Chapter 4

The next morning there was a lot of excitement at breakfast.

Well, around three in the morning, an Aethiopian drakon had been spotted at the borders of the camp. The magical boundaries had kept the monster out, but it prowled the hills, looking for weak spots in the defenses, and it didn't seem anxious to go away until Lee Fletcher from Apollo's cabin led a couple of his siblings in pursuit. After a few dozen arrows lodged in the chinks of the drakon's armor, it got the message and withdrew.

"It's still out there," Lee warned during announcements. "Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made it mad. The thing was thirty feet long and bright green. It's eyes—" he shuddered.

"You did well, Lee," Chiron patted him on the shoulder. "Everyone stay alert, but stay calm. This has happened before."

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

The campers murmured among themselves. Y/N turned to look at Harris, mouthing the words, "Did you know?" He nodded his head to accept. It seemed like she wasn't the only one who kept dreaming about the camp under attack all the time.

Everyone knew the rumors: Luke and his army of monsters were planning an invasion of the camp. Most of them expected it to happen this summer, but no one knew how or when. It didn't help that their attendance was down. They only had about eighty campers. Three years ago, Y/N started, there had been more than a hundred. Some had died. Some had joined Luke. Some had just disappeared.

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

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

All of them raised their glasses and repeated the blessing.

Y/N took her plate to the bronze brazier and scraped a portion of her food into the flames. "Apollo," she whispered, "Give me a sign of what I should do...."

There was so much to worry about, and she could've stood there all morning, but she headed back to the table. She couldn't just stand there ranting about her pathetic feelings and friends when there was no guarantee they would survive the prophecy. She wanted to be the bigger person and just forget any of those things ever happened. But easier said than done. One look at their faces and it felt like the day they confessed to her. Even with Grover in her mind, all she could feel after looking at their faces was irritation.

Still...even after all this, her eyes still seemed to search for the seaweed brain. It was getting annoying at this point.

Once everyone was eating, Chiron and Grover came over to visit Percy. Grover was bleary-eyed. His shirt was inside out. He slid his plate onto the table and slumped next to him.

Tyson shifted uncomfortably. "I will go...um...polish my fish ponies." He lumbered off, leaving his breakfast half-eaten.

Chiron tried for a smile. He probably wanted to look reassuring, but in centaur form he towered over him, casting a shadow across the table. "Well, Percy, how did you sleep?"

"Uh, fine." Percy wondered why he asked that. Was it possible he knew something about the weird Iris-message he'd gotten?

He saw Nico in it, and he was talking to a ghost. Nico was looking for a way to bring back his sister, which was almost impossible. Almost. The ghost seemed to know a way to bring her back, but just as they were about to discuss the plan, the message requested for another drachma. Unfortunately, he didn't have that and the message disappeared. The ghost also said something about how it helped Nico by saving him several times, leading him through a maze, and teaching him to use his powers. Well, he wasn't so focused on that.

"I brought Grover over," Chiron said, "because I thought you two might want to, ah, discuss matters. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Iris-messages to send. I'll see you later in the day." He gave Grover a meaningful look, then trotted out of the pavilion."

"What's he talking about?" Percy asked Grover.

Grover chewed his eggs. He could tell he was distracted, because he bit the tines of his fork and chewed those down, too. "He wants you to convince me," he mumbled. Somebody else slid next to him on the bench: Annabeth.

And almost instinctively his head shot towards the direction of the Apollo cabin's members. Oh...she wasn't looking. He didn't know whether to feel good or bad about the situation. It would make matters worse. Y/N would probably absolutely ignore their existence after this.

"I'll tell you what it's about," Annabeth said. "The Labyrinth."

It was hard to concentrate on what she was saying because everybody in the dining pavilion was stealing glances at them and whispering. And Annabeth was right next to him. With the amount of whispers, he was sure it would reach Y/N's ears. He didn't want her to hate him.

But wait...shouldn't she be understanding about the situation too? Grover was here too, so maybe Y/N wouldn't mind all that much. And besides, after the commotion with Grover, she would absolutely understand if they held a discussion.

Percy sighed. He knew how much of an insensitive jerk he sounded like, but...still, it's not like he said something illogical either. For now, he needed to shoo away the main culprit of the situation.

"You're not supposed to be here," Percy said.

"We need to talk," she insisted.

"But the rules..."

She knew as well as everyone else, that campers weren't allowed to switch tables. Satyrs were different. They weren't really demigods. But the half-bloods had to sit with their cabins. I wasn't even sure what the punishment was for switching tables. He'd never seen it happen. If Mr. D had been here, he probably would've strangled Annabeth with magical grapevines or something, but Mr. D wasn't here. Chiron had already left the pavilion. Quintus looked over and raised an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything.

"Maybe Annabeth deserves a punishment," Percy thought.

"Look," Annabeth said, "Grover is in trouble. There's only one way we can figure out how to help him. It's the Labyrinth. That's what Clarisse and I have been investigating."

