Thalia began reading with her usual air of confidence in the new chapter title, ignoring the pit of scorpions that felt like they'd taken nest up in her stomach for how much she was not looking forward to hearing details of how many times Percy and Annabeth had almost died in that place.

"Didn't she already do that in the last chapter just by sitting next to you?" Jason grinned at what a rebel this girl probably thought she was. Befriending children of Neptune, switching tables, her mother probably had a heart attack on the regular when she didn't eat her vegetables. He wondered if Annabeth pretended to hate olives as the ultimate act of betrayal.

"And look what came of that, some freaking answers," Alex nodded. "I am all for this continuing."

"Of course you are," Magnus chuckled to no one's surprise.

Percy alone looked a might concerned. It wasn't the unspoken rule of never stealing Mr. D's diet coke was it? Or maybe some horrible metaphor and she was going to break her own mind in the Labyrinth already?

Thalia started reading before he could freak himself out to much.

... Hey, your life's in mortal danger. Sleep tight!

"I thought every day was like that for you guys," Magnus said honestly.

"The Stoll's were almost smothered in their sleep that night for trying to make a lullaby out of it all, those were actual lyrics," Will agreed.

...when I finally did, I dreamed of a prison.

A collective shiver passed around the room, not least because that hammered just a little to close to reality right now. Thalia's lasted the longest before she could control herself. Running free in the Hunter's had given her a healthy fear of being trapped again.

...the walls were twenty feet high and polished marble.

"That's a particular kind of cruel," Magnus shook his head. He lived surrounded by things he could never have.

Will thought it sounded like the best kind of option to have in a bad situation though. He glanced at the cracked ceiling in here, he'd never gone so long without seeing the sun in his life.

...Bronze tools —a compass, a saw, and a bunch of other things I didn't recognize.

"I bet the Hephaestus guys mock your hands for being as smooth as a baby's butt," Alex snorted.

"They weren't regular tools," Percy insisted. "I know most of the basics from all the times a school's punished me to fix something I broke. These tools looked like something you'd find in a museum, really twisty, and not sure they'd work, and did you hear the bronze? Like rusty scraps. I only recognized the compass and saw because you can't mistake that."

Their morbid fear began simmering into odd interest. Percy tried to describe it as something ancient, like this wasn't happening to somebody now. What could that have to do with anything?

...as if he'd been dragged here along with the boxes.

Alex swallowed a dry mouth. He knew the feeling of just being somebody's cargo, overlooked and trapped all at once, all to well.

... "Father!" The boy ran to him.

Nico flinched, even as a part of him realized. Ah, leverage, the oldest trick in the book to force cooperation. He glanced wearily at Percy and Jason for a moment before scolding his attention on track.

... he yelled at the guards. "I'll kill you!"

"The appropriate response," Percy chuckled, but there was an edge to it that defied his lighthearted, usually chill demeanor. It was a feeling he understood all to well, wanting to avenge his mother.

"There will be no killing today," a voice said.

"Oh, just today," Jason echoed with a sour look. "Who knows when this nutjob considers midnight."

"I don't believe him anyways, I assume all prison guards are liars on principle," Alex sniffed.

... His beard was pointed like a spear blade. His eyes glittered cruelly.

"And now I agree with Alex," Percy said with a distasteful look at the book as well.

"I was sold at the pointy beard, the cruel glitter eyes just sealed it," Thalia nodded.

Nico's mouth twitched with extreme bitterness he'd been so easily fooled by somebody everybody else obviously knew wasn't a good person from the start. What did that say about him?

... You turned my own daughter against me."

"Doesn't sound like a hard task to do," Will frowned.

"I could set Nico on the job to do it," Percy agreed with that ADHD ability of not thinking that one through.

Then it caught up to him, and he glanced guiltily at him. "Um, it's a compliment, because, uh, you're secretly likable?" He assumed anyways.

Because Nico was creepy and weird but Minos gave off the vibe of being creepier and weirder so it was something even he could handle. The Word thing aside?

Nico raised an unimpressed brow and decided no response was best. He probably should have laughed it off like Percy would have, but he just, didn't want to.

... The young boy cried, "Stop!"

Whatever tension was bubbling in the room dissipated at once, as every one of them flinched at that.

... next time my guards inflict punishment, it will be on him!"

Percy had already lived through Annabeth being taken to manipulate him, his mom had once been taken by Hades as a bargaining chip. He knew intricately well the feeling of powerless, and it really pissed him off this was just a dream. That he couldn't help.

...He tried to smile, but it was a gruesome sight with his bloody mouth.

An old memory flashed to Thalia's mind, one of those fuzzy, vague ones that emitted a stronger feeling than actual details because she'd so actively repressed her past. Jason had been throwing a fit, and Beryl had picked him up and put him in his room ignoring his kicking feet and swinging fists. She'd held the door shut as he cried on the other side and told him he couldn't come out until he had a happy face on while Thalia tried with all her little might to push her out of the way.

Finally it had gone quiet, and Thalia had been so scared. She'd thought it was a monster, like the ones that always lurked around the house before the distant sound of thunder would make them slink off.

His tiny little voice had come through, his chocked promise, "happy face!"

Beryl had opened the door to his flushed red, tear-stained, snot covered face, his lips pulled all the way back to show his teeth in a mock, feral looking smile.

She'd patted him on the head and went about her way as Thalia sat down beside him and hugged him. He'd snuffled and fallen asleep in her arms like that, his face relaxing back to normal.

She shook it off as quickly as it had come up, but watching Jason's lip now curl up, distorting that scar and his gruesome smile that seemed to be planning a prison break before his troubled eyes returned to the here and now of this long being done didn't help her press it as far down as before.

...A bar lowered across the doors with a fatal BOOM, and I woke in a cold sweat.

"Have I mentioned how much I dislike your dreams?" Magnus asked. "They're either terrifying, traumatizing, or some mixture of the two. Now whether you know that person or not!"

Percy wished that he could say he'd give them back if he could, but they'd also given him glimpses into his friends who were in danger to many times to say so.

He'd still like to trade away a few where he'd run around camp with his pants on his head.

...We met in the sword arena, which I thought was pretty strange—

"That's new," Jason said in surprise. "Last time you sat around a pingpong table," he still vividly remembered for how particularly strange that was in this odd camp. This arena like setting felt far more natural to him as he traced his tattoo.

"Gods forbid there not be cheez whiz present," Thalia snorted.

...trying to discuss the fate of the camp while Mrs. O'Leary chewed on a rubber yak.

"Aww," Alex cooed. "I don't know what you're talking about Percy, that's the perfect setting. You have in full view what you're fighting for."

"If the dog getting her chew toy is what motivates someone to save our camp, then so be it," Percy didn't look too impressed though.

Chiron and Quintus stood at the front ...even Argus, our hundred-eyed security chief.

