Despite the fact that I had just come back from the house I had lived in for the first 9 years of my life, I felt more at home in a cabin with a horrible red paint-job, heads of animals adorning the walls, and the snoring of 15 other muscular campers. I fell asleep easier than I had in the weeks I had spent in my own bed. Typical.

In an even more typical manner, my sleep was not at all pleasant because since when did things go well for me?

Ever since Chiron, Hedge, and I had returned, nightmares had plagued my sleep. In the past few weeks, I had only slept five hours because I woke up in a cold sweat, trembling.

My dreams were jumbled. Sometimes I imagined that I was running in the tunnels - something horrible always behind me though I never knew what. Other times I was alone with an overbearing feeling of dread and terror. I begrudgingly thanked the gods that my siblings were deep sleepers. I wouldn't be good for my reputation for other campers to know that I got night, my dream was different.

I was standing on top of a hill, overlooking a valley. The setting sun cast a layer of light over the canyon bathing the two armies gathered in colors of red, orange, and yellow. The larger army had flags with a winged sun disk with a seated male figure at its center. That symbol was unfamiliar but one of the symbols of the other army was a golden lambda against a red background. I couldn't call myself a daughter of Ares if I didn't recognize that emblem.

The symbol of Sparta, my father's favorite city-state. Beside it stood another flag with an owl against a grey backdrop. Most likely the symbol of Athens. The two city-states were waging war against whatever kingdom had the larger army.

The generals of the armies yelled something that I couldn't hear and the two armies raised their weapons and charged. The armies fought until it would have been too dark to see the enemy in front of them. Somehow the much smaller Spartan and Athenian armies were absolutely destroying the enemy. The Spartans fought fiercely, cutting down adversaries with every thrust of their blades while the Athenians yelled out strategic commands. As usual, I got lost in the battle and bloodshed. I found peace in the fact that throughout history people were willing to fight wars for their homes. Made me feel better about the fact I enjoyed fighting. If you think that is sociopathological, you can keep your opinion to yourself.

Usually, I would have gone to Coach Hedge from some late-night/early-morning training therapy to avoid thinking but those stupid punks on the Council of Cloven Elders sent him away and, as Chiron so wonderfully stated, there wasn't a thing I could do about it so I couldn't distract myself and was forced to sit and actually think about the nightmare for the rest of the night.

I was already grumpy from lack of sleep. After a few loud heated yelling matches at breakfast, the other campers got the message that I wasn't in the mood and mostly left me alone. I had been training alone for a few hours before I felt someone watching me.

I growled out some curses below my breath and continued focusing on demolishing the training dummies in front of me. There were only a few campers who would dare approach me when I was in a bad mood and I didn't want to speak to any of them. I was more than willing to let the stupid punk come to me.

The idiot let out an exasperated sigh.

"Clarisse, could you stop training? We need to talk." I drove my spear through the dummy's stomach, harsher than necessary. Of all the people…

I turned to face Annabeth, a sneer already on my face.

"Didn't I already make it clear, Bird-Brain, that I don't want to hear a single word out of your mouth. You can go take your genius plans and tell them to Prissy until his ears fall off. I don't care and I don't need or want your help." I waited for her to either turn red and start arguing with me about how she was superior in every way, shape, and form or, even better, turn on her heel and walk away. Neither happened. She just stared blankly at me and I couldn't tell what was running through that brain of hers.

I snarled out my annoyance. I was tired and exhausted but I couldn't be left alone?

"What!" I demanded. "Why aren't you saying anything or better yet, leaving?" Annabeth took a deep breath and set on a log in the clearing. Of all the things she could have said, I would have never expected what next came out of her mouth.

"I visited Chris."

All the anger in me disappeared immediately. I took a staggering step backward and narrowed my eyes at her. She did what? When? I glared at her. She wasn't even looking at me. Her eyes were distracted; she was clearly thinking of something else but they snapped back to me once I began to speak.

"So you saw him. What about it?" I responded gruffly. Annabeth squirmed awkwardly in her seat. For the first time since I had known her, she seemed at a loss for words. If this was any other situation, it would be the greatest thing in the world. Finally, she seemed to get her voice back.

"I'm sorry. I - You two must have been close. Will said that you have spent all your free time with him. And with losing your protector, Gleeson Hedge right,-" She was ranting and I saw red. My main nemesis and rival was pitying me. I felt as if my embarrassment and anger would swallow me alive and honestly I wouldn't mind if it did so I could, for once, avoid confrontation.

