A/N: I was almost afraid this chapter was going to be late, as I'm at my boyfriend's this weekend but forgot to bring my laptop. However it turns out ffnet does have the desktop view on mobile, so I could get in here anyway! And here is the weekly chapter after all.

This chapter is rated PG-13/T because someone has a potty mouth (not unlike Clarisse).

Chapter 17: A Peacock Picks My Pockets

The blast knocked me off my feet. A surge of cold air hit like a sucker punch to the face. It whistled through the corridor, a wave that wasn't exactly fluid, but sped along all the same towards the cavern exit. Beyond the open metal door, the ice cave was a glittering blue chamber: the crater glacier of the volcano. Who would have thought that such a thing could exist in such close proximity to the boiling lava down below?

With the dividing door open, the chamber began to shake. Cracks ran up and down the wall. The air filled with mist as ice caught in the volcanic atmosphere and sublimed, going from solid straight to gas.

Then the flooding kicked in. The entire chamber of ice collapsed in a gush of freezing water and rained over me. The pull of the flood was unimaginable. It was as if a magnet was drawing the glacial water to the cavern, a force so powerful, the water surged to obey. It swept me up and carried me in its chaotic, churning wake. Every molecule of it vibrated, like a crowd of people shoving each other in their rush to escape a fiery building.

The currents tossed me like a rag doll, ducking my head under water, throwing me above the surface briefly, and sucking me down again. My lungs burned. I gasped reflexively, inhaling water. Black spots danced before my eyes, like the glittering obsidian caves of the Underworld. Maybe it was the Underworld flickering in front of me. This might be what it felt like to die.

Then I heard the scream. It was an unearthly, inchoate sound that couldn't possibly be Percy. But I knew it was.

The glacial flood swirled into the great cavern, but instead of pouring into the pit, it rose like a tsunami. Great walls of water erupted around the cavern. In the centre was a column of fire.

That was where the screams were coming from.

Percy.

Oh gods. No.

No. I chose him—I chose—he couldn't—

My head spun, or maybe it was the water. It was all coming together in a crazy, spinning hurricane, with Percy, the boy on fire, at its vortex.

In retrospect, that probably saved my life. Instead of being plunged into the volatile mix of ice water and magma, I was flung straight onto the platform, where I hit the heavy bronze cauldron I'd hidden behind earlier. It fell over and clattered upside down on top of me, shielding me from the maelstrom outside.

I heard Percy screaming. I heard the squeals of terrified telkhines. I heard a massive explosion, one that rattled the walls of my cauldron prison.

I heard a voice crying for Percy, broken and anguished. Only later would I realise it was my own. I choked on water and tears. My hands scrabbled against the cauldron, searching for its bottom edge.

There was another supersonic BOOM. In the aftershock, my ears rang so badly, it was like being in a sensory deprivation chamber. My head swam. My lungs ached. I reached feebly for the edge of the cauldron again, but my hand fell slack.

I slumped to the ground and my vision went black.

An incessant banging woke me up. It took a while to remember where I was. It wasn't quite as dark under the bronze cauldron now. Someone was knocking on the outside: a few gongs, a pause, then the banging resumed.

'Percy?' My head was spinning. The banging wasn't helping. I found the bottom edge of the cauldron and pushed hard, forcing it up. Light flooded in, first a sliver, then a full, unearthly brightness.

I might well have emerged into the aftermath of a nuclear blast. The machines on the platform were in smithereens, the largest chunk no bigger than my cauldron. The metal bridges hung in broken pieces, swaying from their attachments to the cavern ridges. Only one ramp still connected the platform to the edge of the lake. The lava bubbled more violently than before, making the platform shake and shudder under me.

I got shakily to my feet. 'Percy?'

There was no answer. The forge was deserted. A rubbery scent hung in the cavern, like the remains of vaporised telkhines floated in the air. Hephaestus's spider was the only thing stirring. Miraculously, it had survived, but it didn't look remotely like a spider any more. Three of its legs were missing; another two were crooked. It kept banging itself against the cauldron, then scuttling around in a demented circle before repeating the whole process over again.

I picked my way past bits of exploded metal, cracked tools, and rubber flippers that looked like they belonged to a now-dead telkhine. Nothing resembled a human corpse, which was a good sign. Then again, he could have been vaporised, or tossed into the lava, or …

'Percy!' I yelled again, panic rising in my chest. The last line of my prophecy thundered in my ears.

