Chapter Six

                                    

                                          
THEY DID NOT, IN FACT, COME ACROSS ANY BIOHAZARDS. After navigating several torchlit corridors, the trio burst into a crowded modern bakery. The stench quickly dispersed the customers, driving most toward the exit, and causing many non-dairy gluten-free baked goods to be trampled. They ducked behind the counter, charged through the kitchen doors, and found that the Labyrinth did have a sense of humor because they ended up Antaeus's amphitheater which was now deserted. To Cassidy's relief, they didn't stay very long.
The three limped out the opposite side, back into the Labyrinth. By this point, they had perfected the art of four-legged running. Finally, they turned a corner, and Meg shouted "There!" In the middle of the corridor sat a third golden apple. At this point, Cassidy was too tired to care about traps. Clearly Apollo was too because he didn't object when they lopped forward and scooped up the fruit. In front of the trio the ceiling lowered, forming a ramp. They rushed up the ramp. Cassidy let out a deep exhale, glad to be free of the suffocating walls of the Labyrinth.
"Not here, Gods, no" Apollo muttered. Meg hopped in a full circle. "Maybe it’s a different forest" She suggested. "It's the forest around camp" Cassidy confirmed. "Hurry" Apollo said. As if on cue, the bands around their legs sprang loose. The three ran. Even with her arms full of apples, Meg was almost as fast as Cassidy. The child of Dionysus had been in these woods many a time, they knew the quickest path back to camp. They veered between trees, zigzagging left and right. Meg was close behind, Apollo was just barely keeping himself from falling back.
Up ahead, flickering points of light resolved into torches. At last the trio burst out of the woods, right into a crowd of campers and satyrs. Chiron galloped over with Fluffy at his heels. "Thank the gods!" He exclaimed. "You're welcome" Apollo gasped, out of breath. Cassidy shot him a glower, what had he done? "Chiron…we have to talk" Apollo said. "Yes, we do, my friend. But first, I fear one more team is still missing… Paolo and your children, Kayla and Austin" The centaur said.
"When were they last seen?" Cassidy asked, still tired from their mad dash, they were using their sword to prop themselves up. "When they fell into the Labyrinth but-" Chiron began. Cassidy groaned, with information like that the missing team could be in Antarctica or the middle of the Sahara Desert for all anybody knew. "Fine" they sheathed their sword. "There's time before nightfall, I can search for them" 
"I'll help" Apollo said, taking the child of Dionysus by surprise. "Nobody is going anywhere" Chiron said firmly "First the three will take a shower and change clothes" Cassidy bristled and scowled. They liked Chiron just fine but how could he expect them to relax when three more campers just went missing? They remembered what the man in Delphi had said about 'raising the stakes' "I'm sure they will be back soon" Chiron assured them. "But-" Apollo began to protest. The centaur lay a hand on the ex god's shoulder comfortingly "It'll be alright old friend, I'm sure they'll turn up any second now" he assured, steering him away.
"Come on" Fluffy rubbed his head against Cassidy's legs, nudging them away from the woods. "You can search, after you've taken a shower if they haven't turned up by then" the leopard said. "That would be wasting precious time" Cassidy pointed out. "Then you'll just have to take be quick" Fluffy replied. The child of Dionysus sighed, they knew they weren't going anywhere. Cats were exceptional at keeping you from walking properly.
They relented, letting Fluffy guide them to cabin twelve. When Cassidy emerged five minutes later there was still no sign of Kayla, Paolo and Austin. Chiron had sent search parties of dryads into the forest, on the assumption that they would be safe in their home territory, but when Cassidy tried to go inside the forest he adamantly refused to let them and the other demigods join the hunt. "We cannot risk anyone else" he said. "Kayla, Austin, Paolo and the other missing…They would not want that"
Cassidy gritted their teeth. That was six campers gone now. They did not doubt that the dryads wouldn't be able to find the missing campers. They would have ignored Chiron and gone in anyway if Fluffy hadn't stopped them once again. Instead they busied themself with helping Will and Apollo tend to the injured. 
