Chapter 44: Finding Nico Part 1

Isaiah Sharpe went downstairs to Tony's workshop after ending his call with Bianca. He quickly inputted the code and entered the workshop. Looking around, the boy saw his father tinkering underneath Mustang.

"Tony?"

There was no answer. The boy walked up to the man whose legs were sticking out from underneath the car and gave it a tap.

*CLANG*

"OW! Son of a!"

'Oops,' Isaiah thought when he heard Tony bang his head in surprise.

The man rolled out and saw the boy,

"Isaiah?" he saw the boy and let his tools down before sitting up.

"I'm gonna leave for a while. Nico has gone missing."

"What!?" Tony exclaimed.

Isaiah nodded,

"Bianca just called me. She said that Nico fell into the Labyrinth and I'm going to help her search for him."

"What about the others at that camp? Aren't they going to help?"

"I'm sure they'll try, but they also have to make preparations for the battle."

"What battle?"

"I told you before. The fact that the army of the Titan of Time is going to invade the camp."

Tony looked at his son wide-eyed,

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

"Then let me help."

Isaiah tilted his head,

"How?"

"I found you didn't I?"

"Yes, but this is a different issue. I'm going inside a maze where time and space are thrown out of the window and riddled with deadly traps. How are you going to help? And I can't use an electronic device near demigods. You know what happened last time."

"Are you trying to convince me to let you go or not? ' Cause if you are, you're failing badly." Tony looked at the boy incredulously. "And what about the kid's father? Can't he just find him or something?"

Isaiah smiled,

"The gods are not exactly known to be reliable. I don't know much about Hades, but you can't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't worry, I have a plan."

"Then, please inform me of your amazing plan, Isaiah," Tony asked sarcastically as he got off the floor and picked up a cloth to wipe the grease oil off his hands.

Before he could answer, Isaiah sensed a familiar power welling up from his shadow, He looked down and saw his shadow stretch and expand before a clearly distressed rose from it.

"I'm here, so let's go. We have to find Nico before anything happens to him," she said as soon she fully emerged from Isaiah's shadow and the latter returned to its natural state.

Tony blinked for a moment before greeting her,

"Hello, Bianca."

The girl whirled around and saw Tony looking at her with a raised eyebrow,

"I didn't know you could pop out of shadows." the man finished.

"M-Mr. Stark! I'm sorry for barging in like this!"

But Tony reassured her,

"It's okay. I got the gist of the situation. And Isaiah was about to explain to me his plan on how to find him."

Bianca turned to Isaiah,

"Plan to find Nico?"

Isaiah turned to his father,

"You saw her pop out of the shadow?"

Tony raised an eyebrow,

"Well yeah, it's kind of hard to miss it when it's right in front of you."

"That's the thing, you should not be able to see it though."

Tony realizing what happened felt his face and felt that his Anti-Mist glasses were not there.

"Interesting. We should research into this-" Isaiah began to say.

"Guys!" Bianca called.

"-at a later date."

Isaiah nodded and turned to Bianca.

"We have three options for finding Nico. The first one is to ask your dad his location." Isaiah said.

"I tried, but I got no response yet."

"Alright, then the second option is to ask my teacher."

Bianca perked up at the mention of the Sorcerer Supreme.

"Do you think she will help?"

"Of course, she will. It's your brother we're talking about. Let's go ask." The boy turned to his dad,

"Can you call Teacher?"

Tony simply nodded and fished out his phone from his pocket.

A few rings later, Fiona's voice could be heard,

[Hello again, Mr. Stark. How can I help you? Did something happen to Isaiah.]

"Not exactly. It's better for him to explain the situation," Tony replied and gave the phone to the boy.

"Teacher?"

[Isaiah. How can I help you?]

"Nico fell through the Labyrinth and Bianca couldn't find him. I wanted to find him so I was thinking if you could see his location or something."

[Hmm. The Labyrinth, hm? Just wait a moment, I'll try to search for him.]

The room held their breath as they waited for the woman's answer.

[Sorry Isaiah. It seems l won't be able to find him.]

"W-Why?" Bianca asked as panic rose within her.

