𝕬𝖒𝖇𝖗𝖔𝖘𝖊'𝖘 (𝕸𝖞) 𝕻𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖁𝖎𝖊𝖜:
"YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD NOT TELL HER." Hades bellowed at his brother Poseidon, Hades made the room darker with each word.
Lucifer rolled his eyes.
Currently we were in Atlantis hearing an angry Hades screaming at his younger brother. With us were pretty much everyone me, Daemon, Chaos, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Khonsu, Lucifer, Loki, Thor and Hel.
Daemon scoffed. "Please Hades, your tricks look like cheap magician's tricks."
Lucifer snorted.
"No. But why is this so on point?" Set asked laughing.
Some gods laughed, Hades glared at him, Daemon glared back.
"Brother, you said no one shall speak a word to her about the prophecy, not tell her directly you two are fated." Poseidon said to his brother. At that Hades's eyes flashed, he was going to say something to him. When Amphitrite said. "Lord Hades, what will Aurora think of you if you kill her brother or her father?"
"She actually has a point." Athena said. Atlas scoffed.
Hades seemed to consider this, then he finally said. "Fine. But this matter isn't finished." With those words him and Maximilian left.
"Well the matter is sure as hell finished for me." Lucifer said after Hades left.
Daemon and Wilder snorted.
♔ ♕ ♖ ♗ ♘ ♙
𝕬𝖚𝖗𝖔𝖗𝖆'𝖘 𝕻𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖙 𝖔𝖋 𝖛𝖎𝖊𝖜:
The next morning there was a lot of excitement at breakfast.
Apparently around three in the morning an ethiopian drakon had been spotted at the borders of camp. Aurora was out of Camp hiking so she was oblivious during the attack, if she did she would've done something.
"Why didn't you show us her hiking?" Lucifer asked me.
"I have the same question." Set said
"Because seeing someone walking in the rocks and mountains for 7 hours without anything happening is boring." I answered them.
She was aware The magical boundaries had kept the monster out, but it prowled the hills, looking for weak spots in our defenses, and it didn't seem anxious to go away until Lee Fletcher from Apollo's cabin led a couple of his siblings in pursuit. After a few dozen arrows lodged in the chinks of the drakon's armor, it got the message and withdrew.
"It's still out there," Lee warned them during announcements. "Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made it mad. The thing was thirty feet long and bright green. It's eyes-" he shuddered.
"You did well, Lee," Chiron patted him on the shoulder. "Everyone stay alert, but stay calm. This has happened before."
"Aye," Quintus said from the head table. "And it will happen again. More and more frequently."
The campers murmured among themselves Everyone knew the rumors: Luke and his army of monsters were planning an invasion of the camp. Most of them expected it to happen this summer, but no one knew how or when. It didn't help that their attendance was down. They only had about eighty campers. Apparently Three years ago, when Aurora's brother, Percy started, there had been more than a hundred. Some had died. Some had joined Luke. Some had just disappeared.
"This is a good reason for new war games,"
Quintus 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."
They all raised their glasses and repeated the blessing.
Aurora, Percy and Tyson took their plates to the bronze brazier and scraped a portion of their food into the flames.
"Poseidon," Percy said. Then Aurora heard him whispering, "Help me with Aurora, Nico, and Luke, and Grover's problem."
"I am afraid burned offering will not fix your sister's problems." Khonsu said to Percy.
"It's the thought that counts." Osiris said.
Aurora scoffed, she needed more than burned food to offer gods for her problems to be magically solved, which wouldn't be.
As the Sea siblings made their way towards their table and sat down, Percy and Tyson immediately began asking their sister questions like how was she? Bad, but she said she was fine, what were her thoughts about the whole fated situation? She shrugged nonchalantly while actually she was scared to death.
"It's alright to be scared." Osiris said to his host, Anubis and Isis nodded.
Once everyone was eating, Chiron and Grover came over to visit. Grover was bleary-eyed. His shirt was inside out. He slid his plate onto the table and slumped next to Percy.
Tyson shifted uncomfortably. "I will go...um. polish my fish ponies."
He lumbered off, leaving his breakfast half-eaten.
