wanted to know what had happened. I wanted to know how the battle had gone, who had survived, where I was, how I'd gotten here, and more. I wanted to know what had happened to my mother and father, to the camp, to the people relying on me, to Olympus, to everything. I wanted to find out what had happened to Mrs. O'Leary and I wanted to know if I was alone in this place or if my other friends had come along for the ride, too.
That last one was getting to me especially badly. The situation I'd woken up in hadn't exactly been demigod friendly—odds were good that if I'd tried fighting my way through them, I wouldn't have gotten very far. And those monsters had moved to attack me the moment I'd woken up; if they'd done the same to everyone else…
Well. Not everyone had a handy hellhound to come to their rescue. And even then, my handy hellhound had nearly been the death of me. I could easily imagine some of my friends getting mobbed by monsters, torn apart, and eaten without any idea about what was happening.
I couldn't let that happen. If there was anyone here, if our enemies were still alive and working against us, then I was still their leader. I was the one they'd followed into danger so I had to be the one to get them out of it, whatever it was. And I wouldn't be doing that by staying here with my head in the waves.
But…at the same time, I wasn't going to be helping anyone by just rushing headfirst into an unknown situation, either. I only had a vague idea of how large this place was but I could already tell that just searching randomly wasn't going to get me very far. A sense of urgency was all well and good but rushing off without a plan would get me nowhere. I'd already noticed the similarities between this place and the Labyrinth—and if they truly were similar, I'd just waste time if I didn't think things through carefully.
If my friends were alive and if they were here, then they could be anywhere inside this maze. But—and this was important—I had no way of knowing where. I didn't even know where I was, for crying out loud. My ability to sense water was painting some very weird pictures, however, especially combined with all the things I couldn't sense. Even so, this place had to be enormous. If I was wandering around looking for someone who was wandering around looking for something else in a gigantic maze full of monsters, we had better odds of dying then we did of finding one another, and while I'd happily risk my life for them, I was also aware that actually dying wouldn't help them. I need to think of something more helpful.
At the end of the day, having a bunch of people wandering around a maze was just going to make things difficult—we needed a place that everyone could head towards, at the very least. Preferably a safe place, too, and one they would know to head towards without being told. And if there was somewhere we'd all try to get to in a maze…it was obvious, right?
The exit.
More than that, if I got out of here, I could start looking for answers from that side of things and maybe find some help on the outside. If this was the Labyrinth—or something like it—then finding Rachel or someone else who could guide me was a necessity. I wouldn't be finding anyone in here if I found myself going in circles and falling into traps, after all. If any of the gods had survived the fighting, if anyone at the Camp was still around, or if anyone had woken up before me and managed to escape, then I could get help before diving back in or maybe even a few leads on where to look.
And also…I needed to find out what was happening. If this was all some elaborate hell designed by the Titans or something, then this wouldn't just be a rescue mission and I'd have to prepare myself for that.
I closed my eyes and sighed.
It was a good idea—or at least I thought it was. But it didn't change how it felt. Even if it was the best way to save them, I couldn't keep from wondering if anyone else had woken up at the same time I had. And if they had…had I already failed to protect them? Would I fail more by leaving or delaying? Did I have any choice in the matter?
There was no answer. There was no one to even ask—not anymore.
I placed a hand on Annabeth's dagger and let myself slowly drift off in the shifting waters of the lake. The sooner I recovered, the sooner I could get to work.
XxXXxX
To be honest, I'd rarely ever slept in the water, except for the rare occasion when I'd fall asleep in the bath. It was a little odd to think about it, looking back; I mean, I knew I could if I wanted to. I knew a bunch of people who did on my father's side of things and I was as comfortable in the water as I was anywhere. I guess a part of me had just always worried that I'd somehow end up floating down a river or off to sea or something; I don't know. Besides, I'd probably sleep in unless I got a waterproof alarm clock and then I'd miss class and people would worry—the point being that I hadn't done it much.
