The Nature of a Demigod

Cruising

"Better what? Better opinion?" I scoffed. "I'm sure Artemis wasn't exactly thrilled with that idea." I scratched the side of my neck, still feeling the veins pulsing. It's been constant lately. Like a building tension in my chest. Like a balloon about to pop. I brushed Hermes' hand off my shoulder and grabbed my bag.

"Listen, Hermes. I may hate my mother, but I would never pull what Luke did. I care too much about my friends to try and start another war. Okay? So put in a good word with her if you want. I don't care what she thinks of me anymore. If Luke tries to hurt my friends, I won't hesitate to fight him. Sure, I might die, but my friends will be fine. That's all I'm worried about." I nodded at the god with a grim smile and started down toward the beach.

Eventually, I spotted Percy and called out to him. I heard Annabeth and Tyson's voices as well. Hermes brought the whole crew out for this.

Annabeth, Tyson, and I converged on Percy at the edge of the beach. "Sup, Percy." I patted him on the shoulder. He nodded and looked at the other two.

"What's going on?" Annabeth asked. "I heard you calling for help!"

"Me, too!" Tyson said. "Heard you yell, 'Bad things are attacking!'"

"I didn't call you guys," he said. "I'm fine."

I bent down and picked up a bottle of Hermes' patented multi vitamins. He was pulling out all the stops for what he wanted us to accomplish.

"But then who..." Annabeth noticed the bags on the ground and the bottle of vitamins I was holding. "What-"

"Just listen," he said. "We don't have much time."

Percy proceeded to tell us all about his conversation with Hermes. By the time he finished, the security harpies were screeching into the night, headed right our way.

"Percy," Annabeth said, "we have to do the quest."

"We'll get expelled, you know. Trust me, I'm an expert at getting expelled." he said.

"And?" I questioned. "It's Tantalus' camp right now. Do we really want to be here that badly? " I said. He nodded in consideration. Annabeth said "Percy. If we fail, there won't be any camp to come back to."

"Yeah, but you guys promised Chiron-"

"Percy. We promised Chiron to keep you safe from danger. If we let you leave on this quest alone, you're gonna die." I told him. His eyebrows raised.

"And we swore on the Styx." Annabeth cut in. "Therefore, if you die, we're probably gonna die. So we're coming with you, alright?" Percy tried to get a word in but I spoke over him. "You're not arguing with us on this. Tyson can stay and tell everyone where we've gone."

"I want to go," Tyson said.

"No!" Annabeth's voice sounded close to panic. "I mean... Percy, come on. You know that's impossible."

I looked at Tyson. He seemed really eager to go, and it wasn't like I could physically stop him from coming. I may be decently strong for a demigod, but Tyson could pretty easily squash me like a grape on a chariot track. The three of us looked at Percy expectantly, waiting for an answer as he looked out at the cruise ship passing by.

"We can't leave him," he decided. "Tantalus will punish him for us being gone."

"Percy," Annabeth said, trying to keep her cool, "we're going to Polyphemus's island!

I started to think about it. Polyphemus and Tyson are still related, so who's to say Tyson couldn't just sneak us around. He'd cover our scent drastically, so maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea. Annabeth started stammering.