▃▃▃ ᴅᴏɴᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ʜᴇʀ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴏꜰ ɪɴɴᴏᴄᴇɴᴄᴇ ꜰᴏᴏʟ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱʜᴇ ɪꜱ ꜰᴜʟʟ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ʙᴀᴅ-ᴊ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴡᴏʀᴅ
▃▃ ʙᴏᴏᴋ 1 ▃▃ In which the only daughter of Persephone sneaks on a quest to see the world for the first time since she's been at camp. The daughter of wisdom...
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𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⭑ ‧₊˚ ⋅ જ⁀➴๋࣭ ⭑๋࣭ ⭑
After the chaos settled, everyone returned to the sword arena where the war council was being held.
Elara dropped herself into Clarisse's chair like she owned the place. Annabeth sat beside her, now leading the briefing, though she kept glancing at Elara like she couldn't believe she was really there.
Clarisse, slightly annoyed, took the seat next to Elara without a word. The rest of the campers slowly settled in, eyes flicking between Elara and Chiron.
"We all heard you died," Lee Fletcher said cautiously.
Elara tilted her head, then shrugged. "I did. A few times, actually." She turned toward Chiron, expression hardening. "You called a war council. I'm guessing you know Luke is coming for camp?"
Chiron gave a stiff nod, still visibly shaken by her return.
"Where the hell have you been?" Annabeth asked, voice tight with emotion.
"Looking for Nico," Elara said flatly, her gaze cutting toward Annabeth and then Percy. "You know—what you weren't doing."
A tense silence followed.
"Luke must've known about the Labyrinth entrance," Annabeth said after a beat, her voice low. "He knew everything about camp."
Elara rolled her eyes, catching the faint note of admiration in Annabeth's tone. It made her stomach turn. After everything he's done, she still talks about him like that?
Juniper cleared her throat nervously. "That's what I tried to tell you last night. The cave's been there forever. Luke used to go in and out of it all the time."
Silena frowned. "Wait—you knew about the Labyrinth entrance and didn't say anything?"
Juniper's face turned a shade greener. "I didn't think it mattered. It was just a cave. I hate caves."
"She has good taste," Grover muttered.
Juniper shifted. "I only even remembered because... well, it was Luke." She blushed deeper.
Elara wrinkled her nose. "Gross."
Grover huffed. "Forget what I said about good taste."
"Interesting," Quintus said, polishing his sword like this was just another training session. "And you believe this young man—Luke—would actually use the Labyrinth as a route to invade?"
