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Chapter Text

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I’m sure I needed to make a list of how many times my luck and Percy’s presence combined has caused something to blow up, but for right now, I’ll settle for talking about it.

There we were, Monday morning, first week of June, sitting in Sally’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. Looking up at the fancy stone archway, I was willing to kick myself out of the school if I didn’t have to get a ‘still rich’ title slapped onto me, or worse, get another Matt Sloan on my back.

“Just relax,” Sally wasn’t relaxed. “It’s only an orientation tour. And remember, dears, this is Paul’s school, so try not to…you know.”

“Destroy it?” Percy said.

“Yes.”

Paul Blofis, Sally’s now-boyfriend, was standing out front greeting future ninth graders as they came up the steps. Looking at his salt-and-pepper hair, denim clothes and leather jacket, he looked like a TV actor, but he was just an English teacher. He managed to convince Goode High School to accept us for ninth grade, despite the fact that we’d gotten kicked out of every school we’ve ever gone to.

Percy tried to warn him it wasn’t a good idea, but, like most mortals, he didn’t listen.

I looked at Sally. “You… haven’t told him the truth about us, have you?”

She tapped her fingers nervously on the wheel. Sally was dressed up for a job interview―wearing her best blue dress and high heels.

“I thought we should wait,” she admitted.

“So we don’t scare him away?”

“I’m sure orientation will be fine, you two. It’s only one morning.”

“Great,” Percy mumbled. “I can get us expelled before we even start the school year.”

“Think positive, Percy! Tomorrow you’re both off to camp, and after your orientation, you’re out on a date―”

“It’s not a date!” we protested at the same time, Sally laughed.

“Well, you’re going to the movies.”

“Yeah, but―”

“This time it’s just the two of you.”

“Mom!”

“Plus, Sola bought that pretty yellow sundress―”

“Sally!” I tried to ignore Percy’s shocked glance toward me.

Sally held her hands up in surrender, but I could tell she was trying hard not to smile. “You’d better get inside, dears. I’ll see you tonight.”

I went to get out of the car when I heard Sally say, “Percy? What’s wrong?”

I turned and Percy looked pale, and all the blood seemed to drain from his face.

“Woah, Perse,” I said. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

“It’s n-nothing,” He stammered. “Does the school have a side entrance?”

“Down the block on the right,” Sally said. “Why?”

“We’ll see you later.”

Sally started to say something, but Percy grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the side entrance. No matter what I tried to say, Percy didn’t say anything and we kept running toward the side entrance. I suddenly pulled my arm out of his grip, rubbing my arm.

“Okay, what was that about?” I said.

“Can’t explain,” Percy said. “Sneak in with me?”

“Why? There aren’t any monsters, are there?” I asked, looking around cautiously.

“Just…trust me.” He pleaded. I sighed and went along with it, thinking how I would have the worst luck in the history of demigods if we ran into a monster right now.

But little did I know, my luck was way worse.

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Sneaking into orientation? Not the brightest idea. Scratch that, it was a completely horrible plan. Turns out, two cheerleaders in purple-and-white uniforms were standing at the side entrance, waiting to ambush freshmen.

“Hi!” They smiled, though it was way too cheery, even for my taste. One was blonde with icy blue eyes, and the other was black, like me, with dark curly hair like Medusa. (Don’t ask how I know.) Both girls had their names stitched in cursive on their uniforms: Kelli and Tammi.

“Welcome to Goode,” Tammi said. “You are soo going to love it!”

But she looked up at us up and down, and I could tell she was less friendly and saw us more like dirt she found on her pompoms.

Kelli stepped uncomfortably close towards Percy. I caught a whiff of her as she passed by, and she smelled like roses, but something else I recognized from camp―the scent of freshly washed horse.

She stood so close, it looked like she was going to push Percy off the steps. “What’s your name, fish?”

“Fish?” I asked.

“Freshman,” she corrected.

“Uh, Percy.”

The girls then looked at me and exchanged looks.

“Oh, Percy and Solana Jackson!” the blonde one said. “We’ve been waiting for you!”

I didn’t like that at all. They were blocking the entrance, smiling in a no-longer-friendly way. I felt my bracelets get hotter against my skin, and Percy’s hand went to his pocket.

Then another voice came from inside. “Percy? Sola?” It was Paul Blofis somewhere down the hallway, and, gods, I’ve never felt so relieved to hear his voice. I quickly pressed my arm against Tammi’s neck, making her yelp and back off. I then grabbed Percy’s arm and pulled him inside, accidentally kneeing Tammi in the thigh on my way.

Clang.

Her leg made a hollow, metallic sound, like a flagpole.

“Ow,” she muttered. “Watch it, fish.”

Looking back, it just looked like a regular leg. But I didn’t want to ask, so I pulled Percy with me as we dashed down the hall, the cheerleaders laughing at us.

“There you are!” Paul told us. “Welcome to Goode!”

“Hey, Paul―uh, I mean, Mr. Blofis!” I said. I glanced back, but the cheerleaders were gone.

“Kids, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Yeah, uh―” Percy started.

“I hoped so,” I half-joked.

Paul clapped us on the back. “Listen, I know you’re nervous, but don’t worry. We’ve got a lot of kids here with ADHD and dyslexia. The teachers know how to help.

I almost laughed. As if, I wished my ADHD was my biggest worry. I knew Paul had nothing but the best intentions, but if we did tell him the truth, he’d either think we were insane or run away screaming, and either one wasn’t the best outcome. Those cheerleaders left me with an eerie feeling though…

Then Percy suddenly spoke up, “Where’s the orientation?” Percy asked Paul.

“The gym, that way. But―”

“Bye.”

“Percy?” He called, but I was already being hurried off by Percy to the gym.

A bunch of kids were already heading there, and soon we were two of three hundred fourteen-year-olds crammed into the bleachers. A marching band played a very out of tune fight song that sounded more like someone hitting a bag of cats with a bat.

A few older kids―Student council maybe?―stood up front, modeling the Goode uniform and looking all like Hey, we’re cool. Which was good for them.

Teachers milled around, smiling and shaking hands with students. The walls in the gym were plastered with big purple-and-white banners saying: WELCOME, FUTURE FRESHMEN. GOODE IS GOOD, WE’RE ALL FAMILY,  and other happy slogans that every school in America had.

None of the other freshmen looked too thrilled to be here, and it wasn’t like I blamed them. We were at orientation in June, when school doesn’t even start until September, not the best thing in the world. But at Goode, “We prepare to excel early!” (As written in the brochure.)

The marching band thankfully stopped playing, and a guy in a pinstripe suit came to the microphone and started talking. But the gym was so echoey that you couldn’t hear a word he was saying.

Someone suddenly said, “What are you doing here?”

I turned and saw a pretty girl with frizzy red hair and a constellation of freckles across her face sitting next to Percy. She had a maroon T-shirt that said HARVARD ART DEPT. and ratty jeans decorated with different marker drawings.

“Rachel Elizabeth Dare,” Percy said. I was guessing this was the mortal he was talking about.

Her jaw dropped like he had the nerve to remember her name. “And you’re Percy somebody. I didn’t get your name last December when you tried to kill me!” She then looked up at me. “Who’s this?”

I waved. “Solana Jackson.”

“I wasn’t―I didn’t―What are you doing here?”

“Same as you guys, I guess. Orientation.”

“You live in New York?”

“What, you thought I lived at Hoover Dam?”

I guessed she didn’t live around the Hoover Dam area. Then I thought if Rachel was here, maybe my gingerheaded situation was somewhere around New York, too. I looked around, but didn’t spot him anywhere.

Some guy behind us whispered, “Hey, shut up. The cheerleaders are talking!”

“Hi, guys!” a girl bubbled into the microphone, and it was Tammi, the blonde from the entrance. “My name is Tammi, and this is, like, Kelli!” Kelli did a cartwheel.

Rachel yelped like someone had stuck her with a pin. Kids looked at her and snickered, but Rachel just stared at the cheerleaders in horror. Tammi didn’t notice, and kept talking about the great ways we could get involved during freshman year.

“Run,” Rachel told him.

“Why?”

Rachel didn’t explain and instead pushed her way to the edge of the bleachers, ignoring frowning teachers and grumbling kids she was stepping on.

I looked over at Percy as Tammi started explaining how we were going to break into small groups for our tour around the school. We saw Kelli give Percy and I an amused smile, and looking at Percy’s expression, but even if I didn’t I’d know what he was thinking. If we left now, It’d look bad. I mean, Paul was there with the rest of the teachers.

I then placed a hand on Percy’s arm. “You go,” I said. “I’ll stay here, keep an eye on the cheerleaders.”

“What about Paul?”

“I’ll make up something, you need to figure out what’s going on with Rachel and those cheerleaders.”

Percy looked hesitant, but he looked at me in my eyes and nodded. “Promise we’ll find each other soon? Preferably five minutes.”

I smiled. “I’ll always find you, Perse. But yeah, preferably in five minutes. Now, go.”

Percy immediately got up just as our groups formed. I was in Paul’s group and attempted not to look as freaked out as I felt. We were about to leave the gym until I felt a hand on my arm. “Glowstick?”

I turned around and there was Felix! His blue near hypnotic eyes staring at me.  I noticed he had a scar on his left one, leaving him partially blind, but he hid that with his hair that he had tied back into a mini ponytail and didn’t seem bothered. He was wearing something more casual, black jeans and a white undershirt, but he still had that black jacket. Nothing leather or anything, just a regular, old, cotton jacket. It’s like he didn’t change at all from the Hoover Dam, minus from the longer hair and his eye.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” He said, but he didn’t sound too upset about it. “You live in New York, too?”

“Yeah!” I said, and I suddenly felt like an idiot, considering I remembered how insane I must’ve looked. He didn’t seem to mind or even remember it. “Well, I’m glad you’re alive. Still.”

“Yeah?” I gave a small smile. “I’m glad you had faith in me!”

“Barely,” he chuckled. “But still. I like you, it would’ve sucked if you did die.”

I blinked and turned ahead. I felt my face get hot, but I tried to ignore that. “Well, I like you too.”

Felix hummed. “Well, I’m glad it’s mutual.” He looked around a little, almost like he was worried about getting caught. “I’m not upset about what happened back then. But, if you wanna give me an explanation, call me.”

He then opened his hand, placing a slip of paper in it. “Huh.” I then smiled. “You’re already asking me on a date?”

Felix just shrugged. “Sure, if you wanna.”

I laughed. “Well, unfortunately, I―”

CRASH!

It sounded like something crashed through a window, and everyone went silent.

“Percy!” A girl’s voice, Kelli’s, shouted. “Why did you throw that?”

Another crash and the sound of things falling.

“Stop it!” Percy yelled.

We started to walk down the hall, going toward the Band Room. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew it was trouble.

The doors suddenly flung open, causing Paul and the rest of us to step back in shock. All I saw was Percy raising his sword, watching Kelli cower like a fearful victim. “Oh, no, please!” she cried.

“Percy!” I yelled and rushed over, but it was too late and Percy swung his sword down. Just before the celestial bronze hit her, Kelli seemed to explode into flames, waves of fire now splashing everywhere, flames now engulfing the doorway. 

“What?” I yelped before taking a step back, coughing through the smoke.

“Percy?” Paul Blofis looked completely stunned, staring at us from across the hall. “What have you done?”

Kids were screaming and running down the hall, the fire alarms wailing and ceiling sprinklers hissing to life. In the chaos, Rachel tugged on his sleeve. “You have to get out of here!”

She was right, with the school being in flames, I knew who would be held responsible. Percy took my hand and I looked at Paul before we sprinted for the now broken band room window.

We burst out of the alley onto East 81st.

“Woah!” I yelled, grabbing Percy’s arm to keep us from tumbling into the street and right into traffic. “Watch it! What happened back there?”

Before he could answer, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, covered in what I now recognize as monster dust, came charging out of the alley, yelling, “Percy, wait up!”

When she caught up, she stopped to catch her breath. “You are in so much trouble,” Rachel said. “and you still owe me an explanation!”

Police sirens started wailing on FDR Drive.

“We should go,” I said.

“I want to know more about half-bloods,” Rachel insisted. “And monsters, and this stuff about the gods.” She grabbed Percy’s arm, took out a permanent marker and wrote a number on his 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 the two of us in the street.

“So,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “You wanna tell me what happened in the five minutes I was gone?”

“Look,” Percy said. “There were these two empousai, they were these cheerleaders, and they said camp was going to burn―”

“Back up,” I said. “Two empousai? And they were the cheerleaders?”

Percy nodded. “They said something about feasting on my blood? I thought it was a vampire.”

“Yeah, empousai are what the myth was created from,” I said. “They’re basically vampires, but they’re also…not. They’re curses, dark magic formed from animal, bronze and ghost. They’re servants of Hecate. Then what? What about the fire?”

“Well, I don’t know!” Percy said. “I tried to slash her with my sword, but she turned into this―this huge fire, and then you and Paul and the others walked in.”

“This is bad.” I muttered, then I started walking toward York Avenue.

“I’ll deal with the school,” Percy promised. “Honest, it’ll be fine.” But I wasn’t upset about that.

“I guess our afternoon’s postponed,” I said. “We should get out of here, now that the police are searching for us.”

Behind us, smoke billowed up from Goode High School. In the dark ashes, I saw a faint face―a she-demon with red eyes, laughing at us.

“You’re right,” Percy told me. “We have to get to Camp Half-Blood. Now.”

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Chapter Text

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We decided to hop in a taxi and drive to camp. We sat there awkwardly, since our morning was already ruined. I was afraid if I breathed too loud, the taxi driver would turn into another empousa.

“Did you have any dreams?” Percy asked. “About Luke?”

I shook my head. It was a subject I hated talking about, the former Hermes head counselor who betrayed us for the evil chopped up Titan Lord Kronos. He had taken my best friend, Charlotte, the daughter of Zeus, with him.

After our fight on Mount Tam last winter, I thought after he fell from a fifty-foot fall off a cliff, we wouldn’t have to worry about him anymore. But no, he was still alive and sailing around on his Exclusive Demon Cruise ship, where said evil Titan Lord was slowly reforming until he had enough power to defeat the Olympian Gods.

And, if you didn’t understand anything I said, we call this a “major, major problem”.

A part of me was wondering if Charlotte was still alive, after summoning a lightning bolt from the clouds to vaporize, or hopefully vaporize the Monsters on top of Mount Tam. But after the report I got from Dolores, I started doubting that.

“Mount Tam is still overrun with monsters,” I said. “I didn’t let Doll get any closer. I doubt Luke is up there, but if he was…I’m sure he’d make himself known.”

We sat in a longer silence. Not the most comforting thought in the world.

“What about Grover?” Percy asked.

“He’s at camp,” I said. “She said we'll see him today.”

“Did he have any luck?” he asked. “Searching for Pan?”

I played with my bracelets. “I guess we’ll see.”

As we headed through Brooklyn, I used my phone to call Sally. Sure, we weren’t exactly allowed to use them, considering broadcasting our voices would send out a loud dinner bell to every monster in a five mile radius, but this was more important.

I left a voicemail, explaining what happened at Goode and where we were headed, and I think I did an okay job. I told her that we were fine, and not to worry, that I’d keep Percy safe and that we were going to camp until things cooled down. And I asked her to tell Paul Blofis that we were sorry.

We rode in complete silence after that. I watched the city melt away until we were off the expressway and now rolling through the countryside of northern Long Island, past orchards, wineries and fresh produce stands.

I glanced at the small paper slip, but decided against calling Felix. What would I even tell him? “Hey, I can’t hang out, we got attacked by pretty vampire donkey women?” Yeah, right! I’d rather get eaten alive.

The taxi exited on Route 25A. We headed through the woods along the North Shore until a low ridge of hills appeared on our left. I told the driver to pull over on Farm Road 3.141, at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

The driver frowned at me. “There ain’t nothing here, miss. You sure you want out?”

“Yep.” I gave my most charming smile and handed him a roll of mortal cash, the driver didn’t argue anymore.

Percy and I hiked to the crest of the hill where the young guardian dragon dozed, coiled around the pine tree, but he lifted his coppery head as we approached and let me scratch under his chin. I chuckled as steam hissed out of his nostrils like a teakettle, going cross-eyed with pleasure.

“Peleus,” I said. “Keeping everything safe? Good boy!”

Peleus was six feet long the last time I saw him, but now he was double that, and as thick as the pine tree he guarded. Above his head on the lowest branch was where the Golden Fleece shimmered and protected the camp from any invasions. Peleus was relaxed and everything seemed fine.

Below us, Camp Half-Blood was even more peaceful―green fields, forests, Greek buildings as a blinding white. The four story farmhouse―The Big House―sat proudly among the strawberry fields. To the North and past the beach, the Long Island Sound glittered in the sunlight.

But something felt off. Like the hill and the entire camp was holding its breath, waiting for something, anything bad to just happen, and that didn’t ease my nerves.

We walked down into the valley and found the summer session lit up and in full swing. Most of the campers had arrived last Friday, I hoped I’d gotten a good count that day. The satyrs were playing pipes in the strawberry fields and making the plants grow with woodland magic, campers were having flying horseback lessons, swooping over the woods with their pegasi. Smoke rose from the forges, hammers ringing as kids made their own weapons for Arts and Crafts. The Athena and Demeter teams were having a chariot race around the track, and some kids in a trireme were fighting a large orange sea serpent. Y’know, normal summer camp stuff.

“Well,” I said, tying my hair back. “I’ll go find Clarisse.”

Percy, rightfully, looked at me like I had lost a marble or two. “For what?”

Clarisse from the Ares cabin was an absolute peach. She was a typical bully, and her dad, Ares, wanted to vaporize Percy and I, and we had to defend ourselves from her to keep from getting beaten into a pulp on a regular basis. She was wonderful.

“We’ve been…working on something,” I said. “I’ll see you later.”

“Working on what?”

“I promise I’ll tell you later,” I said. “I’ll go tell Chiron we’re here. He’ll wanna see us before Grover’s hearing, anyway.”

“What hearing?” Percy asked.

I hesitated, then gave him a quick hug before jogging down the path toward the archery field.

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After I told Chiron everything I could, he encouraged me to go back up to talk with Percy, since I left a good chunk out. I immediately took the chance and rushed back up. I immediately ran beside Percy when I spotted him walking toward the sword arena. “Hey!” I said.

“Hey, you said Grover was here, right?”

“Yeah?” I said.

“Well, he’s not around here.” Percy said, and I shifted nervously. “Well, yeah. He’s not around here. Actually―”

When we walked into the amphitheater, Percy immediately stood in front of me. In the middle of the arena floor, its back toward us, was the biggest hellhound we’d seen.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of big hellhounds, I mean, one was the size of a rhino and attacked Percy when we were twelve. But this one was bigger than a tank, no, three tanks combined. I didn’t know how it got past camp’s boundaries, but it sure looked comfortable. It was lying on its belly, growling contentedly as it chewed off the head of a combat dummy. It hadn’t noticed us yet, but if we made any noise, it'd sense us. Percy pulled out Riptide and I took out Katoptris.

“Yaaaah!” Percy charged as I ran to another side. Percy brought the blade down on the monster’s enormous back when another sword blocked his strike suddenly.

CLANG!

The hellhound pricked up its ears. “WOOF!”

I sliced at him and the swordsman―a gray-haired man in Greek armor, dodged my strike and parried Percy’s attack with no problem.

“Woah there!” He said. “Truce!”

“WOOF!” The hellhound’s barks shook the entire arena.

“It’s a hellhound!” Percy yelled.

“She’s harmless,” the man said. “That’s Mrs. O’Leary.”

I blinked, lowering my bow. “Mrs…O’Leary?”

When I said my name, the hellhound barked again. She wasn’t angry, she was excited. She nudged the now soggy, badly chewed target dummy toward the swordsman.

“Good girl,” the man said, and grabbed another armored manikin by the neck with his free hand, heaving it toward the bleachers. “Get the Greek! Get the Greek!”

Mrs. O’Leary bounded after her new toy and pounced on the dummy, flattening its armor and chewing on the helmet.

The swordsman gave a dry smile. He looked like he was in his fifties, with short grey hair and a clipped beard of the same color. He was in good shape for an old guy, and he wore black mountain-climbing pants and a bronze breastplate strapped over his orange camp T-shirt. At the base of his neck he had a strange mark―a purplish blotch like a birthmark or a tattoo, but I couldn’t make out what it was since he shifted his armor and then the mark disappeared under his collar.

“Mrs. O’Leary is my pet,” he explained. “Couldn’t have let ya’ stick a sword in her rump, now, could I? That might’ve scared her.”

“Who are you?” I said, hesitantly approaching the man.

“Promise not to kill me if I put my sword away?”

Percy and I looked at each other, then looked back at him. “Fine.”

He sheathed his sword and held out his hand. “Quintus.”

I shook his hand, which was as rough as sandpaper. It was weird for someone to lie about their name, but I didn’t think too much on it. Not everyone is a lie detector. But I was curious as to why.

He gave me a look, but I didn’t really care much about it. “Solana Jackson, and this is Percy Jackson.” I said. “We’re sorry about― How did you―?”

“Get a hellhound as a pet? Long story, involving many close calls with death and quite a few giant chew toys. I’m the new sword instructor, by the way. Helping out Chiron and Mr. D is away.”

“Alright,” I said, and tried not to look at Mrs. O’Leary ripping off the target dummy’s shield, with the arm still attached, and shook it like a Frisbee. “Hold on, Uncle D is out?”

“Yes, well…busy times. Even Dionysus must help out. He’s gone to visit some old friends, make sure they’re on the right side. I probably shouldn’t say more than that.”

I didn’t exactly want to hear more. On one hand, our only camp director was gone temporarily, and considering he was only given that role by Zeus as punishment for chasing an sacred dryad, safe to say he hated his job and us and always found a way to make us miserable. So with him away this summer, it might actually be more enjoyable. But on the other hand, if Uncle Dionysus got off his lazy butt and actually went to help the gods with recruitment against the Titan threat, things must’ve been bad.

To my left, there was a loud BUMP. Six wooden crates as big as picnic tables were stacked up nearby and rattled. Mrs. O’Leary cocked her head and bounded toward them.

“Woah, girl!” Quintus said. “Those aren’t for you!” He distracted her with a bronze shield Frisbee.

The crates started to thump and shake. There were words printed on the side:

TRIPLE G RANCH

FRAGILE

THIS END UP.

Along the bottom, in smaller letters:

OPEN WITH CARE. TRIPLE G RANCH IS NOT  RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY PROPERTY DAMAGE, MAIMING, OR EXCRUCIATINGLY PAINFUL DEATHS,

“What’s in the boxes?” I asked.

“A little surprise,” Quintus said. “Training activity for tomorrow night. You’ll love it.”

“Sure,” I said.

Quintus threw the bronze shield, and Mrs. O’Leary lumbered after it. “You young ones need more challenges. They didn’t have camps like this when I was a boy.”

“You―you’re a Half-Blood?” Percy asked. The surprise was warranted. I mean, it’s rare seeing an older demigod.

Quintus chuckled. “Some of us do survive into adulthood, y’know. Not all of us are the subject of terrible prophecies.”

“You know about my prophecy?”

“I’ve heard a few things.”

I was going to interrupt, but Chiron did it for me. He clip-clopped down into the arena. “Percy, there you are!”

He looked like he’d just come back from teaching archery, from his quiver and bow slung over his #1 CENTAUR T-shirt. He trimmed his curly brown hair and beard for the summer, and his lower, white stallion half, was flecked with mud and grass.

“I see you two have met our new instructor,” Chiron’s tone was light, but he looked more uneasy than anything. “Quintus, do you mind if I borrow these two?”

“Not at all, Master Chiron.”

“No need to call me ‘Master,’” Chiron said, but he looked more pleased. “Come. children. We have much to discuss.”

I took one more glance at Mrs. O’Leary now chewing off the target dummy’s legs.

“See ya, Mr. Quint,” I said.

As we were walking away, Percy whispered to Chiron. “Quintus seems kind of―”

“Mysterious?” I said. “Hard to read?”

“Yeah.”

Chiron nodded. “A very qualified half-blood. Excellent swordsman. I just wish I understood…”

He didn’t say anything more. Seemed to have changed his mind. “First things first, children. Solana told me about your encounter with the empousai.”

“Yeah,” Percy told him about the fight he had at Goode, and how Kelli exploded into flames.

“Mm,” Chiron said. “The more powerful ones can do that. She did not die, Percy, she simply escaped. It is not good that the she-demons are stirring.”

“What were they doing there?” I asked. “Waiting for us?”

“Possibly,” Chiron frowned. “It is amazing you survived, Percy. Their powers of deception…almost any male hero would have fallen under their spell and been devoured.”

“I would have been,” Percy admitted. “Except for Rachel.”

Chiron nodded. “Ironic to be saved by a mortal, yet we owe her a debt. What the empousa said about an attack on camp―we must speak of this further. But for now, come. We should get to the woods. Grover will want you both there.”

“Where?” I asked.

“At his formal hearing,” Chiron said grimly. “The Council of Cloven Elders is meeting now to decide his fate.”

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Chiron told us we needed to hurry, so he let us ride on his back. As we galloped past the cabins, I glanced at the dining hall―an open-air Greek pavilion that was on a hill overlooking the sea. I then looked away again, getting some bad memories.

Chiron plunged into the dark woods, Dryads peeking out of the trees to watch us pass. Large shapes rustled in the shadows―monsters that were stocked to the brim here to challenge the campers. Chiron took us through a tunnel of old willow trees, past a small waterfall and into a glade blanketed with wildflowers.

A bunch of satyrs were sitting in a circle on the grass, and Grover stood in the middle, facing the oldest and fattest satyrs I’d seen. They sat on topiary thrones shaped out of rose bushes, the Council of Cloven Elders.

Grover was telling them a story, twisting the bottom of his T-shirt and shifting nervously on his goat hooves. He hadn’t changed much at all since the winter, since satyrs aged half as fast as humans. His acne had flared up and his horns had gotten a little bigger so they stuck out over his curly hair, though he didn’t seem to have gotten taller.

Standing off to one side of the circle was Clarisse and another girl I’d seen before. Chiron dropped us off next to them.

Clarisse’s stringy brown hair was tied back with a camouflage bandanna. She looked even buffer, like she’d been working out, but I wasn’t too surprised about it. She glared at Percy. “Punk.” she muttered. She was in a good mood.

I immediately wrapped my arms around the other girl, who had been crying. She was petite with wispy, amber colored hair and a pretty elfish face. She had pointed ears and her eyes were tinged green from crying rather than red―the color of chlorophyll. She was a dryad. She was wearing a green chiton and laced sandals, and she was wiping her eyes. “It’s going terribly,” she sniffled.

“Hey, no,” I said, pulling back and putting my hands on her shoulders. “He’ll be alright, Juniper.”

I looked at Percy and mouthed Grover’s girlfriend. I then pulled out a handkerchief from my pocket and handed it to Juniper, who smiled at me gratefully.

“Master Underwood!” the council member on the right, Silenus, shouted. “Do you truly expect us to believe this?”

“B-But, Silenus,” Grover stammered. “It’s the truth!”

Silenus turned to his mutually old colleagues and muttered something. Chiron cantered up to the front and stood next to them. He was an honorary member of the council, but I never thought of it until now. The elders weren’t very impressive, they were just big-bellied, sleepy expressions, and glazed eyes that couldn’t see past the next bowl of yummy food.

Silenus tugged his yellow polo shirt over his belly and adjusted himself on his makeshift rosebush throne. “Master Underwood, for six months―six months―we have been hearing these scandalous claims that you heard the wild god Pan speak.”

“But I did!”

“Impudence!” The elder on the left, Maron, said.

“Now, Maron,” Chiron said. “Patience.”

“Patience, indeed!” Maron said. “I’ve had it up to my horns with this nonsense! As if the wild god would speak to…to him.”

Juniper looked ready to charge the old satyr and beat the tin cans out of him, and I would’ve let her but me and Clarisse held her back instead. “Wrong fight, girlie,” Clarisse muttered. “Wait.”

I didn’t know what was shocking me more; Clarisse and I working together, or Clarisse holding someone back from a fight.

“For six months,” Silenus continued, “We have indulged you, Master Underwood. We let you keep your searcher’s license. We’ve waited for you to bring proof of your preposterous claim. And what have you found in six months of travel?”

“I just need more time,” Grover pleaded.

“Nothing!” the elder in the middle, Leneus, chimed in. “You have found nothing!”

“But, Leneus―”

Silenus raised his hand. Chiron leaned in and said something to the satyrs, and they didn’t look happy. They muttered and argued among themselves, but Chiron said something else and Silenus sighed and nodded reluctantly.

“Master Underwood,” Silenus announced, “we will give you one more chance.”

Grover brightened. “Thank you!”

“One more week.”

“What? But, sir! That’s impossible!―”

“One more week, Master Underwood. And then, if you cannot prove your claims, it will be time for you to pursue another career. Something to suit your dramatic talents. Puppet theater, perhaps, or tap dancing.”

“But, sir, I―I can’t lose my searcher’s license, my whole life―”

“This meeting of the council is adjourned,” Silenus said. “And now let us enjoy our noonday meal!”

The old satyr clapped his hands and a bunch of nymphs melted out of the trees with platters of vegetables, fruits, tin cans and other yummy goat meals. The circle of satyrs broke and charged the food.

Grover walked dejectedly toward us, his faded blue T-shirt had a picture of satyr on it and read GOT HOOVES?

“Hi, guys.” He said, so depressed he didn’t offer a hug or anything. “That went well, huh?”

“Those old goats!” Juniper said. I liked this girl even more. “Oh, Grover, they don’t know how hard you’ve tried!”

“There’s another option,” Clarisse said darkly.

“No, no,” Juniper shook her head. “Grover, I won’t let you!”

His face was ashen. “I―I’ll have to think about it. But we don’t even know where to look.”

“What are you talking about?” Percy asked.

In the distance, a conch horn sounded.

I pursed my lips. “Crap. I’ll fill you in later. We’d better get back to our cabins, inspection is starting.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

We just got back to camp and now we had cabin inspection. See, every afternoon, one of the senior counselors came around with a papyrus scroll checklist. And the best cabin got first shower hour, which guaranteed hot water, and the worst cabin got kitchen patrol after dinner.

I found myself walking towards the Apollo cabin while Silena Beauregard was just coming out, checking items off on the inspection scroll. I had, thankfully, found my siblings in the middle of cleaning, putting up different easels, paint palettes and ukes up and tidying up plenty. Which was good considering I hadn’t been there in a while.

So, I instead went to the Poseidon cabin to help Percy clean up, which was a job I had gotten used to. Silena expected cabins to be “pretty,” and Percy wasn’t really that when it came to cleaning.

But instead of Percy rushing around his cabin, trying to clean up in rapid fire time, I instead found a crystal clean cabin and Percy getting bear hugged by a Cyclops wearing a flowered apron and rubber cleaning gloves.

“Tyson!” I gasped.

Tyson looked up from his hug with his older-half brother and gave me an even bigger grin and I ran over, joining in on their reunion.

Tyson looked down at us with his calf-brown eye full of excitement. His teeth were still yellow and crooked, with his hair being a rat’s nest. He wore ragged XXXL jeans and a tattered flannel shirt under his flowered apron. It’d been almost a year since he left for the Cyclopes’ forges.

“You are okay?” he asked. “Not eaten by monsters?”

“Not even a little bit,” I said, spinning and showing him I had all of my limbs intact. Tyson clapped happily.

“Yay!” He said. “Now we can eat peanut butter sandwiches and ride fish ponies! We can fight monsters and make things go BOOM!”

I wouldn’t be surprised if he meant all at the same time, and I was pretty interested in what that’d look like, but I knew we’d have a lot of fun this summer.

“Tyson,” Percy said, looking around at the cabin. “This looks amazing!”

The floor was swept, the beds were made, and the saltwater fountain in the corner had been freshly scrubbed and the coral gleamed. On the windowsills, there were water-filled vases with sea anemones and strange glowing plants from the bottom of the ocean, more beautiful than any flower bouquets.

A herd of miniature bronze hippocampi hung on wires in the ceiling so it looked like they were swimming through the air. Then I turned over to Percy’s bunk and saw a fixed shield hanging on the wall.

“You fixed it!” Percy said. Despite the bad damage the sword got from the minotaur attack―it didn’t have a scratch on it, all the bronze pictures of the adventures we had in the Sea of Monsters were polished and gleaming.

Percy and I both gave Tyson the biggest hug we could as thanks.

Then someone behind us said, “Oh, my.”

Silena Beauregard was standing in the doorway with her inspection scroll. She stepped inside the cabin and did a quick twirl. Then raised her eyebrows at him. “Well, I had my doubts. But you clean up nicely, Percy. I’ll remember that.”

She winked at him and left the room.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

We spent the afternoon catching up and hanging out with Tyson, which was nice after the hectic morning we had. We went down to the forge and helped Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin with metalworking. Tyson showed us how he crafted magic weapons. He fashioned a flaming double-bladed war hammer so fast  Beckendorf was even impressed.

While he worked, Tyson told us about his year under the sea, his eye lighting up when he described the Cyclopes’ forges and the palace of Poseidon, but he also told us about how tense things were now. The old sea gods, the one who ruled during the Titan’s era, were starting to make war on Poseidon. When Tyson had left, battles were raging all over the Atlantic.

Percy looked anxious, and talked about how he wanted to help out, but we assured him that Poseidon would want him safe at camp.

“Lots of bad people above the sea, too,” Tyson said. “We can make them go boom.”

After the forges, we went to the canoe lake. I was glad to spend time with my best friends, but I couldn’t help but look over at the forest, about the problem Grover had at the council meeting.

After the council meeting, Grover wasn’t anywhere to be seen. I felt awful. I mean, looking for Pan was his lifelong goal, even though dad and uncle had both disappeared chasing that same dream. Last winter, Grover heard a voice in his head: I await you―the voice that he swore was Pan’s―but so far, that has led to practically nothing. I knew if he got his searcher’s license taken, it’d crush him.

“What’s this ‘other way’?” Percy asked me, “The thing Clarisse mentioned.”

I picked up a stone and studied it. “Something Clarisse scouted out. I helped her some this spring, but even then, it’s still dangerous. Especially for Grover.”

“Goat boy scares me,” Tyson murmured.

We looked over at him.

“Why would you be scared of Grover?” Percy asked.

“Hooves and horns,” Tyson muttered nervously, “And goat fur makes my nose itchy.”

The Grover Talk ended there.

Before dinner, the three of us went down to the sword arena, and Quintus was glad to have the company. I still didn’t get close enough to the crates to see what was inside, but he did train with Percy while I sat and pet Mrs. O’Leary. He fought like how you’d play chess―putting all the moves together, and making the pattern hard to spot until you were at the end of his sword as the loser.

“Good try,” He told him. “But your guard is too low.”

He lunged and Percy blocked.

“Have you always been a swordsman?” Percy asked.

Quintus parried Percy’s overhead cut. “I’ve been many things.”

He jabbed and Percy sidestepped.

I noticed his shoulder strap slipped down, showing that mark on his neck―a purple blotch that looked like a bird with folded wings. No, it was that. It looked intricately shaped, like it was a tattoo.

“What’s that on your neck?” I asked suddenly. Curse my chronic curiosity.

Quintus suddenly lost his rhythm. Percy saw that chance to hit his sword hilt, knocking the blade out of his hand.

He rubbed his fingers, shifting the armor to hide the mark. Then I realized it wasn’t a tattoo. It was a type of mark I was familiar with: an old burn. It was like he’d been branded.

“A reminder. I’m sure you have your own, Anesidora.” He turned to me, looking at my wrists sympathetically.

I looked at my arm, I covered it so quickly that I didn’t even notice he used my middle name.

He picked up his sword and forced a smile, turning back to Percy. “Now, shall we go again?”

He pressed Percy, not leaving room for any more questions.

While they fought, Tyson convinced me to play with her, who he called “little doggie,” and we had a great time. I watched the two wrestle for the bronze shield and we played “Get the Greek.” By sunset, Tyson, Percy and I were hot and sticky, despite Quintus not breaking one sweat. So, we hit the showers and got ready for dinner.

It was like a normal day at camp, which was good. Dinner came, and I led my cabin with the other campers, lining up by cabin and marching into the dining pavilion. Most of them ignored the sealed fissure in the marble floor at the entrance―a ten foot long jagged scar that came last winter―but I felt more comfortable stepping over it.

“Big crack,” I heard Tyson say from the Poseidon table. “Earthquake, maybe?”

