Summer was quickly approaching, which filled me with a mixture of relief and anxiety.

Chiron had called me a few weeks back, informing me that he was going to begin the summer session a little earlier than normal to get as many campers back to training as soon as possible. I agreed with him, promising that I'd come back as a trainer as soon as classes were out for the year.

Needless to say, as my life got more complicated with my demigod life, my friends noticed that I was pulling away. I could tell that they had gotten suspicious sometime around spring break, when I turned down a chance to spend a week in Rome in favor of staying on campus.

"Seriously, Andy?" Leah had asked, setting down the large almanac she was reading. "You'd rather stay here than visit Rome, you know, the place you've been dying to see for ages?"

"I'm too busy to go overseas at the moment," I had said evasively, never looking up from the new book I'd recently gotten.

"Doing what?" Joe had asked.

"Working in the lab."

"Let someone else take care of it," Pete had insisted. "Plus, the semester's almost over. Dr. A can't take up your free time and fail you because of it."

"Actually, he can, and he will," I said, placing a bookmark between the pages I'd left off on and tucking it away into my bag. "I've got to go."

I knew I had hurt them by not answering their questions, but they were prying into my life and worrying about me. That made the three of them some of the best friends I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, but right now, I really wished they would keep their distance.

The day that our finals and semester exams ended, I packed up my half of the room and left a note on my bed, explaining why I'd left so suddenly. Slinging my two duffel bags over my shoulders, I vanished into a shadow, landing inside cabin three back at Camp Half-Blood.

I sighed at the sight of the desolate cabin. A fine layer of dust covered all the beds and nightstands; Percy's bed was still messy from the time he'd spent here last December. I threw away some of the candy wrappers I found on the floor, promising myself that I'd clean up the rest later.

Before I left the cabin, I put on my armor, something I hadn't done in a year. Sure, I had managed to find time to train during the school year, but bringing armor was too much to keep hidden, so I trained without it.

I pulled my hair back into a messy bun and headed for the arena, where I was to train campers in swordsmanship for the foreseeable future. Luckily for me, the first class wouldn't start for another half hour, giving me more than enough time to warm up by myself.

While I hacked away at dummies, I kept track of the ground beneath my feet. Back at school, I'd been investigating on the Labyrinth, trying to find other entrances than the ones I already knew about but was unsuccessful in my inquiries. But I was certain about the fact that I shouldn't feel the earth moving like the world's largest snake, slithering side to side through miles of hard-packed dirt.

Now that I was back at camp, the feeling was much stronger, more like a beating heart rather than a slithering serpent. It was distracting, to say the least, and I had to consciously keep myself upright. No one else was affected like I was, but I guess that had something to do with my control over the earth. Not like Gaea, but more in the sense of the limited control that Hades, Demeter, and Poseidon had.

Training was a little…no, it was a massive train wreck. With so many new campers, many of whom had never held something more deadly than a steak knife in their lives, it was a pain to teach them the basics. One kid almost ended up stabbing himself in the chest, because he didn't know the difference between his blade and his hilt.

But after two hours of my patience being tested by eight preteens, some progress was made. At least they could spar against each other for more than fifteen seconds before dropping their swords and complaining that they were tired.

Thankfully for me, my next class contained the older, more advanced campers. That meant less explaining and more sparring, which was much more fun in my opinion. I was currently teaching them how to fight against multiple enemies at once but was interrupted by a screaming dryad.

We all turned towards the dryad, who had disappeared in a cloud of maple leaves, trying to see what had caused her to return to her tree in fright. At the other end of the arena was a hellhound the size of a tank, seeming extremely comfortable to roll around on the floor, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.

"A hellhound!" a daughter of Demeter exclaimed, readying the grip on her sword.

"How'd it get inside the borders?" a son of Hephaestus asked.

"Don't know, but we're putting it down, now," Mark, a son of Ares, said with conviction, confidently striding over to the huge hellhound with his sword out in front of him. Honestly, his sword seemed like something the hellhound could use for a toothpick, but I wasn't going to dash his hopes.

The rest of us followed behind Mark, our swords drawn and prepared to take down this hellhound. At the sound of our footsteps, the hellhound sat up on its haunches, its large tail wagging back and forth in excitement.

"Wait," I told the others, holding out a hand to stop them from getting any closer. "I think it just wants to play."

"Are you crazy?" Mark said. "There is no such thing as a friendly hellhound."

