After moving for what felt like an hour, the group settled in a corridor constructed of marble blocks, which only added to the feel of a Greek tomb. The walls were lit with dim fire torches, and the architecture indicated that it was an older part of the maze—which Kia was wary about, but Annabeth had decided was a good sign.

Kia didn't like the fact that this place looked so old. She felt out of place, like she had been picked up out of her time and plopped into the time of the original Greeks. Her Greek heritage felt just in place here, but the rest of her, the other fractions of the whole that made her Kia protested greatly, settling in as a heavy, dense, uncomfortable rock pressing against the small of her back. She supposed there was something creepy about this place too—reminding her of how far she had come from Camp Half-Blood, the camp that had become her home in the past six months.

Although Kia didn't want to, and she was sure that the others agreed, Annabeth told them to settle down and get some rest. Her reasoning was, "We must be close to Daedalus' workshop. Let's get some rest and we can keep moving in the morning."

Kia didn't listen much as Tyson, Percy, Grover and Annabeth talked, ending ultimately with Annabeth providing a valid point. Eyes trained on the walls of the corridor, remaining cautious, Kia reluctantly set her bag down and sat against a wall.

Though she was tired, Kia didn't want to sleep. Sleeping meant dreams, and she wasn't sure what kind of dream she'd have this time. As far as she knew, she didn't have normal demigod dreams; Kia's dreams were weirdly cryptic and borderline psychotic, and it was always difficult to interpret, if she could even sit through the entire things. Her last dream, the one about Luke asking Kia to join him and her betraying Percy, had shaken her up quite a bit. There was a brief period during which she couldn't even look at Percy, just out of guilt, and for a week after, all she could see when she closed her eyes was Percy's bloodied body in her arms, skin growing paler and colder as the minutes trickled by.

Her eyes, burning with lack of being closed, screamed and begged for her to sleep, but Kia refused. How pathetic she had become, to fear her own mind. In the end, that was the truth: Kia was absolutely fucking terrified of her own mind.

She tensed as someone sat beside her, calming down slightly as she realised it was only Annabeth. In a way, she was grateful it wasn't Percy. She wasn't sure if she could handle sitting next to him.

"Hey," Annabeth said softly.

"Hey."

"Why aren't you asleep?"

"Just... dreams. I don't know."

Annabeth sighed, leaning back against the marble. She pulled her knees up and rested her cheek against them, looking to face Kia. "Do you want to tell me what you see?"

"I..." Flashes of the things she'd seen flashed through her head. Percy, in her arms, dying. Luke, in a pool of blood, eyes golden. Kia's mother, the black-haired woman, the blood-drenched talons lunging towards Kia. Kia jumping out of the building. The burning building. Screams. Her mother's screams.

A sharp pain shot through her head. Just like that, it was all gone. But Kia didn't want that. This time, she... she saw something. She didn't know what it was, but it was something. Desperately, she tried to recall it, but she couldn't remember anything after her jumping out of the building.

"Hey, hey, hey," Annabeth whispered, climbing over to wrap her arms around Kia. "Shh. It's okay. You don't need to think about them. It's okay. You're not there."

Kia hadn't realised a tear slipping down her face. "Annabeth—" The blonde girl jolted; Kia never called her by her full first name "—I don't know what's happening."

"What do you mean?"

"It's like..." Kia tried to think back. "It's like... I see something—I don't know what it is—but I see something, in these, like, flashes—and I—and I–I just forget as soon as I'm back. I don't remember what it was about, but I just know somehow that they're important. I don't know what to do, Annabeth. What do I do?"

Annabeth gently ran her thumb back and forth along Kia's arm. She sighed. "I don't know either. Ki. I don't like not knowing, either, but..." She pursed her lips as if debating on whether what she was saying was actually true or not. "But... I think it's okay to not know things sometimes. Not knowing something doesn't mean you'll never know—maybe it just means that now isn't the right time. I guess what I'm saying it... sometimes you have to trust that you don't know things for a reason, and that you'll find out when the time is right. Did that make sense?"

Kia shook her head. "Not really, but I think I kind of get what you're saying."

