A/N: Yes, I know I'm late this week. I'm sorry! I'll explain later. Chapter first!

Chapter 18: We Have A Run-In With Jewellery Thieves

It took another two days to get to Long Island. By the time we pulled up at camp, I estimated it had been about four since the Mount St Helens eruption. The whole journey, I hoped Hephaestus would at least send me a sign after his promise to keep an eye out for Percy, but there was nothing at all.

Silena Beauregard spotted me first. She was giving a pegasus-riding lesson—I guess the focus was on combat riding, because the Apollo kids were shooting at targets from horseback—and she cried out from the air, 'Annabeth's back!'

She landed her pegasus gracefully on the lawn, earning a dirty look from the satyrs who were tending the grass with their woodland magic. Campers ran out from every corner to welcome me, excitement on their faces. I saw Juniper come sprinting out from the woods and my insides twisted painfully.

How was I going to explain to her that I'd let Grover go off on his own in search of Pan?

How was I going to explain to any of them that I'd failed, that Luke was still out there with Daedalus, and that Percy was …

'She's alone!'

'Where's Percy?'

'Four on a quest—it was a bad omen.'

Juniper stopped in her tracks. The satyrs on the lawn hit a discordant note, making the carefully tended grass grow rapidly out of control. The mutters rose around me in urgent, panicked whispers.

Chiron appeared by my side. 'Child,' he said, reaching for my shoulder.

I couldn't help it. I burst into tears.

Arms came around me. Someone was stroking my hair and murmuring soothingly in my ear, like a mom. I looked up to see Silena crying along with me.

Chiron put an arm around each of us and guided us to the porch of the Big House. Dimly, I noticed the other counsellors ushering their campers away. Someone led Silena's pegasus back to the stables. Eventually, it was just me, Silena, and Chiron sitting on the porch.

I took a deep, shaky breath.

'I'm sorry,' Silena whispered.

I shook my head. 'I'm okay. You can go. I—I need to talk to Chiron.'

Silena gave me a tragic look and another hug. She ran off in the direction of the camp forge.

Chiron handed me a handkerchief. I blew my nose.

'You didn't tell them,' I said, glancing at the cabins. The campers were probably speculating about what had happened.

'No.' Chiron's face was lined and tired, older than I'd ever seen him look. 'I—well, I suppose until you got here, there was always the hope …' He sighed. 'Tell me everything again, child.'

It took a while to tell the whole story. I started from the very beginning, with our descent into the Labyrinth and our first meeting with Janus and Hera in the room with the Roman fountain. That part was easier to talk about.

Chiron listened quietly through my recounting of Alcatraz, Geryon's ranch, and Hephaestus's workshop. He looked concerned when I said that Kampê was back, and even more troubled when I told him about finding Nico and summoning Minos and Bianca. He smiled faintly at Percy's shooting of Geryon.

'To think what a poor shot he always was at archery lessons,' he murmured, running a hand over his rump.

My voice cracked when I reached our scouting mission for Hephaestus—how Grover and Tyson had gone off in search for Pan while Percy and I went on to the volcano. I told him about the telkhines cornering us. How Percy had insisted on sending me away. How I'd opened the door to the ice cave, hoping to unleash a flood to save Percy.

'It was my fault,' I sobbed. 'I thought it would help. I meant for Percy to come back alive, not …'

'Do not blame yourself, my dear,' Chiron said. 'You did not cause the eruption of Mount St Helens.'

'But—'

'Percy is the son of the earthshaker. I believe it was he who caused the explosion that destroyed the forge and our enemies along with it. When you opened the door to the glacial chamber, all you did was facilitate his access to a source of power he could draw on. But he had to use it, to harness the power within him. It seems your prophecy rang true: destroy with a hero's final breath.'

'And lose a love to worse than death,' I whispered.

'I'm sorry?'

I repeated it. 'It was the last line of the prophecy.' I forgot that I hadn't told Chiron about it.

It had all played out in the end. I'd delved in the darkness of the endless maze. We'd raised the dead traitor—Minos, I guess—and the lost one—Bianca. I wasn't too sure about the ghost king's hand … maybe that had something to do with Minos, whispering in the maze. Grover and Tyson were still lost down there. Maybe that had been a trick to split us up after all.

