koko

The Battle of the Labyrinth
Book Four of Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Rick Riordan

ONE
I BATTLE THE
CHEERLEADING SQUAD
The last thing I wanted to do on my summer break was blow up another
school. But there I was Monday morning, the first week of June, sitting in
my mom’s car in front of Goode High School on East 81st.
Goode was this big brownstone building overlooking the East River. A
bunch of BMWs and Lincoln Town Cars were parked out front. Staring up
at the fancy stone archway, I wondered how long it would take me to get
kicked out of this place.
“Just relax.” My mom didn’t sound relaxed. “It’s only an orientation tour.
And remember, dear, this is Paul’s school. So try not to…you know.”
“Destroy it?”
“Yes.”
Paul Blofis, my mom’s boyfriend, was standing out front, greeting future
ninth graders as they came up the steps. With his salt-and-pepper hair, denim
clothes, and leather jacket, he reminded me of a TV actor, but he was just an
English teacher. He’d managed to convince Goode High School to accept
me for ninth grade, despite the fact that I’d gotten kicked out of every school
I’d ever attended. I’d tried to warn him it wasn’t a good idea, but he
wouldn’t listen.
I looked at my mom. “You haven’t told him the truth about me, have you?
She tapped her fingers nervously on the wheel. She was dressed up for a
job interview-her best blue dress and high-heeled shoes.
“I thought we should wait,” she admitted.
“So we don’t scare him away.”
“I’m sure orientation will be fine, Percy, It’s only one morning.”
“Great,” I mumbled. “I can get expelled before I start the school year.”
“Think positive. Tomorrow you’re off to camp! After orientation, you’ve
got your date-”
“It’s not a date!” I protested. “It’s just Annabeth, Mom. Jeez!”
“She’s coming all the way from camp to meet you.”
“Well, yeah.”

“You’re going to the movies.”
“Yeah.”
“Just the two of you.”
“Mom!”
She held up her hands in surrender, but I could tell she was trying hard not
to smile. “You’d better get inside, dear. I’ll see you tonight.”
I was about to get out of the car when I looked over the steps of the school.
Paul Blofis was greeting a girl with frizzy red hair. She wore a maroon Tshirt
and ratty jeans decorated with marker drawings. When she turned, I
caught a glimpse of her face, and the hairs on my arms stood straight up.
“Percy?” my mom asked. “What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing,” I stammered. “Does the school have a side entrance?”
“Down the block on the right. Why?”
“I’ll see you later.”
My mom started to say something, but I got out of the car and ran, hoping
the redheaded girl wouldn’t see me.
What was she doing here? Not even my luck could be this bad.
Yeah, right. I was about to find out my luck could get a lot worse.
* * *
Sneaking into orientation didn’t work out too well. Two cheerleaders in
purple-and-white uniforms were standing at the side entrance, waiting to
ambush freshmen.
“Hi!” They smiled, which I figured was the first and last time any
cheerleaders would be that friendly to me. One was blond with icy blue eyes.
The other was African American with dark curly hair like Medusa’s (and
believe me, I know what I’m talking about). Both girls had their names
stitched in cursive on their uniforms, but with my dyslexia, the words looked
like meaningless spaghetti.
“Welcome to Goode,” the blond girl said. “You are so going to love it.”
But as she looked me up and down, her expression said something more
like, Eww, who is this loser?
The other girl stepped uncomfortably close to me. I studied the stitching
on her uniform and made out Kelli. She smelled like roses and something
else I recognized from riding lessons at camp-the scent of freshly washed
horses. It was a weird smell for a cheerleader. Maybe she owned a horse or
something. Anyway, she stood so close I got the feeling she was going to try
to push me down the steps. “What’s your name, fish?”

