A/N: This chapter is rated PG-13/T for difficult decisions and death.

Chapter 27: Grover Leads A Quiet Revolution

The night following the Battle of the Labyrinth was very long.

After putting out the fires and carrying the wounded to the infirmary, we set about the unbearable task of attending to the remaining casualties: the heroes who hadn't survived. Hardly anyone spoke as we brought the fallen bodies of our friends to the amphitheatre to be wrapped in burial shrouds.

Almost every cabin had lost someone. The bodies stretched out in neat rows, filling the campfire pit. Each of the cabin counsellors stepped up in turn to deliver the eulogies for our fallen—Katie, Clarisse, me … all of us except Percy, the only one whose cabin hadn't suffered a casualty, and Lee, who was among the rows of enshrouded bodies. He'd saved a whole section of the woods, including a line of trees filled with his archers, by intercepting a club strike from a Laistrygonian. It had cost him his life. Michael Yew, his second-in-command, delivered his eulogy in a shaking voice.

Even more heartbreaking was Dionysus's son Pollux, whose voice failed him when he stood over his twin brother's shroud. He was the only remaining member of cabin twelve now.

Pollux took the torch from Chiron and set the funeral pyre ablaze. Apollo's archers followed up with a volley of flaming arrows that fanned the flames higher, waving our friends' spirits to the heavens.

At the start of the funeral, we had gathered by cabin, but as if by some unspoken agreement, we spread into mixed groups, finding comfort where we best could. I saw Katie take Pollux by the hand and lead him to the Demeter children. Silena made her way to Beckendorf, who put a trembling arm around her. Several Hermes kids came round to hug Michael Yew.

As for me, I found myself between Percy and Tyson. We didn't speak. I held Tyson's hand and lay my head against Percy's shoulder as we watched our friends' bodies burn slowly to ashes, consecrated in fire.

There were other bodies, too. I didn't know how many monsters we'd managed to kill—the spoils of war littered the woods, though no one had the heart to count them—but there were a dozen or so enemy half-bloods who had fallen on our territory. The question of whether to honour them was a touchy one.

'They killed my brother,' Pollux said, an ugly look on his usually agreeable face.

'We should still respect the dead,' I said.

Nico nodded. He was the only camper sitting alone, hiding in a shadowy corner as the funeral service went on. 'Annabeth is right. We can't leave them to rot. That isn't right.'

The other campers exchanged uneasy looks. Nico made them nervous, with his black sword and the aura of the Underworld hanging over him like a faint mist.

Surprisingly, Clarisse agreed. Maybe she was thinking of Chris, lying close to death in the Big House. 'No one's calling them heroes,' she said gruffly. 'Just—'

'We should take care of them, too,' Percy finished. 'If we don't, we're no better than Kronos.'

In the end, we found plain black shrouds for the enemy half-bloods. Nico did the honours, silently speeding their souls along to whatever justice they might face in the Underworld. I said a soft prayer for Daedalus, too. He'd left no body for us to burn, but I couldn't let him pass without some ceremony. I hoped he had found peace, and had met with a fair trial at the gates of Erebus after all.

The stars were finally fading into a pale dawn by the time the funeral fires burnt themselves out. Percy, Tyson, and I helped Chiron to the infirmary. He had refused to go until the funeral rites were complete. Will Solace, who was still heading up the medics, blanched when he saw Chiron's legs, now swollen and purple from internal bruising.

'I can set them,' he said, 'but I'm going to have to immobilise them for a while to let the fractures heal.'

Chiron sighed. 'It is lucky I have the wheelchair, then.' His tail flicked irritably, betraying his frustration.

I stayed to help Will treat Chiron. Percy and Tyson headed back outside. I saw them join Nico, heading back to the woods to help the satyrs and dryads in their clean-up efforts.

Will's eyes followed mine out of the infirmary window. 'Is that … the boy from last winter? The one who ran away?'

I nodded. 'Nico di Angelo.'

'He seems different,' Will mused.

'He's been through a lot.'

'There's something about him …'

I expected him to ask about Nico's parentage, but he just blushed and turned back to Chiron's leg.

