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chapter xix.
( the sea of monsters )
❝ chariot of damnation ❞
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THERE WERE MANY TIMES THAT I wish I could smack Percy Jackson right across the face. There were many reasons behind all this:
One: he had somehow befriended a cyclops and was attached to it.
Two: the utmost frustration that he still hasn't realised that Tyson was indeed a murderous, one-eyed monster.
Three: he only had one day left to go of school, and only Percy would go out in such a huge explosion. Making them have to duck for cover away from the police.
I waited for Percy and his friend in an alley down Church Street. When I saw them near, I pulled them off the sidewalk just as a firetruck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep.
I pulled them closer into the alleyway, and when I was sure nobody could see us, I rounded on Percy with the question I had been dying to ask. "Where'd you find him?" I pointed at Tyson, and the son of Poseidon frowned.
"He's my friend," he told me, a little edginess to his voice.
"Is he homeless?"
"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"
I arched a brow, a little surprised. I glanced at Tyson, who was staring down at us with one, big green eye. A cyclops as young as himself, I wouldn't expect him to be so intelligent at his age. "He can talk?"
"I talk," said the Cyclops. "You are pretty."
Bile rose up my throat, "Ew! Gross!" I stepped away from him. Percy stared at me like I had gone crazy, but Tyson didn't look fazed by what I said, instead, his attention was fixed solely on my hair. I patted it down, wishing I had a cap or a hoodie to hide it.
Percy suddenly noticed the cyclops hands that were untouched from the fight back in the gym, "Your hands aren't even burned!"
It was my turn to frown—I still didn't understand it. Why couldn't Percy see through the mist? Tyson isn't strong enough to manipulate so much of it that it'd affect a demigod ( especially one so powerful as Percy ). "Of course not," I said. "Actually, I'm surprised the Laistrygonians attacked you with him around."
Tyson tried to touch my hair, but I smacked his hand away. I tried to ignore the speeding of my heart and the tightness of my throat. Just looking at him brought back memories of that night—and I couldn't, I can't deal with that.
"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.
"Uh, well, Claire and I are half-bloods," he continued. "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, his mouth falling open for a tiny bit. "So ... you believe me?"
He nodded, "But you are ... Son of the Sea God?"
"Yeah, my dad is Poseidon."
Tyson frowned. Now he looked confused. "But then ..."
A siren wailed, and a police car raced past the alley we stood in. As much as I loved to see Percy's reaction about hearing about how he and Cyclops are all related ( it's a long story ), we needed to leave. "We don't have time for this," I said. "We'll talk in the taxi."
"A taxi all the way to camp?" Percy frowned. "You know how much money—"
"Just trust me."
Percy hesitated, "What about Tyson? We can't just leave him. He'll be in trouble, too."
I didn't want to bring him along, but I had no choice. We needed him—Chiron needed to see him. "Fine," I said, feeling grim. "Yeah—we need to take him. Now come on."
I knew Percy wasn't happy, but I ignored him and lead the way, sneaking through the side streets of downtown while a huge column of smoke billowed up behind us from the school gymnasium.
"Here," I stopped us on the corner of Thomas and Trumble. I slipped one arm out of my back bag strap to unzip it and fish inside. My hand pushed aside bars of ambrosia and a small bottle of nectar, cookies, a water bottle, a pen ... "Oh, where is it? Hannah gave me a purse just in case!"
"What are you looking for?" Percy asked.
All around us, sirens wailed. It wouldn't be long before a cop car came cruising along this street and found Percy. That thought made me look quicker. Finally, I felt the familiar leather material of Hannah's purse. I pulled it out with a grin, "Yes!"
I unzipped the coin purse and pulled out a golden drachma, the currency of Mount Olympus. On one side, it had Zeus's likeness stamped on the gold, and on the other, the Empire State Building.
"Claire," Percy said slowly. "New York taxi drivers won't take that."
I ignored him and held the coin up over my head, the gold glinting in the sunlight that made my skin glow gold. "Anakoche," I then shouted in Ancient Greek. "Harma epitribeios!"
Stop, Chariot of Damnation!
I threw the coin onto the street. Instead of it clattering on the tar, the drachma sank right through the road and disappeared.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, exactly where the coin had fallen, the tarmac darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space, bubbling a red liquid that looked like blood. Then, erupting out of the space, merging together like smoke, was a grey, ghostly taxi.
The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and when she spoke, it was like she was mumbling, but in a really weird way, almost if she had just had a shot of Novocain. "Passage? Passage?"
"Three to Camp Half-Blood," I spoke to one of the Grey Sisters. I opened the cab door for Percy, but he stared at me with an incredulous expression.
