The Battle of the Labyrinth

he reached down and touched the mummy’s forehead. The threads unraveled and sank to the bottom of the tub. There was nothing inside them. It was as if King Minos had just dissolved.
    “A painless death,” Daedalus mused. “More than he deserved. Thank you, my princesses.”
    Aelia hugged him. “You cannot stay here, teacher. When our father finds out—”
    “Yes,” Daedalus said. “I fear I have brought you trouble.”
    “Oh, do not worry for us. Father will be happy enough taking that old man’s gold. And Crete is a very long way away. But he will blame you for Minos’s death. You must flee to somewhere safe.”
    “Somewhere safe,” the old man repeated. “For years I have fled from kingdom to kingdom, looking for somewhere safe. I fear Minos told the truth. Death will not stop him from hounding me. There is no place under the sun that will harbor me, once word of this crime gets out.”
    “Then where will you go?” Aelia said.
    “A place I swore never to enter again,” Daedalus said. “My prison may be my only sanctuary.”
    “I do not understand,” Aelia said.
    “It’s best you did not.”
    “But what of the Underworld?” one her sisters asked. “Terrible judgment will await you! Every man must die.”
    “Perhaps,” Daedalus said. Then he brought a scroll from his traveling bag—the same scroll I’d seen in my last dream, with his nephew’s notes. “Or perhaps not.”
    He patted Aelia’s shoulder, then blessed her and her sisters. He looked down once more at the coppery threads glinting in the bottom of the bath. “Find me if you dare, king of ghosts.”
    He turned toward the mosaic wall and touched a tile. A glowing mark appeared—a Greek L—and the wall slid aside. The princesses gasped.
    “You never told us of secret passages!” Aelia said. “You have been busy.”
    “The Labyrinth has been busy,” Daedalus corrected. “Do not try to follow me, my dears, if you value your sanity.”
    My dream shifted. I was underground in a stone chamber. Luke and another half-blood warrior were studying a map by flashlight.
    Luke cursed. “It should’ve been the last turn.” He crumpled up the map and tossed it aside.
    “Sir!” his companion protested.
    “Maps are useless here,” Luke said. “Don’t worry. I’ll find it.”
    “Sir, is it true that the larger the group—”
    “The more likely you’ll get lost? Yes, that’s true. Why do you think we sent out solo explorers to begin with? But don’t worry. As soon as we have the thread, we can lead the vanguard through.”
    “But how will we get the thread?”
    Luke stood, flexing his fingers. “Oh, Quintus will come through. All we have to do is reach the arena, and it’s at a juncture. Impossible to get anywhere without passing it.
    That’s why we must have a truce with its master. We just have to stay alive until—”
    “Sir!” a new voice came from the corridor. Another guy in Greek armor ran forward, carrying a torch. “The dracae nae found a half-blood!”
    Luke scowled. “Alone? Wandering the maze?”
    “Yes, sir! You’d better come quick. They’re in the next chamber. They’ve got him cornered.”
    “Who is it?”
    “No one I’ve ever seen before, sir.”
    Luke nodded. “A blessing from Kronos. We may be able to use this half-blood. Come!”
    They ran down the corridor, and I woke with a start, staring into the dark. A lone half-blood, wandering in the maze. It was a long time before I got to sleep again.
    The next morning I made sure Mrs. O’Leary had enough dog biscuits. I asked Beckendorf to keep an eye on her, which he didn’t seem too happy about. Then I hiked over Half-Blood Hill and met Annabeth and Argus on the road.
    Annabeth and I didn’t talk much in the van. Argus never spoke, probably because he had eyes all over his body, including—so I’d heard—at the tip of his tongue, and he didn’t like to show that off.
    Annabeth looked queasy, as if she’d slept even worse than me.
    “Bad dreams?” I asked at last.
    She shook her head. “An Iris-message from Eurytion.”
    “Eurytion! Is something wrong with Nico?”
    “He left the ranch last night, heading back into the maze.”
    “ What ? Didn’t Eurytion try to stop him?”
    “Nico was gone before he woke up. Orthus tracked his scent as far as the cattle guard. Eurytion said he’d been hearing Nico talk to himself the last few nights. Only now he thinks Nico was talking with the ghost again, Minos.”
    “He’s in