[Annabeth's POV]
Loud watery neighing and salt water splashing onto my face woke me up. I was pulled me out of a deep sleep. I rubbed my eyes and shuffled around on the back of the hippocampus, resting my back against something, jostling with the fleece draped over my shoulders
There was a lot more energy and warmth flowing through my body now that I had been healed under the fleece for however long it's been since we left the island.
The hippocampi were acting strange as they moved around in the water. I blinked quickly, trying to force the sleep out of my eyes. I brushed my hair out of my face, feeling the differences now. The gash in my head was gone now, and some of the other broken bones I'd sustained were healed.
I sat up and looked out at the encroaching bay, wiping my eyes and spotting the other hippocampi racing through the water.
I turned to see Y/N sleeping peacefully.
It turns out the fleece wasn't weighing me down. Y/N's arms were wrapped around me. It slipped my mind that I had made him put the magical healing item over the both of us, and then I...
Oh gods, I fell asleep on him.
I don't want to know how bright red my face got as I slipped out of his arms and scooted further up the hippocampi to give him some space. That must've been so embarrassing for him with me just laying there.
But he didn't look bothered. He looked like he was resting peacefully. It seemed like he was dreaming, as a soft, pleased smile passed across his face. I really hope he hadn't noticed what all was in my vision from the siren, because that would be a conversation I'm not ready for.
I couldn't help but stare at his peaceful face as the pod of hippocampi sped off toward the beach. He looked like nothing in the last few years had ever phased him. Scars and blemishes that used to be prominent on his face had healed, and the bags under his eyes had faded slowly until they were gone. The fleece was working its nature magic, fittingly on the son of a nature goddess.
I could've sworn he was glowing silver. He looked stronger than I'd ever seen, but suddenly, he started shaking and sputtering. The glow faded. It gave me pause as he went rigid again. I spotted the black tendrils of his curse crawling up his neck. Panicking, I scooted back towards him, gently holding his face as his body shook.
"Come on, Y/N I know you're in there. Come back." I squeezed his hand tightly, holding it up to my head, silently hoping, praying to my mother, or any of the gods that would listen that this wouldn't take him now. Not when we'd gotten so far in this quest.
I looked up at Y/N. His posture loosened, and his shoulders went slack. He'd thrown his head back while jostling around in this state. But he wasn't shaking anymore. His head moved, and he looked down, deep into my eyes with those stunning bronze orbs of his.
He shuddered out a breath and asked, "Annabeth?" His face suddenly turned a harsh shade of pink. "Why are you holding my hand?" he asked. I looked down and realized I still was holding onto it, my voice taking on a nervous tick. "No reason."
I let go and turned back around to face the water. "Where are we?" Y/N asked. I swallowed my nerves and stared back out at the city.
[Y/N's POV]
"Miami, I think," Annabeth said nervously. "But the hippocampi are acting funny."
I stretched, draping the fleece back over Annabeth's shoulders, feeling the newfound energy coursing through my systems. Breathing was easier, and I didn't feel much pain from this quest's complete mess.
I felt well rested, surprisingly, but the hippocampus I was riding on with Annabeth clearly wasn't feeling very good. She was right about that. They were whining and swimming in circles, sniffing the water.
I looked around at the others. Percy was looking intently at one of them as a hippocampus sneezed harshly. "This is as far as they'll take us," he said. "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own."
"Oh great." I muttered.
We weren't very thrilled about having to swim to shore, but we thanked Rainbow and the others for their help. Tyson barely managed, blabbering like a baby. He took his custom made saddlebag, which held his tools and some stuff he got from the wreckage of the Birmingham, off of Rainbow.
Tyson hugged the hippocampus around the neck and gave it a wet fruit from the island. I don't know why I didn't take something to eat from the island, because my stomach was rumbling. It knew I hadn't eaten real food in a few days. Not since the Hydra incident I think. That powdered donut crashing to the ground will haunt my nightmares forever.