I'd made my final stand in the heart of the volcano, only it wasn't my final breath that had destroyed it.

And I'd lost … I'd lost …

'It's my fault,' I repeated. 'It's my fault he di—' I couldn't say the word. I couldn't make it real.

Maybe he wasn't. Worse than death, the prophecy had said.

Was it worse if he was alive but in horrible pain, pain that was worse than death?

Chiron didn't tell me not to blame myself this time. He hugged me gently. 'I am sorry, child. We will—organise the funeral. I had truly hoped … Alas.'

My head jerked up. 'Funeral?'

'For Percy,' he said. 'He died a hero. We will prepare his shroud, and—'

'No, you can't,' I protested. 'What if he's still alive?'

'Annabeth—'

'He could still be. He …' I thought of another reason to hope. 'The Great Prophecy. It says Percy has to reach sixteen.'

'Annabeth, we don't know that the prophecy will refer to him.'

'But it has to, there's no one …' My voice trailed off into heavy silence. As far as I knew, Nico di Angelo was still on Geryon's ranch. If Percy was gone, he was now the new prophecy kid. 'He claimed it,' I said miserably, thinking of Percy's vow last winter. 'He …'

Chiron looked at me severely and I knew he'd worked it out. I'd told him about Nico raising the dead.

'He wanted to protect Nico,' I said. 'He didn't want Nico to deal with the responsibility.' Just like he'd wanted to protect me from the telkhines.

At last, Chiron said, 'We will wait two weeks.'

'Two weeks? But … Clarisse was missing for longer than that last year! And nobody declared her dead!'

'Two weeks,' Chiron repeated. 'Given what Hera told you, I think the chances of his survival are slim. Two weeks is already a generous grace period. And … I must inform his mother. Excuse me.' There was a hollow, ancient look in his eyes. I wondered how many times he'd had to make this call, to tell a mortal parent that their demigod child was gone.

I thought of Sally, with her kind eyes and comforting smile, and a lump crept into my throat.

'I'll come with you,' I said. 'She'll want to know what happened. I was there.'

Chiron nodded. Together, we went to his office to set up the Iris-message.

When we told Sally what had happened, her face set in an expression that nearly made me burst into tears again. The determination in her eyes was the same fierce look Percy had given me in Hephaestus's forge, right before I'd kissed him.

'Percy is all right,' she said.

My heart was thumping so loudly, I was sure Chiron and Sally could both hear it. 'How do you know?'

'You said there was no body?' she asked me.

I shook my head. 'There wasn't anything. I asked Hephaestus to find him, and I hope … well, maybe there's still a chance?'

'But Hera told Annabeth that Percy is in a better place,' Chiron said. 'It is likely that—'

'I believe in Percy,' Sally said. 'As long as there's a chance he made it, I believe he'll find his way back home.'

Sally was just like her son. Her faith was incredibly strong. She'd never give up on someone she loved. I wanted to be like her, to believe, but fear and doubt had been my bosom companions since I was a child.

'Annabeth.' Sally reached out like she wanted to cup my face in her hands. 'Don't lose hope, okay, honey?'

I nodded. My throat was too tight to speak.

Over the next week, whispers followed me wherever I went. When I turned to see who was talking, campers averted their eyes and quickly found someplace else to be. It was how they'd behaved years ago, when Luke had returned from his quest without his companions and without the golden apple he'd been sent to retrieve. Now it was my turn.

Juniper wouldn't even come near me. I was sure she blamed me for Grover's absence. Even Silena, who had comforted me on the day of my return, seemed unable to meet my eyes any more. She teared up constantly in my presence, making it difficult for me to go about business as usual.

'She's a daughter of Aphrodite,' Beckendorf said. 'To her, what happened—well, it's the most tragic thing ever.'

He and Clarisse were the only ones who still treated me normally. They had to be disappointed that my quest wasn't successful, but they took it in their stride.

