Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was completely silent in the throne room. Percy could feel the temperature drop as Athena fixed her gaze on Annabeth. All eyes were on her now, only moments before had the eyes of the gods been on Thalia, some congratulating her on joining the hunt, some silently disagreeing with her choice.

Percy’s own thoughts still hadn’t caught up to the situation, not registering what Artemis had just said. Because if Thalia had just joined the hunt, then that meant that the prophecy was now about Percy. Thalia would never turn sixteen, staying fifteen forever. His mind was going a mile a minute. Artemis had offered Thalia to join the Hunters of Artemis and she’d just offered the same to-

Percy realized what was happening too late. He could only turn his head to look at Annabeth before she answered. He tried to say something, but the words died in his throat when he saw her. She looked excited, a glimmer in her eyes he’d never seen before. Was this what she’s been waiting for this entire time?

Do you, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, want to join the Hunt as well? Artemis’ words rang in his ears. This wasn’t right. Annabeth wasn’t a hunter; she was a daughter of Athena. She was meant to be at camp, with her siblings and Grover and with him. Why would she want to abandon everybody? Percy couldn’t stop staring at the girls’ eager eyes.

With a last look at her mother, Annabeth answered.

“I do.”

Percy didn’t hear the rest of the conversation, didn’t hear how Annabeth pledged her loyalty to the goddess of the hunt, to protect her sisters and refuse the company of men. Percy desperately tried to catch her eyes after she was finished, but Annabeth was too busy hugging Thalia, who looked just as excited as Annabeth. They were both practically glowing from joy.

Percy thought he was going to throw up. Which wasn’t a very good idea, given that Zeus had wanted to kill him again just a few minutes ago. He probably wouldn’t like it if Percy threw up on his godly sandals. Percy looked up at his father, who was looking at Annabeth, seemingly deep in thought. Aphrodite was giving Percy a pitying, sad look, which made him want to throw up even more.

Thankfully, before Percy had the chance to show everyone what he’d had for lunch, Artemis spoke up again. “You have all done good, young heroes. Go back to your camp now. Thalia, Annabeth, pack your belongings. My hunters will come and pick you up tomorrow.” The two girls nodded and made their way out of the throne room. Grover, who has been looking at Percy worryingly the entire time, tugged at his sleeve, making him start walking away as well. But before they were completely outside, Artemis called after him again.

“Oh, and Perseus?” He looked back, and the goddess was smiling at him gently. Most of the others had already vanished or were busy doing whatever gods were doing when they didn’t decide over the fate of demigods. Probably making more demigods. Ew. “Thank you, again. For rescuing me.”

Percy nodded, a little taken aback that she was thanking him. He tried to smile at her, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes, so it probably looked like a really ugly grimace. She nodded at him, her smile turning a little sad, and she vanished too.

Percy turned back to Grover, who was still watching him carefully. “You okay Percy? You look horrible.” Percy managed a little smile and only nodded, still not able to form any words.

 They walked back to the elevator, where, unfortunately, Thalia and Annabeth were waiting for them. Gods, Percy really didn’t feel like talking. Annabeth smiled at him, and he quickly looked over at Thalia, who thankfully came to his rescue so he wouldn’t have to face Annabeth just yet.

“Sorry for throwing you to the dogs like that.” She lightly punched his shoulder as they stepped into the elevator. “It’s nothing personal. Just try to not let the world get destroyed or whatever.” Percy grimaced at her words. Right. How reassuring.

“Thanks.” He replied, sarcasm lacing his tone. Thalia only grinned at him and, to his surprise, pulled him into a hug. Percy froze, his mind going blank. His arms hung awkwardly at his side, but after a few seconds, he put them around Thalia. “I’m glad it’s you.” She said into his ear and squeezed a little tighter. “And,” Thalia let go of Percy and put her hands on his shoulders. “I’m honored to be your friend.” With one last friendly slap to his shoulders, Thalia stepped into the elevator, the others following.

 Silence fell over them again. Percy stared at the floor, mind still blank after Thalia’s words, and also, maybe a little scared that he would catch Annabeth’s gaze and have to talk to her. It was inevitable, of course, but he still had some time. Not yet.

The elevator music was the only thing keeping the situation bearable. Percy didn’t know if he could’ve handled silence without blurting out the first thing that came to his mind. Grover started humming along to the song that was playing, which took away from the tension in the elevator a little. Percy was still glad when they finally stepped out after what felt like an eternity. Seriously, couldn’t they have made Olympus be on the ground floor?

Riding back to camp in Argus’ car, he managed to avoid Annabeth by sitting in the front and pretending to be asleep. And when they got back to camp, he immediately ran to his cabin without saying a word to anyone else and collapsed onto his bed. He was being childish, the way he was completely avoiding this conversation, but he hadn’t had a chance to completely register the events that had occurred in the last few days.

Annabeth going missing, seeing Luke again, Zoé’s death, holding the sky. Percy stood up and looked into the mirror, his hands going to the white strand of hair. His mind went to Annabeth’s matching one, and he quickly walked back to his bed. Bianca, gods Bianca. How was Percy going to tell Nico that he’d just let his sister die? The boy would surely hate him, hell, Percy hated himself too for letting the girl die. She had only been twelve.

Percy suddenly felt like he was suffocating inside his cabin. He needed some fresh air.

It was already dark outside, the sounds of campers singing in the distance filling the air. Right, he’d missed dinner and the start of the campfire sing-along. It sounded like the Stoll twins were currently doing their famous duet of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. Percy grimaced. Maybe he wouldn’t join them at all today.

His feet carried him to the lake, where he sat down in the grass and put his feet into the cool water. He immediately felt calmer and a lot less exhausted and looked up at the sky, staring at the new constellation that sat high up in the sky. He sat there, for a while, just looking.

He heard her before he saw her.

Annabeth sat down next to him, and when he looked at her, he found that she was already looking at him. She smiled a little.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

She looked down at her hands, picking at the skin around her nails. “I didn’t see you at dinner.”

He exhaled slowly looking at the sky again for a second before staring out at the water. The sky was clear tonight, so the moon’s reflection was clear on the water. Somehow, it seemed to be taunting him a little. It seemed as if Artemis was watching them closely.

“Didn’t go.” He kept staring straight ahead, but he could see Annabeth looking at him again out of the corner of his eyes. She opened her mouth, before closing it again, clearly unable to find the right words to start this conversation. Percy waited, and she tried again, before changing her mind again.

The third time, she seemed to have found the right words and opened her mouth again, but Percy cut her off. “I’m happy for you.” He said with a calm voice and turned to smile at her. He tried his hardest to make it look and sound genuine, scared to give away his true feelings, but thankfully, Annabeth seemed to buy it, or maybe she truly wanted to believe it, because she relaxed her tense shoulders and smiled right back, relieved.

“I was worried you were angry at me.” Annabeth told him, and Percy laughed, his chest squeezing. “Why would you think that?”

Annabeth put her hand into the water, playing with the little rocks underneath the surface of the lake. She shrugged, not taking her eyes off Percy. “You were ignoring me earlier.” She said, looking at him a little accusingly.

Percy shrunk back, a little ashamed and looked to the other side. He couldn’t deny that, because it was the truth, and he hadn’t exactly been very discreet about it. “It’s just-“ He started and felt tears form at the corners of his eyes. Gods, this was it, wasn’t it? Annabeth was leaving, leaving him and this was her saying goodbye to him. She wouldn’t be here tomorrow, or next summer when he came back after school, and she wouldn’t be back the next one either. Percy suddenly felt very, very empty inside. “Promise to visit?” He turned to look at her, and to his surprise, Annabeth had tears in her eyes as well.

Instead of answering, she pulled Percy into a hug. He immediately hugged her back and put his face into the crook of her neck. Annabeth gripped Percy’s shirt, as if scared that someone would pull them apart. Artemis herself could come down and try, Percy was sure that he would never let go of Annabeth. “I promise.” She whispered, neither of them loosening their grip on each other. “You’re still my best friend, Percy Jackson. You won’t get rid of me that easily.”

Percy laughed a little. Why did his chest hurt so much?

They stayed like that for a while, sitting under the night sky, the moon making Annabeth practically glow, and Percy thought she had never looked so beautiful. At some point, both of them got too tired to keep sitting upright, and they both reluctantly went back to their cabins.

“See you tomorrow?” Percy asked as they stood outside of cabin 6. Annabeth smiled again.

“See you tomorrow.” With one last hug, Annabeth went inside her cabin.

Percy walked to cabin 3, feeling a lot better than earlier and got ready for bed. He didn’t have any nightmares that night.

When Percy woke up the next morning, Annabeth was already gone.

Chapter Text

Telling Nico about his sister the same day Annabeth had left might’ve been the hardest thing Percy ever had to do. And Percy had to live with smelly Gabe for several years.

He’d taken Nico on a little walk to avoid other campers disturbing them. Nico took everything Percy said to him in silence, barely showing any sign that he was even listening in the first place. Percy tried to explain everything to his best abilities to Nico without bursting into tears. His chest hurt horribly the entire time.

When he was finished explaining Bianca’s sacrifice, Percy pulled out the figurine Bianca had wanted to take for Nico. “Here, she wanted to get this for you.” Nico took it wordlessly, staring blankly at the figurine in his hand. It was silent for a while, and Percy grew more panicked with every second. They were standing near the woods, and the icy wind shook the trees a little.

Percy wanted to ask Nico if he was alright, when the boy in question finally spoke in a small voice. “You promised to protect her.”

He might as well have stabbed Percy thirty-seven times with a fork, and it wouldn’t’ve hurt as much as the reminder of the promise he’d made. Percy’s hands shook a little when he answered. “Nico, I tried. But Bianca sacrificed herself to save us. I tried to stop her but- “

“You promised!” Nico’s said, in a louder voice. He stared at Percy with anger, his eyes red from unshed tears. “I knew I couldn’t trust you.” He threw the figurine on the ground. Percy tried to reach out, but Nico took a step back, as if Percy’s touch would burn him.

“Maybe she’s still alive.” Percy tried. “I’m not completely sure if- “

“She’s dead.” His voice broke. Nico closed his eyes, his shoulders shaking. "I can feel it."

"What do you mean you can feel it?"

Nico opened his eyes and stared at Percy. But now, all the anger had left him. "She's dead." He repeated. "And it's your fault!" Nico's voice broke again, and tears rolled down his cheeks.

Percy swallowed. He didn't even try to deny it because it was true. "I know. I know, and I'm so, so sorry Nico." 

"I hate you!" Nico yelled, and he looked so hurt that Percy felt like a monster for doing this to him. And then, something else flashed across Nico's face, and Percy realized that that was betrayal. Nico had trusted Percy with his sister's life and Percy had betrayed him.

Percy felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs. The tears he'd so desperately tried to hold back were now close to flowing over. "Nico-"

Percy put a hand on the younger boy's shoulder, but Nico, desperate to get away from Percy, shoved the son of Poseidon so hard that Percy fell down. "Get away from me!" Nico screamed.

The ground suddenly shook. Percy quickly stood up and looked around in alarm. Did a monster get in? What was that? Percy stepped towards Nico again. "Nico, this is dangerous, let's get back to the others before-"

"NO!" The boy yelled again, and this time the ground between them cracked open. "I told you to leave me alone!" Percy watched in horror as a skeleton crawled out of the crack in the floor. And then another, and another.

Nico stared in shock at the small group of skeletons now standing before him, and then at Percy, as if the son of Poseidon had summoned them. Percy pulled out Riptide, ready to fight the monsters and save Nico, but the Skeletons didn’t even acknowledge the younger boy. They didn’t even attack Percy, as if they were waiting for someone to tell them what to do.

“Are you going to kill me now too?” Nico asked, and it sent a shiver down Percy’s spine. The way Nico said it, he truly seemed to believe that Percy wanted to kill him with these monsters.

Percy slowly shook his head and lowered his sword. “Nico, I would never hurt you.” He whispered.

Nico took another step back, and his eyes went dark as he looked at the boy in front of him. “You already did.” He whispered back. The air around them somehow got even colder, and the speed of the wind picked up, making Nico’s shirt flutter around him. “I hope that these monsters kill you like you killed my sister.”

That, apparently, was the thing the skeletons had waited for, because they suddenly started walking towards Percy. Alarmed, he raised Riptide again, and when the first Skeleton attacked, Percy slashed it with his sword. The skeleton collapsed, bones falling to the ground. A few seconds passed, in which Percy stared at the pile of bones and nothing happened, and Percy exhaled in relieve.

However, the universe was unfortunately not on Percy’s side, and the bones started moving back together, and the skeleton reformed.

Right, okay, Percy could do this. Unkillable monsters that got the command to kill him. Nothing he couldn’t handle.

This time, Percy didn’t wait for one of the monsters to attack because he struck first. The first skeleton collapsed, and Percy began to attack the second one, not waiting for the first to reform. He continued this spiel, all the while slowly moving down to the lake. He needed water.

The skeletons, for whatever reason, had swords made out of bone, and hurt like hell. Percy didn’t really give them a chance to attack him, attacking and blocking faster than he ever had before, but every now and then one of the monsters got a good hit on him, and the cuts bled a lot. With Percy’s luck, Hades himself probably cursed the blades just to make it harder for Percy.

After fighting for what felt like an eternity, and almost tripping over his own feet six times (fighting while walking backwards was not easy, okay?) Percy finally made it to the lake. He stepped into the water, and fortunately for him, the skeletons followed. This time, when Percy sliced through one, he used the water to keep the bones apart from each other and keeping them from reforming. He was already exhausted, and controlling the water while fighting was a real bitch, but Percy finally stabbed the last skeleton and collapsed into the water, letting it heal his wounds.

Percy commanded the water to bury the bones apart from each other under the lake, before walking back to the woods in hopes that Nico was still around there somewhere, but when Percy arrived, there was no sign of Nico. He must’ve run while Percy was fighting the skeletons. Maybe he was hiding in the woods? Percy took a step forward and stepped on something hard. The boy took his foot back, revealing the figurine he’d given Nico. Nico must’ve left it behind. Percy kneeled down to pick it up, and his blood ran cold when he recognized who the small statue represented.

The small statue, which Bianca had wanted to get for Nico. The same statue that Nico had left behind after summoning three Skeletons, was of Hades, the god of death.

Percy had gone to Chiron immediately. He’d told him everything, start to finish, and the centaur listened closely. Grover, bless him, had been with Chiron as well and started stress-eating cans the moment Percy started talking about the fight. When Percy was finished telling his story, Chiron was deep in thought.

“I cannot believe that Lord Hades broke the pact as well.” The man said. He was pacing around the room, though there wasn’t much room for a horse to pace, so Chiron was just taking a few steps forward, stopped, turned around and continued this the entire time.

Percy had made himself comfortable at the table that Mr. D normally sat at, and he now understood why. The couch was fucking comfortable. Had this not been such a stressful situation, Percy might’ve had time to really appreciate the comfort of this couch. Sadly, this was an incredibly stressful situation and Percy was going to jump off a very tall building.

Nico was missing. That was bad already. However, Nico was also a son of Hades. Okay, great! Percy might’ve gone looking for the boy, except the last time Percy saw Nico, the younger boy sent skeletons after Percy. Absolutely wonderful.

“I don’t think that he did.” Percy said. He remembered countless times while talking to Nico or Bianca and thinking how weird these two kids were. Because they knew basically nothing that happened in the last, basically 50 years, and they always spoke about the hotel they were put in. At first, Percy hadn’t really thought about it, too busy with finding a way to rescue Annabeth, but now, it made a lot more sense to Percy.

He turned to Grover, who was still anxiously chewing on a can of coke. Mr. D must’ve given him his empty ones. “Remember the hotel they always talked about? And how it seemed like they weren’t from this time?”

Percy saw the moment it clicked. Grover stopped chewing the can and he gasped with wide eyes. “The Lotus Casino!” He exclaimed. Percy nodded, and the two quickly reminded Chiron of their own visit during their first quest.

“Time just moves differently in there. They must’ve been put in there before the pact was made.” Percy told Chiron, and the centaur stopped moving.

“Then that means that someone must have put Bianca and Nico di Angelo sometime before 1945 in the Lotus Casino. That would make them at least… 70.”

Silence fell over them.

“No one can know.” Percy broke the silence. He turned to Chiron, his eyes pleading. “Let me look for him. I’ll bring him back, and then we can sort everything out but until then please, don’t tell anyone else.”

Chiron sighed. “Alright. I will not say anything to anyone else. But Percy,” Chiron walked over to the boy and put a hand on his shoulder. “You might not be able to find him. It’s a dangerous place out there, especially for him.”

Percy laughed a little. It just sounded tired. “Trust me Chiron. I know what that’s like.”

Chiron dismissed the two boys, and Percy and Grover walked outside to sit on the stairs in front of the big house. They watched a few campers play a game of UNO outside, though the Ares kids were close to start a fight with the other players. A daughter of Apollo had just put down a ‘plus four’ card, and by pure luck, the other three before an Ares kid also had one. Percy winced internally. Drawing sixteen cards was rough.

Malcom just dodged a dagger thrown at him, when Grover broke the silence. “Sorry about Annabeth.”

Percy smiled at his friend. “Nothing to be sorry for. I mean, sure, it’ll be weird not having her around anymore, but I still have you to hang out with.” He replied cheerily.

Instead of his friend smiling back at him, Grover grimaced. Percy felt his heart drop a little. “You will be here, right?”

Grover looked like he might start crying. “I’m going to search for Pan.”

His friend looked at him a little confused. “Did someone spot him?”

Grover shook his head. “He spoke to me.” When Percy only looked at him with more confusion, clearly not knowing what to answer, Grover continued. “I heard his voice, in my head, telling me to come find him. He’s waiting for me, Perce!” The satyr said with a small, excited grin.

Percy matched his grin with an even bigger one. “That’s awesome G-man! What- like he really spoke to you?” Grover nodded, clearly relieved at Percy’s excitement for him. “So, when are you leaving? Like, at the end of summer?”

Grover grimaced again. “No… more like, tomorrow?” Percy’s smile dropped a little.

“Oh.”

“Yeahhh… oh.”

Percy didn’t say anything else, disappointment showing on his face. Grover, desperate to cheer him up a little, nudged Percy’s shoulder with his own. “I can still Iris Message you, when I have a little free time. The Council only gave me a limited amount of time, so I really need to find him. They already don’t believe me; I can’t mess this up.” His voice grew a little defeated at the end.

Percy nudged his friend back. “Hey, I believe in you. If anyone can do it, it’s you.” Grover smiled at his friend.

“Hey.” Percy nodded his head in the direction of the group of UNO players. Although, the game was now completely forgotten as two Apollo kids tried to hold back Sherman Yang from attacking Malcom. Apparently, the son of Athena had put down another ‘plus four’ card before Sherman. “Want to join them?”

In the following days, Percy realized just how little he actually interacted with other campers. He’d always just spent time with Annabeth and Grover, and while he knew most of them, he wasn’t really friends with anyone at camp.

Percy really knew how lonely he actually was, when even Clarisse didn’t want to beat him up anymore (in a friendly way). Yes, Percy Jackson had gotten so desperate that he’d tried to spend time with Clarisse. Multiple times. And now, even she had gotten enough of Percy.

When Percy had tried to talk to Mitchell, from cabin 10, his brothers and sisters had just giggled in the background the entire time, and as much as Percy needed some friends, he believed he might’ve gotten a tinnitus from the high-pitched giggling of Lacy and Valentina.

He’d even gone to the infirmary, ready to help out Will Solace in order to have something to do, but the boy kindly explained that “No Percy, you can’t make him tea, he’s unconscious. Though that’s very nice of you.” and ushered him out of the infirmary.

Trying to find Nico had also been a dead end. Somehow, the boy must’ve either found an amazing hiding spot, or he found a way out of camp without anyone noticing. Percy spent an entire day looking for the kid in the woods, but there was no sign of him.

After a week of ‘the universe hates Percy’, the boy decided that this would be his life from now on. He’d spend his entire life here, with nothing to do, until some god decided to kill him. Percy would die alone, his only friends being the fish in the lake.

The same lake Percy was currently at, trying to not rip his hair out. These past weeks had just been ridiculous. Percy stared at the water of the lake, watching the fish beneath it swim happily. He stared at the water some more. Then, Percy got an idea to solve all of his problems.

If you’ve ever wondered if a child of Poseidon could drown, the answer was no.

And trust me, Percy really tried. But apparently, either his father was somehow keeping him from drowning, or Percy couldn’t even drown himself correctly.

After several minutes of trying, and even some praying to whatever god was out there to just strike him right this moment, Percy gave up. He didn’t even get out of the water, he simply let himself float upwards, until he was lying on his back on the surface of the lake. Some fish around him were swimming around the boy with curiosity. I’ll just stay here forever, Percy thought. This could be nice.

“You know, while this has been somewhat entertaining to watch, I really feel like I need to tell you something.” The voice startled Percy, and he stopped floating on his back and tried to sit up to look at the person the voice belonged to. Unfortunately, Percy also forgot that he was in a lake, so instead of sitting up, he fell into the lake.

The voice laughed, and when Percy looked up, a blonde boy was grinning at him from the shore. “I don’t think you can really drown. You know, as a son of Poseidon.” His voice was mocking, though Percy had a feeling it was lighthearted. He got out of the lake completely dry, thank his Poseidon powers, and looked at the boy deadpan. “Ha ha.”

The boy only grinned wider, and Percy felt himself smile a little too. Now that Percy could take a closer look at the camper, Percy tried to put a name to him. He seemed familiar, so Percy must’ve seen him a few times before. One of the Apollo kids, maybe? Or maybe… wait a second.

Percy snapped his fingers. “You’re one of Mr. D’s kids! Wait, are you Castor or Pollux?”

Somehow, the boy’s smile grew even bigger when Percy recognized him. “I’m Castor. And, yes, Dionysus is my dad.”

Percy grimaced. “My condolences.” Castor laughed at that. “I’m Percy.” He held out his hand.

Castor took it with a glint in his eyes. “I know.”

Okay, that definitely did not sound ominous at all. Percy let go of Castor’s hand and crossed his arms. “Not to sound mean or ungrateful, but why are you talking to me?”

The blonde chuckled, thankfully not feeling offended, and started walking towards the fields. “My brother, Pollux, is currently hanging out with some of his friends, leaving me to pick strawberries in the strawberry fields all by myself, and I need some company.”

Percy raised his eyebrows. “Okay, but why would you ask me?”

Castor shrugged. “You were trying to drown yourself. I thought you might need some company too.”

Alright, fair enough.

They arrived at the strawberry fields, and Castor handed Percy a basket and started explaining the process of picking out the best strawberries. After a few minutes of picking, Percy found that he actually quite enjoyed this. It wasn’t exhausting, and since it was only Percy and Castor in the field, no one else was there to bother them, which was also quite nice.

“So, you basically only asked me to help you because of free child labor.” Percy remarked after a while of picking, and he could hear Castor snort from behind him. The boy didn’t really pick the strawberries like you would normally, since his powers allowed him to control the vines. This meant that Castor just stood in the middle of the field while the vines around him dropped their strawberries into his basked. Percy thought that that definitely counted as cheating.

“We’re literally the same age.” Castor deadpanned.

Percy turned around to grin at him. “Prove it.”

Castor stopped controlling the vines to stare at Percy. “Prove- how am I supposed to prove that? Do you want me to pull out my birth certificate?” He asked, bewildered.

Percy pretended to think about it, before grinning at Castor again. “Yes, actually, I would like to see your birth certificate.”

Castor rolled his eyes, though he was smiling as well, and picked up his basket. Apparently, they were done for today. “Come on, we need to bring these to the big house. It’s getting dark, so we better get ready for dinner.”

Huh, Percy hadn’t realized they’d been out here for so long. Was it really time for dinner already? The two boys brought their baskets to the big house and went to the dining pavilion together. During dinner, Castor sat next to Percy at the Poseidon table, despite the clear rule that everyone has to sit at their cabin’s table, but Dionysus didn’t seem to care that much. Castor even brought his brother along, and Percy found that Pollux was just as good of company as his brother.

For the rest of his time at camp, Percy spent most of his time with Castor and Pollux, and he found that he really enjoyed it. When he wasn’t helping them at the strawberry fields, sitting with them at the lake, teaching them cool sword tricks or talking late at night in one of their cabins, Percy continued to search for Nico.

He asked some wood nymphs and some sea creatures to keep an eye out for the young boy. He tried asking Chiron for permission to search outside of camp, but the centaur always said no. He’d tried IM’ing Grover a few times too, but his friend seemed very busy on his search for the god of the wild, so they didn’t really have a lot of time for talking.

When the end of winter break came, Castor and Pollux promised to IM Percy regularly. Since they stayed at camp the entire year, they promised to keep him updated on anything that happened while he was gone.

Percy hugged his new friends goodbye and walked out of camp, preparing for attending yet another new school, hoping nothing would go wrong this time.

Chapter Text

In hindsight, when you say, ‘nothing will go wrong this time’, you’ve just jinxed it for yourself, and everything most definitely will go wrong. Like that time Percy ate too many cookies again and got a tummy ache, or that other time Percy and his friends went out to eat burgers and almost got killed by Medusa. You know, that kind of stuff.

So, when Percy said that in the new schoolyear nothing would go wrong, deep down he probably knew that that was a lie. After he got home from camp, his mom informed him that the school had kicked him out. Big fucking surprise. Apparently, blowing up another school was not tolerated. Percy didn’t even know the other school blew up! He was too busy watching Annabeth fall of a literal cliff. His mom, being the most amazing person ever, managed to convince the school to at least let him finish 9^th grade. Having to retake the year would’ve actually sucked a lot.

So, Percy finished 9^th grade without any other schools getting blown up (at least he thinks) and some pretty good grades, for Percy’s standard at least. And, to his surprise, his mom had also managed to land him a spot at a new school already. How had she managed to do that? She started dating one of the teachers there. And this is not a joke. Percy’s mom seduced a teacher in order to land her son a spot at a school.

Well, at least that’s what Percy likes to tell his mom and her new boyfriend. The boy could understand why his mom started dating him, because honestly? Paul Blofis, despite having a stupid last name, was kind of awesome. He was funny and nice, and was totally understanding of Percy’s problems with school, despite being a teacher. Percy hadn’t known that teachers could be cool.

Percy and his mom hadn’t told Paul about Percy’s … special characteristics, for obvious reasons. I mean, don’t get Percy wrong, for some reason Paul is this huge Greek mythology nerd, and he’d probably love the fact that it’s all real, but Percy and his mom just… thought that it was still too early. They wouldn’t want to scare him off.

Speaking of scaring people off, Percy was convinced his friends thought that he was the clingiest person to ever exist. At first, it was alright. Castor and Pollux Iris Messaged Percy first, after a week of the son of Poseidon being away from camp. They’d only talked for a few minutes, mostly the twins just asking Percy how it felt like to be back home and if he was excited for school (the answer was no). The second time, Percy called them, another week having gone by.

After that the Iris Messages became more frequent, one time Percy being the one who called, another time the twins being the ones. Even Grover IM-ed Percy a few times, updating him on how his search for Pan went. Apparently, every time Grover got a feeling or heard a voice telling him where to go, and he arrived at the location, there was nothing there, and then, as if it had never been there in the first place, the feeling vanished again.

“It’s weird, Percy. As if Pan was teleporting from one place to another.” Grover had told him. At that time, Grover had stayed at a little Motel in California. The satyr had sat on the bed, looking more defeated that ever. Percy had almost asked him to come back home, but he knew how much finding Pan meant to Grover.

“Can he do that? Teleporting, I mean.” Percy had asked, the boy also sitting on his bed, snacking on some blue muffins his mom had baked with Paul earlier. He still had his unfinished English essay laying on his desk. The topic had been about Greek mythology. Hah! Percy had written it at one in the morning with zero research and had still gotten an A- on it. He would’ve gotten an A+, had the stupid website actually corrected every grammar mistake. Dumb internet.

“I don’t think teleporting is a power of the god of the wild, Perce.” Grover had deadpanned. He had flopped down with a sigh. The bed had made a horrible squeaking sound and Percy had grimaced. No way that that bed had been comfortable.

“Well, I’m not really sure about his powers. What I am sure about, however, is that you’re going to find him.” Percy had said, wanting to cheer his friend up a little. It had worked. They had talked a bit more, before Percy’s mom had decided that it was time for bed.

Since then, Grover had only called twice, both times being a conversation lasting not more than three minutes. Percy was worried for his friend. And since he was incredibly worried, bored, and missed his friends, Percy called Castor and Pollux every. single. day.

The two never said anything, always happy and excited to talk to Percy and tell him everything that was going on at camp (apparently, Clarisse had gone on a mission!), but Percy knew that he was being a little overbearing.

On a Saturday night at the end of May, a few days after Percy had finished school (The school had made him take the exams early. Apparently, they really wanted to get rid of him), Castor had said something about it.

“You know, I totally get that you’re bored, and that you miss us ‘cause we’re like, totally awesome, but I really think you could call some of your other friends too.” Pollux had snuck out after curfew with a few Hermes kids to pull pranks on the other campers, so it had only been Castor and Percy that night. Nights like these always felt a bit more intimate. Castor was really big on talking about emotions and he absolutely loved talking about philosophical or psychological stuff with Percy and his brother, and while Percy found that stuff pretty cool as well, Pollux absolutely despised it. Apparently, he'd heard the questions ‘If words had colors, what color would defenestration have?’, ‘Do you think we’re brothers in every universe?’ and ‘Would you still love me if I was a worm?’ too many times. Really, wo could blame him.

Percy had been laying down on his bed and turned around to lie on his back. He stared up at the little fish stickers he’d stuck on the ceiling when he was eight. “Okay, first of all, I’m not bored. Second of all, I totally don’t miss you.” He pulled his head back to glare at Castor though the mist, who only chuckled at Percy. “And third, I literally don’t have any other friends besides Grover, and he’s busy searching for Pan.” Percy finished, looking back up at the ceiling.

“Wow, since when did society accept lying?” Castor said, his voice taking on a teasing tone. Percy put up his middle finger. “I’m not lying. Seriously. I mean, sure, I know most people at camp, but it’s not like I’m actually friends with any of them. We’re more like… associates.” When he didn’t get a response, Percy rolled back on his stomach to look at Castor. His friend looked at him with his I’m going to tell you something and you’re not going to like it – face. It was Percy’s least favourite face.

“Look, I know that you don’t want to talk about it. And really, I get it. But I think you should IM Annabeth- “Castor said and was immediately interrupted by Percy’s protests and very aggressive headshaking.

“No, no, nope. Nuh uh. Definitely not.” “-and just talk to her.” Castor finished, but Percy was still shaking his head. Which earned him an eyeroll from Castor. “I really don’t think it would go as bad as you think!”

Percy sat up, shaking his head a little harder for good measure. “Cas, you don’t understand. Annabeth left. And I know she didn’t do it because of me but she still left me too, and that hurts.”