“Fish?”
“Freshman.”
“Uh, Percy.”
The girls exchanged looks.
“Oh, Percy Jackson,” the blond one said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”
That sent a major Uh-oh chill down my back. They were blocking the
entrance, smiling in a not-very-friendly way. My hand crept instinctively
toward my pocket, where I kept my lethal ballpoint pen, Riptide.
Then another voice came from inside the building. “Percy?” It was Paul
Blofis, somewhere down the hallway. I’d never been so glad to hear his
voice.
The cheerleaders backed off. I was so anxious to get past them I
accidentally kneed Kelli in the thigh.
Clang.
Her leg made a hollow, metallic sound, like I’d just hit a flagpole.
“Ow,” she muttered. “Watch it, fish.”
I glanced down, but her leg looked like a regular old leg. I was too
freaked out to ask questions. I dashed into the hall, the cheerleaders laughing
behind me.
“There you are!” Paul told me. “Welcome to Goode!”
“Hey, Paul-uh, Mr. Blofis.” I glanced back, but the weird cheerleaders
had disappeared.
“Percy, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Yeah, uh-”
Paul clapped me on the back. “Listen, I know you’re nervous, but don’t
worry. We get a lot of kids here with ADHD and dyslexia. The teachers
know how to help.”
I almost wanted to laugh. If only ADHD and dyslexia were my biggest
worries. I mean, I knew Paul was trying to help, but if I told him the truth
about me, he’d either think I was crazy or he’d run away screaming. Those
cheerleaders, for instance. I had a bad feeling about them….
Then I looked down the hall, and I remembered I had another problem.
The redheaded girl I’d seen on the front steps was just coming in the main
entrance.
Don’t notice me, I prayed.
She noticed me. Her eyes widened.
“Where’s the orientation?” I asked Paul.
“The gym. That way. But-”

“Bye.”
“Percy?” he called, but I was already running.
* * *
I thought I’d lost her.
A bunch of kids were heading for the gym, and soon I was just one of
three hundred fourteen-year-olds all crammed into the bleachers. A
marching band played an out-of-tune fight song that sounded like somebody
hitting a bag of cats with a metal baseball bat. Older kids, probably student
council members, stood up front modeling the Goode school uniform and
looking all, Hey, we’re cool. Teachers milled around, smiling and shaking
hands with students. The walls of the gym were plastered with big purple-
and-white banners that said WELCOME FUTURE FRESHMEN, GOODE
IS GOOD, WE’RE ALL FAMILY, and a bunch of other happy slogans that
pretty much made me want to throw up.
None of the other freshmen looked thrilled to be here, either. I mean,
coming to orientation in June, when school doesn’t even start until
September, is not cool. But at Goode, “We prepare to excel early!” At least
that’s what the brochure said.
The marching band stopped playing. A guy in a pinstripe suit came to the
microphone and started talking, but the sound echoed around the gym so I
had no idea what he was saying. He might’ve been gargling.
Someone grabbed my shoulder,” What are you doing here?”
It was her: my redheaded nightmare.
“Rachel Elizabeth Dare,” I said.
Her jaw dropped like she couldn’t believe I had the nerve to remember
her name. “And you’re Percy somebody. I didn’t get your full name last
December when you tried to kill me.”
“Look, I wasn’t-I didn’t-What are you doing here?”
“Same as you, I guess. Orientation.”
“You live in New York?”
“What, you thought I lived at the Hoover Dam?”
It had never occurred to me. Whenever I thought about her (and I’m not
saying I thought about her; she just like crossed my mind from time to time,
okay?), I always figured she lived in the Hoover Dam area, since that’s
where I’d met her. We’d spent maybe ten minutes together, during which
time I’d accidentally swung a sword at her, she’d saved my life, and I’d run

