Worth the Struggle

Chapter 5: And The Quests Begin

Tyson kept an eye on Luke since then. I mean, I get it. The last he saw Luke he was trying to kill me on the Princess Andromeda, and now he sees Luke leaning over me while I'm laying in bed and doesn't trust us together. I was thankful for the interruption, what would have happened if he hadn't got to camp? Would we have actually kissed? No. We'd have come to our senses before that, I'm sure he was just playing around anyway. Not that we'd had a chance to talk about it, Tyson even sat between us when we ate at the Pavillion. It was useful having him here. Though Luke seemed grumpier, so he might not agree.

He'd met this Mr D. a couple of times over the past few days, but all he'd said was that they were refining details for the quests. Hephestus would be ready by the end of the week and they were warning my mum. Annabeth promised me she'd keep her safe, and I tried to trust her and Grover would do that, but the Labyrinth was dangerous. How much could the two of them do for her? The important thing was to think about was that they'd try, and when they tried their hardest they could keep me safe, and my mum wouldn't be that hard to protect.

It was a relief to see her when the week ran out, even if it was a bit embarrassing how much she gushed over me. Clarisse sniggered behind her back until my mum greeted her with a hug to thank her for looking out for me. Not many demi-gods had really friendly parents, what with the monsters always swarming us, so it stunned her to be treated so nicely. She kissed Chiron on a bearded cheek and greeted Mr D. with more respect than I could ever hope to muster for him. She was even nice to Luke, which must have been hard for her. Everyone seemed impressed by her, and I couldn't help but feel proud to be her son.

"You look out for yourself down here Percy," she warned before my group started our quest.

We were set to go down, then the group to Alcatraz would set off five minutes after us and finally, my mum would go down. I hugged her before I left and warned her to do the same before I jumped down into the entrance to the Labyrinth.

It was dark. Without the flashlights we'd brought, we'd be completely blind. Lee gripped my shoulder, eyes firmly on Luke a couple of steps ahead of us. My guess was that he didn't trust him fully yet. Luke took a small silver ball from his pocket and pressed or switched something because the ball shifted into a spider and crawled along the floor faster than I would have expected. Luke reached back to grab my wrist and pulled us along to follow the spider. Lee tightened his grip so he wouldn't lose us. It was a smart thought, I'd have just run after the tiny thing before I lost it and ended up losing the others.

The little thing took many twists and turns, and I was half certain that it was taking us the right way. Not completely though. After running for what felt like hours, my shoulder ached under Lee's grip and Luke's clammy hand made my wrist feel sweaty, but the spider made a sudden move up a wall. Light flooded a section of the Labyrinth as I blinked up to look at a bright sun. There was a grate above us.

"Lee, climb on my shoulders and pull yourself up, Percy you go next," Luke instructed, kneeling down for Lee to access his shoulders. "We need to pay Mr Geryon a visit."

Crap! Double crap! All the crap!

Stupid Percy! What was I doing? Luke could have handled this, but no, I had to try to save everyone and make a deal I was screwing up cos I couldn't clean the man-eating horse stable. The stupid naiad wouldn't let me use her river and had given me a crappy seashell. How was I supposed to use them?

Useless! I threw it into a pile of dung and a spring of water shot out. I rushed to have the water spread, and the horses complained about the "salty baths". The poo dissolved in the salt, and the stable was clean in record time. It took more effort to calm the water, and the use of my power was actually painful.

If I expected Mr Geryon to just let my friends go, instead of picking a fight so he could sell us all to the other side, then I was a moron. I was just thankful that Eurytion stood back to let him fight his own battle. I distracted him so Luke could cut himself and Lee free. I understood bringing Lee went he shot an arrow through Mr Greyon's three bodies and he disintegrated.

"Good shot, man." Luke grinned, clapping him on the back.

I untied Nico as he shrieked about me getting his sister killed. It wasn't entirely true, and the other boys stuck by me, but that wouldn't convince him of shit. I told him to summon Bianca, she was the only one who could have sent the Iris message, and he agreed as if to prove me wrong. I wasn't.

I let him sleep on our meeting with Bianca, but insisted he came back with us. Leaving him to be manipulated by Minos or kidnapped by Kronos was not an option now.

I let him sleep on our meeting with Bianca, but insisted he came back with us. Leaving him to be manipulated by Minos or kidnapped by Kronos was not an option now. Nico needed to be kept safe at the very least, even if he wanted nothing to do with us after that.

The spider led us back into the labyrinth, but everything looked different. The spider crawled longer and I worried about where it was going. Luke assured us it was going back to camp, but I could shake the feeling we were going somewhere else. When the tunnel opened, we were in a workshop.

Luke grumbled, "Hephestus' workshop."

It was Telkhines using the forge. They were melding, not trying to free Typhon, so Hephestus would be pleased. Luke caught them making something, "fusing metals" and drew the conclusion that they were making the blade of Kronos. A scythe made of steel and celestial bronze like the sword he used to carry. Made from his sword.

They could kill us in moments, but I knew I could keep them distracted long enough to get Luke out so he could take Nico back to camp. He was worrying over me getting myself killed, but I brushed it off. I thought he'd argue but kissed me. I was stunned still, and it wasn't a little peck. He leaned forward and held my head in both his hands like I was precious.

"Be careful, okay?"

I just saw him get out before I had lava poured over my body. My dad's power kept me from burning up immediately, but it got hotter by the second. The water is inside me! I felt the pull in my stomach and it was like an eruption. A tidal wave, I flew out the top of the volcano before plummeting back down to Earth.