Annabeth Chase and the Battle of the Labyrinth

Chapter 35 - Can't I have alone time?

I thought dreams would haunt me, especially seeing as I was going into the Labyrinth, but I got to experience a new sort of torment - a late night Iris-message. 

I was in the female bathrooms, finishing up having my shower before I went to bed. I was the only one there as pretty much everyone was already in their cabins, all the girls preferring to have early showers so they didn't have to wait until the Aphrodite girls got in. Luckily, those beauty queens also prided their 'beauty sleep' so I had the place to myself. 

I was standing in just my bra and had just pulled my pajama shorts on when the air in front of the mirror shimmered and Eurytion the cowherd's face appeared before me. I yelped in shock and dived under the sink, snatching my shirt as I did so. 

"Some warning would be nice!" I yelled, tugging my shirt over my head quickly and standing back up once I was sure I was fully covered. 

"Sorry, missy!" he said, his face red. He struggled to meet my eyes. 

"What is it?" I held myself back from snapping, just. The long and stressful day combined with thoughts of tomorrow had frayed my self control sorely. 

"I have a message for you," he said, still not quite looking at me. "It's urgent." 

"Well?" I demanded. "Eurytion, what is it?"

"Nico's gone. He left last night, and hasn't come back."

"What? Eurytion, would you just look at me? Where did he go?"

The cowherd fixed his gaze on me, and I could see that he was as frustrated at the news as I was. He was standing on the front steps of his house, probably holding a hose to make the Iris-Message.

"My guess would be the Labyrinth," he said. "When I found him gone in the morning, Orthus and I tracked him to the grate that you went through to get to the Labyrinth. It had been moved."

I rubbed my forehead. Out of all the problems I already had, I really didn't need another one. But I knew that I couldn't brush over this one. It meant too much to Percy to know where Nico was and if he was safe. 

"Do you know why he would go back to the Labyrinth?" I asked. "I mean, it's not the best place to hide."

"He's been talking to himself a lot lately," Eurytion mused. "Mainly at night, when he thinks I'm asleep. Except, now that I think of it, it might not have been to himself. Maybe that ghost was there."

"Do you know what he was talking about? What he was saying?"

Eurytion shook his head. "I'm no eavesdropper, miss. I let him have his privacy."

I sighed. "Thanks for letting me know, Eurytion. And for everything else."

He ducked his hat to me. "Good luck, miss. Gods know you'll probably need it."

He swiped his hand through the connection and left me alone in the bathroom with only my thoughts for company. 

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I didn't get much sleep that night so it was almost a relief to hike up Half-Blood Hill just to stop the pretence that I might. Argus was already waiting with the van and we only had to wait a few minutes until Percy joined us. I nodded a greeting at him, which he returned. Seeing as that was as much interaction as we were currently going to get, we hopped in the van, and let Argus drive us away. 

Percy looked at tired as I felt, but my pride stopped myself from asking after him. I was still smarting from what we were about to do, so I kept my mouth shut.

Percy, thankfully, wasn't quite that stubborn. "Bad dreams?" he asked. 

I shook my head, somewhat grateful to talk. "An Iris-message from Eurytion." I recounted what the cowherd had said to me. When I was done, Percy looked troubled.