𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘
𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔
❛ she was indeed the prettiest girl
in the room to him, she always was.
But something in those gold eyes
hid a mysterious shroud of darkness. ❜
𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒, 𝖂hen Percy finally laid eyes on Aurora again, she was leaning against the wall of an alley down Church Street. Her hair looked much better than it did before. Then it was covered in monster dust with strands out of place and hair frizzy. Now, it was perfectly curled as if nothing had ever happened. Her lips were back to being glossy and her nails were painted that pretty pink they'd always were.
Percy desperately wanted to know how she did that so fast. That alone looked like a superpower.
She uncrossed her arms and stood straighter, "I leave you alone for an entire year and you're already causing trouble," she glanced at Tyson beside him. "And obviously making friends in low places."
"Well, at least he doesn't yell at me during a fight with monsters," he stated matter of factly. "What actually was that back there?"
Aurora rolled her eyes, "Doesn't matter. What does matter is making it to camp as fast as we can."
Suddenly the cyclops beside Percy spoke up, "You are pretty."
Aurora rose an eyebrow, "So it does talk. Well, that proves that theory."
Percy examined Tyson's hands completely confused, "Tyson," he said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."
"Listen, ocean eyes. The Laistrygonians are the least of our concerns. Bigger and badder monsters are on their way."
"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."
"Laistry-I can't even say that."
"Beats me. Now come on we have to get out of here soon."
"The police'll be after me," Percy stated.
"Don't worry about that," she shrugged. "My dad has the media and police covered for us. That'll by us some time," she turned to him. "Have you been having dreams?"
"The dreams . . . about Grover?"
Aurora furrowed her eyebrows and frowned. Now she was completely worried for her best friend, "What's wrong with Grover?"
Percy told her about his dream, and Aurora's worry worsened.
"Why? What were you guys dreaming about?"
Aurora shook her head, "I haven't dreamt about anything. Annabeth on the other hand has," The only thing Aurora has dreamt about was Nathaniel, but she wasn't going to tell them that. "That's why she sent me here. There's trouble with camp.
"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"
"We don't know exactly," she sighed. "But she knows something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing Annabeth all the way from Virginia, trying to stop her. Her best bet was to meet us at camp. Have you guys had a lot of attacks?"
"No attacks all year," he paused. "until today."
Aurora glanced at Tyson and nodded, "That makes sense."
"What do you mean, 'that makes sense'?" Percy asked confused.
Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class, "Big people in the gym called Percy something . . . Son of the Sea God?"
The two demi-gods exchanged looks. Aurora knew Percy didn't know how he could explain, but she figured Tyson deserved the truth after almost getting killed.
"Big guy," he said, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Athena-"
"Yes," Tyson said.
"Well . . those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."
"Yes," Tyson said like he was still waiting for Percy to get to the point.
"Uh, well, Aurora and I are half-bloods," he said. "We're like . . . heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."
"Yes."
Percy stared at him. He didn't seem surprised or confused by what he was telling him, which surprised and confused him.
"So . . . you believe me?"
Tyson nodded.
"But you are . . . Son of the Sea God?"
"Yeah," Percy admitted. "My dad is Poseidon."
Tyson frowned. Now he looked confused. "But then—"
A siren wailed. A police car raced past their alley.
"Enough of demigod class 101, we have to get out of here."
"What's your plan?" Percy said.
Aurora smirked, "Happy," she said as she pulled out her touch screen from her back pocket and pressed a couple of buttons. "When he has caffeine in his system, he'll get us there in no time."
Percy hesitated, "What about Tyson? We can't just leave him. He'll be in trouble, too."
Aurora shrugged as she took a closer look at the cyclops, "Our best bet would be to take him. Now come on."
Together, the three of them sneaked through the side streets of downtown while a huge column of smoke billowed up behind them from Percy's school gymnasium.
"Here," Aurora stopped them on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. "Happy should be here in a minute."
After a moment, Aurora could feel her friends gaze on her. Like he was observing her, but she chose to ignore it. Her own thoughts worried about her best friend and praying to all the gods she made it to camp safely.
Looking up from her phone and meeting his gaze, she rose an eyebrow, "What?"
Percy's ears turned red in embarrassment, "Look, I'm sorry," he scanned her face but she was void of any emotion. "For . . . not calling. I just thought—"
"It's alright," she shrugged. "I get it. You were busy."
Percy's face washed over in relief at the reassurance, though an emotion was still on his face, "Yeah?"
"Yeah," the pretty girl nodded before tilting her head. Her eyes flashing a pretty pink, "But so was Annabeth and she managed to call—"
Percy threw his head back and groaned, but Aurora wasn't finished.
"Last I checked Silena had a trip to France with her father and she also called. Kaiya and Natalie—"
"Fine!" He interrupted. "I'm sorry, okay? I just . . ." he paused. "I just didn't think someone like you would want to keep in contact with someone . . . well, like me."
