I have met two gods now, Apollo and Aphrodite, and they both looked so...regular. A little more... glowy and...prettier than a regular human, but they looked so normal it was hard to imagine them as immortal beings. And now, Hera, wife of Zeus, looked like a regular mom. She served us sandwiches and poured lemonade.

"Grover, dear," she said, "use your napkin. Don't eat it."

"Yes, ma'am." Grover said.

"Tyson, you're wasting away. Would you like another peanut butter sandwich?"

Tyson stifled a belch. "Yes, nice lady."

I scooted closer to Raph, and leaned over, "she's like your grandmother, ya?" I whispered.

He elbowed me, "shh! Respect! She's also your grandmother.

"STEP grandmother. And we all know how well step mothers and step grandmothers are in all the stories!" I hissed back.

"You're being dramatic." He rolled his eyes.

"Have you read any of the old stories?" I rolled my eyes in response. I then smirked, "Hey, Raph, Go ask grandma if she has cookies!" I giggled.

"It's not polite to talk with your mouth full Eleanora!" She said with a bit of a sharpness to her.

I had to suppress the urge to roll my eyes again.

"Queen Hera," Annabeth said, drawing her attention away from me. "I can't believe it. What are you doing in the Labyrinth?"

Hera smiled. She flicked one finger and Annabeth's hair combed itself. All the dirt and grime disappeared from her face.

"I came to see you, naturally," the goddess said.

Grover and Percy glanced at each other, like they were saying 'ha fat chance, what's the catch?' and then Percy glanced at me, and we exchanged nervous looks. Usually when the gods come looking for you, it's not out of the goodness of their hearts. It's because they want something, or mess with your head, and give me random advice that was seriously useless.

Still, that didn't keep me from chowing down on turkey-and-Swiss sandwiches and chips and lemonade. I hadn't realized how hungry I was. Tyson was inhaling one peanut butter sandwich after another, and Grover was loving the lemonade, crunching the Styrofoam cup like an ice-cream cone. Raph and Will were eat ham and cheese sandwichs. Tyson grinned at me, his teeth covered in peanut butter.

"Percy's little Big sister! These peanut butter sandwiches are the yummiest peanut butter!"

"Pass one over BFC!" I grinned. He tossed me a sandwich from the other side of the room.

"Manners, Eleanora! Stop throwing food! Hera scolded me. Percy snorted. And Tyson looked sheepish.

"I didn't think-" Annabeth faltered. "Well, I didn't think you liked heroes."

She clearly doesn't like me, her eyes flashed in my direction constantly, and I could feel a general strong dislike towards me. I was a daughter of a son of her husband's affair. Of course she didn't like me.

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

"Didn't you try to kill him, like, a lot of times?" I asked.

Hera waved her hand dismissively, but I felt the tension build in her muscles. Her eyes flashed in warning.

"Water under the bridge, my dear." Her voice was sharp though, despite the smile and dismissive hand. "Besides, he was one of my loving husband's children by another woman. My patience wore thin, I'll admit it. But Zeus and I have had some excellent marriage counseling sessions since then. We've aired our feelings and come to an understanding- especially after that last little incident."

"You mean when he sired Thalia?" Percy guessed.

It looked like he immediately wished he hadn't spoken. As soon as he said the name of the half-blood daughter of Zeus, Hera's eyes turned toward Percy frostily.

"Percy Jackson, isn't it? One of Poseidon's...children." I got the feeling she was thinking of another word besides children. Hera continued, "As I recall, I voted to let you live at the winter solstice. I hope I voted correctly."

I raised my eyebrows at Percy, he shook his head. Hera turned back to Annabeth with a sunny smile. "At any rate, I certainly bear you no ill will, my girl. I appreciate the difficulty of your quest. Especially when you have troublemakers like Janus to deal with."

I felt a knife to my chest. I was attacked by him too but it was Annabeth, clearly she was here for.

Annabeth lowered her gaze. "Why was he here? He was driving me crazy."

"Yes, he was trying to drive you crazy." Hera agreed. "You must understand, the minor gods like Janus have always been frustrated by the small parts they play in the universe. Some, I fear, have little love for Olympus, and could easily be swayed to support the rise of my father."

"Your father?" I said.

When Hera looked at me again her eyes flashed. And that's when I remember that Kronos was Hera's dad, too, along with being the father to Zeus, Poseidon, and all the eldest Olympians. Which ment Hera and Zeus were siblings.