I swallowed. “No, that’s not it…” I muttered to myself. I tried not to think about it, but I couldn’t help it. That crack felt deeper than just the dining pavilion, like there were a million large cracks across my body, and I was ready to fall apart at the seams, with no one to fix me up this time. I quietly picked at my meal.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

I hardly got any sleep that night. And ironically it wasn’t because I was reminded how I was half-dead. I laid in bed, watching the ceiling glitter dimly above me. My head was reeling with thoughts of what vision I’d get.

See, Half-Blood dreams aren’t dreams. They’re messages, or, for me, prophecies. I never found out why I got the special prophetic dream package, since I was the only one with them, and I had to keep them secret lest it “falls into the wrong hands.” (Chiron’s words, not mine.) Ever since I revived, I started feeling crazy realistic pain and the sounds of spirits, and ever since the Oracle decided it wanted to be a temporary unwanted visitor, the implications of that never eased my peace of mind.

Regardless, I managed to fall into a fitful sleep, before opening my eyes again on the dark shore of a river. I felt jagged rock under my feet, and wisps of fog slightly obscured the sight of the black sea.

I heard the same whispers and got a familiar shiver. My old friend: The Underworld, and I was standing by the River Styx.

I took a few steps forward and saw a young boy squatting at the riverbank, tending to a blue campfire. I squinted, trying to see where I knew him, then I saw his face. It was Nico di Angelo, throwing pieces of paper into the fire―Mythomagic trading cards, part of the game he was in love with last winter.

My body worked before my mind could. “Nico!” I called, and ran toward him, but he didn’t seem to hear me, let alone acknowledge me. He just kept focusing on tossing the cards.

Nico was only ten―eleven now―but he looked much older than that. His hair was longer, now shaggy and almost to his shoulders. His eyes were darker and his olive skin was paler. He wore ripped black jeans and a battered aviator’s jacket that was several sizes too big, unzipped over a black shirt. His face was now grimy, his eyes wild. I recognized that look all too well―like a kid who lived on the streets.

I waited for him to notice me again, but it was like I was invisible, which I probably was.

Nico tossed another trading card into the blue flames.

“Useless,” he muttered over the whispers in my ear.. “I can’t believe I ever liked this stuff.”

“A childish game, master,” another voice agreed. It was near the fire, and while I saw the blue glow, I couldn’t see their face.

Nico stared across the river. On the far shore, there was a black beach shrouded in haze, the entrance to the Underworld.

“I’ve failed,” Nico muttered. “There’s no way to get her back.”

The other person was silent.

Nico turned toward them doubtfully. “Is there? Speak.”

I saw a shimmer that could’ve been mistaken for firelight. But I knew better. This wasn’t a flicker, it was a man―a wisp of blue smoke that looked like a shadow. For anyone with a connection to the dead, or with common sense, it was obvious―It was a ghost.

“It has never been done,” the ghost said. “But there might be a way.”

“Tell me,” Nico commanded. His eyes shined with a fierce light I hadn’t seen before.

“An exchange,” the ghost said. “A soul for a soul.”

“I’ve offered!”

“Not yours,” the ghost said. “You cannot offer your father a soul he will eventually collect anyway, nor will he be anxious for the death of his son. I mean a soul that should have died already, someone who has cheated death.”

That sentence sent a chill down my spine. Nico’s face darkened. “Not that again.”

“I’m talking about justice,” The ghost said. “Vengeance.”

“Those are not the same thing.”

The ghost laughed dryly. “You will learn differently as you get older.”

Nico stared at the flames. “Why can’t I at least summon her? I want to talk to her. She would…she would help me.”

“I will help you,” the ghost promised. “Have I not saved you many times? Did I not lead you through the maze and teach you to use your powers? Do you want revenge for your sister or not?”

I didn’t like that tone. It’s something that gave me a nostalgic feeling, but it wasn’t good at all. It was how your parent spoke when they wanted to claim the way they treated your emotions was irrelevant, rather, it was the fact that you had a roof over your head that mattered. How your life was actually good and that you were overreacting. It was how my mother used to speak to me.

Nico turned from the fire. The ghost couldn’t see his face, but I could. I saw a tear trace its way down his face. “Very well. You have a plan?”

“Oh, yes,” The ghost said, sounding pleased that his manipulation worked. “We have many dark roads to travel. We must start―”

I felt my eyes open. I placed an arm over my face with a groan, confirming the vision was real. Nico was alive, and was trying to revive his sister.

I turned to my side as my thoughts swirled quietly in my head. An exchange, a soul for a soul. Someone who has cheated death. Vengeance.

Nico would come after me.

I wanted to fall back asleep, but then, I heard rustling in the woods.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Chapter Text

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

If you didn’t count the fact that I had a bounty on my head, breakfast next morning was filled with a ton of excitement.

Around three in the morning, an Aethiopian dragon was spotted at the borders of camp, but didn’t go through. The magic kept it outside, but it prowled around the hills instead, looking for any weak spots in our defenses, and didn’t look too anxious to leave until my siblings and I scared it off.

A dozen arrows lodged in the chinks of its armor later, it got the message and withdrew.

“It’s still out there,” I warned during announcements.

“Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made it mad.” Lee Fletcher, my brother, continued. “The thing was thirty feet long and bright green. Its eyes―” he shuddered.

“You did well, children.” Chiron patted both of our shoulders.

“Stay alert, but stay calm.” I said. “This isn’t the first time, after all!”

“Aye,” Quintus said from the head table. “And it will happen again. More and more frequently.”

The campers murmured among themselves. Yeah, they're totally calm.

Everyone knew the rumors: Luke and his army of monsters were planning to invade the camp. No one knows how or when, but we assume it’d be next summer. It didn’t help that our attendance was down, since we had about eighty campers now. When I was twelve and younger, this place had more than a hundred. Some died, some joined Luke, and some just disappeared.

“This is a good reason for new war games,” Quintus continued, a glint in his eyes. “We’ll see how you all do with that tonight.”

“Yes…” Chiron said. “Well, enough announcements. Let us bless this meal and eat.” He raised his goblet. “To the gods!”

We all raised our glasses. “To the gods!”

I took my plate and scraped a portion into the flames. I hoped a banana waffle would work fine, at least.

“Hey, dad,” I whispered. “Please tell me the answer to my prophecies, and help me help my friends.”

I sighed heavily, watching the flame burn slightly brighter, and I felt my shoulders slightly relax. I hoped at least one god heard me. I was going to go back to my table, but something compelled me to walk toward the Poseidon table.

Once everyone was eating, Chiron and Grover went over to us, and Chiron didn’t say anything about me sitting there.

Grover was bleary-eyed, and his shirt was inside out. He slid his plate onto the table and slumped next to me.

Tyson shifted uncomfortably. “I will go…um…polish my fish ponies.”

He then lumbered off, leaving his breakfast half eaten.

Chiron attempted to smile, wanting to look reassuring, but he practically towered over Percy and I in his centaur form. “Well, Solana, how did you sleep?”

I looked over at Percy, before turning toward Chiron again. “Uh…Fine, Chiron.” I gave a smile. Could he tell I had a vision?

“I brought Grover over,” Chiron said, "Because I thought you three might want to, ah, discuss matters. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have Iris-messages to send. I’ll see you two later in the day.” He gave Grover a meaningful look, and with that, he trotted out of the pavilion.

“What’s he talking about?” Percy asked Grover.

Grover chewed his eggs. He was definitely distracted, considering he bit off the tines of his fork and chewed those, too. “He wants you two to convince me,” he mumbled.

“About the Labyrinth.” I said suddenly.

Grover and Percy looked at me in shock. Everyone in the dining pavilion started stealing glances at us and whispering.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Percy said suddenly, like he just realized something. “The rules…”

Campers weren’t allowed to switch tables, with the exception of satyrs considering they weren’t really demigods. Half-bloods, on the other hand, had to sit with their respective cabins. There wasn’t really a punishment, it was just a known rule.

Quintus looked over and raised a brow, but didn’t say anything like Chiron.

“Grover’s in trouble,” I explained. “The Labyrinth is the only way we know to help him, it’s what Clarisse needed help investigating.”

Percy shifted his weight nervously. “You mean…the place where they kept the Minotaur, back in the old days?”

I nodded.

“So…It’s not under the king’s palace in Crete anymore,” Percy guessed. “It’s under a building in America?”

All the important places moved around with Western Civilization, like Mount Olympus being over the Empire State Building, and the Underworld entrance being in Los Angeles.

I tapped my fork on the plate. “Under a building, I’m not sure. The Labyrinth is huge, I don’t think it’d fit under a single city. Forget a building.”

I took a bite of my waffle before pausing. “...There may be passages from the Labyrinth down into the Underworld.”

“But the Underworld is, like, way, way down.” Percy pointed out.

“Well, the Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, like, a second skin, maybe? It’s probably been growing for thousands of years, lacing its way under Western cities and connecting everything underground together. You can get practically…anywhere through it.” I explained.

“If you don’t get lost,” Grover muttered. “And die a horrible death.”

“Well, there has to be a way, Grove.” I said, placing my hand on top of his. “I mean, Clarisse lived.”

“Barely!” Grover said. “And the other guy―”

“Insanity,” I said. “Not death.”

“Oh, joy.” Grover’s lower lip quivered. “That makes me feel much better.”

“Woah,” Percy said. “Back up. What’s this about Clarisse and a crazy guy?”

I bit my lip. I looked over at Clarisse at the Ares table, and she looked at us and Grover and I’s hands like she knew what we were talking about, but she fixed her eyes on her breakfast plate.

“Last year,” I said, keeping my voice low, “Clarisse went on a mission for Chiron, remember?”

Percy nodded. “I remember.”

“Well, it was secret because…She found Chris Rodriguez.”

“The guy from the Hermes Cabin?” Percy said. Two years ago, we eavesdropped on Chris Rodriguez aboard Luke’s ship, The Princess Andromeda. Chris was one of the half-bloods who abandoned camp and joined the Titan army.

“Yeah,” I said. “Last summer he just appeared in Phoenix Arizona, near Clarisse’s mom’s house.”

“What do you mean just appeared?” Percy asked.

“He was wandering around the desert, in 120 degrees, in full Greek armor, babbling about string…” I then trailed off.

“String,” Percy muttered.

“He was driven completely insane,” I said. “Clarisse brought him back to her mom’s house so the mortals didn’t institutionalize him. She tried to nurse him back to health and Chiron came to interview him, but it wasn’t any good. The only thing they got out of him was that Luke’s men were exploring the Labyrinth."

I shivered at that thought. Even looking back, it was a horrific visual. But I even felt more pity for Chris. He wasn’t a bad guy, just used by Luke. I watched Grover chewing up the rest of his fork.

“Okay,” Percy asked. “Why were they exploring the Labyrinth?”

“Beats me,” Grover murmured. “That’s why Clarisse went on a scouting mission. Chiron kept things quiet because he didn’t want anyone panicking.”

“Why was Sola involved, then?” Percy asked, and I played with my hair nervously.

“Well,” I said, “The Labyrinth is one of my favorite works of art. The details, the original purpose…” I sighed. “Daedalus is an artist in his own right. But, the Labyrinth entrances are everywhere. If If Luke could find out how to navigate it, it’d take no time moving around his army.”

“Except,” Percy said, “It’s a maze, right?”

“Full of horrible traps,” Grover agreed. “Dead ends, Illusions, psychotic goat-killing monsters.”

“Unless,” I said, “You had Ariadne’s string. Her string guided Theseus out of the maze, a navigation instrument made by Daedalus. And Chris was talking about string.”

“So Luke is trying to find Ariadne’s string,” Percy said. “Why? What’s he planning?”

I hummed. “Maybe he wanted to invade camp that way?”

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Grover said. “The closest entrances were found in Manhattan.”

“It wouldn’t help Luke get past our borders,” I agreed. “But maybe there’s a way to camp through there.”

In the back of my mind, I knew it sounded insane. I mean, it'll no doubt be dangerous, with tons of close calls, and we couldn’t even research it. But I knew Luke is one persistent parasite. He’d find a way.

“But if we can’t find out what Luke’s planning,” I said again, “I’m sure it’ll help Grover with Pan.”

Percy blinked. “You think Pan is underground?”

“It’d explain how he’s been hard to find.” I offered.

Grover shuddered. “Satyrs hate going underground, no searcher would ever try going in that place! No flowers, no sunshine, no coffee shops!”

“Although,” I said thoughtfully, “The Labyrinth can lead you almost anywhere. Yes, it uses your second guessing against you, designed to fool you, trick you and kill you; but what if you can make the Labyrinth work for you?”

I gave a smile. “If you use it that way―”

“―It can lead you to the wild god.” Percy finished.

“I can’t do it.” Grover hugged his stomach. “Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up my silverware.”

“Grover, this’ll be your last chance.” I said. “We both know the council is serious. One week, or you’ll have to learn to tap dance.”

Over at the head table, I heard Quintus clear his throat. He didn’t want to make a scene, but he made the message clear.

“I’ll talk to you more later,” I squeezed Percy’s hand. “You’re up, Perse. Convince him for me? Please?”

I headed toward the Apollo table quickly.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

In the afternoon, I flipped a coin and sat by the canoe lake. A few naiads sat with me, which felt nice. At first.

“Are you Telemachus' girlfriend?” one of the girls asked, making the other naiad shake her head. 

“No, I’m sure she’s with Percy, right?” They both turned to me expectantly, making me sigh and push their heads back down. “Neither are your business.”

I pulled out a piece of paper, the same slip that Felix gave me before I suddenly dropped from orientation. I read over the slip multiple times, almost studying the number, his handwriting, everything. Gods, how much do I owe him anyway?

“Not like it matters,” I muttered to myself. “Knowing him, he wouldn’t be too worried.”

I looked back at my coin and decided to make a call to Telemachus, since I did promise to tell him about orientation. Plus, a part of me knew that it’d be my last time sending him a call for a long while.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

The night after dinner, Quintus had us suit up in combat armor like we did for capture the flag, but the mood was more serious than before. During the day, the crates had disappeared, and I was sure whatever was inside had been emptied right into the woods.

“Right,” Quintus said, standing on the head dining table. “Gather ‘round.”

He was dressed in black leather and bronze, his grey hair almost ghostly in the torchlight. Mrs. O'Leary bounded happily around him. I held my hand out and gave her a leftover I'd saved for her. (What? She was growing on me!)

“You will be in teams of two,” Quintus announced. When everyone started talking and trying to grab their friends, he yelled: “Which have already been chosen!”

“AWWWW!” Everybody complained.

“Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters, and while all six have a silk package, only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course…you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive.”

The crowd started murmuring excitedly. The task was straightforward as it could get, I was sure we could slay monsters without breaking a sweat. I mean, it’s what we trained for.

“I will now announce your partners,” Quintus said. “There will be no trading, no switching, and no complaining.”

“Arooooof!” Mrs. O’Leary buried her face in a plate of pizza.

Quintus produced a big scroll and started reading off names:

Charlie would be with Silena Beauregard, which made Beckendorf pretty happy.

The Stoll brothers, Connor and Travis, would be together. Not surprising, since they did practically everything together.

Clarisse with Lee Fletcher from Apollo―melee and ranged combat combined, they’d be hard to beat.

Michael Yew with Dolores, sounds like an odd combo, but Doll looked pretty happy about it, if a bit intimidated. But Michael looked annoyed about working with a little kid.

Quintus rattled off more names until he said, “Percy Jackson with Solana Jackson.”

Nobody was surprised, at least, I wasn’t.

“Nice,” Percy grinned at me.

“Well, it’s the obvious choice.” I turned to him, sharing the grin. “And―wait, your armor’s crooked.” I said and redid his straps for him.

“Grover Underwood,” Quintus said, “with Tyson.”

Grover near jumped out of his goat fur. “What? B-But―”

“No, no,” Tyson whimpered. “Must be a mistake. Goat boy―”

“No complaining!” Quintus ordered. “Get with your partner, you have two minutes to prepare!”

Tyson and Grover gave both of us pleading looks. I gave them an encouraging smile, gesturing them to move together. Tyson sneezed, and Grover chewed nervously on his wooden club.

“Doll,” I called, and Dolores looked up. “Keep an eye on them, okay?”

Dolores gave me a smile and a thumbs up.

“They’ll be fine,” I told Percy and grabbed his hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

We got into the woods while it was still light outside, but the shadows from the trees made it look near midnight. It was cold too, despite it being summertime. Percy and I found tracks almost immediately―scuttling marks made by some monster with a lot of legs. So, we followed the trail.

We jumped a creek and heard some twigs snapping nearby. We decided to crouch behind a boulder, but it turned out to be the Stoll brothers tripping through the woods and cursing. For their dad being the god of thieves, they had the worst stealth skills.

Once the Stolls passed, we went deeper into the west woods, with wilder monsters. We stood on a ledge overlooking the pond. I tensed and held my breath, even though I didn’t need to. “This…This was where we stopped looking.”

Last winter, when we were searching for Nico di Angelo, this was where we’d given up hope. Grover, Percy and I, where we agreed not to tell Chiron his true identity: That Nico was a son of Hades. It seemed like the right thing to do at first, to protect his identity. Plus, a selfish part of me wanted to make things right with him for what happened to Bianca, his sister. Now, six months later, we weren’t any closer to finding him. I swallowed down the lump of hopelessness in my throat.

“I saw him,” I said. “Last night.”

Percy knit his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

I told him about my dream. When I finished, he seemed to stare blankly at me. “He’s summoning the dead?”

“The ghost was manipulating him,” I said. “Telling him to take revenge.”

“A ghost?”

“Yeah. Ghosts are never good with advice. They have old grudges, their own agendas. They resent the living. And…he’s coming after me. The spirit mentioned a maze.”

He nodded. “We have to find the Labyrinth.”

“Yeah. But where do we look? I don’t think―”

Snap!

The sound of a branch snapping echoed through the woods. Dry leaves rustled. Something large was moving in the trees, beyond the ridge.

“That’s…not the Stolls.” I whispered.

We drew our swords together.

We got to Zeus’s Fist, a huge pile of boulders in the middle of the west woods. It was a natural landmark where campers meet on hunting expeditions, but there wasn’t anyone around right now.

“Over there,” I whispered.

“No, wait,” Percy said. “Behind us.”

The scuttling noises seemed to be coming from several different directions, so we didn’t know the actual source. We just circled the boulders, our swords drawn and hoping for the best. Then, someone right behind us said, “Hi.”

We whirled around and the dryad, Juniper, yelped. “Put those down!” She protested. “Dryads don’t like sharp blades, okay?”

“Juniper!” I exhaled. “What…what are you doing here?”

“I live here!”

Percy lowered his sword. “In the boulders?”

She pointed toward the edge of the clearing. “In the juniper. Duh.”

It made sense, and I honestly felt stupid being confused, but to be fair, I never talked to dryads much. They couldn’t go very far from their tree, their life force, so you don’t always have long, drawn-out conversations with them.

“Are you guys busy?” Juniper asked.

“We’re in the middle of a game, against a bunch of monsters, and trying not to die…” I explained, before stabbing my sword into the ground. “But no, we’re not busy. What’s wrong?”

Juniper sniffled, wiping her silky sleeve under her eyes. “It’s Grover, he seemed so distraught. All year he’s been out looking for Pan, and every time he comes back, it’s worse! I thought maybe, at first, he was seeing another tree…”

“Oh, no,” I said as Juniper started to cry. I gently wiped her eyes. “That’s not it, Juni.”

“He had a crush on a blueberry bush once!” Juniper said miserably.

“Juniper,” I said, “Grover wouldn’t even think of looking at another tree! He’s just stressed about his searcher’s license.”

“He can’t go underground!” she protested. “You can’t let him!”

I shifted uncomfortably. “It may be the only way to help him, it’s just somewhere to start.”

“Ah.” Juniper sniffled as I wiped a green tear from her cheek. “About that…”

Another rustle in the woods. Juniper yelled, “Hide!”

Before we could ask, she went poof into green mist.

Percy 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 longer than both of our swords combined. It was a Scorpion with a red silk package tied to its back.

“One of us gets behind it,” I said, picking up my sword as the thing clattered toward us. “Cut off its tail while the other distracts in front.”

“You take point,” Percy said. “You’re basically a walking lightbulb.”

I nodded. We’ve been friends for so long that we practically match each other's flow. I knew we could take down one easy.

Only one problem, it didn’t stay one. Two other scorpions came scuttling out of the woods.

“Three?” Percy said. “That shouldn’t be possible!”

“Seriously?” I groaned. “The whole woods, other campers, and half the monsters decide to come for us?”

I took a deep breath. Okay, we could take down one. Two? If luck was on our side, sure. Three? We’re dead meat.

The scorpions scurried toward us, whipping their barbed tails like they came here just for us. Percy and I put our backs against the nearest boulder.

“Climb?” Percy suggested.

“No time,” I said.

The scorpions were already surrounding us, their hideous mouths foaming at the thought of us being their next meal.

“Look out!” Percy parried away a stinger with the flat of his blade. I stabbed with my sword, but the scorpion backed out of range. We clambered sideways along the boulders, but the scorpions only followed us.

I slashed at another one, but I knew the offensive was dangerous. Go for the body? The tail stabs down. Go for the tail? The pincers will come to either side to grab you. So all we could do was defend. I felt my bracelets burn against my wrists, but I couldn’t risk taking them off and giving them an opening.

Percy suddenly grabbed my arm and gently shook it. “In here.”

I looked over and saw a crack between two of the largest boulders, something you wouldn’t notice at first glance.

I quickly sliced at a scorpion. “Are you crazy? It’s too narrow! Besides, you should go in-”

Percy quickly pushed me toward it. “No, I’ll cover you. Go!”

I looked back at him, wondering if he’d be okay, but I eventually started to squeeze my way between the two boulders. But I suddenly felt myself slipping. I grabbed onto Percy’s armor straps to try and stay stable, before we both went tumbling into a pit that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

All we could see was the scorpions above us, the purple evening sky and trees, then the hole shut like a camera lens, leaving us in complete darkness.

Our breathing echoed against stone, leaving us sitting on a bumpy floor that seemed to be made of bricks.

Even though I was sure I scrapped up my knee pretty badly, I took off one of my bracelets and held it up, the glow just enough to illuminate our terrified faces and the mossy stone walls on either side of us.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Safe from scorpions, anyway.” Percy said. He sounded calm, but he grabbed my hand and squeezed it tightly. The crack between the boulders shouldn’t have led into a cave. I mean, we would’ve known there was a cave there, right?

But instead, it was like the ground had opened up and swallowed us whole. It reminded me of the fissure in the dining pavilion, where the skeletons were eaten last summer. Had the same thing happened to us?

Percy took my bracelet and lifted it higher.

“It’s a long room,” Percy mumbled.

“It’s not a room,” I hugged his arm. “It’s like…a corridor.”

The darkness felt empty ahead of us. There was a warm breeze, like subway tunnels, but it felt colder, more dangerous.

Percy stepped forward, but I squeezed his arm tight.

“W-Wait,” I managed. It felt like my feet were glued to the ground. “We shouldn’t move. We need to find the exit.” I begged quietly. I felt terrified.

“It’s okay,” Percy promised. “It’s right―”

He looked up. There wasn’t a trace of the hole that we fell in. Rather, the ceiling was solid stone instead. The corridor seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions.

I only hugged Percy’s arm tighter, but I tried to think about how we’ll get out of here,

“Two steps back,” Percy suggested.

We stepped backward together like we were in a minefield.

“Okay,” I let out a sigh. “Examine the walls.”

“For?”

“Just look, okay?” I set my hand on the wall, searching blindly. “Maybe there’s a switch or something…”

“I don’t think that’s―”

“I found something!” I felt relief wash over me. My finger pressed against a tiny fissure, which started to glow blue. A Greek symbol appeared―L, the Ancient Greek Delta.

“The mark of Daedalus?” I blinked. “But how―”

The roof slid open and we saw the night sky, stars sparkling beautifully. It was a lot darker than it was before. Metal ladder rungs appeared on the side of the wall, leading up, and I heard people yelling our names.

“Percy! Sola!” Tyson’s voice bellowed the loudest, but I heard the others too.

We began to climb up, and made our way around the rocks, running into Clarisse and a bunch of other campers carrying torches. Dolores ran into my arms, and I quickly hugged and picked her up.

“Where have you two been?” Clarisse demanded. “We’ve been looking forever.”

“But we were only gone a few minutes,” Percy said.

Chiron trotted up, followed by Tyson and Grover.

“Percy! Sola!” Tyson said. “You are okay?”

“We’re fine,” I said. “We fell in a hole.”

The other looked at us skeptically.

“Seriously!” I said. “Three scorpions surrounded us, so we ran and hid in the rocks, but we weren’t gone for long.”

“You’ve been missing for almost an hour,” Chiron said. “The game is over.”

“Yeah,” Grover muttered. “We would’ve won, but a Cyclops sat on me.”

“Was an accident!” Tyson protested, sneezing after.

I noticed Dolores and Michael Yew wearing the laurels, but they didn’t brag or anything. Doll didn’t even notice she had them on.

“A hole?” Clarisse said suspiciously.

I looked at Chiron. “Chiron, we should talk about this at the Big House.”

Grover gasped. “You found it?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “Yeah. Yeah, we did.”

A bunch of campers started asking questions, looking around confused. But Chiron raised his hand for silence.

“Tonight is not the right time, and this is not the right place.” He stared at the boulders, like he just realized how dangerous they are. “All of you, back to your cabins. Get some sleep. A game well played, but curfew is past!”

There was a lot of mumbling and complaints, but the campers drifted off. I gently put Dolores down and sent her off to bed.

“Well, this explains a lot,” I said. “It at least explains what Luke is after.”

“Wait a second,” Percy said. “What do you mean? What did we find?”

I turned towards him, my mind racing. “An entrance to the Labyrinth. An invasion route straight into the heart of camp.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Chapter Text

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Chiron insisted that we talk about it in the morning, which read like Hey, your lives are in mortal danger! Nighty-Night! So that surprisingly didn’t help me with sleeping.

When I did, I found myself in the attic, at least, I guessed it was. Green mist was swirling around my body like a spirit. I felt pain all over and whispers of spirits. Past, present, future? Who knows. I let out a sigh, but only green smoke floated out from my lips. It was like I was floating in a room of green mist. Like I was paralyzed, without any way to move no matter how much I tried and strained.

One voice stuck out, though.

Take heart, Pandora, a raspy, whispery voice called. Your time has come. Now, awaken, little Prophetess.

And I woke up covered in a cold sweat.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

I was trying to take deep breaths as Chiron called a war council. We met in the sword arena, y’know, discussing the fate of the camp while Mrs. O’Leary chewed on a life-size squeaky pink rubber yak.

Chiron, Quintus and I stood at the front of the weapon racks. Clarisse and I sat next to each other. Tyson and Grover sat as far away from each other as possible. There was also: Juniper, Silena Beauregard, Travis and Connor Stoll, Beckendorf, and even Argus, our hundred-eyed security chief. Argus hardly showed up unless something really major was going on, so you know it’s serious. He kept his hundred blue eyes trained on me so hard his whole body turned bloodshot.

I led the briefing. “Luke knew about the entrance to the Labyrinth,” I said. “That’s for sure.”

Juniper cleared her throat. “That’s what I was trying to tell you last night! The cave entrance has been there for a long time, Luke used to use it.”

Silena Beauregard frowned. “You knew about the Labyrinth entrance, and you didn’t say anything?”

Juniper’s face turned green. “I didn’t know it was important! Just a cave, I don’t like yucky old caves.”

“She has good taste,” Grover said.

“I wouldn’t have paid any attention except…well, it was Luke.” She blushed a little greener.

I cringed. “So, what about good taste?”

Grover huffed. “Forget it.”

“Interesting.” Quintus polished his sword and spoke. “And you believe this young man, Luke, would dare use the Labyrinth as an invasion route?”

“Definitely,” I said. “If he could get a monster army inside of Camp, pop up in the middle of the woods without worrying about our boundaries? We wouldn’t have enough time to prepare, we’d be wiped out easily. He’s been planning this for months.”

Quintus raised a brow, and gestured for me to continue. I felt kinda awkward leading the entire meeting, and with the fact that he seemed to favor me in a way.

“Well, we know he’s been sending scouts into the maze.” I continued. “And we know this because,” I looked toward Clarisse. “We found one.”

“Chris Rodriguez,” Chiron said, and gave Quintus a meaningful look.

“Ah,” Quintus said. “The one in the…Yes. I understand.”

“The one in what?” Percy asked.

Clarisse glared at him, and I quickly interrupted. “The point is that Luke’s been looking for a way to navigate the maze. He’s searching for Daedalus' workshop.”

“The guy who created the maze,” Percy said.

“Yes,” I said. “If the legends are true, his workshop is at the center of the Labyrinth now. He was the only one who knew how to navigate the place perfectly, and if Luke manages to find the workshop and convince Daedalus to help him, he wouldn’t have to worry about searching around for paths, or risk losing his army in the maze’s traps. He could navigate safely to anywhere he desired. First to Camp Half-Blood. Then to Olympus.”

The arena was silent. Of course save for Mrs. O’Leary’s toy yak getting disemboweled with a SQUEAK! SQUEAK!

Finally, Beckendorf put his hands on the table. “Back up a sec. Sol, you said ‘convince Daedalus’? Isn’t Daedalus dead?”

Quintus grunted. “I would hope so. He lived, what, three thousand years ago? And even if he were alive, don’t the old stories say he fled from the Labyrinth?”

“Not fled.” I said. “He was trapped farther away from the Labyrinth after it was built for the Minotaur.”

“That’s the problem,” Chiron clopped restlessly on his hooves. “No one knows. There are rumors…well, there are many disturbing rumors about Daedalus, but one is that he disappeared back into the Labyrinth toward the end of his life. He may still be down there.”

“Okay, so we need to go in.” I announced. “We have to find the workshop before Luke does. If Daedalus is still alive, we convince him to help us, not Luke. If Ariadne’s string still exists, we can make sure it never falls into Luke’s hands.”

“Wait a second,” Percy said. “If we’re worried about an attack, why not just blow up the entrance? Seal the tunnel?”

“Great idea!” Grover said. “I’ll get the dynamite!”

“It’s not so easy, stupid,” Clarisse growled. “We tried that at the entrance we found in Phoenix. It didn’t go well.”

I nodded. “The Labyrinth is magical architecture. It would take huge power to seal even one of its entrances. In Phoenix, Clarisse demolished a whole building with a wrecking ball and the maze entrance just shifted a few feet. So, our best bet is preventing Luke from learning to navigate the place.” I concluded.

“We could fight,” Beckendorf said. “We know where the entrance is now. We can set up a defensive line and wait for them. If an army tries to come through, they’ll find us waiting with our weapons.”

“We will certainly set up defenses,” Chiron agreed. “But I fear Clarisse is right. The magical borders have kept this camp safe for hundreds of years, and if Luke manages to get a large army of monsters into the center of camp, bypassing our boundaries…we may not have the strength to defeat them.”

Well, that wasn’t a comforting thought. If Chiron was predicting that we couldn’t hold off an attack, that wasn’t good.

“We have to find Daedalus' workshop first,” I insisted. “Find Ariadne’s string and prevent Luke from using it for his own gain.”

“But if nobody can navigate in there,” Percy said, “What chance do we have?”

“Like I said, sure it can trick and mess with your head, but you can also manipulate the Labyrinth for your own gain. Plus, we got out of the Labyrinth before.”

“But if nobody can navigate in there,” Percy said, ‘What chance do we have?”

“We know how it works,” I insisted.

“Through reading about it?”

“Yeah?”

“Sol, that’s not enough!”

“But that’s all we have!”

I realized everyone was watching Percy and I like a tennis match. Mrs. O’Leary’s squeaky yak went EEK! As she ripped off its pink rubber head.

Chiron cleared his throat. “First things first. We need a quest. Someone to enter the Labyrinth, find the workshop of Daedalus, and prevent Luke from using the maze to invade this camp.”

“Well, I think we all know who should lead this,” Quintus put his hands on my shoulders. “Anesidora, you up for it?”

“What―me?” I stammered. “No, no, that’s crazy. What about Clarisse? I mean, she’s done as much as me―”

Clarisse shook her head. “I’m not going back in there.”

Travis Stoll laughed. “Don’t tell me you’re scared. Clarisse, chicken?”

Clarisse got to her feet, and when I thought a fight would break out, she spoke in a shaky voice. “You don’t understand anything, punk. I’m never going in there again. Never!”

She stormed out of the arena.

Travis looked around sheepishly. “I didn’t mean―”

Chiron raised his hand. “The poor girl has had a difficult year. Now, do we have an agreement that Solana should lead the quest?”

Everyone nodded, even Quintus squeezed my shoulders and gave me a confident smile, but it didn’t help my anxiety.

“Very well,” Chiron turned to me. “My dear, it’s your time to visit the Oracle.” he seemed to wince at me at the mention of the Oracle, which made sense, since my last ‘visit’ wasn’t pleasant. “Assuming you return to us in one piece, we shall discuss what to do next.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Visiting the Oracle was something I felt more obligated to do rather than actually needing to do. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t know everything, since I’m not a god. But future vision gives you ten times more preparation compared to a regular camper, even if they were just vague, random and only make sense until after the fact.

Unfortunately, I didn’t even have another camper to walk up with me. I only had the creaky steps of the attic and the looming sense of dread to keep me company. I bit the inside of my cheek as the dusty old mummy of the Oracle, who had an unwelcoming visit inside of my body, sat there, motionless.

“Hi.” I said, which I immediately felt dumb for after. “Are you…not going to possess me this time?”

Silence. I was going to take that as a yes when she sat up, and I took a step back. I felt a cool chill surround me, and my body froze, like I was paralyzed, and I couldn’t move no matter if I struggled with all of my might.

I heard spirits whispers ring in my ears, they were surrounding me, tugging at my clothes, my hair and my skin. They were saying things, things that hurt to listen to, like a loud fire alarm siren at 9am when you’re at school and you can barely wake up as it is.

And then, pain. Pain that spread throughout my body. My body finally moved, at least, to send me to the ground in writhing agony. I opened my mouth to speak, to scream, but all I got was green mist escaping me and a few droplets of red.

Then, that raspy voice harmonized with me as I spoke:

You shall delve in the darkness of the maze,

The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise.

You shall rise or fall by the ghost king’s hand,

The child of Athena's final stand.

I felt tears fall from my eyes. Gods, the pain was unbearable, but I couldn’t do anything about it. The ghost whispers slowly turned into a ringing in my ears, and I felt like they’d pop soon. But I couldn’t stop there, even if I wanted to. More droplets fell from my lips and to the wooden floor beneath me.

Destroy with a hero’s final breath,

And lose someone to worse than death.

Eventually, everything stopped. Literally, when I closed my eyes and finished the sinister prophecy, but when I managed to close my eyes and opened them again, everything was normal, even seemed still. The green mist was gone, the room was silent, and the Oracle was laying back in her case, leaving me with a hoarse voice and a stained lip and chin.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

A part of me didn’t want to leave. I felt sore, exhausted, and my mind felt like it was spinning and wouldn’t cut it out. I wanted to ask a thousand questions, but I remembered what Apollo told me. Asking a prophet about a prophecy is like asking the artist about his art, or something like that.

So, I sat on the ground. I glanced over the stuffed hydra head and other things that had been stuffed in the attic, just to kill time and partly to forget that horrific experience, even though I didn’t really forget it.

I mean, I couldn’t forget it. It was my destiny, even though I really didn’t want it. But I knew firsthand that destiny didn’t care what I wanted.

So, I took a deep breath, tried to look like death and despair, and forced myself to go back to the sword arena. I was met with everyone once again, looking at me expectantly.

“My dear,” Chiron said. “You made it.”

I stood between Chiron and Quintus again.

“Well?” Quintus asked.

I took a deep breath. “I got the prophecy, I will lead the quest to find Daedalus' workshop.”

No cheering. I didn’t expect them to, either. I mean, yeah, I, of all people, finally got a quest, after being here for years. Even I was shocked it was my turn to lead for once. But of course my first quest had to be the insanely dangerous one.

Chiron scraped a hoof on the dirt floor. “What did the prophecy say exactly, my dear? The wording is important.”

“Right.” I swallowed, before forcing the words out of my throat. “You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze…”

Everyone stepped back. I didn’t blame them. For all they know, I could start floating with glowing green eyes or something. I took another deep breath.

“The…The dead, the traitor, and lost one raise.”

Grover perked up. “The lost one! That must mean Pan! That’s great!”

“With the dead and the traitor,” Percy added. “Not so great.”

“And?” Chiron asked. “What is the rest?”