Once the horses of the sea descended back into the ocean, we shrugged it off and started swimming for shore. I put the still healing Annabeth on my back and just took as many deep breaths as I could, while churning along with my own weight, the surprisingly heavy fleece, and Annabeth.
Eventually though, we reached a dock for cruise liners, shoving through a bunch of tourists ready to go on summer vacation. People were pulling their luggage along with them, while taxi drivers yelled at each other and into their phones with varied foreign accents. They tried cutting each other off, and that just led to more yelling.
If anyone noticed the six kids soaking wet and smelling like salted, decayed meat, they didn't mention it. Now that we were back among the normal people, Tyson looked like he had two eyes again, Grover just looked like a kid who walked weirdly, and Annabeth was wearing an oversized lettermans jacket with a large greek symbol on the jacket pocket.
She ran towards the nearest newspaper dispensers, probably checking the dates and she swore loudly. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp for ten days!"
"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.
"It's definitely not, Clarisse. Trust me." I muttered. We had gone through the same thing last summer with the Lotus hotel. Honestly, I could use a few weeks there. Arcade, snack bar, deceptively comfortable beds. That card I took from there was very useful though. It's how I paid for school and anything else that you wouldn't be able to pay for with drachmas.
"Thalia's tree must be almost dead," Grover wailed. "We have to get the Fleece back tonight."
Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "How are we supposed to do that?" Her voice trembled. "We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered-"
"His fault?!" Annabeth exploded. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest-"
"Stop arguing!" I shouted. "This is getting us nowhere." They stopped. Annabeth stamped her foot on the ground. Clarisse sat dejectedly, with her head in her hands.
In the chaos that was this last couple of weeks, I'd forgotten Clarisse was supposed to be leading this quest. And then I remembered what Ares said. What he threatened to do to her if she failed. If Percy or I stole this from her.
Ares could give less of a damn about the camp, and I couldn't care less what Ares thought about any given person, but it made me feel bad for Clarisse, reading things from her perspective. The four of us, Annabeth, Percy, Tyson, and I just stormed in, and hijacked her quest.
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?"
"It's her quest, Annabeth." I said. "She can do it."
"Yeah..." Percy added. "She deserves a chance."
"Y/N is nice," Tyson said. "Y/N is too nice," Annabeth grumbled. But she didn't exactly look mad at me. Maybe she was impressed. But she couldn't meet my eyes for very long before turning away, deep thought visible on her face.
[Percy's POV]
"Come on," I told my friends. "Let's find another way home." That's when I heard a dull thud and saw Y/N drop to the concrete. I turned and found a sword's point at my throat.
"Hey, cuz," said Luke. "Welcome back to the States."
His bear-man thugs appeared on either side of us. One grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars. The other tried to grab Tyson, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at Luke.
"Percy," Luke said calmly, "tell your giant to back down or I'll make you watch while I skewer this little shit." He pointed his sword down at Y/N on the ground.
Within a split second though, Y/N's eyes shot open, and he was out from under Luke's sword and with his own blade pointed at the older boy.
"Careful now, Y/N. I can still have Oreius squish Grover and Annabeth's heads together if you guys don't just calm down."
Oreius grinned and raised Annabeth and Grover off the ground, kicking and screaming.
"What do you want, Luke?" I growled.
He smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face. He gestured toward the end of the dock, and I noticed what should've been obvious. The biggest boat in port was the Princess Andromeda.
"Why, Percy," Luke said, "I want to extend my hospitality, of course."
The bear twins herded us aboard the Princess Andromeda. They threw us down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed into the air.
A dozen of Luke's assorted goons. Snake people, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armor, had gathered to watch us get some 'hospitality.'
"And so, the Fleece," Luke mused. "Where is it?"
He looked us over, prodding my shirt with the tip of his sword, poking Grover's jeans.
"Hey!" Grover yelled. "That's real goat fur under there!"
