YN's theme:
Lazuli's theme:
The next morning, Chiron called a war council. We met in the sword arena, which I thought was pretty strange. Trying to discuss the fate of the camp while 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. Lazuli, Percy, Andromeda, and I sat near Annabeth. Also present around the table were Grover's girlfriend Juniper, Silena Beauregard, Travis and Connor Stoll, Charles Beckendorf, Lee Fletcher, even Argus, our hundred-eyed security chief. That's how I knew it was serious. Argus hardly ever shows up unless something really major is going on. The whole time Annabeth and Clarisse spoke, he kept his hundred blue eyes trained on her so hard his whole body turned bloodshot.
Annabeth: Luke must have known about the Labyrinth entrance. He knew everything about camp.
I thought I heard a little pride in her voice, like she still respected the guy, as evil as he was. Juniper cleared her throat.
Juniper: That's what I was trying to tell you last night. The cave entrance has been there a long time. Luke used to use it.
Silena Beauregard frowned.
Silena: You knew about the Labyrinth entrance, and you didn't say anything?
Juniper's face turned green. Well... greener than it was already.
Juniper: I didn't know it was important. Just a cave. I don't like yucky old caves.
Grover: She has good taste.
Juniper: I wouldn't have paid any attention except... well, it was Luke.
She blushed a little greener. I made a fake gagging expression.
YN: Good taste. Right.
Quintus: Interesting. And you believe this young man, Luke, would dare use the Labyrinth as an invasion route?
Clarisse: Definitely. 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.
Clarisse: He's been sending scouts into the maze. We know because... because we found one.
Chiron: Chris Rodriguez.
He gave Quintus a meaningful look.
Quintus: Ah. The one in the... yes, I understand.
Percy: The one in the what?
Clarisse glared at him. I spoke up, trying to keep Clarisse from killing Percy.
YN: So the point is that Luke has been looking for a way to navigate the maze. He's searching for Daedalus' workshop.
Percy: The guy who created the maze.
Annabeth: Yes. The greatest architect, the greatest inventor of all time. If the legends are true, his workshop is in the center of the Labyrinth. He's the only one who knew how to navigate the maze perfectly. If Luke managed to find the workshop and convince Daedalus to help him, Luke wouldn't have to fumble around searching for paths, or risk losing his army in the maze's traps. He could navigate anywhere he wanted, quickly and safely. First to Camp Half-Blood to wipe us out. Then... to Olympus.
The arena was silent except for Mrs. O'Leary's toy yak getting disemboweled. Finally Beckendorf put his huge hands on the table.
Charles: Back up a sec, Annabeth. You said "convince Daedalus"? Isn't Daedalus dead?
Quintus grunted.
Quintus: I would hope so. He lived, what, three thousand years ago? And even if he were alive, don't the old stories say he fled from the Labyrinth?
That old bastard. He's quite the talented gaslighter, I have to admit. I knew his secret. He was Daedalus. I spotted that he was an automaton instantly, and he explained his story to Lazuli and I. Chiron clopped restlessly on his hooves.
Chiron: That's the problem, my dear Quintus. No one knows. There are rumors... well, there are many disturbing rumors about Daedalus, but one is that he disappeared back into the Labyrinth toward the end of his life. He might still be there.
Annabeth: We need to go in. We have to find the workshop before Luke does. If Daedalus is alive, we convince him to help us, not Luke. If Ariadne's string still exists, we make sure it never falls into Luke's hands.
Percy: Wait a second. If we're worried about an attack, why not just blow up the entrance? Seal the tunnel?
Grover: Great idea! I'll get the dynamite!
Clarisse: It's not so easy, stupid. We tried that at the entrance we found in Phoenix. It didn't go well.
Annabeth nodded.
YN: The Labyrinth is magical architecture, Percy. It would take huge power to seal even one of its entrances. I'm talking like Zeus' master bolt or Poseidon's trident. In Phoenix, Clarisse demolished a whole building with a wrecking ball, and the maze entrance just shifted a few feet.
Andromeda: Aren't you and Lazuli able to create massive energy blasts? Couldn't you two destroy it?
Lazuli: It's not that simple. We might be able to bury the entrance, but then the monsters would just have to dig their way out.
YN: Plus the Labyrinth is probably spread out underneath camp. If we destroyed an entrance, the surrounding area will collapse too. It could create a sinkhole that wipes out the entire camp.
Annabeth: The best we can do is prevent Luke from learning to navigate the Labyrinth.
Lee: We could fight. We know where the entrance is now. We can set up a defensive line and wait for them. If an army tries to come through, they'll find us waiting with our bows.
Chiron: We will certainly set up defenses. But I fear Clarisse is right. The magical borders have kept this camp safe for hundreds of years. If Luke manages to get a large army of monsters into the center of camp, bypassing our boundaries... we may not have the strength to defeat them.
YN: I have an idea.
Everyone turned to me.
YN: I can create energy barriers around myself. I also don't need to sleep, and I'm basically indestructible. While we get our defenses set up, I'll sit at the entrance with a barrier around it.
YOU ARE READING
The Automatons (Percy Jackson)
AventureYN and Lazuli Vomi. The twin children of Hephaestus, who were born ill. They'd have died if their father didn't take them in and make some... improvements.
