I walked with Percy to the hearth and he tossed in some rasen toast and dumped some froot loops in. He bowed his head and muttered some stuff. I kept my respectful distance and then I tossed in some scrambled eggs, "Apollo."

I followed him back to his table. He set his plate down and turned to look at me, but frowned when I sat down, across from him beside Tyson, and started eating.

"Hey big guy!"

"Morning Nora!" His big brown eye looked me over. "Is Percy's little big sister hurt?"

"I'm okay. Will patched me up pretty good." I smiled. "So how come you kept Percy up last night? He looks terrible."

Tyson looked at his brother, who was sputtering still, looking at me like I was nuts. Tyson hummed.

"He does look tired. He needs a well balanced breakfast and sleep."

"Problem Percy?" I asked and raised an eyebrow.

"You're not supposed to be here!"

"Umm, excuse me?"

"Like here here. You gotta sit over there," he pointed to Apollo's table, "with your cabin."

"It's fine." I waved a hand. "Hey Will!" I called. The blond boy turned. "I need a doctor's note saying I need to sit here."

He turned around back to the table pulled something out of his hip bag and leaned over it for a second and then came over with a cheeky smile and handed me the small slip of paper.

"The prescription you requested."

"Thank you Will! See? Doctor's orders."

Will winked at me and walked back to the table. "I need to sit with my dear brother and worry about his sleep schedule."

Percy rolled his eyes but sat down, a small cocky smirk on his face. He leaned in, and I leaned forward, placing my elbows on the table. We were only inches apart and he whispered what kept him up; it happened to be this weird annonyamus Iris message he recieved from the underworld.

"So...let me get this straight." I whispered pointing a fork at him, "Your saying you saw Nico in the underworld, having a campfire on the beach of the River Styx."

He nodded, taking a bit of froot looos.

"And he was actually talking to a ghost about bringing his sister back to life."

"Ya." Percy nodded with a mouth full of cereal again.

"And this ghost has convince him he needs to commute murder. Murdering someone who has escaped death, calling it vengeance."

"Yeah." Percy nodded again.

"And now you have a feeling you knew what soul he wants to exchange- someone who had cheated death. This vengeance..."

"Yeah." He repeated, still shoveling food in his mouth.

"You're saying Nico di Angelo is going to come looking for you." I summed up flailing my fork and a piece of bacon around.

"Summed up nicely."

"Well Styx. This sucks."

"You could say that." He said gloomily.

Before I could say something else a shadow passed over our table. Chiron and Grover came over to visit. Grover was as bleary-eyed as Percy. His shirt was inside out. He slid his plate onto the table and slumped next to me. I hadn't been properly introduced. I knew who he was and all about him from Percy, but never actually introduced.

Tyson shifted uncomfortably on my other side. "I will go…um…polish my fish ponies."
He lumbered off, leaving his breakfast half-eaten. I frowned after him.

Chiron tried for a smile. "I see you have a...doctors note?" He asked me.

"Yes. I needed to have a word with Percy. It's all in the emotional healing of toll I took last night. And now-"

"Fine fine whatever...it's fine." He waved a hand. He probably wanted to look reassuring, but in centaur form he towered over the table, casting a shadow across the table. I was shocked, and glanced at Percy, he looked just as dumbfounded as I felt. Chiron never let things slid, even when he was Mr Brunner. And now when he didn't seem concerned about a fake paper giving me permission to switch tables. We both looked back up at Chiron slightly confused.

"Well, Percy, how did you sleep?" He asked, slightly unfocused. He seemed very distracted.

"Uh, fine." Percy said hesitantly, he glanced at me in question. I shrugged. I wondered why he asked that. Was it possible Chiron knew something about the weird Iris-message he had gotten? Or did he notice how exhausted and stressed Percy looked?

"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. I could tell he was distracted. 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 Percy on the bench: Annabeth. She glared at me for a second before she turned her full attention onto Percy.

"I’ll tell you what it’s about," she said. "The Labyrinth."

My heart beat picked up and my head felt dizzy as soon as Annabeth said the word Labyrinth. I had a weird after taste reappear in my mouth, the sour metal taste mixed with hot sauce and sour green candy of the green smoke. I tried getting rid of it with the rest of my orange juice. It didn't work. It was still there. And I felt kind my hands go tingling. I was having a hard time concentrating.

I wasn't the only one apparently, it looked like Percy was having a hard time concentrating on what Annabeth was saying as well. One, because everybody in the dining pavilion was stealing glances at us and whispering. Percy had me and now Annabeth at the Posiden table. And Annabeth was right next to him. I mean right next to him. Almost like she was trying to claim him or something. She kept glancing at me with narrowed eyes.