“You shall rise or fall by the ghost king’s hand,” I said, “the child of Athena's final stand.”

“Who’s this ghost king?” Beckendorf asked.

No one said anything. I shifted my weight uncomfortably, as the dream I had a few nights before entered my head. But I didn’t want to say anything, but Nico being connected to the prophecy didn’t sound great.

“Are there more lines?” Chiron asked. “The prophecy does not sound complete.”

“I…” I stammered. “I—I don’t―”

Chiron raised a brow, and I caved. There wasn’t any reason to lie, but that last line…

I rubbed my wrists. “Destroy with a hero’s final breath, I think? And…”

Everyone’s eyes on me only made me feel worse. I couldn’t say that last line―I didn’t want to!

“It doesn’t matter,” I interrupted. “The point is that I have to go. I have to find the workshop and stop Luke, but I can’t do it alone.”

I turned to Percy, and he didn’t hesitate. “I’m in.”

I gave him an exhausted smile. I then turned to Grover. “You too? The wild god is waiting for you.”

Grover forgot how much he hated the underground. Apparently the line about the “lost one” put all the energy back in him. “I’ll pack extra recyclables for snacks!”

“Tyson?” I looked at him. “I need you, too.”

“Yay! Blow-things-up time!” Tyson clapped so hard it woke up Mrs. O’Leary, who was sleeping in the corner.

“Wait, Solana,” Chiron said. “Four on a quest is―”

“I need all of them,” I pleaded. “It’s important.”

Chiron flicked his tail nervously. “Solana, consider well. You would be breaking ancient laws. Last winter, six went on a quest to save Artemis, and only four came back. The ideal number would be three. That is a good, equal number that stands against many dangers. Four…this is risky.”

I paused and bit the inside of my cheek. I didn’t want to risk losing any of my friends, but… “I know, but…I’m not doing this without them. Please.”

Chiron clearly didn’t like it. And Quintus looked almost impressed, which felt kinda nice. Or he was trying to figure out which of us was coming back alive, which wasn’t as nice.

Chiron sighed. “Very well. Let us adjourn. The members of the quest must prepare themselves. Tomorrow at dawn, we send you into the Labyrinth.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Quintus pulled me aside once the council started breaking up.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” he told me.

Mrs. O’Leary came over, wagging her tail happily. She dropped her shield at my feet and I gladly tossed it for her, and Quintus watched her romp after it. I looked back at him, and he looked weirdly concerned about me.

“I don’t like the idea of you going down there,” he said. “Any of you. But if you must, I want you to remember something. The Labyrinth exists to fool you. It will distract you. That’s dangerous to half-bloods, we’re easily distracted.”

“You’ve been there?” I asked.

“Long ago,” his voice was ragged. “I barely escaped with my life. Most who enter aren’t that lucky.”

He gripped my arm. “Anesidora…Pandora. Keep your mind on what matters most. Don’t get curious, don’t stray from your task. If you can do that, you might find the way. And here, I wanted to give you something.”

He handed me a silver tube that felt so cold I thought it’d melt in my hand.

“A whistle?” I said, before examining it further. It was the same whistle I used for the wolves when I was adopted by the Hunters. “A…dog whistle.”

“For Mrs. O’Leary.” Quintus said.

“Thanks, appreciate it, but―”

“How will it work in the maze? I’m not a hundred percent certain it will.”

“That’s nice.”

“But Mrs. O’Leary is a hellhound. She can appear when called, no matter how far away she is. I’d feel better knowing you had this. If you really need help, use it; but be careful, the whistle is made of Stygian ice.”

“Stygian ice…from the Styx?”

Quintus nodded. “Very hard to craft, and very delicate. It cannot melt, but it will shatter when you blow it, so you can only use it once.”

I examined the whistle carefully. Quintus was nice, but I couldn’t help but think about Luke, when he gave up the flying shoes that had been designed to kill Percy. Quintus seemed genuinely worried, though, and Mrs. O’Leary liked him, which is a more trustworthy source in my opinion. She dropped the slimy shield at my feet and barked excitedly.

I shook off the mistrust (and the weird bit about him calling me solely by my middle name), and I turned to Quintus. “Thanks.”

I smiled and slipped the cold whistle in my pocket and trudged off to the Apollo cabin.

The cabin was messy per usual, just a huge artist’s gallery. But it seemed more empty than it usually was. I mean, my siblings were off doing activities, but I’d at least see one of them. Now? It felt deserted. Abandoned. A feeling that was familiar, but it didn’t mean I liked it.

I slid down to the ground and flipped a coin in my hand. I watched it shimmer, but looking at my reflection, I only saw a dim sunlight where the sun usually shone. I hated it, I hated how defeated I looked, how defeated I felt. This wasn’t me, so why did it feel familiar? Heck, felt better? It felt better than being happy.

“Ring, ring…?”

I looked up, forcing myself to perk up immediately. “Who’s―?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Telemachus gave me a sheepish grin from the Iris-message. I let out a tired sigh, running my hand across my face and putting on a small smile.

“No, no…you didn’t…” I lied. “You didn’t startle me. What’s up?”

“You never called me back.” he frowned. “Well―You did earlier, but―It just felt―”

“Rushed,” I sighed. “Yeah, council meeting.”

“Yeah.”

We sat in a comfortable silence for a moment before he spoke again. “Um…how did that go, by the way?”

“Peachy,” I grumbled, and Telemachus winced.

“Bad,” he said. “Got it.”

“No, no, it.. It actually went really well. I even got a quest.” I muttered.

“A quest?” His eyes lit up. “That’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, right? You’re actually a lead on a quest―Sola, that’s amazing! Where to?!”

I didn’t blame him. It was exciting, and for a sheltered prince with strangers wandering his palace willy-nilly, it was even better.

“It’s…” I tried to force a smile. “It’s a…scary, dangerous quest―”

“More dangerous than when you held up the sky?” He raised a brow, and I sighed. I knew he was still upset about that.

“Yes, and I already apologized for that.”

“It takes a heck-of-a-lot more than a few ‘I’m sorrys’ and ‘I’ll never do it agains,’ Sol! You made me worried!”

“I know, and I’m sorry. I love you.” I gave him one of my cute smiles, and he eventually softened up.

“I love you too. Now, you were saying?”

“Right. It’s a scary, dangerous quest for four―two half-bloods, a satyr, and a Cyclops, traveling through the confusing and treacherous Labyrinth of Dedalus! Where there will be many twists, turns and tricks. These four will be forced to traverse through the dark, dark underground to find the old inventor and convince him to give them Ariadne’s string!”

Telemachus smiled and gave me a small applause. “That sounds so cool! But…” He frowned. “You look beat down about it.”

I sighed. “Yeah…I mean…” I played with the coin in my hand. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ungrateful, I mean, part of me has always wanted to lead a quest.”

“I know,” Telemachus said. “And you’re gonna do awesome! Like always!”

I sighed and bent the coin in my fingers, watching it shimmer with my movements. “Yeah, totally. I’m just worried. Which is… ridiculous, I mean…Me? Worried? That’s like Percy not being good in water.”

“But…” Telemachus frowned. “You can be worried, Sol. I mean, I’ve seen you worried, when I got hit by Antinous, and you came to help.” He smiled. “Plus, I think it’s cute.”

“Now’s not the time for flattery,” I frowned. “I feel like I shouldn’t have asked my friends to do this with me. I’d just burden them, when it’s my responsibility.”

“They’re your friends,” Telemachus pointed out. “I’m sure they’re happy to travel with you! I mean, anyone would be! I’m sure whatever the Oracle said―”

He saw my shoulders tense and his smile faded. “What…did the Oracle say?”

Part of me was panicking internally. I didn’t know who that last line was about, but Telemachus wasn’t a possibility I wasn’t expecting. But that thought terrified me. What was I doing? Telling him all of this, I could be putting him in more danger than what it’s worth. Lose someone to a fate worse than death. I didn’t want that to be him.

“Nothing.” I said in a small voice. “I‒I’m sure it’s fine.”

I stared at the coin blankly, before I heard the sound of a kiss being blown. I looked up to see Telemachus' flushed face, and his arms waving like he was trying to fly away. “I‒I didn’t mean―Gods, I’m sorry! You just always do that to me and it makes me smile and I was just…” He gave me a nervous smile. “I was hoping… it’d make you feel better…too.”

I blinked, then smiled, and I could feel my own face heat up. “You dork…but thank you. It helped.”

He then gave me a more confident smile. “Good. You’re gonna do great on that quest, Sol. You’re amazing already, so it’ll just prove how amazing you already are.” He said, pulling Argos into view. “So…break a leg! But not literally―please not literally.”

I giggled. “Not literally. Thanks, Tel.” I blew him a kiss, and he blushed, causing Argos to lick his cheek, probably to see if the pink on his cheek was edible.

“I’ll tell mom you called!” he said over Argos’s affection. “You’ll do great―Ack!―I love you!”

And with that, his image shimmered away, the only thing left being the sunlight and the blush on my face.

I watched the coin shimmer in the light, reflecting a new hope, but the shadow it cast showing bad omens to come. Or something like that.

All I knew was that I had to lead the quest, I had to get to Dedalus’s workshop, and I had to make sure everyone came back fine, even if that meant it wouldn’t be me.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Chapter Text

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

A dream is something that warns you of things to come, or tricks and deceives you. My dream started in darkness.

I mean, actual darkness, which didn’t exactly help that I didn’t enjoy the dark too much to begin with. It was so dark that I didn’t doubt any hallucinations I had. Though the voice I heard wasn’t a hallucination, as much as I wanted it to. It was Luke’s voice.

“Our spies report success, my lord,” he said. “Camp Half-Blood is sending a quest, as you predicted. Our side of the bargain is complete.”

Excellent. The voice of freezing terror―The Titan Lord Kronos, seemed to shake the darkness. I was sent tumbling to the ground, which was smooth and cool, like a small box. I was in a box in my dream. Again. I looked at my hands, and I was in my hologram form― glowing golden, dressed in silk robes, a walking flashlight. Great.

Once we have the means to navigate, I will lead the vanguard through myself.

Luke seemed to hesitate before speaking again. “My lord, perhaps it is too soon. Perhaps Krios or Hyperion should lead―”

No. His voice was quiet, but firm. I will lead. One more heart shall join our cause, and that will be sufficient. At last, I shall rise fully from Tartarus.

“But, the form my lord…” Luke’s voice was shaking.

Show me your sword, Luke Castellan.

I heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed. I didn’t need to see it to know what it looked like. A wicked glow―half steel, half celestial bronze. I was nearly killed with that sword on multiple occasions, I couldn’t forget about it even if I wanted to.

You pledged yourself to me, Kronos reminded him. You took this sword as proof of your oath.

“Yes, my lord. It’s just―”

You wanted power, I gave you that. You are now beyond harm. Soon you will rule the world of gods and mortals. Do you not wish to avenge yourself? To see Olympus destroyed?

“Yes.”

I felt myself glow in the small box. My light filled the room, a golden light.

Then make ready the strike force. As soon as the bargain is done, we shall move forward. First, Camp Half-Blood will be reduced to ashes. Once those bothersome heroes are eliminated, we will march on Olympus.

There was a sudden knock that echoed in the small box I was in. My light faded as quick as it came, and I heard the sound of Luke’s sword being sheathed.

“Come in.”

I stood and attempted to push on the lid to get it open to no avail. It was too heavy for my small pathetic body to open.

I heard the sound of two slithering snakes―probably dracaenae women―and the sound of a hoof and what sounds like metal walking across the ground. The empousa.

“Hello, Luke.” I recognized the voice, Kelli, the cheerleader-monster-hybrid from freshman orientation. I pushed on the box harder, but it still didn’t budge.

“What is it, demon?” Luke’s voice was cold. “I told you not to disturb me.”

“That’s not very nice,” Kelli whined. “You look tense. How about a nice shoulder massage?”

Luke’s voice only tensed. “If you have something to report, say it. Otherwise, leave!”

“I don’t know why you’re so huffy these days. You used to be fun to hang around with, until you met that raincloud brat.”

Charlotte…I hadn’t heard her voice yet. I pushed on the box harder, maybe if I could find the latch?

“That was before I saw what you did to that boy in Seattle. She has nothing to do with it.” Luke defending Charlotte. As happy as you thought I must have been, I actually felt disgusted more than anything. The only hope I felt was that she might’ve been alive.

“Oh, he meant nothing to me,” Kelli said. “Just a snack, really. You know my heart belongs to you, Luke.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. Now report or get out.”

“Fine.” Kelli said. “The advance team is ready, as you requested. We can leave―” She suddenly paused.

“What is it?” Luke asked.

“A presence,” Kelli said. “Your senses are getting dull, Luke. We’re being listened to.”

I heard her footsteps walk across the stateroom floor. I swore I was done for, but then, I saw a burst of golden light, and I woke up with a start.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Well, I didn’t exactly wake up. I only woke up in a different location. This time, I was with Nico, but we weren’t in the Underworld anymore. Instead, we were in a graveyard under a gorgeous starry sky, which made my stomach turn with a bittersweet feeling. We stood under giant willow trees that loomed all around us.

He was watching gravediggers working away. There were shovels and dirt flying out of a hole, and Nico was dressed in a black cloak. The night was foggy, warm and humid, complete with the sounds of frogs croaking. A large Walmart bag sat at Nico’s feet.

“Is it deep enough yet?” Nico asked, sounding irritated.

“Nearly, my lord.” It was the same ghost from before, that man. “But, my lord, I tell you, this is unnecessary. You already have me for advice.”

“I want a second opinion!” Nico snapped his fingers, and the digging stopped. The two figures that climbed out of the hole weren’t people, they were skeletons in ragged clothes.

“You are dismissed,” Nico said. “Thank you.”

The skeletons suddenly collapsed into piles of bones.

“You might as well thank the shovels,” the ghost complained. “They have as much sense.”

Nico just ignored him and reached into his Walmart bag, and pulled out a twelve-pack of coke. He popped open a can and poured it into the grave.

“Let the dead taste again,” he murmured. “Let them rise and take this offering. Let them remember.”

He dropped the rest of the Cokes into the grave and pulled out a white paper bag decorated with cartoons―a McDonald’s Happy Meal.

He turned it upside down and shook the fries and hamburger into the grave.

“In my day, we used animal blood,” The ghost mumbled. “It is perfectly good, they can’t taste the difference.”

“I will treat them with respect,” Nico said.

“At least let me keep the toy,” The ghost said.

“Be quiet!” Nico ordered and emptied another twelve-pack of soda and three more Happy Meals into the grave, and started chanting in Ancient Greek. I’ll save you the details, but it was mostly about the dead and memories and returning from the grave. Things that anyone would want to hear.

The grave started to bubble, frothy brown liquid rose to the top like the entire thing was filling with the Soda that was poured into it. The fog thickened. The frogs stopped croaking. Suddenly, dozens of figures started appearing among the gravestones: bluish, human shapes. Nico summoned the dead with Coke and cheeseburgers alone, and I was almost proud.

“There are too many,” the ghost said nervously. “You don’t know your own powers.”

“I’ve got it under control,” Nico said, though his voice was fragile. He drew a sword I’ve never seen him with before―a short, black metal blade. It wasn’t celestial bronze or steel, it was iron, something I’d recognized when Eventide worked.

The crowd of shades retreated at the sight.

“One at a time,” Nico commanded.

A single figure floated forward―a teenage guy in Greek armor, with curly hair and green eyes, and a clasp shaped like a seashell on his cloak. He knelt at the pool, making slurping sounds as he drank.

“Who are you?” Nico said. “Speak.”

The young man frowned as he tried to remember, then spoke in a voice that sounded like dry, crumpling paper. “I am Theseus.”

I swallowed. He meant the Theseus? To be fair, he was young when he fought the Minotaur, but I didn’t expect him to look around my age. 20, maybe? At the oldest, at least. He wasn't tall or buff, though he was a bit taller than I was, around Percy’s height. He had some muscle, but not by a landslide. He wouldn’t look out of place at Camp Half-Blood.

“How can I retrieve my sister?” Nico asked.

Theseus's eyes were as lifeless as glass. “Do not try, it is madness.”

“Just tell me!”

“My father died,” Theseus remembered. “He threw himself into the sea because he thought I was dead in the Labyrinth. I wanted to bring him back, but I could not.”

Nico’s ghost hissed, “my lord, the soul exchange! Ask him about that!”

Theseus scowled. “That voice. I know that voice.”

“No you don’t, fool!” the ghost said. “Answer the lord’s questions and nothing more!”

“I know you,” Theseus insisted, clearly struggling to remember.

“I want to hear about my sister,” Nico said. “Will this quest into the Labyrinth help me win her back?”

Theseus was looking for the ghost, but apparently couldn’t see him. He slowly turned his eyes back on Nico. “The Labyrinth is treacherous. There is only one thing that saw me through: the love of a mortal girl. The string was only part of the answer, it was the princess who guided me.”

“We don’t need any of that,” The ghost said. “I will guide you, my lord. Ask him if it is true about an exchange of souls, he will tell you.”

“A soul for a soul,” Nico asked. “Is it true?”

“I―I must say yes. But the specter―”

“Just answer the questions, knave!” the ghost demanded.

Suddenly, the other ghosts at the edges of the pool became restless. They stirred, whispering in nervous tones.

“I want to see my sister!” Nico demanded, sounding desperate. “Where is she?”

“He is coming,” Theseus said fearfully. “He has sensed your summons. He comes.”

“Who?” Nico demanded.

“He comes to find the source of this power,” Theseus said. “You must release us!”

The ground underneath me seemed to be shaking, and I heard the faint hum of energy. I saw the image of different specters flying past me, leaving me with cold shivers and my dream seemed to be fizzling in and out of view. I tripped as whispers filled my ears, and the ground sunk beneath my feet, going up to my legs, my torso, and my arms.

Before I was completely devoured, I woke up, this time back in my cabin.

I looked around, shivering from what’d happened. I pinched my arm and winced. Yep, I was officially awake. Plus, the scorching heat of my bracelets were a good indicator, too.

I knew way too much all at once. With the attack on camp incoming, and Nico summoning the dead, I didn’t know what to make of it. When have I ever gotten two visions anyway?

I didn’t have time to dwell on it, though. I had my own quest to lead.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Just after dawn, the quest group met at Zeus's Fist. I packed my own knapsack with my essentials―a thermos with nectar, a baggie of ambrosia, a bedroll, rope, a change of clothes, flashlights and a ton of extra batteries, as well as an extra bag of golden drachmas. I wore my bracelets, Helios, on my wrists, which had cooled down significantly since this morning, and brought Katopris, strapped securely around my waist. My box braids were tied back into a low ponytail.

It was a clear morning, the fog burning off and blue skies. A great sight for anyone but me. Campers would be having their regular lessons―pegasi flying, archery and scaling the lava wall while we were heading underground.

Juniper and Grover stood apart from the group. Juniper had been crying again, but tried to keep it together for Grover’s sake. She kept fussing with his clothes, straightening his rasta cap and brushing goat fur off his shirt. Since we didn’t know what we’d encounter, he was dressed as a human as a precaution, with the cap to hide his horns, and jeans, fake feet, and sneakers to hide his goat legs.

Chiron, Quintus and Mrs. O’Leary stood with the other campers who’d come to wish us well, but there was way too much going on to be considered a very happy send-off. There were a couple of tents set up by the rocks for guard duty, and Beckendorf and his siblings were working on a line of defensive spikes and trenches.

Chiron had decided we needed to guard the Labyrinth exit at all times just in case.

I fidgeted with a small item in my hands, an extra piece of jewelry that I’d brought along. It was a small, gold band with an engraving of a Willow Tree and other decorative designs. I swore I’d never take it out unless I absolutely needed to, especially at camp, but for some odd reason, it calmed me down to wear it now.

I was twirling it around my finger as Percy and Tyson walked toward me. I looked at my best friend and frowned. He looked exhausted, with dark bags under his eyes and his twists a mess on his head. I ran my hand through his hair. “Perse, you look awful. What happened?”

“He killed the water fountain last night,” Tyson confided.

“What?” I asked. I knew what fountain he meant, but killed?

Before I could get an explanation, Chiron trotted over. “Well, it appears you are ready!”

He sounded upbeat, but I could tell he was anxious. I felt bad at making that worse, but I had to tell someone who could do something to keep the others safe while I was gone.

“Chiron? I can ask you a favor?” I said.

“Of course, my dear.”

“I’ll be back, guys.” I nodded towards the woods and Chiron raised a brow, but he followed me out of earshot anyway.

“Last night,” I started. “I had a dream-vision thing. About Luke and Kronos.” I told him about the conversation, and the news seemed to weigh on his shoulders.

“I feared this,” Chiron said. “Against my father, Kronos, we would stand no chance in a fight.”

Chiron rarely called Kronos his father, even though we all knew it. Everyone in the Greek world―god, monster, Titan―were all family in some way, but it wasn’t something to be too boastful about. I mean, the powerful evil Titan lord who wants to destroy Western Civilization? Not a great role model.

“What did he mean about a bargain?” I asked.

“I am not sure, but I fear they seek to make a deal with Daedalus. If the only inventor is truly alive, if he has not been driven insane by millennia in the Labyrinth…well, Kronos can find ways to twist anyone to his will.”

“Not anyone,” I promised with a smile.

Chiron managed to return it. “No, perhaps not anyone. But, Solana, you must beware. I have worried for some time that Kronos may be looking for Daedalus for a different reason, not just passage through the maze.”

“What else do you think he wants?”

“Do you remember your first trip to the Princess Andromeda, the first time you saw the golden coffin?”

“Yeah, Luke was talking about raising Kronos, with little pieces of him appearing in the coffin every time someone new joined his cause.”

“And what did Luke say they would do when Kronos had risen completely?”

I felt a realization hit me. “He said they’d make a new body for Kronos, worthy of the forges of Hephaestus…and Daedalus was the world’s greatest inventor.” I said. “Automatons, thinking machines…”

“Indeed,” Chiron nodded. “What if Kronos wishes Daedalus to make him a new form?”

What a truly positive and lovely thought.

“We have to get to Daedalus first,” I decided. “And convince him to help us, not Kronos.”

Chiron stared off into the trees. “One other thing I do not understand…this talk of a last soul joining their cause. That does not bode well.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. I didn’t tell Chiron about Nico being a son of Hades, but that thought didn’t help lighten the situation any. What if Kronos meant Nico? I couldn’t let that happen.

“I don’t know," I lied. “But I’m sure we’ll get to Daedalus before anything happens.”

Chiron smiled and nodded at me. “Very well, child.”

Percy trudged over, probably wondering why we were taking so long. “Are you okay, Sol?”

I smiled and linked my arm with his. “Yep!” My free hand slipped into my pocket, where the ice whistle Quintus gave me rested. I looked over and saw Quintus watching me carefully, before raising his hand in farewell.

Our spies report success, Luke said. They’d try to ambush us during our quest.

“Take care,” Chiron told us. “And good hunting.”

“You too!” I said and Percy and I headed toward the rocks where Tyson and Grover waited. I stared at the crack between the boulders―the entrance that was ready to swallow us.

“Well,” Grover said nervously. “Goodbye sunshine.”

“I’m right here!” I joked, but it didn’t seem to settle Grover’s nerves too much.

“Hello rocks,” Tyson said, and together, the four of us descended into darkness.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Chapter Text

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

We made it only a hundred feet before getting lost.

This time, the tunnel was different from the one Percy and I stumbled on before. It was round like a sewer, constructed of red brick with iron-barred portholes every ten feet. Percy shined a flashlight through one of the portholes, but we couldn’t see anything. It opened into infinite darkness and with what sounded like voices on the other side, but I ignored it, trying to dismiss it as wind.

I tried to guide my friends and convinced them to stick to the left wall.

“If we keep one hand on the left side of the wall and follow it,” I said, “We can find our way out just as easy when we do the reverse!”

As soon as the words left my mouth, the left wall disappeared. We found ourselves now in the middle of a circular chamber with eight tunnels leading out, and none leading in.

“Um,” which way did we come in?” Grover said nervously.

“Turn around,” I said.

We each turned to a different tunnel. Okay, now this was just pure ridiculousness. None of us could decide which way led back to camp.

“Left walls are mean,” Tyson said. “Which way now?”

I swept my bracelet light over the archways of the eight tunnels. As bad as I wanted to explore all eight, I pointed to one of the tunnels. “That way.”

“How do you know?” Percy asked.

“Deductive reasoning?”

“So you’re guessing?”

“An educated guess,” I corrected, sliding my bracelet back on. “Let’s try it, come on.”

The tunnel I chose narrowed quickly. The walls turned to grey cement, and the ceiling got so low that we were hunched over, other than Tyson, who was forced to crawl.

Grover’s hyperventilating was the loudest noise in the maze so far. “I can’t stand it anymore,” He whispered. “Are we there yet?”

“We’ve been down here for maybe five minutes?” I told him.

“It’s been longer than that,” Grover insisted. “And why would Pan be down here? This is the opposite of the wild!”

We just kept shuffling forward, and the narrow tunnel then opened into a huge room. I shined my bracelet around the walls and Percy said, “Woah.”

The whole room was covered in mosaic tiles. The pictures, while grimy and faded, still had color―red, blue, green and gold. The frieze showed the Olympian gods at a feast. Poseidon, with his trident, holding out grapes for Dionysus to turn into wine. Zeus was partying with the satyrs, and Hermes was flying through the air on his winged sandals. While the pictures were beautiful, they weren’t accurate, but I couldn’t fault them for it. They couldn’t have possibly known Hermes’s nose wasn’t huge.

In the middle of the room was a three-tiered fountain that looked like it hadn’t held water in forever.

“What is this place?” Percy muttered. “It looks―”

“Roman,” I said, placing a hand on the frieze with interest. “The mosaics are about two thousand years old.”

“But how can they be Roman?” Percy asked.

“The Labyrinth is…think of it like a quilt.” I said. “Always expanding, adding pieces, the only piece of architecture that grows by itself.”

“So, you’re saying it's alive?”

A groaning noise echoed from the tunnel ahead of us.

“Let’s not talk about it being alive,” Grover whimpered. “Please?”

“Sorry, G,” I said. “Forward.”

“Down the hall with the bad sounds?” Tyson said, looking nervous himself.

I nodded. “It’s getting older, and Daedalus's workshop must be the oldest part.”

But soon the maze was toying with us again―we went fifty feet and the tunnel turned back to cement, with brass pipes running down the sides, the walls spray-painted with graffiti with a neon tagger sign reading MOZ RULZ.

“I’m thinking this isn’t Roman,” Percy said.

I felt frustration bubble up, but I took a deep breath and kept going ahead.

Every few feet the tunnels twisted and turned and branched off. The floor under us changed from cement to mud to bricks and back to cement again, and it didn’t make sense.

Soon, we stumbled into a wine cellar―a bunch of dusty bottles in wooden racks―like we were walking through somebody’s basement, only there wasn’t an exit above us, just more tunnels instead.

Later the ceiling turned to wooden planks, and I heard voices and the creaking of footsteps above us, like we were walking under a bar, but we couldn’t get to the people above. Though the sound of people was reassuring.

Then we found our first skeleton.

He was dressed in white clothes, like a uniform, a wooden crate of glass bottles sat next to him.

“A milkman,” I said.

“What?” Percy asked.

“They used to deliver milk?” I tilted my head.

“Yeah, I know what they are, but…that was when my mom was little, like a million years ago. What’s he doing here?”

“People wander in here by mistake,” I said sadly. “Some come exploring purposefully and never make it back. The Cretans even sent people here as sacrifices.”

Grover gulped. “He’s been down here a long time.” He pointed to the skeleton’s bottles, which were coated with white dust. The skeleton’s fingers were clawing at the brick wall, like he’d died trying to escape.

“Only bones,” Tyson said. “Don’t worry, goat boy. The milkman is dead.”

“The milkman doesn’t bother me,” Grover said. “It’s the smell. Monsters. Can’t you smell it?”

Tyson nodded. “Lots of monsters. But underground smells like that. Monsters and dead milk people.”

“Oh, good,” Grover whimpered. “I thought maybe I was wrong.”

“We have to get to the center,” I said. “We have to go deeper into the maze.”

I led my friends to the right, then the left, through a corridor of stainless steel, like an air shaft, and then we arrived back in the Roman tile room with the fountain, but not alone this time.

I noticed his faces first. Both of them. They jutted out from either side of his head, staring over his shoulders, so his head was much wider than it needed to be, like a hammerhead shark. Looking directly at him, I saw two overlapping ears and mirror-image sideburns.

He was dressed like a New York City doorman: a long black overcoat, shiny shoes and a black top-hat that stayed on his double-wide head. Somehow.

“Well, Pandora?” said his left face. “Hurry up!”

“Don’t mind him,” said the right face. “He’s terribly rude. Right this way, miss.”

I blinked. “Uh…I don’t…”

Tyson frowned. “That funny man has two faces.”

“The ‘funny man’ has ears, you know!” the left face scolded. “Now come along, miss.”

“No, no,” the right face said. “This way, miss. Talk to me, please.”

The two-faced man regarded me as best he could out of the corners of his eyes. It was impossible to look straight at him without focusing on one side or the other. But then, I realized what he was asking―he wanted me to choose.

Behind him were two exits blocked by wooden doors with huge iron locks. They hadn’t been there before.

The two-faced doorman held a silver key, which he kept passing from his left to his right hand.

Behind us, the doorway we’d come through had disappeared, replaced by more mosaics. So much for exploring the other seven.

“The exits are closed,” I said.

“Duh!” The man’s left face said.

“Where do they lead?” I asked.

“One probably leads the way you wish to go,” the right face said encouragingly. “The other leads to certain death.”

Suddenly, a memory hit me like a basketball. I narrowed my eyes. “I know who you are.”

“Oh, you’re a smart one!” the left face sneered. “But do you know which way to choose? I don’t have all day.”

“Are you trying to confuse me?” I asked.

The right face smiled. “You’re in charge now, my dear. All the decisions are on your shoulders. Shouldn’t be much different, isn’t it?”

“I―”

“We know you, Pandora,” the left face said. “We know what you struggle with every day. We know your curiosity, your indecision. You will have to make your choice sooner or later. And that choice may kill you. Curiosity is why the cat was killed, why Alice fell into Wonderland. Will your curiosity die? Go hungry? Or will it be you?”

I tensed and took a step back. “Wait…I don’t―”

“Leave her alone,” Percy said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m your best friend,” The right face said.

“I’m your worst enemy,” the left face said.

“I’m Janus,” both faces said in harmony. “God of Doorways. Beginnings. Endings. Choices.”

“I’ll see you soon enough, Perseus Jackson,” said the right face. “But for now it's our little Pandora’s turn.” He laughed giddy. “Such fun!”

“Shut up!” his left face said. “This is serious. One bad choice can ruin your whole life. It can kill you and all your friends. But no pressure, Pandora. Choose!”

I swallowed and felt my hands shaking.

“Don’t do it,” Percy pleaded.

“I’m afraid she has to,” the right face said cheerfully.

My eyes darted between the doors as I fidgeted with my bracelets. One kills my friends. The other kills my curiosity. “I…I choose―”

Before I could, a brilliant light flooded the room. Janus raised his hands to either side of his head to cover his eyes. WHen the light died, a woman was standing at the fountain. She was tall and graceful with long, chocolate colored hair, braided in plaits with gold ribbon. While she wore a simple white dress, the fabric shimmered with colors like a rainbow going through a prism.

“Janus,” she said. “Are we causing trouble again?”

“N-No, milady!” Janus’s right face stammered.

“Yes!” the left face said.

“Shut up!” the right face said.

“Excuse me?” the woman asked.

“Not you, milady! I was talking to myself!”

“I see,” the lady said. “You know very well your visit is premature. The girl’s time has not yet come. So I give you a choice: leave these heroes to me, or I shall turn you into a door and break you down.”

“What kind of door?” the left face asked.

“Shut up!” the right face said.

“Because French doors are nice,” the left face mused. “Lots of natural light.”

“Shut up!” the right face wailed. “Not you, milady! Of course I’ll leave. I was just having a bit of fun. Doing my job. Offering choices!”

“Causing indecision,” the woman corrected. “Now begone!”

The left face muttered, “Party pooper,” then he raised his silver key, inserted it into the air, and disappeared.

The woman turned toward us. I still felt shaken up, but I forced myself to relax. I didn’t know if this was another one of Janus, and I didn’t want my guard to be down for her to read me too.

“You must be hungry,” the woman said with a smile. “Sit with me and talk.”

She waved her hand, and the old Roman fountain began to flow. Jets of clear water sprayed into the air. A marble table appeared, laden with platters of sandwiches and pitchers of lemonade.

“Who are you?” I asked cautiously.

“I am Hera,” the woman smiled. “Queen of Heaven.”

I remembered seeing her at the Council of the Gods, that pretty woman next to Zeus. She didn’t look so normal before, but gods are usually twenty feet tall when they’re on Olympus, so it made sense. Right now, though, Hera looked like a regular family member. An aunt or a mom.

She served us sandwiches and poured lemonade.

“Grover, dear,” she said, “use your napkin. Don’t eat it.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Grover said.

“Tyson, you’re wasting away. Would you like another peanut butter sandwich?”

Tyson stifled a belch. “Yes, nice lady.”

“Queen Hera,” I said. “What are you doing in the Labyrinth?”

Hera smiled. “I came to see our quest leader, naturally.” The goddess said.

I gulped and made some distance. I may have looked overly cautious, but when gods come looking for you, it’s not because they’re pure of heart. They wanted something.

Still, I ate the sandwich, chips and lemonade offered to me. I wasn’t really hungry, not after what happened with Janus, but it was rude to turn away hospitality, especially from a goddess like Hera. The others seemed pretty hungry, though. If Tyson inhaling one peanut butter sandwich after another, Grover crunching on the Styrofoam cup like an ice-cream cone and Percy chowing down on turkey-and-Swiss sandwiches were anything to go off of.

“I didn’t think you liked heroes,” I said.

Hera smiled indulgently. “Because of that little spat I had with Heracles? Honestly, I got so much bad press because of one disagreement.”

“Well, you actually tried to kill him. Like, a lot.” I said.

Hera waves her hand dismissively, pushing my plate toward me. “Water under the bridge, my dear. Besides, he was one of my loving husband’s children by another woman. My patience wore thin, I’ll admit it. But Zeus and I have had some excellent marriage counseling sessions since then. We’ve aired our feelings and come to an understanding―especially after that last little incident.”

“You mean when he sired Thalia? And Charlotte?” Percy said. Panic bubbled up in me seeing how Hera’s eyes turned toward him frostily when he mentioned our friend and friend-turned-enemy, the half-blood daughters of Zeus.

“Percy Jackson, isn’t it? One of Poseidon’s…children.” Something told me she meant everything but

children. “As I recall, I voted to let you live at the winter solstice. I hope I voted correctly.”

She turned back to me with a sunny smile. “At any rate, I certainly bear you no ill will, my girl. I appreciate the difficulty of your quest. Especially when you have troublemakers like Janus to deal with.”

“Why was he here?” I lowered my gaze, instead studying my sandwich. “It felt like I was going crazy.”

“Trying to,” Hera agreed. “You must understand, the minor gods like Janus have always been frustrated by the small parts they play in the universe. Some, I fear, have little love for Olympus, and could easily be swayed to support the rise of my father.”

“Kronos.” I said. Right. Kronos was Hera’s dad too, along with being the father to all the eldest Olympians. And he was my great-grandfather, but that thought made me too uncomfortable, so I pushed it to the back of my mind.

“We must watch the minor gods,” Hera said. “Janus, Hecate, Morpheus. They give lip service to Olympus, and yet―”

“That’s where Uncle D went,” I said. “He was checking on the minor gods.”

“Indeed.” Hera stared at the fading mosaics of the Olympians. “You see, in times of trouble, even gods can lose faith. They start putting their trust in the wrong things, petty things. They stop looking at the big picture and start being selfish. But I’m the goddess of marriage, you see. I’m used to perseverance. You have to rise above the squabbling and chaos, and keep believing. You have to always keep your goals in mind.”

“Well, what are your goals?” I asked.

She smiled. “The same as yours, dear. My family. To keep my family, the Olympians, together, of course. At the moment, the best way I can do that is by helping you. Zeus does not allow me to interfere much, I am afraid. But once every century or so, for a quest I care deeply about, he allows me to grant a wish.”

“A wish?”

“Before you ask it, let me give you some advice, which I can do for free. I know you see Daedalus. His Labyrinth is as much as a mystery to me as it is to you. But if you want to know his fate, I would visit my son Hephaestus at his forge. Daedalus was a great inventor, a mortal after Hephaestus’s heart. There has never been a mortal Hephaestus admired more. If anyone would’ve kept up with Daedalus and could tell you his fate, it is Hephaestus.”

