A/N: I know I said at the end of the last chapter that this one was going to be the last for this book, but I changed my mind. I found it too long in the French version, so I'm correcting that here. In my opinion, separating this chapter—the battle—and what'll be the next one—the aftermath of the battle—is better pacing.
Anyway, I think there are already plenty of things going on in this chapter that cutting a part of it won't make it dull.
Hope you enjoy it.
See you next time and happy reading.
Distance was shorter in the Labyrinth. Still, by the time Rachel got them back to Times Square, Y/N felt like he'd run all the way from New Mexico. They climbed out of the Marriott basement and stood on the sidewalk in the bright summer daylight, squinting at the traffic and crowds.
Which seemed less real, New York or the crystal cave where a god had just died?
Percy led the way into an alley, where their footsteps echoed loudly. Then he whistled as loud as he could, seven times.
A minute later, Rachel gasped. "They're beautiful!"
A flock of pegasi descended from the sky, swooping between the skyscrapers. Blackjack was in the lead, followed by six of his white friends.
Blackjack whinnied.
"Yeah," Percy told him. "I'm lucky that way. Listen, we need a ride to camp quick."
Blackjack whinnied again. Another pegasus made a sound very close to a groan. Y/N found it all strange—it would be the first time he'd be flying without transforming. Everybody started saddling up—except Rachel.
"Well," she said, "I guess this is it."
"Thanks, Rachel," Percy said. "We couldn't have done it without you."
"I wouldn't have missed it. I mean except for almost dying, and Pan. . . ." Her voice faltered.
"He said something about your father," Percy said. "What did he mean?"
Rachel twisted the strap of her backpack. "My dad. . . . My dad's job. He's kind of a famous businessman."
"You mean . . . you're rich?"
Y/N facepalmed. How slow on the uptake Percy could be would never stop surprising him.
"Well, yeah," Rachel said.
"So that's how you got the chauffeur to help us? You just said your dad's name and—"
"Yes," Rachel cut off. "Percy . . . my dad's a land developer. He flies all over the world, looking for tracts of undeveloped land." She took a shaky breath. "The wild. He—he buys it. I hate it, but he plows it down and builds ugly subdivisions and shopping centers. And now that I've seen Pan . . . Pan's death—"
"Hey, you can't blame yourself for that," Percy said.
"You don't know the worst of it. I—I don't like to talk about my family. I didn't want you to know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."
"No," Percy said. "It's cool. Look, Rachel, you did awesome. You led us through the maze. That's the only thing I'm going to judge you on. I don't care what your dad does."
Rachel looked at him gratefully. "Well . . . if you ever feel like hanging out with a mortal again . . . you could call me or something."
"Yeah, I'd like that."
"My number's not in the book, though," she said.
"I've got it."
"Still on your hand? No way."
"No. I kind of . . . memorized it."
Rachel seemed happy. Y/N glanced at Ethan, who nodded silently. Oh, that would be so much fun.
"See you later, Percy Jackson," Rachel said. "Go save the world for me, okay?"
She walked off down Seventh Avenue and disappeared into the crowds.
Then Y/N, Annabeth, Ethan, Nico, Tyson, Percy and Grover shot into the air, and soon they were over the East River with Long Island spread out before them.
They landed in the middle of the cabin area and were immediately met by Chiron, the potbellied satyr Silenus, and a couple of Apollo cabin archers. Chiron didn't even raise an eyebrow when they told him about Kronos rising.
"I feared as much," he said. "We must hurry. Hopefully you have slowed down the Titan lord, but his vanguard will still be coming through. They will be anxious for blood. Most of our defenders are already in place. Come!"
"Wait a moment," Silenus demanded. "What of the search for Pan? You are almost three weeks overdue, Grover Underwood! Your searcher's license is revoked!"
Grover took a deep breath. He stood straight and looked Silenus in the eye. "Searcher's licenses don't matter anymore. The great god Pan is dead. He has passed on and left us his spirit."
