Thankfully, the tunnel they'd chosen wasn't nearly as bad as the mind blender that the previous network of passages had been. That was good for Mari, because it gave her much less of a headache. Unfortunately, it meant that the monster on their tails had just as easy a time. Even as they sprinted, the monster followed at a steady pace.

Eventually, they hit a dead end: a huge boulder blocking their path. Mari glanced backwards at the sound of the footsteps still echoing through the corridor. Her heart sped up.

"Tyson," Percy said. "Can you-?"

"Yes!" Tyson slammed his huge shoulders against the boulder, effectively doing double duty as a battering ram. There was a cracking sound from the walls, and parts of the ceiling fell down. Mari had to dodge out of the way of a particularly solid-looking clump of rock.

"Hurry!" Grover swatted off a rock of his own. "Don't bring the roof down, but hurry!"

A few more punches, and the boulder finally loosened, rolling forwards into what looked like a small room. Mari and the others ran in as fast as they could. "Close the entrance!" Annabeth yelled. They all got on one side of the boulder, and pushed with every ounce of their strength. For a second, Mari was terrified it wasn't going to work. Tyson was already tired from pushing the boulder the first time, and he was the strongest of all of them. But, to her immense relief, after a few seconds of heaving, the boulder slowly rolled back into place. The monster behind it let out a frustrated squeak.

"We trapped it." Percy sounded relieved.

"Or ourselves," Grover said.

They were in a small room, made of cement, with a ratty-looking bed in the corner. One wall was made up of metal bars. It gave Mari a horrible second of deja vu - as if she was back on Circe's island, in that gods awful guinea pig room, with the huge missile-proof windows.

"This is a prison cell," Mari whispered.

"What in Hades?" Annabeth tugged on the bars, but they didn't give.

Mari peered out of them. Their cell seemed to be part of a ring of others, all facing towards a barren-looking yard. There were 'floors' above them which were really just metal walkways, each containing yet more cells.

"Okay," said Percy. "Maybe Tyson can break-"

"Sh!" hissed Grover. "Listen!"

A loud, terrified-sounding sobbing filtered through the ceiling above them. It sounded as if someone was begging, but Mari couldn't make out what the words were. Another voice came followed the weeping, a harsh, high rasp. This second voice was speaking a language Mari couldn't understand, but she'd heard it before - Adela had used it in front of her.

"What's that language?" Percy asked.

"I think it's Minoan," said Mari.

"It can't be," Tyson whispered.

"What?" Percy turned towards his brother, but Tyson was too preoccupied to give Percy an answer. He clasped his hands around the prison bars and bent them back, making a horrible SCREECH that echoed through the rest of the complex. The space he left was big enough for all of them to comfortably fit through, and Tyson was already running. They bolted after him, which was harder than it looked. Young as he was, Tyson had big legs. The lights flickered as they ran, like in a horror movie.

"I know this place," Annabeth panted. "It's Alcatraz."

"You were right!" Mari whispered. "Drew told me about that theory you had, when you were little - Annabeth, you're a genius!"

"Alcatraz is that prison on an island near San Francisco, right?" Percy asked.

"Yes." Annabeth nodded. "It's-"

"Freeze!" Grover warned Tyson. They all skidded to a stop behind him, and Mari's breath caught in her throat at the sight in front of her. On the other side of the prison courtyard, on the second-floor balcony, was a hideous monster. Mari had seen some very horrific monsters in her life - Polyphemus, Erysichthon, the literal Aethiopian Drakon... but, somehow, this monster was worse then all of them. Waist up, it had the body of a woman, but the thing's lower half was a dragon. Nine metres long, at least. Dark scales glinted like knives, and the feet ended in wicked-sharp talons. Around the monster's waist, where dragon became human, the monster's skin bubbled like boiling oil. Occasionally, a different animal head would sprout from the flesh, but the faces were doughy, like not quite dried clay. Mari thought that was the worst part, but then she caught sight of the creature's legs. They were covered in snakes - vicious, biting little things, that looked desperate for a piece of flesh to sink their fangs into. Mari shuddered at the thought.