I didn't see Percy again until noon, when the Council of Cloven Elders called an emergency meeting, no doubt to discuss the bombshell Grover had dropped on them about Pan. We returned to the glade in the woods for the hearing. This time, the clearing was packed. Every nature spirit at camp must have turned up. Even the naiads had left their lake. All of them were waiting with bated breath to hear Grover speak. This didn't seem to please Silenus, who called the council to order with a look of pure irritation on his puffy face.

'Grover Underwood,' he said nastily, 'you are three weeks overdue from your given deadline. You returned with the most blasphemous charges, spouting more of your preposterous lies—'

A month ago, Grover would have been quivering in his hooves at these accusations. Now, he merely stood quietly and listened, like the council's judgement didn't matter any more. It was like he and Silenus had switched places: Silenus fuming like a child having a tantrum, Grover waiting calmly for the outburst to pass.

'I call for exile!' Silenus cried. Grover's calm seemed only to have made him more incensed. 'For such egregious behaviour—'

'Silenus,' Chiron interrupted, 'perhaps we should listen to the evidence.' He gave me a significant look.

I quickly stepped forward into the circle of satyrs. 'Grover was telling the truth. I saw it. We all did—' I cast around for my friends to back me up. Tyson wasn't here; the satyrs wouldn't welcome a Cyclops in their clearing. Nico … I wasn't sure where he'd hidden himself.

Percy stepped up. 'I saw him, too. Pan, I mean. He really did tell Grover to let him go.'

I nodded. 'He said the wild must be saved by all of us. You can't wait for him any more.' I told them everything Pan had said in the crystal cavern.

'B-but you're saying the lost god spoke to you,' Leneus spluttered. 'And—to a Cyclops? That's—that's insane! Unimaginable!'

'It's true,' Percy insisted. 'And it was Grover who led us there. Grover never gave up looking, even when you threatened him and told him to stop. Pan was waiting for him all along. He appointed him to carry his message.'

'Master Underwood, the emissary of Pan?' Marion scorned.

'You heard him at the battle!' Juniper joined us in the circle. 'That cry. He chased all the monsters away.'

There were murmurs of agreement from the crowd. A few satyrs tried to describe the noise. One dryad even clamped her hands over her ears at the memory of it.

'It was panic,' Juniper said proudly. 'Grover summoned the power of the wild god.'

Chiron explained the origin of the word, from Pan's ancient battle cry in the first Titan war. Now it had served us again, and it was Grover who had unleashed it.

Grover, in whose soul the spirit of the wild now resided.

Silenus wouldn't listen. He cast around for any reason to explain Grover's power other than the simple truth. I realised he didn't want to believe it. None of the older satyrs did. They kept grumbling while Grover tried to explain Pan's missive.

They were comfortable. Believing that Pan might one day return to save them relieved them of the responsibility to lift their own fat fingers to save the wild. If they accepted that Pan was gone, they would have to act.

'Who would believe this ridiculous young satyr anyway?' Silenus exclaimed.

Then someone unexpected spoke up for Grover—'I would.'

Mr D was back. In his stiffly-ironed black suit, he was more dapper than I'd ever seen him. His hair was actually combed and neatly parted. He could have been heading for a board meeting. Or possibly a funeral, from the look on his face. It was strange to think of Mr D grieving for anything (except maybe a lack of wine) but he was obviously stricken.

Of course. Castor was—had been—his son. The gods rarely showed affection, but I guess Mr D did care.

With a wave of his hands, Mr D created a fourth throne out of grapevines and sat heavily in it. The satyrs in the circle nearly fell over each other bowing and rushing to bring him food and drink. Mr D took a long sip of Diet Coke before he announced the terrible news: the minor gods had defected.

'Morpheus has gone over to the enemy. Hecate, Janus, and Nemesis, as well.'

Janus. I shivered. When had he revolted? Had he already been a tool of the Titans when we'd met in the Labyrinth? I wanted to believe that his challenges, the choices he'd taunted me with, were nothing but a hoax of Kronos's. But with everything that had happened, there was a ring of truth to the gauntlet he'd thrown me.

'Now, I want to hear Grover's story,' Mr D said. 'Again, from the top.'

He silenced all protests with a thinly veiled threat and motioned for Grover to proceed.