"Last time he was mentioned he was feeding a dragon," Magnus reminded with only a hint of dread. "I guess I'm just glad Peleus doesn't follow him around and is there too."

"Then we'd all feel too safe to discuss a war council," Percy said as if he'd made an excellent point and ignored Magnus's grimace.

...he kept his blue eyes trained so hard his whole body turned bloodshot.

Alex examined his own arm intently for a few moments like he was trying to make that happen. When he turned back to Thalia reading with disappointment, the others were left with more questions about him than Argus.

..."Luke must have known about the Labyrinth, he knew everything about camp."

Thalia read that a bit strangely, like her tongue got stuck to the roof of her mouth. Percy had the exact same puckered look on his face. Will sighed and kept to himself he was a bit glad Annabeth wasn't here, every bit of this would have hurt her in some way.

... like she still respected the guy, evil as he was.

"I think respect is the wrong word," Alex crinkled up his nose in disgust. "At least I'd hope she doesn't respect the guy trying to destroy her home."

Percy and Thalia exchanged a discouraged look.

Will defended, "she's not here to defend the use of Percy's choice of word, and we all have a little grudging respect for the gods with no telling how many people they've killed because of how we know them."

Alex raised an unimpressed brow at him, but didn't stop Thalia rushing to keep going.

... The cave entrance has been there a long time. Luke used to use it."

"He's already been exploring that place for years?" Jason asked with full unease, the strategist in him balking at how the uneven odds could still be getting worse. "What was he doing sending Chris Rodriguez in there if he has an idea of how this thing works?"

"Nobody in here has jumped inside his mind to ask how the insane plans of Kronos were going," Nico scowled.

Jason looked surprised at the cold snap, he hadn't been demanding that of anyone in particular in here, but he nodded in acceptance they weren't going to get an insider's look into this.

Silena Beauregard frowned. "You knew and didn't say anything?"

Will frowned with unease, wondering if Silena knew about it. Had Luke been keeping secrets from her? Moments like this made him wonder why she had gone along with it so long . . .

..."I didn't know it was important. I don't like yucky old caves."

Magnus had to give her that, he had seen stranger things than someone dipping in and out of caves, and he didn't much like them either, always having preferred to be sleeping outdoors even in the worst of weather.

"She has good taste," Grover said.

"So what's her excuse about him?" Thalia smirked.

Percy gave her a light punch and an eye roll for mocking his best friend who wasn't here.

"I wouldn't have paid any attention except...well, it was Luke." She blushed a little greener.

Percy put his fist back against Thalia's arm, made a weirdly good rewind sound, and then pulled his fist back away and even rolled his eyes the other way while the others got a mild chuckle out of him.

Grover huffed. "Forget what I said about good taste."

Percy brushed some imaginary sweat aside. "Good thing, I was worried about his taste for a second there!" His joke didn't entirely hide his clear agitation that every girl in camp seemed to have had a crush on this guy, even Silena, the prettiest girl there, had gotten a strange look on her face at the mention of him!

..."The one in the what?" I asked. Clarisse glared at me.

"I guess she's gotten a bit attached to him after spending time nursing him back to health," Magnus winced.

You have no idea, Will kept to himself, but couldn't entirely erase the smile.

... Annabeth said. "The greatest architect, the greatest inventor of all time.

Will tried his hardest to stifle his laugh at that though, as he wondered how hard Daedalus had to fight not to blush while Annabeth had been praising his guts.

...He could navigate anywhere. First to Camp to wipe us out. Then, to Olympus."

"Now for the good news!" Alex reminded at that ominous silence. "Everybody's always complaining nobody shares enough of that!"

There was the same silence here as was in the arena.

"No? None?" Alex looked around in mock disappointment.

"Well I guess that's why nobody ever starts with it," Magnus muttered.

The arena was silent except for Mrs. O'Leary's toy getting disemboweled.

"The perfect noise to get used to hearing, we'd all be their squeaky toys when this is done," Percy sighed.

..."Back up a sec, isn't Daedalus dead?"

"I don't assume anybody's dead in this," Jason raised his hand.

"And that's why we're always telling you you're the smart one around here," Percy shivered with unease for whatever his mind was holding over him. At this rate, his best hope was an explicit nightmare about said death.

"He lived three thousand years ago... old stories say he fled from the Labyrinth?"

"What stories?" Magnus asked as blankly as usual, it was a wonder they didn't have a stopwatch on him. "Who is telling stories about this guy still and his wearabouts?"

"The same crazy rumors about where my dad likes to vacation and which celebrity Aphrodite is dating," Percy shrugged. Even if they were rumors he didn't regularly hear, he was sure they were there at camp.

...the old man in my dreams. It was hard to believe he'd last a week.

Alex liked that Magnus never grew tired of his questions, he had a tendency to take this all in stride a little to much to pick up on some of this like Magnus tried to verbalize when he asked, "are the people in those stories like the monsters and gods? Are they immortal because they're tied up in all these myths? Is the Greek who invented the chariot still alive?"

"In general no," Nico shook his head, it really was his own fault he worried the others only associated him with death when he was always so willing to answer these particular questions. Because he was comfortable with knowing these answers. "As a rule, no mortal soul is immune from death unless granted eternal life by the gods, like the legend Hercules, he's actually running around somewhere I think. I don't have a roster of who has escaped death, but my dad does, and Daedalus, I'm pretty sure, is on that list from doing, whatever he did with that labyrinth."

"Okay," Magnus felt just a might better for once, that something of normal logic still applied and people were supposed to stay dead no matter how many stories were told about them.

"We need to go in," Annabeth announced.

"I like her use of the word we," Percy grinned a sort of knowing smile that wasn't funny. "Because the whole stadium is going to be a part of this."

"At least she's not trying to leave anybody out," Thalia snorted.

... Grover said. "I'll get the dynamite!"

"I am worried where he would get dynamite from," Jason said at once.

"I'm worried how easily he gets addicted to things," Percy muttered.

..."We tried that at the entrance in Phoenix. It didn't go well."

"Freaking, stupid, magic," Magnus's audible grumbling about how nothing was ever easy really was felt by them all.

... It would take huge power to seal even one of its entrances.

"Like, godly power?" Jason asked. "Could you not get one of them down there to do that?"

"Have the gods yet done something like that for us?" Percy reminded with a fowl scowl.

It was uncomfortably true, no god had yet lifted a finger to protect the camp when they were on the verge of collapse back when Thalia's tree was poisoned. Apollo and Athena had assisted on the last quest to rescue Artemis, but it had clearly been done in secret.

"Zeus is acting in the war effort now though," Jason tried to insist even if there was no hope in his voice. "This is actually more helpful than whatever he's got Bacchus off doing." It felt so strange in his very core, to still be questioning what the gods were and weren't doing, but he wasn't going to stop. In a strange way, it felt good to vocalize all this too.

