Wildflowers, Percy Jackson ₁

035, normalize this

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

₊˚࿐࿔ 𖥧‧₊⚘ ❀༉. 𓏲｡

Chiron had insisted they talk about it in the morning, which was kind of like, Hey, your life's in mortal danger. Sleep tight! It was hard to fall asleep, but when Sylvie finally did, she dreamed of another memory designated to pierce her heart with a knife and twist.

Sylvie didn't want to talk about it, but she'll tell you it was a vision from her first week at camp. When Eurydice took Sylvie under her wing, tried showing Sylvie the ropes of everything, and comforted the girl when she didn't get the hang of it all so quickly. The dream ended with Sylvie crying in Eurydice's arms, and Sylvie woke in a cold sweat.

Sylvie was still feeling shaky the next morning when Chiron called a war council. Katie and Florian forced her to attend it, so Sylvie joined their meeting in the sword arena—which she thought was pretty strange—trying to discuss the fate of the camp. Meanwhile Mrs. O'Leary chewed on a life-size squeaky pink rubber yak.

Chiron and Quintus stood at the front by the weapon racks. Clarisse and Annabeth sat next to each other and led the briefing. Tyson and Grover sat as far away from each other as possible. Sylvie found an empty spot next to Percy. Also present around the table: Juniper the tree nymph, Lee Fletcher, Charles Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, Travis and Connor Stoll, and Castor and Pollux Angevin, even Argus, their hundred-eyed security chief. That's how Sylvie knew it was serious. Argus hardly ever shows up unless something really major is going on. The whole time Annabeth spoke, he kept his hundred blue eyes trained on her so hard his whole body turned bloodshot.

"Luke must have known about the Labyrinth entrance," Annabeth said. "Though I don't really know how."

Sylvie anxiously spoke up. Though, her voice wasn't all that stable when she confessed, "It had to be Eurydice. She knew everything about camp. She was here for eleven years."

Then she ducked her head back down so she didn't have to meet the kind of stares everyone was giving her.

"Actually," Juniper cleared her throat, saving Sylvie, "that's what I was trying to tell you last night. The cave entrance has been there a long time. Eurydice and Luke used to use it."

Silena frowned. "You knew about the Labyrinth entrance, and you didn't say anything?"

Juniper's face turned green. "I didn't know it was important. Just a cave. I don't like yucky old caves."

"She has good taste," Grover said.

"I wouldn't have paid any attention except... well, it was Luke." She blushed a little greener.

Grover huffed. "Forget what I said about good taste."

"Interesting." Quintus polished his sword as he spoke. "And you believe this young man, Luke, would dare use the Labyrinth as an invasion route?"

"Definitely," Clarisse said. "If he could get an army of monsters inside Camp Half-Blood, just pop up in the middle of the woods without having to worry about our magical boundaries, we wouldn't stand a chance. He could wipe us out easy. He must've been planning this for months."

"He's been sending scouts into the maze," Annabeth said. "We know because... because we found one."

"Chris Rodriguez," Chiron said. He gave Quintus a meaningful look.

"Ah," Quintus said. "The one in the... Yes. I understand."

"The one in the what?" Percy asked.

Clarisse glared at him. "The point is, Luke has been looking for a way to navigate the maze. He's searching for Daedalus's workshop."