The metal door was half hidden behind a laundry bin full of dirty hotel towels. I didn't see anything strange about it, but then I noticed the faint blue symbol etched in the metal.

"It hasn't been used in a long time," Annabeth said.

"I tried to open it once," Rachel said, "just out of curiosity. It's rusted shut."

"No." Annabeth stepped forward. "It just needs the touch of a half-blood."

Sure enough, as soon as Annabeth put her hand on the mark, it glowed blue. The metal door unsealed and creaked open, revealing a dark staircase leading down.

"Wow." Rachel looked calm, but I couldn't tell if she was pretending or not. She'd changed into a ratty Museum of Modern Art T-shirt and her regular marker-colored jeans, her blue plastic hair brush sticking out of her pocket. Her red hair was tied back, but she still had flecks of gold in it, and traces of the gold glitter on her face. "So. . .after you?"

"You're the guide," Annabeth said with mock politeness. "Lead on."

The stairs led down to a large brick tunnel. It was dark, but I was able to see just fine, probably a Hades blessing. . .As soon as Annabeth and Percy switched on the flashlights, Rachel yelped. I wasn't moving after the sight.

A skeleton was grinning at us. It wasn't human. It was huge, for one thing—at least ten feet tall. It had been strung up, chained by its wrists and ankles so it made a giant X over the tunnel. But what really made me shiver was the single black eye socket in the center of its skull.

"A Cyclops," Annabeth said. "It's very old. It's not. . .Anybody we know."

It wasn't Tyson, she meant. But that didn't make me feel any better. I still felt like it had been there as a warning. Whatever could kill a grown Cyclops, I didn't want to meet.

Rachel swallowed. "You have a friend who's a Cyclops?"

"Tyson," I said. "Our half brother."

"Your half brother?"

I glared at Rachel. "You have a problem with that?"

"No. . ." She murmured. "We better keep moving."

She stepped under the skeleton's left arm and kept walking. Annabeth, Percy and I exchanged looks. Annabeth shrugged. We followed Rachel deeper into the maze.

After fifty feet we came to a crossroads. Ahead, the brick tunnel continued. To the right, the walls were made of ancient marble slabs. To the left, the tunnel was dirt and tree roots.

I pointed at it. "That looks like the tunnel Tyson and Grover took."

Annabeth frowned. "Yeah, but the architecture to the right—those old stones—that's more likely to lead to an ancient part of the maze, toward Daedalus's workshop."

"We need to go straight," Rachel said.

We all looked at her.

"That's the least likely choice," Annabeth said.

"You don't see it?" Rachel asked. "Look at the floor."

I saw nothing except well-worn bricks and mud.

"There's a brightness there," Rachel insisted. "Very faint. But forward is the correct way. To the left, farther down the tunnel, those tree roots are moving like feelers. I don't like that. To the right, there's a trap about twenty feet down. Holes in the walls, maybe for spikes. I don't think we should risk it."

I walked over to the right tunnel and placed my hand on the floor.

"Kiera?" Rachel asked. "Did you not hear me?"

"Shh." I whispered, closing my eyes and concentrating.

As soon as my palm made contact with the stone, a buzz flowed through my body. It was just like when I put my hand on the bronze dragon, I was able to sense anything and everything mechanical under the surface. This part of the maze, was indeed mechanical. There were celestial bronze spikes waiting to shoot up.

I stood up and stepped back to the group. "Its a spiked trap. Like she said, except its made for monsters and demigods."

"How can you know that?" Percy asked.

"Hephaestus." I explained.

We followed Rachel down the brick corridor. It twisted and turned, but there were no more side tunnels. We seemed to be angling down, heading deeper underground. I kept my hand against the wall, feeling for anything mechanical just in case Rachel missed anything.

"No traps?" Percy asked anxiously.

"Nothing." Rachel knit her eyebrows. "Should it be this easy?"

I shrugged. "I don't sense anything either. It was never this easy before."

"So, Rachel," Annabeth said, "where are you from, exactly?"

She said it like, what planet are you from? But Rachel didn't look offended.

Oh gods, these two are going to give me a migraine if they start back up. 