"Ach!" The Grey Sister screeched, "We don't take his kind!" She pointed a bony finger at Tyson.
I rolled my eyes, "Extra pay if you let him come. Three more drachmas on arrival."
"Done!" the old woman screamed.
Reluctantly, Percy got into the cab. Tyson squeezed in the middle, and I got in last, trying to shuffle as far as away as I could from him.
The inside of the Chariot of Damnation was just as smoky as the outside—but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy, and there was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the Grey Sisters that all sat in the front, all of their hair wispy and grey, their skin wrinkly and dry like sandpaper.
The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro far bonus! Ha!"
She floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A pre-recorded voice came on over the speaker: Hi, this in Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Sky, I always buckle up!
I glanced down at the large black chain that sat beside me instead of a seat belt and I decided I wasn't that desperate yet.
The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the grey lady sitting in the middle screeched. "Look out! Go left!"
"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" The driver complained.
The car swerved to avoid an oncoming delivery truck, ran over the kerb with a jaw-rattling thump and flew into the next block.
"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."
"You bit it last time, Anger!" said Wasp. "It's my turn!"
"Is not!" yelled Anger.
The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"
"Brake!" Anger screeched.
Instead, Wasp pressed her foot against the accelerator and rode up on the kerb, and we went screeching around another corner, knocking over a newspaper box. My hands were white from where they clenched the handle above my seat. This wasn't the best travel, but it was the quickest.
"Excuse me," Percy said. "But ... can you see?"
"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.
"No!" Tempest shouted from the middle.
"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.
Percy looked to me, his face pale. "They're blind?!"
"Er—not completely," I tried to make the situation seem better. "They have an eye."
"One eye?"
"Well, yeah."
"Each?"
"Uh, no. One eye total."
Next to me, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. "Not feeling so good."
"Oh, man," said Percy. "Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"
The three Grey Ladies were too busy fighting to pay him any attention. Percy glanced over at me and gave me a why-did-you-do-this-to-me look. I felt the need to defend myself.
"Fine, walk to Long Island then. Because this is the quickest way to camp."
"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger suddenly exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"
"Don't remind me!" wailed Wasp. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"
"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted her hand away.
"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"
"No! You had it yesterday!"
"But I'm driving, you old hag!"
"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"
Wasp swerved hard onto Delancy Street, squishing Percy between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and we shot up Williamsburg Bridge like a cork out of a bottle.
The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. Their hair flew off their faces, their mouths wide open and screaming, showing no teeth and no eyes except the ones that Wasp and Anger held ( the one bloodshot green eye stared at everything hungrily, flying around its socket as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw ).
Finally, Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister's mouth. This made Wasp so angry that she swerved towards the edge of the bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"
Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.
"Uh, if anybody's interested," Percy said, "we're going to die!"
"Don't worry," I told him, all though I wasn't sure whether I sounded very convincing. "The Grey Sisters know what they're doing. They're really wise."
"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rear-view mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth as we skimmed along the edge of a bridge forty metres above the East River. "We know things!"
"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!"
"The location you seek!" Tempest added.
Immediately, her sisters pummelled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"
But Percy's attention was on high alert, and so was mine. "What?" he said. "What location? I'm not seeking any—"
"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"
"Tell me."
"No!" they all screamed.
"The last time we told, it was terrible!" said Tempest.
"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.
"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that—give it back!"
"No!"
"Eye! Gimme!"
Wasp whacked Anger on the back. There was a sickening pop and the eye flew out of Anger's face. She fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy eye sailed over her shoulder, into the back seat, and straight into Percy's lap.
He jumped so hard, his head hit the ceiling and the eyeball rolled away.
"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.
"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.
"Give her the eye!" I screamed at him.
"I don't have it!"
"There, by your foot! Don't step on it! Get it!"
"I'm not picking that up!"
"Percy—get the stupid eye!"
The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. I gasped as the whole car shuddered, billowing grey smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.
"I'm going to be sick!" Tyson warned.
"Claire," Percy yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!"
"What? No! Get the eye!"
Wasp yanked the wheel, and the Chariot of Damnation swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge towards Brooklyn, going faster than it should be possible. The Grey Sisters screeched, pummelled, whacked, grabbed and cried out for their eye.
Finally, Percy plucked up the nerve to rip off some of his burnt shirt and used it to pick up the eyeball off the floor.
"Nice boy!" Anger cried as if she somehow knew he had her missing part. "Give it back!"
"Not until you explain," he told her. "What were you talking about, the location I seek?"
