❛003❜
CHIRON CALLED A war council to take place the next morning. they met in the sword arena, which ivy thought was pretty strange – trying to discuss the fate of the camp while mrs o'Leary chewed on a life–size squeaky pink rubber yak.
chiron and quintus stood at the front by the weapon racks. ivy, clarisse and annabeth sat next to each other and led the briefing. percy twisted his ballpoint pen on his fingers in anxiousness. tyson and grover sat as far away from each other as possible. also present around the table: juniper the tree nymph, silena, travis and connor, beckendorf, lee fletcher, even argus, our hundred-eyed security chief. that's how she knew it was serious. argus hardly ever shows up unless something really major is going on. the whole time annabeth spoke, he kept his hundred blue eyes trained on her so hard, his whole body turned bloodshot.
"luke must have known about the labyrinth entrance," annabeth said. "he knew everything about camp."
ivy thought she heard a little pride in her voice, like she still respected the asshole, as evil as he was.
juniper cleared her throat. "that's what i was trying to tell you last night. the cave entrance has been there a long time. luke used to use it."
silena frowned. "you knew about the labyrinth entrance, and you didn't say anything?"
juniper's face turned green. "i didn't now it was important. just a cave. i don't like yucky old caves."
"she has good taste," grover said.
"i wouldn't have paid any attention except... well, it was luke." she blushed a little greener.
grover huffed. "forget what i said about good taste."
"interesting." quintus polished his sword as he spoke. "and you believe this young man, luke, would dare use the labyrinth as an invasion route?"
"it'd be stupid not to think he would use it," ivy said. "with the camp's magical boundaries out of the way, he could get an army of monsters to attack from the heart of camp. we wouldn't stand a chance if that happens. he must've been planning this for months."
"he's been sending scouts into the maze," annabeth said. "we know because... because we found one."
"chris rodriguez," chiron said. he gave quintus a meaningful look.
"ah," quintus said. "the one in the... yes. i understand."
"the one in the what?" percy asked.
clarisse glared at him. "the point is, luke has been looking for a way to navigate the maze. he's searching for Daedalus's workshop."
percy paused for a second, recognition flashed in his eyes. "the guy who created the maze."
"yes," annabeth said. "the greatest architect, the greatest inventor of all time. if the legends are true, his workshop is in the centre of the Labyrinth. he's the only one who knew how to navigate the maze perfectly. if luke managed to find the workshop and convince daedalus to help him, luke wouldn't have to fumble around searching for paths, or risk losing his army in the maze's traps. he could navigate anywhere he wanted – quickly and safely. first to camp half-blood to wipe us out. then... to olympus."
the arena was silent except for mrs o'leary's toy yak getting disembowelled: squeak! squeak!
finally beckendorf put his huge hands on the table. "back up a sec. annabeth, you said 'convince daedalus'. isn't daedalus dead?"
quintus grunted. "i would hope so. he lived, what, three thousand years ago? and, even if he were alive, don't the old stories say he fled from the labyrinth?"
chiron clopped restlessly on his hooves. "that's the problem, my dear quintus. no one knows. there are rumours... well, there are many disturbing rumours about daedalus, but one is that he disappeared back into the labyrinth towards the end of his life. he might still be down there."
"we need to go in," annabeth announced. "we have to find the workshop before luke does. if daedalus is alive, we convince him to help us, not luke. if ariadne's string still exists, we make sure it never falls into luke's hands."
"wait a second," percy said. "if we're worried about an attack, why not just blow up the entrance? seal the tunnel?"
"great idea!" grover said. "i'll get the dynamite!"
"it's not so easy, dumbass," clarisse growled. "we tried that at the entrance we found in phoenix. it didn't go well."
ivy nodded, sweeping her hair over her shoulder. "the labyrinth is magical architecture, perce. it would take huge power to seal even one of its entrances. in phoenix, clarisse demolished a whole building with a wrecking ball, and the maze entrance just shifted a few meters. the best we can do is prevent luke from learning to navigate the labyrinth."
