Percy Jackson The Complete Collection (45 page)

‘The scars on your back?’

A tear welled in his eye. ‘Sphinx on Seventy-second Street. Big bully. I prayed to Daddy for help. Soon the people at Meriwether found me. Met you. Biggest blessing ever. Sorry I said Poseidon was mean. He sent me a brother.’

I stared at the watch that Tyson had made me.

‘Percy!’ Annabeth called. ‘Come on!’

Chiron was at the starting line, ready to blow the conch.

‘Tyson…’ I said.

‘Go,’ Tyson said. ‘You will win!’

‘I – yeah, okay, big guy. We’ll win this one for you.’ I climbed on board the chariot and got into position just as Chiron blew the starting signal.

The horses knew what to do. We shot down the track so fast I would’ve fallen out if my arms hadn’t been wrapped in the leather reins. Annabeth held on tight to the rail. The wheels glided beautifully. We took the first turn a full chariot-length ahead of Clarisse, who was busy trying to fight off a javelin attack from the Stoll brothers in the Hermes chariot.

‘We’ve got ’em!’ I yelled, but I spoke too soon.

‘Incoming!’ Annabeth yelled. She threw her first javelin
in grappling-hook mode, knocking away a lead-weighted net that would have entangled us both. Apollo’s chariot had come up on our flank. Before Annabeth could rearm herself, the Apollo warrior threw a javelin into our right wheel. The javelin shattered, but not before snapping some of our spokes. Our chariot lurched and wobbled. I was sure the wheel would collapse altogether, but we somehow kept going.

I urged the horses to keep up the speed. We were now neck and neck with Apollo. Hephaestus was coming up close behind. Ares and Hermes were falling behind, riding side by side as Clarisse went sword-on-javelin with Connor Stoll.

If we took one more hit to our wheel, I knew we would capsize.

‘You’re mine!’ the driver from Apollo yelled. He was a first-year camper. I didn’t remember his name, but he sure was confident.

‘Yeah, right!’ Annabeth yelled back.

She picked up her second javelin – a real risk considering we still had one full lap to go – and threw it at the Apollo driver.

Her aim was perfect. The javelin grew a heavy spear point just as it caught the driver in the chest, knocking him against his teammate and sending them both toppling out of their chariot in a backwards somersault. The horses felt the reins go slack and went crazy, riding straight for the crowd. Campers scrambled for cover as the horses leaped the corner of the stands and the golden chariot flipped over. The horses galloped back towards their stable, dragging the upside-down chariot behind them.

I held our own chariot together through the second turn, despite the groaning of the right wheel. We passed the starting line and thundered into our final lap.

The axle creaked and moaned. The wobbling wheel was making us lose speed, even though the horses were responding to my every command, running like a well-oiled machine.

The Hephaestus team was still gaining.

Beckendorf grinned as he pressed a button on his command console. Steel cables shot out of the front of his mechanical horses, wrapping around our back rail. Our chariot shuddered as Beckendorf’s winch system started working – pulling us backwards while Beckendorf pulled himself forward.

Annabeth cursed and drew her knife. She hacked at the cables but they were too thick.

‘Can’t cut them!’ she yelled.

The Hephaestus chariot was now dangerously close, their horses about to trample us underfoot.

‘Switch with me!’ I told Annabeth. ‘Take the reins!’

‘But –’

‘Trust me!’

She pulled herself to the front and grabbed the reins. I turned, trying hard to keep my footing, and uncapped Riptide.

I slashed down and the cables snapped like kite string. We lurched forward, but Beckendorf’s driver just swung his chariot to our left and pulled up next to us. Beckendorf drew his sword. He slashed at Annabeth and I parried the blade away.

We were coming up on the last turn. We’d never make
it. I needed to disable the Hephaestus chariot and get it out of the way, but I had to protect Annabeth, too. Just because Beckendorf was a nice guy didn’t mean he wouldn’t send us both to the infirmary if we let our guard down.

We were neck and neck now, Clarisse coming up from behind, making up for lost time.

‘See ya, Percy!’ Beckendorf yelled. ‘Here’s a little parting gift!’

He threw a leather pouch into our chariot. It stuck to the floor immediately and began billowing green smoke.

‘Greek fire!’ Annabeth yelled.

I cursed. I’d heard stories about what Greek fire could do. I figured we had maybe ten seconds before it exploded.

‘Get rid of it!’ Annabeth shouted, but I couldn’t. Hephaestus’s chariot was still alongside, waiting until the last second to make sure their little present blew up. Beckendorf was keeping me busy with his sword. If I let my guard down long enough to deal with the Greek fire, Annabeth would get sliced and we’d crash anyway. I tried to kick the leather pouch away with my foot, but I couldn’t. It was stuck fast.

