It's slightly shorter than usual since I am very busy with school. I just had my finals and am starting a new semester, but I figured I need to at least write something! Thank you for all your support! The next few updates will probably just be cute little one shots of their summer before I start the next book, so be ready for that!
Outlandish Dreamer: Thank you! It always makes me sad too when Pan left Nico out. I'm so happy that you review so often :)
ArcticFox 319: Thank you so much!
Guest: Yes, Rina will be just fine.
The cave loses all life once the god is gone. The plants turn brown and quickly die. All the animals look at us sadly before dissolving to piles of dust. Instead of looking like the oasis it did before, it looks more like a desert void of life. Pan was the only thing pumping energy into the small cavern, and without him, it is nothing.
Grover gets up from his knees. "We should go." He says quietly. "The great god Pan is dead."
"Are you sure?" I ask the satyr. "We can rest for a couple of minutes."
He shakes his head. "No, we have to get back to camp." Grover's face has no emotion on it. It's hard to get a read on how he's feeling. But if I had to guess, then it would be devastated. Hundreds of satyrs have spent their entire lives trying to find Pan in hopes of returning the wild, only to have that hope shatter into a million of pieces.
Annabeth leads the way back into the maze. Everyone stays silent. It doesn't feel right to go back to normal conversations after Pan. That's when it hits me. Pan never mentioned Nico. I glance back at him. He doesn't look much different, but lately he has been good at hiding his emotions. Maybe I should talk to him about it.
"That way." Rachel points towards a tunnel which should take us back to New York.
She successful leads us away from traps and dead ends with ease. I wouldn't be surprised if she could lead us through the Labyrinth with her eyes closed. While she is concentrating on which tunnel we should take, each of us try to keep our minds off of Pan. Percy is counting his steps under his breath. He's over two-hundred now. Considering that most of our time was spent running from monsters, Annabeth didn't get much time to look at the architecture of the maze like she is now. Her wide grey eyes soak in every detail. Grover is having a hushed conversation with Tyson about plans for the battle and Nico swings his sword back and forth.
I fall into step by his side. "So, what are you going to do after this?" I ask my friend softly.
He stops swinging his sword for a fraction of a second, then starts back again. "Do you mean after we get out of the Labyrinth or after the battle?"
I shrug. "Both, I guess." My eyes pierce the side of his face. "You're coming back to camp, right?"
Nico stays silent for several moments. His face screws up in a weird expression, as if he's trying to find the right words to let me down easily. "Probably not." Nico answers finally.
"Why not?" I exclaim, careful to keep my voice down to not disturb the others.
"A Son of Hades isn't exactly welcomed there."
"What are you talking about? Of course you will be welcomed. If I can show up and feel like I kind of belong, then you can to." I tell him sternly.
He shakes his head sadly. The strong boy suddenly looks as small as a mouse. "There isn't even a cabin for people like me." He replies quietly. "Where will I even stay?"
I fall silent. I have no idea how to respond. There isn't a cabin for any of Hade's children. It's horrible how I've never truly noticed that before and that nobody has said anything about it! No wonder Nico feels all alone. And without a cabin, where will he sleep? Or put his things? It's considered disrespectful to have a demigod to sleep in another cabin so I can't let him sleep in the Aphrodite cabin like I desperately want to. Maybe Chiron can find a room in the big house or something.
Rachel points in front of us. "The exit is right there!" She yells back.
Sure enough, about a hundred feet ahead, is the entrance that we came in. We push open the door and find ourselves in the basement of the hotel again. Without saying one word, we rush out into the streets. I sigh with relief. We're out, and I have no plan to ever go back in there again. From now on, I'm done with tunnels.
"Come on." Percy gestures towards a vacant alley. Annabeth, Nico, Rachel, and I curiously follow him. When we are away from people, Percy whistles loudly. Almost instantly a pegasus I remember as Blackjack and five others fly down next to us.
Rachel's eyes grow wide with delight. "They're absolutely gorgeous." One of the pegasi whinnies, which sounds like a thank you.
Blackjack looks at Percy, who starts talking to the pegasus. I guess it's a Son of Poseidon thing.
"But listen, Blackjack, we need a ride back to camp." Percy says after several minutes of conversation with the pegasus.
Blackjack looks towards one of his friends, who I remember is Guido. The pegasus's eyes flicker back and forth from Tyson to Guido.
Percy sighs. "Guido, don't be like that. We need you." Guido neighs. It sounds like he's complaining. And based on the increasing irritation on Percy's face, that's exactly what's happening. "Guido," Percy starts sternly, "do this please." Guido neighs again. Percy smacks his face with his hand. "Fine! When we get back, I'll make sure you get as many sugar cubes as you want." The pegasus jumps up in joy, which is weird to see a pegasus do.
Everyone gets on the pegasus.
"Hey, what was that about?" I whisper to Percy.