"Sorry, old friend." Luke smiled. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest. You should take him with you next time. Maybe you won't get kidnapped by a cyclops." Luke pointed back at Y/N.
"Blaa-ha-ha!" Grover protested. "Some old friend!"
"Maybe you didn't hear me." Luke's voice was dangerously calm. "Where is the Fleece?"
"Not here," I said. I probably shouldn't have told him anything, but it felt good to throw the truth in his face. "We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up."
Luke's eyes narrowed. "You're lying. You couldn't have..." His face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. "Clarisse?" I nodded.
"You trusted... you gave..."
"Yep. She's on her way." Y/N said, gritting his teeth.
"Agrius!" The bear giant flinched. "Y-yes?"
"Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast!"
"But, boss-"
"Do it!" Luke screamed. "Or I'll feed you to the drakon!"
The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. The rest of Luke's crew looked uneasy. Maybe they'd never seen their boss so unhinged before.
I started thinking... If I could use Luke's anger, get him to talk so everybody could hear how crazy his plans were...
I looked at the swimming pool, at the fountains spraying mist into the air, making a rainbow in the sunset. And suddenly I had an idea. I looked over at Y/N. He was also staring at the water, and met my eyes. I have no clue if the message got across, but he nodded at me.
"You've been toying with us all along," I said. "You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."
Luke scowled. "Of course, you idiot! And you've messed everything up!"
"Traitor!" I dug my last gold drachma out of my pocket and threw it at Luke. As I expected, he dodged it easily. The coin sailed into the spray of rainbow-colored water.
I hoped my prayer would be accepted in silence. I thought with all my heart: 'O goddess, accept my offering.'
"You tricked all of us!" I yelled at Luke. "Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALF-BLOOD!" I shouted, emphasizing those other words. Behind Luke, the fountain began to shimmer, but I needed everyone's attention on me, so I uncapped Riptide.
Luke just sneered. "This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your puny little sword, or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."
"Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?" Y/N asked, standing shakily.
"I did, of course," he snarled. "I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus."
"Chiron had nothing to do with it then?" Y/N asked, also drawing his own sword.
"Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts."
"Guts? That's what you call betraying the people who trusted you? Putting the entire camp in danger? Guts? You make me sick." Y/N spat.
"Chiron might only be half man, but he's twice the person that you are." He said. Luke raised his sword, glaring daggers at him "You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece... once I was done with it."
That made us hesitate. Why would he let me take the Fleece? He must've been lying. But I couldn't afford to lose his attention.
"You were going to heal Kronos," I said. "Yes! The Fleece's magic would've sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven't stopped us, boys. You've only slowed us down a little."
"And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up. All to help Kronos destroy the gods." Luke gritted his teeth. "You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"
"Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you."
"What audience?"
"The one behind you, dumbass." Y/N said. Luke's eyes narrowed. He looked behind him and his goons did the same. They gasped and stumbled back.
Above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris message vision of Dionysus, Tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They sat in stunned silence, watching us.
"Well," said Dionysus, a hint of a smirk on his face, though his words were dry, "some unplanned dinner entertainment."
"Mr. D, you heard him," I said. "You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault." Mr. D sighed. "I suppose not."
"The Iris-message could be a trick," Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.
"I fear not," Mr. D said, looking with distaste at Tantalus. "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games."
Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It didn't bolt away from him. He lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world. "I got it!" he cackled.
"We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus," Mr. D announced. Tantalus looked stunned. "What? But-"
"You may return to the Underworld. You are dismissed."
"No! But- Nooooooooooo!"
As he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger, trying to bring it to his mouth. But it was too late. He disappeared and the cheeseburger fell back onto its plate. The campers exploded into cheering.
Luke bellowed with rage. He slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done.
I was feeling pretty good about myself, until Luke turned and gave me a murderous look.
