Lea sat upon the black sand of the Land of Dreams. Hermes sat behind her braiding her hair. A skill he learned to do for his daughter, Angelia. Around them, the oneiroi flew around them. Most of them off to cause nightmares for some poor unsuspecting mortal.
That reminded her.
"Why do I never have demigod dreams," she asked Hermes.
He tensed and she tilted her head back to look at him. There was a slight grimace on his face as he scratched the back of his head. Embarrassment? "Well," he drawled. "It's not that you don't. It's just... well, I keep them away."
Lea stared. Absently, she took in his appearance. He was dressed in an elegant blue-gray suit, like someone trapped the cloudy sky into his clothing. His curls were combed away from his face, showing off his smooth forehead. This close she could see a very light dust of freckles. Lea wasn't like him. She didn't really have a way with words especially not to describe how attractive he was. But she said it once before that he had the kind of beauty that ancient wars were fought over. Maybe it was the way he radiated power. The complete confidence in himself and his abilities.
Not like Lea who was still afraid of casing the next great flood.
Hermes avoided her eyes. "I mean if its important enough then they would get through, but I'd rather you not have to deal with them."
He shifted uneasily as she continued to stare at him. "The other half-bloods—"
"What did I say about that word," she interrupted.
"The other demigods," he corrected. "They could tell you that demigod dreams are not worth the experience."
"I didn't say I wanted any," Lea told him as she turned back around. His hands immediately went back to her hair, weaving the strands into some semblance of personal preference. "I just wondered why I did not have any."
"Of course, my mistake," he said sarcastically. Lea snickered before turning her attention back to the books before her. "I meant to thank you also, latria mu."
"For?"
"The spell upon the cabin. The children adore it very much. It has helped Dionysos also root out a few more of the minor gods that were contemplating switching sides. With the upgraded cabin and more space for their children, some of them have sworn to keep their loyalty."
"Well, you're welcome."
Hermes laughed lightly, pulling her back to rest against his chest. "Get some rest, Leaneíras. I'll protect you."
"It's Lea," she corrected as she got comfortable.
The next morning there was a lot of excitement at breakfast.
Lea who had not had any caffeine stared death at them all. She overheard something about a drakon that had been seen at the camp borders. The kids of Apóllōn had scared it off.
"It's still out there," Lee warned them during announcements. Lea remembered him because he was the only one that congratulated Drew when it was announced that she was backed by their Father. That was not even mentioning how he helped save Percy's life back when his best friend, Luke, had tried to kill her brother. Drew took the older boy under her protection which put him under Lea's protection by proxy. "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. Lea sipped at her coffee.
There were rumors about an invasion of the camp. Not that Lea thought it was just rumors. She was sure that she had heard it confirmed in passing, but for the life of her, she could not remember when or where. Everyone expected it to happen during this summer though so Lea guessed she should prepare for that. It didn't help that the attendance was down. We only had about eighty campers. There had been more than that before, but people kept dying, going missing, or joined Luke. That last group was a bunch of losers if you asked Lea, but no one asked her so.
"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."
Lea raised her cup and repeated the blessing to the aliens before throwing the rest of coffee back like a shot. She joined her brothers at the bronze brazier and scraped some of the food in there. She didn't have much to say except for a small prayer to make sure that she and the others would still be able to attend B.A.G. in the fall.
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. Lea scowled, looking to her goblet for a refill on her coffee. She had no time for this.
Tyson shifted uncomfortably. "I will go...um...polish my fish ponies." He lumbered off, leaving his breakfast half-eaten.
Lea wished she had the mental capacity to think of her own excuse.
Chiron tried for a smile. "Well, Percy, Leaneira, how did you sleep?"
Lea groaned, eyes drooping back close.
"Uh, fine." Percy said.
"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'll see you later in the day." He gave Grover a meaningful look, then trotted out of the pavilion.
"What's he talking about?" Percy asked Grover. Lea looked up when she heard the crunch of metal. Of course, Grover ate through his fork.
"He wants you to convince me," he mumbled.
Somebody else slid on the bench: Annabeth.
Huh, Lea understood why Drew was scared of her face without coffee. She looked almost mad. Lea pushed her coffee over to the other. She looked like she needed it more.
She chugged it back.
"I'll tell you what it's about," she said. "The Labyrinth."
"You're not supposed to be here," Percy said. Lea could hear the uptick in whispering.
"We need to talk," she insisted.
"But the rules..."
"Look," Annabeth said, "Grover is in trouble. There's only one way we can figure to help him. It's the Labyrinth. That's what Clarisse and I have been investigating."
"You mean the maze where they kept the Minotaur, back in the old days?"
"Exactly," Annabeth said.
Lea groaned. "Can you have this conversation at your table? Some of us are trying to sleep."
"So...it's not under the king's palace in Crete anymore," Percy said, ignoring her. "The Labyrinth is under some building in America."
Annabeth rolled her eyes, following Percy's lead of ignoring her. "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?"
"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 together 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," Annabeth 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," Lea said, raising her head. "Back up. What's this about Clarisse and a crazy guy?"
