Chapter 3

Finally they arrived. I pulled them off the sidewalk since, maybe they didn't notice but I certainly did, that they were the ones who allegedly set fire to their school. Walking on the sidewalk with fire trucks screaming past you isn't exactly the way to go. I eyed the monster with anger again and finally unable to repress my curiosity and anger any longer I asked.

"Where'd you find him?" I pointed at him just to make sure Percy understood who I was talking about.

"He's my friend," He told me, in such a simple manner it was shocking. As if anyone would want to make friends with an unreliable monster like that. Only Percy would be unlucky enough to stumble across one, though on closer inspection at the monster he looked dirty. His clothes were ragged (not surprising) and he looked haggard as though he had been spending many nights in the streets. Again not surprising. No one really wanted deformed creatures.

"Is he homeless?" I asked. I already knew the answer from the Cyclops' appearance but I wanted to double check anyways.

"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?" His sudden burst came unexpected. Then again I should have known he would be loyal to his friend. The Cyclops it would seem could speak which is far above any expectations I had of it. I was surprised to say in the least.

"He can talk?" I had hardly ever seen Cyclops' who could talk. Then again I only met one and that was as far as I wanted to go. I suppressed dark memories and heard him speak.

"I talk, you are pretty." He said. Eugh. That is officially disgusting. Having a dirty giant tell you your pretty is something way worse than one trying to kill you.

"Ah! Gross!" I stepped away from him unable to stop myself from my instinctive reaction. If he dared touch me… Percy seemed to be interested in something else and was looking at the creatures hands with a puzzled expression.

"Tyson," He said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."

"Of course not," I muttered. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around."

Tyson, the name of the Cyclops seemed to be very interested in my hair. Much more so than I would have liked. He reached to try and touch it. As if I was letting him any where near my hair. I smacked his hand away repulsed.

"Annabeth what are you talking about? Laistry-what?" Percy asked clearly nonplussed. He didn't even know how to say the name properly. It was easy enough for me. Then again I was the child of Athena and he did deserve an explanation for his almost recent death.

"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before." That was weird. What would they be doing so far south? Were they that intent on killing Percy to risk everything and come to the south, even if he was one of the Big Three?

"Laistry-I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"

Typical Percy. He still can't say the name properly, how do I rename it so that he can understand and pronounce it. I thought for a moment.

"Canadians," I decided. It was simple enough and it sounded pretty good. But there were more pressing matters to be dealing with. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police'll be after me." He said. No surprise there.

"That's the least of our problems," I said. "Have you been having the dreams?" I asked, knowing he had been having nightmares like me. I needed someone to talk to about them and Percy was the ideal person I could confide in.

"The dreams… about Grover?" He asked. What? He'd been having dreams about Grover? What did that mean? Was Grover in danger? Thoughts raced across my mind as my face paled.

"Grover? No, what about Grover?"

He then proceeded to tell me the dream he had been having that morning, all the while I was feeling sick with worry. A Cyclops was after him, which meant he had to be close to his realm, but where would that realm be? It had to be somewhere undetected, even the Mist couldn't hide a fully grown Cyclops that well which also meant that it was an area that demi-gods hadn't been in yet. My thoughts swirled about, my brain seizing on each solution to this unpredicted predicament.

"Why? What were you dreaming about?" He asked, his eyes filled with curiosity.

"Camp." I said after a while. "Big trouble at camp."

"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?" He asked. His mum found out about trouble at camp? Figures I mean she probably didn't want Percy going back there until it was safe.

"I don't know exactly. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?" I asked. He was one of the Big Three after all. If I was having attacks he was bound to get it ten times worse right? To my surprise he shook his head.

"None all year…until today."

"None? But how…" My eyes moved to Tyson who was lurking behind Percy. "Oh" Of course! A Cyclops was bound to detract attention to Percy. Hardly any monsters had the strength or the guts to face one.

"What do you mean 'oh'?"

The Cyclops raised his hand as though still in a classroom. It made him look oddly immature as though he was still a young child. In his case he was.

"Canadians in the gym called Percy something…Son of the Sea God?"

Percy and I exchanged looks.

There really wasn't any time for an explanation but Percy ploughed on with one anyways.

"Big guy, you ever hear of those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena-"

"Yes," Tyson said. I was surprised he's even heard of them. I was learning a lot of new things today.

"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 U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods." Percy said.

"Yes," Tyson said. He still didn't get where this was leading to. How hard was this to understand? Even then Percy continued.

"Uh, well, Annabeth and I are half-bloods," He said. "We're like… heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters." Okay I had to admit the whole "heroes-in-training" thing sounded pretty cool when he said it like that. He paused when he said it though, making me realise he was actually being modest.

"Yes." He said. Wow. He didn't even seem surprised. That was a first. Percy was feeling the same thing as he looked very confused.

"So…you believe me?" He asked still shocked at how quickly the Cyclops had grasped the situation. I looked over to hear his answer. I know I shouldn't and that we should be getting our ride quickly to camp-half blood to help out with the monsters and all but a part of me was a little curious. Tyson nodded.

"But you are… Son of the Sea God?" He asked.

"Yeah, my dad is Poseidon." Percy said. Now the Cyclops began to look confused.

"But then…" He never got to finish his question as just then a siren wailed past as a police car raced past the alley in which we were hiding. O.K now we really have to go.

