stollen things || c. stoll

4.8 ~ The Battle Of The Labyrinth

We spent all of that night and morning setting up more traps and trenches. We began thickening up our guards, having nearly all of the senior counselors and any camper volunteers stationed at all times, eating meals in the tents.

I stayed with Lee for all of it. I didn't want to see Connor. In fact, I didn't see him at all for the next two days. Nor Silena. It's not what you think my ass. They were off somewhere being irresponsible while I was with Lee, preparing for battle. I doubted that Connor was really even thinking about me.

On the night of June 29th, we had a camp-wide meeting after dinner. Chiron explained our battle plan. He said that we all knew the invasion was coming and that we'd just have to wait it out and see how much we could hold off. I took Madge by the hand as we all walked to the armory. I don't know how Chiron knew it would be that night, or if he knew at all, but I trusted him. He'd lived through thousands of years of battle strategy, and I was sure that was why he had such a precise idea.

Beckendorf was manning the catapults. All of Ares was on the front lines, behind the rows of sharpened sticks. My cabin was either in the trees with Apollo and Hermes or on the ground by the pits of Greek fire. Athenas cabin had taken over one of the tents for a command tent and were taking over operations.

However, we waited all night, taking turns sleeping, and all morning. Nothing happened. I was asleep when the Grover came to shake me awake. "Maddy, get up. We need to get into position."

There was terrible rumbling coming from below. He was right. The time had come. I had no time to celebrate the fact that Grover had come back alive, because I had to get to the trees as soon as possible. I grabbed my bow and ran to my station. I was high in the tree that was next to Lee's. He was significantly lower than I.

"Lock shields!" Clarisse yelled.

That's when the Titan lords army burst through the boulders and into camp. First there were a dozen Laistrygonian giants, yelling battle cries at such a high volume I lost focus for a second. One of the giants swung at the Ares cabin, sending them all to the side. That's when I knew we were screwed. So I did the first thing that came to mind.

I prayed to Zoë Nightshade. I prayed that her spirit would watch over me and guide my bow. I didn't know if she could even receive prayers. But it was worth a shot.

"Fire!" Beckendorf shouted and the catapults sprung into action. A boulder took down one of the giants, and Lee motioned for us to fire. Dozens of arrows struck the giant in his armor. Not mine, though. Mine hit the mark, the weak spot. The giant exploded into dust. Zoë had heard me.

Just when we took down those giants, more monsters came through. Dracaenae. Snake women. They were smaller than the giants, and a much better opponent. They got stuck in the stick barricade or fell into the pits of Greek fire.

But every time we defeated one, two more emerged. The Athena cabin came out of their tent with swords and came after the dracaenae. Percy charged a hellhound, but my eye caught on something else. Some of the snake women were slithering off toward camp. Percy noticed this, and called for Nico. He opened the ground like it was nothing, and a dozen undead warriors crawled out. They began striking down the dracaenae.

My heart swelled. The poor child had grown to be a powerful hero.

I couldn't focus on that anymore. I kept shooting down dracaenae and giants, but it was short lived. Junipers tree had caught fire, and Percy called a wave from the creek. The fire went out, but his aim wasn't very concentrated. The wave washed over the whole battle and pulled me out of my tree. If I'd had more time to process it, I would've caught myself with a branch. But everything went so fast, all I could feel was pain. I couldn't breathe. I'd landed flat on my back from high in the tree. I needed to stop doing that. I cursed with what little air I had left.