My heart leapt when I saw the figure crouching behind the wreckage of an anvil. I ran unsteadily across the bucking platform, giddy with relief.

Then she stepped out. I froze, a glacial flood of disappointment crashing over me.

She was clad in an orange dress that matched the gurgling magma of the volcano, with dark blue trim like waves on the skirt. Its pattern made my throat tighten. I'd thought the flood would save Percy, but everything had gone so horribly wrong.

'Fire and ice,' Hera said, raising a contemplative finger to her lips. 'A lethal combination.'

'Queen Hera,' I said shakily. 'Percy—'

'He is no longer … here.' The way she said here, it sounded like she didn't just mean in the forge.

'But—he can't be …' I shook my head in desperation. 'I chose. I told Janus! I—I made my final stand.'

'Surely you know better than to try and control a prophecy, child,' Hera admonished. 'Did you think you would only have one choice to make?' She sniffed. 'Do you know what marriage is, girl? It's a daily choice. But enough of this. The young man is in a better place. As for you, here is another choice you must make: will you stand here dithering, or will you return to your quest?'

In a better place. My legs felt numb. I couldn't remember what quest Hera was talking about. It couldn't be important. Nothing seemed like it would ever be important again.

I felt again the brush of my lips against mine, the kiss that would haunt me forever now.

It was my fault. I shouldn't have done it, shouldn't have loved—

Everyone I loved always left.

Hera tsk-ed impatiently. 'Really, now,' she said. 'You should return to your quest, with no further distractions. Hephaestus will be waiting for you.'

The platform lurched, throwing me towards the exit ramp. I stumbled across it into the cavern tunnel. The broken spider skittered after me.

I made it only two steps into the Labyrinth before collapsing in tears. How could I have let this happen? I should never have let the Labyrinth split us up. I should never have left Percy. I shouldn't even have picked the three of them to accompany me on my quest. Chiron had tried to warn me, but I'd insisted. I'd been so confident in my choices, so sure I knew best. I'd been so sure I would save camp …

Camp.

No matter how much I wanted to lie here and die, I couldn't give in. I was the only one left to continue the quest, find Daedalus, and save camp.

Percy would never forgive me if I gave up now.

The broken automaton scurried in circles around me. The volcanic explosion must have damaged its sense of direction.

I picked it up and examined it. 'How do I fix you?'

It twitched feebly in my palm, then jumped onto my backpack. I shrugged the bag off my shoulders and rummaged inside, hoping I had a screwdriver or something. If only Tyson were here. He would have known what to do.

My fingers closed around something round and hard: the bronze compass Beckendorf had given me. I flipped it open. It told me the passageway pointed southwest, but that wasn't much use. The Labyrinth didn't follow normal cardinal directions.

The automaton rubbed its remaining legs together, making an excited, chittering noise.

'Okay,' I said, 'come here.'

It leapt obediently into my lap and curled its legs together so that it resembled the original disc Eurytion had handed me. Using my dagger, I wedged apart the bronze compass and retrieved its magnetic needle. Then I etched a groove into the automaton where the activation button had been and fitted the needle in.

It worked. As soon as the compass needle was lodged into the automaton's body, it sprung back to life and started purposefully down the Labyrinth tunnel. I hoisted my bag back onto my shoulders and followed.

I don't remember much about the path back to the workshop or how long it took to get there. I was focused on keeping up with my automaton guide, trying very hard not to think about what had happened in the volcano. Eventually, I stumbled through the bunker door into Hephaestus's workshop.

The god of the forges was working on a robot, lifting its arm up while he oiled the joints. He looked up and stared when I arrived. The robot's arm creaked as it came back down.

'Correct me if I'm wrong,' he said slowly, 'but weren't there a few more of you?'

I nodded glumly. 'They—we split up from Grover and Tyson. And P-Percy …' The flood of tears threatened to engulf me again, but I remembered one of the last things Percy had said to me: You have to tell Hephaestus what's going on.

I took a deep breath and told him everything, from the telkhines to my opening of the ice chamber. Hephaestus's face grew grave when I mentioned the explosion. He lumbered over to a worktable, swept a bunch of gadgets aside, and pulled out an orange iPad. He punched in his lock-code and it flickered to life. Headlines scrolled over the top: MOUNT ST HELENS ERUPTS: GOVERNOR DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY. Below was a photo of an ash cloud towering over a mountain.

'Did I do that?' I gasped.