Castor’s eyes softened a little, and his lips formed a small smile. “Maybe you could talk about that with her.” He said softly.

“I appreciate that you’re trying to help me, but Annabeth doesn’t talk about feelings, Castor.” Percy deadpanned. Percy feared that if he ever told Annabeth how he felt, she would actually kill him.

“Okay then, don’t call Annabeth. But you could still call Thalia. You two were friends too, right?” Castor said, his voice incredibly patient, as if he was talking to a small child. Except that small children were a lot easier to deal with than Percy. They also drooled less when sleeping.

Yeah, right. Call Thalia. That was even worse. Seriously, what kind of dumb, stupid idea was this. I mean, call Thalia. That was just… that was… actually not that bad of an idea.

He’d called Thalia the same night.

He’d waited for his mother to go to sleep, so he wouldn’t be disturbed. In truth, he needed some time to just mentally prepare. He was incredibly anxious about calling Thalia. When the light in the hallway was finally turned off, Percy created some mist with water from his water glass on the bedside table and took his flashlight and glass prism (birthday present from Chiron) to create the rainbow. He then threw a golden drachma into the mist.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering."

The mist started flickering a little, like a broken TV screen, which usually meant that Iris accepted the offering. “Show me Thalia Grace… wherever she is.” Hopefully that worked. Percy didn’t really know where she was, since the Hunt moved around a lot and never really stayed at one place for very long.

It took a little longer than usual, but when the mist started showing him Thalia Grace, hiding under his bed started sounding like a really good idea. She had her back turned to Percy, so he could still make a run for it without being noticed.

Castor had thankfully been right about calling later at night if he didn’t want anyone else to see his Iris Message. It would've been incredibly awkward if someone else was there with Thalia. Still, Percy realized how bad of an idea this actually was. Not that him and Thalia weren’t friends, they definitely were, but it wasn’t really a kind of friendship where they called each other.

Percy was about to put his hand in the mist and wave it away when Thalia turned around and locked eyes with him. For a moment, Thalia stared at him with surprise, before she started grinning. “Percy! It’s so nice to see you! Did you want to talk to Annabeth? I can get her for you if you want.”

Thalia started to walk out of the tent (at least it looked like a tent) she was in, but Percy stopped her quickly. “No, wait!” She stopped, looking at him a little questionably. Percy ran a hand through his hair, now feeling a little sheepish. “I actually just wanted to talk to you. You know, asking how you’re doing.” He said and sat down on his bed.

Thalia cooed, a little bit of mockery in her tone, but mostly sounding sincere. Percy gave her the finger. “I’m just going to hang up.” He reached forward as if wanting to swipe the Iris Message away.

Thalia laughed, copying Percy and sitting down on her bed as well, though hers was more of a sleeping mat than an actual bed. “I’m just joking. It’s sweet, that you want to know how I’m doing. I kinda missed you.”

Percy feigned shock, putting a hand on his heart. “Did I hear that right? You missed me?”

“That’s the only time I’m ever going to say that to you.”

Okay, maybe Percy had just overreacted. Castor had been right; Percy and Thalia had been friends as well. And while most of the time the two were just bickering and throwing insults back and forth, it was still nice to talk to her.

Thalia told Percy about all of the monsters she’s killed and about some of the girls she hated with a passion. (“How can someone hate Green Day?”) In return Percy told Thalia all about what’s been going on at camp and how the rest of his schoolyear had been. Thalia was a good listener, and surprisingly good at sympathizing with Percy’s whining about school.

Thalia, thank the gods, didn’t bring up Annabeth once, which Percy was really grateful for. He could see that she really wanted to, but for his sake she stopped herself every time she came close. They talked until almost 1 a.m., which meant that they had been talking for almost two whole hours. Okay, damn. They both said goodbye, and Percy went to bed feeling a little less weight on his chest than usual. Maybe he’d even keep calling Thalia.

When Percy’s mom told him that he’d be going to visit the school Paul worked at, kind of like a trial day, since they agreed to take him next schoolyear, was when it all went to shit.

“Promise me you’ll be on your best behaviour.” His mom was driving Percy to school for his “trial day”, and she was probably even more anxious about it than Percy. Of course, he knew why. Percy’s record of blowing up schools wasn’t exactly low. Not that it was his fault, at least not all of the time.

His mom even put on one of her nicest outfits for today, a blue dress and black heels she had probably only worn once. She looked beautiful.

Percy squirmed in his seat. “It’s not like I blow up stuff on purpose.” His mother looks over at him for a moment and her eyes soften. “I know honey. Still, try not to run into any trouble, alright? It’s only for a few hours.”

Percy exhales, some of the stress leaving his body. Right, he can manage a few hours of avoiding trouble. For his mom. For his education too, but his mom’s way more important. His mom makes a right turn, and the school comes into few. It looks nice. There’s already a bunch of kids outside.

“And after school’s finished, you have your little date with Castor and are going to camp.” His mom’s voice is cheerful. Right, he’d be going to camp later today. Also, who decided to make a trial day at the beginning of June? Totally dumb. Percy almost missed what exactly she had said. Almost.

The boy glared at his mother. “It’s not a date.”

His mother raises an eyebrow, but keeps staring straight ahead, looking for a parking spot. “Well, he is coming all the way from camp just to see you.”

That much was true. Castor had proposed that he and Percy could hang out a little before driving to camp together. Pollux had joked that his brother practically begged their dad for permission to go see Percy. But that’s because they were really good friends. Castor had just missed him. He told his mother as such.

“Well, yes. But he would’ve seen you at camp anyways. Instead, he wanted to drive all the way from camp just to spend some time alone with you.” She says and gives Percy a knowing smile.

There is nothing to know though, and Percy just grumbles a ‘It’s not like that’ and crosses his arms. His mother laughs a little as she parks the car. “Whatever you say honey.”

They get out of the car, and Percy looks up at the massive building. He’s seen many schools before, but this one actually looks quite nice. There’s a banner hanging above the entrance, welcoming the newcomers. Percy sees Paul standing at the entrance. The man sees them as well and waves at Percy with a smile.

“I’m going to talk to Paul for a bit, you can go ahead and get inside, alright?” His mom asks, already walking towards her boyfriend. Percy only nods, watching the crowd of kids.

Red hair catches his attention. Is that… no. Plenty of people have curly red hear. Just a coincidence.  Percy stares at the girl a few meters in front of him, just to be sure. It’s not her. The girl turns around, and familiar green eyes meet his. Her eyes widen.

It’s her. Shit.

Fight or flight. Which will it be?

“Hey mom, is there another entrance?” Percy’s voice shakes a little.

His mother furrows her eyebrows. “There’s a side entrance over there. But why would you-“

“Okay thanks bye.”

Percy chooses flight.

He practically sprints to the side entrance and begs to whatever god is listening that the girl wouldn’t follow him. Percy catches his breath, and after a minute of no one coming after him, he starts following the other newcomers to wherever they’re going.

This will be fine, there’s a lot of students here. He’d just stay hidden until the day was over, and then he’d be going to camp with Castor. Easy. He’ll just have to be discreet.

A hand grabs his left arm. Then, a voice he knows all to well. “I know you.”

Percy sighs. Is it ‘the universe hates Percy’ day again? He turns around and comes face to face with the person he had just tried to escape from. “Rachel Elizabeth Dare.”

Her eyes sparkle a little at Percy recognizing her. She removes her hand and points a finger at him. “And your Percy whatever your last name is. I knew I recognized you. In December, when you tried to kill me! What are you doing here?”

Percy starts walking in the direction of what seems to be the gym. “Okay, first of all, I wasn’t trying to kill you. And second of all, I could ask you the same question. I’m starting here after summer.”

Rachel walks next to him and starts grinning at his words. “So am I!” She sounds almost excited.

“You live in New York?” Percy asks her, sounding a little confused. Rachel snorts and shakes her head, her red curls bouncing at the motion. “Did you think I lived at the Hoover Dam?”

Right, stupid question.

They walked into the gym, where all the newcomers were looking up at the stage. A few teachers gave some speeches, but Percy mostly spaced out during those. Next up were some cheerleaders giving another boring speech.

This would be fine. Rachel was here, but she seemed chill enough not to become a problem for him. From here on, everything else would be okay.

Percy should really stop jinxing everything for himself.

Empousai. Why did the cheerleaders have to be bloodsucking monsters with goat legs. And why did one of them have to go up in flames. Just his luck.

Percy ran out into the street, and almost ran over Castor.

“Watch where you’re going!” Castor laughs, pulling Percy to the side to avoid getting hit by a car. Shit. Castor was here.

The boy was wearing shorts and his camp t-shirt, plus his camp necklace. He looked happy, excited even. Another thing Percy noticed is that he also looked older. It hadn’t been that long since their last Iris Message. Had he just never looked at Castor that closely to notice it? The boy had gotten taller since winter, tanner too. Percy could see his freckles. His hair had grown longer, and it fell into his eyes a little. Percy realized that he was staring and quickly averted his eyes.

“Percy, wait up!” Rachel broke the tension as she came running towards them.

Castor narrowed his eyes as he stared at Rachel, then at Percy, then at the burning school behind them. He sighed. “What did you do now?” Percy grimaced. Rachel had caught up to them and was now standing next to them, panting. “And who’s she?” Castor asked again, and Percy suddenly felt caught.

“Uhm, Castor – Rachel, Rachel – Castor.” He gestured between them. Rachel grinned at Castor, before turning to look at Percy. “You’re in huge trouble. And you still owe me an apology.” Police sirens wailed in the distance. Dammit, so much to staying out of trouble.

Rachel looked towards the school, thinking a little before turning back to Percy. “You guys should go. I’ll think of something to tell them, don’t worry. I’ll tell them it wasn’t your fault.” The girl said before Percy could protest. Rachel pulled out a pen and started writing something on Percy’s arm. “Here, that’s my number. Call me and explain everything, okay? You owe me.” She told him and immediately started running back towards the burning building, leaving Percy and Castor alone on the sidewalk.

The police sirens were getting closer now. Percy grabbed Castor’s arm. “We need to get to camp.” Castor was still staring at the number on Percy’s arm with furrowed eyebrows. Percy called them an uber.

Kelli’s words rang in his ears the entirety of the car drive.

Soon your precious little camp will burn. Your friends will become slaves of the Lord of Time.

Chapter Text

The drive to camp was quiet. Percy tried to strike up a conversation a few times, but Castor made it clear that he wasn’t in the mood for talking. Percy stared out of the window of the car, watching the buildings and cars pass them by. He’d have to ask Chiron to call his mother and tell her what happened once he was at camp. She was probably worried sick. He wanted to ask Chiron about the empousa’s words as well.

Soon your precious little camp will burn. Your friends will become slaves of the Lord of Time.

What had she meant by that? Obviously, the Lord of Time was Kronos, he knew that much. But why, and most importantly when was camp going to burn. What’s going to happen?

He stared out the window confused, before his eyes dropped down to his hand, where Rachel had scribbled her number down. Maybe he’d actually call her when he had time. She didn’t seem very scared about everything, more excited than anything, really.

They asked the driver to stop below the Camp Half-Blood hill. The man looked confused, given that there was nothing around here, at least to human eyes. Castor and Percy made their way up the hill, where Peleus, the guard-dragon was lying next to Thalia’s tree. Castor patted the dragon’s head while walking past him. Smoke rose from the dragon’s nostrils as he exhaled.

When Percy walked into the camp, he immediately felt that something was wrong. Everything looked normal, but the air felt weird around them. Tense. As if everyone was waiting for something horrible to happen. And while demigods were always prepared for a monster to ruin their day, this was different.

Most campers had already arrived last Friday, Percy probably being the last to arrive. He would’ve felt left out, but Castor was still with him, and Pollux had spotted them and immediately ran up to them to greet Percy. He held his hand up for a high-five and Percy hit it as hard as possible, causing Castor to roll his eyes. “Children.” He said, but there was an amused smile playing around his lips.

Pollux playfully shoved his brother’s shoulder. “You’re literally a child too.” Pollux turned to Percy, and his smile looked a little tenser than before. “Chiron wants to see you. Probably needs to talk to you before the meeting.”

Castor tensed too. What the hell was going on? “What meeting?” Percy asked, his brows knitting together.

Pollux opened his mouth to answer, but his brother cut him off. “You’ll find out later. Come on, we want to show you something.” He looked at his brother, and they seemed to have a silent conversation between them for a few moments, before Pollux started grinning again. He took Percy’s hand and started pulling him in the direction of the Amphitheater. 

Where they showed him a giant hellhound.

“Isn’t she cute?” Castor cooed while taking Riptide out of Percy’s hand. Percy was about to slay the damn thing. “Stop being so mistrusting, she’s harmless.” Castor glared at Percy a little, while Mrs O’Leary (who the fuck names a hellhound Mrs O’Leary???) was chewing on a training dummy. Yeah, right. Harmless.

Truth be told, Percy didn’t really have great memories with hellhounds, almost being killed by one during his first year at camp and all that. So yeah, to say that he was mistrusting of the beast was an understatement.

The Amphitheater is empty besides us and the… dog, so if anything happened, we’d probably be fastest if going through the forest. Mrs O’Leary is pretty big so she would have a hard time following us through the trees. Maybe I can steal back Riptide when Castor isn’t paying attention, just in case.

“Welcome, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon.” A voice right beside him interrupted Percy’s planning and made him jump to the side.

“What the-“ Pollux caught him and stopped the boy from stumbling to the ground. The hellhound looked up at the voice of the newcomer excitedly.

The voice belonged to a man, maybe in his fifties. Castor smiled at him. “Ah, Quintus, right on time. We were just going to introduce you to Percy.” The man’s eyes twinkled with interest as he stared at Percy. The boy felt uneasy, as if he was being solved like a puzzle. “Percy, this is Quintus. He’s helping Chiron while our dad is away.” Pollux chimed in.

Wait, Mr. D wasn’t here? Now that Percy thought about it, no one has threatened to turn him into a dolphin yet, so he really must be away. Percy shook Quintus’ hand. He had a strong grip, and his hands were as rough as sandpaper. “Nice to meet you.” Percy said, the voice in his head that sounded strangely similar to his mother reminding him to be polite.

An amused smile played around the man’s mouth. He didn’t say anything back, but just turned around and walked over to Mrs O’Leary. Percy watched him with a little scowl. “Well, he seems nice.”

Castor put Riptide, now in its pen form, back into Percy’s pocket. “He’s… well he has some quirks.” Castor started, shrugging his shoulders. “Don’t we all.” Pollux sighed and started to walk towards the Big House. “But I promise you that he’s a really nice man. You can trust him.” The boy put a hand on Percy’s shoulder.

“If you say so.”

“I do. Now come on, Pollux and I have something to do, so we’re dropping you off at the Big House.” The twins both pulled him along, waving at some campers as they passed.

“Wow, already have enough of me?” Percy said with a grin, which earned him a laugh from Castor and a punch in the shoulder by Pollux. “Shut up, you big idiot.” He said, amusement lacing his tone.

His friends dropped him off, leaving Percy to sit alone in one of the chairs inside the house, waiting for Chiron. No one else was there besides Percy, and the silence was starting to get to him. Little disclaimer: Don’t leave a demigod with ADHD alone in a big house, they will wander off. Which is exactly what Percy did.

Obviously, he’s familiar with the rooms, this is his fourth year at camp, but there’s a few ones he’s never been in. Probably none of the other campers. Example number one: Dionysus’ room. Now, Pollux and Castor have probably been in here before, since he’s their dad, but anyone else would’ve been turned into some weird animal by Mr. D. But since he wasn’t here… this was totally Percy’s chance.

Percy’s sneaking down he hallway, making sure not to make himself known in case someone else is indeed here. He’s careful.

He’s completely silent.

He’s a thief in the night.

He runs straight into Clarisse.

And gets immediately pushed against a wall with a knife to his throat.

“Oh, it’s just you.” The knife immediately leaves his throat. Weird, usually Clarisse would’ve at least drawn a little bit of blood.

Percy looks at the daughter of Ares, and immediately notices how tired she looks. Theres bags under her eyes, and her shoulders are slumped. She’s carrying herself with less confidence than usual, and the fact that she wasn’t beating Percy up for running into her spoke volumes.

“Are- Are you okay?” Percy asks her and finds that he sounds genuinely concerned. A scowl appears on her face, and she looks a little like her usual self, but instead of punching him or throwing a knife at his head, she just shakes her head. “I’m just… tired, that’s all.”

Alright then. Guess Percy was going to have a conversation with Clarisse. He scrambled his brain for any topic of conversation. Shit, what’s something they had in common? Shitty dads? Cool moms? The omen of death hanging over their heads wherever they went?

“Heard you went on another quest. How’d that go?” Kudos to his brain. Sometimes it worked incredibly well.

Clarisse tensed a little at the question and unintentionally looked down. “It was… alright.”

Percy chewed his lower lip, unsure if he should continue the conversation. She didn’t look very eager to continue talking to him (not that she ever does), but she didn’t really look like she hated talking to him. “What was it about? Did you fight any cool monsters?”

A hint of a smug smile played around her mouth at the question. “Yeah, they probably would’ve eaten you alive, punk.” She looked like she wasn’t going to share anymore, but at Percy’s curious eyes changer her mind. “I uh, I went into the labyrinth. You know, the ancient one with the Minotaur in it?”

Percy’s eyes widened. “Yeah, Annabeth used to talk about it a lot. Daedalus built it, right?”

Clarisse leaned against the wall, playing with the knife, though it was more of a dagger really, which she’s held against Percy’s throat a few moments ago and hummed. “Yeah, well, I was sent in there to, idk, scout, I guess. Anyways, I had a few encounters with Luke and his little army. And everything would’ve been so much easier if that stupid labyrinth wasn’t so damn confusing!” She ended her sentence, sounding a little hysterical.

Percy opened his mouth to say something, but Clarisse just continued, apparently being relieved to finally tell someone else. “You don’t know what it’s like down there. Half the time, you don’t see shit and suddenly some random monster attacks you, and when you think you’re finally on the right way, the labyrinth changes again and you’re back at where you started. I was so relieved when I got finally out. And then I found-“ She stopped herself, looking at Percy with a shocked expression, as if remembering who she was just talking to.

But Percy was now way too hooked. “Who’d you find?” He almost whispered, so quiet that Clarisse could’ve missed it, had it not been dead quiet in the house.

Clarisse looked like she was ready to tell him to shove it and leave her alone, but suddenly a loud thud from downstairs caught her attention. She stared at the floor, eyebrows knitted together, before looking back up at Percy.

“I think it’s better if I show you.”

Percy didn’t remember Chris Rodriguez very well. He saw him a few times during his first year at camp, always hanging around Luke. He joined the Titan army, that’s what he’s heard. It made sense, for Chris to follow Luke. To see him now, in the basement of the Big House, Percy was unsure if he could hold any anger towards the older boy for betraying them.

He looked horrible.

He was pale, different from his tan skin, and looked incredibly dirty, though Percy guessed that he was being cleaned regularly. He was thinner and had lost a lot of muscle since Percy had last seen him. The worst part, however, were his eyes.

Crazy.

That’s the word Percy would use to describe the boy in front of him. Chris Rodriguez had gone completely mad. He was muttering nonsense the entire time, his eyes fixated on the floor. He was sitting on a chair that Clarisse had probably brought into the room. A tray of food sat untouched at the end of the bed.

Clarisse was kneeling in front of him, talking to him softly. “Hey Chris, I uhm, brought a visitor. If you wanted to talk to him.” She beckoned Percy to walk forward with her hand. “You recognize him?”

Nothing.

Percy stepped forward a little more. “Uhm, h-hey Chris. How are you?” Percy cringed at his words. But at his voice, Chris raised his head.

Wide-blown eyes stared at Percy’s. None of them said anything for a few seconds, Clarisse and Percy both too scared to do anything.

Chris didn’t break eye contact, and suddenly his constant muttering got louder. Clarisse stood up alarmed, but Percy was too focused on the words leaving Chris’ mouth.

“Beware the storm, the titan’s brawl, a spear trough his heart, his love will call, in the spider’s nest, the hero will fall, fall, fall, fall, fall, fall, fall, fall-“ Chris continued to repeat the word “fall” until he was practically screaming. Clarisse held his arms and tried to calm him down. Percy had backed up against the wall, clutching his shirt.

This meant nothing, Chris was completely nuts. He was just talking nonsense. Percy calmed his breathing, and after a while Chris finally calmed down and continued his normal quiet muttering, completely ignoring the other two people in the room. Clarisse sat down on the bed, her head in her hands. She was shaking a little.

Percy sat down next to her.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” She said, before Percy could ask the question. “I just found him like this when I got out, near my mum’s house. We were friends before… everything, so he knew where I lived. Was probably the last bit of his brain that’s not fried yet.”

Percy stared at Chris. “Is there any way to fix him?”

Clarisse glared at Percy for his choice of words, but she knew he wasn’t really wrong.

Chris Rodriguez was broken. He needed to be fixed.

But Clarisse only shrugged. “Mr. D isn’t here, otherwise I would’ve asked him. He knows crazy.” Her voice broke a little at the last word. Percy didn’t say anything. They both just sat together, watching the boy in front of them.

What the hell happened in the labyrinth?

Percy had talked to Chiron afterwards about his encounter with the empousai, and the centaur had later taken him to Grover’s trial with the Council of Cloven Elders. They, apparently, didn’t believe Grover about the fact that Pan had spoken to him, and gave him an ultimatum: find Pan in one week, or lose his searchers license.

Complete bullshit, Percy thought, which Juniper (Grover’s new girlfriend) wholeheartedly agreed with. But there was nothing Grover could’ve done to convince them.

“It’s pointless Percy, I’m never going to find him in a week.” Grover was stress-eating cans again, while Juniper was hugging her boyfriend reassuringly. They were down at the lake, and Percy was playing with the water in hopes to cheer his best friend up. Turns out, making a giraffe out of water was harder than it looks.

“Come on Grover, don’t give up! You’ve still got time, and I know that you can do it. It’s gotta mean something that Pan is speaking to you.” Percy said. Juniper nodded her head at his words. “I believe in you Grover!”

Grover gave them a teary smile and swallowed a piece of can. “Thanks guys. You’re right, I can’t give up now!”

“Percy dropped the water and gave Grover a friendly punch in the shoulder. “That’s the spirit!” He cheered with a grin.

They’d find Pan, Percy was sure of it. In no universe would he let his best friend down. Besides, he didn’t really have any other plans for this summer. This would be easy compared to all the shit he’s done in the last year.

“Uhm, Percy. Isn’t that Silena doing cabin inspections?” Juniper asked.

Shit. He wouldn’t be much help to Grover if he was dead.

Percy quickly said goodbye to his friends and sprinted towards his cabin. Shit, he had totally forgotten inspections. His cabin was a mess. He hadn’t even made the bed this morning. Okay, Silena was currently doing the Apollo cabin, so he still had a few minutes.

Percy ripped open the door to his cabin, expecting to mess he’d left earlier today, only to find the cabin completely clean.

What.

His clothes were neatly folded and placed into his drawer, his bed was made, there were fresh flowers on the desk and small hippocampi made of metal hung from the ceiling.

“Brother! I cleaned our cabin. It was a mess.” A cheery voice spoke, and Percy turned around to find his brother standing in the room with the biggest grin on his face.

“Tyson!” Percy exclaimed, tightly hugging his brother. He hadn’t seen him in a long time. The young cyclops usually spent his time in Atlantis, working in the forges with others like him. It felt great to see his brother again. Now his cabin won’t be so empty. And Tyson had even repaired his shield which had gotten pretty badly messed up last year.

And something even better?

They didn’t fail cabin inspection.

Percy mainly spent the afternoon hanging out with Tyson and catching up. His brother told him a little about the conflict underwater between their father and some other gods while helping Beckendorf out with making some new weapons. Tyson even showed them how to make them glow in different colors.

Later, he went to the arena to train a little. Usually, he would’ve asked Annabeth, since they were pretty much on the same level, but since she’s not here anymore, and Percy didn’t want to risk hurting Castor or Pollux, Percy went and asked Clarisse.

Percy thought she could use a break and so something to keep her mind off Chris. Plus, she loved beating Percy up.

As a daughter of Ares, Clarisse was a ruthless fighter. She left no room for her opponent to attack, always on the move, and she hit you with such force that any normal swordsman would go down immediately. Percy wasn’t bad himself, in fact, he was one of the best at camp. But the only reason why today was a fair fight was because Clarisse was exhausted, bot physically and mentally.

They trained for a while, a small audience gathering around them to watch them fight. Some of the newer campers watched in awe, while the older ones were already placing bets on who would win. It was the same every time.

Percy was just blocking an attack from Clarisse, when he saw an opening to disarm her. She wasn’t paying enough attention, and in one swift motion, Clarisse’s sword clattered to the ground. She stared at him dumbfounded, and behind them a few people cheered. Percy had Riptide pointed at her chest but didn’t dare lower it. This wasn’t over yet.

He saw the moment some fire returned to the girl’s eyes. Unfortunately for Percy, he didn’t think about Clarisse being completely nuts. She grabbed his blade and ripped it out of his hands. They were now both unarmed, Clarisse now with a bleeding palm.

There was even louder cheering behind them now, and Percy gave Clarisse a wicked grin, which she returned. Percy held out his hand. “Truce? Or you want to continue this as a fist-fight?”

Clarisse shook his hand.

There was groaning from the older campers, probably because of their lost bets, but a lot of people were still applauding their fight. Clarisse picked up her sword, before being fussed over by Will Solace because of her hand. She looked almost like her normal self.

Percy didn’t bother picking up his sword, already feeling it reforming in his pocket.

“Why don’t you use your powers, young hero?” Percy jumped at the words, only to find Quintus watching him intently. Had he been watching them?

Percy furrowed his eyebrows at the man’s words. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re sorely relying on your sword skills. Why not use your powers during a fight?” The man points out.

Percy shrugs. They’re mostly alone in the arena now, almost everyone else leaving to do something else. “Wouldn’t that be cheating?”

Quintus chuckles. “Not at all. As a daughter of Ares, Clarisse is naturally more skilled with a sword than you. It doesn’t matter how hard you train; she will always be better. It is her power. Why are you not using yours to win?”

Percy thought about that. It was true that Clarisse was naturally more skilled with basically every weapon because of her dad. Still. “There’s not exactly any water here for me to use.” Percy said, grinning at Quintus a little. But the older man simply waved his hand. “Don’t be silly boy. There’s water everywhere around us!”

Percy looked around, confused as to what he meant. There was no water to be seen. Did he mean the water meant for drinking? “I don’t understand.”

The man looked at Percy for a while. Percy felt a little uneasy under Quintus’ watchful gaze. “You need to look closely.”

The man grabbed Percy’s shoulders and carefully turned him around towards the grass outside the arena. “Wherever you go, there is water. Plants are filled with water. Those squirrels in that tree over there are too. The ants on the ground and the birds in the sky. Every living being has water stored in their bodies. Look at the sky, the clouds. They’re made of water too. You only have to know where to look.”

That night, Percy dreamt of Nico di Angelo.

The boy was sitting on the riverbank of the Styx tending a campfire. He looked older, although he's only been gone a few months. Still, his hair grew longer, and he'd grown a little. His olive skin was gone, replaced by pale, sickly looking skin. he looked exhausted. Every few minutes he threw his Mythomagic playing cards into the flames. He was muttering something Percy couldn't really understand, when a second person walked out of the shadows. Or, better said, floated. "Indeed, young master." The figure said, and Percy finally got a good look on who it was.

It looked like a man, a shadow. When you didn’t look directly, he wasn’t really there.

A ghost.

“I lost her, didn’t I?” Nico said. The ghost didn’t answer. “Speak!” Nico ordered in a loud voice.

The man hesitated a little before answering. “There is still another way.” Nico looked at him expectedly. “Well?” Nico asked, clearly getting impatient.

The ghost smiled, a hint of mania in his eyes. “A soul for a soul.”

Chapter Text

Somehow, with everything going on with Grover, his dreams about Nico and the fact that there’s a new camp counsellor, Percy forgot about the fact that he was still, in fact, at a summer camp and had to do camp activities. Truthfully, he thought capture the flag was out, since Mr. D seemed to be the only adult who actually enjoyed it and thought it safe for literal children, but apparently Quintus shared that sentiment.

That morning, everyone was even more on edge than usually, after someone spotted an Aethiopian drakon at the camp border, and Lee Fletcher and a lot of other Apollo kids went to hunt it down. They’d tried their best, but the thing was still out there, now even angrier than before. Everyone knew what this meant for camp. The rumours that Luke and his titan army were planning an attack on the camp were no news for anyone. They all felt it. It would happen, soon.

Apparently, Quintus saw this as a perfect opportunity to try out some new battle strategies. Percy already thought about which cabins he would pick for his allies. Normally, he would team up with the Athena cabin, since he and Annabeth were good at coming up with a good strategy, but… well, yeah. Definitely Castor and Pollux, maybe Clarisse would agree to team up with him? Being on a team with the Ares cabin usually guaranteed an immediate win, but Percy wasn’t sure.

His thoughts were interrupted by Chiron, who brought an anxious looking Grover over to Percy’s table, and immediately excused himself and left the two alone. Percy looked at his friend with a confused look. “What’s that all about?”

Grover sighed and plopped down next to Percy. Tyson, sitting on the other side of the table, suddenly jumped up and said something about fishponys before fleeing. Right, Percy totally forgot that he didn’t really like Grover. Something about him being allergic to satyrs or something. “He wants you to convince me.”

“Convince you about what?”

“I’ll tell you what.” A voice said, and suddenly Castor and Pollux were sitting down at the Poseidon table. Percy anxiously looked over to the adults, before remembering that Dionysus wasn’t even here, and Chiron had already left. Quintus didn’t even look up from the book he was reading. But Percy could still hear some people murmuring around them. There were strict rules for everyone to sit at their cabin’s table. And yet, the twins seemed to not care one bit. “He’s talking about the Labyrinth.” Pollux finished.

Percy turned away from Grover to look at them. “You mean the Labyrinth where they kept the Minotaur. The same one where Clarisse went on her secret mission?” Percy whispered, and the four all looked over at the Ares table, where Clarisse was already looking at them. She seemed to know exactly what they were talking about, and after a moment looked back down at her plate, ignoring the boys.

“Apparently, Luke and his people have been researching and going into the Labyrinth.” Castor said in a hushed voice while stealing a strawberry from Percy’s plate.

“Okay”, Percy said. “Why?”

