THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH Percy Jackson ... - No one's invited.

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“And that bothered you.”
“Yes!” Tyson’s voice wavered. “Briares should be strong! He is older and greater than Cyclopes. But
he ran away.”
Hephaestus grunted. “There was a time I admired the Hundred-Handed Ones.Back in the days of the
first war. But people, monsters, even gods change, young Cyclops. You can’t trust ’em. Look at my
loving mother, Hera. You met her, didn’t you? She’ll smile to your face and talk about how important
family is, eh?Didn’t stop her from pitching me off Mount Olympus when she saw my ugly face.”
“But I thought Zeus did that to you,” I said.
Hephaestus cleared his throat and spat into a bronze spittoon. He snapped his fingers, and the robotic
falcon flew back to the worktable.
“Mother likes telling that version of the story,” he grumbled. “Makes her seem more likeable, doesn’t it?
Blaming it all on my dad. The truth is, my mother likes families, but she likes a certain kind of family.
Perfectfamilies. She took one look at me and…well, I don’t fit the image, do I?”
He pulled a feather from the falcon’s back, and the whole automaton fell apart.
“Believe me, young Cyclops,” Hephaestus said, “you can’t trust others. All you can trust is the work of
your own hands.”
It seemed like a pretty lonely way to live. Plus, I didn’t exactly trust the work of Hephaestus. One time
in Denver, his mechanical spiders had almost killed Annabeth and me. And last year, it had been a
defectiveTalos statue that cost Bianca her life—another one of Hephaestus’s little projects.
He focused on me and narrowed his eyes, as if he were reading my thoughts. “Oh, this one doesn’t like
me,” he mused. “No worries, I’m used to that. What would you ask of me, little demigod?”
“We told you,” I said. “We need to find Daedalus. There’s this guy, Luke, and he’s working for
Kronos. He’s trying to find a way to navigate the Labyrinth so he can invade our camp. If we don’t get
to Daedalus first—”
“And I toldyou , boy. Looking for Daedalus is a waste of time. He won’t help you.”
“Why not?”
Hephaestus shrugged. “Some of us get thrown off mountainsides. Some of us…the way we learn not to
trust people is more painful. Ask me for gold.Or a flaming sword.Or a magical steed. These I can grant
you easily.But a way to Daedalus? That’s an expensive favor.”
“You know where he is, then,” Annabeth pressed.
“It isn’t wise to go looking, girl.”
“My mother says looking is the nature of wisdom.”
Hephaestus narrowed his eyes. “Who’s your mother, then?”