Hephaestus shook his head. 'Couldn't have. The ice tunnel's just for washing out the equipment. I run it, oh, I dunno, once every couple of months? This is something bigger.' He frowned. 'You said the boy was on fire?'

I swallowed hard. 'Yes, sir. I saw—he was burning up, and the water rushed around him, but I don't know what happened next.' I still didn't understand it. Why hadn't the water put out the fire?

'Hm.' Hephaestus swiped across his iPad, blanking out the screen. 'He wasn't one of my kids, I'm certain.'

'No, Percy's—' I couldn't bring myself to say Percy was, 'a son of Poseidon.'

Hephaestus considered this for a second. 'Interesting. Well, I reckon I'll have to head over there and check things out now.'

'Please, sir, do you think there's a chance—I mean, that Percy …'

Hephaestus looked at me long and hard. I thought his stony black eyes might have softened a bit. When he spoke, his voice was gruff. 'Mortals,' he sighed. 'So fragile. What you really want is a good automaton.' He returned to his robot. 'Maybe you'd like this one?'

'N-no. I just want Percy to be okay.'

Hephaestus rubbed his beard. Sparks flew from the ends of his fingers, igniting it with little puffs of smoke. 'I'll have a look around,' he said at last. 'But no promises, girl.'

'Thank you.'

'And I suppose we had a bargain. So you wanted to know about Daedalus.'

It was actually the last thing I felt like discussing now, but camp was counting on me.

'I need to find him.'

Hephaestus beckoned me over to a table with a world map spread across it. The map would have looked like any ordinary atlas if not for the coloured dots blinking up from different locations. The part with the United States was larger than all the rest of the world put together. I guess it was because the gods had all migrated here.

'I don't reveal this to just anyone,' Hephaestus said. 'But I suppose you've done me a solid favour.' He put his giant finger on one of the blinking dots. 'You need to go back to camp.'

'What?'

'That's where you'll find your answers.'

'But—that doesn't make any sense! We left camp to find Daedalus.'

Hephaestus guided me away from his map. 'My GPS is never wrong.'

'You have GPS tracking on Daedalus?'

'I have trackers on everyone important.'

I didn't see how this was possible—well, not that Hephaestus kept tracking data on people, but how Daedalus could be at camp. Unless … the air turned cold. Unless Luke had brought him there with his invading army.

'I have to get to camp right away.'

'Didn't I just say that?' Hephaestus waved his hand at me. I knew the sign of dismissal as soon as I saw it, but I had one last question.

'Wait,' I said. 'How do I get back to the surface from here?'

Hephaestus directed me to a utility vault with ladder rungs in the side. It led out of a manhole onto a busy city road. I stumbled down the sidewalk, ignoring the revolted looks from passers-by at the filthy, soot-covered girl walking among them. It was a hundred degrees out, almost as hot as the interior of Mount St Helens. Sweat trickled down my neck, spreading the grime on my skin everywhere.

I found a crumpled newspaper that had fallen out of an overflowing trash can. The headline article was on the Mount St Helens eruption, so it must be today's paper. The date said June fifteenth—it had been over a week since we'd entered the Labyrinth. Surely we couldn't have been wandering down there that long! It had only seemed like a couple of nights. But sure enough, time had gotten away from us in the magical depths of the maze.

I found a puddle in a back alley with a spill of oil that made a wavering rainbow on the ground. By some miracle, I had one golden drachma stuck deep in my pocket. I made the offering to Iris and called Chiron.

'Annabeth.' Chiron didn't look surprised to see me. 'I heard …'

'You heard?' My heart leapt. Had Percy somehow …

'Argus is on his way. He received a message from Hera.'

I swallowed hard. 'Oh. Um.'

Chiron picked up on my disappointment. 'What happened, child? Argus didn't get any details, just that he must travel west to find you.' He looked around. 'Where are Percy, Grover, and Tyson?'

Blinking back tears, I told him what had happened at Hephaestus's forge.

'So Grover and Tyson are still in the maze,' Chiron said. 'And Percy …' He sighed heavily.

'Hephaestus said he would look for him.'

'I see. And did Hephaestus say anything else?'

'Yes—he told me I had to return to camp to find Daedalus. I don't get that part. I thought maybe … did Luke attack?'

Chiron frowned. 'No. We are still guarding the entrance, but nothing has emerged. I hoped you and Percy had thwarted Luke's plans, but it seems we will have to tighten security. As for Hephaestus's claims that Daedalus is at camp … I cannot fathom what he means, either. But if he told you to return, it is best that you hurry.'

