The Nature of a Demigod

Fighting with a Shadow

Her quest.

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

She looked mad, and like she was going to shout at me again, but she just took a deep breath and told us. "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. I ran through the lines again in my head, and it clicked.

"Hang on." I muttered, patting my pockets, finding nothing but wet lint and a hermit crab. I tossed the crab aside and looked at Annabeth. She looked like she was thinking as well. "Does anyone have any cash on them or something?" I asked.

Percy, Annabeth and Grover shook their heads disappointedly. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed. "Cash?" Tyson asked hesitantly. "Like... green paper?"

I locked eyes with him. "Yeah, Tyson. Yeah, green paper with old dudes on them."

"Like the kind in duffel bags?" he asked.

"Yeah, but we lost the duffle bags a while ag-"

Tyson made my words skid to a halt as he withdrew his hand into his saddle bag, pulling it back out with a ziploc bag full of money.

"Tyson!" Percy cried. "How did you-"

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

He handed me the cash. At least a few hundred dollars in there. It was still dripping wet on the outside, but the curled up bills inside were perfectly dry.

I hailed a taxi and turned back to Clarise. "Hey, moo girl! Get up. Get your things. You're going to the airport." She looked stunned, and her face quickly changed into confusion. "Wha- Wha-"

"Quit stuttering and get in the cab!" I shouted. "Give her the fleece, Annabeth."

It was hard to tell who was more confused. Percy, Tyson, or Clarisse. They all had different levels of befuddlement on their faces. I took the jacket from Annabeth, draped it over Clarrise's arms, and tucked the bag of cash into her pocket.

Clarisse said, "You'd let me-"

"Not like we have much choice." I muttered, trying to force her into the cab. "Besides. The quest speaks for itself. Fail without friends. It wasn't saying you'd fail regardless, it was saying that you'd need our help." Annabeth gasped. "And you'd fly home alone, because we don't have enough money for more than one ticket!" she exclaimed.

I snapped and pointed a confirming finger at her. "Exactly! Besides, Percy can't fly. Zeus would kill him. And I doubt he's very fond of any of us either. So would you stop asking questions and go!" I shouted rapidly, out of breath.

Clarisse was observing me with curious eyes. She must have thought we were trying to trick her. But finally, the gears turned and her eyes widened. "You can count on me. I won't fail."

"You better not." I muttered. She nodded confidently and got into the cab as it peeled away in a cloud of pollution. Thalia was going to be saved.

"Y/N," Annabeth said, "that was so-"

"Generous?" Grover offered.

"Insane," Annabeth corrected. "You're betting the lives of everybody at camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back by tonight?"