Chiron tried for a smile. He probably wanted to look reassuring, but in centaur form he towered over them, casting a shadow across the table. "Well, Aurora, Percy, how did you two sleep?"
"Uh, fine." Percy answered.
"Wonderfully." Aurora said smiling.
"Who are you fooling me or Chiron?! You didn't even sleep one second that night!" Hypnos said to Aurora, who smiled innocently. Hades and Poseidon Shook their heads.
"I brought Grover over," Chiron said,
"because I thought you two might want to, ah, discuss matters. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Iris-messages to send. I'lI see you later in the day." He gave Grover a meaningful look, then trotted out of the pavilion and perhaps your siblings, Aurora and Theseus would give you a better point on the matter."
Now Aurora knew what he asked her that, Labyrinth was discovered again, and the only three known survivors were her and her brothers.
The said brothers nodded their heads.
"What's he talking about?" Percy asked Aurora and Grover.
Grover chewed his eggs. Aurora 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.
"So bad sleep at night?" Isabella asked sitting down next to Percy.
Percy looked at his sister. She scrunched her eyebrows, she was sure that her brother dreamt of something major, yet was hiding it.
"Aurora is really smart." Annabeth said. Atlas nodded his head.
Percy, looked at the other people who seemed to be staring at them before turning swiftly to face her. "You not supposed to be here"
"I feel unwanted", Isabella quipped.
"No..as in the rules", Percy clarified.
Wilder, Daemon and Atlas laughed.
"Oh. Well, bad sleep last night?", Isabella asked again.
"Bella, I-", Percy started.
"Just answer the damn question".
"Kinda.", Percy admitted.
"So..yes", Isabella said.
"Yes but...why are you asking?"
"Cause I had a demigod dream. A creepy one",
Concern filled his eyes as he looked at her. "What about?"
"Some passages, underground, I think it was a maze and.....it felt like it was..mocking me", Isabella answered. Aurora scrunched her eyebrows.
"A maze?!" She asked suspiciously.
Isabella nodded her head.
"I'll tell you what it's about," Natasha said. "The Labyrinth."
Everybody in the dining pavilion was stealing glanced at them and whispering.
"You're not supposed to be here," Percy said quietly, to the new guests on the table, Aurora nudged him, warning him.
Sally looked at her son sternly. "Percy what did I say about being rude?!"
Percy smiled sheepishly.
"We have to speak, Brother." Aurora said to him, the rest nodded.
"But the rules.." he insisted
Aurora knew 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 cabins. Aurora wasn't even sure what the punishment was for switching tables. Even if Dionysus had been there, he probably would've strangled Annabeth, Natasha and Isabella with magical grapevines or something and not harm her, he wouldn't dare.
Dionysus nodded. He knew he would be messing with a lot of deities if he let one strand of hair fall down Aurora's head.
Poseidon, Hades, Nyx, Erebus, Osiris, Isis, Hel and Loki being at the top. Not to mention his soulmate wouldn't like his legacy dead by the hands of his soulmate.
Dionysus wasn't here. Chiron had already left the pavilion. Quints looked over and raised an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything.
"They don't matter right now," Isabella insisted.
Percy frowned at her. "So, Why are you here again?"
Natasha sneered. "It's our business too, Jackass."
"Smart," he said, "did it take you all day to come up with that?"
"Been holdin' into it since I woke up."
"Look," Annabeth interrupted, "Grover is in trouble. There's only one way we can figure to help him. It's the Labyrinth. That's what Aurora, Natasha, Isabella and Clarisse and I have been investigating."
Atlas winced at the mention of Labyrinth.
Aurora winced at the mention of Labyrinth everyone stared at her, she shrugged.
"Just some bad memories, that's all." She muttered.
Atlas scoffed, "Yeah the memories where we almost looked death in the eyes."
Percy shifted his weight, trying to think clearly. "You mean the maze where they kept the Minotaur, back in the old days?"
"Wow," Natasha said. "He can be taught."
He made a face at her. "But.....it's not under the king's palace in Crete anymore," he guessed. "The Labyrinth is under some building in America."
Isabella rolled her eyes. "Under a building? Please, Aqua boy. 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?"