Then I remembered the watch.

I didn’t know how it could help, but I managed to punch the stopwatch button. Instantly, the watch changed. It expanded, the metal rim spiralling outwards like an old-fashioned camera shutter, a leather strap wrapping around my forearm until I was holding a round war shield a metre wide, the inside soft leather, the outside polished bronze engraved with designs I didn’t have time to examine.

All I knew: Tyson had come through. I raised the shield
and Beckendorf’s sword clanged against it. His blade shattered.

‘What?’ he shouted. ‘How –’

He didn’t have time to say more because I knocked him in the chest with my new shield and sent him flying out of his chariot, tumbling in the dirt.

I was about to use Riptide to slash at the driver when Annabeth yelled, ‘Percy!’

The Greek fire was shooting sparks. I shoved the tip of my sword under the leather pouch and flipped it up like a spatula. The firebomb dislodged and flew into the Hephaestus chariot at the driver’s feet. He yelped.

In a split second the driver made the right choice: he dived out of the chariot, which careened away and exploded in green flames. The metal horses seemed to short-circuit. They turned and dragged the burning wreckage back towards Clarisse and the Stoll brothers, who had to swerve to avoid it.

Annabeth pulled the reins for the last turn. I held on, sure we would capsize, but somehow she brought us through and spurred the horses across the finish line. The crowd roared.

Once the chariot stopped, our friends mobbed us. They started chanting our names, but Annabeth yelled over the noise, ‘Hold up! Listen! It wasn’t just us!’

The crowd didn’t want to be quiet, but Annabeth made herself heard: ‘We couldn’t have done it without somebody else! We couldn’t have won this race or got the Fleece or saved Grover or anything! We owe our lives to Tyson, Percy’s…’

‘Brother!’ I said, loud enough for everybody to hear. ‘Tyson, my baby brother.’

Tyson blushed. The crowd cheered. Annabeth planted a kiss on my cheek. The roaring got a lot louder after that. The entire Athena cabin lifted me and Annabeth and Tyson onto their shoulders and carried us towards the winner’s platform, where Chiron was waiting to bestow the laurel wreaths.

That afternoon was one of the happiest I’d ever spent at camp, which maybe goes to show, you never know when your world is about to be rocked to pieces.

Grover announced that he’d be able to spend the rest of the summer with us before resuming his quest for Pan. His bosses at the Council of Cloven Elders were so impressed that he hadn’t got himself killed and had cleared the way for future searchers, that they granted him a two-month furlough and a new set of reed pipes. The only bad news: Grover insisted on playing those pipes all afternoon long, and his musical skills hadn’t improved much. He played ‘YMCA’, and the strawberry plants started going crazy, wrapping around our feet like they were trying to strangle us. I guess I couldn’t blame them.

Grover told me he could dissolve the empathy link between us, now that we were face to face, but I told him I’d just as soon keep it if that was okay with him. He put down his reed pipes and stared at me. ‘But, if I get in trouble again, you’ll be in danger, Percy! You could die!’

‘If you get in trouble again, I want to know about it. And I’ll come help you again, G-man. I wouldn’t have it any other way.’

In the end he agreed not to break the link. He went
back to playing ‘YMCA’ for the strawberry plants. I didn’t need an empathy link with the plants to know how they felt about it.

Later on during archery class, Chiron pulled me aside and told me he’d fixed my problems with Meriwether Prep. The school no longer blamed me for destroying their gymnasium. The police were no longer looking for me.

‘How did you manage that?’ I asked.

Chiron’s eyes twinkled. ‘I merely suggested that the mortals had seen something different on that day – a furnace explosion that was not your fault.’

‘You just said that and they bought it?’

‘I manipulated the Mist. Some day, when you’re ready, I’ll show you how it’s done.’

‘You mean, I can go back to Meriwether next year?’

Chiron raised his eyebrows. ‘Oh, no, they’ve still expelled you. Your headmaster, Mr Bonsai, said you had – how did he put it? – un-groovy karma that disrupted the school’s educational aura. But you’re not in any legal trouble, which was a relief to your mother. Oh, and speaking of your mother…’

He unclipped his cell phone from his quiver and handed it to me. ‘It’s high time you called her.’

The worst part was the beginning – the ‘Percy-Jackson-what-were-you-thinking-do-you-have-any-idea-how-worried-I-was-sneaking-off-to-camp-without-permission-going-on-dangerous-quests-and-scaring-me-half-to-death’ part.