"What?" Silenus's face turned bright red. "Sacrilege and lies! Grover Underwood, I will have you exiled for speaking thus!"
"It's true," Ethan said. "We were there when he died. All of us."
"Impossible! You are all liars! Nature-destroyers!"
Chiron studied Grover's face. "We will speak of this later."
"We will speak of it now!" Silenus said. "We must deal with this—"
"Silenus," Chiron cut in. "My camp is under attack. The matter of Pan has waited for two thousand years. I fear it will have to wait a bit longer. Assuming we are still here this evening."
And on that happy note, he readied his bow and galloped toward the woods, leaving them to follow as best they could.
It was the biggest military operation Y/N had ever seen at camp. Everyone was at the clearing, dressed in full battle armor, but this time it wasn't for Capture the Flag. The Hephaestus cabin had set up traps around the entrance to the Labyrinth—razor wire, pits filled with pots of Greek fire, rows of sharpened sticks to deflect a charge. Beckendorf was manning two catapults the size of pickup trucks, already primed and aimed at Zeus's Fist. The Ares cabin was on the front line, drilling in phalanx formation with Clarisse calling orders. Apollo's and Hermes's cabins were scattered in the woods with bows ready. Many had taken up positions in the trees. Even the dryads were armed with bows, and the satyrs trotted around with wooden cudgels and shields made of rough tree bark.
The Athena cabin had set up a command tent and were directing operations. A gray banner with an owl fluttered outside the tent. Argus, the security chief, stood guard at the door. Aphrodite's children were running around straightening everybody's armor and offering to comb the tangles out of their horsehair plumes. Even Dionysus's kids had found something to do. The god himself was still nowhere to be seen, but his two blond twin sons were running around providing all the sweaty warriors with water bottles and juice boxes.
Ethan and Grover joined with the other satyrs. Percy and Nico kept walking with Chiron. Annabeth was about to go and join her brothers and sisters, but Y/N stopped her.
"Hey," he said.
She turned around. "What?" He needed only her voice to know she was still mad at him, and he very well intended to fix that.
"We'll have to fight," he began.
"I had noticed," she said. "Now, if that's all you've got to say—"
"Wait," he continued. "I don't want us to stay mad at each other."
"We'll deal with that later, Y/N. There's no time now—"
"Maybe there won't be any time later either!" he insisted. "You heard Chiron, Annabeth. He's not sure himself that we'll all be alive tomorrow. Look around. Even all of this may not be enough." And as he gestured, he looked around, too. He thought about what he had seen in the Labyrinth, all the monsters in Antaeus's stadium, and the power of Kronos he had felt on Mt. Tam. His heart sank.
Over at the edge of the clearing, Grover was talking to Juniper. She held his hands while he told her their story. Green tears formed in her eyes as he delivered the news about Pan.
Tyson helped the Hephaestus kids prepare the defenses. He picked up boulders and piled them next to the catapults for firing.
"What I mean, Annabeth, is that we don't have time to beat around the bush and stay mad about—" He stopped. He had almost said "about Kronos." He changed his mind mid-sentence. "—about Luke."
Annabeth looked at him skeptically. He could easily say that she fully knew what he had been about to say. She crossed her arms. "Is that all?"
He blinked. Had she expected him to say something else? What else was it that could make her mad? Argh! Annabeth Chase! When you thought you had grasped how she worked, she showed you how wrong you were. Couldn't she see that this wasn't the time to be cryptic and that she had to put some effort into it, too?
"I apologize," he tried. "I shouldn't have—"
She rolled her eyes infuriatingly.
"What?" he exclaimed.
She looked at him straight in the eye, and he had to repress a shudder. Gods, those weren't eyes she had. Those were tornados ready to blow him apart.
"You listen to me, Y/N L/N," Annabeth said. "I don't want an apology. What I want—"
Her voice wavered. The ground underneath them was trembling.
Everyone in the clearing stopped what they were doing.
Y/N himself didn't know why he did what he did. For a very long time the question would stay stuck in his head. But his heart beat wildly, and he couldn't think straight. He kissed Annabeth.