Reaching over, Kia pulled Annabeth into a side-hug, grateful for her friend's wise insight. Kia had come to learn that a friend like Annabeth was just what she needed, as selfish as it sounded. Annabeth was level-headed and calm—even if she only acted like it. She had a way of calming Kia down from her whirlwind and chaotic mess of an ADHD mind and awful nightmares with logical and sound reasoning that Kia couldn't reject. Kia really admired how smart Annabeth was, and could be even in the most dire situations. Anybody could be smart, but that capacity to use it for usefulness and to its full extent and be able to think straight in a compromising situation was something not many had.

"Thank you, Annie. I feel much better." She meant it.

"You're welcome. Now why don't you seriously get some sleep. Your eye bags kind of make you look like a panda. Can't have you looking like that if Ethan's down here."

Kia blushed. "Shut up. I knew I shouldn't have told you about that."

Annabeth scoffed. "Puh-lease. You couldn't keep it from me even if you wanted to."

"What if Ethan really is down here, Annie?"

"He's strong. You said so yourself. If he's down here, we'll find him, with our luck, and we'll bring him home."

Kia bit her lip. She wasn't sure if she meant monsters or... something else. "Yeah. No, yeah, you're right. Actually, um, I think I'll take first watch. You should go to sleep. Payment for you having to hear me rambling this long."

Annabeth looked unsure. "You sure, Kia? I can take watch first, it's fine."

"Just go to sleep, stubborn idiot," Kia insisted.

"Fine," Annabeth grumbled. She slumped onto her bedroll and her eyes closed shut gratefully as soon as her head hit it.

Kia had been picking at her cuticles when Percy had woken up. There were now a few scabs, some still bleeding as Kia stared at the ring the Stoll brothers had given to her before the group left for the Labyrinth. It seemed as though Percy had his own internal body clock, because he had woken up right around the time it was supposed to be his shift to keep watch, even though Kia had no intention of waking him up or going to sleep.

He sat up with a groan, stretching his arms out dramatically. Kia bit her lip, growing a bit anxious at the prospect of staying up with Percy. She hasn't had a private conversation with Percy since her dream, and she was scared that she'd accidentally reveal anything. She wasn't sure if she could handle the look of Percy's face—whether it be disgust, hatred, shock, or the worst: sympathetic forgiveness.

"My turn," he mumbled groggily, sitting down with a huff beside Kia. He accidentally sat a bit too close, his shoulder roughly bumping against Kia's. He slurred, "Sorry."

Even though he was tired, it was evident that he had something bigger wake him up, with the way his eyes weren't quite all the way open, but still staring straight ahead at the wall in front of them.

"Bad dream?" Kia guessed.

Percy scoffed. "You have no idea."

She was pretty sure she had quite the idea, but she didn't want to burden the sleepy kid as soon as he woke up from a nightmare. Besides, he only meant it as a way of phrasing, so Kia had no reason to tell him. That was what she told herself.

Percy told her about his dream: the story of Daedalus and Icarus. Kia remained quiet as he told her about the entire thing, her index finger tracing random patterns on the floor as she listened.

"Why do you think I saw that?"

Kia sighed. "No idea."

Percy stayed quiet for a moment. "You saw something about me, didn't you? In one of your dreams."

"What?" Kia whipped around to look at him, eyes blown wide open like a dear caught in headlights. "What do you—" She tried to control her voice. "What do you mean?"

She tried to say it carefully, but it was evident Percy already knew. He sighed. It seemed there was a lot of sighing in the Labyrinth. "Ki, you know I won't blame you for what you see, so why do you keep holding it all in? You know you can tell me anything. I mean it."

"I—" Kia sighed again, defeated. "I know that, Perce. That's what makes it worse. I'll tell you and you'll forgive me. That's what sucks."

"How?" Percy said, a little frustrated. "You don't control your dreams, Kia. Why would I? How is it even your fault?"