But that might have to change because when I woke up after spending the night in the lake, I felt better than I had in a long, long time. I felt refreshed, like I hadn't spent the last year worrying about curses and prophecies and wars; there was none of the deep-seated exhaustion I'd felt before, nor any sign of pain. I was a bit hungry, sure, but that was only because I hadn't eaten in…who knows how long. Awhile.
Opening my eyes, I saw Mrs. O'Leary curled up sleeping on the shoreline and I quickly pushed myself up to the surface. I left the water as easily as walking through a doorway, leaving behind all traces of wetness that would cling to a normal person as I did so, before crouching down beside my canine friend.
"Hey," I said, careful not to touch her in her sleep. After whatever had happened to her, I thought it was a good idea to avoid anything that might trigger a relapse—like sudden contact while she wasn't aware of her surroundings. When one of her eyes rolled open and looked at me, however, I relaxed and smiled. "Sorry to wake you, but I'm all better now. You up for helping me out today?"
Mrs. O'Leary lifted her head to shove her nose into my chest like a battering ram. I let out a sudden puff of air and staggered back a few steps but smiled at her and laughed.
"You sure you don't have any idea what happened, girl?" I asked. "Or any idea where any of the others are?"
She whined again and I sighed, but patted her head softly.
"Don't worry about it," I told her. "We'll figure it out, okay?"
I closed my eyes before glancing around. While I hadn't been particularly worried it, what with the presence of a large body of water and my oversized hellhound, I noticed that there didn't seem to be any monsters around here. If nothing else, it meant that there were safe places to rest within this place, which made me a bit more optimistic for my friend's chances if they were here. It wasn't much, but I'd take everything I could get.
"First things first," I reminded myself. "Do you think you can you get me out of this place, Mrs. O'Leary? To the surface or somewhere close to it?"
Mrs. O'Leary waggled her tail hard enough to accidentally knocked over a tree, panting happily.
"Thanks, girl," I said, smiling. "I need to check a few things out before we do anything else. Try to aim for somewhere out of the way—we'll play things safe for now."
She barked loud enough to make my hair move and lowered her head so I could hop on. When I did, she rose smoothly and began running towards the shadow of a tree, leaving me to hang on tight. The world went black and cold with wind screaming by my ears as Mrs. O'Leary ran though whatever place she used to travel—and then it was over. We appeared in the shadow of a strangely placed stone, with walls that glowed lightly blue. Checking quickly, I confirmed our location relative to the water sources I'd sensed previously.
The good news was that pretty much all of them were below us now. I could sense more water above us, but its quantity and the feel of it made we think more of builds than rivers. If so, it was a fairly tall building but, hey—I'm from New York. I was used to it.
The bad news was that from here, near the surface—because if Mrs. O'Leary said that was where she'd take me, that was where I was—my perception of water extended way, way down into the earth, far enough that some of the things I'd sensed previously were entirely gone. This prison or maze or whatever it was big and looking for help was beginning to seem like a better idea by the moment.
I patted Mrs. O'Leary's shoulders gently as I looked around in slight concern.
"Fall back to somewhere safe, okay?" I asked.
Mrs. O'Leary whined in displeasure at that plan, ears and tail dropping.
"I'll call you the moment I think I'm in danger," I promised. "But there's no way of knowing what's up there and if I run into trouble, I'd rather trouble didn't know I had backup. I'm sorry to work you like this, but in an emergency do you think you can get to me and then to somewhere safe again?"
Mrs. O'Leary panted happily, taking a lick at my face that covered half of it in slobber. I gave her another smile, hugged her once for good luck, and turned away as I took a deep breath. I knew without looking when she sank into the shadows again and left me alone, but knowing I had her on my side was enough. I walked forward into the unknown with confidence, sword and dagger at the ready as I let my senses guide me towards the traces of water above. Keeping my hand on the wall to guide me, I soon came to what seemed like a large, empty hall that sloped gently upwards until it reached a large, circular room. Along the walls were wide spiral stairs that lead up to a circular opening in the ceiling that was at least thirty feet wide and when I climbed them, I found myself in another room with evenly placed columns and a ceiling painted to look like the sky.
