Annabeth moved through the undergrowth with careful steps, making sure not to slip up like she nearly had at the Big House. Luckily, Mr. D sent Bia away; she couldn't guess what the outcome of being caught would be, but it certainly wouldn't be beneficial.
Soon she reached Zeus' Fist and slipped through the rock piles and entered the Labyrinth. She decided to discuss this with Lucas and the others about informing Chiron about the entrance. A secret entrance into Camp may seem fun. Still, it posed a danger and liability to the campers' safety. Hopefully, they agreed to share this information. Hopefully, Chiron would come up with a solution that could allow them to continue using it in the future.
She touched the string wound at her belt, Ariadne's string. Annabeth made sure it was tied securely; without it, she would become a helpless victim to the labyrinth's evil whims.
She descended through the tunnels, leading away from Camp and back towards the exit at the mall. At first, Annabeth followed the tunnel's path, ignoring the occasional branch that was created, focusing on following the string until the road ahead was blocked.
This shouldn't be. The string was given by Dionysus himself and had been tried and tested by them. It should allow safe and direct travelling in the Labyrinth, yet now the path the string guided her was blocked. She reached out to touch the wall, but her hand went through it - an illusion.
Annabeth took a step back, trying to figure out what was happening. The string clearly worked, as the path continued to move forward from behind the wall, but why was there an illusory wall? She stepped through the wall and looked back, noticing it seemed to vanish after passing, but after a short while, the same thing happened again - another wall.
But Annabeth noticed a slight difference this time, branded on the wall was the delta symbol of the labyrinth.
Clearly, someone was using the Labyrinth to try to guide her path, and the only one who could do that was its creator, but he was meant to have been dead long ago.
Her breath caught. "Daedalus," she muttered.
Her mind spun through her conflicting thoughts: awe at his genius, disgust at the cruelty of his past, the respect she held for the man who had built the impossible, and the revulsion she felt for what he had done out of jealousy.
She paused for a long moment, debating between returning to Elysian or finding out if her guess was correct, and if so, why they were trying to contact her.
She made her choice and followed the path set for her by the person in the shadows, deciding to see at least who was wanting to contact her and why. Besides, if there was danger ahead, she could take care of it, and if she couldn't...she trusted her friends to save her.
Going through a variety of different tunnels, some made of metal, others of wood. It seemed that wherever this tunnel was going, it ran through a variety of areas. Eventually, the tunnel opened up into a meeting room.
A center table surrounded by chairs, one side of the room had windows instead of walls, allowing the occupant to see D.C.
Annabeth looked at the person standing there, back turned to the labyrinth and gazing outside.
A woman.
She wore an elegant, flowing gray dress with brunette hair braided down her back. Just standing there allowed Annabeth to feel the woman's regal nature, and even in such attire, there was something about her that radiated power.
Annabeth froze, confused. Staring into the woman's grey eyes as she turned to face her.
Of all the people she expected to meet, it certainly hadn't been her mother.
"Annabeth," Athena said. "We have much to discuss."
...
Lucas stood beside the others near the hearth. Thalia, Luke, and Elizabeth were gathered, each holding a small bundle. They had been waiting for an hour past the set deadline of their reunion. Just as Luke volunteered to contact some of his siblings in Camp to determine if there was a problem on that end, ignoring Thalia's clamouring to sneak into Camp themselves to find answers, Annabeth emerged from the entrance, walking down the hearth steps to greet them.
Thalia wrapped the little girl in a hug that lifted her off the ground, as Luke and Lucas smiled in greeting from where her head popped over Thalia's shoulder.
When released from the hug, Annabeth stepped back and answered the most pressing question they all had.
"I'm sorry I'm late," she said. "I had to move carefully. Bia was near the Big House, so I had to wait for her to leave before being able to get the tears."
Annabeth explained how she got the tears; there wasn't danger, she just had to stay hidden until Bia left, and Annabeth was sure she wouldn't return. No one questioned her. Thalia grumbled about Kratos and his siblings as usual, while Annabeth handed Lucas the vial of Argus' tears.
Lucas smiled, accepting the tears, thanking her. But behind his eyes, his thoughts were running. When Annabeth appeared, worried that she had run into danger with Kratos, he had activated Veil Sight to look for anything they might have left behind on her.
He saw a familiar divine presence that seemed to shield her, Mr. D's work, no doubt. But he sensed another divine energy that was slowly fading away. It was when he was paying attention to this energy that he accidentally glimpsed Annabeth's hidden feelings: She felt conflicted, with guilt shining through the most.
He said nothing. Understanding that this was some secret Annabeth wanted to keep from them, and not pressing the issue, he knew that if she really needed help, she would come to any of them, and they would agree to help her. She also knew this, so if she wasn't coming to them for help, it was most likely a private matter. Lucas decided to respect that and trust her decision.