The Labyrinth of Daedalus was many things — lifelike, multidimensional, frightening, gruesome and mesmerizing all at once.

It was ineffable.

Malora had been down there during the past year, but even now it seemed so out of grasp, so intricate and impossible, that the daughter of Dionysus was reading another one of Annabeth's books about it.

She wanted to be able to not only explain it but to understand it. Maybe she had overlooked something last time, maybe on this reread she could figure out what had caused Chris Rodriguez to go insane. Maybe this time she could figure out how to heal him.

Malora hadn't known Chris back when he was still at Camp, before he had joined Luke Castellan (son of Hermes, the traitor who had turned his back on the Olympians) and the titan army, so she probably wouldn't have cared much about him, if it wasn't for the desperate daughter of Ares.

Clarisse La Rue had asked her for her help and Malora appreciated how much effort this must've taken. After all they had not been friends at that point, not even acquaintances, merely strangers. Besides Clarisse was very prideful.

But Malora's father was the God of madness after all and Clarisse had been more comfortable with asking her for her help than asking Malora's older brothers, Pollux and Castor.

It had since become a personal matter for Malora. She wanted and needed to save Chris somehow. She had spent days with him, trying to take care of him. There had been small improvements, but then his state had worsened again. Now the time was running out and soon he would reach the state of insanity, where he stopped eating, sleeping and drinking. He would die if she couldn't heal him.

Her father way away, trying to convince the minor gods and goddesses to fight on their side. There was talk of them siding with Kronos in the war. Malora only hoped he would be successful and return unharmed, maybe even help cure Chris' madness, but she didn't know how much time the boy had left, and even if her father returned this summer, it might already be too late.

"Malora," Castor spoke up, ripping the girl out of her thoughts. She had been so absorbed in the book that she didn't notice that her brothers had walked into the cabin. "You've read that book three times already and you've literally been in the Labyrinth for Zeus' sake. No one knows more about it than you do, so stop torturing yourself with this."

"Chris will die, Castor." argued Malora, not looking up from her book.

"That's it. You need a break." Pollux told her firmly, shutting off her CD player.

Ignoring her protests, her older brothers each grabbed one of her arms and hauled her up from where she was lying on her bed.

"It's a beautiful day outside, Mallie," Pollux said teasingly, "You can listen to that trash and reread facts you already know after dinner."

"Hey," Malora exclaimed, grudgingly allowing her older brothers to drag her out of their shared cabin. "If you say another word against The Cure, you'll be sleeping outside!"

Castor snickered at their exchange, but his smile dropped when he took a closer look at his sister and noticed the bags under her eyes.

"You need to sleep more. It's no good for anyone, not even Chris, if you're overworking yourself like that," he commented, causing her to shift guiltily. "Do you even know what day it is?"

She did not. She had been working nonstop, but she couldn't admit that to him or Pollux. While Castor was the worried older brother type, Pollux, despite his fun loving personality, would worry about her too.

"Just tell me what's going on today." Malora grumbled, as the trio walked towards the strawberry fields.

Her mood improved slightly when she caught sight of the satyrs playing on their pipes and making the plants grow with their woodland magic. That was how they maintained the camp after all, selling strawberries to local restaurants and other establishments.

"Most campers arrived on Friday," Castor said, as if Malora hadn't noticed that during the dinners. Before she could point that out, he continued, "The Demeter and Athena cabin are having a chariot race right now, those guys are fighting an orange sea serpent, as you can see, and-"

"I hope the Demeter cabin is winning." his twin brother cut him off, while Malora nodded in agreement.

Due to both, the children of Demeter and the children of Dionysus, having plant based powers the two cabins spent most of their time together. That was one of the reasons why Malora was close friends with Katie Gardner and Miranda Gardiner. For months Malora was convinced these two were full-blooded siblings, like the Stoll brothers, but that wasn't the case.

Thinking about the Stoll brothers, Malora rolled her eyes when she saw the two sons of Hermes trying to hotwire the camp's SUV.

The Hermes cabin and the Demeter cabin didn't get along ever since Travis and Connor had put chocolate Easter bunnies on the Demeter cabin's grass roof, and since Malora was close with the Demeter kids she was always on their side of any argument.

"And Grover's having his hearing right now." Castor continued as if Pollux hadn't spoken, causing his sister to gasp.

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed as she stopped. "I told Grover I'd be there and say something in his favor."

Grover was one of her closest friends and she'd tried to calm his nerves by saying she'd stand up for him. He was facing the council of cloved elders, a bunch of arrogant and old satyrs, because they didn't believe that the Lord of the Wild, the great Pan, had spoken to Grover during a quest to save the goddess Artemis.

