I updated pretty quickly, so I'm kinda proud.

IIII Winter Wolf IIII- I'm working on how they'll come to that part. It'll hopefully happen soon.

hermes child awesomness- Thank you.

ICECREAMROCKS don't dis me- I'm glad you like it. I thought it was kind of weird that they were like demigods, but at the same time they're technically mortal, but I'm glad all of you like it.

Guest- Thanks, and I'll try write that encounter in the next chapter.

Guest (2)- Thank you~

I'm thinking of making a Tumblr for my fics, but I was wondering what you guys think about it. I'm probably going to post like updates and maybe some other short things that I write in my free time. Let me know what you think!

87 reviews until I start writing.

I went through the day without getting into any trouble—if you don't count that time when Atlas caught me roaming around when my toilet decided to clog up on me on some unknown substance. He went "easy" on me and made me mop the floors of the whole entire building, including the other one while he kept making muddy footsteps on the floor.

I tried sneaking out a few times to see Annabeth, but she wouldn't answer the door. Everyone said that they didn't see her come back.

"I don't know what's up with her!" I said, throwing my hands down. "Is it something that I said?"

Grover eyed me warily. "I don't know Perce. Maybe."

I sighed. "I'll go see if she's there in the morning. 'Night."

"'Night."

Grover woke me up the next day bright and early…. Or maybe not so bright, seeing that the freaking sun wasn't up yet.

"Grover!" I complained as he slammed open my door.

"We have stuff to do," he said. "Are you going to go to the Labyrinth in your pajamas like last time, or are you gonna change?"

"I'll change," I said and groggily got up from bed.

I banged my head against the wall a few times trying to find the closet. I was aware of Grover stifling his laugh behind me. I quickly grabbed the first clothes I reached and went in the restroom.

Grover sighed when I came out. "A school uniform won't do it, Perce."

I looked down at my clothes. It was the new uniform that Annabeth had bought me when I ruined mine last time. "Oh. Oh well."

He shook his head. "It has pockets, right?"

"Pockets? Yeah," I said. I reached inside and felt my pen there though I never put it there. Strange.

"Rachel's probably waiting. Let's go," Grover said.

Turns out, Grover was right. Rachel opened the door looking all fresh and clean. She was wearing a white blouse and some jean shorts that were obviously doodled on. Her green eyes sparkled as if the thought of going into a Labyrinth that can get you killed was enjoyable.

"You're late," she said. "It's 5:40."

"No wonder I'm tired," I yawned. Grover kicked me.

Rachel grabbed her purse and made a face at it. "My dad sent it for whatever reason. I don't even talk to him, but my backpack ripped when I kind of… threw it out the window."

I chuckled. "I'm going to go check up on Annabeth and see if she's there. Then we'll go to Daedalus."

Rachel's face fell for a bit, but she immediately recovered so I assumed that I was imagining that. "Alright then. But just so you know, none of us saw her yesterday. Silena stayed up all night to see if she would show, but no luck."

My heart sank. "It's worth a shot."

I knocked on her door. No answer. I knocked again. I ended up kicking her door in frustration.

"Percy?" Rachel said, lightly touching my arm. "We should go. If she was there, I'm pretty sure she would've woken up by now."

I looked down at my feet. "Yeah, you're right. I'm just being stupid."

I shuffled away from her door to Daedalus's lab.

"You're here early," he said, taking a swig of his coffee. "There's more coffee over there if you'd like."

"Coffee!" Grover said, and rushed over. Rachel smiled and went to go get one of her own.

"Okay, I think I have this right," Daedalus said. He instructed me to sit in the seat. "Grover, you come here too."

"M-me?" he stuttered, nearly dropping his coffee.

"It won't hurt," Daedalus promised. "Rachel, I'm sorry, but I don't have one of these made for you. I assumed that the other girl was coming."

"Oh, it's fine," she said, seeming relieved.

"Arms out," he instructed, and I did so naturally, but Grover was trembling.

"It's fine, man," I said. That's when the needle hit me.