"Rick, toss me that shield, would you?" I asked, grunting as I caught the large bronze disc, something that weighed thirty pounds, easily. Then, I swung my arms back and tossed the bronze shield like an overgrown Frisbee, the hellhound barking happily as it bounded after the shield.

"Ah, I see you've met Mrs. O'Leary," a new voice said. We all whirled around, the tips of our blades trapping the man inside a circle of swords. He held up his hands in surrender, a serene smile resting on his face.

"Who are you?" I demanded, taking a step forward and resting the tip of my sword on his unprotected chest. It wasn't going to hurt him if he didn't move.

"My, my, you're a fighter, aren't you?" He pushed my sword aside, but I put it right back in its place, glaring daggers at the man. "I am Quintus, children, hired by Chiron to be the new sword instructor."

"I thought Andy was the new sword instructor," a daughter of Hermes asked, confusion clear on her face.

"So did I," I said with a frown, pulling my sword away from his chest. "I'll go clear up the matter with Chiron. In the meantime, I want you to train with Quintus."

"But we don't even know him!" Mark complained, but a look from me, and he quickly shut up.

"If Chiron hired him, he must be qualified." I sheathed my sword and began loosening the straps on my armor. "Obey Quintus as if I were teaching you, or else I'll have you do endurance training until you can't feel your arms. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Andy," the four campers chorused, shooting wary glances at Mrs. O'Leary as she tore the head off one of the training dummies and began chomping down on it. Quintus brushed off their concerned expressions and began his lesson.

Meanwhile, I headed towards the archery range, narrowly being hit in the shoulder by a stray arrow. I raised my eyebrows at the kid who'd shot the arrow, her face bright red as she apologized repeatedly. I handed her back her arrow, giving her a few pointers on her stance before walking further down the range, where Chiron was helping another camper restring their bow.

Chiron finished tying off the last knot before returning the bow to its owner, a strained smile on his face. He didn't even bat an eye as an arrow landed in his tail, calmly pulling it out and saying, "Brianna, I think this is yours."

"Sorry, Chiron!" the little girl who'd almost shot my shoulder exclaimed, running to pick up her arrow before returning to her target. Geez, I thought only Percy could be that bad at archery.

"It's great to see you again, my dear," Chiron told me, walking in the direction of the strawberry fields, calling out critiques and tips until the archery range was out of sight. "I fear we're preparing for the worst this summer."

"You're telling me," I scoffed, watching as two Hermes kids carried a canoe over their head, sprinting towards the lake. Behind them came a pair of Aphrodite girls, yelling obscenities in Ancient Greek as they clutched their paintball-splattered clothing.

"How has our, ah, project been coming along?"

I gave Chiron a sideways glance. "You really want to talk about that out here in the open and without the others?"

"Clarisse is out on a mission, and Annabeth left to spend the day with Percy. So, yes, we'll speak about this right here and now."

I sighed but conceded anyways, telling Chiron everything I'd learned over the course of the past few months. From what I knew, the Labyrinth was still very much alive, thriving like a second skin below the surface, constantly adapting and expanding like a parasitic virus. All entrances leading in and out were marked with delta's that would glow blue when activated by a demigod. And most important of all, time loses its meaning inside the endless maze.

"Then you must not ever enter the Labyrinth should you come across it," Chiron said, his voice deadly serious as he turned to face me, clamping his hands down on my shoulders. "For a child of time, there is no telling the adverse effects you may experience."

"But I've been fine in the Lotus Hotel," I protested. "Time is frozen there as well. You think you're only there an hour, and in reality, three days have passed."

"Yes, but the Labyrinth is something far older and something far more malicious. According to legend, the maze could drive those lost within to complete and utter madness, almost as severe as if Mr. D himself had cursed someone. You may be hurt, something I won't allow."

"I'm twenty-two, Chiron. I think I can handle myself in the Labyrinth if something were to happen."

"No. Stay out of the Labyrinth, Andromeda. Do not argue with me anymore about this."

"No promises," I muttered, causing for Chiron to wince at the bitterness in my voice.

I absolutely adore Chiron, but when he made decisions like that for me, well, let's just say these were the times I wish he wouldn't go overprotective brother mode on me. While I knew that no amount of research could ever prepare me for going into the Labyrinth, I knew exactly how to navigate it, something that would be invaluable for Annabeth's upcoming quest.

"I'm going to the forges," I told Chiron, not giving him a chance to reply before I stormed off, slamming my fist against a tetherball as I passed by it.

Beckendorf, James, Harley, and Nyssa didn't think anything of it when I walked into the forges, tossed on a lead apron, and picked up some Celestial bronze ore and a molding cast. The least I could do was help the Hephaestus kids make some new weapons for the inevitable battle.

