IF OPHELIA HAD A NICKLE FOR EVERY SECRET UNDERGROUND TUNNEL SYSTEM she'd been in, she'd have two nickels. Two nickels too many, as far as she was concerned.

Concrete walls and small blue metal lockers met them at the bottom of Stairwell 25. Channeling every ounce of control over the Mist that she could, Ophelia transformed them into cast members wearing navy shorts and light blue shirts. To any mortal they looked inconspicuous.

But these Utilidors held more than just mortals going about their business. She could feel it. The cold weight that settled in her stomach, the gnawing darkness, antagonism that clawed at her chest. She'd felt it before. The Labyrinth. It lived, even as Daedalus lay dead.

You need not be afraid, Ophelia.

She tried not to focus on Eris's voice. She needed to focus on the task at hand. Ignore the fear, the hate. One step at a time. Kitty hadn't seen the Lyre in the Labyrinth. The Labyrinth didn't have office rooms.

They couldn't fail. Nothing could stand between her and saving the children who served Kronos.

The Utilidors didn't have the same malice that she remembered from the Labyrinth. Ophelia looked around. Most of the walls were grey, smoothed over concrete with the bottom half in a periwinkle color. Ophelia watched Alex stand in the center of the large tunnel, not moving, eyes closed.

He'd always been good at navigating. But the last time they'd been in a tunnel system, in that gods foresaken Labyrinth, he'd been useless. They'd relied on her, on Ophelia's ability to see through the Mist, to guide them. It had worked. Mostly.

They'd found bodies in the Maze. Two among the skeletons that they recognized. One they didn't. She remembered the moment they stumbled on Kiara, the tall, strong teenage daughter of Nemesis who had insisted on entering the Maze for Kronos. Alex had tripped over her arm. Rocks had smashed her. Ophelia still saw her unseeing eyes at night.

You must save them.

Ophelia could hear the screams beyond the living world. Darkness felt so close here. Surrounded by smiles and laughter, joy and excitement, she could feel them. Ghosts, memories, permeating the overworld.

The barrier is thin here.

They'd found Tyrone with an arrow in his neck in a large chamber of the Labyrinth. He lay beside the other child, also a boy of about thirteen, in a purple shirt. Tyrone's sword lay in his chest. Ophelia closed her eyes. The screaming intensified. They were everywhere, crying for her.

They need you.

"O, we need to move."

She concentrated on Alex's voice. Filtering through Eris and the voices of the Underworld took effort. But they needed her. She saw Kitty running her hand along the periwinkle colored wall, a smile on her face. How could Kitty smile?

Alex slipped his warm hand in her cold one. He didn't smile. But in her tight frown and blue eyes, she took comfort. They needed to stick together. They'd dealt with one maze. They could do another. They had to do another.

"Let's go," he said.

They started to the right. There weren't many signs here beyond little banners telling the Cast Members how important they were, assuring them that their work kept the Magic Kingdom the premier vacation spot. No maps, only colors. They couldn't guess the colors. Alex followed the pink.

Keeping to the far wall, Ophelia distracted herself from the cries and whispers by observing their path. The stench of trash, rotten food and waste, began to fill her nose. Young cast members, most not much older than them, passed in costume. A couple of girls wore pink, blue, and purple castle attire. Another group had on stripey circus costumes in red, blue, and yellow. Down the middle rolled the occasional electric mini car. No one spared them a second thought.

The stench of waste became overpowering. Nose scrunched up, Ophelia almost turned away from the main tunnel crossroads they entered. Bustling workers moved like bees in a dance of efficiency. Four tunnels met here. To their right, a long straight track ran towards the outside. To their left, an equally long tunnel dipped out of view.

A few older cast members in plain clothes stood behind pop up plastic tables holding brochures and merchandise. The occasional costumed cast member stopped to chat. But Ophelia froze, mezmerized by the windows beyond.

"They have a cafeteria down here?" Kitty said, voice low. But she grinned wider and moved towards it. "Oh my gods is that Peter Pan next to Aurora?"

"Kitty," Alex said.

Ophelia couldn't move. Dread crept into her gut, then her stomach, then her chest. The world almost seemed to spin as the screams of the dead grew louder.

Focus.

She needed to focus on the task. Just the task. Not the women half in princess make up and half in plain clothes eating Subway under the Magic Kingdom. Not the cute Minnie Mouse purses being hawked at the center tables. The task.

Save the children.

Save the children, that was all that mattered. She grabbed Alex's hand. Still warm, she focused on that and not the fear. Ophelia closed her eyes. Alex may have been the son of the god of travelers but she was the daughter of the goddess of crossroads.

You can do this without your mother.

The words Hecate spoke before they'd begun the quest filled her mind. Choices. Four. Each one leading to death. Yours, his, hers, or theirs. But she refused. There had to be another way. The oracle had to be wrong. They would all return to Cabin 11, and the children would get a second chance.

"When Phoebe said you were coming, I almost laughed."

Ophelia's eyes shot open. In a single movement, she drew her Stygian iron dagger and faced the deep, male voice. She, Alex, and Kitty stood face to face with a man and a woman, Phoebe Mitchell from Chicago and Cole Lancer from Lake Placid.

Both looked like the epitome of successful businessmen. Cole had on a black polo shirt and perfectly creased khakis, one hand in his right pocket and the other on his hip. Beside him, wearing black dress pants and a red blouse, Phoebe's hazel eyes scanned them top to bottom. In her left hand she lazily held her Blackberry. Ophelia almost recoiled from how alike to Hermes she seemed.

