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chapter twenty. ( battle of labyrinth ) ❝ into the labyrinth! ❞
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Waiting for Annabeth to return down from the attic was torture. Percy left after a little while, and I watched him walk away. I didn't expect him to wait the whole time, he had started to fidget. We always would fidget on a daily basis, the art of sitting still was something kids with ADHD can't experience. When you add anxiety and anticipation to the mix, it was impossible not to shake and tremble. Percy was a powerful demigod. The energy and power in him made him high-scale ADHD, and it showed. For me, I still had trouble sitting still, but I usually spaced out. I'd be in a conversation, and then something would catch my eye and then the person would get angry at me for not listening. I swear I had been listening I just—
Even then, I jerked every now and then when I sat still for too long. I waited for Annabeth the entire hour, trying to distract myself from the feeling of my stomach in twists by counting the amount of scratches on the stone by my shoes—however, I'd always end up going back because I could never remember how many I counted after ten. I know what comes after ten, but then like, was I up to ten? Or like had I skipped eight? I don't remember saying eight. Or five, for that matter.
In the end, I gave up. Percy returned after a little while, looking pale. I wanted to ask him what happened, but the look he gave told me: later. And so I nodded. When Annabeth finally arrived back at the sword arena, she sat down on a stone bench and stared at the ground.
"My dear," Chiron said. "You made it."
"Well?" then asked Quintus.
I met Annabeth's startling grey eyes, and I wasn't sure whether she was trying to warn me, or if the look in her eyes was fear—complete fear. She focused on Quintus. "I got the prophecy. I will lead the quest to find Daedalus's workshop."
Nobody cheered. Okay, like, we all liked Annabeth; we were all happy that she got a quest ... but ... after Chris Rodriguez, what Clarisse told us and the very little I had seen ... this was dangerous—too dangerous.
Chiron scraped a hoof nervously, "What did the prophecy say exactly, my dear? The wording is important."
Annabeth's breath shuddered, "I, ah ... well, it said: You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze ... The dead, the traitor and the lost one raise..."
"The lost one!" Grover perked up. "That must mean Pan! That's great!"
"With the dead and the traitor," Percy added. "Not so great."