“That’s my wish!” I insisted. “I want a way to navigate the Labyrinth.”

Hera looked disappointed. “So be it. You wish for something, however, that you have already been given.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The means is already within your grasp. You know the answer.”

“That’s not fair,” I said. “You’re not telling me what it is.”

Hera shook his head. “Getting something and having the wits to use it…those are two different things. I’m sure your mother Athena would agree.”

The room rumbled like distant thunder, and Hera stood. “That would be my cue. Zeus grows impatient. Think on what I have said, Solana. Seek out Hephaestus. You will have to pass through the ranch, I imagine, but keep going. And use all the means to your disposal, however common they may seem.”

She pointed toward the two doors and they melted away, revealing twin corridors, open and dark. “One last thing, Solana. I have postponed your day of choice. I have not prevented it. Soon, as Janus said, you will have to make a decision. Farewell!”

She waved a hand and turned into smoke. So did our food, just as Tyson chomped down on a sandwich that turned into mist in his mouth. The fountain trickled to a stop, and the mosaic walls dimmed and turned grungy and faded again. The room wasn’t pleasant to be in anymore.

I let out an annoyed sigh. “What sort of help was that? ‘Here have a sandwich. Make a wish. Oops, nevermind, Bye-bye!’ Poof!”

“Poof,” Tyson agreed sadly, looking at his empty plate. I gently pat his shoulder. ‘There, there, Ty.”

“Well,” Grover sighed, “she said Sola knows the answer. That’s something.”

They all turned to me.

“I don’t!” I said. “I don’t know what she was talking about! But what’s important is that we keep going, keep exploring.”

“Which way?” Percy asked.

Grover and Tyson suddenly tensed, and stood up together, like they’d rehearsed it. “Left,” they both said.

Percy blinked. “How do you know?”

“Because something is coming from the right,” Grover said.

“Something big,” Tyson agreed. “In a hurry.”

“Left it is then,” I decided. Together, we all plunged into the dark corridor.

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Chapter Text

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Good news! The left tunnel was straight with no sides, twists, or turns. Bad news: it was a dead end. After we sprinted about a hundred yards, we ran into an enormous boulder that completely blocked our path. Behind us, the sounds of dragging footsteps and heavy breathing echoed down the corridor.

Something―definitely not human―was right on our tail.

“Ty,” I said, “Can you―”

“Yes!” He slammed his shoulder against the rock so hard the entire tunnel shook. Dust trickled from the stone ceiling.

“Hurry!” Grover said. “Don’t bring the roof down, but hurry!”

The boulder finally gave way with a horrible grinding noise. Tyson pushed it into a small room and we dashed behind it.

“Close the entrance!” I said.

We all got on the other side of the boulder and pushed. Whatever that chased behind us wailed in frustration as we heaved the rock back into place and sealed the corridor.

“We trapped it,” I sighed in relief.

“Or trapped ourselves,” Grover said.

Before I asked what he was talking about, I turned and saw we were in a twenty-foot-square cement room, and the opposite wall was covered with metal bars. We tunneled directly into a cell.

“What in Hades?” I tugged on the bars, but they didn’t budge. Through the bars we could see rows of cells in a ring around a dark courtyard―at least three stories of metal doors and catwalks.

“A prison?” I said, moving to take off my bracelets. “Maybe I can―”

“Shh,” said Grover. “Listen.”

Somewhere above us, deep sobbing echoed through the building, alongside a raspy voice muttering something I couldn’t understand.

“What’s that language?” Percy whispered.

Tyson’s eyes widened. “Can’t be.”

“What is it?” I asked.

He grabbed two bars on our cell door and bent them wide enough for even a Cyclops to slip through.

“Wait!” Grover called, but he didn’t. So we ran after him.

The prison was dark, with only a few dim fluorescent lights flickering above.

“I know this place,” I said. “Alcatraz.”

“You mean that island near San Francisco?” Percy said.

“Yeah, It’s a long story.” That long story being how I wandered off from my mother while we did a tour, but they didn’t need to know that.

“Freeze,” Grover warned, but Tyson kept going.

Grover grabbed his arm and pulled him back with all his might. “Stop, Tyson!” He whispered. “Can’t you see it?”

I looked on the second-story balcony where he was pointing, and I saw the worst monster I’ve ever seen. It was sort of like a centaur, with a woman’s body from waist-up. But instead of a lower horse body, it was the body of a dragon―twenty feet long, black and scaly with enormous claws and a barbed tail. Her legs, which looked like tangled up vines at first glance, were sprouting snakes, hundreds of vipers darting around constantly looking for someone or something to bite.

Her hair was also made of snakes, like Medusa, and around her waist, where the woman met the dragon part, her skin bubbled and morphed, occasionally producing the heads of animals―a vicious wolf (which I found endearing, in a way), a bear, and a lion. It was like she was wearing a belt of ever-changing creatures. She was half-formed, a monster, more ancient than the ones before it, before shapes were defined.

“It’s her,” Tyson whimpered.

“Get down!” I said.

We crouched in the shadows, but the monster didn’t seem to pay us any attention. She was talking to someone inside a cell on the second floor, where the sobbing was coming from.

“What’s she saying?” Percy muttered, “What’s that language?”

“The tongue of the old times,” Tyson shivered. “What Mother Earth spoke to Titans and…her other children. Before the gods.”

“You can understand it?” Percy asked.

“Can you translate?” I said.

Tyson closed his eyes and began to speak in a horrible, raspy woman’s voice. Like all Cyclopes, Tyson had super hearing and an uncanny ability to mimic voices, like he entered a trance when he did so. “You will work for the master or suffer.”

“I will not serve,” Tyson said in a deep, wounded voice.

He switched over to the monster’s voice: “Then I shall enjoy your pain, Briares.” Tyson faltered when he said that name, which was a rarity. It seemed he never broke character when he mimicked someone, but he let out a strangled voice before continuing in the monster’s voice. “If you thought your imprisonment was unbearable, you have yet to feel true torment. Think on this until I return.”

The dragon lady tromped toward the stairwell, vipers hissing around her legs like a grass skirt. She spread wings that weren’t there before―huge bat wings that she kept folded against her dragon back―and leaped off the catwalk, soaring across the courtyard. We crouched lower in the shadows, and a hot sulfurous wind blasted my face as the monster flew over. Then she disappeared around the corner.

“H-H-Horrible,” Grover said. “I’ve never smelled any monster that strong.”

“Cyclopes’ worst nightmare,” Tyson murmured. “Kampê.”

“Who?” Percy asked.

Tyson swallowed. “Every Cyclops knows about her. Stories about her scare us when we’re babies. She was our jailer in the bad years.”

“I remember,” I said. “During the Titan’s rule, they still kept Gaea and Ouranos’s earlier children―the Cyclopes and Hekatonkheires, down in Tartarus, where they were imprisoned by their father.”

“The Heka-what?” Percy asked.

“The Hundred-Handed Ones,” I said. “They have a hundred arms and fifty heads. They were the elder brothers of the Cyclopes and Titans.”

“Very powerful,” Tyson said. “Wonderful! As tall as the sky! So strong they could break mountains!”

“Cool,” I said.

“Unless you’re a mountain.” Percy said.

“Kampê was the jailer,” he said. “She worked for Kronos. She kept our brothers locked up in Tartarus, tortured them always, until Zeus came. He killed Kampê and freed Cyclopes and Hundred-Handed ones to help fight against Titans in the big war.”

“Now Kampê is back,” Percy said.

“Bad,” Tyson summed up.

“Who’s in that cell?” I asked. “You said a name―”

“Briares!” Tyson perked up. “He is a Hundred-Handed One. They are as tall as the sky and they break mountains!”

“We should check it out,” I said. “Before Kampê comes back.”

As we approached the cell, the weeping only got louder. When I saw the creature inside, it was hard to tell what you were looking for. He was human-size and his skin was pale like paper. He wore a loincloth like a huge diaper, and his feet looked too big for his body. He had cracked, dirty toenails, and eight toes on each food, but the top half of his body was different. His chest sprouted more arms, hundreds, all around his body. They were normal arms, but they were all tangled together to where it looked like a bunch of cables tangled together. Several of his hands were covering his face as he sobbed.

“Either the sky isn’t as tall as it used to be,” Percy muttered, “Or he’s short.”

Tyson didn’t pay attention and fell to his knees.

“Briares!” He called.

The sobbing stopped.

“Great Hundred-Handed One!” Tyson said. “Help us!”

Briares looked up. He surprisingly only had one face, and it was long and sad, with a crooked nose and even worse teeth. He had deep brown eyes―like, no whites or black pupils, pure brown eyes like mud or clay.

“Run while you can, Cyclops,” Briares said miserably. “I cannot even help myself.”

“You are a Hundred-Handed One!” Tyson insisted. “You can do anything!”

Briares wiped his nose with five or six hands while several others scratched at the cement floor, probably from insanity, others were playing rock, paper, scissors, while some were making duckie and goofy shadow puppets against the wall.

“I cannot,” Briares moaned. “Kampê is back! The Titans will rise and throw us back into Tartarus!”

“Put on your brave face!” Tyson said.

Briares’s face then morphed into something else. Same brown eyes, but with different features entirely. He had an upturned nose, arched eyebrows, and a weird smile. He was trying to act brave, but then it turned back to what it had been before.

“No good,” he said. “My scared face keeps coming back.”

“How did you do that?” Percy asked.

“The Hundred-Handed Ones have fifty different faces,” I said. “Instead of fifty heads. Weird.”

“Must make it hard to get a yearbook picture,” Percy said.

“More like makes it easy,” I said. “Imagine being able to hide how you truly feel that easily. That’d save me from a million situations.”

Tyson was still entranced. “It will be okay, Briares! We will help you! Can I have your autograph?” 

Briares sniffled. “Do you have one hundred pens?”

“Okay, guys,” I interrupted. “We have to get out of here before Kampê comes back. She’ll sense us sooner or later.” I cracked my knuckles. “We’ll break the bars.”

“Yes!” Tyson said, smiling proudly. “No need for blowing up stuff! Briares can do it. He is very strong, stronger than Cyclopes, even! Watch!”

Briares whimpered. A dozen of his hands started playing patty-cake, but none made any attempt to break the bars.

“If he’s so strong,” Percy said, “Why is he stuck in jail?”

“Don’t you see? He’s terrified,” I said. “I mean, Kampê imprisoned him in Tartarus for thousands of years. I wouldn’t feel too confident either.”

Briares covered his face again.

“Briares?” Tyson asked. “What…what is wrong? Show us your great strength!”

“Ty,” I said. “I think you should break the bars.”

Tyson’s smile melted slowly. “I will break the bars,” he repeated.

He grabbed the cell door and ripped it off its hinges like it was nothing more than wet clay.

“Come on, Briares,” I coaxed. “Let’s get you out of here.” I held my hand.

For a second, I watched Briares’s face morphed to a hopeful expression. Several of his arms reached out, but twice as many slapped them away.

“I cannot,” he said. “She will punish me.”

“It’s alright,” I continued. “You fought all the Titans before, and you won, right?”

“I remember the war.” Briares’s face morphed again―with a furrowed brow and a pouting mouth. A brooding face, maybe? “Lightning shook the world. We threw many rocks. The Titans and the monsters almost won. Now they are getting strong again. Kampê said so.”

“Don’t listen to her,” I said. “Come with us.”

He didn’t move. We didn’t have much time until Kampê returned, but I couldn’t leave him alone like this. I knew Kampê’s threat would have been carried out, and I didn’t want to see what she meant.

“One game of rock, paper, scissors.” I demanded. “I win, you come with us. I lose, you stay here.”

Briares’s face morphed to doubtful. “I always win rock, paper, scissors.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” I smiled and placed my fist in my palm.

Briares and I pounded our fists into our palm three times, which sounded like an army marching when he did it with all of his one hundred hands. He came up with an entire avalanche of rocks, a classroom set of scissors, and enough paper to make a naval fleet of airplanes.

“I told you,” he said sadly. “I always―” his face morphed into confusion. “What is that you made?”

“Gun,” I said, showing him my finger gun. “Pew, pew.”

Everyone else looked confused, other than Percy, who was trying not to laugh. It was a trick Paul Blofis had pulled on me, but Briares didn’t need to know that. “That beats anything, no?”

“That’s not fair.”

“Who said anything about fair?” I smiled, tilting my head. “Kampê’s definitely not gonna be fair if we hang around, she’s definitely gonna blame you for ripping off the bars. Now, come on.”

Briares sniffled. “Demigods are cheaters.” But he slowly rose to his feet and followed us out of the cell.

I felt a warm feeling in my chest, the feeling of hope. All we had to do now was to get downstairs and find the Labyrinth entrance, but then Tyson froze.

On the ground floor, right below, Kampê was snarling at us.

“Other way,” I said.

We bolted down the catwalk. This time, Briares didn’t hesitate to follow us. Actually, he sprinted out front, a hundred arms waving in panic.

Behind us, the sound of giant wings filled my ears as Kampê took to the air. She hissed and growled in her ancient language, but I didn’t need a translation to know what she was going to do to us if we were caught.

We scrambled down the stairs, through a corridor, and past a guard’s station―out into another block of prison cells.

“Left!” I called out. But I was going off on memory while running from security, so I wasn’t sure if I was going the right way.

We burst outside and found ourselves in the prison yard, ringed by security towers and barbed wire. After we were inside for so long, the daylight near blinded me, which would’ve been ironic. Tourists were milling around, taking pictures.

The wind whipped cold off the bay. In the south, San Francisco gleamed white and beautiful, but in the north, over Mount Tamalpais, huge storm clouds were everything but a pretty sight. The entire sky seemed like it was a spinning black top from the mountain where Atlas was imprisoned, where the Titan palace of Mount Othrys was rising again. But the tourists didn’t see anything wrong with it, or at least didn’t give any hints.

“Keep moving,” Briares wailed. “She is behind us!”

We ran to the far end of the yard, as far from the cell-block as possible.

“Kampê’s too big to get through the doors,” Percy said.

Then the wall exploded.

Tourists screamed as Kampê appeared from the dust and rubble, her wings spread out as wide as the yard. She was holding two swords―long, bronze scimitars glowing a weird, greenish aura, boiling wisps of vapor that smelled sour and hot, even you could smell it across the yard.

“Poison!” Grover yelped. “Don’t let those things touch you or―”

“We’ll die.” I finished.

“Well…after you shrivel slowly to dust, yes.”

“Okay, we’re avoiding the swords,” I decided.

“Briares, fight!” Tyson urged. “Grow to full size!”

Briares seemed to shrink even smaller. He was wearing his absolutely terrified face.

Kampê thundered toward us on her dragon legs, with hundreds of snakes slithering around her body.

I was tempted to take off my bracelets, but fear gripped me like it never had. I only let out one word: “Run.”

No debate. There was no way we’d fight this monster. We ran through the jail yard and out of the gates of the prison with the monster right behind us. Mortals screamed and ran and emergency sirens started blaring.

We hit the wharf just as a tour boat unloaded. The new group of visitors froze when they saw us charging toward them followed by a mob of frightened tourists, along with…something or other. (I didn’t know what they saw in the Mist, but it was not good.)

“The boat?” Grover asked.

“Too slow,” I said. “We have to get back to the maze.”

“We need a diversion,” Grover said.

Tyson ripped a metal lamppost out of the ground. “I will distract Kampê. You run ahead.”

“I’ll help!” I said.

“No,” Tyson said. “You go. Poison will hurt Cyclopes. A lot of pain. But it won’t kill.”

“Are you sure?” Percy asked.

“We can help!” I insisted.

“Go, friends. I will meet you inside.”

I swallowed. I absolutely hated the thought of Tyson sacrificing himself for us again. It was a close call last time, but I didn’t want to risk an actual casualty of one of my best friends. But I knew there wasn’t any time to argue. Grover, Percy and I each took one of Briares’s hands and dragged him toward the concession stands, while Tyson bellowed, lowered his pole, and charged Kampê like a jousting knight.

She’d been glaring at Briares, but Tyson managed to get her attention as soon as he nailed her in the chest with the pole and pushed her back into the wall. She shrieked and slashed with her swords, slicing the pole to ribbons. Poison dripped in pools all around her, sizzling into the cement.

Tyson jumped back as Kampê’s hair lashed and hissed as the vipers around her legs darted their tongues in every direction. A lion popped out of the weird, half-formed faces around her waist and roared.

As we sprinted for the cellblocks, I only saw Tyson picking up a Dippin’ Dots stand and throwing it at Kampê, ice cream and poison exploded everywhere, and all the little snakes in Kampê’s hair were dotted with Tutti-Frutti. We dashed back into the jail yard.

“Can’t make it,” Briares huffed.

“No, Tyson is risking his life to help you!” I yelled at him, squeezing his hand. “So you will make it. Come. On.”

As we reached the door of the cellblock, there was an angry roar. I looked back and saw Tyson running toward us at full speed, Kampê trailing behind him. She was plastered in ice cream and T-shirts with one of the bear heads on her waist was now wearing a pair of crooked plastic Alcatraz sunglasses.

“Hurry!” I said, like any of us needed to be told that.

We finally found the cell where we’d come in, but the back wall was completely smooth― no sign of a boulder or danger.

“Look for the mark!” I said.

“There!” Grover touched a tiny scratch that became a Greek L. The mark of Daedalus glowed blue, and the stone wall grinded open way too slowly.

Tyson was coming through the cellblock, Kampê’s swords lashing out behind him, slicing indiscriminately through cell bars and stone walls.

I pushed Briares inside the maze, then Percy and Grover.

“Come on, Ty!” I called. “You can do it!”

My optimism was well misplaced, though. Kampê was gaining, and she raised her sword. If only I had a distraction.

Just as that thought hit me, I rushed between Tyson and the monster and raised my arms over my face in a blocking motion, but I wasn’t blocking an attack.

SHHIING!

Suddenly, a bright gold flash disoriented the monster, and she faltered and left blind long enough for Tyson to dive past me into the maze, and I wasn’t far behind him.

Kampê charged, but she was too late. The stone door closed, and its magic sealed us in. I felt the whole tunnel shake as Kampê pounded against it, roaring furiously, but we didn’t stick around to do any knock, knock jokes with her.

We raced into the darkness, and suddenly, I felt glad to be back in the Labyrinth.

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Chapter Text

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We finally found a resting stop in a room wall to wall with waterfalls. The floor was one big pit, ringed by a slippery stone walkway. Around us, on four walls, water tumbled from huge pipes. The water spilled down into the pit. Even when I shined my bracelets on it, I couldn’t see the bottom.

Briares slumped against the wall. He scooped up water in a dozen hands and washed his face.

“This pit goes straight to Tartarus,” he murmured. “I should jump and save you the trouble.”

“Don’t say that,” I told him. “You’ll come back to camp with us and help us prepare. I mean, you know about fighting the Titans more than anyone. You’ll have a family there.”

“I have nothing to offer,” Briares said. “I have lost everything.”

“What about your brothers?” Tyson asked. “The other two must still stand tall as mountains! We can take you to them!”

Briares’s expression morphed into something sadder that made my heart ache: his grieving face. “They are no more. They faded.”

The waterfalls thundered. Tyson stared into the pit and blinked tears out of his eye.

“What exactly do you mean, they faded?” Percy asked. “I thought monsters were immortal, like the gods.”

“Even immortality has its limits.” I fidgeted with my bracelet. “Sometimes monsters are forgotten and they lose their will to stay immortal. Remember Medusa?”

When we met the Gorgon at twelve, she had told us something: that her sisters, the other two gorgons, had passed on and left her alone. Apollo said something about the old god, Helios, leaving him with his duties instead. It sounded horrible―being immortal, unable to die, and being alone.

“I must go,” Briares said.

“Kronos’s army will invade camp,” Tyson said. “We need help.”

Briares hung his head. “I cannot, Cyclops.”

“You are strong!”

“Not anymore.” Briares rose, but I grabbed one of his arms and pulled him aside where the roar of the water would easily hide our words.

“Briares, you may feel powerless right now, but you have to help us. Tyson risked his life for you, he believes in you. We all do.”

I told him everything―The invasion plan, the Labyrinth entrances, my quest to Daedalus’s workshop, Kronos’s coffin.

Briares just shook his head. “I cannot, demigod. I do not have a water gun to win this game.” He made one hundred of the shapes I made with his hands, to prove a point, obviously.

I sighed in frustration. “You know, maybe this is why monsters fade!” I gestured to him. “It’s not the mortals' fault, as much as you want to think it is. It’s you. Because you give up on yourself!”

It was harsh, but I knew it had to be said. His pure brown eyes regarded me. His face morphed into something new―shame. He turned and trudged off down the corridor until he was lost in the shadows.

Tyson sobbed and I wiped his eye.

“It’s okay,” Grover hesitantly patted his shoulder, which was crazy brave for him.

Tyson sneezed. “It is not okay, goat boy. He was my hero.”

“It’s okay,” I said, continuing to wipe the tears away from his eye. “I promise it’ll be fine. We’ll make this work, Briares just has…to fix his own issues.”

I stood and shouldered my backpack. “We should go. We’ll find a place to camp for tonight.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

We settled in a corridor made of huge marble blocks, with bronze torch holders fastened to the walls. It was an older part of the maze, which was a good sign!

“We must be close to Daedalus’s workshop!” I said. “We should get some rest, guys. We can keep going in the morning.”

“How do we know when it’s morning?” Grover asked.

“I’m basically the sun if it was a demigod. Don’t worry and just rest.” I insisted.

Grover didn’t argue any more. He pulled a heap of straw out of his pack, ate some of it, made a pillow out of the rest, and immediately got to snoring.

Tyson was different. He tinkered with some metal scraps from his building kit for a while, but he didn’t look happy with it, since he kept disassembling the pieces.

“I’m sorry about rushing in front of you, Ty,” I said softly. “I didn’t want to use it, and I’m sure the bright light hurt.”

Tyson looked up, his eye bloodshot from crying. “Do not worry, Solana. You saved me. You wouldn’t have had to if Briares had helped.”

“He was scared,” I said. “I’m sure he’ll turn up soon.”

“He is not strong,” Tyson said. “He is not important anymore.”

He heaved a sad sigh, then closed his eye. The metal pieces fell out of his hand, left unassembled, and Tyson began to snore.

I sat up and kept watch. I couldn’t sleep even if I wanted to, instead, I was left fidgeting with my own precious item, studying the engravings on my ring. I’ll marry you one day! Yeah, if I make it that far.

I heard footsteps, and Percy was sitting next to me.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” I asked.

“Can’t. You doing alright?”

“Not really.” I hugged my knees. “I mean, first day leading the quest, things are already exploding and shifting.”

“We’ll get there,” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find the workshop before Luke does.”

I sighed and stared at my feet. It felt ironic, even shameful, to get comforted when you’re the one who is always comforting other people. I just felt more pathetic and helpless than I already was, but it wasn’t Percy’s fault. It was more like Why are you letting him comfort you? You should be helping him right now! Kind of thing. But it felt a little nice.

Percy lifted my head and wiped some dirt off of my chin, giving me a small, comforting smile.

“I know…quests aren’t supposed to be easy,” I said. “But, I mean―couldn’t the quest at least make some sense? We’re basically playing teleportation roulette right now. Like, how do you go from New York to California that easily? In a day?”

“Space isn’t the same in the maze,” Percy reminded me.

“Yeah, I know, but it’s just…” I put my head on his shoulder. “Gods, I was kidding myself. All of that hype and pressure, and I got you all into a mess I can’t ever get you out of. I don’t know anything, I’m not Daedalus, I didn’t create this dang place!”

“Hey,” Percy wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “I think you’re doing great, you don’t have to be Dedalus or anyone. Besides, I don’t think we ever know what we’re doing, but it’ll always work out, like you said. Remember Circe’s?”

I giggled, sniffling a little. “You were a cute guinea pig.”

“And Waterland?”

“That was all you. I could’ve sworn we were a goner with that plan, but you somehow made it work.”

“See? It’ll be fine.”

I laughed quietly. “I still don’t know what Hera meant about ‘knowing the way to get through the maze.’ We clearly have no idea how to.”

“I don’t know.” Percy admitted.

He ran a hand through my messy hair, which surprisingly still had every braid intact. “So…can you tell me about the last line of the prophecy?”

I shook my head. “No thanks.” I don’t want to risk your safety too.

“What about the choice Janus mentioned? Hera said―”

“Don’t.” I snapped before realizing how harsh I was being. I shook my head, scolding myself internally. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I’m just…stressed and I can’t figure things out.”

“It’s okay,” he reassured me, squeezing my shoulders gently. “Take your time.”

I felt tears roll down my cheeks, but Percy just wiped those away without blinking before placing his hands on my face. We sat in comfortable silence, well, if you didn’t count the maze’s creaks, groans, and grinding together as tunnels changed, grew and expanded. I looked him in the eyes, placing my hands on top of the one’s holding me.

“What happened?” I asked. “You know, to the saltwater fountain? Before you…killed it.”

Percy seemed to hesitate, before sighing. “Nico is down here somewhere,” he admitted. “That’s how he disappeared from camp. He found the Labyrinth, then found a path that led down even farther―to the Underworld. But he’s back in the maze.”

“And he’s coming after me,” I finished. “I know. And as bad as I wanna call you out on a lie, I know you’re not lying. I…I saw it too. But if we do meet him…” I tapped my finger against my lap nervously. The Dead and The Ghost King. That had to be referring to Nico. I knew it did. I mean, Nico was raising the dead, and Nico was a son of Hades. It only made sense.

Percy squished my face further. “Ah―Hey!”

He snorted. “How about I take first watch?” he suggested. “And I’ll wake you if anything happens. Fair?”

“Fair,” I sighed. As much as I wanted to take the first watch, I felt way too exhausted. I felt Percy lay me on his lap, and I fell asleep.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

 I found myself falling through the air. Feathers brushing against my skin and the wind ripping through my hair.

I should’ve been terrified. I mean, who likes falling from an unknown height? The sun burning down on your skin as a taunt as you fall into what I can only guess is the sea below, the salt from the ocean filling my nostrils.

But a strange part of me felt euphoric. Even if I knew I wouldn’t make it. I knew that. So why was I so happy? I didn’t know, a mixture of things, really. Joy of the feeling of freedom, the wind ripping past me as I plummeted.

And even if it wouldn’t have been heard, I let out a cry of joy, followed by laughter, until I found myself sinking to the bottom of the sea.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

I woke up when the sun woke up. Which was an awkward feeling being closed wall to wall in a constantly shifting and changing maze. But regardless, everyone woke up to an absolute lavish meal of granola bars and juice boxes, and we kept moving.

The old stone tunnels changed to dirt with cedar beams, like a gold mine.

“This…isn’t right,” I said, my questions only growing. “It should still be stone.”

We came to a cave where stalactites hung low from the ceiling. In the center of the dirt floor was a rectangular pit, a grave.

Grover shivered. “It smells like the Underworld in here.”

I saw something glinting at the edge of the pit―a foil wrapper. I shined my bracelet into the hole and saw a half-chewed cheeseburger floating in some brown carbonated muck.

“Nico,” I murmured. “He’s summoning the dead again.”

Tyson whimpered. “Ghosts were here. I don’t like ghosts.”

“We have to find him.” I demanded. I was near frantic as soon as I saw the grave. He was close, I could feel it, I swear he was. I didn’t want him wandering down here alone. So, I started to run.

“Sola!” Percy called.

I ducked into a tunnel, seeing a light straight ahead. By the time the others caught up with me, I was looking up at daylight streaming through a set of bars above my head. We were under a steel grate made of metal pipes. I saw blue sky and trees.

“Where are we?” I wondered.

A shadow fell across the grate and I saw a cow staring straight at me. It was, by all means, a normal cow, but it was a weird color―bright red, like a cherry. I’ve seen orange cows, but not red ones. Maybe it was the lighting?

The cow mooed, making me flinch out of my thoughts. It put one hoof tentatively on the bars before backing away.

“It’s a cattle guard,” Grover said.

“A what?” Percy asked.

“They put them at the gates of ranches so cows can’t get out. They can’t walk on them.”

“How do you know that?”

Grover huffed indignantly. “Believe me, if you had hooves, you’d know about cattle guards. They’re annoying!”

“Hera said something about a ranch,” I said. “Nico might be up there, we should explore.”

Grover hesitated. “Okay… But how do we get out?”

Tyson easily solved the problem by hitting the cattle guard with both hands. It popped off and was sent flying out of sight. There was a CLANG! Then a startled Moo!

Tyson blushed. “Sorry, cow!” He called.

He then gave us a boost out of the tunnel.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Good news, my guess was right! We were on a ranch. Rolling hills stretching out to the horizon, dotted with oak trees, cacti and boulders galore. A barbed wire fence ran from the gate in either direction, with Cherry-colored cows roamed around, grazing on clumps of grass.

“Red cattle,” I said. “Cattle of the sun.”

“What?” Percy asked.

“Cows sacred to Apollo.”

“Holy cows?”

“Yep. But I don’t know why they’re―”

“Wait,” Grover said. “Listen.”

At first, it was quiet…then, I heard it. The distant baying of dogs getting louder. Then the underbrush rustled, and two dogs broke through. Wait, it wasn’t two dogs. It was one dog with two heads. It looked like a greyhound, long and snaky and sleek down, but the neck V’d into two heads, both of them snarling and snapping and generally not happy to see us.

“Bad Janus dog!” Tyson cried.

“Arf!” Grover told it, and raised a hand in greeting. But the two-headed dog bared its teeth. It wasn’t impressed Grover could speak animal, I was guessing. Its master then lumbered out of the woods, and I very quickly realized the dog was the least of our problems.

He was this huge guy with stark white hair, a straw cowboy hat, a braided white beard―like Father Time, if Father Time was a jacked redneck. He was wearing jeans, a DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS T-shirt, and a denim jacket with the sleeves ripped off so it showed off his muscles. His right bicep was a crossed-swords tattoo, and he held a wooden club about the size of a nuclear warhead, with six-inch spikes bristling on the business end.

“Heel, Orthus,” he told the dog. The dog growled once more, just to make his feelings known, then circled back to his master’s feet. The man looked us up and down, his club at the ready.

“What’ve we got here?” He asked. “Cattle rustlers?”

“Travelers,” I corrected. “We’re on a quest.”

The man’s eye twitched. “Half-bloods, eh?”

Percy was about to say, “How did you know―”

I took a step forward and held my hand out. I didn’t need to agitate the big scary man with his even scarier two-headed dog. “I’m Solana Jackson, Daughter of Apollo, and this is Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon. This is Grover the satyr, and Tyson the―”

“Cyclops,” The man finished. “Yes, I can see that.” He then glowered at Percy. “And I know half-bloods because I am one, sonny. I’m Eurytion, the cowherd for this here ranch. Son of Ares. You came through the Labyrinth like the other one, I reckon.”

“The other one?” my eyes lit up. “Nico di Angelo, right?”

“We get loads of visitors from the Labyrinth,” Eurytion said darkly. “Not many ever leave.”

“How…” I swallowed. “Welcoming.”

The cowherd glanced behind him like someone was watching, then he lowered his voice. “I’m only gonna say this once, demigods. Get back in the maze now. Before it’s too late.”

“We can’t leave,” I insisted. “Not until we see this other demigod. Please.”

Eurytion seemed to falter, before he grunted. “Then you leave me no choice, missy, I’ve got to take you to see the boss.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

It didn’t feel like we were hostages, which was nice. Eurytion walked alongside us with his club across his shoulder. Orthus the two-headed dog growled and sniffed at Grover’s legs the whole time. He did shoot into the bushes once in a while to chase animals, but Eurytion kept him more or less under control.

We walked down a dirt path that felt like it went on forever. It was close to a hundred degrees or something, which was a shock after San Francisco. Head shimmered off the ground and insects buzzed in the trees. Before we even got far, I noticed Percy was sweating.

Every so often, we saw a pen full of red cows or stranger animals. Once, we passed a corral where the fence was coated in asbestos. Inside, a herd of fire-breathing horses milled around, and the hay in their feeding trough was on fire. The ground smoked around their feet, but the horses themselves looked tame. One big stallion looked at us and whinnied, columns of red flame billowing out his nostrils.

“What are they for?” I asked.

Eurytion scowled. “We raise animals for lots of clients. Apollo, Diomedes, and…others.”

“Who?”

“No more questions.”

Finally, we came out of the woods. Perched on a hill above us, there was a big ranch house―all white stone and wood with large windows.

I gasped. “A Frank Lloyd Wright!”

It was a building modeled by a famous architect, but I wasn’t expecting to see a model here of all places. We hiked up the hill.

“Don’t break the rules,” Eurytion warned as we walked up the steps to the front porch. “No fighting, no drawing weapons, and no comments about the boss’s appearance."

“Why?” Percy asked. “What does he look like?”

Before Eurytion could speak, a new voice said, “Welcome to the Triple G Ranch.”

The man on the porch had a, thankfully, normal head. His face was weathered and brown from years in the sun. He had slick black hair, and a common evil villain black pencil moustache. He smiled at us, but I could tell at one glance it wasn’t friendly. More like an amused; Can’t wait to torture y’all! smile.

But then, I noticed his body…Well, bodies. Weird anatomy shouldn’t be a shock to me, but it never fails. This guy was three people into one. His neck connected to the middle chest like normal, but he had two more chests, one to either side, connected at his shoulders, with a few inches in between. His left arm grew out of his left chest, and the same on the right, so he had two arms, but four armpits. The chests all connected into one enormous torso, with two, regular but very beefy legs, and he wore an oversized pair of Levis, the biggest pair I’ve ever seen. His chests each wore a different color Western shirt―green, yellow, red, like a stoplight. He didn’t have any arms in the middle chest, so it must’ve been hard to dress.

The cowherd Eurytion nudged me. “Say hello to Mr. Geryon.”

“Hello, sir!” I said. “A lovely ranch you have here!” I tried to keep my eyes focused on his face compared to his chest―er, chests.

Before Mr. Geryon could respond, Nico di Angelo came out of the glass doors onto the porch. “Geryon, I won’t wait for―”

He froze when he saw us, then drew his sword. Nico looked thinner and more pale than he had in my dreams. It looked like he hadn’t eaten in forever. His black clothes were dusty, likely from traveling in the Labyrinth, and his dark eyes were full of hate, but he was too young. Too young to be this angry. I remembered the little cheerful kid who played Mythomagic. The blade looked the same as in my dreams: short, sharp and dark as midnight. Geryon snarled when he saw it. “Put that away, Mr. di Angelo. I ain’t gonna have my guests killin’ each other.”

“But that’s―”

“Solana Jackson,” Geryon supplied. “Percy Jackson. And a couple of their monster friends. Yes, I know.”

“Monster friends?” Grover said indignantly.

“That man is wearing three shirts,” Tyson said, like he just figured this out.

“They let my sister die!” Nico’s voice trembled with rage. “They’re here to kill me!”

“Neek―Nico,” I said. “We’re not here to kill you.” I raised my hands. “What happened to Bianca was a―”

“Don’t speak her name! You’re not worthy to even talk about her!”

Suddenly, something hit me. “Hold on a sec,” I pointed to Geryon. “How do you know our names?”

The three-bodied man winked at me. “I make it my business to keep informed, darlin’. Everybody pops into the ranch from time to time. Everyone needs something from ole Geryon. Now, Mr. di Angelo, put that ugly sword away before I have Eurytion take it from you.”

Eurytion sighed, but he hefted his spiked club. At his feet, Orthus growled.

Nico hesitated. But reluctantly, he sheathed his sword. “If you come near me, Solana, I’ll summon help. You don’t want to meet my helpers, I promise.”

“Aye-aye,” I said.

Geryon patted Nico’s shoulder. “There, we’ve all made nice. Now come along, folks. I want to give you a tour of the ranch.”

Geryon had a trolley-sort-of-device―like one of those kiddie trains that give you a tour around zoos. It was painted black and white in a cowhide pattern. The driver’s car had a set of longhorns stuck to the hood, and the horn sounded like a cowbell.

Nico sat in the very back, probably to keep an eye on us. Eurytion crawled in next to him with his spiked club and pulled his cowboy hat over his eyes, like he was going to take a nap. Orthus jumped in the front seat next to Geryon and began barking happily in two-part harmony.

Percy, Tyson, Grover and I took the middle two cars.

“We have a huge operation!” Geryon boasted as the moo-mobile lurched forward. “Horses and cattle mostly, but all sorts of exotic varieties, too.”