Cassidy had far less medical knowledge than the other two but they managed to follow instructions just fine. They were washing up after helping Apollo extract shrapnel from the Laurel twins when Harley shuffled over. His eyes were puffy from crying and he was fiddling with his beacon device.
"It's my fault. I got them lost. I… I'm sorry" He muttered, shaking. Cassidy's eyes softened "Hey... Harley no, it's not your fault" They knelt down, wiping the tears from his eyes. Harley sniffled. "The racecourse went into the woods. It shouldn’t have done that. They got lost and… and-" 
"Harley, may I see your beacon?" Apollo asked gently, putting his hand over the little boy's. Cassidy sent a curious glance his way, what did he want with Harley's beacon? For a moment they had a terrible suspicion that he might break it. Harley seemed to have the same thoughts but gave it to the ex-god anyway. "I'm not an inventor" Apollo said, turning the gears "I don’t have your father’s skills. But I do know music. I believe automatons prefer a frequency of E at 329.6 hertz. It resonates best with Celestial bronze. If you adjust your signal-"
"Festus might hear it?" Harley's eyes widened. "Would he?" Cassidy asked. "I don’t know" Apollo admitted. He turned back to Harley "Just as you could not have known what the Labyrinth would do today. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. Never stop inventing, son of Hephaestus" He gave the little boy his beacon back. Both Cassidy and Harley stared at him in disbelief. With the exception of Hestia this sort of kindness was unheard of from gods.
Harley broke out of his shock first and hugged Lester before dashing away. "That was... kind of you" Cassidy murmured, choosing their words carefully. They weren't sure what to make of him or what he did for Harley. They chose not to dwell on it, going to find Will and see if he needed any assistance.
While Will, Apollo, and Cassidy tended to the last of the injured the harpies cleaned the area, picking up bandages, torn clothing, and damaged weapons. They gathered the golden apples in a basket and promised to bake some lovely glowing apple turnovers for breakfast. At Chiron's urging, the remaining campers dispersed back to their cabins. He promised them we would determine what to do in the morning. Cassidy had no intention of waiting, neither did Apollo.
As soon as they were alone he turned to Chiron, Cassidy, Meg, and Fluffy "I’m going after Kayla and Austin, you can join me or not" Lester said. "Good, let's go" Cassidy said. Chiron’s expression tightened. "You two are exhausted and unprepared.
Go back to your cabins. It will serve no purpose-"
"No, I have to do this" Apollo waved him off. "We" Cassidy corrected "Rushing into this without somebody who can fight is suicide" They didn't particularly care what happened to Apollo but he couldn't help anybody if he was dead. Besides, he seemed to have the most knowledge about the mysterious grove. The centaur lowered his head. "I should have listened to you before the race.
You tried to warn me. What did you discover?" He asked.
Cassidy turned to the ex-god curiously. Lester paused and then howled in frustration. "I don’t remember!" The child of Dionysus sighed, so much for that. Meg, Fluffy and Chiron exchanged nervous glances. "You’re not going,” Meg said firmly. "What? You can't-" Apollo began. "That’s an order, no going into the woods until I say so" Meg said. "Excuse me? You can't stop-" Cassidy began. "She can't stop you but I can" Fluffy reminded. "You aren't going to go rushing into the woods in the middle of the night without nobody except him. That's suicide"
Cassidy gritted their teeth in annoyance, he was right ofcourse, didn't mean they had to like it. Apollo dug his fingernails into his palms. "Meg McCaffrey, if my children die because you wouldn’t let me-" Meg waved him off "Like Chiron said, you’d just get yourself killed. We’ll wait for daylight" she said. "Well, then…I will see you both in the morning. We will find a solution. I promise you that" Chiron said before trotting back toward the Big House.
Lester scowled at Meg. "I’m staying out here tonight, in case Kayla and Austin come back. Unless you want to forbid me from doing that, too" She only shrugged. 
Apollo stormed off to his cabin. Cassidy waited a few moments before following. He was grabbing a few supplies, including a few books from Will's bookshelf. They moved to stand next to him, making a show of reading a cover "I need you to distract Fluffy" They murmured. "You can't leave, but I still can. We need to wait until he's comfortable. He'll let his guard down"
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[Edited?: Yes]
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