Ch28

These guys just keep on coming. Percy disarmed one of the enemy demigods with his sword as Ethan and Alabaster supported him from the side. Ethan backed him up with his spear while Alabaster's spell strengthened them as they pushed against the rows of enemy demigods all while Grover played his pipes with renewed Vigor.

Alabaster yelled something in Latin and a powerful gust of wind hit the remaining forces back. "Retreat!" One of them yelled as the remaining few demigods scrambled up and ran.

"That was the nineth group we faced down here," Ethan said. "How are they able to navigate this maze?"

"They may have support of their own," Alabaster said raising his torch in the air. "Come on lets keep going ahead."

They had been doing their best to take down Kronos' forces down in the labyrinth. It seemed each time they defeated one group another two groups popped up. Though on the bright side at least the enemy seemed just as confused as they were and were easy to hunt down.

He turned to Grover. "You doing ok G-Man?"

Grover nodded. "Y-Yeah. I'm just processing everything."

He patted his shoulder. "Don't worry everything will be ok."

Grover nodded. The satyr had already told them all about Artemis' being captured along with Annabeth and some kid from a school and how there was another quest with the hunters of Artemis going on that included Lou.

"Come on lets continue onward," Alabaster said. "The enemy might have a base around here."

The sooner we are done the better. Gripping Riptide they continued on their way down their path.

Eventually Alabaster held out his arm. "Wait. Someone is up ahead."

Squinting his eyes he could make out a few enemy demigods and telekhines walking into a large room. "Is this there base?"

"Come on lets take care of them." Alabaster muttered a few words in Latin and Ancient Greek causing a light green aura to envelope them.

Gripping their weapons tightly they approached the door. Alabaster muttered a few words and it flew open. "Alright be careful."

Grover trembled by his side as they entered the dark cave. As soon as they entered they were greeted by the sound of people talking. His heart froze as he saw a large crowd of monsters and demigods along with the banner of Kronos hanging from the rafters. In the sky he could see various harpies patrolling the area above them.

"There are so many of them," Ethan muttered as he gripped his katana tightly.

A smile spread across Alabaster's face as his calculating gaze analyzed the room. "We can take them. I have a plan."

"B-But there are so many of them?" Grover said.

Alabaster raised his hand in the air. "Speculo!"

Up in the sky he saw something shimmer before he noticed the reflection of the enemy army up in the air. "Alright you three stand back and don't look up," Alabaster said as he summoned his bodyguard. The mistform man looked as plain as ever but this time he was holding a familiar clothed head.

Oh. That could work.

The mistform turned and faced the mirror in the sky as he held the severed head of Medusa in his hands. Slowly the mirror changed to only show the reflection of the mistform.

"Look down!" Alabaster snapped his finger and small bit of flame flew from the torch and explode midair.

He quickly looked to the ground as he heard various people and monsters scream. We did it!

However, a loud screech shot down his excitement. "Intruders!"

Alabaster swore. "We didn't get all of them prepare for combat." The son of Hecate ended the mirror spell.

Looking up he saw a few harpies flying in the sky along while the ground was littered with stone corpses of those unfortunate enough to look up.

"Dogs of Olympus!" The remaining harpies flew at them but Alabaster's familiar only raised Medusa's head turning them to stone before they fell to the ground and shattered to pieces. The doors on the ground level opened and more enemy demigods came in. "Get them!"

Ethan swore as he gripped his katana. "Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way."

He gripped Riptide. "Come on lets do this."

Alabaster raised his torch. "I'll provide support from up here." His familiar only raised Medusa's head at the stairwell turning a few demigods and monsters who were charging at them into stone.

As they charged down the stairs a cyclops charged at them. Ethan only drew his katana and decapitated it in one clean slice. "Cool I didn't know it could kill monsters!"

The son of Nemesis shrugged. "I guess it can."

"Uh guys there are more of them," Grover said as he quickly played his pipes which summoned vines to throw the enemy monsters off the stairs.

His heart raced down his chest as they made their way down the stairs. Riptide gleamed in the light as he knocked down and killed any monster that came close to him.

"For Kronos!" The remaining enemy demigods yelled as they gripped their crude weapons in their arms.

It was then a large figure landed amongst the enemy ranks with a large thud. Green smoke filled the room as a large figure formed.

"No," Grover said as his eyes widened. "I-It can't be.. He really did it."

They stared in shock as they stared at Pan. He looked younger and stronger than the last time they saw him. His gaze was sharp and his muscles were reverberating with strenght. "Alright people lets party!" Pan grabbed an enemy demigod and threw him to the ground while picking up another one and twirled him in the air before throwing him against the wall.