"Brooklyn," she said.

"Aren't your parents going to be worried if you're out late?"

Rachel exhaled. "Not likely. I could be gone a week and they'd never notice."

"Why not?" This time, Annabeth didn't sound as sarcastic. 

Before Rachel could answer, there was a creaking noise in front of us, like huge doors opening. A tingle of recognition sparked through me and I pushed Rachel and Percy behind me.

"Stop." I ordered, keeping my hand on the wall.

"What was that?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know," Rachel said.

"Metal hinges," I mumbled, trying to figure out what else is there. "There are metal doors about. . .forty feet ahead of us. They—" heavy footsteps shook the corridor "—they're open."

"Run?" Percy asked.

"Run!" I shouted.

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. Two dracaenae—snake women in Greek armor—leveled their javelins at our chests. Standing between them was Kelli, the empousa cheerleader.

"Well, well," Kelli said.

Percy uncapped Riptide, Annabeth pulled her knife, and I tore off Nightfall; but before Percy's 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, 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 Percy. "Now march, half-bloods. Or you all die here, starting with the mortal girl."

————————☁︎ ✯  ☾ ✯ ☁︎————————

We were marched down the tunnel flanked by dracaenae, with Kelli and the giant in the 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 swords. 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 women on my left. "You'll be very popular with our hossssst."

I'd never gotten to look at a dracaena  up close before, and I wasn't really thrilled to be given the VIP. 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, like walking with skis.

"Who's your host?" I asked.

She hissed, which might have been a laugh. "Oh, you'll sssssee. You'll get along famousssly. He'sssss your brother after all."

"Our what?" Percy asked.

The giant pushed past us and opened the door. He picked up Annabeth by her shirt and said, "you stay here."

"Hey!" She protested, but the guy was twice her size and he'd already confiscated her knife and Percy's sword. They forced me to put mine away, because they couldn't touch Stygian Iron. They were too afraid of having their essence absorbed into my sword instead of going to Tartarus.

Kelli laughed. She still had her claws at Rachel's neck. "Go on, twins. Entertain us. We'll wait here with your friends to make sure you behave."

Percy looked at Rachel. "I'm sorry. We'll get you out of this."

She nodded as much as she could with a demon at her throat. "That would be nice."

The dracaenae prodded Percy and I toward the doorway at javelin-point, and we walked out onto the floor of an arena.

————————☁︎ ✯  ☾ ✯ ☁︎————————

I guess it wasn't the largest arena I'd ever been in, but it seemed pretty spacious considering the whole place was underground. The dirt floor was circular,  just big  enough that you could drive a car around the rim if you pulled the wheel to the tightest without tire lock. In the center of the arena, a fight was going on between a giant and a centaur. The centaur looked panicked. He was galloping around his enemy, using a sword and shield, while the giant swung a javelin the size of a telephone pole and the crowd cheered.

The first tier of seats was twelve feet above the arena floor. Plain stone benches wrapped all the way around, and every seat was full. There were giants, dracaenae, demigods, telkhines, and stranger things: bat winged demons and creatures that seemed half human and half you name it—bird, reptile, insect, mammal.

But the creepiest things were the skulls. The arena was full of them. The ringed the edge of the railing. Three-foot-high piles of them decorated the steps between the benches. They grinned from pikes at the back of the stands and hung on chains from the ceiling like horrible chandeliers. Some of them looked very old—nothing but bleached-white bone. Others looked a lot fresher. I'm not going to describe them. You don't want me to.

In the middle of all this, proudly displayed on the side of the spectator's wall, was something that made no sense to me—a green banner with the trident of Poseidon in the center. What was that  doing in a horrible place like this?

A wave of death washed over me. Years, centuries of death, misery, and pain clouded my senses. I wanted to grab onto Percy to steady myself, but I couldn't because of the reptilian guard holding me. I suppressed a groan as screams echoed in my ears.

Above the banner, sitting in the seat of honor, was an old enemy.

"Luke," I snarled.

