A/N: Sorry I'm late with this, I've been sick, lazy, and been assigned a writing assignment for my creative writing class. The chapters will be coming along, just slower than before. Expect a new one every two days or so from now on. I'll let you know if that changes. Happy Reading! (Don't forget to review!)

Amby stretched out on the bed like a cat. She could hear Thad strumming the guitar as she got off the mattress. She put on a sea blue peplos and hummed to the song as she followed its music into the library.

He was sitting on one of the cushioned benches between the shelves with the guitar perched in his lap. To his left was an open book with a bookmark on the page.

Amby smiled at him as she walked over. He looked up and grinned at her.

"Hey," he said, "I found a book on Calypso's curse."

When he saw her brow lift he quickly clarified, "I thought since Calypso didn't keep you around the heroes that came, we could look it up before asking her to cover some specifics that the book doesn't."

She picked up the book and sat next to him. He pointed to the page where it began and told her to read.

"The Curse of Ogyia," she read, "Often mscontstued as being specific to Calypso, that isn't the case. The curse is on the island and any who live there. It only affects those of the female gender, hence the fact that no heroines have ever visited the island.

"The constraints of the curse are listed below:

~When a hero lands on the island, he is injured or hurt in some way, whether it be physical, or otherwise.

~The cursed will see the good qualities within the here, no matter how unredeemable that hero may be.

~After the cursed had fallen under Aphrodite's domain, regardless of whether or not the hero loves them back, the hero will be forced by fate to leave.

~The cursed will remain on the island unless freed by a gods will.

~After that, the cursed awaits the next hero to visit her island. "

Amby looked up from the book at Thad. But he was grinning, and didn't look worried.

She frowned, "Why are you so happy?"

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Thad just kept grinning. He put the guitar down and pulled her into his lap.

"Don't you see?" he asked her, "We have an out."

"Poseidon already tried to get me out, he tried when I was a baby." she said, but his smile didn't falter.

"I don't think that he's the god you need to free you." He said and her brows furrowed.

"I think you have to be the one to free yourself."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

A few days passed and they thought on the constraints of the curse. Amby trained while she slept, mastering the domain of blood quickly, as most of the training was accelerated in her sleep to allow her to do so.

Blood was far more complex than she had ever dreamed. No pun intended.

All she had to do was control the blood flow in someone's body to get them to do what she willed. Amby could stop the hearts of her enemies when she wasn't in the same room. She could force an enemy army to fight for her instead of against. With a wave of her hand, she could bring a person's blood to a boil, burning away everything that connected them to their humanity.

Now, they awaited the arrival of her third domain. She and Thad sat on the couch, huddled together talking about their lives outside each other. Which was a very limited conversation on her end. Well, she beat at him studying, at least.

"There was this one time when Luke got his ass handed to him by Nico. He had taught that kid everything he knew. I don't think he expected Nico to surpass him in the skills department, though. Nico probably didn't for that matter either. Luke was the best swordsman in the hundred years, or at least by who Chiron had teached." Thad regaled her and she hummed as she listened.

"How old is Nico?" she asked him and Thad was silent for a moment.

"He was thirteen when I became conscious again, but last I knew he was about to turn fourteen. " he got quiet, "I wonder how long has passed since I've been here…"

"I wish I could tell you that," she said, "But I don't even know if my real age is the same there as it is here."

He nodded as if he understood her worry, like she had nodded when he told her his. Neither really knew what would happen if they succeeded at finding a way off the island togethers, but still they hoped.

Thump.

They both flinched at the sound that filled the silence they had, but it was nothing but her box sliding from the dining room table and into a chair. Amby sat up and walked over to the table, Thad standing up behind her.

The box sat in one of the chairs closest to her, but another golden envelope was in the center of the table. Her barefeet pattered over the stone floor and onto the rug that was tucked underneath the table. She pulled out a chair and promptly sat next to the box, opting to grab the envelope first.

She broke the seal and pulled out the parchment. The hand that wrote it was neat, but childish, with a heart above the 'i'.

Mortal Coils.

Amby put the parchment back into the envelope and sighed. Clearly, from what she could gather at least, it connected to her power of over blood.

She theorized that she would be able to bind a soul to the mortal realm, similar to the Styxx. Amby wondered if she could bind a soul to an immortal and make that soul's life connected to that immortal.

She would if she was right in time.

Amby opened the box and pulled out her dagger and diadem, placing them on the table as she did so.

