Disclaimer: I only own the plot and my OCs. Anything else you recognize as not mine belongs to Rick Riordan, Greco-Roman mythology, and/or their otherwise respective owners.

Author's Notes: Shorter chapter today, but we're getting into the fun stuff now! BotL, I'm so excited for it! :)

As always, I hope you enjoy. Until the next chapter,

~TGWSI/Selene/Borealis

~The Finding Home Saga~

~Finding Home~

~Chapter 88: Everyone Else Plays Tag With Scorpions~

"Percy!" Katie gasped.

Alright, when I say that she was "shirtless," perhaps I should clarify: she was still wearing a bra, and thank the gods that she was. There were just some things about my friends, or women in general really, that I never wanted to see.

Still, what I was seeing was enough to make mortification with the power of a thousand suns flash through me. "Gah!" I cried, hurriedly, squeezing my eyes shut and slapping a hand over them. "I'm sorry! I've been doing the inspection patrols and you weren't answering when I knocked at your door so I thought – "

I cut off there. I didn't want to admit to what I had been thinking.

It wasn't like it would have done any good, anyways.

"You could've waited for a response!" Katie cried out.

"I knocked twice!"

"Still!"

I heard some rustling and the sounds of Travis getting up. Then, my best friend said to me snappishly, "You can open your eyes now."

I did.

Her immediate concern was for the son of Hermes, which was understandable. He had taken a fall, even though it was only a couple feet. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he deflected, still rubbing at his head. He gave me the same crooked grin as Luke did. "Sorry, Perce. We were just having some...fun."

Yeah. That was some "fun" alright.

"How long have you two been dating?" I blurted out.

It was the only logical conclusion. Katie wasn't the type to just have a fling; she'd never had a boyfriend before Travis at all to my knowledge.

She and Travis exchanged a look.

"About a month," she said.

A month? That was both way longer and shorter than I'd expected.

I blinked. I'd been staying here at camp for the past couple weeks. How had I not noticed?

"Listen, I'll tell you more about it later, Percy," Katie said, her cheeks bright red. "But for now can you just...shoo?" She made the appropriate gestures with her hands.

Yep. I could definitely do that.

"I'll see you guys later," I agreed, before I hurried out the door.

After completing the rest of my inspection and trying (and failing) not to think about what I had just witnessed at the same time – and I was right about Cabin Eleven being messy, although it wasn't as messy as it usually was, I would give them that (and had to Connor) – I compared notes with Silena once she'd finished her inspections, too. We turned in our scrolls back at the Big House, and then we went on our separate ways.

I made no mention to her about Katie and Travis; she didn't ask, and given that she was a daughter of Aphrodite, she probably knew anyways. About them, I mean.

Not knowing where Callie was but also knowing that she could hold her own, I went down to the pegasus stables to visit Blackjack.

"Hey, Boss!" she whinnied as she capered around in her stall. Her black wings were buffeting in the air. "Ya bring me some sugar cubes? How are the babies?"

"Blackjack," I sighed exasperatedly. My pregnancy, even with the ἒνδεσμα, wasn't exactly a secret among the pegasi. They all knew about it, much to my chagrin. The only upside was that none of the other campers besides Callie could understand them, otherwise I would be in hot water. "They're fine. And you know those aren't good for you."

"Yeah, so you brought me some, huh? And good for the babies!"

I smiled and fed her a handful.

"I guess there's still no quests for you in the future, though, huh?" she said afterwards. "Because of the pregnancy."

"Do you think I'm insane?"

"Do you want an honest answer to that question, Boss?"

I huffed out a laugh as I patted her nose. "That's fair. And no, I don't think there's going to be any quests in general this summer. Everybody's nervous."

"Shame there ain't gonna be a quest for anybody else, but good for you," she commented. She crunched down on some more sugar cubes, before she shook her mane like she was having a sugar seizure. "Whoa! This is the good stuff! Well, Boss, if you decide you ever want to fly somewhere this summer or if you need help, just give me a whistle. Me and my buddies, we'll stampede anybody for ya! And I'll make sure you're as safe as can be while flying, guaranteed!"