'I bet Daedalus wouldn't have helped us anyway,' Clarisse said grimly. 'Anyone who can make something as evil as the Labyrinth …'

I shared with them what Hephaestus had said about Daedalus being at camp, but they were just as mystified by this assertion. I was beginning to feel extremely bitter towards the god of the forges. After the expensive favour I'd done him, all I'd gotten was more misdirection. He was right—you really couldn't trust anyone … least of all the gods.

For the first time, I really, truly understood why Luke might have made the choices he had.

But it wasn't enough to make me give up. Percy would never forgive me if I turned traitor.

OoOoO

We had a mini war council a week after my return, just Chiron, Quintus, Clarisse, Beckendorf, and me. We gathered in the infirmary, which Clarisse hardly left these days. Chris had been moved up here from the basement. He'd deteriorated sharply since I'd been away, barely eating or drinking.

Silena sighed. 'I tried talking him back to life, but …'

Why would she think her cajoling would be any more effective than Clarisse's? Unless …

'You can Charmspeak?' It was a rare persuasive skill, usually exhibited by evil sorceresses and monsters like empousai. I'd heard some children of Aphrodite had the power, but I'd never suspected Silena of having it.

'I don't like to do it usually,' she admitted. I don't want to just make people do stuff. But in this case—I wish it'd worked.'

Nobody wanted to say it to Clarisse, but if Mr D didn't get back soon, Percy's probably wouldn't be the only funeral on the horizon.

'I think I should go back into the Labyrinth,' I told Chiron.

'Are you insane?' Clarisse said. She waved a hand at Chris's catatonic form. 'Why would you want to go back?'

'Maybe Hephaestus meant that the workshop is directly below camp. If there's still a chance I could find Daedalus … Besides, Grover and Tyson are still down there.'

Nobody mentioned Percy. Even I didn't dare to bring him up.

'I do not think this is a wise decision,' Quintus said. 'It seems that you have already done what you can.'

'I agree,' Chiron said. 'If your quest is complete, there is nothing more we can do.'

'Hang on,' Beckendorf said. 'If Hephaestus said Daedalus is here, he must have had a reason. Isn't it worth a shot to check it out? At least have a look under the bit we're guarding?'

Quintus looked at Beckendorf curiously. 'You think Hephaestus has reason to believe that the, ah, inventor is near the camp?'

Beckendorf scratched his head. 'Well, I don't know about Daedalus, but Hephaestus is my dad. I don't think he would have sent Annabeth here without a reason.'

I threw Beckendorf a grateful look. 'Please, Chiron. Just let me go in.'

Chiron studied me carefully. To my disappointment, he shook his head. 'We will check it out. But not you, Annabeth. Your eagerness to return concerns me.'

'The Labyrinth can twist your mind,' Quintus agreed. 'Draw you in against your judgement.'

'How do you know?'

'I've been inside, too, young lady.' He crossed his arms. 'You were lucky enough to make it out. I wouldn't be in a hurry to return.'

Chiron gave Quintus a long, searching look. At last, he decided, 'Quintus will check the entrance at Zeus's Fist. He will descend into the tunnel, but go no further. If there is no sign of Daedalus's workshop immediately below the surface, he will return and that will be the end of the matter. We have lost enough to the maze.'

OoOoO

It seemed to take Quintus forever to return from the tunnel. We waited for hours at the battle station outside the entrance. I guess it was like the first time Percy and I had fallen into the maze by accident. A few minutes for us had been hours on the surface.

Just when we were ready to give him up as lost, the maze entrance slid open and Quintus climbed back out. We all stared at him hopefully, but he shook his head.

'Nothing, I'm afraid. Give up your search for Daedalus, young lady. If the inventor does not wish to be found … even Hephaestus will not track him down.'

Mrs O'Leary bounded into the clearing out of nowhere. She ran up to Quintus and licked his face. Quintus put his arms around her and scratched her ruff. When he looked up again, his face seemed haggard, a million years older. He looked at the fortifications we'd set up around Zeus's Fist as though assessing their capabilities.

'I'm sorry,' he said quietly.

Clarisse threw her spear into the ground so violently, it planted in the soil and stood upright, quivering. She stalked off in the direction of the infirmary.

Quintus whistled to Mrs O'Leary and off they went as well. Chiron watched them go with a strange look on his face.