That had been during the time Malora was in the Labyrinth with Clarisse, but the daughter of Dionysus believed Grover despite having no proof. If any satyr could find Pan, then it was him.

Juniper, his girlfriend, and Grover had counted on her being able to influence the council, since satyrs had immense respect for her father.

"Malora, it's too late now," Castor said carefully, putting an arm around her shoulder. "But you know Grover, he's not going to be mad at you."

She sighed at his words, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"I still feel bad. I should've been there."

"Maybe that will remind you not to overwork yourself anymore." Castor said in a way that reminded Malora way too much of their father.

"Enough lecturing! Let's just help grow the strawberries and then you two should clean up our cabin for Silena's inspection." Pollux said joyfully, sprinting towards their satyr friends.

"Pfft," Malora shook her head with smile. "Of course we're doing all of the work."

Castor grinned, his purple eyes twinkling in amusement. Then before Malora had time to prepare, he removed his arm from her shoulders, yelled "Race you!" and ran after their brother.

All three of them were quick runners, the twins even more so then her, despite their plump appearance. She had made the mistake of underestimating them when she first came to camp six years ago, but she knew better now.

Letting out a laugh, Malora quickly ran after him, deciding she would apologize to Grover later and bring him a bunch of tin cans.

°｡ 𓏲 ｡ ✧⌇

Malora was relieved that Grover had forgiven her — He hadn't even been mad at her in the first place. Honestly, there was not a single bad bone in this satyr's body — and he'd appreciated the tin cans greatly.

When he filled her in about what the council had said however, Malora found herself growing increasingly more frustrated, especially when Grover's eyes brimmed with tears.

"You know what we'll have to do," she had said, giving him a sympathetic pat on his shoulder when he shuddered. "It's the only way."

But that had been yesterday, today was an entirely different matter.

There was a lot of excitement during breakfast, since Lee, a son of Apollo, and a bunch of his siblings had spotted an Aethopian drakon at the borders of camp during the night.

The magical boundaries had kept it outside and the boundaries would keep others out too, but Malora was worried about what this meant for them.

Her father was gone, their attendance was low and with the threat of the Labyrinth looming over their heads, the daughter of Dionysus knew that Luke would attack during the next weeks. They were weak, at a disadvantage too, so it would only make sense. No matter how much Malora despised Luke, she grudgingly had to admit that he was clever.

"This is a good reason for new war games," Quintus said, causing Malora to look up at him. There was a glint in his eyes that made her wary. He seemed rather fond of danger. He literally had a hellhound as a pet. "We'll see how you all do with that tonight."

"Yes..." Chiron trailed off. "Well, enough announcements. Let us bless this meal and eat."

Malora tapped her foot repeatedly on the floor, impatiently raising her goblet and mumbling, "To the Gods."

She was worried, she was nervous and she was aching to get back into the Labyrinth. It was insanity, she knew that. This place had nearly killed Clarisse and her countless of times, but if she wanted to help Chris she had to go back. She wanted to help Grover too. Pan was not only a friend of her father's, he was also the only one who could save their world and its nature.

"Sister dearest, if you're not going to eat your food-"

"Have it, Pollux, dear," Malora said somewhat distracted, furrowing her brows as she caught Annabeth's eyes.

She was sitting with Grover at Percy Jackson's table. The son of Poseidon and the other two were staring at her, so she could only imagine what they were talking about. They quickly looked away when she stared back.

It was forbidden to sit with other cabins, but Malora figured Annabeth and her were in the clear. The only person who could get them in trouble was Quintus, but she trusted him not to do so. With that decision made she stood up and began to make her way towards the Poseidon table.

"Mal, wait-" Castor started, but she was already half-way across the pavilion.

"Malora was down there with Clarisse," she heard Annabeth tell Grover and Percy. "She wants to be back in it."

"Yeah, Malora's father is the God of Madness!" Grover protested, his lip quivering.

"It's the only way to help Chris and you, Grover," Malora spoke up, sitting down next to him. Her mouth twitched in amusement when the trio yelped. "The Labyrinth is deadly, but we need to be prepared for Luke's attack."

"Woah, what do you mean 'Luke's attack'? What does that have to do with the Labyrinth?" Percy asked confused, which seemed to be a constant situation for him.

"Did they tell you about Ariadne's string?" Malora asked, satisfied when he nodded.

"Wait, isn't she your stepmother?" Percy asked in return, causing Annabeth to smile.