"we could fight," lee fletcher suggested. "we know where the entrance is now. we can set up a defensive line and wait for them. if an army tries to come through, they'll find us waiting with our bows."
"we will certainly set up defenses," chiron agreed. "but i fear ivy is right. the magical borders have kept this camp safe for hundreds of years. if luke manages to get a large army of monsters into the centre of camp, bypassing our boundaries... we may not have the strength to defeat them."
nobody looked very happy about that news. chiron usually tried to be upbeat and optimistic. if he was predicting they couldn't hold off an attack, that wasn't good.
"we have to get to daedalus's workshop first," annabeth insisted. "find ariadne's string and prevent luke from using it."
"but if nobody can navigate in there," percy said, "what chance do we have?"
"i've been studying architecture for years," annabeth said, narrowing her eyes at percy. she hasn't been very happy with him since ivy told her what happened at goode. "i know daedalus's labyrinth better than anybody."
"from reading about it."
"well, yes."
"that's not enough."
"it has to be!"
"it isn't!"
"hey!" ivy interjected, she glared at the two. "are we going to work together or not?"
everybody watched the three like a bomb waiting to detonate. mrs o'leary's squeaky yak went eek! as she ripped off its pink rubber head.
chiron cleared his throat. "first things first. we need a quest. someone must enter the labyrinth, find the workshop of daedalus and prevent luke from using the maze to invade this camp."
"we all know who should lead this," clarisse said. "annabeth."
there was a murmur of agreement. ivy turned to smile proudly at her best friend, since she's been itching to get her own quest since they were little. but instead of finding the usual pride filled gray eyes, annabeth looked uncomfortable.
"clarisse and ivy have done as much as i have," she said. "they should go, too."
clarisse shook her head. "i'm not going back in there."
travis laughed. "don't tell me you're scared. clarisse, chicken?"
clarisse got to her feet. ivy would've assumed she was going to pulverize travis, but she knew the trauma the labyrinth inflicted on the daughter of ares. clarisse hasn't been the same since she came back. she said in a shaky voice: "you don't understand anything, punk. i'm never going in there again. never!"
clarisse stormed out of the arena.
travis looked around sheepishly. "i didn't mean to–"
chiron raised his hand. "the poor girl has had a difficult year. now, do we have agreement that annabeth should lead the quest?"
they all nodded. ivy noticed how quintus didn't, the swordsmen had alway given her a bad vibe. she figured it was just her trust issues.
"very well." chiron turned to annabeth. "my dear, it's your time to visit the oracle. assuming you return to us in one piece, we shall discuss what to do next."
the daughter of athena walked out of the room and up the attic stairs. ivy tugged at the ends of her hair stressfully.
waiting for annabeth was harder than looking at the crusty old mummy.
all she could do stared at the floor, her leg restlessly bouncing up and down. around her, ivy registered percy pacing the arena. mrs. o'leary ate her lunch, which consisted of a hundred pounds of ground beef and several dog biscuits the size of trash-can lids. chiron was deep in conversation with quintus and argus. It looked to me like they were disagreeing about something. quintus kept shaking his head. on the other side of the arena, tyson and the stoll brothers were racing miniature bronze chariots that tyson had made out of armor scraps.
a while later, percy approached ivy with his face set in unease. "what's goin–" she started, but percy had already grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the arena.
"perce, what are you doing?" ivy questions, the son of poseidon had his calloused hand enclosed around her delicate one.
he shrugged, "i dunno." percy tightening the grip of his hand around hers as he stopped and stared at something across the field. with her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, ivy following his line of sight.
it was the big ouse's attic window, dark and still. was annabeth okay? ivy wondered. she had seen people go insane after a visit to the oracle, but she could bet that if her best friend did go insane gabriel wouldn't let a rest until annabeth was okay.