"It's her..." Tyson whispered.

"Get down!" Grover ducked behind a bench, pulling Tyson with him.

The rest of them hid in the shadows, but thankfully the monster wasn't concerned with them. It seemed to be focused on something inside a cell on the balcony. Whatever that something was, it was the source of the sobbing.

"What's she saying?" Percy asked. "What is that language?"

"I told you, it's Minoan," Mari whispered.

"I don't know what that is."

"The tongue of the old times." Tyson's voice shuddered. "The language Mother Earth spoke to the Titans and... her other children. Before the gods."

"You understand it? Can you translate?" Percy asked.

Tyson closed his eyes and started speaking. When his voice came out, it was the same raspy cadence that the monster upstairs was giving off, and Mari almost jumped at the likeness. She'd forgotten Cyclopes could do that - mimic the voices of others to a frightening degree of accuracy. Most Cyclopes used that power to lure demigods to their deaths. One had tried it on Will a couple of months back. Tyson was so sweet that Mari honestly forgot that he had that same ability.

"You will work for the master, or suffer," Tyson's voice rasped.

Tyson's voice became shaky and timid. "I will not serve."

"Then I shall enjoy your pain, Briares." Tyson's monster voice faltered at the name. Mari wasn't sure why. She didn't recognise it, but the name clearly meant something important to Tyson.

"If you thought your first imprisonment was unbearable, you have yet to feel true torment. Think on this until I return."

The monster slunk away from the cell, the leg-snakes hissing on the way. The creature spread leathery bat-wings and soared over the courtyard. Mari swore that some of the snakes saw her and glared as they passed. She crouched closer into the shadows, heart pounding. The thing, whatever it was, flapped violently away and was gone.

"H-h-horrible." Grover shuddered. "I've never smelled any monster that strong."

"Cyclopes' worst nightmare," agreed Tyson. Mari wanted to joke that it couldn't be so bad if it had finally managed to bring Tyson and Grover to agree on something (fear), but then Tyson spoke again. "Kampê."

Oh, gods. Out of all the monsters Chiron had ever lectured them on, and there were a lot, Kampê was almost the worst. The only thing scarier was Python. Tyson gulped, "Every Cyclops knows about her. Stories about her scare us when we're babies. She was our jailer in the bad years."

"I remember now," Annabeth agreed. "When the Titans ruled, they imprisoned Gaia and Ouranos's earlier children - the Cyclopes and the Hekatonkheires."

"What the Hek?" Percy asked.

"The hundred-handed-ones," Annabeth explained. "They called them that because... well, they had a hundred hands. They were the elder brothers of the Cyclopes."

"Very powerful." Tyson nodded. "Wonderful! As tall as the sky. So strong they could break mountains!"

"Cool," said Percy. "Unless you're a mountain."

"Nail care must have been a bloody nightmare," Mari agreed.

"Kampê was the jailer," Tyson continued, "She worked for Kronos. She kept our brothers locked up in Tartarus, torturing them always, until Zeus came. He killed Kampê and freed the Cyclopes and Hundred-handed-ones to help fight against the Titans in the big war."

"And now Kampê is back." Percy frowned.

"Yes. Bad." Tyson cast a fearful look towards the sky where Kampê had flown off.

"I guess we should check it out, before she returns." Annabeth whispered. Mari's chest started knocking again, and she grabbed Annabeth's wrist. "What?" Annabeth turned towards her, confused.

"Bad feeling," Mari whispered.

"Oh, great," Grover bleated.

They all snuck towards the cell (well, tried - Tyson was too big to really sneak anywhere and kept bumping his head on the ceiling, bless him). As they got closer, the sound of crying got louder. Finally, they approached the cell and all peered inside. Mari blinked. She wasn't sure what she'd expected. A warrior in Greek armour with holes for his many, many hands, maybe. She hadn't expected this.

Briares was... a giant baby.

