Percy of the Huntsmen

The Labyrinth

One Month Later
Camp Half-Blood

Percy and Thalia were on the attack, hunting for the Blue Team's flag. Percy's tactics may or may not have been designed to land them both on the offensive.

"There it is," Thalia said, pointing to a triangle of blue on the side of Zeus's fist. "They've managed to put it into a crevice in this rock."

"That's not a flag-" Percy tried to warn her, but it was too late. Thalia tapped the blue triangle. It glowed brightly, and then a portion of the rock shimmered and disappeared.

"Awesome, a secret passageway!"

"Wait," Percy told Thalia. "We have no idea what's down there. That mark looked like the mark of Daedalus, an Ancient Greek inventor. For all we know that's an entrance to the Labyrinth or something."

"Fine." Thalia pressed the triangle again, making it go dim again and the hole to refill with rocks.

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Percy had discussed this matter with Adam after the game was over. Percy had been right, it was a Labyrinth entrance. That was bad. The Huntsmen had destroyed Crete a few hundred years ago, and it was generally accepted that the maze was destroyed. If it was indeed operational, it would either be extremely helpful or extremely harmful.

Percy had gone against his usual anti-authority mentality and took the matter to Chiron.

"Well, that explains a lot," Chiron said upon hearing the new news. "We've had reports flooding in of nymphs and satyrs disappearing in random spots, this finally connects them all. But if we have an entrance inside camp borders, Kronos' army could march straight into camp without worrying about our magical shield."

"That would be bad."

"Very bad. I don't know the extent of your previous training, but it was obviously extensive. I want you to lead a quest to destroy the Labyrinth before Luke uses it to invade camp. I'll make the official announcement at dinner."

"No, don't."

"Why not?"

"I have reason to believe that there is a spy here at camp. I do not know who the spy is, but I would prefer Luke didn't know about this before we got to him."

"If that's what you want, then sure. Grab two companions to take with you, I'll say that you've been tasked with one thing or another."

"Thanks. We'll leave in the morning."

The first choice was obvious. Thalia. He went to see her at dinner. He explained the situation to her.

"Yeah, of course I'll go with you. But who's the second companion going to be?"

"Well, I need someone who can see through the Mist."

"Huh. Maybe one of the Hecate kids?"

"No, I don't trust them. They enjoy half-truths too much." Not that Percy didn't, but he'd need someone he could trust.

"Who else could you take?"

Percy thought a bit. "That girl from the Hoover Dam, Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She could see the skeletons and my wings." And certain other features.

"Do you even know where she lives?"

"She had a slight upstate accent. I'll start looking there."

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Percy found Rachel in the phone book fairly easily. She lived in a mansion in northern New York, about an hour away from camp. Thanatos had given Percy a black iPad (only for use inside camp borders, where monsters couldn't trace the signal) which he used to hack into her schedule. She has saved it onto her Cloud account, which of course is probably the least safe place to store data. The next day, Rachel was going to be a Statue of Liberty model for some sort of protest. That would be an easy place to borrow her for the next few days.

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The Next Day

Percy pointed at a row of people dressed as several different monuments and statues. "Third from the right, that's her."

"She has at least fifteen pounds of green makeup on. How can you recognize her?"

"The hair."

"Oh, yeah." Thalia noticed the mass of red hair on her head.

After about five minutes, Rachel and her group turned and walked away, giving room to another group to walk up and stand there. Fun protest.

"Stay here," Percy said to Thalia. "I'll get her, she'll recognize me."

"Somebody has a large opinion of himself."

Percy walked over to the row of protesters. "Hey, Rachel."

Rachel nearly tripped over her green Statue of Liberty dress. "What are you doing here?"

"What, you thought I lived in the Hoover Dam, running up and down the back corridors looking for people who need saving from skeletons?"

"Well I-"

"I need your help this time."

"You what?"

"My friend Thalia and I," Percy pointed her out and she waved, "are on a mission to destroy the Labyrinth, and we need someone like you."

"Aren't there billions of other mortals in the world?"

"Yes, but you're the only one we know of who can see through the mist."

"So you come to me out of necessity, not for any other reason?"

Percy decided to be blunt. "Yes."

"I'm in."

"Good. So, first question: have you seem a delta sign anywhere around here?"

"Yeah, there's one in the dressing room."

Percy beckoned Thalia over. "How about you don't mention my wolfish qualities to Thalia. I'm on a mission from a third party benefactor to help out in a war, but my clients don't know that I'm hired or that I'm a werewolf, only their boss knows."

"I got it, my lips are sealed."

"Thanks."

Thalia made it over to them. Percy told her about the Labyrinth entrance in the dressing room.

Thalia nodded. "Let's go."