Y/n's Pov:
I wanted to sleep, but unfortunately, I have cousins.
"Y/n!" called Michael. "Come! We need you!"
I pulled the covers up. "Nooooo!"
"We spotted an Aethiopian Drakon at the borders of Camp Half-Blood!"
I stood up. "How can I help?"
"Shoot it down."
"I don't have my bow."
"Quit lying so you can get more sleep," Michael scoffed. "I'm looking at it right now. Change and come ASAP."
"Mike, I'm not lying I - "
But he had already left.
I swiftly put on some grey sweatpants, a (Hogwarts House) t-shirt and some running shoes. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail/put on my hijab (A/n: if possible) and grabbed a breath mint.
Before I left, I spotted something shiny on my bedside table. Nearing it, I gasped when I saw what it was.
My ring.
There was a note attached. It read:
Hey, Y/n!
Sorry, I couldn't deliver this in person, I forgot I had it. It was useful by reminding me of you, and it helped me make friends with a certain wolf which Zoe called 'Omega'.
I know it's very special to you, so I'm giving it back.
Take care,
Percy
I smiled at the letter. Remembering why I had woken up in the first place, I quickly slid the ring on my finger and ran off. I folded the letter neatly and placed it in my bedside table drawer.
My cousins were at the top of the hill.
"Took you long enough," said Lee before shooting the Drakon.
"Sorry."
I shot the drakon in the eye.
"Wait!" said a little girl with green hair. "Let's all shoot it at the same time! Maybe that way t will get the message!"
"That's a great idea, Kayla!" Kyle complimented.
Kayla flipped her hair. "I know."
So we did as she said and shot the drakon at the same time. After a few dozen arrows lodged in the chinks of the drakon's armour, it got the message and withdrew.
~
The next morning there was a lot of excitement at breakfast.
"It's still out there," Lee warned the rest during announcements. "Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made it mad. The thing was thirty feet long and bright green. Its eyes—" he shuddered.
"You did well, Lee," Chiron patted him on the shoulder. "Everyone stay alert, but stay calm. This has happened before."
"Aye," a guy with short grey hair said from the head table. "And it will happen again. More and more frequently."
The campers murmured among themselves.
Everyone knew the rumours: Luke and his army of monsters were planning an invasion of the camp. Most of us expected it to happen this summer, but no one knew how or when. It didn't help that our attendance was down. We only had about eighty campers. Eight years ago, when I'd started, there had been more than two hundred. Some had died. Some had joined Luke. Some had just disappeared.
"This is a good reason for new war games," the man continued, a glint in his eyes. "We'll see how you all do with that tonight."
"Yes..." Chiron said. "Well, enough announcements. Let us bless this meal and eat." He raised his goblet. "To the gods."
We all raised our glasses and repeated the blessing.
I took my plate to the bronze brazier unwillingly and scraped a portion of my food onto the flames.
"Artemis," I spat. Then I whispered, "Help me with Nico, Luke, and Grover's problem... Help me survive..."
There was so much to worry about I could've stood there all morning, but I headed back to the table. But instead of heading back o my table, I headed to Percy's, who was with Grover. Annabeth and Grayson (who hesitated) followed behind.
Grover chewed his eggs. I could tell he was distracted, because he bit the tines of his fork and chewed those down, too. "He wants you to convince me," he mumbled.
I slid next to Percy on the bench. Annabeth and Grayson slid in front of him.
"I'll tell you what it's about," I said. "The Labyrinth."
Percy stared at me. "You're not supposed to be here."
"We need to talk," Annabeth insisted.
"But the rules...
He knew as well as I did that campers weren't allowed to switch tables. Satyrs were different. They weren't really demigods. But the half-bloods had to sit with their cabin mates. I wasn't even sure what the punishment was for switching tables. I'd never seen it happen. If Mr D had been here, he probably would've strangled me with magical grapevines or something, but Mr D wasn't here. Chiron had already left the pavilion. The man with the grey beard looked over and raised an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything.
"Look," Annabeth said, "Grover is in trouble. There's only one way we can figure out to help him. It's the Labyrinth. That's what Clarisse and I have been investigating."
Percy shifted. "You mean the maze where they kept the Minotaur, back in the old days?"
"Exactly," I said.
"So...it's not under the king's palace in Crete anymore," Percy guessed. "The Labyrinth is under some building in America."
I rolled my eyes."Under a building? Please, Percy. The Labyrinth is huge. It wouldn't fit under a single city, much less a single building."
"So...is the Labyrinth part of the Underworld?" asked Grayson, a glimpse of happiness in his eye.
"No." Annabeth frowned. "Well, there may be passages from the Labyrinth down into the Underworld. I'm not sure. But the Underworld is way, way down. The Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, kind of like a second skin. It's been growing for thousands of years, lacing its way under Western cities, connecting everything underground. You can get anywhere through the Labyrinth."
"If you don't get lost," Grover muttered. "And die a horrible death."
"Grover, there has to be a way," I said. "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," Percy said. "Back up. What's this about Clarisse and a crazy guy?"
I 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," I said, lowering my voice, "Clarisse went on a mission for Chiron."
"I remember," Grayson said. "It was secret."
I nodded. "It was secret because she found Chris Rodriguez."
"The guy from the Hermes cabin?" said Percy. "I remember him from two years ago. We eavesdropped on him aboard the Princess Andromeda. Chris was one of the half-bloods who'd abandoned camp and joined the Titan Army."