"I don't even think it would be possible with Hecate supporting Kronos anyways," Nico offered. The idea of magical architecture made him pretty confident she was doing her part to help Luke.

"The gods don't interfere," Will reminded. It sounded like a very old, very recited line. There was no other answer.

...Clarisse demolished a whole building with a wrecking ball... it just shifted a few feet.

Alex made a sound like a buzzer while Magnus spluttered over the array of words in that sentence.

"Clarisse stole a wrecking ball?" Thalia repeated for good measure, clearly enjoying the taste of those words a little to much.

"Either that or her mom works construction," Jason blinked owlishly at the book.

"My question is, was the building inhabited?" Percy laughed nervously like he was imagining Clarisse chasing him with a wrecking ball now. "So much what just goes into that one."

The best we can do is prevent Luke from learning to navigate the Labyrinth."

"Oh, so you're doomed," Alex frowned.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence man," Percy frowned right back.

"I mean, sorry I'm not sorry?" Alex half-heartedly offered. "According to all of this though, he's been twelve steps ahead of you this entire time though. I have, zero clue, how you survived this one."

Percy shivered as the worst outcome came to mind. Maybe he hadn't. Maybe he'd died at that camp and this was some twisted way of his dad trying to keep his soul alive or some crazy godly idea of fatherly affection.

"Well lucky for you we had Annabeth on the case," Thalia promptly reminded, only resisting hitting Percy upside the head with the book for that dower look on his face because she wouldn't kick him while he was down.

... If an army tries to come through, they'll find us waiting with our bows."

"The fact that that didn't come from Clarisse is weirder than anything," Jason grinned.

"Lee, is, always up for a challenge," Will caught himself at the last moment from using past tense. It came out shoddy like he was trying to speak with the hiccups. "There's a reason he and Clarisse won," he finished only a tad better.

...we may not have the strength to defeat them."

"Someone needs to put on Dean Martin for this guy so he can take a chill pill," Magnus frowned at that dower point of view from the trainer of all heroes.

"Just being realistic," Alex shook his head in agreement with Chiron though. Better to be honest about their chances than give them all false hope.

... If he was predicting we couldn't hold off an attack, that wasn't good.

"I wouldn't really say his level of chill makes it better," Nico snorted. "Hey, the world's ending again, good luck with that while I go teach archery."

"Chiron gives really good advice before the quests though," Percy looked a little miffed at himself he couldn't come up with a better argument than that.

..."Find Ariadne's string and prevent Luke from using it."

"What's Ariadne's string made out of?" Alex asked. "Her hair? Her clothes? Did she weave it from a magic item?"

"If you're thinking about somehow trying to replicate it, I wouldn't hope for that outcome being any more helpful," Thalia shook her head without spoiling it was in fact an actual useless myth.

"And as usual, it depends on the myth you read," Percy shrugged. "I think I've heard versions where it's gold, and one where Theseus just tied it to the start of the maze? None of it makes much sense outside of a story."

"But if nobody can navigate in there," I said, "what chance do we have?"

"Please don't threaten me with Dean Martin too," Percy frowned at Magnus.

"Then lighten up!" He rolled his eyes, "or I'll have Thalia shock you again."

"I can and will do it on command," she agreed, letting blue electricity arc between the tips of her fingers to prove her point.

"We can totally do this guys, I'll make non-centaur-blood t-shirts," he nodded quickly.

..."Are you going to help me or not?"

Percy looked stunned she'd even had to ask. Then he felt the silence in here and looked around and saw Thalia had stopped reading to watch him in amusement along with everybody else.

I realized everyone was watching Annabeth and me like a tennis match.

"You guys are better than a tennis match," Alex assured him in amusement. "I couldn't pay for commentary like this."

"Just what I always wanted," he rolled his eyes.

Mrs. O'Leary's squeaky yak went EEK! As she ripped off its pink rubber head.

"That dog alone will keep pet companies in business for all her lively needs," Will snorted.

..."We all know who should lead this," Clarisse said. "Annabeth."

"It's great to hear of Clarisse sharing," Will shook his head in exhaustion, "of course she'd finally get the concept with the deadly quest."

"I want to know what's changed from the last time she was proud to do this," Alex looked a little pouty. "Was it the wrecking ball? I think she needs to come down here and share her personal growth over that winter."

"Pretty sure the answer's a little more simple than that," Percy muttered. She'd spent the whole time in there without a single posture or gloat or threat. She'd been sitting in the front of the bleachers by Annabeth, but had seemed withdrawn as she handled this. Whatever she'd gone through in that Labyrinth had changed her.

... waiting for her own quest since she was little, but she looked uncomfortable.

Magnus frowned and leaned forward anxiously in his seat. It bothered him that even if he'd had an inkling of what his cousin had been going through right then, he wouldn't have been any help at all. Now here she was, finally getting a full, sanctioned quest of the utmost importance, and she seemed no more confident she'd survive it than he was.

"You've done as much as I have, Clarisse," she said. "You should go, too."

"Too," Alex noticed with interest. "I imagine this quest will go quite smoothly if the three of you manage to work together."

"But Grover has to go," Jason looked actually torn whom he was rooting for. "His Pan quest can't lead him anywhere else."

"Screw the council, Percy will help Grover find Pan down there after they save the camp," Alex insisted.

"What does the Camp do when more than three people are supposed to go?" Magnus asked a little wearily. Hopefully, the solution wouldn't be Percy's answer, and they'd just get a sanctioned tag along.

"Tournament to the death," Nico said with a completely straight face.

Will rolled his eyes affectionately and answered, "a vote. The leader of the quest gets the final say, but if they're impartial, then the vote."

"I think you're all missing an important detail," Percy interrupted. They hadn't seen the look on Clarisse's face when that had been suggested.

Clarisse shook her head. "I'm not going back in there."

"Oh," Jason muttered, "yeah, didn't quite see that coming."

"I never thought of Clarisse in retirement mode," Alex admitted.

Travis laughed. "Don't tell me you're scared. Clarisse, chicken?"

"Daring her is not going to get good results," Magnus said at once. "Connor might be down a brother rather than up a quest member."

"I think he just considers it his daily duty," Will shrugged.

"To die?" Magnus demanded.

"Clarisse has never killed any fellow camper," Will said that with about as much confidence as he had of the Stolls though.

...She stormed out of the arena.

It would have made more sense if Percy had told them she'd been wearing frog footsie pajamas during this meeting than that. "And I'm volunteering for this?" He reminded them in a very dread-like voice. He might rather eat a frog.

"Anything to be the hero," Nico muttered, and he wasn't even being sarcastic.

...We all nodded except Quintus, but I wasn't sure anyone else noticed.

"Annabeth has got to stop drawing every eye in the room to her," Alex said with a snap of his fingers, perhaps on the jealous side.

Magnus gave him a concerned look because he agreed, but probably not in the way Alex meant it.