I heard a big wave from the ocean along with the little lapping sounds of a creek. I saw a huge waterfall, and it changed to a scene to a beach. I breathed in and smelled the salt from the ocean spray. I felt my legs get wet as I went in the ocean. I went up to my waist, then floom! I was underwater, but everything felt cool. I let the water overtake me, and I opened my eyes.

"Good, good," Daedalus nodded. "Rachel, pass me that cup of water please."

Rachel did obediently as he asked.

"Okay, Percy. I want you to concentrate," he said. "Concentrate on the water and imagine that you're… lifting it like you might carry a stack of books."

"Um, okay," I said.

I stared at the cup of eater, imagining it as a sphere above the cup. I felt a weird feeling in my gut, and the water rose out of the cup in a sphere.

"That's amazing," Rachel said.

Grover nodded in awe.

"It might be a bit hard to control at first," Daedalus said. "But you'll get the hang of it."

I nodded, a bit shaken up by the new powers. How did Daedalus make these?

"As for you, Grover, you're going to have to find out along the way," he said. "It's simple and not very complex. But I believe your power will help. And these are a gift."

He gave him a set of… were those reed pipes?

"I have a few songs for you here," he muttered, giving him some sheets of paper. "You'll be a natural. They all have different effects, so be careful."

Grover nodded. "But how will we find the entrance to the Labyrinth?"

"Daedalus talked to me about it while you guys were knocked out," Rachel said casually as if us bring knocked out was an everyday thing. "We did some tests, and turns out that I have something that Daedalus calls clear sight. It's hard to explain, but I can lead you, but I might not be of much help other than that."

"It's fine," I said. "Thanks for everything."

Daedalus gave me a slight smile as we left.

"So where do we go?" I asked.

"Someplace that isn't here," she said, and led us down to the first floor.

The school was eerie. I never thought about how deadly quiet the school could be. I flinched every time I heard a noise. To my dismay, Rachel led us to the girls' restroom.

"There is no way the entrance will be there," I laughed.

"Want to bet?" she smirked.

"I'll bet you a batch of my mom's chocolate chip cookies if we ever get out of here."

"Sounds good to me," she shrugged.

We reluctantly followed her into the restroom, and she proudly motioned to the glowing Delta sign on the floor of one of the stalls.

"Wow," Grover said.

Rachel smiled smugly. "I guess you owe me a batch of cookies now."

I rolled my eyes and she shoved me playfully. I stepped on the tile with the Delta on it, and it slid open into a bigger opening. I fell screaming.

Then I landed on my butt ungracefully. "Ow!"

"Percy!" Grover yelled. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I called. "I think it's sort of like a slide but I just had rotten luck. Come on down!"
They jumped, and I heard them scream as they came down. Rachel landed on top of me making me groan.

"Sorry," she grinned. "So this is the Labyrinth?"

The ceiling rumbled to a close on top of us, leaving us in darkness. Rachel rummaged in her purse and pulled out a flashlight.

"Well, you came prepared," Grover said.

"Of course," she said. "So what's our destination?"

"Um… New York, but not in this school?" I said.

Rachel laughed. "Alright then. This way. Don't blame me if we end up in another bathroom!"

I sighed and Rachel marched in front of us leading the way. She was amazing. She didn't even hesitate at the forks.

"We need to pass by the center," Rachel said. "But there's this bad feeling…."

"It's fine," I said. "Keep on going. We'll have to pass by it some time."

Grover shook his head. "I smell something weird."

"Yeah, this whole place smells like public restrooms," I said.

"No. Like worse than that. I can't explain it," he said.

"We'll just deal with whatever comes our way," I shrugged. "Keep on going."

We reached a blue cylinder with a door on it.

"This place?" I said. I tried to move forward, but my legs stayed frozen in place.

Rachel nodded. "And we can't turn back around."

"Yes, that's true," some said from behind us, and Grover yelped.

There was a lady on fire—or her hair was on fire anyway. She looked like a vampire until you looked at her legs. One was a goat leg and the other was a bronze leg. I almost passed out.

"On you go," she said. She protruded a spear from nowhere and pointed at us.