Annabeth glanced over toward the Ares table. Clarisse was watching them like she knew what they were talking about, but then she fixed her eyes on her breakfast plate.
"Last year," Annabeth said, lowering her voice, "Clarisse went on a mission for Chiron."
"I remember," Percy said. "It was secret."
"It was secret," Annabeth agreed, "because she found Chris Rodriguez."
"The guy from the Hermes cabin?"
And Lea's other stepchild that was on the orgy boat. Hermes had her drop off a book for him like she was some kind of mail carrier.
"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 armor, babbling about string."
"String," Lea said.
"He'd been driven completely insane. 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 favorite 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?"
"Full of horrible traps," Grover agreed. "Dead ends. Illusions. Psychotic goat-killing monsters."
"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."
"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, but I do know this: the Labyrinth might be the key to Grover's problem."
"You think Pan is underground?" Percy asked.
"It would explain why he's been impossible to find."
Grover shuddered. "Satyrs hate going underground. No searcher would ever try going in that place. No flowers. No sunshine. No coffee shops!"
"Would you think to find him there though," Lea asked. "This best place to hide would be where no one expected you."
"And," 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," Percy said.
Or Lea thought, as she sat up straight suddenly more awake than ever. A traitorous best friend.
"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," Annabeth said. "The council is serious. One week or you learn to tap dance!"
Over at the head table, Quintus cleared his throat.
"We'll talk later," Annabeth squeezed my arm a little too hard. "Convince him, will you?"
She returned to the Athena table, ignoring all the people who were staring at her.
Grover buried his head in his hands. "I can't do it, Percy. My searcher's license. Pan. I'm going to lose it all. I'll have to start a puppet theater."
"Don't say that! We'll figure something out."
He looked at me teary-eyed. "Percy, you're my best friend. You've seen me underground. In that Cyclops's cave. Do you really think I could..." His voice faltered. "I have to leave," Grover said miserably. "Juniper's waiting for me. It's a good thing she finds cowards attractive."
Lea stared after him before turning to look at Clarisse.
The Labyrinth, huh.
Lea needed to do some research.
Lea skipped out on her activates again, waving around a doctor's excuse that Hermes created for her. Admittedly, it was a very real thing though. Her mageia was out of whack, straining at the core of her power. It was a bit dangerous for her to do anything on her own. A lot of side eyes had been given considering what she did the cabins, but then Lea accidentally let it drop that Hermes had been there personally to watch everyone see the new dorm and suddenly, she was dealing with enough bashful kids that she could she start her own band.
She did the reasonable thing and locked herself in her cabin while Tyson and Percy did whatever.
(It wasn't like she and Percy had fixed schedules anyway. They could join any class and no one would blink an eye since it was usually just the two of them. Sort of like Dionysos' kids.)
She sat on the floor of her cabin, underneath the window just in case the Pleiades were watching. Lea remembered something about the stars still being in the sky during the day just unable to be seen because the sky was so bright. In front of her was all the relevant material that she could get on the Labyrinth. She found a lot of interest in a half-sister of hers.
Déspoina.
The daughter of Poseidon and Demeter (and apparently, the full sibling to a horse. Lea was starting to get a little scared about that connection). She was raised by the titan Anytos in Arkadía. (Gee whiz, Lea might as well visit the place. That was another connection!) Her blessing was a prince of Crete and when she found out about his death, she poured her rage into the maze and personally hunted down whoever was responsible. Due to her connection to death through the Mysteries and her sister, she made sure that their afterlives were painful. She became the unnamable "Mistress of the Labyrinth" at Knossos in Crete and the maze became her playground for all that displeased her no more than those that cause harm to her Beloved.
Lea wanted to be just like her when she grew up.
Nobody knowing her name and a badass title? Goals.
There wasn't much else. The mortal world thought it was make believe. And a bunch of conservative Christians disapprove of labyrinths, considering them pagan practices or "new age" fads. Lea decided that even if it was a giant death trap, she liked it just for that.
A knock of the cabin door had her waving her hand for it to open. Salome came bounding in with her friends right behind her. The tiger took one giant leap to land on her cat tower and get comfortable.
"What are you doing," Drew asked.
"Looking into the Labyrinth," Lea told her. "They think Pan is there so I'm trying to help Percy help Grover."
"Isn't the Labyrinth underground," Ethan asked, plopping down at her side. Lea nodded. "I thought satyrs hate underground."
"That just makes it a good hiding place," Alabaster murmured, summoning a few of the papers to his hand.
"I said the same thing."
"No," Drew said, looking between Alabaster and Lea. "No. I do not have an underground-cave-outfit so don't even think about it."
"I mean..." Lea shrugged.
"It is a starting point," Alabaster commented.
"Wait," Ethan said, holding his hands out looking between the three. "You think—"
"Where else could it be," Alabaster pointed out.
"But underground?" Drew grimaced. "Shouldn't it be in the sky?"
"What are you all talking about," came Percy's voice from the door. The quartet startled, turning to look at the other child of Poseidon as he looked between the four of them.
"Don't worry your pretty little head," Lea smiled, snapping her fingers and making the papers disappear.