...it's your time to visit the Oracle. Assuming you return, we shall discuss what to do next."

"I really do wonder more every day how you guys survive any length of time," Nico said none to quietly. Chiron was a nice enough centaur, but really gave him no faith in any kind of authority figure.

"A plucky attitude," Will answered in a completely serious tone of voice, which caused Nico to chuckle anyways.

Waiting for Annabeth was harder than visiting the Oracle myself.

"And that's saying something," Percy wagged his finger for emphasis.

"You didn't have to tell us that, I promise we know," Thalia assured as she shoved his finger out of her face.

...I still had nightmares about the last few.

"So would I," Magnus easily promised. A therapist could have a field day with his greatest fear of wolves somehow being tied into his very real fear of being eaten alive coupled into how society made it impossible for him to ever think he could make it out of his beanbag in the park.

...I'd heard stories: campers who'd seen visions so real they died of fear.

"I like to think some of those are exaggerated," but Will had no confidence in his voice. Nobody he knew had gone on a quest before Percy showed up, so it wasn't that common a thing...and honestly, he believed those stories too.

...I didn't figure you could just walk into Pet Zone and put those in your shopping cart.

"Homemade meals," Alex nodded without surprise. "Probably baked with love."

"I bet he posts the recipe online with his entire backstory too," Magnus rolled his eyes.

Chiron was deep in conversation with Quintus and Argus... Quintus kept shaking his head.

"Please let it be the next war game having something to do with a bake-off," Magnus crossed his fingers.

"Magnus, what practicality would that have?" Jason asked in exasperation. "At least make it some kind of survival guide where they have to forage and eat."

"Fine," he muttered at the compromise, and both knew it was a lost joke anyways.

...Tyson and the Stoll's were racing miniature bronze chariots Tyson had made.

"He's going to put toy companies out of business as a sidequest," Alex said with confidence.

"-and they were so cool, they shot real arrows at the driver if they tried to turn the chariot to hard and one was giving off this awful smell-"

Magnus looked from Alex to Percy explaining this in vivid detail several times before deciding against commenting.

... I was pretty sure it hadn't taken me this long to get my quest.

"You spent half the time dreading every step up there and looking for the bathroom," Thalia smirked.

"I'm just hoping she doesn't pitch herself out the window to get away when it's done," Jason muttered.

"Who do you think she see's giving her the prophecy?" Alex asked with a deep hunger to know every aspect of this Oracle.

"My money would be on Athena," but Percy wasn't so sure of that either. It really was just a guess, Percy had no idea what kind of crazy symbolicness went into what you saw in those things.

... she almost turned invisible when she was surrounded by plants.

"Camouflage man, best color there is," Alex snorted as he swooshed his green hair.

"I think that makes you the natural enemy of it," Percy told him.

...Luke wasn't the only one I saw around that cave."

"She doesn't mean me and Annabeth does she?" Percy asked. Nico winced and hoped the same thing.

"The spy?" Jason yelped.

..."The sword master," she said. "He was poking around the rocks."

"Should have known there was something fishy about that guy when he didn't ask for a paycheck for being there." Alex was disappointed if he was a traitor though, he seemed like a cool guy.

"He hasn't been there long enough to be Luke's established spy," Jason shook his head, "and why would Luke send another there?"

"For a higher level position to be on Chiron's good side," Magnus offered with a queasy stomach.

Percy really didn't like it when they sat around trying to figure out this traitor business, he just couldn't imagine anyone in camp that way. Will didn't much either because Silena had been a friend to many, so he cleared his throat obviously and Thalia gratefully kept going.

..."I don't pay attention to time. Maybe a week ago, when he first showed up."

"So, you know, not suspicious at all," Alex managed in a fascinating mocking tone. He was mocking himself. "He was just out exploring and oh so happened upon that iconic landmark."

"Right, yeah, totally a coincidence," Magnus wanted to believe it was true anyways.

... Don't trust that man!"

"Are we sure she's not just insecure Grover's going to get a crush on him next?" Jason's smile was flickering like he really was trying to laugh it off too. "I bet Quinteus would make a delightful blueberry bush." His tone ended a little to harsh to be funny by the end, he wasn't going to let his suspicions be swayed.

"We'll pin that in the maybe category," Thalia patted his shoulder.

... If Quintus was up to something, I needed Annabeth's advice.

"Do you cross camp without talking to that girl?" Will burst out laughing. At least laughing about Percy's crush on Annabeth was always a safe bet.

Percy mock considered for a moment before saying, "one time I did, and then I ended up being chased by an owl. Lesson learned."

...I ran down the hill and headed across the fields.

"Are you sure you got that chapter title right," Nico snorted. "Percy's the one over here breaking the rules, as usual."

"Ah, but you said it," Thalia reminded with an impish smirk. "Percy breaking the rules is not noteworthy enough for any of us to do more than laugh at. Annabeth on the other hand," she finished with an ominous shake of her head that made Percy's stomach do an unpleasant swoop. What rule had she broken exactly? Why did the consequences feel like a really bad idea all of a sudden?

The front parlor of the Big House was strangely quiet... Mr. D was still away.

Percy was restless now, squirming in agitation in his seat and unable to sit still. Of course a wish he'd never even thought was possible had been granted and that cranky, miserable old god was gone, and it made the whole place feel empty like a tomb.

...Annabeth would be up there somewhere.

"I'm imagining you interrupting her prophecy and her stabbing you," Magnus admitted.

"A fair reaction, but I still had to know," Percy put an arm across his chest for the most vital of organs he'd shield and figured ambrosia and nectar would heal anything else so he could go on the quest in a timely manner.

... what I heard wasn't what I had expected. Sobbing.

The jolt around the room came from Thalia's sharp surprise saying that rather than her powers. Percy's feet twitched, he wanted to run to her without a second thought, but he more than anyone knew that hadn't been Annabeth. It hadn't been coming from above him.

It was coming from below.

"Why is there always a creepy basement," Magnus whispered. Uncle Randolph probably had one in that creepy mansion of his too.

"Because crying on the porch is a cliché?" But Alex looked just as concerned what the heck was going on in that house. Dionysus hadn't left a satyr down there to be tortured had he?

...I didn't even know the Big House had a basement.

"I bet Luke does," Percy muttered with an upturned nose, like Annabeth was here to mock for that earlier comment.

"Everybody knows where that basement is Percy," Thalia snorted, "it's where we hide the supplies for all of your parties."

"Thanks for clearing that up," he rolled his eyes.

... sitting amid a bunch of stockpiled cases of ambrosia and strawberry preserves.

Will wrung his hands, still feeling useless these years later nobody had been of any help to Chris. He and Chiron hadn't even been able to get through a whole conversation of what else they could try before they had to stop. They'd tried everything. If Mr. D hadn't come back, Clarisse might have followed him right to the mortal world and whatever facility they might have tried.

One was Clarisse.

