︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

DAYS IN THE SUN

chapter twenty-seven
❛ 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢. ❜

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

       AMARA'S HANDS WERE resting on her hips, a smile lacing her lips as she stood before the son of Hephaestus. "Come on Charlie," she taunted, her eyes shining with mischief at the old boy. "Just admit it, I'm the better sword fighter."

"In your dreams, Grace." Charles argued, rolling his eyes.

The brunette shrugged, enjoying the rouse she was able to get out of the older boy. "Maybe in yours," she agreed. "But last time I checked, you had a sword to your throat less than an hour ago."

Beckendorf's eye twitched. "And, forgive me if I'm wrong," she pretended to think while tapping her chin before grinning. "But, I'm pretty sure that means you lose and I win."

The dark skinned boy fell silent, and she took that as his answer. Lacing her fingers together and resting her hands against her head, she turned her back to the older boy and walked off.

She was stopped abruptly in her tracks, arms bigger than hers circled her stomach and she was pulled backwards. Her back crashed into a chest, their arms tightening and she was hit with the smell of fire. She scolded, looking up at the older boy who had entrapped her.

Charles' fingers dug into her side, and she squealed at the feeling. "Charlie!" Her body buckled in on itself, trying to escape his grip and the ticklish feeling she was a victim too.

"Come on Ara," she could hear the smile in the son of Hephaestus' voice. "Just admit you're wrong, and I'll stop."

"Never," she laughed, momentarily stopping the dark skinned boy in his actions. "Okay." He shrugged, his fingers digging into her sides once more as laughter slipped out.

She grabbed onto his arms, using all her might to try and tug them away. He was too strong, his arms never even moving despite her efforts. As a last resort, she flung her leg back and wrapped it around his, knocking him off balance and they crashed against the grass.

Beckendorf's arms loosened, and she quickly scrambled out of his grip and rushed to her feet, putting distance between her and the son of Hephaestus.

"Not fair," she breathlessly said, spotting the wide grin resting on the demigods lips. "Not fair at all."

He shrugged, clearly satisfied with his actions and he fell back onto the grass. At least, until something — or someone — caught his attention in the distance and he sat up looking rather smug. "Look who it is," the older demigod smirked. "Lover boy to the rescue."

She probably shouldn't have, but she immediately spun around to see the son of Poseidon in the distance. Percy stood beside Chiron, his sea green eyes shining as they met electric blue. The former waved, a smile lacing his lips before turning into the woods with the centaur.

"Gods," Charles was now on his feet, his arm thrown around Amara and she was pulled into his side. "Get together already, you're like lovesick puppies."

She glared at the blacksmith, but he didn't pay her any mind and ruffled her hair. "Come on," without giving her any choice in the matter they began walking off towards Half-Blood Hill. "Got a surprise for you."

He guided her through the magical barrier, only stopping once they reached the bottom of the hill where an older woman waited for them. Jada Beckendorf sat on the lowered tailgate, the mother's hands resting behind her back as a smile formed at the sight of the demigods.

"Jada?" To say she was confused would be an understatement, she was lost. The engineer had just dropped them off not that long ago, so seeing her so soon was definitely a surprise. "Is something wrong?"

"Of course not, dear," the hazel eyed woman reassured the demigod. "Something I have been working on for a long time is finally here, and I couldn't wait until the summer was over to show you."

Jada's arms slipped from behind her back to reveal a set of documents, a smile slipping onto to the dark skinned woman's lips as she handed the papers to the brunette.

Hesitantly, she accepted the paper and began scanning them. Her heart dropped to her stomach, tears forming in the corner of her eyes and she nearly dropped the paperwork from the shock alone. "You . . . you want to adopt me?"

Beckendorf smiled at the brunette, squeezing her shoulder. "What do you say, you wanna make it official and become a Beckendorf?"

She didn't give them an answer, how could she? The family who had taken her in all these years, wanted her. A woman, wanted to become her mom. Tears silently ran down her face and Jada began frantic.

"If it's too soon we understand," the older woman took the paper gingerly. "You don't have to give an answer now, it could be when—"

Amara slipped out from under Beckendorf's arms, crashing into the mother who was forced to take a step back from the unexpected action. She could only nod into the engineer's shoulder, not trusting her words as a sob rushed out.

The mother and son smiled at one another, the former's arms wrapping around the demigod in her arms as she slowly rocked the girl back and forth to console her. "Welcome to the family, my daughter."

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

The next morning, the campers had found themselves listening to a story while eating breakfast. Amara's head was propped in her hands, watching the son of Apollo describe the Aethiopian dragon cabin seven had the pleasure of slaying last night.