Percy gave her a blank stare. "When you say things like that and do things like that, I can't help but to worry."
"You really have no room to talk, brother mine."
He gave a little laugh, shaking his head before searching through his stuff to grab his armor. "I'll be back in a few minutes with some lunch for you, okay?"
Lea smiled and nodded as he left back out before turning to her friends.
"I love your relationship," Drew said, looking at a picture of Lea and Percy on the wall. Lea shrugged as she looked at the same picture. Their twelfth birthday and right before they were shipped off to Yancy Academy which basically meant, right before they were thrown into the world of demigods and monsters. "And that reminds of...." She pulled out four beautiful rose-gold cartier rings. She handed them out to the other three and Lea could recognize her own name even if it was written in the Archaic Greek alphabet. "I got these friendship rings made for the four of us. Well, it was six, but I cancelled the other two."
The other two for Medea and Trent.
"They were going to be a christmas present but since you know..."
Lea slipped it onto her hand, admiring the way it glistened next to the ring that her Father gave her. "Thanks, D." The other two echo her. Well, Alabaster echoes her. Ethan leans over to plant a kiss on her lips that only stops once Lea throws a pillow at them. Keep that gushy mess out of her cabin. True to his word, Percy came back in with a plate of food for her and something from Salome who bumped her nose against him.
"I'm taking Salome to go play with Mrs. O'Leary."
"If she comes back with some type of underworld fleas and ticks, you'll be handpicking them out!"
His laughter followed the two of them out as they went right back to the training arena.
"Let me try something," Alabaster murmured, gesturing for them to put their hand in the middle of their little circle. He furrowed his brow, concentrating on it before a flash of mageia sank into their rings.
Pulling her hand back to examine it, Lea found nothing changed.
"It's a sort of protection spell," the elder explained. "If one of us is on like the brink of death, the spell locks onto the nearest ring and teleports them to their side. So things like being almost flatten by the sky..."
"Geesh, that was half a year ago," Lea whined, bringing her hand up to study the spell. She couldn't wait to get her mageia back under control and advance to more wordless spells. She was good at them, but she wanted to do a lot more.
(She was actually trying to figure out if she could do active powers like in Charmed. Telekinesis and orbing and fire powers were so exciting to try.)
"Half a year ago too close," Alabaster grumbled before tucking her into his side. "You guys are like my little siblings. It's my job to take care of you."
And really, what else did he expect but for them to dogpile him?
Lea joined the others for whatever plan Quintus had going on. She had originally been dressed in the same combat armor as the rest of them, but her pretty bestfriend could not—and would not—allow for that to stand. She had been dragged over to the Tenth Cabin where the life-sized My Scene Dolls led by Drew's younger sister, Ángela, took one look at Lea and attacked.
Lea was down before she knew it. Her only glimpses at life were through silk, satin, leather, spandex, and polyester.
She was a bit traumatized.
And the next person that claimed that they weren't terrifying was getting her fist in their face.
"Are you okay," Alabaster asked. Drew snickered from beside them. "She'll be fine."
One of her siblings laughed and Lea flinched.
(And yes, Lea was dressed in surprisingly comfortable clothing and Ángela had explained that she made all their under armour from a mix of threads made from molten celestial bronze, steel, and all the other kinds of threads that were used for clothes. She dunked it in a mix of their scent neutralizers. It was something that all of them knew how to do, but Ángela enjoyed it more. Apparently, it started way back when by one of their siblings that was trans and their binder had been destroyed by a monster and they decided that they needed better protection and viola, scent neutralizing protective clothes. Who said fashion couldn't be practical?)
Lea shifted, the glimmering fabric that wrapped around her waist moved with her.
A flowy kind of shield that was apparent strong enough to stop bullets.
(Seriously, they were terrifying.)
"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. Salome watched her with dark eyes as she laid beside Lea with her own dinner plate.
"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.
Lea grabbed for her spellbook out the pouch that she had been given.
"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. Though Lea would have admittedly teamed them up with another cabin altogether. Really any of Hermes' kids would blossom at the side of others.
Maybe that was why she was a bit surprise and happy to learn that Will Solace would be teamed up with Cecil Markowitz.
She and Drew shared looks as the boys smiled and immediately came up with some complicated handshake. Like Fathers, like Sons.
Clarisse was with Lee Fletcher from the Seventh cabin—melee and ranged combat combined; they would be a tough combo to beat.
Quintus kept rattling off the names until he said, "Percy Jackson with Annabeth Chase."
"Nice." Percy grinned at Annabeth.
Predictable, Lea thought.
"Your armor is crooked" was her only comment, and she redid his straps for him.
"Leaneira Jackson," Quintus said, "with Ethan Nakamura."
Lea smirked at her friends. "It's better than you two going off for some private time." Drew scoffed, rolling her eyes as she playfully pushed her shoulder and Ethan flushed just a bit, shifting on his feet.
"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!"
Drew kissed Ethan on the cheek before making her way over to one of the kids from the Ninth Cabin.
(Lea should really learn some names. She had been attending the camp for years.)
"Let's go, E," Lea told her friend. "I want to be in bed by eight thirty."