"Guido didn't want to carry Tyson." He answers. We look over at Guido. His legs buckle when Tyson gets on his back. Tyson smiles largely but Guido looks like he's being tortured.
I pet the nose of the pegasus I will be riding. I don't know its name. I don't spend a lot of time with the pegasi at camp. It bends into my hand like a cat. My mind flips back to when Poseidon let me ride his pegasus. That was so much fun. And I'm sure that every time I get on a pegasus, it will always feel like the first time.
I then notice that Rachel isn't getting on a pegasus. She rocks back and forth on her heels. "Well, this is it, then." She says, sounding disappointed. Mortals can't go into Camp Halfblood so she can't follow.
"Thank you." Percy says. "We couldn't have done it without you." The tips of Rachel's ears turn red.
The red-head shrugs indifferently. "It was by far the most interesting thing to happen this summer. I wouldn't have missed it except for, you know, almost dying and Pan…" Her voice trails off.
Percy's eyebrows come together. "Yeah… didn't he say something about your father? What was that about?"
Rachel's relaxed posture immediately stiffens. She kicks at an imaginary pebble on the ground. "My dad, he's… his job… he's a really famous businessman."
Percy's mouth forms an 'o' at a realization. "So that's why the guy helped us and drove us around."
She nods. Her mouth forms a tight frown. "My father is a land developer. He… buys the wild. I absolutely hate it, but he plows it down to build up ugly buildings." Rachel takes in a shaky breath and looks like she's on the verge of crying. "And now that I've seen Pan… I…"
"Don't blame yourself." I tell her. "It's not your fault."
"I know, but you don't even know the worst of it." Rachel mumbles just loud enough for us to hear. "I don't like to talk about my family. I-I didn't want any of you to know. I'm sorry."
Percy shakes his head. "No, you did awesome. You led us through the maze, past traps and monsters. You were so brave. I don't know if I would've done it if I were you, and that's the only thing I'm going to judge you on. Not who your father is."
Rachel smiles gratefully. "Well, if you ever feel like hanging out with a mortal again, you know how to find me."
Percy smirks. "On the street corner covered in gold paint."
"Exactly." Her smile falls slightly at the upcoming goodbye. "See you guys later. Make sure to save the world for me, okay?" Rachel turns and leaves the alley. Percy has an almost dazed look on his face. I look past him to see a stone-like Annabeth. Poor Annabeth. She turns away so that I can't see her face when she notices that I'm looking at her.
"Oh my gods, just stay still." Nico hisses. I turn around to see that he's not on his pegasus yet. It keeps shying away from him every time that he tries to mount on its back. Nico makes another attempt, but it backs away again. He throws his arms up in the air in frustration. "Just go without me! I didn't want to go back to camp anyways."
Percy's eyes widen. "But Nico, we need you." Nico's cheeks blush slightly, but he turns away looking angrier than before.
"Please, Nico. We really do need you." I say to him softly.
Nico's wall crumbles down slightly at my words. His shoulders fall. "Fine. But only for you, and I'm not staying."
Percy turns towards the pegasus that won't let Nico on its back. "Now, come on. Let Nico on your back. We have to go." It makes a weird huffing sound, but Nico is able to get on its back without a fight. "Now, let's go." In unison, the pegasi leap into the air.
A giggle escapes my lips when we're high in the air. The people look like ants, and if I wanted to, I can reach out to touch a nearby building. My pegasus likes to show off because it swoops back and forth, trying to get as close to building as possible. Annabeth shoots us a disappointed glance, but other than that it's a blast. Suddenly it tips so far to the left that I nearly slide off its back.
"Don't fall off!" Nico calls out.
I laugh as the pegasus abruptly corrects itself to an upright position. "No promises!"
A couple of minutes later, we land in the middle of camp. Chiron and Silenus, one of the satyrs at the council, trot up to us. We dismount the pegasi who head back to the stables where other campers can use them if necessary.
"Kronos is using Luke's body and is leading an army here!" Percy gasps out.
Chiron's face is pure shock. "What do you mean that he is using Luke's body?"
"It's Kronos in Luke's body instead. He's more powerful than before. It's terrifying."
The centaur shakes his head. "I feared that something like this would happen. We must hurry. Most of our defenders are in place. Come quickly!"
Silenus holds up a hand. "Wait! What about the search for Pan." His beady eyes narrow on Grover. "You were gone for three weeks longer than you should've been! Grover Underwood, your searcher's license is officially revoked!" He growls.
For a second I expect Grover to just let Silenus talk to him like that, but he straightens up and stares the satyr in the eye. "Searcher's licenses don't matter anymore." Silenus's eyes grow wide with shock and anger. "The great Pan is dead. He has passed on, but left us his spirit."
