Chapter 54

Kelli Gets a Pet

I expected to have to lead the way through the fortress, but Kate actually walked ahead of me. Maybe Luke had a secret talent for tour guiding. Every time we got to a corner she took the right path calmly and confidently, without hesitation.

Honestly, if I had been leading the way I would've been tempted to ditch her. She wasn't insulting like she was with Victoria – that must've been a personal dislike – but she never stayed quiet. So, so many questions.

"Say you were on train tracks, in a tunnel, and you found a group of stranded chicks too young to fly. The train is coming. Would you try to carry them to safety, or leave them to run faster?"

"Not walk down a tunnel with a train coming in the first place."

"What if you entered an ice cream shop and they told you they were out of vanilla, then served the boy behind you three scoops of it?"

"Dunno. Get angry, I guess."

Her eyes sparked. "And if, when you go to confront them, you discover that the boy is an orphan?"

"Is there a point to this?"

"Huh," she said contemplatively. "What a fascinating answer."

All in all, I'd never been happier to see the Bronze Regiment base's stairwell.

We were the last ones there, everyone else already gathered around the meeting table. Yeah, you heard that right. We had a meeting table now. Since I first saw the room, things had upgraded.

There was the obvious stuff, like the skylight Daedalus used to fix the hole in the ceiling, but that wasn't all. Turns out the regiments had budgets. Winning the competition earned us a bonus, and most of it had gone to the dining room style table that was set up against one wall, off to the side. Missions felt more official when Victoria could hand over the details across a real table, and it sure came in handy during rare times like now, when the whole regiment needed to meet. All of us could just about fit, provided we rubbed shoulders.

"So," I said, sliding into one of four empty seats, Bianca on one side and Alyssa on the other. "I hear we've got a mission."

The mood around the table didn't seem great. It wasn't that people were crying their eyes out or staring at the ground or anything, just an atmosphere. Things were tense. Serious.

Victoria cleared her throat. "Everyone's here. Good. I don't expect I have to explain what this is about?"

"The Panhellenic Games." Emmitt leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table. "It's gotta be those, right?"

"Correct. As of last night, all regiments were placed on alert. As of an hour ago, we got confirmation. This will be a joint operation— two from the Iron Regiment, two from the Gold Regiment, and finally, as the regiment with the most members on-base, four from ours."

"Four of us?" Alyssa squeaked.

The mousy girl was suddenly looking up and down the table with a lot more interest. I could understand why. Not everyone in the regiment liked to fight, and some — like her — actively avoided dangerous missions. Vera wouldn't want to go, and Aurora flat-out couldn't. John and Lucas were already on a mission. That didn't leave a lot of options.

"I'm going," Bianca said. She scanned the room, daring anybody to tell her differently. Luckily no one cared to.

"Me too," I said. "Honestly, I don't even think I've got much of a choice…"

It wasn't only about helping Bianca catch Minos. Mark was going to be leading whoever we sent around the Labyrinth, and I was our only expert on both. If the Phonoi's student acted out, I needed to be the one to stop him. I owed Andi that much at least.

"I too will take up this mission."

The words were quiet, and it took me a moment to trace them back to Po. He'd been acting strange since the day before— since the Theoroi's visit, actually. It wasn't limited to storming out at dinner. Most of the time he stayed his same old self, but at times you'd catch him watching a wall gloomily, or totally lost in thought. He even skipped his morning meditation. Still, aside from talking a little quieter than usual, he sounded absolutely set on this.

That may seem like most of the work done. Three out of four was seventy-five percent of the way, after all, and getting there had been pretty painless. Problem was, the three who'd agreed were the obvious choices… the only obvious choices.

Awkward silence hit the table, but before it could go on too long Kate raised her hand.

"I'll go!" she said. "I'm sure I'd be very helpful. I'm a great guide really, especially underground."

"Sorry," I said. "No taking missions until a week after you've joined. It's like a probation period."

It wasn't a real rule, and the way she looked at me made me wonder if she knew that, too. It was still way better than outright saying 'We don't trust you.' And she didn't look mad. More like intrigued.

"Unlucky," she said with a groan, and lowered her hand.

After more awkward silence, Emmitt said, "I could go."

"You sure?" I asked.

"Of course," he said. "Well, it would mean I'd have to pause researching the games. And I couldn't study troop movements for a while. And all of my plants would probably die…" He caught the expressions around the table and rushed on. "I could do it though! I don't mind. Much."