"percy, ivy," a girl whispered.
juniper was standing in the bushes. it was weird how she almost turned invisible when she was surrounded by plants.
she gestured them over urgently, juniper looked down at their entwined hands but didn't say anything. ivy tried to pull her hand away, but percy didn't let her. "you need to know: luke wasn't the only one i saw around that cave."
"what do you mean?" percy asked.
juniper glanced back at the arena. "i was trying to say something, but he was right there."
"who?" ivy was already making a mental list of all the meeting attendants.
"the sword master," the nymph said. "he was poking around the rocks."
the daughter of aphrodite pursed her lips, her trust issues came to be for a reason. "quintus? when?"
"i don't know. i don't pay attention to time. maybe a week ago, when he first showed up."
"what was he doing?" percy said, narrowing his eyes. "did he go in?"
"i—i'm not sure. he's creepy. i didn't even see him come into the glade. suddenly he was just there. you have to tell grover it's too dangerous—"
"juniper?" grover called from inside the arena. "where'd you go?"
juniper sighed. "i'd better go in. just remember what i said. don't trust that man!"
as the nymph left, ivy shook her head. she should've known better, her gut is always right when it comes to deception.
"i knew it," the brunette huffed indignantly.
once again, percy was staring at the big house. he clenched his jaw. "what are we going to do? just kick him out?"
she sighed, ivy glanced down where her hand remained in percy's. she felt a smile threaten to creep up her face while looking at them. his hand was tan, like the rest of his skin, and calloused. it clashed perfectly with her, her skin being much lighter in shade and delicate to touch.
"we shouldn't act irrationally," ivy lifted her eyes from their hands. percy was staring at her now, she didn't remember him standing so close before. "we'll talk to annabeth about it, then we'll figure something out."
percy nodded, barely glancing away from her to look at the big house attic. "the oracle shouldn't take this long, right?"
"it depends," she said, thinking about all the times she had seen someone go up those stairs. "but–"
he didn't let her finish. percy ran down the hill, pulling ivy across the fields.
"perce, wait–" ivy tried, but he kept running until they reached the front parlor of the big house.
it was strangely quiet. ivy was used to seeing dionysus by the fireplace, playing cards and eating grapes and griping at satyrs, but mr. d was still away.
they walked down the hallway, ivy failed in pulling percy outside but he was physically stronger than she was. the floorboards creaked under their feet. when they got to the base of the stairs, percy hesitated. four floors above would be a little trapdoor leading to the attic. annabeth would be up there somewhere. ivy was about to tell percy that they should go when something interrupted her.
sobbing. and it was coming from below them.
with wide blue eyes ivy shook her head at percy as he crept around the back of the stairs. she has never seen it, but she knew what – or who – resided down below. the basement door was open. it should've been closed, ivy silently cursed as percy kept pulling her along. percy peered inside with ivy behind him. there were three figures in the far corner, sitting amid a bunch of stockpiled cases of ambrosia and strawberry preserves. one was clarisse. the other was gabriel. and the third was a teenage hispanic guy in tattered camouflage pants and a dirty black t-shirt. his hair was greasy and matted. he was hugging his shoulders and sobbing. it was chris rodriguez, the half-blood who'd gone to work for luke.
"it's okay," clarisse told him, standing closer to the boy than gabriel.
"try giving him a little more nectar," the son of dionysus suggested.
"you're an illusion, mary!" chris backed farther into the corner while looking at clarisse as if gabriel wasn't there. "g– get away."
"my name's not mary." clarisse's voice was gentle but really sad. "my name is clarisse. remember. please."
"it's dark!" chris yelled. "so dark!"
clarisse looked at gabriel for guidance, he nodded in encouragement. "come outside," the daughter of ares coaxed. "the sunlight will help you."
"a. . . a thousand skulls. the earth keeps healing him."
