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

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“Percy Jackson, isn’t it? One of Poseidon’s…children.” I got the feeling she was thinking of another
word besideschildren . “As I recall, I voted to let you live at the winter solstice. I hope I voted
correctly.”
She turned back to Annabeth with a sunny smile. “At any rate, I certainly bear you no ill will, my girl. I
appreciate the difficulty of your quest.Especially when you have troublemakers likeJanus to deal with.”
Annabeth lowered her gaze. “Why was he here? He was driving me crazy.”
“Trying to,” Hera agreed. “You must understand,the minor gods likeJanus have always been frustrated
by the small parts they play in the universe. Some, I fear, have little love for Olympus, and could easily be
swayed to support the rise of my father.”
“Your father?”I said. “Oh, right.”
I’d forgotten that Kronos wasHera’s dad, too, along with being the father to Zeus, Poseidon, and all the
eldest Olympians. I guess that made Kronos my grandfather, but that thought was so weird I put it out of
my mind.
“We must watch the minor gods,” Hera said. “Janus.Hecate .Morpheus . They give lip service to
Olympus, and yet—”
“That’s where Dionysus went,” I remembered. “He was checking on the minor gods.”
“Indeed.” Hera stared at the fading mosaics of the Olympians. “You see, in times of trouble, even gods
can lose faith. They start putting their trust in the wrong things. They stop looking at the big picture and
start being selfish. But I’m the goddess of marriage, you see. I’m used to perseverance. You have to rise
above the squabbling and chaos, and keep believing. You have to always keep your goals in mind.”
“What are your goals?” Annabeth asked.
She smiled.“To keep my family, the Olympians, together, of course. At the moment, the best way I can
do that is by helping you. Zeus does not allow me to interfere much, I am afraid. But once every century
or so, for a quest I care deeply about, he allows me to grant a wish.”
“A wish?”
“Before you ask it, let me give you some advice, which I can do for free. I know you see Daedalus. His
Labyrinth is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. But if you want to know his fate, I would visit my
son Hephaestus at his forge. Daedalus was a great inventor, a mortal after Hephaestus’s heart. There has
never been a mortal Hephaestus admired more. If anyone would have kept up with Daedalus and could
tell you his fate, it is Hephaestus.”
“But how do we get there?” Annabeth asked. “That’s my wish. I want a way to navigate the Labyrinth.”
Hera looked disappointed. “So be it. You wish for something, however, that you have already been
given.”
“I don’t understand.”