Pollux now leaned forward a little. Grover was anxiously chewing on Percy’s fork. “We don’t know. That’s why Chiron sent Clarisse in the first place. And she barely made it out alive. And then she found Chris and, well, he was just blabbering about strings and other crazy stuff-“

“And we think that Luke’s trying to find Ariadne’s thread. It’s like, some kind of navigation tool that helped Theseus to navigate the Labyrinth. Without it, you’re basically dead in there.” Castor said, and Grover whimpered at his words. “We don’t know why Luke wants it, since the closest entrances to the Labyrinth that Clarisse has found are like, in Manhattan, so the Labyrinth would be no help in attacking camp, but the point is that Chiron thinks that it’s the solution to Grovers problem.” Castor continued.

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. “You mean Pan’s down there? And you want to send Grover into the Labyrinth?”

Pollux nodded. “That would explain the weird disappearing and why no one managed to find him. The Labyrinth is weird, and it just changes and moves completely unpredictably, which also means that anyone inside just changes locations randomly.”

Grover shuddered. “Satyrs hate being underground. No searcher would ever try. No sun, no plants, no cafes.” He started eating the fork again.

“But it would be the fastest way to find him! The Labyrinth can take you anywhere. If you managed to navigate it…”

“Then it could take you to Pan.” Percy finished Pollux’ sentence.

Grover put his head in his hands. “I can’t do this. Only thinking about it makes me want to throw up.”

Percy put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort his friend. “Grover, this might be our only chance at finding him. You’ve only got a week, remember?”

Grover looked up at him with teary eyes. “You’d still want to help me?” He asked. Percy grinned at his friend in response, squeezing his shoulder. “Of course. Can’t let you have all the fun by yourself.”

Grover gave him a watery smile. He sighed, again, a little bit of tension leaving his shoulders. “I need to go, Junipers waiting for me.” He said, standing up and waving goodbye to his friends.

When Percy looked back down at his plate, it was completely empty, Castor and Pollux still chewing the last pieces of Percy’s breakfast.

That evening, everyone had gathered dressed in their armour, ready for capture the flag. Quintus was holding a piece of paper, and Mrs O’Leary was happily jumping up and down next to the man. “You will compete in teams of two.” He started, and everyone immediately tried to get to their friends, but Quintus cut them off. “Which have already been assigned.” Which was met with a lot of booing.

“Your goal is simple: get the golden laurels, without dying. The wreath is wrapped in silk and attached to the back of a monster. There are six monsters in total, only one of the has the actual golden laurels. Find them before everyone else and… you obviously have to slay the monster in order to get them. Any questions?”

Everyone started murmuring. The task seemed easy enough, since most of them have already slain countless monsters. That’s what they were trained for. Quintus started reading names off the list he’d brought.

Percy hoped he’d be with Pollux or Castor.

“Castor and Pollux Brennon.”

Okay, right. Totally unfair, but whatever. The twins both gave him an apologetic look. Maybe he’d get paired with Grover. Or since Quintus is putting some siblings together, maybe even Tyson.

“Grover Underwood and Tyson.”

Okay. Fine, yeah whatever. He saw Grover and Tyson, both sending him panicked looks. Yikes, Grover was scared of Tyson, for very obvious reasons, given that he’d almost married one before almost being eaten by the cyclops last year. And Tyson had that allergy, which also made him kind of scared of Grover. Percy wondered how that would go. But at least Percy still had chances of being paired with Clarisse, so maybe-

“Clarisse La Rue and Lee Fletcher.”

Okay yeah no, fuck this. What the hell was going on? Percy looked at the rest of the campers who haven’t been paired with anyone yet and wondered who his team partner would be. It would be incredibly hard beating Clarisse and Lee, so he hoped someone good at combat. Someone from the Athena cabin would be nice as well. Maybe he’d get paired with Malcom. A good strategy was never unwelcome.

“Percy Jackson and Drew Tanaka.” Quintus’ voice boomed, and Percy turned around to look at the daughter of Aphrodite, who was giving him a nasty look and rolled her eyes before stomping into the direction of the woods. Percy quickly ran after her, trying to catch up.

This was going to be just great.

They were wandering through the woods in complete silence. Drew wouldn’t even look at him. And, yeah okay, fine, Percy wasn’t exactly ecstatic to be paired with her either, but Drew looked downright murderous whenever he tried to talk to her.

“Did I like, do something to you?” Percy asked, breaking the silence. Drew turned around so fast; Percy almost ran into her.

She glared at him, her sword glinting dangerously in her hand. “What?” She asked, and her tone made Percy take a step back. Drew might be a child of Aphrodite, but gods was she scary.

“I asked if I did something to you. Because you’ve been ignoring me this entire time, and when we got paired together, you looked like you might murder me.” Percy said, and Drew rolled her eyes. She put a hand on her hip and looked Percy up and down, and the way she did it somehow hurt Percy’s feelings a little.

“I was under the impression you aren’t happy about being paired with me either. I’m just returning that sentiment.”

Percy cocked his head to the side. “Why would you think that?”

Drew scoffed at him. “Because I’m just a stupid Aphrodite kid. Because I can’t fight and only care about make-up and boys so I’m only going to hold you back and you won’t be able to win. That’s what you’re thinking, right?” With every sentence she took a step towards Percy, until she was standing right in front of him, her hand hanging at her side threateningly, her voice cold and sharp.

Percy gulped. “Actually, you’re being pretty scary right now.” He said and his voice sounded small.

Drew’s lips quirked up a little, but it was gone in an instant and she took a few steps back again. She stared at him a little, and Percy squirmed under her gaze. After a few seconds, she sighed. “I just hate how full of yourself you are. Always thinking you’re better than everyone else.” Her voice sounded bitter.

“I’ve never even said that!”

Drew’s eyes hardened a little and she scoffed again. “You don’t need to say anything. I know that you’re thinking it. Everyone always thinks that they’re better than us Aphrodite kids.”

Percy took a step towards her. “Okay, first of all, I don’t think I’m better than anyone here. In all honesty, I’m quite shit at most things. Plus, you have those really cool mind-control powers which I think are pretty damn powerful, so I don’t know what to tell you.”

Drew furrowed her eyebrows. “They’re called Charmspeak.” She said, but she didn’t sound angry anymore, so Percy took that as a win. “Whatever they’re called, I think they’re sick.” He said and grinned at her. He really meant it too. Percy had once watched Drew tell the entire Hermes cabin to clean their cabin, and it had lasted for three whole hours, until Silena told Drew to stop messing with them.

Drew smiled a little at the complement, despite clearly trying to fight it. “It’s really not that special. Besides, you can do it too.” She said, waving him off.

“I can?” Percy asked, a little dumbfounded. Last he checked; he was still a son of Poseidon, not a son of Aphrodite.

Drew looked a little thoughtful. “Yeah. Although I think it’s called different in your case. Something with mermaids? No that’s not it…” She started mumbling to herself, clearly trying to remember the name. After a few moments of silence, she snapped her fingers and looked at Percy in triumph. “Siren Song! That’s what it’s called. I heard my mom talking about it once.” She grinned, before remembering where she was and who she was with and stopped abruptly. “Yeah, so anyways. You have like, your Siren Song, and I have my Charmspeak.” She spoke, now more collected and cooler.

Percy was still staring at her. “I have Charmspeak?”

Drew rolled her eyes. “No, silly. You have Siren Song. Or Siren powers. Siren Song is kind of unpractical to say.” She chuckled a little to herself, before deciding that the conversation was clearly over and started walking again.

Percy, almost as if on autopilot, started following her, still trying to wrap his head around the newfound information. It was true that Percy rarely used his powers. He controlled water often enough, but never really anything too big and anything else he’s never tried before. And he wasn’t really able to just ask his father about this kind of stuff. He didn’t have any siblings either, besides Tyson of course, who could teach him about this stuff. But Tyson was a cyclops and didn’t have any special powers like demigods. Percy supposes Drew had Silena as a sort of mentor for her powers. Not for the first time, Percy wishes that he had a different god as a parent. Not that he didn’t love his dad, he really did, but things would be so much easier if Percy had just been a child of Apollo, or Demeter, or Aphrodite, or even Hermes. Anyone else would’ve been fine. But he had to be one of the big three.

Percy wonders if this is how Thalia had felt. All alone, with no one there to help her understand her powers. Percy made a mental note to call Thalia later and give her a little update and ask her how she handled everything. Maybe she could help him learn this supposed power. Or maybe…

“Can you teach me?” Percy asked, and this time ran straight into Drew’s back as she suddenly stopped walking again. Percy staggered a little, before falling onto his butt. Drew turned around and stared at him from above.

“What?!”

Percy stood back up, trying to wipe off the dirt on his armour. “I mean, since you have similar powers, I thought maybe you could help me with mine.”

Drew looked at him dumbfounded. “I- I mean… I don’t know if I-“ A loud hiss interrupted her.

Percy turned around before he spotted the monster.

A scorpion.

It was a huge, disgusting scorpion with a tail as long as Percy’s sword. On its back was a little silk bag.

Now, Percy didn’t have the greatest history with scorpions, considering that Luke had poisoned him with one during Percy’s first year at camp, so to say that his reaction wasn’t a very heroic one was an understatement.

“Holy fucking shit, hide!” He screeched, grabbing Drew by the arm and bolting for the opposite direction. Drew didn’t complain and ran after him as fast as she could, desperate to get away from the monster.

When they were a safe distance from the scorpion, Percy stopped running to catch his breath. “Oh my fucking gods, why does it have to be scorpions?” Percy asked, looking up at the sky as if one of the gods was going to give him an answer.

Drew was leaning against a tree, catching her breath as well. She had a little bit of sweat on her forehead, and a few stray hairs were sticking out of her perfect braids from earlier. Her eyeliner was a little smudged as well. Percy wanted to tell her, but she looked like she was ready to murder anything and anyone who looked at her wrong. He’d wait until they’re done.

“Okay”, Percy said, after being able to breath normally again. “I think it’s best if one of us distracts it, while the other sneaks up at it from behind und cuts off its tail. That’s what we need to look out for. Once the tail’s gone, we can easily kill it and get the bag.” He explained, and Drew nodded along to his words.

“Alright, I’m guessing it’s best if I’m the distraction, and you cut off its tail?” She asked.

“Yeah, that would be best. Maybe we can lure it further into the woods so we can have a better chance at hiding from-“ Another hiss interrupted him.

But it didn’t come from the direction the scorpion was in. It came from Percy’s right, and when he turned another scorpion was crawling towards them.

“Why are there two?” Drew exclaimed and quickly raised her sword. Percy looked to his left, ready to run again, but a third scorpion was blocking the way. “Three?!” Drew yelled.

Shit. Okay, this was bad. Why were three scorpions coming for them? Where was everyone else? Percy gripped Riptide tightly. They’d have to fight their way out of this.

One of the scorpions, the one closest to them, lunged at Drew, and the girl rolled to the side of the scorpion and stabbed the monster’s side. The scorpion screeched loudly, and the second one now came at them too.

Percy lunged at the second one, trying to cut off its tail, but the monster was fast. Drew was still fighting the first one, though it looked like she had that under control. Percy jumped to the side, barely escaping the scorpion’s stinger. Percy swung his sword at the monster, managing to cut off one of its legs.

Drew had managed to cut off the tail of her scorpion, and now gave it its final blow to the head. The monster dropped dead, and Drew immediately turned around to help Percy with his.

They would’ve killed it together, if it hadn’t been for the third one.

It came out of nowhere, and immediately attacked the two demigods, which gave the other scorpion a chance to escape their blades. The scorpions came at them, and Percy and Drew had no chance at killing them now.

Percy and Drew held their swords in front of them, walking backwards and trying to create some distance between them and the scorpions.

Percy took one step after the other, until there was suddenly nothing underneath his right foot. Percy looked backwards, where he found a gap between two huge stones. He’s definitely walked past these before. He took Drew’s arm. “In here. Quick.”

She looked at him, and then at the gap. She nodded but made no move to squeeze herself in there. “I’ll cover you.”

Alright then. Percy squeezed himself between the rocks, trying to get into the gap. He put his hand on the side of one of the rocks, and suddenly the ground opened underneath Drew and him and they fell into the now much larger gap. Percy looked up and he could see the scorpions, the sky and the trees, before the gap closed up again and they were sitting in complete darkness.

“What the hell was that.” Drew whispered. Her voice echoed from the walls. It was wet and cold. They sat on an uneven ground, probably out of brick or something. Percy picked up Riptide, and the soft glow of the sword gave them some light to look around.

It looked like a room. A very, very long room. “At least we’re safe from the scorpions.” Percy said, but his voice wavered a little. “It looks like we’re in a very long room.” He voiced his thoughts.

Drew shook her head. “It’s more like a corridor.” She was right. The room didn’t seem to end.

“It’s alright. We just have to get back up somehow.” Percy spoke, but when he looked up, the earth ceiling where the gap used to be was gone. There was just a stone ceiling in its place. “What the-“

And then something clicked into place in Percy’s head. “The Labyrinth.” He whispered.

Drew turned her head to look at him. “What?” She asked, confusion lacing her tone.

Percy quickly stood up, motioning for her to follow him. Percy grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards the wall. “We’re in the Labyrinth. Quick, help me find the sign!” Percy urged.

“What sign?” She asked, still incredibly confused, but doing as he’d said.

Percy was scanning the walls as well. “When I tried to squeeze into the gap, I touched some kind of sign on one of the stones, and then the ground opened up. The sign of Daedalus. It’s like, a triangle or something.” Percy explained, remembering something that Annabeth had once told him. She used to be obsessed with Daedalus and the Labyrinth, and she’d shown him all kinds of drawings and sketches of the place. One of them had been the sign of Daedalus.

Drew nodded and started searching the walls as well. If it was true, and they were in the Labyrinth, they needed to get out as quickly as possible. Who knew what kind of monsters could find them down here. Or worse, one of Luke’s people could spot them.

They searched in silence, the sound of water dripping occasionally breaking it. It was hard to see anything, the faint glow of Percy’s sword only giving them a little bit of light, but after a few minutes of searching, Percy finally found the same little triangle that he’d pushed at the entrance earlier. He was just about to tell Drew and press it, but a thought stopped him.

Percy looked over at Drew, pretending to still be searching the walls. “You still haven’t answered me.” He said quietly, but his voice echoed around the room and made it sound a lot louder than he’d intended.

Drew glanced at him for a second before going back to focusing on the task at hand. “What?”

“When I asked you earlier. If you would teach me to charmspeak, remember?” He watched as Drew sighed and stopped searching. She turned around to look at him.

“Percy… I don’t know. I don’t even know if I can teach you. I literally have no idea how this works.” She sounded incredibly tired of the conversation.

Percy gave her a little smile. “Well, there’s no harm in trying, right?”

Drew smiled a little in return. “I guess not.”

“So you’ll teach me?” Percy asked in such a hopeful voice, he almost thought it sounded pathetic.

“I guess. Maybe Silena could help out, since she was the one to teach me.”

Percy squealed in delight (in a very manly way) and hugged Drew, to which she gave a noise of protest, but made no move of pushing him away. “Oh, thank you so much!” Percy grinned again, then turned around to the sign on the wall. Percy pressed it, and it started to glow a faint blue, and then the ceiling opened up again, and they were met with the dark night sky.

“You knew where it was?!” Drew yelled at him in disbelieve.

Percy took a step back and put up his hands as if he were surrendering. “I’d just found it. Then I asked you, and now I pressed it. I swear I didn’t know earlier!”

Drew glared at him. “Alright, I believe you.” She pointed a finger at his chest. “But you owe me.”

Percy couldn’t hold the laugh that bubbled out of him. “Alright, alright.” He looked up at the open ceiling, trying to figure out how to get back out. The hole they were in wasn’t too deep, but still deep enough for them to need some assistance to get out. He’d have to help Drew climb up first, and then she’d have to pull him up afterwards.

“Percy! Drew!”

Or not.

Drew looked up at their names being called and looked back at Percy with wide eyes. They listened a little, the silence stretching on. There were definitely more voices, all calling their names. Percy nodded at Drew, and they both started yelling for the others.

“We’re in here! Down in the hole!” Drew yelled so loud; Percy winced a little from standing too close to her.

The voices got louder, and soon enough heads appeared above them, blocking the soft shine of the moon.

“What the hell are you two doing down there?” Silena said, worry and disbelief lacing her tone.

Chapter Text

Turns out, demigods love gossip.

Percy guesses, after staying at camp for years and basically nothing happening throughout the years, the campers will take every little scrape of gossip they can get.

The newest, currently, is that Percy Jackson and Drew Tanaka had disappeared in the woods together for several hours, only to be found in a hole by Drew’s sister.

And they were eating it up.

Percy can kind of understand them. From an outsider perspective, it can surely look like… something happened, but he knows better. Which is why, after being pulled out of the hole he immediately stormed to find Chiron.

Because if there’s an entrance to the Labyrinth inside of the camp, then they could be in serious trouble.

Percy explains everything to Chiron to his best abilities. Drew is there too, helping him fill any holes in his story, throwing in some of her own thoughts too. They tell him about the three scorpions, how Percy found the entrance by sheer luck, and that they were only in the Labyrinth for fifteen minutes max. Them being gone for almost six hours can only be explained by the Labyrinth.

All the while, the centaur listens to them attentively.

“What are we going to do?” Drew asks Chiron when Percy has finally finished explaining, her voice quiet.

Percy can already guess what’s going to happen. He had already been on two quests. One of them was going to see the oracle, get a prophecy and take two other people with them into the labyrinth. Now, Percy knew that picking him for the quest was the only logical solution. Which sounded very egoistical, but already having survived three of them, Percy knew how dangerous they were. He really didn’t wish it upon someone else. Besides, he had enough experience. (He also needed to find Nico, so it really was a win-win situation).

“We are going to do nothing.”

Pause.

“What?” Percy stared at the centaur dumbfounded. “Chiron you can’t be serious.”

But the centaur only looked at Percy with a weird expression, as if it pained him to look at the boy. Percy threw his arm out and pointed it behind him in the direction of the forest. “Chiron, Luke has a direct entrance into camp! What do you think he’s going to do, just leave us alone? We need to go into the labyrinth!”

Chiron straightened his back, as if to appear even taller than before, and his eyes became stern. “Percy, it is dangerous.”

Percy scoffed, rolling his eyes at his teacher. “So is every day as a demigod. What’s different this time?”

Chiron flinched a little at his words, looking a little apologetic. His voice was a little softer when he spoke this time. “I will not let you see the oracle.”

Percy crossed his arms. “No offence Chiron, but I don’t need a prophecy to go down there. I can’t just sit at camp while Luke and his army are running through the labyrinth, preparing to attack camp. I’m going down there to do something, whether you allow it or not.”

Chiron sighed, defeated. “I cannot convince you to stay?”

“Nah, sorry Chiron. I appreciate the effort though.” Percy answered with a smile playing around his lips.

Drew cleared her throat, catching the attention of the other two. Percy had forgotten that she was here as well. “For what it’s worth, I’ll make sure he behaves.” She told Chiron with a calming smile.

Percy raised his eyebrows. “What makes you think that I’ll take you along?” For anyone else, it might’ve sounded mean, but Percy and Drew both knew better.

She shrugged her shoulders, twirling a piece of hair around her finger. “You owe me.”

Damnit.

Percy never really liked seeing the oracle. It was old, and totally creepy, and Percy was convinced that she was actually haunted. Not like, cursed, because she actually was, but more like people or things were haunted in horror movies. Seriously, every time Percy went to see her, he got total heebie-jeebies.

She was sitting creepily in her chair, like always. This time, though, Percy felt like she was really looking at him. Not like the corpse that she was, but like an actual person. He thought about turning back around. “Hey Chiron, I thought about it again, and I actually want to stay at camp and not do anything. That actually sounds really nice.” Yeah, no, he couldn’t back out now.

He stood before her, all around him lay stuff that campers had brought back from quests. Aphrodite’s scarf that Percy, Annabeth and Grover had brought back from their first quest caught his eye. He quickly turned his attention back to the old corpse in front of him, before some unwelcome thoughts and memories flooded his mind.

Percy took a deep breath. “What is my fate?” He asked, and remembered when he was in his first year at camp, asking the exact same question. Come to think of it, this was only his second official quest. In his second year, he and Annabeth just snuck out of camp to save Grover, and last year Percy practically begged Zoe to let him come.

After the words left his mouth, the green fog around the oracle became thicker and the oracle’s eyes started to glow, until Percy could see nothing else besides the fog. During his first prophecy, the fog took shape in smelly Gabe and his gambling buddies. He’d hated that. This time, though, was much, much worse.

Percy’s breath hitched when Annabeth was suddenly standing in front of him.

She looked exactly as he remembered her. Her blond curls were pulled back into a ponytail, and she was wearing her camp clothes. Her Yankees cap that she had gotten from her mother as a present was placed on her head and her dagger was strapped to her leg. He got the sudden urge to reach forward. Percy knew that she was just a green smoke, an image conjured by the oracle from his mind. Still though, he hadn’t seen her in months, and Percy suddenly realized just how much he actually missed his best- his friend.

Fake-Annabeth’s opened her mouth.

You shall delve in the darkness of the endless 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.

Destroy with a hero's final breath,

And lose a friend to worse than death.

Fake-Annabeth dissolved into green fog again, and the oracle’s eyes stopped glowing. Percy stood alone in the attic. Maybe he should’ve listened to Chiron.

When Percy came back down, Chiron was already waiting for him. Confusingly though, Quintus was waiting for him too.

“Well? How did it go?” Chiron asked Percy.

Percy glanced at Quintus, wondering if it was safe to tell him too, but Chiron didn’t seem bothered by the man’s presence, so Percy took a deep breath before telling them what the oracle had told him. “You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze, that’s the Labyrinth, obviously. The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise. I guess the dead could be that ghost I saw with Nico. The traitor is obviously Luke, and the lost one is Nico.”

Quintus and Chiron listened closely, and when Percy made a short pause, Chiron beckoned him to continue eagerly. Percy cleared his throat, trying to remember the oracle’s exact words. Damn ADHD. “Then she said, You shall rise or fall by the ghost king’s hand. I think that that’s that ghost again. He seemed really eager to sacrifice me, so I guess we have to look out for him down there. The child of Athena’s final stand. I guess that means I have to take an Athena kid with me.”

In truth, Percy’s first thought had immediately gone to Annabeth when he’d heard that line. He’d thought about calling her and telling her about the quest, but it would’ve been selfish to ask that much of her when she was finally happy with the hunters. Percy missed her, a lot, but it would’ve been unfair to ask her to leave her new family just for someone she clearly didn’t want to see anymore.

Quintus looked at Percy with a weird look, and Percy got scared that he somehow knew what he was thinking about.

“Anything else?” The man asked with a sort of urgency.

Destroy with a hero's final breath,

And lose a friend to worse than death.

Yeaaahhh, no. Percy was not going to tell them that someone was going to die on this quest, and that person most definitely being him. Chiron would never let him leave camp.

Percy shook his head, hopefully hiding the fact that he was lying. “Nope, that’s it.”

Chiron looked at him for a second, and Percy had a feeling that the centaur knew that there was more. But thankfully, he just nodded and told him to think about who he’s going to take with him on the quest. Percy smiled at him with a relieved smile and excused himself, walking out of the Big House.

Time to convince some poor campers to go on a suicide mission with him.

“Why the hell are you mad at me?” Percy asked him, trying to catch up to a very fast and very angry Castor. He’d just told the twins about the quest, and that he was going to take Drew and try to convince Malcom to come and join him on the quest. For some reason, Castor did not like that.

Percy looked at Pollux, who gave him a shrug of his shoulders, but Percy had a hunch that he knew exactly what was up with his brother.

Castor sighed and finally stopped walking. He looked at Percy, and there was something in his eyes Percy couldn’t read. They haven’t been friends for very long, but usually Percy could read Castor perfectly. The boy was an open book, often even outright telling others what he’s thinking. But sometimes, Castor had a look about him that Percy just couldn't figure out what it meant. This was one of these times.

“I’m not mad at you.”

Percy scoffed. “Yeah, right. You’ve been acting weird ever since you found me in the woods with Drew.” At the girl’s name, Castor’s eyes grew a little colder. He shared a look with his brother, who was standing beside them, ready to interfere if things got too heated.

Percy and Castor almost never had arguments, but these past few days have been filled with quite a few of them. Percy didn’t know why that was, or what brought them on, but one minute they’d be acting like always, and the next Percy would say something, and Castor would suddenly get annoyed or even angry. Pollux has had to play the mediator between them quite a few times now.

“I’m not mad at you.” Castor repeated. Percy just gave him a look. “Alright, fine. I just thought that you’d rather have your friends with you on a quest, than people you don’t even really know.”

“I know Malcom though.” Pollux shot him a warning look, but Percy didn’t really know why. “I know Drew too.” He continued.

Castor scoffed again. “I’m sure you do.”

The way he said it made Percy think back to the woods. He suddenly got the feeling that he needed to justify himself. “Nothing happened, you know. In the woods, I mean. Drew and I just hid from the scorpions, and then we tried to get out again. We didn’t do anything.”

Castor’s face was impossible to read. He stared at Percy, trying to find some kind of sign that he was lying, before sighing. “Whatever. Just do what you want. Have fun on your quest.” He said and stormed off again. Pollux mouthed a quick ‘sorry’ to Percy, before following his brother.

Percy rubbed a hand over his face. He could feel a headache forming behind his eyes. Whatever, he would deal with this later, he needed to find Malcom and Drew.

Finding Drew wasn’t hard, because she was already waiting for him outside the Aphrodite cabin. She gave him a small smile when he walked towards her. “You’re actually taking me with you?” She asked, putting her little hand mirror she’d been inspecting her makeup in back inside her pocket.

Percy leaned against the wall. “If you want to. Like you said, I owe you.”

Drew’s smile grew. “Well, then I better start packing.”

She turned around to walk inside, but Percy grabbed her wrist to stop her. “Wait, do you maybe know where Malcom is?”

Drew furrowed her eyebrows. “Why would you need to talk to Malcom?”

Percy dropped her hand. “The prophecy said something about a child of Athena. Which means we need to take one with us.” He said, and Drew started shaking her head.

“Percy, prophecies are never literal. You know that.” She started gnawed on her lip but stopped again.  “Tell me the line, please?”

Percy nodded, before reciting the line of the prophecy. “The child of Athena’s final stand. That’s what she said.”

“Percy, it sounds like whoever that’s about is going to die. You really shouldn’t take any child of Athena with you.” She said, her voice serious. “There are probably hundreds of demigods down there. Prophecies are never about what you think they are. Take someone else.”

Percy sighed again. This never used to be so complicated. “Like who?”

Drew shrugged. “I don’t know. You have friends, take one of them. Or Grover. He’s searching for Pan, right? It’s a perfect opportunity for him.”

Shit. Percy totally forgot about Grover. It would be perfect, really. He’d take Grover with him, and they’d find Nico and Pan. “You’re right, thanks Drew.” Percy said and shot her a grateful smile.

Drew grinned. “I’m always right.” The she started shooing him away with her hands. “Now go and let me pack in peace.”

Percy laughed, taking a few steps back. “Alright, alright. We’re leaving tomorrow morning, that alright.” Percy said, as Drew walked back inside her cabin and closing the door behind her.

Percy only heard a muffled ‘Alright!’ from inside the Aphrodite cabin.

One down, one more to convince.

“Convincing Grover was really easy, surprisingly. He’s really eager to find Pan, so he was grateful that I asked him to join the quest.”

Percy was laying in his bed, talking to Thalia over Iris Message, telling her about the quest. He’d called her after dinner, wanting to talk to her before going into the labyrinth tomorrow morning. She’d been eager to hear everything about how camp was and the news about the labyrinth.

“And you’re sure that taking Drew is a good idea?” She’d been sceptical about Drew joining the quest as well. Though Percy felt kind of annoyed on Drew’s behalf that Thalia was once again underestimating her just because she’s a child of Aphrodite, Percy really couldn’t blame her. Thalia had never really talked to Drew, had only seen her around camp. And to be completely honest, Drew was totally portraying the stereotypical daughter of the love goddess.

Percy rolled his eyes at her, with a little grin. “I already told you that I owe her. Plus, maybe she’s going to start teaching me that Siren voice thing that I apparently have.”

Thalia perked up from where she was cleaning her bow. It was a really impressive bow, that Artemis had given her as a present for the lieutenant of her hunters. “Oh! You said you wanted to ask me about that, right? Not that I don’t want to help you, but I really don’t think I know a whole lot about your little waterpowers. No offence.”

Percy glared at her and gave her the middle finger. “Okay, fuck you. My powers are not little.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Fuck you, I could totally beat you in a fight.”

Thalia grinned, a challenge in her eyes. “Wanna bet?”

Percy held out his hand. “Next time we see each other, it’s on.” Thalia held out her hand too, and they pretended to shake hands through the Iris Message. “Anyways, back to my powers.”

“Which are very little.”

Percy ignored her. “I was going to ask you how you learnt about yours. I mean, there isn’t really anyone to teach us, considering we’re only children.”

Thalia seemed to think a little about his question, before she simply shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, really. I just sort of already knew.”

Percy groaned. “Wow, thanks. You’re so much help.”

Thalia grinned at him. “Anytime, Kelp Head.”

Percy plopped back down onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Tyson’s snores occasionally broke the silence between them. How his brother managed to sleep while Percy was having a very loud conversation with Thalia next to him was truly a mystery, but Percy wasn’t complaining.

In truth, Percy was really nervous about tomorrow. Every year, Percy thought that he could just have a simple summer at camp and hang out with his friends, and every year he was proven wrong. He was scared. Scared about what’s in the labyrinth, but also scared what the prophecy meant. Different to some beliefs, Percy really didn’t want to die just yet. His mom would kill him if he did.

“What’s got you so down? You look like Mr D when his wine turns into coke.” Thalia said with a laugh, but there was honest concern lacing her words.

Percy shrugged, turning his head to look at her. “Just… nervous, I guess.” Thalia didn’t say anything, but she was looking at him as if she knew that that wasn’t the whole truth. And she was right. There was something else bothering him.

Percy sighed. “Castor won’t talk to me.”

Thalia hummed, satisfied with his answer. “Trouble in paradise?”

Percy shot her the finger again. She chuckled a little. “Well, what did you do?”

Percy threw up his arms in exasperation. “I don’t know!”

“Well,” Thalia picked up her bow again, turning it around in her hands. “You better talk to him. Don’t want to leave on bad terms, you know? If you die, it’ll be the last thing he remembers about you.”

Percy knew she meant that last part as a joke, but the thought of him dying and him and Castor having a fight being the last thing he remembers suddenly stirred Percy into action. “I have to go.”

Thalia laughed again. “Wow, so eager to get away from me?”

Percy put on his shoes in a hurry, scrambling to find his jacket. “Yeah, totally. I hate you, talking to you is the worst, thanks for the help bye now.” Percy rambled.

“Yeah, likewise. Bye Percy, good luck with the quest, don’t die.” She said with a smile, before waving the Iris Message away.

Standing outside the Dionysus cabin, Percy suddenly felt even more nervous than before. He thought about turning back around and simply going to sleep, but he really didn’t want to leave on bad terms.