"chris," clarisse pleaded. it sounded like she was close to tears. "you have to get better. please. mr. d will be back soon. he's an expert in madness. just hang on."
chris's eyes were like a cornered rat's—wild and desperate. "there's no way out, mary. no way out."
then he caught a glimpse of percy and made a strangled, terrified sound. "the son of poseidon! he's horrible!"
percy backed away, bumping into ivy slightly. she hoped clarisse or gabriel hadn't seen them. she listened for them to react, but instead clarisse just kept talking to chris in a sad pleading voice, trying to get him to drink the nectar. maybe she thought it was part of chris's hallucination, gabriel doesn't like about chris's condition. but . . . son of poseidon? chris had been looking at percy, and yet why did she get the feeling he hadn't been talking about percy at all?
and clarisse's tenderness—it didn't surprise her how soft she turned with chris. she'd known him from before he turned to kronos, and ivy knew they'd been friends. very close friends, actually. and now he was shivering in a dark basement, afraid to come out, and mumbling about someone named mary. no wonder clarisse didn't want anything to do with the labyrinth. what had happened to chris in there?
ivy heard a creak from above—like the attic door opening— and yanking percy with her they ran for the front door. they needed to get out of that house.
"my dear," chiron said. "you made it."
annabeth walked into the arena. she looked straight at ivy. her gray eyes were a full on storm, anybody else would've bee too unsettled in the intensity of her eyes to decipher her emotions. but ivy saw it, annabeth was fucking terrified.
instantly, ivy stood up from her seat and hurried towards her best friend. the brunette nodded at chiron and quintus, "would you give us a sec? yeah? thanks."
she pulled annabeth by the arm outside of the arena, making sure to be in a far away spot where they wouldn't be overheard.
"we're good," ivy sighed.
annabeth let out a shaky breath, shaking her head as she stared at the floor. "ivy, i– i can't. it's too much."
"yes, you can," she reassured her, placing her hands on her shoulders. "no matter what, i'll help you, okay? we'll do this together."
the blonde blinked away tears, taking deep breaths to calm herself. "okay... okay. i– i don't know what to do."
ivy closed her eyes briefly in thought. "first, tell me the prophecy. then... we'll see what we have to do."
annabeth's eyes widen, "no, i'm not telling you or anyone prophecy. it's dangerous and i don't–"
"annie," ivy chided. "if you're going to tell chiron, then tell me. you don't have to bear all of this alone."
the daughter of athena rubbed her temple, swallowing thickly she said, "fine, but... you'll help me no matter what, right?" she asked unsurely.
"of course," she said without hesitation. "i'm not going anywhere, annie."
annabeth's panic ceased from her features at her words, she took a big breath and recited:
you shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze,
the dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise.
you shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand,
the child of athena's final stand.
destroy with a hero's final breath,
and lose a love to worse than death.
ivy stayed silent for a few seconds. lose a love to worse than death... fear clawed at her throat at the thought of losing percy. her percy. to lose him to death is bad, but worse than death? what could be so bad that is worse than that?
then there's the child of athena's final stand. final stand sounded pretty deadly, too. annabeth – her best friend – was a child of athena. if she died... ivy made her decision right then and there.
annabeth's eyes filled with tears at her silence, "i– i'll understand if you don't want to come–"
"i'm in," ivy interrupted. "i'm going on that quest with you."
the blonde blinked. "you... are?"
"yes," she said confidently. ivy wasn't going to let any of the people she cared about get hurt in any way, shape or form. if it was worse than death or their final stand. it wasn't going to happen. "now, let's go. they're going to get suspicious."
once they reached the arena again, chiron asked"everything okay, my dears?"
ivy looked at percy. trying to warn him to not open his mouth, it was better if he didn't go in the quest at all. but at the same time, annabeth needed all the help she could get.
the daughter of aphrodite nodded, walking to sit next to percy. "yep. just peachy."
quintus leaned forward. "well?"
annabeth focused on quintus. "i got the prophecy. i will lead the quest to find daedalus's workshop."
nobody cheered. even if everyone liked annabeth, and they wanted her to have a quest, but this one seemed insanely dangerous. after hearing the prophecy and seeing chris rodriguez, ivy had to suppress a shiver when thinking about how she and annabeth had to descend into that ungodly maze again.
chiron scraped a hoof on the dirt floor. "what did the prophecy say exactly, my dear? the wording is important."
annabeth took a deep breath. "i, ah... well, it said, you shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze..."
they waited.
