February 26, 2015, Again

Chiron led the five of us into the forest. Nico jogged up to his side. They began a hushed conversation that I couldn't overhear. Ryan was tromping loudly and screeching back at his dragon. I ached all over and I could feel my heartbeat thrumming in my skull. We continued walking for about 10 minutes as my irritation bubbled up to the edge of bursting.

I stomped up to Chiron's other side. "Where are you leading us? Is this supposed to get us back to Parthenon? I can just go back by myself if I shadow-travel in a couple jumps." A sudden wave of nausea rushed over me and for a moment I doubted my ability to stand upright, let alone shadow-travel. Nico shot me a look that was somewhere between condescending and concerned. I glared back at him.

Chiron's reply was all patience. "There is no need for you to push yourself any harder. We do indeed have a very quick way for you to get back to Camp Parthenon. Nico and Annabeth have been working together for a long time on this." We stopped in a small clearing centered around a familiar cluster of boulders.

"The old entrance to the labyrinth?"

"Precisely."

"But I thought the labyrinth collapsed after Daedalus died," Amy cut in.

"Indeed it did," Chiron mused. "Then of course Pasiphae began to bring parts of it back. As far as I know the maze still moves beneath the Earth, although it hardly has the same strength it did before."

"Annabeth and I have been working on creating a new labyrinth using Daedalus' notes..." Nico began to explain.

"But I thought Annabeth lost Daedalus' laptop in Tartarus."

I groaned in frustration. "Percy got it back for her a while ago."

About a week before their wedding, Percy decided to go down to the underworld to look for Daedalus' laptop; He thought the river Cocytus might have carried it from Tartarus into Hades. First he asked me to take him to the underworld. After I politely offered to send him the old-fashioned way, he asked Nico. They were gone for a whole day, which sent Annabeth into a frenzy. Romantic wedding gift, right?

"Yeah, so we have been using Daedalus' notes to build our own, smaller, less confusing version of the labyrinth," Nico continued. "It should connect the three demigod camps with a small walk and be perfectly safe. That's the idea anyway."

I snorted. "So we're your guinea pigs."

Nico grinned guiltily. "Yeah."

I whirled and stomped around the boulder pile. Spotting the narrow opening, I slipped into a dark tunnel. A minute later I heard Sadie, Amy, and Ryan come in behind me. Ryan began waving his hands frantically ahead of him while Amy and Sadie stood like statues.

"Claire?" Amy squeaked. "Are you here?"

They couldn't see in the pitch dark. I rolled my eyes and went back to grab them. We formed a chain and I set off leading them down the tunnel.

It's hard to describe what it's like being able to see in the dark, especially since I don't know what it is like to NOT see anything in the dark. I can see the difference when a place is light or dark, but it doesn't really change how things look. Whatever. It doesn't need to make sense. Nothing else does.

We made it back to camp, and the infirmary, in a bit of a daze. As soon as they were out of my backpack Tristan began mixing the ingredients like a madman. His hair was even messier than usual and he had dark bags under his eyes. Amy hovered near Cadence's bedside, trying to help but probably just getting in the way.

Ryan and Sadie began to walk back toward their cabins, but I noticed something was missing.

"Where's Oscar?" I asked.

"Oswald," Ryan corrected.

"He stayed at Camp Half-Blood," Sadie answered for Ryan, who looked like he was about to cry. "Peleus and Chiron are going to take care of him until he's a little older." She took Ryan's hand and squeezed it. "It was Ryan's idea."

And just like that the quest was over. It almost didn't seem real. But I wasn't about to complain. I passed out on the nearest cot.

. . .

I'm not sure how long I slept, but when I woke up it was well past sunset. My various cuts and bruises had been taken care of. I felt stiff, but much better. Styx I must have been tired to sleep through all of that. I sat up slowly. Tristan was sitting in a chair with his head resting at the foot of my bed while he slept.

He held a bandaid like he'd been in the middle of doing something with it when he passed out. Chuckling under my breath, I slipped it from between his fingers and tore it open, then stuck it on top of a small cut on my ankle. I slipped out of bed as quietly as possible and toward the infirmary door. I snuck one last glance toward Cadence.

She was still on her cot. Her breathing was slow and steady, her muscles relaxed. I breathed a sigh of relief and crept back to my cabin to write everything down. But now I'm tired again. I guess I'll sleep the last couple of hours before breakfast.

**Thank you for reading! Check out Monique's Journal and Tristan's Camp Journal for the other sides of the story.**

**I am so sorry for the delay in uploading. I was having computer problems, but I'm trying to get caught up on chapters as fast as I can.**