004

                                    

                                          


As expected, the Aphrodite girls (and one boy) would not let me live down my little.. incident. 
"Yeah, right." Drew had responded when I told them that it was purely an accident. "If that was an accident, then I'll start wearing Crocs every day. I promise."
Silena had tried to reason with the girl. "Drew, we don't know what we could be dealing with. It's nothing to joke about. Izzy could've been hurt!"
Valentina, folding her clothes, rolled her eyes. "Silena, cut the sugarcoating. Izzy and Percy were in a dark room together for at least an hour. What do you think happened?"
My cheeks reddened as I looked to the floor. I caught Drew sneaking a grin at me from across the room.
Chiron had 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 was glad to be free from my sisters. 
I was still feeling shaky the next morning when Chiron called a war council. Silena, Aphrodite's head counselor, had insisted I be there due to my adventure last night. We met in the sword arena, which I thought was pretty strange— trying to discuss the fate of the camp while Mrs. O'Leary, the giant hellhound, chewed on a life- size squeaky pink rubber yak. I wonder how Quintus had gotten such a thing.
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 Grover sat as far away from each other as possible. Also present around the table: Juniper the tree nymph, Silena and I, Travis and Connor Stoll, Beckendorf, Lee Fletcher, Percy, and even Argus, our hundred-eyed security chief. That's how I knew it was serious. Argus hardly ever shows up unless something really major is going on. The whole time Annabeth spoke, he kept his hundred blue 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, like she still respected the guy, evil as he was. It was disturbing in a way, like she was blinded by past memories. 
Juniper cleared her throat. "That's what I was trying to tell you last night. The cave entrance has been there a long time. Luke used to use it."
Silena frowned from next to me. "You knew about the Labyrinth entrance, and you didn't say anything?"
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," Clarisse 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 could 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?" I asked.
Clarisse glared at me. "The point is, Luke has been looking for a way to navigate the maze. He's searching for Daedalus's workshop."