Percy knocked on the door and waited, but no one answered. He knew that Castor was inside. Pollux was still at the pavilion with a few other campers, singing songs completely off-key. He could hear them. Castor never really liked it that much, so he always went to his cabin early. He wasn’t sleeping though. Despite always telling Percy how important it is to get enough sleep, Castor always stayed up late to read. It was a miracle when the boy got more than five hours of sleep.

So Percy knew that he was awake, and that he could hear him.

Percy knocked again. “Cas come on, open the door, it’s just me.” Percy heard some shuffling inside, and footsteps coming towards the door, but he still didn’t open the door. Percy sighed and sat down with his back leaning against the door.

“I’m sorry, okay?” He said, quieter now. The off-key singing in the distance grew a little louder. “I didn’t mean to make you mad.” He didn’t get a response, but Percy had a feeling that Castor was listening.

Percy leaned his head against the door. “I just- I didn’t ask you to join the quest because I’m scared. I don’t want something happening to you.” He sighed. “I don’t know what’s down there, and I don’t know if I could help you down there if anything were to happen. Drew’s got her charmspeak, and I already need to make sure that Grover’s safe, and I just-“ The words died in his throat.

“You’re my best friend, Cas. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

Castor didn’t answer. Percy breathed out, feeling a little lighter than earlier. He looked up at the night sky, searching for Zoe’s star and quickly finding it. He smiled up at her. “Goodnight, Castor.” Percy breathed out.

He walked back to his cabin.

He didn’t sleep a lot that night.

Percy hated dreams. Not the nice ones, but the dreams where Luke was talking to his fellow traitor demigods about finding Kronos a new body so that he could rise to his full power again and destroy the gods. Or the ones where Nico was talking to his ghost buddy about sacrificing souls.

When he’d told Chiron, the centaur told Percy that Luke was probably trying to convince Daedalus to build Kronos a new body. Oh, yeah, Daedalus was still alive, somehow, and hiding in the labyrinth. It was way too early for this kind of information.

Grover and Drew were already ready and just waiting for Percy. Quintus was there too, to bid them farewell alongside Chiron. Percy had hoped that after last night, Castor would come and say goodbye as well, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“When I woke up, he was just gone.” Pollux said, giving Percy a hug goodbye. “I’m sorry Percy.”

Percy pulled away from the hug and waved it off. “It’s alright. We’ll be back soon.” Pollux gave him a wobbly smile and stepped back to stand beside Chiron.

Chiron gave them some motivational speech that Percy drowned out, and the centaur clapped them all on the shoulder, which was his way of saying ‘Good luck, don’t die’. Percy looked at Grover, who was anxiously chewing on a soda can, and at Drew, who looked pissed because Silena had made her leave two of her bags full of clothes and haircare at camp. She now had only one bag, same as Grover and Percy, filled with some drachmas, spare clothes, nectar and some ambrosia. Hers was still a lot bigger than the other two, but at least she didn’t have an entire suitcase.

They threw one last look back at camp. It was early in the morning, so no one else was awake yet, or even aware that they were leaving. With a shuddering breath, Percy made his way into the entrance to the labyrinth, the other two close behind him.

The ceiling closed when they were all inside, just like last time, and they were surrounded by darkness. Drew took out a flashlight and turned it on. It didn’t give them a lot of light, but at least it was more than Riptide’s glow could offer them.

The tunnel was different than the one he and Drew had fallen into. It still looked like a corridor, but instead of old stone, it was built out of red bricks, and there were windows along the walls. Drew shone her flashlight into one to try and look what was behind it, but there was only darkness.

“Alright.” Percy’s voice echoed off the walls. “If we just stick to one side of the wall, we should be able to find our way back if we turn around. So, left side?” Percy asked and was met with agreeing hums. But when he reached for the left wall, it disappeared.

They were standing in the middle of a huge, round room, with doors all leading into a different direction. Behind them was just wall. “Okay. That’s fine. Anyone have a suggestion which door to take?” Percy asked, a waver in his voice.

“Straight ahead?” Drew asked. Grover nodded, though a little shaky, and they walked through the door straight ahead of them. It opened up into another corridor. They followed it, sticking to the left wall. Percy grew more and more wary with every turn they made. There was no way they’d find anything down here.

The floor changed from wood, to stone, to grass and to brick (not necessarily in that order) the more they walked. It didn’t make any sense. Sometimes, they’d hear voices above them, though they sounded like normal humans.

The next time the corridor opened up into a room, there was someone else there.

The first thing that Percy noticed about the person (monster?) was that he had two faces. Literally. There were two heads coming out of his neck. Which was very disturbing. Behind him were two wooden doors.

“Finally, you took your time. Hurry up.” Said the left face, staring directly at Percy. Grover whimpered beside him. Drew looked deep in thought.

“Ignore him, he’s horribly impolite. Welcome, Perseus Jackson.” Said the right face.

“What the fuck.” Percy whispered; shock written all over his face.

The left face looked offended. “Language!” It yelled. The right face looked at Percy understandingly. “It was supposed to be different; I know. We expected the daughter of Athena, but due to… unfortunate circumstances, you’re leading the quest, so you have to choose earlier than we anticipated.”

Percy looked at Drew. “What the fuck.” Drew ignored him.

“You’re Janus. The god of choices, doorways, beginnings, and endings.” She spoke.

The faces turned to her. “Smart girl.” The left one sneered. “Good job, daughter of Aphrodite.” The right one praised.

Percy already knew which one he liked more.

“So, I have to choose?” Percy inquired, staring at the two doors intensely. The faces nodded excitedly.

Grover grabbed Percy’s arm. “Don’t do it, Perce. It’s probably a trap.”

“Grover’s right, he’s trying to confuse you. Just let me talk to him.” She whispered to Percy and Grover, before stepping forward.

“Hello, my name’s Drew, and these are my friends Grover and Percy.” The moment her voice hit his ears, Percy became relaxed, and his mind went quiet. Her words weren’t directed at him, so he still managed to form the thought ‘She’s using charmspeak’ before his mind completely left him hanging.

Janus furrowed his eyebrows. All four of them. “I know that.” The right face said, but his voice sounded a little airy.

Drew chuckled, and it sounded like a warm blanket being laid on top of Percy. “Of course you do. Now, I was just wondering if you could tell us which door the right one is.” She put all of her powers into her words, and Percy felt the urge to tell her, even though he didn’t even know the right answer. Grover didn’t look any better next to Percy.

Both faces opened their mouths at the same time, ready to answer Drew’s question, but a blinding light interrupted them. The three demigods all quickly closed their eyes, and Drew’s charmspeak wore off immediately.

When Percy looked back up, there was a woman standing in the middle of the room. She was tall, with chocolate brown hair and she was wearing an elegant long white dress. When she moved, it shimmered with all colours, like oil in water. “Janus, causing problems again, are we?” The woman spoke, and her voice sounded like it came from every direction in the room.

“N-no my lady.” The right face stammered.

“Yes!” The left one spoke.

“Quiet!” The one on the right hissed. The woman raised one of her perfect eyebrows. “N-not you, my lady! I’m just t-talking to myself.

“Alright.” The woman said. “Janus, we both know that you are not supposed to be here. Your visit to this young hero is way too early. Now, I will give you a choice. You like those, don’t you?” Her voice sounded sweet, but Percy heard the threat behind her words.

Janus, apparently, did not, because he nodded excitedly. The woman hummed. “Either you leave these demigods alone, or I will turn you into a door.”

Alright then.

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

Seriously?

“Shut your mouth!” The right one yelled. He looked at the woman in fear. “Not you, my lady! I was just having some fun; I will leave immediately.” Janus pulled out a silver key, stuck it into the air, and vanished.

The woman turned to look at the demigods, and Percy’s breath hitched. Her eyes glowed with power. “W-who are you?” Percy rasped. The woman cocked her head to the side, a thoughtful look on her face.

Drew slapped his arm. “Percy! That’s Hera. Queen of the Gods!” She whisper-yelled.

The woman smiled at her. “Very good, Drew Tanaka. Now, you children must be hungry.” She waved her hand, and a table filled to the brim with food and drinks appeared between them. “Come and sit with me. I imagine you have a lot to tell me.”

Alarm bells were the first thing that went off in Percy’s mind when Hera invited them to eat with her. He didn’t really find it in himself to care though, when he was eating a cheeseburger with fries and a coke. Hera hadn’t tried to kill them yet, so Percy assumed that they were safe for now.

Drew broke the silence that appeared while they were eating. “Lady Hera, not that we are not incredibly honoured by your presence, but what exactly are you doing in the labyrinth?” She asked.

The goddess took a sip from her goblet. “To meet you, of course!” She answered, as if it was obvious.

Was it? Percy didn’t know. What he did know, though, was how good these fries tasted.

Drew shared a look with Grover and Percy. Everyone knew that Hera hated heroes. For her to be here, without any murderous intent was very… strange. Though they were all smart enough not to voice those thoughts.

“It’s just that, well, it is very unusual for you to leave Olympus, is it not?” Drew spoke again. When they had decided that she would be the mediator between them and gods, Percy didn’t know, but he was very grateful. If Percy opened his mouth, they’d probably get smitten.

“Indeed, it is. But every, say, century, my husband allows me to help heroes on a quest I deem important.” Hera said, popping a grape into her mouth.

“Help?”

“Indeed. I am here to give you some advice. I know you search for Daedalus. His labyrinth is as much a mystery to me as it is to you, but my son has always had a fascination with him. Find Hephaistos. He will be able to tell you everything about it, and essentially how to find him.” She turned to look at Percy. “If you want to know how to navigate the labyrinth, all you have to do is think, Perseus. You already know how.”

Thunder shook the room. Hera looked up. “Well, that must be for me. Zeus grows impatient.” She looked back to the three children. “Remember my words. Find Hephaistos. Ask for his help.” She waved her hand again, and the two doors vanished, leaving two corridors behind. One was pure darkness, another flooded with light. And with another flash of light, she was gone. Unfortunately, she took the table full of food with her as well.

Drew through up her arms in exasperation. “What the hell kind of advice was that?” Drew said. “Whatever. Let’s just go.” She looked at the corridors, then at Percy. “Well, which one?”

Percy looked at her dumbfounded. “How am I supposed to know?”

“Well, apparently, you know how to navigate the labyrinth.”

Percy scoffed. “Well, I don’t.”

Suddenly, Grover spoke up. “Left.”

“How do you know?” Drew questioned.

Grover looked nervous. “Because something’s coming. Something very, very fast.”

“Left sounds wonderful.” Percy said, and they ran into the dark corridor.

Chapter Text

They ran straight into a dead-end. A massive wall was blocking their way, and the loud footsteps behind them grew louder by the second.

“Shit.” Drew mumbled. Percy threw himself against the wall, but instead of breaking a little as he’d hoped it would, it only hurt his shoulder. The wall was too thick for any of them to break through it, and Percy’s sword wouldn’t do any damage either.

“What are we going to do?” Grover asked in a panicked voice.

Percy’s mind rambled. Grover couldn’t really do any damage in this situation, and Percy wasn’t certain that he and Drew would be able to deal with whatever was following them. There wasn’t any water down here, and who knew if a sword could even harm whatever kind of monster was back there.

The footsteps got closer, and now Drew and Grover were throwing themselves against the wall as Percy had done moments earlier. It didn’t do anything.

Who knew what sort of monster it would be? It was certainly fast, and by the sounds of the footsteps it had more than just two legs. There could be all kinds of horrible monsters down here. None of them had ever been in the labyrinth, and considering the current state of Chris’ mind, he must’ve seen some pretty horrible stuff down here. Would they even be able to defend themselves? They’d been lucky earlier with Hera stepping in before Janus could’ve done something to them, and even before the goddess had appeared, they’d only had a chance with Drew-

“Drew.” Percy suddenly said, and the girl stopped to look at him. “Does your charmspeak work on monsters?” He asked, and her brows furrowed. “You managed to use it on a minor god, so monsters shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

“I can try?” Drew said in an uncertain voice. She breathed deeply, before turning her body towards the sound of the footsteps, which were growing louder by the second.

“Don’t move.” Drew’s powerful voice echoed through the hallway. Percy held his breath in anticipation. His mind once again fought hard against the charmspeak, even though the words weren’t even directed at him.

The footsteps stopped.

Drew and Percy exhaled, relieved, while Grover slid down to the floor with his back against the wall, looking close to crying from happiness.  Percy ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, now tell the monster to… I don’t know, walk away or something.”

“Walk away or something? Seriously, Percy?” Drew said, the judgement evident in her tone. Percy threw up his hands. “I don’t know, okay? I just need some time. Your charmspeak won’t last forever, and we need to get out of here quickly.”

Drew brushed a strand of hair out of her face, still fixing Percy with a skeptical look. “Alright, alright, fine. But you better find a way out of here. I can’t just charmspeak our way out every single time that we run into trouble. My voice is going to grow tired eventually.”

“You could tell the monster to walk in the different direction for like, an hour or something. That should work, right?” Grover suggested, still sitting on the cold stone-floor. Percy gestured at Grover with his hand and grinned at Drew as if to say ‘See, he gets it!’.

Drew rolled her eyes at them. “Ugh, fine. Turn around and walk in that direction for an hour.” She grabbed Percy by the shirt, who had started walking into the direction that they’d come from with a glazed-over look in his eyes. “Nope, you stay. I’m still going to need you idiots if I want to survive this quest.”

She slapped Percy, very lightly, across the face, and the boy snapped out of it. “Thanks.” He said, rubbing his left cheek. He could hear the footsteps getting quieter by the second and felt the slight panic slowly leaving his body. No matter how many quests Percy had already been on, they’d always be incredibly nerve wracking.

“Alright, now what?” Drew directed her question at Percy, though she wasn’t even looking at him, instead helping Grover stand up.

Yeah, now what? Percy had no idea how to get past the wall, and walking back down the tunnel to where they came from wasn’t safe anymore, not with the monster. Riptide already proved to be absolutely no help whatsoever, and none of them were strong enough to just, punch a hole in the wall or something. Percy really wished that Clarisse was here right now. One angry look from her alone would make the wall crumble to pieces.

Percy had one hour to find a way past this stupid wall, otherwise the monster would come back and Percy wasn’t sure if Drew’s charmspeak would work again, or if another monster would stumble upon them, or even an army of monsters. Or even worse, Luke would find them and then what? Grover couldn’t really defend himself very well, and even though Drew is a skilled fighter, if Luke had an army with him, they’d be overpowered in an instant. If only Percy had some water down here, then maybe he could-

Pause.

Technically, he had water down here. If what Quintus had said was true, then all Percy needed to do was summon the water from… well, everywhere really. The air, the ground, the walls, everywhere around them was water! Percy just needed to figure out how to control it.

“You guys should lay down and relax a little. Maybe eat something as well. I’m going to try something, and I need to be able to think so just… be quiet or something?” Percy told them, already placing himself right in front of the wall.

Grover plopped down onto the ground again (seriously, he could’ve just stayed there in the first place) and began searching his bag for some cutlery to snack on. Drew didn’t obey so easily. She put her hands on her hips and glared at Percy. “Excuse me? Be quiet? Who the hell do you think you are?”

Percy gave her an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, really, I am. I just need some time to think, otherwise it won’t work.”

“How do I know your little plan will even work?”

Grover gnawed on a spoon, looking back and forth between his two companions like he was watching a tennis match.

“I’ll work, you just have to trust me.” Drew still didn’t look convinced. “Please. I promise I’ll get us out of here.” Percy pleaded. Drew pouted, and for a few seconds the only sound was the sound of Grover’s teeth against the metal of the spoon, before Drew sighed and the accusing look vanished from her face. “Fine. But if you take even a second longer than an hour, I’m taking over this entire quest since you’re clearly incapable.” Which basically translates to “Fine, good luck.”, so Percy only grinned at her.

As Drew sat down next to Grover, Percy turned back around to face the wall.

He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

Now, this part is kind of tricky to explain. Because when Percy closed his eyes, he tried to imagine the source of his power—the energy flowing through him that let him control water. He tried to imagine what the energy looks like, and what it feels like. Tried to imagine it flowing through his body, and when he controls water, tried to imagine it like an extension of himself. He tried to imagine himself pull little water droplets out of the air, from the wet ground and walls and off of himself. And when he opened his eyes, there would be enough water floating around his hands to break down the wall.

Now, the author would like to disclose that none of this actually happened. The emphasis lies on “tried to imagine it”. Because, no matter how hard Percy tried to concentrate, he couldn’t. The reason?

Sometime after Percy started his weird meditation, Drew and Grover fell asleep. And they both snore.

The author will give Percy some credits for trying though.

After about thirty minutes of not being able to form any sort of serious thought about how he would summon the water, his train of thought being repeatedly interrupted by loud snoring, Percy’s patience, at last, snapped.

“OH MY GOD CAN YOU SHUT UP?” Percy yelled and threw his fists against the wall before turning around to the others, the frustration and sleep deprivation finally getting the best of him.

Drew and Grover both startled awake, trying to make sense of their surroundings, before both of their eyes finally landed on Percy, who could already feel his anger and frustration leaving and the guilt about loosing his cool and letting out his anger on his friends creeping in. Percy was about to open his mouth and apologize, but Grover cut him off.

“You actually did it.” He said in awe.

What.

“Huh?” Percy said, because he was incredibly eloquent.

“How did you do that?” Drew asked, now sitting up and staring at the wall behind him.

Percy turned around. “How did I do what-“ But his words died on his tongue when his eyes landed on the huge hole that had appeared in the wall. Exactly where he’d punched it just moments before. “Huh?”

“Dude, look at your hands!” Grover exclaimed, staring excitedly at Percy’s hands, which were completely surrounded by water, which seemed to be glowing??

“What the hell!” Percy screeched (very manly) and shook off the water, which landed on the floor and immediately stopped glowing.

Drew quickly got up and excitedly darted forward to take a look at Percys hands. She turned examined every last centimetre of his hands, and then took a look at the puddle of water at their feet. “Do that again.” Drew ordered.

Percy just stared at her. “How… the actual fuck am I supposed to do that again?”

“Language.” Grover said from his position on the floor.

The girl shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know, just do what you did earlier.”

Percy felt himself getting irritated again. He blamed hormones. Puberty’s a bitch. “I don’t know what I did earlier. If I did, do you seriously think I wouldn’t have destroyed the rest of the wall yet?” Percy sounded like the most sarcastic sixteen-year-old girl that has ever existed. He was wildly waving his hands through the air while talking and even went as far as rolling his eyes at Drew. Percy was having a proper bitch-off with Drew. Was this stage one of ‘going crazy’? “Honestly Drew, how about you figure out what I did and you go ahead and destroy the rest of the wall, hm?”

Grover was gaping up at him from the floor, the soda can he had started chewing on completely forgotten on the floor next to the satyr. Drew had her arms crossed and stared at Percy with a slight hint of amusement. “Are you done?” She asked, and Percy thought he might’ve gotten a little glimpse of what a daughter-mother relationship looks like. At least from the moment the daughter hits puberty.

Percy nodded.

Drews amused little smile grew into the smuggest expression Percy had ever seen. “Great, because you did it again.”

“What-“ Percy looked at his hands, and lo and behold, there were his hands once again covered in glowing water. The water was completely surrounding his hands, and no matter how he moved his arms of fingers, the water followed every movement. “Holy shit.”

“Holy shit indeed.” Drew agreed at the same time that Grover exclaimed, “Dude that’s so awesome!”

Percy was still staring at his hands in awe, when Drew poked him into his left cheek. “Come on Katara, you better get rid of the wall now. We don’t have that much time left.”

“Right, sorry.” Percy apologized, and started punching the wall, but now due to his somehow magically enhanced hands, he actually managed to break it down.

Drew walked over to Grover and plopped down next to him. “Finally we’re getting somewhere.”

After Percy had completely broken down the hall, they’d hastily made their way further into the labyrinth. In fear of the monster catching up with them, they made as many turns as possible, but thankfully the labyrinth continued to shift and change behind them, so they should be completely safe. Thankfully, they didn’t encounter any more monsters.

After what felt like hours of mindlessly wandering, they finally found a little room to set up camp. They took out their sleeping mats, and Grover started a fire to heat up a can of soup. While their food was cooking, Percy and Drew scanned the surrounding area to make sure that they would be safe here for the night.

They ate their food in silence, all of them too exhausted to have a conversation right now, and then made a plan for the night.

Percy was the first one to take watch.

Drew and Grover had both argued that Percy needed to rest, since he looked downright awful. Drew’s words, not his. Percy personally thought that he looked awesome, but whatever. He was still too energized to fall asleep, the adrenaline of earlier still coursing through his body.

Percy was still too fascinated by what he did earlier. He’d thought, when Quintus told him about the different ways he could use his powers, that the old man was just exaggerating. But after he’d personally seen the way he’d sucked the water out of the air and the way it had morphed around his hands, glowing a faint blue, he now knew better.

Who knew that he could do that?

I mean, sure, back during his first quest Percy had managed to summon that little wave while fighting Ares, but Percy had always figured that Poseidon had helped him with that. Because there was no way that Percy could actually control water like that.

Seems like he was wrong.

Percy thought about Iris Messaging camp, because for some reason he really wanted to tell Castor and Pollux about it. He wasn’t sure if Castor wanted to speak with him again. He seemed really mad the last time they’d talked. And he hadn’t even been there to say goodbye when Percy left for the quest.

He opted for calling Thalia.

Percy wasn’t sure what time it currently was, or where the hell she even was, but the IM always worked, no matter where the hunter currently was. He really hoped it would still work, even if he’s fuck knows where, deep underground.

He pulled out his crystal prism, his flashlight and his fog-making-machine (Percy has no idea what it actually is or how it works, but Chiron had gotten it for him, and it does the job so Percy doesn’t really care).

Percy takes out a drachma and makes an offering for the goddess Iris. “Show me Thalia Grace… wherever she is.”

The fog accepts the coin. And then does nothing.

Percy refrains from groaning. He really wasted a drachma, just like that.

Percy reaches for the prism, wanting to put it away again, but right then the fog starts to flicker. He quickly pulls back his hand and stares at the Iris Message. It flickers for a few seconds more, and Percy worries that it might not work after all, until Thalia finally appears.

The daughter of Zeus seems to be sitting outside, the dark night sky and the warm light surrounding her suggesting that she must be sitting around a campfire. Now that the Iris Message has completely stopped flickering, Percy can make out the faces and voices of a few other hunters.

Percy only has the time to think that this might be a bad time, before Thalia notices him and her smile grows even wider. “Percy!” She exclaims with excitement. Immediately, a few set of eyes turn to him. Percy smiles a little uncomfortably under their gazes. He gives them a little wave. “Hey, sorry, if this is a bad time I can call another time.”

Thalia shakes her head and looks at her friends. “Nonsense! You guys don’t mind, right?” Her friends shake their heads as well, and to Percy’s surprise even smile at him.

“Don’t worry, we were about to go to sleep anyways. We’ll give you guys some privacy.” One of them says. Percy thinks he remembers her name being Chloe. She stands up, and the others follow her suit. “Good to see you again, Percy.” She says, and the rest chime in with similar statements before leaving and going to their tents in the background.

Percy sits there, suddenly a little baffled. Sure, he never had any problems with the hunters, but since they kind of hate all men he’d thought that they’d be angry or annoyed to see him. Guess his last quest had changed that. Or maybe Thalia had talked to them.

She was looking at him amused, as if she found it funny that he hadn’t expected the others to actually tolerate him. Percy opened his mouth to ask Thalia how she’s been, and maybe also what the date and time was because he had no idea anymore, but another voice in the background interrupted him.

“You coming, Annabeth?”

The voice that followed made his chest feel a little tighter.

“Yeah I’m coming!” There’s a little of ruffling as she’s standing up and then a few seconds of silence. “Uhm, goodnight Thalia.”

And with that, she leaves too.

Percy doesn’t know what expression he has on his face, but it must look miserable, because Thalia gives him a pitying look. “She probably just needs some more time to… adjust.” She says, but she doesn’t sound very convinced herself.

Percy feels his chest tighten a little more.

Well, no time to unpack all of that.

He clears his throat and shoves those feelings into the back of his head to never think about again. “What’s up?” He asks, and his voice almost sounds normal, if it wasn’t for the slight crack in it.

Thalia, thankfully ignores it. “You mean since the last time we talked? Uh, not much, to be honest. We’ve moved deeper into the forest to try and track the monster down, but it’s smart. We think it’s trying to cover up it’s tracks, so it’s harder for us to find it. But we’re close, I can feel it.” She tells him, and she has that spark in her eyes that only appears when she talks about something she really loves. Thalia was really meant to be a hunter, Percy thinks.

“How’s it living in the woods?”

Thalia runs a hand trough her hair. She must’ve cut it, because it’s definitely shorter than last time he’s seen her. “Honestly, it’s not so bad. The food is kind of shit most of the time. Honestly, it’s only a matter of time before I get sick of berries and fish. Rabbit or deer is only for special occasions, which kind of sucks.”

Percy snickers. “I can imagine. Do you have to catch them yourselves too? You know, running through the forest all day searching for rabbits, or waving trough the water and catching fish in your mouth like a bear. I can imagine you doing that.” Not even five minutes into talking, and Percy falls right back into teasing with Thalia. He sometimes feels like they act more like siblings than friends. Though he would never tell her that to her face.

Thalia laughs. “Oh yeah, fuck you too Mr. I talk to fish in my free time.”

Percy feigns offence, putting his hand over his heart for dramatic effect. “That hurt! Also, you’re one to talk Ms. I had a crush on the sun god.” Thalia gasps. “Low blow, Percy. Low blow.”

The boy holds up his hands. “I’m just telling the truth.”

Thalia grins at him. “Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyways, as much as I’d like to keep making fun of you, I know that you didn’t call without a reason. So, what’s going on?”

Percy sighs. “First of all, I need you to tell me the date. Because I have absolutely no idea how long we’ve been down here.”

Thalia’s eyes grow a little wider as she seems to remember something. “Oh my gods, the quest! How are you guys doing? What’s going on? Is everyone alright?” She bombards him with questions immediately, and Percy has to hold up his hand to stop her.

“Well, first of all it’s… stressful. Everyone’s fine, Grover and Drew are sleeping right now. We’ve almost had a monster attack, but Drew handled it with her charmspeak.” He explains, and Thalia visibly relaxes a little when he tells her that everyone’s alright. “We also had a little talk with Hera, which was kind of weird.”

Thalia’s eyes grow comically large. “What?”

Percy leans forward a little. “Yeah, it was kind of crazy. So, we first met Janus. You know, the god of choices, and he wanted to mess with us a little bit I think, and Drew almost managed to charmspeak him into leaving us alone, and then Hera just appeared out of nowhere and started saying some weird stuff about wanting to help us.”

“Okay, but she wanted to help you, that’s great!”

Percy scratched his head. “Yeah, well… she didn’t really, uhm, help us that much.” Percy whispered that last part, scared that if Hera heard him she would personally come down and strike him.

Thalia snorted. “Well, you should’ve expected that.”

Percy shrugged his shoulders.” Yeah, maybe. Anyways, she at least told us to find Hephaistos, but we have no idea how to navigate down here.” Percy yawns, the exhaustion finally catching up to him.

“Oh my god, dude! You must be exhausted, I really shouldn’t keep you awake.” Thalia exclaims, her voice sounding a little guilty, but Percy only waves her off. “Don’t worry about it. I took first watch and told Drew that I’d wake her for the second one, but I actually just planned on letting them sleep. I can tell that they’re exhausted, even though they wouldn’t admit it.”

Thalia gives him a deadpan look. “Percy, that can’t be healthy. You need to sleep.”

Percy shrugs his shoulders again. “Nah, it’s fine. It’s Drew’s first quest, and Grover always gets super tired under stress. I can handle it, don’t worry about me.” He tries to sound convincing, but his body betrays him by making him yawn again.

The hunter raises her eyebrows, and her eyes look incredibly judging. “Aha. Yeah I totally believe you.”

“I’m serious!”

Thalia’s now the one sighing. “Go to sleep Percy.” She says, before waving her hand trough the fog and ending the Iris Message.

Percy huffs. Rude.

Though, he supposes he could lay down at least. His feet are killing him from all the running, and now his back is hurting as well from the way he’s been sitting down on the floor.

He could rest for a bit.

Percy fell asleep ten minutes later.

The last few nights, Percy hadn’t been dreaming a lot, and if he had, he couldn’t remember what it was about. This night was different. Whether it be the stress of a new quest, or the insane sleep deprivation, he doesn’t know, but Percy dreams of a thousand different things.

He dreams of singing around the campfire and stories before bed read to him by his mother. He dreams of short, soft blond curls and a smile that could outshine the sun, of  running through the strawberry fields and laughter that warms his chest.

But most importantly, Percy dreams about Nico.

The young boy seems to be in a graveyard, judging by the few gravestones surrounding him. It’s night, and Nico is angrily foraging through his bag and muttering to himself. The ghost that seemed to be following him since the last time Percy’s dreamt about Nico was nervously floating behind the son of Hades.

“Young lord, maybe you should rethink this. It could end very badly.” He spoke, and he almost sounded scared.

“Shut up, I’m doing this. I’ve already come so far, I can’t stop now.” Nico snapped, before his face lit up in triumph at finding what he was searching for.

He pulls out a hat- no, a beret. Bianca’s beret.

Percy doesn’t know how Nico has that, maybe Bianca gave it to him when she’d left him to join the hunters?

Nevertheless, Nico is holding it now. The boy stands up and walks over to an open grave. It appears to be empty, no skeleton or any trace of bones. What really surprises Percy is that the bottom of the grave is filled with… McDonalds?

What?

Nico places the beret into the grave and takes a few steps back. “There. I have the food offerings, and an item with an emotional connection to her. You said that that’s all I need, right?” Nico addresses the ghost, who only nods at the boy, a grim expression on his face.

“Alright then.”

Nico puts his open hands over the grave and begins muttering something. Percy doesn’t know the language, but it sounds like Latin. The boy’s hands and eyes begin to glow green, and a fog in the same colour begins to form all over the graveyard. 

Nico is performing a ritual to bring Bianca back from the dead.

Unfortunately, the son of Poseidon doesn’t stay asleep long enough to find out if he succeeds.

Percy awakes to a hand covering his mouth.

Chapter Text

In hindsight, Percy wants to add that he usually has great survival instincts. He’s gotten himself out of many near-death situations unharmed through pure instincts, ADHD and unhinged plans. It was Percy’s whole charm, having no strategy or a well thought out plan and still winning.

The problem with this particular situation was that he was very rudely woken up. It was too dark to make out his attackers, and the hand over his mouth forbade him from screaming to alert the others, who were still asleep. On top of that, another pair of hands was holding him down, and despite all of his struggling, he couldn’t get away. So, still half asleep, worrying about the others’ safety and his brain screaming at him to do something, Percy did the first thing that came to mind.

