AU REVOIR!² percy jackson

003

❛003❜

CHIRON CALLED A war council to take place the next morning. they met in the sword arena, which ivy thought was pretty strange – trying to discuss the fate of the camp while mrs o'Leary chewed on a life–size squeaky pink rubber yak.

chiron and quintus stood at the front by the weapon racks. ivy, clarisse and annabeth sat next to each other and led the briefing. percy twisted his ballpoint pen on his fingers in anxiousness. tyson and grover sat as far away from each other as possible. also present around the table: juniper the tree nymph, silena, travis and connor, beckendorf, lee fletcher, even argus, our hundred-eyed security chief. that's how she knew it was serious. argus hardly ever shows up unless something really major is going on. the whole time annabeth spoke, he kept his hundred blue eyes trained on her so hard, his whole body turned bloodshot.

"luke must have known about the labyrinth entrance," annabeth said. "he knew everything about camp."

ivy thought she heard a little pride in her voice, like she still respected the asshole, as evil as he was.

juniper cleared her throat. "that's what i was trying to tell you last night. the cave entrance has been there a long time. luke used to use it."

silena frowned. "you knew about the labyrinth entrance, and you didn't say anything?"

juniper's face turned green. "i didn't now it was important. just a cave. i don't like yucky old caves."

"she has good taste," grover said.

"i wouldn't have paid any attention except... well, it was luke." she blushed a little greener.

grover huffed. "forget what i said about good taste."

"interesting." quintus polished his sword as he spoke. "and you believe this young man, luke, would dare use the labyrinth as an invasion route?"

"it'd be stupid not to think he would use it," ivy said. "with the camp's magical boundaries out of the way, he could get an army of monsters to attack from the heart of camp. we wouldn't stand a chance if that happens. he must've been planning this for months."

"he's been sending scouts into the maze," annabeth said. "we know because... because we found one."

"chris rodriguez," chiron said. he gave quintus a meaningful look.

"ah," quintus said. "the one in the... yes. i understand."

"the one in the what?" percy asked.

clarisse glared at him. "the point is, luke has been looking for a way to navigate the maze. he's searching for Daedalus's workshop."

percy paused for a second, recognition flashed in his eyes. "the guy who created the maze."

"yes," annabeth said. "the greatest architect, the greatest inventor of all time. if the legends are true, his workshop is in the centre of the Labyrinth. he's the only one who knew how to navigate the maze perfectly. if luke managed to find the workshop and convince daedalus to help him, luke wouldn't have to fumble around searching for paths, or risk losing his army in the maze's traps. he could navigate anywhere he wanted – quickly and safely. first to camp half-blood to wipe us out. then... to olympus."

the arena was silent except for mrs o'leary's toy yak getting disembowelled: squeak! squeak!

finally beckendorf put his huge hands on the table. "back up a sec. annabeth, you said 'convince daedalus'. isn't daedalus dead?"