This changed a lot less than I wanted to but there is a good reason for that I explain at the end AN... still it was a change and that is good.

As they approached the cell, the weeping got louder. When Aaron first saw the creature inside, he was filled with awe at the sight of something so primal. He was human-size and his skin was very pale, the color of milk. He wore a loincloth like a big diaper. His feet seemed too big for his body, with cracked dirty toenails, and eight toes on each foot. His chest sprouted countless arms in rows, all around his body. The arms looked like normal arms, but there were so many of them, all tangled together, that his chest looked kind of like a forkful of spaghetti somebody had twirled together. Several of his hands were covering his face as he sobbed.

"Either the sky isn't as tall as it used to be," Percy muttered, "or he's short."

Tyson didn't pay any attention. He fell to his knees.

"Briares!" he called. The sobbing stopped. "Great Hundred-Handed One!" Tyson said. "Help us!"

Briars looked up. His face was long and sad, with a crooked nose and bad teeth. He had deep brown eyes that were entirely free of any other colors.

"Run while you can, Cyclops," Briares said miserably. "I cannot even help myself."

"You are a Hundred-Handed One!" Tyson insisted. "You can do anything!"

Briars wiped his nose with five or six hands. Several others were fidgeting with little pieces of metal and wood from a broken bed, the way Tyson and Meggy always played with spare parts. The hands seemed to have a mind of their own. They built a toy boat out of wood, then disassembled it just as fast. Other hands were scratching at the cement floor for no apparent reason. Others were playing rock, paper, scissors. A few others were making ducky and doggie shadow puppets against the wall.

"I cannot," Briares moaned. "Kampê is back! The Titans will rise and throw us back into Tartarus."

"Put on your brave face!" Tyson said.

Immediately Briares's face morphed into something else. Same brown eyes, but otherwise totally different features. He had an upturned nose,arched eyebrows, and a weird smile, like he was trying to act brave. But then his face turned back to what it had been before.

"No good," he said. "My scared face keeps coming back."

"How did you do that?" Percy asked.

Annabeth elbowed Percy. "Don't be rude. The Hundred-Handed Ones all have fifty different faces."

"Must make it hard to get a yearbook picture," Percy said making Aaron chuckle.

Tyson was still entranced. "It will be okay, Briares! We will help you! Can I have your autograph?"

Briares sniffled. "Do you have one hundred pens?"

"Guys," Grover interrupted. "We have to get out of here. Kampê will be back. She'll sense us sooner or later."

"Break the bars," Annabeth said.

"Yes!" Tyson said, smiling proudly. "Briares can do it. He is very strong. Stronger than Cyclopes, even! Watch!"

Briares whimpered. A dozen of his hands started playing patty-cake, but none of them made any attempt to break the bars.

"If he's so strong," Percy said, "why is he stuck in jail?"

Annabeth ribbed him again. "He's terrified," she whispered. "Kampê had imprisoned him in Tartarus for thousands of years. How would you feel?"

The Hundred-Handed One covered his face again.

"Briares?" Tyson asked. "What…what is wrong? Show us your great strength!"

"Tyson," Annabeth said, "I think you'd better break the bars."

Tyson's smile melted slowly.

"I will break the bars," he repeated. He grabbed the cell door and ripped it off its hinges like it was made of wet clay.

"Come on, Briares," Annabeth said. "Let's get you out of here."

She held out her hand. For a second, Briares's face morphed to a hopeful expression. Several of his arms reached out, but twice as many slapped them away.

"I cannot," he said. "She will punish me."

"It's all right," Annabeth promised. "You fought the Titans before, and you won, remember?"

"I remember the war." Briares's face morphed again—furrowed brow and a pouting mouth. His brooding face, I guess. "Lightning shook the world. We threw many rocks. The Titans and the monsters almost won. Now they are getting strong again. Kampê said so."

"Don't listen to her," Percy said. "Come on!" "One game of rock, paper, scissors," I blurted out. "If I win, you come with us. If I lose, we'll leave you in jail." It was so telling that Aaron almost turned around to face his friends, he had to literally force himself to stay focused on the other catwalks, just in case Kampe returned.

Briares's face morphed to doubtful. "I always win rock, paper, scissors."

"Then let's do it!" Percy pounded his fist in my palm three times.

Briares did the same with all one hundred hands, which sounded like an army marching three steps forward. He came up with a whole avalanche of rocks, a classroom set of scissors, and enough paper to make a fleet of airplanes.