Aurora uncrossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows, "Even after I sent you that picture?"
He winced, "Yeah?"
"Unbelievable," The girl sighed her expression softening. "Listen, ocean eyes. You're my friend, and I worry about my friends a lot, if you can't already tell. Next time, keep that in mind."
"Percy," the cyclops spoke from behind the boy. "Man left this for you."
Percy furrowed his eyebrows, "Man? What man?"
Tyson shrugged but handed Percy a paper, "Said Percy needed it."
Percy turned to Aurora, to see if maybe she had gotten a glimpse of the mysterious man only for the girl to shake her head.
He abruptly opened the folded piece of paper and read its contents:
Thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five, twelve
"What?" He questioned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Suddenly an all black car pulled up in front of them, interrupting their thoughts.
"That's Happy," Aurora nodded her head towards the car. "We'll talk about it in the car."
Percy nodded and stuffed the paper in his pocket. Careful to not rip it and climbed into the car after Aurora, leaving him in the middle and Tyson to climb in after him.
He was met with Happy peering at the from his sunglasses, "Is this monster camp business? Is the world in danger again? Cause if so I'd like a warning this time around. I wasn't able to finish the new Downtown Abbey episode."
He looked at Percy, "You again."
"Happy!" Aurora charmspeaked. "Please get us to camp half-blood as fast as you can."
The minute Happy nodded, he floored it causing all his passengers to fly backwards in their seats.
Percy sent Aurora a look.
She swallowed, "It's better than the alternative."
Percy turned to Tyson, "Okay, big guy. What did the man look like? Do you remember?"
"Blue eyes," The Cyclops said looking queasy. "Brown hair.."
Aurora pursed her glossy lips in thought, "So a brunette with blue eyes? That could be anyone."
Percy nodded, "I agree," he turned to Tyson. "Anything else, big guy? Anything else that you remember?"
Tyson paused, "Had scratch here," he placed his finger on Percy's right eyebrow.
She and the boy exchanged glances but she merely shook her head.
"It can't be Luke," she said. "His scar is on his cheek and he's not dumb enough to walk right up to us. That's not his style. It has to be someone else. Besides he's blonde not brunette."
A cough interrupted their conversation so they all looked up in the direction it came from, only to find Happy looking at them through the rearview mirror.
"I don't mean to be nosey, but you're dad ordered me to tell him anything useful and I consider this useful."
Aurora rolled her eyes, "Tell dad that I'll fill him in when I'm at camp."
"That should be soon," Happy said. "We're a couple of minutes out."
Happy was right. When Aurora looked out of the car window Half-Blood Hill it grew closer the more he pressed his foot on the petal, but the closer they grew . . . The more her face dropped.
At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.
"Come on!" She urged the others. "Daggers!" She yelled as she hurried out the door not even letting Happy come to a full stop. "They're inside camp! We got to hurry!"
Aurora gripped her dagger for the life of her the closer she approached the raging battle. She didn't take a single glance at the males behind her and continued rushing head on.
One of the heroes shouted, "Border patrol, to me!" A girl's voice-gruff and familiar.
Aurora knitted her eyebrows together, "Border Patrol?" she muttered, but she recognized the voice. "That must be Clarisse."
The grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree. One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles, the horsehair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery Mohawk. Clarisse's own armor was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder. Percy uncapped his ballpoint pen. It shimmered, growing longer and heavier until he held the bronze sword Anaklusmos in his hands. Aurora stood next to him in a fighting stance.
"Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances."
"No!" Aurora said. "He'll be useful."
Percy stared at them, "He's mortal. He got lucky with the dodge balls but he can't—"
"Percy, do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. But as beautiful as they are and how incredible they move, we can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We'll get incinerated."
"Medea's what?"
Footsteps in their direction caught Aurora's ears, and in her line of sight a familiar set of blonde curls ran towards the group—stopping short only when she noticed the cyclops.
She pulled out her knife and lunged at the creature only to be held back by Aurora, "Annabeth, No! That's Percy's friend."
Annabeth's close we're grimy from her travels and the battle, "How can that . . . thing be anyone's friend?"
Percy couldn't believe his friend was being so rude.
"Percy hasn't had any attacks all year," she nodded towards the cyclops. "Because he stumbled upon him," she leaned in and muttered the last part. "He thinks he's a mortal, but with the Colchis bulls he'll be useful."
Annabeth gritted her teeth but nodded, "It's the best we have."
Aurora nodded and smiled at her friend happy to see she was alright, "I'm glad you're okay."
Annabeth's stormy eyes softened, "Me too, Rory. How—"
"Hey, lovebirds!" A familiar voice yelled. "As much as I'm living for this, we need all the help we can get."