We came over a hill, and I gasped. “Hippalektryons! Weren’t those extinct?”

At the bottom of the hill was a fenced-in pasture with a dozen of the weirdest animals 

Possible. Each had the front half of a horse and the back of a rooster. Their rear feet were huge yellow claws with feathery tails and red wings. I watched two of them get in a fight over a pile of seeds. They reared up on their back legs and whinnied and flapped their wings at each other until the smaller one galloped away, its rear bird legs putting a little hop in its step.

“Rooster ponies,” Tyson said in amazement. “Do they lay eggs?”

“Once a year!” Geryon grinned in the rearview mirror. “Very much in demand for omelets!”

“That’s horrible!” Grover cried. “They’re an endangered species!”

Geryon waved his hand. “Gold is gold, satyr. And you haven’t tasted the omelets.”

“That’s not right,” Grover murmured, but Geryon kept narrating.

“Now, over here,” he said, “we have our fire-breathing horses, which you may have seen on your way in. They’re bred for war, naturally.”

“War?” I asked.

Geryon grinned slyly. “Whichever one comes along. And over yonder, of course, are our prized red cows.”

Sure enough, we saw hundreds of the cherry-colored cattle grazing the side of a hill.

“So many,” I said.

“Yes, well, your daddy, Apollo, is too busy to visit them,” Geryon explained, “so he subcontracts to us. We breed them vigorously because there’s such a demand.”

“For what?” I asked.

Geryon raised an eyebrow. “Meat, of course! Armies have to eat.”

“You kill the sacred cows of the sun god for hamburger meat?” Grover said. “That’s against the ancient laws!”

“Oh, don’t get so worked up, satyr. They’re just animals.”

“Just animals!”

“Yes, and if Apollo cared, I’m sure he’d tell us.”

“If he knew,” I muttered.

Nico sat forward. “I don’t care about any of this, Geryon. We had business to discuss, and this wasn’t it!”

“All in good time, Mr. di Angelo. Look over here; some of my exotic game.”

The next field was ringed in barbed wire. The whole area was crawling with giant scorpions.

“Triple G Ranch,” I said, a memory hitting me. “Your mark was on the crates at camp. Quintus got his scorpions from you.”

“Quintus…” Geryon mused. “Short grey hair, muscular, swordsman?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Never heard of him,” Geryon said. “Now, over here are my prize stables! You must see them.”

As soon as we got within three hundred yards, I could smell them before I could see them. Near the banks of a green river was a horse corral the size of a football field. Stables lined one side of it. About a hundred horses were milling around in the muck―and when I say muck, I meant horse manure. It was the most disgusting thing I’d ever seen, like a blizzard of the stuff had come through and dumped four feet of it overnight. The horses were gross from wading through it, and the stables were just as bad if not worse. It reeked worse than I could describe.

Even Nico gagged. “What is that?”

“My stables!” Geryon said. “Well, actually they belong to Aegeas, but we watch over them for a small monthly fee. Aren’t they lovely?”

“They’re disgusting!” I gagged.

“Lots of poop,” Tyson observed.

“How can you keep animals like that?” Grover cried.

“Ya’ll gettin’ on my nerves,” Geryon said. “These are flesh-eating horses, see? They like these conditions.”

“Plus, you’re too cheap to have ‘em cleaned,” Eurytion mumbled from under his hat.

“Quiet!” Geryon snapped. “Alright, perhaps the stables are a bit challenging to clean. Perhaps they do make me nauseous when the wind blows the wrong way. But so what? My clients still pay me well.”

“What clients?” I demanded.

“Oh, you’d be surprised how many people will pay for a flesh-eating horse. They make great garbage disposals. Wonderful way to terrify your enemies. Great at birthday parties! We rent them out all the time!”

“You’re a monster,” I hissed.

Geryon stopped the cow-trolley and turned to look at me. “What gave it away? Was it the three bodies?”

 “You have to let these animals go,” Grover said. “It’s not right!”

“And the clients you keep talking about,” I said. “You work for Kronos, right? You’re supplying his armies with whatever they need!”

Geryon shrugged, which looked weird since he had three sets of shoulders. It looked like he was doing the wave with himself. “I work for anyone with gold, young lady. I’m a businessman. And I sell them anything I have to offer.”

He climbed out of the cow-trolley and strolled toward the stables as if enjoying the fresh air. It looked like a nice view, with the river, trees and hills, except for the mass of horse muck.

Nico got out of the back car and stormed over to Geryon. The cowherd Eurytion wasn’t as sleepy as he looked. He hefted his club and walked after Nico.

“I came here for business, Geryon,” Nico said. “And you have yet to answer me.”

“Mmm.” Geryon examined a cactus. His left arm reached over and scratched his middle chest. “Yes, you’ll get a deal, alright.”

“My ghost told me you could help. He could guide us to the soul we need.”

“Huh?” I said. “I thought I was the soul you needed?”

Nico looked at me like I was insane. “You? Why would I want you? Bianca’s soul is worth a thousand of yours! Now, can you help me, Geryon, or not?”

“Oh, I imagine I could,” the rancher said. “Your ghost friend, by the way, where is he?”

Nico looked uneasy. “He cannot form in broad daylight. It’s hard for him. But he’s around somewhere.”

Geryon smiled. “I’m sure. Minos likes to disappear when things get…difficult.”

“Minos?” I remembered the man I saw in my dreams―the golden crown, the pointed beard and the cruel eyes. “You mean the evil king? He’s the voice you’re getting advice from?”

“It’s none of your business, Solana!” Nico turned to Geryon. “And what do you mean about things getting difficult?”

The three-bodied monster sighed. “Well you see, Nico―can I call you Nico?”

“No.”

“You see, Nico, Luke Castellan is offering good money for half-bloods, especially powerful half-bloods. And I’m sure when he learns your little secret, who you really are, he’ll pay very, very well indeed.”

Nico drew his sword, but Eurytion knocked it out of his hand. Before I could rush over, Orthus pounced on my chest and growled, his faces an inch away from mine.

“Sola!” Percy yelled, pointing Riptide at Orthus. “Back off!”

“I would stay in the car, all of you,” Geryon warned. “Or Orthus will tear Ms. Jackson’s throat out. Now, Eurytion, if you would be so kind, secure Nico.”

The cowherd spit into the grass. “Do I have to?”

“Yes, you fool!”

Eurytion looked bored, but he wrapped one huge arm around Nico and lifted him up like a wrestler.

“Pick up the sword, too,” Geryon said with distaste. “There’s nothing I hate worse than Stygian iron.”

Eurytion picked up the sword, careful to avoid the blade.

“Now,” Geryon said cheerfully. “We’ve had the tour. Let’s go back to the lodge, have some lunch, and send an Iris-message to our friends in the Titian army.”

“You―!” I managed, with the dog’s paw pressing on my chest.

Geryon smiled at me. “Don’t worry, my dear. Once I’ve delivered Mr. di Angelo, you and your party can go. I don’t interfere with quests. Besides, I’ve been paid well to give you safe passage, which does not, I’m afraid, include Mr. di Angelo.”

“Paid by who?” Percy demanded. “What are you talking about?”

“Never you mind, Mr. Jackson. Let’s be off, shall we?”

“Wait!” I said, and Orthus growled. I tried to stay completely still so I could keep my throat in tact. “Mr. Geryon, you’re a businessman, right? I have experience, made a deal. With me and Percy”

Geryon narrowed his eyes. “What sort of deal? You got gold?”

“A barter.”

“But, Ms. Jackson, you got nothing.” He gestured toward Percy. “What could this boy do for me?”

“You could have him clean the stables,” Eurytion suggested innocently.

“Deal! If he fails, you get all of us. Trade us all to Luke for gold.”

“Assuming the horses don’t eat him,” Geryon observed. Percy looked less enthused, but I gave him a pleading look before turning back to Geryon.

“Either way, you get my friends,” I said. “But if he succeeds, you have to let us go. Including Nico.”

“No!” Nico screamed. “Don’t do me any favors, Solana! I don’t want your help!”

Geryon chuckled. “Solana Jackson, those stables haven’t been cleaned in a thousand years…though it’s true I might be able to sell more stable space if all that poop was cleared away.”

“So? What have you got to lose?” I said, putting all of my emotion I could in my voice.

The rancher seemed to relent almost scarily quick. “Alright. I’ll accept your offer. But you have to get it done by sunset. If you fail, your friends get sold, and I get rich.”

I looked at Percy, and he nodded confidently.

“Deal.”

He nodded, before turning to Percy. “I’m going to take your friends with me, back to the lodge. We’ll wait for you there.”

Eurytion whistled. The dog nudged me into my seat and jumped onto my lap. Grover and Tyson couldn’t do anything as long as I was a hostage. Wonderful.

Percy locked eyes with me as he got out of the car. “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”

Percy shook his head. “I’ve got this. You just make sure Nico and the others are safe.”

Geryon got behind the driver’s wheel. Eurytion hauled Nico into the backseat.

“Sunset,” Geryon reminded Percy. “No later.”

He laughed at him once more, sounded his cowbell-like horn, and the cow express rumbled off down the trail.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Chapter Text

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Usually, I had hope when it came to Percy, but with a heavy, two-headed dog on my lap one moment and now tossed away in a corner, tied up like a rodeo animal with my ankles and wrists roped together and mouth gagged, I wasn’t feeling so hopeful. My friends were in the same boat as me, and I felt even worse.

At the ranch house, there was a celebration. The deck was set up for a party, streamers and balloons decorating the railing. Geryon was flipping burgers on a huge barbecue cooker made from an oil drum, and Eurytion lounged at a picnic table, picking his fingernails with a knife. The two-headed dog who held me captive before was sniffing the ribs and burgers that were frying on the grill.

I felt better though when I saw Percy burst onto the ranch house, out of breath and smelling like sea water. “Let them go!” he yelled, out of breath from running up the steps. “I cleaned the tables!”

Geryon turned. He wore an apron on each chest, with one word each so it spelled: KISS― THE― CHEF when put together. “Did you, now? How’d you manage it?”

Percy already looked impatient, but he told him about the naiad he met and the shells he used rather than diverting the river like Heracles.

Geryon nodded appreciatively. “Very ingenious. It would’ve been better if you’d poisoned that pesky naiad, but no matter.”

“Let my friends go,” Percy said. “You and Sola had a deal.”

“Ah, I’ve been thinking about that. Problem is, if I let them go, I don’t get paid.”

“You promised!”

Geryon made a tsk-tsk sound. “But did the little lady make me swear on the River Styx? No, she didn’t. So it’s not binding.” He turned to me smugly. “When you’re conducting business, darlin’, you should always get a binding oath. You should know that.”

I felt stupid and angry. I knew that and I still let it slip under my nose. Percy drew his sword, and Orthus growled. One head leaned down next to my ear and bared its fangs.

“Eurytion,” Geryon said, “the boy is starting to annoy me. Kill him.”

Eurytion studied Percy, the odds wouldn’t have been good with him and that huge club, until…

“Kill him yourself,” Eurytion said.

Geryon raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Eurytion grumbled. “You keep sending me out to do your dirty work. You pick fights for no good reason, and I’m tired of dying for you. You want to fight the kid, do it yourself.”

Geryon threw down his spatula. “You dare defy me? I should fire you right now!”

“And who’d take care of your cattle? Orthus, heel.”

The dog, thankfully, immediately stopped growling at Grover and came to sit by the cowherd’s feet.

“Fine!” Geryon snarled. “I’ll deal with you later, after the boy is dead!”

He picked up two carving knives and threw them at Percy, which he deflected with his sword. The other impaled itself in the picnic table an inch from Eurytion’s hand.

Percy went for the attack. Geryon parried his first strike with a pair of red-hot tongs and lunged at his face with a barbecue fork. Percy managed to get inside his next thrust and stabbed him straight in the middle chest.

“Aghhh!” he crumpled to his knees. I expected him to disintegrate, like monsters usually do, but he just grimaced and stood up. The wound in his chef’s apron started to heal.

“Nice try, sonny,” he said. “Thing is, I have three hearts. The perfect backup system.”

He had three hearts, perfect. Just what we needed. Geryon tipped over the barbecue and coals spilled everywhere. To top off my annoyance, a coal landed next to my face, and I cringed. Tyson strained against his bonds, but even his strength wasn’t enough to break the bonds.

Percy jabbed Geryon in the left chest, but he just laughed. The right stomach―no good. He was basically gutting a stuffed animal from his reaction.

Percy ran in the house suddenly.

“Coward!” Geryon cried. “Come back and die right!”

He threw his barbecue knife, and I watched it fly and thud into the wall somewhere in the house, only to run inside. It seemed hopeless, but then, I heard a thud of a sword going through a wall. And a THUMP, THUMP, THUMP of a heartbeat. 

I heard swords clattering. “You… You can’t shoot. They told me you couldn’t…”

Then one final THUMP of Geryon falling to the floor and the hiss of sand told me Geryon was no more.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Percy got us untied, and Eurytion didn’t try to stop it. Then, Percy stoked up the barbecue and threw the food into the flames as a burnt offering. To what god, I had no clue.

“Thanks guys,” he said. “I owe you one.”

I gave Percy a big hug, which he returned.

“Yay for Percy!” Tyson said.

“Can we tie up this cowherd now?” Nico asked.

“Yeah!” Grover agreed. “And that dog almost killed us!”

I looked at Eurytion, who was still relaxing at the picnic table with Orthus, who had both of his heads on the cowherd’s knees.

“Mr. Eurytion,” I asked. “How long will it take for Geryon to reform?”

Eurytion shrugged. “Hundred years? He ain’t one of those fast reformers, thank the gods. You’ve done me a favor.”

“You’ve died for him, right?” I remembered. “You mentioned it before. How?”

“I’ve worked for that creep for thousands of years. Started as a regular half-blood, but I chose immortality when my dad offered it. Worst mistake I ever made. Now I’m stuck here at this ranch. I can’t leave, I can’t quit. I just tend the cows and fight Geryon’s fights. We’re kinda tied together.”

I thought for a moment. “You can change things, though, no?”

Eurytion narrowed his eyes. “How?”

I walked toward him and knelt down, petting Orthus, who’s tail started wagging. “Be nice to the animals, take care of ‘em. Stop selling them for food, and stop dealing with the Titans.”

Eurytion thought for a moment. “That’d be alright, missy.”

“Get the animals on your side, and they can help you.” Percy said, and I nodded. “I’m sure once Geryon gets back, he’ll be working for you this time.”

Eurytion grinned. “Now, that I could live with.”

I looked at him. “You won’t try stopping us from leaving?”

“No, ma’am.”

I stood and rubbed my definitely bruised wrists. “Geryon said someone paid for our safe passage. Do you have any idea who it is?”

The cowherd shrugged. “Maybe he was just saying that to fool you.”

“What about the Titans?” Percy asked. “Did you Iris-message them about Nico yet?”

“Nope. Geryon was waiting ‘til after the barbecue. They don’t know anything ‘bout him.”

Nico was glaring at me. I doubted he’d come with us, but I couldn’t let a kid roam around here on his own.

“You can stay here until we’re done with our quest,” I said. “You’ll be safe.”

“Safe?” Nico said. “What do you care if I’m safe? You got my sister killed!”

“Nico,” Percy said. “Solana didn’t kill Bianca. And Geryon wasn’t lying about Kronos wanting to capture you. If he knew who you were, he’d do anything to get you on his side.”

“I’m not on anyone’s side! And I’m not afraid!”

“You should be,” Grover said. “Your sister wouldn’t want―”

“If any of you cared for my sister, you’d help me bring her back!”

“A soul for a soul?” I said.

“Yes!”

“But…If you don’t want my soul―”

“I’m not explaining anything to you!” He blinked tears out of his eyes. “And I will bring her back!”

“Bianca wouldn’t want to be brought back like that, Nico.” I said.

“You don’t know her!” He shouted. “How do you know what she’d want!?”

I remembered the line in my prophecy: You shall rise or fall by the ghost king’s hand. It was Minos. I had to convince Nico not to listen to him. “Let’s ask Bianca then.”

The sky grew darker suddenly.

“I’ve tried,” Nico said miserably. “She won’t answer.”

“Try again. She’ll answer with me here.”

“Why would she?”

“Because…She’s been sending me dreams, warning me what you’re up to, so I can protect you. She’s also been sending Percy Iris-messages.”

Nico shook his head. “That’s impossible.”

“Only one way to find out. You’re not scared, are you?” I turned to Eurytion. “Sir, we’re going to need a grave-like pit, food, and drinks.”

Eurytion scratched his beard. “There’s a hole dug out back for a septic tank. We could use that.”

“Alright,” Nico said. “I’ll try.”

Eurytion nodded. “Cyclops boy, fetch my ice chest from the kitchen. I hope the dead like root beer.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Chapter Text

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

We decided to do our summons after dark, at a twenty-foot-long pit in front of the septic tank. The tank was bright yellow, with a smiley face and red words painted on the side: HAPPY FLUSH DISPOSAL CO. Didn’t fit the mood with summoning the dead.

The moon was full, and silver clouds drifted across the sky.

“Minos should be here by now,” Nico said, frowning. “It’s full dark.”

“Maybe he got lost,” I said, trying to hide the hope filling my voice.

Nico poured root beer and tossed barbecue into the pit, then began chanting in ancient Greek. Immediately, the bugs in the woods stopped chirping. In my pocket, the Stygian ice dog-whistle started to grow colder, freezing against the side of my leg.

“Make him stop,” Tyson whispered to Percy. While I felt scared, I knew I couldn’t stop him. I had to give Nico closure. The night air turned cold and menacing, and then the first spirits appeared. Sulfurous mist seeped out of the ground, and shadows thickened into human forms. One blue shade drifted to the edge of the pit and knelt to drink.

“Stop him!” Nico said, momentarily breaking his chant. “Only Bianca may drink!”

I drew Katopris, and the ghosts retreated with a collective hiss at the sight of the celestial bronze.

It was too late to stop the first spirit, however. He had already solidified into the shape of a bearded man in white robes, with a circlet of gold wreathed his head, even in death he had eyes alive with malice.

“Minos!” Nico said. “What are you doing?!”

“My apologies, master,” the ghost said, though he didn’t sound very apologetic. “The sacrifice smelled so good, I couldn’t resist.”

He examined his own hands and smiled. “It is good to see myself again. Almost in solid form―”

“You are disrupting the ritual!” Nico protested. “Get―”

The spirits of the dead began shimmering dangerously bright, and Nico had to take up the chant again to keep them at bay.

“Yes, quite right, master,” Minos said with amusement. “You keep chanting. I’ve only come to protect you from these liars who would deceive you.”

He turned to me like I was a cockroach, which only ticked me off. “Solana Wilson…my, my, the daughters of the gods haven’t improved over the centuries, have they?”

I wanted to dissolve him into mist with my blade, but it would barely do anything.

“We’re looking for Bianca di Angelo,” I said. “Get lost.”

The ghost chuckled. “I understand you once killed my Minotaur with your bare hands. But worse things await you in the maze. Do you really believe Daedalus will help you?”

The other spirits stirred in agitation. Percy drew Riptide and helped me keep the spirits away from the pit. Grover got so nervous he clung to Tyson’s shoulder.

“Daedalus cares nothing for you, half-bloods,” Minos warned. “You can’t trust him. He is old beyond counting, and crafty. He is bitter from the guilt and murder and is cursed by the gods.”

“The guilt of murder?” I asked. “Who’d he kill?”

“Do not change the subject!” the ghost growled. “You are hindering Nico. You try to persuade him to give up his goal. I would make him a lord!”

“Enough, Minos,” Nico commanded.

The ghost sneered. “Master, these are your enemies. You must not listen to them! Let me protect you, I will turn their minds to madness, as I did the others.”

The others?

I gasped. “Chris Rodriguez? You did that?”

“The maze is my property,” The ghost said, “not Daedalus’s! Those who intrude deserve madness!”

“Be gone, Minos!” Nico demanded. “I want to see my sister!”

The ghost bit back his rage. “As you wish, master. But I warn you. You cannot trust these heroes.”

And with that, he faded into mist.

Other spirits rushed forward, but Percy and I kept them back.

“Bianca, appear!” Nico intoned. He started chanting faster, and the spirits shifted restlessly.

“Any time now,” Grover muttered.

Then a silvery light flickered in the trees―a spirit that seemed brighter and stronger than the others. It came closer, and I let it pass. It knelt to drink at the pit, and when it arose, it was the ghostly form of Bianca di Angelo.

Nico’s chanting faltered. We lowered our weapons. The other spirits started to crowd forward, but Bianca raised her arms and they retreated into the woods.

“Hello, Solana.” She said.

She looked the same as she had in life: her green cap set sideways on her thick black hair, dark eyes and olive skin like her brother. She wore jeans and a silvery jacket, the outfit a Hunters of Artemis wore. It reminded me of Zoë, and my heart ached. A bow was slung over her shoulder and she smiled faintly as her whole form flickered.

“Bianca,” I said, my voice was thick. I’d been feeling guilty for Bianca’s death for forever, but seeing her, right there in front of me, was worse. I remembered searching the wreckage for her body, and not finding any sign of her.

“Bee, I’m…I’m so sorry―”

“You have nothing to apologize for, Solana. I made my own choice, and I don’t regret it.”

“Bianca!” Nico stumbled forward like he was just coming out of a daze.

She turned toward her brother. Her expression was sad, as if she had been dreading this moment. “Hello, Nico. You’ve gotten so tall.”

“Why didn’t you answer me sooner?” He cried. “I’ve been trying for months!”

“I was hoping you would give up.”

“Give up?” Nico’s voice was heartbroken. “How can you say that? I’m trying to save you!”

“You can’t, Nico. Don’t do this, Solana is right.”

“No! She let you die! She’s not your friend!”

Bianca stretched out her hand as if to touch her brother's face, but her hand evaporated as soon as it got close to his living skin.

“You must listen to me,” she said. “Holding grudges is dangerous for a child of Hades. It is our fatal flaw. You have to forgive. You have to promise me this.”

“I can’t. Never.”

“Solana has been worried about you, Nico. She can help. I let her see what you were up to, hoping she would find you.”

“It was you,” I said. “You gave me those dreams.”

Bianca nodded.

“Why are you helping her and not me?” Nico screamed. “It’s not fair!”

“You are close to the truth now,” Bianca told him. “It’s not Solana you’re mad at, Nico. It’s me.”

“No.”

“You’re mad because I left you to become a Hunter of Artemis. You’re mad because I died and left you alone. I’m sorry for that, Nico, I truly am, but you must overcome the anger and stop blaming Solana for my choices. It will be your doom.”

“She’s right,” Percy broke in. “Kronos is rising, Nico, and he’ll twist anyone he can to his cause.”

“I don’t care about Kronos,” Nico said. “I just want my sister back.”

“You can’t have that, Nico,” Bianca told him gently.

“I’m the son of Hades! I can!”

“Don’t try,” she said. “If you love me, don’t…”

Her voice trailed off. Spirits had started to gather and seemed agitated. Their shadows shifted, and their voices whispered, Danger!

“Tartarus is stirring, isn’t it?” I said, though I didn’t know how I knew that.

Bianca nodded. “Your power draws the attention of Kronos, Nico. The dead must return to the Underworld. It is not safe for us to remain.”

“Wait,” Nico said. “Please―”

“Goodbye, Nico,” Bianca said. “I love you. Remember what I said.”

Her form shivered and the ghosts disappeared, leaving us alone with a pit, a Happy Flush septic tank, and a cold full moon.

We weren’t anxious to travel that night, so we waited til morning instead. Percy and I shared a leather couch in Geryon’s living room while Grover slept on the other. It was a lot more comfortable than a bedroll in the maze; but it didn’t make my nightmare any better.

I woke up and was suddenly next to Luke in a dark palace on top of Mount Tam. It was a real building now―not a half-finished illusion like last winter. Green fires burned in braziers along the walls, and the floor was polished black marble. A cold wind blew down the hallway, and above us through the open ceiling, the sky swirled with grey storm clouds.

I looked over and saw Luke was dressed for battle. He wore camouflage pants, a white T-shirt, and a bronze breastplate, but his sword, Backbiter, wasn’t at his side―just an empty scabbard. I followed him into a large courtyard where dozens of warriors and dracaenae were preparing for war, but Charlotte was nowhere in sight. When they saw him, the demigods rose to attention and they beat their swords against their shields.

“Isss it time, my lord?” a dracaena asked.

“Soon,” Luke promised. “Continue your work.”

“My lord,” a voice said behind him, and my heart skipped a beat. Kelli the empousa was smiling at him, wearing a wickedly beautiful blue dress tonight, and her eyes flickered―dark brown or pure red. Her hair was braided down her back and caught the light of the torches, like it was anxious to turn back into pure flame. She looked evil and beautiful, but that wasn’t my issue.

She had a familiar pastel blue ribbon tied around her wrist, but it was dirty, tattered and stained with blood.

I didn’t even register what she was saying, I immediately ran down the hall and gasped at the sight. I didn’t know what I expected for an evil castle, but what I didn’t expect was a dark room with chains glimmering celestial bronze, and to see my best friend chained up. She had more lighting-like scars stained across her skin, her hair was a mess, and she was bleeding from a cut on her head, which horrifically complimented the dirt that stained her dress and skin. She was unconscious, thank the gods, but she was shivering.

I choked back a sob. All I could do was stand there until I woke up.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

I woke in the dark. And I heard Grover’s voice call from the other sofa. “Sola? Are you okay?”

I steadied my breathing, and I hugged my knees. I didn’t know how to answer. But I did it in the only way I should have.

“Yeah!” I said. “What time is it?”

“Two in the morning,” Grover said. “I couldn’t sleep, I was watching the Nature Channel.”

He then sniffled. “I miss Juniper.”

I frowned and moved to Grover’s side. “You’ll see her soon, I promise.”

Grover shook his head sadly. “Do you know what day it is, Sola? I saw it on the TV. It’s June 13th, seven days since we left camp.”

“Huh?” I said. “Wait, that can’t be right―”

Then I remembered. Time was different in the Labyrinth. The first time Percy and I were down there, we were gone for only a few minutes, but it was an hour. Another thing clicked in, too. “Your deadline with the Council.”

Grover put the TV remote in his mouth and crunched off the end of it. “I’m out of time,” he said with a mouthful of plastic. “As soon as I go back, they’ll take away my searcher’s license. I’ll never be allowed to go out again.”

“No, we'll talk to them. We’ll make them give you more time.” I promised.

Grover swallowed. “You know they’ll never go for it, Sola. The world is dying, every day it gets worse. The wild…I can just feel it fading. I have to find Pan.”

“And you will.” I said, wrapping my arm around him.

Grover looked at me with sad goat eyes. “You’ve always been a good friend, Sol. What you did today―saving the ranch animals from Geryon―that was amazing. I―I wish I could be more like you.”

“I’m anything but a hero,” I said. “I don’t know why you…I mean, I don’t think I…Never mind. You’re just as much of a hero as I am, Grove.”

“No, I’m not. I keep trying, but…” He sighed. “Sola, I can’t go back to camp without finding Pan, I just can’t. You understand that, don’t you? I can’t face Juniper if I fail, I can’t even face myself.”

He sounded absolutely hopeless, and, for a strange moment, I saw myself in him. Hopeless, wanting to protect everyone, but I can’t and felt like a failure every time.

“We can figure something out,” I said. “You haven’t failed. You’re a champion, G-man, Juniper and I both know that.”

Grover closed his eyes. “Champion,” he muttered dejectedly.

A long time after he dozed off on my shoulder, I was still awake and watched the blue light of the Nature Channel wash over the stuffed trophy heads on Geryon’s walls.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

The next morning, we walked down to the cattle guard and said our goodbyes.

“Nico, do you wanna come with us?” I offered.

He shook his head. None of us really slept well in the demon ranch house, but he looked worse than anyone. His eyes were red and his face was chalky. He was wrapped in a black robe that must’ve been Geryon’s, since it was three sizes too big for even a grown man.

“I need time to think.” His eyes wouldn’t meet mine, but he still sounded angry. The fact his sister came out of the Underworld for me rather than him must’ve not sat well with him.

“Nico, I’m sorry,” I said softly. “Bianca just wants you to be okay.”

I moved to put my hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away and trudged up the road toward the ranch house, the mist seeming to cling to him as he walked.

“I’m worried about him,” I said. “If Minos tries to―”

“He’ll be alright,” Eurytion promised. The cowherd cleaned up quite nicely. He was wearing new jeans and a clean Western shirt and he even trimmed his beard and put on Geryon’s boots. “The boy can stay here and gather his thoughts as long as he wants. He’ll be safe, I promise.”

“What about you?” I asked.

Eurytion scratched Orthus behind one chin, then the other. “Things are gonna be run a little different on this ranch from now on. No more sacred cattle meat, I’m thinking about soybean patties. And I’m gonna befriend those flesh-eating horses, might just sign them up for the next rodeo.”

I didn’t know how that was gonna go, but still, I said, “Good luck.”

“Yep.” Eurytion spit into the grass. “I reckon you’ll be looking for Daedalus’s workshop now?”

My eyes lit up hopefully. “Can you help us?”

Eurytion studied the cattle guard, and I suddenly felt that the topic of the workshop made him uncomfortable. “Don’t know where it is. But Hephaestus probably would.”

“Hera said the same thing,” I said. “But where is he?”

Eurytion pulled something from under the collar of his shirt―a necklace, a smooth silver disk on a silver chain. The disk had a depression in the middle, like a thumbprint. He handed it to me.

“Hephaestus comes here from time to time,” Eurytion told me. “Studies the animals so he can make bronze automaton copies. Last time, I―uh―did ‘em a favor. A little trick he wanted to play on my dad, Ares, and Aphrodite. He gave me that chain in gratitude. Said if I ever needed to find him, the disk would lead me to his forges. But only once.”

“You’re…giving it to me?” I looked up at him.

Eurytion blushed. “I don’t need to see the forges, miss. Got enough to do here. Just press the button and you’ll be on your way.”

I nodded and gave him a hug in gratitude, which startled him, but he returned it. I then stepped back and pressed the button and the disk sprang to life. It grew eight metallic legs―a spider.

“Amazing,” I gasped to myself.

The spider scrambled to the cattle guard and disappeared between the bars.

“Hurry,” Percy said. “That thing’s not going to wait for us.”

We said our goodbyes to Eurytion, Tyson pulled the cattle guard off the hole, and we dropped back into the maze.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

I wish we could leash the mechanical creepy crawly, since it scuttled along the tunnels so fast, most of the time I couldn’t even see it. If it hadn’t been for Grover and Tyson’s super hearing, we’d never know which way it was going.

We ran down a marble tunnel, then dashed to the left and almost fell into an abyss. Tyson thankfully grabbed Percy and I and hauled us back before we could fall. The tunnel continued ahead of us, but there wasn’t a floor for about a hundred feet, just gaping darkness and a series of iron rungs in the ceiling, which I felt happy about. The mechanical spider was halfway across, swinging from bar to bar by shooting out metal web fiber.

“Monkey bars!” I said. “Oh, heck yeah!”

I leaped onto the first rung with ease and started to swing my way across. Sure, snakes are scary, but plummeting to my death from a set of monkey bars? No sweat!

I got to the opposite side and ran after the spider, and I heard each of my friends start to follow.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

We kept moving and passed a skeleton crumpled in the tunnel. It was wearing the remains of a dress shirt, slacks, and a tie. The spider still didn’t slow down. I heard Percy slip behind me, and I turned to see what happened. He slipped on a pile of what looked like wood scraps, but when I shined my flashlight on them, there were pencils―hundreds of them. All broken in half.

The tunnel had opened up onto a large room. A blazing light hit us, and once my eyes adjusted, the first thing I noticed was skeletons. Dozens of them, littered on the floor around us. Some were old and bleached white, while others were recent and looked a lot worse. They didn’t smell as bad as Geryon’s stables, but it was a close second or third.

Then, the monster caught my eye. She stood on a glittery dais on the opposite side of the room. She had the body of a huge lion, and the head of a woman. She would’ve been gorgeous, but her hair was tied back in a tight bun and she wore way too much makeup, so she just looked like Percy and I’s third grade choir teacher.

She had a blue ribbon badge pinned to her chest that read: THIS MONSTER HAS BEEN RATED EXEMPLARY!

Tyson whimpered. “Sphinx.”

I could tell why he was scared. When he was little, he’d been attacked by a Sphinx in New York. He still had the scars on his back to prove it.

Spotlights blazed on either side of the creature. The only exit was a tunnel behind the dais. The mechanical spider scuttled between the Sphinx’s paws and disappeared.

I started forward, but the Sphinx roared and showed her fangs in her otherwise human face. Bars came down on both tunnel exits, behind us and in front of us.

Immediately, the monster’s snarl turned into a brilliant smile.

“Welcome, lucky contestants!” she announced. “Get ready to play…ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!”

Canned applause blasted from the building, like there were invisible loudspeakers. Spotlights swept across the room and reflected off the dais, throwing disco glitter over the skeletons on the floor. Great.

“Fabulous prizes!” the Sphinx said. “Pass the test, and you’ll advance! Fail, and I get to eat you! Who will be our contestant?”

I felt Percy's hands push me forward and yelped. Looks like it was my turn to get sacrificed. But I had an idea of what she was going to ask.

I stepped forward to the contestant’s podium, which had a skeleton in a school uniform hunched over it. I just shoved it out of the way and let it clatter to the floor. “My bad.”

“Welcome, Pandora!” the monster cried. Wrong name, again. “Are you ready for your test?”

“Yes,” I said. “Ask your riddle.”

“Twenty riddles, actually!” The Sphinx said gleefully.

“What? I thought―”

“Oh, we’ve raised our standards! To pass, you must show proficiency in all twenty! Isn’t that great?” I glanced at Percy nervously, and he gave me a “don’t die” thumbs up and a smile.

“Okay,” I said. “Ready.”

A drumroll sounded from above, and the Sphinx’s eyes glittered with excitement. “What…is the capital of Bulgaria?”

I blinked. That…wasn’t a riddle. “Sofia?”

“Correct!” More canned applause. The Sphinx smiled so wide her fangs showed. “Please be sure to mark your answer clearly on your test sheet with a number 2 pencil.”

“What?” I looked down. Suddenly a test booklet appeared on the podium in front of me, along with a sharpened pencil.

“Make sure you bubble each answer clearly and stay inside the circle,” the Sphinx said. “If you have to erase, erase completely or the machine will not be able to read your answers.”

“Machine?” I asked.

The Sphinx pointed with her paw. Over by the spotlight was a bronze box with a bunch of gears and levers and a big Greek letter Êta on the side―the mark of Hephaestus.

“Now,” said the Sphinx, “next question―”

“Wait,” I said. “What about ‘What walks on four legs in the morning’?”

“I beg your pardon?” the Sphinx said, clearly annoyed, but I didn’t care.

“The riddle about man! He walks on four legs in the morning, like a baby, two legs in the afternoon, like an adult, and three in the evening, an old man with a cane! That’s what you used to―”

“Exactly why we changed the test!” The Sphinx exclaimed. “You already knew the answer! Now, second question, what is the square root of sixteen?”

“Four,” I said.

“Correct! Which U.S. president signed the Emancipation Proclamation?”

“Abraham Lincoln.”

“Correct! Riddle number four, how much―”

“Wait!” I shouted. This was starting to agitate me. “These aren’t riddles!”

“What do you mean?” the Sphinx snapped. “Of course they are, this test material is specially designed―”

“It’s not,” I insisted. “This is just a pop-quiz. Riddles make you think.”

“Think?” The Sphinx frowned. “How am I supposed to test whether you think? That’s ridiculous! Now, how much force is required―”

“Wait!” I said. Sure, it was stupid, but I felt like I was being coddled. I could’ve killed this thing in the time it took to give me a dumb pop quiz. “This is stupid!”

“Um, Sola,” Grover cut in nervously. “Maybe you should just, you know, finish first and complain later?”

“No!” I insisted. “First, you call me by my wrong name, and now this? This is just a big waste of time! Let us through!”

“Why then, my dear,” the monster said calmly. “If you won’t pass, you fail. And since we can’t allow any children to be held back, you’ll be EATEN!”

The Sphinx bared her claws, which gleamed like stainless steel, and she pounced at my podium.

“No!” Tyson charged. I knew he hated when people threatened his friends, but he was terrified of Sphinxes, since had such a bad experience with one before.

He tackled the Sphinx in midair and they crashed sideways into a pile of bones. It gave me enough time to gather myself and pull out Katopris. Tyson got up, his shirt clawed to shreds. The Sphinx growled, looking for an opening.

Percy drew Riptide and stepped in front of me.