"Shut up!" I roared angrily. "Just shut up. I don't need your freaking pity. I'm not friends with him -He betrayed the camp. He betrayed me." I could feel tears prickling at the back of my eyes. I turned to hide my face. If anyone was going to see me cry, it wouldn't be Annabeth-freaking-Chase. I took a brief moment to be grateful that we were in a rather secluded area of the woods.

"I'm not pitying you, Clarisse. I'm sympathizing with you. I get what it feels like to have someone you thought you could trust, trick and deceive you."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"And who betrayed the great An-?" I stopped mid-sentence as I realized who she was talking about. Annabeth was staring at the ground. Her grey eyes were glistening with unshed tears. I stood frozen for a few seconds before joining her on the log. I don't know what to do with emotions so I said the first thing that came to my mind.

"Boys are idiots." Annabeth looked at me, startled. She clearly didn't expect me to respond. A slow smile spread across her face.

"Yes. Yes, they are," She agreed. "And we must also be idiots because we keep falling for them," I smirked at her.

"I am not falling for him." Annabeth sent me a knowing glance but didn't say anything. "And you just admitted you're an idiot. Care to repeat it in front of the rest of camp?" She gave me an exasperated look.

"I called you an idiot as well."

"What else is new?" I responded mockingly. I saw her wince. We fell into an uncomfortable silence until she spoke again.

"Why do we hate each other?" She asked suddenly. "It's stupid. We would be unstoppable if we worked together, the daughters of both gods of wars. Just because our parents aren't the - uh - biggest fans of each other? I'm sure they've worked together for something. Like Poseidon and Athena, making the chariot." I stared at her incredulously and laughed harshly.

"Are you serious? After years of rivalry and mutual hatred, you want to be friends because we complained about boys together?"

Annabeth flushed pink.

"I didn't say, friends. I said let's not hate each other. We will forever be rivals. I doubt any of the gods could change that but we don't need to despise each other. We can work together. I'm sure even our parents do that sometimes." She didn't sound completely convinced and I wasn't either. Before I could state my suspicions, a memory resurfaced.

"I've read enough Greek mythology to know that Ares and Athena never cooperate with each other." I began slowly. Annabeth seemed like she was going to interrupt so I quickly continued. "And I would have never believed that we work together but last night, I had a dream. Two armies were facing off. I'm not sure which nation had the first army but the second smaller one was made up of Spartans and Athenians." Annabeth's grey eyes widened in understanding.

"Clarisse, I think you dreamed of the Peloponnesian War." As if I didn't know what that was, she carried on. "It was the war between the Persians, they were the larger army and the Greek city-states. Sparta and Athens-"

"The main cities of Ares and Athena respectively." I interrupted, just to be clear that she wasn't the only one who knew history. Annabeth rolled her eyes and continued.

"Usually, they were enemies and at war with each other but when the Persians tried to take over the Greek Peninsula, they banded together to defeat them."

"And combining the Spartans' fierce combat skills and the Athenians' tactical and strategic expertise allowed them to beat the Persians." Annabeth smiled at me. "Proving that not only have Athena and Ares worked together but when they do combine they make a powerful team." I surprised myself by grinning back at her.

"Alright, Princess. What's our first move?"

It only took me an hour to regret choosing to collaborate with her. I wasn't sure how Percy was able to stand this. My brain was being overfilled with pointless information about arches and supports. I doubted learning about the architecture of ancient Crete was going to help me in a fight or even stick in my brain. Finally, I snapped.

"Are you going to keep ranting or is there a point to this?"

Annabeth looked up, annoyed that I interrupted her. She caught herself before she could let out a scathing reply and instead sighed.

"Sorry. I kind of -" "have a thing for architecture." she finished dryly.

"I would have never guessed." She snorted.

"Okay, so the labyrinth was designed by Daedelus -"

"To hold in the minotaur. I know the story. But I don't need a history lesson; I need to know how to stop the Titan Army from using it."

Annabeth glared at me from her chair. I was lying down on her bunk, though at her insistence, I took off my muddy combat boots. We were in the Athena cabin this time and she had given her siblings specific instructions to not come in for the next 3 hours. Although I had never been in Cabin 6, it looked exactly how I would have expected it. The place was practically a classroom. It has a workshop and library with thousands of books and scrolls, as well as tables and chairs filled with blueprints and old maps. Their bunk beds pushed up against the wall as if they never slept. It would explain why they were so high-wired.

