"Psst, Kia."

Kia hummed questioningly, leaning her head closer toward Percy. He whispered like a criminal undercover, "Wanna break some rules?"

She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Are you going to take no for an answer."

"No... but you weren't going to say no anyway, were you?"

Kia paused. "Fine."

Percy gave her a cheesy grin and Kia scrunched her nose up and pushed his face away with her hand.

Discreetly, when no one was looking, they slipped away from everyone and headed towards the Big House. Kia could put two and two together, figuring out pretty quickly what Percy wanted to do. He had seemed pretty antsy the entire time they were in the sword arena, pacing so much it gave Kia anxiety.

Kia noticed Percy's lips instinctively curling at the sight of the Big House, seemingly expecting Mr. D to be sitting in the parlour, growling at poor saytrs nearby. He seemed to have realised a split second later that he was still away. Kia could understand. It was sort of quiet without Mr. D around, no matter how unpleasant he usually was.

The old floorboards groaned and creaked as they made their way across the hallway, dimly lit. Kia and Percy stopped by the base of the stairs, briefly sharing a moment of hesitation. Just three floors above Kia's room was a trapdoor that led to Annabeth—and the Oracle. Kia has never met the Oracle herself, but she had heard several chilling stories from other campers, of musky green mist and seraphic green eyes with rolls of papyrus wrapping up what was once a youthful young woman, probably around Kia's age.

Then she heard sobbing. Familiar sobs she had tried to cure once. Percy noticed Kia's face turn grim and somber, lips pursing into a thin line and eyes staring off into space.

"What? You know who's crying?"

Kia nodded, looking uncomfortable with the topic. Percy didn't ask anymore, walking past her and down the stairs to the basement. Kia wanted to tell him not to, feeling guilt from allowing him to see someone in a deeply personal and vulnerable state, almost like intruding on something no one else was meant to see, but she couldn't. The words got lodged in her throat, she told herself. Maybe there was a part that wanted to check up on him too.

Percy saw what Kia had seen before: Clarisse and Chris, a demigod who had joined what people in Camp Half-Blood dubbed 'the Other Side,' in the midst of a moment outsider's eyes weren't meant to see. Chris was the one sobbing, his face grimy and dirty, hair matted and greasy. He was hugging his knees, repeatedly hitting his head on his kneecaps. He looked so fractured, like a thread in his mind had snapped. It was both terrifying and sad to see.

Clarisse looked like she was about to cry, her voice cracking when she said, "It's okay. Try a little more nectar."

She looked so tired, so unusually small, so sad and upset. It made Kia's heart hurt. "You're an illusion, Mary!" Chris backed farther into the corner, his dirt-ridden fingernails scraping painfully against the wood. It left a trail of blood, where his fingertips were. "G–get away."

"My name's not Mary," Clarisse said gently, voice hoarse with pain. "My name is Clarisse. Remember. Please."

"It's dark!" Chris yelled, eyes alight with panic and fear. He was screaming it into the air, the poor boy was shaking. "So dark!"

"Come outside," Clarisse coaxed. "The sunlight will help you."

"A... a thousand skulls. The earth keeps healing him." Kia ha heard him say this a thousand times, but she just couldn't figure out what it meant. She had a small suspicion that, even if Chris had gone... you know, a sliver of truth remained in his words.

"Chris," Clarisse pleaded desperately. Her voice was heartbreakingly soft. "You have to get better. Please. Mr. D will be back soon. He's an expert in madness. I'll get Kia to try again. Just hang on."

Kia ignored Percy's glance at her at the mention of her name.

Chris's expression was like a cornered rat's—wild and frightened. "There's no way out, Mary. No way out."

Then his eyes looked directly in the direction of Kia and Percy and made a strangled, terrified sound. "The son of Poseidon! He's horrible!"

As they ran away, assuming Chris was talking about Percy, they couldn't help but think that Chris' tone sounded more imploring and full of warning than accusation. Chris has been saying this all day ever since he came back. Kia had tried everything to try and connect the dots but it just wouldn't make sense. She thought about taking it to Annabeth, but Annabeth was already so stressed and tired that it felt morally wrong to place the burden on her.

Kia's mind ran in circles as she sat down, Annabeth closely following her and Percy. She tried to pay more attention, but her mind just wouldn't leave Chris and the things he said about the Labyrinth. Son of Poseidon, healed by the Earth and a thousand skulls was all she had to go on. She hadn't found anything in the libraries in Athens cabin during the nights Annabeth and her would stay up and do more research, and nor could she think of anything off the top of her head. Kia wasn't used to this. She wasn't book smart or street smart, she was just mind smart and even then, that wouldn't be of any help when her own mind was too weak to properly function.

I'm not looking hard enough, she decided, looking up at Annabeth as she looked at Percy with a gaze full of fear. I'll look through the libraries again later.

Annabeth looked away from Percy, a hidden action in her movements: hiding her fear. She stared right at Quintus, which Kia found peculiar. "I got the prophecy. I will lead the quest to find Daedalus's workshop."