“Run,” he told me.

“Perse, I can fight!”

“No!” Percy yelled, which caught me off guard. “The Sphinx is after you! Let us get it!”

As if to confirm his suspicions, the Sphinx knocked Tyson aside and tried to charge past Percy. Grover poked her in the eye with someone’s leg bone and she screeched in pain. I quickly ducked past the Sphinx and clipped the weird clip in my hair and vanished. The Sphinx pounced right where I had been standing, but came up with empty paws.

“No fair!” the Sphinx wailed. “Cheater!”

With me no longer in sight, the Sphinx turned on my best friend. Percy raised his sword, but before he could strike, Tyson ripped the monster’s grading machine out of the floor and threw it at the Sphinx’s head, ruining her hair bun. It landed in pieces all around her.

“My grading machine!” she cried. “I can’t be exemplary without my test scores!”

The bars lifted from the exits. I followed behind them as we dashed for the far tunnel.

The Sphinx started to follow, but Grover raised his reed pipes and began to play. Suddenly, the pencils remembered they used to be trees in their past lives. They collected around the Sphinx’s paws, grew roots and branches, and began wrapping around the monster’s legs. The Sphinx ripped through them, but it bought us enough time.

Tyson pulled Grover into the tunnel, and the bars slapped shut behind us.

“Sola!” Percy yelled.

“Here!” I said right next to him, taking out my hair clip. “Keep moving!”

We ran through the tunnels, listening to the roar of the Sphinx behind us as she complained about all the tests she would have to grade by hand.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Chapter Text

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

I was worried we lost the spider until Tyson heard a faint pinging sound. We made a few turns, backtracked a few times, and eventually found the spider banging its tiny head on a metal door.

The door looked like one of those old-fashioned submarine hatches―oval, with metal rivets around the edges and a wheel for a doorknob. Where the portal should’ve been there was a big brass plaque, green with age and with a Greek Êta inscribed in the middle.

We all looked at each other.

“Ready?” I asked.

“No,” Percy admitted.

“Yes!” Tyson said gleefully, and he turned the wheel.

As soon as the door opened, the spider scuttled inside with Tyson and I behind it. The other followed, thought not as anxiously.

The room was enormous. It was like a mechanic’s garage, with several hydraulic lifts. Some with cars, others with weirder things: A bronze hippalektyon with its horse head off and a bunch of wires hanging out of its rooster tail, a metal lion that seemed to be hooked up to a battery charger, and a Greek war chariot made entirely out of flames.

Smaller projects were cluttered on a bunch of worktables. Tools hung along the walls, and each had its own outline on a Peg-Board, but nothing looked to be in the right place. The hammer was over the screwdriver place, the staple gun in the hacksaw place, things like that.

Under the nearest hydraulic lift, which held a ‘98 Toyota Corolla, a pair of legs stuck out―the lower half of a huge man in grubby grey pants and shoes bigger than Tyson’s. One was in a metal brace.

The spider scuttled straight under the car, and the sounds of banging stopped.

“Well, well,” a deep voice boomed from under the car. “What do we have here?”

The mechanic pushed out on a back trolley and sat up. Hephaestus usually cleaned up when on Olympus, but this was his workshop, so he didn’t care how he looked. He wore a jumpsuit smeared with oil and grime with Hephaestus embroidered over the chest pocket. His leg creaked and clicked in its metal brace as he stood and his left shoulder was lower than his right, so he looked like he was leaning even when standing upright.

His head was misshapen and bulging, and he wore a permanent scowl. His black beard smiled and hissed, and every once in a while a small wildfire would erupt in his whiskers and die out. His hands were the size of oven  mitts, but he handled the spider with amazing skill and care. He disassembled it in two seconds, then put it back together.

“There,” he muttered to himself. “Much better.”

The spider did a happy flip in his palm, shot a metallic web at the ceiling and went swinging away.

Hephaestus glowered up at us. “I didn’t make you, did I?”

“No, sir.” I said.

“Good,” the god grumbled, but his eyes were focused on me for a while before he muttered. “Shoddy workmanship.”

He studied me even more, which made me shiver. “Half-bloods,” he grunted. “Could be automatons, of course, but probably not.”

“We’ve met, sir.” I told him.

“Have we?” The god asked absently, though he clearly didn’t care one way or the other. He was just trying to figure me out, like he really did create me. “Well then, if I didn’t smash you to a pulp the first time we met, I suppose I won’t have to do it now.”

He looked at Grover and frowned. “Satyr.”

Then he looked at Tyson and his eyes twinkled. “Well, a Cyclops. Good, good. What are you doing traveling with this lot?”

“Uh…” said Tyson, staring in wonder at the god.

“Yes, well said,” Hephaestus agreed. “So, there’d better be a good reason you’re disturbing me. The suspension on this Corolla is no small matter, you know.”

“Sir,” I said hesitantly. “We’re looking for Daedalus, we thought―”

“Daedalus?” the god roared. Wrong move, Sola. “You want that old scoundrel? You dare to seek him out!”

His beard burst into flames and his black eyes glowed.

“Yes, sir?” I squeaked. “Uh‒ Please?”

“Humph. You’re wasting your time.” He frowned at something on his worktable and limped over to it. He picked up a lump of springs and metal plates and tinkered with them. In a few seconds, he was holding a bronze and silver falcon. It spread its metal wings, blinked its obsidian eyes, and flew around the room.

 The bird landed on my shoulder and nuzzled my hair affectionately. Tyson laughed and clapped his hands.

Hephaestus regarded us. The god’s scowl didn’t change, but I could’ve sworn there was a kinder twinkle in his eyes. “I sense you have something to tell me, Cyclops.”

Tyson’s smile faded. “Y-yes, lord. We met a Hundred-Handed One.”

Hephaestus nodded, unsurprised. “Briares?”

“Yes. He―he was scared. He would not help us.”

“And that bothered you.”

“Yes!” Tyson’s voice wavered. “Briares should be strong! He is older and greater than Cyclopes. But he ran away!”

Hephaestus grunted. “There was a time I admired the Hundred-Handed Ones. Back in the days of the first war. But people, monsters, even gods change, young Cyclops. You can’t trust ‘em. Look at my loving mother, Hera. You met her, didn’t you? She’ll smile to your face and talk about how important family is, eh? Didn’t stop her from pitching me off Mount Olympus when she saw my ugly face.”

“But I thought Zeus did that?” I said.

Hephaestus cleared his throat and spat into a bronze spittoon. He snapped his fingers, and the robotic falcon flew back to the worktable.

“Mother likes telling that version of the story,” he grumbled. “Makes her seem more likable, doesn’t it? Blaming it all on my dad. The truth is, my mother likes families, but she likes a certain kind of family. Perfect families. She took one look at me, and…well, I don’t fit the image, do I?”

He pulled a feather from the falcon’s back and the whole automaton fell apart. “Believe me, young Cyclops,” Hephaestus said, “you can’t trust others. All you can trust is the work of your own hands.”

It was a pretty lonely way to live, but Hephaestus didn’t mind it. I didn’t trust him much either, though. I mean, once, in Denver, his mechanical spiders (he really likes making those) had almost killed Percy and I. And last year, a defective Talos statue cost Bianca her life―one of Hephaestus' little projects.

He focused his eyes on Percy, his eyes narrowing. “Oh, this one doesn’t like me,” he mused. “No worries, I’m used to that. What would you ask of me, little demigods?”

“We told you,” Percy said. “We need to find Daedalus. There’s this guy, Luke, and he’s working for Kronos. He’s trying to find a way to navigate the Labyrinth so he can invade our camp. If we don’t get to Daedalus first―”

“And I told you, boy. Looking for Daedalus is a waste of time. He won’t help you.”

“Why?” I asked.

Hephaestus shrugged. “Some of us get thrown off mountainsides. Some of us…the way we learn not to trust people is even more painful. Ask me for gold, or a flaming sword, or a magical steed. These I can’t grant you easily. But a way to Daedalus? That’s an expensive favor.”

“You do know where he is, then!” I pressed.

“It isn’t very intelligent to go looking, girl.”

“I think my great-grandma will be the judge of that.”

Hephaestus looked startled, but then narrowed his eyes. “Who’s your great-grandmother, then?”

“Phoebe.”

“Figures.” He sighed. “Fine Titaness, Phoebe. Funny meeting one of Apollo’s broods here.”

“Excuse me?”

“Alright, half-blood. I can tell you what you want to know. But there’s a price. I need a favor done.”

“Name it,” I said, and Hephaestus laughed. I mean, actually laughed―a booming sound like a huge bellows stoking a fire. “You heroes,” he said, “always making rash promises! How refreshing!”

He pressed a button on his workbench, and metal shutters opened along a wall. It looked like a window or a TV of sorts, but either way, we were looking at a grey mountain ringed in forests. It looked like a volcano, since smoke rose from its crest.

“One of my forges,” Hephaestus said. “I have many, but that used to be my favorite.”

“That’s Mount St. Helens,” Grover said. “Great forests around there.”

“You’ve been there?” Percy asked.

“Looking for…you know. Pan.”

“Wait,” I said. “It used to be your favorite? What happened?”

Hephaestus scratched his smoldering beard. “Well, that’s where the monster Typhon is trapped, you know. Used to be under Mount Etna, but when we moved to America, his force got pinned under Mount St. Helens instead. Great source of fire, but a bit dangerous. There’s always a chance he will escape. Lots of eruptions these days, smoldering all the time. He’s restless with the Titan rebellion.”

“What do you want us to do?” Percy said. “Fight him?”

Hephaestus snorted. “That would be sending you all to certain death. The gods themselves ran away from Typhon when he appeared. No, pray you never have to see him, much less fight him. But lately, I have sensed intruders in my mountain. Someone or something is using my forges. When I go there, it is empty, but I can tell it is being used. They sense me coming and they disappear. I send my automatons to investigate, but they do not return. Something…ancient is there. Evil. I want to know who dares invade my territory, and if they mean to lose Typhon.”

“You want us to find who it is,” I said.

“Aye,” Hephaestus said. “Go there. They may not sense you coming. You are not gods.”

“Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” I muttered.

“Go and find out what you can,” Hephaestus said. “Report back to me, and I will tell you what you need to know about Daedalus.”

“Alright,” I said. “How do we get there?”

Hephaestus clapped his hands. The spider came swinging down from the rafters, and it landed at my feet.

“My creation will show you the way,” Hephaestus said. “It is not far through the Labyrinth. And try to stay alive, will you? Humans are much more fragile than automatons.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

We were doing pretty well until we hit the tree roots. The spider raced along and we could keep up, but we spotted a tunnel off to the side that was dug up from raw earth, and wrapped in thick roots.

“What is it?” Percy said.

He didn’t move. He stared openmouthed into the dark tunnel, his curly hair rustling in the breeze.

“Grover?” I asked.

“This is the way,” Grover muttered in awe. “This is it.”

“What way?” I asked. “You mean the way to Pan?”

Grover looked at Tyson. “Don’t you smell it?”

“Dirt,” Tyson said. “And plants.”

“Yes! This is the way, I’m sure of it!”

Up ahead, the spider was getting farther down the stone corridor. We’d lose it in a few more seconds.

“Grove, we can come back,” I promised. “On our way back to Hephaestus.”

“The tunnel will be gone by then,” Grover said. “I have to follow it! A door like this won’t stay open!”

I shifted my weight to my other leg. “I understand how important it is to you Grover, but we can’t―”

“We’ll split up,” Percy said, and I panicked.

“No! That’s too risky! How would we find each other again? How would we find Grover again?”

Tyson put his hand on Grover’s shoulder. “I―I will go with him.”

We stared at them. “Tyson,” Percy asked. “Are you sure?”

The big guy nodded. “Goat boy needs help. We will find the god person. I am not like Hephaestus. I trust friends.”

Grover took a deep breath. “Percy, we’ll find each other again. We’ve still got the empathy link. I just…have to.”

I didn’t blame him, I mean, it was his life’s goal, and if he didn’t find Pan on this journey, the council would never give him another chance.

“Go get 'em, Grove,” I said.

“I hope you’re right,” Percy said.

“I know I am.” I never heard him this confident about anything, and I believed him.

“Be careful, you two,” I told Grover then looked at Tyson. He gulped back a sob and hugged the both of us so tight that my eyes nearly popped out of my sockets. Then, he and Grover disappeared through the tunnel of tree roots and were lost in the darkness.

I felt awful, I knew splitting up was practically a death sentence. But, I turned to Percy. “We’ll see them again. Now come on, the spider is getting away!”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

It wasn’t long before the tunnel started to get hot, and I didn’t need to feel it to tell, the stone walls glowing told me everything I needed to know.

The tunnel sloped down and I heard a loud roar, like a river of metal. The spider skittered along, with Percy and I right behind.

The roaring got louder, and after another half mile or so, we emerged in a cavern the size of a skate park, maybe bigger. Our spider escort stopped and curled into a ball. We had arrived at the forge of Hephaestus.

There was no floor, just bubbling lava hundreds of feet below. We stood on a rock ridge that circled the cavern, with a network of metal bridges spanned across it. At the center was a huge platform with all kinds of machines, cauldrons, forges, and complete with the largest anvil I’d ever seen―a block of iron the size of a house. Different creatures moved around the platform―strange, dark shapes that were too far away to make out the details.

“We’ll never be able to sneak up on them,” Percy said.

I slipped the metal spider in my pocket. “Well, we’re going together then. Come on.”

We crept along the outer rim of the lava lake, and I was hoping we could see what was happening in the middle at a better angle. We moved along, trying to keep away from the edge (even if I couldn’t feel the heat of the lava, I still didn’t want to die in the stuff), until our way was blocked by a cart with metal wheels, the kind they used in mine shafts.

Percy and I came to a silent agreement. I lifted the tarp and we found it was half full of scrap metal.

“Maybe we could squeeze around it instead?” Percy asked, until we heard voices ahead, likely from a side tunnel.

“Bring it in?” one asked.

“Yeah,” another said. “Movie’s just about done.”

“Too late, in we go.” I pulled Percy inside the cart and pulled the tarp over us, and prayed nobody saw us.

The cart lurched forward.

“Oi,” a gruff voice said. “Thing weighs a ton.”

“It’s celestial bronze,” the other said. “What did you expect?”

We got pulled along. We turned a corner, and from the sound of the wheels echoing against the walls, It sounded like we passed down a tunnel and into a smaller room.

I was praying we weren’t about to get dumped into a smelting pot. If it started to tip, we’d have to fight our way out, and quick. There were lots of talking, chattering voices that weren’t human―somewhere between a seal’s bark and a dog’s growl. There were more sounds too―an old-fashioned film projector, and a tinny voice narration.

“Just set it in the back,” a new voice ordered from across the room. “Now, younglings, please attend to the film. There will be time for questions afterward.”

The voices quieted down, and I heard the film.

As a young sea demon matures, the narrator said, changes happen in the monster’s body. You may notice your fangs getting longer and you may have a sudden desire to devour human beings. These changes are perfectly normal and happen to all young monsters.

Excited snarling filled the room. The teacher―at least I thought it was the teacher―told the younglings to be quiet and the film continued. It kept going on about growth spurts, acne problems caused by working in the forges, and proper flipper hygiene. I didn’t want to nor try to look, until the film was finally over.

“Now, younglings,” the instructor said. “What is the proper name of our kind?”

“Sea demons!” one barked.

“No. Anyone else?”

“Telkhines!” another growled.

“Very good,” the instructor said. “And why are we here?”

“Revenge!” Shouted several.

“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!”

“Those things made Poseidon’s trident?” Percy asked. “What are they talking about? I never heard of a Telkhine.”

“Because they’re gone,” I said. “They used their magic for evil and angered the gods, so they cast them all into Tartarus.”

“And so, younglings,” the instructor continued, “who do we serve?”

“Kronos!” they shouted.

“And when you grow up to be big Telkhines, will you make weapons for his 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. Crap. Percy got ready to click Riptide into action, and I grabbed onto the handle of Katopris. The tarp was thrown back, and we jumped up, our weapons swinging into action, only to find ourselves facing a group of…dogs.

Well, they had dog faces, literally. They had black snouts, brown eyes, and pointy ears. Their bodies were sleek black like sea mammals, with stubby legs that were half flipper, half foot, and humanlike hands complete with sharp claws. They looked like the lovechildren of a Doberman pinscher and a sea lion.

“A demigod!” One snarled, “Two of them!”

“Eat it!” yelled another.

We didn’t let them talk any more. With one wide arc slash with Riptide, Percy vaporized the entire front row of monsters. “Back off!” he yelled at the rest.

“New lesson, class,” I announced. I looked at their instructor―a six-foot-tall Telkhine with Doberman fangs snarling at us. I stared him down. “Most monsters will vaporize when hit with celestial bronze weapons! No worries, this change is completely normal, and will happen to you right now if you don’t BACK OFF!”

It surprisingly worked. The monsters backed up, but there were at least twenty of them. The scare tactic wasn’t gonna last long.

So, I took Percy’s hand and we jumped out of the cart. I yelled, “CLASS DISMISSED!” and we ran for the exit.

The monsters charged after us, barking and growling. I was praying they wouldn’t be able to run as fast with their stubby legs, but they waddled along pretty well. Thank the gods, there was a tunnel leading out the main cavern. We slammed it shut and turned the wheel handle to lock it, though I doubted it’d hold them long.

I looked down and saw four sea demons, fully grown and at least eight feet tall. Their black skin glistened in the firelight as they worked, sparks flying as they took turns hammering on a long piece of glowing metal.

I heard Percy start to speak, but I clamped my hand over his mouth and wrestled him down behind a big bronze cauldron. “Don’t talk so loud! Look.”

We peeked over the cauldron and watched the four sea demons continue to work.

“The blade is almost complete,” one said. “It needs another cooling in blood to fuse the metals.”

“Aye,” a second said. “It shall be even sharper than before.”

“What is that?” Percy whispered.

“Think, Perse,” I said. “They made Poseidon’s trident, they made the greatest Titan weapon―”

Before he could catch on, the door to the classroom exploded and young Telkhines came pouring out. They stumbled over each other, trying to figure out which way to charge.

“We have to get out of here!” I said.

“No, you get out.” Percy said. “Use your hairclip and get out of here.”

“What?!” I said. “No! If I leave, you leave! I’m not letting you die, Percy!”

He gently held my wrists, which were shaky with fear and mild irritation. “I’ve got a plan. I’ll distract them and you can get out of here. You can use the metal spider―maybe it’ll lead you back to Hephaestus. You have to tell him what’s going on.”

“Percy, you’re not listening!” I insisted. “You’ll be killed! Please!” I saw my vision blur with tears.

“I’ll be fine.” Percy promised, wiping my eyes with his thumbs. “We’ve got no choice. But I’ll always find you, I promise. Just trust me.”

I was trembling. I wanted to yell, to cry, to beg him to change his mind, but I knew Percy was stubborn. It didn’t matter how much I pleaded, I couldn’t get him to change his mind, especially when it came to keeping me safe. It was something I noticed a long time ago, but something that never worried me―his fatal flaw.

I felt tears roll down my face. It felt like time slowed down, and I only had five seconds to say what I needed to say. But I was never good with words when it came to goodbyes. I wanted to smack some sense into him, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good, and it wouldn’t change anything in the end.

So, I leaned in and gave Percy a quick kiss on the lips. I pulled away and laughed through tears at his shocked expression. “Okay. Be careful. Oh, and,” I lifted up my now empty left wrist, pointing toward his own. “Give that back later, yeah?”

He looked down and stared at my bracelet that now decorated his wrist, and he nodded, giving me one last hug before I put on my hair clip and vanished, trying to ignore the tears and guilt eating me alive as I ran back into the Labyrinth.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Chapter Text

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

One thing I didn’t expect to ever see was a burial cloth for my best friend, Percy Jackson. It had been two weeks since Percy and I split in the forges of Hephaestus, and he still hadn’t returned, no matter how much I held out hope for his return. I tried to convince the others to wait a little longer, but that explosion wasn’t convincing, combined it’d been two weeks with no sign of him. So, that afternoon, the amphitheater was packed, and I was holding the burial shroud. It was beautiful―just as I hoped it would. It was a green silk cloth, embroidered with a trident.

“It is best we assume he is dead,” Chiron said. “After so long a silence, it is unlikely our prayers will be answered. I have asked for his best surviving friend to do the final honors.”

I tried not to let out a sob as I stepped forward, ignoring the crowd staring at me as I set the cloth on the flames. I stood there quietly for a few moments, trying to gather myself as I turned towards the crowd. Despite how watery my voice sounded, I managed to speak. “He was… the best and the bravest friend I’ve ever had. He…” I then blinked. I saw Percy right there, at the back of the amphitheater, looking confused like he hadn’t just disappeared.

“Percy!?” I yelled.

Heads turned. People gasped.

“Percy!” Beckendorf grinned. A ton of other kids crowded him and clapped him on the back, besides the Ares cabin, who cursed and grumbled. Clarisse rolled her eyes, like she couldn’t believe he had the nerve to survive.

“Well,” Chiron sighed with obvious relief, cantering over while everyone made way for him. “I don’t believe I’ve ever been happier to see a camper return. But you must tell me―”

I couldn’t hold back any more. I immediately pushed my way through the crowd of campers, yelling, “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?”

Before Percy could give me some explanation, I ran over and tackled Percy to the ground in the tightest hug I’ve ever given him, and only broke down sobbing when he placed his hand on the back of my head.

The campers fell silent, but I didn’t care. I pulled away and placed my hands on Percy’s face, like I was expecting him to be just another ghost. “I thought you were dead, Perse!” I managed through sobs.

“I’m sorry,” he said, like he had anything to apologize for. “I got lost.”

“You were gone for two weeks!” I cried. “Where have you―”

“Solana,” Chiron interrupted. “Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere more private, shall we? The rest of you, back to your normal activities!”

Without waiting for an answer, he picked Percy and I up like we were kittens, slung us onto his back, and galloped off toward the Big House.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Percy told us everything. He explained how he caused the explosion at Mount St. Helens and got blasted out of the volcano, and how he was marooned on an island. Then, Hephaestus found him and told him how he could leave, and how a magic raft carried him back to camp.

I sniffled and wiped tears from my eyes. “You’ve been gone for two weeks. When…When I heard the explosion, I thought―”

“I know,” Percy said, grabbing my shaky hand. “I’m sorry. But I figured out how to get through the Labyrinth. I talked to Hephaestus.”

“He told you?”

“Well, he sort of told me that we already knew. And I do, I understand now. Do you know a Felix?”

I blinked as Percy told me his plan.

“What?! Percy, that’s crazy!”

Chiron sat back in his wheelchair and stroked his beard. “There is precedent, however. Theseus had the help of Ariadne, a mortal princess, to navigate through the Labyrinth.”

I tapped my hand on the table. I wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed or anything, but to ask for a mortal's help, and put them in danger? Especially Rachel and Felix? It sounded insane, but I knew we needed it.

“Alright.” I sighed.

Percy then looked around, like he just realized something. “Chiron, what about Grover and Tyson?”

I held my breath. “D-Do you think―?”

“I don’t know, my children,” Chiron gazed into the empty fireplace.

“Juniper’s been really upset,” I said. “All of her branches are turning yellow.” I then clenched my fists as I continued. “And The “Council of Cloven Elders” revoked Grover’s searcher’s license in absentia, so when he comes back, he’ll be forced into exile!”

Chiron sighed. “Grover and Tyson are very resourceful, however. We can still hope.”

I sighed and banged my head on the table. “I shouldn’t have let them run off…”

“Grover has his own destiny, and Tyson was brave enough to follow him. Percy would know if Grover was in mortal danger, don’t you think?”

“Yeah,” I mumbled, “The empathy link, but―”

“There is something else we should tell Percy, yes?” Chiron said, causing me to lift my head.

“You mean the bad news and the bad news?” I raised a brow.

“Yes.”

“Great.” Percy said.

“Percy, about Chris Rodriguez…”

“Is he dead?”

I was taken aback, but I shook my head. “Well, no, not yet. But he might as well want to be. He’s stuck in the infirmary. He’s too weak to move, and doesn’t respond to anything. No amount of food, drink or medicine will help him. He just…lost his will to live. Claire has been at his bedside the entire time, so I had her go back to her usual schedule.”

The news also made me feel more depressed than I already felt. I felt bad for Clarisse and Chris, how hard Clarisse tried to help him, and how easily Minos drove Chris to insanity. Without any friends or anything, it’d be easy to get lost in there.

“And…Quintus also disappeared.” I said.

“Disappeared?” Percy said. “How?”

“Three nights ago. Juni said she saw him slip into the Labyrinth and disappear.”

“He’s a spy for Luke,” Percy told us. He told Chiron about the Triple G Ranch―How Quintus bought his scorpions there and Geryon supplying Kronos’s army. “It can’t be a coincidence."

I shifted nervously, but I didn’t say anything. It sounded plausible, but also, I wasn’t so sure that was the full picture.

Chiron sighed heavily. “So many betrayals. I had hoped Quintus would prove a friend. It seems my judgement was misplaced.”

“What about Mrs. O’Leary?” I asked. I had seen her a few times, but I didn’t have the heart to go near her. It reminded me of Cerberus, lonely and even lost.

“The hellhound is still in the arena. It won’t let anyone approach. I did not have the heart to force it into a cage…or destroy it.”

“Quintus wouldn’t just…abandon her, right?”

“As I said, Solana, we seem to have been wrong about him. Now, prepare yourself for the morning. You and Percy still have much to do.”

We left him in his wheelchair, staring sadly into the fireplace. I was aware of how many times he seemed to have sat there, waiting for heroes that never came back.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Before dinner, I stopped by the sword arena. Mrs. O’Leary, as expected, was curled up in an enormous black furry mound in the middle of the stadium, chewing halfheartedly on the head of a warrior dummy.

“Mrs. O’Leary!” I called.

When she saw me, she did something I didn’t expect. She barked and came bounding over toward me and bowled me over, licking my face and getting an unplanned bath.

“Woah, girl!” I yelled. “Hold up―Lemme up!”

I managed to get her off of me, and I scratched behind her ears, which she appreciated. I found her an extra-gigantic dog biscuit and fed it to her.

“Where’s your owner, girl?” I asked her. “How could he just…leave you here?”

She whimpered like she wanted to know that, too. I was still on the fence on Quintus being an enemy, and I felt even worse about him leaving Mrs. O’Leary behind after showing how much he cared for her.

I wasn’t looking forward to having to take a rush-shower to get dog kisses off of my skin and out of my hair, when a girl’s voice said, “You’re lucky she didn’t bite your head off.”

Clarisse was standing at the other end of the arena with her sword and shield. “Came here to practice yesterday,” she grumbled. “Dog tried to chew me up.”

“Good girl,” I said, scratching behind her ear again.

“Funny.”

She walked towards us. Mrs. O’Leary growled, but I rubbed her head and she calmed down.

“Stupid hellhound,” Clarisse said. “Not gonna keep me from practicing.”

“Claire,” I said, “I’m sorry about Chris.”

Clarisse paced a circle around the arena. When she came to the nearest dummy, she attacked viciously, chopping its head off with a single blow and driving a sword through its stuffed guts. She pulled the sword out and kept walking.

“Yeah, well. Sometimes things go wrong, Pretty Girl.” Her voice was shaky. “Heroes get hurt. They…They die, and the monsters just keep coming.”

She picked up a javelin and threw it across the arena. It nailed a dummy straight between the eyeholes of its helmet.

“Chris…Chris was brave,” I said. “We’ll make sure he gets better.”

She glared at me, like she’d go after me next, and Mrs. O’Leary growled.

“Do me a favor,” Clarisse told me.

“Sure?”

“If you find Daedalus, don’t trust him. Don’t ask him for help. Just kill him.”

“Clarisse!”

“Because anybody who can make something like the Labyrinth? That person is evil. Plain evil.”

She had the same hard look as Eurytion the cowherd, her immortal half brother. She had the same hard look in her eyes, like she’d been used for the past two thousand years. She sheathed her sword.

“Practice time is over, Pretty Girl. From now on, it’s for real.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

That night, I slept in my own bunk, and a dream found me again. I was underground in a stone chamber. I watched as Luke and another half-blood warrior studied a map by flashlight. I willed my light to dim, and, to my surprise, it did.

Luke cursed. “It should’ve been the last turn!” he crumpled up the map and tossed it aside.

“Sir!” his companion protested.

“Maps are useless here,” Luke said. “Don’t worry, I’ll find it.”

“Sir, is it true that the larger the group―”

“The more likely you’ll get lost? Yes, that is true. Why do you think we sent out solo explorers to benign with? But don’t worry. As soon as we have the thread, we can leave the vanguard through.”

“But how will we get the thread?”

Luke stood, flexing his fingers. “Oh, Quintus will come through. All we have to do is reach the arena, and it’s at a juncture. Impossible to get anywhere without passing it. That’s why we must have a truce with its master. We just have to stay alive until―”

“Sir!” a new voice came from the corridor. Another guy in Greek armor ran forward carrying a torch. I stepped back and let him pass. “The dracaenae found a half-blood!”

Luke scowled. “Alone? Wandering the maze?”

“Yes, sir! You’d better come quick. They’re in the next chamber, and they’ve got him cornered.”

“Who is it?”

“No one I’ve ever seen before, sir.”

Luke nodded. “A blessing from Kronos. We may be able to use this half-blood. Come!”

They ran down the corridor, and I woke up with a start. A lone half-blood, wandering the maze.

I didn’t sleep. The next morning, I made sure Mrs. O’Leary had enough dog biscuits. I asked Dolores to keep an eye on her, which she accepted happily. Then I hiked over Half-Blood Hill and met Percy and Argus on the road.

Percy and I didn’t talk much on the road. Argus never really spoke either, sincere had eyes all over his body, including the tip of his tongue, and he didn’t like showing that off.

Percy looked anxious, like he slept worse than I did.

“Nightmares?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “An Iris-message from Eurytion. He couldn’t reach you.”

“Eurytion!” I felt my heart nearly leap out of my chest. “Is something wrong with Nico?”

“He left the ranch last night, and he’s heading back into the maze.”

“What!? Didn’t Eurytion try stopping him!?”

“Nico left before he woke up! Orthus tracked his scent as far as the cattle guard. Eurytion said he’d been hearing Nico talk to himself the last few nights.”

“Nico’s talking with Minos again,” I said.

“He’s in danger,” Percy said.

“You’re tellin’ me! Not only is Minos one of the judges of the dead, but he’s got a mile wide vicious streak. I don’t know what he wants with Nico, but we’ve got more problems than that.”

“What?”

“I had this dream last night…” I told him about Luke, how he mentioned Quintus and how his men found a half-blood alone in the maze. “This is really bad.”

“So, what do we do?”

“I guess we put our plan into motion.”

It was a Saturday, and traffic was heavy going into the city. We arrived at our apartment around noon. When Sally answered the door, she gave us a hug that was a little less overwhelming than a hellhound jumping your bones.

“I told them you both were alright,” Sally said, but she sounded like the weight of the sky had just been lifted off her shoulders―trust me, I know how that feels.

She sat us down at the kitchen table and insisted on feeding us her special blue lemon-chocolate cookies while we caught her up on the quest. Per usual, we tried to water down the frightening parts, but it just made it sound that much more dangerous.

When we got to the part about Geryon and the stables, Sally pretended like she was going to strangle Percy. “I can’t get him to clean his room, but you can get him to clean a hundred tons of horse manure out of some monster’s stables?”

I let out a laugh, and only laughed more when Percy nudged me.

“So,” Sally said when we were done with our story, “You wrecked Alcatraz Island, made Mount St. Helens explode, displaced half a million people, but at least you’re both safe.” Sally Jackson, everyone, always looking on the bright side.

“Yep,” I said. “Pretty much.”

“I wish Paul were here,” she said, half to herself. “He wanted to talk to you two.”

“Oh, right.” I said. “The school.”

I almost forgot about the high school orientation at Goode―how we left the band hall in flames, and Sally’s boyfriend had last seen us jumping through a window like two fugitives.

“What did you tell him?” Percy asked.

Sally shook her head. “What could I say? He knows something is different about you two. He’s a smart man, and he believes you’re not bad kids. He doesn’t know what’s going on, but the school is pressuring him. After all, he got you admitted there. He needs to convince them the fire wasn’t your fault. And since you two ran away, that looks bad.”

“I’ll talk to him,” I promised. “I’ll tell him the truth if you want.”

Sally put her hand on top of mine. “You would do that?”

“Yeah. I mean, he’ll think we’re crazy.”

“He already thinks that.”

“Then there’s nothing to lose.”

“Thank you, baby. I’ll tell him you’ll both be home…” She frowned. “When? What happens now?”

Reluctantly, we told her our plan.

She nodded slowly. “Sounds very dangerous, but it might work.”

“You’re the same, right?” I asked. “You can see through the Mist.”

Sally sighed. “Not so much now. Back in my younger years, though, it was easier. That’s what caught Percy’s father’s attention, when we first met. Just be careful. Promise me you’ll be safe. Grover and Tyson are counting on you two.”

“We’ll try, Sal.” I said.

Sally smiled. “Percy, you’d better use the phone in the hall.”

“Good luck.” I told him.

I remembered the number I had saved in my head. Not like I meant to, but I’d memorized it. I was just hoping he’d be around.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Percy arranged a meeting in Times Square. We found Rachel Elizabeth Dare in front of the Marriott Marquis, painted completely gold while Felix stood next to her.

And when I said she was painted gold, I meant painted. Her hair, face, clothes―everything. It looked like King Midas touched her. She was standing like a statue with five other kids painted metallic―copper, bronze and silver. They were frozen in different poses while tourists hustled past or stopped to stare. Some passerby threw money at the tarp on the sidewalk.

The sign Felix held said, URBAN ART FOR KIDS, DONATIONS APPRECIATED.

Percy and I stood there for five minutes, staring at Rachel, but she didn’t let on that she noticed us. Felix did, though. He flashed me a smile which I returned.

After another few minutes, a kid in silver walked up from the hotel taxi stand, where he’d been taking a break, and he took a pose like he was lecturing the crowd, right next to Rachel. Rachel unfroze and stepped off the tarp.

“Hey, guys.” she grinned. “Good timing! Let’s get some coffee!”

I motioned for Felix to follow, who hesitated, but folded the sign and placed it at one of the kid’s feet and followed behind with one hand in his pocket.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

We walked down to a place called the Java Moose on West 43rd. Rachel ordered an Espresso Extreme, something Grover would kill for. Percy, Felix and I got fruit smoothies. We sat at a table right under the stuffed moose. No one even looked twice at Rachel in her gold outfit.

“So,” she said. “Solana, yeah?”

“Yep. Nice paint job,” I said. “You dress like that often?”

“Nope.” Felix said. “Surprisingly.”

Rachel playfully shoved him, which he chuckled at. “Not usually,” she corrected. “We’re raising money for our group! We do volunteer art projects for elementary kids ‘cause they’re cutting art from schools, you know?”

“Are you kidding me?” I said.

“I know, right!? We do this once a month, take in about five hundred dollars on a good weekend. But I’m guessing you don’t want to talk about that. You’re a half-blood, too?”

“Rachel!” I yelped. “Jesus, announce it to the whole world, why don’t you?”

Rachel looked at Felix, who sighed and stood. He said really loud, “Hey, everyone! These two aren’t human! They’re half Greek god!”

Nobody even looked our way.

Felix sat and leaned back. “See, glowstick? Nobody cares.”

“That’s not funny,” I huffed.

“I know.” Felix said.

“Come on, you two,” Percy said. “Calm down.”

“I’m calm,” Rachel said. “Every time I’m around you, some monster attacks us. What’s to be nervous about?”

“Welcome to my life,” I said.

“My condolences.” Rachel said, doing a mock salute that made me laugh.

“Look,” Percy said. “I’m sorry about the band room. I hope they didn’t kick you out or anything.”

“Nah. They asked me a lot of questions about you. But I just played dumb.”

“Rachel, Felix, we’ve got a problem. And we need your help.”

I told Rachel and Felix about the Labyrinth, and how we needed to find Daedalus, and what happened the last time we went in there.

“So you want me and my sister to guide you,” Felix said, stirring his smoothie with his straw. “Through a place we’ve never been.”

“You two can see through the Mist,” I said. “Like Ariadne. I’m betting you two can see the right path. The Labyrinth won’t fool you as easily.”

“And if you’re wrong?” Rachel asked.

“We get lost and die,” Felix suggested.

“Either way, it’ll be dangerous.” I said. “Very, very dangerous.”

“We could die?” Rachel asked.

“I just said that.” Felix sighed.