"Lovebirds?" Percy questioned in curiosity.
Kaiya along with Natalie stood shoulder to shoulder alternating between blocking fire attacks from the bulls, but when it was Natalie's turn she blocked too late. The fireball soared near her leg, burning her thigh.
She cried out and fell to the ground.
"Nat!" Aurora cried for her sister. "Kaiya! Get her out of the way!"
Kaiya nodded and went to reach for their sister only for a Colchis bull to charge. Aurora rushed forward, but her stance was too far to reach them in time.
"No!"
Kaiya tucked themselves in between their sister and the creature bracing themselves for what's to come only for a bang! to sound throughout the field.
Clarisse had used her shield to cover them.
"Tyson, stay back." Percy raised his sword. "I'm going in."
Tyson tried to protest, but Percy was already running up the hill toward Clarisse, who began to yell at her patrol after the save, trying to get them into phalanx formation. It was a good idea. The few who were listening lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, locking their shields to form an ox-hide-and-bronze wall, their spears bristling over the top like porcupine quills. Unfortunately, Clarisse could only muster six campers. The other four were still running around with their helmets on fire, and Kaiya and Natalie were out for good. Annabeth and Aurora ran toward them, trying to help. Annabeth taunted one of the bulls into chasing her, then turned invisible, completely confusing the monster. The bull then charged at Aurora who slid under it and turned her sword and shield into thrusters to fly above it.
The other bull charged Clarisse's line. The bull moved deadly fast for something so big. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun. It had fist-sized rubies for eyes, and horns of polished silver. When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out.
"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered her warriors. Whatever else you could say about Clarisse, she was brave. She was a big girl with cruel eyes like her father's. She looked like she was born to wear Greek battle armor. Unfortunately, at that moment, the other bull lost interest in finding Aurora and Annabeth. It turned, wheeling around behind Clarisse on her unprotected side.
Aurora impulsively flew down in front of Clarisse and blasted the bull with her thrusters which actually slowed it down.
"Aurora!"
She turned to her side and watched as the first bull ran at her. At the very last second, Clarisse jumped in front of Aurora but the bull sent them both flying backward.
Bull Number Two closed in on Clarisse and Aurora for the kill. Aurora groaned in pain and shakily lifted herself in all fours. Her entire side was throbbing from the brutal landing.
Percy ran to the pair and the first person he reached was Aurora, "No!" She said. "Clarisse! Get her."
Percy hesitated.
"Go!"
Percy did as told, despite knowing he was being charmspoken to and pulled Clarisse out of the line of fire.
A thunder of footsteps pounding on the charred ground sounded from behind her, reaching her ears and echoing in her mind.
"No!" The voice of Annabeth yelled.
As she went to turn around and see what the commotion was about, her body stilled. She tried to move, but not even a finger budged as if Medusa had turned her to stone.
From behind her, the warriors around her could only watch in amazement at what appeared behind her. Their minds wandering away from the battle.
A hazy almost holographic image shifted every second, like a ghost. Everyone desperately tried to take a look closer, but the image twisted and distorted. Nothing was distinguishable . . .
𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔.
The ghostly image released a terrifying roar. It was so powerful the ground beneath them shook causing some demigods topple over. Eardrums were likely shattered and the roar would probably terrorize them in their nightmares.
The Colchis bull hellbent on killing Aurora slightly slowed, but didn't stop at the new figure.
It soon released a bright white beam of light aimed directly at the bull-running towards Aurora. The powerful blast disintegrated the bull on sight only leaving behind burning metal and the smell of fire.
The image flickered and before they knew it, it was gone.
The moment it disappeared Aurora screeched out in pain. Her body felt on fire as if she was bathing in lava, but her overall excruciating pain originated from her head.
Annabeth was quick to pull a panting and crying Aurora out of the crossfire. Thoughts already plaguing her head as to what they had all just witnessed, but the battle was still going.
The good thing was that they only had one bull left to deal with.
Annabeth shouted orders to the other heroes, telling them to spread out and keep the bull distracted. Bull Number One ran a wide arc, making its way back toward Percy. As it passed the middle of the hill, where the invisible boundary line should've kept it out, it slowed down a little, as if it were struggling against a strong wind; but then it broke through and kept coming. Percy lunged but Bull Number One blew flames at Percy. He rolled aside as the air turned to pure heat. However, his foot caught on something-a tree root, maybe.
Still, Percy managed to slash with his sword and lop off part of the monster's snout. It galloped away, wild and disoriented. But before he could feel too good about that, Percy tried to stand, and his left leg buckled underneath him.
His ankle was sprained, maybe broken.
Aurora managed to watch most of it play out despite her eyes dropping in exhaustion. The pain lingered deep within her skin, branding her a stranger in her mind.