In a way it made sense. Along with Victoria, Bianca, and I, he was the only one who had experience with top secret mega-important missions.

He also discovered, while on the Feat, that he wasn't cut out for that sort of thing. He knew tons, could plan his way out of a drakon nest if you gave him enough time, and had a bunch of neat tricks for communicating long distance, all of which was really impressive but didn't make a great match for being on the frontlines. He knew it. We knew it. The question was if there was a better option.

Apparently, there was.

"You'll be staying here, Emmitt," Victoria said. "I have a different, equally important job for you."

"Oh, okay." Emmitt tilted his head, obviously surprised. "What, uh— What is it?"

"Leading. This regiment, specifically, while I'm gone." She paused a second to let the implication sink in, then pressed on. "We don't need to find a fourth. I'll do it, I'll go. I'm taking this mission on."


The meeting hadn't lasted much longer. Emmitt seemed nervous about being left in charge, but he obviously felt it was safer than a life-or-death mission. Nobody else was going to argue about Victoria leaving the base; they were just happy not to have to go themselves.

I spent a while packing, same as the others, because apparently there was a time crunch. The group was scheduled to leave tomorrow, in the morning. Talk about a fast turnaround.

Only, I hadn't been getting stuff together for long when Emmitt poked his head into the boys' room.

"Percy," he said, "somebody's here for you."

"To see me? Who?"

"Luke."

Oh. Awesome.

I did manage to stop myself from groaning. It wasn't like I could explain to Emmitt why I didn't want to see the guy if he asked.

I found Luke down in the courtyard. He was dressed pretty sharply, a brown V-neck sweater and jeans, like he'd graduated from an Ivy League with a degree in monster comandering.

He didn't say anything when he saw me, just beckoned to follow him. We walked out the front gates, slowly, moving like there wasn't much of a destination in mind.

"I hear you're taking the mission."

I looked away from the dirt fire road that acted like a driveway to Mt. Orthrys. "Was that ever not going to happen?"

"I guess not, no."

As he chuckled, he hung an abrupt right into what I thought at first was just a stretch of woods. I sure didn't see a trail… until I looked closer, and spotted some trampled grass and bushes. An animal path.

"Like it?" Luke asked, leading the way between pine trees and over knee-high yellow-green grass.

I glanced around the woods. It reminded me of The Competition, and I said as much.

"Should bring up good memories then. You won that thing."

"My regiment did," I said. "Not too bad for being full of rejects."

Luke didn't get angry like I thought he might.

"You were right," he said. "I underestimated them. I should've given them more credit, and I realized that way too late. But anyway, that's changed now. It wasn't only because the other regiments were light-handed that we're sending more from yours. We really trust you to get this done."

That was… surprisingly uplifting, honestly. A good reminder, too. For all Luke's faults, being a bad leader wasn't one, at least not when it came to charisma.

We walked a bit further. The pine trees thinned out into a meadow, and I thought we'd get a great view down the mountain except something giant was in the way. Just downhill massive Eucalyptus trees rose into the sky like spears.

Those weren't what caught my eye, though. That was two things: the apple tree, and the singing.

The tree was ginormous, almost the same height as the ancient Eucalyptus and at least four times as wide. It was far enough off that I couldn't make out details, but the shape looked like a fruit tree. Honestly, that guess was kind of cheating. I had seen a replica after all. It was locked away in the Mt. Orthrys Planning Room, positioned in front of the pavilion that Atlas lifted the sky from.

The singing was harder to pin down. Beautiful, definitely. Vaguely opera-like. The notes were wailed and moaned, coming from multiple voices, and nearly flawless, except it was like some tiny piece had been chipped away and that loss was the only thing holding it back from being the best song ever.

"Beautiful, right?"

Luke's voice jolted me back down to Earth. I wasn't sure if I ever would've looked away if I'd been alone, hypnotized by the view and the music. Which was crazy, because usually my ADD didn't let me look one place for longer than a few seconds without getting bored.

"This is Atlas's garden."

"The technical term is The Garden of the Hesperides," Luke said. He took a seat on a stray, relatively flat stone, patting the spot next to him until I took it. "Those are his Nymph daughters. They see to the upkeep while he's, y'know, indisposed. I think they've done a pretty great job. I mean, it looks beautiful. There's a reason I come here whenever I want a bit of privacy."

That was all it took to jar me out of the view. If we were here for privacy, that meant he had something, well, private to tell me. And generally, private meant important.

"What's this about?" I asked. "I mean, what's it really about?"