Obviously she couldn't escape to the arena, that's where they'd been. Jason had thought she'd go off to her cabin or somewhere in Camp she considered private.

Nobody had expected, this.

... was Chris Rodriguez, the half-blood who'd gone to work for Luke.

"If she's there to smother him, are we supposed to stop her?" Alex stage whispered.

"If she was going to kill him, she'd have done it when she found him," Magnus looked very troubled what was going on though. He didn't see how anybody could get any more information out of Chris.

... Clarisse's voice was gentle but really sad. I never knew Clarisse could sound that way.

"Oh," Percy whispered, then he slapped his hand to his mouth like he'd been caught and leaned far back into his seat.

No, like Clarisse had been caught. He felt so bad for her, sharing even a hint of this with people who didn't even know her except what little he'd said. He'd never been embarrassed, much, about sharing his own past, but moments like this made him wish someone had let him edit out these parts first!

...a thousand skulls. The earth keeps healing him."

Percy shivered as a feeling he tried hard not to let run rampant in here began to bubble up. Anger, adrenaline, a memory he did not yet have a connection to, but he knew he wouldn't enjoy getting back. Poseidon, his dad's name whispered in his mind, but it was of no comfort.

... Mr. D will be back soon. He's an expert in madness. Just hang on."

Magnus shook his head like he had flies coming out of his ears. Oh how he'd heard that before, a promise for a cure down every pair of handcuffs while he was just as guilty melting into the crowd. He didn't have any faith Dionysus would do any more good. If he could have been out there helping, why wasn't he?

Chris's eyes were wild and desperate. "There's no way out, Mary. No way out."

Nico couldn't help but wonder who Mary really was. A form Minos had taken to trick Chris's every step? A spirit begging for his help? Perhaps someone from his past his mind conjured up in comfort? He'd seen all three down there, anything was possible.

Then he caught a glimpse of me. "The son of Poseidon! He's horrible!"

Not one of them cracked a smile at the easy mockery. Percy was starting to look a little gray that the guy off his rocker was making more sense than the tree spirit while his headache bounced around in his skill like a rubber ball.

...Chris had been looking at me, yet I got the feeling he hadn't been talking about me at all.

Thalia resisted the urge to wrap Percy in a blanket as hard as he shivered. Annabeth had a hard time describing Antaeus's chamber to her, that gladius style arena fighting for sport where Percy was forced to show off his creative problem solving without her and fight a half-blood, all Annabeth's worst fears bundled up into one.

...it had never occurred to me she might like someone; but the way she said Chris's name...

"Well I guess those jokes about Annabeth and Clarisse are never going to happen," Alex muttered with all the sympathy in the world for her it worked out. He had a wee bit of an addictive personality and now desperately wanted a backstory book on everything Clarisse had been through up to this point too, so that he could find some hint of knowing it would all work out.

...No wonder Clarisse didn't want anything to do with the Labyrinth. What had happened to Chris in there?

"Some stories are better left unanswered," Jason sighed. He didn't even know about his past, and yet the glimpses he'd gotten left him questioning everything about himself. If somebody told him the alternative of knowing everything was being left in a vegetative state, the answer wouldn't make him any happier.

... I ran for the front door. I needed to get out of that house.

"You run fleeing from that house more than you ever have a monster," Nico noted in amazement.

"Blah blah metaphor from running away from his real fear of Annabeth returning his love?" Jason chuckled.

Percy waved his hand along exaggeratedly at the laughter that rolled along so they could all get their good mood in now that the trauma was temporarily over.

"My dear," Chiron said. "You made it." Annabeth looked at me first.

"Those who are surprised, please raise your hand," Thalia snorted.

Percy raised his hand, and Thalia smacked him.

...she focused on Quintus. "I will lead the quest to find Daedalus's workshop."

"And she's telling him specifically this, because?" Will asked, clearly a little wrong-footed why she seemed to be ignoring Chiron.

"Gods, there couldn't have been a line in there about him, right?" Percy asked anxiously.

"Even if there was, it still might not mean whatever she's worried it means," Thalia said with complete confidence. It was a classic at this point for everybody to worry what a prophecy meant until it happened.

She and Nico winced at her own comment though, because Zoe and Bianca certainly hadn't been saved by some double meaning.

Nobody cheered... we wanted her to have this, but it seemed insanely dangerous.

"As opposed to the other quests where the fate of the world and your camp weren't on the line," Magnus actually seemed the most confident and upbeat. "You guys got approval to do this and everything and you have a starting point of where you're going and what you're looking for!"

"Now we just have to figure out those pesky details," Percy tried to agree in the same way, but just because he'd survived didn't make him confident everybody else had come out of this unscathed.

After seeing Chris, I didn't want to think about Annabeth descending into that weird maze.

It was no surprise to anybody Percy wanted to protect her, and down underground, seemingly the opposite of where he'd find any body of water...watching Percy get nervous and twitchy was nothing new.

They were a strong trio, Percy told himself, and they'd already done the impossible once! Bad Percy, bad! A strong inner voice hissed. Stop jinxing yourself!

..."What did the prophecy say exactly, my dear? The wording is important."

"Important doesn't mean clear," Thalia huffed.

...you shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze,"

"I always love it when the Prophecy confirms you're going to do exactly what you're asking it advice to do," Alex rolled his eyes.

"I'll take an unnecessary, solid line over another confusing one," Magnus shook his head.

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

"Raze like destroy or raise like nurture?" Alex asked. "Because now I'm picturing Nico bottle-feeding baby ghosts."

"More like raise, lifted up out of something," was all Thalia could promise with twitching lips while Nico looked a little sad at the idea of asking his dad what happened to dead baby souls.

"The traitor?" Jason latched on with laser focus. "Are we finally going to get confirmation of who Luke has at camp?"

"Who gets lost?" Percy picked nervously at his lip. He hoped it was Pan and Grover's wish, but he had a bad feeling that might relate to himself somehow. He was currently 'lost' after all.

... "That must mean Pan!" "With the dead and the traitor," I added. "Not so great."

"My concern is it's all the same person, and man does that sound like a story," Magnus said with a raised brow.

Nico twitched unpleasantly how all three of those did relate to him in some way.

..."You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand," Annabeth said,

"So Annabeth needs to learn how to make friends fast?" Will said with twitching lips. "Oh, we were doomed."

"Hey," but Percy was chuckling along all the same.

"I would pay to be friends with a ghost king!" Alex raised his hand. "Please tell me she can introduce us whether it worked out or not!"

Nico looked at him like he was nuts...but Alex really had been as good a friend to him as Will, especially after yesterday. He opened his mouth right now to tell him no payment was necessary, before he remembered why Percy was shaking his head not in answer and quickly shut his mouth. Hopefully Alex wouldn't change his mind when he realized the ghost summoning thing wasn't just a cool random trick but something he actively still had to keep control over.

"the child of Athena's final stand."