"the dead, the traitor and the lost one raise."
grover perked up. "the lost one! that must mean pan! that's great!"
"with the dead and the traitor," percy added. "not so great."
"and?" chiron asked. "what is the rest?"
"you shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand," annabeth said, "the child of athena's final stand."
everyone looked around uncomfortably, probably thinking the same thing she had thought. annabeth was a daughter of athena, and a final stand didn't sound good.
"hey... we shouldn't jump to conclusions," silena said. "annabeth isn't the only child of athena, right?"
"but who's this ghost king?" beckendorf asked.
no one answered. ivy hadn't thought about it at first but she had seen nico summoning spirits in her dreams. she had a bad feeling the prophecy was connected to that.
"are there more lines?" chiron asked. "the prophecy does not sound complete."
annabeth hesitated. "i don't remember exactly."
chiron raised an eyebrow. annabeth was known for her memory. she never forgot something she had heard.
annabeth shifted on her bench. "something about... destroy with a hero's final breath."
"and?" chiron asked.
she stood. "look, the point is, i have to go in. i'll find the workshop and stop luke. and... i need help." she turned to ivy, without annabeth having to ask the question ivy responded.
"i go where you go."
annabeth smiled for the first time in days. ivy almost pulled out a camera to show gabriel later. the blonde turned to percy, "what about you?"
percy didn't even hesitate. "i'm in."
ivy found herself unsettled and relaxed at the same time. on one side, having percy there was more comforting than anything. but the line of the prophecy kept coming up to her head, she didn't want anything happening to him.
"grover, you too?" annabeth said. "the wild god is waiting."
the satyr seemed to forget how much he hated the underground. the line about the "lost one" had completely energized him. "i'll pack extra recyclables for snacks!"
"and tyson," annabeth added. "i'll need you, too."
"yay! blow-things-up time!" tyson clapped so hard he woke up mrs o'leary, who was dozing in the corner.
"wait, annabeth," chiron said. "this goes against the ancient laws. a hero is allowed only two companions."
"i need them all," the daughter of athena insisted. "chiron, it's important."
"annabeth." chiron flicked his tail nervously. "consider well. you would be breaking the ancient laws, and there are always consequences. last winter, six went on a quest to save artemis. only three came back. think on that. three is a sacred number. there are three fates, three furies, three olympian sons of kronos. it is a good strong number that stands against many dangers. five... this is risky."
annabeth took a deep breath. "i know. but we have to. please."
ivy could tell chiron didn't like it. quintus was studying them, like he was trying to decide which of them would come back alive.
chiron sighed. "very well. let us adjourn. the members of the quest must prepare themselves. tomorrow at dawn, we send you into the labyrinth."
with the meeting now over, ivy headed to cabin ten. it was empty, since her siblings were all in their lessons. annabeth had headed to her own cabin to look for some maps they'd crafted. percy had been pulled aside by quintus, she had made sure to send him a warning to be alert while around the swordsmen.
but now that she was alone with only her thoughts for company, the weight of the quest she was about to take on fell on her shoulders. to stop herself from crying, ivy decided to look over her papers on the research she has been doing on the labyrinth.
her small and organized handwriting filled pages and pages of old stories. doodles covered the edges of the paper, little roses and hearts that weren't artistic at all but added character to her notes. all the research was based on the cursed amount of reading, her personal knowledge along with chiron and annabeth's. in her childhood, ivy recalled being read stories about mythology for bedtime stories by her dad. the world of monsters and heroes had always been in her life one way or another.
she read pieces of her paper, not really swallowing the information but putting her mind to work on something. anything, other than her personal worries.