Pretty as it was, I didn't let myself relax—because however much Annabeth probably would have like the architecture, that didn't change the fact that it was built on top of a breeding ground for monsters. The simple fact of the matter was that I had no idea what to expect, no way of knowing what might be waiting for me above or who might own this place, so I had to stay on guard. A horde of monsters, a legion of the undead, angry titans, evil demigods, sorceresses waiting to turn innocent demigods into literal guinea pigs—I thought myself prepared for anything when I found the door and slowly opened it.
But what I saw somehow still managed to surprise me.
It looked, more than anything, like an entrance lobby. There were even a number of what looked like help desks positioned around the floor where attendants in uniform were talking to people. There was a wide glass entrance that let in the light and gave me a glimpse of a city outside and the clear blue sky—and more a moment, I had flashbacks to the Empire State Building. Hell, I thought after a moment, maybe that was exactly where I was; it was where I remembered dying, at least. I'd taken the elevator up to Olympus but I'd never wondered about what might be in the basement.
But no, I thought, shaking myself. This place was—surprisingly—too weird to be New York. Mortal New York, at least; I mean, it wasn't uncommon to walk down the street and run into some oddly dressed people in the Big Apple, but I had never run into something like this. Beyond the uniformed people at the counters, everyone in the room was wearing armor and carrying weapons. I saw swords and spears, shields and knives, bows and axes, and more. I saw people with long pointed ears that made me think of a Peter Jackson movie and people with animal tails and all sorts of oddly colored hair.
My first thought at the sight of their armor and weapons was that they were demigods, but they didn't look like any demigods I'd ever seen. It probably said something that it wasn't even the weird features that made me think that but simply how old some of them looked. I saw people that must have been in their twenties, thirties, even forties; far older than any demigods I knew. There was a reason that part of the prophecy had been 'reach sixteen against all odds'; most demigods died young. I'd always kind of wondered what would happen if two demigods had a kid but I'd never met anyone who'd lived long enough to try. There were a few exceptions, of course—people like Daedalus who had things keeping them around—but if there'd been a bunch of forty year old demigods…well, I'd have appreciated their help when I was trying to save the world is all I'm saying.
And looking at them closely, I didn't see much in the way of celestial bronze on them, either, which was the weapon of choice for demigods on the go. The weird hair colors and the other features that seemed to occasionally pop up were almost secondary in comparison, but helped support the idea that I wasn't looking at my fellow demigods. What were they, then? And what were they doing here?
Moving slowly, I half-expected them to notice and turn on me, but despite my fears that they'd suddenly erupt into monstrous forms, no one gave me a second glance. But then, even though I was in armor and carrying weapons, I didn't stand out in this crowd—looking closely, I could even see what looked like normal humans dressed up more oddly then me.
Deciding to use that to my advantage, I looked around quickly, trying to make sense of this and decide my next move. I glanced at the desk workers and the smiling receptionists that were talking to all manner of people and considered it before shaking my head and turning towards the door. Walking with forced confidence—to hide my confusion, if nothing else—I moved across the floor and followed several people outside. A part of me expected some kind of alarm to go off at any minute, alerting everyone to my presence, but nothing happened as I made my way to the door.
As I crossed over the threshold, however, I froze with widened eyes. I looked up at the tower I'd just exited, around at the various buildings, and sent several glances at the people on the streets. I didn't see any cars, but the strangely dressed people were wherever I looked. I saw more of those elf-like people and more people with animal ears, both in and out of armor. I saw a city that didn't look anything like the ones I was familiar with, tall stone walls in the distance, and a stone tower built up to the sky. In the windows of stores, I saw pictures of monsters and the gleam of weapons and weirder things besides.
"This…" I began before stopping, words failing me. "Where on Earth am I?"