The Battle of the Labyrinth

Percy dreams about Luke aboard the Princess Andromeda warship talking to Kronos, who reminds Luke about his pledge of allegiance and the gifts of power that bind him to Kronos. Kelli enters with details about the army’s readiness. She notices Percy’s unconscious presence in the room and lunges at him, waking him instantly.

Percy receives another Iris message: Nico and the ghost of Minos in a graveyard, watching skeletons dig. Nico pours an offering into the hole and starts “chanting in Ancient Greek” (86) to summon shades from the underworld. Nico meets the ghost of Theseus, who warns him against trying to bring a loved one back from the dead.

Theseus was only able to escape the Labyrinth with help: “There is only one thing that saw me through: the love of a mortal girl. The string was only part of the answer” (88), a clue for Percy that a mortal is key to navigate through the maze. After Theseus successfully made his way out of the Labyrinth and sailed back to Greece, he forgot to change the color of his sails from black to white, a sign that Theseus survived. Seeing black sails, his father King Aegeus “threw himself into the sea” (87). Theseus “wanted to bring him back” from the dead but couldn’t (87). Theseus wants Nico to learn from his mistakes and give up the soul exchange, but Nico is still too vengeful to take his advice. At Minos’s urging, Nico asks Theseus for more details about the soul exchange. Nico’s spirit power is so strong that it agitates Theseus and shakes Percy’s entire cabin through the Iris message. Percy slashes his fountain to break the connection.

The questers meet at the Labyrinth entrance where the campers are setting up defensive traps. Percy tells Chiron about his dream and the warning he received from Juniper. When Chiron suggests Luke might need Daedalus to make an automaton body for Lord Kronos, Percy deduces that Quintus must be a spy for Luke. The four campers descend into the Labyrinth.