He licked the hand.

The taste of, well, hand met his tastebuds.

Percy tasted the salt and a little dirt and strawberries and-

Pause.

His attacker pulled his away hand in disgust, and Percy gasped for air.

“Castor!?” Percy exclaimed, because he knew that taste. Who else constantly tasted of strawberries? The arms holding Percy down now let go as well, and Percy’s rather loud exclamation woke the others up immediately.

Grover shot upright into a sitting position with a panicked yelp, grabbing the closest thing to him as a weapon, which turned out to be a half-eaten spoon (Grover had wanted a snack before he went to sleep). Drew was a little better prepared. She grabbed a dagger from her bag and sat up as well.

Percy didn’t really know how good they’d be in a fight while sitting, but he wasn’t going to judge his friends.

Drew raised her dagger at the intruders, before realising they weren’t attacking and lowered it a little bit, but still held it in a way that said she was ready to fight. “What’s going on? Who the hell are you!?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Percy’s “attacker” said, confirming Percy’s earlier suspicion, because that was definitely Castor.

Grover dropped the spoon in shock. “Wha- Castor?”

Drew grabbed and turned on her flashlight, and indeed, Castor was standing before them, looking at his hand in disgust. He turned to look at Percy. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He repeated, sounding even more disgusted than the first time he’d asked.

Which- okay, ouch. That was just kind of mean, really. Percy didn’t think he should be that disgusted just because Percy had licked his hand.

“What. Is. Going. On.” Drew repeated, and she sounded close to snapping.

“Percy licked my hand!” Castor screeched. That was just completely unfair, really. Percy was practically being bullied right now.

“Okay, in my defence, you had your hand over my mouth and I was being pinned down. I thought you were going to kill me!” Percy defended himself.

“And your first thought was to lick your attacker’s hand?” Castor asked exasperated.

Percy crossed his arms. “Well, it worked, didn’t it? You took your hand away, I was released and I recognized it was you from the taste of your hand.”

Drew turned her head so fast to Percy that she could’ve gotten whiplash from it. “Excuse me, you recognized Castor by the taste of his hand?”

Percy crossed his arms, now getting a little embarrassed. “Well, yeah. Who else tastes of strawberries literally all the time?”

There was some shuffling as Drew put away her dagger, but her eyes stayed on Percy, now narrowed. “And how would you know that Castor tastes of strawberries?” Grover snorted and gave her a look that practically screamed ‘see what I mean?’.

Percy opened his mouth to give Drew a very reasonable explanation, which he hadn’t thought of yet but he’d come up with it as he went, but was interrupted by Castor clearing his throat. The boy looked a little embarrassed, which was highlighted by the slight blush on his cheeks.  Which was weird, because Castor usually didn’t get embarrassed easily, and he certainly didn’t blush when it did happen, but whatever.

“We’re getting off topic.” He said calmly, and he shot Percy an unimpressed look, which immediately made the boy shut his mouth and give his friend a sheepish smile.

Grover, being the more reasonable one in the group, seemed to remember why they were even in this situation in the first place. “Right! What are you doing here?”

Which was when it finally dawned on Percy that Castor was here, with them, in the labyrinth. Which he wasn’t supposed to be. Castor was supposed to be safe and sound at camp, with his brother and his other friends, where nothing could hurt him. That was the entire reason why Percy hadn’t picked him for the quest in the first place.

Percy quickly stood up and hit Castor on the arm. “Ow, what the fuck?” Castor exclaimed, looking at Percy like he was crazy.

“What the fuck are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be here!”

Castor rolled his eyes, like Percy was just a little kid throwing a tantrum, and rubbed the spot where Percy had hit him. “You know, if you’d just waited a little before physically assaulting me, I would’ve told you why we are here.”

Percy cocked his head to the side, confused. “Wait, we?” He asked, which was the exact moment when another person made their presence known by stepping out of the shadows and throwing their arms around Percy in a bone-crushing hug. The same arms which had held Percy down earlier, the son of Poseidon’s brain supplied helpfully.

Drew stood up in alarm, flashlight raised and ready to attack, but Percy already knew who it was. Due to many hugs that made Percy scared for his ribs, he could recognize those ridiculously strong arms anywhere. Percy returned the hug, patting his brother’s back. “Hey Tyson.” Percy sighed, because this whole situation just became even more ridiculous.

“Brother!” Tyson laughed and let go of Percy before the boy lost the ability to breathe.

“Why is Tyson here?” Grover whispered to Castor, his eyes blown wide. Percy grimaced. Right, he forgot that Grover was still scared of Tyson due to the whole cyclops thing. Drew stepped towards Castor, her hands on her hips and eyes narrowed. “Explain.” She ordered.

The blonde sighed, seemingly also done with this whole situation. “Right. So, the night before you guys were to go into the labyrinth, I was in my cabin. Not moping, or wallowing in self-pity,” he said, pointing a finger at Percy and fixing him with a look, before continuing, “but researching. Though your little speech was nice.” He added, and Percy grumbled under his breath in embarrassment. “The labyrinth is confusing and hard to navigate, and you guys had nothing to help you find your way around down here. So I wanted to ask my father if I could speak with my stepmother.”

Percy raised his hand, like he was in school, completely lost. “What does your stepmom have to do with the labyrinth?” Drew rolled her eyes and lightly hit him on the back of his head. “Dumbass, his stepmom is Ariadne.”

Percy’s brain quickly went over all the myths he knew, searching for the name ‘Ariadne’, before he finally managed to place her. In the myth about the labyrinth (could’ve guessed that a lot earlier, given where they currently were) and about the minotaur, Ariadne is the princess who helped Theseus navigate the labyrinth with a string. In the end, when Theseus managed to kill the minotaur, who was also Ariadne’s brother, they ran away together, but Theseus totally fucked her over and left her on some island. Which is where Dionysus found her and then they got married and she became a goddess or something like that.

Percy somehow totally forgot that Ariadne was Castor’s stepmother. He nodded at Castor, signaling him to continue.

“Right, unfortunately that didn’t work out, since my dad’s currently on this like, super-secret mission about making sure the minor gods don’t join the titan side or whatever, and my stepmom isn’t really that great at answering prayers, so that was a dead end.” Castor explained, sounding completely exhausted.

Percy couldn’t blame him for looking and sounding so tired. If Castor had been trying to find them this entire time, he doubts that Castor had taken a break at all. Percy made a mental note for later to give Castor a long lecture about how he always tells Percy to not overdo it and get enough sleep, and the total hypocrisy of it all.

Drew cocked her head to the side, a questioning look on her face as she spoke. “But if you didn’t talk to Ariadne, then why are you here anyways?”

Castor pulled a face, which kind of unsettled Percy even more. “Okay, so- don’t get mad again.” The boy started, looking at Percy with his hands held up in a defensive way. Alright, that didn’t ease Percy’s nerves either. “I might’ve… brought someone else?” Castor says sheepishly, though it sounded more like a question than a statement.

Drew pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers, as if she was getting a headache from the absurdity of this whole situation. “Who else did you bring on this quest that was meant for three people?” She asked.

Castor opened his mouth, but was obviously struggling to find the right words to explain, and then just sighed. “You know what, just come out already. Why are you still hiding anyways?” Castor says, the last question directed at another person now stepping out of the shadows.

The only thing Percy managed to make out at first was long, curly hair that looked so unruly that Percy thinks that this person had never used conditioner before in their life, but to each their own. Percy cringes a little at his own thoughts; he must be spending too much time with Drew.

Still, Percy searched his brain for someone he knew with curly hair (which were a lot), and his first thought went to Annabeth. But he quickly discarded that thought, because Annabeth had left her demigod life to become a hunter, and there was absolutely no way that she was here right now.

The person now finally stepped completely out of the darkness, and Percy needed five whole seconds to react at all.

Because the person standing before him, curly red hair catching the dim light of the others’ flashlights, making it look an almost fiery red and wearing washed-out jeans and a simple t-shirt covered in paint, grinning from ear to ear with a playful twinkle in her eyes, was none other than Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

Percy likes to think that he reacted accordingly.

He took a very deep breath, calming his nerves and frustration and all the other emotions that were currently threatening to rip his chest open, and turned around to look at Drew. The daughter of Aphrodite was eyeing the other girl suspiciously, but turned her eyes away from her when she noticed Percy looking at her.

“Hit me.”

Drew raised her eyebrows, a little surprised. “What?”                   

“I need you to hit me.” Percy repeated himself, now sounding more urgent, and maybe a little hysterical. “Or just straight up punch me in the face. Just do something that’ll wake me up, because I’m clearly still asleep and trapped in this absolute nightmare.” Percy practically yelled that last part, which probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do when there could be monsters around every corner down here, but he really couldn’t find it in himself to care right now.

Rachel snorted. “Damn, I thought you said he’d be happy to see me?” She asked Castor.

Percy whipped his head around, pointing a finger at the girl. “No, you, shut up. No talking from you. You,” Percy said , pointing his finger at Castor and glaring at his best friend,” have some explaining to do my friend. And I hope for your sake that it’s a mighty good explanation.”

It didn’t look like Castor had any plan to explain anything, just pouting at his friend. There was silence for a few seconds, and if it had gone on even a little longer Percy was pretty sure that he would’ve just cracked under his gaze and let all of them stay without a single explanation.

But thankfully, Rachel came to his rescue by speaking up (despite Percy telling her not to). “Look, he meant well. He asked me to help, explained everything and I said yes. He just wanted to help you.”

Percy ran a hand through his hair. “And while I really appreciate that, it’s still too dangerous for you guys down here.” Percy told them, his voice exasperated.

Castor groaned. “It’s dangerous for you guys too!”

Before Percy could argue back, Drew stood up, hands on her hips. "Okay, I'm done with this conversation now, we’re not getting anywhere like this. How about we all just sit down, get something to eat and then we can talk about this some more, once we’ve all calmed down." She suggested, and the way she said it with such a final tone made it clear to everyone that it wasn't really a suggestion, but more of an order.

She turned her gaze on Percy, and he simply stared back for a few moments, no idea why she was looking at him, before it finally dawned on him what she wanted. The boy raised his hands in surrender. "Don't look at me, I'm definitely not cooking."

Drew raised an eyebrow, and then they both, completely in sync, turned to look at Grover. The satyr's face took on a baffled expression. "Why do I have to cook?" He exclaimed.

Percy simply shrugged his shoulders. "You're the mother of the group." He explained, as if it was completely logical. Drew supported his statement by nodding along.

Castor cocked his head to the side in question. "I thought I was the mom friend."

"No, you're annoying." Percy replied, and raised his hand to receive a high-five from Drew. Castor glared at him.

While Grover quickly got to work, rummaging through their bags to find ingredients for their meal, Percy started making a little fire for Grover to cook at. He arranged some bigger stones lying around in a circle and ripped some paper they’d taken with them into little pieces and threw those into the stone-circle. They’d need some wood though, which none of them had thought to bring. Though, Percy thought he remembered walking through a few rooms with plants and even some trees, so maybe he’d find some wood down here.

Percy stood up from his crouched position on the floor. “I’m going to try and find some wood for the fire down here.” He announced to the others. Before anyone could interject, Rachel stood up from where she’d been helping Grover cut up an onion. Why Grover had thought to bring an onion, Percy didn’t know, but it was smart thinking. If you cut up an onion and throw it into a monsters face, it would probably be really effective as well.

Rachel wiped her hands on her pants to get rid of the onion juice and grinned at Percy. “I’ll come with. We wouldn’t want you to get lost.”

“I want that very much, actually.” Drew said from where she was preparing instant coffee (seriously, what else had the others brought?), not even looking up at them. Percy gave her the middle finger.

“Are you sure it’s safe if it’s only you two?” Castor asked, worry lacing his voice, looking between Percy and Rachel in unsurely.

Percy waved him off. “Don’t worry, we’ll be back before you know it. Rachel knows her way around down here, apparently.” He assured his friend, Rachel nodding along for good measure.

Rachel grabbed her bag and emptied it over Percy’s bedroll. “Something to carry the wood around in.” She explained, when everyone looked at her in question. Percy nodded at her approvingly. That was good thinking, it would’ve been a real pain in the ass if they hadn’t brought something to carry the wood.

Percy made sure that Riptide was safe and secure in his pocket, sent one last reassuring smile to Castor, and they were off.

Percy didn’t really know how, but Rachel seemed set on going left. Although Percy was still mad at her and Castor for being so irresponsible and following them down here, he was secretly really glad to have them by his side now. He’d really missed Castor these last few days. Weeks? Percy doesn’t really know how long they’ve been down here. Time feels different in the labyrinth, and it works differently too. A few minutes down here can be hours above ground. Who knows how long they’ve actually been down here for?

Trailing after Rachel in silence, Percy wondered how she knew where to go. He knows it has something to do with her ability to see through the mist, and that she was somehow more special than other mortals who had the same ability. His mother had explained it to him once, how some people could only see a little, and others could see everything clearly.

Apparently, Rachel was one of the very rare mortals who had the ability to see literally everything, with no mist masking their visions. Though, he still had no idea how she was able to navigate down here.

After walking in silence for a while, Percy decided that he’d had enough.

See, the thing about Percy is that because of his ADHD, his mind jumped from topic to topic a little faster than others, which made it hard for him to focus. Another thing about him was that he should never be left alone with his thoughts for too long. Nothing good came off it. So, Percy decided it was a good idea to break the silence with a nice and natural conversation starter.

“Why the fuck are you here, Rachel?” Nice Percy, really smooth.

Thankfully, Rachel didn’t seem to mind his blunt question, not even looking at him and simply continued to walk wherever the fuck she was going. “I already told you, Castor asked me to join you guys, because I can navigate the labyrinth. And I went with him.”

“Yeah, but why?”

She looked at him then, slowing down a little bit. For a moment, she stayed silent, as if contemplating what to say, before she just shrugged her shoulders. “I was bored.” She simply said, like it was completely normal for someone to go on a dangerous, life-threatening quest because they’re bored. “Plus, you never called and gave me an explanation.” She added, grinning at Percy playfully.

The demigod rolled his eyes at her, though his lips were quirking upwards. “You know, I didn’t really have time to call. Between arriving at camp and going into the labyrinth, there was little time for that.” Percy pointed out, now fully smiling.

Rachel only shook her head. “Excuses!” She hollered, her loud shout echoing through the underground tunnels, followed by the teens loud laughter.

Yeah, Percy was really glad they were here.

By the time they got back, a decent amount of wood in Rachel’s bag, the others were already sitting on the floor, sipping on the coffee Drew had made earlier, deep in conversation. All the ingredients, neatly arranged and ready for cooking, suggested that Grover would be making some kind of stew.

When the others noticed Rachel and Percy, the latter loudly laughing at something the girl had said, their conversation quickly died down. Percy would’ve thought something of it, but with his legs tired from walking and his stomach grumbling, he couldn’t find it in himself to question their weird behavior.

Rachel went ahead and dumped the wood into the makeshift firepit and pulled out a lighter to start the fire. Then, to Percy’s surprise, Grover pulled out a whole ass pot and put it on one of the stones next to the fire. Seriously, what else did Grover have in his bag?

Grover cooked in silence, with the help of Rachel and Castor, while Tyson told the group their little adventure of trying to find Drew, Grover and Percy. He tells them how they were really close to finding them at one point, but Drew had used her charmspeak on them to make them go away, which Drew then profusely apologized for, her cheeks red in embarrassment, while Percy burst out in laughter next to her.

They’d thought it was a monster that was chasing them back then, but now Percy could see how the loud footsteps could belong to Tyson. He imagines what it would’ve been like if the others had found them then instead of now. And if Percy would’ve even found out about his new power, since Tyson would’ve been able to just take down that wall with pure strength.

Soon after, Grover had finished cooking and they ate in silence, everyone too tired and hungry to make any more conversation. When they were done, they put away their stuff and got ready for sleep. They made another sleeping arrangement, with always two people taking watch, and then switching with the next pair during the night(?).

Percy and Castor took first watch.

Drew had first insisted that she took first watch with Percy, because she wanted to make sure that Percy didn’t fall asleep again (rude), but Castor told her that she really needed some sleep, and that he wasn’t tired yet anyways.

They didn’t really talk at first, not wanting to disturb the others. They simply sat next to each other, shoulders touching. But, like earlier with Rachel, Percy wasn’t good with silences or his own thoughts, so after being sure that everyone else was fast asleep, Percy opened his mouth. “I’m still mad at you.” The son of Poseidon whispered.

“I know.” Percy didn’t look at Castor, but he could hear a little smile in his voice.

“I mean, seriously, what the hell were you thinking?”

Castor sighed. “Trust me, I know. Pollux already gave me enough lectures.”

Percy gasped. “Oh my god, Pollux! He knew, and he didn’t even tell me!” Percy exclaimed, his voice no longer a whisper. Castor quickly shushed him before he could wake someone up. “I swear, when we get back he is going to be the one getting a lecture from me.” Percy grumbled, his voice back to a whisper.

Castor laughed at his friend, and Percy’s shoulders lost a little tension at the sound. He’d really missed him.

But Percy still needed an answer. “But that doesn’t explain why you did it. Did you not think that I could do this?” Percy asks.

Castor quickly shook his head, turning his head to look at Percy. “No, of course I think you can do this. I mean, this is literally your fourth quest, I would be stupid to doubt you.” Castor whispered. “And, to be completely honest, I don’t really know why I did it either. I mean, you know me, I’m not exactly the person to pull something like this. I don’t even think I would’ve done this for Pollux.” He muttered.

Percy stared at Castor. “Then why?”

Castor rested his head against the stone wall behind them, looking up at the ceiling. He didn’t speak at first, just shrugging his shoulders. Then, “Because it’s you.” The boy admits, a whisper lost in the dark of the labyrinth.

Neither say anything for a while. Castor is still looking at the ceiling. Percy is trying to fight the tightness in his chest.

After a while, Percy lays his head on Castor’s shoulder. “I’m really glad you’re here.” He mutters.

Castor rests his head on top of Percy’s. “Me too.”

Percy is woken up by Drew, who is repeatedly flicking his forehead. Percy grumbles and cracks open his eyes. Drew is crouching above him, her lips in what you could only describe as a shit-eating grin. “Rise and shine, lovebirds. We have a long day ahead of us.”

Percy only stares at her in confusion, before he registers a warmth at his left side. When Percy turns his head he sees Castor curled into Percy’s left side, one arm on Percy’s chest. His head is safely resting on top of Percy’s left arm.

Sometime during the night, whatever this is must’ve happened. Percy turns his head back to glare at Drew, his cheeks burning. “Shut up.” He grumbled. Drew only snickered, but left to wake up the rest. Rachel was already awake as well, since she and Drew had been the last two to take watch. She was grinning at them as well.

Percy ignored the girls in favor of waking up Castor. “Hey, wake up.” He said in a soft voice, not wanting to startle the other boy. The blonde whined at being disturbed from his sleep and only curled more into Percy’s left.

Percy’s heart skipped a beat, but he didn’t have time to dwell on his possible heart dysfunction since they really needed to go, so he tried again. “Come on Castor, we have to go.” He urges the other boy. Castor finally opened his eyes, meeting Percy’s gaze. He needed a few seconds to properly wake up, but once he registered their current situation, he was quick to sit up, taking the warmth from Percy’s side with him.

“Sorry.” Castor mumbles, not looking at Percy.

“Don’t worry about it.” The son of Poseidon replies.

Drew and Rachel observe the two boys with amusement, who are trying their best not to look at each other, putting away their stuff and both completely red in the face.

Once everyone had finished packing, they were ready to go. Apparently, Drew had already filled in the others while Percy and Rachel were collecting wood, and then Rachel during the night of everything that’s happened during the quest, so Rachel already somewhat knew where they needed to go. Don’t ask Percy how, she just knew.

Hera had told them that they needed to find Hephaistos, and that he’d be able to help them find Daedalus. Though, Percy wasn’t sure if the god would actually end up helping them, because he was, well, a god. They tend to never help and only ask for help. Also, the possibility that Luke had already found Daedalus wasn’t small either. They really needed luck on their side for this quest.

Now that Percy thought about it, it was almost a little unsettling that no one of Luke’s army had crossed their path yet. Percy had thought that the Labyrinth would be full of them. Or monsters. They hadn’t even encountered a single monster yet.

Maybe that was the work of Rachel being a master navigator, or maybe luck actually was on their side for once. Gods know they needed it.

When they entered a huge room after a while of walking through a maze of tunnels and the dark room was suddenly flooded with light, Percy knew he’d jinxed himself.

In front of them stood a huge podium on a stage, next to it some kind of machine that looked ancient. There was a big banner hanging from the ceiling that read ‘Answer That Riddle!’ in big, black letters, with glitter added to make it look prettier. Whoever had made that had no taste, because it looked like a toddler had accidently thrown glue and glitter at the banner.

“What the-“ Drew started, but was cut off by a loud noise that sounded like an explosion. Behind the podium, smoke appeared, like they were at some stupid magic show. When the smoke cleared, someone was standing in front of them.

Or rather, something.

The face looked normal. Though, Percy thinks that the woman should’ve worn a little less makeup. With her black hair pulled back in a tight bun, and the huge amount of makeup, she looked like a mean substitute teacher.

Everything else about her was not normal. Because the rest of her body was the body of a lion. Which just looked incredibly ridiculous, paired with the face.

The monster was wearing a big smile, eyes shining with excitement, which, in Percy’s opinion, was never a good sign.

“Sphynx.” Tyson muttered.

Percy knew why Tyson was reacting this way. He’d told him once that, when Tyson was little, he’d been attacked by a Sphynx on the street, and had ended up with really bad scratches. Percy already didn’t like this one.

"Welcome, lucky candidates," she said. "Get ready for the challenge... SOLVE THAT RIDDLE!" Applause thundered from above as if there were invisible speakers on the ceiling. Spotlight beams swept through the room and reflected off the stage.

"Fabulous prizes," continued the Sphinx. "If you pass the test, you may move on. If you fail, I will eat you! Who will compete for you?"

Great, death or riddles. This might be worse than school.

Castor turned to look at Percy. “I know what she’s going to ask.” He said, determination in his eyes.

“How?”

Castor grinned. “I know her myth.”

Percy should really start reading more Greek myths. “Are you sure? Maybe we should just try and run.”

Castor shook his head. “She won’t let us. Besides, I’m smart. I might not be a child of Athena, but I still know stuff. Trust me.”

Percy still looked unsure, but they didn’t really have another choice.

“He can do it.” Grover spoke up, putting a hand on Percy’s shoulder. Percy still didn’t feel comfortable with letting Castor compete, but he still nodded when Castor looked at him in question.

He stepped onto the contestant's podium.

"Welcome, Castor Angevin," called the monster, even though Castor hadn't mentioned his name. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," the boy said. "Give me your riddle."

"Twenty riddles, to be exact," said the Sphinx smugly.

"What? But in the old days..." Drew spoke up. Castor now seemed much more nervous than earlier.

"Oh, we've raised our standards. To pass, you must solve all twenty. Isn't that wonderful?" Applause echoed and faded as if someone had turned a faucet on and off.

Castor shot Percy a nervous glance. The son of Poseidon nodded encouragingly, though he wasn’t feeling very confident. "All right," he told the Sphinx. "I'm ready."

A drumroll sounded above their heads. The Sphinx's eyes glittered with excitement.

"What... is the capital of Bulgaria?"

Castor frowned.

"Sofia," he answered. "But..."

"Correct!" More applause from the speakers. The Sphinx grinned so widely her fangs showed. "Please mark your answer clearly on your answer sheet using a number two pencil."

"What?" Castor looked confused. Then a notebook appeared on the podium in front of him, along with a sharpened pencil.

"Don't forget to mark each answer clearly and stay within the circles," said the Sphinx. "If you need to erase, do it carefully, or the machine won't read your answers."

"What machine?" Castor asked.

The Sphinx pointed at the weird machine from earlier with her paw. It had all sorts of knobs and levers and the large Greek letter Eta on the side — the mark of Hephaestus.

Now, Percy has had many weird encounters with monsters in the past. But even he had to admit that this was getting ridiculous, even for demigod standards.

"Now then," the Sphinx continued. "The next question..."

"Wait a minute," Drew protested. "What about 'What goes on four legs in the morning?'" Castor nodded along, incredibly confused at what the hell was going on.

"Excuse me?" asked the Sphinx, now sounding visibly annoyed, which wasn’t a very good sign. Pissing of the game-show host was always bad.

"The riddle about man. He walks on four legs in the morning as a baby, two legs at noon as an adult, and three legs in the evening as an old man with a cane. That's the riddle you always asked." Drew elaborated.

"That's exactly why we changed the test," the Sphinx shouted. "You all already knew the answer. Now, question two. What is the square root of sixteen?"

"Four," Castor answered after a few seconds, eyebrows furrowed. "But..."

"Correct. Which U.S. president signed the Emancipation Proclamation?"

"Abraham Lincoln, but..."

"Correct. Riddle number four. How much..."

“Just wait a minute.” Castor loudly interrupted the monster. Percy held his breath, waiting for the Sphynx to eat them all for disrupting her game-show, but she thankfully simply snapped her mouth shut and looked at Castor.

“Are there like, any actual riddles at all?” He asked.

The Sphynx shook her head.

Castor sighed. “Right, okay. So there’s just going to be these random questions about things you learn in school?”

“I don’t know what ‘school’ is, but yes. I’m supposed to measure how smart you are after all.” The Sphynx answered, her overenthusiastic smile now back on her face.

Some tension seemed to leave Castor at her answer, and he exhaled with a confident smile now on his face. “Alright then. Let’s get this over with.”

In the end, Percy was really glad that Castor was the one to go up there, and not him. He wasn’t sure how many ‘phone a friend – jokers’ he would’ve been allowed to use before the monster would’ve decided to eat him, but Castor really nailed it. He got every single question right, and they got some cool prizes from the Sphynx at the end of the game-show.

As they were leaving, Percy thought about how it would’ve gone had Annabeth been with them. She would’ve been quick to go up there, even excited. Percy was sure she would’ve known the myth as well, and she would’ve been ecstatic to answer the riddle. Percy can imagine her, standing up on the stage, her face in confusion when the Sphynx hadn’t asked her the riddle. She probably would’ve complained, and would’ve refused to answer the questions.

Percy has to laugh at the imagination. Grover, who was walking next to him, looked at him in question. “What’s so funny?” His friend asked.

“Nothing. It’s just…”, Percy started, a fond expression taking over his face. “I just can’t help but think how much Annabeth would’ve hated that.”

Percy has to laugh again, and Grover looks at him for a few moments, a little surprised that Percy had brought up Annabeth, before his own face takes on a fond expression too. The satyr joins his laughter.

“Yeah, she would have.”

Chapter Text

Remember when Percy said he was really glad that the others had joined the quest? Yeah, scratch that. Because he was fucking done with everyone’s shit.

Except for Tyson. Tyson has never done anything wrong in his life, and Percy is convinced that his brother doesn’t even have the ability to annoy the shit out of him.

He would’ve thought the same for his best friends, but he was unfortunately wrong. The last few days down here, Castor and Grover have been their normal, overbearing and motherly selves, smothering Percy with their love and concern and it was driving Percy fucking crazy.

Don’t get him wrong, he appreciates them caring about him and making sure he was alright, but they didn’t even give him a minute to breathe, and Percy never thought he’d say this, but he just really wanted to be alone with his own thoughts for a few hours. Just him, and the never-ending silence of the Labyrinth. Was that too much to ask for?

And to make matters worse, Drew and Rachel had both gotten their periods. Drew about three days ago, and Rachel had gotten it yesterday.

Now, you should never make the assumption that a woman was in a foul mood just because she was on her period. That was really offensive and sexist, and Percy was neither of those things. In this case however…

“WHO THE FUCK TOOK MY MASCARA!?”

In this case, the stereotype unfortunately applied.

Drew was angrily stomping around their little camp they’d set up for the day, searching through every single one of their bags for her makeup. She’d had a little breakdown earlier because, apparently, her face was puffy, her pores were huge and she was simply the ugliest human on earth. So, in order to stop her from a crash out, Castor suggested that maybe she’d like to do her makeup, to make herself feel better.

It had been a good idea, because Drew had given him a small, grateful smile in return, which was rare coming from her these days. Usually, she’d just yell at them for being incompetent. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find some of her makeup. Which resulted in Drew yelling at them again for being incompetent.

Drew looked up from her searching through Grover’s backpack, coming up empty-handed, and threw a glare at Percy. “I swear to the gods Jackson, if you took my mascara I’m going to skin you alive.”

Percy threw up his hands in frustration. “Why the hell would I steal your makeup?” He yelled at her. Honestly, Percy might as well have his period too.

“I DON’T KNOW!” She yelled right back, and went back to searching.

Percy walked over to where Grover was sitting and plopped down next to him with an annoyed sigh. His friend shot him a worrying look. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry about it.” Percy replied.

His answer sadly didn’t convince Grover. “Did you have enough to drink? Maybe you should go and lie down.”

Has Percy mentioned that the constant worrying and fussing was driving him crazy?

When Percy didn’t reply, Grover gave up on trying to get Percy to go to sleep and went back to his task at hand.

The satyr was currently trying to make a plan to tactically ration their food. Percy had offered to help him earlier, but his friend had given him a tired smile and had told him that Percy should probably try and get some rest, like he had just moments ago. He’d tried, but the constant screaming, crying or complaining made it kind of impossible.

“I’m literally going to crash out, where the hell is it?”

Exhibit A.

“Oh my gods, please shut up.” Rachel groaned from next to Percy and Grover. She was lying down on her stomach, with Castor sitting next to her, massaging her head and rubbing circles on her back. The poor girl had gotten a migraine yesterday, and she hadn’t thought to bring any pain medication, so now she was suffering. The others hadn’t brought any with them either, and they couldn’t give her ambrosia, since she’d probably just burst into flames. Castor had offered to give her a massage as an attempt to ease her pain.

Percy wasn’t sure it was helping.

Tyson was busy making their dinner.

Everyone else had been a little reluctant at first to let him cook, but he turned out to be really good at it. Tyson explained that he’d learned to cook during his time in Atlantis. Percy had tried imagining his father in a kitchen, teaching Tyson how to cook. Then he decided that that was ridiculous and came to the conclusion that one of the cooks must’ve taught him.

Percy rested his head against the cool stone wall behind him, shutting his eyes and trying to get some rest. They’ve been running through the Labyrinth non-stop for the last few days, and Percy, along with everyone else, was tired.

They’d encountered a lot more monsters in three days than they’d had before, and Percy really thinks that he’d jinxed them when he thought how lucky they were that their quest was going somewhat smoothly.

After their little encounter with the Sphynx, they’d somehow stumbled upon Alcatraz Island, which was literally in the San Francisco Bay, so Percy had no idea how they got there. For anyone confused (like Percy had been), Alcatraz Island used to be a prison island, and is now a museum. Underneath the museum however, there was definitely a very active prison. Kampê’s prison, to be exact.

