Sign of the Times

and at the end of the day, I know there are worse ways

The rest of the day passed like normal. Clarisse and I worked on shit, then I worked with Annabeth on some more of it, then we talked to Chiron about it, then we worked some more. 

Gods do I love camp! Especially when it's full or working on and constantly talking about a horrible thing you went through: the Labyrinth. 

My time in the Labrynth was just as horrible as you'd imagine. And I was alone, per usual.

Ever since I got out, each night has been full of bad dreams. Whether it was the monsters I ran into, half-bloods that joined the Titan Army that I couldn't save, or just the endless feeling that you don't know where you're going or where you are that fills a pit in your stomach with vile. Any memory that leads back to the Labyrinth isn't a good one.

So of course we have to talk about it constantly.

"What do we even do now?" Annie asked. "None of us know how to navigate it, Emelia's shadow travel doesn't work, and we still don't know what Kronos's army is doing down there."

I sighed. "I think we just wait." I looked towards the group for any sign of objection, but both of them were just staring at the table. "I mean, we shouldn't send more people down there or we are just as bad as Luke- I mean, Kronos." Annie flinched but didn't say anything about it.

"You're right. Sending people down there blindly isn't going to help anything," Clarisse said. "But it feels wrong. We can't just wait and let Kronos get even further ahead of us than he already is. We have been playing catch-up this whole time, I don't think that we can spare getting more behind."

"But what else is there to do?" Annie asked. 

We all stayed silent, not knowing the answer. 

"If worse comes to worse, I'll go back down there," I said. "I mean, I survived it once, I can do it again."

"But what good would that do? Is it even better than doing nothing?" Annie asked. "Searching through an ever-changing maze for something we don't even know? Will that really help us?"

I shook my head. I looked at the other two girls in the room and we all shared the same defeated look. In the end, we decided that we all needed to walk away from this Labyrinth stuff and that an answer would only come with time and new developments. None of us necessarily liked our decision, but thought it was necessary.

We all parted ways from the big house, locking the door to the designated Labyrinth room behind us to make sure no one else could know how clueless we were. 

Clarisse mumbled something about throwing her cabinmates down in the Labyrinth if the cabin was a mess for inspection before stomping off in the other direction.

"Shit, I forgot about inspections!" Annie said, slapping her forehead. "I'll see you at dinner, I have to go get the inspection papers." She turned back to the Big House and ran inside without looking back. 

"See you then," I grumbled. 

I made my way over to the Athena cabin, not even bothering to knock on the door and just letting myself in. I walked directly over to where Nick was sitting, reading some book about a gay prince and the president's son, and flopped down next to him on his bed.

"Kill me," I said, my voice damped by the pillow it was being smashed into.

"That can be arranged, but would you care to mention why you are asking to be slaughtered?" Nick said. I heard him close his book and set it down on the nightstand. 

"Because I'm tired and want to go to sleep," I replied.

"You know, that can happen without you ending your life?" Nick said. "It's called taking a nap."