Silenus goes through several stages of anger in matter of seconds. First is denial. He shakes his head vigorously, as if to shake away the idea of Pan being dead. Next is irritation with the satyr who dared to tell him that. Lastly is pure rage. His face turns a bright red like fire. "Sacrilege and lies!" He shrieks. "Grover Underwood, you are exiled for speaking such things! You-"
I grit my teeth. Who is he to yell at my friend like that? I jab a finger at his pudgy chest. The satyr takes a step back. "Shut up! It's true! We saw with our own eyes that Pan is dead, so you better take back that exile!"
Annabeth pulls me back slightly. "Grover is telling the truth." She explains to the satyr much more calmly than I did.
The satyr has enough guts to point his fingers at us. "You are all liars! Nature-destroyers! Traitors!"
"Silenus!" Chiron cries out sternly. "My camp is under attack. We will talk about this later."
The satyr shakes his head. "No! We will speak of this now!"
"Later!" Silenus falls silent at the terrifying glare on Chiron's face. "Now, come along." Chiron trots towards the entrance of the Labyrinth. Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, Percy, and I do our best to follow, but it's sort of hard to be as fast as a centaur.
The camp is in a frenzy of weapons and armor. There is a table of spare armor, which I quickly suit myself up with. Annabeth leaves to join her own cabin. Out of the corner of my eye I see Clarisse waving me over towards the Ares Cabin, and a few other campers from different cabins, which had taking the front lines. I rush over to her with a spear in one hand, my knife in its sheath, and a look of pure determination.
"You're back." She states calmly.
"I am."
"Ava will be happy to see you're safe." Clarisse points towards her sister who is waving wildly from deep in the phalanx formation. I wave back. "Go get into formation, soldier."
I nod and get into the phalanx. Ava hands me a spare shield as I join in. I hold the long spear above my head in a similar way as the other campers. The front campers raise their shields and we come closer together to have a stronger phalanx. We are shoulder to shoulder, like one block. Nothing will get past us if we work together.
"Do not break formation!" Clarisse yells. "I repeat, do not break formation! If the phalanx breaks, then it will be useless! We must stick together!"
We yell back a muffled war chant. The anticipation of battle rushes through my veins. The part of me that has Ares blood in it aches with the excitement of war. My sword arm shakes with the hope of destroying the enemy. I glance around to see the members of the Ares cabin the same way.
The ground trembles with thousands of footsteps. The camp falls eerily quiet. Several seconds go by without a sound.
"Lock shields!" Clarisse yells right before a giant bursts through the entrance. The phalanx is no match for it, no matter how hard we try. It swings its club sending dozens of campers, me included, through the air. I land on my side painfully. My shoulder dislocates painfully.
"Gods, give us strength." I mutter. I grit my teeth as I force my arm back into place. Several more giants barrel towards the camp. The Hephaestus cabin sends a volley of Greek fire and rocks towards them, taking the giants down slowly.
"Ava?" I call out, knowing that she was hit with me. She lays about twenty feet away from. I rush towards her, but something is wrong. "Ava?" I whisper hopelessly as I shake her shoulder. No response. She was impaled by her own spear. My breath turns shaky and my grip on my knife turns death-like. "I'll kill them all." I promise to her dead body.
Ava won't smile anymore. She won't ever laugh with my anymore. They took away her life, so I'll be sure to send them back to Tartarus in the most painful way possible. All of the monsters will be dead before I surrender.
I turn around with rage coursing through my veins like flames. The second wave of monsters comes through the Labyrinth. Instead of giants, it's dozens of dracaenae. There isn't a moment of hesitation when I rush to meet them in battle.
The rest of the battle goes by in a blur. I vaguely remember Tyson riding a giant. My sword goes into the monsters one after the other. It is a repeated process that is so natural to me. Some part of me registers that Kampê flies over our heads and attacks some campers, but I'm too focused with my own miniature battles to pay attention. More than once I nearly get stabbed, but years of training guides me through unharmed.
I stab my sword through a telekhine. It falls into dust at my feet. Only a matter of seconds later another one comes up to me. It falls, but I didn't get a chance to attack it. I look up to see Silena with a sword in her hand. She gives me a nod and we go back to back, cutting through the monsters like butter.
Out of the corner of my eye I see a familiar giant fight with Kampê. "Briares!" I yell into the air. Briares winks at me from all the way across the battle field, somehow hearing me. With newfound vigor, Silena and I continue to fight stronger than before.
With a large boom, Briares kills Kampê. Every camper who is still alive cheers ecstatically before returning to the fight. Still, more monsters come through the Labyrinth. It's a never ending fountain of death. But if we don't fight, if I don't fight, then Ava died for nothing. Then everyone died for nothing, and I will not let that happen.
Suddenly a horrible sound echoes throughout the camp. I turn my head towards the sound to see that it's coming from Grover, of all people. The enemies around us drop their weapons, to our surprise, and trample each other to get back into the Labyrinth first.
It's over. It's finally over.
For the first time since Ava died, I cry. Silena hugs me and whispers encouraging things in my ear. Ava died.
One of my best friends is dead, but at least the battle is over.