"Smells like sheep," Tyson said as began walking onto the shore.
Personally, I didn't smell anything, but Cyclopes had as enhanced sense of smell, so I didn't doubt him. That and also I knew that there were flesh eating sheep because of Polyphemus.
I looked around, trying to find where our friends would be. According to the books, when Tyson arrived, Percy was getting pushed to the edge of a cliff by Polyphemus. I glanced upward, catching glimpses of the ugly baby blue tuxedo that the Cyclops had donned to get married to Grover and then to Clarisse.
"Tyson," I whispered, tapping his arm. "Up there."
He frowned, his eye widening when he realized that Percy was in real danger of being eaten by Polyphemus. Tyson then ran over to a pile of rocks and picked up a boulder that was the size of an overinflated basketball, hefting it over his head before shooting it up the hundred-foot precipice.
Moments later I heard a gagging noise and the sound of something large hitting the ground with a large thud. Tyson began charging up the path that connected the beach to the cliffside, completely unharmed by the man-eating sheep.
As for me, I mist-traveled myself up. I didn't smell like a Cyclops, so I would've been attacked by the sheep, unlike Tyson.
Once both Tyson and I had reunited with our friends, we gave them the short story of our journey, both of us omitting the fight with the skolopendra. I knew Percy had been worried enough as it was about whether we made it out alive or not from the explosion; I didn't want to worry him more by telling him we'd been separated at one point.
"Tyson, Andy, thank the gods," Percy said. "Annabeth is hurt!"
"You thank the gods she is hurt?" Tyson asked, puzzled.
"No!" Percy knelt beside Annabeth, his face full of worry. Annabeth had a large gash on her forehead, similar to the one Tyson had sported when I found him sinking below the wreckage. But hers was much deeper, blood staining her hairline. Her skin was pale and clammy.
Percy exchanged a look with Grover, who was no longer wearing a wedding dress. "Tyson, the Fleece. Can you get it for me?"
I walked towards Annabeth and summoned my bag, pulling out my flask of nectar and beginning to dribble it into Annabeth's mouth. It'd help with the pain and speed up her healing, but it wouldn't be enough to heal her ribs.
"Which one?" Tyson asked, looking around at the hundreds of sheep.
"In the tree! The gold one!"
"Oh. Pretty. Yes."
I tore my eyes away from Tyson, risking a few more drops of nectar before capping the flask, not wanting Annabeth to spontaneously combust because of me. I pulled out a gauze pad and pressed it against the gash on Annabeth's head. It was deep enough that I should've given her stitches right then and there, but I knew that the Golden Fleece's power would be strong enough to heal the cut completely.
Percy grunted behind me as he caught the Fleece, which weighed about sixty or seventy pounds. He set the Fleece over Annabeth's chest, his eyes closed and his mouth moving in a silent prayer.
The color returned to Annabeth's face. Her eyelids fluttered open. The gash on her forehead began to close. She saw Grover and said weakly, "You're not...married?"
Grover grinned. "No. My friends talked me out of it."
"Annabeth, just lay still," Percy said, concern flooding his voice. Oh, he was so whipped, and he didn't even know it yet.
"At least let me wrap your chest first," I protested, but the stubborn daughter of Athena sat up anyways. Albeit, she looked much better, her skin shimmering like a bucket of glitter had been dumped over her head.
Meanwhile, Tyson was starting to have trouble with the sheep. "Down!" he told them as they tried to climb him looking for food. A few were sniffing in our direction. "No, sheepies. This way! Come here!"
I pulled out an unopened bag of beef jerky from my bag, earning me a weird look from Clarisse. I tore open the packaging with my teeth before shouting, "Tyson, catch!" throwing the beef jerky at Tyson. "Throw the jerky to the other side of the island, as far away as you can!"
Tyson did just that, pulling out strands of jerky, throwing them back in the direction of Polyphemus's lair, far away from us. The carnivorous sheep took off, trampling over one another as they tried to get some of the jerky.
"We need to move while the sheep are gone," I told the others.
"Do you just casually carry around beef jerky?" Percy asked as I turned my bag back into a charm, no longer needing anything from it.
"Yes. Hey, I learned in college that someone is always hungry, so I started carrying around snacks with me just in case. But now isn't the time." I turned to Annabeth. "Keep the Fleece around you; you're not close to being healed. Can you stand?"
