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─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
loud sobs echoed throughout the walls of the labyrinth, spilling from the lips of the girl who had clearly held them in for too long.
maddie buried her head in her hands, slumping against a wall to control her breathing. across from her, annabeth was shaking, her head between her knees. maddie wanted to go over, to offer her comfort, but she knew what annabeth was crying about, and knew it was best to give her space, at least for the time being.
she coughed, glancing at the others. percy and nico were slumped next to each other, sweat gleaming from their foreheads as they panted. percy was scarily white in the face, his ocean eyes trailed to the floor. he had taken quite a nasty hit back at the fortress.
rachel wasn't looking any better, her red curls framing her sweaty face in a messy halo as she sat, hugging her chest and heaving heavily.
"that . . . sucked," nico said.
"you saved our lives," percy said, looking at him.
nico wiped the dust off his face. "blame the girls for dragging me along. that's the only thing they could agree on. we needed to help you guys or you'd mess things up. or maddie would end up injured again or something."
maddie huffed. "funny."
"nice that they trusted me so much," percy said bitterly. "nico . . . you, uh, kind of gave yourself away."
"what do you mean?"
"that wall of black stone? that was pretty impressive. if kronos didn't know who you were before, he does now—a child of the underworld."
the son of hades frowned. "big deal."
annabeth lifted her head from her knees, and maddie's stomach lurched when she saw her face—eyes rimmed with red, the grey that had been so bright now dull and faded. "what . . . what was wrong with luke? what did they do to him?"
"luke's gone, annabeth," maddie said. "he's using himself, his body, as the puppet for kronos. when ethan pledged himself to the army, he kind of just . . . awoke."
annabeth stared at her, lips parted. she shook her head. "no. that can't be true. he couldn't—"
"maddie's right, annabeth," percy said. "he gave himself over to kronos. i'm sorry . . . but luke's gone."
"no!" she insisted. "you saw when rachel hit him."
maddie glanced at the redhead, still curled up in the corner.
"you hit the lord of the titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."
rachel flushed. "yeah, it was the only thing i had."
"i'd say that rivals your fight with ares, perce," maddie said, her face serious.
"but you saw," annabeth insisted. "when it hit him, for a second, he was dazed. he came back to his senses."
