Hey guys! Wow, I haven't updated in a long time…I've been so busy and I've had other stories and gods, it's been a busy year…and it's only March :/ Anyways, enjoy this new chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson.
That was my first couple summers at camp. Every summer after that I went on a mission to try to find Luke and recruit new half-bloods. No one said it out loud, but everyone knew it. A war was going to happen, no matter what we try to do. But we can make it less painful.
The most important thing that happened though was the summer of the Battle of the Labyrinth.
At the beginning of the summer I arrived to camp, like usual. But it wasn't a normal day, I could tell that easily. Everyone was cautious and almost…scared.
Jay and I had arrived to camp together, but we had to part ways to go to our cabins.
I swung open the Hermes cabin door and shouted, "Hey idiots? Any new news?"
Travis came up to me and he looked pretty excited. "Arianna, you missed a lot."
I rolled my eyes. "Really? Gee, I didn't know!"
"You'll never believe what happened." Travis grinned. "Chris is back!"
My jaw dropped. "C-Chris? As in, Chris Rodriguez?"
"Yep."
"Oh my gods!" I shouted. I dropped my suitcase and backpack and started for the door.
"Arianna!" Travis called and caught my arm. "You can't see him."
"What? Why not?" I demanded.
Travis's eyes turned sad. "Ari—"
"Don't call me that." I snapped.
"Sorry. But, Arianna, Chris was found…insane."
I'd like to say that I took that news well. But I don't want to lie. I punched (and sort of knocked out) Travis and then Connor, who came to see if Travis was okay.
After they were taken to the infirmary Chiron talked to me but let me off the hook since I had just received…that news.
I was wandering around camp, hoping to find Jay, when I heard someone call, "Arianna!"
I turned and saw my old friend, Clarisse.
"Clarisse!" I ran up to her and we fist bumped (neither of us liked hugs).
"Did you hear what happened?" Clarisse asked quietly.
"Yeah, I did." I muttered. "How did this happen?"
"I was at my mom's for Christmas and I found Chris." Clarisse admitted. "He was just wandering around in full Greek armor and talking about string. I immediately took him to camp and then we found out that he was in the Labyrinth."
I gasped. "The Labyrinth? The Labyrinth?"
"There's no other Labyrinth." Clarisse shrugged.
"Where is Chris right now?" I asked. It felt kind of weird to talk about Chris. Ever since he left, he's been the subject that if anyone brought him up Clarisse would punch them.
"The Big House. Do you want to see him? He hasn't gotten any better, and maybe people from his past would help…" Clarisse's voice cracked. I at once felt bad for her. Chris was her only weakness, then he left, then she found him, but he was insane.
Clarisse led me to the Big House and down into the basement (I didn't even know there was a basement).
My eyes landed on a familiar boy. Chris's hair was wild and his eyes were darker than ever, darting around the room nervously.
"Chris?" I asked softly.
Chris made a choking sound. "Who are you? What do you want with me? I'm innocent!" He started to sob. "Is Mary here?"
I looked at Clarisse, confused, but she just said to Chris, "I'm here. But remember, my name's Clarisse, not Mary."
"C-Cl—" Chris started, but then he stopped. "Mary, it's so dark!"
"Then let's go outside." Clarisse suggested gently. "The sunlight can help." She reached out to touch his arm, but Chris swatted her away.
"Stop it! Just leave me alone!" Chris shouted. Then he curled up into a ball and stifled his sobbing.
"So many skulls!" Chris yelled.
Clarisse's sad eyes met mine. Chris seemed to be getting worse, not better.
"Eat." Clarisse handed Chris a plate of food, but he just picked it up and threw it at the wall.
"He's never dying!" Chris cried. "The earth heals him!"
"We better go." Clarisse told me quietly. I nodded and told Chris, "Hey, buddy, get better, okay?"
"So dark." Chris mumbled.
Clarisse turned without saying goodbye and walked up the stairs. I could tell she was trying not to run, and as I followed her, I had to resist running too.
"Can't Mr. D just heal him? Madness is his specialty, after all!" I said, still a little dazed after seeing my friend in that condition.
"Mr. D isn't here. He had a meeting or something like that about the war." Clarisse murmured. She wiped her eyes and then continued, "I've got to go. Chris has to be supervised at all times. I had a small break, but I have to go back. I'll see you later." She didn't wait for me to say anything and turned around, going back to the basement.
Well, I thought, I guess this summer couldn't get any worse.
Boy, was I wrong.
A few days after I got back to camp, Percy and Annabeth arrived. They seemed a little mad at each other and I knew there was some jealousy going on. Everyone knew that they both like each other, but they were too stubborn or shy to admit it. In fact, Annabeth would sometimes talk to me about Percy and how she feels and stuff. I feel like her therapist when she does that…
Anyways, so they went on a quest with Grover and Tyson to find Pan. A while later only Annabeth came back. She said Percy made Mount St. Helen's erupt and sacrificed himself so Annabeth could get away.
Percy hadn't shown up for two weeks, so Chiron decided to burn a shroud for him and then declare him dead.
But then, Percy being the Seaweed Brain he is, showed up right before Annabeth was going to burn his shroud. After getting reunited with all of us, Chiron took Annabeth and Percy back to the Big House.
