❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝐼𝐼𝐼. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑜𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝒟𝒶𝓂𝓃𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃

𝒜𝓃𝓃𝒶𝒷𝑒𝓉𝒽 pulled Tyson and Percy off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep.

"Where'd you find him?" she demanded, pointing at Tyson.

"He's my friend," Percy told her.

"Is he homeless?" the blond questioned.

"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"

Annabeth looked surprised. "He can talk?"

"I talk. You are pretty," Tyson admitted and pointed at the girls.

They laughed nervously, Zoe taking a small step away from the cyclops.

"Tyson," Percy said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."

"Of course not," Annabeth muttered. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around."

Tyson seemed fascinated by Zoe's brown hair. He tried to touch it, but she leaned away from him. Tyson dropped his hand, disappointed.

"Guys," Percy said, "what are you talking about? Laistry-what?"

"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before." Annabeth's brow furrowed as she started pacing in the small alleyway.

"Laistry—I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?" Percy asked exasperatedly.

"Canadians," Zoe said off-handedly. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police will be after me." Percy said.

"That's the least of our problems," the brunette said. "Have you been having the dreams?"

"The dreams...about Grover?"

Both girls' faces turned pale.

"Grover? No, what about Grover?" Annabeth questioned hurriedly.

Percy told them his dream. "Why? What were you dreaming about?"

Annabeth's eyes looked stormy, and Zoe could see her mind racing a million miles an hour.

"Camp," Zoe finally said. "Big trouble at camp."

"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?" Percy looked worriedly between two of his best friends.

"I don't know exactly," Zoe's fingers ran through her hair as she tapped her left foot. "Something's wrong. We have to get there right away."

"Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?" Annabeth questioned, glancing towards the mouth of the alley to check for threats.

"A few," Zoe said. "Two or three hellhounds and a handful of grain spirits."

Percy shook his head. "None all year...until today."

"None? But how..." the blond's eyes drifted to Tyson. "Oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh'?" Percy took a defensive tone, raising an eyebrow at the daughter of Athena.

Tyson raised his hand like he was still in school. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something...Son of the Sea God?"

The three demigods exchanged looks.

"Big guy," Percy said, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Athena—"

"Yes," Tyson said.