"Oh, right." I mumbled. I wrinkled my nose at the thought, I shook my head trying to rid myself of that thought.

"We must watch the minor gods," Hera said. "Janus. Hecate. Morpheus. They give lip service to Olympus, and yet-"

"That's where Dionysus went," Raph remembered. "He was checking on the minor gods."

"Indeed." Hera said with a soft smile at Raph. This time I couldn't help but roll my eyes with a scoff.

Hera stared at the fading mosaics of the Olympians. I wondered why it was of Roman art and not Greek. And why, when I looked at the Roman picture if Apollo sitting in the big gold chair with the essence of Helios, or Sol behind him why I felt queasy. I shook my head again and stuffed my mouth with another bit of peanut butter and jelly if the gods. Hera was still talking and I old tooned in now.

"You see, in times of trouble, even gods can lose faith. They start putting their trust in the wrong things. They stop looking at the big picture and start being selfish. But I'm the goddess of marriage, you see. I'm used to perseverance. You have to rise above the squabbling and chaos, and keep believing. You have to always keep your goals in mind."

"What are your goals?" Annabeth asked.

She smiled. "To keep my family, the Olympians, together, of course. At the moment, the best way I can do that is by helping you. Zeus does not allow me to interfere much, I am afraid. But once every century or so, for a quest I care deeply about, he allows me to grant a wish."

"A wish?" Annabeth perked up

Hera inclined her head at her. I saw Will also perk up. He had been relatively silent this whole conversation.

"Before you ask it, let me give you some advice, which I can do for free. I know you seek Daedalus. His Labyrinth is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. But if you want to know his fate, I would visit my son Hephaestus at his forge. Daedalus was a great inventor, a mortal after Hephaestus's heart. There has never been a mortal Hephaestus admired more. If anyone would have kept up with Daedalus and could tell you his fate, it is Hephaestus."

"But how do we get there?" Annabeth asked. "That's my wish. I want a way to navigate the Labyrinth."

Hera looked disappointed. "So be it. You wish for something, however, that you have already been given."

"I don't understand."

"The means is already within your grasp." She looked at Percy. "Percy knows the answer."

"I do?"

"But that's not fair," Annabeth said. "You're not telling me what it is!"

Hera shook her head. "Getting something and having the wits to use it...those are two different things. I'm sure your mother Athena would agree."

The room rumbled like distant thunder. Hera stood. "That would be my cue. Zeus grows impatient. Think on what I have said, Annabeth. Seek out Hephaestus. You will have to pass through the ranch, I imagine. But keep going. And use all the means at your disposal, however common they may seem."

"Wait." I asked, "do we get help too?"

Her eyes flashed towards us. She pressed her lips together and studied the three of us. Her landed on Raph, and I saw her eyes soften slightly.

"You three," she pointed at me, Will and Raph, "must start at the beging."

"Wow." I said flattly. "Very helpful."

"I thought so." Hera said sharply. "Eleanora, you also know the way. Must be a family trait; Not knowing."

"Hey!" I snarled, I would have gotten to my feet, and said a thing or two but Raph grabbed my arm and yanked me down and he slapped a hand over my mouth. I struggled as he bowed his head.

"Thank you, Queen Mother." He murmured.

I was furious. Who did this woman think she was? She had been nothing but nasty and snarky to me the second her eyes landed on me. The same thing with Annabeth. Why did everyone instantly treat me like some lesser person. I was getting really sick of it, being judged and accused of things I hadn't even done yet. Things that weren't even my fault!

Hera narrowed her eyes at me for a second, being held and muted by Raph she flicked her eyes away and she pointed toward the two doors and they melted away, revealing twin corridors, open and dark.

"One last thing, Annabeth. I have postponed your day of choice, I have not prevented it. Same with you Eleanora. Soon, as Janus said, you will have to make a decision. Farewell!"

She waved a hand and turned into white smoke. So did the food, just as Tyson chomped down on a sandwich that turned to mist in his mouth. The fountain trickled to a stop. The mosaic walls dimmed and turned grungy and faded again. The room was no longer any place you'd want to have a picnic.

I licked Raph's hand, and he yelped and pulled his hand away, wiping it on his pants.

"Gross!"

"Then don't cover my mouth!"

"He saved your butt!" Will countered.