Kronos was so close to rising. It was only a matter of weeks before he'd challenge us by sending his armies right into the heart of Camp Half-Blood. I cringed silently to myself as I began going through the list of names of demigods who were destined to die that day.

Lee Fletcher, Castor Brown, Fiona Kingston, Aaron Butters, Nicole Reyes…there was one more name, one that I dreaded to even think about. I'd gotten the nightmare last week, watching my friend be stabbed through the chest, her eyes wide with shock as she crumpled to the ground, blood pouring from her mouth. She was dead before she hit the floor.

No, I wouldn't, couldn't, think about it anymore, not if I was going to be strong enough to be useful for the next couple of weeks.

I stuck the excavated Celestial bronze into the furnace, glad that the intensity of the heat had made me sweat, hiding the few tears that had streaked down my face. One of my oldest friends was doomed to die, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it, ironic as it may seem.

Gods, the Fates were truly cruel.

After I finished making two swords in the forges, I went to clean up my cabin before inspections began. I swore under my breath as I saw Silena Beauregard making her rounds, the inspection scroll in her hand as she walked into cabin six.

When I walked into cabin three, I'd been prepared to clean everything up myself, but instead I found Tyson sweeping the floor, Percy staring at his half-brother like he had saved him from certain death, which had already happened on multiple occasions during our quest in the Sea of Monsters.

All the dust had been cleaned, and the floor had been swept. A vase of sea anemones and strange glowing plants from the bottom of the ocean graced our windowsill. The saltwater spring in the corner of the room had been polished, glistening in the sunlight like a diamond. Tyson had also hung up a herd of miniature hippocampi from the ceiling, and when the breeze blew in from the window, the mobile would spin, making the hippocampi appear like they were swimming in midair.

"Wow," I said, the hippocampi chiming as I brushed my fingertips against the intricately sculpted bronze. "These are beautiful, Tyson."

"Yay, Andy likes them!" he exclaimed happily before proceeding to give me a hug. I laughed as I felt him crack my back, Percy reminding him that I kinda needed to breathe after he began to squeeze tighter.

Then the door opened, announcing Silena's presence. She walked in, did a quick twirl, and raised her eyebrows at Percy. "Well, I had my doubts. You clean up nicely, Percy. I'll remember that." She checked something off on the scroll and exited, causing for Percy to sigh in relief, slumping against the nearest bunk bed.

"Thanks, Tyson," Percy said, his hand trailing over the watch that Tyson had given him last year. "You just saved us from dish duty."

Tyson blushed bright red, pulling off his rubber gloves and untying his flower apron from around his waist. "Anything for my brother," he said kindly, his eye lit up in joy.

"You two go catch up," I said. "I'm going to hit the showers then take a nap."

"Lots of training?" Percy asked.

"Worse, sleep deprivation. School sucks."

Percy cringed, understanding exactly what I meant. He and Tyson left, leaving me by myself in the freshly cleaned cabin.

I rummaged through my bags before pulling out some nylon shorts and a camp shirt, setting them on top of my bunk as I zipped up my bag. Before I headed for a shower, though, I had to do something first.

I pulled out a drachma and flicked my hand in the direction of the saltwater in the spring. As the mist sprayed upward, a rainbow formed when the droplets came in contact with the sunlight. "O, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Bianca di Angelo with the Hunters of Artemis."

You know, I didn't think it was possible to have demigod dreams within an hour long nap, but I was clearly proven wrong when I found myself back on the island of Crete, standing next to a teenage boy with curly black hair and green eyes. I almost called him Percy, but I knew this was thousands of years before our time, and the seashell clasp on his cloak and his armor gave me his identity.

Standing next to me was none other than Theseus, son of Poseidon, slayer of the Minotaur, and future king of Athens.

"Princess, how is something as simple as a string supposed to help me navigate the maze?" Theseus asked, glancing skeptically at the ball of string that I was trying to give him.

"It's enchanted, created from strands of hair from Poseidon's sacred bull and powder from some magical flowers that grow in the palace gardens. The inventor gave me his word that the string is infallible."

"The inventor?" Theseus scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. "You mean the monster that created the Labyrinth?"

I shook my head vehemently. "Daedalus is no monster. He was simply following my father's orders to keep his son safe. Please, take the string, Theseus. Defeat the Minotaur and end this terrible tradition."

Theseus hesitated. "What's the catch?"

