The Adventure That Lies Ahead | PJO x HP

CHAPTER 61

Chiron had insisted they talk about it in the morning, which was kind of like, Hey, your life's in mortal danger. Sleep tight! It was hard to fall asleep, but when Isa finally did, she dreamed of a prison.

Isa saw a boy in a Greek tunic and sandals crouching alone in a massive stone room. The ceiling was open to the night sky, but the walls were seven meters high and polished marble, completely smooth. Scattered around the room were wooden crates. Some were cracked and tipped over as if they'd been flung in there. Bronze tools spilled out of one⎼a compass, a saw, and a bunch of other things Isa didn't recognize.

The boy was huddled in the corner, shivering from cold, or maybe fear. He was spattered in mud. His legs, arms, and face were scraped up as if he'd been dragged here along with the boxes.

Then the double oak doors moaned opened. Two guards in bronze armor marched in, holding an old man between them. They flung him to the floor in a battered heap.

"Father!" The boy ran to him. The man's robes were in tatters. His hair was streaked with grey, and his beard was long and curly. His nose had been broken. His lips were bloody.

The boy took the old man's head in his arms. "What did they do to you?" Then he yelled at the guards, "I'll kill you!"

"There will be no killing today," a voice said.

The guards moved aside. Behind them stood a tall man in white robes. He wore a thin circlet of gold on his head. His beard was pointed like a spear blade. His eyes glittered cruelly. "You helped the Athenian kill my Minotaur, Daedalus. You turned my own daughter against me."

"You did that yourself, Your Majesty," the old man croaked. A guard planted a kick in the old man's ribs. He groaned in agony.

The young boy cried, "Stop it!"

"You love your maze so much," the king said, "I have decided to let you stay here. This will be your workshop. Make me new wonders. Amuse me. Every maze needs a monster. You shall be mine!"

"I don't fear you," the old man groaned.

The king smiled coldly. He locked his eyes on the boy. "But a man cares about his son, eh? Displease me, old man, and the next time my guards inflict punishment, it will be on him!"

The king swept out of the room with his guards, and the doors slammed shut, leaving the boy and his father alone in the darkness.

"What will we do?" the boy moaned. "Father, they will kill you!"

The old man swallowed with difficulty. He tried to smile, but it was a gruesome sight with his bloody mouth.

"Take heart, my son." He gazed up at the stars. "I-I will find a way."

A bar lowered across the doors with a fatal BOOM, and Isa woke in a cold sweat.

From the looks the two siblings gave each other, they knew they had the same dream... again. Isa was still feeling shaky the next morning when Chiron called a war council. They met in the sword arena, which Percy thought was pretty strange⎼trying to discuss the fate of the camp while Mrs. O'Leary chewed on a life-size squeaky pink rubber yak.

Chiron and Quintus stood at the front by the weapon racks. Clarisse, Annabeth, and Isa sat next to each other and led the briefing. Tyson and Grover sat as far away from each other as possible. Also present around the table: Juniper the tree nymph, Silena Beauregard, Travis, and Connor Stoll, Beckendorf, Lee Fletcher, even Argus, their hundred-eyed security chief. That's how Percy knew it was serious. Argus hardly ever shows up unless something really major is going on. The whole time Annabeth spoke, he kept his hundred blue eyes trained on her so hard, his whole body turned bloodshot.