Grover started from the beginning. He spoke solemnly but earnestly. I was struck by how mature he seemed. There was an almost reverent hush over the clearing as he told the story. He was definitely getting through to his peers. Many of the younger satyrs nodded in acceptance of Grover's mission. The nature spirits stared moony-eyed at him, drinking in his words.

But Silenus, Leneus, and Marion still held out stubbornly for exile. It seemed like their majority vote would still sway the council's decision, until Mr D played his god card. 'A god's vote counts twice,' he said, bringing them to a tie.

'The council cannot stand at an impasse!' Silenus protested.

Mr D's eyes flashed dangerously. 'Then let it be dissolved! I don't care.'

I didn't know why he was on Grover's side. Maybe he recognised the spirit of his fellow god speaking through Grover. Maybe he realised that the council was no longer effective. Maybe he was trying to tell us that we all had to step up and make our own decisions.

We had to stop waiting for a hero to step in.

It was time to grow up.

Apollo cabin led the campfire singalong that night. It sounds cavalier, but after our day of tearful goodbyes, painful clean-up, and harsh truths, I understood. There had been enough death. Those of us left had to carry on living, even if it meant just going through the motions at first.

Halfway through I Saw Three Triremes, Clarisse appeared at the amphitheatre, leading Chris Rodriguez by the hand. He looked too pale and too skinny, but for the first time all year, his eyes were lucid and clear.

Clarisse caught my eye and grinned broadly. She looked even happier than the time her dad had awarded her with her electric spear, Maimer. I tried to return her smile, but the muscles of my cheeks felt strained.

Clarisse had saved her oldest friend. I, on the other hand …

I tossed my marshmallow into the fire, no longer hungry. The flames were the colour of Luke's new eyes, hard gold and timeless, full of an ancient, evil force. I remembered the sluggish slowing of time on Mount Othrys, the overwhelming power radiating from Luke, the same way Grover had produced the power of Pan.

I took out my dagger and ran my thumb along the flat of the blade.

Was Percy right? Was Luke gone for good?

'What are you thinking about?' Percy appeared behind me. I hadn't even noticed him missing from the campfire.

I sheathed my dagger. 'Nothing.'

'Nico's gone,' he said after a moment.

'He is?'

'I followed him out into the woods. He was saying goodbye to Bianca.'

'Oh.' It seemed like forever since we'd summoned her. 'Is he okay?'

'I hope so. He wouldn't say. He said he didn't belong … there wasn't a cabin for Hades.'

My head turned automatically towards the green, where the twelve god cabins stood in the twilight. Hermes was the least eye-catching of the twelve, but it stood out to me now. All those demigods in Luke's army—were they all the unclaimed and abandoned?

'We need to do something about that,' I murmured. 'Kronos got to too many of them that way.'

'Like Ethan Nakamura. He's the son of Nemesis.'

Ethan was a claimed demigod, then … nevertheless, one who chafed at having nowhere he belonged. How many of the unclaimed were actually children of the gods whom we had never honoured here?

'About Kronos …' Percy hesitated, and I knew he was going to ask about Luke.

'Don't,' I said sharply. 'Please—let's not talk about it.'

'Annabeth …'

'Not now, okay?'

Percy sighed. Michael Yew started up a new song on his lyre. After a few stanzas, Percy got up and went over to Tyson, who was clapping along next to Beckendorf, Silena, and the Hephaestus cabin.

I caught sight of Mr D by the entrance of the amphitheatre. He was hovering a few inches above the ground, his arms crossed and the usual bored expression on his face. He hadn't changed out of his suit yet.

I left the campfire and approached him.

He surveyed me with displeasure. 'Amelia Cartwright.'

I ignored his mangling of my name and forged ahead. 'Sir, you're married to Ariadne, right?'

His annoyance turned to curiosity. 'Indeed.'

'Do you know if—do you think I could … speak to her?'

'Whatever for? You obviously don't need her string any more. The Labyrinth no longer exists.'

'It's not that. I just—I know about her brother. I wanted to know if she ever regretted it. Leading Theseus through the Labyrinth, I mean.'

Mr D stared at me. I thought he was going to tell me to go back to the campfire, but instead he said, 'Walk with me, Annabeth Chase.'

We started a slow circle around the amphitheatre. It was weird walking beside him. Unlike my mother, who'd walked me to her chariot at the start of summer, Mr D's feet never touched the ground.