'I'll head east right away.'

A large bike pulled up on the sidewalk outside my alley with a loud roar. Someone was coming. I cut the connection and headed out.

'Hey, kid.'

Blocking my way was a beefy woman in army fatigues. She stood next to a black-and-silver Harley, her arms crossed over her camouflage jacket. There was something familiar about her stringy brown hair and the way she stared at me, as though sizing up an opponent for a fight.

I held up my hands. 'I'm just leaving.'

'I know that stuff,' said the woman, jerking her head towards the puddle. 'You're one of them, aren't you?'

'I don't know what you're talking about.' My hand slipped into my pocket, where my dagger lay. Either she was crazy, or she knew I was a demigod. Neither was a good sign.

The woman made an impatient noise. 'Kids of gods.'

I was about to draw my dagger, certain she was a monster, when she said, 'Like my daughter, Clarisse.'

My jaw dropped. 'Mrs—uh, Ms La Rue?'

I'd never met Clarisse's mom before. I knew she lived in Phoenix and she'd looked after Chris when he turned up near the city, but I also knew that Clarisse lived year-round at camp. I wasn't sure what to make of these two facts.

Ms La Rue extended her hand. 'That's me. Now, which of Clarisse's friends are you, and what are you doing in Phoenix?'

Clarisse's mom brought me back to her house, a cluttered two-bedroom mobile home half an hour out of the city. The living room looked like a cross between a workshop and an ammunitions warehouse. Ms La Rue seemed to stockpile guns and ammo.

I told her very briefly that I'd been on a quest underground and had ended up in Phoenix by mistake.

'I need to get back to camp, pronto.'

'Huh,' she said. Now that I knew they were related, she really sounded a lot like Clarisse. 'Well, if you want to stay the night, you can have Clarisse's room. S'pose if she minds, you guys can sort it out at camp.' She smirked a little. I got the feeling she knew 'sort it out' was synonymous to 'pulverise me' for Clarisse. I also got the feeling she didn't particularly care.

Well, she was a woman who had drawn the attention of Ares, god of war.

'I'm headed to Texas tomorrow. Got deployed to Abilene. I can take you along if you like. Get you further east, anyhow.'

'Deployed?'

'Military base,' she explained. 'I'm a weapons engineer for the army. Travel round lots, gotta stay on site for weeks at a time. S'easier for Clarisse to stay at camp, what with all of that.'

She waved me off to Clarisse's room. It was as full of weapons as the living room, only these were of the ancient Greek variety—spears and javelins and such. A dented breastplate leaned against the bed. There was a plumed helmet and a pair of greaves in one corner. They looked like the ones Chris had been wearing when he'd popped out of the Labyrinth last year.

It gave me a funny feeling to think that Chris had also stayed in this room. I nearly laughed. Here I was, out of the Labyrinth into the desert, feeling close to madness. Just like Chris Rodriguez.

The next morning, an ominous line of smog hovered north of the city.

'Ash cloud,' Clarisse's mom grunted. 'Saw that eruption on the news? Volcano erupts in Washington State and we get ash spewing all the way down here. Figures.'

We drove southeast to avoid the billowing ash. Clarisse's mom didn't seem to like main roads. 'Too many shitty drivers,' she said, and took us down side streets and country lanes. She revved her Harley loudly and sped through the tiny towns. I don't think the residents were too pleased to have a crazy biker lady tearing through this early in the morning.

Around midday, we roared up near Carlsbad Caverns, where Clarisse's mom suggested we stop for lunch. She bought us a chilli corn dog each from the kiosk near the tourist centre. Tourists roamed past us in large groups, dressed for a romp in the caves. The chalky scent of limestone drifted across the parking lot. I could see the rocky outer walls of the cave, dotted with moss and lichen in the cracks. The cave entrance looked like the crooked jaws of a rocky beast, with stalactites and stalagmites framing it unevenly.

'I met Clarisse's dad here, you know,' Ms La Rue commented, waving her hand towards the national park. This struck me as strange. Ares didn't seem the type to enjoy long hikes in nature.

'I was with the military police at the time. They sent us into the local town to put down a riot.' She grinned. 'He was smoking hot with a gun.'

Yeah, that was more like it. 'Er, okay,' I said.

She laughed. 'I guess you're not one of Clarisse's cabin mates, then.'

'No. I'm cabin six.'

'That's … Athena?'