"Did he?" I grumbled, crossing my arms.

Annabeth stamped her foot. "What sort of help was that? 'Here, have a sandwich. Make a wish. Oops, I can't help you!' Poof!"

"Poof," Tyson agreed sadly, looking at his empty plate.

"I agree Tyson." I said sadly.

"Well," Grover sighed, "she said Percy knows the answer. That's something. And Nora knows the way."

They all looked at me and Percy.

"Don't looked at me, I know zero. I've litterly been a demi god for like 3 days."

"I got nothing," Percy said. "I don't know what she was talking about."

I snorted, "must be a family trait, hey Percy?" I laughed in bitter amusement.

He gave me a wicked mischievous grin.

Annabeth sighed. "All right. Then we'll just keep going."

"Well, Mr I'm supposed to know all the answers because I'm Percy Jackson...which way?" I asked.

Grove, Tyson and Raph all tensed. They stood up together like they'd rehearsed it. "Left," they said.

Annabeth frowned. "How can you be sure?"

"Because something is coming from the right," Grover said.

"Something big," Tyson agreed. "In a hurry."

"I can sense it! We need to move!" Raph agreed. He grabbed my hand and yanked me up, and held a hand out for Will, helping him up as well.

"Left is sounding pretty good," Percy decided. Together we plunged into the dark corridor.

🔆

The good news: the left tunnel was straight with no side exits, twists, or turns. The bad news; it was a dead end. After sprinting a hundred yards, we ran into an enormous boulder that completely blocked our path. The wall was fully sealed. Behind us, the sounds of something heavy and dragging and a terrible grinding sound echoed down the corridor. Something- definitely not human- was on our tail.

"Oh Styx!" I cursed.

"Tyson? Can you...?" Percy cried, gesturing to the wall.

"Yes." He slammed his shoulder against the rock so hard the whole tunnel shook. Dust trickled from the stone ceiling.

"Hurry!" Grover said. "Don't bring the roof down, but hurry!"

Raph shoved to the back and pulled his shield off his back and had somehow produced a long spear. I pushed Annabeth out of my way, and yanked my bow off my necklace. The celestial bronze glowed in the dark. I stepped up slightly behind Raph, my bow pulled tight. Tyson slammed his shoulder again, making more dust rain down on us. The heavy uneven noise and grinding was getting louder, I could hear how ragged it was now.

Movement beside me made me glance, Will had produced a bow as well. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I ain't as proficient in archery, but I'm not letting you fight alone."

I nodded. Raph stood ready, slightly crouched behind his shield, Will and I on each side with our bows.

He growled, "You Greeks read to fight stuff?"

"Did you just call us geeks?" Will gasped.

Dispute how horrible the situation was I snorted in laughter. I couldn't imagine Raph calling us geeks in any situation. But it was hilarious to me.

"Ya. This geek is totally ready."

"That's ..that's not what I said."

"Okay, Hot Head."

"Shut up Sunshine. Let's kill stuff."

The way he said it made a shiver run down my back, it was almost lustful the way he said 'lets kill stuff'. Like a gentle caress. It was slightly unhinging. But as long as he wasn't fighting me...

The tunnel shook again.

"Hurry!"

The uneven footsteps came closer. It was heavy and clunky. The grinding was awful. The wall shook as something really heavy slammed into the solid stone wall, making it shake. Chunks of stone started falling from the roof. It was dusty now inside the hall, and hard to see.

"Tyson!" Grover belated over the grinding and the heavy shifting along the stone ground and the constant yelling from Annabeth and Percy to hurry up.

"Working on it, Goat Boy!" He groaned.

There was another grunt as he slammed his shoulder into the wall. The wall gave a shudder and then bigger pieces of rock started dropping. A large piece was teetering, I glanced up, just as it gave way. I threw myself, before I could think, over Raph. The large chunk of rock slammed into my head.

Pain exploded through my body. As the moment of the rock tossed me to the ground and I rolled into the wall. I also dropped my bow at some point.

"Nora!" Percy screamed, he tried to run to us.

Tyson slammed his shoulder one more time.

"Stop!" Someone yelled.

"Too late!"

"The walls!"

"Cove yourself!

"Guys! Come on!"

"It's too late!"

"No! Nora!"

