Clarisse stepped of the boat. 'Alright, lets forget the motel, we have to run!' Annabeth pulled her back by her backpack. 'We need a plan first, Clarisse. The bus is right over there, let's go!'

Days ago, Ares' special sword had been stolen. He had found it in the remains of the royal palace of Crete, but decided that he was too busy and told Chiron to send someone to Crete. Chiron, who had heard of Annabeth's and Clarisse's shenanigans and failure a few weeks ago, decided that they were absolutely the best people to go to Crete.

Well, not really. He wanted to send over two other demigods, but both of them got sick - centaur blood in their clothes. Annabeth and Clarisse were the two people in the room when Dionysus had to point out two other people. That one day, he had received a exceptionally bad message from Zeus, so he absolutely didn't care who was in the room and had to go.

'So what? We need to find that thing! Do you know how my dad acts?'

'Yeah, yeah, but we can't exactly go to a huge palace to find a sword in a place we are probably prohibited from walking around in!'

'Of course we can!'

'No!' They stood in front of each other, like staring each other down would change the others mind.

Four minutes later, the bus arrived and they both realised it wasn't going to happen. The only thing they could do was compromise: Annabeth would drop everything off at the motel and make a small plan while Clarisse would go straight to the knossos to see what she could do. Annabeth grumbled while looking out the window. The mission in France had been a disaster and she didn't see how this would be any better.

She got more and more sure that she was right when she looked out the window and saw a pair of glowing eyes from the bus stop they were currently at. They disappeared, but a second later a weird looking woman stepped closer to the bus. She had the aura of a monster and had the weird monster thing where there is just something off, although you can't quite put your finger on it. The 'woman' got on the bus. Her expression soured a little when she saw that there was already someone sitting next to her (surprise surprise, it was Arnaldo, looking just as suspicious to Annabeth as he had to Jason and Percy).

She kept looking at Annabeth throughout the whole ride to the motel. At that point, Annabeth was wondering how even a monster could think this was not incredibly suspicious to do. She got of the bus. The monster woman followed her, but Annabeth felt double weird when she realised Arnaldo got off as well.

She checked into the motel and dropped off her stuff. From the hallway, she peeked into the main lobby. She saw that the monster was waiting in the lobby and Arnaldo was trying to get a room, even though the lady behind the front desk kept telling him that they were full.

Annabeth threw her bag over her shoulder and got out of the motel. She had to get back on the bus, to go to the knossos. She decided that going to Clarisse was the best plan at the moment, to at least get rid of the monster and the weird man (Arnaldo had forgotten why he exactly wanted a room in the motel, but Annabeth couldn't know that).

The monster was the only one who got on the bus with Annabeth. The daughter of Athena had to try hard to not roll her eyes, but she managed to do it. The monster was still noticing nothing, through some witchcraft.

Clarisse kicked a stone into one of the empty bassins. 'Hey! Why'd you do it!?' The tenth ghost she saw that day screamed. Clarisse kicked another stone into the bassin as a response. She had no idea how she was able to see a ghost as a daughter of Ares, but she didn't really care either.

'How many servants did Minos have?' She yelled to the next ghost she saw.

'That we don't know, young lady. Now get out of there! You are standing a ledge you are not supposed to stand on!' A museum guard yelled at her. Clarisse grunted and jumped of the ledge. She quickly walked further.

'Hey... ghost number twelve... did you see any swords lately?' She whispered to a ghost she saw hanging around miserably just outside the castle. The ghost screamed.

'How can you see me? Are you a daughter of Hades?'

'No, but...'

'Pluto? Thanatos?'

'No and no! Not important! Did you see a sword?' She noticed a woman in the back was staring at her. Which, you know, fair if some young person randomly starts screaming into thin air.

'Yes, I did see an air spirit with a sword a little while ago... it looked like it didn't belong to him though... way to heavy, too fancy...'

'Did you see a boar on the handle?'

'That's oddly specific...' clarisse looked at the ghost like she wanted to smack him.

'... but I think I did. Was it your sword, by any chance? Did you lose it? Could happen... I lost swords before, back when I still thought... although it looked too fancy for you as well... and aren't you a girl... hey, where are you?..'

As soon as ghost #12 had confirmed that there had been a boar on the sword handle, she had stopped listening to his moaning and had ran away to the other side of the palace, where there was a lot more wind. She figured that would be the place wind spirits appeared in more often than the rest of the palace grounds. She stopped for a moment. She could almost smell the sea from this part of the palace. She sighed deeply.

'Oh, the princess used to do that too!' Clarisse turned around and would have really hurt the poor ghost behind her if it hadn't been a ghost and therefore unhittable. Instead, her first went straight through nothing and she almost fell down. 'Who are you!?'

'Hey! I guard this castle! I should ask you that!'

Clarisse blinked. 'You're dead.'

'Well, you can see me, right?'

'No idea what's up with that. Have you seen a swords around?' The ghost shrugged.

'Don't know, but I'll get more men over here!' He ran away, over the open ground, but it seemed like he thought he ran through a hallway. Clarisse rolled her eyes and almost hoped Nico was there to tell her what was going on.

Annabeth arrived at the palace with the monster still following her closely. She begrudgingly paid for a ticket to visit the ruins and walked further. She looked over her shoulder when she realised the monster aura became less powerful. The 'woman' was standing behind the ticket desk, with a wallet in her hands, looking like she was having an inner crisis. Annabeth raised an eyebrow. Something was up with that. Slowly, she stepped closer.

'Chase! Finally! And, made up a plan?' She heard Clarisse scream.