They stared at the mistform god in shock. "What the hell?" Ethan said as Pan kicked and took down any enemy monster and demigod he could get his hands on.

Grover sighed. "Lord Pan liked to let loose when he was younger."

He nodded. "I can see that."

Ethan gripped his katana as another Cyclops came from the back room wielding a large club. "Come lets take care of that."

A blast of green fire hit the cyclops and knocking it back. Grover played his pipes summoning vines to ensnare it. The cyclops roared as it tried to break free only to be met with a stab from Riptide in the gut. The cyclops staggered back just as Ethan lopped its head off with his katana. The cyclops' head fell to the ground before turning to dust along with the rest of the body.

"Well that looks like all of them," he said as he looked around at the various stone statues. A part of him felt a bit guilty that so many had to die but deep down he knew they would have easily killed them.

Alabaster came down with his butler behind him. "Looks like we got most of them."

Pan came up to Alabaster and grinned. "Boy it feels great to be alive!"

The son of Hecate smiled. "Glad to have you. You can kick more ass later."

"Great!" Pan cracked his knuckles before turning to Grover. "Yo Grover we should train together or get lunch sometime."

"Uh sure of course Lord Pan," Grover said awkwardly.

Pan laughed. "No need to be so formal kid."

Alabaster stepped forward. "Come on lets check out the last of these rooms."

"On it!" Pan quicky ran and kicked down one of the doors while Alabaster's butler went and explored the other ones.

Eventually Pan came out carrying a shaking demigod in his arms. "Yo master I found this guy, he seems mad."

He looked at the demigod and realized he recognized him from the Hermes Cabin. "That's Chris Rodriguez," Ethan said as Pan set the boy on the ground.

Chris Rodriguez's body shook as he stared off into the distance. "No! No! Not the Son of Poseidon!"

He frowned. "What did I do?"

"I don't think he's talking about you," Ethan said as Chris shook on the ground.

"Please no more. No more!" Chris screamed like a madman before Pan knocked him out.

"We could take him prisoner," Alabaster said examining the area. "Though I don't know how we'd bring him back to camp."

The sound of clapping made them turn around with their weapons drawn. "Wait its me," Quintus said with Mrs. O'Leary by his side.

Alabaster eyed the man cautiously. "What are you doing here?"

Quintus smiled. "I just thought I'd lend a hand to some lost demigods. So what will it be?"

"You know where the camp is?" Percy asked.

"I do," Quintus said frankly. "If you wish I can carry that poor boy on the ground."

"Why are you helping us?" Ethan asked.

The man looked at them calmly. "I figure I should do my daily good deed. Now do you want my help or not?"

They looked at each other but Alabaster nodded. "Fine. We would appreciate your help."

Quintus nodded and went over to pick up Chris Rodriguez. "Come your camp is this way."

"How do you know?" He asked.

Quintus only smiled. "Trade secret. Do you all want help or not?"

They looked at each other and nodded. "We'll accept your help," Alabaster said as he recalled his familiars.

"Come this way," Quintus said as they exited the room and reentered the maze.

They followed the man into the maze. Quintus walked down the corridors of the labyrinth with ease as if he were taking a simple stroll. "Tell me young demigods would you do anything for your camp?"

He looked at the man curiously. "The camp is our home, of course we would."

Quintus nodded as Mrs. O'Leary walked beside him. The man said nothing before arriving at a corridor. "Go down there and good luck."

They looked at each other and at the strange man. "Thank you," Ethan said.

Mrs. O'leary came up to them and nuzzled each of them. Quintus smiled and handed them Chris Rodriguez. "I hope our paths can cross again." With that he turned around and left down the corridor.

"Well there's only one way to find out if he's telling the truth," Alabaster said as they looked down the corridor.

They walked down the corridor before arriving at a door. Alabaster froze, the light from his torch moving up. "This should be it."

He and Ethan helped carry Chris up the stairs, once at the top Alabaster raised the torch as they saw rocks all around them. "I got this." Alabaster muttered a spell in Latin and the rocks glowed green before moving away.

Light shinned brightly as they made their way through the crack. Once outside they found themselves in a familiar setting. "Zeus' Fist," Ethan said.

The woods around them were quiet as he looked around and the realization hit him. "Luke's forces are down there."

"A perfect invasion route," Alabaster said.

"Lets go see Chiron," Ethan said.

Grover gripped his pipes. "Oh gods."

