ACHILLES ( annabeth chase )

eight | LUKE AND GROVER ARE THE SAME PERSON

THE ATTENTION THAT SITTING AT Percy's table attracted was mildly pleasing to Val. Her trademark grin was plastered upon her face, no matter what the subject they were discussing, although she tried to tone it down.

Valentine always craved being noticed. And it seemed that the only reason that would ever happen to someone like her would be if she did something wrong.

As a dramatic contrast to Val's smirk, Percy had a look of uneasy confusion upon his face. "You mean the maze where they kept the Minotaur, back in the old days?"

"Exactly," Annabeth said.

"So...it's not under the king's palace in Crete anymore," He guessed. "The Labyrinth is under some building in America."

Val snorted. Percy's confidence wavered. "Percy," she said. "Even I know it's too big for one building."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "The Labyrinth is huge. It wouldn't fit under a single city, much less a single building."

Percy thought. "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."

"Oh, goody," Val said. Annabeth glared at her, but after years of Reyna's penetrating stare (which seemed to be all Valentine ever saw on the girl's face), Annabeth's stare wasn't too bad.

"Grover, there has to be a way," Annabeth said. I got the feeling they'd had this conversation before. "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," Percy said. "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."

Annabeth nodded.

"It was secret," Annabeth agreed, "because she found Chris Rodriguez."

"The guy from the Hermes cabin?"Percy asked, sounding a little surprised.

"Well, he's not there anymore, but probably." Val had missed a lot with these guys, but she decided to jump into all of their conversations whenever she felt like it. They were her closest things to friends since ... well, ever.

"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 armour, babbling about string."

"String," Percy 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." Again with this Luke guy.