Present Tense Artemis POV:
I wake up to screaming.
"LADY ARTEMIS! HUNTERS! PLEASE HELP!"
The Hunters and I all rush out of our tents to see Hannah pointing at large, black coccoon with multi-colored swirls.
The Hunters aim their bow at the cocoon before I stand in front of them.
"Now, now, girls. There is no reason to shoot it."
"What? But my lady, it's a monster of some kind, is it not?" Pheobe asks.
"No, that is not a monster. That, my Hunters, is how Percy sleeps."
The Hunters share at it, shocked.
"What... is the cocoon made out of?" Thalia asks.
"It's not a cocoon. It's Percy wrapping his wings around him for warmth and protection," I reply.
"Now, I know this is confusing for you, but waking up early is good. We have more time to pack," I say.
"Wait, so we're just going to ignore him and let him sleep?" Reyna asks.
"No, I will wake him. Now, get to packing."
The Hunters leave to start folding up their tents and feeding their wolves as I walk up to Percy.
"PERCY!" I yell onto the wings, startling him awake.
His wings unfold, and he loses his legs grip on the tree branch he is hanging from, resulting in him falling on his head.
"Ow, Silver. You didn't have to yell," he says, standing up and rubbing his head, blushing when he realized the entire hunt saw and was laughing at him.
He does some stretches and asks, "When do we set off to the Labyrinth?"
"Once the Hunt is all packed."
"Oh goody. I can't wait."
"Percy, you don't have to worry. Your powers should lead us through the maze."
"And if they don't? What then, Silver?"
"Then me, you, Reyna, and Thalia flash the Hunt out of there."
"Alright, fine. It's a somewhat sound plan."
Good, he's on board. I turn to the Hunt, seeing them ready to go.
"Where's Percy's stuff?" Atalanta asks. She is always the one who makes sure nothing is left behind.
"I don't have stuff."
"Why not?"
"Everything I need is on me."
"Even spare clothes?" She asks, wrinkling her nose.
Percy gestures at his long sleeve shirt. "This is the Nemean Lion pelt. It doesn't get dirty. And my pants are magically enchanted."
"He's lying about the pants, I know he is. He just really likes them and doesn't have any spares lying around," I say.
The Hunters all wrinkle their noses, though more as teasing than genuine disgust.
"Ah, great, Silver, you ruined my reputation."
"Yes, and it was quite easy. Now, enough with that. Percy, get your... uh, "work clothes" on, and follow me and the Hunt. When we get to the Labyrinth, I will be trying everyone together with a rope, and you will lead. Got it?"
He nods and taps his earring, making his mask appear, and then turns his shirt into his cloak. It looks very menacing.
"Now, Hunters, remember your promise. Do not mention meeting or interacting with Perceus. when at camp, and just refer to him as Protector. Understand?"
The Hunt nods.
"Good. Now, off we go," I say, heading towards the nearest entrance to the Labyrinth.
Present Tense Percy POV:
We finally make it to a Labyrinth entrance after 3 hours of jogging/running. The only reason I'm still able to stand is because I train at Olympus with the gods.
This Labyrinth entrance is in an old metal shed. It's in a field of wheat and seems to have had an elevator in it, but it's very rusty. On the shed is an electrical warning sign, but other than that and rust, it seems safe.
Artemis ties all of our right hands together, with me at the front and Artemis at the back.
As we enter the Labyrinth, my powers kick in. I know what turns to make 7 turns before I get to them. This is much easier than the last times I was here. All is going well when I hear a voice coming through one of the halls. We're at a fork, and the wrong way is where the voice is coming from.
I recognize the voice, so I turn to the Hunt and say, "There are 4 turns remaining. The final turn leads to a dead end. Once you get to the dead end, keep together and start heading up the ladder. You will pop out as Zeus's fist, get off it, and head to camp so others can get out. Understand?"
Everyone nods, and I say, "Good. I have to go check on something. Take 3 rights and 1 left. I will catch back up."
The Hunters nod, and I untie myself from them. They continue on, taking the right path, while I take the left.
I walk for a couple of seconds before the hallway opens up I to a room. Not just any room. However, it is one I have been in before. Anteus's arena.
Antes isn't here, however. The voice I recognized was someone else. I look around the room, only for my eyes to land on a Titan. Hyperion is in the arena part of the room, yelling at a cyclops, "I don't care! I am attacking that infernal camp today, whether or not my brother supports it!"
