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

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“You must be the half-blood from my dream,” I said. “The one Luke’s people cornered. It wasn’t Nico
after all.”
“Who’s Nico?”
“Never mind,” Annabeth said quickly. “Why were you trying to join up with the wrong side?”
Ethan sneered. “There’s no right side. The gods never cared about us. Why shouldn’t I—”
“Sign up with an army that makes you fight to the death for entertainment?” Annabeth said. “Gee, I
wonder.”
Ethan struggled to his feet. “I’m not going to argue with you. Thanks for the help, but I’m out of here.”
“We’re going after Daedalus,” I said. “Come with us. Once we get through, you’d be welcome back at
camp.”
“You reallyare crazy if you think Daedalus will help you.”
“He has to,” Annabeth said. “We’ll make him listen.”
Ethan snorted. “Yeah, well. Good luck with that.”
I grabbed his arm. “You’re just going to head off alone into the maze? That’s suicide.”
He looked at me with barely controlled anger. His eye patch was frayed around the edges and the black
cloth was faded, like he’d been wearing it a long, long time. “You shouldn’t have spared me, Jackson.
Mercy has no place in this war.”
Then he ran off into the darkness, back the way we’d come.
***
Annabeth, Rachel, and I were so exhausted we made camp right there in the huge room. I found some
scrap wood and we started a fire. Shadows danced off the columns rising around us like trees.
“Something was wrong with Luke,” Annabeth muttered, poking at the fire with her knife. “Did you
notice the way he was acting?”
“He looked pretty pleased to me,” I said.“Like he’d spent a nice day torturing heroes.”
“That’s not true! There was something wrong with him. He looked…nervous. He told his monsters to
spare me. He wanted to tell me something.”
“Probably,‘Hi, Annabeth!Sit here with me and watch while I tear your friends apart. It’ll be fun!’”
“You’re impossible,” Annabeth grumbled. She sheathed her dagger and looked at Rachel.“So which
way now, Sacagawea?”
Rachel didn’t respond right away. She’d become quieter since the arena. Now, whenever Annabeth