“Yeah.” Percy said.

“I thought you said monsters don’t care about mortals.” Rachel said. “That sword of yours―”

“Yeah,” Percy said. “Celestial bronze doesn’t hurt mortals. Most monsters would ignore you. But Luke…he doesn’t care. He’ll use mortals, demigods, monsters, whatever. And he’ll kill anyone who gets in his way.”

“Sounds like a real charmer,” Felix said.

Rachel looked at her brother and grabbed his shoulder. “Sibling huddle!”

The two of them scooted close to each other and turned their backs to us, whispering for about five or ten minutes before turning around.

“Okay,” Rachel said. “We’re in.”

We blinked. “Well, that was easy.” I said.

“Are you sure?” Percy asked.

“Hey, my summer was going to be boring,” Felix said. “Sola saved me an hour or two with this freak.” He poked his sister’s cheek, who glared at him. “You’re still gonna be stuck with me!” Rachel protested.

“Yeah, but if I die, or, hopefully, if you die, that’s way better than a boring summer holding a sign up while you pose for god knows how long.” Felix shrugged.

“We have to find an entrance to the Labyrinth,” I said. “There’s one at Camp Half-Blood, but it’s an off-limits area to mortals.”

“You’re really bad at planning ahead,” Felix pointed out.

Rachel nodded. “Okay. What does an entrance to the Labyrinth look like?”

“It could be…anything, really,” I said. “A section of wall, a boulder, a doorway, a sewer entrance. But it will always have the mark of Daedalus on it. A Greek L, glowing in blue.”

“Like this?” Rachel drew the symbol Delta in water on our table.

“Oh, that thing,” Felix said.

“That’s it. You guys know Greek?” I said.

“Nope,” the siblings said in unison. Rachel pulled a big blue plastic hairbrush from her pocket and started brushing gold out of her hair. “Let me get changed. Follow Felix to the Marriott.”

“Why?” Percy asked.

“Because,” Felix said, sipping his smoothie again. “There’s an entrance just like that in the hotel basement where we store our costumes. It’s got the mark of Daedalus.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Chapter Text

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

The metal door was half hidden behind a laundry bin and full of dirty hotel towels. Felix told us where to look, and I recognized the faint blue symbol etched into the metal.

“It hasn’t been used in a long time,” I said.

“Rach and I tried to open it once,” Felix said. “Just out of curiosity. It’s rusted shut, though.”

“Nope,” I said. “Just needs a little half-blood touch.”

Just as I expected, as soon as I put my hand on the mark, it glowed blue. The metal door unsealed and creaked open, revealing a dark staircase leading down.

“Wow.” Rachel said, who’d just entered the room. She’d changed into a ratty Museum of Modern Art T-shirt and her regular marker-colored jeans, her blue plastic hairbrush sticking out her pocket. Her red hair was tied back, but she still had traces of gold flecks and glitter in her hair and on her face. “So…After you?”

“You’re the guides,” I said. “After you.”

The stairs led down to a large brick tunnel. It was so dark I couldn’t see two feet in front of us, but Percy and I restocked on flashlights. As soon as we switched them on, Rachel yelped and hid behind Felix. 

“Oh, that’s gnarly,” he said.

A skeleton was grinning at us, but it wasn’t human. It was huge―for one, 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. What really made me shiver was the single black eye socket in the center of its skull.

“Cyclops,” I said. “It’s very old. It’s not…anybody we know.”

It wasn’t Tyson, I meant, but it didn’t help. It was put there as a warning, and I wasn’t very anxious to see what kind of creature could kill a grown Cyclops.

Rachel swallowed. “You have a friend who’s a Cyclops?”

“Tyson,” Percy said. “My half brother.”

“Your half brother?” Felix said.

“Hopefully we’ll find him down here,” I said. “And Grover. Our satyr friend.”

“Oh,” Rachel’s voice was small. “Well then, we’d better keep moving.”

Felix pushed Rachel forward, who yelped and glared at her brother. But she stepped under the skeleton’s left arm and kept walking. The three of us followed behind.

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

Percy pointed left. “That looks like the tunnel Tyson and Grover took.”

I pointed to the right. “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.”

Rachel and Felix looked at each other before saying in unison, “Straight.”

We looked at them.

“You don’t see it?” Rachel asked. “Look at the floor.”

I looked, but I didn’t see anything other than well-worn bricks and mud.

“There’s a brightness there,” Rachel insisted. “Very faint, but forward is the correct way.”

Felix nodded. “To the left, farther down, the tree roots are moving like feelers, and I’m getting a bad feeling about that. Meanwhile, on the right, there’s holes in the walls, like for spikes. We’re not risking it.”

“Forward it is, then.” I said, feeling a little impressed. The four of us kept walking down the brick corridor. It twisted and turned, but there weren’t any more side tunnels. We seemed to be angling down, heading underground.

“Traps?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Felix said.

Rachel knit her eyebrows. “Should it be this easy?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Percy said. “It never was before.”

“Where are you guys from?” I asked. I never got it from Felix, and I was still a little shocked that they were siblings, though it made sense. All redheads looked pretty similar, anyway.

“Brooklyn,” Rachel said.

“Wouldn’t your parents be worried about you guys being out this late?” Percy asked.

Felix exhaled. “Not likely.”

Rachel continued, “Heck, we could be gone for a week and they’d never notice!”

“Why not?” I asked. I knew a thing or two about bad parents. But before they could answer, there was a creaking noise in front of us, like huge doors opening.

“What was that?” I asked.

“Dunno,” Felix, very helpfully, said. “Metal hinges.”

“I mean, what is it?”

“Be more specific next time.”

Then, I heard heavy footsteps shaking the corridor―coming toward us.

“Run?” Percy asked.

“Run,” Rachel agreed.

We turned and fled the way we came, but we didn’t even make it twenty feet before we ran straight into old friends. Two dracaenae―snake women in Greek armor―leveled their javelins at our chests. And standing between them was Kelli, the empousa cheerleader.

“Well, well,” Kelli said.

Percy clicked Riptide, and I pulled out Katopris; but Kelli quickly went for Rachel, but Felix stopped her by grabbing her wrists and not letting her go, no matter how hard she struggled.

She growled at him, her talons at the ready. “Taking your little mortal pets for a walk?” Kelli hissed. “This one’s strong, Solana, I’ll give you that. But they’re still such fragile things, so easy to break!”

Behind us, the footsteps came closer. A huge form appeared out of the gloom―an eight-foot-tall Laestrygonians 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 Felix. “Now march, half-bloods. Or you’ll all die here, starting with the mortal pests.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

I was still reeling from how fast Felix managed to fight back against Kelli, but even then, it was still a half-blood's worst nightmare, and I knew a thing about a nightmare or two. We were marched down the tunnel, flanked by dracaenae, with Kelli and the giant in back, just in case we tried to run. Forward was the only way to go.

Up ahead, I saw two bronze doors. They were about ten feet tall, emblazoned with a pair of crossed swords. From behind, there was a muffled roar, like a crowd.

“Oh, yesssssss,” the dracaenae on my right. “You’ll be very popular with our hosssst.”

Who’s your host?” I asked.

She hissed a laugh, “Oh, you’ll sssssee. You both will get along famously, he’ssss the Sssea godling’s brother, after all.”

“My what?” Percy said.

The giant pushed past us and opened the doors. He picked Percy up by his shirt and said, “You stay here.”

“Hey!” Percy yelled, but the dude was twice our size and already confiscated my knife and Percy’s sword.

Kelli laughed. She had her claws to Rachel and Felix’s backs. “Go on, Solana. Entertain us. We’ll wait here with your friends to make sure you behave.”

I looked at the Dare siblings. “I’ll get you guys out of this, I promise.”

Rachel nodded. “That would be nice.”

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

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

It wasn’t the biggest arena ever, but it was pretty spacious considering the entire thing was underground. The dirt floor was circular, just big enough that you could rollerblade around the rim if you had really good balance. A fight was currently going on between a giant and a centaur―but the centaur looked panicked. He was galloping around his opponent using a sword and shield, while the giant in turn swung a telephone pole-sized javelin while the crowd cheered.

The first tier of seats were twelve feet above the arena floor. Plain stone benches wrapped all the way around, and every seat was full. Some with giants, dracaenae, demigods, telkhines, and stranger things: Bat-winged demons, and others who were half-human half-you-name-it―bird, reptile, insect, mammal.

But the worst thing was the skulls. And the arena was full of them. They ringed the edge of the railing, and 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 ceilings like horror-themed chandeliers. Some were old―nothing but bleached-white bone. Others were new. (And I’m not describing that, use your imagination.)

In the center of it all, proudly displayed on the side of the spectators wall, was something even weirder and out of place―a green banner with Poseidon’s Trident in the center. And above that banner, sitting in two seats of honor, were old enemies. Luke, and―

“Charlotte,” I gasped.

I didn’t know if they could hear us, but Luke smiled coldly. He wore camouflage pants, a white T-shirt, and a bronze breastplate, like in my vision, but he didn’t have his sword. Charlotte on the other hand looked awful.

Don’t get me wrong, her silky blonde and grey-and-black streaked hair was still tied back, just styled differently. Instead of a complete ponytail, it was a half-up half-down style―part of her hair tied back into a bun while the rest cascades down her back.

But her usually cold or afraid electric blue eyes were almost faded and looked defeated, and no longer crackling with energy, and she even had a scar that ran from her cheek to across her nose that looked like it came from a sword. She had more lightning scars from her sacrifice last winter. She was sporting a camouflage jacket―I assumed to be Luke’s, and a jean skirt with black leggings that barely hid the scratches from what looked to be talons or claws. I would bet if I took off Luke’s jacket (which would be doing her a service), I’d see even more that I didn’t want to see.

In between them was the biggest giant I’d ever seen, larger than the one on the floor fighting the centaur. The giant looked about fifteen feet tall, easy, and so wide that I was sure he’d take up three seats. He only wore a loincloth, like a sumo wrestler, and his skin was dark red and tattooed with blue wave designs.

There was a sudden cry from the arena floor, and I watched the centaur crash to the dirt right beside Me. He met my eyes pleadingly. “Help!”

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

I immediately knelt to help, but a taloned hand gripped my shoulder. “If you value your friendsss’ livesss,” the dracaenae guard said, “You won’t interfere. This isssn’t your fight. Wait your turn.”

The centaur couldn’t get up, and 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, and the crowd cheered, “DEATH! DEATH!”

Luke didn’t do anything, Charlotte looked away, but the tattooed sumo giant smiled down at the centaur, who was whimpering, “Please! No!”

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

I covered my eyes with my hands as the gladiator giant thrust his javelin. When I finally opened my eyes, the centaur was gone, disintegrated to ashes, and all that was left was a single hoof. The giant took it up as a trophy and showed the crowd, who roared in approval.

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

In the stands, the sumo giant 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, which I struggled not to laugh at. He hated his father. Nevertheless, he rose calmly to his feet and Charlotte followed. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and his eyes glittered. Actually, he seemed to be in a pretty good mood.

“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 wanted entertainment!”

Charlotte bowed, but winced when she did, so she stood back straight just as quickly. “I believe we have something better than centaurs to fight in your lovely arena, Lord Antaeus.”

“Yes,” Luke said, pointing to me. “I have a godling, Solana Jackson, a Daughter of Apollo.”

The crowd began jeering and throwing stones at me, which annoyed me. I dodged one, but one caught me on the cheek and gave me a good-sized cut. Great start.

Antaeus’s eyes lit up. “A Daughter of Apollo? Then she should fight well! Or die well!” Was I really reduced to a bet?

“If her death pleases you,” Luke said, “will you let our armies cross your territory?”

“Perhaps!” Antaeus said.

Luke didn’t look too happy about the “perhaps.” He shot me a glare, like: You better die in a really spectacular way or you’re in big trouble.

“Charlotte!” I yelled up to her. “Stop this, please! Let us go!”

Charlotte seemed to finally notice me, and she looked stunned. “Sola?”

“Enough time for the females to fight,” Antaeus interrupted. “First, Solana Jackson, what weapons will you choose?”

The dracaenae pushed me into the middle of the arena.

I stared up at Antaeus. “How can you be a son of Poseidon?”

Antaeus laughed, and the rest of the crowd joined in. “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 looked at the skulls in horror―hundreds of them―and the banner of Poseidon. I then looked at Antaeus and something hit me.

“Gaea!” I yelled. “Your mother is G―”

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

“You’re crazy,” I said. “If you think this is a good tribute, you know nothing about the gods!”

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

“Just my knife,” I said. The monsters erupted in laughter, but I pulled my dagger from my sheath, which caused nervous murmurs instead. The bronze blade glowed with a faint light. I was raised in the Hermes Cabin, I knew a thing or two about thieving.

“Round one!” Antaeus announced.

The gates opened, and a dracaena slithered out. She held a trident in one hand and a weighted net in the other―classing gladiator fighting. We’ve been training against those weapons at camp for years.

She jabbed at me experimentally, and I stepped away.

She threw her net, hoping to tangle my armed hand, but I grabbed her net and pulled her forward and caught her off guard. I took that chance and stabbed Katopris through a chink in her armor. With a pained wail, she vaporized into nothing, and the crowd that was once cheering was reduced to a dead silence.

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

He was more like a spoiled kid than a giant monster. I looked at Percy and the Dare siblings. I needed to get them out of there, but to do that, I had to be alive.

“Nice job, Sola,” Luke smiled. “You’ve gotten better with the swordplay, I’ll grant you that.”

“Thanks for nothing,” I hissed.

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

The gates opened again, and a young warrior came out. He looked a little older, maybe sixteen. He had glossy black hair, and his left eye was covered with an eye patch. He was thin and wiry, so his Greek armor hung on him loosely. He stabbed his sword into the dirt, adjusted his shield straps, and pulled on his horsehair helmet.

“Ethan?” I gasped.

Ethan Nakamura looked at me. “Hi again. I have to kill you.”

“But―why are you doing this? Why waste your time on Luke!?”

“Hey!” a monster jeered from the stands. “Stop talking and fight already!”

The others took up the call.

“I have to prove myself, Sola,” Ethan told me. “Only way to join up.”

“Ethan―” I tried to plead, but he charged. Our weapons met midair and the crowd roared. I felt gross, entertaining a bunch of monsters, but Ethan didn’t give me any other choice.

He pressed forward, and he was good. He’d been at camp, so he had been trained, but he was always unclaimed. He parried my strike and almost slammed me with his shield, but I jumped back. He slashed, and I rolled to one side.

We exchanged thrusts and parries, getting a feel for each other’s fighting style for the first time. While I tried to keep on Ethan’s blind side, it didn’t give me any advantage. He was excellent at guarding his left.

“Blood!” The monsters cried.

Ethan glanced up at the stands, and I immediately caught his weakness. He needed to impress them. I didn’t.

He yelled an angry battle cry and charged me, but I parried his blade and backed away. I was letting him come after me.

“Booo!” Antaeus said. “Stand and fight!”

Ethan pressed me, but I didn’t have any problem defending, even without a shield. He was dressed for defense, though―heavy armor and shield―which made it tiring to play offense. I was a softer target, sure, but I was also lighter and faster.

The crowd went nuts, yelling complaints and throwing rocks. We’d been fighting for, what, five minutes? And there was still no blood.

But, Ethan made a mistake. He tried to jab at my stomach, but I locked his sword hilt in my dagger’s and twisted, causing his sword to drop into the dirt. Before he could recover, I headbutted his nose and he fell on his back, dazed, tired and with a bloody nose. I pressed my foot against his chest and pointed my knife at him.

“Get it over with,” Ethan groaned.

I looked up at Antaeus. His red face was stony with displeasure, but he held up his hand and put it thumbs down.

I looked down at Ethan and stepped back, sheathing my dagger. “No.”

“Don’t be stupid, Sol,” Ethan groaned. “They’ll just kill us both!”

I didn’t care. I offered my hand and he took it reluctantly. I helped him up.

“No one dishonors the games!” Antaeus bellowed. “Your heads shall be tributes to Poseidon!”

I looked at Ethan. “When you see your opening, run.” Then I turned to Antaeus. “Then fight me yourself! You got Poseidon’s favor? Prove it!”

The monsters grumbled in the stands, and Antaeus looked around. I got him cornered. He couldn’t say no without looking like a coward.

“I am the greatest wrestler in the world, girl,” he warned. “I have been wrestling since the first pankration!”

Fighting to the death. No holds barred, and it used to be an Olympic sport. Rachel was watching me with wide eyes, and Felix shook his head emphatically. Percy kept trying to kick himself free, but he couldn’t.

So, I pointed my dagger at Antaeus. “Fine then! Winner takes all! You win, we die. I win, we all go free. Swear it upon the River Styx!” I was not making that mistake again.

Antaeus laughed. “This shouldn’t take long. I swear to your terms!”

He leaped off the railing, right into the arena.

“Good luck,” Ethan told me. “You’ll need it.”

“Thanks.”

Ethan backed up quickly. Antaeus cracked his knuckles and grinned. Even his teeth were etched in wave patterns, which just looked like a pain.

“Weapons?” he asked.

“Katopris is good for me. You?’

He held up his huge hands and wiggled his fingers. “I don’t need anything else! Master Luke, you will referee this one.”

Luke smiled down at me. “With pleasure.”

Charlotte was holding her breath, and it felt nice to know she at least still cared for me.

Antaeus lunged, but I just rolled under his legs and stabbed him in the back of his thigh.

“Argggh!” He yelled. But when I thought there would be blood, there was a spout of sand, like I broke the side of an hour glass. It spilled into the dirt floor, and the dirt collected around his leg, like a cast, and when the dirt fell away, the wound was gone.

He charged again, and I dodged sideways and stabbed him under the arm. Katopris’s blade was buried to the hilt in his ribs, but it was wrenched out of my hands when the giant turned, and I was thrown across the arena, weaponless.

Antaeus bellowed in pain and groped for the hilt. He pulled out the dagger, and more sand poured from the wound. But the Earth rose up to cover him, coating his body all the way to his shoulders. As soon as the dirt spilled away, Antaeus was fine.

Of course, he was a son of Gaea. He was a son of Poseidon, but Gaea kept him alive, and he’d survive every blow I sent to him as long as he was touching the Earth.

“Now you see why I never lose, demigod!” Antaeus gloated. “Come here and let me crush you, I’ll make it quick!”

I tried to skirt around, but he blocked my path, chuckling. He was starting to toy with me now, and it ticked me off. I then looked up at the chains hanging from the ceiling, dangling the skulls of his enemies on hooks, and I had an idea.

I feinted to the other side, and Antaeus blocked me. The crowd jeered and screamed at Antaeus to finish me off, but he was having too much fun.

“Puny girl,” he said, “Not a worthy daughter of the sun god!”

He thought my goal was to get my dagger, but it wasn’t. I instead charged straight ahead, crouching low so he’d think I was going to roll between his legs again, but while he was stooping, ready to catch me like a grounder, I jumped―kicking off his forearm, scrambling up his shoulder like it was a ladder, and placing my shoe on his head.

He did just what I expected. He straightened up indignantly and yelled, “HEY!”

I pushed off, using his force to catapult me toward the ceiling. I caught the top of a chain, and the skulls and hooks jangled beneath me. I wrapped my legs around the chain and summoned my arrow out of its bracelet form. I grabbed a sharpened arrow and sawed off the chain next to me.

“Come down here, girl!” Antaeus bellowed. He tried to grab me, but I was just out of reach.

I yelled, “Come up and get me! Oh, am I too high up for you?”

He howled and made another grab for me. He caught a chain and tried to pull himself up.

While he struggled, I lowered my sawed off chain, and snagged Antaeus’s loincloth.

“WAAA!” he yelled. Quickly, I slipped the free chain through the fastening link on my own chain, pulled it taut, and secured it the best I could. Antaeus tried to slip back to the ground, but his butt stayed suspended by his loincloth. He had to hold on to the other chains with both hands to avoid getting flipped upside down.

While Antaeus cursed and flailed, I scrambled around the chains, effortlessly swinging and cutting with my arrow with all my focus. I made loops with hooks and metal links, and within a few minutes, the giant was suspended above the ground, hopelessly snarled in chains and hooks.

I did a backflip and landed on my feet. I put my hands on my hips, admiring my handiwork.

“Get me down!” Antaeus demanded.

“Free him!” Luke ordered. “He is our host!”

I cracked my knuckles and picked up Katopris. “You’re the boss!”

And I stabbed and sliced the giant through the stomach. He bellowed and sand poured out, but he was too far up to touch the earth, and it didn’t rise to help him. Antaeus just dissolved, pouring out bit by bit until there was nothing but empty swinging chains, a large loincloth on a hook, and a bunch of grinning skulls dancing above me, like they finally had a reason to smile.

“Jackson!” Luke yelled as Charlotte had her mouth covered with her hands. “I should have killed you long ago!”

“You tried,” I reminded him. “Anyway, we had a sworn agreement with Antaeus. I’m the winner.”

I did a three second countdown in my head, and Luke did just as I expected when I got to one. He said, “Antaeus is dead. His oath dies with him. But since I’m feeling merciful today, I’ll have you killed quickly.”

Every monster in the audience drew a weapon or extended its claws. We would’ve been outnumbered if I didn’t have a big canine friend. I felt the dog whistle freeze against my thigh, and I knew I had to use it.

I took it out of my pocket and blew.

While it made no audible sound, it shattered into shards of ice, melting in my hand.

Luke laughed. “What was that supposed to do?”

I held my finger up in a hold on motion, and a surprised yelp came from behind me. The Laestrygonians giant who’d been guarding Percy flew past me and smashed into the wall.

“AROOOOOF!”

“Good girl!” I called to Mrs. O’Leary. Kelli the empousa screamed as a five-hundred-pound mastiff picked her up like a chew toy and tossed her through the air, straight into Luke’s lap. Mrs. O’Leary snarled, and the two dracaenae guards backed away.

For a moment, the monsters in the audience were caught completely off guard.

“Let’s go!” I yelled to my friend. “Mrs. O’Leary, Heel!”

“The far exit!” Felix ordered.

Ethan Nakamura took his cue. Together, we raced across the far exit, Mrs. O’Leary right behind us. As we ran, I heard the disorganized sounds of an entire army trying to jump out of the stands and chase after us.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Chapter Text

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

“This way!” Rachel yelled. The Dare siblings seemed to know exactly where they were going. They whipped around corners and didn’t hesitate when it came to crossroads.

Felix grabbed my arm and yelled. “Duck!” and we crouched as a huge axe swung over our heads. Then we kept going like nothing happened as I gripped onto his hand.

I couldn’t keep up with how many turns we made. We didn’t stop to rest until we came to a room the size of a gymnasium, with old marble columns holding up the roof. I stood at the doorway, listening for the sound of pursuit, but nothing came up. We’d lost Luke and his goons in the maze.

But we also lost Mrs. O’Leary. I didn’t know when she disappeared, but I was left anxious about if she was lost, or worse, overrun by monsters.

Ethan collapsed on the floor and pulled off his helmet, his face gleamed with sweat. “You people are crazy.”

It only hit me when we were in a non-life-threatening situation―he never had that eyepatch before. “Eth, what happened to your eye?”

Ethan looked away. It was clearly something he didn’t want to talk about.

“You’re the half-blood in my dream,” I said, kneeling next to him. “The one Luke’s people cornered. It wasn’t Nico.”

“Who’s Nico?”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said quickly. “Why were you trying to join Luke?”

Ethan sneered. “There’s no right side, Sola. The gods never cared about us. Why should I―”

“Join an army that makes you fight to the death for entertainment, and kill you if you don’t?” I raised a brow.

Ethan struggled to his feet. “I’m not going to argue with you. Thanks for the help, but I’m out of here.”

I stood with him and grabbed his shoulders. “Eth, listen. We’re going after Daedalus.” I said. “Come with us. Once we get through, we’ll go back to camp.”

“You really are crazy if you think Daedalus will help you.”

“He has to,” I said. “We’ll make him listen.”

Ethan snorted and took my hands off of his shoulders. “Yeah, well. Good luck with that.”

I grabbed his wrists. “Eth, you’re going to head into the maze alone? Are you insane? That’s suicide!”

He looked at me with barely controlled anger. His eye patch was frayed around the edges and the black cloth was faded. He’d clearly been wearing it for a long, long time. He pulled his arms away from me. “You shouldn’t have spared me, Sol. Mercy has no place in war.”

Then he ran off into the darkness, back the way we’d come.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Percy, Rachel, Felix and I were so exhausted we made camp right there in that huge room. I found some scrap wood and started a fire. Shadows danced off the columns rising around the trees.

“What do we do now?” I asked. Felix looked over at his sister, who was quieter than normal. She’d burned the tip of a stick in the fire and was using it to draw ash figures on the floor of the monsters we’d seen. With just a few strokes, she caught the likeness of a dracaena perfectly.

“We’ll follow the path,” Felix said. “The brightness on the floor.”

Rachel looked at her brother, who ruffled her hair. “Rachel, go with Percy,” He said. “Fire’s getting low.”

The two left us two alone, while I brushed sand off of my blade―from when I stabbed Antaeus.

“Thanks for saving me,” I said. “Sorry I got you involved in all of this.”

“No, you were right,” Felix said, tugging at bandages I didn’t notice until now. “We can see the path. I can’t explain it, but it’s clear.” He nodded toward the other end of the room, into the darkness. “The workshop is that way, the heart of the maze. We’re close, though…I don’t know why the path led through that arena. Sorry about that, I thought you were gonna die.”

He sounded so guilty, and I immediately went and hugged him, even though I felt my face flush. “No, it’s not your fault! I’m usually about to die!”

He relaxed before he pulled away, studying my face. “You do this every summer? Fight monsters and save the world? Don’t you ever get to do, just, you know, normal stuff?”

I…never really thought about that. I never had a normal life, heck, I wasn’t normal. I just accepted that as fact, and that I didn’t have to be normal. That being normal wasn’t something that I wanted nor needed. “Half-bloods…get used to it, I guess. Well, not used to it, but…”

I shifted to hug my knees. “Nothing. What about you? And Rae? What do you do normally?”

Felix shrugged, pulling the hair that covered his blind eye away and showed it off, making me wince as it twitched and looked around before he let his hair fall back into place. “Like you, I save people, I'm a bodyguard. Rae paints a lot.”

“Me too.” I said with a smile. “Your family?”

He raised a brow, and I noticed his walls going up. That wasn’t a safe subject. “They’re just family, why do you care?”

“Well, you said that they wouldn’t notice if you’re gone.”

He sighed and laid down. “I’m tired. G’night.”

“Right. Sorry.” I watched as Felix laid back, using his arms as a pillow behind his head. He closed his eyes and laid very still, but I got a feeling he wasn’t actually sleeping.

A few minutes later, Rachel and Percy came back. They tossed some more sticks on the fire, and Percy sat next to me and stretched. “I’ll keep watch. You guys should get some sleep.” he said. So, we did.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

In my dreams, I was somewhere I hadn’t been in a long time. I was standing in a marble palace, wearing my silk robes and staring down at my Pithos. I let out a shaky breath, but I couldn’t relax. A cold, harsh laughter filled my head. Like knives being sharpened.

“So close to your own destruction, my little gift,” The voice of Kronos chided. “And you are still so clueless.”

The voice was different. It seemed almost physical now, like it was speaking from a real body compared to his chopped-up condition.

“I have so much to thank you for,” Kronos said. “You have assured my rise.”

The skies from my balcony suddenly darkened, the clouds becoming deeper and heavier. I looked down, and saw a dark, oil-like substance bubble from my Pithos. I jumped back as a puddle formed, rippling as it showed me my reflection.

“A favor,” Kronos said. “The Titan lord always pays his debts. Perhaps a glimpse of the friends you abandoned.”

The puddle rippled, and I saw a different scene―a cave.

“Hurry!” Tyson said. He came barreling into the room, Grover stumbling along behind him. There was a rumbling from the corridor they’d come from, and the head of an enormous snake burst into the cave. And I meant enormous. I mean, the thing was so big, its body barely fit through the tunnel. Its scales were coppery, and its head was diamond-shaped like a rattler. Its yellow eyes glowed with hatred, and when it opened its mouth, its fangs were as long as Tyson.

It lashed at Grover, but Grover scampered out of the way, and the snake was left with a mouthful of dirt. Tyson picked up a boulder and threw it at the monster, smacking it right between the eyes, but the snake just hissed and recoiled.

“It’s going to eat you!” Grover yelled at Tyson.

“How do you know?”

“It just told me! Run!”

Tyson darted to one side, but the snake used its head like a club and knocked him off his feet.

“No! Grover yelled. Before Tyson could regain his balance, the snake wrapped around him and started to squeeze.

Tyson strained, pushing with all of his immense strength, but the snake squeezed tighter. Grover frantically hit the snake with his reed pipes, but he might as well been hitting a brick wall.

The whole room shook as the snake flexed its muscles, shuddering to overcome Tyson’s strength.

Grover began to play his pipes, and stalactites rained down from the ceiling. The whole cave seemed

about to collapse…

I woke up to Percy shaking my shoulder. “Sola, wake up!”

“Tyson―Tyson’s in trouble! And Grover!” I said. “We have to help them!”

“First things first,” Felix said, “Earthquake!”

Sure enough, the room was rumbling. “Rachel!” Felix yelled.

Her eyes opened instantly and grabbed her pack. Then, the four of us ran. We were almost to the far tunnel when a column next to us groaned and buckled. It nearly got me, but Felix grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward. We kept going as a hundred tons of marble crashed down behind us.

We made it to the corridor and turned just in time to see the other columns toppling. A cloud of white dust billowed over us, and we kept running.

It wasn’t long before we saw light up ahead―like regular electric lighting.

“There,” Felix said.

We followed the Dares into a stainless steel hallway. Fluorescent lights glowed from the ceiling. The floor was a metal grate. We’d been in the darkness for so long that I had to squint.

“This way,” Rachel said, beginning to run. “We’re close!”

Wait!” I said, chasing behind her. “The workshop should be the oldest part of the maze, right? This can’t―”

We arrived at a set of double doors, and I faltered. Inscribed in steel, at eye level, was a large blue Greek L.

“We’re here,” Felix said. “Daedalus’s workshop.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

I pressed the symbol on the doors they hissed open. “So much for ancient architecture.” I said.

The first thing that struck me was the daylight―blazing sun coming through giant windows. Not the kind of thing you’re really supposed to see in the heart of a dungeon. The workshop was the perfect artist’s studio, with thirty-foot ceilings and industrial lighting, polished stone floors, and workbenches along with windows. A spiral staircase led up to a second-story loft. Half a dozen easels displayed hand-drawn diagrams that looked like sketches. Several laptop computers were scattered around on the tables. Glass jars of green oil―Greek fire―lined one shelf.

There were different inventions, too―weird metal machines that were gorgeous. One was a bronze chair with a ton of electrical wires attached to it. In another corner was a metal egg the size of an adult man. There was a grandfather clock made entirely of glass, letting you see the gears turning, and several sets of bronze and metal wings hanging on the wall.

“By the gods…” I gasped, running over to the nearest easel and examining the sketch. “He’s a genius, look at the curves on this building!”

“And an artist,” Rachel said in amazement. “These wings are amazing!”

Daedalus, by the looks of it, wasn’t here. But the workshop had been used recently. If the laptops running their screen savers and the half-eaten blueberry muffin and coffee cup on the workshops said anything.

“Where are we?” Percy wondered.

“Colorado Springs,” a voice said behind us. “The Garden of the Gods.”

Standing on the spiral staircase above us, with his weapon drawn, was our missing sword master Quintus.

“Quintus?” I asked. “What are you doing here? Where’s Daedalus?”

Quintus smiled faintly. “Pandora. Trust me, my dear. You don’t want to meet him.”

“I didn’t fight a dragon woman, a three-bodied man, a psychotic Sphinx, AND a giant for this. Where is Daedalus?”

Quintus came downstairs, holding a sword at his side. He was wearing jeans, boots, and his counselor’s T-shirt from Camp Half-Blood, which felt more like an insult knowing he was a spy. If I had to beat him in the sword fight, I didn’t like my odds.

“You think I’m an agent of Kronos,” he said. “That I work for Luke.”

“Yeah!” I said.

“You’re a smart girl, Pandora. Always were,” He said, lightly poking my forehead. “But you’re wrong. I only work for myself.”

“Luke mentioned you!” I said. “Geryon knew about you, too. You’ve been to his ranch.”

“Of course,” he said. “I’ve been almost everywhere. Even here.”

He put a hand on my shoulder like I was no threat and guided me to standing by the window. The view outside was beautiful. The Rocky Mountains were in the distance. We were high up in the foothills, at least five hundred feet. Down below, a valley spread out, filled with a tumbled collection of red mesas and boulders and spirals. It was like a knocked down toy city. And it felt…familiar.

“The view changes from day to day,” he mused. “It’s always some place high up. Yesterday, it was from a skyscraper overlooking Manhattan. The day before that, there was a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. But it keeps coming back to the Garden of the Gods. I think the Labyrinth likes it here. A fitting name, I suppose.”

“You’ve…been here before,” I said.

“Oh, yes. And you have, too.”

I didn’t acknowledge that part, and Percy, thankfully, spoke for me. “That’s an illusion out there? A projection or something?”

“No,” Felix said. “That’s Colorado, alright.”

Quintus regarded the twins. “You have clear vision, don’t you?”

“Enough games,” Percy said. “What have you done with Daedalus?”

Quintus stared at him. “My boy, you need lessons from your friends on seeing clearly. I am Daedalus.”

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

I didn’t know what to say. I was left with a feeling of shock and confusion, and, thankfully, my best friend spoke before I did. “But you’re not an inventor! You’re a swordsman!” Percy said.

“I am both,” Quintus said. “And an architect. And a scholar. I also play basketball pretty well for a guy who didn’t start until he was two thousand years old. A real artist must be good at many things.”

“That’s true,” Rachel said. “Like I can paint with my feet as well as my hands.”

Felix made a face, but Quintus didn’t seem to care. “You see? A girl of many talents.”

“But you don’t even look like Daedalus!” Percy protested. “I saw him in a dream, and…” He suddenly paused. I didn’t even know he was having dreams like that, but Quintus wasn’t surprised.

“Yes,” Quintus said. “You’ve finally guessed the truth.”

“You’re an automaton. You made yourself a new body.”

I looked at him with wide eyes. “Percy, that’s impossible. That can’t be an automaton.”

Quintus chuckled. “Do you know what Quintus means, my dear?”

“The fifth, in Latin.”

“This is my fifth body.” The swordsman held out his forearm. He pressed his elbow and part of his wrist popped open―a rectangular hatch in his skin. Underneath, bronze gears whirred and wires glowed.

“That’s amazing!” Rachel said.

“That’s weird.” Felix said.

“You transferred your animus into a machine?” I said. “That’s…amazing. But also weird. And unnatural.”

“Oh, I assure you, my dear, it’s still me. Just how you’re still you.”

“I’m still…me?” I asked.

“ I’m still very much Daedalus. My mother, Athena, makes sure I never forget that.”

He tugged back the collar of his shirt. At the base of his neck was the same mark I’d seen before―the dark shape of a bird grafted into his skin.

“A murderer’s brand,” I said. “For your nephew, Perdix.”

“The boy you pushed off the tower?” Percy guessed.

Quintus’s face darkened. “I did not push him. I simply―”

“Made him lose his balance," Percy said. “Let him die.”

Quintus gazed out the windows at the purple mountains. “I regret what I did, Percy. I was angry and bitter. But I cannot take it back, and Athena never lets me forget. As Perdix died, she turned him into a small bird―a partridge. She branded the bird’s shape on my neck as a reminder. No matter what body I take, the brand appears on my skin.”

“Okay, you’re Daedalus,” I decided. “Cool. But why come to camp? Why spy on us?”

“To see if your camp was worth saving. Luke had given me one story, but I preferred to come to my own conclusions.”

“You have talked to Luke.”

“Oh, yes. Several times. He is quite persuasive.”

“Now you’ve seen the camp.” I said. “Now you know we need your help. You can’t let Luke through the maze.”

Daedalus set his sword on the workbench. “The maze is no longer mine to control, Anesidora. I created it, yes. In fact, it is tied to my life force. But I have allowed it to live and grow on its own. That’s the price I paid for privacy.”

“Privacy from what?”

“The gods,” he said. “And death. I have been alive for two millennia, my dear. Hiding from death.”

“But how can you hide from Hades?” Percy asked. “I mean…Hades has the Furies.”

“They do not know everything,” he said. “Or see everything. You two have encountered them. You know this is true. A clever man can hide quite a long time, and I have buried myself very deep. Only my greatest enemy has kept after me, and even him I have thwarted.”

