FLOWER POWER ─ percy jackson

xxxiii. luke, part two

"Percy's fault?" Aster shouted. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest–"

"Stop it!" Percy said.

Clarisse put her head in hands. Aster stomped her foot. Annabeth wrapped the letterman jacket tighter around herself, her gray eyes filled with silent frustration.

But then Aster thought about it for a second. This was Clarisse's quest. Not Percy's, not Annabeth's, not hers. Clarisse's anger suddenly made sense; after all, how would Aster feel if a bunch of other heroes had butted in and made her look bad?

"Clarisse," Percy said, "what did the Oracle tell you exactly?"

Clarisse looked up. Aster thought she was going curse him out, but instead she took a deep breath and recited her prophecy:

You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,

You shall find what you seek and make it your own,

But despair for your life entombed within stone,

And fail without friends, to fly home alone.

"Ouch," Grover mumbled.

"Fail without friends," Aster muttered under her breath. "But fly home alone? That doesn't make any sense."

"No," Percy said. "No... wait a minute. I've got it."

He dug his hands into his pockets, bringing out a single golden drachma. "Does anybody have any cash?"

Aster patted her pockets: nothing. Annabeth and Grover shook their heads morosely. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed.

"Cash?" Tyson asked hesitantly. "Like... green paper?"

Percy looked at him. "Yeah."

"Like the kind in duffel bags?"

Aster scoffed. "Yeah, but we lost those bags ages..."

She trailed off as Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out the Ziploc bag full of cash that Hermes had included in their supplies.

"Tyson!" Percy said. "How did you–"

"Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow," he said. "Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. Sorry."

Judging by the bills in the bag—fives and tens—there had to be at least three hundred dollars in cash. Just enough for a plane ticket.

Percy ran to the curb and grabbed a taxi that was just letting out a family of cruise passengers. "Clarisse," he yelled. "Come on. You're going to the airport. Annabeth, give her the Fleece."

Both Annabeth and Clarisse looked stunned, so Aster took the Fleece letter jacket from Annabeth, tucked the cash into its pocket, and put it in Clarisse's arms.

Clarisse said, "You'd let me–"

"It's your quest," Aster said. "We only have enough money for one flight. Besides, Percy can't travel by air. Zeus would blast us into a million pieces." Percy cringed. "This is what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help, but you'd have to fly home alone. You have to get the Fleece back safely."

Aster could see that her mind was working—suspicious at first, wondering what trick they were playing, and Aster's voice broke.

"Help save Thalia's legacy. It's all we have left of her."

Clarisse's face hardened into pure determination as she nodded, jumping into the cab. "You can count on me. I won't fail."

"Not failing would be good," Percy said.