"Take another step, and I'll end you," Alex said.

Phoebe laughed. "Now, now brother. Lets not make a scene in front of the humans. They didn't sign up for a fight. They signed up to make magic."

"Let's go somewhere quieter," Cole said.

Before she could answer, Kitty spoke for them. She told the older demigods to lead the way. Ophelia almost laughed at her. It would have been funny, if they hadn't been in imminent danger. But the girl left no room for negotiation. Cole and Phoebe turned their backs and started down the tunnel to their left, deep under the Castle.

It would've been the perfect opportunity to kill them. And as Ophelia raised her hand, she almost did. But a massive hang, skin cracked and boiled, stopped her. Laistrygonians dressed as security smirked down at them, drool between their teeth.

"Do as they say, or we eats you."

A compelling argument. Ophelia glanced up at Alex. He almost seemed to buzz from adrenaline, eyes scanning every enemy, every human, every passage. But he nodded, and they followed Kitty.

The girl wasn't stupid. She took gambles, some which ended in pain. Ophelia still remembered the way she'd tried to reach Kitty in their relay race. The way Kitty had left her to slip. But they'd won. Her sacrifice meant victory. A good gamble, for her at least.

Ophelia prayed that whatever gamble Kitty was playing now wouldn't blow up in their faces. With every step deeper into the cream colored tunnel filled with pipes the size of her head and banners advertising an upcoming Halloween event, she tried to ignore the dread that crept back in.

Focus on Victory.

They had to win. She kept her hand on the hilt of her dagger even upto the door Cole and Phoebe led them to. In slightly glowing ink above the office door shined the symbols of Hermes, Hebe, and Nike. Trigon.

Ophelia entered. A large conference table shaped like Mickey Mouse with the symbols of the demigods' godly parents dominated the center. A man with pristine white skin and jet black hair in jeans and a Mickey Mouse shirt sat on it, legs dangling off the side. He looked up at them and smiled. Julien Bordeaux, son of Hebe.

"So. You're the demigods who've been snooping around." He hopped off hte table and rolled up his sleeves. "Who the hell are you?"

The door clicked shut. Cole leaned against it, hands in his pockets. They wouldn't be getting out that way without a fight.

"I'm Kitty, daughter of Tyche." She gestured left. "These are Ophelia, daughter of Hecate and Alex-"

"Son of Hermes," Phoebe interrupted. "I gathered that." Swaggering over to the table, she let the Blackberry fall onto the hard surface with a tight clack. She took a seat. "Who sent you? Chiron?"

Ophelia missed what Alex said in response. Just behind Phoebe on the wall lay the most beautiful golden lyre she had ever seen. It had to be their prize. Glittering behind a thin layer of glass in a black box on the wall, all the whispers and screams stopped.

Focus on Victory.

Their victory lay within arms' reach.

"We didn't fight because it wasn't our fight," Julien said. "We're not here to challenge gods or Titans. I've been running this business for fifty years. In that time I've seen plenty of empires rise and fall. Like Radioshack."

"We have no intention of becoming the next Radioshack," Phoebe said. "We're here to run a business, kids. Not change the world."

Alex scoffed. "If the Titans had won, there wouldn't be a world."

But Kitty waved him off. She moved forward, circling the table to look Julien closer in the eyes. "Fifty years?"

"Child of the goddess of youth," Cole offered, still leaning against the door.

Ophelia felt a cold wind rip through room. She shivered. Only Phoebe noticed. "Watch out, child of Hecate. We're close to the Underworld here."

"The Labyrinth?" Alex said.

She nodded. "That. And other places."

Julien grinned. He licked his lips gesturing over to the pictures that hung on the far wall. "The barrier between the living and the dead is thin here. We built the Haunted Mansion over the thinnest spot. Now people obsess over it. Nine hundred and ninety nine happy haunts-"

"But there's room for a thousand," Cole said.

Ophelia shivered again. She glanced at the Lyre. Alex and Kitty must've seen it. They were biding their time. They had to pick the right moment. Ophelia realized Kitty had made her way towards the glass case as she rambled on with Phoebe and Julien.

Looking at Alex, she saw him running a thumb over the caduceus on his wrist. He watched Kitty inch closer and closer. Ophelia slipped her hand in his. If Kitty could get the Lyre, she could Shadow-Travel them out. He tightened the grip. One quick squeeze. He understood.

Focus on Victory.

"Tell Chiron that we'll stay out of his tail," Julien said. "If you do that, we'll let you leave alive."

A small scoff from Cole and a roll of the eyes from Phoebe followed. Kitty chose her moment.

Glass shattered. Phoebe fell to the floor, chair over turned. Before anyone could react, Kitty ripped the Lyre of Orpheus from its cage and skidded across the table. Ophelia grabbed her.

The shadows darkened. The room disappeared. Only screams, voidless terror surrounded them. Wind of Mist and blackness froze every exposed piece of skin as she tore them out of the Utilidors.

Focus on Victory.

The world exploded. Ophelia fell to the ground, overwhelmed by the chaos of the crowds. Conflicting smells filled her nostrils, popcorn and brownies and hotdogs. Horribly loud music drowned out everything but the hum of the dense crowd. And far above, painting the world in fire and color, exploded fireworks as loud as bombshells. Between a thousand legs she gasped for breath.

Inhuman screeching filled the air. Wings blocked out the fireworks. Ophelia shivered. They had to run.