Magnus and Percy winced in unison at how not stellar of a line that was!

Even if the automatic fallback was to convince themselves that could be some other random child of Athena just sporadically showing up on this quest...that still sounded like a pretty bad death of somebody Annabeth might know and care about?!

Thalia easily swooped in with the comment, "are we finally going to get to hear the smart goddess's ideas go down? We all know her real favorite children are her personal theories."

"Isn't one of those her dislike of me?" Percy played along with a smile. "I can get behind that."

...a final stand didn't sound good.

"But the final showdown is always an awesome climactic part of the story," Alex pouted.

"Not when my cousin could nearly die," Magnus huffed.

"Percy didn't even get salty over that line really, I'm positive she's safe," Alex assured he wasn't dismissing anything.

"Hey, we shouldn't jump to conclusions," Silena said.

"The only real demonstration of how often people do jump," Percy grinned.

"Something you should be careful about," Thalia agreed in mock concern. "We still don't know how much air you have to get before you tick Zeus off."

"Note to self, don't join the cheerleading squad and be the flier," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Annabeth isn't the only child of Athena, right?"

Jason still didn't think she'd be thrilled if it was one of her siblings who might take her place, that line really was something to not look forward to.

...  Nico summoning spirits. I had a bad feeling the prophecy was connected to that.

"Muah?" Nico always looked so surprised Percy even remembered he existed. Of course he would when the creepy bad stuff was all he had to go on.

"Well I didn't think it had anything to do with Mrs. O'Leary," Percy shrugged.

... "The prophecy does not sound complete." ... "I don't remember exactly."

"Liar, liar!" Alex mock started up a cigarette lighter in his hand as if to set Annabeth's pants on fire. He probably really would have if he'd thought it would work underwater.

"I think she's pulling a me," Percy reminded of his first quest, he hadn't exactly been forthcoming with that line about failing to save his mom.

...She never forgot something she heard.

"That sounds exhausting," Thalia looked disturbed she'd even said that even if she knew it to be true.

"I'm over here hoping it's just Percy hyping up his girlfriend more than usual," Magnus said even if he knew it wasn't much of an exaggeration.

"She's not my-" but Percy stopped with a face of brightest red because he still had no idea what Annabeth was to him.

...Destroy with a hero's final breath."... "Look, the point is, I have to go in.

"That sounded cool though!" Alex groaned. "Caterwauling turned into a power! Will, can you do that!"

"Um, no," he looked a little terrified if Alex was going to come over and start prodding him to find out.

"Uff," Alex huffed anyways like he wanted to try.

... "Will you come?" I didn't even hesitate. "I'm in."

"I can't believe she even asked," Jason admitted, "I'm a little concerned about her leadership quality if she's already second guessing the obvious."

"You never know, I might have wanted a nap first and she left me," but Percy couldn't even get through that with a straight face.

She smiled for the first time in days, and that made it all worthwhile.

"Naww," Will cooed like Percy had just told his mother he was meeting Annabeth at the movies and he fought off the very tempting solution of drowning him down here.

...Grover seemed to forget how much he hated the underground.

"It's so wholesome how often I can use this book for motivational quotes," Will grinned.

"Right in between the threats to Percy's life, him smarting off to gods, and the monster attacks," Magnus glibly reminded. Will waved off those minor details.

... "I'll pack extra recyclables for snacks!"

"He reminds me of a honeybee, it's like there's no downside to having him around," Jason chuckled.

"I bet the satyrs would love a union from Mr. D.," Percy grinned.

"And Tyson," Annabeth said. "I'll need you too."

"Wait," Magnus frowned, even counting the members again silently on his hand to make sure.

"Hey, I wasn't last pick!" Percy grinned.

"Let alone no pick," Thalia rolled her eyes. "Annabeth isn't crazy enough to think you wouldn't come along anyways, might as well get you over with first."

Her sarcasm didn't dampen his grin by one bit.

..."Wait, Annabeth," Chiron said. "This goes against the ancient laws.

"I really want a lawyer to explain these stinking laws to me eventually," Magnus frowned.

"Not a great idea, where Zeus is the judge and I imagine the mix of Latin and Greek would take to long, everybody would just be dead by the end," Nico shook his head.

"I'd be willing to take a crack if anyone would show me a book first," Jason huffed.

"Shush you, nobody needs a showoff," Percy snorted.

A hero is allowed only two companions."

"I bet that one was just invented because of ration supplies or something," Alex scoffed. "Chiron just doesn't want her to cheat and take the whole camp along."

"Ooh, Annabeth is breaking the rules, I get it now," Percy grinned. She was even doing it over him again, making sure he, his brother, and his best friend went!

"Hopefully the consequences of breaking ancient laws isn't cops and jail in this world too," Magnus muttered. Nothing had freaked him out more when he first started learning the ways of the streets than just how trigger-happy people would be with those 911 buttons when they figured out him for what he now was.

"I need them all," she insisted. I didn't know why she was so certain,

"I learned already not to question Annabeth about that when she could build actual cities with Legos as toddlers," Magnus snorted at Percy.

"Oh trust me, wasn't questioning it," Percy said.

Nico wondered if he was the only one around here who found the constant praising of Annabeth Chase increasingly annoying.

..."Annabeth." Chiron flicked his tail nervously.

"I can't explain why I really love it when he does that," Alex propped his arm on his knee to put his head in his hand as dramatically as possible.

"You would be intrigued with someone twice as deadly as a horse or a human," Magnus frowned.

...Last winter, five went on a quest to save Artemis. Only three came back.

None of them had needed that reminder as their hearts sank as fast as Percy's temper did. Annabeth hadn't gotten to know Zoe or Bianca, it was possible that wouldn't have exactly crossed her mind.

...Three is a sacred number... It is a good strong number that stands against many dangers.

Jason hadn't made that quip in a while, but he looked particularly troubled at Annabeth defying ancient laws no matter how many jokes were passed around.

...like he was trying to decide which of us would come back alive.

"I swear there's not a single optimist in there except Tyson," Magnus frowned.

"I wouldn't say there's one down here at all, are you volunteering to lose an eyeball for the title?" Alex grinned.

"Um, pass," he promised.

"Will count's as an optimist," Nico offered, causing him to blush.

The two obviously considered for a moment before nodding in agreement, making Will blush all the more and cover his face for a moment.

... Tomorrow at dawn, we send you into the Labyrinth."

"I do not like the wording of that," Magnus frowned. "Like they're going to shove you in headfirst with spears at your butts."

"We haven't done live sacrifices in weeks," Will insisted. "If anything, it just attracts the monsters."

Nobody else seemed to think that was funny except Nico's chuckle, but Will didn't seem to mind.

"Nobody was going to ask you to not be the optimist Will, chill with the dire jokes," Percy sighed.

Quintus pulled me aside. "I have a bad feeling about this," he told me.