"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"
I gave a nervous glance out of the window, and nearly puked when I saw the trees, cars, and whole neighbourhoods zipping by in a grey blur. We were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.
"Percy," I warned, "they can't find out destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."
"First they have to tell me," Percy said. "Or I'll open the window and throw the eye into oncoming traffic."
"No!" The Grey Sisters screamed. "Too dangerous!"
"I'm rolling down the window."
"Wait!" They screamed. "Thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five, twelve!"
"What do you mean?" Percy shouted at them. "That makes no sense!"
"Thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five, twelve!" Anger snapped. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"
We were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of Northern Long Island. I could see Half-Blood HIill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest—Thalia's tree.
"Percy!" I shouted at him. "Give them the eye now!"
Percy threw the eye into Wasp's lap. The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting on contacts and blinked, "Whoa!"
She slammed on the brakes. The Chariot of Damnation spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.
Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."
"All right," Percy told the Grey Sisters, "Now tell me what those numbers mean—"
I cut him off when I saw what was happening outside. My heart got caught in my throat. "No time!" I opened my door. "We have to get out now!"
At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.
*
THE CAMP WAS UNDER ATTACK. It was a strange sight to see. For all my years I've been at Camp Half-Blood, never had we faced a monster over-run. I knew that before Thalia's tree, they had border patrol and monster attacks frequently, but now with Thalia's protection, it shouldn't happen. But the two monsters seemed to have broken through the barrier and were wreaking havoc on my second home, running around the tree and all over the hill.
When I saw the monsters, there was a part of me that thought, It had to be the Colchis Bulls. The Colchis Bulls were creations of Hephaestus, with horns of silver and rubies for eyes. Their bodies were pure celestial bronze, reaching the size of elephants, and they could breathe fire that melted skin to the touch.
As soon as we exited the taxi, the Grey Sisters sped away, heading back to New York. They didn't even wait for their extra three-drachma payment. They left us on the side of the road. Out of habit, I pulled off my necklace and spun it in the air. Light merged together to create Sun-Bearer, but it wasn't much use against two celestial bronze bulls.
"Oh, man," I muttered. Fires were spread out here and there, and with only ten heroes to defend camp—most of them injured and burnt badly—I knew that it would be a miracle if we could stop them.
One of the heroes shouted, "Border patrol, to me!" A girls voice—gruff and familiar.
And then came a second, "Try piercing underneath their armour!" her blonde hair was singeing at the ends, and her face was scratched and red.
"It's Annabeth and Clarisse," I said. "Come on, we have to help them."
Percy and I sprinted up the hill to join in the battle with Tyson stumbling behind us. I notched an arrow and stopped a few paces away. I pulled the string to my ear and pointed it towards one of the bulls that were hurtling towards a hero who looked to have been thrown against a tree. I let the arrow loose and it whizzed in the air, shooting faster than the speed of light and embedding itself in the bull's armour.
It did no damage, but it got the bull's attention long enough for the hero to scramble out of the way. The Cholcis Bull turned its mechanical head towards the arrow, and with a sharp flick of its tail, the arrow was cut in half, falling to the burnt, yellow grass in pieces.
Annabeth led a small group of Athena kids and Apollo kids, and I saw Jay among them. She tried desperately to use the arrows to get them lodged in the bull's mouth, or somewhere in the armour, but she was having no luck.
Clarisse's own armour was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.
Around them, heroes were screaming and shouting orders that were getting blended together, so much that all it turned into was a big confusion. Kylie had gotten her helmet plume on fire, and she was desperately trying to get it off without burning her hands. She had her sister Jenna beside her, who pulled off the helmet and threw it to the ground. Her hands were now raw red, and she clutched them to her chest with a cry of pain.
Percy uncapped his ballpoint pen. It shimmered, growing longer and heavier until he held the bronze sword Anaklusmos or Riptide. He turned to the Cyclops. "Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances."
"No!" I said, an idea suddenly forming in my head. If only we could get Tyson in there—I know I hate Cyclops, and no one could ever trust him—but he seemed to properly care for Percy, and I knew deep down that he would fight the bulls for him, and wouldn't get burnt. "We need him!"
Percy gave me a weird look. "He's mortal, Claire. He got lucky with the dodgeballs but he can't—"
"Percy—for god's sake—do you know what those are up there?!" I shouted at him, pointing toward the bulls. "Those are the Colchis Bulls, made by Hephaestus himself! We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50 000. We'll get burned to a crisp!"
"Medea's what?"
"It doesn't matter now 'cause I left mine at home! But Tyson, he—"
"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not going to let Tyson get fried."