Okay, not literally. But it was a close thing. Briares was wearing a nappy, for crying out loud! (Also, he literally was crying out loud). Looking closer, Mari was pretty sure it was actually a loincloth but it looked like a nappy. Briares was very pale, like bleached paper, and covered from head to waist in arms. Arms arms arms. Belly button? Arm. Armpit? No, that was an arm. Elbow? Oh, look, another arm.

Several of his hands were cupping his face, trying to contain his sobs.

"Either the sky isn't as tall as it used to be, or he's short," Percy muttered.

"Briares!" Tyson fell to his knees. Briares stopped sobbing, staring at Tyson.

"Great hundred-handed-one!" Tyson cried. "Help us!"

Briares had bad teeth and his face was covered in dirt - the only clean parts were his tear tracks. His eyes were brown - entirely brown, no whites to be seen. It was like they were made of the same clay-ish matter that the animals on Kampê's waist were formed with.

"Run while you can, Cyclops," Briares wailed. "I cannot even help myself."

Well, that was... sad. Really, really sad.

"You're a hundred-handed-one!" Tyson insisted. "You can do anything!"

Briares wipes his nose with a few of his hands, which made Mari cringe. That was so unsanitary. How was he supposed to remember which hands he'd used? He had too many to count. Mari felt another pang of sympathy. If she had that many hands she'd probably want to shed a couple of tears, too. Something shiny caught Mari's eyes. In a few of his hands, Briares was fiddling with scraps of metal, moulding them together with wood chips to form little trinkets. Then, fast as blinking, he disassembled the toys and started again. "I cannot," Briares whimpered. "Kampê is back! The Titans will rise and throw us back into Tartarus!"

"Put on your brave face!" Tyson said.

Briares's face... morphed and Mari jumped back in shock. He had the same brown eyes but everything else was totally different. He had this rigid smile that would have looked brave, but it didn't stay there long enough. As soon as Briares's face changed, it changed right back.

"No good," Briares moaned. "My scared face keeps coming back."

Mari opened her mouth to ask how exactly he did that, but Percy beat her to it. Annabeth shot Percy a look, elbowing him. "Don't be rude. The hundred-handed ones have fifty different faces."

Mari snapped her mouth shut.

"Must make it hard to take a yearbook picture," Percy muttered. Annabeth facepalmed.

"It will be okay, Briares!" Tyson smiled at the Hekatonkheire, still mesmerised. "We'll help you! Can I have your autograph?"

"Do you have one hundred pens?" Briares asked. Mari patted her pockets and pulled out a pink felt-tip pen, handing it to Tyson. "It's just one, but you can use this if you want. I always carry around a spare."

"Guys," Grover interrupted. "We have to get out of here. Kampê will be back. She'll sense us sooner or later."

"Break the bars," said Annabeth.

"Yes!" Tyson nodded. "Briares can do it. He is very strong. Stronger than Cyclopes, even! Watch!"

Whatever this mystical super-strength was, Briares had clearly been skipping his gym sessions. It must be hard to pay for membership whilst stuck in a jail cell. He whimpered, and some of his hands trembled but none reached for the bars. Tyson would have been able to break them in a second - Mari wanted to ask him to, since Briares didn't seem like he was going to be lending a hand (or hands) any time soon, but she didn't know how. Briares was clearly Tyson's hero. Mari didn't want to crush his soul.

"If he's so strong, why is he stuck in jail?" Percy asked.

"Percy!" Mari scowled.

"He's terrified," Annabeth whispered. "Kampê imprisoned him in Tartarus for thousands of years. How would you feel?"

"Briares?" Tyson reached a hand through the bars, towards the Hekatonkheire, who was still whimpering. "What... what is wrong? Show us your great strength!"

"Tyson..." Annabeth's voice was soft. "I think you'd better break the bars."

Tyson's smile fell, and he nodded. "I- I will break the bars." He pulled them from their hinges, making it look as easy as peeling back an orange skin.

