KAI

"Wait, Autolycus?" I asked, confused.

"Who's Autolycus?" Rose asked me, whispering.

I recalled what I had heard from a Hermes member in alchemy class before speaking. "He's a son of Hermes and some other random mortal, and was said to be a very talented thief, with his base being in Mount Parnassus or something. He's infamous for stealing Sisyphus' herd of cows and mentoring Hercules in wrestling, I believe."

Autolycus laughed and said in a calm, casual tone, "Oh yeah, that was me. Man, it's been so long."

"Yeah it really has," I replied. "To the point where I'm wondering how exactly you're still alive."

"The answer is quite simple, actually. The metal suit I'm wearing covers up the many technological advancements and cybernetic enhancements I did on my body. These supplements have kept me alive for centuries, even if they're not the most efficient."

His story of keeping himself alive by continually repairing his body reminded me of Daedalus, aka Quintus, the alias Daedalus had gone by during his short spell as swordsman trainer at camp. The legendary creator of the Labyrinth stayed alive for a very long time using a new body he had created, and Autolycus seems to follow a similar plan.

"But I thought you were just a thief, not some engineer." Rose pointed out.

"Oh believe me, I'm no engineer." Autolycus laughed. "But with the amount of riches and jewelry I've accumulated in the last decades or so, I've been able to pay off cyclopes and human engineers alike and keep myself alive."

"You've also accumulated my sword, her daggers, and all of our friends' other prized possessions," I countered.

"Oh, so that's what these two brought me."

I'd been so concentrated on Autolycus that I forgot exactly why Rose and I were here - maybe the ridiculousness of the situation distracted me also. Just think about it. Two monkeys had just stolen all of our valuables and had now dropped them off at a disgraced thief's house for the taking. Wacky stuff.

"Why are you working with two babbling, jewelry stealing monkeys?" I asked. "Especially if you're as good a thief as you say you are."

"Hey, don't call me a babbling monkey, you two-legged nimrod!" one of the monkeys exclaimed.

"They can speak?" Rose asked, a shocked look on her face.

Autolycus nodded. "Yes, they can, though not as frequently as they used to. After a chance encounter with a son of Zeus and a loud-mouthed, fire-using demigod, they've been a lot more quiet."

"You haven't answered the question," I said, getting back on track. "Why are you working alongside Klepto One and Klepto Two?"

"Their names are Akmon and Passalos for starters, and despite having many mechanical ailments, I'm not in good enough shape to be doing my old burglar gimmicks. So I brought these two in to do the deed for me, and in return, they obtained some of my precious loot."

Ah, Akmon and Passalos. The two monkeys Hercules had released long ago because of how funny they were and the ones Epimetheus had brought up on his island. Seems that Autolycus and the two monkeys bonded over their times with Hercules.

What god, deity or other hadn't had an encounter with Hercules in Greek mythos? From powerful gods of the sky, sea, and underworld to buffed up boars and snakes to klepto monkeys, Hercules had really seen it all.

"That's great and all, but we're really just here for our loot, so hand it over or this discussion might take a real bad turn," Rose threatened.

"Relax," Autolycus said, putting his hands up. "I'll hand over the loot to you, as I'm not in need of any more weapons, and besides, I never requested these two to steal anything. This should serve as a lesson to them so that next time, they listen to my commands instead of gallivanting around on their own."

Much to Akmon and Passalos' dismay, Autolycus handed over the tote bags to Rose and I.

"Thanks. Now, Rose, we should get-" I began.

"Hold on there, you two. I'm not done yet," Autolycus interrupted, stopping us before we could leave. "To further apologize for Akmon and Passalos' actions, I'd like to give you some vital info regarding your quest."

"Shoot," I said.

"The next place you need to go is the Colosseum of Rome. A long tunnel, one that connects to the Labyrinth, will bring you to Athens Tower. Taking that path will help you dodge the immense security Erebos has laid out, though it may be an arduous and long journey. You'll have to wait a bit for the Labyrinth to reshape itself in the exact way you want, so that means waiting at the Colosseum for hours, maybe a whole day until the path presents itself."