away chased by a band of supernatural killing machines. You know, your
typical chance meeting.
Some guy behind us whispered, “Hey, shut up. The cheerleaders are
talking!”
“Hi, guys!” a girl bubbled into the microphone. It was the blonde I’d seen
at the entrance. “My name is Tammi, and this is like, Kelli.” Kelli did a
cartwheel.
Next to me, Rachel yelped like someone had stuck her with a pin. A few
kids looked over and snickered, but Rachel just stared at the cheerleaders in
horror. Tammi didn’t seem to notice the outburst. She started talking about
all the great ways we could get involved during our freshman year.
“Run,” Rachel told me. “Now.”
“Why?”
Rachel didn’t explain. She pushed her way to the edge of the bleachers,
ignoring the frowning teachers and grumbling kids she was stepping on.
I hesitated. Tammi was explaining how we were about to break into small
groups and tour the school. Kelli caught my eye and gave me an amused
smile, like she was waiting to see what I’d do. It would look bad if I left
right now. Paul Blofis was down there with the rest of the teachers. He’d
wonder what was wrong.
Then I thought about Rachel Elizabeth Dare, and the special ability she’d
shown last winter at Hoover Dam. She’d been able to see a group of security
guards who weren’t guards at all, who weren’t even human. My heart
pounding, I got up and followed her out of the gym.
* * *
I found Rachel in the band room. She was hiding behind a bass drum in
the percussion section.
“Get over here!” she said. “Keep your head down!”
I felt pretty silly hiding behind a bunch of bongos, but I crouched down
beside her.
“Did they follow you?” Rachel asked.
“You mean the cheerleaders?”
She nodded nervously.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “What are they? What did you see?”
Her green eyes were bright with fear. She had a sprinkle of freckles on her
face that reminded me of constellations. Her maroon T-shirt read
HARVARD ART DEPT. “You…you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Oh, yeah, I would,” I promised. “I know you can see through the Mist.”
“The what?”
“The Mist. It’s…well, it’s like this veil that hides the way things really are.
Some mortals are born with the ability to see through it. Like you.”
She studied me carefully. “You did that at Hoover Dam. You called me a
mortal. Like you’re not.”
I felt like punching a bongo. What was I thinking? I could never explain. I
shouldn’t even try.
“Tell me,” she begged. “You know what it means. All these horrible
things I see?”
“Look, this is going to sound weird. Do you know anything about Greek
myths?”
“Like…the Minotaur and the Hydra?”
“Yeah, just try not to say those names when I’m around, okay?”
“And the Furies,” she said, warming up. “And the Sirens, and-”
“Okay!” I looked around the band hall, sure that Rachel was going to
make a bunch of bloodthirsty nasties pop out of the walls; but we were still
alone. Down the hallway, I heard a mob of kids coming out of the
gymnasium. They were starting the group tours. We didn’t have long to talk.
“All those monsters,” I said, “all the Greek gods-they’re real.”
“I knew it!”
I would’ve been more comfortable if she’d called me a liar, but Rachel
looked like I’d just confirmed her worst suspicion.
“You don’t know how hard it’s been,” she said. “For years I thought I was
going crazy. I couldn’t tell anybody. I couldn’t-” Her eyes narrowed.
“Wait. Who are you? I mean really?”
“I’m not a monster.”
“Well, I know that. I could see if you were. You look like…you. But
you’re not human, are you?”
I swallowed. Even though I’d had three years to get used to who I was, I’d
never talked about it with a regular mortal before-I mean, except for my
mom, but she already knew. I don’t know why, but I took the plunge.
“I’m a half-blood,” I said. “I’m half human.”
“And half what?”
Just then Tammi and Kelli stepped into the band room. The doors
slammed shut behind them.
“There you are, Percy Jackson,” Tammi said. “It’s time for your
orientation.”

* * *
“They’re horrible!” Rachel gasped.
Tammi and Kelli were still wearing their purple-and-white cheerleader
costumes, holding pom-poms from the rally.
“What do they really look like?” I asked, but Rachel seemed too stunned
to answer.
“Oh, forget her.” Tammi gave me a brilliant smile and started walking
toward us. Kelli stayed by the doors, blocking our exit.
They’d trapped us. I knew we’d have to fight our way out, but Tammi’s
smile was so dazzling it distracted me. Her blue eyes were beautiful, and the
way her hair swept over her shoulders…
“Percy,” Rachel warned.
I said something really intelligent like, “Uhhh?”
Tammi was getting closer. She held out her pom-poms.
“Percy!” Rachel’s voice seemed to be coming from a long way away.
“Snap out of it!”
It took all my willpower, but I got my pen out of my pocket and uncapped
it. Riptide grew into a three-foot-long bronze sword, its blade glowing with a
faint golden light. Tammi’s smile turned to a sneer.
“Oh, come on,” she protested. “You don’t need that. How about a kiss
instead?”
She smelled like roses and clean animal fur-a weird but somehow
intoxicating smell.
Rachel pinched my arm, hard. “Percy, she wants to bite you! Look at
her!”
She’s just jealous,” Tammi looked back at Kelli. “May I, mistress?”
Kelli was still blocking the door, licking her lips hungrily. “Go ahead,
Tammi. You’re doing fine.”
Tammi took another step forward, but I leveled the tip of my sword at her
chest. “Get back.”
She snarled. “Freshmen,” she said with disgust. “This is our school, halfblood.
We feed on whom we choose!”
Then she began to change. The color drained out of her face and arms.
Her skin turned as white as chalk, her eyes completely red. Her teeth grew
into fangs.

