The Battle of the Labyrinth

in the air.
    “You have nothing to apologize for, my dear.” Standing on the hill was a tall woman in a white dress, her dark hair braided over her shoulder.
    “Hera,” Annabeth said.
    The goddess smiled. “You found the answers, as I knew you would. Your quest was a success.”
    “A success?” Annabeth said. “Luke is gone. Daedalus is dead. Pan is dead. How is that—”
    “Our family is safe,” Hera insisted. “Those others are better gone, my dear. I am proud of you.”
    I balled my fists. I couldn’t believe she was saying this.
    “You’re the one who paid Geryon to let us through the ranch, weren’t you?”
    Hera shrugged. Her dress shimmered in rainbow colors. “I wanted to speed you on your way.”
    “But you didn’t care about Nico. You were happy to see him turned over to the Titans.”
    “Oh, please.” Hera waved her hand dismissively. “The son of Hades said it himself. No one wants him around. He does not belong.”
    “Hephaestus was right,” I growled. “You only care about your perfect family, not real people.”
    Her eyes turned dangerously bright. “Watch yourself, son of Poseidon. I guided you more than you know in the maze. I was at your side when you faced Geryon. I let your arrow fly straight. I sent you to Calypso’s island. I opened the way to the Titan’s mountain. Annabeth, my dear, surely you see how I’ve helped. I would welcome a sacrifice for my efforts.”
    Annabeth stood still as a statue. She could’ve said thank you. She could’ve promised to throw some barbecue on the brazier for Hera and forget the whole thing. But she clenched her jaw stubbornly. She looked just the way she had when she’d faced the Sphinx—like she wasn’t going to accept an easy answer, even if it got her in serious trouble. I realized that was one of the things I liked best about Annabeth.
    “Percy is right.” She turned her back on the goddess. “ You’re the one who doesn’t belong, Queen Hera. So next time, thanks . . . but no thanks.”
    Hera’s sneer was worse than an empousa’s . Her form began to glow. “You will regret this insult, Annabeth. You will regret this very much.”
    I averted my eyes as the goddess turned into her true divine form and disappeared in a blaze of light.
    The hilltop was peaceful again. Over at the pine tree, Peleus the dragon dozed under the Golden Fleece as if nothing had happened.
    “I’m sorry,” Annabeth told me. “I—I should get back. I’ll keep in touch.”
    “Listen, Annabeth—” I thought about Mount St. Helens, Calypso’s Island, Luke and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, and how suddenly everything had gotten so complicated. I wanted to tell Annabeth that I didn’t really want to be so distant from her.
    Then Argus honked his horn down at the road, and I lost my chance.
    “You’d better getting going,” Annabeth said. “Take care, Seaweed Brain.”
    She jogged down the hill. I watched her until she reached the cabins. She didn’t look back once.
    Two days later was my birthday. I never advertised the date, because it always fell right after camp, so none of my camp friends could usually come, and I didn’t have that many mortal friends. Besides, getting older didn’t seem like anything to celebrate since I’d gotten the big prophecy about me destroying or saving the world when I turned sixteen. Now I was turning fifteen. I was running out of time.
    My mom threw me a small party at our apartment. Paul Blofis came over, but that was okay because Chiron had manipulated the Mist to convince everyone at Goode High School that I had nothing to do with the band room explosion. Now Paul and the other witnesses were convinced that Kelli had been a crazy, firebomb-throwing cheerleader, while I had simply been an innocent bystander who’d panicked and ran from the scene. I would still be allowed to start as a freshman at Goode next month. If I wanted to keep my record of getting kicked out of school every year, I’d have to try harder.
    Tyson came to my party, too, and my mother baked two extra blue cakes just for him. While Tyson helped my mom blow up party balloons, Paul Blofis asked me to help him in the kitchen.
    As we were pouring punch, he said, “I hear your mom signed you up for driver’s ed this fall.”
    “Yeah. It’s cool. I can’t wait.”
    Seriously, I’d been excited about getting my license forever, but I guess my heart wasn’t in it anymore, and Paul could tell. In a weird way he reminded me of Chiron