Percy woke up with a groan. He and Thalia had ended up sparring for more than an hour and his muscles ached - along with the bruises Thalia had given him.

Dragging himself to his feet, he stumbled into the shower and let the warm water wash over him. Slowly his aches disappeared, black bruises from spear hits fading to blue and then a dark red as they healed. Thalia hadn't held back, and after the first bout, neither had he. Briefly, he wondered if she was quite as sore and badly bruised as he had been - his abdomen and chest was littered with bruises, and his arms and legs had quite a few themselves.

The life of a demigod wasn't always sunshine and roses, but there were definitely perks. A shower being able to heal most of the problems Percy would encounter was certainly one of the nicest perks he'd encountered in the realm of demigods.

As he cleaned himself, Percy wondered how Annabeth was doing. After sparring, he and Thalia had gone to see her, but she'd been passed out in the infirmary bed again. Which Percy supposed was understandable. Would she be awake again today? Would she be up and about? Would she still be a little awkward?

He'd find out after breakfast, Percy decided. For now, he was starving.

When he arrived at the pavilion, there was a considerable commotion and quite a bit of chattering. Lee Fletcher, of the Apollo cabin, was speaking with Chiron about the monster his patrol had encountered the previous night. An Aethiopian drakon, apparently, had been prowling the borders of Camp, searching for an entryway.

"You did well, Lee, even if the drakon remains. We must remain calm, but equally, remain alert. This will not be the last monster we see prowling at our borders," Chiron said, clapping the teen on his shoulder.

Quintus, seated next to Chiron at the head table, nodded sagely. "It will happen again - and it will become more and more common." The swordsman rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "This is a good reason for some new war games - we'll see how you all do with that tonight. I've cooked up something special."

More murmuring from the cabin tables. Meanwhile, Percy wondered quietly about what the presence of these monsters meant about the strength of Luke's army. It would be naive to pretend that the increased presence of monsters was nothing to do with the rising of Kronos - searching for a chink in the Camp's defenses, a way to eliminate any advantage the gods could muster.

"Yes, well," Chiron said. "Enough announcements. Let us bless this meal and eat." He raised his goblet with a smile. "To the gods!"

The camp echoed the chorus and made their sacrifices at the braziers in turns. When Percy got there, he muttered a quick prayer to Poseidon, asking for help with general things, and a quick thanks to Hecate. He was still alive, and she had given him some kick-ass new powers, so he figured she deserved the occasional slice of toast.

Then he settled in next to Tyson at the Poseidon table and chowed down.

He hadn't been expecting Annabeth to sit down next to him, or for Thalia to join her and sit across the table from him, but he wasn't complaining. Annabeth took her seat on the bench uneasily, slowly, as though she had gone twelve rounds with an Olympic heavyweight, and Percy supposed that wasn't too far off. Thalia moved with discomfort also, clearly still bruised and sore from the sparring. Percy sent her a sly grin and stretched luxuriantly.

She hit him in the face with a spoonful of fruit and he spluttered.

Chiron trotted over, Grover in tow, to greet them. "I am glad to see you out and about, Annabeth," said the centaur as he arrived at the Poseidon table. "I suppose I should remind you all that you are encouraged to sit at your own cabin's table, but since it is not strictly a rule, and as there seem to be no godly objections…" he trailed off with a worried glance at the sky. When no thunder or clouds came, he continued. "I have brought Grover in the hopes that you could… discuss certain matters with him."

The satyr looked positively miserable at the prospect, and grumbled into his canned peaches - which he was eating whole, can and all.

"Anyways, I'll be off," said the teacher of heroes. "I'll see you all later in the day." With a meaningful look at Grover, he trotted off, leaving the confused gaggle of demigods looking to their satyr friend for explanation. Tyson, meanwhile, stood up with an awkward explanation.

"I will go… polish… fish ponies."

Leaving his breakfast half eaten, the cyclops shuffled off, still uneasy around Grover and his hooves. Watching him go, Percy almost followed - but he knew that Tyson would be okay, and that he needed to know what was going on with Grover and the general unease in Camp.