I'm not sure he could hear me over the roar of the crowd, but he smiled coldly. He was wearing camouflage pants, a white T-shirt, and a bronze breastplate, just like Percy described from his dream. But he still wasn't wearing his sword, which was strange to me. Next to him sat the largest giant I'd ever seen, much larger than the one on the floor fighting the centaur. The giant next to look must've been fifteen feet tall, easy, and so wide he took up three seats. he wore only a loincloth, like a sumo wrestler. His skin was dark red and tattooed with blue wave designs. I figured he must be the one who brought the banner of my father.

There was a cry from the arena floor, and I jumped back as the centaur crashed out the dirt beside me.

He met my eyes pleadingly. "Help! Lady Mira, help!"

Mira. . .A chill ran down my spine. Something must have given away what I was to him. His eyes watered and I felt a twinge of guilt. 

The centaur struggled to get  up as the giant approached, his javelin ready.

A talented hand gripped my shoulder. "If you value your friendsss' livesss," the guard dracaena said, "you won't interfere. This isssn't your fight. Wait your turn."

The centaur couldn't get up. One of his legs was broken. The giant put his huge foot on the horseman's chest and raised the javelin. He looked up at Luke. The crowd cheered, "DEATH! DEATH!"

Luke didn't do anything, but the tattooed sumo dude who was sitting next to him rose. He smiled down at the centaur, who was whispering, "Please! No!"

Then the sumo dude held out his hand and gave the thumbs down sign.

I closed my eyes and turned away as the gladiator giant thrust his javelin. When I looked again, the centaur was gone, disintegrated to ashes. All that was left was a single hoof, which the giant took up as a trophy and showed the crowd. They roared their approval.

The feeling I felt earlier only doubled as my eyes wandered the arena. So many monsters, demigods, and maybe even mortals lost their lives for entertainment. It wasn't fair.

A gate opened at the opposite end of the stadium and the giant marched out in triumph.

In the stands, the sumo dude raised his hands for silence.

"Good entertainment!" He bellowed. "But nothing I haven't seen before. What else do you have, Luke, Son of Hermes?"

Luke's jaw tightened. I could tell he didn't like being called son of Hermes. He hated his father. But he rose calmly to his feet.

"Lord Antaeus," Luke said, loud enough for the crowd to hear. "You have been an excellent host! We would be happy to amuse you, to repay the favor of passing through your territory."

"A favor I have not yet granted," Antaeus growled. "I want entertainment!"

Luke bowed. "I believe I have something better than centaurs to fight in your arena now. I have two siblings of yours." He pointed at Percy and I. "Percy Jackson, and Kiera Jackson, son and daughter of Poseidon."

The crowd began jeering at us and throwing stones, which I summoned enough winds to deflect.

Antaeus's eyes lit up. "Children of Poseidon? Then they should fight well! Or die well!"

"That is not all," Luke added. "The girl, she is the last living Moiraio. I was to use her, but you can kill her if you wish."

Antaeus studied me, a hungry gleam in his eyes. I shivered as I thought about what he would do.

"If their deaths please you," Luke said, "will you let our armies cross your territory?"

"Perhaps!" Antaeus said.

Luke didn't look too please about the "perhaps" he glared down at us, as if warning us we better die in a really cool way or we'd be grounded.

"Luke!" Annabeth yelled. "Stop this. Let us go!"

Luke seemed to notice her for the first time. He looked stunned for a moment. "Annabeth?"

"Enough time for the females to fight afterward," Antaeus interrupted. "First, Percy and Kiera Jackson, what weapons will you choose?"

The dracaenae  pushed us into the middle of the arena.

Percy stared up at Antaeus. "How can you be a son of Poseidon?"

Antaeus laughed, and the rest of the crowd laughed too.

"I am his favorite son!" Antaeus boomed. "Behold, my temple to the Earthshaker, built from the skulls of all those I've killed in his name! Your skull shall join them!"

I noticed how he said 'Your'. I stared in anger at the skulls—hundreds of them—and the banner of Poseidon. How could this be a temple for Dad? He was a nice guy. He never asked us for a Father's Day card, let alone somebody's skull.

