Chiron insisted we talk about it in the morning, which was kind of like, Hey, your life's in mortal danger. Sleep tight! It was hard to fall asleep, but when I finally did, I got what I prayed for. Literally.

I was in a room, which was a great start. The room didn't have any walls, it was just up in the sky without them, which seemed like a safety hazard. The floor was a soft pink, and since there were no walls, it was light clouds and a sunset. I heard a song playing and when I turned to look where it came from, my heart nearly stopped.

Sitting down, facing me, was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen. But then again, I'd seen her twice before, so I should've been used to it.

"Lady Aphrodite." I said.

The woman looked up and her eyes seemed to soften. "Ah, Kiera. Come sit, we must chat."

I walked to where Aphrodite sat at a nail salon table, but doing her own nails. "I heard you sent me a message to talk?"

"Huh," I asked. "Oh—yeah."

I had almost forgotten why I had wanted to see her. I wanted to know more about my abilities from her, and more about the past Moiraios. 

"Kiera?" She asked, a soft smile on her face.

I felt my face heat up. "Sorry, Lady Aphrodite. Um. . .I wanted to talk to you to learn more about the soul ties I can see."

Aphrodite squealed and put the nail polish down. "Okay, so. I told you last time how a pink soul tie is normal. And, how when the soulmates are stronger, the color is different. Bright or a neon green, white, and deep maroon are the stronger colors."

I nodded. "So, Percy and Annabeth, they're stronger, is it due to parentage?"

"No," Aphrodite said. "It's just overall power  it could be knowledge, strength, bravery and everything else added up. I don't even really know, I just know most of it to tell people."

"Okay, continue." 

"What I didn't bring up last time, was that a soul tie doesn't burn and show itself unless its that persons soulmate. So, you wouldn't have random people meeting up and having the same color.  Say your brother, Percy, found another girl—unlikely—and they feel a strong emotion to each other, the soul tie won't flare up because they aren't true soulmates. Only when Percy and Annabeth touch, will the soul tie for both of them light up. Do you understand?"

I blinked. It was kind of confusing, but I understood it a little after. "Yeah."

"Is that all?" Aphrodite asked me, still staring at me. The amber eyes she had bore into me, and I felt like melting under her stare. 

"So, why do you look different for everyone?" I asked.

"Good question, too. I can look like people's type, or their soulmates."

My face warmed because I started to notice a lot of similarities to her and someone else. As if Aphrodite knew exactly what I was thinking, a smug smile made its way across her features.

I didn't even know I had a type, apparently it's Leo. Shouldn't it be Lee, though? We are dating.

An alarm echoed through the makeshift room, and Aphrodite just sighed. "I suppose I must be going."

"Okay—oh, sorry." I cleared my throat. "Um, thank you for the time to speak, Lady Aphrodite."

The room and her started to fade as the scene changed. "No problem, my dear."

 ⊹

As usual, I was given an update. I silently thanked Lord Hypnos for allowing this dream message.

Leo sat on a bed, throwing a lacrosse ball up in the air and then catching it again. He just repeated that.

Gosh, what does he even do with his spare time?

The ball hit Leo on the face as he missed the catch. He sat up quickly and stared right at me. "It's you!"

Can he see me?

"Yes," Leo said. "I can see you. Wait—I can see  you! And I'm talking to you!"

I felt myself frown, but slowly, I materialized into the dream, like I was with Aphrodite. Someone was allowing a dream call with a mortal. . .

"Um," I said, waving my hands in front of me. "No you aren't. . .this is all your imagination."

Leo just stared at me, "Nah, I'm pretty sure this is real."

Fuck. Zeus is gonna be pissed.

Leo patted the spot next to him on the bed. I sighed and went over to him. When I turned to him, I still felt warm from my conversation with Aphrodite. I could see the way their faces were similar. Leo had imp-like features, a slightly upturned nose, ears that came to a small point, and nimble fingers.

"You good?" He asked.

I didn't even have anything to say. All the time I had thought of stuff to say when I found him, but I couldn't remember any of it at that moment. 