'At least we have a hellhound on our side,' Lee Fletcher said tentatively.

'One hellhound,' Katie Gardner reminded him. 'Luke probably has dozens.'

Beckendorf tapped my arm. 'Annabeth, maybe there's something …'

I followed him away from the clearing so that we could talk.

'I know my dad told you to come to camp to find Daedalus. But what if that isn't the answer?'

'What do you mean?'

'We've been counting on Daedalus to help us shut off the Labyrinth entrance, but maybe we just need to find a better defence.'

I gestured towards our pitiful border defences. I'd seen the strength of Luke's army. Kampê alone would decimate half our shield line with one swipe of her barbed tail. 'Everyone's already doing their best.'

'We've counted on the Fleece all this while to protect the camp,' Beckendorf said. 'But before it—before Thalia's tree … I heard there was another protector. Something from the Hephaestus cabin.'

'What was it?'

Beckendorf raised his hands apologetically. 'No one's ever seen it. I think it disappeared years before Thalia … you know. But some of the old blueprints in our cabin … well, I think there was a dragon.'

'Like Peleus?' I wasn't too excited about this. Peleus hadn't been much of a deterrent against the Aethiopian drakon.

Beckendorf shook his head. 'Bigger. An automaton.'

'And you think it's … in the woods?'

'Automatons get ratty after a while. Sometimes they just need a tune-up. If we could find it and … well, I could try and fix it. If it used to protect camp, maybe it could do it again.'

I turned this idea over along with the ring on my camp necklace. I'd never heard of this dragon automaton, but there were stories of a camp guardian before Thalia's tree. Of course, none of us except Chiron would remember it. The fact that he'd never suggested it as an option was telling.

But I had no other ideas. 'Okay,' I told Beckendorf. 'Let's go dragon-hunting.'

I'd lost count of the number of times I'd searched these woods for stuff. We'd looked for Nico di Angelo last winter, and the scorpions for capture the flag, and of course we'd spent days scouting for the Labyrinth entrance. But every time, there seemed to be more to it, a deeper section I'd never come across. It was like the woods were its own Labyrinth, an ever-expanding maze of trees.

After an hour or so trawling through hidden caves and marshy swamps, we came across a gigantic mound right in the middle of nowhere. It looked like a massive lump of dough sitting on the earth, with pitted holes in its sides.

Beckendorf grabbed my arm. I could tell he was excited, like this might be it—the dragon's lair. Although why a big metal dragon would want to hide out in a mound of earth, I couldn't understand.

Then the first creature emerged from a hole in the mound.

It wasn't a dragon. It wasn't even an automaton. At least, I was pretty sure it wasn't.

It was a two-foot-long armoured insect with six spindly black legs, clicking pincers, and pointy antenna sticking out of its little helmeted head. Behind it came another one, and another, and another, all marching from the mound like a well-trained army of giant ants.

'Myrmekes!' I pulled Beckendorf behind a clump of bushes. 'It's an ant hill!'

Beckendorf swore. 'You don't think—is that another Labyrinth entrance?'

We watched the Myrmekes for a while. I knew Luke had some in his army—Thalia and I had blown up a couple once—but these didn't seem like an invading vanguard. As one line of ants headed out into the trees, another came marching back, bearing the strangest collection of items on their backs and in their pincers. Some were bronze weapons, but they were broken scraps rather than battle-ready spears and swords. I also spotted a golden jug, a crystal vase, and a sparkling necklace, among other things. The one common feature about this otherwise random assortment of items was that they were all bright and shiny. The Myrmekes carried them into the ant hill like magpies after a successful foraging mission.

'I don't think these are an army,' I said. 'I think they … live here.'

Before we could decide what to do about the ant hill, there was a rustle of leaves behind us, a snap of branches, and a deadly rattle that I knew all too well: the sound of a poisonous arachnid about to strike.

I pushed Beckendorf to the ground just as the scorpion's sting whizzed through the air where our heads had been. We rolled out of the bushes. I saw the scorpion's pincers coming at our faces, and then—CLANG! Beckendorf activated his shield.

'I thought we killed them all!' I yelled as we clambered back, out of reach of the scorpion's swinging tail and clicking pincers.

