𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄! percy jackson¹

xix . Chariot Of Damnation

"Claire," Percy brought me from my thoughts. "What are you talking about? Laistry—what?"

"Laistrygonians—I know, hard to say," I pulled my hair off my face with a hair tie, hoping that would stop Tyson from touching it again. "They were those monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who usually live in the far north. I think Annabeth mentioned that Odysseus ran into them once—but the strange thing is, I've never seen them as far south as New York before."

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

I thought for a moment, "Canadians. But that doesn't matter now. Come on, we need to go."

"The police'll be after me."

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

"The dreams ... about Grover?"

I stopped. I suddenly felt sick in the stomach. Last summer, Grover left on his trip as a Searcher to find the lost God, Pan. Every other satyr has died in their search—Percy mentioning dreams about Grover brought me to a distress. Was he in danger? Had he died? "Grover? No, what about Grover?"

Percy told me about his dream, and my hands felt clammy afterwards. Grover was in trouble—as soon as we got to Camp, I knew I had to tell Chiron about it. He would know what to do, or if not him, Annabeth. "Why," Percy then said once he finished. "What were you dreaming about?"

I risked a glance at Tyson, and his eye brought flashes of that night. Of Thalia's tree, of it dying. And then I remembered my chat with Kronos, and suddenly, I felt rather cold.

"Camp," I said at last. "Big trouble at camp."

Percy snapped his fingers at me, "My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"

"I—I don't know exactly," I fiddled the hem of my shirt. "But something is definitely wrong—Thalia ..." I trailed off, taking another glance at Tyson, before taking a deep breath and coming back to my senses. "I've been having a bunch of monster attacks back home—minor ones, but still more than usual. What about you? Have you had a lot?"

He shook his head, "None all year ... until today."

"None? But how ..." I was about to ask but then my eyes fell onto Tyson and it all made sense. "Oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh'?"

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

I shared a look with Percy. He looked like he was stuck in the mud. He mouthed, you? I shook my head, frowning at him before gesturing my head at Tyson. Percy glared at me, but he turned to Tyson, took a deep breath and tried to explain.

"Big guy," he began, "you ever heard those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Athena—"

"Yes," said Tyson.

"Well ... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilisation around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the US. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."

"Yes," the cyclops said, and I tried to hide my smirk—being a cyclops, Tyson would already know this, but I wasn't going to tell Percy that when it was so amusing watching him try to explain everything in the most awkward way possible.