Rick Riordan
The Battle of the Labyrinth - 04
The film kept talking about growth spurts and acne problems caused by working in the forges, and
proper flipper hygiene, and finally it was over.
“Now, younglings,” the instructor said, “what is the proper name of our kind?”
“Sea demons!” one of them barked.
“No. Anyone else?”
“Telekhines!” another monster growled.
“Very good,” the instructor said. “And why are we here?”
“Revenge!” several shouted.
“Yes, yes, but why?”
“Zeus is evil!” one monster said. “He cast us into Tartarus just because we used magic!”
“Indeed,” the instructor said. “After we made so many of the gods’ finest weapons. The
trident of Poseidon, for one. And of course—we made the greatest weapon of the Titans!
Nevertheless, Zeus cast us away and relied on those fumbling Cyclopes. That is why we are taking
over the forges of the usurper Hephaestus. And soon we will control the undersea furnaces, our
ancestral home!”
I clutched my pen-sword. These snarling things had created Poseidon’s trident? What were
they talking about? I’d never even heard of a telekhine.
“And so, younglings,” the instructor continued, “who do we serve?”
“Kronos!” they shouted.
“And when you grow to be big telekhines, will you make weapons for the army?”
“Yes!”
“Excellent. Now, we’ve brought in some scraps for you to practice with. Let’s see how
ingenious you are.”
There was a rush of movement and excited voices coming toward the cart. I got ready to
uncap Riptide. The tarp was thrown back. I jumped up, my bronze sword springing to life in my
hands, and found myself facing a bunch of…dogs.
Well, their faces were dogs, anyway, with black snouts, brown eyes, and pointy ears. Their
bodies were sleek and black like sea mammals, with stubby legs that were half flipper, half foot, and
humanlike hands with sharp claws. If you blended together a kid, a Doberman pinscher, and a sea
lion, you’d get something like what I was looking at.
“A demigod!” one snarled.
“Eat it!” yelled another.
But that’s as far as they got before I slashed a wide arc with Riptide and vaporized the entire
front row of monsters.
“Back off!” I yelled at the rest, trying to sound fierce. Behind them stood their instructor—a
six-foot-tall telekhine with Doberman fangs snarling at me. I did my best to stare him down.
“New lesson, class,” I announced. “Most monsters will vaporize when sliced with a celestial
bronze sword. This change is perfectly normal, and will happen to you right now if you don’t BACK
OFF!”
To my surprise, it worked. The monsters backed up, but there were at least twenty of them.
My fear factor wasn’t going to last long.
I jumped out of the cart, yelled, “CLASS DISMISSED!” and ran for the exit.
The monsters charged after me, barking and growling. I hoped they couldn’t run very fast
with those stubby little legs and flippers, but they waddled along pretty well. Thank the gods there
was a door in the tunnel leading out to the main cavern. I slammed it shut and turned the wheel
handle to lock it, but I doubted it would keep them long.
I didn’t know what to do. Annabeth was out here somewhere, invisible. Our chance for a
subtle reconnaissance mission had been blown. I ran toward the platform at the center of the lava
lake.
***
“Annabeth!” I yelled.
“Shhh!” an invisible hand clamped over my mouth and wrestled me down behind a big
bronze cauldron. “You want to get us killed?”
I found her head and took off her Yankees cap. She shimmered into existence in front of me,
scowling, her face streaked with ash and grime. “Percy, what is your problem?”
72