"Oh, shut up," Malora frowned, "Yes, she is. But that's not important right now. What you need to know is that you can navigate through the maze with her string. Annabeth and I think that Luke wants to invade camp that way. He wouldn't need to cross the magical boundaries and could just waltz in."

Percy looked deeply troubled at that revelation, but Annabeth only shook her head.

"But it doesn't make any sense. The closest entrances you and Clarisse found were in Manhattan. That wouldn't help Luke with the borders." she said, before turning to Percy again, filling him in. "Clarisse and Malora here explored a little way into the tunnels, but..."

Malora winced, "It's dangerous. We had some very close calls, but this is different now. Annabeth and I researched everything we could about the Labyrinth and Daedalus. We weren't prepared then, but we are now, Grover."

"It might be the key to your problem," Annabeth nodded to the satyr.

Percy blinked, and to Malora's surprise, he seemed to understand what Annabeth meant immediately, "You think Pan is underground?"

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

Grover shuddered and once again Malora found herself patting his shoulder.

"Satyrs hate going underground. No searcher would ever try going in that place. No flowers. No sunshine. No coffee shops!" he said, while Malora's gaze swept through the pavilion. Most of the campers were watching them curiously, knowing it was against the rules for half-bloods to sit at a table that wasn't their godly parent's.

"But the Labyrinth can lead you almost anywhere. It reads your thoughts-"

Malora interrupted Annabeth excitedly, "It's genius really. It's designed to trick, fool and kill you in the most creative of ways."

The daughter of Athena threw her an unimpressed glare, "Yes, but if you can make it work for you-"

Malora highly doubted that anyone could make the Labyrinth work for them, but she wisely decided to keep that thought to herself.

"It could lead you to the Wild God." Percy finished Annabeth's sentence, which was kind of cute in a cliché sense.

"I can't do it." Grover hugged his stomach. "Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up the tin cans that Malora got me."

"I'll bring you new ones."

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

Before anything else could be said Quintus cleared his throat from where he sat at Malora's table. She figured he didn't want to cause a scene, but Annabeth and her had overstayed their welcome at Percy's table.

"We'll talk later," said Annabeth as she squeezed Percy's arm. "Convince him, will you?"

Then she walked over back to the Athena table, ignoring everyone's stares.

"Do it for Pan." Malora told Grover, figuring that was the best way to convince him.

After that she, too, got up from Percy's table and made her way back to her own table, sending Quintus an innocent smile.

°｡ 𓏲 ｡ ✧⌇

Malora didn't care about the war games.

All she really wanted was to be back in her cabin and reread Annabeth's book about Daedalus.

But Quintus was insistent that every camper would take part in his games, so here she was, standing in between Pollux and Clarisse, suited up in combat armor.

"Right," called Quintus, standing on the head dining table, causing Pollux to complain to his siblings ("And we're supposed to eat there. Ugh, look at his boots."). Mrs O'Leary, his hellhound, was happily foraging for dinner scraps around him. "Gather 'round!"

Malora was still shocked that he was a demigod. She had never seen a demigod with gray hair. It was quite sad and she was determined that she and her friends would live into adulthood, so seeing Quintus always gave her a boost of joy.

"You will be in teams of two," he announced and Malora and Clarisse shared a smirk. Everyone else started chatting, trying to catch their friend's attention, so Quintus shouted, "Which have already been chosen!"

Everyone complained about that, groaning in dismay, and Malora huffed in annoyance.

"Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurel. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And of course... you will have to slay the monsters to get it, and stay alive."

The crowd started murmuring excitedly and even Malora, who didn't want to play, raised an intrigued eyebrow. The task sounded pretty straightforward and could actually be fun, after all killing monsters was what they all trained here for.

"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said, as Malora threw another glance to Clarisse. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."

His hellhound barked and buried her face in a plate of pizza. Malora and Pollux shared a look at that.

Quintus started reading off names then. Beckendorf was with Silena Beauregard, which they both looked pleased about. Pollux and Castor were together, as per usual. Clarisse was with Lee, which Malora knew wasn't good news. They'd be her biggest competitors. Theoretically. As she didn't really care about the games.

Travis Stoll was with Katie, which amused Malora greatly, but her amusement died out pretty quickly when Quintus read out, "Malora Greco with Connor Stoll."

Clarisse and Pollux snorted at that, but Malora only rolled her eyes. Of course they'd find that funny.

Percy and Annabeth were together, which didn't really surprise Malora. Grover and Tyson, both terrified of each other, were also teamed up, which made her feel a bit better, despite feeling bad for them.

"Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare." ordered Quintus and Malora already saw Connor sauntering over to her.