"I can't have pulled you aside to wish you luck?" Luke asked. "This is an important mission."

I stared at him, unimpressed.

"Right. Sorry, no more wasting time. There's something you should know about this mission. You won't be alone."

"Obviously. There's eight of us going. Nine if you count Mark, plus however many monsters…"

"That isn't what I meant," Luke said. "The Theoroi traveled all over when they went to spread the word. There were at least eight in addition to the one you dealt with, and we know for a fact that a visit was paid to our friends in New York."

It only took a second to understand what he was getting at.

"A quest," I said unhappily. "You think Camp-Half Blood is going to send a quest."

"Going to? They already have. The group left this morning."

I almost asked how he knew before realizing the answer was obvious: spies. Instead I leaned back and thought about what this meant.

"That could be pretty annoying. Just knowing there are enemy demigods out there ready to attack us anytime will change how we do things."

"That depends," Luke said.

"On?"

"How persuasive you can be. The gods realized how important these games could be, and they sent their best. We're going to use that against them."

Luke looked excited— not just a little enthusiastic, but downright eager. I only knew two things that made him that way, and since I didn't see how this could mean beating up Hermes, it only took me a second to realize it was probably about the other option.

"They're sending Thalia," I said slowly.

"And Annabeth. Even better."

"Who's the third?"

"They chose not to bring one, which is perfect! We'll talk to them, help open their eyes."

"We?"

Luke picked up on what I was getting at. He dipped his head, waving his hand.

"I won't be going. No offense, but I have bigger things on my plate than stumbling around the Labyrinth searching for these games… Which is where you come in. Find them. Talk to them. You don't have to tell them everything, just keep them close and avoid starting a fight. And then, when the games are about to end, I'll sweep in with the bulk of our forces and crush anything left over."

I guess my surprise showed, because suddenly Luke was laughing.

"C'mon, Perce, you didn't really think we'd play by these crazy games' rules, did you?"

"Kind of?" I admitted.

He shook his head, still chuckling. "Of course not. That's way too much of a risk. The mission of the group we're sending isn't to win the games— you just need to open the way for our army. How you do it is up to you. Play the games… Or don't. Pick off competitors if you feel like it. We're leaving the details in your hands."

The idea made a lot of sense, enough that I felt kind of dumb for not realizing it sooner. The games were clearly some sort of big competition. We might not have known who was running them, but Nike was involved, which meant there had to be winners and not the participation trophy kind. If there were winners there would also be losers, and it wasn't the Titans' style to risk missing out because of playing fair. What would they lose by crashing the party instead of playing along? Honor?

It did make me wonder something though. What prize did the Titans care so much about that they'd mobilize not just eight demigods, but a whole chunk of their army?

"Why is this so important?" I had to ask. "Not to you, I get that. It's because of Annabeth and Thalia. But what about these games matters so much to Kronos that he's willing to put in all this effort? What makes this different from any other mission?"

"There are forces at play here," Luke said warily. "Ones that are old, powerful—"

"And dangerous," I finished. "Yeah, I know. You said that last time. But you wouldn't actually tell me what they were."

"It's not so simple, Percy. This isn't the sort of stuff you want just anyone overhearing."

"I guess it's a good thing we're talking 'in private' then, huh?"

"Still!" Luke protested. "Some info you don't take chances with. I'm not Prometheus. I know how to keep top secret details actually secret."

In normal circumstances, I would've been all for taking shots at Prometheus. That titan had tried to get me killed, and then lied about it a whole, whole lot. But right now I was too irritated to let even that cheer me up.

"Jeez. It's almost like you don't want me to know."

"That's ridiculous," Luke said immediately. Too quickly. His hand squeezed the edge of the rock by his knee. "You're blowing this out of proportion, getting paranoid. Just focus on the reunion. We should be excited about this!"

In other words, only pay attention to the part he wanted me for. I wasn't certain, but it seemed like he was hiding something not just in general, but from me in particular.

"Okay," I said reluctantly. "I am happy to be seeing the others again. I'll focus on that. It'll be fun."

I only half meant it. Mainly I could see I wouldn't get anywhere by pushing Luke harder, so I let it drop. Slowly, his lips broke into a soft smile.

"That's the spirit," he said. "I'll explain everything, I promise. Just… later. Once things are settled."

After that we didn't linger for long. The conversation was stilted, and a little bit awkward. In the end Luke stood before I could even put together an excuse about needing to go pack. We wound along the animal path, leaving the view of the idyllic garden behind us, footsteps thumping like drums against the wailing, fading singing. Maybe it was only my mood, but I could've sworn the notes sounded mournful compared to when we arrived.