Movement caught her eye, and she turned her attention to the blonde haired daughter of Athena who had made her way to the Poseidon table. Looking over her shoulder to ensure the camp directors weren't watching, she was quick to follow the Chase girl's lead knowing the older girl probably wasn't sneaking around for small talk.

After ensuring the coast was clear, she slid beside Percy on cabin three's bench.

The Jackson boy rolled his eyes at the old friends, pointing at them with his fork. "So, do the rules not matter anymore or am I missing something?"

"Come on Beasty," Amara teased. "Don't be such a bore."

Percy hit her shoulder with his playfully, his sea green eyes moving away from her electric blues. "Anyway, so is the Labyrinth part of the Underworld?"

"No," she answered. "There could be passages from the Labyrinth into the Underworld, but it's not part of it. The Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, growing from the past thousand years as it laced its way under Western cities. You can get anywhere in the world through the Labyrinth."

"If you don't get lost," Grover mumbled, his head resting against the table. "And die a horrible death."

"Grover," Annabeth said. "There has to be a way, look at Clarisse."

"Barely!" The satyr exclaimed. "And the other guy—"

"He was driven insane, he didn't die," the brunette pointed her juice straw at the satyr. "There's a difference."

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

"Whoa," Percy held up his hands. "Back up, what's this about Clarisse and a crazy guy?"

Annabeth briefly glanced to the Ares table. "Last year, Clarisse went on a mission for Chiron."

"I remember," the Jackson boy recalled. "It was a secret."

"It was a secret because she found Chris Rodriguez."

"The guy from the Hermes cabin?"

"Yeah," Amara answered. "Last summer he just appeared in Phoenix, Arizona. Near Clarisse's mom's house."

"What do you mean he just appeared?"

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

"String?" Percy questioned.

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

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

"We weren't sure," Annabeth shrugged. "That's why Clarisse went on a scouting expedition. Chiron kept things hushed up because he didn't want anyone panicking. He got me involved because . . . well, the Labyrinth has always been one of my favorite subjects. The architecture involved—" Her expression turned a little dreamy. "The builder, Daedalus, was a genius."

"The Labyrinth has entrances everywhere. If Luke could figure out how to navigate it, he could move his army around with incredible speed." Amara chimed in, saving them from a rant about Daedalus and the Chase girl's fascination with him.

The relationship between the two of them had been . . . odd to say the least over the last six months, still estranged since finding out the blonde was thinking about joining the hunters without so much of a word. But, they were slowly working on it. If they could ever bring up the elephant in the room and actually talk about it.

"Except it's a maze, right?"

"Full of horrible traps," Grover agreed. "Dead ends, illusions, psychotic goat-killing monster's."

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

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

Annabeth shook her head, finally breaking out of her daydream like state. "I don't know. I thought maybe he wanted to invade camp through the maze, but that doesn't make any sense."

"The closest entrances Clarisse found were in Manhattan, which wouldn't help Luke get past our borders. Clarisse explored a little way into the tunnels, but . . . it was very dangerous. She had some close calls." Amara's attention landed on the La Rue girl for a brief moment, the latter toying with her breakfast.

"I researched everything I could find about Daedalus. I'm afraid it didn't help much. I don't understand exactly what Luke's planning, but I do know this. The Labyrinth might be the key to Grover's problem." Annabeth finished.

Percy blinked. "You think Pan is underground."

The electric blue eyed girl shrugged. "It would explain why he's been impossible to find."

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

"Exactly, goat boy," she reasoned. "He would go where no one would bother looking."

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

"It could lead you to the wild god." The sea green eyed boy finished.

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

"Grover, it may be your last chance." The blonde daughter of Athena argued. "The council is serious, one week or you learn to tap dance!"

A throat was suddenly cleared across the tables, earning Amara's attention and she turned. Quintus was staring the small group down, shaking his head at the blonde and brunette duo. Annabeth seemed to take the hint, giving their protector a pointed look and hastily made her way back to table six.

"Come on Mara, don't get in trouble," Percy whispered, nudging her slightly. "We'll talk later, alright?"

She frowned, but the son of Poseidon held a soft smile and she gave in. "Fine. But convince him will you, please?" She swung her legs off the bench, giving the satyr a small smile and started back towards the emptiness of table one.

.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.

Camp activities weren't the same as they were the previous summers, with Dionysus no longer at Camp in preparation for the upcoming war the children of the gods seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation. So now, here Amara stood adjusting the gauntlets on her arms with Quintus explaining their next training exercise.

"You will be in teams of two," the swordsman announced and the campers cheered. "Which, have already been chosen!"