"What was that about?" Annabeth asked, clearing her throat when she heard just how gravely her voice still was. She shivered slightly and shifted closer to Percy almost unconsciously. "What's going on, Grover?"

The satyr wiggled and grabbed a spoon off the table. Gnawing nervously on one end, he looked around at his friends and sighed. "He wants you to convince me," Grover answered reluctantly. "There's only one way I can come up with to search far enough to maybe find Pan in a week."

The table waited with bated breath.

"The Labyrinth," he continued. Annabeth gasped. "Clarisse has been investigating for a while, with the help of some Athena kids."

Annabeth didn't seem super enthused at the concept. "You mean, the Labyrinth? Like, Minotaur, Daedalus, King Minos? The Labyrinth?" She sat up straighter, breakfast and body aches forgotten. "What do you mean, 'investigating?' What's been happening?"

Grover coughed.

"You remember that secret mission that Clarisse went on last year for Chiron?" When the table nodded, he continued. "Well, it turns out that Chris Rodriguez appeared in Phoenix. Next to Clarisse's house. Absolutely Looney-Tunes crazy. Babbling about string in full Greek armor in hundred-twenty degree weather."

Thalia coughed. "The guy from Hermes Cabin?"

Grover nodded. "Yeah, driven completely insane by the Labyrinth. All we managed to get out of him was that Luke and his men are exploring the maze. Chiron had to bring him back to keep the mortals from institutionalizing him. So, long story short - there's a magical maze under the US that drives you crazy and that may be the only chance I have to find the Great God Pan."

Well, that sucked. Percy said as much.

Thalia, however, had a different problem in mind. "Wait, hang on. If Luke can figure out navigating the maze, he could bring armies anywhere the maze lead. He could bring as many as he wanted, wherever he wanted, without us knowing."

"It's worse than that," Annabeth said. "Daedalus was a genius. He figured out how to make the maze bend space. And there are entrances all over the nation. He could move his army anywhere at incredible speed."

Percy shook his head. "But it's a maze, right? Like a supernatural maze. It can't be navigated."

Grover agreed. "A supernatural maze full of dead ends and horrible traps. Goat-killing psychotic monsters. Underground beasts." He paused for effect. "Rabbits. Big, mean, celery-stealing rabbits."

Annabeth looked at him a little strangely. "What about Ariadne's string? Theseus was guided out of the maze by Ariadne's ball of string, itself invented by Daedalus. If Luke wants to navigate the maze, all he'd have to do is find that tool and figure out how to use it."

"And Chris Rodriguez was mumbling about string," Grover completed.

"So Luke is trying to find Ariadne's string," Percy said. "Why? To what end? There aren't any entrances to the Labyrinth in Camp, right? However smart Dodecahedron was-"

"Daedalus!" Chorused the table.

"Daedalus, whatever," Percy continued. "He didn't make a maze that can go anywhere, surely. If it operates like a monster, it couldn't get past the barrier, right?"

"Clarisse found some entrances in Manhattan," Grover explained, "but all the research the Athena kids did came up with nothing much. It could be like a monster, that can't come in - or it could not, and then who knows?"

That thought lingered heavily over the table.

Percy didn't really like the image of a secret entrance to an immortal, continent-spanning, space-bending maze appearing in Camp and spewing forth an armada of monsters on an unsuspecting, sleeping group of defenseless half-bloods.

Thalia looked similarly unhappy, and Annabeth pushed away her breakfast.

Then, Thalia spoke up. "Hang on, Grove. While this is all very important and worrying, what does it have to do with you?"

"I think," said the satyr quietly, "that Pan is underground. In the Labyrinth. That's why no satyr has ever found him. No self-respecting goat would go underground."

It made sense, Percy supposed. Being underground was bad enough in the first place - throw in being a nature spirit whose life revolved around frolicking in fields, playing in sunshine and flowers, and chugging coffee, and suddenly it's a revolting prospect to confine yourself to a place where none of those things are possible.