But finally she paused to catch her breath. ‘Oh, I’m just glad you’re safe!’

That’s the great thing about my mom. She’s no good at staying angry. She tries, but it just isn’t in her nature.

‘I’m sorry, Mom,’ I told her. ‘I won’t scare you again.’

‘Don’t promise me that, Percy. You know very well it will only get worse.’ She tried to sound casual about it, but I could tell she was pretty shaken up.

I wanted to say something to make her feel better, but I knew she was right. Being a half-blood, I would always be doing things that scared her. And, as I got older, the dangers would just get greater.

‘I could come home for a while,’ I offered.

‘No, no. Stay at camp. Train. Do what you need to do. But you
will
come home for the next school year?’

‘Yeah, of course. Uh, if there’s any school that will take me.’

‘Oh, we’ll find something, dear,’ my mother sighed. ‘Some place where they don’t know us yet.’

As for Tyson, the campers treated him like a hero. I would’ve been happy to have him as my cabin mate forever, but that evening, as we were sitting on a sand dune overlooking the Long Island Sound, he made an announcement that completely took me by surprise.

‘Dream came from Daddy last night,’ he said. ‘He wants me to visit.’

I wondered if he was kidding, but Tyson really didn’t know how to kid. ‘Poseidon sent you a dream message?’

Tyson nodded. ‘Wants me to go underwater for the rest of the summer. Learn to work at Cyclopes’ forges. He called it an inter – an intern –’

‘An internship?’

‘Yes.’

I let that sink in. I’ll admit, I felt a little jealous. Poseidon had never invited
me
underwater. But then I thought, Tyson was
going?
Just like that?

‘When would you leave?’ I asked.

‘Now.’

‘Now. Like …
now
now?’

‘Now.’

I stared out at the waves in the Long Island Sound. The water was glistening red in the sunset.

‘I’m happy for you, big guy,’ I managed. ‘Seriously.’

‘Hard to leave my new brother,’ he said with a tremble in his voice. ‘But I want to make things. Weapons for the camp. You will need them.’

Unfortunately, I knew he was right. The Fleece hadn’t solved all the camp’s problems. Luke was still out there, gathering an army aboard the
Princess Andromeda.
Kronos was still re-forming in his golden coffin. Eventually, we would have to fight them.

‘You’ll make the best weapons ever,’ I told Tyson. I held up my watch proudly. ‘I bet they’ll tell good time, too.’

Tyson sniffled. ‘Brothers help each other.’

‘You’re my brother,’ I said. ‘No doubt about it.’

He patted me on the back so hard he almost knocked me down the sand dune. Then he wiped a tear from his cheek and stood to go. ‘Use the shield well.’

‘I will, big guy.’

‘Save your life some day.’

The way he said it, so matter-of-fact, I wondered if that Cyclops eye of his could see into the future.

He headed down to the beach and whistled. Rainbow, the hippocampus, burst out of the waves. I watched the two of them ride off together into the realm of Poseidon.

Once they were gone, I looked down at my new wristwatch. I pressed the button and the shield spiralled out to full size. Hammered into the bronze were pictures in Ancient Greek style, scenes from our adventures this summer. There was Annabeth slaying a Laistrygonian dodgeball player, me fighting the bronze bulls on Half-Blood Hill, Tyson riding Rainbow towards the
Princess Andromeda
, the CSS
Birmingham
blasting its cannons at Charybdis. I ran my hand across a picture of Tyson battling the Hydra as he held aloft a box of Monster Doughnuts.

I couldn’t help feeling sad. I knew Tyson would have an awesome time under the ocean. But I’d miss everything about him – his fascination with horses, the way he could fix chariots or crumple metal with his bare hands, or tie bad guys into knots. I’d even miss him snoring like an earthquake in the next bunk all night.

‘Hey, Percy.’

I turned.

Annabeth and Grover were standing at the top of the sand dune. I guess maybe I had some sand in my eyes, because I was blinking a lot.

‘Tyson…’ I told them. ‘He had to…’

‘We know,’ Annabeth said softly. ‘Chiron told us.’

‘Cyclopes’ forges.’ Grover shuddered. ‘I hear the cafeteria food there is terrible! Like, no enchiladas
at all
.’

Annabeth held out her hand. ‘Come on, Seaweed Brain. Time for dinner.’

We walked back towards the dining pavilion together, just the three of us, like old times.

A storm raged that night, but it parted around Camp Half-Blood as storms usually did. Lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in our valley. We were protected again thanks to the Fleece, sealed inside our magical borders.