The campers groaned, but the instructor dismissed them easily. "Your goal is simple, collect the gold laurels without dying." She looked up at Beckendorf who she stood beside, the older boys arm thrown around her shoulder. They mirrored each other's grin, excitement dancing in the dark skinned boys eyes.

"The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters, each with a silk package. However, only one holds the laurels so you must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course, slay the monster to get it while trying to stay alive."

A grin curled onto her lips, electric blue meeting warm brown once more as the adoptive siblings shared an excited look. "I will now announce your partners," Quintus explained. "There will be no trading, no switching, no complaining."

Pulling out a long scroll, the instructor began listing off names. "Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard!" The son of Hephaestus' arm that had been thrown around her stiffened, his body going ridged and she looked up in time to see blood rush to his face from the news.

"Have fun in the woods alone, with Silena," Amara teased, and his face deepened to a dark red until the next set of names was revealed. "Amara Grace and Percy Jackson!"

Charles seemed to gain his composure then, blood racing to her cheeks as the former smirked at the younger girl. "Have fun with lover boy, Ara."

"Hey," Percy's voice sounded from behind the adoptive siblings. Beckendorf's smirk seemed to widen as he ruffled her hair and gave the son of Poseidon a clap on the back, making his way away from the children of the big three.

"You okay? Your face is all red." Percy's head was tilted at the brunette, a confused look in his sea green eyes that she managed to avoid. "Your armor is crooked, Seaweed Brain."

She was quick to change the topic, her hands resting against the Jackson's boys chest as she redid his straps and began tightening them. "You're gonna get yourself killed before we face the first monster."

He only nodded, and she was unaware of the red that was creeping up his neck into his face as he looked anywhere but her. She gave the armor one last pull, before settling with the results and turning back to stand beside him.

"Last but not least," Quintus spoke. "Grover Underwood and Tyson."

"What?" The satyr practically jumped out of his own goat fur. "B—but—"

"No, no," Tyson whimpered. "Must be a mistake, goat boy—"

"No complaining!" The swordsman ordered. "Get with your partner, you have two minutes to prepare!"

Grover looked helplessly to Amara, his eyes screaming for her to help. She held up her hands, showing there was nothing she could do and his head fell against his chest. With that, she took off into the woods with Percy following close behind. The sun was still peeking through the trees, giving her enough light to find tracks and follow the trail.

She had just hopped over a creek when a twig snapping caught her ears, a hand grabbed onto hers and she was guided behind a boulder. Percy stood in front of her, his hand resting in his jeans pocket. It turned out only to be the Stoll brothers as the sons of Hermes raced through the woods, tripping over one another and cursing loudly as they did so.

Rolling her eyes at cabin eleven's campers, she forged deeper into the woods with the son of Poseidon. They were passing through a ledge which overlooked a pond when Percy suddenly tensed, stopping in his tracks.

"This is where we stopped looking," he whispered, hurt quickly flooding into his sea green eyes.

"Stopped looking for what?" She asked, not understanding what he was talking about.

But Percy ignored her, instead he kneeled and ran his hands over old cracks. "I saw him last night."

And that was enough for her to understand who he had been talking about. "Nico?"

He nodded, getting back to his feet, he explained to her the Iris-message he received last night. When he was done, she could only feel regret in not going out and searching for the young demigod. "So, he's summoning the dead now?"

"The ghost was giving him bad advice." Percy said. "Telling him to take revenge."

"Yeah . . . spirits are never good advisers they've got their own agendas. Old grudges. And they resent the living." She mumbled.

"He's going to come after me," Percy explained. "The spirit mentioned a maze."

"That settles it," she gave him a nod. "We have to figure out the Labyrinth."

"Maybe," the Jackson boy mumbled. "But who sent the Iris-message? If Nico didn't know I was there—"

A branch snapping cut the son of Poseidon off, dry leaves rustling as the children of the big three met gazes. "That's not the Stoll brothers," Amara murmured, her hands going to her necklace and tearing the chain free.

With a silent agreement being made between the two half-bloods, they stuck by each other's sides and found their way to Zeus' fist. "Over there," the brunette whispered, using a finger to point in front of the two.

"No, wait," Percy paused. "Behind us."

Electric blue met sea green eyes, a mutual understanding passed between them and they separated. Amara went to the right, her fingers curled around her sword handle as she crept around the boulder. At least, until a voice spoke from behind her.

"Hi!" She spun, swinging her sword around to land at the unknown person's throat as a slight scream escaped the newcomer.