Annabeth tried, but her face instantly turned pale and clammy again. "Oh, definitely can't stand."
Clarisse took a knee and felt her chest, making Annabeth gasp. "Ribs broken," Clarisse said, standing up again. "They're mending, but definitely broken."
"How can you tell?" Percy asked.
"Because I've broken a few, runt! I'll have to carry her."
"Let me," I said, stopping before Clarisse could toss Annabeth over her shoulder like a sack of flour. "We'll need your hands available if Baby Blue comes back."
I got Annabeth onto my back. Although she weighed about seventy pounds heavier because of the Golden Fleece, I didn't think it was all that hard as I began walking down the cliffside, making sure to keep my steps as even as possible to not jostle Annabeth around more than necessary.
When we got to the water's edge, Percy's face took on a look of concentration, which I knew was him trying to get his ship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, to appear. A few minutes later, an old pirate's ship appeared in the water.
"Incoming!" Tyson yelled. He was bounding down to join us, the sheep about fifty yards behind him, bleating as they probably wanted more jerky. Such a shame that I only had that one pack, or else we wouldn't have to worry about these dumb sheep.
"They probably won't follow us into the water," Percy told us. "All we have to do is swim for the ship."
"With Annabeth like this?" Clarisse protested, gesturing to the daughter of Athena, whose body was trembling from shock.
"We can do it," Percy insisted. "Once we get to the ship, we're home free."
We almost made it, too.
We were just wading past the entrance to the ravine when we heard a tremendous roar and saw Polyphemus scraped up and bruised but still very much alive, his baby-blue wedding outfit in tatters, splashing toward us with a boulder in each hand.
"You'd think he'd run out of rocks," Percy muttered.
"Swim for it!" Grover said.
Clarisse, Grover, and I plunged into the surf. The two of them swam ahead while I had to use the water to keep Annabeth and me afloat. Annabeth was trying to help by paddling with one hand, but the wet Fleece was weighing us down even more.
"Annabeth, I won't let you drown," I promised her, making sure the water was helping Clarisse and Grover as well.
While Percy and Tyson fought Polyphemus on land, I made sure we all got onto the Queen Anne's Revenge. Once I was on the deck, I set Annabeth down, telling her not to move to give the Fleece a chance to heal her ribs.
"Guys, remember Polyphemus is blind," I said. "He tracks using sound."
"Why does that matter?" Grover asked.
"It means that we need to stay quiet," I explained, keeping my gaze fixated on Clarisse. If we could keep the ship from getting hit by a rock, the better, because Percy and I could will a boat to move much faster than three hippocampi to get us back to the States. "No matter what."
"Why are you looking at me?" Clarisse growled.
"Because you're not exactly the quiet type," Annabeth added quickly.
"Why you-"
"Both of you, cut it out," I snapped. "No one speaks until Percy and Tyson are on board and we are far away from this blasted island."
After a few tense minutes of silence, Percy and Tyson climbed aboard while Polyphemus was cheering, "Yes, I've defeated Nobody!" I don't know what the two had done to convince him of that, but they were safe, and that's all the mattered.
Percy flicked his wrist, and the Queen Anne's Revenge took off, wind filling our sails instantaneously. Once the island was nothing more than a black spot in the distance, we all sighed in relief, never wanting to encounter Polyphemus again.
I then took survey of everyone on deck, frowning at what I saw. Percy was swaying on his feet from exhaustion, but he was leaning against the mast, staring out at the horizon. Clarisse had sustained some cuts and bruises all over her arms and legs, but other than also looking exhausted, she was fine. Tyson's skin was full of splinters and sand, but he didn't seem to mind, tinkering away at something he'd salvaged from the wreck when we found pieces of it floating around the sea.
Grover was chewing on a piece of aluminum, though I had no idea where he'd gotten it from. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his curly hair was a mess, but all in all, he appeared to be overjoyed about escaping Polyphemus. Annabeth had fallen asleep on the deck, her skin continuing to shimmer while the Fleece worked its magic.
"All of you, get some sleep," I ordered in a very motherly voice. I mean, I was the oldest here, so now that the most dangerous part was over, the least I could do was make sure they took care of themselves.