You'd think, with a big scary mission hanging over me, that I would've had a hard time sleeping. Maybe a few ominous dreams, lots of twisting and turning. Instead I slept like a drakon, not stirring until nearly ten A.M. Not bad for a guy about to risk his life.

Of course, since the mission group was supposed to leave at eleven, it did mean I spent the next half hour yanking on clothes and scarfing down a quick breakfast. But I'd take that, compared with a restless night. Sleep was an important part of any balanced demigod schedule.

Once we were geared up and fed, we descended from the Bronze Regiment base. Emmitt, Vera, Alyssa and Kate waved goodbye from the window. Technically Aurora waved too, but I didn't count that since I could see Vera shaking her wrist.

They tried not to show it, but I could tell they were relieved. Other than Kate none of them had wanted anything to do with this mission.

Thinking about it, that was pretty reasonable. If anything we were the weird ones.

It had been a while since I'd been to the Mt. Orthrys Labyrinth entrance, and I'd forgotten how unassuming it was. It looked like, well, a hole. Admittedly a pretty big one, and situated between two boulders close to the peak of the mountain, but that was it. You never would've guessed a hellish murder trap like the Labyrinth lay on the other side.

I might have even missed it if it wasn't for the crowd. I figured some monsters would be sent along, but this was even more than I expected. Fifteen Dracaena geared up in leather armor milled around right by the entrance. Past them were a few scrawny cyclops — relatively, anyway — and even further back stood three Empousai, Kelli at the center of the formation. Mark was next to them, not looking too upset about his bound hands and the leash around his neck, as if Kelli were taking him for a walk. The sight was funny enough that seeing him almost didn't ruin my mood.

A guy and girl in heavy-looking armor approached us as soon as we got there, shaking our hands. Both were stocky and muscular. The boy introduced himself as Angelo, and the girl was Lulu. I almost admitted that I thought only poodles were named that, but she looked like she could bench press three of me so I kept my mouth shut.

"I'm glad to see some friendly faces," Angelo said once introductions were done.

"We count as friendly?" I asked, a little surprised. The last time I'd interacted with the Iron Regiment was the Competition, and back then we'd been trying to bash each other's lights out.

"Sure you do," Angelo agreed easily. "It's all relative anyway."

"And at least with you, we know you aren't fantasizing about eating us," Lulu growled.

"What about the Gold Regiment?" Victoria asked. "Are they not here yet?"

Angelo and Lulu shared a look.

"They are," Angelo said.

"Unfortunately," added Lulu.

I was about to ask what that meant when the crowd of Dracaena shifted, reorganizing, and I caught a glimpse of who was on the other side. Two demigods were there, each leaning against a different tree. One was Kai, the boy who first warned us about the Cloaked Man, standing awkwardly as if he'd rather sink into the Earth than be close to the other demigod… which made sense, because the Gold Regiment's second representative was Nera Ricci.

"Oh," Victoria said quietly.

Nothing else needed to be said. We all understood.

"Still," Angelo said, forcing a grin, "I'm looking forward to working with you. Let's give these games hell."

We chatted a little more, but before long it was departure time. The Dracaena rippled into formation, clearing a path to the entrance. I thought Kelli would march up to the front leading Mark, but before that she cast her eyes around the crowd, looking for something. When she got to me she grinned.

"Percy!" she called excitedly. "You can do the honors!"

"Wow," I mumbled. "I feel so lucky."

I trudged up to the entrance of the cave, Kelli and Mark joining me. The tunnel actually only ran a few feet behind the boulders before becoming solid stone and stopping dead. That didn't fool me. When I got close a little triangle, a miniature Greek Delta, glowed into life.

"How do you make it open?" Kelli asked.

"Simple." I touched the symbol with my fingertips— not hard, just a tap. The solid stone disassembled into panels before retracting into the walls. "It just needs a demigod's touch. They don't even have to know what it is. A goat pushing them into it would be enough to make it work."

"That's… specific," Kelli said. She turned to her prisoner. "How did you get in then?"

Mark had gotten a faraway look in his eyes as soon as the passage opened. He stared into the dark as if reading it like a book.

"Same as anybody," he said distractedly.

"But you aren't a demigod," I pointed out.

"Hm? Ah. Neat thing, that. It's more than just intent the Labyrinth isn't picky about, so long as a demigod touches an entrance it'll open. It doesn't care where the fingers came from. Or if they're still attached…"

Kelli and I both shuddered— me from revulsion, her because it looked like she was getting ideas. After another second of standing there, Mark stepped forward confidently.

