I 025. I

𝑪𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒓𝒔

❝ sleep ❞

     ALL SHE WANTED WAS TO SLEEP. But from the moment she closed her eyes she was hit with dreams that didn't help soothe her nerves.

That night in her dreams, she was in the stateroom of the Princess Andromeda. The windows were open on a moonlit sea. Cold wind rustled the velvet drapes.

Luke knelt on a Persian rug in front of the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. In the moonlight, Luke's blond hair looked pure white. He wore an Ancient Greek chiton and a white himation, a kind of cape that flowed down his shoulders. The white clothes made him look timeless and a little surreal, like one of the minor gifs on Mount Olympus.

Ariadne hadn't seen him that way, and she hated to admit it, but it reminded her of the old Luke—one who wouldn't betray her. And of course, the last time she'd seen him, he'd been broken and unconscious after a nasty fall from Mount Tam. Now he looked perfectly fine. Almost too healthy.

"Our spies report success, my lord," he said. "Camp Half-Blood is sending a quest, as you predicted. Our side of the bargain is almost complete."

Excellent. The voice of Kronos didn't so much speak as pierce her mind like a dagger. It was freezing with cruelty. She was reminded of the gold eyes she had seen one too many times. Once we have the means to navigate, I will lead the vanguard through myself.

Luke closed his eyes as if collecting his thoughts. "My lord, perhaps it is too soon. Perhaps Krios or Hyperion should lead—"

No. the voice was quiet but absolutely firm. I will lead. One more heart shall join our cause, and that will be sufficient. At last I shall rise fully from Tartarus.

"But the form, my lord..." Luke's voice started shaking.

Show me your sword, Luke Castellan.

Ariadne hasn't heard his name in so long, and it sent a jolt through her, an arrow in her heart. His full name made him seem almost... human.

Luke drew his sword. Backbiter's double edge glowed wickedly—half steel, half celestial bronze. She had fought him on that very ship two years prior and he used that sword in an attempt to kill her and her friends. It was an evil weapon, able to kill both mortals and monsters. But part of her didn't fear it. She knew she was a better swordsman than he was, and she would always use that to her advantage.

You pledged yourself to me, Kronos reminded him. You took this sword as a prof if your oath.

"Yes, my lord. It's just—"

You wanted power. I gave you that. You are now beyond harm. Soon you will rule the world of gods and mortals. Do you not wish to avenge yourself? To see Olympus destroyed?

A shiver ran through Luke's body. "Yes."

The coffin glowed, golden light filling the room. Then make ready the strike force. As soon as the bargain is done, we shall move forward. First, Camp Half-Blood will be reduced to ashes. Once those bothersome heroes are eliminated, we will march on Olympus.

There was a knock on the stateroom doors. The light of the coffin faded. Luke rose. He sheathed his sword, adjusted his white clothes, and took a deep breath.

"Come in."

The doors opened. Two dracaenae slithered in—snake women with double serpent trunks instead of legs. Between them walked an empousa.

"Hello, Luke," Kelli smiled. She was wearing a red dress and Ariadne thought she was very pretty, but if she was an empousa, that wasn't good news and her true form was hideous looking.

"What is it, demon?" Luke's voice was cold. "I told you not to disturb me."

Kelli pouted. "That's not very nice. You look tense. How about a nice shoulder massage?"

Luke stepped back. "If you have anything to report, say it. Otherwise leave!"

"I don't know why you're so huffy these days. You used to be fun to hang around."

"That was before I saw what you did to that boy in Seattle."

"Oh, he meant nothing to me," Kelli said. "Just a snack, really. You know my hearts belongs to you, Luke."

"Thanks, but no thanks. Now report or get out."

Kelli shrugged. "Fine. The advanced team is ready, as you surprised. We can leave—" She drowned.

"What is it?" Luke asked.

"A presence," Kelli said. "Your senses are getting dull, Luke. We're being watched."

She scanned the stateroom. Her eyes focused right on Ariadne. Her face withered into a hag's. She hated her fangs and lunged.

Ariadne shot up like a bullet. She heaved for air and shivered in her bunk, hearing the light snores from her brother echo across the cabin. Vines rustled above her and acted out in her stress, shriveling as they seemed to follow her anxiety.

The girl looked around her room and noticed a bright light in the corner. She squinted only to see it grow closer, and it was a bubble. A sea-green bubble that was large enough to wrap around her entire head.

She tilted her head, and before she could speak, it splashed on her, and the girl became unconscious.

Her head shimmered and she felt as if she was underwater, but she could breath. The girl wondered if that was what Percy felt anytime he was swimming.

Nico appeared, and she opened her mouth in shock. He was standing in a graveyard under a starry sky. Giant willow trees looked all around him. He looked a bit taller.