So that was the signal Epimetheus had been talking about. I thought it was something different, but it seems to me that the 'signal' is really just the Labyrinth opening up in our favor.

"Dang, that's actually really helpful," I said. "Thanks."

"No problem you two," he replied, smiling. "I hope the two of you and your friends can stop Erebos before he takes over all of Olympus. Godspeed."

"To you as well," Rose said.

We turned around and stepped over the metal door I had knocked down, leaving Autolycus's little bunker.

"Wow, that turned out to be really helpful," I said, grateful.

Rose nodded in agreement. "Yeah, more so than I thought. When I first entered Autolycus's building I thought we were gonna have to fight him to get our stuff back, but apparently not."

"That solves our problem of where we're supposed to go, plus we get to visit Rome," I said, smirking.

Rose chuckled. "Yeah. Remember when we saw that fake, hologram colosseum? Y'know, in Otis and Ephialtes' maze place?"

"Oh yeah! Man, Alexander really popped off that day, didn't he?"

"Mhm. That was actually a really fun experience, even if we almost died."

"Well, I wouldn't call that whole boat sequence fun. Arthur practically carried us in that one."

The conversation sort of stopped after Arthur was brought up, but I broke the silence with, "So… we need to head to Rome next, right? "And from there we use the Labyrinth to sneak into Greece."

"Yeah.." Rose said, having a perplexed expression, her gray, silvery eyes looking off in the distance.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Something about Autolcyus' story with the Labyrinth doesn't make sense," she said, elaborating. "The Labyrinth doesn't just have one set path. It sort of bends and changes on its own accord. For there to be a path that directly leads to one location and one location only at a given time is very improbable."

"And now that you mention it, how would Autolcyus know all that? I thought he was just a rich thief, not some omniscient presence," I added, connecting some high-level dots in my head.

"Even if what he says is true, how would that work? Erebos would for sure recognize a convenient tunnel leading from his location to another, and would take action to prevent someone from using that path."

"Yeah," I said. "I think we've been conned."

"Ding ding ding," a voice said. "Two points to Evergreen and Birchwood."

The voice belonged to Olivia, or Vanilla Latte, as I called her. Behind her stood a squadron of armed GHOST members, equipped with swords, bows, and dense celestial bronze armor.

Autolycus stood with them, grinning wide.

Olivia turned to Autolycus. "Well done. You shall be greatly compensated in a very short time."

"Thanks," he replied.

"No problem. Now as for these two… Take them down."

I handed Rose her daggers from the tote bag as I drew out my sword. We were surrounded by a good twenty-five members plus Olivia and Autolycus, not to mention each of those members was armed and ready. There were few possibilities where we won this battle. The best we could do was fight, and hope that maybe Oman swung by or we miraculously won.

I enveloped myself in fire and began attacking wildly, slashing and knocking aside many GHOST members. I controlled my attacks as the fire that had consumed me disappeared.

In adrenaline mode, I spun and shot a big fire projectile at a group of four GHOSTs, but they easily dodged, rolling to the side of my blast. I was luckily able to stop a surprise-attack aimed at my back before it connected with my body and blasted the attacker away.

That's when I heard Rose scream in a strained tone, "Kai, I need help!"

I turned to where she was and witnessed as she was being choked and lifted up by a particularly beefy GHOST member.

I sprinted forward and slid at the guy's legs like a soccer player making a Hail Mary tackle, tripping him up as he let go of his grasp on Rose. I recovered quickly and turned to see how much more opposition Rose and I had to face.

To my disbelief, there were still a good group of twenty members left to dispatch.

I raised my sword up in preparation, igniting it in immense fire, when I felt a sudden sting in my forearm area. I looked at my left arm, seeing a dart embedded into my skin.

I heard Rose groan as she fell to the ground before I subsequently began losing consciousness, darkness engulfing me.