"No." Aurora said immediately. "Well, there might be passages from the Labyrinth down into the Underworld. I'd guess so. But the Underworld is way, way down. The Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, like a second skin. It's been growing for thousands of years, lacing its way under Western cities, connecting everything together underground. You can get anywhere through the Labyrinth."
"That sounds good except if you get lost and die there." Theo said
"No one would find you." Atlas added.
"If you don't get lost," Grover muttered. "And die a horrible death."
"Grover, there has to be a way," Annabeth said.
Aurora knew they'd had this conversation before.
"Aurora and Clarisse lived."
Aurora and Atlas winced.
"I don't think what we did there was surviving," Atlas said but then straightened, "but nevertheless we are here, aren't we?"
Aurora nodded.
Aurora winced again, Isabella and Natasha looked at her in concern.
"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."
"Why did None of you mention trauma? Especially when an eleven year old and a six year old get stuck there?" Atlas asked.
"You guys were eleven and six?!" Grover bellowed
Atlas shrugged nonchalantly, "Around that year before that we had done about three quests together."
The Greek demigods looked horrified.
"Whoa," Percy said. "Back up. What's this about Clarisse and a crazy guy?"
Aurora glanced back over toward the Ares table. Clarisse was watching them, but then she fixed her eyes on her breakfast plate. James raised his fingers, pointing two to his eyes and then back at Percy. Percy, who was also looking back, turned around to his table quickly.
"Last year," Annabeth said, lowering her voice, "Clarisse went on a mission for Chiron."
"I remember," Percy said. "It was secret!"
Aurora nodded.
"It was secret," Natasha agreed, "because she found Chris Rodriguez."
Everyone looked at Chis and who smiled uncomfortably.
"The guy from the Hermes cabin?" Percy remembered him from two years ago. They'd eavesdropped on Chris Rodriguez aboard Luke's ship, the Princess Andromeda.
Chris was one of the half-bloods who'd abandoned camp and joined the Titan Army.
"I changed sides." Chris said before anyone could say anything.
"Yeah," Isabella 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 armor, babbling about string." Aurora said
"String," Percg said.
"He'd been driven completely insane. Clarisse brought him back to her mom's house so the mortals wouldn't institutionalise 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." Annabeth said.
Percy shivered, though he wasn't exactly sure why. Poor Chris. he hadn't been a bad guy. What could have driven him mad? He looked at Grover, who was chewing up the rest of his fork.
"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 favorite subjects. The architecture involved-" Her expression turned a little dreamy. "The builder, Daedalus, was a genius. And -"
"Daedalus is anything, But a Genius." Aurora snapped.
Annabeth slightly glared at her. "I understand you have sour memories of the Labyrinth but..."
"No! There aren't sour memories, I was seven and forced to stay there for a year, because I got lost." Aurora said.
"What?!" Theo asked.
"We were sent on an impossible quest by Zeus/Jupiter, Hera/Juno and Chaos. We had to travel across America and the deadline was the Summer Solstice, by the time we started out for the quest it was June the fifteenth." Atlas scoffed, "So mother dearest suggested using the Labyrinth, she told us we could cut a great distance in a short time, we agreed, the result of that was, that we got lost.."
"How did you two get out?" Annabeth asked, "Aurora never told us."
"A mechanic golden... panther cub helped us get out, it showed us the way to the exit. The exit was really near Empire State Building so after that we went up and returned the items." Aurora said.
Atlas laughed. "The gods told us the deadline was summer solstice, we returned the items on the next year's summer solstice so, Mea," he began laughing again, "told them they never specified which summer solstice we should've retrieved the items for."
She received shocked looks.
"How.... How did you manage to get out?" Grover asked.
Aurora scowled. "That's not important."
"So what were you saying Annabeth?" Percy asked.
"Aurora's Hera's and Chaos's champion, so she's supposed to be involved, and she's a good fighter and a strategist." Annabeth said.
Her eyes narrowed on Aurora slightly, her lips pulled down as she explained. She didn't like that answer. It was too uncertain, too hypothetical, too easy to be replaced by experience.
Atlas scoffed. "Annabeth I am starting to like you less and less."
Annabeth looked shocked. "Why?" she asked.
"You don't trust my sister and assume she is on the Titan's side and chaos knows what, you also assume she is a spy that Kronos has in your camp you think she is an enemy.... Shall I go on?" Atlas asked.