"Yeah," Annabeth said. "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," Grayson echoed.
"He'd been driven completely insane," I continued. "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: Luke's men have been exploring the Labyrinth."
"Okay," Percy asked. "Why were they exploring the Labyrinth?"
"We weren't sure," Annabeth said. "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 favourite subjects. The architecture involved—" Her expression turned a little dreamy. "The builder, Daedalus, was a genius. But the point is, the Labyrinth has entrances everywhere. If Luke could figure out how to navigate it, he could move his army around with incredible speed."
"Except it's a maze, right?" Grayson asked.
"Full of horrible traps," Grover agreed. "Dead ends.Illusions.Psychotic goat-killing monsters."
"But not if you had Ariadne's string," I said. "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 Rodriguezwas mumbling about string."
"So Luke is trying to find Ariadne's string," Percy said. "Why? What's he planning?"
Annabeth shook her head. "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. 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 is, but I do know this: the Labyrinthmight be the key to Grover's problem."
Grayson blinked. "You think Pan is underground?"
"It would explain why he's been impossible to find," I agreed.
Grover shuddered. "Satyrs hate going underground. No searcher would ever try going in that place. No flowers. No sunshine. No coffee shops!"
"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," Grayson said.
"I can't do it." Grover hugged his stomach. "Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up my silverware."
"Grover, it may be your last chance," I said. "The council is serious. One week or you learn to tap dance!"
Over at the head table, the man with grey hair cleared his throat. I got the feeling he didn't want to make a scene, but we were really pushing it, sitting at the wrong table for so long.
I held Percy's hand, which made him look at me. "We'll talk later. Convince him, will you?"
We returned to our corresponding tables, ignoring all the people who were staring at us.
~
In the afternoon, I went to my therapy session. A.K.A. the Apollo cabin.
The first thing I did, was get updated. I had gained three new cousins! Their names were: Kayla Knowles, Austin Lake, and Philip Caedmon.
When I finished greeting everybody, I sighed. "I need a therapy session."
Kyle sat me down on a yellow single couch. "Speak," he ordered.
I grabbed the white throw pillow with a treble clef and started picking at it.
"First things first, I lifted up the fucking sky."
The whole afternoon was spent of me complaining to my cousins about all of my problems.
"And yesterday Percy comforted me after I had a panic attack - "
"You had a panic attack?!" Lee exclaimed worriedly.
"OMG, Percy comforted you! My ship is sailing!" Kyle exclaimed happily.
"You sure have your priorities straight," Austin said sarcastically.
"But I'm gay?"
"No, it's - ugh, never mind."
"Anyways," I continued. "I had a nightmare."
"No shit," said Michael.
"Language!" scolded Lee.
"And in my nightmare," I interrupted. "I saw Nico di Angelo."
"Wait," Will intervened. "Nico di Angelo. Short, black haired, slightly tan skin, obsession with Mythomagic?"
"Yes," I said. "He's also the son of Hades. Why?"
Will blushed. "No reason."
I looked at Kyle and winked at him. That was our silent way of saying, "I ship it." Kyle smirked and nodded.
"So," said Philip. "Continue. Dream about Nico."
"I saw him in the Underworld," I narrated. "He was talking to a very mistrusting ghost. Nico's planning on bringing his sister, Bianca, back from the dead, and the ghost is trying to convince ico of using the 'Sour For A Soul' option."
Kyle cocked his head. "I don't get it."
"Nico's gonna kill someone and exchange the now dead person's soul for his sister's," explained Lee.
"Did Nico agree?" asked Will.
"Fortunately, no," I told him, which resulted in a series of reliefed sighs coming from all of my cousins. "But I didn't get enough time to see the end of the conversation. I think he's rethinking his answer."
"But who will he kill?" asked Kayla worriedly.
"He offered his soul first, but the ghost said Hades wouldn't accept it," I said. "The ghost said that the would had to be of someone who Hades would want dead. Someone who cheated death before."
Michael gasped. "You."
I gasped softly. "I never thought of it that way before."
Worry started to fill my thoughts. What if I died? Would it be worth it? Thankfully, Lee interrupted before my anxiety could get worse.
"Why would Hades want Y/n dead?" he questioned. "Yes, Y/n cheated death, but it wouldn't bring Hades any pleasure too see her dead."
Michael nodded. "You're right. Then who?"
"Grayson Martin?" suggested Kyle. "He's Persephone's kid. That would bring Hades pleasure."
"Yes, but he didn't cheat death," said Will. "I think the ghost means Percy."
"That's what I thought too," I said.
"Shit," Kyle cursed.
"Language!" Lee scolded.
"That's not all," I told them. "After that dream shifted, I saw Bianca."
"What?" exclaimed Michael. "But she's dead!"
"Yeah, I know!" I said. "It was so weird. She told me to protect Nico, and to be the sister she won't be able to be."
"Oop, you know what that means, y'all," joked Kyle. "We have to share Y/n!"
I sighed.
A/n: Hey! Long time no see!
Sorry for not updating, I'm on holiday and I've been visiting people like crazy. I actually finished writing this chapter like two days ago, but I went over to my aunts and forgot to bring my laptop.
For this chapter I wanted to give you some cousin moments so they're closer together.
Brace yourselves for the next chapters, simps!
Emi Riddle