We made camp in a corridor made of huge marble blocks. Annabeth told us the game plan for the night: rest and continue to try and locate the workshop in the morning. Grover was the first to go to sleep. His snores softly echoing in the corridor.  Percy had a quick chat with his brother before checking up on Annabeth. I sat a little further from the group, feeling awkward.

This group have gone on a few quests together. This was my first quest ever. The way the four of them worked together was interesting. They already knew how each other thought. It made things easier. They worked well together. I'm new to the group and I'm still trying to learn how they work.

"You doing, okay?" Percy sat beside me, pulling me away from my thoughts. I blinked and turned to face him. He studied me carefully. "This is your first quest, right? How do you feel?"

"Weird." I furrowed my brows. "Not sure how to feel about it yet."

"Why?"

"I feel like I'm just...here. You know? I feel like I haven't really contributed much to the quest yet." I helplessly shrugged.

"Hey, don't say that. It's barely the first day. And you've helped." Percy reassured me. I gave him a doubtful expression. "Promise."

"If you say so." I uttered, bringing my knees closer to my chest.

"Why don't you get some rest? I'm taking first watch." Percy bumped his shoulder against mine.

"I feel like I couldn't even if I tried. The nerves are eating at my stomach." I gave him a tired smile. "You can sleep if you want? I'll take first watch."

"How about we take first watch together? Then whoever gets sleepy first goes to sleep." Percy shrugged. I gave a soft nod. "Okay, favorite candy?"

"What?" I stifled a chuckle.

"What's your favorite candy." Percy repeated.

"Sour gummy worms. You?"

"Anything blue."

"Blue? That's not a flavor, that's a color. What's your favorite candy? Gummies, chocolate..." I trailed off seeing if he got the point.

"I guess jellybeans. My mom would always get the blue ones for me when she used to work at a candy shop." Percy explained. "Why the sour gummy worms?"

"It's one of the only good things I remember from my childhood." I rested my cheek against my knee. Percy leaned back on his hands and waited for me to continue. "Growing up, my mom owned a vineyard that her parents started when they first came the the United Stares from Italy. Whenever there was be a good sale day, she would buy the sour gummy worms and we would share them while watching movies."

"You're a year round camper, right?" Percy hesitantly asked. I gave a nod. "Do you not have a good relationship with your mother?"

"Once I turned ten and the monsters started to come for me, she drove me all the way to camp from California. Helped me to the hill and left. Haven't heard from her since." I frowned, picking at my nails. "She was upset that she started to lose customers due to the monster attacks at the vineyard. She was a strict business owner and loved the vineyard and winery we had...I guess more than me."

"I'm sorry that I brought it up. I had a horrible step father that my mom married to hide me from the monsters. They're over now, he left us. She's dating a new guy that I like better. He's good for her." Percy told me. He cleared his throat. "Anyways, new question. What's a pet you want but most likely can't get? I honestly want a pet shark. Maybe a nurse or mako shark. They're more tame and less likely to have an attitude."

"I want a leopard as a pet. Doubt I could ever have one at camp though." I chuckled out.

"If there can be a pet hellhound, they can allow a pet leopard." Percy pointed out. We fell into a comfortable silence. Our friends' snores were the only sounds we were hearing. Percy pondered over a thought and faced me with uncertainty. "Why were you avoiding me at camp?"

"It's not like I wanted to." I sighed, raking a hand through my tangled hair. "The first day you came to camp and I helped you and Grover? My dad made me promise to stay away from you. He hasn't told me why though."

"Stay away from me?" Percy repeated with furrowed brows.

"Aphrodite mentioned-"

"About her promise to our fathers?" Percy finished my sentence, red flushing his cheeks. I gave a soft nod and felt my face heat up. "Yeah, I had the love talk with her too, a while back."

"Then...why are you barely telling me this?" I questioned softly.

"I saw you were avoiding me." Percy shrugged, fidgeting with his shoe laces. "Makes sense now though, why you have been. Mr. D hates me."

"I don't think he hates you exactly." I licked my lips. "It's more the idea of heroes. I just don't know the reasoning behind it yet."

"Well, if he didn't hate me before, he for sure does now that you're no longer avoiding me." Percy raised a brow, a playful smile on his lips.

"Oh, hush, Shark Boy." I nudged his shoulder before leaning against the wall beside him.

"Shark Boy? That's new." Percy chuckled.

"All I thought about was you wanting a pet shark." I sheepishly shrugged.

"It beats Seaweed Brain. Less offensive on my end." Percy tapped his fingers on his thighs as he stared intently at me.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Trying to think of a nickname for you." Percy stated. A grin spread on his face as he pointed at me gleefully. "Vine Girl."

"Vine Girl." I said slowly.