Annabeth gulped she got embarrassed and ducked her face.
"That's what I thought." Atlas said.
"Isabella is Minos's descendant, Minos called on Daedalus to build the famous Labyrinth in order to imprison the dreaded Minotaur. I am sure you are well aware of the Minotaur." Aurora said.
Percy nodded, a bit surprised about how she knew it.
"Great," he said, "so there's absolutely no reason for Natasha to be here."
"Funny," She said, "But, for your information, this quest already involves two Ares cabin members. There's no point hiding it from us."
"Isabella, Clarisse?" Percy asked.
"Yes, Jackass." Natasha said. "How long did it take you to realise that? A century?"
Aurora and Isabella snorted. Percy glared at them in betrayal.
Atlas and Ares laughed.
"The point is," Aurora said, "the Labyrinth has entrances everywhere. If Luke could figure out how to navigate it, he could move his army around easily. California to New York could take just a few minutes."
"Except it's a maze, right?"
"Full of horrible traps," Grover agreed. "Dead ends. Illusions. Psychotic goat-killing monsters."
Aurora and Atlas nodded their heads.
"But not if you had Ariadne's string," Annabeth 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 Rodriguez was mumbling about string."
Annabeth looked at Aurora, "Does Theseus have any idea where the string might be?" She asked Aurora.
"Why would she know, I mean Father is quite busy to invite us to Atlantis isn't he?" Percy said frowning.
"I don't know why but Poseidon is allowed to visit Aurora whenever he wants and whenever he wishes." Annabeth said. "She told me she visits her family often."
Aurora scowled, "I am not on speaking terms with my Family. But earlier I asked brother and he said he had no idea where it is."
"So Luke is trying to find Ariadne's string, Percy said. "Why? What's he planning?"
"Invading the camp." Atlas guessed.
"That's true." Aurora said to him.
Aurora 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. There must be one in camp somewhere, but we have to find it first."
Isabella and Natasha nodded. "Clarisse explored a little way into the tunnels, but...it was dangerous. She had some close calls. We don't know exactly what Luke's planning, but I do know this: the Labyrinth might be the key to Grover's problem."
Percy blinked. "You think Pan is underground?"
"It would explain why he's been impossible to find." Isabella said
Grover shuddered. "Satyrs hate going underground. No searcher would ever try going in that place. No flowers. No sunshine. No coffee shops!"
Atlas rolled his eyes.
"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-"
"Which the Labyrinth will never do." Atlas said speaking from experience.
"It could lead you to the wild god," Percy said.
"Highly hypocritical." Atlas 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," Isabella insisted.
"The council is serious. One week or you learn to tap dance!" Natasha said
Atlas, Daemon, Wilder, Theseus, Asopos, Lucifer, Set, Hermes, Apollo and Veronica snorted.
Isabella snorted before covering her mouth quickly. The others turned to look at her. "Sorry, I just remembered a video I watched of dancing goats".
Grover looked offended.
Most in the Hall laughed.
"Not that you are a goat, it just reminded me of it.", Isabella trailed off. Over at the head table, Quintus cleared his throat.
Aurora got the feeling he didn't want to make a scene, but they were really pushing it, sitting at Poseidon table so long.
"We'll talk later," Natasha said. She got up, perhaps a little too eager to leave.
"Convince him," Isabella told Percy.
As they walked towards their table,
Aurora looked over at Quintus. He nodded gravely, like they were sharing some dark secret. Then he went back to cutting his sausage with a dagger.
♔ ♕ ♖ ♗ ♘ ♙
That night after dinner, Quintus had them suit up in combat armor like they were getting ready for capture the flag, but the mood among the campers was a lot more serious. Sometime during the day the crates in the arena had disappeared, and Aurora had a feeling whatever was in them had been emptied into the woods.
"Right," Quintus said, standing on the head dining table.
"Gather 'round."
He was dressed in black leather and bronze. In the torchlight, his gray hair made him look like a ghost. Mrs.
O'Leary bounded happily around him, foraging for dinner scraps.
"You will be in teams of two," Quintus announced. When everybody started talking and trying to grab their friends, he yelled: "Which have already been chosen!"
