Melpomene (PJO)

5. Delve into the darkness

Mari didn't end up sleeping. She was officially let out of the infirmary when Lee came to collect her the next morning with kouloúri and a glass of water. If he noticed the many, many scrunched up pieces of paper and broken pencils that littered the bed, he didn't comment past a raised eyebrow and a sigh. Mari tried to calm her jittery nerves by munching on the bread ring as she walked with Lee to the war council, but the dough just felt like warm, wet clay as it settled in her stomach.

Chiron had apparently decided to hold the war council in the sword arena, for some reason. It looked different - the dummies that usually took up the sparring grounds were shoved to the side, and had been replaced by a table with around twenty chairs. It almost seemed organised, apart from the fact that Mrs O'Leary the hellhound was gnawing on a life-sized chew toy in the corner. Mari shuddered. Chiron was standing in front of the weapon racks with Quintus, but Annabeth and Clarisse were seated in front of them. Annabeth waved at Mari and gestured towards a third chair beside her. Mari slid into it, frowning. "I thought this was starting at six, before breakfast. It's five past."

"Prissy is late," Clarisse growled. "Honestly, what did I expect?"

"You want to try finding out about all this in a single night and see how you handle it?" Annabeth snapped.

Percy arrived at ten past, looking frazzled. "Sorry! I overslept!"

"It's fine, Percy." Chiron smiled. "You're here now, let's begin."

Annabeth launched into an explanation of what Mari and Clarisse had been doing last winter, and how she'd been brought in after she was rescued from Luke. The whole time, Lee's eyes were trained on her, but Mari couldn't tell what exactly he was thinking. Was he mad at her? he had said he wasn't, but that was before everything had been laid out in front of him like this. Annabeth finally caught up to recent events, and Mari tuned back in.

"Luke must have known about the labyrinth entrance. He knew everything about camp," she said.

"That's what I was trying to tell you last night," Juniper bemoaned. According to Annabeth, before she and Percy had accidentally stumbled onto the entrance, Juniper had run into them and she'd been awfully on edge about something. This must be it. "The cave entrance has been there a long time. Luke used to use it."

"I'm sorry." Mari held up a hand. "You knew about this for how long, exactly? And you just decided to say something now?"

"I didn't know it was important." Juniper turned green. Well, greener than usual. "It seemed like it was just a cave. I don't like yucky old caves."

"She has good taste." Grover stage-whispered.

"I wouldn't have paid any attention except... well, it was Luke." Juniper went even greener, like fresh grass. Mari fake gagged.

"Forget what I said about good taste," Grover muttered.

"Interesting." Quintus was polishing his sword as he spoke, and the reflection gleamed in his eyes, making him look creepy. "And you believe this young man, Luke, would dare use the Labyrinth as an invasion route?"

"Definitely. If he could get an army of monsters inside Camp Half-Blood, just pop up in the middle of the woods without having to worry about our magical boundaries, we wouldn't stand a chance." Clarisse scowled. "He could wipe us out easy. He must've been planning this for months."

"He's been sending scouts out into the maze," Annabeth said. "We know this because... Clarisse found one."

"And Mari's annoying little friend," Clarisse added.