They quickly ran through the woods until they saw the Big House. It was a cold winter morning and only a few campers were still around.

"Chiron!" They found the centaur reading a book on the porch.

The centaur nearly jumped up and his eyes widened as he saw them. "You three are back! Where did you-"

"Zeus' Fist," Alabaster said as they set Chris Rodriguez down. "This is one of Luke's agents, I fear they are trying to find us."

Chiron's face paled. "Fates save us." The centaur shook his head. "I'll take care of him, you three should rest. I fear in the future we'll have a battle on our hands."

It was then that a burst of light appeared in front of them, a blonde haired man in a track suit appeared in front of them. Despite looking young, he could tell that the man was a god.

The three of them bowed as Chiron stepped forward. "Lord Apollo to what do we have this pleasure?"

Apollo grinned. "I am to bring these three to Olympus at once by order of Lord Zeus."

Clarisse felt the burden of the sky as she held it up with all her strength. Oh father help me hold it just for a bit longer. The past few days were a blur for her, the death of that other hunter in Hephaestus's graveyard for accidently taking an arrow that wasn't hers, that clear sighted girl in Hoover Dam who saved her, their flight to San Francisco where they found the beast and sent it to Poseidon's domain with Lou's help, and even Mr. Chase who helped them get here.

Turns out attacking Atlas head-on with the help of Zoe wasn't a good idea and after getting swatted to the ground she decided to carry the sky so Artemis could take care of him.

She watched the battle in front of her, Zoe was battling Atlas with Lou and Bianca supporting her but the three of them could still not hold him down.

Father give me strenght. Beads of sweat formed on her brow, looking up she saw Lou Ellen looking at her and raising her hand. A bit of relief formed in her arms, as the daughter of Hecate did her magic. Thanks magic girl. She met Lou's gaze and nodded. I swear no one will talk shit about you or your family.

"Daughter of Ares now!" Artemis yelled.

Her body reacted on its own, as she pulled away she felt Atlas fall to her side as she quickly freed herself. "NO!" Atlas yelled as he was once again trapped beneath the sky.

A wave of relief hit her as she stood up her body shaking. "Oh gods Clarisse are you ok?" Annabeth asked as she came up to her.

She smiled at patted Annabeth's back. "Of course Wise Girl."

"No!" Luke yelled as Thalia disarmed him. The son of Hermes glared at them. "This isn't over."

She went over and picked up her spear. "Spill it you treacherous piece of shit. Where is Bianca's brother?"

Luke only laughed as he tried to grab Thalia's spear. The daughter of Zeus reacted quickly and accidently kicked him off the cliff. "No!" Annabeth yelled.

"Sorry it was a reflect," Thalia said.

But she was only focused on Zoe who was bleeding on the ground. "M-My lady you are safe," Zoe muttered.

Artemis knelt down and picked her up and snapped her fingers, a large silver chariot appeared in front of them "We'll have to leave quickly."

"There are so many monsters how can we take them down?" Thalia asked.

It was then that she heard the buzz of an airplane. Squinting up she saw a familiar figure flying down towards them. "Looks like your dad is here to save us."

Annabeth's eyes widened. "M-My dad?"

She nodded. "He helped us get here."

She knew Annabeth hadn't seen her father in ages, her eyes were conflicted as they watered up. "Come on lets go," Thalia said as she grabbed both of them by their arms.

Once they got in the chariot it immediately flew through the skies. She gripped the sit handles tightly as they flew away from the battlefield. Eventually they landed and Artemis rested Zoe in her arms. "Zoe you have served me valiantly for ages, please rest in peace," Artemis said.

Zoe gave her a weak smile. "As though command Lady Artemis."

Artemis flicked her wrist and Zoe's body glowed brightly before flying to the sky. "May you rest among the clouds."

She then heard timid footsteps behind her. "A-Annabeth are you ok?" Mr. Chase asked.

Annabeth turned to face her father. "Y-You came." Suddenly she ran and hugged him tightly. "You came."

Mr. Chase hugged her back. "Of course I did. As soon as I heard you were in trouble I came, I know I have been the best father but believe me when I say I would do anything for you."

She couldn't help but be taken aback by the emotion in his voice. Meeting Mr. Chase was different than what she would've imagined, he actually seemed to care about Annabeth. The daughter of Athena looked at her father and nodded her gaze betraying calmness.

"Come we must go now," Artemis said firmly. "We have to tell our findings to the council."

They all looked at each other and nodded. "Lets go to Olympus," She said gripping her spear tightly.