Tall and skinny, his curly brown hair hanging in his blue eyes, not that she could see his eyes in the light. She just knew what they looked like, because Connor really liked getting on her nerves.

Behind him was Travis, walking over to Katie who stood a little away from Castor. He was a bit taller than Connor, but otherwise they looked incredibly similar with their upturned eyebrows and elfish features.

Connor stopped in front of her, a crooked smile on his lips, "Lovely evening, isn't it, partner?"

In the torchlight he looked unfairly handsome. It bothered her.

"Shut up, Connor," she grumbled, crossing her arms. "This is so stupid. I should be reading about the Labyrinth and not playing games."

"You've been in it. What would a book tell you about it that you don't know?" Connor questioned.

She didn't dignify him with a response, ignoring how he rolled his eyes at her.

"Well, you two won't be any competition," Clarisse taunted, all friendships forgotten now that she could win something. "Don't you want to give up already, Mal?"

Malora scoffed in response, grabbing Connor's arm and pulling him after her. As soon as they were out of hearing reach of Lee and Clarisse she dropped Connor's arm.

"We're gonna win this thing." she said determinedly, causing the son of Hermes to raise an amused eyebrow.

"Is it really this easy to rile you up?" he asked, a mischievous expression on his face.

"You'd know." she grumbled.

The two minutes passed relatively quickly, and then the campers all ran into the woods with the same excitement as if they were playing capture the flag.

Malora knew it was still evening, but in the forest, with the dark shadows cast by the trees, it felt like midnight. She was also shivering, even though it was summer.

"Look," she murmured, pointing towards tracks. "This thing has got many legs."

They followed the tracks, Connor walking behind her, tripping in the dark and cursing loudly, which caused Malora to sigh in exasperation.

"You could try being more quiet."

"You-" he was cut off by a twig hitting him in his face, which made Malora break into a fit of giggles.

"Stealthy." she got out, amused by the faint pink on his cheeks.

"Shut up," he muttered, holding his head high and walking at a quicker pace. "We'll just find Clarisse and Lee, follow them and steal the silk package of their monster before they do."

It was a smart tactic, despite a little cunning. Well, he was a son of Hermes after all.

"With you making as much noise as a buffalo, that's our only option." Malora agreed, ignoring his protests.

Though he endeavored to be more quiet, the creative curses that left his mouth would give them away to any demigod, especially Clarisse. But Malora decided not to say something and instead focus on the task at hand. It was a nice distraction from her research and she knew it had done her good to take a break for the day.

Honestly, Malora knew she hadn't missed anything in her reading sessions, but she was desperate. She couldn't let Chris die. She was even more sure that she had to go back to the Labyrinth now.

Not just for Chris, but for herself. It had fascinated her so much that she wanted to analyze it further. Most of all, she needed to understand it so well that she and Camp Half-Blood had an advantage over Luke and the titan army.

"There's Lee." Connor pointed out, ripping her out of her thoughts.

Indeed there he was, his bow drawn and an arrow nocked. Clarisse was already running towards the monster with her electric spear. They had the advantage of melee and ranged combat combined.

"Woah," Malora startled, hearing a loud bark to her right. The leaves rustled and branches cracked. "Should we...?"

Connor shrugged, "Your call. Either we follow that thing or Lee."

Malora hesitated for a moment before nodding in the direction they had heard the monster come from. The chances of tricking Clarisse weren't exactly slim, but with Lee around it would be harder to nick their package. Plus it was still a matter of luck who won in the end, so maybe their monster would end up having the gold laurels.

They carefully stepped into a clearing, where Malora could see the sky shine with purple colors. Sunset.

In front of them, a few feet away, was a big, growling hellhound that stared at them as if it had been waiting for them for ages.

"That's not Quintus' pet, is it?" Connor wondered and Malora shook her head.

"No, I'd recognize Mrs O'Leary anywhere," she replied quietly. "I'll draw its' attention, while you sneak up from behind and grab the package."

Connor nodded, drawing his sword and grabbing his shield tighter. Malora herself had two hairpins crossed in her hair, which pinned her hair up, but the top one, on the right, was actually her spear. She reached for it and pulled it out of her hair, watching intently as it grew into her golden weapon.

The hellhound and Malora moved slowly towards each other, although the hound kept glancing over at Connor. The daughter of Dionysus knew how fast and dangerous this monster was and didn't want to rush things and put herself in danger. She kept the spear pointed forward with her hands. Connor moved cautiously along to the right to get past the hellhound, so Malora approached the monster more aggressively to keep its attention on her.

