Hello peoples, here is another chapter of our story. We still own nothing except new characters and events. No money is being made from our writing and all rights go to the rightful owners. -MonsterPanda

Kampê snarled, anger glowing in her eyes. "Then you shall die!" her screech echoed and shook the room, rocks tumbled and fell from the ceiling, hordes of monsters were answering her call. Their growls, snarls, and angry howls thundered, beating against my skull.

"You are too weak to face me on your own. Too fearful you will die by my blade." I stood tall, a sickened grin spread across my face. "Finally you show some smarts. I shall see you again Kampê, I shall have your head upon a silver platter." With those words I disappeared in a flash of lilac light, right as the monsters had stood ready at the doorways. "Death shall be brought upon you all!" I roared once, completely gone from the labyrinth.

Percy p.o.v

"Hurry!" Annabeth said, like I needed to be told that.

We finally found the cell where we'd come in, but the back wall was completely smooth—no sign of a boulder or anything. "Look for the mark!" Annabeth said.

"There!" Grover touched a tiny scratch, and it became a Greek ∆. The mark of Daedalus glowed blue, and the stone wall grinded open. Too slowly. Tyson was coming through the cellblock; he was determined to help Calista bring down Kampê. Which obviously didn't end well. I pushed Briares inside the maze, then Annabeth and Grover. Tyson wasn't far behind, his eyes wide.

"They disappeared." Confused misted his one large eye.

"They died?"

"No, they went into the maze and it took them somewhere else. She's a demi-titan with the circlet of Rhea, she's immortal with it. If anyone is dead, it's Kampê." Annabeth snapped, she must actually be close to Calista for her to get so defensive.

"Why did she choose us over any other demi-god?"

"She knows things we don't, she see's something rare and unique in each of us. We fit best with each other so she's kept us that way."

"Yeah, we're real special." She wacked me for that comment.

We finally stopped in a room full of waterfalls. The floor was one big pit, ringed by a slippery stone walkway. Around us, on all four walls, water tumbled from huge pipes. The water spilled down into the pit, and even when I shined a light, I couldn't see the bottom. Briares slumped against the wall. He scooped up water in a dozen hands and washed his face. "This pit goes straight to Tartarus," he murmured. "I should jump in and save you trouble."

"Don't talk that way," Annabeth told him. "You can come back to camp with us. You can help us prepare. You know more about fighting Titans than anybody."

"I have nothing to offer," Briares said. "I have lost everything."

"What about your brothers?" Tyson asked. "The other two must stand tall as mountains! We can take you to them." Briares's expression morphed to something even sadder: his grieving face.

"They are no more. They faded." The waterfalls thundered. Tyson stared into the pit and blinked tears out of his eye.

"What exactly do you mean, they faded?" I asked. "I thought monsters were immortal, like the gods."

"Percy," Grover said weakly, "even immortality has limits. Sometimes…sometimes monsters get forgotten and they lose their will to stay immortal." Looking at Grover's face, I wondered if he was thinking of Pan.

I remembered something Medusa had told us once: how her sisters, the other two gorgons, had passed on and left her alone. Then last year Apollo said something about the old god Helios disappearing and leaving him with the duties of the sun god. I'd never thought about it too much, but now, looking at Briares, I realized how terrible it would be to be so old—thousands and thousands of years old—and totally alone. "I must go," Briares said.

"Kronos's army will invade camp," Tyson said. "We need help."

Briares hung his head. "I cannot, Cyclops."

"You are strong."

"Not anymore." Briares rose.

"Hey," I grabbed one of his arms and pulled him aside, where the roar of the water would hide our words. "Briares, we need you. In case you haven't noticed, Tyson believes in you. He risked his life for you." I told him about everything—Luke's invasion plan, the Labyrinth entrance at camp, Daedalus's workshop, Kronos's golden coffin. Briares just shook his head.

"I cannot, demigod. I do not have a finger gun to win this game." To prove his point, he made one hundred finger guns.

"Maybe that's why monsters fade," I said. "Maybe it's not about what the mortals believe. Maybe it's because you give up on yourself." His pure brown eyes regarded me. His face morphed into an expression I recognized—shame. Then he turned and trudged off down the corridor until he was lost in the shadows. Tyson sobbed.

"It's okay," Grover hesitantly patted his shoulder, which must've taken all his courage. Tyson sneezed.

"It's not okay, goat boy. He was my hero." I wanted to make him feel better, but I wasn't sure what to say.

Finally, Annabeth stood and shouldered her backpack. "Come on, guys. This pit is making me nervous. Let's find a better place to camp for the night."

Luke p.o.v

I had never felt so tired in my life. No fight against any evil had prepared my body for this. At times I could barely move until some demigod we recruited brought me nectar and ambrosia. Other than that I was barely eating.

I was doubting myself and every time I did Kronos would speak for only me to hear. An unbearable cold shot through my body, pain flaring in my head.

'Child, are you forgetting what they have to you? Everything you have been forced to go through, everything you have lost because of them? Never feeling the love of your own mother and father, never did he find you good enough to take notice of. Not even now does he think of you, he doesn't even believe you are a threat.'

"I haven't forgotten anything." Reopening the wounds of a failed life, breathing life back into my numb limbs.

'Good, prove to them you are worthy of your fathers' attention, prove to them you are something they will forever regret pushing to their limit.' His voice seethed, my body trembled as I fell back onto the golden sofa. His presence slowly fading. He was always here, always in my mind, I was never alone. In a way that was comforting. In a way it was terrifying.

But soon it would be worth it. All of this pain and grief would be worth it.