"Your name is a type of plant that is a vine. Vine Girl." Percy simply stated, very proud of the nickname he created.

"I think you need some sleep." I breathed out a chuckle and leaned my head against the cold wall.

"You should get some sleep. You still have bags under your eyes from the lack of sleep the other day." Percy pointed to my face. "I'll keep watch. Get some rest, Ives."

"Okay." I hesitantly agreed, getting my bed roll ready. "Make sure you wake one of us so you can sleep some too."

"I will." Percy promised.

🍇

There was no morning in the maze. But once everyone was up, we had granola bars and juice boxes for breakfast. It wasn't long after our quick breakfast that we started to walk the labyrinth. The tunnels changed from stone to dirt with cedar beams. It looked like we were in a gold mine.

"This isn't right." Annabeth said in agitation. "It should still be stone."

"Maybe it changed on us?" I suggested, not know what other reason the tunnels changed.

Annabeth gave a frustrated sigh and a curt nod. It was silent after that for the next couple of minutes. We entered a cave that had low stalactites. In the center of the floor was a rectangular pit that resembled a grave of sorts.

"It smells like the Underworld in here." Grover shivered.

"Why is there a foil wrapper?" I pointed to the edge of the pit. Percy flashed his light into the pit. There was a half chewed cheeseburger floating in brown carbonated muck. "Well, that looks appetizing."

"Nico." Percy said. "He was summoning the dead again."

"Nico was here?" I thought back to the new camper that arrived in the winter last year. He had suddenly disappeared after the news of her death. "Wait, summoning the dead?"

"Nico..." Annabeth started, not knowing how to word what she is trying to say correctly.

"He's a child of Hades." I realized, my mouth opening in shock. "Hades broke the oath, too?"

"Actually, Nico and Bianca are from like the 1940's." Percy quickly explained and he flashed his light to find another corridor. "Hades is the only one who didn't break the oath."

"Does anyone know?" I questioned.

"We've got to find him." Percy suddenly sprinted away from us.

"Percy!" Annabeth called as we chased after him.

Percy ducked into a tunnel and stopped suddenly. He was staring up at the daylight streaming through a set of bars. We caught up with him and followed his gaze. We were under a steel gate made out of metal pipes.

"Where are we?" Percy wondered.

A shadow fell across the grate and a bright red cow that resembled an oversized cherry stared down at Percy. The cow mooed, put one hoof tentatively on the bars, then backed away. The red cow seemed too familiar and important. I just couldn't think of where I have seen or read about it.

"It's a cattle guard." Grover said.

"A what?" Percy asked.

"They put them at the gates of ranches so cows can't get out. They can't walk on them."

"How do you know that?"

"Believe me, if you had hooves, you'd know about cattle guards." Grover huffed indignantly. "They're annoying!"

"Didn't Hera say something about a ranch?" Percy turned towards Annabeth. "We need to check it out. Nick might be up there."

"All right." Annabeth hesitated. "But how do we get out?"

Before I could even think of any ideas, Tyson beat me to it. He hit the cattle guard with both of his hands. It popped off and went flying out of sight. There was a loud clang followed by a startled cow.

"Sorry, cow!" Tyson blushed.

With Tyson's help, we got out of the maze. I glanced around the ranch to see rolling hills with oak trees, cactuses, and boulders. There were barbed wire fences and the cherry colored cows roaming around.

"Red cattle. The cattle of the sun." Annabeth said, making me realize why the cows seemed familiar.

"What?" Percy asked.

"They're sacred to Apollo." I added.

"Holy cows?" Percy raised a brow.

"Exactly. But what are they doing-"

"Wait." Grover interrupted Annabeth. "Listen."

I didn't hear anything at first. Then I hear a faint barking, as if it were more than one dog. The sound grew louder the closer the dogs came. My eyes widened when I realized it was one dog with two heads. It looked similar to a greyhound. Both of the heads were snapping and snarling in our direction.

"Bad Janus dog!" Tyson cried.

"Arf!" Grover told it, and raised a hand in greeting.

The dogs didn't seem impressed. It only bared its teeth. A huge buff guy with stark white hair, a straw cowboy hat, and a braided white beard was walking our way. He was wearing jeans, a DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS t-shirt, and a denim jacket with the sleeves ripped off showing off his muscles and the crossed swords tattoo. He held a large wooden club with six inch spikes.

"Heel, Orthus." Buff guy told the dog. Orthus growled at us once more, then circled back to his master's feet. The man looked us up and down, keeping his club ready. "What've we got here? Cattle rustlers?"

"Just traveled. We're on a quest." Annabeth answered.

"Half-bloods, eh?" The man's eye twitched.