She stepped back. Her face turned crimson. She looked a mix of surprised, confused, and furious. He expected her to slap him or punch him. Instead, she kissed him again.
"You better live to explain yourself," she told him, and she ran to join her brethren.
Then Clarisse barked a single order: "Lock shields!"
And the Titan lord's army exploded from the Labyrinth.
Y/N had been in fights before, but this was a full-scale battle. The first thing he saw when he tore his gaze away from Annabeth, was a dozen Laistrygonian giants erupting from the ground, yelling so loudly his ears felt like bursting. They carried shields made from flattened cars, and clubs that were tree trunks with rusty spikes bristling at the end. One of the giants bellowed at the Ares phalanx, smashed it sideways with his club, and the entire cabin was thrown aside, a dozen warriors tossed to the wind like rag dolls.
"Fire!" Beckendorf yelled. The catapults swung into action. Two boulders hurtled toward the giants. One deflected off a car shield with hardly a dent, but the other caught a Laistrygonian in the chest, and the giant went down. Apollo's archers fired a volley, dozens of arrows sticking in the thick armor of the giants like porcupine quills. Several found chinks in the armor, and some of the giants vaporized at the touch of celestial bronze.
But just when it looked like the Lastrygonians were about to get overwhelmed, the next wave surged out of the maze: thirty, maybe forty dracaenae in full battle armor, wielding spears and nets. They dispersed in all directions. Some hit traps the Hephaestus cabin had laid. One got stuck on the spikes and became an easy target for archers. Another triggered a trip wire, and pots of Greek fire exploded into green flames, engulfing several of the snake women. But many more kept coming. Argus and Athena's warriors rushed forward to meet them. Y/N saw Annabeth draw her knife and engage one of them. Nearby, Tyson was riding a giant. Somehow he'd managed to climb onto the giant's back and was hitting him on the head with a bronze shield—BONG! BONG! BONG!
Chiron calmly aimed arrow after arrow, taking down a monster with every shot. But more enemies just kept climbing out of the maze. Finally a hellhound—not Mrs. O'Leary, unfortunately—leaped out of the tunnel and barreled straight toward the satyrs.
At the moment the hellhound jumped over the corpse of a dead giant that was already starting to turn to dust, a celestial bronze spear ran through its mouth and came out by the other side of its head. It immediately exploded in ashes that covered Ethan from head to toe, and he was coughing and spitting to get it off his tongue.
Sword in his hand, Y/N charged.
As he raced across the battlefield, he saw horrors. An enemy half-blood was fighting with a son of Dionysus, but it wasn't much of a contest. The enemy stabbed him in the arm then clubbed him over the head with the butt of his sword, and Dionysus's son went down. Another enemy warrior shot flaming arrows into the trees, sending archers and dryads into a panic.
Suddenly Y/N felt a strange flow of air in his back. He whirled around and raised his sword. CLANG! His blade vibrated as it clashed with another belonging to an enemy half-blood. He didn't lose a second. He was one with the wind. He struck fast, faster and faster.
His opponent collapsed. Y/N didn't know which of his blows had ended the fight, but he had no time to think about it.
A dozen dracaenae suddenly broke away from the main fight and slithered down the path that led toward camp, as if they knew where they were going. If they got out, they could burn down the entire place, completely unopposed.
The only person anywhere near was Nico. He stabbed a telekhine, and his black Stygian blade absorbed the monster's essence, drinking its energy until there was nothing left but dust.
"Nico!" Y/N yelled.
Nico looked where he was pointing, saw the serpent women, and immediately understood.
He took a deep breath and held out his black sword. "Serve me," he called.
The earth trembled. A fissure opened in front of the dracaenae, and a dozen undead warriors crawled from the earth—horrible corpses in military uniforms from all different time periods; U.S. Revolutionaries, Roman centurions, Napoleonic cavalry on skeletal horses. As one, they drew their swords and engaged the dracaenae. Nico crumpled to his knees.