"Percy! Kiera!" Annabeth yelled to us. "His mother is Gaia! Gai—" 

Her Laistrygonian captor clamped his hand over her mouth. His mother is Gaia. The earth goddess. Something stirred in the back of my head, this guy had a big backstory and ability. If I could figure it out before I died. . .

"You're crazy, Antaeus," I laughed. "If you think this is a good tribute, you know nothing  about Poseidon."

The crowd screamed insults at me, but Antaeus raised his hand for silence.

"Weapons," he insisted. "And then we will see how you die. Will you have axes? Shields? Nets? Flamethrowers?"

"Just our own weapons," Percy shouted.

Laughter erupted from the monsters, but immediately Riptide and Nightfall appeared in our hands, and some of the voices in the crowd turned nervous. Percy's bronze blade flowed with a faint light, while mine drank in the darkness around us.

"Round one!" Antaeus announced. The gates opened, and two dracaena  slithered out. They each had a trident in one hand and a weighted net in the other—classic gladiator style. I'd trained against those weapons at camp for years.

Easy. I grinned as she approached me. Percy split off to his own monster. She jabbed at me. I stepped away. She threw her net at me, but I simply sidestepped and sliced her spear in half and cut her head off. She didn't even get to wail, she just vaporized into nothing, and the cheering of the crowd died. A scream told me Percy killed his.

"No!" Antaeus bellowed. "Too fast! You must wait for the kill. Only I give that order!"

"Nice job, you two." Luke smiled. "You've both gotten better with the sword. I'll grant you that."

"Round two!" Antaeus yelled. "And slower this time! More entertainment! Wait for my call before killing anybody, OR ELSE!"

The gates opened again, and this time two young warriors came out. They were both a little older than Percy and I, about sixteen. One had glossy black hair, and his left eye was covered in an eye patch. He was thin and wiry so his Greek armor hung on him loosely. The other was taller, but about the same size, muscle wise. He had burning brown eyes, but a bit of red like blood spilled on dirt, and his hair was a shade of brown I recognized. His armor fit correctly, though I thought it unfair we didn't get armor.

He strutted to me and got in a battle ready stance. Percy snorted at the fact he got the other, as if saying Tell that guy goodluck, Kie. He'll need it. 

"Who are you?" My attacker said.

I rolled my eyes. "Kiera Jackson. You?"

"Ryan Etch." He said. "Too bad I have to kill you. I would have taken you out on a date."

I grinned. "I would have taken your head onto a spike."

Ryan seemed to notice my interest and cockily smiled at me. Boy was he in for it. Out of my peripheral, Percy was talking to his demigod, as if they were friends. Percy had too much hope someone can return from turning away. I didn't. 

Ryan ran at me and our swords met midair. The crowd roared. He pressed forward. he was pretty good, but not at the level I trained at the day before. I had never seen Ryan or the other guy at Camp Half-Blood, but he had been trained. He parried my strike and tried to slam me with his shield, but I jumped back. He slashed. I rolled to one side. We exchanged thrusts and parries, getting a feel for each other's fighting style. Ryan was mostly attacking, but when he needed to defend he relied on his shield. I was used to training without a shield and relying on dodging, so I'd be able to do both easily. 

He went to hit me with his shield again, but I moved in close—it was a risky move I was working on, but it would be devastating if the hit landed. If I missed and got in too slow, he could stab me—I trapped his arm under my armpit and let my knees hit the floor. Ryan was unbalanced so he had no other option but to drop his shield. He dropped it and I spun around, bringing the unused arm over me so his chest was to my back, and I put all my weight into the swing. Ryan went flying over me and into the dirt.

The crowd cheered as I threw his shield further away from him, and kicked him back to the floor.

"Blood!" One of the monsters cried. 

Ryan glanced up at the stands. That was his weakness. He had to impress them. I didn't.

He spun around, kicking my ankle with his right foot and hopping to his feet. I stumbled back and brought my sword up to block his. He was also relying purely on strength to me. Which meant I had to use his momentum against him.

Ryan brought his sword above his head, and quickly down onto mine. Our swords locked and it was a match of strength.

"Little girl scared?" He taunted.

I smiled at him. "No, just