Cassie still had no idea what she was doing with archery. Recurve bow, compound, the big fancy recurves with an extra sight thing attached to make aiming easier- whatever those were called. And then the arrows could be weighted differently, depending on if they were made for just impaling, exploding, grappling, or whatever the Hephaestus and Hermes kids had thought of for the day. Not that Cassie was bad at archery.

She was actually relatively good… But it was one of two activities she had actually practiced outside of their lessons, which certainly helped.

Still, even if she was far from the best archer, she figured she would enter the 'Magic Archery' competition, along with at least half of the camp.

She was in the 'beginner' tier, where no magic items were actually allowed, but she figured the two drachma entry fee was worth the possible payout. Or at the very least, worth the fun.

And worth the distraction. She had missed her next opportunity to confront Luke about the dreams, and the voice had failed to pay her a visit the night before. She was getting antsy.

If it really was Kronos calling her to free him, she really didn't need to do anything. Luke was able to 'free' him in the original timeline, or universe, whatever, and since the voice had given her a mission, she clearly wasn't there to help Luke…

Cassie physically shook her head. Not the time.

She loaded her bow. A pretty blue thing. One of the 'old fashion' looking ones that she hadn't used since her first archery lesson. That was okay. The beginner tier would only use stationary targets at twenty or so yards. Nothing nearly as fun as even the intermediate level. And Cassie was only going against four others (Two from Hephaestus, one from Demeter, and an Aphrodite girl who was only there to 'impress' an Apollo guy), so she figured her odds were relatively good, even if she used an unfamiliar bow.

The signal sounded for them to approach the firing line. She chose a matching blue arrow.

The stupid thing was so short she couldn't even draw it all the way to her mouth. When she released it, it barely managed to wedge itself into the very bottom center of the target, hitting the white.

Zero points.

"Way to represent Cassie!" Connor (Connor?) cheered. Or teased. She wasn't completely sure. She gave him an unamused glance and knocked another arrow. Longer, this time, she made sure, and drew it as far as she could, to get as much power as possible. She knew as she released it that this route was just as dumb- her arm was quavering as she let the arrow lose and it went wild, hitting the target, though nowhere near where she wanted.

What a stupid game.

Three arrows left. No more nonsense, no more time to mess up. This was serious now.

She pulled the next one back to the corner of her mouth, like she always tried to do in lessons, remembering the 'consistency is key' mantra the instructors had tried to drill. She hadn't developed the muscle memory yet, but apparently her aim was good enough.

Thwap.

Just outside the inner rings.

And then again. And then a another. All three within two inches of each other. Not quite the bulls-eye, but enough to get her first place.

Not that her competition was hard to beat. Only one the other competitors had gotten all five arrows on the target. And the Aphrodite girl had run out of time and didn't fire her last arrow. Cassie had won, but she wasn't overly proud of her victory. She took her house cash prize

"Cassiopia"

Earlier that day, Cassie couldn't wait to talk to the voice again. But now, knowing she might be 'facing' the lord of the titans, she was gripped with fear.

Was it even Kronos?

Only one way to find out…

"Kronos?" She finally asked, and although Cassie could feel nothing in the void, the air seemed to grow colder and the energy was tense.

"No" It replied (much to Cassie's surprise) with little emotion.

"Then… Who are you?" Which she had asked before, of course. Obviously.

The voice had just never answered before. Until now. With surprising clarity. "Prometheus"

"Prometheus!? The guy with the fire!?" Cassie could barely remember what the books had said about him. Something about giving fire to humans. And vultures eating him. And what the heck! He had actually answered her!? Why couldn't he have done that before!?

"Prometheus" He said, more clearly this time. "Free me"

And Prometheus was a good guy! He gave humans fire. And fire was extremely important to ancient humans, she knew. She couldn't imagine where her race would be without it. He was the reason they weren't cavemen eating raw meat and freezing to death in winter. He had helped them. And she would help him.

On behalf of the human race, which had apparently not given him the respect he deserved and caused him to fade, on behalf of that, she owed him.

Under normal circumstances, Cassie would be extremely nervous about asking Chiron for a quest. Tensions were already high in camp, because they had only had one quick update from Percy a few days ago, and no one knew if they had all died or not since. Chiron was in a mood. Brooding, pensive, touchy.

But Prometheus needed her help, and he needed it before the deadline. She would find him, free him, help him, whatever he needed, whether Chiron gave her permission or not. So, she had nothing to lose by asking.

With a deep breath (Because she was still a bit nervous about rejection), Cassie walked into the Big House. She checked the main living room before heading to the kitchen, where she saw Chiron reading the day's paper and drinking some coffee.

"Cassie, good morning" He greeted. When she didn't reply he continued, "What brings you here?"

This was it. Confidence. A deep breath, then she told him. "Chiron, I need a quest".