Aurora painfully and shakily stood up ignoring her body painfully protesting. "P-Percy!" She weakly called out.
Clarisse came from beside her and, surprisingly, gently pushed her down, "You are in no position to fight."
Bull Number One charged straight toward him again.
Aurora gasped out in pain, "Tyson, help him!"
Somewhere near, toward the crest of the hill, Tyson wailed, "Can't-get-through!"
A stinging pain sent Aurora crying out and out of sheer desperation Annabeth took her spot, knowing how they could save Percy.
"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"
Thunder shook the hillside.
Suddenly Tyson was there, barreling toward them, yelling: "Percy needs help!" He dove between Percy and the bull just as it unleashed a nuclear firestorm.
"Tyson!" Percy yelled.
The blast swirled around him like a red tornado. Aurora could only see the black silhouette of his body. After the fire died, Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. Just as she'd predicted. Not even his grungy clothes were scorched.
The bull must've been very surprised, because before it could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. "BAD COW!"
His fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.
"Down!" Tyson yelled.
The bull staggered and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of its ruined head in odd places. Annabeth ran over to check on Aurora. Aurora waved her off but even she knew something was wrong. Annabeth still handed Aurora nectar but she only placed it on the grass before her.
Beads of sweat rolled down her face, the pain was fading yet still lingered.
Percy walked towards Aurora, "Hey," he knelt beside her "How are you feeling?"
Aurora tried to move but she only stumbled into Percy. He caught her and gently fell down to his knees as Aurora's face buried in his shoulder. She was still panting in pain. Her entire upper body was leaning on him. She tightly gripped his tye-died shirt.
"P-Percy," she whimpered. "It h-hurts. I-It hurts s-so bad."
Even speaking was proving to be a difficult task after what happened. What even happened? She asked. Why couldn't she move? Why is everyone looking at me like that? She continued to wonder.
Percy patted her back trying to ease the pain. "It's going to be okay. Here." He nudged a canteen towards her.
Aurora nodded and gingerly took a sip from the canteen the best she could. The moment the sweet flavor landed on her tongue, she regained color in her face and the pain further subsided.
"Thanks, ocean eyes," Aurora weakly smiled
"Anytime, pretty girl. How'd you do that?"
Aurora frowned, not even able to question the new nickname, "Do what?"
"You-ruin-everything!" At the sound of Clarisse's voice, Aurora pushed herself away from Percy. "I had it under control!"
Percy was too busy worrying about Aurora to answer.
Aurora grumbled, "Good to see you too, Clarisse."
"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!" She whirled around to face Aurora. "and YOU! Why couldn't you do that to both of them?"
Aurora knit her eyebrows together, "What?"
"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "you've got wounded campers."
That sobered her up. Even Clarisse cared about the soldiers under her command.
"I'll be back," she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.
Percy stared at Tyson, "You didn't die."
Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed, "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."
"My fault," Annabeth said. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would've died."
"Let him cross the boundary line?'" Percy asked. "But-"
"Ocean Eyes," Aurora said, "Have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean . . . in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."
Percy did as told and his eyes widen when he finally noticed the creature before him.
"Tyson," Percy stammered. "You're a—"
"Cyclops," Annabeth offered. "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."
"One of the what?"
"They're in almost all the big cities," Aurora shrugged. "They're 'oopsies', Ocean eyes. Children of nature spirits and gods . . . Well, one god in particular, usually . . . and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don know how he found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."
"But the fire. How-"
"He's a Cyclops." Annabeth paused as if she were remembering something unpleasant. "They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire. That's what Aurora was trying to tell you."
Percy's face was filled with utter shock.
The whole side of the hill was burning. Wounded heroes needed attention. And there was still a banged-up bronze bull to dispose of, which Aurora didn't figure would fit in their normal recycling bins.
Clarisse came back over and wiped the soot off her forehead. "Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."
"Tantalus?" Percy asked the same question Aurora wanted to ask.
"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.
"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here."
Clarisse made a sour face, "Argus got fired. You three have been gone too long. Things are changing."
"But Chiron . . . He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just begone. What happened?"
"That happened," Clarisse snapped. She pointed to Thalia's tree.
Every camper knew the story behind the tree. Six years ago, Grover, Annabeth, Aurora, and two other demigods named Thalia and Luke had come to Camp Half-Blood chased by an army of monsters. When they got cornered on top of this hill, Thalia, a daughter of Zeus, had made her last stand here to give her friends time to reach safety. As she was dying, her father, Zeus, took pity on her and changed her into a pine tree. Her spirit had reinforced the magic borders of the camp, protecting it from monsters. The pine had been here ever since, strong and healthy. But now, its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree.
In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap. Aurora gasped and her eyes welled up in tears. Someone had poisoned the tree. Someone had poisoned Thalia's tree.
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