"Long day, huh?" I said, laughing nervously.

"How are you even here?" Leo asked. "How did you just. . .materialize  in my room?"

I shrugged. "Dunno."

We stared at each other for a solid could of five and then bust out laughing. When our fit was over, Leo looked up at the ceiling. "So, what happened that made you leave the assembly at Goode?"

How do I tell a mortal that two immortal vampire witches were disguised as cheerleaders and smelt my brother and I, and attacked us in the band room and framed my brother for killing them? Trick question, you don't.

"I don't really know if I—" I said.

"Cut the bull shit." Leo interrupted. 

"Wow, rude much?" I grumbled.

"No, I have the right to be upset because you got me sent to a different foster home."

Shit, I didn't know he was in the foster system. Now I feel bad! 

"I can't tell you." I said. "I'm sorry, Leo."

"I saw them, too." Leo murmured. "I thought I was insane. The cheerleaders were off, I knew it the whole time, but thought it was just me. Was it something with them?"

Chills danced across my body, and my rune tingled as if telling me, TIME TO SKIDADDLE!

How did Leo know about them? He couldn't have unless . . .he was a demigod. I wanted to keep him out of the life, but he'd come to camp eventually, and I'd dread the day he did. I couldn't let anyone else get hurt.

"It was." Shit! Why would I say that!? I'm so fucking stupid! Gods, please just strike me down right now.

No thunder or lightning, just Leo sighing. "Do you ever see things that people don't?"

I laughed. "You have no idea. . ." I was currently about to start a quest for the gods. Greek gods. They're real. And about to risk my life and die for them, just so Kronos can't rise.

"In my dreams," Leo said. "I see you. Like I do now, but you can't hear me. A while back, I saw you in an animal van. Then it was on a boat. Then at your home. In a cabin. Then you battled with something, you had a sword—"

My first quest when we traveled with the animal circus. The Sea of Monsters. The time between, where I bounced between camp and home. The Manticore.

"—and then you were shot. Then kidnapped. Forced under something, someone was touching your back and you were screaming so much I thought my ears were gonna burst. And then last I saw you, you won the Olympics, all over the news. Well, I saw you in person at Goode, but I wouldn't count that."

My mouth dried up. The quest to save Annabeth. The trailer. Holding the sky. Getting my rune. Winning. Then seeing him. He followed my life, with quests. No mortal would be able to see any of that, much less even be able to have a dream conversation as we were right now. It confirmed he was a demigod.

"Yep." My voice was hoarse. "That's all true."

I looked at him and found Leo staring at me already, studying my face as if he'd never seen me before but knew we had met. "And yet, you can't tell me."

"I will in time," I swore. "When you see me in person again, I'll tell you everything about my life since you started having visions of me. I swear it on the River Styx."

It was more-so a promise on my end, but nevertheless, thunder boomed in the distance, and Leo's eyes narrowed. "You've done that before."

"What?"

"Said weird things. You've said 'gods' as if there are more than one. You have this vibe about you, that seems different from others I meet. You're also ADHD. You have a sword. And you just gave me a promise on some sort of river."

"Yeah?" 

"Can I get a different version of a promise?" Leo asked, a cheeky smile making its way onto his face. "Your lake means nothing to me."

I rolled my eyes and held out my pinky. Leo put his out and his skin was extremely warm. I looked away because I was fighting a smile. I wanted to crawl into his arms and not move, but then again, that would be weird since we were strangers. Something reminded me of someone. . .I just couldn't place it.

I instinctively rubbed my wave charm. The one that concealed my blade, Nightfall. As if Leo knew it, he looked down and said; "Can I see your sword?"

I burst out laughing. "I'm sorry, it just sounds like you're asking for something else."

Leo's face burned bright red, as if fire glowed underneath his perfectly tanned skin.

I felt my hand get freezing, and I started to fade. "I'll find you again, Kiera." He said.

I met his eyes as I felt the dream blacking out. "I promise it, too."