“Minos,” I said.

Daedalus nodded. “He hunts for me relentlessly. Now that he is a judge of the dead, he would like nothing better than for me to come before him so he can punish me for my crimes. After the daughters of Cocalus killed him, Minos’s ghost began torturing me in my dreams. He promised that he would hunt me down. I did the only thing I could. I retreated from the world completely. I descended into my Labyrinth. I decided this would be my ultimate accomplishment: I would cheat death.”

“And you did!” I marveled. “For two thousand years!”

Just then, a loud bark echoed from the corridor. I heard the ba-BUMP, ba-BUMP, ba-BUMP of huge paws, and my heart skipped a beat. Mrs. O’Leary bounded into the workshop and licked my face once, then almost knocked Daedalus over with an enthusiastic leap.

“There is my old friend!” Daedalus said, scratching behind Mrs. O’Leary’s ears. “My only companion all these long lonely years.”

“She saved me,” I said. “The whistle worked.”

Daedalus nodded. “Of course it did, Anesidora. You have a good heart, and I knew Mrs. O’Leary liked you. I wanted to help you. Perhaps I―I felt guilty, as well.”

“Guilty? About what?”

“That your quest would be in vain.”

“What!?” I yelled. “You have to! We need to get Ariadne’s string so Luke can’t get to it!”

“Yes…the string. I told Luke that the eyes of a clear-sighted mortal are the best guide, but he did not trust me. He was so focused on the idea of a magic item. And the string works. It’s not as accurate as your mortal friends here, perhaps. But good enough, good enough.”

“Where is it?” I said.

“With Luke,” Daedalus said sadly. “I’m sorry, my dear, but you are several hours too late.”

My heart dropped. It’s why Luke was in a good mood in the arena. He had already gotten Daedalus’s string. His only obstacle was the arena master, and I’d taken care of that. I felt anger flare up in me. “What?”

“Kronos promised me freedom,” Quintus said. “Once Hades is overthrown, he will set me over the Underworld. I will reclaim my son Icarus. I will make things right with poor young Perdix. I will see Minos’s soul cast into Tartarus, where it cannot bother me again. And I will no longer have to run from death.”

“Are you kidding me!?” I yelled. “That’s your brilliant idea? You’ll let Luke destroy our camp, kill hundreds of demigods, and attack Olympus and destroy Western Civilization to get what you want? Destroy the entire world, just for selfish reasons?”

“Your cause is doomed, my dear. I saw that as soon as I began to work at your vamp. There is no way you can hold back the might of Kronos.”

“That’s not true!” I protested.

“I am doing what I must, my dear. The offer was too sweet to refuse. I’m sorry.”

I couldn’t hold back any more. I stormed toward Daedalus, shoving an easel on the way, causing Architectural drawings to scatter across the floor. I grabbed him by the shirt, my bracelets sparking and smoking footsteps following behind me.

“I looked up to you!” I yelled. “You were an inspiration! You built wonderful things―pieces of art! You solved problems with intellect! And now what!? You’re a coward. You and I are not the same. Maybe you should’ve died two thousand years ago.” I shoved him backward.

He didn’t look angry. Daedalus just hung his head. “You should go warn your camp. Now that Luke has the string―”

Suddenly, Mrs. O’Leary pricked up her ears.

“Someone’s coming!” I yelled.

The doors to the workshop burst open, and Nico was pushed inside, his hands in chains. Then Kelli and two Laestrygonians marched in behind him, followed by the ghost of Minos. He looked near solid now―a pale bearded kind with cold eyes and tendrils of Mist coiling off his robes.

He fixed his gaze on Daedalus. “There you are, my old friend.”

Daedalus’s jaw clenched. He looked at Kelli. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Luke sends his compliments,” Kelli said. “He thought you might like to see your old employer Minos.”

“This was not part of our agreement,” Daedalus said.

“No indeed,” Kelli said. “But we already have what we want from you, and we have other agreements to honor. Minos required something else from us, in order to turn over this fine young demigod.” She ran a finger under Nico’s chin. “He’ll be quite useful. And all Minos asked in return was your head, old man.”

Daedalus paled. “Treachery.”

I moved to rush over to Nico, but Felix grabbed my arm and stopped me. He shook his head, and I knew it was a stupid move, but I couldn’t just stand there!

“Nico!” I said. “Are you okay?”

Nico nodded morosely. “I―I’m sorry, Sola. Minos told me you were in danger. He convinced me to go back into the maze.”

I felt a pang of guilt in my heart. He came to save us. “Nico…”

“I was tricked,” he said. “He tricked all of us.”

I then glared at Kelli. “Where’s Luke? And Charlotte? Why aren’t they here?”

The empousa smiled like we were sharing an inside joke. “Luke is…busy. He is preparing for the assault. But don’t worry, we have more friends on the way. And in the meantime, I think I’ll have a wonderful snack!” Her hand changed to claws. Her hair burst into flame and her legs turned to their true form―one donkey, one bronze.

Felix pushed me behind him and whispered to me, “The wings.”

“You and Rae get them,” I said. “I’ll buy you time.”

I pulled out Katopris, and all Hades broke loose. Percy and I charged at Kelli. The giants went for Daedalus, but Mrs. O’Leary leaped to his defense. I noticed Nico struggling with his chains and I rushed to help him while Minos wailed, “Kill the inventor! Kill him!”

Rachel and Felix grabbed the wings off the wall, but nobody paid them any attention. While I tried to help Nico get free, Kelli slashed at me, but Percy defended me. The demon was quick and deadly―turning over tables, smashed inventions, and wouldn’t let Percy get close. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mrs. O’Leary chomp her fangs into a giant’s arm. He wailed and flung her around in an attempt to shake her. Daedalus grabbed for his sword, but the second giant smashed the workbench with his fist, and the sword went flying.

When we finally got the chains off, a clay jar of Greek fire broke on the floor and began to burn, green flames spreading quickly.

“To me!” Minos cried. “Spirits of the dead!” He raised his ghostly hands and the air began to hum.

“No!” Nico cried. He got on his feet.

“You do not control me, young fool.” Minos sneered. “All this time, I have been controlling you! A soul for a soul, yes. But it is not your sister who will return from the dead. It is I, as soon as I slay the inventor!”

Spirits began to appear around Minos―shimmering forms that slowly multiplied, solidifying into Cretan soldiers.

“I am the son of Hades,” Nico insisted. “Begone!”

Minos laughed. “You have no power over me. I am the lord of spirits! The ghost king!”

“No.” Nico drew his sword. “I am.”

He stabbed his black blade into the floor, and it cleaved through the stone like butter.

“Never!” Minos’s form rippled. “I will not―”

The ground rumbled. The windows cracked and shattered to pieces, letting out a sudden blast of fresh air. A fissure opened in the stone floor of the workshop, and Minos and all his spirits were sucked into the void with a horrifying wail.

But the fight was still going on. I stood, but my guard was down. Kelli pounced on me so fast that I could hardly defend myself. I quickly turned my body to lessen the blow, but I hit my head on the worktable hard as I fell. My eyesight went fuzzy, and my ears were ringing.

Kelli laughed. “You will taste wonderful!”

She bared her fangs, but her victory only lasted a few seconds. Her body went rigid, and her red eyes widened. She gasped, “No…school…spirit…”

And I twisted Katopris further into the empousa’s stomach. With an awful screech, Kelli dissolved into yellow vapor.

“Always wanted to do that,” I grunted.

Percy helped me up, and while I still felt dizzy, I didn’t have time. Mrs. O’Leary and Daedalus were still locked in combat with the giants, and I could hear shouting in the tunnel. More monsters were going to storm the workshop.

“We have to help Daedalus!” I said.

“No time,” Felix said. “We’re gonna end up surrounded.”

He had already fitted Rachel and himself with the wings and was working on Nico, who looked pale and sweaty from his and Minos’s struggle. Instantly, the wings grafted to his back and arms.

“Now you!” Rachel told us.

In seconds, Nico, Percy, Felix, Rachel and I had fitted ourselves with coppery wings. I already felt myself being lifted by the wind coming through the window. Greek fire was burning the tables, furniture, and spreading up the circular stairs.

“Daedalus!” I yelled. “Come on!”

He was cut in a hundred different places―bleeding golden oil rather than blood. He found his sword and was using part of a smashed table as a shield against the giants. “I won’t leave Mrs. O’Leary!” he said. “Go!”

We didn’t have time to argue, and even if we stayed, I didn’t know if we could help.

“None of us know how to fly!” Nico protested.

“Well,” I looked out the window. “It’s not too late to learn.”

Together, the five of us jumped out the window and into the open sky.

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Chapter Text

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Jumping out of a hole in the side of the Gateway Arch and jumping out of a window five hundred feet above ground are different, but similar in the fact that it’s absolutely not fun. It’s made even more terrifying when your friend is plummeting toward the red rocks, and was one more flap away to becoming a lovely grease spot in the Garden of the Gods.

“Perse!” I called from above him. “Arms straight! Keep them extended!”

Thankfully, his brain wasn’t completely engulfed in panic. His arms responded, and immediately, the wings stiffened and caught the wind, and down he went still, but it was significantly slower. He soared downward at a controlled angle.

Then he flapped once, and arced into the sky.

“Yeah!” he yelled, and I giggled watching him joyfully ride across the sky. I looked behind, and smoke billowed from the windows of Daedalus’s workshop.

I turned back, and my eyes lit up. “Land!” I yelled above the winds. “The wings won’t last forever.”

“How long?” Rachel cried.

“You wanna find out?” I said.

“Good point,” Rachel said.

We swooped down toward the Garden of the Gods, did a complete circle around one of the rock spires and freaked out a few climbers, then we soared across the valley, over a road, and landed on the terrace of the visitor center.

It was late afternoon and the place looked pretty empty, but regardless, we ripped off our wings as fast as we could.

The self-adhesive seals that bound the wings to our backs were, as I expected, already melting, causing us to shed bronze feathers. It was a shame, but we couldn’t fix them right then. We couldn’t leave it for the mortals to stumble upon, either, so we just stuffed the wings in the trash bin outside the cafeteria.

Percy used the tourist binocular camera to look at a hill, the one where Daedalus’s workshop had been, but there was no sign of it. No smoke. No broken windows. Just the side of a hill.

“It moved,” I guessed. “The workshop. There’s no telling where, though.”

“So, what do we do now?” Percy asked. “How do we get back in the maze?”

I watched the summit of Pikes Peak in the distance. “I’m…not sure if we can. If Daedalus died, then it did, too. He said his life force was tied to the Labyrinth. The whole thing might’ve been destroyed. It’d stop Luke’s invasion, but…”

I thought about Grover and Tyson, who were still down there. Daedalus did awful things and put everyone I loved and cared for at risk. As angry as I was at him, I’ll admit, it was a pretty harsh way to go out.

“No,” Nico said. “He isn’t dead.”

“How can you be sure?” Percy asked.

“I know when people die. It’s this feeling I get, like a buzzing in my ears.”

“How about Tyson, then?” I asked. “And Grover/”

Nico shook his head. “That’s harder. They’re not humans or half-bloods. They don’t have mortal souls.”

“Then we have to get into town,” I decided. “Our chances will be better finding an entrance to the Labyrinth. We have to make it to camp before Luke and his army do.”

“We could just take a plane,” Rachel said.

Percy shuddered. “I don’t fly.”

“But you just did?” Felix said.

“That was low flying,” I explained. “And that’s risky, too. Flying up too high means he’s in Zeus’s territory, and that’s trouble. ‘Sides, we don’t have time to fly. We have to take the fastest way, and that’s through the Labyrinth.”

I looked at Percy and he understood. Maybe we’d find Grover and Tyson on the way.

“So we need a car to take us into the city,” I said.

Rachel looked into the parking lot, then looked at Felix. He grimaced, like she asked a question that he did not like answering. “I’ll take care of it,” he managed.

“How?” I asked.

“Trust me, Glowstick.”

I felt uneasy, but I just nodded. “Percy, you should try and get a rainbow prism to contact camp.”

“I’ll go with him,” Nico said. “I’m hungry.”

Felix nodded. “Rach, go get lunch with him. I’ll meet you in the parking lot, kay?”

Rachel looked at Felix anxiously, like it was bad to leave him alone. But Felix shook his head and waved a dismissive hand.

 I looked at Felix. “So it’s just us.”

Felix sighed, like he didn’t want me there, but the choice was already made. So, I followed him down to the parking lot.

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He headed toward a big black car parked at the edge of the lot. It was a chauffeured Lexus, like the ones I’d seen driving around Manhattan. The driver was out front, reading a newspaper wearing a dark suit and tie.

“What now?” I asked.

“Wait here,” Felix sighed miserably. “I got it.”

Felix walked over to the driver and spoke to him. He frowned, until Felix said something else, his hand moving to his bandaged one, like he was going to use another method if this one didn’t work.

Thankfully, whatever Felix said caused the driver to pale, and he hastily folded up his newspaper. He nodded and fumbled to his cell phone, and after a brief call, he opened the back door for Felix to get in.

Felix nodded toward me, and the driver bobbed his head some more, like Yes, sir. Whatever you want.

Felix came back to get me just as Nico, Percy and Rachel appeared from the gift shop.

I ran over to Percy. “What did Chiron say?”

“They’re doing their best to prepare for battle,” Percy said. “But he still wants us back. They need every hero they can get. Did you find a ride?”

“Driver’s ready when we are,” Felix said.

The chauffeur was talking to another guy in khakis and a polo shirt now, likely the client who rented the car. The guy was complaining, but the driver said, “I’m sorry, sir. Emergency. I’ve ordered another car for you.”

“Come on,” Rachel said. Felix led us to the car, and the Dare twins got in without giving the flustered guy who rented it a second glance. A minute later, and we were cruising down the road.

The seats were leather, and there was plenty of legroom. The backseat had flat-panel TVs built into the headrests and a mini-fridge stocked with bottled water, sodas, and snacks. We immediately helped ourselves.

“Where to, Mister Dare?” the driver asked.

“Dunno,” Felix said. “Drive through town, we need to look around.”

“Whatever you say, sir.”

I blinked at Felix. “Do you know him?”

“Nah.”

“But he dropped everything to help you. What’s the deal with that?”

“Just keep your eyes peeled,” Rachel said. “Felix, help me look.”

Surprisingly, that didn’t answer my question.

We drove through Colorado Springs for about half an hour, but we didn’t see a thing that the Dares considered to be a possible Labyrinth entrance. I was still curious about how the heck he got a ride that easily, but I had an idea. It was the same reason that I could do the same thing.

After around another hour, we decided to head north, toward Denver, with the hopes that a bigger city would be a more likely Labyrinth entrance. We were all getting nervous, though. We were running out of time.

Then, right as we were leaving Colorado Springs, Rachel sat bolt upright. “Get off the highway!”

The driver glanced back. “Miss?”

“I saw something, I think. Get off here.”

The driver swerved across traffic and took the exit.

“What was it?” I asked, since we were basically out of the city now. There wasn’t anything other than rolling hills, grassland, and a few scattered farm buildings. Rachel had the driver turn down this unpromising dirt road.

We drove by a sign, and I read, “Western Museum of Mining & Industry.”

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I'd definitely seen better museums in my time. It didn’t look like much―a small house, like an old-fashioned railroad station. Some drills and pumps and old steam shovels were on display outside though.

“There,” Rachel pointed to a hole in the side of a nearby hill―a tunnel that was boarded and chained. “An old mine entrance.”

“A door?” I asked. “You’re sure?”

“Well, look at it!” Rachel said. “I mean…” she desperately looked toward Felix, who nodded. “She’s right.”

Felix tipped the driver and we all got out. He didn’t ask for the cash, nor did he look like he wanted it. “Are sure you and your sister will be alright, Mister Dare? I’d be happy to call your―”

“Don’t.” Felix said. His cold look made me shudder, and so did the driver. “You’ve done far more than enough, Robert. Thank you.”

The museum looked to be closed, so no one bothered us as we climbed the hill to the mine shaft. When we got to the entrance, I immediately saw the mark of Daedalus engraved on the padlock. Rachel had real good eyes to see something so small all the way from the highway.

I touched the padlock and the chains fell away. We kicked down a few boards and walked inside. We were back in the Labyrinth, for better or worse.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

The dirt tunnels turned to stone. They wound around, broke off, and tried to confuse us, but the Dares had no trouble guiding us. We told them we needed to get back to New York, and they hardly thought twice when the tunnels offered a choice.

Rachel and I struck up a conversation, talking about art, architecture, anything we could latch on to, it became a topic of discussion. It was nice, talking like we were normal people. Like I was normal.

Rachel looked back at Felix. “You like my brother don’t you?”

I felt my face get hot, and when I tried to stammer a defense, Rachel laughed. “No big deal! Your secret’s safe with me. Though, you did make an impression on him when you first met, I’ll tell you that. He liked seeing you fight, too.”

I kept my eyes on the stone walls as we walked through. The growing guilt started to gnaw at my stomach, but I tried to ignore it. I was Telemachus’s, but I felt my heart being tugged in three different directions.

Suddenly. Rachel stopped. We had come to a crossroads. The tunnel continued straight ahead, but a side tunnel T’d off to the right―a circular shaft carved from black volcanic rock.

“What is it?” I asked.

Rachel stared down the dark tunnel. In the dim flashlight beam, her face looked like one of Nico’s specters.

“Is that the way?” Nico asked.

“No,” Felix said anxiously. “No, not at all.”

“Why are we―” Percy started to ask, until something hit me.

“Wait.” I said. “Percy, listen.”

There was wind coming from down the tunnel, like the exit was close. There was also a smell, a familiar smell―one that brought back painful memories.

“Eucalyptus trees,” I said, trying not to choke up. “Like…Like in California.”

Last winter, when we faced Luke and the Titan Atlas on the top of Mount Tamalpais, the air smelled just like that. It also smelled like that in the garden of the Hesperides, when we were face to face with the dragon, Ladon.

“There’s…something evil down there,” Felix said.

“Evil and very powerful.” Rachel agreed.

“And the smell of death,” Nico added helpfully.

Percy and I exchanged glances.

“Luke’s entrance,” I guessed. “The Titan’s palace―the one to Mount Othrys. I’m checking it out.”

“Sol―”

“Percy, Luke could be right there,” I said. “Or even…Kronos. I have to find out what’s going on.”

“I wasn’t trying to stop you,” Percy said. “I want to go with you.”

“No,” I shook my head. “It’s too risky, and I can’t risk you. If they get hold of the others, you know Kronos wouldn’t hesitate to use them. Stay and guard them.”

“Solana,” Felix said, grabbing my hand. “Don’t go up there alone.”

“I’ll be fast.” I promised. I took my hairclip out of my pocket, studying the design. It was a Pithos. I didn’t know why it felt so weird looking at it now. I just assumed it was a weird design choice, but now, after meeting Daedalus…

I just shook my head and clipped the accessory in my hair. “Here goes nothing.”

Then I invisibly snuck down the dark stone tunnel.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

Before I even got to the exit, I heard voices: the growling, barking sounds of sea-demon smiths. Telkhines.

“At least we salvaged the blade,” one said. “The master will still reward us.”

“Yes! Yes!” a second shrieked. “Rewards beyond measure!”

Another voice, this one being more human: “Um, yeah, well that’s great. Now, if you’re done with me―”

“No, half-blood!” a Telkhine said. “You must help us make the presentation. It is a great honor!”

“Gee, thanks,” the half-blood said, and I felt my stomach drop, realizing it was Ethan Nakamura.

I crept toward the end of the tunnel, and a blast of cold air hit me as I emerged. I was standing near the top of Mount Tam. The Pacific Ocean spread out below, grey under a cloudy sky. About twenty feet downhill, two Telkhines were placing something on a big rock―something long, thin and wrapped in black cloth, and Ethan helped them open it.

“Careful, fool,” the Telkhine scolded. “One touch, and the blade will sever your soul from your body.”

Ethan swallowed nervously. “Maybe I’ll let you unwrap it, then.”

I looked up at the mountain's peak, where a black marble fortress loomed. It looked like an oversize mausoleum, with walls fifty feet high. Any mortal would see it, but everything below the summit looked fuzzy, like there was a thick veil between me and the lower half of the mountain. Magic―a very powerful Mist. Above me, the sky swirled into a huge funnel cloud.

I couldn’t see Atlas, but I heard him groaning in the distance, still laboring under the weight of the sky, just beyond the fortress. Serves him right.

“There!” The Telkhine said. Reverently, he lifted the weapon, and despite the warm blood running through my veins, I felt my blood turn ice cold.

It was a scythe―a six-foot-long blade curved like a crescent moon, with a wooden handle wrapped in leather. The blade glinted two separate colors―steel and bronze. It was the weapon of the Titan Kronos, the one he’d used to slice his father, Ouranos, before the gods had taken it from him and cut Kronos to pieces, casting him into the deepest pits of Tartarus. Now the weapon had been re-forged.

“We must sanctify it in blood,” The Telkhine said. “Then you, half-blood, shall help present it when the lord awakes.”

I rushed toward the fortress, my heart beat pounding in my ears and head. No, I didn’t want to be anywhere near that place. But I only had one last option―stop Kronos before he rises.

So, I dashed through a dark foyer and right into the main hall. The floor shimmered like a mahogany piano―pure black, yet blessed by Apollo being still full of light. Black marble statues lined the walls, and while I couldn’t recognize the faces―it was all fuzzy when I tried to, anyway―I knew it was the Titans. The ones who ruled before the gods.

At the end of the room, between two bronze braziers, was a dais, where a golden sarcophagus rested on top.  The room was empty, silent except for the crackle of the fires. Luke wasn’t there, nor guards. A perfect opportunity.

It was too perfect. But I approached the dais.

The sarcophagus looked the same as I remembered―ten feet long at most, too big for any human. It was carved with elaborate scenes of death and destruction, pictures of the gods being trodden under chariots, temples and famous world landmarks being smashed and burned. The coffin made me feel cold, even making my bracelets feel like freezer burn as they burned against my wrists.

I drew Katopris, keeping my eyes on the prize and my mind focused on the task at hand.

Anytime I had met Kronos before, he was never physical―either a voice, a shadow, or a black liquid. But now, it was quiet. And if he was shredded to a thousand pieces, then what would I find when I opened the lid? Had they made him a new body?

I had so many questions, and no answers, and it drove me nuts with fear. I had to strike him down before he could rise and retrieve his scythe. I had to stop him.

I stood over the coffin. The lid was decorated beautifully with more intricate designs than the sides were―with scenes of carnage and power. In the middle, there was an inscription carved in letters older than Greek. It was hard to read, but it said: KRONOS, LORD OF TIME.

My hand touched the lid. My fingertips turned white, and frost gathered on my knife.

Then, there were noises behind me―voices approaching. It was now or never. I pushed back the golden lid and it fell to the ground with a huge WHOOOOM!

I lifted my knife, prepared to strike, but I didn’t know how to process what I was seeing. Mortal legs, dressed in grey pants. A white T-shirt, hands folded over his stomach. A piece of his chest was missing―leaving a clean black hole the size of a bullet wound. His eyes were closed, and his skin was pale. He had blonde hair…and a scar running along the left side of his face. He’d tried to talk to me about it, about this, but I didn’t think it was true. I didn’t think that the body inside that coffin…

Would end up being Luke.

⊹˖⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆⊹

I didn’t have time to think about it, nor did I want to. I didn’t care if he was dead or not, I was going to make sure he was.

But when I lifted my knife to strike, the demons came in first.

“What has happened!?” one of the demons screamed when he saw the lid. I quickly stumbled away from the dais, stupidly forgetting I was invisible, and hid behind a column as they approached.

“Careful!” The other demon warned. “Perhaps he stirs. We must present the gifts now. Immediately!”

The two Telkhines shuffled forward and knelt, holding up the scythe on its wrapping cloth. “My lord,” one said. “Your symbol of power is remade.”

Silence. Not even a sign of stirring.

“You fool,” the other Telkhine muttered. “He requires the half-blood first.”

Ethan stepped back. “Woah, what do you mean, he requires me?”

“Don’t be a coward!” the first Telkhine hissed. “He does not require your death, only your allegiance. Pledge him your service, renounce the gods. That is all.”

“Stop!” I yelled. No need to tell me it was stupid, I know, but I rushed into the room and ripped off the clip. “Ethan, don’t!”

“Trespasser!” The Telkhines bared their seal teeth. “The master will deal with you soon enough. Hurry, boy!”

“Ethan, please,” I pleaded. “Don’t listen to them! Help me destroy it, destroy him!”

Ethan turned toward me, his eye patch blending in with the shadows on his face. His expression looked like pity, and a sense of sadness. “Sola…I told you not to spare me. ‘An eye for an eye.’ Ever heard that saying? I learned what it meant the hard way―when I discovered my godly parent.”

“You told me,” I said, swallowing back my desperation. “Nemesis, Goddess of Revenge.”

Ethan nodded grimly. “And this is what I must do.”

“Ethan, no!―”

He turned toward the dais. “I renounce the gods! What have they ever done for me? I will see them destroyed! I will serve Kronos!”

The building rumbled. A wisp of blue light rose from the floor at Ethan’s feet. It drifted toward the coffin and began to shimmer, like a cloud of pure energy. Then, it descended into the sarcophagus.

Luke sat bolt upright. His eyes opened, but they were no longer blue. They were golden, the same as the coffin. The same as mine, which just made me feel sick. The hole in his chest was gone, and he was complete. He leaped out of the coffin with ease, and the marble floor froze wherever his feet touched.

He looked at Ethan and the Telkhines with those horrible golden eyes, like he was a newborn baby, not sure what he was seeing. He then looked at me, and a smile of recognition crept across his mouth.

“This body has been well prepared.” His voice was like a razor blade running over my skin. It was Luke’s, but it wasn’t. Underneath his voice was another, more horrible sound―an ancient, cold sound. Like metal scraping against rock. “Don’t you think so, my little Pandora?”

I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t move.

Kronos threw his head back and laughed, the scar on his face rippling.

“Luke feared you,” the Titan’s voice said. “His jealousy and hatred have been powerful tools. It has kept him obedient. For that, I thank you and Percy Jackson.”

Ethan collapsed in terror. I suddenly unfroze and rushed to his side, but his face was covered with his hands. The Telkhines trembled, holding up the scythe.

Watching Ethan tremble in my arms, I gained my composure. I lunged at Kronos, thrusting my blade straight at his chest, but his skin deflected the blow, like it was made of pure steel. He looked at me with amusement, then he flicked his hand, and I flew across the room.

I slammed directly against the pillar, and let out a sharp gasp for air. I struggled to my feet, blinking the stars out of my eyes, but Kronos had already grasped the handle of his scythe.

“Ah…much better,” he said. “Backbiter, Luke called it. An appropriate name. Now that it is re-forged completely, it shall indeed bite back.”

“What have you…Luke…” I groaned, my head spinning.

Kronos raised his scythe. “He serves me with his whole being, as I require. The difference is, he feared you, Pandora. I do not.”

I stared at him. I was trembling, and I wanted to fight. But I knew I had no chance against him. It felt familiar, the way he took over my dreams, left a dark splotch on a beautiful canvas. So, I ran. I felt like a coward, but it was all I could do.

As I ran, my feet felt like lead. Time slowed around me, like the world was turning to Jell-O. It was the power of Kronos. His powerful presence could bend time itself.

“Run, little weapon,” he laughed. “Run!”

I glanced back and saw as he approached leisurely, swinging his scythe like he was enjoying the feeling of it in his hands again. No weapon could stop him, no amount of celestial bronze, or the strongest heroes.

He was ten feet away, when I heard, “SOLANA!”

Rachel.

Something flew past me, and a blue plastic hairbrush hit Kronos in the eye.

“Ow!” He yelled. For a moment, it was just Luke’s voice, full of surprise and pain. My limbs were freed, and I took my chance and ran right into Rachel, Nico, Felix and Percy, who were standing in the entry hall, eyes wide with dismay.

“Luke?” Percy said. “What the―”

I grabbed him by his hand and hauled him after me. I ran as fast as my legs could take me and even longer, straight out of the fortress. We were almost back to the Labyrinth entrance when I heard the loudest bellow I’d ever heard―the voice of Kronos, coming back into control. “AFTER THEM!”

“No!” Nico yelled. He clapped his hands together, and a jagged spire of rock the size of an eighteen-wheeler erupted from the ground right in front of the fortress. The tremor it had caused was so powerful, the front columns of the building came crashing down. I heard muffled screams from the Telkhines, and I stopped.

“Ethan!” I yelled. “Ethan! He’s still―”

This time, Percy was the one to pull me to keep running as dust billowed everywhere.

We plunged into the Labyrinth and kept running, the howl of the Titan Lord shaking the world behind us.

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Chapter Text

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We ran until we couldn’t anymore. The Dares steered us away from traps, but we didn’t have a destination in mind―only away from the Mountain and the roar of Kronos.

We stopped in a tunnel of wet white rock, like part of a natural cave. There wasn’t anything behind us that I could hear, but it didn’t make me feel safer. I remembered the gold eyes staring out of Luke’s face, the feeling of my limbs slowly turning to stone.

“I can't go any farther,” Rachel gasped, hugging her chest.

I fell forward and couldn’t help the tears that fell from my face. I laid on the ground as I sobbed. Everything just felt overwhelming, too much, and all of the emotions I’d had pent up since the start of this stupid quest only overwhelmed me and broke apart. Ethan, my guilt, the terrifying things I had to face, almost losing my best friend, and now Kronos rising.

Percy gently lifted me from the ground and held me into his arms, letting me sob into his shoulder. I felt a hand on my back, and I turned to see Nico, his sword dropped beside him.

I lifted my head. “That sucked,” I sniffled, wiping my eyes. “But, you saved us.”

Nico wiped the dust off my face. “Blame Percy and the mortals for dragging me along. That’s the only thing we could all agree on. We needed to help you, or you’d mess things up.”

“Lovely, glad you trusted me so much.” I mumbled.

I watched as Percy shined his flashlight across the cavern. Water dripped from the stalactites like a slow motioned rain. “Nico…You, uh, kind of gave yourself away.”

We looked at him. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“That wall of black stone?” Percy reminded us. “That was pretty impressive. If Kronos didn’t know who you were before, he does now―a child of the Underworld.”

Nico frowned. “Big deal.”

The topic was dropped right then. I saw how he tried to hide how scared he was, and I pulled the young boy in a hug, which he hesitantly reciprocated.

I finally sat back and wiped my eyes.

“What was up with Luke?” Percy asked. “What happened?”

I told them what I saw in the coffin, the way the last piece of Kronos’s spirit had entered Luke’s body when Ethan pledged his service.

I wiped my eyes. “Ethan…I can’t believe he’d…”

“He gave himself over to Kronos,” Percy said. “He’s a traitor, just like Luke.”

“But that’s…” My mind flashed back to how many siblings I lost to Kronos’s army, how many friends had betrayed me and the camp for the Titan Lord. Ethan Nakamura was just one of them. But Ethan was my friend, always was my friend. I just wished I saw how much pain he was in sooner. Now he’d pledged himself to the Lord of Time, and I couldn’t do anything about it.

I just buried my face in my knees. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I couldn’t help but feel miserable. So much was going on and so much had gone wrong, and I felt like it was my fault.

“We have to keep moving,” Nico said. “He’ll send monsters after us.”

I didn’t feel like running. I just wanted to lay there and rot in all honesty, but I knew I couldn’t. I heard someone kneel next to me and I turned to see Felix. “Hey, Sol. Sorry about…everything, but we need to move.”

“I know,” I sniffled and wiped my eyes with my arm. “I’ll be okay.”

I wouldn’t, and never would be, but I couldn’t drag my friends down, and I couldn’t endanger camp. Felix helped me to my feet, and we started straggling through the Labyrinth again.

“New York,” I said. “Rae, ‘Lix, can you―”

I froze and felt my blood run cold. My eyes and flashlight beam fixed on a trampled clump of red fabric lying on the ground ahead of us. It was a Rasta cap: The one Grover always wore.

My hands were trembling, and I watched Percy pick up the cap. It looked like it’d been stepped on by a huge muddy boot. I felt my heart drop at the thought that something might’ve happened to Grover, and even Tyson.

Then, I gasped. I noticed the cave floor was mushy and wet from the water dripping off the stalactites. There were large footprints like Tyson’s, and then smaller ones―goat hooves―leading off to the left.

“We’re following them,” I ordered. “They went that way, and it must’ve been recently.”

“What about Camp Half-Blood?” Nico said. “There’s no time.”

“We have to find them,” Percy insisted. “They’re our friends.”

I nodded and forged ahead, preparing myself for anything.

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The tunnel was treacherous; sloping at weird angles and being slimy with moisture. Half the time, we were slipping and sliding rather than walking. 

Finally, we got to the bottom of a slope and found ourselves in a huge cave with just as big stalagmite columns. Through the center of the room, there was an underground river, and there was Tyson, sitting by the banks, and cradling Grover in his lap. Grover’s eyes were closed, and he wasn’t moving.

“Tyson! Grover!” I yelled.

“Sola! Come quick!”

We ran over to him. Good news, Grover wasn’t dead, by the gods miracle, but his whole body trembled like he was suffering from hypothermia.

“What happened?” I asked.

“So many things,” Tyson murmured. “Large snake. Large dogs. Men with swords. But then…we got close to here. Grover was excited. He ran. Then we reached this room, and he fell. Like this.”

“Did he say anything?” I asked.

“He said, ‘We’re close.’ Then he hit his head on the rocks.”

I knelt beside him. He’d passed out just like this, when we were in New Mexico and he felt the presence of Pan.

I used my flashlight to scan the cavern. Rocks glittered, and at the far end was the entrance to another cave, flanked by gigantic columns of crystals that looked like diamonds. And beyond that…

“Grover,” Percy said, kneeling next to him. “Wake up.”

“Uuhhhhh…”

I splashed icy cold river water in his face. “Grover.”

“Splurg!” His eyelids fluttered. “Percy? Sola? Where…”

“You’re fine,” I said. “You just passed out. The presence was too much for you.”

“I―I remember. Pan.”

“Yep,” I said. “And something powerful is just beyond that doorway.”

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I quickly introduced everyone, since Tyson and Grover had never met Rachel and Felix. Tyson told Rachel she was pretty, which I happily agreed with, making her cheeks flush. Meanwhile, Grover trembled just standing near Felix, like he was going to get beat up any second.

“Anyway,” I said. “Come on, Grove. Lean on me.”

Percy and I helped him up, and together we waded across the underground river. The current was strong, and the water came up to our waists. I felt the cold, and it felt like wading through a snowdrift or something.

“Carlsbad Caverns, I think,” I said, feeling my body heat up. “Like an unexplored section.”

“How do you know?” Percy asked.

“Oh, Carlsbad is in New Mexico,” I said. “It’d explain what happened last winter.”

Percy nodded. New Mexico is where Grover felt closest to the power of Pan.

We (thankfully) got out of the water and kept walking. As the crystal pillars loomed larger, I felt power emanating from the next room, and I knew we really were close. The presence of gods was something I was used to, but this was different. My skin tingled with living energy. My weariness slipped away, like I actually got a good night’s sleep. I felt myself grow stronger, like a plant growing stronger, and the scent coming from the cave wasn’t dank and wet underground―It was trees and flowers and a warm summer’s day.

Grover whimpered with excitement. Percy was too stunned to speak, and even Nico was speechless. We stepped into the cave, and Felix went. “Oh, wow.”

The walls glittered with crystals―red, green and blue. And in the strange light, gorgeous plants grew―giant orchids, star-shaped flowers, and vines bursting with orange and purple berries that crept among the crystals. Soft green moss covered every inch of the cave floor, and overhead, the ceiling was higher than a cathedral, sparkling like a galaxy of stars. The center of the cave is where a Roman-style bed stood, gilded wood shaped like a curly U, with velvet cushions. Animals lounged around it―but they were known to be extinct or generally not supposed to be alive. A dodo bird, an animal that looked to be a cross between a wolf and a tiger, a huge rodent that was probably the mother of every guinea pig ever, and roaming behind the bed, picking berries with its trunk, was a wooly mammoth.

On the bed lay an old satyr. He watched us as we approached, his eyes as blue as the sky above. His curly hair was white, and so was his pointed beard. Even the goat fur on his legs was frosted with grey. His horns were massive―glossy brown and curved. Around his neck hung a set of reed pipes.

Grover fell to his knees in front of the bed. “Lord Pan!”

Though the god smiled kindly, there was sadness in his eyes. “Grover, my dear, brave satyr. I have waited a long time for you.”