[Because his fate has been altered a long time ago. The way I search for the location of people is by looking into the future. Usually, there are many fixed paths of a person's future, however, if they were tampered with, it brings about a completely new path. You should know Bianca, the same thing happened to you. It's what saved you.]

"Isaiah," she whispered. "Somehow, Isaiah can change Fate and it affected Nico."

[That's right. And just like every action, there is a consequence. However, what I can tell you is that Nico did not go into the Labyrinth of his own volition after looking into the past. ]

"I know. He fell in there."

[No, what I'm saying is that someone wanted him to go into the Labyrinth. Was he behaving unusually lately?]

Bianca's brow furrowed as she recalled her time with Nico lately,

"Now that I think about it. He's been strangely obsessive with the Labyrinth. He always asked questions about it. I just chalked it up to him being curious as usual."

Bianca crouched down and placed her face in her hands,

"I should have known something was wrong."

Isaiah caught Tony gesturing to him. Raising an eyebrow, he saw the man pointedly looking at him and then at the girl repeatedly.

"What?" the boy mouthed.

"Comfort her!" the man mouthed back.

"How!?"

"Figure it out!"

The boy looked down at the girl not knowing what to do. So he awkwardly place his hand on her shoulder and patted it.

"S-Sorry Bianca. I didn't know it would affect Nico like that."

The girl sighed,

"It's not like you could've known, right?"

The boy nodded.

The girl sighed once more,

"Then there is no need to apologize. Besides, you saved my life with that power so I can't complain."

"Thanks," Isaiah replied.

Bianca nodded and turned back to the phone,

"Do you know who wants Nico to enter the Labyrinth?"

[Yes. One of the judges of the Underworld, King Minos.]

"Minos!?" Bianca exclaimed.

"Minos, as in the King of Crete? He's alive?" Tony asked.

[Yes for the first one and no for the second one. I don't know what he wants right now with Nico, but we can all assume it's related to the Labyrinth and probably Daedalus himself. From your reaction, you seem to be familiar with him, Bianca. Am I wrong?]

Bianca shook her head,

"No. A few months back, Nico was messing around with his powers and tried to summon a ghost. When he succeeded, he summoned Minos. Then Nico would summon him every now and then to practice his powers which the latter helped. I didn't know he was trying to manipulate him though. Godammit!" Bianca explained before cursing her oversight.

[Well, the milk has been spilled already. We should focus on searching. Do you have another way to find Mr. Di Angelo?]

Isaiah nodded,

"Yeah. Our last option is to find a natural clear-sighted mortal."

[That could work.]

"What why?" Bianca asked.

"Because clear-sighted mortals can see through the mist better than most which allows them to peer through the Labyrinth and navigate. It's how Ariadne helped Theseus navigate through the Maze."

[That's right.]

"Can't you just use the glasses that you made?"

"The thing is I don't know if they will work. It only lets you see through the Mist, not navigate the Labyrinth."

"Aren't you a clear-sighted mortal?" Bianca asked.

"I'm not a natural one since I have mana and other energies to essentially block the effects of the Mist, unlike Ms. Jackson who is a natural-born clear-sighted mortal. I could reproduce their navigation skills when I see them at work and, in the future, I probably won't need their help."

Isaiah shrugged,

"All these are just speculations and I can probably already navigate through the maze for all we know. We might be wrong and it's not the fact that I need clear-sighted mortals to navigate but their perception of reality. I mean, do they have an extra metaphysical organ in their brain that allows them to essentially haveahypersensitivitytotheMist...." Isaiah began to lose himself in his thoughts as he muttered at high-speed.

"Snap back to reality, Isaiah!" Bianca said as she snapped her fingers in front of the boy's face.

"Huh! Oh, sorry. Anyways, we're in luck! I managed to find one."

"Really?" Tony and Bianca said.

"Yup. Anyways, now that Bianca is here..."

Isaiah's clothes changed and were swapped with the ones his teacher had gifted him on his birthday. The same black and red sorcerer's combat gear.

Tony whistled,

"Handy spell you got. And the clothes look nice too. Is that the one you got as a birthday gift?"

"Yeah."

"You're going to go out like this?"

"Yeah."

"Don't you think you'll attract attention?"