There was none of the usual cheering that would have been expected had this been literally any other quest. The Labyrinth was a fucked up place, the most messed up, mind-twisting, evil, ominous place Kia had ever been. The place felt ancient and powerful, threatening in a way that would tear your mind before it tore your flesh. If anyone here liked Annabeth here, the last thing they would want is for her to go into that thing.

"What did the prophecy say exactly, my dear?" Chiron asked, scraping the floor with his hooves. "The wording is important."

Annabeth took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "I, ah... well, it said, you shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze..."

Everyone held their breath, waiting for her to continue.

"The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise."

Grover practically lit up in his spot. "The lost one! That must mean Pan! That's great!"

"With the dead and the traitor," Percy added unhelpfully. "Not so great."

Kia stepped on his foot hardly. Percy let out a sharp wince, biting his lip. "Try to be less pessimistic, maybe?"

"And?" Chiron prodded, seemingly not satisfied with that Annabeth had said. "What is the rest?"

"A single choice to be made to tip the scales, the walls of the maze wail."

Kia paled. A single choice. Luke had given her a choice. Her time was running out.

"And?"

"You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand," Annabeth said, "the child of Athena's final stand."

Kia didn't like the sound of that. 'Final stand' sounded way too much akin to death than for Kia to feel comfortable about the fact that Annabeth was a child of Athena, and that a child of Athena would have the final stand.

"Hey... we shouldn't jump to conclusions," Silena said. "Annabeth isn't the only child of Athena, right?"

What was that supposed to mean? That some other child of Athena could be sacrificed in her place? Kia didn't know Silena very well, but what she said hadn't made her very fond of the daughter of Aphrodite.

"But who's this ghost king?" Beckendorf asked.

Kia made it a point to not look at Percy in hopes of not being obvious. Grover, Annabeth, Percy and Kia had a secret: Nico was a son of Hades, and thereby, probably classified as a ghost king. This information was way too volatile to be safely revealed to the other campers. They would just have to figure it out alone.

"Are there more lines?" Chiron asked. "The prophecy does not sound complete."

Annabeth hesitated. "I don't remember exactly."

It was clear no one believed her. As a child of Athena, she was known for her impeccable memory. It wasn't like Annabeth to just have not 'remembered' the lines of a terribly important prophecy. She was hiding something.

Annabeth squirmed uncomfortably underneath everyone's gaze. "Something about... Destroy with a hero's final breath."

"And?"

She stood, effectively telling everyone that part of the conversation was over. It would not be discussed any further. "Look, the point is, I have to go in. I'll find the workshop and stop Luke. And... I need help." She turned to Percy. "Will you come?"

"I'm in."

She smiled for the first time in several days. "Grover, you too? The wild god is waiting."

All the talk about 'the lost one' had given him an extra boost like he had drank fifty cups of coffee. He was jumping when he exclaimed excitedly, shortly forgetting his distaste for underground areas, "I'll pack extra recyclables for snacks!"

Annabeth turned to Kia next. Her eyes softened. "Kia?"

"'Course, Betsy," Kia said, shooting her finger-guns. "Count me in."

"And Tyson," Annabeth said finally. "I'll need you too."

"Yay! Blow-things-up time!" Tyson clapped adorably. Although it was a bit loud, loud enough to wake up Mrs. O'Leary who had been spring away in the corner nearby.

"Wait, Annabeth," Chiron said, a tone of nervousness creeping into his voice. "This goes against the ancient laws. A hero is allowed only two companions."

"I need them all," she insisted. "Chiron, it's important."

Chiron has a point. Last winter, six people had gone on a quest, and only four had returned. The numbers were there for a reason. But Kia could see how adamant Annabeth was to have all of them. There was no way Annabeth would do this without reason. There was something she wasn't telling them.

"Annabeth." Chiron flicked his tail erratically. "Consider well. You would be breaking the ancient laws, and there are always consequences. Last winter, six went on a quest to save Artemis. Only four came back." He made it sound like the last one was a warning: Do not attempt this again. "Think on that. Three is a sacred number. There are three fates, three furies, three Olympian sons of Kronos. It is a good strong number that stands against many dangers. Five... this is risky."

"I know. But we have to. Please."

Kia didn't like the look on Quintus' face. He looked back and forth between all five of them, like he was mentally placing bets on the ones who'd make it back. She must have been glaring a little, because when Quintus' eyes landed on her, he looked jarred. Then he faked an apologetic smile, almost like he knew Kia was aware. The air of artificiality around him made Kia wary.

Chiron looked even more tired than he had in the past few days. "Very well. Let us adjourn. The members of the quest must prepare themselves. Tomorrow at dawn, we send you into the Labyrinth."

Kia had immediately left the meeting without looking back, eyes set straight for Athena cabin. A few days of the past few months had even been spent sleeping in there, laying in a pile of books, tucked in by a blanket Annabeth had placed around her. She and Annabeth had taken to do doing extensive research on the Labyrinth, along with Annabeth teaching Kia almost all she knew about the Labyrinth. Annabeth was still the expert between the two, but Kia's knowledge about the Labyrinth wasn't anything to laugh about either.