"But this could be your last chance," Percy realized. "The council gave you one more week of your searcher's license. If you could use the Labyrinth, make it work for you, find Pan with it-"

"But I can't!" Grover said miserably. "I have to, but I can't do it. You remember what I was like in Polyphemus's cave, Percy. Imagine how bad it would be for me in the Labyrinth. I should just learn to tap dance now, and get it over with."

Thalia rubbed Grover on the back. "Hey, Goat Boy. We'll figure something out." He looked at her dubiously, but she met his gaze levelly. "We're here for you. We can help."

"I have to go," Grover said eventually. "Juniper is waiting for me. It's a good thing she finds cowards attractive."

The satyr trotted off, leaving behind a half-eaten spoon and the last remnants of what had been Percy's fork. Percy remembered the Grover from the day before - clearly scared, but knowing that the Labyrinth was an option, perhaps a necessity. It seemed like Grover had put a lot of thought into the maze - and that he didn't like the possibilities.

After breakfast, Annabeth made some excuses and rushed off to her cabin in order to do some research on the Labyrinth. Thalia wandered off to go find Chiron and ask him something. That left Percy bored and alone - so, after a quick trip to hang out with Blackjack for a while, he found himself hanging out at the lake, sunbathing shirtless and watching the naiads play as a pegasus riding class turned circles overhead.

"Hey, Percy!"

Percy almost leapt into the air, spinning around to face the unexpected voice.

It was Nico di Angelo, running over. Weird.

"Hi, Nico," Percy said, a little awkwardly. "How have you been?"

He half expected the young boy to launch into a massive, enthusiastic tirade about how cool everything was, or alternately about how lame it all was - but instead, he got a quiet smile and a shrug. "It's pretty cool here, I guess," Nico said. "But I miss Bianca a lot."

"Hey, I'm sorry," Percy said. "Your sister seems pretty cool."

Nico's smile soured slightly, but he nodded. "Yeah, she is. I wish she hadn't joined the Hunters, but…" He shrugged. "If she's happy, then I'm happy."

Percy nodded, patting the dock next to him as an invitation for Nico to sit down. When the boy did, he followed Percy's lead and pulled off his shoes and socks, dipping his feet into the lake's placid waters. Percy let the silence hang, but it wasn't too awkward - it was simply that neither of them had a topic to talk about, rather than that they didn't want to. Percy was also surprised by how mature Nico was being about Bianca leaving him behind - but demigods grew up fast.

"So what's death like?" Nico blurted out.

Percy coughed.

"I mean, uh," Nico tried to recover. "Well, what I was trying to say is…"

"Nah, don't worry about it, Nico," Percy said. It was a question that had come out of nowhere, but it was a good question. He probably would have asked the same thing if he were Nico. "But uh, how did you know about that?"

Nico had the good sense to look guilty, at least, but explained anyways. "Bianca, uh… she told me. When she brought Grover and that mortal girl Rachel back. She felt terrible about the whole thing."

Percy scratched his head. "Um, well, I wasn't really dead. I got lucky and Hecate - she's the goddess of magic and boundaries, among other things - she made me her champion. So I kind of got to cheat death that time. But still - not fun."

Nico looked at Percy in awe. "No way! You're the son of Poseidon and you get to be the champion of a super-cool goddess?" Nico looked down at his hands. "I haven't even been claimed yet."

Percy chuckled, and reached over to pet Nico on the back. "Hey, don't worry so much about it, kiddo. It took me a while to get claimed. It doesn't mean much, I promise." Nico looked reassured somewhat, but Percy made a note to talk to Chiron about it - and Bianca, if he could. "So how are you settling in? Have you made many friends? The Hermes kids were always nice to me when I was staying there."

Nico smiled. "Yeah, I've got a few friends. Will Solace, the son of Apollo who was helping with Annabeth, he's super nice. There are a few others. It's nice being… understood, I guess. You know?"

"Yeah, kiddo," Percy said. "I know."

"I'm not a kiddo!" Nico protested. "I'm only like two years younger than you!"

Percy chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair as the boy continued to protest.

