This Dark Night ― Percy Jackson & Annabeth Chase¹

―xv. naomi accidentally visits canada

TRYING TO EXPLAIN HER EXPERIENCE IN THE MAZE was harder than Naomi expected, especially with the question of whether her best friend was alive hanging in the air like a storm.

(Except it wasn't hanging in the air for her. As soon as the fog of the darkness and her trial cleared, she knew it the way she always did—he wasn't dead, and Naomi would go to her own grave defending that.)

"Start from the beginning, Naomi," Chiron said, his voice gentle. "Please."

Naomi was glad not to have to explain it to the whole war council—the only people to bear witness to her fumbling to talk about it in a cohesive way were Chiron and Annabeth, the rest of the cabin counselors to be filled in later. Will Solace (the newest arrival to the Apollo cabin and an overall ray of sunshine) was also there, hovering over Naomi to make sure her vitals stayed normal, but he didn't seem all to concerned about how Naomi had gotten lost in the maze and found herself magically transported back to Camp Half-Blood—he was more concerned about her blood pressure.

"Okay," Naomi said, letting out a deep breath. "So, one moment I was in the Labyrinth with Percy and Annabeth, and then it was like I was falling, or something. Truthfully, I don't really know how I slipped away, I just... did." 

Annabeth's jaw ticked with tension. Her hand was still in Naomi's—it had been for a while. Naomi dreaded the moment she pulled away.

"Eventually, I stopped," Naomi continued, "and I was in this... void. No walls, no noise, just... darkness."

"Could it have been part of the Labyrinth?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know," Naomi said. "Maybe?"

"What happened next?" Chiron asked.

"Well, after I stopped panicking, I tried to explore, figure out if there were walls or even a door, but then I found a spot in the void that burned my hand..." She looked down at her hand. She'd gotten a shower before this meeting (thank the gods), and there was no sign of the burn or the golden blood that had stained her hand before. 

"Then I panicked a little more," she admitted sheepishly, remembering her hysterics. "Then I... my dad talked to me."

Annabeth frowned. "I thought you said your dad died when you were a baby?"

"He did," Naomi said softly. "But when he died, he said he... he made a deal with the darkness to live in the shadows instead of going to the Underworld... don't ask how or why, or what any of that even means, because he was pretty stingy with the details."

"Your father... what did he say?" Chiron asked.

"He explained where I was, more or less," Naomi said. "It's a darkness he said people like us have to conquer to move forward, like a test. Apparently 'those chosen by the shadows'"—she made air-quotes with her fingers—"have to walk through this darkness from Tartarus to prove our worth."

Chiron frowned, perplexed. "I've never heard of such a thing," he admitted. "But anything from that pit... it is a wonder you survived."

"Yeah, well, it wasn't a walk in the park," Naomi muttered, remembering the burning that had nearly killed her. There were no scars, but the pain was seared in her memory. "But, I got through it, and then I saw this... hand, reaching out, covered in... in ichor, I think. It was something gold. Then my dad called me Umbra Electi, and I fell again. That's when I popped into the meeting."

"Umbra Electi," Chiron echoed. "It's Latin—'shadow-chosen.' Though I've never heard the term before."

"Me either," Annabeth said quietly. "Could it be an Underworld thing?"