She saw Vidya leaving the cabin, Vidya telling her something about an olive tree project she had planned with Isabella, a daughter of Demeter. Malcolm was in a further corner, prowling around the books, looking for something.

Kia walked past the pile of books she and Annabeth had separated that contained topics about the Labyrinth. She skimmed over the books, not having any particular aim or box that she could tick to find the book she needed.

A tap on her shoulder startled her out of her concentrated reverie. "Malcolm! You scared me!"

Malcolm and her had become well-acquainted with each other over the past couple of months, what with Kia spending majority of her time in Athena cabin with Annabeth and sometimes Vidya (yes, what a loser). They shared an off friendship which was compromised of words Kia was completely sure Malcolm made up and pop-culture references Malcolm was sure Kia had only seen in a dream.

He laughed a little. "Sorry, Kia. Didn't mean to. But you look a little lost. Anything I can help you with?"

Kia bit her lip. Telling Malcolm could be helpful, but there was a slight chance it'd slip out in a conversation between him and Annabeth if she didn't tell him not to. The solution came to her rather quickly, an stupidly simple solution. "Can you keep a secret, Malcolm?"

Malcolm raised an eyebrow. "Depends on what this little secret is."

With a deep inhale, Kia told him about all her suspicions concerning the things Chris said and about how they might be connected. As Malcolm listened, he held his chin, thinking to himself with his eyebrows furrowed as he thought about what it could mean or whether what Kia was saying was even a possibility.

"I'm not sure about a thousand skulls, but I can think of a few sons of Poseidon." Malcolm popped out a book from the shelf, handing it to Kia. "I'm not too sure about the 'the earth heals him' part either, but this should be a good start."

The book was blankly blue. On the spine, written in black ink with choppy handwriting was: Sons of Poseidon. That was it. That was the book. Kia raised an eyebrow at Malcolm. "Why do you all have such weirdly specific books? Why does it look like this?"

"We have a lot of books to label, okay?" Malcolm said defensively. "And this is the Athena cabin. We've got books for everything."

Kia shrugged. "Fair enough."

He stood in front of her, staring at her with his arms crossed. He was much taller than her, which annoyed Kia much more than she liked to admit. He basically towered over her. He had a habit of placing his elbow on top of her head 'accidentally.' "What? No 'thank you?' Typically, when people are grateful, they say thanks."

Kia patted him on the shoulder apathetically. "Key word: grateful. Move along, slave."

He stole the book from her hands as quick as he gave it to her. Instead of dangling it in the air and giving Kia a chance to actually retrieve it, he simply placed it at the very top of the shelves. Malcom shot her a shit-eating grin. "Welp, this slave better keep the book where you can clearly find it, eh?"

Kia flipped him the bird, knowing it was useless to try and get it to give it back. He left after that. Kia furrowed her eyebrows. And then she got an idea.

Camp Half-Blood was a crazy place. Everyone knew that. There were dudes who could control water, people who could make plants go loco, and stupid smart people who were very blond and very annoying (read: Malcolm). Another crazy thing about camp? They had weird trainings. Climbing walls and scaling them while lava poured down them was one of these trainings.

Kia pushed her imaginary sleeves up, licking her lips. She prepared herself, holding onto the edge of one of the shelves. Kia wasn't worried about the shelves collapsing; Athena kids were serious about their book collection and organisation. That meant quadruple-enforced super strong wood for their shelves for more of their clumsy siblings.

Her hand shuffled around the top aimlessly, trying to detect the book. Then her hand touched something solid. She grinned to herself satisfactorily.

"Kia? What are you doing?"

All of her concentration was lost in that one moment. She immediately fell down from the second shelf, feeling a knot forming in the back of her head. Kia felt dizzy. Dizzy and ready to kill whoever had interrupted her embarrassing excuse of a climbing session.

As she looked up at the ceiling, she saw Percy's face, staring down at her with those stupid seal eyes. His face was upside down in her vision. "The hell does it look like I'm doing, genius?"

Percy helped Kia up, snickering to himself. "Idiot."

In an infuriatingly simple display of his height, he reached up, barely going on his tip-toes to reach the book Malcolm had put there. Kia's head was throbbing as Percy read the writing on the book's spine.

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Sons of Poseidon? Pretty sure I'm not in the encyclopaedia yet."

"You sure about that?"

Percy flipped through a few pages, skimming over a few lines before his eyes widened. "Huh. I guess I am. Does that make me famous or something?"

In actuality, Kia had no idea that his name would actually be in there. She peeped beside Percy to see that his name was in fact there, scribbled messily under the 'P' list. It was listed alphabetically too.

"I think if you were famous, it'd be for arson."

"Come on, Ki." He nudged her in the shoulder.

"Oh, right, I'm sorry." Kia slapped her forehead dramatically, which proved to be a massive mistake, because it only worsened the headache coming on. She ignored it. "You're a son of Poseidon. Exploding bathrooms, maybe?"

Percy groaned, whining like a child. "I don't like that you and Annabeth are friends now."

"Get used to it, bud."