He shifted his weight, trying to think clearly. "You mean the maze where they kept the Minotaur, back in the old days?"

"Exactly," Annabeth said.

"So...it's not under the king's palace in Crete anymore," he guessed. "The Labyrinth is under some building in America."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Under a building? Please, Percy. The Labyrinth is huge. It wouldn't fit under a single city, much less a single building."

He thought about my dream of Nico at the River Styx. "So...is the Labyrinth part of the Underworld?"

"No." Annabeth frowned. "Well, there may be passages from the Labyrinth down into the Underworld. I'm not sure. But the Underworld is way, way down. The Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, kind of like a second skin. It's been growing for thousands of years, lacing its way under Western cities, connecting everything together underground. You can get anywhere through the Labyrinth."

"If you don't get lost," Grover muttered. "And die a horrible death."

"Grover, there has to be a way," Annabeth said. He got the feeling they'd had this conversation before.

"Clarisse lived."

"Barely!"Grover said. "And the other guy—"

"He was driven insane. He didn't die."

"Oh, joy." Grover's lower lip quivered. "That makes me feel much better."

"Whoa," Percy said. "Back up. What's this about Clarisse and a crazy guy?"

Annabeth glanced over toward the Ares table. Clarisse was watching them like she knew what they were talking about, but then she fixed her eyes on her breakfast plate.

"Last year," Annabeth said, lowering her voice, "Clarisse went on a mission for Chiron."

"I remember," Percy said. "It was secret."

Annabeth nodded.

"It was secret," Annabeth agreed, "because she found Chris Rodriguez."

"The guy from the Hermes cabin?" he remembered him from two years ago. They'd eavesdropped on Chris Rodriguez aboard Luke's ship, the Princess Andromeda. Chris was one of the half-bloods who'd abandoned camp and joined the Titan Army.

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "Last summer he just appeared in Phoenix, Arizona, near Clarisse's mom's house."

"What do you mean he just appeared?"

"He was wandering around the desert, in a hundred and twenty degrees, in full Greek armor, babbling about string."

"String," he said.

"He'd been driven completely insane. Clarisse brought him back to her mom's house so the mortals wouldn't institutionalize him. She tried to nurse him back to health. Chiron came out and interviewed him, but it wasn't much good. The only thing they got out of him: Luke's men have been exploring the Labyrinth."

Percy shivered, though he wasn't exactly sure why. Poor Chris...he hadn't been a bad guy. What could've driven him mad? I looked at Grover, who was chewing up the rest of his fork.

"Okay," he asked. "Why were they exploring the Labyrinth?"

"We weren't sure," Annabeth said. "That's why Clarisse went on a scouting expedition. Chiron kept things hushed up because he didn't want anyone panicking. He got me involved because...well, the Labyrinth has always been one of my favorite subjects. The architecture involved—" Her expression turned a little dreamy. "The builder, Daedalus, was a genius. But the point is, the Labyrinth has entrances everywhere. If Luke could figure out how to navigate it, he could move his army around with incredible speed."

"Except it's a maze, right?"

"Full of horrible traps," Grover agreed."Dead ends. Illusions. Psychotic goat-killing monsters."

"But not if you had Ariadne's string," Annabeth said. "In the old days, Ariadne's string guided Theseus out of the maze. It was a navigation instrument of some kind, invented by Daedalus. And Chris Rodriguez was mumbling about string."

"So Luke is trying to find Ariadne's string," Percy said. "Why? What's he planning?"

Annabeth shook her head. "I don't know. I thought maybe he wanted to invade camp through the maze, but that doesn't make any sense. The closest entrances Clarisse found were in Manhattan, which wouldn't help Luke get past our borders. Clarisse explored a little way into the tunnels, but...it was very dangerous. She had some close calls. I researched everything I could find about Daedalus. I'm afraid it didn't help much. I don't understand exactly what Luke's planning, but I do know this: the Labyrinth might be the key to Grover's problem."

Percy blinked. "You think Pan is underground?"

"It would explain why he's been impossible to find."

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

"But," Annabeth said, "the Labyrinth can lead you almost anywhere. It reads your thoughts. It was designed to fool you, trick you, and kill you; but if you can make the Labyrinth work for you—"

"It could lead you to the wild god," Percy said.

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

"Grover, it may be your last chance," Annabeth said. "The council is serious. One week or you learn to tap dance!"

Over at the head table, Quintus cleared his throat. Percy got the feeling he didn't want to make a scene, but Annabeth was really pushing it, sitting at his table for so long.

"And did you talk to Y/N?" she asked, eyes looking for some hope.

"I tried..but," he looked in her direction, "she won't listen and doesn't want to be involved."

"Clearly you don't know how to convince her," Annabeth said, eyes furrowed in irritation.

"Well, why don't you give it a try then?" Percy said, a little too loud.