Y/N came running to his side. "Stand up!" He caught Nico under the arm and tried to pull him up.
"Wait. . . ." Nico moaned weakly. "Just a sec'. I'm tired . . . so tired. . . ."
"There's no time to be tired!"
As if to confirm Y/N's words, a forest fire started. Flames roared within ten feet of Juniper's tree, and Juniper and Grover were going nuts trying to save it. Grover played a rain song on his pipes. Juniper desperately tried to beat out the flames with her green shawl, but it was only making things worse.
Then a wall of water came rushing through the trees. It doused the fire, Juniper, Grover, and everything else.
Grover blew out a spout of water. "Thanks, Percy!"
"No problem!" came Percy's voice from somewhere in the battle.
Y/N was about to run back into the fight when a Lastrygonian walked toward Nico, ready to stamp on him. He turned around, rolled under the giant's legs, jumped out of its club's way, and slashed with his sword all the way from the base of its foot to the top of its thigh. The giant yelled in pain, but soon enough he flew away in a puff of dust.
Just when it seemed like the battle had balanced out again—like they might stand a chance—an unearthly shriek echoed out of the Labyrinth, a sound Y/N had never heard before.
A monster Y/N wouldn't have imagined even in his wildest nightmares shot into the sky, with bat wings fully extended. It was human until the waist, but it had a dragon as lower part of the body. Snakes, hundreds of vipers darting their heads around, tangled where the legs should be. Around the waist, where the woman part and the dragon part met, the skin bubbled and morphed, producing the heads of animals continuously.
"Kampê!" came the terrified voice of one of Athena's children.
Kampê landed on the top of Zeus's Fist and surveyed the carnage. Her face was filled with evil glee. In her right hand she held a glittering ball of thread—Ariadne's string—but she popped it into a lion's mouth at her waist and drew two curved swords. The blades glowed green, and Y/N figured there was a poison coating. Kampê screeched in triumph, and some of the campers screamed. Others tried to run and got trampled by hellhounds or giants.
"Di Immortales!" Chiron yelled. He quickly aimed an arrow, but Kampê seemed to sense his presence. She took flight with amazing speed, and Chiron's arrow whizzed harmlessly past her head.
Tyson untangled himself from the giant whom he had pummeled into unconsciousness. He ran at their fleeing lines, shouting, "Stand! Do not run from her! Fight!"
But then a hellhound leaped on him, and Tyson and the hound went rolling away.
Kampê landed on the Athena command tent, smashing it flat.
Y/N looked alternatively at Nico and her. He made his choice. If he wanted to help Nico or anyone, he had to get rid of that monster first.
He ran after Kampê, leaping into her path. Kampê hissed and sliced at him. He dodged, went in for a strike that narrowly missed, rolled away, jumped back to avoid a cloud of poison. Kampê seemed able to fight with both hands independently. It should've been impossible to get away from her strikes, but he had gotten better with his powers. He held his sword in one hand, and with the other he wielded the wind. He fought faster than he usually could, never lost his balance, and the acid fog just couldn't make its way up to him. His lungs never ran out of air. Yet he knew he couldn't stand his ground forever. Sooner or later, one of these two poisoned blades would touch him.
"Over here!" he shouted. "Help!"
And as if his voice had summoned her, Annabeth was at his side, her knife in hand.
Without a word—they didn't need to talk; they had fought alongside enough to know each other fighting style by heart—together they snaked in and out of the poisoned swords' reach. Y/N tried to distract Kampê while Annabeth went in for a strike, but they still couldn't get near enough. Y/N knew it was harder for Annabeth—she didn't have the wind to help her. Three of Chiron's arrows sprouted from Kampê's chest, but she just roared louder.
"Now!" Annabeth said.
Y/N didn't need to be told twice. Together they charged, dodged the monster's slashes, got inside her guard, and stabbed Kampê in the chest. Almost. Just as Y/N's blade was about to gut Kampê, a huge bear's head lashed out from the monster's waist, and they had to stumble backward to avoid getting bitten.