"You’re not supposed to be here," I finally said.

"I need to talk to Percy and Grover." she insisted.

"But the rules, Annabeth. The rules!" I snarked.

She raised a haughty eyebrow. "What about you?"

"I." I said smugly and pulled out the paper. "Have a doctor's note, clearing me to sit with my BROTHER, after the emotional damage of last night."

"Oh cut that crap out." She rolled her eyes, "emotional damage my butt!"

I smirked. She was kind of easy to get riled up and frustrated.

"Okay...but Annabeth," Percy suddenly said, nervous. "Nora kinda has a small point. I don't even know what the punishment is for switching tables. I've never seen it happen. If Mr. D was here, he'd probably strangle both of you with magical grapevines or something!" Percy grumbled, "actually, no he'd blame me for this and then strangle me! You two are lucky Chiron already left the pavilion."

"Please." I waved a hand dismissively, "He didn't care at all I was here." I smirked. Percy exhaled, and then shrugged like he had given up. Quintus looked over and raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t say anything.

"Alright whatever." He said.

"Okay Look," Annabeth said rushing right into why she was here, "Grover is in trouble. There’s only one way we can figure to help him."

"Why does he need help?" I interupted.

"Why are you even here?" She rounded on me.

"He has a week to find Pan, the Nature god who has just like... disappeared or fallen asleep or something or he's toast." Percy cut off Annabeth. "Would you two stop? I really don't know what your problem is with each other, but stop!"

"I just asked a question! Your girlfriend, Percy is the one constantly biting my head off and making everything into an argument!"

Percy's face went slightly pink and he fidgited with his spoon. Annabeth's face went pink in a blush as well. And for a second I saw her eyes flick to Percy who caught her eye and then they both looked away. I rolled my eyes. There two were so blind, and stubborn. Annabeth's eyes flicked up to me and I raised my eyebrows in a silent question. I could see the struggle and then she exhaled heavily through her nose and continued, but her tone was less icy and sharp.

"So, best we can figure to help Grover is the Labyrinth. That’s what Clarisse and I have been investigating."

I shifted my weight, trying to think clearly, when Annabeth said Labyrinth I felt that sudden swooning sensation and gross after taste. "You mean the maze where they kept the Minotaur, back in the old days?" I asked.

"Exactly," Annabeth said.

"So…it’s not under the king’s palace in Crete anymore," Percy guessed.

"Ya! Very good, Percy," Annabeth smiled, like not a condescending one or one with disdain, this was a genuine smile.

"See? It only took me a few years to figure things out; that important places move around with Western Civilization, like Mount Olympus being over the Empire State building, and the Underworld entrance being in Los Angeles." Percy said, he looked pretty proud of himelf.

"The Labyrinth is under some building in America?" I asked.

That's when Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Under a building? Please, Nora. The Labyrinth is huge. It wouldn’t fit under a single city, much less a single building.”

I thought about Percy's dream of Nico at the River Styx. "So…is the Labyrinth part of the Underworld?"

"No." Annabeth said flattly. Then 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."

"Okay that's kinda cool." I said.

"But if you don’t get lost," Grover muttered. "You die a horrible death."

"Way to optimistic." I gave him a lopsided smile.

"Grover, there has to be a way,” Annabeth said. I got the feeling they’d had this conversation before. "Clarisse and Raph 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," I said. "Back up!"

"What’s this about Clarisse and a crazy guy?" Percy added.

"Raph was with her? He doesn't seem crazy, he saved me last night from being a demigod chew toy!"

Annabeth glanced over toward the Ares table. Clarisse and Raph were watching us like they knew what we were talking about, but then she fixed her eyes on her breakfast plate, and Raph just got up and left.

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

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

Annabeth nodded. Despite how serious she was acting, I could see how happy Percy was, Annabeth wasn’t mad at him anymore, and seemed to also be talking to me like a human and not something beneath her. (Or some girl trying to hon in on her man- and for the record, sure he's good looking, but EWW. He's my step brother. No.Thank.You.) I could see how much Percy liked the fact that she’d broken the rules to come sit next to him. I knew Percy wasn't into rules much. In that way we were very similar. We both liked to push boundaries and being told not to do something...well it makes us want to do it. Twice. And take pictures, just to piss you off.

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

I frowned. "Who?"

"The guy from the Hermes cabin?" Percy asked, "I kind of remember him from two years ago. Didn't we eavesdrop on Chris aboard Luke’s ship?"