'Clarisse! No, to be honest. I was followed by whatever that is. Yet, she seems to not be willing to get further than where she is right now. Clarisse shrugged. 'Maybe she's afraid of the ghosts.'

'Ghosts?'

'Yeah, there are ghosts everywhere. No idea what's it about, but one told me a wind spirit was seen with a sword seemingly too fancy and powerful for him. He seemed very... confused, though, so no guarantee he was right.'

'... how are you seeing ghosts?'

'Hades knows.' Annabeth rolled her eyes.

'Seeing the subject matter, I sure hope so. Now, did you find anything else?'

'Calm down, Chase.'

'I'll do what I think I need to do.'

'Oh, please...'

'Can you girls be quiet? I need to focus!' Another ghost appeared behind them. Annabeth blinked. 'Is... that a spirit? I see and hear it very vague.'

'Lucky you. If only they'd stop talking for a minute, that would be nice.' Clarisse answered.

'Ladies! You're blocking the entrance!' Clarisse raised an eyebrow. Annabeth looked at the ghost.

'What... do you think you are doing right now?'

'I am standing guard! To protect girls like you two! What else? Are you blind?'

'...standing guard at what? Wait, can you still see the castle?'

'Of course! You two are standing in it! How stupid are you two!?' Clarisse and Annabeth looked at each other. 'Must be your father's sword,' Annabeth said slowly. 'Maybe it radiates energy... maybe that's why the ghosts are up and walking and the monster didn't want to get too close...' Clarisse swore in greek before pulling Annabeth along.

'You are probably right, little Chase. Which means that we need to find that sword. Luckily, we know it is right here, because that is apparently where the power is the strongest.' Annabeth nodded as well as she could while being dragged over a field by someone fifteen centimetres taller than her.

'Yeah. Do you know what side catches the most wind? That might be where a wind spirit would have dropped it...' Clarisse nodded, while staring off into the distance (She was staring at the fancy armour some of the dead guards wore, but Annabeth couldn't know that, she couldn't see ghost that were that far).

It took some time to find the right corner, with the most wind, but with Clarisses' bandana as a flag they found it - the spot with the correct wind current, not the sword, because it wasn't there. Annabeth facepalmed and closed her eyes. 'You know, I am already feeling like giving up.'

'Owlhead Chase?'

'Hm?'

'How about the spot with the sword is the spot with the most ghost warriors?' Annabeth opened her eyes again. She took a deep breath.

'I know it is hard that I came up with something for once and not you.'

'That's… Whatever. You can see the ghosts, you go find that place.' Clarisse smiled smugly, and Annabeth was too annoyed to do something about it.

'This should be the place.'

'My god, even I can see how many ghosts there are.'

'I know. What did Minos think was going to happen someday? Didn't he have that giant robot walking around the palace too?'

'Yeah, Tanos, but apparently he decided footfolk was handy too. However, we need to find that sword.' She squinted her eyes. 'I see something red over there...'

Clarisse sprinted over to the small thing she vaguely saw. A few ghosts tried (And failed dramatically) to stop her from getting any further. They seemed to be guarding what they saw as the greatest boon in the world, unaware of the fact that it was not even there any more.

Clarisse put her hand on the sword hilt and pulled it out the sand. She lifted it above her head and grinned. She heard Annabeth sigh behind her. 'Dramaqueen.'

'If I would have tried to pick it up in the normal way, it might not have respected me enough. This is a magical object.' Annabeth shrugged and slowly nodded.

'Alright, seems fair. Now let's just get out of here and bring this to your dad. He'll probably show up as soon as he realises we have it.' Clarisse didn't answer, but held the sword in a respectful manner and begun to walk away from the archaeological side.

'Gods, that nobody noticed that we were acting weird,' Clarisse sighed.

'Mortals,' Annabeth whispered. Clarisse nodded.

'Yeah… hey, what...' She looked around. The guards around here looked like they were hypnotised. By Ares' sword. Clarisse looked dumbfounded for a few seconds, until her smug grin got even more smug. 'Wait...'

She pointed the sword at a random tree. Immediately, three ghost warriors ran towards it. Clarisse laughed out loud. 'Haha! Wow!'

'How does your dad like it if you use his sword?'

'Killjoy,' Clarisse answered, but she did stop.

They got to the main gate - and the monster was still waiting behind the gate. Annabeth rolled her eyes. 'Oh gods. She's still there.' Clarisses' eyes lit up.

'You're in luck today, Chase...' Annabeth squinted her eyes.

'This once.' Clarisse grinned and pointed her sword at the monster. A few seconds later, the monster ran away, screeching and hissing. A few people looked around, but no-one really cared.

Annabeth and Clarisse heard someone laugh behind her. 'Well done, daughter. Now hand over the sword, please.' The girls turned around, facing Ares. Annabeth gave the god of war a small nod, without breaking eye-contact. Clarisse bowed her head while giving over the sword. Ares grabbed the hilt. The sword went up in smoke. The war god followed shortly after, leaving a small package where he was standing.

Clarisse picked it up. She opened it. There was nothing but a piece of paper inside. Annabeth raised her eyebrows. 'What does it say?' She asked.

'beware of the purple guy… he is onto something.' Clarisse pulled a weird face.

'Purple guy?'

'Dionysus, or something?'

'No, he would have used his name, right?'

'Did you see anything purple today?'

'Well, when I was on the bus there was some weirdo sitting next to me, in purple… he tried to check into our hotel, now that I think about it...' Annabeth bit her finger. 'There might be something strange going on.'