"I told you," he said sadly. "I always—" His face morphed to confusion.

"What is that you made?"

"A gun. A gun beats anything."

"That's not fair."

"I didn't say anything about fair. Kampê's not going to be fair if we hang around. She's going to blame you for ripping off the bars. Now come on!"

Briares sniffled. "Demigods are cheaters." But he slowly rose to his feet and followed them out of the cell.

Aaron felt Kampe before he saw her, but in mere seconds she turned the corner and he unleashed an arrow that exploded in ice freezing her in place for but a moment.

"She's here!" He called out and they all turned to the sound of the ice arrow. Kampe was frozen with her wings spread, her mouth in a snarl and rage in her eyes. She was vibrating, trying to break free from the ice through brute strength, which was close. He could feel his potent magic fighting against her power, but it was intensely hard, she was a tremendously powerful being, pure power and ancient wrath, a being before shapes were defined. She would never be easily contained. Shuddering, Aaron held out his hands and focused. "I cannot contain her for more than a few minutes, back to the maze, it's our safest option..."

They hurried to the maze entrance, not too far from where they were. Annabeth pressed the sigh of Dedalus and boom they were back inside. He almost collapsed when they entered the Maze, the feeling of Kampe shattering his magic was painful.

Annabeth pressed a hand to his shoulder. "That magic must have been tiring?"

"Worth it though, we got lucky, she underestimated us or at least was unaware. We should move, we will need to get further into the Maze before we rest."

They nodded and continued to dive into the maze. They finally stopped in a room full of waterfalls. The floor was one big pit, ringed by a slippery stone walkway. Around them on all four walls, water tumbled from huge pipes. The water spilled down into the pit, and even when Percy shined a light, they couldn't see the bottom. Briares slumped against the wall. He scooped up water in a dozen hands and washed his face. "This pit goes straight to Tartarus," he murmured. "I should jump in and save you trouble."

"Don't talk that way," Annabeth told him. "You can come back to camp with us. You can help us prepare. You know more about fighting Titans than enybody."

"I have nothing to offer," Briares said. "I have lost everything."

"What about your brothers?" Tyson asked. "The other two must stand tall as mountains! We can take you to them."

Briares's expression morphed to something even sadder: his grieving face. "They are no more. They faded."

The waterfalls thundered. Tyson stared into the pit and blinked tears out of his eye.

"What exactly do you mean, they faded?" Percy asked. "I thought monsters were immortal, like the gods."

"Percy," Grover said weakly, "even immortality has limits. Sometimes…sometimes monsters get forgotten and they lose their will to stay immortal."

"I must go," Briares said.

"Kronos's army will invade camp," Tyson said. "We need help."

Briares hung his head. "I cannot, Cyclops."

"You are strong."

"Not anymore." Briares rose.

"Hey," Percy grabbed one of his arms and pulled him aside, where the roar of the water would hide their words but Aaron used his magic to listen in. "Briares, we need you. In case you haven't noticed, Tyson believes in you. He risked his life for you." I told him about everything—Luke's invasion plan, the Labyrinth entrance at camp, Daedalus's workshop, Kronos's golden coffin.

Briares just shook his head. "I cannot, demigod. I do not have a finger gun to win this game." To prove his point, he made one hundred finger guns.

"Maybe that's why monsters fade," Percy said. "Maybe it's not about what the mortals believe. Maybe it's because you give up on yourself."

His pure brown eyes regarded me. His face morphed into an expression Aaron recognized—shame. Then he turned and trudged off down the corridor until he was lost in the shadows.

Tyson sobbed.

"It's okay," Grover hesitantly patted his shoulder, which must've taken all his courage.

Tyson sneezed. "It's not okay, goat boy. He was my hero."

Finally, Annabeth stood and shouldered her backpack. "Come on, guys. This pit is making me nervous. Let's find a better place to camp for the night."

Aaron sighed. "We lost a great ally today, if only to himself... a more miserable fate I cannot imagine." He turned to Percy. "He was your brother in law you know?" Percy's eyes widened. "He married your sister, Klymopia, the Goddess of Sea Storms."

Percy nodded. "Oh... that's... oh..."

And then they moved away, into the Darkness and on to a safer place to rest.

Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.

This was going to be a different chapter, he was going to Kill Kampe but it took Zeus to do it last time so that felt... wrong.

Love, your Ninja Overlord,

Mika.