I told her I'd keep it in mind. Then a group of younger campers came into the stables to start their riding lessons, and I decided that it was time to leave.

As I walked out of the stables, I couldn't fathom the reason why, but I had a feeling that I wasn't going to see Blackjack again for a long time.

I didn't get a chance that night to talk with Katie about her relationship with Travis.

At the end of dinner, it was announced that Quintus had an activity for us. He made everyone except for me suit up in combat armor like we were getting ready for capture the flag, but the mood among the campers was a lot more serious. Apparently, he'd had a lot of shipping crates come today, and he'd put them in the arena.

They weren't there anymore. The rumor was that they had been emptied into the woods.

"Right," Quintus said, standing on the head of the dining table. "Gather 'round."

He was dressed in black leather and bronze. In the torchlight, his grey hair made him look like a ghost. Mrs. O'Leary bounded happily around him, foraging for dinner scraps.

"You will be in teams of two," Quintus announced. When everybody started talking and trying to grab their friends, he yelled: "Which have already been chosen!"

"AWWWWW!" everyone complained.

"Your goal is simple: collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course...you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive."

That lifted the mood of the crowd. They started to murmur excitedly. The task sounded pretty straightforward.

Hey, we'd all slain monsters before. That's what we trained for.

"I will now announce your partners," Quintus said. "There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining."

"Aroooof!" Mrs. O'Leary buried her face in a leftover plate of pizza.

Quintus produced a scroll and started reading off the names. Most of them weren't too surprising – Silena was with Alabaster, her half-sister Drew was with Beckendorf (they'd finally gotten together), and Bianca was with Annabeth, which they all looked pretty happy about. There was some surprise when Travis got put together with Katie and Connor got put with Nico, but the Stoll brothers didn't seem too upset by this. Callie got put with Michael Yew, and Clarisse got put with Lee. The latter two would definitely make a formidable pair, combining the melee and ranged combat.

When he was finished, Quintus rolled up his scroll with a nod. There were a few unhappy campers, but none of them dared to cross him.

Although I had to sit it out, I had put on some basic armor because I would be with Chiron for the duration of the sports event. We'd decided it was best, because thanks to my water powers I could be useful in healing campers before the children of Apollo could tend to them if need be. I rode on his back as we headed into the woods.

It was still light by the time that we got there, but the shadows from the trees made it feel like midnight. It was cold, too, even in the summer. Chiron and I watched as all the campers went their separate ways, Travis and Katie seemingly finding tracks almost immediately before I lost view of them. Connor and Nico didn't have the same amount of luck, as they tripped through the woods, cursing in the son of Hermes' case. Despite who their fathers were, it seemed that they had the stealth of buffaloes.

It became quiet as Chiron walked about, barely any sound besides the shuffling of maybe some monsters and the chirping of bugs being heard.

I shifted a little on Chiron's back – it wasn't exactly comfortable for me because of my pregnancy, but I was making do with it. I had a question that I wanted to ask him.

Several, actually.

But there was only one that I actually decided to ask about. The others could wait for another night. "Chiron...what's been going on with Clarisse? What happened on her quest?"

Okay, so that was two questions.

They were connected, though, so, sue me.

Chiron sighed. "I suppose there is no point in keeping the truth from you," he said. His ears flicked as he spoke, like a horse's would. "A few months ago, while Clarisse was visiting her mother, Chris Rodriguez appeared near her house."

I blinked. "Chris?"

Luke hadn't told me about this. Chris was his half-brother, probably the half-brother he was the closest to since they had left camp, and he hadn't told me this.

Why hadn't he?

"Yes," Chiron said. "He was wandering around in the desert, in a hundred and twenty degrees, wearing full battle armor. I'm afraid that...he was driven mad."