Slam!
Y/N's eyesight went black. The next thing he knew, he and Annabeth were on the ground. Kampê had her forelegs on their chests, holding them down. Hundreds of snakes slithered right above them, hissing like laughter. She raised her green-tinged swords, and he knew he and Annabeth were out of options.
Then, coming from nowhere, a spear smashed on Kampê's head. She backed away, snarling. The spear, now broken and missing its head, kept striking, once, twice, over and over. Ethan was jumping around Kampê, using his broken spear as a staff.
Ethan glanced at Y/N and Annabeth. "Hey! You better not die before I've enjoyed at least five seasons of romcom with you in the leads."
"WATCH OUT!" Y/N yelled.
Kampê had raised both of her swords, ready to slice Ethan in half. But then, behind her, something howled. A wall of darkness slammed into Kampê, sending the monster sideways. And Mrs. O'Leary was standing over them, snarling and snapping at Kampê.
"Good girl!" came a familiar voice. Daedalus was fighting his way out of the Labyrinth, slashing down enemies left and right as he made his way toward them. Next to him was someone else—a giant, much taller than the Laistrygonians, with a hundred rippling arms, each holding a huge chunk of rock.
"Briares!" Tyson cried in wonder.
"Hail, little brother!" Briares bellowed. "Stand firm!"
And as Mrs. O'Leary leaped out of the way, the Hundred-Handed One launched a volley of boulders at Kampê. The rocks seemed to enlarge as they left Briares's hands. There were so many, it looked like half the earth had learned to fly.
BOOOOOM!
Where Kampê had stood a moment before was a mountain of boulders, almost as tall as Zeus's Fist. The only sign that the monster had ever existed were two green sword points sticking through the cracks.
A cheer went up from the campers, but their enemies weren't done yet. One of the dracaenae yelled, "Ssssslay them! Kill them all or Kronossss will flay you alive!"
Apparently, that threat was more terrifying than the campers were. The giants surged forward in a last desperate attempt. One surprised Chiron with a glancing blow to the back legs, and he stumbled and fell. Six giants cried in glee and rushed forward.
Then it happened. Grover opened his mouth, and the most horrible sound Y/N had ever heard came out. It was like a brass trumpet magnified a thousand times—the sound of pure fear.
As one, the forces of Kronos dropped their weapons and ran for their lives. The giants trampled the dracaenae trying to get into the Labyrinth first. Telekhines and hellhounds and enemy half-bloods scrambled after them. The tunnel rumbled shut, and the battle was over. The clearing was quiet except for fires burning in the woods, and the cries of the wounded.
Y/N helped Annabeth to her feet. They ran to Chiron.
"Are you all right?" Annabeth asked.
Chiron was lying on his side, trying in vain to get up. "How embarrassing," he muttered. "I think I will be fine. Fortunately, we do not shoot centaurs with broken—Ow!—broken legs."
"You need help," Y/N said. "I'll get a medic from Apollo's cabin."
"No," Chiron insisted. "There are more serious injuries to attend to. Go! I am fine. But, Grover—later we must talk about how you did that."
"That was amazing," Percy said, coming next to them.
Grover blushed. "I don't know where it came from."
Juniper hugged him fiercely. "I do!"
Before she could say more, Ethan called, "Y/N, come quick! It's Nico!"
There was smoke curling off Nico's black clothes. His fingers were clenched, and the grass all around his body had turned yellow and died.
Y/N rolled him over as gently as he could and put his hand against Nico's chest. His heart was beating faintly. "He needs nectar."
"Get some nectar!" Percy yelled.
One of the Ares campers hobbled over and trickled some of the magic drink into Nico's mouth. He coughed and spluttered, but his eyelids fluttered open.
"Nico, are you all right?" Y/N asked. "Can you talk?"
Nico nodded weakly. "Never tried to summon so many before. I—I'll be fine."
They helped him sit up and gave him some more nectar.