"Come on, Briares." Annabeth walked into the cell and held her hand out. "Let's get you out of here."

For a second, Mari thought it would be that simple. A few of Briares's hands reached for her and his face was replaced by one with a hopeful expression. Then, yet more of Briares's hands slapped the reaching ones away. Briares cringed back. Mari followed Annabeth and crouched down next to Briares.

"It's okay." She tried to put on a smile to hide her nerves, because they did not have time for this. "You can come with us."

"I cannot," Briares whispered. "She will punish me."

"It's alright," Annabeth promised. "You fought the Titans before, and you won, remember?"

Briares's face morphed into yet another version, this one all worry lines and furrowed eyebrows. "I remember the war. Lightening shook the world. We threw many rocks. The Titans and the monsters almost won. Now they are getting strong again. Kampê says so."

"Oh, well. If Kampê says it, then it must be true," Mari snarked before she could stop herself. Annabeth shot her an annoyed look. Briares nodded, his eyes watering. "Told you. It is impossible to fight back! Not again!"

"No no no, I was being sarcastic-"

"Don't listen to Kampê," Percy said. "Come on!"

Briares didn't get up. He curled in on himself further, his shoulders shaking. It made the arms on his shoulders slap against each other, like some messed up version of applause. Mari exchanged a worried glance with Annabeth. This was getting... well, pun not intended, but it was getting way out of hand. If they didn't get Briares out of here before Kampê came back, then they could all end up as monster food. Mari couldn't think of anything else to say, so Annabeth would have to-

"One game of rock, paper, scissors," Percy said. "If I win, you come with us. If I lose, we leave you in jail."

Annabeth's jaw dropped as she stared at Percy as if he was some strange alien creature.

"He's lost it," Mari whispered.

"I always win rock, paper, scissors," said Briares.

"Then let's do it!" Percy grinned, making a fist and hitting it against his palm three times. Briares did the same with all his hands, and came up with a royal flush of rock, paper, and scissors. Mari looked up towards Percy, wondering how exactly he thought he was going to be able to talk his way out of this, when - Oh. Oh. Her mouth dropped open in shock, and she wondered if Percy was actually a lot smarter than he led people to believe. No, smarter than she had given him credit for.

"I told you, I always-" Briares's face changed to one of confusion. "What is that you made?"

"A gun," Percy told him. "A gun beats anything."

"That's not fair!" Briares's expression changed, for just a moment. Mari wasn't even sure if anybody else caught it. But for a second, his face flashed with anger. That... wasn't ideal, but it was definitely better than the fear and hesitation he'd had before.

"I didn't say anything about fair," Percy said. "Kampê's not going to be fair if we hang around. She'd going to blame you for ripping off the bars. Now come on!"

"Demigods are cheaters," Briares sniffled, but still stumbled up and followed them out of his cell. Mari breathed a sigh of relief. They had begun to make their way back towards the labyrinth entrance (Mari really hoped that whatever monster had chased them out of there in the first place had found some other poor creature to go antagonise) when Tyson stopped in his tracks, frozen.

Mari followed his gaze, and her stomach flip-flopped. On the ground floor, in the centre of the courtyard, Kampê was snarling up at them, murder in her eyes.

"The other way!" Percy yelled.

They legged it down the catwalk.

Briares had apparently gotten over his 'too scared to do anything even mildly useful' funk (being chased by a horrifying monster was probably an excellent motivator) and was leading the way, arms flailing out everywhere as he went. Kampê screeched and hissed behind them, snakes writhing as she gave chase.

"Left!" Annabeth said. "Go left!"

They burst through a set of doors and found themselves in an outside courtyard filled with chatting tourists. The space was surrounded by high watchtowers and there looked to be barbed wire on top of the fences. The cold wind whipped at Mari's hair, dislodging a few strands from her plait and into her eyes. But the sun warming her face soaked into her skin, making Mari feel more rejuvenated than then she had since entering the labyrinth again.