Then they went to the Labyrinth again. After a while they came back out, but with Tyson and Grover this time. They said that they had found Pan but he died (for real this time). The Council didn't believe Grover and banished him.
Okay, now that you got a summary of went happened, I'll get to the main part: the Battle of the Labyrinth.
We knew it was coming. We were all set up for it when it happened.
"So, Ari, you ready?" Jay asked me.
I shifted my armor. "I don't think I'll ever be ready."
Jay grinned crookedly. "Let's do this."
I drew my sword and turned to the Labyrinth entrance. The ground began to rumble.
"Here it comes," Jay murmured.
Then all of Hades broke loose.
There were hundreds of monsters that just kept pouring and pouring out of the Labyrinth. Jay and I stood back to back and killed every monster that got near us.
"Jay, watch out!" I shouted and pushed my friend to the ground as poison sprayed at him.
"Thanks," Jay grinned at me and I helped him back up.
"What're friends for?"
"This." Jay pulled me to the side as an arrow flew where I was just standing seconds ago.
I laughed and then readied my sword. "Come on, idiot. We've got some more monsters to kill."
Though the battle didn't last long after that. Something strange happened, something very strange. Grover opened his mouth and the most horrible noise I have ever heard in my life came out of his mouth.
The entire enemy army dropped all of their weapons at once and rushed back into the Labyrinth.
"What was that?" Jay asked to no one in particular.
"I…I don't know." I swallowed my fear. "Might as well find out, huh?"
We walked over to Grover, who was surrounded by Chiron, the Council, Quintus, Percy, and Annabeth.
"What was that?" Percy was asking when we got there.
"I—I don't know." Grover looked frightened.
"It was panic." Quintus said gruffly.
"Panic?" Percy raised an eyebrow.
"Pan created that same noise in the Giant War, creating panic. That's why it's called panic." Chiron explained. "Pan must've given you that power after he died." (A/N: I don't really remember what happened exactly, but I just remembered this…so; just pretend this is exactly what happened!)
"Impossible!" One of the Council members shouted. "Grover is a lying outcast!"
"Ari, let's go. This is Grover's problem." Jay told me quietly. I nodded and then we walked off to see who had made it through the battle.
We were about to talk to Clarisse when the ground rumbled again. I drew my sword out again and waited for another army of monsters, but it never came.
"What was that?" Jay asked.
Percy and Annabeth walked up to us, both of them looking tired and wary.
"Guys, what was that?" I asked them.
"Quintus. He was Daedalus. He died, and so the Labyrinth was destroyed." Percy said quickly.
I could tell they didn't want to talk anymore and I didn't either.
Later that day we found out who died in the Battle of the Labyrinth. There were too many, but the one that was really horrible was Lee Fletcher's. I never thought that he would die. And it hit Jay really hard, since they were brothers and all.
I walked up to Jay later that night after burning the shrouds. He was on the beach and staring at the sand.
It was a warm summer night, but it seemed cold after what had happened that day.
"Hey." I said as I sat down next to Jay. "You okay?"
"Sure." Jay mumbled.
"I know, the whole Apollo cabin is taking Lee's death pretty hard." I said, but then immediately regretted it.
Jay put his head in his hands. "He was some of the only family I actually have!"
"You have the others, and your mom…"
Jay looked at me, a look in his eyes that said, really? Jay laughed. "Really, Ari? My mom?"
"Yeah, I know." I admitted. "I'm just trying to cheer you up."
"Thanks anyway. I'll be fine. It'll just take some time. After all, so many were killed."
"Yeah." I agreed. "I still can't believe it."
We sat in silence for a while, just staring at the sea. The silence was interrupted by Kayla running up to us.
"Arianna! Jay! Chris, he's cured!" Kayla said in between breaths.
"What?" I shrieked. "We have to go see him!"
"Wait," Kayla grabbed my wrist before I could leave.
"Oh, come on, what happened now?" I exclaimed.
"Just wait until tomorrow. Chris and Clarisse are having some…bonding time." Kayla grinned.
I rolled my eyes and laughed. "You are such a daughter of Aphrodite."
"I know. My sisters are rubbing off on me." Kayla said glumly.
The next couple days were hard. Everyone had a bad time adjusting to all the deaths and everything. But it got better (slowly) every day.
It was a Monday, the last week of camp. I was at the pavilion, eating breakfast with the Hermes cabin. We were talking about one of the legendary pranks that our cabin had pulled on the Demeter cabin.
"And so after we put the blue dye in—" Travis stopped mid-story. He was looking at me, his eyes wide.
"What?" I asked. "Do I have food in my teeth?"
"Arianna, you're getting claimed!" Travis exclaimed.
"What?" I yelped and looked up. The symbol floating over my head was a black moon with fog surrounding it. "Who is that?"
Everyone in the pavilion was quiet. After all, it's not everyday that someone gets claimed.
Chiron trotted over to me as the symbol faded. "Arianna, would you come with me to the Big House?"
I nodded, a little scared. Who was my parent?
I followed Chiron into the rec room and then asked, "Who's my parent?"
Chiron looked nervous. "I never thought I'd see the day this would happen."
"Could you just tell me? I have sort of been waiting for this moment ever since I got to camp." I started to get impatient.
"Arianna, your mother is Melinoe, goddess of ghosts, bringer of nightmare and madness."
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