"Alright," he said, "That's it, I've got all I need. Follow along, now. It's time to start the fun."


Traveling the Labyrinth was not, in fact, fun.

I expected that, and things still caught me off guard. The last time I'd traveled through it was when moving Daedalus's lab up to Mt. Orthrys, and that had just been a short trip, less than a day. For a trip this long you had to go all the way back to when I was seven, or maybe never. If the games were hard to find this could easily turn into my longest-ever trip in the maze.

Things got off to a great start. Five minutes in a Dracaena tripped a trap and disappeared. I assume she was vaporized, but it's hard to say. A panel in the floor just opened and swallowed her before shutting. Her scream was muffled by the ground, and faded slowly, like she was falling all the way to Tartarus the old-fashioned way.

"Oops," Mark said unrepentantly. "I guess I missed a trap."

Nobody made a big deal out of it. We all knew how dangerous the Labyrinth could be. Except it happened again, and again…

It didn't matter what the area looked like. The wooden tunnel with a creaky floor, like the hull of the world's longest pirate ship? Spears stabbed from between the boards, vaporizing three Dracaena and one of the Cyclops before we were through. How about the stainless-steel passage without grooves or bolts or anything but smooth metal? That one was fine, until it sent a literal boulder rolling down behind us. If we hadn't run for the end we all would've been crushed into paste, instead of just two unlucky, slow Dracaena.

This went on for hours. Not all at once— there were always gaps, forty-five minutes to an hour where nothing happened, just wandering empty dark passages. Then, bam! Someone would trip something or set something off, and a monster would disappear in a puff of dust. I was just glad we hadn't lost any demigods, although it had been close once or twice. Angelo sported a deep gash down his arm from when a spike had fired out of the wall, and if Po were any slower he would've had his head knocked off by a hammer swinging down from the ceiling.

When, in a cobblestone tunnel with a strange dirt floor, poison gas started seeping out of the walls, I'd had enough. As soon as we'd escaped, Bianca collapsing a tunnel behind us to top the gas, I stomped over to Mark.

"What are you trying to do?" I demanded.

After the first few traps went off Mark had been forced to walk at the front of the group. It hadn't changed anything. No traps touched him, but somehow the monsters right behind proved prime targets. It was beyond suspicious.

"Guiding you," Mark said, completely unbothered. "It's a shame we've lost so many. Bad luck. But really, they've no one to blame but themselves for being clumsy."

"Sure. And I bet it's just a coincidence that you're still perfectly fine."

"Of course not," Mark said. "I'm just not as moronic as them."

"You're supposed to be our guide!"

"I'm not sure why you're complaining. Nothing's even brushed you."

I grabbed his shirt collar, pulling him forward in a way that made his red hair bounce. He stared back, unbothered.

"You're doing this on purpose," I accused. "I bet you want to kill us all off. You're crazy enough for it."

"That's funny," Mark said. "'Cause right now, you're the one talking crazy."

Before I could get further he was jerked out of my grip. Kelli had yanked his leash.

"Really now, Percy," Kelli said, disappointment dripping from her voice. "Don't kick up such a fuss. Girls don't like paranoia in a boy."

I sensed that Bianca and Victoria were behind me now, one on either side. Kelli's Empousai subordinates positioned themselves beside her, Mark protected in the middle of them.

"Of course you're on his side," I said. "Your servants are still perfectly fine. What a surprise. Did you plan this out beforehand?"

"I'd watch your words," Kelli warned. "Every demigod is still alive but you don't see me hurling accusations."

"Angelo nearly lost his arm!"

A ripple ran through the remaining monsters— which wasn't many. One cyclops had survived, and we were down to five Dracaena. They seemed confused. Part of them wanted to show good old fashioned monster solidarity and back Kelli. The rest was sick of their friends dying or worried that they'd be next, and were smart enough to recognize I was their best chance at getting out of this.

"I don't see why there's such a fuss. I've got a solution."

Nobody seemed to see Nera until she materialized in the center of things. It wasn't like she was invisible. Shadows just sort of stuck to her when she was standing in them, unless she wanted to be seen.

"I'll give Mark a little poke," she continued. "If he's trying to kill us, it'll be a punishment. If this is really his best effort, maybe a quick nightmare will motivate him to make his best a little better. Everybody wins."

"Except me," Mark pointed out.

