When it stood again, I could see it much more clearly—a teenage guy in Greek armor. He had curly hair and green eyes, a clasp shaped like a seashell on his cloak.
“Who are you?” Nico said. “Speak.”
The young man frowned as if trying to remember. Then he spoke in a voice like dry, crumpling paper: “I am Theseus.”
No way, I thought. This couldn’t be the Theseus. He was just a kid. I’d grown up hearing stories about him fighting the Minotaur and stuff, but I’d always pictured him as this huge, buff guy. The ghost I was looking at wasn’t strong or tall. And he wasn’t any older than I was.
“How can I retrieve my sister?” Nico asked.
Theseus’s eyes were lifeless as glass. “Do not try. It is madness.”
“Just tell me!”
“My stepfather died,” Theseus remembered. “He threw himself into the sea because he thought I was dead in the Labyrinth. I wanted to bring him back, but I could not.”
Nico’s ghost hissed. “My lord, the soul exchange! Ask him about that!”
Theseus scowled. “That voice. I know that voice.”
“No you don’t, fool!” the ghost said. “Answer the lord’s questions and nothing more!”
“I know you,” Theseus insisted, as if struggling to recall.
“I want to hear about my sister,” Nico said. “Will this quest into the Labyrinth help me win her back?”
Theseus was looking for the ghost, but apparently couldn’t see him. Slowly he turned his eyes back on Nico. “The Labyrinth is treacherous. There is only one thing that saw me through: the love of a mortal girl. The string was only part of the answer. It was the princess who guided me.”
“We don’t need any of that,” the ghost said. “I will guide you, my lord.
Ask him if it is true about an exchange of souls. He will tell you.”
“A soul for a soul,” Nico asked. “Is it true?”
“I—I must say yes. But the specter—”
“Just answer the questions, knave!” the ghost said.
Suddenly, around the edges of the pool, the other ghosts became restless.
They stirred, whispering in nervous tones.
“I want to see my sister!” Nico demanded. “Where is she?”
“He is coming,” Theseus said fearfully. “He has sensed your summons. He comes.”
“Who?” Nico demanded.
“He comes to find the source of this power,” Theseus said. “You must release us.”
The water in my fountain began to tremble, humming with power. I realized the whole cabin was shaking. The noise grew louder. The image of Nico in the graveyard started to glow until it was painful to watch.
“Stop,” I said out loud. “Stop it!”
The fountain began to crack. Tyson muttered in his sleep and turned over. Purple light threw horrible, ghostly shadows on the cabin walls, as if the specters were escaping right out of the fountain.
In desperation I uncapped riptide and slashed at the fountain, cleaving it in two. Salt water spilled everywhere, and the great stone font crashed to the floor in pieces. Tyson snorted and muttered, but he kept sleeping.
I sank to the ground, shivering from what I’d seen. Tyson found me there in the morning, still staring at the shattered remains of the saltwater fountain.
***
Just after dawn, the quest group met at Zeus’s Fist. I’d packed my knapsack—thermos with nectar, baggie of ambrosia, bedroll, rope, clothes, flashlights, and lots of extra batteries. I had Riptide in my pocket. The magic shield/wristwatch Tyson had made for me was on my wrist.
It was a clear morning. The fog had burned off and the sky was blue. Campers would be having their lessons today, flying pegasi and practicing archery and scaling the lava wall. Meanwhile, we could be heading underground.
Juniper and Grover stood apart from the group. Juniper had been crying again, but she was trying to keep it together for Grover’s sake. She kept fussing with his clothes, straightening his rasta cap and brushing goat fur off his shirt. Since we had no idea what we would encounter, he was dressed as a human, with the cap to hide his horns, and jeans, fake feet, and sneakers to hide his goat legs.
Chiron, Quintus, and Mrs. O’Leary stood with the other campers who’d come to wish us well, but there was too much activity for it to feel like a happy send-off. A couple of tents had been set up by the rocks for guard duty. Beckendorf and his siblings were working on a line of defensive spikes and trenches. Chiron had decided we needed to guard the Labyrinth exit at all times, just in case.
Annabeth was doing one last check on her supply pack. When Tyson and I came over, she frowned. “Percy, you look terrible.”
“He killed the water fountain last night,” Tyson confided.
“What?” she asked.
Before I could explain, Chiron trotted over. “Well, it appears you are ready!”
He tried to sound upbeat, but I could tell he was anxious. I didn’t want to freak him out any more, but I thought about last night’s dream, and before I could change my mind, I said, “Hey, uh, Chiron, can I ask you a favor while I’m gone?”
“Of course, my boy.”
“Be right back, guys.” I nodded toward the woods. Chiron asked an eyebrow, but he followed me out of earshot.
“Last night,” I said, “I dreamed about Luke and Kronos.” I told him the details. The news seemed to weigh on his shoulders.
“I feared this,” Chiron said. “Against my father, Kronos, we would stand no chance in a fight.”