"AWWWWW!" everybody complained.
"Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course.....you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive."
The crowd started murmuring excitedly.
The task sounded pretty straightforward. They'd all slain monsters before. That's what they trained for.
"I just know something will go out of control." Atlas said. Aurora and Percy smiled sheepishly.
"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said.
"There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."
"Aroooof!" Mrs. O'Leary buried her face in a plate of pizza.
Quintus produced a big scroll and started reading off names. Beckendorf would be with Silena Beauregard, which Beckendorf looked pretty happy about. The Stoll brothers, Travis and Connor, would be together. No surprise. They did everything together.
Isabella and Annabeth a challenging couple (from what Aurora gathered they both liked Percy),
"How did you know?" Annabeth asked, the two girls both blushed. Percy frowned, he never would've guessed that.
James and Clarisse, Natasha and Cassiopeia would be tough duos to beat because they all specialized in plenty of weapons.
Quintus kept rattling off the names until he said, "Percy Jackson with Aurora Ashford."
"Great two magnets of trouble together, nothing can go wrong." Atlas said sarcastically.
"Nice." Percy grinned at her.
"Your armor is crooked," Aurora said, and she redid his straps for him, trying not to look at his face.
"Grover Underwood," Quintus said, "with Tyson."
Grover just about jumped out of his goat fur. "What? B-but_"
"No, no," Tyson whimpered. "Must be a mistake. Goat boy-"
"No complaining!" Quintus ordered. "Get with your partner. You have two minutes to prepare!"
Tyson and Grover both looked at Aurora and Percy pleadingly. They tried to give them an encouraging nod, and gestured that they should move together. Tyson sneezed. Grover started chewing nervously on his wooden club.
"They'll be fine," Aurora said.
Someone walked towards them, it was Isabella.
"I'll leave you alone to it." Aurora smirked at Percy who looked very confused. Suddenly Isabella hissed in Percy ear scaring the life out of him, she laughed.
"Children of Poseidon don't really like snakes." Atlas said laughing.
"So where did you came from?" Percy asked
"The cervix, you?" She asked,
"I am using that." Aurora said.
"Me too." Veronica said.
They had a staring contest for a while before Isabella breaking, "I came here to wish you good luck, Aqua Boy."
"Thanks." Percy said. But before he could add something, Aurora said, "Come on. We've got bigger things to worry about."
♔ ♕ ♖ ♗ ♘ ♙
It was still light when they got into the woods, but the shadows from the trees made it feel like midnight. It was cold, too, even in summer. Aurora and Percy found tracks almost immediately scuttling marks made by something with a lot of legs. They began to follow the trail.
They jumped a creek and heard some twigs snapping nearby. They crouched behind a boulder, but it was only the Stoll brothers tripping through the woods and cursing. Their dad was the god of thieves, but they were about as stealthy as buffaloes.
Hermes looked at his sons sternly.
Once the Stolls had passed, they forged deeper into the west woods where the monsters were wilder. They were standing on a ledge overlooking a marshy pond when Aurora tensed. "This is where we stopped looking."
Last winter, right there, they'd agreed to leave Nico on his own. They agreed they'd never find him at camp, no matter how hard they tried, and six months later she hadn't heard a single word.
"I saw him last night," Percy said.
Aurora narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?" She was aware what he meant but she wanted him to say himself.
He told her about the Iris-message; the ghost, the summoning of the dead, the underworld. When he was done, she stared into the shadows of the woods. "That's not good."
"Why am I just hearing about this?!" Hades asked his girlfriend and his son, who looked away.
"The ghost was giving him bad advice," Percy said. "Telling him to take revenge."
"Spirits are never good advisers." Aurora wondered if you'd consider the voices in her head 'spirits', but she didn't feel like thinking about it too much. "Most have got their own agendas. Old grudges. They don't like the living much."
The Underworld gods nodded.
"He's going to come after me," Percy said.
"How do you know he's going to come after you specifically?" Aurora asked. "I mean, the hunters of Artemis basically count, right? Chiron counts. Luke would also count if you think about it. You said it has to be someone who has already cheated death. Unless you have some double life I don't know about, it can't be
you."
Yes, she was aware of the irony.