"Oh that's just great, I love hearing the seasoned guy feels just as uneasy about this as I do!" Percy groaned.

Thalia frowned, listening intently to what kind of warning ol' Daedalus would have passed on to Percy.

...She dropped her shield at my feet, and I threw it for her.

"Seriously, I find it hard to believe he's a bad guy," Alex sighed, really wanting to mean it. "He's a dog person! Dog's are great judges of character, and this is like, the dog of all time!"

"Yeah, the one most likely attracted to an evil person," Magnus couldn't help but mutter. He was not a dog person in the slightest. It didn't stop him teaching Alex the sign for dog when he looked at him to try and change the subject.

...when he looked at me, I saw real concern in his eyes.

"Concern for what though?" Jason asked shrewdly. Concern Percy would find out Quintus's real plan. Concern whatever Quintus might be up to would be revealed? Concern about Percy and these kids he'd met days ago? It was an endless list of possibilities, and they weren't getting little pop up bubbles of what everyone else was thinking along with Percy to answer.

...The Labyrinth exists to fool you... We are easily distracted."

"That was solid advice," Will grinned. He tried not to put to much cheerfulness in his voice Quintus was trying to be of actual help here in case it tipped Percy off to much, but it was nice he'd even given it a shot rather than writing them off. He'd been trying to help from the start, even in those short times practicing with Percy.

"You've been in there?" "Long ago." His voice was ragged. "I barely escaped with my life.

"Haven't you guys been going on about history repeating itself a bunch?" Magnus looked to Nico who was most guilty of spouting stats of heroes from Percy's journey. "How short is that cycle exactly? Has Quintus gone and saved a lightning bolt and been in the sea of monsters too?"

"I mean, wouldn't surprise me?" Nico chuckled. "Maybe not that specifically, but you been in the world long enough and you're bound to follow somebody else's footsteps."

Thalia's mouth ticked without humor though. Luke would never find something like that funny, and the fact that this was still her first thought to many years later made her want to pour bleach in her ears.

...keep your mind on what matters most. You might find the way.

"Well that won't be hard for you," Jason smirked, "do you ever not have Annabeth on your mind."

"I, um," Percy meant to deny it, honestly, but he started blushing and stammering to hard to manage.

...He handed me a little silver tube. It was so cold I almost dropped it.

"Do you use ice as portable water?" Alex smirked.

"They invented cups for that," Percy rolled his eyes.

..."A dog whistle," Quintus said. "For Mrs. O'Leary."

"Oooh," Magnus said in understanding. "Throw that thing as far away from you as possible."

"Oh come on, that's seriously cool," Alex insisted.

"You are the last person I need to explain a trap to," Magnus frowned.

"Just because the owner might be evil doesn't mean the dog is!" Alex insisted.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and the whistle will just melt," Jason shivered while waving Thalia to keep going as Percy started looking queasy at once for what the outcome of any of this was.

..."How will it work in the maze? I'm not a hundred percent certain it will.

"Is it better or worse he's advertising he's not sure if this will work?" Magnus asked.

"Um, both?" Alex shrugged. "Either he's trying to lull Percy into thinking it won't work or he's being genuine." He looked very annoyed they still didn't have a clear motive for that going in when the journey was going to happen any page now.

... I'd feel better knowing you had this. If you really need help, use it;

"No offense to the cute giant doggy," Percy shifted around uneasily, "but I'm sort of concerned what trouble he think's we're going to get into she'll be able to help." There was an annoying twang going on in his brain trying to give him an answer he didn't like, which was probably why he got no answer, theories or otherwise.

but be careful, the whistle is made of Stygian ice."

"That's a made up word," Jason scoffed.

"All words are made up," Alex grinned.

"It never occurred to me you make things out of ice other than water," Magnus frowned.

"You've clearly never frozen coffee and put it in your coffee," Will shrugged.

... it will shatter when you blow it, so you can only use it once."

"So if you freeze the River Styx it turns into, what did you call it?" Magnus double-checked.

"Stygian ice," Thalia repeated slowly, "and not necessarily. Stygian is a material found in the underworld, and using the River Styx is part of the process to forge it."

She stopped there, that was really all she knew of it. Magnus watched Nico curiously for more, and Alex and Jason both had hungry looks on their faces for the same, but he didn't volunteer it, instead gripping his sword. He wasn't really so convinced anymore they'd all think him a freak the second he started talking in detail about Underworld stuff, but the story of how he'd gotten his sword was still a bit private.

...magic shoes that had been designed to drag me to my death.

"Trust me, we remember," Jason still had half a mind to go around barefoot after that nightmare if he found out his shoes were a gift from someone.

"I hope that doesn't mean you refuse to accept help again though," Will sighed, "Luke was a bad example."

Percy thumped his pen against his forehead rather than answer. He liked to think of himself as a trusting kind of guy until he had a reason not to, but there was something about Quintus he couldn't quite zero in on.

... Mrs. O'Leary liked him, which had to count for something.

"Dog's aren't the best judge of character when you can bribe them," Magnus huffed.

"And cats judge everybody as assholes or food dispensers, so let's just agree not to use animals for this," Alex chuckled.

"The alternative is obviously pigs, Percy's had great experience with those," Thalia smirked while Percy non-so quietly threatened to summon that boar back on her.

... But then again, I'd trusted Luke once.

Those kinds of reminders always wiped the smiles right off of everybody's face. Percy had been through far to much already for someone going through puberty while he was at it.

... promising myself that I would never use it, and I dashed off to find Annabeth.

"How good are you at keeping promises though?" Percy couldn't tell how much Jason was kidding as he asked.

"I think of myself as a man of my word," but Percy sounded just as unsure of himself. There was already a bad feeling like that whistle had frozen his butt cheeks together he clenched up so tight in pain over what had entailed there.

"He once promised Grover he could walk him home and then ditched him," Alex helpfully reminded.

"He made quite a few promises to Tyson though about being accepted and those worked out," Will grinned.

"We are not having a debate over my impulsive mouth if you guys won't stop laughing at the rest of the results," Percy swiftly cut in before that could escalate.

As long as I'd been at camp, I'd never been inside the Athena cabin.

Alex immediately gave him a wolf whistle while Magnus mock groaned and covered his ears for what that was implying.

Percy chucked a bit of his seaweed beanbag at Alex through his blush quite well.

...The owl's onyx eyes seemed to follow me as I walked closer.

"Please don't have Athena place some kind of curse on you over this," Jason wrapped his fingers together in hope.

"Please don't let one of Annabeth's siblings make that final stand against me right now," Percy twitched over the idea of losing somebody's bookmark somehow ending in decapitation.

... Sets of armor hung under the windows glinting in the sun.

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," Magnus grinned in surprise how well it seemed he might fit into that cabin.

"And you were making faces at me while you're over here making dick jokes," Alex smirked, causing them both to laugh none-to-quietly to everybody else's complete confusion.