I gasped, like the cliché and all.

Chiron pressed forwards before I could ask him anything. "Clarisse did her best to nurse him back to health at her mother's house, afraid that the mortals would institutionalize him. When she failed, I went out there to interview him, but I was not able to find out much about what happened to him. The only thing that I was able to deduce for certain is that Luke's men have been exploring the Labyrinth."

"You mean the maze where they kept the Minotaur, back in the old days?"

"The very one."

I was silent for a moment, processing the information. A shiver broke out within me, though I wasn't exactly sure why. Poor Chris...he wasn't a bad guy. Yeah, he hadn't exactly been the greatest of friends to me, but that didn't make him bad. What could have driven him mad?

"Okay, but why exactly were they exploring the Labyrinth?"

"That, I am not sure," Chiron admitted. "The Labyrinth is a vast place. It has been growing for thousands and thousands of years, lacing its way under Western cities, connecting everything together underground. Annabeth has compared it to a second skin under the surface of the mortal world, and I do not think that is an unapt comparison. There may even be passages from the Labyrinth down into the Underworld, although it is much further down.

"In any event, I sent Clarisse on a scouting expedition to see if she could discover anything. She and Annabeth, besides you, are the only ones that I have told about this. I have not wanted anyone to panic."

I nodded, even though I knew he couldn't see it. That made sense to me.

"The Labyrinth has always been one of her favorite subjects," he sighed fondly, referring to the daughter of Athena. "If Luke could figure out how to navigate it, he could move his army around with incredible speed."

The meaning behind his words was clear to me: "He could even possibly invade camp."

I swallowed. "Except it's a maze, right?"

"Indeed. But not if you have Ariadne's string. In the old days, Ariadne's string guided Theseus out of the maze," he reminded me. "It was a navigation instrument, invented by the son of Athena who made the Labyrinth, Daedalus. Chris Rodriguez was mumbling about it; I've wondered if that is why Luke's men have been exploring it. But that would only be part of the reason."

Silence fell between us. There was nothing that I could say without giving myself away.

"The closest entrances Clarisse found were in Manhattan," Chiron spoke finally, I presumed to give me some relief, "which wouldn't help Luke get past our borders if that is his intent. Clarisse explored a little further into the tunnels, but...it was very dangerous. She had some close calls. Annabeth has researched as much as she has been able to into Daedalus, but I am afraid that she has not found as much as we would like that is relevant."

Perhaps our conversation could have continued further, but it was cut off then by a sudden cry. Chiron bounded towards it, leaving me to hang on as best as I could. When we arrived, it was to see Jake Mason, one of the now-five children of Hephaestus at camp (another camper had recently come, a twelve-year-old named Shane Heffernan, who had quickly been claimed), injured. His partner, Will Solace, was quickly trying to heal him with his powers. The monster that had injured Jake wasn't anywhere in sight, but the dust on the ground made it obvious what had happened to it.

Some dryads came over to help Will take Jake back to the infirmary, as since he was a healer son of Apollo, it made sense for Will to go with him outside of the fact that they were now out of the competition.

There were some more injuries that night, although nothing too serious. Clarisse and Lee were the ones who got the laurels, killing the monster who had had them pinned to its back, one of the scorpions. The horn was sounded, and soon after that the remaining campers converged around them in celebration.

But after all of the campers had converged, Chiron and I couldn't help but notice one thing:

"Where are Travis and Katie?" I asked as I slid off of his back.

Everyone else looked around.

"I think we last saw them around Zeus' Fist," Bianca commented uncertainly. Next to her, Annabeth nodded.

Dread filled my stomach all over again.

"Did anyone see them get injured? A monster follow them?" I demanded. My heart felt like it was skyrocketing inside of my chest.

Nobody answered me.

Just when I felt like I was going to lose it, Chiron raised a hand. "We will conduct two search-parties," he said. "But only of the senior campers. For the remainder, it is almost past curfew. Go back to the cabins."