"Amara!" Percy raced around the boulder, only to be met with the sight of Amara holding her weapon against Juniper the dryads throat. He let out a sigh of relief, one that had gone unnoticed by the girls.

"Put that down!" The redhead protested. "Dryads don't like sharp blades, okay?"

"Juniper," Amara exhaled, lowering her weapon. "You can't just sneak up on me like that."

"What are you doing here?" Percy questioned, lowering his own sword.

"I live here." Juniper said.

"In the boulders?"

"I'm going to pretend," the brunette swung her sword onto her shoulder blades. "You didn't just say that."

"What?"

"She lives in the Juniper tree," she pointed at the dryad, hoping that would be enough for Percy to piece together the rest.

"Are you guys busy?" Juniper asked, interrupting their bickering.

"Well, we're in the middle of this game against a bunch of monsters and we're trying not to die." Percy answered.

"But," she kicked the boy in the shins. "We're not busy, what do you need?"

"It's Grover," the dryad sniffled as she used her silk sleeve to wipe away her tears. "He seems so distraught, all year he's been out looking for Pan. And every time he comes back it's worse, I thought maybe at first he was seeing another tree."

"No," Amara shook her head. "Grover wouldn't do that to you."

"Juniper," Percy gave the girl a small smile. "He's stressed about his searchers license, and it's Grover so he'll be a little distant because of that."

"But you can't let him go underground!" The tree protested. "You can't let him."

"It might be the only way to help him," The daughter of Zeus argued, giving the dryad a frown. "We just need to figure out where to start."

"Ah," Juniper wiped away another tear. "About that,"

A rustle cut off the dryad, earning the trio's attention as a yelp escaped from Juniper. "Hide!" She hissed, quickly disappearing into a cloud of green mist. A scorpion appeared, crawling out of the woods with a red silk package tied to its back.

"One of us gets behind it," Amara instructed, eyeing the creature wearily. "Cut off its tail while the other makes distractions in front."

"I'll take point," Percy volunteered.

With a spin of her sword, she was prepared to make her way behind the monster when two others just like it appeared from the woods. "Three?" She took a step back, rejoining Percy's side.

"The whole woods and half the monster's come at us?" Sea green eyes met electric blue and they sighed in unison. "Great."

Amara kept her attention locked on the scorpions who seemed more than eager to kill them. She took steps back, her sword raised in preparation to counter an attack. At least, until she felt her back hit a rough area and realized she had been backed into the boulder.

"Climb?" Percy asked, his own sword raised and he gave the brunette a glance.

"No time," she argued. "I would try to summon the winds and use it to bring us to the top, but I've never done it with another person before."

Percy wasn't able to give a response before a stinger was struck his way, narrowly missing the Jackson's boy shoulder and he parried the attack with the blunt of his blade. He quickly tried to take a stab at the stinger, but the scorpion had backed out of his range.

"Come on," the raven haired boy instructed, moving alongside the borders as he quickly ducked another attack. "We gotta try finding an open spot."

She followed, narrowly missing the attack of the scorpion with a swipe of her blade. The new few moments were filled with the demigods constantly on the defensive, watching one another's back as they tried searching for a way out.

She was beginning to lose hope of ever getting away from the scorpions, until Percy seemed to find a solution. "In here," he called, moving himself slightly so she could see.

There was a crack in between the borders, a spot that would surely be safe from the scorpions but there was only one issue. She looked at him and only shook her head. "It's too narrow."

"I'll cover you," he reassured, placing his hand on her shoulder and redirecting her faster than she could comprehend. He had shoved the daughter of Zeus in front of him and turned his back to her, facing the scorpions. "Go!"

Only after she sent him a look did she finally do as he said, turning herself side ways and squeezing herself in between the two boulders. Percy was right behind her, squeezing himself into the narrow crack right after while also keeping an eye on the scorpions.

His plan seemed to work out perfectly, until Amara's foot began to slip. Her balance became unstable and she attempted to grab onto anything to stabilize herself, but the only thing she could find was Percy's armor straps.

"Amara—"

But he wasn't able to finish, she had began falling through a pit that hadn't been there before and was dragging the son of Poseidon down with her.

They weren't falling for long, she wanted to say less than a minute at most. But her landing wasn't smooth, her back was met with hard concrete that took her breath away.

The last moment of light she had been able to see was the purple sunset filling the sky, before the hole they'd fallen through slammed closed and darkness fell over them.

"Mara?" Percy's voice echoed throughout the darkness, noises sounding afterwords as if he was trying to get up.

She ignored him for the moment, rolling over to her side and resting on her forearms. The wet and freezing room they had found themselves in wasn't helping, but, she managed to regain the breath she lost as her breathing evened out once more.