Nera shrugged. "Well sure. But I don't think anybody on a leash really gets a say."

"No one will be seeing nightmares today," Kelli said firmly. "And if anybody lays a finger on my toy—"

"At least call me a colleague," Mark mumbled.

"—they will be answering to these." Kelli reached her hand out palm-up, extended claws daring anybody to disagree. After a minute, she backed down. "Tempers have run too high, we'll stop for the day. Mark, I trust you can find an exit?"

"With posthaste, mistress," he said sarcastically. He wasn't lying though, because he immediately set off down the path. The Empousai were the first to follow, but the other monsters fell in quickly.

Nera followed too, but not before meeting my eyes and giving me a quick nod. I blinked, not sure what to make of that. With anybody else it would've been a sign of support, but that just seemed so alien coming from the daughter of Melinoe…

"What is that Mark guy's deal?" Bianca asked, staring after the others.

"He's a serial killer," I said. "And a psychopath. I guess those go together. He learned how to kill from hanging out with spirits of murder, and he'll brag about it any chance you give him."

Bianca's eyebrows shot toward her hair. "And Kelli trusts a guy like that to lead us around?"

"My thoughts exactly."

"C'mon!" Victoria urged, already a few steps down the path the others had taken. "However bad he is, we can't afford to get separated down here."

Reluctantly, with a few traded looks, we followed.

"At least now I know so many souls are clinging to the guy," Bianca muttered quietly.

The exit ended up being closer than expected. We wound down a mostly dirt tunnel that seemed to angle deeper into the Earth, right up until it dead-ended and spat us out in a pine forest.

We didn't lose a single monster along the way. Funny how that worked after I confronted Mark.

Once outside, everyone pitched in to set up camp. We were traveling light. Tents went up for the demigods while monsters curled up on the ground a ways away. Both groups agreed to have someone standing watch. It was safer that way, especially with how our day had ended.

The sun had already been starting to set when we left the Labyrinth, so before long it was totally dark. I offered to take first watch. My argument with Kelli and Mark still had me too angry for sleep.

Nobody was sure where we were. The Labyrinth entrance was an abandoned mine shaft next to a brisk stream, somewhere remote in the mountains. Snow-capped peaks rose on every side, and bits of frost still lined the spots the sun didn't touch. It was cold for Spring, almost enough to make me wish we were sleeping inside the Labyrinth. Only almost, though. There was way worse stuff than a little chill lurking down there.

I settled on a log by the edge of clearing we'd commandeered, bringing out Anthea for light. We had flashlights, but batteries were limited, and between using up the charge in a peaceful forest or down in the Labyrinth, I chose to play it safe.

I'd only been sitting a few minutes when someone joined me on the log.

I shifted to face them, a little surprised. "You should really be sleeping."

Angelo shrugged, before immediately wincing and grasping his shoulder.

"Bad idea," he admitted. "That spear got me good."

"Is it deep?"

"I'll live," he said evasively. He rubbed the spot with a grimace. "Doesn't mean it's not uncomfortable. Every time I think I'm used to it, I go and tweak it some way and all of a sudden the pain's back."

"I get you," I said. "Arm injuries suck."

"Yeah, well, it's what I get for not paying enough attention."

Both of us were quiet for a few seconds, the sounds of the forest filling the air. And snoring, of course. The only remaining Cyclops was giving his best jet engine impression, the noise roaring across the three hundred feet between the camps.

"Listen, I just wanted to say I really appreciate you sticking up for us back there."

I focused back on Angelo. "Don't read too much into it. I just don't trust Mark."

"And you shouldn't. That guy gives me the creeps. But when I was hurt, you stood up for me and tried to keep the rest of us safe. Believe it or not, that means something to people."

I wasn't sure what to say to that, so maybe it was lucky that right then we were interrupted. Then again, I could've done with an interruption that didn't scare me halfway to Hades.

Without warning, a hand grasped my shoulder.

In a second I was on my feet twisting around. There hadn't been any noise, any warning, nothing. Angelo was facing that direction while we talked. He at least should've been able to see someone coming, but he seemed just as surprised as I was.

Fresh out of the forest, staring at me with wide eyes, was John. I hadn't seen him in weeks, not since he and Lucas left on their mission, and yet somehow he was in front of me looking more worried than I'd ever seen him.

"John?" I said. "What are you— How are you here?"

He ignored my question. Casting nervous looks over his shoulder, he eventually stared straight into my eyes.

"Percy," he said seriously. "You have to run."

(-)