"Take me with you," I begged. "My father will find out the truth, and when he does, he'll have me executed as a traitor. I have no intention to die on this cursed island, so if I aid you in the Labyrinth, I want safe passage back to Athens with you and the rest of the survivors. Do we have a deal?"

"We do." Theseus stretched out his hand, and I firmly grasped it, the two of us exchanging a handshake that sealed his promise to me.

I handed over the rope and bid Theseus farewell, lifting my hood back over my head before darting back into the palace. I was breaking every rule under my father's roof by consorting with Theseus, who had come in disguise as one of the seven male tributes to be sacrificed to the Minotaur in retribution of my brother's death. He was the heir to the throne of Athens, and if Father found out, he'd have the both of us executed.

Seems like he got his paranoia directly from his father, Zeus.

Three days later, and it was time for the fourteen tributes to be set loose into the Labyrinth. As dictated by my father, as his youngest daughter, I was the one to lead the seven boys to the entrance of the maze while one of my brothers, Catreus, led the seven girls to the entrance on the other side of the maze. Something about gracing them with pretty faces before meeting their certain deaths, at least, that's how Minos reconciled it as.

I wished them all the best of luck, watching as the boys began entering the maze one by one. Theseus was the last to enter, tying off the end of the rope before going in, the large mechanical door shutting behind him.

I picked up some rocks from the ground and hid the knot to the best of my abilities, brushing my hands clean of the dirt as two guards took their posts outside the door. A few years back, one of the tributes had tried to climb over the door to escape the maze, but when he died when he fell. After that, Father placed guards outside the doors to ensure that that didn't happen again.

After a painfully long week, I returned to the Labyrinth only to find that the two guards outside the door had been knocked out and tied up to a tree. Looming over the guards was none other than Theseus, a lopsided smile gracing his face as he casually twirled his forbidden sword around.

"You did it!" I exclaimed, rushing forward and hugging the demigod, careful to avoid running myself through.

"Did you ever doubt me?" he asked, placing a hand over his heart like I'd genuinely hurt him.

"Yes," I said bluntly, laughing quietly as I saw his smile transform into a pout. He looked more like a kicked puppy than a boy who had singlehandedly defeated the Minotaur and escaped my father's maze. "Are there other survivors?"

"I believe so. But I don't think this will help me find them." He held up the rope, which he'd neatly folded up in perfect circles.

"No, it won't," I agreed, knowing that the enchantment only went so far as to lead him, or anyone else, to the center of the maze. "Perhaps I may be of help."

"How? Do you have another enchanted rope up your sleeve?"

I rolled my eyes at Theseus. For starters, my dress didn't have any sleeves, and secondly, making the first rope had taken months of preparation. There was no way I could've made a second rope in the time span of a week.

"No, but there's something Daedalus told me a while ago that I'd like to see. Come, let us find your fellow Athenians."

I slipped my hand into Theseus's, and the two of us dashed into the maze under the cover of darkness.

I woke up to the sound of someone yelling my name through an Iris-message. It didn't take me long to find a misty image of Nico di Angelo in the corner of the room, hovering above the saltwater spring.

"Nico?" I asked, instantly on high alert. "Is everything alright?"

Like the overprotective mother I am, I instantly began scanning Nico for any signs of injury. Other than some bloodied knuckles, he seemed relatively unharmed.

His hair had grown longer since December, dark, shaggy locks that reached a little past his ears. He was dressed in all black, the only splash of color being a white skull on his shirt and the white soles and laces of his shoes. I saw his Stygian iron sword dangling from his waist, held up on its sheath by a silver chain belt. He was also wearing a beat up aviator jacket, which had some patches from its previous owner stitched onto the shoulder.

"Everything's fine," Nico said tersely, his eyes burning with unbridled anger.

The anger wasn't directed at me, but at Bianca, whom he still hadn't forgiven for leaving him in favor of the Hunters. I'd learned from Cleo that Nico left camp the day of the winter solstice, creating a huge crack in the floor of the dining pavilion before disappearing into the forest.

I'd Iris-messaged him soon after I woke up, asking him where he was and if he was going to be okay. He promised me he'd take care of himself and that he wasn't angry at me, but he didn't want to stay at camp, Bianca's leaving fully setting in while he was there. He asked me to leave him alone and said that he'd contact me when he was ready or if he needed me.

Lo and behold, some six months later, Nico was finally ready to talk.

"So, what's going on?" I asked, frowning as I watched a shadowy figure hover over his shoulder. "And why are you hanging out with Minos?"

Nico paled whiter than the water in the River Lethe. "How'd you know?"