"knock, knock?" a voice broke behind her.
ivy jumped in fright, she turned. it was percy, he was leaning against the door frame with a lazy grin on his face. her heart raced by just looking at him. "hi, um, i didn't hear you."
"you okay?" percy asked, pushing himself off of the door frame and walking closer to her. his eyebrows were knitted together;
she frowned at the paper in her hands. "just going over some research. none of the stories agree about anything. the labyrinth is huge and the maps just lead from nowhere to... nowhere."
"we'll figure it out," he promised.
ivy tugged at the seashell necklace around her neck. percy's eyes looked bright with the bright lighting of the aphrodite cabin.
"annabeth has wanted to lead a quest since she was eight, i just don't want her to overwork herself,' she said.
"she'll be awesome, and we're going to be with her the whole way," he nodded in complete confidence. he truly believe in not only annabeth, but in her too.
ivy couldn't help but look at percy in gratefulness, but the words of the prophecy came to taunt her again. lose a love to worse than death. she stared down at all the books and scrolls she'd pulled from the shelves. "i'm worried, perce. maybe i should go alone with annabeth..."
"hey," he said, "we're all your friends. we want to go with you guys."
"but...," she stopped herself from blurring out the prophecy.
"what is it?" percy asked. "the prophecy?"
"i'm sure it's fine," ivy said, her voice coming out smaller than she meant it to.
"what was the last line?" percy looked at her with so much worry and care that ivy felt her tears surface. maybe she was leading him to his death, but it was worse than reaching elysium. she felt cruel for putting him in that situation out of her own selfishness.
all ivy could do was put her arms out in defeat. a tear trickled down her cheek.
then percy did something that surprised her, he stepped forward and hugged her. putting his arms around her in a comforting manner, ivy wrapped her own arms around his middle and buried her face on his chest.
"hey, it's okay." percy rubbed circles on her back, his arms tight around her.
ivy hoped he couldn't feel how fast her heartbeat was going. he smelled like sea breeze and his musky cologne that she still didn't know the name of. she felt herself shivering in his arms.
"chiron might be right," she muttered, words muffled against him. "i don't know what to do. we're breaking the rules but... it feels right."
"then don't worry about it," percy said into the top on her head. "we've had plenty of problems before, and we solved them."
"this is different," ivy insisted. "i don't want anything happening to... any of you."
behind them, somebody cleared his throat.
it was one tobias. his usually pale face was red from holding in his laughter. his legs were crossed as if he was about to pee himself from laughing too hard. "um, sorry," he managed to say, he didn't sound very sorry. "the archery class you're leading is starting, ivy. rae said she won't let you get off the hook again."
percy stepped away from ivy. "we were just... doing research," percy said stupidly.
tobias stared at him. "in human anatomy?"
ivy felt her cheeks burn at what her brother was implying. "tell rae i'll be right there," she said hurriedly, pushing tobias outside.
she rubbed her eyes, taking a second before daring to look at percy. "you go ahead, perce. i have to get ready for archery."
percy nodded, he made his way to leave before hesitating.
"fitzy?" he said. "about your prophecy. the line about a hero's last breath –"
ivy had to think fast before he caught on. percy was smarter than people realized, but either way it should be annabeth to tell him, not her. "you're wondering which hero? i have no idea."
"no. something else. i was thinking the last line usually rhymes with the one before it. was it something about – did it end in the word death?" percy said carefully.
ivy stared down at her papers. this was going to be harder than she realized. "you'd better go, perce. get ready for the quest. i'll– i'll see you in the morning."
as she wished, percy left. ivy was left alone staring at papers that led from one empty conclusion to another. she prayed to every deity there was that her gut was wrong. and her gut was telling her that one of them wasn't going to come back from this quest alive.
A SPEAKS!
HELLO AN UPDATE I'VE MISSED U GUYS OMG.
apologies for not updating in like 2 weeks but like school yk
i think my new updating schedule for now will be once a week or twice(doubtful)
i wish i could update more often but im in my junior year so its hard AH anyways how are u guys
thoughts???