"I can't just create the answer, Clarisse. We need to think through this logically!" I barely refrained from rolling my eyes but I remained quiet while Annabeth continued. "Okay, so Daedelus designed the labyrinth to confuse and trick whoever went into it. It is filled with traps and illusions made to kill you or drive you insane." Like Chris went unspoken between us.

I glowered. "I knew that punk was delusional-" At Annabeth's look of confusion, I clarified I was talking about Luke. "but how exactly did he think he would pull this one off?" Annabeth stared into space, her stormy eyes darkening.

"Apparently by sacrificing his men until they found something. Luke, what is happening to you?"

"He's turning into a first-class amathés," I grumbled but she didn't seem to hear me. She was too busy being lost in her thoughts.

"Luke isn't stupid enough to be sending valuable soldiers into that maze to die unless he had a plan." The stupid part was debatable but I chose not to voice my opinions on that matter. I rose from her bed and crossed my arms.

"And what's your plan to find out Luke's plan? Invite him to discuss it over lunch." She looked suddenly uncomfortable.

"Well Clarisse, we do have one of the scouts who were sent into the labyrinth." It didn't take an Athena camper to know who she was talking about.

I complained the entire way to the infirmary. "I've already tried, Annabeth! He just babbles nonsense."

"And maybe I'll- We'll be able to decode that nonsense if we work together." She snapped in response.

"Or we'll just be bothering him!" I yelled. Looking over her shoulder, Annabeth smirked at me.

"That's a pretty passionate response for someone who hasn't fallen for him." I blushed and fell silent.

Before we went into the room holding Chris, I stopped to ask Will for an update.

"He's the same as he was yesterday and the day before that, Clarisse." He informed me. "Nothing Castor and Pollux do seem to help. The only thing we can do now is wait for Mr. D." I punched the wall and tried to hold back tears. If Mr.D was Chris' only chance, then Chris had no chance.

I felt a slight pressure on my shoulder. I turned to see Annabeth's face twinged with sympathy.

"Come on, Clarisse. He might give us more clues on how to help him." I chose not to respond as she led me towards the secret room that held Chris. If she could feel the eyes of the curious campers wondering when we became friends or at least allies, staring at our retreating figures, she didn't say anything.

Chris was sleeping when we walked into his room. He was twisting and squirming under the sheets, whimpering out his discomfort. I forgot Annabeth's presence as I walked towards Chris' bedside. I softly shook him awake and smiled softly when he opened his eyes.

"Hey, Chris." His eyes showed no recognition of me. I tried not to feel hurt by that. "How are you feeling?" He didn't respond even as I sat beside him. It worried me that he made more sound when he was asleep than he did when he was awake.

I could hear Annabeth's footsteps approaching me from behind. She forced a shaky smile at Chris.

"Hi, Chris." She said slowly. "I'm Clarisse's uh - friend. We have a few questions we need you to answer. Can you do that?" Chris' eyes cut to Annabeth suddenly and he let a terrified shriek.

"String. Mary! Mary! The string! Horrible son of Poseidon! RUN!" He began to flail around under the sheets as if trying to escape. I had to move back from the bed to avoid his arms and legs.

"Chris!" I had to yell over the noise of his screaming. "Please!" He didn't seem to hear me. He just kept babbling about strings and sons of Poseidon. I tried to ignore the fact that he also kept repeating Mary. Nothing I did calmed him down and I could feel tears prickling on the sides of my eyes. Annabeth tugged gently at my sleeve.

"Clarisse, let's go. We can ask Will to give him something that will calm him down." Even as she pulled me from the room, my eyes never left Chris' thrashing form.

I took another angry swing at the punching bag. Annabeth was thinking, muttering incohesive thoughts and theories that I didn't even try to understand. Finally, I broke the silence.

"Why did you make us do that? Chris didn't even give us anything to go on. Just his usual madness."

"Truth is usually found in the madness." She responded, still not paying attention to me. "There are some things that he kept repeating. Those will be the important things." I glared at her.

"He just kept repeating string and -" I paused after I heard Annabeth's sharp intake of breath. "What?" I exclaimed.

"The string." Annabeth breathed. "Remember the story of the Labyrinth. Theseus needed Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, to help him escape. She asked her teacher Daedelus, the labyrinth's creator, for assistance and he gave her-"

"Ariadne's string." I finished. Annabeth looked at me, grimly. "Luke is sending men into the labyrinth to find Ariadne's string. Come on. We need to tell Chiron."