15.

Billy shares some wisdom

and we are (literally) swept away.

Surprise was a feeling I'd become accustomed to since discovering I was a demigod.

After what seemed like hours of taking random twists and turns that made me doubt whether Jaci actually knew where she was going, the huntress suggested we rested for a while. Even if the Fury had somehow managed to survive the fall to Tartarus, it would take some time until she found us again. So, rather reluctantly, I agreed to a few hours rest, considering how tired the pair seemed.

The nectar had done such a good job in soothing their wounds that I had nearly forgotten they'd almost been slaughtered by a Fury. That was bound to take the energy out of you.

"I'll take watch," Jaci stated, leaving no room for questioning. "I just need some time to recover for a bit. Then we can get going again."

I peered at her. "You sure don't want me to be on watch? I'm not that tired and you look like you need some sleep more than me -"

"I'll be fine," she snapped, then she sighed. "I just don't think I can sleep at the moment. That fight with Megaera really...shook me up."

Both me and Regina gave her surprised looks. It seemed unusual that Jaci of all people would admit something so well...human. In the short time I'd known the girl; I knew she wasn't the one who liked to open up about her feelings. Megaera really must've scared her. And in turn, that frightened me.

"There's no way she can find us again," I tried my best at comforting her, though it was probably for my benefit too. "You said this maze changes all the time, it would be hours before she'd get to here and by then we'd be gone, right?"

"Probably," she mumbled. "But just in case, I'll be on my guard."

And that seemed to be the end of it.

I cast an uneasy look in Regina's direction and the girl bit her lip, pondering something.

"I think Clara's right," Gina spoke timidly, ducking her head when Jaci glanced at her. "If you're going to lead us to National City to save her mom, then you need to have your full strength. I trust her to keep us safe, and so should you. Get some sleep."

The daughter of Nike rubbed her eyes and when she blinked them open again, they seemed bloodshot and strained. "Alright then," her shoulders slumped. "But only for a few hours and you better promise that you'll wake me up at the first sign of danger, got it?"

"Loud and clear," I smiled, giving her a thumbs up for extra emphasis.

She rolled her eyes, took off her jacket and turned it into a makeshift pillow for the floor. As soon as her eyes closed, she was out like a light. I turned to Regina. "You're very persuasive, you got her to do what you wanted in one go."

The girl smirked. "Probably because she doesn't think I'm as irritating."

"Oh ha-ha, you're hilarious," I shook my head. "You know I wouldn't have half the problems I do with her if she wasn't so stubborn all the time. It's like her one goal in life is to make mine as difficult as possible."

"I think you're overreacting there."

"She tried to shoot me with an arrow during Capture the Flag."

"Maybe she just wanted to win."

"At the expense of me, apparently."

"Well, she is the daughter of the victory goddess. Anyone with enough brain cells would know to stay away from her during a game that involves competition," Regina shrugged. "I only got to Camp Half-Blood yesterday and I know that. You just have to be patient."

I released a puff of breath. "Yeah, patience is something I don't have."

"I've noticed."

"Hey I don't like this sarcastic thing you've got going on," I furrowed my eyebrows. "You've been spending way too much time with Jaci."

"Oh," she said, smiling. "I've always been a sarcastic person."

"Somehow," I raised an eyebrow. "I have a hard time believing that. I probably haven't known you long enough to say for sure, but I think you're more of a silent but deadly kind of person. Like, you can shoot one look at someone and they immediately get intimidated."

"I can be intimidating," Regina nodded in agreement. "Especially towards people who annoy me."

"And am I being annoying right now?"

"Oh absolutely."

"Right," I said. "So, I should probably shut up?"

"Uh huh," Regina smirked, went to lie down then stopped. She gave me a sort of worried expression, her mouth twisting down into a frown. "You sure you'll be alright keeping watch? You don't need any sleep?"

"I'll be fine," I smiled softly. "I'll see you in a few hours."

And though, a little reluctantly, Regina finally closed her eyes and slumped next to Jaci asleep.

Once I was sure that I couldn't be heard anymore, I let out a sigh that seemed unusually loud in the narrow corridor. There wasn't much to look at except for the adjacent bricked wall and the sleeping faces of my friends so I pulled my jacket tighter around me. It was just me and my thoughts. My racing, panicked thoughts.

Even if I had wanted to sleep, I don't think my brain would've let me. Well, it was that and fear of the dreams that might plague me when I finally did. The scream my mum had issued the last time I'd been asleep had been echoing around my mind ever since. And now it was accompanied with the twisted face of the Fury. The creature's sharpened fangs and claws eager to tear into me.

I shivered.

Gale was still tucked safely away in my backpack, refusing to come out since almost being toppled into Tartarus and quite frankly, I couldn't blame her. If I had the opportunity to tuck myself away somewhere safe and warm, far away from the very real dangers of the world I would've taken it without a second thought. But I knew that would be selfish. I had way too many people waiting on me now and I couldn't let them down, even if getting myself killed was the outcome.

Apparently, I'd been so caught up in my thoughts, I hadn't noticed Billy reappear next to me until I heard him chuckle amusedly.

I frowned. "What's so funny?"

The ghost boy was sat, propped up against the opposite wall, his arms crossed firmly over his chest. "Oh nothing," he smiled. "It's just, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, you wallowing in self-pity isn't going to get you anywhere."

"What –" I stopped, gave a nervous glance over to my two friends and then lowered my voice to a harsh whisper. "I am not feeling sorry for myself. What in Hades gave you that idea?"