He was watching some gravediggers at work. She heard shovels and saw dirt flying out of a hole. Nico was dressed in a black coat. The night was foggy. It was warm and humid, and frogs were croaking. A large Wal-Mart bag sat next to Nick's feet.

"Is it deep enough yet?" Nico asked. He sounded irritated.

"Nearly, my lord." The ghost was a faint shimmering image of a man. "But, my lord, I tell you, this is unnecessary. You already have me for advice."

"I want a second opinion!" Nico snapped his fingers, and the digging stopped. Two figures climbed out of the hole. They weren't people. They were skeletons in ragged clothes.

"You are dismissed," Nico said. "Thank you."

The skeletons collapsed into a pile of bones.

"You might as well thank the shovels," the ghost complained. "They has as much sense."

Nico ignored him. He reached into his zeal-mArt bag and pulled out a twelve-pack of Coke. On normal days, Ariadne would be Irving to have one, but she was wondering what the boy was doing. He popped open a can. Instead of drinking it, he poured it into the grave.

"Let the dead taste again," he murmured. "Let them rise and take this offering. Let them remember."

He dropped the rest of the Cokes into the grave and pulled out a white paper bag decorated with cartoons. The girl hadn't had it in months, but she recognized it—a McDonald's Happy Meal.

He turned it upside down and shook the fries and hamburger into the grave.

"In my day, we used animal blood," the ghost mumbled. "It's perfectly good enough. They can't taste the difference."

"I will treat them with respect," Nico said.

"At least let me keep the toy," the ghost said.

"Be quiet!" Nico ordered. He emptied another twelve-pack of soda and three more Happy Meals into the grave, then began chanting in Ancient Greek. She caught only some words—a lot about the dead and memories and returning from the grave. Morbid stuff.

The grave started to bubble. Frothy brown liquid rose to the top like the whole thing was filled with soda. The fog thickened. The frogs stoped croaking. Dozens of figurines began to appear among the gravestone: bluish, vaguely human shapes. Nico had summoned the dead with Coke and cheeseburgers.

She could cross that off her non-existent bucket list.

"There are too many," the ghost said nervously. "You don't know your own powers."

"I've got it under control," Nico said, thought his voice sounded fragile. He drew his sword—a short blade made of solid black metal. Ariadne has never seen one, but she knew the name: Stygian Iron.

"One at a time," Nico commanded.

A single figure floated forward and knelt at the pool. It made a slurping sound as it drank. It's ghostly hands scooped French fried out of the pool.

When it stood again, she could see it much more clearly—a teenage guy in Greek armor. He had curly hair and green eyes, a clasp shaped like a seashell on his cloak.

"Who are you?" Nico said. "Speak."

The young man frowned as if trying to remember. Then he spoke in a voice like dry, crumbling paper: "I am Theseus."

Ariadne almost fainted. Theseus. The very hero she had despised for years was a boy? She felt like vomiting while looking at him, feeling as if she were being taunted and as if her stepmom was there next to her and held a face of disgust.

She was glad she didn't know him.

"How can I retrieve my sister?" Nico asked.

Theseus's eyes were lifeless glass. "Do not true. It is madness."

"Just tell me!"

"My stepfather died," Theseus remembered. Ariadne didn't feel an ounce of pity. "He threw himself into the sea because he thought I was dead in the Labyrinth. I wanted to bring him back, but I could not."

Nico's ghost hissed. "My lord, the souls exchange! As him about that!"

Theseus scowled. "That voice. I know that voice."

"No you don't, fool!" the ghost said. "Answer the lord's questions and nothing more!"

"I know you," Theseus insisted, as if struggling to recall.

"I want to hear about my sister," Nico said. "Will this quest into the Labyrinth help me win her back?"

Theseus was looking for the ghost, but apparently couldn't see him. Slowly he turned his eyes back on Nico. "The Labyrinth is treacherous. There is only one thing that saw me through: the love of a mortal girl. The string was only part of the answer. It was the princess who guided me."

Ariadne glared at the ghost. If she was there, she would've told the ghost how he was stuck in the Underworld and her stepmom was now a goddess.

"We don't need any of that," the ghost said. "I will guide you, my lord. Ask him if it is true about an exchange of souls. He will tell you."

"A soil for a soul," Nico asked. "Is it true?"

"I-I must say yes. But the specter—"

"Just answer the questions, knave!" the ghost said.

Suddenly, around the edges of the pool, the other ghosts became restless.

They stirred, whispering in nervous tones.

"I want to see my sister!" Nico demanded. "Where is she?"

"He is coming," Theseus said fearfully. "He has sensed your summons. He comes."

"Who?" Nico demanded.

"He comes to find the source of this power," Theseus said. "You must release us."