 I sat up in a cold sweat.

————————☁︎ ✯  ☾ ✯ ☁︎————————

 I was still feeling shaky the next morning when Chiron called a war council. We met in the sword arena, which I thought was pretty strange—trying to discuss the fate of the camp while Mrs. O'Leary chewed on a life-size pink rubber cow.

Chiron and Quintus stood at the front by the weapon racks. Clarisse and Annabeth sat next to each other and led the briefing. Tyson and Grove sat as far away from each other as possible. Also present at the table: Juniper the tree nymph, Silena Beauregard, Travis and Connor Stoll, Beckendorf, Tony and Teqi, Lee, and even Argus, our hundred-eyed security chief. That's how I knew it was serious. He hardly ever showed up unless something serious was going on. The whole time Annabeth spoke, he kept his hundred 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."

I thought I heard a little pride in her voice, and I felt my fist close up, but it stopped when someone slid their hand with mine. The cold fingers told me it was Lee.

Juniper cleared her throat. "That's what I was trying to tell you last night. The cave entrance has been there the whole time. Luke used to use it."

I groaned. "And yet, you didn't say a single thing."

Juniper's face turned green. "I didn't know 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?"

"Definitely," Teqi said. "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. He would wipe us out easy. 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."

"The guy who created the maze." Percy said.

I clapped sarcastically. "Wow, great thought process there, Perc." Percy rolled his eyes at me and nudged me.

"Yes," Annabeth said. "The greatest architect, the greatest inventor of all time. If the legends are true, his workshop is in the center 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 pink toy cow getting absolutely fucking tortured: SQUEAK! SQUEAK!

Finally, Beckendorf put his huge hands on the table. "Back up a sec. Annabeth, you said 'convince Daedalus'? Isn't Daedalus dead?"

Quintus grunted. "I would hope so. He lived, what, three thousand years ago? And even if he were alive, the old stories say he fled from the Labyrinth, right?"

I frowned. Any demigod would know the story of Daedalus, even if they didn't want to. Trust me, I was that way. Daedalus ventured back into his own creation for safety towards the end of his life. And all half-bloods would know it was a three thousand years ago, due to our parentage being gods from that time. Something was off about Quintus.

Chiron clopped restlessly on his hooves. "That's the problem, my dear Quintus. No one knows. There are rumors. . .well, there are many  disturbing rumors about Daedalus, but one is that he disappeared back into the Labyrinth toward the end of his life. He might still be down there."

Lee squeezed my hand, bringing my attention to him. His eyebrows were knit, and he mouthed the words; you okay?

I nodded.

You seem distracted, Kie. He said.

I just shrugged. I couldn't tell him or anyone about my dreams, other than Annabeth. Shit! We never talked about Leo! Boy do I have news for her.

"—We need to go in," Annabeth announced. "We have to find the workshop before Luke does. If Daedalus is alive, we convince him to help us, not Luke. If Ariadne's string still exists, we make sure it never falls into Luke's hands."

"Wait a second," Percy said. "If we're worried about an attack, why not just blow up the entrance? Seal the tunnel?"

"Great idea!" Grover said. "I'll get the dynamite!"

"It's not so easy, idiot," Clarisse growled. "We tried that at the entrance we found in Phoenix. It didn't go well."

Annabeth nodded. "The Labyrinth is magical architecture, Percy. It would take huge power to seal even one of its entrances. In Phoenix, Clarisse demolished a whole building with a wrecking ball, and the maze entrance just shifted a few feet. The best we can do is prevent Luke from learning how to navigate."

"We could fight," Lee said, dropping my hand when all eyes went to him. "We know where the entrance is now. We can set up a defensive line and wait for them. If an army tries to come through, they'll find us waiting with our bows."

"We will have to set up defenses," I agreed. "But I think La Rue is right. The magical borders have kept camp safe for hundreds of years. If Luke manages to get a large army of monsters into the center of camp, bypassing our boundaries. . .we don't have the strength to defeat them."

