The next morning Annabeth, Argus and I awaited Percy at the road just past Half-Blood Hill before we left to the city. I sat near the window seat and made sure Annabeth sat between Percy and I. Percy kept sending glances at me, but I ignored them and looked out the window to see the world blur by.

"Bad dreams?" Percy asked Annabeth.

"An Iris-message from Eurytion." Annabeth shook her head.

"Eurytion! Is something wrong with Nico?"

"He left the ranch last night, heading back into the maze." Annabeth informed us.

"What? Didn't Eurytion try to stop him?" Percy questioned.

"Nico was gone before he woke up. Orthus tracked his scent as far as the cattle guard. Eurytion said he'd been hearing Nick talk to himself the last few nights. Only now he thinks Nico was talking with the ghost again, Minos."

"He's in danger." Percy stated.

"If my step-ghost grandpa is a involved, then yeah." I grumbled.

"No kidding. Minos is one of the judges of the dead, but he's got a vicious streak a mile wide. I don't know what he wants with Nico, but-"

"That's not what I meant. I had this dream last night." Percy then explained how Luke mentioned Quintus, and how his men had found a half-blood alone in the maze.

"That's very, very bad." Annabeth clenched her jaw.

"So what do we do?"

"Well, it's a good thing you have a plan to guide us, huh?" Annabeth raised a brow.

"Freaking Dare." I muttered, crossing my arms and looking out the window again.

🍇

We arrived at Percy's apartment around noon. His mom answered the door and gave her son a hug. She said her hellos to Annabeth and gave me a smile.

"I'm Percy's mom, Sally. Nice to mee you." She held out a hand.

"Ivy Pittaluga, nice to meet you as well. I'm on a quest with Annabeth and Percy." I shook her hand with a smile.

"Ivy, huh? Why don't we go into the kitchen." Sally sent her son a knowing look as his face turned red. She led us deeper into the apartment and into the kitchen. "I told them you were all right."

She had us sit at the kitchen table and insisted feeding us blue chocolate chip cookies. I nibbled on one as Percy filled his mother in about the quests. When he got to the part about Geryon and the stables, his mother pretended like she was going to strangle him.

"I can't get him to clean his room, but he'll clean a hundred tons of horse manure out of some monster's stables?"

"Percy does a lot of things." I bitterly bit into my cookie.

Annabeth laughed. Sally sent me a questioning look as she studied my body language. I tried to act normal, knowing she was already piecing how Percy and I were acting. Percy filled her in with the rest of the quest.

"So." Sally started. "You wrecked Alcatraz Isalnd, made Mount St. Helens explode, and displaced half a million people, but at least your safe."

"Yep." Percy agreed. "That pretty much covers it."

"I wish Paul were here." Sally said, half to herself. "He wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, right. The school." Percy muttered. "What did you tell him?"

"What could I say?" His mom shook her head. "He knows something is different about you, Percy. He's a smart man. He believes that you're not a bad person. He doesn't know what's going on, but the school is pressuring him. After all, he got you admitted there. He needs to convince them the fire wasn't your fault. And since you ran away, that looks bad."

Annabeth studied him and sent a sympathetic look.

"I'll talk to him." Percy promised. "After we're done with the quest. I'll even tell him the truth if you want."

"You would do that?" Sally placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, yeah. I mean, he'll think we're crazy."

"He already thinks that."

"Then there's nothing to lose."

"Thank you, Percy. I'll tell him you'll be home..." Sally frowned. "When? What happens now?"

"Percy has this plan." Annabeth broke her cookie in half.

I slumped in my chair as Percy filled his mom in. Although, he seemed reluctant to do so. As he explained, he kept glancing at me.

"It sounds very dangerous." Sally nodded slowly. "But it might work."

"You have the same abilities, don't you?" Percy asked. "You can see through the Mist."

"Not so much now." Sally sighed. "When I was you get it was easier. But yes, I've always been able to see more than was good for me. It's one of the things that caught your father's attention, when we first met. Just be careful. Promise me you'll be safe."

"We'll try, Ms. Jackson." Annabeth said. "Keeping your son safe is a big job, though."

"Yeah, no kidding." I scoffed, fiddling with the strings of my ripped jeans at the knee. Annabeth folded her arms and glared out the kitchen window. Percy picked at his napkin and was quiet.

"What's going on with you three? Have you been fighting?" None of us replied. "I see. Well, remember Grover and Tyson are countering on you three."

"I know." Percy and I said at the same time.

My face heated and I glanced anywhere but at him. Annabeth snickered under her breath. This was embarrassing.

"Percy, you'd better use the phone in the hall. Good luck."

Percy left the kitchen to make the phone call to Rachel Elizabeth Dare. My stomach turned as I scowled at the blue cookie set in front of me.

"What did Percy do?" Sally asked.

"He was gone for two weeks." I told her, trying to keep the bitterness from my tone. She raised a brow. "And he..."

"Percy and Ivy were having cute moments throughout our quest." Annabeth finished for me. "Before Percy went missing, these two found out that they're practically soul mates and Ivy kissed him. So, things are awkward between the two."

"I see." Sally slowly nodded. "Well, if it helps you any, Ivy, he's always talked about you here."

"What?" I looked up at here while my cheeks flushed.

"All the time. It's nice to finally put a face to the name. As for the whole soul mates... I figured." she shrugged.

"You...figured? How?" I barely found out a few weeks ago.