"Because I don't know whether it's a reflection of what I really want, okay! I saw you die because of me, okay? And it was because Luke asked me to join him. And yes, it does seem like it isn't my fault at all, because 'I didn't join him though, did I?' but I wanted to, Percy. Gods, I really, really, really fucking wanted to, Perce. I was so goddamn tempted to join him that I even imagined the look on the gods' faces when they saw that heroes—wretched, stupid, useless, mortal heroes overthrew the gods. Morpheus is one massively powerful god, but just because he isn't an Olympian, he doesn't get nearly as much credit as he should. He keeps people sane, Percy. He's the one that makes sure that nobody goes insane because of the trauma they've faced. He makes sure it's all in moderation."

By the time she was done, her chest was heaving up an down, and she was panting. She hadn't even realised she was standing now. It was a good thing her and Percy were sitting a little ways away from the rest of the group, or else Kia surely would've woken them up.

She sat down, looking at the floor and not meeting Percy's eyes. He didn't say anything either for a while, the two of them observing silence.

Then, he spoke up. He said flatly, "You're an idiot."

"What?" Kia said incredulously. She says all of that messed up stuff and that's all he had to say for it?

"You heard me: You're an idiot. You really think that this is, like, some sort of unforgivable crime? Kia, we've all thought of joining them at least once. Except Tyson, probably. The point is, we've all had some kind of reason to join them. Luke is Annabeth's oldest friend, and they were on the run for years without any help from the gods. My dad didn't care for twelve years until he suddenly needed me. Hell, even Luke—Hermes didn't do anything for him when his mom got sick. We've all known how selfish the Olympians can be. What makes you think that any of us wouldn't understand why you want to join? We are just like you, dumbass. Get that through your head."

Kia was speechless. Because he was right. She was an idiot. She was an idiot for thinking that she was the only one to think that joining the other side was tempting when everyone around her had just as many reasons as her to join. She couldn't believe it took a very non-Percy Percy speech to get it through her thick skull.

"You're... you're right!" Kia murmured in shock. "How..."

"Don't be so shocked, Ki. It's insulting. But yeah, you dumbass. Just talk to us, and you'll find out that what you think makes you some kind of dumb 'monster' is what makes you normal."

Kia paused. "Thanks, Percy."

He held his fist out. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"Don't be getting all sappy on me, Barnacle Boxers," she said, snorting, but returning his fist-bump all the same.

Percy threw his hands up in indignation. "What is it with you and variations of Barnacle-Somethings!"

Kia snickered. "It's funny, Perce."

"Is not."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Is too—"

"I'm tired of talking to you," he declared, plugging his ears. "Go to sleep."

"You can never be tired of talking to me, I'm awesome. Let's not say crazy things now. At least make it believable."

"I can't hear you!" he said, gesturing wildly to his plugged ears. "Go to sleep."

Like hell she'd go to sleep. "I'm gonna keep bothering you, thanks!"

"Go to sleep!"

"No!"

"Go to sleep!"

"No—"

"Both of you dumbasses, shut the fuck up!" Grover's suddenly menacing voice rang out. For a peace-loving herbivore, he could sound quite terrifying when he wanted to.

Kia and Percy both held their breath until they heard Grover's snores again. Kia grumbled, "Your fault."

"My fault?" Percy demanded indignantly. "You were the one who—"

Grover's snores ceased for a second, and they both went quiet. They resumed, and they let out a breath of relief.

"Kia, just go to sleep. You need to sleep. I have a bad feeling about this place. You'll need energy."

"Calling me weak," Kia muttered as she curled up in her sleeping bag. Percy let out a mangled sound of 'what the hell?' as she ignored him in favour of closing her eyes.

This time, she let the sleep come to her.

In her inevitable dreams, she was outside a burning building. Kia was wearing a little black dress with half-sleeves and white ruffles along the hems, as if she was a child at a funeral. The building was made of concrete and red brick—substances that weren't usually flammable, but here it was, on fire. The entire building was engulfed in flames, flames lapping the twilight sky, almost touching the stars.

Her blank eyes looked on impassively, as if she weren't in control of her own body. She saw a face in one of the windows. It was a dark-haired Asian woman, with pale, sweaty skin and a tiny beauty mark on the jaw just like Kia's. The one like her mother had. The woman was screaming at her—the child, to get away from the fire, but she didn't move. The woman was crying and yelling at the top of her lungs, but not because of the large burn mark on her shoulder—because she wanted Kia to get away to safety.