Mari glanced off into the distance and her gut squirmed. Right above the mountain where Mason had burned a symbol into her forehead and Zoë Nightshade had died, a huge storm was brewing. It looked just like what had happened on Aeaea two years before - clouds had covered the island for months, and the ocean had been choppy and violent. Circe had never let Mari near the sea anyway, since she was too much of a flight risk compared to the other attendants. But during the storm, none of the others had been permitted to go swimming either, not until everything calmed down. Circe had been very tight-lipped about the whole thing, but Mari found out the cause once she escaped - it had been around the time when Luke had stolen Zeus's lightening bolt.

Mari wasn't sure how the tourists weren't seeing a thing, but they were all milling about as if this was all perfectly normal weather.

"It's even worse." Annabeth's face fell. "The storms have been bad all year, but-"

"Keep moving!" Briares cried. "She's right behind us!"

They sprinted as far away as they could, through a heavy set of doors leading outside to the docks. "That's good," Percy said. "Kampê's too big to get through the doors."

The wall exploded.

Mari gave Percy a side-eye. "You just had to tempt the fates, didn't you?"

Tourists screamed and started running at the sight of Kampê standing amongst the rubble. Mari wasn't sure what the mist was making this look like, maybe an escaped prisoner, but she was pretty certain they didn't actually keep prisoners at Alcatraz anymore. Kampê was holding two scimitars, the long bronze blades glowing an eerie green. Even from the other side of the docks, Mari could make out the green wisps of smoke rising from the metal, and they smelled terrible, like rotten eggs.

"Poison!" Grover yelled. "Don't let those things touch you, or..."

"Or we'll die?" Percy asked.

"Well, after you slowly shrivel to dust, yes," Annabeth answered.

"Lovely," Mari grumbled.

"Let's avoid the swords," Percy agreed.

"Briares, fight!" Tyson turned towards the Hekatonkheire. "Grow to full size!"

It was no use - Briares was crouched in on himself like a deflated balloon, and looked about three seconds away from bursting into tears at any second. It was so frustrating that Mari would have been angry, if it wasn't also absolutely pitiful. The poor thing must have been terrified. Kampê caught sight of them, and snarled. The snakes in her hair and legs hissed in unison, and Mari shuddered. She knew that the swords were meant to be terrifyingly deadly and everything, but somehow the snakes were so much worse. Mari knew it deep in her gut: this just wasn't the kind of monster you faced and survived.

"Run," shouted Annabeth.

They all sprinted across the docks, mortals running around everywhere and sirens blaring. A tour pamphlet flew in Mari's face, and she had to bat it out of the way. Just as they reached the wharf, a new boat of hapless tourists was arriving, all of whom froze in terror at the sight. Mari felt sorry for them but she didn't have time to worry about that.

"The boat?" Grover asked.

"Too slow." Tyson shook his head. "Back into the maze. Only chance."

"We need a diversion," Annabeth said.

"I'll distract them." Tyson ripped a lamppost from the ground.

"I'll help you," Percy offered, looking worried, but Tyson shook his head.

"No," said Tyson. "You go. Poison will hurt Cyclopes. A lot of pain. But it won't kill."

"Are you sure?" Percy asked.

"Go, brother." Tyson nodded, determination in his eyes. "I will meet you inside."

He fucking better, Mari thought. Tyson might have been big in stature, but he was still just a little kid. Percy's kid brother. Mari knew Percy wouldn't be able to live with himself if Tyson got hurt, or worse. Despite that, Percy seemed to agree, nodding and taking one of Briares's many, many hands and dragging him away. They all followed suit, each grabbing a hand - Mari wanted to wish Tyson good luck but there was no time. She closed her eyes as they dragged Briares towards the concession stand, trying to ignore the sound of Tyson bellowing, and the stomping that was probably him charging Kampê with the lamp post. Mari really hoped it wasn't the sound of him dying.

Kampê's screeched filled the air in response, followed by metal crashing against metal. Mari winced. She felt the momentum as they turned the corner, and opened her eyes again. Maybe not watching made her a bit of a coward, but the thought was banished as Briares stopped, huffing.