"Percy, listen to me—"
"Tyson, stay back," he raised his sword. "I'm going in."
Tyson and I tried to protest, but Percy was already running towards Clarisse. I threw my hands up in frustration before following him, but instead, I headed towards Annabeth. The two of them were yelling at the campers to get them into a phalanx formation, which would be a good idea if we had more fighters. But some listened and formed a line shoulder to shoulder, locking their shields to form an ox-hide-and-bronze wall, their spears bristling over the top like porcupine quills.
But they could only muster at least six campers, the other four were still running around with their helmets on fire. I reached Annabeth, "How did this happen?!" I yelled at her.
"Claire!" She greeted in a rush, "Hi! I—"
But she was cut short by a burst of flame, everyone ducked and held their shields above their heads. In an instant, I held my palm out and with a large tug from inside, a wall of golden light circulated around us, and the fire rebounded off, creating a magnificent show of white-hot, red, yellow and orange.
With strain, I pushed my other hand up against the force. My hands shook from the weight of gravity, but I managed to bring them together, twisting the light to form a ball of fire. The light kept the energy bursting from the flames as I threw it back at the bull like a large beach ball. The fire did nothing to the bull, but the suppressed energy exploded in a beam of light and it was pushed back against one of the trees.
"Go!" I told her, nodding to the other campers that were in distress. "Go help them, I'll keep the front!"
Annabeth nodded and pushed out of the line. She ran to the helpless heroes. The bull I had blasted regained its senses with a shake of its head, and Annabeth took the chance to distract it from charging at us. The bull sped towards her and away from the campers, but she placed her Yankees Baseball Hat on top of her hair and in a second, she turned invisible. The bull rammed itself into the strawberry bushes.
On the other end of the line, Clarisse caught my gaze and shouted, "Moore! How much longer can you go on for?!"
Even though we had a rocky relationship, now as we were fighting, it was different. All that was pushed away because we both knew that we had to work together to stop these monsters. I shouted back, "I should be fine for a while!"
I knew that was a lie—already I found it harder to breathe, my insides burned from the amount of energy I released. But I pushed past it and slung my bow over my shoulder. I then grabbed a broken spear off the ground and a shield that was black with ash on the edges. I rejoined the line, holding the broken spear over the bronze.
I had lost Percy in the commotion—I couldn't see his raven black hair anywhere. I was worried, but I had to use all my concentration on what was in front of me.
The bull moved deadly fast for something so big. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun—it opened it's hinged mouth, and a column of white-hot flame blasted out.
"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered her warriors, and then, "Claire—now!"
I closed my eyes and felt a small pop in my ears. When I opened them, a gold light gleamed on my shield. Metal was a good conductor of energy, and I watched as it passed through each of our shields. When the fire hit the bronze, it bounced up in a shower of white and gold. Like a wave, it rolled over and rushed to the bull. The metal that was its skin seemed to absorb the fire like fuel.
I felt my knees buckle underneath me, the world around me turned muffled. Black dots filled my vision. I thought I might faint then and there until I heard a voice.
"Behind you! Look out!"
This startled Clarisse, and the bull charged back towards us and crashed into her shield, and the phalanx broke. Clarisse went flying backwards and landed in a smouldering patch of grass. The bull blasted at us, and I screamed for everyone to get down. We fell to the floor, covering our heads with our arms and shields. Fire doesn't affect me as much as others, but I still felt the heat on my skin, singing their hair off my arms. Others weren't so lucky. Some of their shields melted right off their arms, they dropped their weapons and ran as the second bull closed in on Clarisse for the kill.
The first bull skidded to a stop and turned back around. It's ruby red eyes landed on me, and it scraped it's hoof against the ground, sending dirt and grass into the air. As Percy grabbed Clarisse and pulled her out of the way just as the second bull freight-trained past, the first bull started to charge towards me. I was too exhausted to get back up, and for a second, I thought I might die when suddenly, someone dragged me out of the way.
I was heaved up to meet the eyes of Jay, and I let out a relieved sigh. It was good to see him again. I didn't have time to say much, so I just mustered a thank you and he nodded. His black eyes then flickered back up to the bull that had readjusted itself.
As it readied to charge again, Jay said, "You know what to do?"
An idea suddenly popped into my idea, "Actually—I have an idea."
As the bull shook its horns, I pulled off my bow in a rush and notched an arrow. Jay frowned at me, "Claire—arrows won't do anything!"
It started to charge, and with it, opened its mouth to blast a storm of fire. I had barely enough time to pull the string back to my eye before I had to let it go. A pull from my gut told me it had worked, and as the arrow flew, it gleamed gold. When it hit the flames, it pursed through, making the flames part. The arrow pursued through the fire and into the bull's mouth, and it lodged itself in its insides.