"Kronos was right, Percy. You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced. And I think I know just who to recruit." He stared daggers at Y/N. Suddenly, countless warriors filed out of the ship decks, surrounding su, all with sharp spears, swords, arrows, and other bladed weapons.
Luke smiled at us violently. "You'll never leave this boat alive."
[Y/N's POV]
I stared him down, moving in front of Percy. I needed to come up with something to give the others a chance to make a break for it.
"Fight me, Luke. Just you and me. Leave the others out of this whole mess. One on one."
Luke's lips curled into a sinister smile. The soldiers pointing sharp stuff at us hesitated. Suddenly, Agrius, wearing a bandage on his arm from where the demon bit him, hurtled onto the deal with a pegasus of pure black, like that sword still wrapped around my arm. I thought about that for a moment as the bear man shouted to Luke.
"Sir!" Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. "Your steed is ready!" Luke kept his eyes on me. "I told you last summer, Y/N," he said. "I'm not Ares. You can't bait me into a fight."
"And I think that's because you're scared." I said, my hands trembling as we kept our eyes locked. "Why would I be scared of you?" He scoffed. "You've never fought me fairly." I replied. "You're afraid I'll show you up in front of your army."
I'd used the oldest trick in the book to trap him here. He'd look weak if he ran away, and if he stayed, Clarisse would gain a lot more ground. "Not like you've ever fought fairly either." He muttered. I shook my head as both of us waited for the other to blink first.
"I'll kill you quickly," he decided, stepping away from the pegasus and raising his weapon. Backbiter was a foot longer than my sword. It glinted in the sun, gray iron and celestial bronze forced together. It felt like the blade was buzzing in anger, just because it existed. It was fighting against itself every second.
Most common sense dictated that there was no way that sword should be able to exist, a fusion of godly and mortal metal, but common sense didn't mean anything right now. He stepped towards me aggressively, and I closed my eyes tightly, trying to harness that same thing from Polyphemus' island.
I felt my blood run cold, and my arm spiked with pulsating black veins, but something amazing happened. The sword poofed into shadow in the room, and suddenly, it formed a sword as dark as an empty night sky. It felt heavy in my hand, but I tightened my grip on it, and slid my other sword back into its scabbard.
I gritted my teeth as Luke widened his eyes in surprise. "That's new." he muttered, tracing a finger along his blade.
I looked over mine once more, realizing I now had full control over my arm.
That didn't happen last time. It was hard to make out an exact shape of the blade, but just tracing my finger along it, I knew it was sharp. The shadows held form as the veins beat on my arm. I placed my other hand on the hilt as well, feeling veins starting to protrude from that one as well.
I gritted my teeth and steeled my nerves, facing Luke, who had now gathered himself and was staring expectedly at me. He whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield and he grinned at me wickedly.
"Luke," Annabeth said, "at least give him a shield." I felt the thing inside of me jostling for control, and that was where most of my energy was going at the moment. Luke smirked and shook his head. Percy cried out, "That's not fair!"
"Sorry, kids," he said. "You bring your own equipment to this party."
I tightened my grip on the blade of darkness, inhaling deeply. "I don't need a shield." I muttered through gritted teeth. Luke cackled. "It's kind of funny that you're this confident just because you've got a new sword. It'll be nice beating you into the ground this time." he said, starting to circle around the makeshift arena. I kept my footing steady, walking around, keeping my eye on the enemy.
Luke lunged at me, and whiffed completely. I jumped back, swinging with fury at him. The older boy grimaced, striking straight down, only for my blade to deflect it smoothly, sliding along and catching the guard of backbiter. Using that momentum, my sword slapped his into a nearby table.
He looked surprised. I tried to capitalize on his moment of shock, swinging with two hands down onto his shield. He staggered back, almost losing his footing. I kicked his shield, knocking him off his feet, unfortunately right to Backbiter.
He scrambled up, taking deep breaths, with an evil smirk. "You gonna leave that monster inside of you this time?" he asked. I nodded. "I want to cut you open myself." He laughed shortly, before dropping the amused facade and charging rapidly.