"I'm not tired," Clarisse argued.
"How long were you on that raft by yourself?"
"Two days."
"Did you have anything to drink or eat?"
Clarisse's ears turned pink. "No."
"Did you sleep?"
"...No."
"That's what I thought." I summoned my bag and handed everyone an apple. As for drinking water, I grabbed a large pot from the galley, filled it with sea water, boiled it, removed the salt, and condensed the steam so we had clean, drinkable water.
Once everyone, including Annabeth, had gotten something in their stomach and drank water, I sent them off to sleep in the hammocks below. The only one I held behind was Tyson, telling him he would go to bed after I removed all the splinters from his skin. Percy had been concerned about our trajectory, but I brushed off his concern, assuring him that I'd be able to get us out of the Sea of Monsters safely.
In total, it took approximately five hours for us to arrive back to the U.S., washing up near Miami Beach. One of the girls back home, Rosalinda, had lived in Florida most of her life, and she liked to tell stories about how beautiful Miami Beach was.
Was being the key word in that sentence, because even from out here, I could see how polluted the water was. Maybe on a good day the water would be clear, but seeing the amount of people in the water and on the shore, I knew today wouldn't be a good day.
I got us to the edge of the wake zone, making sure to cloak the ship with lots and lots of Mist. As far as I could see, there was nowhere to moor the boat, so it looked like we were going to have to swim the rest of the way.
None of us were particularly thrilled about that, but we jumped overboard anyways and swam to the shore. By the side of the road, taxi cab drivers yelled at each other in Spanish while they tried to steal each other's customers. Porters from the nearby hotels trailed behind fancy looking people, carrying their beach equipment. Both tourists and residents bristled by, going to and coming from the beach.
No one paid us any attention, which I thought was a good thing. Seeing that we were back in the mortal world, the Mist began taking effect again, blurring Tyson's eye into two and turning the Golden Fleece from a sheepskin to a red-and-gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery Omega on the pocket. Grover had put his cap and sneakers back on, blending in with everyone else.
Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the Miami Herald. She cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"
"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.
"Not necessarily. Time works differently in monstrous places," I reminded them.
"Thalia and Luke's tree must be almost dead," Grover wailed. "We have to get the Fleece back tonight."
Clarisse slumped down on the pavement, her confidence having drained out of her body. "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-"
"Percy's fault?!" Annabeth exploded. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest-"
"Stop it!" Percy said.
Clarisse put her head in her hands. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration.
I was about to offer to take us all back to camp when I heard the Fates say, You must not interfere anymore on this quest. Everything else this summer must take place as it was written. Remove yourself from the equation.
How? I asked. It's only a matter of time before they remember me.
Tell them you are under our direct orders. The moment the daughter of Ares gets in the taxi, get out of there.
But the conversation had taken too long, because the next thing I knew, Kyle was pointing a blade at Percy's throat and one of the two bear twins, Oreius, was holding Annabeth and Grover by their t-shirt collars. Tyson growled, but Kyle said, "Percy, tell your giant to back down or I'll have Oreius bash your friends' heads together."
Am I supposed to just sit back and watch this happen? I asked the Fates angrily. I can get us to safety right now.
You shall do no such thing! We'll allow you to remain with the heroes until the Party Ponies arrive, but you cannot interfere with the upcoming duel between Perseus and Kyle.
Can I step in if it gets too close for comfort?
No!
Fine, geez. You know, this is why people don't like you.
We're aware of that. Goodbye for now, Andromeda.
Andy. I sighed.
"Oh, does the little witch feel left out?" Kyle sneered, training his sword onto me now.
"You don't scare me, Kyle," I said calmly. "So, you have our friends in your grasp, great. What do you want from us?"
"Why, to extend my hospitality, of course."
The bear twins led us onto the Princess Andromeda, which Kyle wouldn't stop poking fun about, enjoying the disgusted look on my face as he raved on and on about his base of operations shared my name, "Olympus' favorite demigod," he'd spat, glaring at me like he wanted nothing more than to run me through.
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 Kyle's assorted goons – snake people, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armor – had gathered to watch us get some "hospitality."
"And so, the Fleece," Kyle mused. "Where is it?"
