THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH Percy Jackson ... - No one's invited.

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“Annabeth?”I said.“About your prophecy. The line about a hero’s last breath—”
“You’re wondering which hero? I don’t know.”
“No.Something else. I was thinking the last line usually rhymes with the one before it. Was it something
about—did it end in the worddeath ?”
Annabeth stared down at her scrolls. “You’d better go, Percy. Get ready for the quest. I’ll—I’ll see you
in the morning.”
I left her there, staring at maps that led from nowhere to nowhere; but I couldn’t shake the feeling that
one of us wasn’t going to come back from this quest alive.
FIVE
NICO BUYS HAPPY MEALS FOR THE DEAD
At least I got a good night’s sleep before the quest, right?
Wrong.
That night in my dreams, I was in the stateroom of thePrincess Andromeda . The windows were open
on a moonlit sea. Cold wind rustled the velvet drapes.
Luke knelt on a Persian rug in front of the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. In the moonlight, Luke’s
blond hair looked pure white. He wore an ancient Greekchiton and a whitehimation , a kind of cape
that flowed down his shoulders. The white clothes made him look timeless and a little surreal, like one of
the minor gods on Mount Olympus. The last time I’d seen him, he’d been broken and unconscious after
a nasty fall from Mount Tam. Now he looked perfectly fine.Almosttoo healthy.
“Our spies report success, my lord,” he said. “Camp Half-Blood is sending a quest, as you predicted.
Our side of the bargain is almost complete.”
Excellent.The voice of Kronos didn’t so much speak as pierce my mind like a dagger. It was freezing
with cruelty.Once we have the means to navigate, I will lead the vanguard through myself.
Luke closed his eyes as if collecting his thoughts. “My lord, perhaps it is too soon. PerhapsKrios or
Hyperion should lead—”
No.the voice was quiet but absolutely firm.I will lead. One more heart shall join our cause, and that
will be sufficient. At last I shall rise fully fromTartarus .
“But the form, my lord…” Luke’s voice started shaking.
Show me your sword, Luke Castellan.
A jolt went through me. I realized I’d never heard Luke’s last name before. It had never even occurred