I gulped and we walked on inside.

Inside was a huge arena, crowded with monsters. I guessed they moved them here after I kind of wrecked their building. In the center, a boy a few years younger than me was fighting against a hellhound. As I watched, the hellhound leaped on him and he screamed. When the hellhound jumped off, he was nowhere to be seen.

The crowd cheered.

Rage ran through my blood. How could they find this entertaining? Killing people?

"Sit," she said shoved us onto the ground. Rachel landed on top of me again.

"Is this going to be a common thing?" I smirked.

She rolled her eyes. "You wish."

I saw a huge man with wave tattoos all over his body sitting with Luke at the top of the stage. Luke saw me and grinned. I clenched my fists. How could Annabeth like this guy?

"That was a good show," Luke said loudly, clapping his hands. "Now my Lord Antaeus, I have a good contestant for you." He looked down at me with his cold blue eyes. "Percy Jackson."

Apparently the monsters have heard my name before because they started throwing rocks, spitballs, tomatoes, and anything else they could find.

Antaeus just nodded. "Send him out."

A bulky giant at least seven feet tall picked me up and threw me into the center of the arena. I landed hard on my left leg, and tripped. The crowd laughed. Rachel and Grover were looking at me, fear clearly shown in their eyes.

"Send in the next contestant," Antaeus boomed.

The door on the other side opened, and I gasped. Annabeth stepped in with mud and grime covering her face. Her eyes looked like a hungry wolf's. Her hair was a bit uneven on the ends as if she got an unexpected haircut.

"Fight!"

Annabeth unsheathed her dagger, and I instinctively uncapped my pen. Annabeth came at me and slashed at me with her dagger. I caught her strike on the hilt of my sword.

"Annabeth, what are you doing?" I said.

"Fighting you, what does it look like," she growled, and kicked my bad leg.

I winced and fell on one knee. She tried to attack me again, but I rolled and parried. The monsters roared, wanting a more interesting show.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked as I parried another strike.

She froze for a second, and I used that chance to disarm her. Her knife skidded against the floor. "That's none of your business."

"Yes it is. You're one of my best friends, and that makes it my business on why you want to kill me," I said.

"Boo! Less talk, more fighting!" a shrill voice said. The others joined in and started throwing more things.

"You got her disarmed, Jackson," Luke called. "Are you a coward? Do you not know how to kill somebody?"

Annabeth gave Luke a glare, but I could see the insecurity below her anger. I pointed my sword at her, but she didn't react. "I know you can't kill me."

I knew she was right. How could I? I lowered my sword, and Annabeth hit my hand, making me drop the sword. She flipped me over her shoulder and planted one knee on my chest. She looked up at Antaeus who gave her a thumbs down sign.

Her eyes moved back and forth between me and Luke, and I felt her trembling. I looked at Grover, hoping he could cause a distraction.

He met my eyes and pulled out his pipes. He started playing a little jig, and vines starting to grow on the ceiling, bringing it down. The monsters started panicking and running each other over.

"Come on Annabeth, we'll get out of here," I said. "Together."

I pried her off me and gave her dagger back. My sword returned to my pocket in pen form.

"Percy, it's this exit!" Rachel said.

I nodded. "You go first. I'll catch up."

She gave me a doubtful look, but ran out with Grover.

"Come on, let's go," I said, but Annabeth shook her head.

"The monsters are going to regroup," she said, and her expression became hard. "I'll distract them while you go with Rachel."

"No, wait, Annabeth!" I said, but she started shoving me out the door.

"They're coming. So hurry," she said.

"Annabeth," I said, looking back at her once more. "Stay safe."

Her expression softened a bit and a small smile graced her features. "I'll try."

She slammed the doors behind me, and I heard her lock it so that I didn't try to come back. Sometimes she was too smart for her own good.

"Percy! We need to leave now," Rachel said. "The ground and ceiling are unstable. Hurry!"

Grover gave me a curious look, and we ran off, not thinking about any place in particular. Instead, I found myself thinking of Annabeth as we ran for our lives.