He shrugged. "Your expression, your body language – it doesn't take a genius."

"Well I'm sorry," I said bitterly. "But I don't think it's a good time to be jumping for joy right now."

"And I'm not saying that. I'm merely stating that whatever you're thinking, whatever doubts you have running through your head right at this moment, is not going to help get your mom back in any way," he told me. "I've always had this saying 'worry about it another day'. Focus on what's meant to be focused on right now instead of something that can be dealt with later."

"So, you're basically saying that I should forget everything?"

"Not forget exactly," Billy continued thoughtfully. "But just store away for a while, until you're in a better place to deal with it. My own mom always told me that, and I've been living – well, I had been living by it since as long as I can remember."

I fell silent, pondering on his message and realising it probably had more truth to it then I'd thought.

"That seems like a difficult thing to do," I noted.

"It gets easier, the more you do it. You should try it sometime, it might help. I know it helped Felicity. She's one of the strongest people I know, always has been," he smiled warmly as if recalling a fond memory of my mum in his head. There was a hint of sadness lingering in there, despite his obvious attempt to hide it.

"You should've seen her face when she talked about you, she almost couldn't keep it together. I don't know what she's going to think if she knows you've been around her the whole time, attached to Augury."

His face turned grave. "I don't want her to know."

I pulled a face. "Why not? This could help her –"

"I don't want her to see me like this. I don't want her to see what I've been reduced to."

"She wouldn't care," I argued. "I know she wouldn't. If it's a pride thing, or embarrassment, or whatever – you don't have to worry about it, she'd understand."

Billy sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "I know she would, but that's not the reason why. Did she or Chiron ever tell you how I died?"

I nodded. "I remember her saying that you were killed by some monsters on a quest."

"A quest I wasn't even meant to be on," he grimaced. "Three of my friends were just meant to go and I got so annoyed that I was never chosen that I decided to sneak out of camp and join them. Felicity was part of the three and she begged me to go back. Sometimes if there's more than three on a quest…someone doesn't get to return home."

"And you didn't."

"Never saw Camp Half-Blood again and it's all because I didn't listen to her. I was too stupid, too blind. And now look at me. If she saw me like this…" Billy shook his head, and then his eyes fell upon Augury. "The least I can do now to rectify the guilt I've put her through is by helping her daughter."

I wasn't sure what to say. What could you say? I swallowed the lump in my throat.

"Why have you not ended up in Elysium or gone into the Underworld?"

"To be honest, I really don't know. I think it might be because of unfinished business but I don't know that for sure. Maybe I'll find out sooner or later."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Billy looked up at the ceiling and laughed dryly. "Look me being a hypocrite. I was telling you not to feel sorry for yourself and then I do the exact same thing –"

He paused and sat upright.

The action made me do the same. "What?" I asked. "What is it?"

"Can't you hear that?"

I strained my ears. The Labyrinth was doing its usual groans, but other than that there was something else. Something much louder and seemed to be getting closer. It reminded Clara of the ocean, the roar of the waves slapping against a sandy shore but instead this sounded like something closer to a tidal wave.

I scrambled to my feet as it got closer and closer, the corridor shaking violently enough to wake up Jaci and Regina for me.

"What in the Hades is going on?" Jaci demanded groggily from the floor. "Is it an earthquake?"

By this time, Billy had disappeared and I peered distantly at the end of the corridor, trying to suss out where the sound was coming from and what it could possibly be.

Choppy, churning water burst out from seemingly nowhere and began thundering down the walkway towards us. I heard Regina and Jaci curse behind me, and hurriedly grab all their things. A hand on my shoulder, tugging me backwards brought me back to reality.

"Let's go," Jaci barked. "Now."

"Don't have to tell me twice," I said as we all took off down the opposite direction, the rushing water hot on our tails a few metres behind.

"Where did that come from?" Regina shouted, over the roar of the waves.

"I don't know!" Jaci replied. "But someone is definitely trying to trap us in it and I don't want to stick around and find out who."

"Someone wants to drown us?" I exclaimed. "Can't say I'm –"

I tripped. Of course, I tripped.

My shoe caught a stray upturned rock jutting up out the ground and I went tumbling into the others. We didn't have time to cry out before we were submerged. I held my mouth shut, limbs scrambling uselessly in the water as we floated through the corridors at what seemed like an unnatural speed. Only a few times had I managed catch a lungful of grateful air before I was tugged below the surface again.

After what seemed like a few minutes, the corridor opened up into a brightly lit room.

The water suddenly ceased and all three of us dropped ungracefully onto the neatly tiled and surprisingly dry floor, coughing and spluttering.

"Oh thank goodness," spoke a serene-sounding voice from somewhere across the room. "You finally made it."

I blinked my eyes, trying to look at whoever was the owner of a voice and finally the blurriness began to fade.

An unimaginably beautiful woman in a rose-red dress was sat at a marble table adjacent to us. Her hands were wrapped around a mug of what appeared to be tea. There was some more cups and a tea pot sat on the table, looking as if it had been freshly boiled.

The one thing I couldn't make sense of was the fact that this woman didn't have a single drop of water on her. Meanwhile all of three of us were on the floor, looking like drowned rats.

Now that was hardly fair.

"Aphrodite," Jaci coughed from beside me. "Should've guessed. Always liked making an entrance."

Aphrodite, the goddess of love smiled a lovely smile and gestured to the tea pot. "Would you girls care for some tea? I do believe we have much to discuss."