"We're going to New York. I'm sure the people have seen something weirder."

"Alright, do you guys need anything?"

Isaiah and Bianca shook their head.

"No, I already have everything I need in my ring."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Now let's go. We can't wait any longer."

[I see. Then be careful Isaiah and Bianca. The Labyrinth is a very dangerous place if you don't know where to go. ] Fiona said.

"Wait, Teacher!"

[Yes, Isaiah?]

"Could you tell us where Percy is? He told me he went to meet someone."

Bianca looked at her friend confused.

[Very well.]

A few seconds later, The Ancient One spoke,

[Mr. Jackson went with Ms. Chase to the Times Square in front of the Marriot Marquis. He has decided to meet with the one called Rachel Elizabeth Dare.]

"Dare?" Tony asked.

"You know her, Tony?" the boy asked.

"I don't exactly know her. I know her father though. I didn't know he was involved with the Greeks," Tony asked.

[Only Ms. Dare is involved, Mr. Stark. Her family has no knowledge of her ability.]

"Ah. Jarvis, search the location."

Soon the computer table lit up and a hologram version of Google Maps opened up.

"That's the location."

"Alright, Let's go!" Isaiah said before turning to Bianca.

"Although, you're gonna have to teleport us. I don't want to leave traces of my magic for others I find."

Bianca nodded and they stepped into Tony's shadow.

[Then I will let you go children. However, Isaiah?]

"Yes, Teacher?"

[Remember, to always keep an open mind and imagination is the key to magic.]

"I huh already know that Teacher," Isaiah replied a little confused by her reminder.

[I know it's just a reminder.]

"Okay, then I'll keep it in mind."

[Very well. Good luck.] Fiona said and hung up the phone.

"Be careful kids and Isaiah?" Tony said.

"Yeah, Tony?"

"I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. I was just worried."

"No problem, Tony! I heard from Ms. Pepper why you reacted like that. Although, I don't know the reason. I'm sure it wasn't bad."

Tony nodded.

"Don't worry, Mr. Stark," Bianca said. "We'll be safe."

"What she said," Isaiah added.

Tony nodded and Bianca closed her eyes.

Soon Tony's shadow expanded to cover enough space for the two teens. The shadow then swallowed them up.

Tony watched as they disappeared and his shadow returned to its original form. The man had a frown as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Fuck."

As soon as Isaiah plunged into the shadow, he was immediately assaulted by freezing temperatures whispers. Everything was dark and Isaiah felt like his face might peel off due to the speed of Bianca's method of travel. The next moment, they found themselves in an alleyway close to the Marriot.

"Well, that was quite the ride. Do you always feel like this?" Isaiah asked.

Bianca shook her head,

"Maybe because I'm the daughter of Hades, but I don't feel anything went I use this method of teleportation. In fact, I quite like it. I didn't feel the wind resistance you had and I sometimes hear the voice. The cold doesn't bother me anyway." Bianca said.

Isaiah nodded,

"That's nice. I want to research this more often. Anyways, let's find Percy." Isaiah said.

"Hm."

And both pre-teens started walking.

***

Percy didn't know what was going on with Annabeth. Ever since he had said that they would meet with Rachel, she had been acting kind of... a bitch. Right now, he, Annabeth and Rachel was sitting inside a cafe. The latter was completely painted in gold and the people around her didn't pay attention to her. New Yorkers had seen weirder stuff in their life so a girl painted in gold didn't affect them much. The atmosphere was so tense between the trio Percy could swear he could cut it with a blunt knife.

"So," she said, "it's Annabell, right?"

"Annabeth," Annabeth corrected. "Do you always dress in gold?"

"Not usually," Rachel said. "We're raising money for our group. We do volunteer art projects for elementary kids 'cause they're cutting art from the schools, you know? We do this monthly, taking in about five hundred dollars on a good weekend. But I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that. You're a half-blood, too?"

"Shhh!" Annabeth said, looking around. "Just announce it to the world, how about?"

"Okay." Rachel stood up and said really loud, "Hey, everybody! These two aren't human! They're half Greek god!"

Nobody even looked over. Rachel shrugged and sat down. "They don't seem to care."

"I care."