Around her, she felt the ground shaking. It began humming with power. The noise grew louder and louder. The image of Nico in the graveyard started to glow and it became painful to watch.

"Stop!" Ariadne said out loud. "Stop it!"

With a swipe of her hand, the girl was drenched in water from the sea-green bubble that dimmed down. She watched as the light escaped into her ring, the trident pulsing.

She slid out of her bed and ran to the window where she could see the beginnings of a sunrise, one that brought on a quest she didn't know if she could do.

***

     VINES FOLLOWED HER FEET WITH EVERY STEP. They only stopped when she gave them a glare and a low curse, and they sunk into the ground. The girl ran a hand down her face and cringed when her fingertips skimmed the scar on her face.

The girl was to meet her quest group in an hour, but she had packed quickly and headed towards the dining pavilion to grab a quick bite of something to tide her over.

Castor and Pollux were ahead, wanting to see her off to ensure she was okay. Ariadne huffed behind them and hurried to match their pace, seeing as they were about six-foot. She hated how they were taller.

Both twins glanced back at the girl and sat down at table twelve. She sat across from them while other campers filtered into the dining pavilion along with them, on a few errands for Chiron as they prepared for the quest to set off.

As a plate dropped in front of them, the boys smiled at their sister. Both poured strawberry syrup over their waffles, and neither one noticed her raised eyebrows. They continued on until their plate was practically a sea of red syrup and their waffles were covered.

"That's a lot of syrup, guys," she said. "Are you okay?"

Castor gave her a look. "Are you okay?"

The girl rolled her eyes as they challenged her and took a sip of the water in her glass. She stabbed her fork into a bit of her chocolate pancakes and forced them into her mouth, wanting to get breakfast over again so they could head into the quest and save Grover's fury butt and stop Luke.

Her dreams were causing her mood to take a sour turn.

"Seriously, Ari," Pollux said. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. Although, all three of them knew she was feigning a false sense of security for their sake which wasn't helping at all. In fact, it was making it increasingly worse.

Ariadne felt her brother's quit eating and she sighed. "Guys, I'm fine." With auspicious looks, the brothers raised a brow. "Polly, Cas, I'm serious."

Neither said anything. Both just continued eating and watched as their sister stabbed her food and glared at the table in a way that would make anyone's knees shake.

After a few minutes, as they were finishing, there was a low growl. Everyone in the dining pavilion stopped and spun around to see three distant figures heading for them.

Annabeth, who had been seated at the Athens table, ran for Ariadne and gripped her wrist. The brunette narrowed her eyes as the figures grew closer and let her know that they were animals.

One Apollo camper had a bow on hand, and they notched a celestial bronze arrow, and as it soared through the air and towards the frost black mass, a vine swatted it out of the way.

Campers looked at the Dionysus siblings who were in shock. None of them had done that.

The masses grew closer and changed directions, finding their way in front of the Dionysus table. And to her shock, she realized they were cats—big cats.

One of them looked as if it were a leopard, and it trotted towards Castor who's eyes we're wide. Master, it said in a deep voice.

Castor and Pollux were ready to run for the hills, but Ariadne sighed heavily. "Calm down," she told them. "We can hear them like Percy can hear horses, you're not going insane."

The leopard nudged Castor's hand with his head. It putter under the boy's fingers and Castor gave the creature a surprised look. But soon, he scratched behind the cat's ears with a smile.

Annabeth's grip tightened around Ariadne's wrist as the second mass made itself known. It was an African lion, which decided that Pollux was its favorite and nuzzled against its side. The two boys were frozen as the cats purred.

"Ari," Annabeth whispered. "Ari, behind you."

The brunette glanced behind her to see a tiger. A pure white tiger with black stripes along its sides and face, its teeth barred as it growled. She gave it a confused look before reaching her hand out against Annabeth's whispers.

The tiger's snout touched her palm and the creature seemed to melt in her hand. It licked her palm before rubbing its head against her waist. All three siblings now had a cat attached to them, and none of them knew if it was thanks to their father or just because.

Once the shock was over, they left the pavilion with their animals in tow.

Just after dawn, the quest group met at Zeus's fist.

Ariadne has packed her backpack—thermos with nectar, baggies of ambrosia, bedroll, rope, clothes, flashlights, and lots of extra batteries. Lunacy rested on her finger, and the girl had her necklace around her neck with the pearl safely inside.

It was a clear morning. The fog had burned off and the sky was blue. Campers would be having their lessons during the day, flying Pegasi and practicing archery and scaling the lava wall. Meanwhile, they would be heading underground.

