King Arthur And The Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth.

Arthur and Mordred In Mortal Kombat

So we found ourselves standing in front of what looked like a door to the boiler room of the hotel.  Though how we managed to walk in here without any trouble from the hotel manager sort of escaped me.

"So.. this is it.." Murmured Annabeth putting a hand to the door and dusting it off, seeing the Mark of Daedalus upon it.. etched in a small corner. "This entrance hasn't been used in years.. decades.. incredible.."

"It never opens.." said Rachel. "I've tried.. I always felt there was something unusual there, so I got curious.

"It's fine.. it just needs the touch of a Halfblood.. or a Heroic Spirit that's charged with magic.."

As Annabeth looked over the entrance a bit more.. I saw a shimmer out of the corner of my eye... a holographic rainbow appeared.. showing an image of..

"Chiron?" I muttered.

It was an Iris Message of course.. from Chiron.. it wasn't a long one , but what he told me was enough to send chills up my spine.

First thing was that Eurytion contacted Camp shortly after we left.. Nico had disappeared..  Apparently Tamamo had gone out back to gather eggs from the chickens the ranch looked after, and Nico used his opportunity to go.. followed by none other than Karna.

I hoped he had a good reason.. I knew Karna was at least the sensible one, and he wouldn't condone his master leaving without a good reason anyways.. but still..

The next one was a little more disturbing.

One of Luke's Half Blood soldiers.. one of our camp defect-tees.. Chris Rodriguez, turned up wandering on camp grounds next to Zeus's Fist, apparently having gone mad, talking about the maze.

According to Percy, who was on with Chiron on the message,  Chris kept muttering something like. "Skulls... earth keeps healing him.. damn arena.."

"Apparently Luke is in some sort of arena trying to gain passageway to some place." said Percy. "We suspect it might be like a last obstacle placed in the maze before you actually reach Daedalus."

"Clarisse is most distraught.. apparently Chris was a dear friend of hers before he deserted." said Chiron.

"How is he?" I asked.

"He should recover.. given some rest, and some healing from Nightingale." said Chiron. "Speaking of which I should probably go accompany them before Nightingale decides that unneeded amputation is a measure to take.. "

I shivered. Ever since Nurse Nightingale came to camp after we found her in running around an elementary school in New Orleans, she had been an invaluable asset, able to heal many wounds with her Noble Phantasm alone. However, as a Berserker.. she was also a bit... unusual.. and usually in the "I can only heal you by killing you!" sort of way.

"Got it.." said Annabeth, suddenly, shoving the door open with large metal dragging sound.

"Anything else we should watch out for?" I asked Chiron.

"Just be careful.. this quest is unpredictable as it is." said Chiron. "An Iris Message won't be as possible down in the maze, a connection is hard to make in the heavy magic of the area."

"Right.. thanks.. we'll be careful.." I said as the message cut off.

I approached the passageway carefully.. staring down a dusty flight of stairs going down into the darkness.

"Well..?" said Rachel.

"Now you lead the way Frizzy Hair." said Mordred. "come on! Hop to it!"