THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH Percy Jackson ... - No one's invited.
THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH Percy Jackson ... - No one's invited.
THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH Percy Jackson ... - No one's invited.
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Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html<br />
I wish I could’ve put the mechanical spider on a leash. It scuttled along the tunnels so fast, most of time I<br />
couldn’t even see it. If it hadn’t been for Tyson’s and Grover’s excellent hearing, we never would’ve<br />
known which way it was going.<br />
We ran down a marble tunnel, then dashed to the left and almost fell into an abyss. Tyson grabbed me<br />
and hauled me back before I could fall. The tunnel continued in front of us, but there was no floor for<br />
about a hundred feet, just gaping darkness and a series of iron rungs in the ceiling. The mechanical spider<br />
was about halfway across, swinging from bar to bar by shooting out metal web fiber.<br />
“Monkey bars,” Annabeth said. “I’m great at these.”<br />
She leaped onto the first rung and started swinging her way across. She was scared of tiny spiders, but<br />
not of plummeting to her death from a set of monkey bars. Go figure.<br />
Annabeth got to the opposite side and ran after the spider. I followed. When I got across, I looked back<br />
and saw Tyson giving Grover a piggyback ride (or was it agoatyback ride?).the big guy made it across in<br />
three swings, which was a good thing since, just as he landed, the last iron bar ripped free under his<br />
weight.<br />
We kept moving and passed a skeleton crumpled in the tunnel. Itwork the remains of a dress shirt,<br />
slacks, and a tie. The spider didn’t slow down. I slipped on a pile of wood scraps, but when I shined a<br />
light on them I realized they were pencils—hundreds of them, all broken in half.<br />
The tunnel opened up onto a large room. A blazing light hit us. Once my eyesadjusted, the first thing I<br />
noticed were the skeletons. Dozens littered the floor around us. Some were old and bleached white.<br />
Others were more recent and a lot grosser. They didn’t smell quite as bad asGeryon’s stables, but<br />
almost.<br />
Then I saw the monster. She stood on a glittery dais on the opposite side of the room. She had the body<br />
of a huge lion and the head of a woman. She would’ve been pretty, but her hair was tied back in a tight<br />
bun and she wore too much makeup, so she kind of reminded me of my third-grade choir teacher. She<br />
had a blue ribbon badge pinned to her chest that took me a moment to read: THIS MONSTER HAS<br />
BEEN RATED EXEMPLARY!<br />
Tyson whimpered.“Sphinx.”<br />
I knew exactly why he was scared. When he was small, Tyson had been attacked by a Sphinx’s paws<br />
and disappeared.<br />
Annabeth started forward, but the Sphinx roared, showing fangs in her otherwise human face. Bars<br />
came down on both tunnel exits, behind us and in front.<br />
Immediately the monster’s snarl turned into a brilliant smile.<br />
“Welcome, lucky contestants!” she announced. “Get ready to play…ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!”<br />
Canned applause blasted from the ceiling, as if there were invisible loudspeakers. Spotlights swept<br />
across the room and reflected off the dais, throwing disco glitter over the skeletons on the floor.<br />
“Fabulous prizes!” the Sphinx said. “Pass the test, and you get to advance!Fail, and I get to eat you!