He blinked at all of them, as if he were trying to remember who they were, and then he focused on someone behind Y/N.
"Daedalus," he croaked.
"Yes, my boy," the inventor said. "I made a very bad mistake. I came to correct it."
Daedalus had a few scratches that were bleeding golden oil, but he looked better than most of the campers. Apparently his automaton body healed itself quickly. Mrs. O'Leary loomed behind him, licking the wounds on her master's head so Daedalus's hair stood funny. Briares stood next to him, surrounded by a group of awed campers and satyrs. He looked somewhat bashful, but he was signing autographs on armor, shields, and T-shirts.
"I found the Hundred-Handed One as I came through the maze," Daedalus explained. "It seems he had the same idea, to come help, but he was lost. As so we fell in together. We both came to make amends."
"Yay!" Tyson jumped up and down with joy. "Briares! I knew you would come!"
"I did not know," the Hundred-Handed One said. "But you reminded me who I am, Cyclops. You are the hero."
Tyson blushed. Percy patted him on the back.
"Daedalus," Y/N said. "The Titan army is still down there. Even without the string, they'll be back. They'll find a way sooner or later, with Kronos leading them."
Daedalus sheathed his sword. "You are right, Y/N. As long as the Labyrinth is here, your enemies can use it. Which is why the Labyrinth cannot continue."
Annabeth stared at him. "But you said the Labyrinth is tied to your life force! As long as you're alive—"
"Yes, my young architect," Daedalus agreed. "When I die, the Labyrinth will die as well. And so I have a present for you."
Daedalus slung a leather satchel off his back, unzipped it, and produced a sleek silver laptop computer—one of those Y/N had seen in the workshop. On the lid was the blue symbol Δ.
"My work is here," he said. "It's all I managed to save from the fire. Notes on projects I never started. Some of my favorite designs. I couldn't develop these over the last few millennia. I did not dare reveal my work to the mortal world. But perhaps you will find it interesting."
He handed the computer to Annabeth, who stared at it as if it were solid gold. "You're giving me this? But this is priceless! This is worth . . . I don't even know how much!"
"Small compensation for the way I have acted," Daedalus said. "Y/N was right about children of Athena. We should be wise, and I was not. Someday you will be a greater architect than I ever was, Annabeth. Take my ideas and improve them. It is the least I can do before I pass on."
"Whoa," Ethan said. "Pass on? But you can't just kill yourself. That's wrong."
Daedalus shook his head. "Not as wrong as hiding from my crimes for two thousand years. Genius does not excuse evil, Ethan. My time has come. I must face my punishment."
"You won't get a fair trial," Y/N said. "The spirit of Minos sits in judgment—"
"I will take what comes," Daedalus said. "And trust in the justice of the Underworld, such as it is. That is all we can do, isn't it?"
He looked straight at Nico, and Nico's face darkened.
"Yes," Nico said.
"Will you take my soul for ransom, then?" Daedalus asked. "You could use it to reclaim your sister."
"No," Nico said. "I will help you release your spirit. But Bianca has passed. She must stay where she is."
Daedalus nodded. "Well done, son of Hades. You are becoming wise." Then he turned to Y/N and started to say, "I cannot leave Mrs. O'Leary—"
"We'll care for her," Y/N said. "I'm sure she'll like it, being here."
"Then I am ready to see my son . . . and Perdix," Daedalus said. "I must tell them how sorry I am."
Annabeth had tears in her eyes and pressed Y/N's hand.
Daedalus turned toward Nico, who drew his sword. You could've thought Nico would kill the inventor, but he simply said, "Your time is long since come. Be released and rest."
A smile of relief spread across Daedalus's face. He froze like a statue. His skin turned transparent, revealing the bronze gears and machinery inside his body. Then the statue turned to gray ash and disintegrated.
Mrs. O'Leary howled. The earth rumbled—an earthquake that could probably be felt in every major city across the country—as the ancient Labyrinth collapsed. Somewhere the remains of the Titan's strike force had been buried.