Chiron stared right at me, and I avoided his eyes. Nobody looked too happy about my news. I tried to usually be upbeat and optimistic—no I don't—and if I was right, that wasn't good. I took of my anchor charm and brought a single dagger out and started cleaning my nails.

"We work on getting to Daedalus's workshop first," Annabeth insisted. "Find Ariadne's string and stop Luke from using it."

"But if nobody can navigate in there," Percy said, "what chance do we have?"

"I've been studying architecture for years," Annabeth said. "I know Daedalus's Labyrinth better than anybody."

I stopped picking my nails with a dagger and looked up at her. "From reading about it."

"Well, yes."

"That's not enough."

"It has to be!"

"It isn't!"

"Are you going to help me or not?"

I realized everybody was watching Annabeth and me like a tennis match. Mrs. O'Leary's squeaky cow went EEEK! As she ripped off the pink head.

Chiron cleared his throat. "First things first. We need a quest. Someone must enter the Labyrinth, find the workshop of Daedalus, and prevent Luke from using the maze to invade this camp."

"We all know who should lead this," Clarisse said. "Annabeth."

There was a murmur of agreement. I knew Annie had been waiting for her own quest since she was a little kid, but she looked uncomfortable.

"You've done as much as I have, Clarisse," She said. "You should go, too."

Clarisse shook her head. "I'm not going back in there."

Travis Stoll laughed. "Don't tell me you're scared. Clarisse, chicken?"

Clarisse got to her feet. I thought she was gonna pulverize Travis, but she said in a shaky voice: "You don't understand anything, punk. I'm never going in there again. Never!"

She stormed out of the arena.

"Oh shit," Teqi whispered.

Chiron turned a glare on her, and I knew what his scolding words would be: Language.

Travis looked around sheepishly. "I didn't mean to—"

Chiron raised his hand. "The poor girl has had a difficult year. Now, do we have an agreement that Annabeth should lead the quest?"

We all nodded except Quintus. He was zoned out, staring at the table. Again, something was off.

"Very well." Chiron turned to Annabeth. "My dear, it's time you visit the Oracle. Assuming you return to us in once piece, we shall discuss what to do next."

————————☁︎ ✯  ☾ ✯ ☁︎————————

Waiting for Annabeth was harder than visiting the Oracle myself.

I'd heard it speak prophecies twice before. The first time had been in the dusty attic of the Big House, where the spirit of Delphi slept inside the body of a mummified lady. The second time, the Oracle had come out for a little stroll in the woods.

I'd never felt threatened by the Oracle, but I'd heard stories about campers who'd gone insane, or who had seen visions so real they died of fear.

Percy and I were sparring, waiting. Mrs. O'Leary ate her lunch, which consisted of a hundred pounds of ground beef and several dog biscuits the size of shields. I wondered where he got dog treats that size. I didn't think you could just walk into PetSmart and put em in your cart.

Chiron was deep in conversation with Quintus and Argus. It looked like they were disagreeing about something.

On the other side of the arena, Tyson and the Stoll brothers were racing miniature bronze chariots that Tyson made out of armor scraps.

When I beat Percy three times in a row, he gave up and left the arena.

Lee got up and decided to challenge me to a full match, where everyone in the arena would back up and we'd set up obstacles to hide behind. Well, I  would hide behind since he had arrows. Stabbing, slicing, shooting, were all on the table, meaning we would definitely get hurt. Tyson and the others just moved their race track further into the corner, and the other counselors were chatting, some were watching, like Big Me.

We started the match and three arrows embedded themselves in the target next to my head. I jumped out of the way and brought both of my daggers out. I pinched the points of my knives and readied for throw. When Lee came into sight, he launched two arrows, and I tossed one of my daggers at him. It cut the arrows in half and tore his shirt.

"Hey!" He complained. "I liked that shirt!"

I grinned and dove behind another concrete block. THIK. Lee shot another arrow. I took my chance as he was reloading and threw my last dagger at him. It cut his bowstring in half, one half slapping him in the face, the other