Another Love ─── L. Castellan

lxviii. i'm slowly losing the will to live, but what's new

"I'll tell you what it's about," Annabeth gave me a heart attack as I almost jumped off of the bench. Luke choked on his juice as he tried not to laugh. "The Labyrinth."

"Annabeth. Don't scare me like that before I've found the will to live," I rubbed my chest. "You're going to give me a heart attack."

The campers were watching us. Now, technically there was a rule about not switching table, but as Luke and I were adults, the rule didn't apply to us. However, Annabeth was still a minor, so it applied to her.

"You're not supposed to be here," I said.

"We need to talk," she insisted.

"Breaking the rules? Annabeth?" I gasped, causing her to scowl

"Look," Annabeth said, "Grover is in trouble. There's only one way we can figure to help him. It's the Labyrinth. That's what Clarisse and I have been investigating."

"You knew about this?" I asked Luke, who was glaring.

"Do you think I would have let her go if I knew about this?" Annabeth looked away from Luke.

"Right. Moving on swiftly," I shifted my weight. "You mean the maze where they kept the Minotaur, back in the old days?"

"Exactly," Annabeth said.

"So...it's not under the king's palace in Crete anymore," I guessed. "The Labyrinth is under some building in America."

My brain was whirring like an old computer processor on it's last legs and if it slowed anymore, there'd be a buffering sign in front of my face.

"Under one building?" Annabeth rolled her eyes. "It's huge, Romy. It wouldn't even fit under a city."

I thought about my dream of Nico at the River Styx. "Of course, I should have known."

"The Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, connecting ancient to new, one civilization to the next." Annabeth listed off. "It's not just under America, but supposedly across the world. It's massive, and..."

"...you can get lost," Grover muttered. "And die a horrible death."

"Grover, there has to be a way," Annabeth said. I got the feeling they'd had this conversation before. "Clarisse lived."

"Barely!" Grover said. "And the other guy—"

"He was driven insane. He didn't die."

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

"Whoa," I said. "Back up. What's this about Clarisse and a crazy guy?"

Annabeth glanced over toward the Ares table. Clarisse was watching us like she knew what we were talking about, but then she fixed her eyes on her breakfast plate.

"Last year," Annabeth said, lowering her voice, "Clarisse went on a mission for Chiron."

"I remember," I said. "It was secret."

"It was secret," Annabeth agreed, "because she found Chris Rodriguez."

"From Eleven? Unclaimed right?"

"No, my brother." Luke shook his head. "Dad forgot about him, so no wonder Chris left for Puck."

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt." I winced. 

"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 armour, babbling about string."

"String?" I said.