'Quintus got more for the next game night,' Beckendorf grunted. He blocked another attack.

'What is it doing here now, then?'

'I don't know. Quintus is supposed to be in charge.'

The Myrmekes stopped in their foraging line to stare at us. The scorpion advanced. A golden laurel wreath dangled from its pincers.

Beckendorf and I exchanged a look. 'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?'

He nodded. Together we charged the scorpion with his shield and forced it towards the line of Myrmekes. The ants scattered.

And then they swarmed. The scorpion thrashed, trying to sting the Myrmekes, but its tail couldn't pierce their armoured shells. One ant snatched up the golden laurel wreath. Another must have gotten in a bite, because the scorpion went still. First its tail froze, then its legs gave way underneath. The paralysis would wear off after a while, but as the Myrmekes hefted the scorpion away into their lair, I suspected the scorpion wouldn't get to wait it out. Not that I was too cut up about it.

Beckendorf and I didn't hang around to watch. We ran before the Myrmekes could come after us. But as we dashed through the woods, we heard the tell-tale rustling of more dangerous monsters picking up our scent.

'They're not all loose in the woods, are they?' I moaned. The three I'd faced with Percy had been bad enough.

In answer to my question, two scorpions burst through a gap in the trees. They chased us all the way back to Zeus's Fist. By that time, the remaining three had caught up. The guards on duty came charging out of their tents, swords raised. Someone blew a conch horn. Campers flooded the woods.

I guess I should have been impressed by how quickly everyone responded to the alarm, but even with our full force, it still took twenty minutes to take down all five scorpions. And this was with Mrs O'Leary chewing one up all by herself. It only served as a reminder of how unprepared we were for a real attack.

'Is that it?' Travis said, giving one scorpion corpse a kick before it crumbled into dust. 'That's Luke's army?'

'Don't be stupid,' Clarisse said. 'Those were Quintus's scorpions. Besides, they didn't come from the tunnel.'

Mrs O'Leary trotted up to me, swaying slightly. She put her head in my hands and whined.

I stroked her ears. 'I think she's been stung. Get a medic!'

Will Solace hurried up to tend to her while I looked around for her master. 'Where's Quintus?'

We scanned the clearing, but he hadn't come to join the fight.

'Did he set this up, like a test?' Lee asked.

Chiron looked concerned. 'If that was his intent, he did not warn me. It appears I must have a chat with him about being more up front about his training exercises.'

'Don't bother!' Juniper slid out of her tree. 'He's gone.'

I hadn't seen her since the day I'd returned to camp alone. She looked awful. Her green-tinted skin was the yellowish colour of leaves that hadn't been watered for too long. Even the patch of juniper she lived in looked like it was shrivelling up from lack of care.

'What do you mean, Juniper?' Chiron asked.

'I saw him,' she said. 'When you were all distracted by the scorpions, he came into the clearing and …'

'And what?' I pressed.

She gave me an accusatory glare, like it was my fault Quintus had absconded. 'He slipped away in there.'

And she pointed to the Labyrinth entrance.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

A/N: This chapter may be a bit controversial in the sense that I didn't have Annabeth moping around the entire two weeks of Percy's disappearance. The thing is, I'm not really of the view that she would fall apart completely without him. I think she would feel it keenly, but Annabeth is a girl of action. And also the romanticised view of someone who can't function at length without their partner by their side is is one I take issue with and wish to avoid. Not because it doesn't happen in life, but because it is a dangerous and damaging experience. I truly hope that I have not fallen back into the maiden-pining-for-the-hero trope and please do let me know if any of this has failed to rise beyond it.

I'm sorry this chapter is late! I am in a different time zone now, but even though I'm ahead, I kind of thought I was buying a bit more time posting Sunday morning, but I had to get my marking done first, and I'm jet-lagged, and have had to essentially move out of home (long, complicated story), so yeah. SORRY!

Thank you OverLordRevan, Hello, thatoneguy, Thunderwolf7226, Anon, ArtimuosJackson, JustADerangedFanGirl, and CQ816 for your comments last week. Sorry again that I haven't been able to get to individual replies (I seem to be saying that a lot!)