The two talked for a bit about random topics - how Nico was doing in school, what kind of things Hecate wanted from Percy as her champion, what the war games for tonight were going to be - but eventually Nico had to go to an archery class with Chiron (which fortunately Percy had been given an exemption from after sticking Chiron in the hindquarters by accident). And so Percy was left alone on the pier, relaxing.

That is, until somebody blocked the sun that was shining so nicely on him.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a peculiar sight.

A red bikini.

Wearing the swimsuit, standing with her hands on her hips, was a girl with silky curls of red hair cascading over one shoulder.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

"Uh," said Percy intelligently.

"Well, Percy," she said. "When were you going to come say hello? You didn't call last night, and I didn't know when you'd be by camp - that's why I gave you my number yesterday."

Percy sat up more and turned to face her so that he wasn't making awkward eye contact from between her thighs and under her cleavage. Sitting up onto his elbows, he lifted one hand to block the sun from his eyes. "Hey, Rachel. I didn't know you were at Camp. I thought mortals couldn't get in?"

Rachel shrugged, and Percy had to fight to ignore what particularly that did to her anatomy. She took her hair and bundled it into a messy ponytail.

"Chiron figured I could spend summers here, after Bianca brought me back over the winter," she said. "That it would help me stay sane and make sense of the world. Apparently I'm the clearest-sighted mortal he's ever encountered." She stepped up to the pier and bounced on her toes a few times before turning back to face Percy. "You going to come for a swim?"

Percy thought about it. "Sure," he decided. "Could use a break from thinking."

"I didn't think you did much thinking," she teased.

With that, she did a swan dive into the lake. Percy was about to follow her when Thalia and Annabeth walked up behind him.

"Hey Percy, can you come with us to-" Annabeth began.

"What's taking you so long, Percy?" Rachel said as she surfaced from the lake, pushing herself out of the water so that her hips were level with the pier and shaking her hair back away from her face. "Oh, hi Thalia, Annabeth."

"Nevermind," Thalia said icily as she eyed the redhead. "We can see you're busy."

Percy rubbed awkwardly at his hand, subconsciously covering the phone number Rachel had written on it yesterday. "No, guys, I was just hanging out. If it's important I can come help."

Annabeth, too, seemed less than friendly now. "No, no, it's okay. We can figure it out later." She turned on her heel. "Come on Thalia, let's go talk to Quintus."

Thalia marched off next to the blonde, her long black hair flowing behind her. Percy watched them go, uncertain exactly what sin he had committed, and then collapsed backwards off the dock into the lake, resigned to their anger. He'd never figure out women - especially not demigod women.

At dinner, the atmosphere had been frosty - Annabeth and Thalia had returned to their own tables, and didn't so much as glance his way. Percy had a flash of a blonde goddess in a denim jacket, checking her makeup in the backseat of a limousine, promising pain if he crossed her. Maybe he should be nicer to supernatural entities in the future.

After dinner, however, Quintus summoned the campers to the arena in full combat retinue. Empty crates stood around, with curious markings:

Triple G Ranch

FRAGILE

This Side Up

Triple G Ranch NOT Responsible for Customer Maiming or Death Associated with Purchased Products

Well, that was ominous.

Percy was willing to bet that this was Quintus's 'something special,' and also that it wasn't going to be pleasant to fight.

"Right!" Quintus said once the demigods had assembled themselves. "Gather around." Mrs. O'Leary woofed happily and bounded from camper to camper in search of treats or dinner scraps. Her owner watched her with a smile, dressed in black leather and bronze armor. "You will be in teams of two, which have already been pre-selected."

The campers gave a unanimous groan of disappointment.

"You will not switch or trade partners - and you will not complain about your assignment." Quintus said firmly. As if to back him up, Mrs. O'Leary gave an earth-shattering bark as she discovered an abandoned sparring dummy and set about ripping it to shreds. "Your task is simple," continued the man. "Don't die."

The crowd murmured nervously. That didn't bode well.

