{1} Princess - P. Jackson 🔱

"Wish us luck. Please."

🕊️

Just after dawn, the quest group met at Zeus's Fist. This morning I had taken off all the school material from my beaten backpack and dumped it on my bed. Filling it with thermos with nectar, baggie of ambrosia, bedroll, rope. I also packed an extra shirt for me and the rest, flashlights, lots of extra batteries, wipes and my pretty camera.

I was wearing dark green cargo pants that hung low on my hips and a brown strapless top, but the trick is that I sewed transparent straps to hold the top, especially for the quest. I put on my white star piercing that had a chain around my waist, with white stones hanging from it, and my daily black converse. My hair was tied half up half down with some hair strands falling around my face. My make up was simply, only mascara and my light pink lip gloss.

What? If I die inside there, I want other heroes to find me and think 'wow, such pretty girl died bravely. Could have been a model but chose to fight inside this place.'

I'm just a girl.

It was a clear morning. The fog had burned off and the sky was blue. Campers would be having their lessons today, flying pegasi and practicing archery and scaling the lava wall. Meanwhile, we would be heading underground.

Juniper and Grover stood apart from the group. Juniper had been crying again, but she was trying to keep it together for Grover's sake. She kept fussing with his clothes, straightening his rasta cap and brushing goat fur off his shirt. Since we had no idea what we would encounter, he was dressed as a human, with the cap to hide his horns, and jeans, fake feet, and sneakers to hide his goat legs.

Chiron, Quintus, and Mrs. O'Leary stood with the other campers who'd come to wish us well, but there was too much activity for it to feel like a happy send-off. A couple of tents had been set up by the rocks for guard duty. Beckendorf and his siblings were working on a line of defensive spikes and trenches. Chiron had decided we needed to guard the Labyrinth exit at all times, just in case.

Annabeth was talking to Gabriel, both having their little moment before parting ways. Which left me alone standing near the rocks. I had said goodbye to my siblings in the cabin, not wanting the younger ones seeing me going.

Hesitantly, I decided to talk to Chiron before going.

"Hey Chiron," I approached, seeing him smile softly.

"Maria," He nodded. "Everything alright?"

I bit the inside of my cheek. "Uh, I need to tell you something Juniper said." I told him how the tree nymph had seen Quintus poking around the rocks.

Chiron's jaw tightened. "That does not surprise me."

"It doesn't sur— you mean you knew?"

"My dear, when Quintus showed up at camp offering his services...well, I would have to be a fool not to be suspicious."

"Then why did you let him in?"

"Because sometimes it is better to have someone you mistrust close to you, so that you can keep an eye on him. He may be just what he says: a half-blood in search of a home. Certainly he has done nothing openly that would make me question his loyalty. But believe me, I will keep an eye—"

Chiron stopped talking when Tyson and Percy got near us.

"Hey!" Tyson said, opening his arms for a hug. I smiled and hugged him. When we separated, I looked at Percy and frowned.

"Perseus, you look worse than normally." He looked like he barely slept, with dark circles under his eyes, hair pointing everywhere. He was wearing light jeans and a navy blue loose shirt, and a converse of the same color.