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

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“Run,” Rachel agreed.
We turned and fled the way we’d come, but we didn’t make it twenty feet before we ran straight into
some old friends. Twodracaenae —snake women in Greek armor—leveled their javelins at our chests.
Standing between them was Kelli, theempousa cheerleader.
“Well, well,” Kelli said.
I uncapped Riptide, and Annabeth pulled her knife; but before my sword was even out of pen form,
Kelli pounced on Rachel. Her hand turned into a claw and she spun Rachel around, holding her tight with
her talons at Rachel’s neck.
“Taking your little mortal pet for a walk?” Kelli asked me. “They’re such fragile things.So easy to
break!”
Behind us, the footsteps came closer. A huge form appeared out of the gloom—an eight-foot-tall
Laistrygonian giant with red eyes and fangs.
The giant licked his lips when he saw us. “Can I eat them?”
“No,” Kelli said. “Your master will want these. They will provide a great deal of entertainment.” She
smiled at me. “Now march, half-bloods. Or you all die here, starting with the mortal girl.”
***
It was pretty much my worst nightmare. And believeme, I’ve had plenty of nightmares. We were
marched down the tunnel, flanked bydracaenae , with Kelli and the giant in back, just in case we tried to
run for it. Nobody seemed to worry about us running forward. That was the direction they wanted us to
go.
Up ahead I could see bronze doors. They were about ten feet tall, emblazoned with a pair of crossed
swords. From behind them came a muffled roar, like from a crowd.
“Oh,yessssss ,” said the snake woman on my left. “You’ll be very popular with ourhossssst .”
I’d never gotten to look at adracaena up close before, and I wasn’t real thrilled to have the opportunity.
She would’ve had a beautiful face, except her tongue was forked and her eyes were yellow with black
slits for pupils. She wore bronze armor that stopped at her waist. Below that, where her legs should’ve
been, were two massive snake trunks, mottled bronze and green. She moved by a combination of
slithering and walking, as if she were on living skis.
“Who’s your host?” I asked.
She hissed, which might have been a laugh. “Oh, you’llsssssee . You’ll get alongfuriousssly .He’ssssyour
brother, after all.”
“My what?”Immediately I thought of Tyson, but that was impossible. What was she talking about?
The giant pushed past us and opened the doors. He picked up Annabeth by her shirt and said, “You
stay here.”