He blinked. "Whatever for?" One of the newest campers asking for a quest, something he hadn't allowed in years (Besides Percy's, of course, which had dire exigent circumstances)? He didn't want to disappoint her too much; perhaps he could help her reach a different solution without denying approval.

"Someone needs my help."

"Ahh, whom?"

"I've been having dreams… A voice"

Chiron frowned. Dreams were not always a good thing. "And what did it tell you?"

"That I have to free him. Before September eighteenth. And that he's not Kron-um." She caught herself. Names have power, she remembered at the last second. "That, you know, bad guy."

Chiron waited a moment for her to say something more. "Is that is?"

"He's not very talkative" She defended. It wasn't that Cassie didn't want to tell him it was Prometheus. It was that she remembered once she woke up that Prometheus had been subject to eternal torture because Zeus commanded it. She was pretty sure Chiron wouldn't want her going against Zeus' orders.

"Cassie,"

She braced herself for the 'no'.

"I'm sorry. I can't give out quests… There was a prophecy," He consoled, "Except for Percy, I haven't allowed for any quest since Luke's. It is not that I don't believe you have a noble cause in mind, but I cannot issue a quest for this…." She didn't say anything, so he added, "I am sorry."

Cassie was irritated, but not surprised. Very well. "I understand," This would make things a bit harder.

"If there's another way I can help," He tried to consol.

Cassie cut him off, "No, no. I understand. It's fine!" And then added, trying to get out of there as quick as possible, "Not a big deal. Thanks anyways."

Cassie didn't see the deep frown on Chiron's face as he watched her stride out of the Big House. He took a long, slow sip of his coffee. There was an odd feeling he got from Cassie. Nothing sinister, but odd nonetheless.

Cassie also didn't see Chiron at breakfast later that morning. She was long gone by then.

Cassie had sprinted back to her cabin as soon as she closed the door to the Big House. Chiron's denial of her quest didn't squash her plans in the least bit. Cassie, wholly expecting him to say no, had already packed her bag (it's not like she had much). Two water bottles, as much money as she had left from a beginner archery tournament she had won earlier that week, a roll of bagels (the camp store had pretty limited food choices), and of clothes that filled the rest of the space.

In the outer zipper of the backpack she had a dagger (actually, it was a throwing knife, but Cassie didn't know the difference, and it really didn't make a difference because she didn't know how to use either anyways) that she had taken from another camper's open trunk earlier that morning when no one else was awake. In the woods, a small compound hunting bow and quiver full of arrows was waiting for her where she had stashed after using it in the capture the flag game the night before.

She hadn't been expecting Chiron to grant her quest. Not at all. It was more a formality to ask him, and she had been completely prepared for his denial.

It was a Saturday morning and everyone was either sleeping in or in the bathhouse getting ready for breakfast, so one was paying Cassie any attention. She slipped silently out the door and as sneakily as she could, went behind the cabin, and dashed into the woods a few yards away. She looked back once after she was safely in the tree line, but it seemed that no one had noticed her leave.

Assuming she was safe to leave, she took off at a jog towards Zeus's fist (but she hadn't been at camp long enough to gain any notable stamina and had to break into a walk after just a few minutes), where she knew the entrance to the Labyrinth would be. It didn't take her too long to find, since she more or less knew what she was looking for; A faint Delta near the ground of one of the boulders.

Cassie would have thought that 'this was it', this was the last chance for her to back out, but she knew that wasn't an option for her.

Prometheus needed her help. He was the one who gave humans fire. He was the one who gave them a chance at life. He deserved not just her loyalty, but the loyalty of all humans. More than Zeus did, at least, she thought.

She may owe Zeus respect because he was a god, but Prometheus was the one who cared about humanity. Obviously Zeus didn't want humanity to thrive; he would have given them fire himself if that was the case! He wouldn't have punished Prometheus! Cassie physically felt her chest tighten in disgust at the lies everyone believed about Zeus.

She didn't think Luke was right and Kronos should overthrow the gods, not by a long shot, but she felt indignant and desperate for Prometheus. He was the one who cared for humans. People had forgotten that, and he had faded.

Cassie had to fix that. She had to help him.

The Delta glowed the moment she put her hand to it. Her eyes were wide with awe as the ground shifted and boulders cleared to reveal a path into the magical maze below.

And this was it. She took one last deep breath and started her descent into the dark tunnel, knowing the dangers that waited below. She didn't know where it would lead her, but she knew what she ultimately needed to do.

And back in the forest, in the shadows of the trees just across the small clearing, Luke watch, mystified, as the entrance closed behind Cassie, shutting inside.

I haven't looked at this chapter in months, and haven't given it a final edit. But, if it doesn't go up now, it never will. Thanks for making it this far. I hope it was at least mildly entertaining.

That was the end- you'll have to make up the rest yourself (Unless you're like me who just want's the author to tell them what happened. If that's the case, an "ending" is posted in my profile of what happened to Cassie).

Oh and thanks to my beta TheSockThatEndedUpInNarnia who's been a huge huge help.