Son of the Moon

37

-Percy-

Standing next to Nico he began placing on his armor, checking his brother's straps just as Nico did his in preparation for the War Games that night. It had been a week since Luke's trial and after the verdict, as well as the news of what happened to Annabeth, was released a couple other children of Athena who were fiercely loyal to Annabeth left to join the Titans as did Grover Underwood. The new Activities Director, a man named Quintus, in an effort to both boost moral as well as have better training arranged for the competitions besides capture the flag with the first one being the war games.

"So what do you think he let loose into the woods?" he asked Nico as they finished with the straps. Earlier in the week Quintus had gotten a group of Crates which read that they were from a place called 'Triple G Ranch' that rattled whenever anyone approached them.

"Dude, I'm more worried about our competition. Our girlfriends are on the same team!" Nico groaned out nervously, a sentiment he shared. As powerful as they were the position of Girlfriend instantly put Bianca and Amanda above them.

Quintus had divided the campers into teams of two and the instructions were simple to understand even if carrying them out was going to be a pain "There are six monsters in the forest each with a silk package on its back. In one package there are golden laurels. You get them you win, you don't get them you lose, you die you lose at life."

"That man has issues." He said irritably.

"His dog is nice though." Nico offered weakly, the son of Hades as well as Bianca haven become rather fond of the giant hellhound Mrs. O'Leary.

"Whatever bone head, let's just go kill some monsters." He said, bumping his brother's shoulder playfully as they moved to the edge of the forest. When the horn sounded they took off running into the trees, keeping an eye out for whatever monsters Quintus had released for the games. The problem was that Chiron had the forest cleared beforehand to prevent extra deaths and now the only monsters within the camp were ones brought in for training fights. Six monsters, big forest, bad odds.

After an hour of running around they took a break by the rock formation called Zeus' fist, sipping from their water canteens when a rustling sound came from the bushes. Looking up he saw a massive scorpion, fifteen feet long with a gleaming carapace as it clicked its pincers at them aggressively, the silk package standing out against the creature's hide.

"Well here's hoping we got the right one." He said as he hefted his blade and Nico readied his chains. Before they could attack there was more rustling and two more massive scorpions, albeit only ten feet, came out of the bushes, "Oh bloody freaking hell." He groaned, "It's times like these that our scent gets annoying."

"One child of the big three is bad enough but two…well if there are any other monsters in theses woods we'd have been fighting the second we entered." Nico agreed before they charged the scorpions.

"I got the one on the left!" he called out, sliding under the first of the ten foot scorpions, slashing at the joints of the beast's legs.

"And I got the right!" Nico laughed, leaping onto the monster's back as the son of Hades began to ride it like a bucking bronco. Sliding out the other side of his scorpion he leapt up into the air with the aid of the winds, slicing off the stinger and ramming it into the Scorpion's back, its own venom killing it as he watched Nico finally get bored with his scorpion and rip it apart with the hooked chains.

All throughout the two, admittedly short, fights the larger scorpion had been watching them, studying their styles before it charged, bringing its pincers together to try and coral them before slamming down with its stinger. Reacting instantly he leapt back along with Nico but when their backs hit part of Zeus' fist he felt a flash of magic as the ground vanished beneath him and he fell back and down into the darkness, his last sight being the Scorpion standing at the entrance before it closed up.

-Nico-

Groaning the son of Hades forced himself to his feet, looking around as he blinked the blackness of his vision from hitting his head during the fall. He found himself at the end of a long dark hall, high cement walls that faded into shadows and massive steel pipes lining the walls at waist level. A groan caused him to turn around to see Percy with a blood caked head and a decent sized rock next to him as he ran over to his half conscious friend.

"Hold on there Percy, take it easy." He eased as he pulled out some ambrosia squares and popped one into his friend's mouth, forcing Percy to chew before giving the son of Artemis a sip of Nectar.

"What hit me?" Percy asked with a wince as the head injury closed up.

"A rock." He said, picking up the offending stone and putting it into his brother's palm as the most powerful demigod in the world glared at the bit of debris.

"I'll destroy it in the name of vengeance later." Percy said, standing up with a grimace as they looked around "But first how do we get out of here…and where the hell is here?"

"Hallway to hell?" he asked jokingly before dodging a swipe to the back of his head, "Okay, okay, I'll look around for clues!" they spent another fifteen minutes looking for clues before they found a Delta carved into the wall near where they fell, both of them paling when they realized they were.

"Di Immortales." Percy hissed before slapping a hand onto the Grecian symbol causing the top to open up and a rope ladder to appear "Climb Nico!" It took two minutes to get to the top but the second they crossed the boundary of the Labyrinth he felt hands grab him under his arms and pull him. Before his feet even hit the dirt he felt arms wrap around him, tears hitting his chest as he saw Amanda clutching him tightly, Bianca doing the same to Percy next to him.

"Where were you?" Will asked, the rest of their close friends running over to make sure he and Percy were alright.

"The Labyrinth," Percy said, the son of Artemis standing up and cradling Bianca "there's an entrance right here in camp and if we don't find a way to stop things then the Titans may be able to find it and use it to attack the camp directly."

"They do know about it." A new voice spoke up as he turned to see Clarisse walking into the clearing with a tied up and gagged person he vaguely recognized as Chris Rodriguez. "They've been sending scouts to find the right path to the Camp, Chris here," Clarisse threw the bound man at Chiron's feet "was one of their scouts from the first wave. He ended up exiting through one of the doors near my mother's home. The Labyrinth turned him stark raving mad but Mr. D might be able to get something about of him."

"This is indeed troubling." Chiron said concerned.

"Yes but troubling or not we need to be prepared." He looked to see Percy entering into what he liked to refer to as the King State, where his brother exuded an air of confidence and charisma that made people want to follow him into battle. "Beckendorf," Percy called out "I want your cabin to work with the Athena campers and the children of Hecate. We're going to need traps, both magical and physical, as well as defenses set up and so you all are to design and implement them."

"Sir!" Beckendorf, Lou Ellen, and Malcolm, who had taken over the Athena cabin, all saluted him and began gathering their siblings.

"Will!" Percy turned to the son of Apollo, "You're to gather your cabin members and Coordinate them with my sisters when they arrive in a few days. I'm going to have Beckendorf build watch towers that are to be manned at all times at both here and the main entrances."

"Understood Percy." Will said before turning to the other Apollo campers "Everyone start making arrows, we're going to need all we can get!"

"Clarisse!" Percy turned to the strongest of the Ares campers "I want three of your siblings stationed at both here and the main entrance at all times so set up a rotation schedule for them."

"Understood." Clarisse said with a firm nod.

"Everyone else keep training and help out wherever you can." Percy ordered "Demeter cabin, set up poisonous plants near the entrance to the Labyrinth if you can, and I don't mean Poison Ivy I mean monster killer poison. I know you have some somewhere. Hermes cabin go throughout the woods to get every nature spirit on our side that you can. We need every ally we can get people!"

"What are you going to do?" Chiron asked their leader.

"I'm going to see the Oracle," Percy said seriously "I'd say it's time for another quest to keep our home from become a smoldering ruin."