'Yeah.'

She snorted. 'Brainiac kids.'

I felt a twinge of annoyance. 'Athena's a goddess of war, too. She—'

A large blue bird minced out of the bushes and pecked at my feet. Startled, I jumped to the side.

It was a peacock, its feathery tail folded behind it. The bird eyed my hot dog like it wanted a bite. Then its head darted forward and snatched my Yankees cap right out of my pocket.

'Hey!' I made a grab for my cap, but the peacock turned and fanned out its tail in my face. Dozens of turquoise eyes glared at me from among the feathers.

The peacock took off down the road. For a diminutive bird, it was fast. I chased angrily after it.

It soon became clear why the peacock had pickpocketed me. It ran up to a delivery van parked on the other side of the Carlsbad Caverns tourist car park. The peacock dropped my hat at the van door, under the painted strawberries on the side.

Argus stuck his head out of the window. He and the bird gave each other a nod, then the peacock folded its tail and dashed off.

Of course. A peacock … one of Hera's sacred animals.

Ms La Rue hurried up behind me. 'What in the name of Satan's butthole was that?'

'A sign of Hera,' I said. 'And this is my ride back to camp.'

Clarisse's mom looked at Argus and the van with deep misgivings. 'You sure about that, kid?'

'Positive.'

'Well, okay then.' She shrugged. 'You give Clarisse this from me.' And she punched me hard in the shoulder.

I winced. 'Thanks, Ms La Rue.'

'You got it.'

I climbed into the front seat of the van. All of Argus's eyes watched me with sympathy. Many of them were bloodshot. He must have driven through the night to make it here this quickly.

I braced myself for the questions and the explaining I'd have to do, but of course, Argus didn't speak. I was grateful now for his taciturn personality. All I wanted to do on the long ride was curl up into a ball of misery.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

A/N: Apologies for the brief chemistry lesson. My mum's a chemistry teacher; it's obviously rubbed off at some point. But if you end up remembering sublimation = conversion from solid to gas and it comes up on an exam … that's a bonus, right?

Anyway, I'm also sorry that this has been another week of being really bad with replying to reviews. I'm getting on a flight for a long trip to Singapore on Wednesday, and trying to get my thesis fully drafted before I go ... let's just say it ain't easy. But thank you so much for commenting on the last chapter. I'm so grateful that so many of you have popped out of the woodwork to say something. Hello, CQ816, SG2000, Livvi May, MiraEstrellas, JustADerangedFanGirl, Numberfivewithabullet, randomstories7777, OverLordRevan, thatoneguy, DragonStorm88, MariaClaire, ArtimuosJackson—you guys are the best! :)

The last two chapter have been some of my favourites so far, as they were about answering many, many questions that arose from Mount St Helens, starting with the simple, how did Annabeth make it back to camp? I hope the ice cave addition has been believable and doesn't take away from Percy's power—he drew on water, yes, but I like to think that it came from a source, and having Annabeth unwittingly supply him with that source just plays into that beautiful, supportive dynamic of their relationship. (Or maybe I'm just being too much of a romantic.) And, I mean, the crater glacier explanation is right there. I can't believe RR didn't use it to begin with ... could have been an easier set-up! I know that for some of you, this was pushing things too far. That's okay, and I appreciate that you feel comfortable enough to tell me straight.

And one point I'd like to clarify—I'm really sorry if my note last chapter sounded like a dig at RR for including the bellybutton thing in the first place. I don't think it was a bad detail to throw in, and was definitely a light, fun moment. I meant to explain why I skimmed over it, for anyone who might have been hoping to see that conversation. I still don't think it's plot important in canon (it hasn't come up as far as I can tell) but it's a nice character moment and details like that are fun. What I meant was that for this story, I couldn't make it work without losing my narrative flow (and perhaps that's just my own failings as a writer that I shall have to work on).

I probably fudged a load of stuff about the glacier ... sorry, not a geographer, so have taken many writer's liberties with the physical sequence of events … but then the actual canon explosion isn't how volcanoes actually work, either, so there you have it. PJO universe follows magical laws.

More questions came into play this chapter: why Clarisse is a year-rounder, how Annabeth knew about Carlsbad Caverns, and basically I love that I could tackle them all in one little package. I hope you guys have enjoyed it!

Big thanks to strawberrygirl2000 for the dialect lesson on how Americans talk about GPS. Apparently 'sat nav' isn't a thing for you guys? Totally would not have known that!