Luke poked at me with backbiter so quickly I barely had time to process anything. But I didn't need to. My reactions were faster than he could attack. It felt like he was attacking in slow motion. Luke started to look annoyed as I spun out of the way of another jab, slicing at his arm.
I got only a piece of him, grazing his bicep, but the way he reacted, you'd think I cut his arm off. He roared in pain, dropping to a knee, his head rattling.
I looked at the blade, mesmerized by its effects, but suddenly I felt a jolt run through my brain. I wasn't floating good time, but, the demon's voice still rattled in my head.
"'Lipothymía'? He is advancing this much quicker than expected."
'Blackout?' I thought, translating the Greek to English thoughtlessly. "Yes, the weapon that will be mine-" the demon shouted, but I was pulled back into focus, just in time to see Luke swinging at my head.
I ducked, and swung my blade at his unprotected legs, slicing at a part of his thigh. He roared in anguish again. I shot up and drove my shoulder into his chest, sending Luke tumbling back to his army.
I looked around, seeing my friends staring at me in awe, and Luke's army staring at him in concern and confusion.
"Y/N look out!" Grover bleated. I turned just in time to be smashed over the head with Luke's shield. He was breathing hard and looked sick. I'd only cut him twice, but it looked like death was knocking on his door.
"You... It's always something new with you!" he spat, swinging his sword. I rolled out of the way just in time for backbiter to tear the top off of a counter. "You could never just sit back and mind your own business!" he yelled, swinging his sword sloppily. I swung the blade of darkness, now known to me as blackout, at Luke's shield.
Apparently, there was enough follow through for Luke's shield to shatter on the spot. He stumbled back, panicking now. Luke put both hands on his sword, smiling weakly, but still evilly.
"Well, Y/N. If you're gonna kill me, I want you to see something first." He looked past me at my friends. "Oreius! Lunch!" My heart dropped. The bear man was still holding onto Annabeth and Grover.
"He-he! He-he!" The bear man lifted my friends up towards his gaping maw. I forgot Luke and threw the sword at him, feeling all the energy leave my body at that second. I was drained. That's when chaos broke loose.
A 'whoosh' sound flew past my head, as a red feathered arrow, along with my sword, were now sticking out of the bear man's head. With a surprised look on his hairy face, he crumpled to the deck. I watched in awe as the bear man disintegrated. I dropped to my knees, tired. All of the energy I had gained from the fleece was gone.
[Percy's POV]
"Brother!" Agrius wailed. He let the pegasus's reins go slack just long enough for the black steed to kick him in the head and fly away free over Miami Bay. For a split second, Luke's guards were too stunned to do anything except watch the bear twins' bodies dissolve into smoke.
Then there was a wild chorus of war cries and hooves thundering against metal. A dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.
"Ponies!" Tyson cried with delight.
My mind had trouble processing everything I saw. Chiron was among the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him. There were centaurs with black Arabian stallion bodies, others with gold palomino coats, others with orange-and-white spots like paint horses.
Some wore brightly colored T-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said 'PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER' Some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, some with paintball guns.
One had his face painted like a Comanche warrior and was waving a large orange Styrofoam hand making a big Number 1. Another was bare-chested and painted entirely green. A third had googly-eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on Slinky coils, and one of those baseball caps with soda-can-and-straw attachments on either side.
They exploded onto the deck with such ferocity and color that for a moment the entire army was stunned. I couldn't tell whether they had come to celebrate or attack.
Apparently both. As Luke rose shakily to his feet and tried to rally his troops, a centaur shot a custom made arrow with a leather boxing glove on the end. It smacked Luke in the face and sent him crashing into the swimming pool.
His warriors scattered. I couldn't blame them. Facing the hooves of a rearing stallion is scary enough, but when it's a centaur, armed with a bow and whooping it up in a soda-drinking hat, even the bravest warrior would retreat.