"How did you know-"

"I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena." Annabeth cut off Percy to quickly introduce us. "This is Percy, son of Poseidon. Ivy, daughter of Dionysus. Grover the satyr. Tyson the-"

"Cyclops." The man finished. "Yes, I can see that." He glowered at Percy. "And I know half-bloods because I am one, sonny. I'm Eurytion, the cowherd for this here ranch. Son of Ares. You came through the labyrinth like the other one, I reckon."

"The other one? You mean Nico di Angelo." Percy put together.

"We get a load of visitors from the labyrinth," Eurytion said darkly. "Not many ever leave."

"Wow. I feel welcome." Percy said.

The cowherd glanced behind him like someone was watching. Then he lowered his voice.

"I'm only going to say this once, demigods. Get back in the maze now. Before it's too late."

"Why?" I questioned, trying to see past his tall frame and figure out what caused him to warn us.

"We're not leaving." Annabeth insisted. "Not until we see this other demigod. Please."

"Then you leave me no choice, missy." Eurytion grunted. "I've got to take you to see the boss."

With that, he walked alongside us on a dirt path that led into a wooded area. Orthus growled and sniffed at Grover's legs and shot into the bushes to chase after animals. The dog would come back whenever Eurytion would call him.

The Texas heat was no joke. The heat shimmered off the ground as the insects buzzed in the trees. Sweat was already beading on my forehead. We would pass by a pen full of red cows and stranger animals, such as fire breathing horses. One stallion looked at Percy and whinnied, red flames billowing out of his nostrils.

"Thats cool." I uttered.

"What are they for?" Percy asked.

"We raise animals for lots of clients." Eurytion scowled. "Apollo, Diomedes, and...others."

"Like who?"

"No more questions."

When we came out of the woods, we saw a big white stone ranch house on a hill.

"It looks like a Frank Lloyd Wright!" Annabeth said.

I had no idea what that meant. However, for Annabeth to be that excited, it had to deal with architecture. The house looked too perfect to be on a ranch and with us being demigods, I didn't like the odds we may be facing. We hiked up the hill toward it anyways.

"Don't break the rules." Eurytion warned as we walked up the steps to the front porch. "No fighting. No drawing weapons. And don't make any comments about the boss's appearance."

"Why? What does he look like?" Percy asked.

"Welcome to the Triple G Ranch." A man greeted.

I was going to say hello, but my voice got stuck at the back of my throat when I saw his three chests. His neck connected to the three different chests. Then it got weirder, as if Janus and Orthus were normal, he had one enormous torso with two beefy legs. He wore three different colored Western shirts that made him look like a walking stoplight.

"Say hello to Mr. Geryon." Eurytion nudged Percy.

"Hi. Nice chest-uh, ranch!" Percy stumbled out. "Nice ranch you have."

Geryon was going to respond when a dark haired demigod walked through the glass doors onto the porch. Nico di Angelo looked different from the last time I saw him at camp. The once cheerful kid was now wearing a permanent scowl. He also looked a lot thinner.

"Geryon, I won't wait for-" Nico froze when he saw us and then quickly drew his sword.

"Put that away, Mr. di Angelo." Geryon snarled as he glared at the sword. "I ain't gonna have my guests killin' each other."

"But that's-"

"Percy Jackson." Geryon supplied. "Annabeth Chase. Ivy Pittaluga. And a couple of their monster friends. Yes, I know."

"Monster friends?" Grover said indignantly.

"How does he know our names?" I questioned, my nerves unraveling.

"That man is wearing three shirts." Tyson stated and he just realized.

"They let my sister die!" Nico's voice trembled with rage. "They're here to kill me!"

"Woah! Wait a sec." I looked at him with wide eyes. "Nico, I think you have it all wrong."

"Nico, we're not here to kill you." Percy raised his hands. "What happened to Bianca was-"

"Don't speak her name! You're not worthy to even talk about her!"

"Wait a minute. Ivy's right." Annabeth pointed at Geryon. "How do you know our names?"

"I make it my business to keep informed, darlin'." Geryon winked. I held back a shiver. "Everyone needs something from ole Geryon. Now, Mr. di Angelo, put that ugly sword away before I have Eurytion take it from you."

Eurytion sighed, but hefted his spiked club. At his feet, Orthus growled. Nico hesitated. Reluctantly, he sheathed his sword.

"If you come near me, Percy, I'll summon help." Nico glared at Percy. "You don't want to meet my helpers, I promise."

"I believe you." Percy told him.

"There," Geryon patted Nico's shoulder, "we've all made nice. Now come along, folks. I want to give you a tour of the ranch."

Okay, I accidentally burned my self on the stove and it hurts so much right now but I had to continue writing

Anyway, thoughts so far?