Now, for anyone still confused (like, again, Percy had been), Kampê was a jailer for the giants, Cyclops, and the Hekatonkheires (a.k.a. the Hundred-Handed Ones) during Kronos' rule, before Zeus freed them and killed Kampê.

She’s basically this creepy lady with a human head with snakes for hair, like Medusa. She has a half human body, like a centaur, but with reptilian skin and a dragon half, with gigantic claws. She has huge dark reptilian wings, a huge venom-dripping scorpion tail (that is extremely venomous), and at the point where her halves meet, her skin kind of bubbles and morphs, occasionally producing ferocious mutated animal heads that constantly change shape (bear, boar, wombat, tiger, crocodile, wolf, etc.) like a gruesome, monstrous belt. Hundreds of violent darting vipers are sprouted from her legs. Her eyelids blink sideways, like a reptile's.

Safe to say, when Percy saw her he almost shit himself. Seriously, Percy doesn’t think he’s ever been so scared of a monster before. She’s literally your worst nightmare’s worst nightmare.

Anyways, they landed in her prison, where they found Briares. Briares was this really depressed Hundred-Handed dude, who was imprisoned by Kampê. Since the Hekatonkheires are basically like the older brothers of Cyclops, Tyson thought it’d be a good idea to do a little prison-breaking.

But Briares didn’t want to because, as mentioned earlier, he was really depressed. So, naturally, Percy challenged him to a duel of rock-paper-scissors. If he won, Briares would come with them. Percy obviously won, using gun (a trick that Paul Blofis, his mom’s boyfriend, had shown him).

Nevertheless, Kampê found them, they tried to escape, had to fight Kampê (which was scary as fuck, honestly Percy has no idea how they all managed to escape alive) and thankfully made it back into the Labyrinth before the crazy lady could kill them. Unfortunately, Percy had to sacrifice his cool shield, which was sad.

Briares left them too, after their escape, saying something about how he’s not a strong monster anymore, which made Tyson really sad. The others hadn’t really bothered with trying to get Briares to stay, too occupied with thanking every single god out there that they were all alive.

Now, you’d think that after having such an eventful day, they’d be able to catch a break, right?

You thought wrong.

The next day, they somehow found themselves on a fucking farm. Yeah, you heard that right. A farm.

Now, Percy won’t explain all the details, which would take way too long. He’ll tell the short version of the story.

They met Eurytion and Orthus (two-headed dog), Eurytion took them to ‘see the boss’, they met Geryon on his farm, they got a tour, Percy had to clean the stables (which were covered in animal shit), they found out that Nico had been there a few days earlier, Percy had to fight Geryon to escape (he won, obviously), they stayed the night and Percy had the typical demigod dreams about dead people (Daedalus and his nephew, Perdix) and his enemy on a mountain (Luke). And on top of that, they finally found out the date, which was June 13^th, which meant that Grover’s deadline for finding Pan was already up.

What fun little quest they were on!

So, in conclusion, they’d decided to use today to take a break and get some rest, so that they’d be well energized to continue the quest tomorrow.

Percy wasn’t getting any rest, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to be energized tomorrow.

And on top of all of that, Percy had no idea what they were going to do. Sure, they had Rachel for navigating, and Hera had told them to find Hephaestus, but then what? There was no guarantee that the god would help them find Daedalus, and even if he did, who’s to say that the old guy would be willing to help them? Would he even be able to help them? Or, what if he’s already joined Luke and the titans? And worst of all, everyone else was depending on Percy to figure all of that out.

Percy just really wished someone would tell him what to do.

Which is why, after Rachel let out a rather loud and vulgar complain about how fucking miserable she was, Percy decided he’s had enough.

The son of Poseidon stood up. “I’ll be back before dinner.” He announced to the room, which quickly shut up the loud complaining of everyone else.

There are four things that happened at the same time after his announcement.

Grover looked up at him with a frown. “What?”

Castor stopped rubbing circles on Rachel’s back. “Where are you going?” Castor inquired, an almost panicked tone to his words.

Rachel suddenly started crying. Because of Percy leaving or Castor stopping massaging her, the demigod didn’t know.

Drew finally found her mascara.

Now, since all of these things happened all at once, Percy didn’t really register all of them. So, he opted to give a high-five to Drew for finding her makeup and gave Rachel a KitKat which he’d kept in his pocket for emergencies to stop her crying.

He hadn’t quite understood the questions of Grover and Castor, but since he knew his friends he was pretty sure that they were something along the lines of ‘What’ and ‘Where are you going’.

“I just- I need some time alone. To think.” Percy told them, picking up his bag and making sure Riptide was in his pocket.

“Where are you going?” Castor repeated (probably, Percy still wasn’t sure what he’d asked the first time).

“Somewhere quiet.” Percy replied with a sigh.

The blond boy quickly scrambled to his feet. “Someone should come with you.”

Percy waved him off. “I’ll be fine. I won’t go far, don’t worry.”

“But it’s dangerous if you’re alone!” Castor insisted, his voice rising.

Percy rolled his eyes. “I’ll be fine”. He repeated, maybe a little more angry and frustrated than he’d intended.

“But-“

“Castor!” Percy snapped, and he could already feel the guilt of snapping at his friend clawing at his chest. But that was for later to think about. “Just drop it, okay? I can’t deal with this right now.”

And with that, he stormed off before anyone could reply.

He didn’t go too far, like he’d promised. When he found a little room (cave?) pretty close to where they’d set up their camp, he sat down on the cool ground and searched through his bag for the needed items.

He got out his flashlight and the little prism thing that Chiron had gotten him. The only thing left was some mist.

Percy needed to make a call.

After a few tries of making a rainbow, Percy took out a drachma and tossed it into the mist, silently praying for the goddess Iris to accept it. When the drachma disappeared in the mist, Percy opened his mouth and spoke the words he never thought he’d speak again.

“Call Annabeth Chase, wherever she is.”

For a moment, nothing happened. It was like when he called Thalia. Since Percy never knew her location, it was never guaranteed that the Iris Message would work. It mostly did though, and if Percy ever met Iris personally he’d have to give her a big thanks for that.

The mist flickered, and Percy was suddenly face to face with someone he hadn’t seen in almost a year.

For a moment, Percy kind of hoped she wouldn’t notice him.

“Percy?”

The universe seriously hated him.

She looked well. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing her hunter outfit. Behind her was a forest, and the sun was high in the sky, illuminating her in a way which made her hair look like gold. She had no circles under her eyes, like she used to have back at camp. She looked well rested. She looked beautiful.

Percy wasn’t stupid. No, wait, scratch that. Percy wasn’t always stupid. He knew that he’d had a huge crush on Annabeth. Hell, Percy was pretty sure that he’d been in love with her. He wasn’t anymore. At least, not completely. He thinks that some part of him will always love her. But he can’t deny that she’d still left him, and with that she’d taken his love for her too.

He felt stupid and dramatic, thinking this stuff at fifteen, but it was the truth. He’d loved Annabeth, as a friend and as more. And some part of him still loved her, and always will. Which is why it was so fucking hard talking to her now.

“Hi Annabeth.” Percy said, and his voice was surprisingly steady. No wobble or voice crack. Seriously, someone should give Percy an award for that.

“What- why did you…” The daughter of Athena stuttered. She looked surprised, and also slightly panicked.

Percy thought he’d save her from guessing why he called. “I kind of need your help. Is now a bad time?” No wobble, no cracks. Seriously, where was his award?

Annabeth seemed to snap out of her stunned state at his words, and the Annabeth that Percy had known was back. She didn’t say anything at first, looking at him and his surroundings, analysing the situation.

For a moment, when she opened her mouth to answer, Percy felt relief that after everything, she would still help him. Annabeth had saved his ass so many times, Percy had lost count. He was thankful that, after all this time, he could still count on her.

“I’m sorry, Percy. I’m really busy right now with the hunters. Maybe we can talk another time.”

Annabeth quickly crushed that feeling.

Percy blinked at her, stunned. He probably should’ve expected that. The hunters were always on the move, hunting one monster after the other. There was a lot of preparation and planning involved, so of course Annabeth would be busy.

Percy swallowed a lump in his throat and tried to give her an easy smile. “That’s fine, don’t worry about it.” His voice did crack at the end then. “I hope your hunt goes-“

Percy didn’t get to finish his sentence. Annabeth had already waved the Iris Message away.

The son of Poseidon sat in the silence for a little bit, before he managed to pull himself together again. No use on dwelling whatever the fuck that just was. He still needed help in figuring out what to do.

Like instinct, Percy called the next person he thought could help.

Thalia answered immediately.

“Percy!” She exclaimed, a smile on her face. So different from how Annabeth had reacted when seeing him.

Percy now realised how stupid it was to call Thalia, when Annabeth had just told him how busy she was. “I’m sorry Thalia, I don’t know why I called you. You’re probably super busy.”

She waved him off. “Nah, we have a little break from hunting at the moment, so we’re all just enjoying our free time.”

The words hit Percy like a brick. “Oh.”

Thalia didn’t seem to notice his stunned expression. Instead, she turned around from where she was sitting. Percy only now seemed to realize that she was sitting in front of her tent, probably enjoying the sunny day outside. “Hey guys, come say hi to Percy!” She yelled, and Percy cringed.

He knew the hunters were okay with him now, but he still felt uncomfortable whenever he called and they were there as well. And worst of all, Annabeth was probably among them. And now he’d called Thalia, after Annabeth had made it very clear that she didn’t want to talk to him.

Percy groaned, hiding his face behind his hands. “Thalia, stop it!” He hissed in embarrassment.

The daughter of Zeus laughed at his misery. “Stop being such a baby! I promise you that they’re all very happy to see you.” Yeah, sure. Except for a certain someone.

Soon, Thalia was swarmed with a horde of hunters, greeting Percy with big smiles. The boy was bombarded with questions about his quest, and he had trouble answering them all at once. Thankfully, Thalia saved him.

“Alright, alright, settle down. You’re going to give him a heart attack.” She laughed, and the girls listened and backed away a little from the Iris Message. “Is it alright if they stay? That way I won’t have to tell them everything again later.” She asked Percy, and her tone suggested that he could easily say no. He normally would’ve, but he needed some insight and help for the quest today, and most of the hunters had been around for a long time. He could certainly use their advice as well.

Percy smiled, some tension leaving his shoulders. “Sure, no problem. I could use your guys’ help with the quest.”

“Right, the quest.” Thalia said, the other hunters sitting down around her. “Where are the others? You didn’t lose them, did you?”

Percy snickered. “No, don’t worry, everyone’s alright. I just needed some piece and quiet. The girls got their period and well… they’re a lot right now.”

Thalia furrowed her eyebrows. “The girls?” She asked, and Percy realized that he hadn’t told her about their additions to the group. Before he could explain, Thalia’s confused expression morphed into a humorous one. “Are you making fun of Grover again? You have to stop calling him a girl, you know he hates that.”

Percy shook his head, a grin on his face. “No no, I’m not making fun of Grover.” He quickly went on to explain everything that’s happened the last few days, Thalia and the other girls listening intensely.

When he was finished, Thalia snorted at the absurdity of Percy’s story. “So, in conclusion, Castor followed you into the labyrinth and brought Tyson and the mortal girl you tried to kill back at Hoover Dam.”

“I didn’t try to kill her!” Percy groaned. “But yeah, basically. And we still haven’t found Nico, or Hephaestus, or Daedalus. And I have no idea what to do.”

The daughter of Zeus didn’t say anything for a while, clearly thinking and letting everything sink in. Percy knew he was asking a lot of her to help him out with this, but he had no idea who else to ask. He could’ve asked someone back at camp, but every time he’d tried to reach Chiron or anyone else, the Iris Message didn’t work.

He didn’t know why. Maybe because they were somewhere else and preparing for the war that was sure to come, or maybe something was wrong with the connection to camp.

“You said that the mortal, Rachel, can see through the mist and navigate the labyrinth, right?” A hunter, Julia, spoke up.

Percy nodded, and Julia’s smile grew a little. “I’m pretty sure that Hephaestus has a lot of forges underground. I’m sure that at least one of them is connected to the labyrinth. Rachel should have no problem finding it.”

“How are you so sure?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not a hundred percent certain, but you mentioned that she had no problem finding you. If she focuses hard enough, she could probably find anything down there. It’s all about concentration and following a certain pull.” She explained, widely gesturing with her hands.

Percy nodded, storing all of the information away. He hoped he’d be able to remember everything. “What if he doesn’t want to help us?”

“He will.” Someone else said, and only then did Percy realize that it was Phoebe. When he’d first met her, she hadn’t liked him a lot. But she hadn’t liked Thalia either, so he guessed that things like that could change. He still hadn’t expected her to be here now as well.

“Hephaestus isn’t a cruel god.” She continued. “You will most likely have to do him a favour, but he will help you find Daedalus, I’m sure of it. As for Nico… you said you saw him talking to a ghost in your dreams?”

Percy nodded again, thinking back to the ominous spirit filling Nico’s head with all kinds of things. Percy was pretty sure that Nico would be trying to kill him. What was it? A soul for a soul? Nico was trying to bring Bianca back, and he needed a soul in exchange for hers. Yeah, Percy was totally going to be the victim of an angry, emo child.

“The ghost definitely wants something from Nico, he’s really creepy. I have no idea who he is though. Sorry.” Percy explained, his hands fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

“It’s fine, no need to apologize.” Phoebe sighed, but she looked like her thoughts were already elsewhere. “Nico’s a good kid. He won’t do anything unreasonable, trust me. He’ll come around.” She added, trying to lift some of Percy’s worries.

“I hope you’re right.”

“I always am.” She replied with a smirk, which made the other girls laugh and brought a small grin to Percy’s face.

Percy was suddenly really glad he’d called Thalia after all. Their insight and opinions really helped him and calmed his nerves a little. Plus, it was nice to talk to the hunters. He really liked them.

“So… Castor followed you into the labyrinth, huh.” Thalia said, with a shit-eating grin and a teasing tone. The girls around her snickered.

Percy took back what he’d just thought. He hated all of them.

“Shut up.” He told her, his cheeks burning.

Thalia laughed, holding up her hands in false offence. “What? I think it’s sweet that your boyfriend was worried about you.” More laughter followed her statement.

Percy groaned. He already got enough of that from Drew and Rachel. And also, surprisingly, from Grover, which was just pure betrayal. “He’s not my boyfriend, Thalia. He doesn’t even like me like that! We’re just best friends!”

In unity, the hunters all looked at him with something akin to pity. “Oh sweety, you’re so oblivious.” Julia said, and Percy made an offended noise.

Thalia turned to look at the others, completely ignoring a very offended Percy. “He’s hopeless, I swear. He didn’t even realize when he had a crush on-“

“Okay, hanging up now! Hate you, hope you get eaten by a bear.” Percy quickly rushed out before Thalia could say any more. He waved his hands through the mist, and the last thing he heard before the Iris Message disappeared completely was a hearty laugh from Thalia and a quick ‘Love you too!’.

Thalia was such an asshole.

Percy got back safely before dinner, like he’d promised.

Rachel’s migraine had gotten a little better, and Drew had found all of her makeup, which meant there shouldn’t be anything in the way of everyone getting some well-needed rest now.

During eating the stew that Tyson had made (which tasted delicious, by the way), Percy told them about his call with the hunters. Rachel seemed to understand what Julia had meant, which Percy was glad for, because he would’ve never been able to actually explain it to her. But Rachel told them that she’s been following this pull, whatever it was, since they’ve been here. It’s how she found Percy, Drew and Grover, and how she’s been able to find her way back to their camp.

She couldn’t explain how it really worked either, but as long as she knew what to do, then that was good enough for Percy.

They decided that they’d try to find Hephaestus first thing tomorrow morning, and see what task the god would give them in return for his help. They still didn’t really know how to convince Daedalus to help them once they’d found him, but Percy figured he’d just make something up in the moment. He could be very persuasive if he wanted to.

No one seemed to have any more energy for more planning or talking after they finished their dinner, so the first pair set up to take watch and the rest got ready for bed.

Percy quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

The Labyrinth didn’t just hate them - it hated them specifically.

“Left,” Rachel said firmly, her voice echoing in the flickering corridor. The walls pulsed like veins full of magma, their heat rising with every step.

“You said that two turns ago,” Drew grumbled, wiping sweat from her forehead. “And then we ended up back in that room with the lava waterfall.”

“Maybe that’s because someone couldn’t keep their hands off the walls,” Rachel snapped. “The Labyrinth doesn’t like to be manhandled.”

“Okay, ladies,” Castor said, raising his hands in mock surrender. “Let’s not make the magic murder maze any angrier than it already is.”

Percy kept quiet, trying not to let his nerves show. The air felt heavier with every step, thick with the scent of smoke and hot metal. Tyson, on the other hand, was humming to himself, utterly unbothered. He had that big, dopey grin plastered on his face, like he couldn’t wait to see what came next.

“Ping ping ping,” Tyson said happily, cocking his head. “Someone is hammering.”

“Or the Labyrinth’s trying to kill us with ominous sound effects,” Grover muttered.

“Nope,” Tyson said, his grin widening. “It’s a forge. Someone’s working.”

Before anyone could stop him, Tyson barreled down a side tunnel, his massive feet shaking the stone.

“Tyson!” Percy called after him. “Wait -”

By the time they caught up, Tyson was standing in front of a massive oval door that looked like it belonged on a submarine. Rivets lined its edges, and a giant wheel sat in the center like a vault lock.

“I think we found Hephaestus,” Castor said warily.

“Yay!” Tyson cheered, already grabbing the wheel.

“Wait, are we even ready for this?” Grover asked. “Meeting gods never ends well for us.”

“Ready as we’ll ever be,” Percy muttered.

With a groan of metal and a hiss of superheated air, Tyson wrenched the door open. A blast of heat rolled over them, thick and suffocating.

“Oh gods,” Drew said. “It’s like walking into a sauna from hell.”

“Cool,” Rachel murmured, stepping in behind Tyson. “I could paint this place for hours.”

The workshop was enormous, more like an airplane hangar than a forge. Hydraulic lifts creaked under strange machines - half-finished automatons, bronze animals wired to car batteries, even a chariot made entirely of flames. The air smelled of smoke and scorched oil.

Under one lift, currently hoisting a beat-up ’98 Corolla, a pair of massive legs stuck out, clad in soot-blackened coveralls. One foot was twisted and encased in a metal brace that squeaked with every movement.

“Well, well,” said a voice like boulders grinding together. “What’s wandered into my workshop?”

The figure rolled out from under the car and sat up. Hephaestus was massive, his face scarred and twisted, his beard smoldering like dying coals. His molten-gold eyes swept over them with mild disinterest.

“Half-bloods,” he grunted. “And a Cyclops. Hmph. You could be automatons, but no - you look too breakable.”

“Uh… no, sir,” Grover stammered. “Not automatons.”

“Good. I hate shoddy workmanship.”

His gaze landed on Rachel, narrowing. “You’re no half-blood. A mortal?”

“Yes,” Rachel said. “But I can see through the Mist.”

“Worse,” Hephaestus muttered. “Mortals are trouble.”

Tyson stepped forward eagerly. “Lord Hephaestus! Your forges are amazing! I want to be as good as you one day!”

The god’s scowl didn’t soften, but something flickered in his molten eyes. “Hmph. At least you’ve got manners. Rare in heroes.”

Percy was suddenly very glad that Tyson was his normal self. The god seemed to like him, which lowered their chances of being killed by him.

“What do you want?” he demanded, turning to Percy.

“We’re looking for Daedalus,” Percy said. “We need his help to stop Luke from invading Camp Half-Blood.”

At the mention of Daedalus, Hephaestus’s beard flared with tiny embers. “Daedalus. You want that old scoundrel? Hah! You heroes are always poking your noses where they don’t belong.”

“Please,” Rachel said. “It’s important.”

“Everything’s important,” the god muttered. “Fine. I can tell you what you want to know. But there’s a price. I need a favor done.”

Percy hesitated. “What kind of favor?”

Hephaestus actually laughed - a booming sound like a bellows stoking a fire. “You heroes… always making rash promises. How refreshing!”

He slammed a button on his workbench, and metal shutters opened along the wall. It wasn’t clear if it was a window or some kind of screen, but beyond it lay a gray mountain ringed in forests. Smoke curled from its peak.

“That’s Mount St. Helens,” Grover said. “Great forests around there.”

“You’ve been there?” Percy asked.

“Looking for…you know, Pan.”

Hephaestus scratched his smoldering beard. “Used to be one of my favorite forges. Great fire source, strong flows. But that was before Typhon.”

“Typhon?” Drew asked.

“The storm giant,” Hephaestus said grimly. “Father of all monsters. He used to be pinned under Mount Etna in the old world. When Olympus moved to America, we managed to trap him under Mount St. Helens instead. He’s been restless ever since. Lots of eruptions, smoke, quakes. He doesn’t like being chained.”

Percy felt a chill run down his back despite the suffocating heat. “So… you want us to fight him?”

Hephaestus barked a laugh like a forge roaring to life. “Fight Typhon? Don’t be ridiculous. Even the gods ran when he was free. No, you’d be ash in seconds. But there’s something else - something creeping through my forge. I can feel it in the metal. When I go there, it vanishes. My automatons never return. Whoever or whatever it is… they might be trying to loose Typhon.”

“You want us to find out who it is,” Percy said.

“Aye. You’re not gods. They may not sense you coming. Scout my forge. Clear them out. Do this, and I’ll tell you what you need to know about Daedalus and how to find him.”

“What if we don’t come back?” Drew asked.

Hephaestus shrugged. “Then I assume you’re dead. Saves me the trouble of another conversation.”

The god turned back to his work, already ignoring them. “Go left. Try not to get burned alive. Humans are fragile.”

The forge looked deceptively close on the map.

It wasn’t.

They’d been walking for what felt like hours, and the terrain had only gotten worse - steep, jagged paths that reeked of burned metal and something Percy could only describe as bad vibes.

Grover was panting. “Are you sure this is the right way? Because it feels like we’re going in circles. Or down. We’re definitely going down.”

“We’re in the Labyrinth, Grover. Everything’s down,” Percy muttered, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Besides, it’s the only path Hephaestus gave us. You wanna go tell the god of fire that his directions suck?”

Grover didn’t answer. He definitely did not want to do that.

Percy still wasn’t sure how he felt about Hephaestus. On the one hand, he hadn’t killed them on sight - which was a plus. On the other, when Percy had dared to ask for ‘clearer directions,’ the god had laughed so hard the ground cracked open beneath their feet.

“Find the forge yourselves,” Hephaestus had said with a grin like molten steel. “If you’re still alive by the time you get there, maybe you’ll be worth helping.”

Super helpful, that guy.

Now they were trudging through a part of the Labyrinth that looked like an abandoned factory had thrown up all over it - rusted pipes jutting from the walls, flickering orange lights, and the occasional hiss of steam that made Grover flinch every time.

The path narrowed into a jagged corridor that smelled like sulfur and burned oil. The walls were slick with condensation, and every few steps sent a hiss of steam curling into the air.

“This feels like a trap,” Drew muttered, clutching her dagger tightly.

“Everything in this place feels like a trap,” Percy said.

Before anyone could reply, heavy footsteps shook the floor behind them.

“Uh… please tell me that’s not what I think it is,” Grover whimpered.

“Run?” Rachel asked, already backing away.

“Run,” Castor agreed.

They bolted down the corridor, but they didn’t make it twenty feet before they skidded to a halt. Two dracaenae - snake women in bronze armor - rose from the shadows, hissing and pointing their javelins at the group. Between them stood Kelli, the empousa, her eyes glowing like molten gold in the dim light.

“Well, well,” Kelli said, her lips curling into a smile.

Percy reached for Riptide, but before he could uncap his pen, Kelli lunged with unnatural speed. Her hand shifted into a claw as she grabbed Rachel, yanking her back and pressing razor-sharp talons to her throat.

“Taking your little mortal pet for a stroll?” Kelli hissed. “They’re so fragile. One twitch, and she’s gone.”

Behind them, the footsteps grew louder. A hulking Laistrygonian giant stepped out of the darkness, his red eyes gleaming hungrily.

“Can I eat them?” the giant rumbled.

“No,” Kelli snapped. “Our master will want these alive. They’ll provide… excellent entertainment.”

“Master?” Percy growled.

Kelli grinned, showing her fangs. “March, half-bloods. Unless you’d prefer to watch me shred the mortal first.”

Reluctantly, Percy lowered Riptide. The group was herded forward at spearpoint, flanked by the dracaenae, with Kelli and the giant looming behind. Nobody seemed worried about them running ahead. That was the direction their captors wanted them to go.

The tunnel opened onto a set of massive bronze doors, ten feet tall and etched with a pair of crossed swords. From beyond came the muffled roar of a crowd, like an underground stadium brimming with bloodlust.

“Oh, yessss,” hissed one of the dracaenae. “You’ll be very popular with our hosssst.”

“Host?” Percy asked, his hand itching to uncap Riptide.

“You’ll see,” Kelli purred, tightening her claws around Rachel’s throat. “He’ll enjoy you very much.”

The giant shoved past them and heaved the doors open with a creaking groan. Heat and noise spilled out like a physical wave.

The arena was massive, a circular pit with a dirt floor and high stone benches rising in tiers all around. Every seat was packed with monsters: dracaenae coiling their tails around the steps, Laistrygonian giants roaring and pounding their fists, telekhines snapping their jaws, and bat-winged demons shrieking in anticipation.

The skulls were the worst part. They ringed the arena in piles, hung from chains like grotesque chandeliers, and grinned from pikes stuck in the dirt. Some were bleached white. Others… fresher.

At the far end of the arena sat a raised platform with a throne of woven bone and bronze. In it lounged a massive giant with crimson skin and blue wave-like tattoos crawling up his arms. He wore nothing but a ragged loincloth, yet he radiated power, his yellow eyes glowing like torches in the gloom.

Beside him, dressed in bronze armor and looking far too pleased with himself, sat Luke Castellan.

“Well, well,” Luke said, rising to his feet. “Looks like the hunt went better than expected.”

“Luke,” Percy growled.

“Percy Jackson,” Luke said, projecting his voice so it carried across the cheering crowd. “Finally, you’ve stumbled into the heart of the Labyrinth. And you even brought friends.”

Kelli shoved Rachel forward, grinning wickedly. “This mortal has a sharp tongue. I almost snapped her in half, but I thought you’d want to see for yourself.”

“Excellent work,” Luke said. He surveyed the rest of the group. For a split second, Percy thought he might be looking for Annabeth. When he didn't find what he was looking for among, Luke’s gaze finally settled back on Percy. “Antaeus, my lord, let me introduce you to our latest guests. This one” -he gestured to Percy- “is the son of Poseidon. The sea god’s little favorite. I thought perhaps he’d amuse you.”

The crimson giant shifted forward, his yellow eyes narrowing as he studied Percy. A slow, predatory grin spread across his face.

“Son of Poseidon?” he rumbled, his voice like grinding boulders. “Then he will fight well. Or die well.”

The crowd erupted in cheers, chanting in unison: “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

“If his death pleases you,” Luke said smoothly, “will you grant our armies safe passage through your domain?”

“Perhaps,” Antaeus said, baring his jagged teeth. “But only if the boy is worthy of my arena.”

Rachel’s breath hitched as Kelli’s claws pressed harder against her skin.

Luke smirked. “Shall we see how long you last, Percy? Entertain us. Or your little friends will start dying, one by one.”

The dracaenae prodded Percy forward with their spears, hissing with anticipation. Tyson growled low in his throat, but the giant behind them thumped his club against the ground in warning.

“Don’t even think about it, Cyclops,” Kelli said sweetly. “Unless you want your mortal friend here to decorate the arena floor.” Her claws pressed harder against Rachel’s throat.

Percy’s hand twitched toward Riptide, but he forced himself to stop. One wrong move, and Rachel wouldn’t survive long enough for him to regret it.

The crowd surged to its feet as Antaeus rose from his throne. Up close, the giant was even more monstrous, his muscles rippling like molten stone under his tattooed skin. His grin was full of teeth filed to points.

“A son of Poseidon,” Antaeus rumbled. “In my arena. This is a worthy offering indeed.”

“Your father’s son,” Luke said mockingly, pacing the edge of the dais. “You should feel honored, Percy. Antaeus rarely entertains guests of such... noble lineage.”

“Yeah?” Percy shot back. “He throws all his guests in cages first, or just the ones he plans to kill?”

The crowd roared with laughter, though whether at Percy’s defiance or in anticipation of his death, it was hard to say.

“Bold words for someone without a weapon,” Antaeus growled. “But we will fix that. Choose your arms, son of Poseidon. What will you die with?”

“Just my sword,” Percy said evenly.

The monsters jeered, but Riptide shimmered into existence in Percy’s hand, its celestial bronze blade gleaming faintly in the torchlight. A few of the creatures in the stands hissed nervously.

“Ahhh,” Antaeus said, “so you are serious. Good. I like my prey spirited. But this is no simple duel. You will fight as I command. Slowly. Let the crowd savor your end.”

“Round one!” the giant bellowed.

A gate creaked open across the arena, and a dracaena slithered out, her forked tongue flicking the air. She held a trident in one hand and a weighted net in the other.

“Kill him,” Antaeus ordered. “But make it entertaining.”

The dracaena hissed and lunged at Percy.

He sidestepped as her net flew toward him, slicing through the weighted mesh with a single stroke of Riptide. The crowd gasped.

Before the monster could recover, Percy darted forward, knocking her trident aside and driving his blade through a gap in her armor. The dracaena shrieked as she vaporized into golden dust.

The arena went deathly still.

“No!” Antaeus roared. “Too fast! You must wait for my call before the kill! Only I decide when a life ends.”

Percy glared up at him, gripping Riptide tighter. “Sorry. I don’t take orders from overgrown sandbags.”

The crowd erupted in hisses and angry growls.

Luke, watching from above, smirked. “You’ve improved, Percy. But let’s see how long you last against a real opponent.”

“Round two!” Antaeus thundered. “And slower this time, or your friends die before your eyes.”

The gate creaked open again. This time a boy stepped out - about sixteen, wiry and pale, with black hair falling over a single eye patch. His Greek armor hung loosely on his frame as he adjusted his shield and drew his sword.

“Who the hell are you?” Percy asked, tightening his grip on Riptide.

The boy gave him a cold, steady look. “Nobody you’d know. Yet.”

“Cool. Love a vague threat. Very original,” Percy said dryly.

The boy didn’t flinch. “You’re Percy Jackson. The golden boy. The prophecy kid. You don’t even know how lucky you are.”

Percy raised an eyebrow. “Are we… flirting?”

That got a flicker of irritation across the boy’s face. Good.

“Ethan Nakamura,” he said flatly. “And I have to kill you.”

