Nico Di Angelo, Assistant of Ironman

Part 16- Everything was not fine

Everything was fine. They had gotten him to the infirmary as quickly as possible, and were now going to the Big House to see Chiron and tell him about it.

"What was that place, anyway?" Drew turned her head up to look at Quintus, the blonde currently staring ahead, his stride swift and so filled with purpose a king wouldn't dare try and stand in his way. He looked down at her slightly before his unsettling gaze turned to all of the campers that were looking at them. It was strange, almost anyone they passed looked at them like they were surprised to see them.

"Perhaps... here is not the best place to discuss this matter. Come quickly now, we don't want to keep the old centaur waiting, do we?" His hand had clasped her shoulder, though she wasn't sure if it was meant to comfort her or warn her.

She nodded and tried to mimic his defined walk, which, apparently he found so funny he chuckled. However, Drew was not one to be intimidated by mockery, in fact, it fuelled her more than encouraging words ever would. She determinedly strode on, her chin lifted and her shoulders back as she accepted his challenge.

You want to make fun of me? Go ahead, her posture seemed to say, unafraid of anyone's opinions.

"You truly are something, aren't you?"

"I like to think I am."

"I see. That's a good attitude for life."

"I know." Her answers swelled with confidence. No one would dare to interrupt Drew's voice in the same way no king would obstruct Quintus' pace.

~

Quintus knocked on the door of the Big House, resounding and powerful in the way all things he did were, before opening the door and coming in. Chiron was sitting in his wheelchair next to a red-eyed Clarisse, heads turned to the door,

"Chiron, Drew and I need to talk to you," As Quintus spoke, Chiron's eyebrows shot up at my name, both him and Clarisse looking at me, Clarisse just with surprise and Chiron with intrigue added to the mix, "It's of utmost importance."

His eyes went back to the swordmaster, nodding gravely, "Yes, indeed it is. Come, we will talk in the meeting room."

The group moved down the hall to the ping pong table, Clarisse also came with them to Drew's surprise, though the others seemed unconcerned with it.

Clarisse sat down heavily into an armchair to the left of Chiron's spot at the head, where Quintus sat next to Drew on the right. She couldn't help but sneak a few glances toward the older girl, she acted like a single mother who used her alone time to cry a little bit when the new neighbors came to say hi unannounced, her and Quintus being the unexpected neighbors.

"So what is this conversation about that is of utmost importance, Quintus?"

"I think you already know, don't you?" Chiron's face seemed to get older, wearier, as he understood Quintus' meaning,

"The Labyrinth then."

The room froze. Clarisse sat rigidly, a stark contrast to the teddy bear print on the armchair, eyes locking onto Quintus in a way that should have made a drill Sargent shuffle. Drew simply looked up at the grey-eyed man in shock.

Labyrinth? What about the Labyrinth?!

But she knew. She knew exactly what the Labyrinth was about. But the thought that it could be past the camp borders was absurd! But no matter how much she tried to reason with herself that there is no possible way that that was the Labyrinth, her very helpful mind conjured the descriptions of it, the stories telling of it, but worst of all— Daedalus' Mark, the triangle. She remembered now. She had seen the small triangle on the way in but had overlooked it in her intent to find Camreon and get him back.

"You- you mean that was The Labyrinth? Inside the camp?!" The last sentence had come out as more of an unholy screech honestly, but at the moment she was too overwhelmed to care.

"Unfortunately, yes." Quintus said gravely, giving a meaningful look to Chiron, who put his hand on her shoulder from across the ping pong table in a comforting manner, gazing at her gently,

"Can you tell me about your experience, dear child? I'm afraid it is of utmost importance we solve this as quickly as possible."

Taking a shaky breath, she began to tell Chiron what had happened. Clarisse sat forward, elbows on her knees and her arms crossed with a serious expression, listening intently.

When she had finished, Chiron looked toward Quintus to give his point of view,

"I had gone to check out the entrance to the Labyrinth Percy and Annabeth found—"

"What? What do you mean?" Drew, still in a somewhat unstable state of mind, questioned immediately.

"It appears, my dear, that you and your friend have incredibly bad luck. You seemed to have entered the Labyrinth in the time frame that Percy and Annabeth had just gotten out and were headed here to tell us of their experience. They felt as if they were there a mere few minutes, only to come back up and find it had been two hours since they had gone into the Labyrinth. You and your friend, however, have been missing for two days."

~

Camreon was dreaming, he knew that. But unfortunately, it wasn't a lucid dream, it was, surprise surprise, a demigod dream. That, naturally, made no sense.

The Dracaena was ten times larger than it had been in reality, its eggs hidden behind her two snake tail legs. Green mist seemed to exhale from its gaping mouth.

Everything seemed almost frozen, except for the mist, it crept closer and closer, bringing whispering voices with it.

It covered his sense, all he could hear was the voices, but he couldn't understand them, whatever language it was.

But there was one thing that he understood, the one thing he could understand from the mist:

He would die.

It replayed in his mind, over and over again, he was going to die and leave Drew all alone.

It was obsolete, as written in stone as a prophecy.

He was about to die. And there was nothing he could do.

~

It's shorter than I would want, but I'll live. The D/C Arc is coming to an end! I know, it feels like it's been going on forever(to me)

Also, do you all want a Leo Arc? Cause that'll add another few parts before the end...

Also I know this fic is so messy lol but trust me once it's all done I'm going to make a separate one and fully edit it, so watch out for that– it'll hopefully be a 100 times better than this dumpster fire lol