The Fates' command was the only thing preventing me from decking Kyle in the face right then and there. I wanted to badly to rip Backbiter out of his hands and shadow-travel us back to camp, where we would be safe, but sadly, I couldn't do that. Damn Fates.
Kyle looked us over, prodding Percy's shirt with the top of his sword, poking Grover's jeans.
"Hey!" Grover yelled. "That's real goat fur under there!"
"Sorry, satyr," Kyle sneered. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll let you return to your pathetic little search."
Grover said some unflattering things in Ancient Greek, enough to cause Tyson to blush and clamp his hands over his ears.
"Maybe you didn't hear me." Kyle's voice was dangerously calm. "Where-is-the-Fleece?"
"Not here," Percy said, a smug smile tugging at his lips. I was smiling as well, enjoying the look of confusion on Kyle's face. "We sent it ahead of us. You messed up."
Kyle's eyes narrowed. "You're lying. You couldn't have..." His face reddened, like he'd come up with a doomsday scenario in his head. "Clarisse?"
Percy nodded.
"You trusted...you gave..."
"Yeah."
"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!"
I frowned at the mention of Kyle's steed. In the books, that steed turned out to be Blackjack. I swear, if they hurt my pegasus...
Blackjack? I asked as an experiment.
Boss, help! I'm stuck on some boat, and some bear guy is trying to take me somewhere!
Calm down, I'm on the deck you're being led to. I'll get you out of here, Blackjack.
That'd be nice, boss! I don't want a bear to ride me!
I watched as Agrius finally brought Blackjack up to the aft deck. Blackjack was swearing with such ferocity that Chiron would've washed his mouth out with saddle soap, but under these circumstances, I wasn't going to snitch. He kept trying to hit the bear twin with a hoof, but Agrius managed to duck every time, which only made Blackjack angrier.
"I told you Percy," Kyle said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You can't bait me into a fight."
"And you keep avoiding one," Percy noted. "Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?"
Kyle glanced at his men, and he'd saw that Percy had trapped him. If he back down now, he'd look weak. If he fought Percy, he'd lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse. While Percy distracted Kyle, Annabeth could think of a plan to get everyone else out of there.
"I'll kill you quickly," Kyle decided. He drew Backbiter, the blade glinting with an evil gray-and-gold light where the human steel was melded to the Celestial bronze. I knew the story of Kronos' scythe well – someone had to die whilst the blade was forged in order for the metals to be bound together. Kyle then whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield.
He gave Percy a wicked grin, truly matching up with the antagonist archetype I'd been forced to learn about in school.
"Kyle," Annabeth said, "at least give him a shield."
"Sorry, Annabeth," he said. "You bring your own equipment to this party."
I held my breath when I saw Kyle lunge forward, managing to graze Percy's ribs on the first try. I knew Percy had been out of practice, but I didn't think it had been this bad when I read it in the books. Then again, I didn't learn swordsmanship until after reading the books, so who was I to have known what being out of practice looked like?
The two of them fought viciously, but Kyle eventually dragged his cursed blade against Percy's thigh. Percy collapsed onto his knees, barely rolling away from a downward slash that would've chopped his leg clean off. Percy tried to stand again, but his injury was too severe, his leg unable to take the weight.
"Perrrrrrcy!" Grover bleated.
Please? I asked the Fates again.
You're such a child, you know that? Take care of the bear twins, but leave Percy and Kyle to their own devices.
Thank you!
By some mistake, Kyle hadn't put anyone on my guard detail, so when I whipped out a dagger and threw it directly at Oreius's head, the hilt sticking out of his forehead like a unicorn horn before he disintegrated, no one had been expecting my attack.
That's when all Hades broke loose.
The Laistrygonian that rushed forward to take the bear twin's spot earned a red-feathered arrow to the mouth. With a surprised look on his face, the Laistrygonian crumpled to the deck.
"Brother!" Agrius wailed, finally noticing that his brother had been killed by yours truly. He let go of Blackjack's reins, and I shouted at Blackjack to get away, something he didn't need to be told twice. Before he left, however, he stomped on Agrius' head, causing for the second bear twin to crumple to the deck.