The dagger and diadem glowed with power. The diadem's glow had changed from before; instead of broadcasting power, it pulled it from the air that surrounded it.

Amby glanced at the dagger. It brightened when she looked at it, drawing her in. It's power felt not necessarily malignant, but certainly not good. She resisted the urge to keep holding it.

Her hands held the box open and she could sense water in a vial. Amby reached in and picked up the vial and unraveled a small note that was attached.

It was written in ancient greek, but Amby could translate it easily.

To be drunk on the fifth day of the second month in the light of the moon while soaking in the most natural of waters.

'The most natural of waters'? Amby was silent in contemplation for a moment and she felt Thad look over her shoulder at the vial. The water in the vial was a deathly grey and seemed to flow even when held perfectly still.

She handed Thad the note and he read it carefully.

"Could it mean the sea?" he asked and she shook her head.

"I don't think so." she was silent till a smile lit up her face, "A spring!"

"A spring?"

Amby nodded, "Yes. A natural spring. You can't get any more natural than that."

Thad looked at the vial again. "Is that water from the Styxx?"

She followed his eyes to the vial and shook her head again.

"I think it's water from all the rivers." she paused, "Theoretically, you could bear the blessing of any of them. But no one has ever tried anything but the Styxx."

"Are the others bound by mortal coils as well?" he asked and she nodded.

"I believe so," Amby said.

"Supposedly, the Styxx binds you to the most important person in your life. The Acheron would connect you to the memory of a loved one that has passed. The Lethe binds you to those that you have forgotten-"

"How does that work?" Thad interrupted.

"The Lethe's blessing would most likely be the easiest lost, as it binds you to an absense of memory. Memory is lost and gained at any point in life, so if you remember those that you had forgotten…" she trailed off and Thad nodded.

"You lose the blessing. Go on."

"The Cocytus makes you unable to be in a stage outside of woe for a long amount of time. If you heal from your grief, you lose the blessing. With the Phlegethon, it forever ties you to those that you are passionate about or for. The Acheron ties you to the feeling of woe, similar to the Cocytus, except it locks you into a state of depression. If you ever find true happiness…" she trailed again.

Thad nodded, "You lose the blessing."

"Yes." she said, grabbing a piece of leather and tying it around the mouth of the vial and putting it around her neck.

She felt tired all of a sudden, as if her energy was silently slipping away. She pulled the necklace off and put it in the box, and sure enough, her energy returned to her. She sighed and put her other magical tools back into the box and it disappeared from her hands.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

That night, Thad stayed up watching Amby as she dreamt. Her eyes moved beneath her lids and she would make soft sounds beneath her breath occasionally.

Her hair was fanned out beneath her head, and it was soft against his skin as she curled into him. He twirled a strand around his finger gently as he thought about the war.

What was going on out there? Who was winning? Thad hoped that the demigods were preparing to defend themselves. They all knew that Kronus would eventually attack the camp directly.

But how would he do it? Thad shook himself when he realized the answer. He'd use the labyrinth! There was an entrance to the labyrinth within the camp's boundaries after all.

How would he find his way through it? Thad had only wandered through it, and everytime he had looked back, he would see the walls change and shift as he passed. There had to be a way to find your way through the labyrinth…

How do you map a trail? You mark it in some way or leave a trail behind you to be able to find your way back. You could leave crumbs… or you could leave string! Ariadne's string!

Thad let go of Amby hair and got out of bed and went into the library to research. How would he find Ariadne's string?

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The dreams were odd, to say the least. Unlike the ones that came before, these were showing what she would be able to do instead of what she could currently do.

Amby was walking through the underworld like a ghost. She felt like one, even though she wasn't really there.

She found herself following one of the five rivers. As she walked, she found herself nearing the others, as if nearing where they were all connected.

A woman manifested from the water and they walked side by side, only to be joined by another watery female presence.

On they walked, deeper and deeper into the underworld, Amby listened to the whispering voices of the women on either side of her, letting them guide her to the center of where they drew power.

It wasn't there one moment, but there the next, and Amby felt her barefeet touch the cool, yet scalding, waters of power. It energized her and she sighed as she felt light pleasure roll through her.

The other women had stopped where their rivers began and Amby continued walking till she stood in the absolute center. It was a lake, she realized. A small one, but a lake nonetheless.

Amby felt the water drop out from under her and submerge her struggling body. She breathed in the energizing waters and screamed. It filled her lungs and she knew what it was like to drown.