Children of the Big Three Book 4: Battle of the Labyrinth

Chapter Six: Trust Issues

"So.. A Labyrinth entrance at camp." Percy mumbled to himself, as he rubbed his chin in thought. The Son of Poseidon stood in thought for a moment, before he turned to one of the most reliable people at Camp Half-Blood, if you were to ask Percy. "Annabeth?" He prompted.

"Mm. It certainly doesn't bode well. If Luke were to cut through the Labyrinth, his army could very well bypass Grovers Tree, and attack us directly." Annabeth nodded solemnly, not exactly thrilled with the idea. Percy had to admit, he didn't know if he liked or hated how quickly he fell back into a leadership role. With everything that had happened these last few years, it was if the campers expected it of him, and it just kind of happened naturally.

"Is that a possibility at the moment? I thought traversing the maze without a guide would be suicide." Thalia added, as she raised an eyebrow at her old friend, Annabeth.

"It would be, if he didn't have the string. Which he does." Thalia sighed in response, of course he did.

"Don't you think that would have been good for us to know, Annabeth?" Thalia said, an edge creeping into her voice.

"No, I didn't know there was an entrance here in camp. Plus, with or without the string, the Maze is treacherous, normally Luke wouldn't risk losing men when he could just march above ground. Unless he was getting desperate, of course." Annabeth added in, because him getting desperate was both a good and bad thing for them.

"But does Luke know about this entrance? Because that'll drastically change how we deal with this." Percy asked, he felt a little rude to have directed that at Annabeth, but he felt if anyone knew, she would.

"If he doesn't, he will soon. As he made a point to show you with that bracelet back in the Sea of Monsters, he has a spy in camp." It looked as if Annabeth was going to continue talking, but Thalia cut her off.

"Who is it?" Thalia asked, a sharp tone etched into her voice.

"Pardon?" Annabeth responded, confused.

"You were Luke's right hand, so. Who is the spy?" She repeated, this time she seemed more annoyed than anything.

"I would have told you by now if I knew." Annabeth snapped back, offended.

"Would you now?" Thalia asked rhetorically, an accusing look upon her face.

"Are you trying to imply something, Thalia Grace?" Annabeth growled.

"Just pointing out a theory, Annabeth Chase." Thalia looked, oddly smug.

"I have done nothing but try to help since-" Once again, she was cut off by Thalia.

"Since what, Annie? Since you left with Luke after poisoning me? Since poisoning Grovers Tree? Since trying to kill us multiple times? Since trying to doom the entire camp? Since imprisoning Percy under the sky? Since almost overdosing him on Ambrosia? Since-" This time, it was Thalia who was cut off, but not by Annabeth.

"Thalia! Enough!" Percy yelled, and he placed himself between the duo. The reaction to this was pretty on the nose of what he expected. Annabeth looked grateful, if not a little guilty, and Thalia was more shocked.

"Pah-You're taking her side!?" Thalia's cheeks puffed up in anger.

"We've all made mistakes, Thalia." Percy wasn't even sure why he was acting like this, his voice was firm, angry even. Thalia had every right to be angry, sure. But when someone started hounding on his friend like that, even if it was his sorta girlfriend, he couldn't help but get protective.

"None of mine threatened everything we love, Perce." Thalia was just as firm, just as angry. She knew she was being unreasonable, but she couldn't help but get angry at the thought of Annabeth, the things she'd done.

"Who almost took Luke's hand?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it. The look of pure and unadulterated shock upon Thalia's face was indescribable, but it was quickly replaced by rage. She made a move to slap Percy across the face, but he shocked even himself by grabbing her wrist. It was a struggle, Thalia wasn't exactly weak, but he got it to a standstill.

"I hate you, Percy Jackson!" The two breathed deep, neither of them willing to budge on their stance. Gah! This woman made Percy so mad! Why did he have to be into her?! Well, anger kind of outweighed the 'into' at the moment.

"Stop acting like a child, Thalia. We're not kids anymore." Percy said, his face molded into a frown.

"Coming from you? That's rich! You! You stop acting like a kid, Percy! Forgiving her blindly, letting her back in! Don't you see that she'll just betray us again!?" Percy could see it in her eyes. She wasn't worried that she'd betray them again. She was worried that she'd betray Thalia again. She didn't want to let her back in. Without warning, Percy Jackson released Thalia's wrist.

"I'm going." He said with finality.

"Going?" She asked, her face still flushed red from anger.

"I'm going into the Labyrinth. It's only a matter of time till Luke learns how to get here from the Labyrinth. So, I'm going to steal the string." He cracked his neck, and began to walk towards the entrance.

"Okay, give me a sec to grab my things and I'll-" Percy didn't even turn around.

"No. It's going to be me and Annabeth. She's been around Luke the longest, she'll know how to slip by unnoticed." He turned to face Annabeth. "Coming?"

"Y-Yeah!" Annabeth stuttered out, and followed the Son of Poseidon. Within thirty seconds, they were out of Thalia's vision. That's also how long it took for Thalia to come to terms with what just happened. She took it.. Well, how you'd expect Thalia to take it.

Shouts and lightning could be heard from the forest. Who else but-

"That out of practice, snail-brained, fish smelling, idiotic piece of kelp! Who does he think he's talking to?! I'm Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus! Not some side line player!" Then her brain took this in a different direction. "I'm his sorta-kinda girlfriend, and he sides with Annabeth?! Newsflash, she tried to fucking kill you, idiot! Gah!" Thalia fell to the ground, face in the grass, and screamed as hard as she could. She then rose, blush on her face.

"Percy Jackson, if I didn't like you so much, I'd fucking hate you.. But he is out of practice. What was he thinking? I can help fight-" She sighed. "Yep, fuck it. I'm going after him."