“A vampire!” I stammered. Then I noticed her legs. Below the
cheerleader skirt, her left leg was brown and shaggy with a donkey’s hoof.
Her right leg was shaped like a human leg, but it was made of bronze. “Uhh,
a vampire with-”
“Don’t mention the legs!” Tammi snapped. “It’s rude to make fun!”
She advanced on her weird, mismatched legs. She looked totally bizarre,
especially with the pom-poms, but I couldn’t laugh-not facing those red
eyes and sharp fangs.
“A vampire, you say?” Kelli laughed. “That silly legend was based on us,
you fool. We are empousai, servants of Hecate.”
“Mmmm.” Tammi edged closer to me. “Dark magic formed us from
animal, bronze, and ghost! We exist to feed on the blood of young men.
Now come, give me that kiss!”
She bared her fangs. I was so paralyzed I couldn’t move, but Rachel threw
a snare drum at the empousa’s head.
The demon hissed and batted the drum away. It went rolling along the
aisles between music stands, its springs rattling against the drumhead.
Rachel threw a xylophone, but the demon just swatted that away, too.
“I don’t usually kill girls,” Tammi growled. “But for you, mortal, I’ll
make an exception. Your eyesight is a little too good!”
She lunged at Rachel.
“No!” I slashed with Riptide. Tammi tried to dodge my blade, but I sliced
straight through her cheerleader uniform, and with a horrible wail she
exploded into dust all over Rachel.
Rachel coughed. She looked like she’d just had a sack of flour dumped on
her head. “Gross!”
“Monsters do that,” I said. “Sorry.”
“You killed my trainee!” Kelli yelled. “You need a lesson in school spirit,
half-blood!”
Then she too began to change. Her wiry hair turned into flickering flames.
Her eyes turned red. She grew fangs. She loped toward us, her brass foot and
hoof clopping unevenly on the band-room floor.
“I am senior empousa,” she growled. “No hero has bested me in a
thousand years.”
“Yeah?” I said. “Then you’re overdue!”
Kelli was a lot faster than Tammi. She dodged my first strike and rolled
into the brass section, knocking over a row of trombones with a mighty
crash. Rachel scrambled out of the way. I put myself between her and the
empousa. Kelli circled us, her eyes going from me to the sword.

“Such a pretty little blade,” she said. “What a shame it stands between
us.”
Her form shimmered-sometimes a demon, sometimes a pretty
cheerleader. I tried to keep my mind focused, but it was really distracting.
“Poor dear.” Kelli chuckled. “You don’t even know what’s happening, do
you? Soon, your pretty little camp in flames, your friends made slaves to the
Lord of Time, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. It would be merciful
to end your life now, before you have to see that.”
From down the hall, I heard voices. A tour group was approaching. A man
was saying something about locker combinations.
The empousa’s eyes lit up. “Excellent! We’re about to have company!”
She picked up a tuba and threw it at me. Rachel and I ducked. The tuba
sailed over our heads and crashed through the window.
The voices in the hall died down.
“Percy!” Kelli shouted, pretending to be scared, “why did you throw
that?”
I was too surprised to answer. Kelli picked up a music stand and swiped a
row of clarinets and flutes. Chairs and musical instruments crashed to the
floor.
“Stop it!” I said.
People were tromping down the hall now, coming in our direction.
“Time to greet our visitors!” Kelli bared her fangs and ran for the doors. I
charged after her with Riptide. I had to stop her from hurting the mortals.
“Percy, don’t!” Rachel shouted. But I hadn’t realized what Kelli was up to
until it was too late.
Kelli flung open the doors. Paul Blofis and a bunch of freshmen stepped
back in shock. I raised my sword.
At the last second, the empousa turned toward me like a cowering victim.
“Oh no, please!” she cried. I couldn’t stop my blade. It was already in
motion.
Just before the celestial bronze hit her, Kelli exploded into flames like a
Molotov cocktail. Waves of fire splashed over everything. I’d never seen a
monster do that before, but I didn’t have time to wonder about it. I backed
into the band room as the flames engulfed the doorway.
“Percy?” Paul Blofis looked completely stunned, staring at me from
across the fire. “What have you done?”
Kids screamed and ran down the hall. The fire alarm wailed. Ceiling
sprinklers hissed to life.
In the chaos, Rachel tugged on my sleeve. “You have to get out of here!”