"Can't make it," he whimpered.

"Tyson is risking his life to help you!" Percy snarled, getting in Briares's face with a downright murderous expression. "You will make it."

"Percy, I think you're scaring him more," Mari whispered. He either didn't hear her or didn't listen, fixing Briares with another look and getting in his face again. Mari supposed a part of her understood. If it was Will out there, or Lee, or any of her other siblings... she shuddered.

Briares gave Percy a miserable nod and followed the rest of them through Alcatraz. As they ran, a violent roar echoed through the prison. This time, Mari did pluck up the courage to glance backwards, but she really wished she hadn't. Tyson was barrelling behind them, followed by a very angry looking Kampê, who was, for some reason, plastered with melting ice cream.

"Hurry!" Annabeth said. They finally arrived the at the cell where the labyrinth had spat them out, and crouched down to look. Problem was, they'd left by slamming a boulder against the door, but now, it was replaced by nothing but a smooth stone floor. Mari bit back a snarl - of course the labyrinth would hide the entrance at the exact moment they actually needed it. She closed her eyes, sending her instincts reaching out through the mist for what felt like the thousandth time even though she'd only done it once so far. She ignored the feeling of painful pins pricking at her brain and felt for a crack in the stone...

"Found it!" Mari pressed two of her fingers against the tiny Greek Delta - the mark of Daedalus, Annabeth had called it. The Delta glowed blue and began grinding open, revealing a (thankfully monster-free) passage. Problem was, it was grinding open way too slowly. Percy pushed Briares in, then Annabeth, then Mari, then Grover, but Tyson was still just rounding the corner, and between him getting into the relative safety of the labyrinth and Kampê also getting in... well, it was going to be close.

"You can do it!" Percy yelled, slapping a watch Mari hadn't noticed before. She jumped out of the way as the watch expanded into a full shield, which Percy lobbed at Kampê's face. It crashed right into the monster's nose. She roared and the snakes hissed in rage, but her pause gave Tyson just enough time to dive into the labyrinth, doors closing behind him.

Unfortunately, Tyson hadn't been looking where he was going.

"Gah!" Mari squeaked as Tyson's body slammed her onto the floor. "Ow, ow, ow."

Tyson sprung up, a worried look on his face. "You are hurt?"

"I'm fine... I only feel like I cracked a rib." Mari patted took the hand Tyson offered and pulled herself up, patting his shoulder with a small grin.

They didn't stick around. For all they knew Kampê would find a way into the labyrinth any second, or it would open all on its own to let her in. The labyrinth did that sometimes. It was how mortals fell in and walked around until they either got lucky and escaped or, more likely, died. The six of them ran down the tunnel and took a few random turns into side-tunnels, thankfully not coming across the door to Alcatraz again. Briares sobbed the whole way, but he was ignored.

Eventually, though, they came to a room full of waterfalls. There was a narrow stone walkway along the sides, with no rail, but the rest of the 'floor' was one giant pit. Mari's chest tied itself in a knot, but she didn't need her instincts to recognise that she'd been here before.

Hands shaking, she pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket.

"What are you doing?" Annabeth asked.

"I drew this, in the infirmary after the Aethiopian Drakon attacked camp. I didn't know what it was then, but..." Mari held the picture out in front of her, and Percy shone his torch at it for all to see. Then he aimed it down the passage. Cascading water covered the walls of the pit completely. Or, at least, that was what it looked like at first glance. Mari was pretty sure she wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been here once already, but behind the falling liquid was what had to be an endless array of arches. Kind of like that big building in Rome, the collosus or something, only with a waterfall inside. Each arch was just like the passage she'd nearly fallen down with Adela last winter.

"I've been here before," Mari told them. "Stay away from the edge. This pit is a one way trip to... to Tar... you know..."

"Tartarus." Briares slumped against the wall, scooping up fistfuls of the water to wash his face. "The short one is right. I should just jump in and save you the trouble."