The flames dulled, and the bull started to short circuit. Sparking and jerking around until it fell flat on the ground. Steam puffed out of its nose, its legs and tail jerked every now and then, but it didn't get up and move. It was alive, but not harmful.
I had time now to take in my surroundings. Annabeth was calling out orders to the remaining campers to spread out and distract the remaining bull. Clarisse was pulling herself up from the ground, and Percy stood in the middle, his sword in his head, facing the second bull with a brave look on his face.
He lunged at the remaining Colchis bull, but it blew flames at him. He rolled to the side and out of the way just in time as a column of fire shot past him. His foot caught on a tree root, making it twist to an unnatural position. I winced at the sight—but Percy ignored it slashed with his sword, lopping off part of the monster's snout.
The bull was wild and disorientated for a small while, giving Percy time to pull himself up—but his legs buckled and he fell right back down. I realised he must have sprained his ankle—broken it even. The bull had fixed itself back up and turned to face Percy. It started to charge towards him, and there was no way he could crawl out of its path.
I shouted before I could stop myself, "Tyson, help him!"
Tyson tried to push against the barrier, but it was holding him back. "Can't—get—through!"
"I, Claire Moore, give you permission to enter camp!"
Thunder shook the hillside. Tyson ran into the camp and barrelled towards Percy, yelling. "Percy needs help!"
He dived between Percy and the bull just as it unleashed a nuclear firestorm.
"Tyson!"
The blast swirled around him like a red tornado. I could only see the black silhouette of his body. The fire then died, and Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. Not even his clothes were scorched. The bull stared at him in surprise, and before it could unleash another 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 aluminium foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.
"Down!" Tyson yelled.
The Colchis Bull staggered and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of its ruined head in odd places.
I pushed past my exhaustion and ran towards Percy. I fell on my knees at his side and grabbed his face to check whether he was all right. He swatted my hands away, and I rolled my eyes.
Annabeth joined us when I pulled out some nectar from the canteen in my bag and helped pour some in his mouth. He smelt like burnt eggs, and his arms were red.
"The other bull?" he asked as the colour started to return back to his cheeks.
"I took care of it," I told him, pointing to where it was still twitching on it's back. Percy nodded and sat up, looking much better after having a sip from the Nectar.
"Are you all right?" he then asked me.
I nodded, "Yes." Liar, my brain told me. Shut up, I replied.
Clarisse pulled off her helmet and marched towards us. A strand of her stringy brown hair was smouldering, but she didn't seem to notice. "You—ruin—everything!" She shouted at Percy. "I had it under control!"
Percy was too stunned to answer. I grumbled, "Good to see you too, Clarisse."
"Argh!" She screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"
"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "you've got wounded campers."
That sobered her up. "I'll be back," she growled, then trudged off to asses 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," I said, meeting Annabeth's glare. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save Percy. Otherwise, he would've died."
Annabeth's glare seemed to soften. However, Percy looked absolutely confused.
"Let him cross the boundary line?" he said. "But—"
"Percy," I had had enough. "Have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean ... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."
Percy frowned but did as I told him. He looked up at Tyson, and it took a second before his eyes widened. "Tyson," he stammered. "You're a ..."
"Cyclops," I offered. "A baby, by the looks of it. 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," Annabeth said distastefully. "They're ... mistakes, Percy. 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't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you."
"We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do," I added.
"But the fire. How—"
"He's a Cyclops," I said. Images flashed across my mind about that night in the Cyclop's den, but I pushed them aside. "They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you."
I took a glance around to see the wreckage. Wounded campers were everywhere, scorched patches and trees and grass were at our feet. Some places were still burning alive with flames.
Clarisse came back over and wiped the soot off her forehead. "Jackson, if you can stand up, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."
"Tantalus?"
"The activities director," she said impatiently.
I frowned, "No, Chiron's 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 two have been gone too long. Things are changing."
"But Chiron ..." Percy shook his head. "He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?"
"That happened," the daughter of Ares snapped.
She pointed to Thalia's tree, and my heart sank. She didn't look the same. Once lush and tall and green, her needles were now yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the centre of the trunk, a metre from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.
A sliver of ice ran through my chest. I now knew what was going on. Thalia's tree was dying.
Someone had poisoned it.
"What, no," I muttered, and went to stand up.
But the exhaustion got the best of me, and I fell back down on the ground. The world around me went black.
*
a/n: seen the new Fantastic Beasts movie. In love.