“Why are you doing this?” Percy asked.

“Hey!” a monster jeered from the stands. “Stop talking and fight already!”

The others in the crowd took up the chant, stomping their feet and rattling the arena walls.

“I have to prove myself,” Ethan said through gritted teeth. “It’s the only way to join up.”

With that, he charged. Their swords met in midair with a metallic clang, and the crowd roared.

It didn’t feel right. Percy didn’t want to fight to entertain a mob of monsters, but Ethan Nakamura wasn’t giving him much choice.

Ethan pressed forward. He was good - better than Percy expected. He hadn’t been at Camp Half-Blood as far as Percy knew, but he’d clearly been trained. He parried Percy’s strike and nearly slammed him with his shield, but Percy sprang back just in time.

Ethan slashed; Percy rolled to the side. They exchanged thrusts and parries, testing each other’s fighting style. Percy tried to stay on Ethan’s blind side, but it didn’t help much. Apparently, Ethan had been fighting with one eye for a long time. He was excellent at guarding his left.

“Blood! Blood!” the monsters chanted, stomping their feet so hard the arena floor trembled.

Ethan flicked his eyes to the stands for the briefest moment. That was his weakness, Percy realized. He needed to impress them. Percy didn’t.

Ethan yelled an angry battle cry and charged, but Percy parried his blade and backed away, letting him come after him.

“Boo!” Antaeus bellowed from his throne. “Stand and fight!”

Ethan kept pressing Percy, but the son of Poseidon had no trouble defending himself. Even without a shield, he moved lightly and quickly. Ethan, weighed down by his armor and heavy shield, grew more tired with every swing.

The crowd grew restless, yelling complaints and throwing rocks into the arena. Five minutes into the fight, and still no blood.

“End him!” Kelli hissed from the edge, her claws tightening against Rachel’s neck.

“Percy!” Drew shouted. “Finish it before they go for her!”

Finally, Ethan made a mistake. He lunged for Percy’s stomach, and Percy twisted his sword, locking Ethan’s hilt in his own. With a sharp wrench, Percy sent Ethan’s sword clattering to the dirt.

Before Ethan could recover, Percy slammed the butt of Riptide against his helmet, knocking him flat. The boy fell on his back, dazed and panting. Percy stepped forward, placing the tip of his blade on Ethan’s chest.

“Get it over with,” Ethan groaned.

Percy glanced up at Antaeus. The giant’s red face was stony with displeasure. He raised his massive hand and turned his thumb down.

“Forget it,” Percy said. He sheathed Riptide.

“Don’t be a fool,” Ethan rasped. “They’ll just kill us both.”

Percy held out his hand. Reluctantly, Ethan took it, and Percy pulled him to his feet.

“No one dishonors the games!” Antaeus bellowed. “Your heads shall both be tributes to Poseidon!”

Percy turned to Ethan. “When you see your chance, run.” Then he faced Antaeus. “Why don’t you fight me yourself? If you’ve really got Dad’s favor, come down here and prove it!”

The monsters in the stands grumbled. Antaeus looked around and seemed to realize he couldn’t refuse without looking like a coward.

“I am the greatest wrestler in the world, boy,” he snarled. “I have been fighting since the first pankration!”

“Pankration?” Percy asked.

“It means fighting to the death,” Ethan said quietly. “No rules. No holds barred.”

“Thanks for the tip,” Percy said.

“Don’t mention it.”

Castor’s eyes were wide as he struggled against one of the dracaenae’s grip. “Don’t do it!” he cried.

“Winner takes all!” Percy called. “I win, we all go free. You win, we die. Swear it on the River Styx.”

Antaeus let out a booming laugh. “This won’t take long. I swear!”

He leapt down from the platform, landing with a quake that rattled Percy’s teeth.

“Good luck,” Ethan murmured as he backed toward the edge.

Antaeus cracked his knuckles, grinning. Even his teeth were etched with wave patterns.

“Weapons?” the giant asked.

“I’ll stick with my sword. You?”

Antaeus wiggled his huge fingers. “I don’t need anything else. Master Luke, you will referee this one.”

Luke smirked from his perch. “With pleasure.”

Antaeus lunged. Percy rolled under the giant’s legs and slashed at the back of his thigh.

“Arrrgh!” Antaeus roared.

Instead of blood, sand gushed from the wound like a broken hourglass. The arena floor shifted, and the sand flowed back toward the giant’s leg, sealing the cut.

“Great,” Percy muttered. “He’s got a built-in refill button.”

“Keep moving!” Castor yelled from the sidelines. “Don’t let him pin you!”

Antaeus charged again, his massive hands reaching for Percy. Fortunately, Percy had fought worse opponents before. He dodged sideways and slashed under Antaeus’s arm. Riptide sank deep into his ribs, the bronze hissing as it hit the giant’s sand-packed body.

But instead of collapsing, Antaeus twisted, yanking Riptide from Percy’s grasp. Percy was thrown across the arena, landing hard in the dirt.

“Percy!” Grover bleated in panic.

“Too easy,” Antaeus gloated, tossing Riptide behind him. Sand trickled from the wound in his ribs, but again the arena floor rippled, and dirt slithered up to coat the gash. When it fell away, the giant was whole again.

“Now you see why I never lose, demigod!” Antaeus boomed. “Come here and let me crush you. I’ll make it quick!”

Percy scrambled to his feet, eyeing the distance between himself and his sword. Antaeus stood directly in his path, grinning like he already had Percy in a headlock.

“Come on!” Rachel shouted desperately. “Do something!”

Antaeus lunged. Percy dodged left. The giant blocked him. He feinted right. Antaeus anticipated that too, laughing as he cut off every route of escape.

“You’re too predictable, son of Poseidon,” Luke called down mockingly. “Try something new before this gets boring.”

Percy’s eyes darted upward. Heavy chains hung from the ceiling, suspending the grisly chandeliers of skulls. An idea sparked.

“Castor!” Percy shouted. “The chains - tell me they’re strong!”

“I’m pretty sure they’re built for giants!” Castor yelled back. “Use them!”

Percy dodged another swipe, diving for a chain. “How sure?” He yelled, his voice desperate.

“Like, 90 percent!”

That was good enough for him. Percy grabbed hold and swung upward just as Antaeus’s massive hand closed on empty air.

“Coward!” the giant bellowed. “Get down here!”

“Come and get me, ugly!” Percy shot back.

The crowd roared with laughter as Antaeus grabbed a chain and began to climb.

“Percy!” Rachel shouted. “Whatever you’re doing, do it fast!”

Drew struggled against the monster’s grip on her, her voice tight. “Don’t let him touch the ground - he’s pulling strength from the arena!”

“Brilliant observation,” Percy muttered to himself, wrapping his legs around the chain and sawing at another nearby link with Riptide.

Antaeus was nearly on him now, his massive hands shaking the chains. “You think you’re clever?” he snarled. “I’ll crush you like an insect!”

“Come up here and try,” Percy called.

As Antaeus climbed higher, Percy hooked a chain around the giant’s arm. He looped it fast, tying off a makeshift snare.

Antaeus roared and tried to descend, but Percy had already swung to another chain. He worked frantically, looping chains and hooks until Antaeus was suspended, his feet dangling a few feet above the ground.

“No!” Antaeus bellowed. “The earth - I must touch the earth!”

“Not this time,” Percy said grimly.

With one last yank, Percy tightened the chains and dropped to the floor. He rolled to his feet, Riptide in hand.

“Jackson!” Luke’s voice cracked like a whip. “Don’t you dare -”

“I’ll free him,” Percy said, staring up at the struggling giant.

And he stabbed Riptide straight into Antaeus’s stomach.

The giant howled as sand poured from the wound in a torrent. But the dirt floor didn’t rise to heal him. He flailed helplessly in the air, chains creaking under his massive weight.

“No!” he screamed. “Mother, help me!”

But there was no help. Bit by bit, Antaeus dissolved into nothing, until only swinging chains and an empty loincloth remained.

Luke shot to his feet, his bronze armor gleaming in the torchlight. His face twisted with rage.

“Jackson!” he snarled. “You should have died long ago!”

Percy pointed Riptide toward him. “We had a deal. I won. Let us go.”

“Antaeus is dead,” Luke said coldly. “His oath dies with him. But since I’m feeling merciful, I’ll have you killed quickly.”

He gestured to Kelli. “Start with the mortal girl.”

Rachel’s breath hitched as Kelli’s claws dug deeper into her skin.

“NO!” Tyson roared, struggling against two dracaenae pinning him down.

Percy’s mind raced as the arena erupted in chaos. Monsters closed in from every direction - dracaenae slithering across the sand, Laistrygonian giants pounding toward them, and Kelli digging her claws into Rachel’s skin.

He gripped Riptide tighter, his knuckles white. There were too many of them. No way to fight through. No time to think.

“Do something, Percy!” Drew screamed as she tried to pull free from a dracaena’s grasp.

“Get her away from Rachel!” Castor shouted, shoving a monster back with the hilt of his sword.

But Percy had nothing. No plan, no clever moves, no miracle escape route. His heart pounded in his ears.

I can’t let them die here.

Frantically, he searched in his pockets for anything helpful- spare drachma, celestial bronze, even a piece of string. His hand brushed against something small and cold in his pocket.

The whistle.

The freezing sensation made him flinch. He pulled it out and stared at it: a tiny silver dog whistle shaped like a wolf’s head. For days, he hadn’t even thought about it.

(“You’ll want this,” Quintus said, pressing the silver whistle into Percy’s palm.

Percy frowned at it. “A dog whistle?”

Quintus’s expression was unreadable, as usual. “For emergencies only. Blow it, and help will come. It’s… a gift from an old friend.”

“Yeah, but your old friends seem a little sketchy,” Percy muttered.

Quintus raised an eyebrow. “If you find yourself hesitating to use it, that’s good. That means you’re not wasting it.”

“Not super comforting.”

“It wasn’t meant to be.” Quintus gave him a small smile, the kind that never reached his eyes. “Keep it close. You’ll know when you need it.”)

Percy’s fingers tightened around the whistle.

It’s a trap, he thought. Has to be. Why else would Quintus give it to me?

But as Kelli grabbed Rachel’s hair and drew her claws back, Percy didn’t hesitate any longer.

He shoved the whistle between his lips and blew.

No sound came out.

The whistle shattered in his hand, disintegrating into shards of ice that melted instantly.

Luke’s mocking laugh echoed across the arena. “What was that supposed to do?”

Then a deep, earth-shaking growl rumbled behind Percy.

A Laistrygonian giant near the group gave a surprised yelp as he was yanked off his feet and hurled into the arena wall.

“AROOOOF!”

A massive black shape bounded into the ring. Red eyes glowing. Jaws snapping.

“Mrs. O’Leary!” Grover cried.

The hellhound snarled and leapt, her massive jaws clamping down on Kelli. The empousa shrieked as Mrs. O’Leary tossed her across the arena like a rag doll.

The crowd of monsters erupted into chaos.

“Now!” Percy shouted. “Run!”

Rachel shoved Grover forward. Castor grabbed Drew’s arm, and the two darted toward the far exit. Tyson bowled over two dracaenae with his massive shoulder, clearing a path. Percy grabbed Ethan’s hand, pulling him along towards the exit.

“Mrs. O’Leary, heel!” Percy commanded.

The hellhound bounded after them, her paws shaking the ground as the group fled into the tunnel.

Behind them, Luke’s voice cracked in fury. “AFTER THEM! Don’t let them escape!”

But the sound was soon drowned out by the deep, echoing bark of the hellhound at their heels.

They burst into the tunnel like water through a broken dam. Behind them, the arena roared with chaos - monster shrieks, clanging steel, and Luke’s furious shouting echoing off the stone.

“Keep moving!” Percy yelled.

“Where are we even going?” Drew gasped.

“Anywhere not full of monsters!” Grover panted.

They didn’t stop. Not even when Mrs. O’Leary barreled through a crumbling archway, knocking a pair of dracaenae aside like bowling pins. For a few fleeting seconds, Percy dared to think they might actually make it.

Then the Labyrinth did what it did best.

It changed.

The Labyrinth didn’t give them time to think.

Mrs. O’Leary charged ahead, clearing the path with bone-rattling growls and snapping jaws. Monsters screamed behind them, some turning to flee from the hellhound, others charging after in a frenzy.

“Don’t stop!” Percy shouted, gripping Riptide as they sprinted through a jagged corridor that twisted like a corkscrew. Walls folded, hallways collapsed, ceilings groaned with shifting weight.

Rachel clutched Grover’s arm. Castor and Drew ran shoulder-to-shoulder, blades out. Tyson crashed through debris behind them like a wrecking ball. Ethan followed Percy close behind.

Then the tunnel split.

“Left!” Percy shouted on instinct.

“Wait-!” Castor called, too late.

The floor buckled beneath them.

Percy stumbled. Ethan crashed into him. They tumbled through a side passage just as the stone behind them slammed shut like the lid of a tomb.

The hallway fell deathly quiet.

Percy sat up, breathing hard. “Castor? Grover? Drew?” he called, his voice echoing uselessly.

Nothing.

Only flickering light and the faint creak of the walls shifting like breathing lungs.

“Great,” Percy muttered. He glanced beside him.

Ethan Nakamura was already on his feet, sword in hand, tense and silent.

“You okay?” Percy asked cautiously.

Ethan just stared at him for a moment, as if trying to decide whether this was a trick. Then he gave a tight nod.

Percy got up and dusted himself off. “Well. Stuck in a monster death maze with someone who wants to kill me. Definitely in my top five least favorite scenarios.”

“Technically,” Ethan said, “I didn’t try very hard to kill you.”

Percy looked at him. “That’s… comforting?”

“I’m just saying. If I’d wanted you dead, I would’ve fought dirtier.”

Percy snorted. “So generous.”

They fell into a tense silence as they started walking again, the corridor sloping gently downward. Every so often, the Labyrinth groaned, shifting just enough to make Percy’s stomach drop.

They walked in silence for a long while, the flicker of dying torches casting weird shadows along the rusted corridor. The air smelled of oil and smoke, and somewhere above them, something groaned like old metal giving way.

Eventually, they reached a narrow space where the ceiling dipped low and the ground leveled out into a shallow alcove. It wasn’t much, just a cracked floor and a rusted pipeline leaking steam, but it was safe, at least for the moment.

Percy sank down onto a slab of stone, pulling the strap of his pack over his head. “Break time,” he muttered. “Before the next near-death experience.”

Ethan hesitated before sitting across from him. He looked like he hadn’t decided whether he was still a prisoner, a rival, or just a very tired teenager.

Percy rummaged through the pack Castor had made him carry and pulled out a small cloth pouch. Inside was some ambrosia wrapped in wax paper and a few crackers that were probably less than a week stale. “What are you doing?” Ethan asked, suspicious.

Annabeth would’ve told him this was a terrible idea - sitting down, letting his guard drop, offering food to a guy who’d tried to kill him in front of a cheering monster audience.

But Percy had made worse calls. At least this one came with snacks.

“Getting something to eat,” Percy said. “I’m hungry, and I’m sure you are too.”

He broke the ambrosia in half and handed a piece to Ethan, who blinked at it like it was poison.

“It’s not cursed,” Percy said. “Well, not unless you eat too much.”

Ethan accepted it slowly, his fingers brushing Percy’s. “Why are you being nice to me?”

Percy shrugged. “Honestly? You haven’t killed me yet. That’s a start.”

They chewed in silence for a minute. The ambrosia was warm and sweet, tasting faintly of chocolate chip cookies - Percy’s favorite. He felt a little better. Less like the Labyrinth was trying to squeeze the life out of him, and more like he had a fighting chance.

Then he pulled out a small bundle of kindling wrapped in cloth. He unrolled it and started arranging the twigs on a flat piece of stone.

Ethan frowned. “What are you doing now?”

“Making an offering,” Percy said, fishing a lighter from his bag. “For good luck. You know. So we don’t die horribly in the next ten minutes.”

“You’re making an offering to the gods?”

Percy sparked the lighter, and the kindling flared to life. He took a piece of the cracker and held it over the flame.

“You said ‘we,’” Ethan said.

“Yeah?” Percy glanced up. “I want us both to come out of here alive. I’m obviously going to include you in my prayer.”

Ethan stared at him like he’d grown another head. “Oh.”

Percy thought for a second. You were supposed to make an offering to your godly parent during quests. That meant Poseidon. But most gods didn’t like Percy that much - and Percy didn’t exactly like most gods either. Hera? Big nope. Zeus? Even worse. Ares would probably strike him down just for fun. Athena hated his guts. Artemis and Apollo were okay, but he didn’t know if they’d even be listening.

He looked at the flame.

Maybe Hestia?

She was kind. She hadn’t tried to kill him. She reminded him of warmth, of safety, of family.

He tossed the cracker into the fire and whispered, “To Poseidon, my dad. And to Hestia, the kindest of the gods. Keep us safe. Guide us through. And, if you’re listening - just… let us find our way out. Together.”

The fire sparked golden for a moment, and then slowly died down into a warm glow.

Ethan watched the ashes for a long time. “I used to pray like that,” he said quietly. “Before I figured out no one was listening.”

Percy leaned back against the wall. “Maybe they were. Or maybe they’re just slow.”

Ethan gave him a sideways glance. “You really believe that?”

“I believe we’re still breathing,” Percy said. “That counts for something.”

They sat in silence again. Not awkward this time - just quiet.

After a while, Percy asked, “What happened to your eye?”

Ethan gave him a long look.

Yikes, sore subject. “You don’t have to tell me if -”

“My mother took it,” Ethan said flatly. “Nemesis.”

Percy blinked. “Wait. Your mom is Nemesis?”

Ethan nodded, his tone somewhere between pride and bitterness. “Goddess of vengeance. Retribution. Balance. She said… power had been lopsided for too long. Too many gods with too many favorites.”

Percy didn’t say anything. He thought about how many times he’d nearly died because one god wanted to prove a point or win a petty argument.

“She said I had potential,” Ethan continued. “But she doesn’t give gifts. She asked for payment. Said it was the price of being part of something bigger.” He tapped under his eyepatch. “So I paid.”

Percy tried not to wince. “That’s… brutal.”

“It was fair,” Ethan said, and for a second his voice turned sharp. “Balance demands sacrifice. She told me one day it would matter. That I’d be a force to tip the scales back.”

Percy leaned back, letting that sink in. “You think that’s what you’re doing? By siding with Luke?”

“I don’t know yet,” Ethan admitted. “But the gods had their chance. And people like me? We were never going to win by playing nice in a broken system.”

Percy thought of Hermes. Of Athena. Even of Poseidon, who’d stayed mostly silent while the war brewed.

He didn’t agree with Ethan. Not fully. But he understood where the anger came from.

“Well,” Percy said slowly, “if balance means fewer kids growing up feeling like you did… maybe I can get behind that.”

Ethan looked at him like he wasn’t sure if he was being mocked.

Percy shrugged. “I said maybe. Don’t get cocky.”

Ethan cracked the smallest smile, then nodded once.

The fire had burned down to glowing embers. The comfort of the alcove began to feel like a memory as the Labyrinth stirred again, the floor beneath them groaning like it needed to shift soon. Percy hated the way it did that. Like the maze was waiting for them to let their guard down.

Ethan rose first, sword already in hand. “We should go before this place decides to eat us.”

Percy sighed and pulled himself up. “You really know how to end a peaceful moment.”

They started walking again, side by side now. The air grew colder. The walls were damp, and long, rusty pipes ran above their heads, occasionally dripping oily water onto the stone floor. As they passed under a crumbled archway, Percy muttered, “Pretty sure we’re walking into a haunted boiler room.”

“Wouldn’t be the worst thing we’ve seen.”

It happened gradually. The smell hit first - something sour and meaty, like rotting fur. Then came the sound: clicking claws, faint screeching, and dragging footsteps, echoing through the narrow corridor ahead.

They stopped.

Something skittered just beyond the light of Percy’s sword. Then two more shadows, crawling along the walls - long-limbed, hunchbacked figures with pale, leathery skin and glowing yellow eyes. Their mouths were too wide, their jaws unhinged and twitching. One had matted patches of fur on its limbs. Another’s face looked half-melted, as if it had once tried to imitate a human and failed.

“What are those?” Percy whispered.

“I don’t know,” Ethan said grimly, “but I really hate them.”

The things hissed, revealing needle-sharp teeth, and then lunged.

Percy spun, slashing upward with Riptide. The first creature leapt clean over him, landed, and pounced again. He rolled and struck low, catching it in the side. It dissolved into a puff of greasy smoke and bones that cracked as they hit the floor.

Ethan parried another's claws, but two of them attacked at once. One grabbed him by the shoulder, yanking him backward.

“Ethan!” Percy shouted.

He was already moving. One of the monsters lunged for Ethan’s throat, jaws wide, but Percy dove, slamming into it with his shoulder and knocking it off balance. He sliced clean through the creature’s torso. Black smoke burst from the wound, stinging his eyes.

The second creature raised its claws, still clutching Ethan’s arm.

Without thinking, Percy jammed Riptide into its spine. It screamed like a teakettle exploding and collapsed in a spray of ash.

Ethan staggered back, stunned. “You-”

“No time,” Percy said, panting. “More coming!”

The last one tried to retreat, but Ethan threw his sword like a javelin. It caught the creature between the shoulders. It shrieked and burst into smoke mid-step.

Then the corridor fell silent.

Percy wiped his eyes. His jacket was shredded, and something tar-like was crusting his sleeve. “Note to self: do not play fetch with nightmare dogs.”

Ethan was still staring at him, wide-eyed. “You saved my life.”

Percy shot him a tired look. “That’s what you got from that? Not ‘wow, glad I’m not dog meat’?”

“I could’ve died.”

“That’s usually what happens when you get eaten alive.”

Ethan looked away, his voice quieter. “You didn’t even hesitate.”

Percy shrugged. “I don’t let people die if I can help it.”

Ethan opened his mouth like he wanted to argue, but couldn’t find a reason to.

Finally, he said, “I owe you. I’m not good at… gratitude. But I meant it. You saved me.”

“You don’t owe me anything,” Percy said, though the corners of his mouth twitched. “Except maybe better sword form.”

Ethan actually laughed - a short, surprised bark of a laugh. “Okay. That was fair.”

They started walking again. This time, Ethan didn’t trail behind or walk stiffly apart. He walked beside Percy, their steps in sync.

After a minute, Ethan said, “I think… I’m going to help you. Like, actually help.”

Percy didn’t look at him. “You’re sure? I mean, you could just wait until I almost die again and steal my stuff.”

Ethan gave a low chuckle. “Tempting. But no. You didn’t have to save me. And you still made that offering… for both of us. That means something.”

Percy nodded, the faintest of smiles twitching at the corners of his mouth.

They were still deep in the maze. Still surrounded by monsters and mysteries and gods who couldn’t be trusted. The others were still missing.

But for once, Percy felt like it would be okay.

They kept walking, not talking much. The Labyrinth was still breathing around them - walls twitching slightly, shifting in the corners of Percy’s vision.

Ethan broke the silence first. “You said you don’t let people die if you can help it.”

Percy glanced over. “Yeah?”

Ethan looked straight ahead. “That was… brave. Stupid. But brave.”

Percy shrugged, a grin on his face. “That’s kind of my thing.”

They rounded a bend. The air was getting warmer again, and Percy didn’t like it.

Ethan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, jagged coin - something old and bronze, etched with a crude balance scale.

“What’s that?” Percy asked.

“My reminder,” Ethan said. “That I still owe the world something.”

He didn’t explain further. Percy didn’t ask.

But as they walked on, Percy realized Ethan wasn’t just tagging along anymore. He was watching Percy’s back.

And that made all the difference.

Chapter Text

"Percy, watch out!"

Ethan’s voice rang out sharply, cutting through the chaos. Percy spun instinctively toward the sound - just as a dagger flew past his ear in a blur of silver.

Behind him, the last Harpy lunged with a screech. Percy ducked on reflex, his own blade flashing upward in a practiced motion as he drove it into the monster in front of him. The creature let out a strangled cry before collapsing into a swirl of golden dust.

He whirled just in time to see the dagger Ethan had thrown bury itself cleanly between the eyes of the approaching threat. That one disintegrated on impact, the ash raining to the ground silently.

For a moment, there was nothing but the echo of their ragged breathing, the sound of water dripping somewhere in the distance, and the soft hush of dust settling to the floor.

Percy straightened, wiping his sleeve across his forehead. "I think that was the last one." He said, exhaling. He clicked the cap back onto Riptide and slipped it into his pocket in one smooth motion.

Ethan let out a long breath and leaned back against the damp stone wall, his shoulders slumping. Sweat clung to his forehead in shining beads. "Finally."

The cave was wider than most of the tunnels they'd passed through - its ceiling high enough that it didn’t feel like it would crush them if they blinked wrong. A few bioluminescent mushrooms flickered faintly in the corners, casting the rough walls in a bluish glow.

Percy scanned the space, assessing. It was quiet. Too quiet, maybe - but after everything, he wasn’t about to complain. "We should set up camp here." Percy said aloud, breaking the silence.

Ethan pushed himself off the wall, brow furrowed. "You think it’s safe?"

Percy waved him off casually as he dropped his bag to the ground. "It’ll be fine. We haven’t been eaten yet."

"Don’t put that out into the universe, Perce," Ethan muttered, side-eyeing him as he put away his daggers.

Percy smirked. "You're so dramatic. Help me get a fire going, I think I still have a can of soup buried in here somewhere." He crouched and started rifling through his pack, muttering under his breath about crackers and mystery protein.

Ethan rolled his eyes but followed suit, pulling out their battered sleeping mats. The fire wouldn't be much - just a few stones, some tinder, and a flicker of celestial bronze to keep it burning - but it would be enough.

This had become their routine.

Wake up sore on a cold floor, walk through endless stone corridors and search for the others, fight off whatever nightmare decided to show up that day, find somewhere halfway sheltered, and repeat. Over and over.

Percy thought it had been days since they started this cycle. Maybe more. Time bent strangely in the Labyrinth - it never felt right. The air was thick with magic and old danger, and sometimes it felt like they were walking in circles, even when they weren't.

But at least he wasn’t alone in it.

They ate quietly, lukewarm soup passed back and forth, a single energy bar split without thought. Percy didn’t know when it had become second nature to share everything with Ethan, but it had. There was a rhythm to it now. A quiet understanding.

Ethan handed him the last bite of the bar without looking, already wiping off one of the spoons.

“Thanks,” Percy said.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Ethan muttered, though there wasn’t any real bite in it. “You sound like a satyr chewing on gravel.”

Percy grinned around the food. “You ever meet Grover? He actually does chew on gravel.”

“I don’t know if you’re joking,” Ethan said dryly.

“I’m not.”

Their quiet laughter died quickly, swallowed by the walls. The Labyrinth had a way of stealing joy like that. You had to grab it where you could, because it never lasted long.

Once the fire burned down to embers, they both settled in, backs to the stone, boots still on just in case.

Percy stared up at the uneven ceiling. “Think the others are okay?”

Ethan was quiet for a moment. “I think... if they’re anything like you, yeah. They’re probably making some monster’s life hell right now.”

Percy let the silence linger a bit, then, quieter: “I keep thinking we’ll turn a corner and find them. And every time we don’t... I don’t know. It’s like I feel them slipping away.”

Ethan shifted slightly, pulling his arms around his knees. “I’ve had that feeling before.”

Percy looked at him. “When?”

A pause. Then: “Before Kronos. Before the Titan stuff. Just... when you’re in a place you don’t belong, but you’re stuck anyway. And you start forgetting how to look forward.”

Percy blinked. “That’s... surprisingly poetic.”

“I was a poetry kid,” Ethan mumbled, embarrassed. “Briefly.”

Percy chuckled. “That explains the brooding.”

A smile tugged at Ethan’s mouth, but he didn’t say anything more.

They drifted off eventually, or something close to sleep, curled near the faint warmth of dying flame. The Labyrinth didn’t stop humming around them, but for a few hours, it felt like they’d claimed some small peace.

It didn’t last.

The fire had long since guttered to ash by the time Percy stirred again. Darkness pressed close, thicker than it should have been, the air stale and heavy with the weight of the maze. Ethan muttered something sharp under his breath as he sat up too. Neither of them said it aloud, but sleep never lasted long down here.

They packed up quietly and kept moving.

Hours - or what felt like hours - passed with nothing but stone corridors stretching endlessly in every direction. Sometimes the tunnels slanted down so steep Percy’s knees ached from bracing his steps, sometimes they narrowed until he swore the walls were trying to crush him. Once, they came to a staircase that spiraled up and up… only to dead-end into a wall that smelled faintly of sulfur.

Percy pressed his palms against it, frustrated. “Feels like the whole maze is laughing at us.”

Ethan leaned against the railing, his jaw tight. “It wants us to break first.”

It made Percy think of Chris Rodriguez. The crazy, broken look in his eyes.

Percy didn’t answer. He just turned back the way they’d come, shoulders set, and kept walking.

The silence stretched until even the sound of their footsteps felt too loud. Percy’s thoughts wandered - to Castor, to Grover, to Tyson, to Rachel, to Drew. Were they close? Were they even alive? Sometimes he swore he could feel them just out of reach, like a tug in his chest, and then it would vanish again.

He hated it.

Ethan’s voice cut in quietly. “You’re chewing on your lip so hard it’s gonna bleed.”

Percy shot him a sideways glance. “You watching me or something?”

“Hard not to. You walk like you’re trying to outrun yourself.”

Percy almost laughed at that, but it came out flat. “And here I thought you were just the brooding type.”

“I can brood and observe at the same time,” Ethan said dryly.

For a second, it actually broke the heaviness. Just a second. Then the silence swept back in, thick and endless, pressing in on them from all sides. Every step echoed too loud, bouncing off the stone like it didn’t belong. Even their breathing sounded strange - shallow, wary, like the Labyrinth might be listening.

Percy tightened his grip on Riptide without realizing it. He hated how easy it was to forget what sunlight felt like. How easy it was to start thinking maybe this was all there was: stone, shadow, and the two of them trying not to get swallowed whole.

Ethan didn’t say anything else. His expression had gone unreadable again, shuttered, like he’d pulled the mask back into place. For all Percy knew, he was thinking the exact same thing. Or nothing at all.

"Wait."

Percy froze mid-step, boots scraping softly against the cracked, uneven stone of the Labyrinth floor. The word hadn’t been loud, but it carried enough weight to make him halt instantly. He turned, eyes narrowing.

"What is it?" he whispered.

Ethan didn’t answer right away. He raised one hand in a silencing gesture, lips pressed into a thin line. His head tilted slightly, listening. A moment later, his sword was in his hand - silent and swift, the motion so natural it looked like muscle memory.

Percy heard it too now. A faint sound - far off, but growing. Something… off about it. Footsteps, maybe. Movement. A muffled voice drifting through the stone corridor ahead, distorted by distance and echo. His fingers brushed Riptide, just in case.