"Alright, we'll talk later," Annabeth squeezed his arm a little too hard. "Convince Grover and I'll convince her."

She returned to the Athena table, ignoring all the people who were staring at her. He didn't know what kind of confidence suddenly took over Annabeth, but he just hoped for it to work. She was good with words when it came to certain situations. He wished he had even a little bit of that talent, then maybe Y/N would've already been convinced. It felt like somehow it was becoming a competition between him and Annabeth of who is closer to her.

And he didn't like the way all his paths were coming to a dead end.

Grover buried his head in his hands. "I can't do it, Percy. My searcher's license. Pan. I'm going to lose it all. I'll have to start a puppet theater."

"Don't say that! We'll figure something out."

"I have to leave," Grover said miserably. "Juniper's waiting for me. It's a good thing she finds cowards attractive."

After he was gone, Percy looked over at Quintus. He nodded gravely, like they were sharing some dark secret. Then he went back to cutting his sausage with a dagger.

[ TIME SKIP ]

Around the afternoon, when Y/N was busy reading a book near Canoe Lake, she felt a presence behind her. A well-known presence she wanted to ignore.

Annabeth sat beside her, which made her shift away a bit immediately. "We can't do this without you."

Sighing, Y/N closed her book and looked at her, "There are plenty of healers, you can just ask one of my siblings."

"You know it's not the same as going with you. We know how we work around each other in dangerous situations. Besides, it would...feel empty without you."

"Look, I don't want to be tossed around and used whenever you all feel like it. I don't trust you or him."

"I am sorry for what I did! I wasn't thinking straight. I...lost someone precious and I didn't know how to handle it!"

"Oh, and the only way you thought of handling it is by playing with his emotions and breaking my trust?"

"It wasn't intentional."

"It was though, Anne. You knew the way he looked at you and decided to take advantage of it. How would you feel if Luke asked me to join them, that he would date me if I wanted to get over both of you and I accepted it?"

"You wouldn't and I know it."

"See?" Y/N chuckled, "You don't even have to think twice about this. I didn't either. But after what you did, I don't think anything is impossible."

Annabeth stayed silent for a while and said, "You know, Percy is not at fault here. It was news to him too. So...maybe you should atleast-"

"You don't need to tell me that. I know. It's just...feels awful to know how he knew everything but continued to lead me on instead of turning me down."

"He was overwhelmed. It was a first-time situation and he didn't know what to do. You know that better than me," Annabeth sighed, "Please just talk to him."

"Fine, I will." Y/N said massaging her forehead,"....And what about Grover?"

"....So you're in, right?"

[ TIME SKIP ]

Walking towards the Pegasus stables, she found Percy just as Annabeth said. Percy seemed to be talking to his friend Blackjack. She waited for him to finish. It didn't take much time as he shot his head to look in her direction after a while.

A group of younger campers came into the stables to start their riding lessons and started whispering amongst themselves. Clearly, the news of their fight was all over the camp. As Percy started walking towards her, she heard one of the campers say something along the lines of "he isn't even that good-looking."

"Mind your own business," she spoke, looking over at them. Sure, she might be having a fight with him, doesn't mean they get to insult him in front of her.

An action that made Percy smile a bit. He didn't know why but it made him feel giddy how Y/N was defending him. He observed her expression - how her ears were turning red in anger, and she scrunched her nose while furrowing her brows.

How cute.

"Come on," she muttered, walking away from the stables.

As Percy started following her, he said, "I'm guessing you talked with Annabeth?"

"Yes, she filled me in about whatever happened," Y/N said and licked her lips. This is awkward. Knowing he knew about her feelings, it was getting difficult to talk to him about how she wanted to forget everything and start over the friendship.

Sighing, she mustered up the courage and said, "Look, I'm here because I feel like I'm not being fair to you. I know, you were hurt by Annabeth's action as much as I did. But I was too busy feeling betrayed to even hear you out. So...let's just forget everything and start over like nothing happened."

"Sure," he said, "And during breakfast Annabeth just came to my table to talk about the events and also, you. Nothing else...in case you are wondering." With the way the campers were talking, he didn't want her to misunderstand. He didn't know why but he wanted to make it clear as soon as possible. Annabeth was nothing more than just an awful friend.

"Didn't ask, don't care," Y/N said.

Percy looked at her demeanor. She looked...nervous. And she still wasn't looking at him. It still felt...awful. He wanted the old Y/N back. But, it did feel nice how she reached out first. Probably because of Grover's situation. He didn't exactly have the place to complain about it. A small smirk took over his lips, as he put his arm around her shoulders and started walking towards the Canoe Lake. She looked like a deer in headlights. Maybe he did get some of the confidence Annabeth had.

Thinking back on his conversation with Y/N, he was a bit disturbed by the last line. Act like nothing happened? It might be a bit selfish of him but...he didn't want her to forget.

The feeling of getting her attention was starting to get addicting.