'You know Theseus abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos after they fled from Crete,' Mr D said.

'Yes sir,' I began, but Mr D shot me a look. I shut my mouth.

'She was heartbroken when I found her. It was only a few centuries later that she admitted she was the one who … ah, what's the term you teenagers use these days? Broke up? No—she dumped him.'

'Because he killed her brother?'

'Because she chose him.'

Confused, I stopped walking. Mr D kept going. I had to run to catch up to him.

'She made a choice. Theseus would never have slain the Minotaur if she hadn't reminded her brother of who he used to be. It was a necessary decision—it freed his spirit. He'd been trapped in the Labyrinth as Minos's tool for too long. It was a fate worse than death. All the same, it was a long time before Ariadne forgave herself for choosing Theseus over her brother.' Mr D shrugged. 'Worked out for me.'

'So the Minotaur—the one Percy killed …'

'Is the original monster. But the spirit of Asterion resides in the Underworld. I suppose so, anyway. Ariadne likes to think so, but I don't think she ever checked with my uncle Hades. I'm not sure she dares to. She might find out she never knew her brother as well as she likes to think she did.' He eyed me carefully. 'But that's not what you're asking, is it? You want to know what will become of that friend of yours. The boy whose body plays host to Lord Kronos.'

I inhaled sharply. 'Please.'

'It should not be possible,' Mr D admitted. 'A god in a mortal's body? He should have become a pile of ashes the moment Kronos attempted it. Like my poor mother, when she looked upon Zeus in his true form. But perhaps Kronos has given up some of his power, reduced himself to accommodate the weakness of a mortal body. At any rate, he has certainly achieved a material form.'

'So you're saying … Luke is gone.' I thought of his eyes, flickering blue after Rachel had thrown her hairbrush at him. Was that the last time I'd ever see him?

'Oh, Hades if I know,' Mr D said. 'You'll just have to decide for yourself.'

It wasn't really an answer. But if Mr D couldn't say with any certainty that Luke wasn't still there, under everything, then I wouldn't given up hope that he was.

'Do you know what madness is, child?' Mr D asked.

I shook my head, nonplussed by the change in subject.

'It is a disconnection from who you really are. A loss of your true identity. Sometimes all it takes to reverse it is to find the thread that grounds your mortal soul. An object, a memory … even a person.'

We were back at the entrance to the amphitheatre. The campers were finishing up their last song, swaying in time to the music. I could see Clarisse sitting with Chris, their hands touching behind their backs.

'The mind is a convoluted maze. If you believe you can lead this lad out of his folly, good for you. But if I were you, I wouldn't go in without—well, a string. Otherwise you could very well lose yourself in the process. Do you know what anchors you?'

My eyes searched the crowd instinctively. They landed on the messy black head laughing with Tyson in the light of the fire.

'Think about that, Aurelia Carey,' Mr D said. He glided into the circle of campers and took a seat next to his son, Pollux, who was trying bravely to warble along with the others. And although they didn't touch or speak to each other, I thought they both looked comforted by the other's presence.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

A/N: I have taken great liberty with the story of Ariadne, Theseus, and the Minotaur. There is little from the original myths about what sort of relationship Ariadne might have had with her family, or indeed her half-brother. In fact, timeline-wise, mythology isn't entirely consistent on when she might have been born within the whole saga, except that she obviously would have been in her teens when Theseus came along. The version I've chosen to tell here has obviously been embellished to correspond with the theme of this story. I hope it is still convincing, and has added to Annabeth's story, in particular the choices she had to make.

This is the penultimate chapter—I'm wrapping up this fic next week with the final chapter. It's amazing how fast this has gone! And I'm going to try my best to have the next fic ready for you the week right after.

Thank you Hello, CQ816, DreamCatcher06, thatoneguy, Thunderwolf7226, OverLordRevan, Numberfivewithabullet, and Livvi May for stopping by this past week! I think I got to review replies this time ... hopefully I haven't missed anyone out, but if I have, sorry, and please know that I do appreciate your comments greatly; it's just that between getting them in my email inbox and finding a spare moment to log in to the site, I miss stuff. Loads of stuff. *sheepish look*