The cyclops nods, terrified. I step into the arena and yell, "HEY, HYPERION!"
He turns and looks at me and narrows his eyes, the cyclops scampering away. "Who are you?" He asks.
"Someone who wants information. Which one of your brothers is planning to attack the camp?"
He sneers. "Why should I tell you that?"
"Because if you don't, I'll kill you."
"You don't have a weapon."
"Oh?" I ask, snapping my fingers, causing my throwing knife to appear in my hand.
He pulls out a spear with a flaming tip and says, "A throwing knife, no matter how strong, cannot beat a spear. Especially one that can come back to me, can shoot fire, and was forged with the help of Kronos!"
"Oh, so Kronos is the one trying to attack camp." I say, surprised.
Hyperion stops for a moment and then frowns. "Damn. Fine, yes, Kronos is planning to attack, with the help of Gaea."
"Thank you for the I formation. Oh, and the spear."
He drops his guard for a moment, confused, and gets a knife embedded into his forehead as a result. I walk over to him as he's dying and pry the spear from his hands.
In one last act of defiance, he heats the arena up as much as he can, trying to fry me. It doesn't work. I mean, I shower and bathe in the Phlegethon. Of course, it doesn't work.
He dies, and a strange clicking sound starts. It's coming from the hallway across the arena, not the one I need to go through. I turn the spear into a tattoo, and it becomes a tattoo of a little flame on the inside of my left-hand thumb.
The clicking starts getting louder, and as I walk back to the hallway I need to get through, I look back to see what the sound is.
A huge mass of different black bugs is flowing out of the other hallway. I turn my back and run, knowing that getting caught by those would mean a certain painful death. I get back to the fork and take the 3 rights and the left, seeing about half of the Hunt still in the maze.
"GO, GO, HURRY UP!" My yelling speeds them up. If something gazed me, the guy who went through Tartarus twice, it's probably ly good to avoid it. I start grabbing Hunters and flying them up the ladder hole, depositing them on Zeus's fist before I go get more.
The clicking sound has started, and I know it will soon get to us. I try to flash, everyone out, but I can't for some reason. That power is blocked. When there are only about 30 Hunters left, the clicking gets loud. I start just throwing them up the hole.
There's 3 left when the mass of bugs turns the corner. I grab all 3 and throw them out, and then turn towards the mass, taking out my new spear.
"I heard this can shoot fire? Wanna test it out?" I say to the bugs.
The bugs stop moving and clicking for a second before all converging into one shape. They take the shape... of my mom.
I falter, trying to figure out what I'm fighting is.
"We are the gifted and chosen of the great God Tithonus," says the black blob of bugs, taking the shape of my dead mother
"Why are you trying to attack me?" I ask.
"We were told that if we do, we would be given leftovers of the war."
"Why did you take the shape of my mother?"
"So we could do this."
They suddenly rush at me, and I hesitate to attack long enough for them to converge upon me. They cover me.
They start biting and stinging and tearing my skin, trying to burrow inside me. I am holding out, knowing that if I open my mouth, I am done for. I fall on the hard dirt of the labyrinth and start convulsing, using all of my energy just to not scream. The stings are causing me hallucinations and intense pain.
I see my mom, I see Paul, I see Estelle, and I see Annabeth in my hallucinations. They all either stab me, tell me how much they love me, or die.
After what feels like hours of pain, the bugs start to burrow. When one touches my blood, it screams. The scream is one of the loudest things I have ever heard.
The rest of the bugs stop and start to slowly crawl off, hoping for me to be unconsious. I am not.
I instantly use my water powers to extract some of my blood and sling it at the bugs. When it touches them, they scream and smoke and melt, as if my blood is acid. I extract more and more blood, using it to kill all the bugs.
Eventually, I kill them all, but I end up using so much blood that now, I can't stand up. I slowly take a swig from my flask, but fall unconsious before I can put it back at my side.
The last thing I see is Artemis dropping heavily into the Labyrinth.
(A/N: The song I used for this chapter is one of my favorite songs in existence. This chapter went through maybe one or two changes from the original in my mind, but I think it ended in a good place. I know its cliche for both Kronos and Gaea to attack camp, sue me. If you see any spelling or grammar mistakes, please draw my attetnion to it. Feedback is always appreciated. Thank you for reading!)