"Wait, that dead spirit didn't mean you, 'the girl who cheated death', did he?!" Osiris asked Aurora worriedly.
"No." Aurora answered.
"But none of those people are on Nico's bad side like I am. Nico would want to make this personal, so Luke and Chiron are out. As for the hunters of Artemis, Thalia is with Artemis and her whole gang of girls. She's perfectly fine. But it should have been me that went in. Bianca took the spot that should've been me. I cheated death."
Aurora swallowed. "You do realize you're including me in that statement, Barnacle Boy."
"Sorry, sis." He said. "But he won't come after you, you're like his big sister."
Aurora raised her eyebrows at him.
"What? Oh! Okay, you know what I mean. You two are close, like siblings close, there's no way."
"Fine," she muttered, "but let's say for the argument's sake that Nico does come after you, what are you going to do?"
"I don't know, but the spirit mentioned a maze."
Aurora sighed. "I still don't know about Nico coming after you, but now-" she glared into the ground "-now we must figure out the labyrinth."
"Maybe," He said uncomfortably. "But who sent the Iris-message? If Nico didn't know I was there-"
A branch snapped in the woods. Dry leaves rustled.
Something large was moving in the trees, just beyond the ridge.
"That's not the Stoll brothers," Aurora muttered. Together, they drew their swords.
They got to Zeus's Fist, a huge pile of boulders in the middle of the west woods. It was a natural landmark where campers often rendezvoused on hunting expeditions, but now there was nobody around.
"Over there," Aurora whispered.
"No, wait," Percy said. "Behind us."
It was strange. Scuttling noises seemed to be coming from several different directions.
"I bet all my money in the next 15,5 minutes something will attack them." Atlas said
They were circling the boulders, swords drawn, when someone right behind them said, "Hi."
They whirled around, and the tree nymph Juniper yelped.
Some glanced at Atlas. "There are 14,6 minutes left, alright?"
"Put those down!" she protested. "Dryads don't like sharp blades, okay?"
"Juniper," Percy exhaled. "What are you doing here?"
"Juniper ...if I had swung any harder, you would have been chopped nymph wood." Aurora said.
Juniper slightly moved away from Aurora
Daemon, Set, Lucifer, Ares, Eris, Khonsu, Theseus and Asopos snorted.
"I live here." She answered Percy.
Percy lowered his sword. "In the boulders?"
She pointed toward the edge of the clearing. "In the juniper. Duh."
It made sense, and Percy felt kind of stupid. he knew dryads couldn't go very far away from their tree, which was their source of life. But she didn't know much else.
"Are you guys busy?" Juniper asked.
"Well," Percy said, "we're in the middle of this game against a bunch of monsters and we're trying not to die."
"We're not busy," Aurora said. "What's wrong, Juniper?"
Juniper sniffled. She wiped her silky sleeve under her eyes. "It's Grover. He seems so distraught. All year he's been out looking for Pan. And every time he comes back, its worse. I thought maybe, at first, he was seeing another tree."
"No," Aurora said as Juniper started crying. "I'm sure that's not it."
"He had a crush on a blueberry bush once," Juniper said miserably.
Aurora shot Percy a glare that screamed help me! She was never good at comforting people, her go to phrase was 'Sorrows, Sorrows, Prayers.' And she was sure that wouldn't help now.
"Hades would use the same phrase if he knew it." Poseidon said laughing. Hades glared at his brother.
"Juniper, Percy said awkwardly, "Grover wouldn't look at another tree. He's just stressed about his searcher's license, y'know?"
"He can't go underground!" she protested.
"You can't let him."
Aurora grimaced. "It might be the only way to help him, Juniper, if we just knew where to start. Then he can spend more time with you."
"Ah." Juniper wiped a green tear off her cheek. "About that."
Another rustle in the woods, and Juniper yelled, "Hide!"
Before Aurora could ask why, she went poof into green mist.
They turned. Coming out of the woods was a glistening amber insect, ten feet long, with jagged pincers, an armored tail, and a stinger as long as Aurora's sword. A scorpion. Tied to its back was a red silk package.
"I told you." Atlas shouted excitedly. Then cleared his throat. "I warned each of you that this would happen."