Still, my dreams were restless. I heard Kronos taunting me from the depths of Tartarus:
Polyphemus sits blindly in his cave, young hero, believing he has won a great victory. Are you any less deluded? The
titan’s cold laughter filled the darkness.

Then my dream changed. I was following Tyson to the bottom of the sea, into the court of Poseidon. It was a radiant hall filled with blue light, the floor cobbled with pearls. And there, on a throne of coral, sat my father, dressed like a simple fisherman in khaki shorts and a sun-bleached T-shirt. I looked up into his tanned, weathered face, his deep green eyes, and he spoke two words:
Brace yourself.

I woke with a start.

There was a banging on the door. Grover flew inside without waiting for permission. ‘Percy!’ he stammered. ‘Annabeth … on the hill … she…’

The look in his eyes told me something was terribly wrong. Annabeth had been on guard duty that night, protecting the Fleece. If something had happened –

I ripped off the covers, my blood like ice water in my veins. I threw on some clothes while Grover tried to make a complete sentence, but he was too stunned, too out of breath. ‘She’s lying there … just lying there…’

I ran outside and raced across the central yard, Grover
right behind me. Dawn was just breaking, but the whole camp seemed to be stirring. Word was spreading. Something huge had happened. A few campers were already making their way towards the hill, satyrs and nymphs and heroes in a weird mix of armour and pyjamas.

I heard the clop of horse hooves, and Chiron galloped up behind us, looking grim.

‘Is it true?’ he asked Grover.

Grover could only nod, his expression dazed.

I tried to ask what was going on, but Chiron grabbed me by the arm and effortlessly lifted me onto his back. Together we thundered up Half-Blood Hill, where a small crowd had started to gather.

I expected to see the Fleece missing from the pine tree, but it was still there, glittering in the first light of dawn. The storm had broken and the sky was blood-red.

‘Curse the Titan Lord,’ Chiron said. ‘He’s tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

‘The Fleece,’ he said. ‘The Fleece did its work too well.’

We galloped forward, everyone moving out of our way. There at the base of the tree, a girl was lying unconscious. Another girl in Greek armour was kneeling next to her.

Blood roared in my ears. I couldn’t think straight. Annabeth had been attacked? But why was the Fleece still there?

The tree itself looked perfectly fine, whole and healthy, suffused with the essence of the Golden Fleece.

‘It healed the tree,’ Chiron said, his voice ragged. ‘And poison was not the only thing it purged.’

Then I realized Annabeth wasn’t the one lying on the
ground. She was the one in armour, kneeling next to the unconscious girl. When Annabeth saw us, she ran to Chiron. ‘It … she … just suddenly there…’

Her eyes were streaming with tears, but I still didn’t understand. I was too freaked out to make sense of it all. I leaped off Chiron’s back and ran towards the unconscious girl. Chiron said, ‘Percy, wait!’

I knelt by her side. She had short black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like a long-distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth – a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with badges from a bunch of bands I’d never heard of.

She wasn’t a camper. I didn’t recognize her from any of the cabins. And yet I had the strangest feeling I’d seen her before…

‘It’s true,’ Grover said, panting from his run up the hill. ‘I can’t believe…’

Nobody else came close to the girl.

I put my hand on her forehead. Her skin was cold, but my fingertips tingled as if they were burning.

‘She needs nectar and ambrosia,’ I said. She was clearly a half-blood, whether she was a camper or not. I could sense that just from one touch. I didn’t understand why everyone was acting so scared.

I took her by the shoulders and lifted her into a sitting position, resting her head on my shoulder.

‘Come on!’ I yelled to the others. ‘What’s wrong with you people? Let’s get her to the Big House.’

No one moved, not even Chiron. They were all too stunned.

Then the girl took a shaky breath. She coughed and opened her eyes.

Her irises were startlingly blue – electric blue.

The girl stared at me in bewilderment, shivering and wild-eyed. ‘Who –’

‘I’m Percy,’ I said. ‘You’re safe now.’

‘Strangest dream…’

‘It’s okay.’

‘Dying.’

‘No,’ I assured her. ‘You’re okay. What’s your name?’

That’s when I knew. Even before she said it.

The girl’s blue eyes stared into mine, and I understood what the Golden Fleece quest had been about. The poisoning of the tree. Everything. Kronos had done it to bring another chess piece into play –
another chance to control the prophecy.

Even Chiron, Annabeth and Grover, who should’ve been celebrating this moment, were too shocked, thinking about what it might mean for the future. And I was holding someone who was destined to be my best friend, or possibly my worst enemy.

‘I am Thalia,’ the girl said. ‘Daughter of Zeus.’