"Amara?" The raven haired boy's voice echoed off the walls, as if he was walking further away. She finally got to her feet with her weapon discarded only a few feet away, and swung the now morphed necklace back over her head.

"Seriously." Percy spoke again and she made her way towards his voice. "This isn't funny, I can't tell if you're hurt or—"

Her hand found his shoulder, and he whipped around with his sword pointed to her throat. "Amara," he sighed. Riptide gave a slight golden light that shined upon her, giving him just enough light to see her.

"Are you going to keep that pointed to my throat," she raised a brow. "Or are we going to find a way out of here?"

He scrambled, swinging the sword away from her neck and instead against the walls. Stone walls covered in moss filled the room, the floor bricked and no sign of life to be seen. "It's a long room," Percy said, attention locked on their surroundings.

"It's not a room," Amara quickly argued as she pieced together where they landed. "It's a corridor."

He didn't seem to understand the danger in her answer, and attempted to walk forward. She reached out, grabbing onto his hand and slipping her fingers beside his as she yanked him back to her side. "Don't take another step," she warned and tried to keep the blood down that threatened to rush to her face. "We need to find the exit, now."

"It's okay," Percy promised. "It's right—"

When he looked up, his eyes widened and he finally realized the hole they fallen through was no longer there. "Two steps back," she instructed, leading them backwards. "Okay, help me examine the walls."

"What for?" She didn't answer right away, tearing her hand away from his and running her fingers over the stone. "The mark of Daedalus."

"Uh, okay. What kind of—"

"Found it," she interrupted, a grin curling onto her lips and she pressed the tiny fissure. Percy's hand quickly found her wrist, pulling her back as the wall began to glow a light blue. A greek symbol appeared not long after, showing off the ancient greek Delta.

With a rumble throughout the corridor, the ceiling began sliding open as the night sky filled with blazing stars appeared once more. Metal ladders formed, leading up to the sky and the sound of voices could be heard.

"Percy!" Tyson's voice bellowed, reaching the demigods ears as they shared a look. "Amara!"

Without another word, she began climbing up the ladder with Percy following closely behind. Silence fell over the demigods as they made their way up, and around Zeus' fist only to run into Annabeth and other campers.

"Where have you two been?" The blonde demanded, pulling Amara into her arms as she wrapped up the brunette in a hug. "We've been looking forever."

"But we were only gone a few minutes," Percy muttered, becoming the next victim of Annabeth's tight grip. The sound of trotting filled her ears and Chiron appeared, followed by Grover and Tyson on either side. "Percy!" A smile overcame the cyclops' features. "You are okay?"

"We're fine," Percy replied, finally being freed from the daughter of Athena's death grip. "We fell in a hole."

But the campers didn't seem to believe him so easily, their gaze turning to Amara. "Is this another prank?" Clarisse demanded, but was met with the daughter of Zeus' head shake.

"Honestly guys," Percy reasoned. "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 stated. "The game is over."

"Yeah," Grover muttered, sparring a glance to the monster son of Poseidon. "We would've won, but a Cyclops sat on me."

"Was an accident!" Tyson protested, sneezing.

"A hole?" The daughter of Ares questioned, a gold laurel resting on her head. But her gaze was focused Amara, who only provided a subtle nod as an answer. It was exactly what Luke had been looking for, it was only by luck they had found it before Kronos' army showed up at their doorsteps.

"Chiron," Annabeth mumbled. "Maybe, we should talk about this at the big house."

With one look to the younger child of the big three, the instructor figured out what the blonde was implying. "You found it, didn't you?"

She nodded again, ensuring mumbles to break out until the centaur held up his hand for silence. "Tonight is not the right time, nor is it the right place." His gaze landed on the boulders momentarily. "All of you, back to your cabins. Get some sleep, a game well play but curfew is past!"

Beckendorf made his way through the complaining demigods, wrapping an arm around the brunette the first chance he got. Words didn't need to be spoken for the younger girl to know what he was saying, she had worried him sick once more.

"This explains a lot," Clarisse realized. "It explains what Luke is after."

"Wait a second," Percy gave the demigods and centaur a confused look. "What do you mean, what did we find?"

"An entrance to the Labyrinth," Annabeth explained, her stormy grey eyes clouded over in worry. "An invasion route straight into the heart of camp."

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

12-31-23

hello hello ! i hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and a happy new years eve ! because of today's iconic date, i had to get this chapter out ! part four is by far the longest and most editing needed part. so it should take me some time, but i'll try getting more chapters out soon. with that being said, happy new years eve and stay safe <3