Some protests cropped up, but none of the younger campers did it too much. The night had already been enough excitement on its own.

Silena suddenly appeared right next to me. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. "Don't worry, Percy," she whispered, though she looked as fearful as I did. "We'll find them."

Chiron nor anybody else tried to tell me to go back with the other campers. I was put in the group with Silena, Alabaster, Clarisse, Lee, and Callie. Travis' brother, Connor, was put with Beckendorf, Drew, Michael Yew, Bianca, and Annabeth.

We got some torches lit and went off in our groups, searching. My group concentrated on the area around Zeus' Fist, since that was where Travis and Katie had last been seen.

The entire time, despite Silena's advice, I was a nervous mess. What if my gut had been right earlier, just at the wrong time? What if something had now happened to the two of them? What if they were hurt? What if they had gotten captured by Luke's army because they'd somehow figured out how to invade but wanted the knowledge to be on the sly, so that we wouldn't know until it was too late?

What if they were – ?

No, I told myself before I could even finish that train of thought. Luke might not have had control over everything that his army did, but there was no way in hell that he would have allowed that.

Moreover, the di Angelos would've sensed it if it'd happened.

After an hour of torture, as my group walked past Zeus' Fist for the umpteenth time, we heard a rustling from some of the bushes.

Clarisse got her spear ready immediately. The rest of us quickly followed suit.

But instead of a monster or traitorous demigods, from out of the brush came Travis and Katie. They looked no worse for wear, although both of them were more than disoriented at the sight of us.

"Guys," Travis began nervously. "What's going on?"

Clarisse beat me to the punch as she lowered her spear. "Where the hell have you two been?" she demanded.

"We've been looking forever," Alabaster added.

Katie frowned. "But we were only gone for a few minutes."

"Are you okay?" I asked them worriedly as Chiron came to a halt from galloping behind us. I was sure that the other group couldn't be far behind him.

"What happened?" he questioned calmly. But there was an edge to his voice.

"We're fine," Travis said. "We fell into a hole."

"'A hole?'" Lee quoted skeptically.

Maybe I would've agreed with him, if Travis had been partnered up with his brother instead. They were well-known for their pranks.

But.

"Honest!" Travis insisted. "There were three scorpions after us, so we ran and hid in the rocks. But we were only gone a minute."

"You've been missing for almost an hour," Chiron said. "The game is over."

The other group arrived. It was just in time, too.

Clarisse's form suddenly bristled. Even underneath her helmet, I could see how her eyes narrowed. "Did you see an ancient Greek delta while you were in that hole?" she demanded hotly. "Did it glow blue?"

Annabeth similarly stilled.

"Uh...yeah," Travis said lamely as his brother quickly went over to his side. Connor hadn't hugged him yet, but it was very much obvious that he wanted to. "How did you know?"

"Μὰ θεούς," Annabeth said lowly. "It can't be..."

Katie looked from between her, Clarisse, and Chiron. The centaur's face was grim. "What's going on?" she questioned hotly.

"Tonight is not the right night, and this is not the right place," Chiron interrupted before the conversation could go any further. He stared at the boulders as if he'd just noticed how dangerous they were. "All of you, back to your cabins. Get some sleep. A game well played, but it is now well past curfew!"

Unlike the younger campers, there were quite a bit more protests this time, but he wasn't having any of it. Most of the campers started to drift off, talking among themselves but giving Travis and Katie suspicious looks.

I was one of the ones to stick around for a few more seconds. So was Clarisse.

"This explains a lot," she said. "It explains what Luke is after."

"Wait a second," I said. "What do you mean? What did they find?"

Annabeth, who had been walking away, paused. She turned around and looked back at me, her grey eyes dark with worry. "An entrance to the Labyrinth. An invasion route straight into the heart of camp."

Word Count: 3,198

Next Chapter Title: Jig Of Life Pt. 2