She was right. The school was in flames and I’d be held responsible.
Mortals couldn’t see through the Mist properly. To them it would look like
I’d just attacked a helpless cheerleader in front of a group of witnesses.
There was no way I could explain it. I turned from Paul and sprinted for the
broken band room window.
* * *
I burst out of the alley onto East 81st and ran straight into Annabeth.
“Hey, you’re out early!” she laughed, grabbing my shoulders to keep me
from tumbling into the street. “Watch where you’re going, Seaweed Brain.”
For a split second she was in a good mood and everything was fine. She
was wearing jeans and an orange camp T-shirt and her clay bead necklace.
Her blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her gray eyes sparkled. She
looked like she was ready to catch a movie, have a cool afternoon hanging
out together.
Then Rachel Elizabeth Dare, still covered in monster dust, came charging
out of the alley, yelling, “Percy, wait up!”
Annabeth’s smile melted. She stared at Rachel, then at the school. For the
first time, she seemed to notice the black smoke and ringing fire alarms.
She frowned at me. “What did you do this time? And who is this?”
“Oh, Rachel-Annabeth. Annabeth-Rachel. Um, she’s a friend,
guess.”
I wasn’t sure what else to call Rachel. I mean, I barely knew her, but after
being in two life-or-death situations together, I couldn’t just call her nobody.
“Hi,” Rachel said. Then she turned to me. “You are in so much trouble.
And you still owe me an explanation!”
Police sirens wailed on FDR Drive.
“Percy,” Annabeth said coldly. “We should go.”
“I want to know more about half-bloods,” Rachel insisted. “And monsters.
And this stuff about the gods.” She grabbed my arm, whipped out a
permanent marker, and wrote a phone number on my hand. “You’re going to
call me and explain, okay? You owe me that. Now get going.”
“But-”
“I’ll make up some story,” Rachel said. “I’ll tell them it wasn’t your fault.
Just go!”
She ran back toward the school, leaving Annabeth and me in the street.

“Hey!” I jogged after her. “There were these two empousai,” I tried to
explain. “They were cheerleaders, see, and they said camp was going to burn,
and-”
“You told a mortal girl about half-bloods?”
“She can see through the Mist. She saw the monsters before I did.”
“So you told her the truth?”
“She recognized me from Hoover Dam, so-”
“You’ve met her before?”
“Um, last winter. But seriously, I barely know her.”
“She’s kind of cute.”
“I-I never thought about it.”
Annabeth kept walking toward York Avenue.
“I’ll deal with the school,” I promised, anxious to change the subject.
“Honest, it’ll be fine.”
Annabeth wouldn’t even look at me. “I guess our afternoon is off. We
should get you out of here, now that the police will be searching for you.”
Behind us, smoke billowed up from Goode High School. In the dark
column of ashes, I thought I could almost see a face-a she-demon with red
eyes, laughing at me.
Your pretty little camp in flames, Kelli had said. Your friends made slaves
to the Lord of Time.
“You’re right,” I told Annabeth, my heart sinking. “We have to get to
Camp Half-Blood. Now.”