The fire abruptly stopped, and the woman disappeared. The child didn't move, and so neither did Kia, even though all Kia wanted to do was go upstairs to see if that woman was okay. A kind of desperation filled Kia, a yearn to know whether the woman was alright. She felt attached, like the woman was somebody she used to know, something she wanted to cling onto.

The dream shifted, and Kia was now inside somewhere. Burnt ashes were everywhere, everything darkened with grey as if blackened by fire. Broken furniture and ceilings with fans sporadically sprouting flashes of electricity all over. There were pillars too—it looked like a car garage mixed with the inside of a home after a fire.

In front of Kia—the child, was a body of a woman. The same woman Kia had seen in the window of the burning building earlier. The woman was unconscious, but something about her face still struck Kia somehow. She looked familiar in a way Kia couldn't tell.

There was one thing Kia could tell about the woman, though—she had died saving her child.

The child started silently crying, and that was when the whispers started. They were unintelligible, so Kia couldn't tell exactly what they were saying; she could only make out a few words: murderer, dead, ruthless, uncontrollable.

Suddenly, the though occurred to Kia: had she done this? The child?

The world was folding in on her at that point. The voices grew louder around her, and the child put her hands to her head, pressing down harshly, as if to contain her own mind. But Kia could feel it. The child's mind was growing, it was growing past the walls of her head like dirty weeds in a garden. Thoughts, feelings, emotions, power started pouring out of the child's mind. It started leaking out like the break in a dam.

It was uncontainable. It was evident that the girl was trying as hard as she could to keep it all in, but she couldn't. The entire room started shaking, lights that shouldn't have had access to electricity started flickering, furniture started floating, the woman's face started shifting, as if it couldn't decide what person it was. In fact, it was like the entire room was flickering, like it couldn't decide what it was.

One second, it was a shopping mall; another, it was a home with yellow walls; another, it was a dark room with several weapons lined along the walls; another, it was a grey room with blood splattered on the walls; and then, it settled. It was now a bathroom. There was no sink, no mirror, no shower head, just a bathtub with the two running.

Kia wasn't inside the body of a child anymore. She was normal again, wearing her yellowed old sneakers and black t-shirt and blue jeans. Carefully, she approached the bathtub, one step at a time.

When she was standing directly above it, she didn't see her own reflection as she expected. She only saw her, but not... quite her.

It was her, but she wasn't wearing anything. Her eyes were closed as if relaxed, arms crossed over her chest, left hand on her right shoulder and vice versa. Her head was underneath water, so she definitely couldn't breathe, but she looked so... at peace. She looked nothing like she did now. There were no dark shadows beneath her eyes, her skin had a healthy dim glow, her cheekbones weren't as sharp as they were now, covered in a layer of healthy fat, her lips weren't pale or sickly, taking on a radiant shade of pink, her beauty marks stark against her skin, black hair shiny and flowing underneath the water perfectly.

Pseudo-Kia didn't open her eyes immediately when Kia looked at her, only continuing to be at peace. Kira found herself entranced by Pseudo-Kia, content with only looking at her. It was silent, all except for the sound of the water running.

She didn't know how many minutes had passed. She had only continued to stare at Pseudo-Kia, not wondering at all why she hadn't run out of air yet.

Kia jolted backwards when Pseudo-Kia's eyes opened. They opened slowly, looking directly into Kia's. Her lips curved into a sweet smile. Kia was tantalised by observing every single movement in her facial expression. The more she looked, she less it started to look like Kia herself. The face slimmed, the eyebrows became softer, the lips became fuller, more heart-shaped, the eyes became a warmer brown, the nose became thinner, more button-like.

These weren't her insecurities, however. It was her mother.

Tears dripped down the edge of Kia's nose, falling into the bathtub, adding to the water level slowly but surely. "Mom?"

The woman's smile widened, as if indicating the positive.

"Mom!" Kia's hands gripped the edge of the bathtub gravely. "Mom! Let me help you out!"

She thrust her hand into the water, but it was like nothing was there. No water even.

Hua Mitsuho shook her head sadly, as if saying, Oh, honey, you can't get me out of here.