"Poseidon had let me know in the past that, Aphrodite made a promise to both him and Dionsyus that their children would fall in love. By the way Percy talked about you, it was obvious." Sally reached out and placed a comforting hand on mine. "My son my have made mistakes. But know that that boy truly likes you. Any bad mistakes weren't his true intentions. You can trust him."

"You're not the first to say that." I muttered. Annabeth shot me a questioning look. "My stepmother, Ariadne said the same thing. That I could trust Percy."

"Then maybe, it's time to fully trust him?" Sally patted my hand and drew away when Percy came back.

"We're meeting her at Times Square." Percy told us.

"Well, let's go."

🍇

When we found Rachel Elizabeth Dare, she was in front of the Marriot Marquis. The teenage girl was completely painted in metallic gold. She looked like King Midas touched her. There were other kids, five, that were all painted in metallic- copper, bronze, silver. They were frozen in different poses. Some tourists and passbyers threw money at the tarp on the sidewalk.

We stood there for about five minutes, staring at Rachel. I crossed my arms and tap my foot on the ground. The gold girl didn't acknowledge us and I was getting agitated.

"Percy, I swear, if this is a waste of our time..." I glanced at him.

"Maybe if we push her over." Annabeth suggested.

Another few minutes passed by, and I was already done. I kept shifting my weight from one foot to another. Not only was it taking all of my being to remain still for so long, but also holding myself back from shaking the girl to pay attention to us. A kid in silver walked up from the hotel taxi stand and took a pose as if he were lecturing the crowd next to Rachel.

"Hey, Percy." Rachel grinned after she stepped off the tarp. My stomach knotted and I clenched my hand at my sides. "Good timing! Let's go get some coffee."

We walked down to a place called Java Moose on West 43rd. Rachel ordered an Espresso Extreme while the rest of us got fruit smoothies. We sat at a table right under the stuffed moose. No one even bother to send a second glance at the girl coated in metallic paint.

"So, Annabell and Indigo, right?"

"Ivy. It's Ivy." I scowled. Percy placed a hand on mine hesitantly under the table and gave it a squeeze. "It's just three letters."

"Annabeth. Do you always dress in gold?" Annabeth questioned.

"Not usually." Rachel said. "We're raising money for our group. We do volunteer art projects for elementary kids 'cause they're cutting art from the schools, you know? We do this once a month, take about five hundred dollars on a good weekend. But I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that. Are you two half-bloods, too?"

"Shh!" Annabeth looked around. "Just announce it to the world, how about?"

"Okay." Rachel stood up and said really loud, "Hey, everybody! These three aren't human! They're half Greek god!"

I was getting ready to get up from my seat to reach over and throttle her. Percy quickly tightened his hold on my hand and tugged me back down. He shot me a look to calm down.

"They don't seem to care." Rachel shrugged and sat down.

"That's not funny. This isn't a joke, mortal girl." Annabeth told her.

"Hold it, you three." Percy said. "Just calm down."

"I'm calm." Rachel insisted. I rolled my eyes at her. "Every time I'm around you, some monster attacks us. What's to be nervous about?"

"Look, I'm sorry about the band room." Percy apologized. "I hope they didn't kick you out or anything."

"Nah. They asked me a lot of questions about our. I played dumb."

"Was it hard?" Annabeth asked, causing the corner of my lips to tug upwards.

"Okay, stop!" Percy intervened. "Rachel, we've got a problem. And we need your help."

"You need my help?" Rachel narrowed her eyes at Annabeth and I.

"Yeah." Annabeth stirred her straw in her smoothie sullenly. "Maybe."

Percy quickly told Rachel about the Labyrinth and how we needed to find Daedalus. He told her what happened the last few times we'd gone in.

"So you want me to guide you." Rachel said. "Through a place I've never been."

"You can see through the Mist." Percy informed her. "Just like Ariadne."

"Don't compare her to my stepmother." I grumbled, slouching slightly in my chair.

"I'm betting you can see the right path." Percy continued. "The Labyrinth won't be able to fool you as easily."

"And if you're wrong?"

"Then we'll get lost. Either way, it'll be dangerous. Very, very dangerous."

"I could die?"

"Yeah."

"I thought you said monsters don't care about mortals. That sword of yours-"

"Yeah." Percy cut her off. "Celestial bronze doesn't hurt mortals. Most monsters would ignore you. But Luke...he doesn't care. He'll use mortals, demigods, monsters, whatever. And he'll kill anyone who gets in his way."

"Nice guy."

"He's under the influence of a Titan." Annabeth defensively said. "He's been deceived."

"Okay." Rachel looked between the three of us. "I'm in."

"Are you sure?" Percy blinked.

"Hey, my summer was going to be boring. This is the best offer I've gotten yet. So what do I look for?"

"We have to find an entrance to the labyrinth." Annabeth said. "There's an entrance at Camp Half-Blood, but you can't go there. It's off limits to mortals."

"Okay. What does an entrance to the labyrinth look like?" Rachel nodded.

"It could be anything. A section of wall. A boulder. A doorway. Answer entrance." Annabeth explained. "But it would have the mark of Daedalus on it. A Greek Delta, glowing in blue."

"Like this?" Rachel drew the symbol Delta in water on our table.

"That's it. You know Greek?"

"No." Rachel pulled a big blue plastic shield rush from her pocket and started brushing the gold out of her hair. Golden flakes fell onto her lap and the floor. "Let me get changed. You'd better come with me to the Marriott."

"Why?" Annabeth asked.

"Because there's an entrance like that in the hotel basement, where we store our costumes. It's got the mark of Daedalus."

Jealous Ivy doesn't like being called Indigo or have her time wasted