Juniper and Grover stood apart from the group. Juniper had been crying again, but she was trying to keep it together for Grover's sake. She kept fussing with his clothes, straightening his rasta cap and brushing goat fire off his shirt. Since they had no idea what they would encounter, he was dressed as a human, with the cap to hide his horns, and jeans, fake feet, and sneakers to hide his goat legs.

Chiron, Quintus, and Mrs. O'Leary stood with the other campers who'd come to wish them well, but there was too much activity for it to feel like a happy send-off. A couple of tents had been set up by the rocks for guard duty. Beckendorf and his siblings were working in a line of defensive spikes and trenches. Chiron had decided they needed to guard the Labyrinth exit at all times, just in case.

Annabeth and Ariadne made it there before Percy and Tyson. Pollux and Castor were growing a wall of vines that were down to a sharp point, while their companions were sniffing Mrs. O'Leary and playing with her.

Chiron and Quintus had been shocked when they appeared, but the centaur only smiled when they told the story. They assumed they were from their father.

Pollux and Castor has already found a name suitable for their companions. Castro's leopard was now deemed Fang and Pollux's lion was now Leo.

She couldn't figure out a name and decided to leave it up to her brothers.

Percy was overwhelmed with the idea that she had a tiger. The boy had asked many questions and Tyson had clapped and smiled at the sight of the 'large cats' as he called them.

The boy had been frozen when her tiger sniffed the poor boy, and Ariadne was sure he was ready to pass out. But not just from her tiger, but the fact that he looked as terrible as she did, but she was better at masking it than he was.

Annabeth had been doing one last check on her supply bag and Ariadne had been busy watching her brothers. When Tyson and Percy came over, the blonde frowned.

"Percy, you look terrible," Annabeth said.

"He killed the water fountain last night," Tyson confided.

"What?" Ariadne asked.

Before Percy could explain, Chiron trotted over. "Well, it appears you are ready!"

He tried to sound upbeat, but they could tell he was anxious. "Hey, uh, Chiron, can I ask you a favor while I'm gone?" Percy questioner.

"Of course, my boy."

"Be right back, guys." Percy nodded towards the woods. Chiron raised an eyebrow, but he followed him.

Ariadne watched the two with a confused look until she saw Beckendorf making his way towards her. She gave him a hug.

"Be careful," he said. "We all need you."

She smiled slightly. "Yeah, and I need you guys, too. Also, can you think about what I said earlier?"

Beckendorf grinned. "Turning Lunacy into a lightsaber?" She nodded eagerly. "Answers no, Ari. It's fine the way it is."

"But it would be cool!"

"And you need to stay safe," he chuckled.

The boy gave her one last pat on the head ha headed back towards his siblings. She pouted and noticed her brothers walking over.

Castor collided with her and gave her a large hug. "I love you, Ari," he said into her hair. "Come back safe."

Pollux rolled his eyes and smushed her between them. "You mean we love her, Cas. Because it's true, sis, we really do."

"I didn't doubt it," she groaned from between them. "Now can I please breathe?"

They only smirked and wrapped their arms tighter. After a few seconds of Pollux and Castor making her laugh with Their banter and tight hugs, they let go.

She held their hands. Her fingers interlocked with theirs while they all wore shorts and their orange camp shirts. "I'll miss you guys," she told them.

"We know," they said in unison. The girl rolled her eyes and huffed.

Castor ruffled her hair. "We love you, sis," he told her. "Make sure you get back. Or else the Trio of Twelve isn't complete."

Trio of Twelve was something they had created the first summer Castor and Pollux had been at camp. All three thought it was clever, and if one was gone, the trip would become a duo, and that didn't have nearly enough ring to it as trio did.

Ariadne latched onto them once more before her brothers backed up and gave her final smiles and tears waves. She chuckled as they ran for their cats and led them behind the tents and away from Zeus's Fist, knowing they would cry while she was gone.

Ariadne eyes Chiron and Percy by the edge of the woods and she trudged over, curious as to why they were taking so long.

"Percy, you ready?"

Percy nodded. He glanced behind her.

"Take care," Chiron told them. "And good hunting."

"You too," Percy said.

Ariadne gave Chiron a short hug before they walked over to the rocks, where Tyson, Grover and Annabeth were waiting. She stared at the crack between the boulders—the entrance that was about to swallow them while.

"Well," Grover said nervously, "goodbye sunshine."

"Hello rocks," Tyson agreed. And together, the five of them descended into darkness.

Ariadne felt her hand interlock with Annabeth's, knowing that her sister was there to share the burden of the quest together.

authors note:

I have them companions. SUE ME!

Comment what Ariadne's tiger's name should be because I'm not sure. Fang and Leo are pretty generic, but the reason I had Pollux's lion as a Leo was because Ariadne will have a nickname for Leo Valdez pretty quickly.

I hope you guys enjoyed it!

I love you guys!