Everyone was yelling over top of each other. The noise of the oncoming monster and the walls had given another terrible shudder and bigger pieces started falling. I couldn't move. Pain made my head throb and my vision came and went. I could feel the hot wet sticky blood. I tried to blink the spots from my eyes. I saw Annabeth look horrified in the dim light. She grabbed Percy and pulled him back just as the rest of the wall collapsed. Raph grabbed Will and yanked him down, he tucked both of us under him as best he could and using his shield he covered the three of us until the rocks and debris had stopped raining down.

He strained against the rubble, all his muscles popped and strained, holding what seemed like the whole weight of the maze on his shield. He fought to keep us from being crushed. He yelled in defiance, and then threw what looked like half a wall off of himself as he stood up. We all coughed and sputtered. The coughing made pain explode through my head. I whimpered, and my vision darkened for a moment.

"Di immortals!" Raph cursed. "We're cut off from the others.

There was a wild roar. It made my body run cold. It echoed off the walls.

"Will!" Raph barked. "Deal with Nora. I'll deal with the monster."

"I... I iss fiiiine." I slurred.

"Ya and I'm the goddess of sewing and embroidery." Will rolled his eyes.

"You're a pretty goddess!" I giggled.

"Fix her. I'll deal with the monster."

"No." Will grabbed Raph's arm and yanked him back, he was quite strong as well, and I kept forgetting.

"We stick together. We already lost the other group, and this place is easy to get lost in. We stick together."

"But-"

"No!" Will said fiercely. "We go together. Even half passed out, she's a good shot. You can still take on the thing, just with us right behind you!"

He growled. "Fine."

Will grabbed my arms and lifted me up. He threw my arm over his shoulder. And wrapped an arm around my waist.

"Where's your bow? You dropped it! Is it trapped under rocks?"

"Iss right heeere!" I slurred, pointing to my necklace.

"What the...?"

"Was a giiift. From Apollooooo."

"Raph? Your spear?" Will asked.

Raph picked up what remained of his spear. He growled and tossed the broken weapon. "Come on." He grows and pulled his sword out.

Raph headed down the hall, towards the noise that sounded like it wanted to kill us. We took a few steps when the maze turned sharply. I frowned, I know I smacked my head, but I didn't remember the maze turning on our way here. But we turned the corner and came face to face with what looked like a mix of snake, lion and bronze statue.

"Is...is that a...monster or statue?" Will asked.

"Both." Raph growled. "Not the first one I fought down here."

His shield was up and his sword was ready. With a wild battle cry he jumped forward. The battle lust clear on his dark face. This monster statue was slightly crumpled already, like someone had made it and got mad, crumpled it slightly and tossed it. Yet it was still wickedly dangerous, the monster had a bronze lion head which snapped its fangs dangerously, and the body of a snake; it was quick and agile.

Raph ducked and twisted, slashed, stabbed and blocked. His face wasn't dark and broody anymore, instead it was filled with a wild lust. His eyes lit with a wild life that comes with battle. He was quite fascinating to watch.

Will had sat me down against the wall and he was wildly digging through his medical bag as blood oozed down the side of my head and down my neck. The monster machine roared, ready to bite him in half. I gasped and was about to scream.

Raph was faster. He twisted and stabbed his sword into its wide open mouth. The thing hissed and sparked, smoke rose from its mouth where Raph's sword was protruding. The thing crumpled and Raph stood panting for a second before yanking his sword out.

The son of Ares stood staring down at the monster machine. A wild look in his dark eyes. I batted Will's hands away, and staggered to my feet, and stumbled over to Raph, who hadn't moved. He was breathing hard, like he was struggling with something internally.

"Nora!" Will hissed. "Give him a second!"

I frowned at Will. Why would he need a moment? The thing was dead. Turning back I laid a hand on Raph's arm. He flinched, like he was going to turn and raise an arm to fight. I stepped back slightly, surprised how wild he looked right now, his face twisted in bloodlust. When his wild battle raged eyes landed on me, behind the wild brutality I could see the broody smirky old Raph in there. His eyes softened and then what might have been fear flicked acrossed his face.

"Raph?" I whispered nervously. My head was really spinning now. My vision was double and my stomach heaved.

"I'm Sorry, Nora! I'm sorry!" He whispered, like he desperately needed me to understand. I could see the fear in his eyes now. I frowned, confused.

"Wha-?"

My eyes rolled into my head, my knees gave out and I collapsed.

🔆