daylight | percy jackson

tyson meets fish ponies

"Yeah," he said. "That old movie with the clay skeletons."

Aria looked to the sky. "Father, give me strength."

"What did I do now?" Percy demanded.

"Annoy me."

"I can see that."

"Good to hear that something in your body works, cause clearly your brain doesn't."

Annabeth rubbed her temples. "Just listen," she said. "The real story of the fleece: there were these two children of Zeus, Cadmus and Europa, okay? They were about to get offered up as human sacrifices, when they prayed to Zeus to save them. So Zeus sent this magical flying ram with golden wool, which picked them up in Greece and carried them all the way to Colchis in Asia minor. Well, actually it carried Cadmus. Europa fell off and died along the way, but that's not important."

"It was probably important to her," Percy added.

Aria had to admit that she chuckled at that one. Percy gave her a proud grin, happy to have made the girl laugh.

"The point is," her best friend continued. "When Cadmus got to Colchis, he sacrificed the golden ram to the gods and hung the fleece in a tree in the middle kingdom. The fleece brought prosperity to the land. Animals stopped getting sick. Plants grew better. Farmers had bumper crops. Plagues never visited. That's why Jason wanted the fleece. It can revitalise any land where it's placed. It curs sickness, strengthens nature, cleans up pollution-"

The brunette pointed at Annabeth with a clean fork. "And cure Thalia's tree."

Annabeth nodded. "And it would totally strengthen the borders of Camp Half-Blood. But listen guys, the Fleece has been missing for centuries. Tons of heroes have searched for it with no luck."

"But Grover found it," Percy insisted. "He went looking for Pan, found the Fleece instead because they both radiate nature magic or something. It makes sense, we can rescue him and save the camp at the same time. It's perfect!"

Annabeth hesitated. "A little too perfect, don't you think? What if it's a trap?"

"What choice do we have?" Percy asked.

Annabeth glanced at Tyson, who'd lost interest in their conversation and was happily making toy boats out of cups and spoons in the lava.

"Guys," she said under her breath. "We'll have to fight a cyclops. Polyphemus, the worst of the cyclopes. And there's only one place his island could be. The Sea of Monsters."

"I'm gonna be so honest, I zoned out during that lesson," Aria admitted. 

"Yeah, where is that?" Percy asked.

Annabeth looked at both of them, like they were crazy.

"Aria, you have been going to this camp for two whole years, and you don't know where the Sea of Monsters is!?" she exclaimed.

"I've also been doing math since I was 5, and I still can't tell you what 9 times 12 is off the top of my head," the brunette retorted. 

Although, she thought back to her conversation with Mrs Fitz. She could be smart if she tried.

Annabeth sighed. "It's 108, but moving on. The Sea of Monsters. The same sea Odysseus sailed through? and Jason? and Aeneas? and all the others? It's the sea all heroes sail through on their adventures. It used to be in the Mediterranean, yes. But like everything else, it shifts locations as the West's centre of power shifts. The Sea of Monsters is off the east coast of the U.S. now, just northeast of Florida. The mortals even have a name for it."