I ran over to the fallen Laistrygonian, which was now a pile of gold dust, and scooped up my dagger while Annabeth and Grover rubbed their necks. I corralled Tyson into the mix, keeping the three of them close together while I went to get Percy.
But before I could get anywhere, 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.
Although I had encountered the Party Ponies before, my mind was unable to process everything that was going on in front of me. Chiron was amongst 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 even Kyle was stunned. I knew that this was Chiron's doing, so they must've been here to help, but even I was unsure of whether they had come to celebrate or attack.
It had been both. As Kyle lifted his sword to rally his troops, one of the centaurs shot a custom-made arrow with a leather boxing glove on the end. It smacked Kyle in the face and sent him crashing into the swimming pool.
I was acutely aware of the alarm blaring, knowing that we'd soon be overrun by Kyle's army if we didn't leave soon. I turned around, cutting down a snake woman, who had tried to take a bite out of Grover. Tyson pushed a handful of soldiers over the guardrails, sending them into the ocean below.
"Withdraw, brethren!" Chiron said at last.
I had to help Annabeth, whose ribs were still sore, onto one of the centaur's backs, while Grover hopped on by himself. I looked to my right, where a palomino centaur scooped Percy onto his back. Then Tyson hopped on, and the centaur groaned, muttering something under his breath.
"Get on!" Chiron told me, gesturing to himself. I jumped on, and Chiron jumped over the side of the deck, joining the rest of the centaurs as we landed on the pavement and dashed off gods-knows-where.
The city of Miami became a blur until Chiron and the other Party Ponies stopped somewhere that could've been the Everglades for all I knew. It was a trailer park in the middle of the forest, a lake right behind the centaur-approved trailers.
I hopped off of Chiron when we arrived at the centaur camp, knowing that he had things he needed to discuss with Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. I watched as two of the centaurs head slammed into each other, staggering off in different directions afterwards, crazy grins on their faces.
Would it be rude of me to ask Chiron if CTE existed in centaurs? Because at the rate they did this, it was a miracle that their brains were still fully functional, if you define that as being capable of making decisions and having all bodily systems in order.
To my left, three centaurs were trying to teach Tyson how to shoot a paintball gun. I rolled my eyes at their childish influence, but I guess centaurs just wanna have fun. I took a seat at the edge of the centaur camp, pulling out my journal and writing some notes down.
I heard the shot of a paintball gun and looked up, only to find a centaur sporting purple on his face holding two thumbs up in Tyson's direction. Annabeth and Grover quickly pulled Tyson away from the centaurs, the three of them talking amongst each other while Chiron and Percy spoke in hushed tones.
I kept my head down, listening to Percy and Chiron's conversation while continuing to work. When Chiron told Percy the truth about his father, I grit my teeth, setting my pen down in anger. I was annoyed that the gods had forbidden me from telling the truth about my father, thus preventing me from using my chronokinesis unless it was a hopeless situation.
I mean, I didn't like that Kronos was my father as much as any one of his children, but at least when someone asked them, they could give them an answer. How much longer could I call myself unclaimed when I had powers of the eldest gods and then some? How long until someone figured out my worst secret?
At least if I told them, they'd still trust me. If I kept this hidden any longer, something may slip at the wrong time, and I may be viewed as a traitor. For all I know, I could get kicked out of camp because of paranoia.
No, I had to tell my friends the truth, consequences be damned. I'll face whatever the Olympians give me, but I can't keep my relationship to Kronos hidden any longer.
Percy took a seat next to the others by the campfire, and I sighed, steeling myself for what I was about to do. I put away my bag and sat by the others.
"Guys," I said, interrupting their conversation about which Party Pony had the coolest weapon. "I'm about to tell you something about me that only the Olympians, Chiron, and Cleo know about. I need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone about this, not unless your life is in danger."
"What did you do?" Annabeth asked.
"Did you kill someone?" Grover added.
"Wait, what? That's what you got from her?" Percy asked, confused. "It's about her, not someone else."
"Oh, right." Annabeth and Grover blushed.
"This is about my father," I said, catching all of their attention. I'd known the three of them for six years now, and in that time, they all thought I was unclaimed. "Now, swear that you won't divulge this information."
"We swear," the three of them said in unison.
I sighed, messing with the hem of my shirt. "There's no easy way to say this, but my father is Kronos, Titan of Time."