Percy has a dream about Daedalus and his son Icarus in ancient Crete. King Minos, angry that Daedalus helped Theseus out of the Labyrinth and turned Minos’s daughter Ariadne against him, binds Daedalus to the maze and forces Daedalus to work and invent for him. Minos threatens to harm the young Icarus if Daedalus doesn’t comply.

The next morning, the camp’s war council plans. Chiron thinks Daedalus could still be alive in his Labyrinth workshop after all these years, so Annabeth suggests seeking out Daedalus before Luke can find him. Juniper secretly tells Percy she saw Quintus near the Labyrinth entrance. Clarisse refuses to go back into the maze, so the campers choose Annabeth to lead the quest. She visits the Oracle to receive a quest prophecy. When she returns, she recites the prophecy, but she pretends to forget the final line, leaving the prophecy a riddle. Annabeth invites Percy, Grover, and Tyson to join the quest, despite the rule that she can only bring two companions.

Quintus gives Percy advice about the Labyrinth and gifts him a single-use whistle that will call Mrs. O’Leary for help. Annabeth cries when Percy questions her about the incomplete prophecy, so Percy hugs her, assuming the last line of the riddle ends with “death” (80).