"Of course, we'll be watching to make sure that you don't - but the monsters are real, and you should treat them as such. You and your partner will be placed at a random spot in the woods." Quintus paused to make sure everyone was listening. "You must slay the monsters which are hunting you. If you wish simply to survive, you can simply escape the woods' boundaries and return to the arena. But for those of you who feel like training a little harder…"

Chiron took over. "One of the six monsters will have a set of laurel wreaths in a box on its back. The other five will have the box, but no wreath. The team which recovers the laurels and reaches the arena first is victorious."

The nervous murmurs turned to rather more excited ones. Demigods weren't shy of challenges - especially when there were bragging rights to be gained. And besides, slaying monsters was what demigods trained for, day in, day out.

"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said, producing a big scroll.

The Stoll brothers were paired up. Beckendorf and Silena formed another team. Annabeth got matched with Nico, which was a bit of a surprise. Clarisse and Will Solace seemed like a team to watch out for - the combination of ranged and close-quarters ability was a dangerous one, and the two got along okay. Surprisingly enough, Rachel was participating - but she'd been assigned a very capable Athena kid, so Percy wasn't too worried.

"Grover Underwood, and Tyson," Quintus said, and then over the immediate protests of both - "And Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace."

Uh oh.

Without even looking her way, Percy could feel Thalia's eyes burning into his skull. When he did face her, her eyes were stormy, and he could have sworn there were sparks jumping around in her irises.

"I swear to God, Percy," she said, storming over. "If you planned this-"

"How would I plan this? Why would I?" He protested immediately. "Quintus made the decisions. Let's just win this and get it over with."

Thalia didn't look happy with that answer, but managed to contain herself when Chiron sent her a stern glance. It seemed that the 'no complaining' rule was being well-enforced.

"Your armor is crooked," Percy said, reaching out to correct it. Thalia begrudgingly allowed him to fix it, then pointedly turned away. "Look, about earlier-"

"Chiron will take you to your start positions," Quintus declared, interrupting Percy. "The horn blast will signal the start."

"Don't worry about it, Kelp Head," she said shortly. "Whatever's going on with you and Rachel, it's not my business."

"But there's nothing going on!" Percy protested. "She's just a friend, I guess. She goes to Goode and I guess she's also at Camp. I didn't even know she was here until she showed up at the pier."

Before Thalia could make what was sure to be a biting retort, Chiron arrived and carried them quickly to a spot deep in the woods. On the trip, there was a bitter silence.

Once the horn blast sounded, they quickly began searching for hints of the monsters' presence in what little light remained. Thalia spotted them first, large pawprints in the mud along a creek bank. But Percy found massive eagle prints just feet away. They exchanged an uneasy glance.

The sound of twigs snapping sent both diving behind the cover of a boulder, but it was just Annabeth and Nico, the latter of whom was rather less stealthy than Annabeth. "This is so cool!" said Nico. "I can't believe we get to fight a griffin!"

"We won't get to fight one if you keep blabbering," Annabeth hissed. "It'll just eat us."

That shut Nico up, and the two walked off somewhat more quietly than they had arrived.

Forging deeper into the woods, Percy and Thalia exchanged uneasy glances. Griffins were dangerous. Half-lion, half-eagle, the beasts were enormously strong and had wicked-sharp claws and beaks. Not fun to fight even one - facing potentially up to six would be rough.

A branch snapped deeper in the woods, and immediately, Thalia and Percy dropped into combat stances, back to back and about four feet apart.

"That's not Annabeth and Nico," Thalia said.

Together, they walked warily towards the noise until they came into a small clearing with a rock pile at the center - Zeus's fist.

"Hey, remember when we played Capture the Flag and Zoe made it up this thing?" Percy asked, then winced as he remembered exactly who had been playing defense for the team.

"Not now, Percy," Thalia whispered. "Behind you."

Stepping into the clearing was a griffin - bigger than any Percy had heard of before. This one was nearly six feet at the shoulder, almost as tall as Percy's entire body. "Right, I'll take point," Percy whispered. "You flank it and-"

He cut himself off. Another griffin had appeared from the opposite side of the clearing. "Shit," Thalia said.

