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

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“Ah.” Juniper wiped a green tear off her cheek. “About that…”
Another rustle in the woods, and Juniper yelled, “Hide!”
Before I could ask why, she wentpoof into green mist.
Annabeth and I turned. Coming out of the woods was a glistening amber insect, ten feet long, with
jagged pincers, an armored tail, and a stinger as long as my sword.A scorpion. Tied to its back was a
red silk package.
“One of us gets behind it,” Annabeth said, as the thing clattered toward us.“Cuts off its tail while the
other distracts it in front.”
“I’ll take point,” I said. “You’ve got the invisibility hat.”
She nodded. We’d fought together so many times we knew each other’s moves. We could do this,
easy. But it all went wrong when the other two scorpions appeared from the woods.
“Three?”Annabeth said. “That’s not possible! The wholewoods, and half the monsters come at us?”
I swallowed. One, we could take.Two, with a little luck.Three?Doubtful.
The scorpions scurried toward us, whipping their barbed tails like they’d come here just to kill us.
Annabeth and I put our backs against the nearest boulder.
“Climb?” I said.
“No time,” she said.
She was right. The scorpions were already surrounding us. They were so close I could see their hideous
mouths foaming, anticipating an ice juicy meal of demigods.
“Look out!” Annabeth parried away a stinger with the flat of her blade. I stabbed with Riptide, but the
scorpion backed out of range. We clambered sideways along the boulders, but the scorpions followed
us. I slashed at another one, but going on the offensive was too dangerous. If I went for the body, the tail
stabbed downward. If I went for the tail, the thing’s pincers came from either side and tried to grab me.
All we could do wasdefend , and we wouldn’t be able to keep that up for very long.
I took another step sideways, and suddenly there was nothing behind me. It was a crack between two
of the largest boulders, something I’d passed by a million times, but…
“In here,” I said.
Annabeth sliced at a scorpion then looked at me like I was crazy. “In there?It’s too narrow.”
“I’ll cover you. Go!”
She ducked behind me and started squeezing between the two boulders. Then she yelped and grabbed
my armor straps, and suddenly I was tumbling into a pit that hadn’t been there a moment before. I could
see the scorpions above us, the purple evening sky and the trees, and then the hole shut like the lens of a