"One of us gets behind it," Aurora said, as the thing clattered toward them. "Cuts off its tail while the other distracts it in front." That plan always worked, it was her and Atlas's favourite of his plans, although mostly Atlas took the back as he was sneakier.
Atlas smiled.
"I'Il take point," Percy said. "You're quieter than I am."
She nodded. They could do this, easy. But it all went wrong when the other two scorpions appeared from the forest.
"Three?" Aurora hissed. "That's not possible! The whole woods, and half the monsters come at us?"
One, they could take. Two, probably. Three? She wouldn't put her life savings on it. It must be her Potter Luck, Ashford Luck and Demigod Luck combined.
"A deadly combination." Atlas said.
The scorpions scurried toward them, whipping their barbed tails like they'd come here just to kill them.
Aurora and Percy put their backs against the nearest boulder.
"Climb?" He suggested.
"No time," Aurora argued.
The scorpions were already surrounding them. They were so close she could see their hideous mouths foaming, anticipating a nice juicy meal of demigods.
"Look out!" Aurora parried away a stinger with the flat of her blade. Percy stabbed with Riptide, but the scorpion backed out of range.
They clambered sideways along the boulders, but the scorpions followed them. Aurora slashed at another one with a flame, but going on the offensive was too dangerous. If she went for the body, the tail stabbed downward. If she went for the tail, the thing's pincers came from either side and tried to grab her. All they could do was defend, and they wouldn't be able to keep that up for very long.
"In here," Percy said.
Aurora sliced at a scorpion then looked at where he was gesturing too. It was a crack between two of the largest boulders.
"In there? It's too narrow, and I am not exactly lean."
"You are in between skinny and fat." Atlas said to his sister.
"Thank you." Aurora said to her brother.
Atlas winced when he realised what he said, he shot her an apologetic look. "I am sorry." He knew his sister was insecure about her body and had an eating disorder, he mustn't have emphasised her body.
Aurora waved him off.
"I'll cover you!"
"'Alright but when I don't fit through that hole, don't start judging me Jackson".
"What do you mean? You're gorgeous".
Aurora smiled genuinely at Percy before squeezing between the two boulders. Suddenly, she yelped and grabbed Percy by his armour straps, pulling him in.
She could see the scorpions above them, the purple evening sky and the trees, and then the hole shut like the lens of a camera, and they were in complete darkness.
♔ ♕ ♖ ♗ ♘ ♙
Their breathing echoed against stone. It was wet and cold. Aurora was sitting on a bumpy floor that seemed to be made of bricks.
She lifted her flickering sword. The faint glow of the fire look of confidence - and the mossy stone walls on either side of them.
"Wh-where are we?" Aurora asked.
"Safe from the scorpions, anyway," He tried to sound calm, but it wasn't fooling anyone with the way his voice shook.
Aurora lifted her sword again for light. Percy did the same with Riptide.
"It's a long room," He muttered.
"It's not a room. it's a corridor".
Suddenly Aurora froze.
Not again.
Atlas started whining.
"Princess? Princess?... Miami? Aurora?", Percy called. She didn't respond, so Percy took her hand. "Aurora". Suddenly, she jumped out of her shock.
"What was that, are you okay, are you-"
"I'm fine..I just..this corridor, it reminds me of something and stirs up bad memories".
Percy took a step forward , "We should check-".
"No! We must find an exit", Aurora mumbled as she linked her arm around his right arm tighter.
Her breath became hollow.
"Mea, are you sure you're okay.", Percy asked concerned.
"Yes, It's just the memories...they're messing with my head I-"
Percy took her face in his hands. "Don't think about the memories just hold onto me, crush my arm if you want".
"I- I'll try." Aurora took a deep breath.
"Aurora, you can do this." A voice said inside her head. Aurora nodded her head.
"Now..help us examine the walls so we can get outta here. There must be something"
"What for?"
"The mark of Daedalus. It should be an Ancient Greek Delta."
Percy nodded as she began to look around, still not letting go of her hand. "That's the triangle, right?"
"Yes! You are Greek you should tell me!" Aurora said, then she winced.
"Oh. Shit!" Atlas said.
"Fuck! You didn't!" Wilder said.
"Gods be good." I said.
"You didn't." Eryx said shaking his head.
