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"Ho did you… ?" He gulped "Who are you?"

"A child of Athena," Annabeth said again "But not just any child I ana mater, in fact There are no ht"

"Theed, his hands out to strangle her, but he passed right through her

"You’re dead," Annabeth rehost looked embarrassed and took his seat

"We do not need to kill you ourselves," the pater growled "Mithras shall do that for us!"

The statue on the altar began to glow

Annabeth pressed her hands against the bricked-in doorway at her back That had to be the exit The h for her to break through with brute force

She looked desperately around the roos, and the carved altar She began to talk, pulling deductions froood," she said "I know all You test your initiates with fire because the torch is the syer, which is why you can also be tested with the blade You want to kill me, just as…uh, as Mithras killed the sacred bull"

It was a total guess, but the altar showed Mithras killing a bull, so Annabeth figured it hosts wailed and covered their ears Some slapped their faces as if to wake up fro mother knows!" one said "It is impossible!"

Unless you look around the roolared at the ghost who had just spoken He had a raven badge on his toga--the same symbol as on the floor at her feet

"You are just a raven," she scolded "That is the lowest rank Be silent and let ed "Mercy! Mercy!"

At the front of the rooe or fear, Annabeth wasn’t sure which His pope hat tilted sideways on his head like a gas gauge dropping toward ereat, but that is all the more reason why you cannot leave The weaver warned us you would come"

"The weaver…" Annabeth realized with a sinking feeling what the pater was talking about: the thing in the dark frouardian of the shrine This was one time she wished she didn’t know the answer, but she tried to maintain her calm "The weaver fears me She doesn’t want me to follow the Mark of Athena But you will let me pass"

"You er! Survive one, and then, perhaps!"

Annabeth looked down at the bones of her siblings The failures of your predecessors will guide you

They’d all chosen one or the other: fire or dagger Maybe they’d thought they could beat the ordeal But they had all died Annabeth needed a third choice

She stared at the altar statue, which was glowing brighter by the second She could feel its heat across the rooer or the torch, but instead she concentrated on the statue’s base She wondered why its legs were stuck in stone Then it occurred to her: maybe the little statue of Mithras wasn’t stuck in the rock Maybe he was eer," Annabeth said firmly "There is a third test, which I will pass"

"A third test?" the pater demanded

"Mithras was born froed fully grown froer and torch"

The screauessed correctly

"The big uarded secret!"

Then maybe you shouldn’t put a statue of it on your altar, Annabeth thought But she was thankful for stupid hosts If they’d let woht have learned soestured dramatically to the wall she’d come from "I was born from stone, just as Mithras was! Therefore, I have already passed your ordeal!"

"Bah!" the pater spat "You ca"

Okay So apparently the pater wasn’t a colanced at the ceiling, and another idea caether

"I have control over the very stones" She raised her arreater than Mithras With a single strike, I will bring down this chahosts wailed and tre, but Annabeth knew they didn’t see what she saw These ghosts arriors, not engineers The children of Athena had many skills, and not just in combat Annabeth had studied architecture for years She knew this ancient chanized what the stress fractures in the ceiling le point--the top of the stone arch just above her The capstone was about to cru she could time it correctly…

"Impossible!" the pater shouted "The weaver has paid us much tribute to destroy any children of Athena ould dare enter our shrine We have never let her down We cannot let you pass"

"Then you fear my power!" Annabeth said "You admit that I could destroy your sacred chahtened his hat uneasily Annabeth knew she’d put him in an i cowardly

"Do your worst, child of Athena," he decided "No one can bring down the cavern of Mithras, especially with one strike Especially not a girl!"

Annabeth hefted her dagger The ceiling was low She could reach the capstone easily, but she’d have to make her one strike count