Ethan moved ahead slowly, positioning himself protectively in front of Percy, eyes scanning the dark ahead. Every nerve felt on edge.

And then, from somewhere up ahead - a voice, distant but furious, rang out:

"I swear to the gods, if this is just another fucking dead-end, I will take down the Labyrinth with my bare hands. I don’t care anymore. This is bullshit!"

Percy blinked.

"Hey, how about next time we throw some gods down here?" the voice continued, echoing off the stone. "Let’s see how they like trudging through this GODS-FORSAKEN SHITHOLE!"

There was a beat of silence.

Percy grinned.

"Drew," he muttered, a mix of exasperation and amusement in his voice. He stepped forward, calling out louder. "Drew, is that your beautiful voice I hear echoing through this rat maze?"

The rant cut off abruptly.

Then came the sound of rapid footsteps - several sets, pounding toward them.

Ethan didn’t sheath his sword, but his posture shifted; alert, but no longer coiled like a spring. He stepped beside Percy instead of in front of him, one hand steadying his shoulder as a precaution.

The steps got louder.

Then: "Percy!"

The name tore through the corridor like a shot before someone slammed into him at full speed. Percy staggered but caught the familiar form easily, arms going around them instinctively. The way they fit into his arms told him immediately who it was.

"Cas," Percy breathed, laughter breaking out of him like a breath he’d been holding for too long. "Hey, Cas. Good to see you."

Castor pulled back just enough to look at him - then punched him hard in the arm.

"OW - what the fuck!"

"You asshole!" Castor snapped. "You can’t just keep disappearing on me, seriously!"

"Wha - That was hardly my fault!" Percy protested.

The rest of the group came spilling into the corridor behind Castor - faces flushed, panting, but lit up with relief. Drew came into view last, scowling like she hadn’t just been shouting at the universe five seconds ago.

"You heard that and recognized me?" she asked dryly.

"Of course," Percy said with a smirk. "It’s your love language."

"Yelling?"

"Complaining."

"Ah." Drew nodded in understanding, before throwing her arms around Percy as well.

He hugged her back, letting his chin rest briefly on her shoulder. It was weird - after all the chaos, the yelling, the monsters - this felt like the first real moment to breathe.

When she pulled back, her eyes scanned him quickly. “You look like shit.”

“Thanks,” Percy said. “I missed you too.”

Behind her, Rachel stood slightly apart from the group, arms crossed, eyes sharp as they flicked to Ethan. She didn’t say anything, but the tension in her stance was loud enough on its own. Grover hovered beside her, nose twitching like he could smell something off. Even Tyson, who usually led with hugs and unconditional affection, was watching Ethan warily.

Castor tilted his head. “You’re with him?”

Percy turned just in time to catch Ethan’s flat expression. The other boy hadn’t moved much - his sword was still unsheathed, though angled toward the ground. Tense but not hostile. Wary.

“Yeah,” Percy said. “This is Ethan. From the arena.”

“We remember,” Rachel said, voice clipped.

Ethan dipped his head slightly. “You all got out okay.”

“Barely,” Drew muttered. Her gaze slid to Percy. “And you two… what, bumped into each other in the hallway and just decided to become a team?”

Percy frowned. “I mean, we were both running for our lives. Then some monsters showed up. He didn’t try to stab me, so I figured that was a good start.”

Drew looked between them, visibly calculating. “How long have you two been traveling together?”

“A couple days? Since we split at the arena,” Percy said. “The Labyrinth kept throwing stuff at us. We stuck together.”

“Weirdly fast to become friends with the guy who tried to kill you in front of an audience,” Castor said, arms crossed.

“I wasn’t trying to kill him,” Ethan said tightly. “I didn’t exactly get a choice about being there.”

The others were quiet for a beat. Rachel studied him, her expression unreadable. Grover still looked unsure. Even Tyson hadn’t quite moved yet.

Then, slowly, Tyson stepped forward. He loomed over Ethan, eyes narrowing.

“Do you like peanut butter?” he asked, gravely serious.

Ethan blinked. “Um… yeah?”

Tyson nodded solemnly. “Okay. You can stay. But if you hurt Percy, I squish you like a bug.”

“That’s… fair,” Ethan muttered.

“Very fair,” Percy agreed with a grin.

There was a short silence, and then Percy swung his pack over his shoulder again and gestured behind him. “There’s a cave not far back. Bigger than this tunnel, and we already cleared out the monsters. It’s safe enough.”

“Soup cave?” Ethan asked, already turning to go.

“Soup cave,” Percy confirmed.

The others exchanged glances. Uneasy, uncertain, but - for now - together again.

They made their way down the tunnel in a loose line, footsteps echoing softly against the stone. No one spoke much at first - just the sound of boots crunching on gravel, the occasional drip of water, and Tyson’s light humming at the back.

Ethan walked a little ahead, his shoulders taut but his pace steady. Percy stuck beside him, keeping a comfortable distance but occasionally bumping shoulders when the tunnel narrowed.

Behind them, the others weren’t exactly whispering, but their voices were low enough that Percy caught just the tone, not the words. A mix of caution, murmured questions, and one dramatic sigh that was definitely Drew.

After a minute or two, Percy slowed slightly until he was in step with Rachel.

“You’re all being weird,” he said quietly.

Rachel gave him a look. “We’re not being weird. We’re being careful.”

“He’s not a threat.”

“He fought for Luke.”

“He didn’t have a choice.”

Rachel raised an eyebrow. “Everyone has a choice.”

Percy exhaled through his nose. “He didn’t stab me when he could have. Twice.”

“Wow,” Drew said from behind them. “What a gentleman.”

Percy glanced over his shoulder. “I’m serious. We’ve been stuck together for, like, four days in this maze from hell. If he wanted to turn on me, he had every opportunity.”

Castor made a noncommittal sound. “Or maybe he’s waiting for the right one.”

“Okay, that's enough,” Percy said, stopping in his tracks. The group paused too. “Look, I get it. I do. You didn’t see the stuff we’ve been dealing with down here. You weren’t there when he covered my back, or when he took a hit for me. I’m not saying you have to braid friendship bracelets or whatever, but just… chill a little, okay?”

Ethan had stopped a few paces ahead. He hadn’t turned around, but Percy knew he’d heard every word.

Castor’s gaze softened a little. “You trust him.”

“I do.”

Drew crossed her arms. “That’s kind of the problem.”

Percy ran a hand through his hair. “I know it’s weird. But down here? The only reason I’m still breathing is because Ethan didn’t let me get eaten. That counts for something.”

There was a moment of quiet when no one seemed to know what to say.

“Soup cave’s just up ahead,” Percy muttered, pushing forward again.

They followed without another word - still a little guarded, but at least the silence had started to feel a little less sharp.

As they stepped into the familiar cave space, Castor glanced around and let out a low whistle. “Okay… not bad.”

“Told you,” Percy said.

Ethan was already moving to the fire pit they’d built before, checking the stones and tossing a few dry scraps of kindling in like it was second nature. He didn’t look at anyone else. Just kept his hands moving.

Percy dropped his pack and flopped down next to him.

“They need some time. They think you’re going to stab them or something.” Percy said quietly, just for Ethan to hear.

Ethan snorted. “They’d deserve it if they keep side-eyeing me like that.”

“Progress,” Percy grinned. “You’re making jokes. That’s practically family.”

Ethan glanced sideways at him. “You’re weird, Jackson.”

“Better than dramatic.”

“Debatable.”

And for a moment, even with the lingering tension and monster dust still on their clothes, things felt just a little more normal.

Most of the group had drifted to sleep, lulled by the soft crackle of the fire and the rare quiet in the Labyrinth. Percy found himself sitting a little closer to the flames now, elbows on his knees, staring into the glow like it held answers.

Castor dropped down beside him without a word.

They sat in silence for a while. Percy didn’t mind. Castor had always been easy to be quiet with.

Eventually, Percy spoke. “You’re not sleeping either?”

Castor shook his head. “Didn’t want to.”

“Yeah. Me neither.”

Another beat passed. The fire popped softly. Percy glanced over, catching Castor’s profile in the flickering light - hair messy from days underground, shadows under his eyes, but still very much Castor.

“You okay?” Percy asked.

Castor gave a short laugh, almost a scoff. “You’ve been gone for... I don’t even know how long. We didn’t know if you were dead. Or captured. Or worse.”

Percy’s smile faltered. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Castor said quickly. “It’s not your fault. I just- I kept thinking about the arena. And how we barely got out of there. And then you were just... gone.”

Percy swallowed. “I didn’t mean to disappear.”

“I know.” Castor’s voice was soft now, barely above the fire’s hiss. “But I looked for you. Every turn, every dead end. I kept thinking I’d hear your voice, or find your stupid sword lying on the floor like some kind of clue.”

Percy let out a breathy laugh. “Rude.” He nudged Castor’s knee with his own. “I didn’t think I’d find you either,” he said quietly. “Kept hoping. But the Labyrinth doesn’t exactly make it easy.”

“No kidding,” Castor muttered, looking into the fire. “When I saw you earlier- when you stepped out of the dark- I thought I was imagining it. Thought the Labyrinth was playing tricks on me.”

Percy leaned back on his palms, eyes on the ceiling. “For a second, I thought the same about you.”

Another pause.

“You’re kind of all I thought about,” Castor said suddenly, voice lower now. “While you were gone.”

Percy turned his head slightly to look at him. He felt his heart knock once, hard, in his chest.

Castor didn’t meet his eyes, gaze locked on the fire. “I mean- just. I was worried. A lot.”

Percy nodded, a little too quickly. “Yeah. Same.”

He didn’t say more. He wasn’t sure what more there was to say. Just that he felt it too - that low buzz in his chest at seeing Castor again, like something that had been out of place had clicked back where it belonged.

A few feet away, Ethan shifted slightly, still sitting in the shadows, pretending he wasn’t listening. Percy caught the motion out of the corner of his eye but didn’t comment.

Castor rubbed at his eyes, like he could scrub away the exhaustion. “You should sleep.”

“You should too.”

“Too wired.”

“Same.”

They both smiled faintly, and for a moment it felt like everything had slowed - like the Labyrinth, for all its chaos and noise and death traps, had hit pause. Just long enough for this.

Percy glanced at him again.

“Thanks for not giving up,” he said quietly.

Castor’s voice was a whisper. “Never.”

Percy stayed awake a little longer, trading quiet words with Castor until silence settled again. When his eyelids finally grew heavy, he let himself sink back, the warmth of the fire and the steady rhythm of his friends’ breathing reminding him, finally, that he wasn’t alone anymore.

Sleep was thin, fractured by the constant hum of the Labyrinth, but it was sleep all the same. When Percy blinked awake, the glow of the fire had dimmed to ash and the group was already stirring. Rachel was lacing her boots. Grover was checking his reed pipes. Tyson was chasing something small and skittering near the wall.

It almost felt like a morning. Almost.

Percy rubbed at his eyes, dragging himself upright as Castor handed him his pack. “Thanks,” he mumbled.

“We’re almost ready to move again,” Castor said quietly.

“Sort of,” Grover added, ducking away from Tyson’s bug hunt.

Then:

“Ugh. I need a shower,” Drew groaned, dramatically twisting her hair into a sad, limp bun. “My hair looks like it’s been dragged through a war zone. Which it has. Repeatedly.”

“You still look fine,” Rachel offered, finished with lacing her boots nearby.

“No,” Drew said flatly. “I look like a drowned cat. Can someone braid it for me? It’ll look less tragic in braids.”

There was a moment of silence. Grover blinked. Rachel paused, clearly weighing whether to volunteer. Percy pretended to be very busy tying a knot in his shoelace.

And then, to everyone’s surprise, Ethan said:

“I can do it.”

All eyes snapped to him.

Even Drew raised an eyebrow, arms folded like she was bracing for a joke. “You?”

Ethan shrugged. “I used to do it for the girls back at the Titan camp. They didn’t exactly have access to salons in Kronos’s evil cave lair.”

Drew blinked. Percy couldn’t tell whether she was impressed or suspicious. Maybe both.

“Huh,” she said, tossing him a skeptical look. “Alright, mystery boy. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Ethan sat cross-legged, and Drew plopped down in front of him with all the regality of a Roman empress being offered a spa day. He didn’t miss a beat, splitting her hair into sections, fingers quick and practiced.

Percy leaned closer to Rachel and muttered, “Should we be worried about how good he is at that?”

Rachel smirked. “He’s better than me.”

Percy nodded solemnly. “We’re doomed.”

The whole group, even Castor (who was pretending not to look), watched as Ethan worked. No spells. No dramatics. Just quiet precision. A few minutes passed, and he tied off the ends with hair ties from Drew.

“There,” Ethan said, sitting back. “Not battle camp perfect, but not bad.”

Drew ran her fingers over the braids, checking the symmetry. She looked… surprised. Almost begrudgingly impressed.

“…Okay, that’s actually really good,” she muttered. “Better than most of my siblings.”

“Don’t tell them that,” Ethan said with a small grin.

“Tell them?” Drew said, standing and fluffing the braids a little. “I’m going to weaponize this. They’ll never know peace.”

Tyson clapped. “You made her hair look like a warrior princess!”

Drew smirked. “Obviously.”

The tension in the air - that silent wary caution that had followed Ethan since they reunited - eased, just a little. Percy saw it happen in real time: Grover relaxing his shoulders. Rachel offering Ethan a smile. Even Castor, ever the careful observer, gave a small nod like he’d filed the whole thing under not a threat, possibly cool.

Percy didn’t say anything. He just watched Ethan sit back down, quietly brushing loose hair from his sleeves, like he hadn’t just accidentally earned bonus points with the entire squad.

They finished packing up shortly after, and continued their journey through the labyrinth, finally together again.

The tunnels didn’t get easier just because they weren’t walking them alone anymore. If anything, the silence pressed even heavier with eight sets of footsteps echoing instead of two.

Sometimes Tyson hummed under his breath. Sometimes Drew launched into a rant about the humidity or her ruined mascara. Sometimes Grover froze, ears twitching, sniffing the air like something was just ahead.

Mostly, though, they walked. Hours, and hours of walking.

Percy found himself drifting between them: keeping pace with Ethan at the front, falling back to match Castor when he lagged, walking beside Rachel when she wanted to argue about routes. He felt like glue trying to keep cracks from spreading - only he wasn’t sure he was sticky enough to hold them together.

At one point, Grover caught his arm. “The air’s wrong here,” he whispered. “Staler than usual.”

“Everything’s stale,” Percy muttered.

“No,” Grover insisted, pupils wide. “Something’s dead down here. Not monster dead. Older.”

That killed the conversation for a while.

At another crossroad, Rachel paused, frowning deeper than usual. She pressed a hand to the stone, muttering under her breath. “They all go somewhere, but two of them… feel wrong. Off. The middle’s safe enough.”

Grover froze before she could move. His nose twitched. “Wait. No. There’s something down the right tunnel. Not wrong. Familiar.”

Rachel shot him a sharp look. “Familiar doesn’t always mean good.”

“Not a monster,” Grover insisted. His voice was taut, the way it got when instincts he didn’t fully understand were clawing at him. “I know that smell. Shadows. Death. But not-” He cut himself off, glancing at Percy.

Drew groaned. “Great. Mysterious crypt tunnel number forty-seven. My favorite.” She adjusted her braids and looked at Percy. “We’ll check it. Faster with two people than the whole circus.”

“You don’t even like scouting,” Castor pointed out.

“I don’t like anything down here,” Drew snapped back. “But somebody’s got to babysit goat boy before he nose-dives into a monster nest.”

Grover flushed. “I’m telling you, it’s not a monster.”

Percy hesitated, looking between them, then nodded. “Fine. Be careful. Shout if anything goes wrong.”

“Yeah, because the acoustics down here are so great,” Drew muttered. Still, she tugged Grover into the right-hand tunnel without waiting for more arguments.

The rest of the group made themselves comfortable on the floor, happy to get a chance to relax while waiting, but Percy couldn’t shake the coil of unease settling in his chest.

Time stretched thin in the Labyrinth. Every minute felt like it dragged twice as long, the silence pressing heavier the longer Drew and Grover were gone. Tyson fidgeted with a pebble until it crumbled in his hands. Rachel paced, muttering half-thoughts about “wrong turns” and “shadows that don’t belong.” Even Castor, usually steady, kept glancing down the tunnel like he expected monsters to pour out any second.

Percy sat with his back against the wall, trying not to imagine all the ways this could go bad. The Labyrinth didn’t give things back. Not people. Not easily.

Then- footsteps. Relief sparked, sharp enough to sting.

Percy stood up, exhaling in relief when Drew ran into view, Grover close behind. “The tunnel is safe. No monsters.” Drew said before anyone could ask.

“And look who we found!” Grover called, relief spilling out of him like he couldn’t hold it back.

“More like, look who found us,” Drew muttered, rolling her eyes. She stepped aside - and a smaller figure emerged from the shadows.

“Hi, Percy.”

Nico DiAngelo’s voice was soft, hesitant, the kind of quiet that could vanish if you blinked. His dark hair hung into his face, and for a second he looked more like a ghost than a kid. He tried for a smile, but it wavered.

Percy’s first thought wasn’t Oh gods, thank the Fates, he’s safe. It was Why does this keep happening?

He hated himself for it instantly.

Fortunately, Drew cut through the guilt before it could choke him. “Why does this keep happening? Seriously, Percy, you need to stop adopting strays.” She said, turning an annoyed glare towards Percy. The Boy knew that it's just for Show, though.  Percy knew the Girl was just as glad to see the Little Boy alive and well just as much as he was.

“Hey!” Percy protested. “Ethan’s not a stray.” A pause. “…Okay, maybe a little.”

Ethan snorted. “Thanks, man.”

“Anytime.”

Castor’s tone was worried and serious when he asked, “How did you end up here?”

The younger boy shifted, clearly uncomfortable. He glanced at Grover before answering, then back at Percy. His voice dropped low, like admitting a secret.

“I summoned her. Bianca.”

The air seemed to go colder.

Nico swallowed. “She told me… not to blame you anymore. That it wasn’t your fault she died. And she said-” He faltered, gaze flicking to Percy again. “She said you were going to need my help. That I should find you.”

Percy’s chest tightened. Relief, guilt, and something heavier all tangled together.

Rachel’s arms folded tightly, like she was holding back ten questions. Drew raised a brow, clearly ready to argue. Even Tyson shifted uneasily, muttering something about ghosts.

But Nico kept his eyes locked on Percy, waiting.

And Percy, despite the thousand things he wanted to say - you shouldn’t be here, you’re too young, I don’t want you in danger again - forced himself to nod. “You found us. And you’re safe.” he said quietly. “That’s what matters.”  Percy noticed that the creepy ghost that had been with Nico before was nowhere to be found. But he would ask about that another time.

Nico’s shoulders eased, just slightly. For the first time since stepping out of the dark, he looked less like a shadow and more like a boy.

And gods help him, Percy wasn’t sure if that was better.

The group decided that they’d find a place to sleep for now. They’d been walking for hours and were exhausted. Nico didn’t look much better.

They found a nice enough room, where Drew immediately got started on making a fire, while the others set up their sleeping mats or searched for something to eat. Thankfully, Castor had brought a spare sleeping mat, in case someone lost theirs, so Nico wouldn’t have to sleep on the cold floor.

Not even two hours later, Nico seemed almost… lighter. He still kept close to the fire, shoulders hunched in that way that made him look smaller than he was, but when Percy started telling him about the ridiculous things they’d run into in the Labyrinth while they were eating, spiral staircases to nowhere, the Sphynx’ gameshow, the arena, Nico’s eyes widened with that old spark Percy remembered.

Curiosity. Excitement. The kind of wonder that belonged to a kid his age, not someone who’d been forced to carry grief like a sword.

For the first time in a long time, Nico looked his age.

Percy must have smiled a little too much at that, because Drew snorted across the fire. “Careful, Jackson, you’ll spoil the kid with all this attention.”

But there wasn’t any real bite to it. Even she seemed relieved.

Eventually the group quieted, each of them curling onto their bedrolls or propping themselves against the walls. The embers burned low, casting the cave in flickering orange shadows. Percy lay awake longer than he should have, staring at the ceiling, listening to the uneven rhythm of everyone’s breathing.

Nico’s, soft and steady. Castor’s, not far from his own. Ethan’s, rough and restless.

And Percy thought, not for the first time, that somehow, impossibly, they were all still here. Still alive.

It was a fragile kind of peace. But for one last night, they let themselves have it.

The next morning, the Labyrinth didn’t waste time reminding them where they were.

They walked in uneasy silence, the air growing hotter with every step. The stone underfoot had a faint tremor, like the whole Labyrinth was humming through the soles of their boots. Sweat beaded at Percy’s temple, though whether it was from the heat or the tension pressing down on all of them, he wasn’t sure.

Rachel slowed, her hand brushing against the wall as her eyes narrowed. “We’re close,” she murmured. “The forge. I can feel it.”

Before Percy could answer, Grover froze. His nose twitched sharply, his whole body going rigid.
“Wait,” he said, voice tight. “Do you smell that?”

Everyone stopped. Percy sniffed the air, but all he caught was sulfur and smoke. “Smell what?”

“Not here.” Grover’s eyes were wide, distant, like he was listening to something none of them could hear. “It’s… it’s him. Pan. I swear, I can feel it. He’s close.”

The group exchanged uneasy looks. Drew muttered under her breath, “Oh, fantastic. Another detour.”

Grover shook his head, more insistent this time. “No. You don’t understand. This might be my only chance. I have to go.”

Panic lanced through Percy’s chest. “You’re saying we split up? Again?” He hated how sharp his voice sounded.

Tyson stepped up immediately, planting himself at Grover’s side. “I go with you. To keep you safe.”

Rachel crossed her arms, already making her choice. “Me too. Grover needs someone who can read the Labyrinth, and Percy-“ she jerked her chin toward the tunnel ahead- “the forge is just up there. Through that passage. You can’t miss it.”

“Wouldn’t it be smarter to stick together?” Percy asked, though he already knew he was losing this argument.

Grover’s expression softened, but there was steel in his voice. “If Pan is really here, I can’t ignore it. I won’t.”

Rachel added, steady and matter-of-fact, “And afterwards, we’ll find you again. Their chance of making it back safe is a lot bigger with me as a navigator.”

Percy’s grip tightened on Riptide. He hated this. Every part of him screamed to keep the group together, but Grover’s determination and Rachel’s certainty left no room for argument.

Finally, Percy nodded, his stomach twisting. “Fine. Just… come back, all right?”

Grover managed a small, hopeful smile. “We will.”

And then, before Percy could change his mind, the three of them slipped down a side passage, leaving Percy, Castor, Ethan, Drew and Nico standing in the growing heat of the forge tunnel.

The heat thickened with every step, wrapping around them like a smothering blanket. The tunnel widened until the walls fell away completely, and suddenly they were standing at the edge of a cavern so massive it looked like it had been carved out of the heart of the earth.

Lava churned far below, glowing orange and violent, sending waves of blistering air rushing upward. Bridges of black iron spanned the expanse like spiderwebs, leading to a central platform where sparks flared and the clang of hammers echoed.

Nico stopped dead beside Percy. His pale face glowed in the firelight, wide eyes fixed on the platform. “What is this place?” he whispered.

“A forge of Hephaestus,” Percy said, voice hoarse. His throat already felt raw from the heat.

Dark shapes moved on the platform, at first just shadows in the firelight, but the longer Percy looked, the clearer their forms became. Doglike faces, black hides that gleamed like wet stone, flippered legs waddling as they worked. There were more than Percy could count.

Ethan swore under his breath. “Telekhines.”

“You know them?” Castor asked, keeping his voice low.

“They made weapons for the Titans,” Ethan murmured grimly. “For the gods too, once. But Zeus banished them. They’re not supposed to exist anymore.”

Drew pulled a few loose strands of hair back from her damp forehead, grimacing at the heat. “Well, someone forgot to tell them that.”

A bark of laughter carried across the chamber, followed by the tinny drone of a projector. Percy frowned, straining to listen. It took him a second to realize what he was hearing: a lecture. The telekhines were teaching.

The group crept further along the ridge, hugging the wall until they found themselves crouched behind a jut of blackened stone. From here, Percy could see better - rows of smaller telekhines, sitting in neat lines, their beady eyes locked on a flickering film that rattled in the background.

The narrator’s voice was painfully cheerful: As a young sea demon matures, changes happen in the monster’s body…

A low growl escaped Nico before he could stop it. Percy grabbed his shoulder, warning him to stay quiet.

Down below, the instructor paced proudly in front of the class. “And what is the proper name of our kind?”

“Sea demons!” one barked.

“No,” the instructor snapped. “Anyone else?”

“Telekhines!” a smaller one cried.

“Very good,” the teacher said. “And why are we here?”

“Revenge!” the young ones chorused.

Percy’s gut twisted. The words kept spilling out, each answer worse than the last. How they had been cast into Tartarus, how they had built Poseidon’s trident, how they now served Kronos.

He felt Drew shift tensely beside him, her whisper sharp in his ear. “Please tell me they’re joking.”

“They’re not,” Ethan said flatly. His hand clenched around the hilt of his sword.

Percy swallowed hard, watching sparks fly from the forge as four massive, full-grown telekhines hammered at a blade that glowed hotter than the lava beneath them. The sight of it made his skin crawl.

“They’re building something for Kronos,” Percy whispered. “Something big.”

The clang of hammers rang out like a heartbeat. The heat pressed closer, heavy with smoke and sulfur. For a moment, all any of them could do was crouch there, staring at the monsters shaping the weapon that could tip the war.

The clang of the forges rattled in Percy’s skull. Sparks sprayed like fireflies as the full-grown telekhines hammered the glowing crescent blade, their growls echoing over the roar of molten rock.

Then one of the younger demons turned its head, nostrils flaring. Beady black eyes narrowed on the ridge. “A demigod,” it snarled.

Dozens of heads whipped toward them at once. Barking erupted. The classroom dissolved into chaos.

“Shit,” Percy hissed.

But it was too late. The tarp over a cart was thrown back, and a cluster of smaller telekhines pointed up at their hiding place with shrieks of triumph. The elder demons abandoned their work, molten metal dripping from their claws.

The door to the classroom blew open, and young telekhines came pouring out in a frenzy, their claws scraping the stone as they tripped over each other.

“Go!” Percy barked. “Get out of here!”

“What?” Drew snapped. “We’re not leaving you-”

“You are,” Percy cut in. His voice carried sharper than he meant, but there was no time to soften it. “Ethan, take them. Now!”

Ethan hesitated for a fraction of a second, then swore under his breath and grabbed Drew’s wrist. With his other hand, he caught Nico by the collar of his jacket. “Move!” He shoved them both toward the tunnel, sword flashing in warning at any telekhine that came too close. Their footsteps pounded away, swallowed by the roar of the forge.

That left Castor.

Percy turned, breath ragged. “Cas, go with them.”

But Castor shook his head, face pale in the firelight. His hand clamped onto Percy’s shoulder, desperate. “No. Not without you. You can still run-”

“I can’t.” Percy’s voice broke. “If I don’t hold them off, none of you make it out.”

Castor’s eyes searched his face, frantic, memorizing. His fingers dug into Percy’s shoulder, as if holding him here might anchor him. “Don’t do this,” he whispered. “Don’t leave me.”

And then, before Percy could even process it, Castor leaned in and kissed him.

It was short, sweet, desperate - every emotion Castor couldn’t say pouring into that single, trembling moment. Percy froze, the heat and the fire and the monsters all vanishing beneath the shock of it. For one breath, the world shrank to nothing but Castor’s lips against his own.

Too soon, it was over. Castor pulled back, dazed, voice rough. “Don’t you dare die on me, Percy Jackson.”

And then he was gone, sprinting into the tunnel after the others.

Percy stood alone as the telekhines closed in, their snarls echoing across the bridges. He barely had time to raise Riptide before the elder demons dropped their glowing blade and fanned out, blocking every exit.

“A son of Poseidon,” one growled. “At last.”

“Yes,” another hissed. “I can smell the sea in his blood.”

The largest scooped a glob of lava into his clawed hand and hurled it. Percy twisted, but it splattered across his leg, burning instantly through denim, flesh, nerve. His scream tore out raw. Two more globs slammed into his chest, the fire licking hungrily up his shirt, crawling toward his throat.

He dropped Riptide with a clatter, slapping at the flames with his bare hands, but it was useless. The fire ate at him like it was alive.

The heat was unbearable now, a suffocating, relentless crush. His skin screamed. His lungs felt like they were boiling from the inside. He crumpled to the floor, flames clawing up his arms as the younger telekhines barked and yipped in cruel triumph.

“Your father’s nature protects you,” one sneered. “But not forever. You will burn, youngling.”

And Percy did burn. The pain was worse than anything he had ever known. Every nerve screamed. It was sharp and endless and hungry. It stripped him bare until he was nothing but agony. He wanted to give in, to let it take him.

'Can I let this go, just this once? Can I leave it to someone else this one time? I'm tired. I'm so tired. Everything hurts. Why does it always have to be me? Maybe this one time, just this once, I can finally rest.'

Percy closed his eyes, the pain becoming overwhelming. He could feel himself passing out, finally able to rest.

But then-

The water is within you.

The voice of the naiad. Clear, cutting through the pain.

And another: Quintus, calm and steady back at camp. Wherever you go, there is water. You only have to know where to look.

Through the pain, Percy forced himself to stay awake. He dug deep, past the fire, past the terror, to the part of him that was more ocean than boy. His heart pounded, every beat a wave crashing in his ears.

He searched.

The air around him felt charged, trembling, like a storm about to break. Static prickled across his skin, his whole body buzzing with pressure, like one wrong move would blow the whole cavern apart.

He furrowed his brow, reaching, pulling.

And then- he felt it.

It was everywhere. In the damp stone beneath his palms. In the breath he gasped through scorched lungs. In the thin sheen of sweat and tears clinging to his skin. In the very air itself.

It wasn’t just water. It was him.

When he opened his eyes, he saw droplets sliding from the walls, condensing out of the smoky air, tearing free from cracks in the ground. Tiny rivulets streamed toward him, magnetized, wrapping around his burned skin like a second layer, a living shield.

The telekhines snarled, their triumph faltering.

Percy’s hand trembled as the water gathered, more and more, until he could feel the sea itself answering inside him, vast and merciless.

And he let it go in one horrible scream.

What followed defied words: an explosion, a tidal wave, a storm of fire and water colliding at once. The cavern erupted in blinding steam as lava and seawater clashed, the pressure hurling Percy upward like a comet torn from the earth.

He shot skyward, higher and higher, smoke and fire and water streaming off him, the forge shattering beneath in a maelstrom of destruction.

For one impossible moment, he was flying- flying so high Zeus would never forgive him.

And then he began to fall.

A comet hurtling toward the earth.