"Come get some!" yelled one of the party ponies.
They let loose with their paintball guns. A wave of blue and yellow exploded against Luke's warriors, blinding them and splattering them from head to toe. They tried to run, only to slip and fall.
Chiron galloped toward Annabeth and Grover, neatly plucked them off the deck, and
deposited them on his back.
I tried to get to Y/N, who had fallen to his hands and knees, fighting for breath in the middle of this mess. I drew riptide, ready for the fight, but Luke was crawling out of the pool now, looking half dead, and bleeding in a few places, but he grimaced and still yelled.
"Attack, you fools!" he ordered his troops. Somewhere down below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed. I knew any second we would be swamped by Luke's reinforcements. Already, his warriors were getting over their surprise, coming at the centaurs with swords and spears drawn.
Tyson slapped half a dozen of them aside, knocking them over the guardrail into Miami Bay.
But more warriors were coming up the stairs.
"Withdraw, brethren!" Chiron said, finally scooping up the weakened looking Y/N. Annabeth wrapped her arms around his torso, making sure he stayed up on Chiron.
"You won't get away with this, horse man!" Luke shouted. He raised his sword, but got smacked in the face with another boxing glove arrow, and sat down hard in a deck chair. A palomino centaur hoisted me onto his back. "Dude, get your big friend!"
"Tyson!" I yelled. "Come on!"
Tyson dropped the two warriors he was about to tie into a knot and jogged after us. He jumped on the centaur's back.
"Dude!" the centaur groaned, almost buckling under Tyson's weight. "Do the words 'low carb diet' mean anything to you?"
Luke's warriors were organizing themselves into a phalanx. But by the time they were ready to advance, the centaurs had galloped to the edge of the deck and fearlessly jumped the guardrail, as if it were a steeplechase and not ten stories above the ground.
I was sure we were going to die. We plummeted toward the docks, but the centaurs hit the asphalt with hardly a jolt and galloped off, whooping and yelling taunts at the Princess Andromeda as we raced into the streets of downtown Miami.
I have no idea what the Miamians thought as we galloped by.
Streets and buildings began to blur as the centaurs picked up speed. It felt as if space were compacting, as if each centaur step took us miles and miles. In no time, we'd left the city behind.
We raced through marshy fields of high grass and ponds and stunted trees. Finally, we found ourselves in a trailer park at the edge of a lake. The trailers were all horse trailers, tricked out with televisions and mini-refrigerators and mosquito netting. We were in a centaur camp.
"Dude!" said a party pony as he unloaded his gear. "Did you see that bear guy? He was all
like: 'Whoa, I have an arrow in my mouth!'"
The centaur with the googly-eye glasses laughed. "That was awesome! Head slam!" The two centaurs charged at each other full-force and knocked heads, then went staggering off in different directions with crazy grins on their faces.
Chiron sighed. He set Y/N, Annabeth, and Grover down on a picnic blanket next to me.
[Y/N's POV]
I felt energy return into my body, now that we had returned to land. I shuddered, feeling that sword of shadow tightened around my bicep again, along with the veins in both of my arms finishing receding.
When my eyes focused again, I could see my friends, along with Chiron staring at me from above. They had mixed emotions on their faces. Grover was struck with awe, Percy's wasn't easily discernible, Annabeth had worry, and Chiron looked relieved beyond measure.
"My boy, how are you feeling?" he asked, kneeling down to my level. I nodded. "Tired." my friends chuckled, most of them moving out of my sight entirely, with Annabeth lingering for a moment.
When I sat up, the first thing I did was lunge at Chiron and hug him tightly, not even bothering to worry about anything else. He chuckled joyfully, returning the embrace.
I let go, taking a few deep breaths. "Do you need anything, son?" Chiron asked. "No... No, I'm just exhausted." I chuckled lightly. Suddenly, Annabeth punched me in the shoulder.