Percy agreed, and when the third one dropped from a tree and began slinking towards the demigods, he said some choice words of his own. "Three? Come on, man." He and Thalia began backing towards the boulder pile, keeping careful watch on each of the beasts.

One lunged at Percy, and he slashed with Riptide. One talon went flying off, and the griffin retreated a pace, limping and giving him the evil eye. Unfortunately, the others took advantage of the commotion to encircle the duo more completely. One leapt to the top of Zeus's fist and began slinking down at them.

"In here," Thalia said, grabbing Percy by the shoulder and pulling him into a gap between two of the boulders. She lead the way as Percy covered their retreat - er, tactical withdrawal - and cursed their lack of awareness. Suddenly, Thalia yelped and snatched Percy's armor, and both were tumbling down into a pit that hadn't existed. Above them, the griffins watched as the hole into which the demigods had fallen closed like a camera's aperture.

Pitch blackness.

Some sparks danced on Thalia's fingers, providing meager light. Percy attempted to summon some flame or similar magic to accomplish the same effect, but his purple flames guttered out and died on his fingertips. "Where the hell are we?" Thalia asked.

Percy shrugged helpfully.

"Can you do the doorway thing?"

Walking carefully towards the dimly illuminated brick wall of the tunnel they were in, Percy reached out and envisioned a doorway to the Big House. He shut his eyes, turned his hand - and walked straight into the wall.

While Thalia guffawed, Percy rubbed his nose and swore. "That's not good," he said. "I can't use any of my magic at all down here."

That shut Thalia up fast.

"So how do we get out of here?" She asked.

"The exit is gone," Percy pointed out. "Let's look at the walls." He had a hunch.

Thalia brightened her sparks, all anger forgotten, and Percy ran his hands along the walls, searching every nook and cranny with his fingertips, until -

"Got it!" He exclaimed victoriously, pressing against the small triangular delta symbol in the wall. "The mark of Daedalus." Above them, the aperture opened, much darker than previous. Stars blazed overhead. Metal ladder rungs carved themselves into the brick wall, leading up.

"How did you know to do that?" Thalia asked.

Percy sent her a grin. "Annabeth wouldn't shut up about this place for like, a month," he said. "She mentioned that every entrance was marked like that, on the inside and the outside."

"Wait, is this the Labyrinth?" Thalia asked with trepidation.

Above them, Tyson bellowed their names in the distance.

Glancing at each other, they shrugged and climbed up the ladder, finding a group of campers, lead by Annabeth, carrying torches.

"Where the hell were you two?" Annabeth demanded. "We've been looking forever."

"We were only gone for a few minutes," Thalia said. "We fell in a hole."

None of the others were buying it.

"There were three griffins after us, so we ducked into the rocks. But we fell down a hole, and had to find our way back out. It only took a minute."

"You were gone for nearly an hour," Chiron corrected. "The game is over."

"Perhaps," Percy said, "we could speak about this at the Big House?" He sent Chiron a meaningful glance. "And bring Clarisse and Annabeth."

The centaur nodded thoughtfully, but Clarisse gasped. "No way, you found it? Well, that's not good. Explains what Luke's been after, though."

"Wait, wait, found what?" Annabeth said.

"The entrance to the Labyrinth," Thalia said softly. "An invasion route straight into the heart of Camp."

Howdy. ~4600 words, which is not too shabby, I think. A good natural end, also, which isn't quite as easy to do in these buildup chapters. Still the shortest chapter in a while, but what can you do?

Drama, drama. Rachel comes in too early, the temptress. Nico is still a good kid - but he's got his problems still. Annabeth is coming back, too, but there's a storm brewing - souls are funny things, after all. And Percy's having power problems with the Labyrinth.

I appreciate all the reviews, support, and criticism - it really does help both with my writing and with my motivation. Thanks particularly to those of you who have been regularly reviewing with thoughts on each chapter (CommanderDuck14 and skotos07 among others). Thanks for reading. I'll see you when I see you.