Chapter 51

Nico POV

I'm not sure how long I was running or where I was heading. All I really knew was that I had to keep running or the monsters would catch me. Thomas was pulling me along at first but somehow Dedalus had taken his place. I didn't mind so much since he seemed to know where he was going. After turning countless corners and passing through more ancient tunnels Dedalus opened up part of the wall and threw both of us out of it.

"Are we safe?" I asked looking to Dedalus.

"Reasonably and just in time for lunch too." a third voice said.

I turned around to see Uncle P and a carmel haired woman sitting at a table covered in food.

"It looks like we've come out in a restaurant." The ancient inventor stated.

Looking around I saw he was right, then my eyes returned to the god. "Um Uncle P."

"Hmm?"

"You were right about Minos. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you."

The god sighed and motioned for me and Dedalus to sit down "Something you'll need to learn is how to pick your friends. Some people will be out to use you in one form or another because of who you are and what you can do, much like Minos did."

He's right I should've known Minos was up to something.

"Hey, don't look so down." The god said lightly boping me on the head "Everyone gets it wrong sometimes. My mistake resulted in me getting locked away by one the people I trusted most so I'd say you're doing a fair bit better than me at the moment."

The carefree air of this conversation was messing with my head. I mean a few short minutes ago I was running from monsters. And what about the others that we left behind in the maze, were they okay?

"But now that you know you've made a mistake the question becomes what will you do now?" the god continued unaware of my inner thoughts.

I was silent for a moment then I asked "What do you think I should do?"

The woman next to him gave me a kind smile "We can't just tell you what to do otherwise it would have no meaning. You must come to the conclusion on your own and then act on it." She replied.

"Well said." Dedalus added.

Why couldn't things ever be simple?


Percy POV

After we lost track of Nico in the maze Thomas, Annabeth, and I sent Rachel home and fled to camp. I worried for Nico but there was just nothing I could do. Chiron was saddened to learn that we failed but thankfully he had planned for such an outcome. The traps were set and now most of the campers were doing what they could to make final preparations. I took the chance to take a nap in my cabin before heading out to help prep with everyone else.

"Do you think we can win?" I asked when Chiron and I were alone.

Chiron gave me a hard look and sighed "That's a tough question to answer honestly." He replied looking over the fields. "The number of capable demigods in camp is higher than it has been in a long time and on top of that they are overall more powerful. All of this bodes well for us but they are a fair number of concerns. One is that the army is being led by a former camper and another is that we don't know the exact size of their army. As much as saddens me to say this, if they have a large enough army Camp Half Blood will be lost." He paused breifly seemingly unsure of what to say "You already have so much on your shoulders but I feel you should know that I believe that you will be the deciding factor in this battle."

"Me?"

Chiron nodded "You have shown tremendous potential, even for a child of the big three, out of everyone here you have the greatest chance of altering this battle in our favor."

"They're coming!" A child of Hermes shouted, running from the entrance of the labyrinth.

I looked back at Chiron wishing we had more time to talk before I ran out to where the children of Hephestus had set up loose barricades. The barriers were set up in rings so that the defenders could retreat if needed and the outer rings were slightly taller than the inner rings making it so we would always have the high ground.

I moved to the innermost ring since I was a front line fighter while most of the nature spirits and Apollo campers settled in the second or third rings where they could make the most of their bows.

Annabeth was issuing last minute orders but I doubt there was anything that could be done at this point. A handful of seconds passed in silence before the first monsters burst free of the maze. Immediately traps began activating taking out anywhere for one to a dozen at a time but more kept coming. It seemed like every inch of the field was covered in traps and it had a dramatic affect. Despite their best efforts their forces were inching their way forward causing me to smile. If this kept up we might be able to pick most of them off with our archers once they got in range and then we could mop up whatever was left over.

That went down the drain when a much larger figure burst from the maze. From the waist up she had the body of a normal woman, below that was a dragon's body covered in snakes that clung to her body like hair. Each snake dripped poison eating through armor, stone, and even killing her own soldiers when they got too close. At her waist where her mismatched body parts met faces of different animals emerged briefly before fading back into her.

"What the Hades is that?!" I shouted.

"It's Kampe!" a child of Athena replied "She used to guard the elder cyclopes' in Tartarus before Zeus killed her, no one has seen her since."

Until now I mentally added. Kampe took a moment to take stock of the battle before taking a deep breath. Her throat and cheeks expanded nauseatingly, turning green in the process. For a beat we all watched in morbid fascination as her head resembled a frog more and more, then her torso lurched forward and she began to spray acid from her mouth.

Not a drop fell on her own army nor did it touch any of the demigods and nature spirits. Instead it fell on our traps like rain. Some activated prematurely, others did so incorrectly as their parts were now damaged, but most simply failed as nearly every part was eaten away.

For a beat both sides stared at each other one in amazement, the other in fear. Then the monsters charged.

AN: Hey guys sorry this took so long to get out. I plan to have a new chapter out some time next depending on how work goes for me.