"We don't have time for this." I said. "We'll talk in the taxi."

"A taxi all the way to camp?" Percy asked. "You know how much money-" He began.

"Trust me." I said. I know it sounds all cliché and all but it seemed like the right moment to say it. Who knows I might never get the chance again. I saw Percy hesitate.

"What about Tyson?" He asked. Now he struck a fair point.

What were we going to do about the huge baby Cyclops who looked on the verge of tears? I mean he certainly won't be welcome in camp but there's not much else we can do. We can't just very well leave him here, as much as I would like to. Who knows in his fragile state he could tell anyone about the incident at the school. And we really can't afford to get into any more trouble at the moment.

"We can't just leave him, he'll be in trouble, too"

"Yeah." I hadn't even thought of the possibility of him being in danger himself, I was more concerned with us getting into a right mess. I felt grim. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on." He looked at me oddly as if he disapproved of the way I was talking about his friend Tyson but right now I really couldn't care less. If he knew half the things I did about those vile creatures…

I went down the alleyway and together the three of us sneaked through the side streets with the billowing smoke from Percy's old school seeping behind us.

"Here." I stopped us at the corner of Thomas and Trimble to look for a drachma but I couldn't find it yet. I fished around some more. "I hope I have one left."

"What are you looking for?" He asked. The siren music wailed yet again as police cars swarmed the area probably looking for the mishaps that caused the explosion. Finally I found what I was looking for.

"Found one. Thank the Gods." I pulled the gleaming gold coin from my backpack where it had gotten lodged in one of the pocket seams. Zeus's likeness was stamped on one side of the coin and the empire state building on the other. I looked at the architecture and knew, had I been the main designer of this building I could have done a better job. Gods the architecture, it's beautiful don't get me wrong I have nothing against it, it's just hard not to try and think of blueprint plans and improvements to it when I knew I could have made it so much better. Now though is not really the time to be mulling over this.

"Annabeth, New York taxi drivers won't take that." Percy told me, as if I didn't know how mortals travelled. Gods how dense is this boy? I had to remind myself repeatedly that he didn't know about the grey sisters yet.

"Σταματήστε άρμα της καταδίκης." I shouted in Ancient Greek. It basically meant Stop, Chariot of Damnation! I threw the coin in the middle of the street as was custom and watched as the drachma sunk into the ground.

We waited for a moment then watched as a form of vapour materialised from the place where my drachma had just disappeared into the ground and a taxi oozed from the ground. The passenger window rolled down and a women's voice asked.

"Passage? Passage?"

"Three to Camp half-blood." I said with as much confidence I could muster, technically I hadn't ever been in one of these before but seeing the look on Percy's face I had to look like I knew what I was doing. I made a gesture for him to get in.

"Ach!" She screeched. "We don't take his kind!" A finger pointed at Tyson. Percy frowned. There wasn't any time for this.

"Extra pay," I promised her. I just needed a quick ride. Gods knew what was happening at camp right now. "Three more drachma on arrival."

"Done!" The woman screamed. I pushed Percy into the cab and squashed in last after the Cyclops, who by the way took a lot more space than I thought he would. I was squashed between Tyson and the window praying we didn't die on the way. The cold, cracked seats really did nothing to help.

I'd already heard the tales of how the three sisters only had one eye but it didn't make it any less gruesome to see in person. All three of them were crammed in together complaining as usual.

The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"

She slammed her foot on the accelerator like no tomorrow, which considering the speed rate was most likely to be true, we all slammed back into our seats like toddlers on a very fast rollercoaster. An automated voice projected from a speaker: Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!

That was possibly the worst safety warning I had ever heard in my entire life. I looked down and saw a large black chain and knew with dread that I would probably have to wear it at some point.

The cab sped around corners as one of the ladies in the middle screeched, "Look out!

Go left!"

"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" The driver moaned. Oh great! We're not even travelling in the right direction and I feel like projectile vomiting right now which probably isn't a wise choice. Or a hygienic one. The driver swerved to avoid a lorry that was heading our way, in her eagerness she drove over the curb and then flew right into the next block. Well one thing's for sure. They certainly don't waste any time.

"Wasp!" Said the third lady. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."

"You bit it last time, Anger!" Wasp said. "It's my turn!"

"Is not!" yelled Anger.

Just then the sister stuck in the middle screamed, "Red light!"

"Brake!" Anger yelled.

Unfortunately for me the driver seemed to be incompetent as instead of braking like she should have done, she instead did the exact opposite. Floored the accelerator. Just when I thought we couldn't have gotten any faster. She rode up a curb, knocking over a newspaper box.

"Excuse me," Percy said. "But…can you see?" I looked over at him and noticed the faint tinge of green on his cheeks.

"No!" screamed Wasp.

"No!" screamed Tempest in the middle.

"Of course!" The one named Anger screamed by the window.

He then turned to face me. "They're blind?"

"Not completely," I said. "They have an eye."

"One eye?"

"Yeah."

"Each?"

"No. One eye total." I said. Percy slumped back in his seat and Tyson next to me groaned. Oh no he better not puke on me.

Hey sorry for the long wait but I was kinda busy writing my other fanfics this is only part of chapter 3 I'll have the rest done sometime soon so don't worry.