"You forget, I've spent years in the Underworld. I think I'd be able to identify one of the three judges."

"Hello, Andromeda," Minos greeted insincerely. Whenever I was around in the Underworld, he'd try to suck up to me in the hopes I'd talk to Hades about him, so that he could roam the Earth in search of Daedalus. "Glad to see you again."

"No, you're not," I said bluntly. "Now, if you could please leave so I can speak with Nico privately, I'd appreciate it."

"Leave us," Nico said, waving his hand at Minos, causing for his shadowy body to dissipate. I knew he'd come back soon after our IM was done, but for the time being, I wasn't going to have a psychotic king eavesdrop on our conversation.

"You never answered my first question," I noted, tossing in another drachma into the rainbow to prevent the connection from cutting out.

"I've been training with Minos for the past few months, discovering some stuff about my past." Nico shrugged, like it was the most normal thing ever for an eleven-year-old to be training with the spirit of one of the worst antagonists in Greek mythology.

"I could've trained you, you know."

"I know, but I didn't want to be an inconvenience."

"Nico, you're not an in-"

"Don't even finish that sentence," Nico interrupted angrily, his cheeks flushing red in anger. "I'm clearly a major inconvenience or else Bianca wouldn't have left."

"That's not true," I said calmly, not wanting to aggravate him. "Bianca told me the hardest part of joining the Hunters was leaving you behind."

"Then why did she do it?" Nico's anger seemed to drain out of him all at once, leaving behind a broken shell, completely different from the overly excited child I'd known him to be over the last few years.

"Only she can give you that answer, unfortunately. But enough about that; tell me about what you've been doing these last few months."

Nico seemed relieved about the shift of topic, relaxing as he told me about his adventures while I had been stuck at school. Apparently, he'd visited China a few times as a result of learning how to shadow-travel. I laughed and told him about my own shadow-travel mishaps, having landed in Australia and Madagascar when I was starting out.

Despite not having contact with the son of Hades in months, we spoke like we'd recently met up. Honestly, it was nice to have a friend like that. Eventually, the Iris-message timed out, and we said goodbye as the rainbow began to disappear, promising that we'd see each other soon.

"Be careful with Minos," I warned as the image almost finished fading.

"I will, Mom," Nico sassed before slashing his hand through the rainbow, severing the connection entirely.

I rolled my eyes despite the fact that I knew he wouldn't have seen it. Honestly, I was practically the mother of all my friends, being at least five years older than any of them. Well, my demigod friends, anyways. My mortal friends were my age, but with the way Pete and Joe act sometimes, I may as well be five years older than them.

As I left the cabin, I watched Percy come back from that night's campfire, his face shining with exhaustion and worry. I was going to ask him what was wrong, but he completely ignored my presence, walking right to his bed before landing face first onto his pillow, passing out instantly.

Poor kid, I thought to myself, hefting Percy's legs onto his bed so that he wasn't bent over like he'd fallen out of a chair. I untied his shoes and set them at the foot of his bed as well as helping him out of his armor, which he hadn't taken off for some reason. I then draped a blanket over his body, muttering a prayer to Morpheus to give Percy pleasant dreams that night.

I quietly shut the door behind me, frowning as I watched Lee and Michael run for the border, their bows and quivers slung over their shoulders. The kids that were still outside watched the two sons of Apollo in confusion and concern, but they didn't seem all that worried, continuing on with their activities.

I decided to follow them, though I didn't take out any of my weapons yet. I caught up with Lee and Michael at the edge of the border, my eyes scanning the horizon as the trees swayed with the wind.

"What's going on?" I asked, nervously rubbing my bracelet.

"Austin got a vision of a drakon attacking camp, so Chiron sent us out here on border patrol," Lee said, nervously tapping out a melody on his thigh.

"Did he know what kind of drakon it was?"

"No."

"Oh, geez."

Michael gave me a sideways glance. "You don't have to stay, you know. We've got it covered."

"I know, but I want to help." I summoned my own bow, the weight of it and its quiver resting comfortably on my shoulders.

"Whatever you say, Andy," Michael sighed, sitting at the base of one of the trees. Lee quickly joined him. "Get ready for a long night."

Ok, so this is just a little rambling, but I've been obsessed with Dear Evan Hansen for the past three years, and I'm finally going to see the show in April! I'm so excited! To anyone who hasn't heard the soundtrack, I highly recommend listening to it, but be prepared for all the feels to hit you like a freight train. Thank you to everyone who has read this, and I love you all!