Suddenly a voice interjected jump-scaring all three of them.

"HOLY SHIT!/WHAT THE HADES!/SON OF A!" all three teens cursed out in surprise.

They turned around and saw Isaiah and Bianca standing behind him. Isaiah had his usual smile whilst Bianca was wearing a frown.

"Isaiah? Bianca? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at camp helping others make preparations?" Percy asked confused.

"We came to find you because-"

"Nico's missing," Bianca finished.

"What?" asked Annabeth asked all sorts of aggressiveness gone. "What do you mean he's missing."

Bianca quickly explained the situation.

"Oh shit. We have to find him!" Percy said.

Isaiah nodded,

"Yup. You said you had a way to navigate through the Labyrinth." Isaiah turned to Rachel,

"I assume that's you?"

Rachel looked overwhelmed and quickly made a time-out sign.

"Wait! Hold up! Time-out! Someone explain to me what's going on and what's this about a Labyrinth."

"Well..." Percy then began to explain the reason he called her and explained the situation with the Labyrinth of Daedalus.

"So you want me to guide you in a death maze hellbent on killing me because I can see through this "Mist"?" Rachel asked with air quotes.

She then turned to Annabeth,

"You want my help?"

Annabeth looked down at her drink, "... Maybe."

"Yes, we need your help," Bianca said and Isaiah agreed.

Percy explained thoroughly what risks she was taking if she were to be a guide for them.

Once the explanation was finished, Rachel was silent. She looked at all four before nodding,

"I'm in," she said.

"Are you sure?" Percy asked.

"Yeah. My summer was going to be boring anyway and this is the best offer I got. So what do I do?"

"So you're trying to get yourself killed because you're bored? How interesting." Isaiah said.

"Isaiah!" all three demigods said.

Isaiah simply smirked.

Percy sighed,

"Anyway, You have to find the entrance to the Labyrinth. It can be just about anything. There will be a glowing Delta sign."

"Is it that triangle thing?" the girl asked.

"You know Greek?" asked Annabeth.

"Nope, but I saw the symbol you were talking about?"

"That's awesome. So where is it?"

"It's in the hotel's basement. Let me go get changed and we'll go."

"So that's what it was!" Isaiah snapped his fingers.

"What do you mean?" asked Bianca.

"Well, I was sensing a heavy presence of the Mist below the Hotel. I didn't know what it was."

Percy nodded,

"Then let's go. We'll also try to find Nico at the same time."

"No, you guys continue on your quest. We'll find Nico." Bianca said.

"What are you talking about!? This is Nico we're talking about. He's still a kid!" Percy protested.

"I know! That's why I asked Isaiah to come. You guys have to continue on your quest to find Daedalus' workshop before the Titan's army."

Percy looked hesitant along with Annabeth.

"Don't worry Percy, you know I'm strong. And Nico's my friend, Bianca and I will find him."

Percy balled his fist before hesitatingly nodding and spat out,

"Fine! Let's go!"

Sometime later, the group found themselves in front of a metal door hidden behind some laundry.

"I tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge."

"That's because it needs the touch of a half-blood," Annabeth said as she touched the Delta symbol. As soon as she did, it glowed before the door creaked and opened a little. Percy grabbed the handle and opened the door which revealed a long and dark staircase.

"After you," Percy told Rachel.

"Awesome, I've always wanted to go down the creepy staircase like those horror movies," she replied and entered first. The rest of the group entered right after her. They continued walking down the stairs for a minute or two before reaching the floor. It was very dark so Percy and Annabeth brought out their flashlight.

Soon, after about twenty meters of walking, they reached a crossroad.

"So where do we go? This looks like the one Tyson and Grover took when we left." Percy said as he pointed to the hallway on their left.

"Perhaps, but on the right, the architecture of these stones seems to lead to an older part of the maze. That's probably where the workshop is." Annabeth said.

"We have to go straight." Rachel said.

Isaiah perked up at Rachel's words.

"What?" Annabeth said.

"We have to go straight. Can't you see on the floor? There is some sort of glow going towards the front. To our right, there is a trap that, if triggered, opens a latch on the floor which would plunge us onto spikes. I don't feel like dying today. And to our left, tree roots are moving like tentacles. I don't want to be the star of hentai so that's a no too." Rachel said without a single moment of hesitation.