The hellhound snapped at her and growled fiercely. Malora jumped backwards and then quickly thrust her spear at the monster. She hadn't intended to hit it, but to drive it towards Connor, who had managed to get behind the dog.

Fortunately, since monsters disintegrated with just a scratch with celestial bronze, Connor didn't even need to make a killing blow. He aimed for the hind leg and swung his sword with a lunge, though this opened his guard. The tip of his sword drove through the hind leg without the slightest resistance.

The duo watched as the monster disintegrated and let out a final howl of pain. Then they waited until the silk package lay in a pile of monstrous remains before deeming it safe enough to take.

Malora picked it up swiftly, opening it impatiently. Frustrated, she kicked a pile of hellhound ashes when the package only contained a sprig of laurel instead of the golden laurels.

Connor cursed again, before saying, "Let's go find another one."

He sounded doubtful, like the chances of winning had disintegrated just as easily as the hellhound, and Malora was annoyed that he was probably right. There were only six monsters after all and plenty of campers.

"I'm keeping the sprig." Malora mumbled, tucking it into her armor. She didn't acknowledge Connor's amused expression.

The two of them walked back into the woods and groaned in unison when they heard Clarisse's cry of triumph.

It only took a few minutes to find Clarisse and Lee, who had matching triumphant grins on their faces. Malora sighed when she saw the golden laurels on Clarisse's head.

"At least you have the twig." Connor stated, causing Malora to glare at him.

"Congratulations, you two." she told the winners with a grumpy tone in her voice.

"If we had been on a team, we would have won too." Clarisse said to her, and that was about the closest thing to a compliment she would give.

Soon everyone had gathered around the group and they made their way back to the Big House. Only then, when Chiron pointed it out, did Malora notice that Annabeth and Percy were still missing.

"How much do you want to bet that they're making out somewhere?" Connor whispered to her, causing her to grin despite herself.

"We have to find them." Grover said, making some campers nod in agreement.

This time Clarisse and Malora stuck together, a few other demigods with them. They grabbed torches, yelled out for the missing duo and moved through the woods as the moon painted the world in a silver light.

Malora was carrying a torch, while Clarrise and a few others shouted out for Annabeth and Percy. When Percy and Annabeth simply walked up to them from behind a few rocks, Clarisse and Malora pushed through the crowd.

"Where have you two been?" Clarisse demanded.

"We've been looking forever."

"But we were gone only a few minutes." Percy said in confusion.

Malora opened her mouth to say something, but Chiron trotted up, followed by Grover and Tyson.

"Percy!" exclaimed Tyson, "You are okay?"

"We're fine," he replied, "We fell in a hole."

Connor snorted at that, which caused Malora's mouth to twitch in amusement, but everyone else only gave Percy skeptical glances.

"Honest!" he protested, "There were three scorpions after us, so we ran and hid in the rocks, but we were only gone a minute."

"You've been missing for almost an hour," Chiron corrected him, "The game is over."

"Yeah," Grover muttered somewhat bitterly, "We would've won, but a Cyclops sat on me."

Malora didn't want to imagine how that happened.

"Was an accident!" the Cyclops protested, before sneezing.

"A hole?" repeated Clarisse suspiciously.

Annabeth didn't reply, instead taking a deep breath and looking at the other campers.

"Chiron... maybe we should talk about this in the Big House."

"I knew it!" Malora burst out, while Clarisse gasped. "You found it, didn't you?"

Annabeth bit her lip, "I- Yeah. Yeah, we did."

A bunch of campers started asking questions, looking slightly confused. Even Percy seemed confused. But then Chiron raised his hand for silence and everyone shut up.

"Tonight is not the right time, and this is not the right place," Chiron stared apprehensively at the boulders, which unnerved Malora. "All of you, back to your cabins. Get some sleep. A game well played, but curfew is past."

There was a lot of mumbling and complaints, but the campers began heading back to their cabins, throwing suspicious looks into the direction of Percy, Annabeth, Malora and Clarisse. The campers were talking among themselves, coming up with theories about what had just occurred.

"You were right, Mal," Clarisse said, "This explains a lot. It explains what Luke is after."

Malora was deeply satisfied, as she finally had proof that she'd been right in her guess, but she was also worried, since she now knew for sure that the worst-case scenario was about to happen.

"Wait a second," Percy spoke up, still confused by their found. "What do you mean? What did we find?"

Annabeth turned to him, her eyes dark with worry, "An entrance to the Labyrinth. An invasion route straight into the heart of the camp."

And although the war games were over, Malora had the feeling that they had only just begun.