"Let me guess, Chris is one of the half-bloods who’d abandoned camp and joined the Titan Army?" I said flatly.

"Yeah," Annabeth nodded at my statement. "Last summer he just appeared in Phoenix, Arizona, near Clarisse’s mom’s house."

"Okay, wait. What do you mean he just appeared?" I asked frowning.

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

"Holy Hades!" I whispered.

"String." Percy repeated.

Annabeth nodded. "He’d been driven completely insane. Clarisse and Raph brought him back to her mom’s house so the mortals wouldn’t institutionalize him. They tried to nurse him back to health. Chiron even 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."

I shivered, though I wasn’t exactly sure why.

"Poor Chris…he wasn't a bad guy. What could’ve driven him mad?"

I shrugged, and glanced at Grover, who had taken my abandoned fork and was chewing that one up.

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

"We weren’t sure," Annabeth said. "That’s why Clarisse and Raph 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."

"Oh Styx. That is not good." I mumbled. Seeing where this was going.

"Except it’s a maze, right?" Percy asked, with a frown. He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes. I could see him thinking this all over, trying to figure this out.

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

"Doesn't sound all bad." I said giving him a small nudge and a small smirk.

"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 this Luke is trying to find Ariadne’s string," I 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 and Raph found were in Manhattan, which wouldn’t help Luke get past our borders. They explored a little way into the tunnels, but…it was very dangerous. They had some close calls, they wouldn't really talk about it. 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."

"And ...possibly mine!" I said suddenly, I felt a mix of hot and tingly, a sudden realization and also like I had a bucket of ice water dumped on me.

Percy blinked. "You think Pan is underground? Hold on Nora, we'll come back around to you...Grover!" His eyes went wide in realization.

"It would explain why Pan’s been impossible to find." Annabeth agreed.

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," I said, understanding what Annabeth and Percy were getting at.

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

"Well, you did have two helpings..." I pointed out.

Grover gave me a sheepish grin, "sorry for eating your fork."

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

He bleeded in frustration and defeat. Over at the head table, Quintus cleared his throat. I got the feeling he didn’t want to make a scene, but Annabeth and I were really pushing it, sitting at Percy's table so long. I waved the paper.

"I have a doctor's note. Thank you!"

Quintus narrowed his eyes at me.

"Wanna read it? Okay I'll read it." I made a big deal about shaking the paper out so I could read it and clearing my throat. "It says: I William Andrew Solace, of Cabin 7, son of the mighty Healing god Apollo, Head Healer of Camp Half-Blood, hereby give strict permission for Eleanora -"

"Fine!" He cried, banging his fist on the table and leaving the pavilion.

"Thank you. It's much appreciated." I called to his back. I smirked and tried not to laugh. I turned back to Percy and Annabeth and Grover. They all have me a look of surprise.

"What?"

"I can't believe that actually worked!"

"Can't argue with doctor's orders." I grinned mischievously at them. I shrugged and leaned closer. "Now. Back to the maze. Annabeth every time you say it...I get this weird feeling everytime you say the word Labyrinth."

Annabeth said it again and I shivered and coughed. This time green mist came out of my mouth. Making them suck a sharp breath in and lean away slightly.

"Stop! It tasted so gross!" I tried getting the after taste off my tongue. Percy handed me his mug of hot chocolate, for some reason it was bright blue. I took a sip helping to get rid of the horrible after taste of the mist. "Thanks. Anyways. Remember the prophecy?"

"The Daughter of the Light, The Healer and son of War. Must journey deep through twist and turn. To find the sputtering flame who has fallen asleep. Awake the blaze within before the earth is dead and cold." Annabeth recited perfectly.

"Ya, well the line where it says Must journey deep through twist and turn?"

She looked like she was slapped in the face. "No way!"

"Two quests into the maze!" Percy whispered. "Two quests at once to the same place for different things? That's un heard of!"

I hummed. "And now...I think I know who my third person is." I nodded slowly, looking at the Ares table, to the spot where Raph had left it empty.

🔆

Author's Notes:
Getting closer to questing time! Yay!
At this point we kind of veer away from the main book and Percy/Annabeth. We will of course run into them in the maze. But Nora has her own journey now...and her own Prophecy to fulfill and understand. :)

I hope this makes sense so far- for those readers who haven't read Sea of Monsters or Titan's Curse or Battle of the Labyrinth...I'm sorry and I hope I'm making this as clear as possible!

If you haven't, I highly recommend you do! They are AMAZING BOOKS!

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