"What was that?!" she shrieked. "Were you trying to give us a heart attack?! What- Is- Wrong- with- you?!" Every word was another blow to my arm. "Please, stop punching me." I asked. "Yeah, Wise girl, are you trying to hurt him?" Percy asked. Annabeth suddenly stopped attacking me, her face had gone red. "No..." she murmured.
"I really wish my cousins wouldn't slam their heads together. They don't have the brain cells to spare." Chiron muttered, looking at his brethren still smashing their skulls together.
"Chiron," Percy said, still stunned by the fact that he was here. "You saved us."
He gave us a dry smile. "Well now, I couldn't very well let you die, especially since you all have cleared my name."
"But how did you know where we were?" Annabeth asked.
"Advanced planning, my dear. I figured you would wash up near Miami if you made it out of the Sea of Monsters alive. Almost everything strange washes up near Miami."
"Gee, thanks," Grover mumbled.
"No, no," Chiron said. "I didn't mean...Oh, never mind. I am glad to see you, my young satyr. The point is, I was able to eavesdrop on Percy's Iris-message and trace the signal. Iris and I have been friends for centuries. I asked her to alert me to any important communications in this area. It then took no effort to convince my cousins to ride to your aid. As you see, centaurs can travel quite fast when we wish to. Distance for us is not the same as distance for humans."
I nodded, accepting the explanation. I looked at my friends, who were now looking across the way at a campfire, where some of the party ponies were teaching Tyson to use a paintball gun.
"So what now?" Percy asked Chiron. "We just let Luke sail away? He's got Kronos aboard that ship. Or parts of him, anyway."
Chiron knelt, carefully folding his front legs underneath him. He opened the medicine pouch on his belt and started to treat everyone. "I'm afraid, Percy, that today has been something of a draw. We didn't have the strength of numbers to take that ship. Luckily, Y/N, you caused quite a stir while fighting Luke. Because of that, he was not organized enough to pursue us. Nobody won."
"But we got the Fleece!" Annabeth said. "Clarisse is on her way back to camp with it right now."
Chiron nodded, though he still looked uneasy. "You are all true heroes. And as soon as we get you all fixed up, you must return to Half-Blood Hill. The centaurs shall carry you."
"Are you coming, too?" I asked, hope laced in my voice.
"Oh yes, Y/N. I'll be relieved to get home. My brethren here simply do not appreciate Dean Martin's music. Besides, I must have some words with Mr. D. There's the rest of the summer to plan. So much training to do. And I want to see...I'm curious about the Fleece."
Over by the campfire, Tyson let loose with his paintball gun. A blue projectile splattered against one of the centaurs, hurling him backward into the lake. The centaur came up grinning, covered in swamp muck and blue paint, and gave Tyson two thumbs up.
"Annabeth," Chiron said, "perhaps you and Grover would go supervise Tyson and my cousins before they, ah, teach each other too many bad habits?" Annabeth met his eyes. Some kind of understanding passed between them.
"Sure, Chiron," Annabeth said. "Come on, goat boy."
"But I don't like paintball."
"Yes, you do." She hoisted Grover to his hooves and led him off toward the campfire.
I understood what was happening, and nodded, walking off to the nearby lake, sitting at the other end of a dock. My feet hung over the edge, swaying as the wind whistles.
It seemed like I could actually use blackout now, but I didn't have the first clue as to what exactly needs to be done for it. I'll have to experiment when we get back to camp. For now though, I'll just soak in the view, recovering from my exhaustion slowly.
It wasn't long until my friends joined me on the pier, sitting beside me. Tyson, Grover, and Annabeth were smiling and covered in blue paint, and Percy looked very worried. We sat there in silence for a moment, before Annabeth spoke.
"What was that, Y/N?" she said, barely above a whisper. I took a deep breath and released it, slowly, trying to come up with something. Eventually, I found it.
I told them just about everything. The demon, the shadow man, what's been going on with all of that, and especially the sword, which I'd decided I'd stick with the name the demon gave me. It was easy to remember.