"Oi, who do you think you're calling short-"

"Don't think that way," Annabeth interrupted. "You can come back to camp with us. You can help us prepare. You know more about fighting Titans than anybody."

"I have nothing to offer." Briares looked like he was about five seconds away from weeping again. "I've lost everything."

"What about your brothers?" Tyson asked. "Kottos and Gyges? The other two must still stand tall as mountains! We can take you to them."

"They are no more." This time, Briares really did let out a sob as he answered. "They faded."

Mari's heart sank. Everyone knew what 'faded' meant. Immortality was forever in theory, but in practice, a god or monster's vitality began to wane, if people stopped believing in them. Eventually, they lost so much of themselves that they couldn't even stay immortal. It sounded... incredibly sad. And lonely.

"What exactly do you mean, faded?" Percy asked. "I thought monsters were immortal, like the gods."

Okay, so apparently not everyone knew what 'faded' meant. Grover explained, his face grave. He talked about Medusa's two sisters leaving her alone, but Mari couldn't find it within herself to feel bad for a snake lady. But then Grover went on, talking about Apollo being left with the role of sun god, because of Helios. Mari shifted. That was always an uncomfortable subject within cabin seven. Everybody at camp always saw the light powers from Apollo as so positive. Nobody really liked acknowledging that they actually came from a place of extreme sadness.

"I must go," Briares said.

"Kronos's armies will invade camp," Tyson told him. "We need help."

Briares hung his head. "I cannot, Cyclops."

"You are strong," Tyson pleaded.

"Not anymore."

"Hey!" Percy grabbed one of Briares's hands, pulling him back before he could turn to leave. "Briares, we need you. In case you haven't noticed, Tyson believes in you. He risked his life for you. But none of that will mean a thing if Kronos invades Camp Half-blood. There's a Labyrinth entrance at camp, and Luke is planning to send his monster army through it. If he succeeds then there will be nothing between Kronos's army and Olympus. Everything you and your brothers fought for will have been in vain. Is that what you want?"

For a second, Mari genuinely thought Percy had him. Something determined glinted in Briares's clay eyes. Then, just as quickly, it was gone. Briares shook his head, miserable. "I cannot, demigod," he said. "I do not have a finger gun to win this game."

Briares made a hundred finger guns (which Mari thought actually disproved his whole finger gun point) and turned away.

"Maybe that's why monsters fade," Percy called after him. "Maybe it's not about what the mortals believe. Maybe it's because you give up on yourself."

Briares's face changed again, to one of shame, but he didn't stop. He trudged away, along the corridor until he was gone.

Tyson made a loud sobbing noise. Mari dug around her backpack and handed him a tissue. The sound of him blowing his nose was downright disgusting, and she couldn't bring herself to pick the tissue back up again when he dropped it to the floor. Oh, well. It was the Labyrinth. Whatever ended up here was eventually consumed into the maze. If she was going to be okay with littering anywhere (she wasn't), it would be here. See how the maze enjoyed the taste of Cyclops snot.

"It's okay." Grover patted Tyson on the back, trying to be comforting.

"It's not okay." Tyson hiccupped. "He was my hero."

Nobody really seemed to know what to say at that. An awkward silence filled the corridor, until Annabeth broke it.

"Come on, guys." She stood. "The Pit is making me nervous. I don't want to give Mari's drawing the chance to come true. Let's fine a better place to camp for the night."

They set off again, away from the Pit entrance, and Mari folded the sketch up again, stuffing it back into her pocket. Maybe things would be okay now. They'd encountered the Pit entrance. Then they'd avoided it. Maybe whatever that drawing had meant was just a possibility, one they'd sidestepped. Maybe it didn't mean anything at all. After all, Mari had been here before, and the drawing might just be her subconscious memory.

Her chest thudded. A very small part of her brain nagged at her, saying that things weren't going to be that easy - they never were. She ignored it.

DECEMBER 20TH WE RIDE AT DAWN