"It was that simple?!" Veronica said.
"There is no way." Set said.
"Oh my...." Lucifer said.
"No! That.... That cannot be." Daemon sad.
There was a long pause, Percy stared at her weirdly. "What do you mean you are Greek you should tell me?!"
Aurora gulped.
"It's your mess, you should clean in up yourself." A voice said
"Tell him the truth." Another voice said
"Aurora tell Percy the truth. If his fatal flaw is Loyalty he won't divulge it." Atlas said to her.
She took a shallow breath. "Listen to me Percy. Swear on River Styx you won't tell another living soul about this."
"I swear by river Styx that I won't tell whatever you will tell me to another living soul." Percy avowed.
"Roman gods are alive, My godly mother is Bellona a Roman goddess who doesn't have a Greek equivalent. There is a Roman camp in California." Aurora divulged. She could feel how Percy's jaw dropped.
"What?!" He exclaimed.
"Percy, you must swear you won't tell anyone, even your mother, Greeks and Romans never get along, if people find out it is going to start another civil war." Aurora said.
Percy nodded his head. "I swear I won't tell anyone. You are Roman?"
"Not quite. Half Greek and Half Roman." Aurora said looking for the mark of Daedalus.
"And your brother?" Percy asked.
"Also him." Aurora answered.
"Wait, I sent you letters in Greek does that mean you-"
"Percy, as much as I enjoy our little chat, If we do not find Delta, I might die here, or at the very least something bad will happen to me." Aurora said frustrated.
That seemed to make Percy serious as he quickly started searching for the mark.
"You don't ha-got it!"
Percy set his hand on the wall and pressed against a tiny fissure, which began to glow blue. A Greek symbol appeared: Δ, the Ancient Greek Delta.
The roof slid open and they saw the night sky, stars blazing. It was a lot darker than it should've been. Metal ladder rungs appeared in the side of the wall, leading up, and Aurora could hear people yelling their names.
"Aurora! Percy!" Tyson's voice bellowed the loudest, but others were calling out too.
"Ladies first." Percy joked, Aurora laughed as she started climbing.
Percy looked nervously at Aurora. Then he also began to climb.
They made their way around the rocks and ran into Clarisse and a bunch of other campers carrying torches.
"Where have you two been?" Clarisse demanded. "We've been looking forever."
"But we were gone only a few minutes," Percy said.
Chiron trotted up, followed by Tyson and Grover.
"Aurora! Percy!" Tyson said. "You are two okay?"
"We're fine," Aurora said. "We fell in a hole."
The others looked at them skeptically.
"Honest!" Percy said. "There were three scorpions after us, so we ran and hid in the rocks. But we were only gone a minute."
"You've been missing for almost an hour," Chiron said. "The game is over."
"Yeah," Grover muttered. "We would've won, but a Cyclops sat on me."
"Was an accident!" Tyson protested, and then he sneezed.
Clarisse was wearing the gold laurels, but she didn't even brag about winning them, which wasn't like her. "A hole?" she said suspiciously.
Annabeth took a deep breath. She looked around at the other campers. "Chiron... maybe we should talk about this at the Big House."
Natasha gasped. "You found it, didn't you?"
Aurora it her lip. "I-Yeah. Yeah, we did."
A bunch of campers started asking questions, looking about as confused as Percy was, but Chiron raised his hand for silence. "Tonight is not the right time, and this is not the right place." He stared at boulders as if he'd just noticed how dangerous they were. "All of you, back to your cabins. Get some sleep. A game well played, but curfew is past!"
There was a lot of mumbling and complaints, but the campers drifted off, talking among themselves and giving me suspicious looks.
"This explains a lot," Clarisse said. "It explains what Luke is after."
"Wait a second," Percy said. "What do you mean? What did we find?"
Aurora turned toward me, her eyes dark with worry. "An entrance to the Labyrinth. An invasion route straight into the heart of the camp."
A/N: there was a character named Amara but now her name is Cassiopeia because I have another OC to introduce and her name must be Amara.
As much as I love Percabeth, I think Isabella and Percy will be good together so I shall write some moments and then tell me who should Percy be with.
And If I write something in Italic it means a voice inside Aurora's head is saying.