I told them how the fleece strengthened me. More so than usual. But the minute I used blackout, it was all gone.
I loosened the armor on my forearms, letting them drop to the wooden deck. Now that we were away from battle, I could assess the damage from the last couple of weeks. Everyone's brows raised. The scars had vanished from my arms entirely. The last time, it took years for them to fade, and this time, they'd been gone in less than a day. Unless...
"The fleece." Annabeth muttered. Percy said, "It must have healed you." I stretched, feeling no pain, no soreness. None of it. My wrists were healed, and it was all because the stubborn, smart, beautiful girl by my side insisted I was hurt.
I looked at Annabeth, feeling a few droplets brim from my eyes. I wiped it away and wrapped her tightly in a hug. "Thank you." I whispered, sniffing. She wrapped her arms around me as well. "You're welcome." she said, surprised.
We broke away after a moment, and I smiled widely, looking at my friends again. Grover bleated happily, clearly excited to be back with the group once more. "It's good to have you back on American soil, Grover." The satyr bleated relieved, lunging and hugging me as well.
I patted his furry back and laughed brightly, eventually splitting apart and feeling how strong my wrists felt after all this time. It went quiet for a moment.
"So, Y/N. That last line." Annabeth hesitated. "Commanded by the darkest decay. Does that mean-"
"I don't know, Annabeth, but I'm going to find out. I'm sure I will. Prophecies leave a lot uncertain, except that you're gonna find out what they mean."
I got lost in thought for a moment, a hand on my chin before realizing everyone was still staring at me. "But this isn't the time for thinking about that. We should go celebrate. Paintball!" I shouted. Tyson, Percy, and Grover gained wide grins and ran off the dock.
I was close to following them, taking a few steps away from the water, before stopping and looking back at Annabeth. She had her face down and she was shaking. I could see her hand clenched tightly into a fist.
Quietly, I returned to my place beside her, taking her hand and working my own into it. She gasped quietly, before returning to silence. We just sat there, staring out at the water.
"I'm not going to die, Annabeth. Not any time soon." she looked up at me with red, puffy eyes. "How can you be sure?" she asked, through shaky sobs. I wiped a tear from her cheek. "Because I can't leave you all alone." She looked lost for words, a look of shock in her eyes.
"I mean, without me, this group would be lost." I smirked at her. Annabeth's face took on a slightly frustrated expression, before softening into a sad smile. "Yeah, but I think I'd manage." she muttered.
"Now that I doubt, miss Chase. You'd lose it. I'm the only other one here who has a brain. You'd go insane with just Percy and Grover." I said, letting out a tired huff. She said nothing, with a sad smile on her face, looking back at the water.
My point was further backed up as Percy, Grover, and Tyson could be heard going ballistic back there with the paintball guns. Chiron reprimanded them, and they went quiet.
Nothing but the sound of the wind and rustling leaves passed through our ears until Annabeth squeezed my hand gently and said, "I'm glad you're with me... with us, Y/N. It wouldn't be the same without you."
I grinned, staring back out at the water, returning her gentle hand squeeze. "My life wouldn't quite be the same if you hadn't crashed into camp that day, Annabeth. Thanks for being my friend." she laughed softly, replying, "Thanks for being mine, Y/N."
We sat in a long, content silence for a while, before a though came to mind.
"Hey, did your birthday pass?" I asked. She thought for a moment and mumbled, "I think it was five days ago."
"Five days? Well, that's not gonna fly. When we get back to camp I'm gonna have to make you a cake." she laughed softly at that and we went silent again.
I felt her head dip down onto my shoulder softly. Smiling softly, I laid mine gently onto hers, and we just sat there, hand in hand, watching the water, silently.
I felt plenty of emotions flutter through my gut, mostly confusion about the barrage of feelings, but I kept it quiet, sitting with my friend, enjoying the moment over anything else.