"What's a hentai?" Isaiah asked.

Everyone froze except for Bianca because she didn't know either.

"You don't need to know!" Rachel said.

"T-That's right! It's not important right now." Percy stuttered.

Due to the low lighting, no one could see the teens blushing.

Isaiah turned to Bianca,

"Do you know what they were talking about?" he asked.

Bianca shook her head,

"I don't know either."

"So straight?" Percy asked quickly changing the subject.

"Yup!" Rachel said as she quickly walked forward.

Annabeth followed behind them. Bianca and Isaiah looked at each other and shrugged before following them. The sorcerer then caught up to Rachel.

"By the way, how are you guiding us?"

"Huh, well. I can see this glow on the floor like those glow-in-the-dark-chalks. It's pointing me in the right direction which is the inventor dude's workshop."

"That's it?"

"I don't know how to explain it. It's my first time!"

"Hmm." Isaiah stroked his chin as they continued to walk.

He then quickly walked up in front of her,

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked seeing Isaiah blocking her way.

"What are you doing, Isaiah?" Annabeth asked.

Isaiah ignored her and looked at Rachel,

"May I touch your forehead?"

"Huh, why?"

"I want to see how your ability works. So I want to cast a spell on you. is that okay?"

"Is this really the time, right now?" Rachel asked.

"Isaiah, do you need to do this now?" Percy asked.

"Yes. I need to find Nico."

Bianca stayed silent as she looked at Isaiah.

Rachel looked at the pre-teen before looking at Percy and then back to Isaiah. She shrugged,

"Alright."

"Thanks." the boy replied and touched the older girl's forehead.

'Structural Grasp'

Magic circuits from the boy's arm before travelling up his hands, then his fingers and onto the girl's head before disappearing.

Isaiah closed his eyes as he went through the information collected. He then looked through her memories of her guiding them.

"I see. So that's how it is. It was that simple."

"What was that simple?" asked Bianca.

Isaiah closed his eyes and opened his mind to the Mist in the Labyrinth. The Mist is a supernatural fog that covers the normal human minds who are too weak to perceive the supernatural. It's essentially a blanket with the concept of "Seeing what one believes". The reason some mortals are clear-sighted and some are not is the degree of their imagination and their creativity. If one has enough imagination and is flexible with their mind, they are able to see what they want which is the truth of the world. Isaiah already had that step accomplished after opening his mind to the Universe as well as being connected to the Root. He just needed to acknowledge it. He saw white fog curl up his fingers and directed his eyes toward the hallway and smirked.

He could now see a dim gold glow shining on the floor of the Labyrinth.

'Is this why the Teacher said imagination is the key? Did she already know this would happen?"

Bianca saw his expression,

"Did you get it?"

Percy looked at her confused,

"Get what?"

Isaiah turned to the girl,

"Yeah, I can see it now."

"See what?"

"I can see the glow Rachel was talking about?"

"What!" Percy and Annabeth exclaimed.

"I'll explain it to you next time. Now that we have our way, I think we should go on our separate ways from now on."

"Wait why? We could use your help?" Percy asked.

Isaiah sighed,

"I told you before. I can't get involved with your quest. You know what happened last time?"

Percy looked down,

"Fine."

"Don't worry, I'll see if I can help without me getting involved. Nico is the son of Hades, one of the Big Three. I'm sure if the Titan army finds him, they will try to use him to their advantage." Isaiah patted his shoulder.

"Yeah. You're right." Percy said

The boy turned to Bianca,

"Let's go save Nico."

"Yeah!"

And they both ran forward with the girl following the sorcerer.

Seeing them go forward, Rachel turned to her fellow teens,

"Are you sure, it's okay to let these kids go like that? Didn't you warn me that this place was dangerous?"

Percy sighed,

"To be honest, Isaiah is probably a lot stronger than me. He could kill monsters that demigods find difficult to fight in one slash." Percy replied with a smirk.

"The hell? Then why isn't he helping you?"

"It's... complicated. Let's go. We wasted enough time." He said.

Rachel nodded and the trio continued to make their way.