...She turned with a start. "Oh, hi. Didn't hear you."

"We should almost be grateful she isn't here sometimes," Will chuckled. "The amount of times she's gotten engrossed in her reading and been snuck up on has landed to many kids to count in the infirmary."

"So she'd be the best at ignoring all of the constant interruptions?" Percy grinned. "I always knew she would have been the best one to be reading these."

"Shush you," Thalia sighed, "nobody needs to hear more of your constant praises on how perfect she is."

"I'm not, I mean I didn't-" Percy tried to stammer some defense while turning a whole new shade of red while Thalia laughed remorselessly and kept going.

...The maps just lead from nowhere to nowhere."

"Then why would they keep those maps," Jason looked offended at this uselessness.

"Decoration? Some kid in there might be a cartographer and using it as a bad example?" Nico shrugged.

...the maze tries to distract you. I wondered if Annabeth knew that already.

"My money's on yes," Magnus said with pride.

"You never know, self-proclaimed geniuses are the worst about that whole missing the forest for the trees thing," Alex said. "Best to say it just in case."

"She's not a self-proclaimed anything," Percy rolled his eyes. He'd known that look of doubt on her face the moment he'd walked in. She was no more confident of this quest than he was, and he had proof he lived through it. There was something about that prophecy that had her worried even before they set out on this deadly trek.

..."I've wanted to lead a quest since I was seven," she said.

"And all I wanted at that age was world peace," Magnus muttered. His cousin had led such a drastically different life from him he worried every other hour if she'd be half as excited to see him as he'd be.

"You're going to do awesome." She looked at me gratefully,

Percy wanted nothing more than to etch that moment into stone and never forget it again. His crush, their teasing, and his own fear of never getting back to her aside- all tied together- still couldn't make him regret for a second he'd given her just a moment of peace.

..."Hey, we're your friends. We wouldn't miss it."

"Literally," Thalia snorted. "I'm kind of terrified of the anxiety inducing consequences if she'd dared to tell you not to come."

Alex put on a weirdly good impression of Percy's voice. "I can't let her do this alone, I have to help! But this is Annabeth, she told me not to! She's perfectly capable and she knows what she's doing!" By the end he had each hand up arguing with each other finger to finger.

"There's a sock puppet competition out there missing their best competitor," Percy said, unimpressed.

... "The prophecy?" "I'm sure it's fine," she said in a small voice.

It felt like a hole was in Percy's side. A missing piece where Annabeth should be, resting against him, that no cold draft of the ocean could ever compare against now as he took an unsteady breath and tucked his arm around nothing.

...I hugged her. Butterflies started turning my stomach into a mosh pit.

"What song were you playing?" Thalia asked with interest.

"Help!" Percy said in the tiniest voice. There had been no hesitation in him though as he'd pulled her in close, his fingers tangled up in her hair on the back of her neck, his arm drawing tight around her back. The only person he'd ever hugged, or been hugged by before was his mom. He'd returned the gesture on Annabeth without a second thought no matter their height difference or what her hair smelled like or how much it tickled as her breath had puffed across his neck where he found his fingers lingering now.

When he closed his eyes, he could feel it all so vividly. When they snapped open upon Thalia reading, he felt a cold rush as if she'd been snatched away all over again.

...She was shivering.

Thalia made her own humming noise of concern in the back of her throat. Moments like this, of not being there for her anymore made her jealousy of Percy a little more potent than usual. She'd once been that shoulder for her sister, now she was off in corners of the world while she was scared and clinging to someone Annabeth could have possibly lost again. The girl had gone through to much of that already in her life to deserve this lingering fear.

"Chiron might be right," she muttered. "I'm breaking the rules.

"And I still wholeheartedly approve of this," Alex said with the defiance of facing down a god. "No ancient rules, customs, or traditions should ever stop her from making the best decision in saving this entire camp's life!"

Will pursed up his lips to hold back how much he might agree otherwise if it wasn't for the state Annabeth had come back to camp in, alone. She'd truly believed this decision had gotten Percy killed, distraught and regret didn't begin to cover it all on her feelings of tempting fate.

... "We've had plenty of problems before, and we solved them."

"With a high degree of success," but Jason had an uneasy brow raised. He'd never been a fan of these Greek kids being all willy-nilly about their interactions with the gods, and didn't have any more of a good feeling about how they were now flaunting primordial rules.

...It was one of Annabeth's half-brothers, Malcolm. His face was bright red.

"And they were just hugging," Alex snorted. "You've scared that poor teenager from life against so much as getting caught holding hands lest his siblings walk in on that."

The others gave a mild chuckle, but Nico swallowed a dry, dusty throat. Even the idea of imagining hugging Percy sent off warning bells in his head like someone was going to condemn him for the thought. He glanced guiltily at Will and away, it certainly hadn't felt like an evil, bad thing to almost fall asleep next to him, practically on top of him...but gods did his stomach feel likely to explode at the idea of anyone seeing that.

..."Archery practice is starting. Chiron said to come find you."

"I have a really bad feeling he has a sixth sense about letting any of the campers sneak off," Magnus muttered, though in his cousin's particular case he might be a little grateful for this if Percy ever digested those butterflies.

... "We were just looking at maps," I said stupidly.

"It was a special magic map that one could only see after enacting an ancient ritual of-" Jason couldn't finish and broke off laughing. Percy waved his hand indulgently for them all to get in on the laughter now, he'd take it all to feel that warmth linger a bit longer where Annabeth couldn't be.

... I wanted to run from the cabin, but then again I didn't.

"Run in circles," Will offered oh so helpfully.

"I keep telling you I'm not a guinea pig anymore!" Percy groaned in exasperation.

... Was it something about—did it end in the word death?"

"Look at you, knowing how to rhyme things," Alex applauding him was definitely mocking.

"It could have been any number of things." Magnus nodded in mock agreement. "Meth, maybe somebody has a drug problem, or maybe Macbeth, we already know you might have some problems with ghosts, or maybe it was Annabeth, and the line was, oh but you'll be fine Annabeth!"

"I'll ask my dad if he'll take notes on any of those suggestions for the future," Will snickered while Percy resisted the urge to roll his eyes, they probably would have gone blood shot from trying if he weren't in the ocean.

...I couldn't shake the feeling one of us wasn't coming back from this alive.

"I don't like your feelings anymore!" Magnus yelped with such a crack to his voice it sounded painful.

"Thalia? Thalia that one wasn't true, right!" Percy looked seconds away from shaking her to get an answer. His gut reactions had nearly always been right in the past.

Thalia twisted the links on her bracelet up, nearly pinching one of her fingers off as she tried to figure out how to answer him. "Percy, you got to trust me when I say it all works out." She hated giving that answer as much as Percy was tired of hearing it though, and thrust the book towards Nico to keep going so nobody had to linger on that longer than they had to.