A/N: Okay, I got asked an interesting question in one of my reviews: will I do Book IV on the Norse series? The answer, I actually don't know, but probably. If so, then you can be assured that Nico will also be in it, as well as guest starring in Book II: Egypt. When will I get back to that? Again, I don't know, but probably soon.

The Alexander Chronicles

Book I: Greece

Part II: Summer Odyssey

Chapter IV: Chariot Race and a Quest

Over the next week, I saw a side of Percy I didn't think existed. Whenever Tyson wasn't around, Percy denied that they were related. That really surprised me, especially when Sally told me that Percy had been defending him all school year, that sounded more like the Percy that I knew. I never knew Percy to bend to peer pressure, although I must admit that there were a lot of campers upset about Tyson (the only ones that didn't distance themselves from Percy because of him were Charlie, Jake, Silena and myself.) The one time he did defend Tyson, it ended up sending his and Annabeth's relationship nearly back to the way it had been before last year's quest. Of course, that made nearly everyone feel better about their chances at the chariot race-everyone had been scared that they'd work together, making them unstoppable (considering Minerva invented the chariot and Neptune created horses.)

Personally, I had no interest in joining the race, so I had time to obsess over the one thing that had been bugging me since I came back to New York, the eight numbers the Graeae had dictated. What was their purpose, and how could they be "the location you seek?" Finally, the night before the race I grew so frustrated that I threw it down, cursing "Mars!" Wait a minute, Mars? Mars, also known as Ares! Of course! Project Ares was something that Lex Luthor had been working on though Season Six of Smallville. The prototype for Project Ares, a Green Beret named Wes Keenan, had used his dying breath to gasp out eight digits that had Lois going crazy until she tore them in two and realized that they were coordinates. I knew it was possible that it was the same was true of these numbers, but that didn't help unless I had a map. Of course I knew the best person to turn to for that, and I fished out a drachma. "Oh, Iris! Accept my offering. Minerva on Mount Olympus."

Thankfully my sister answered, I had been a little worried about that as she seemed to hate being called by her Roman name. "Summers, what do you want?"

"Geez, sis, is that any way to treat your little brother?"

"Your people sacked my city, took my identity, replaced me! Traitors and usurpers, curse them! Let all Romans be destroyed! My children shall avenge me!" And with that, she slashed her hand through the IM, ending the call.

Well, that was rude. I wonder what that was about? I thought. Then I figured, that I'd just have to figure that out later. To be on the safe side though, I decided I could never allow the Graechi to learn about my heritage, not even Percy. Or at least, not until Father decided it was safe.

The next morning was hot and humid, for New York; for me, coming from Greece, it felt quite normal. As the teams gathered around the track, Tanty announced the rules. Charlie's chariot was an amalgam of bronze and steel, drawn by automaton horses, and without a doubt covered with traps of all kinds. Clarisse had a blood-red chariot drawn by skeleton horses-a gift from her dad no doubt. Lee Fletcher's was designed like the classical figure of his father's "sun chariot" and was covered in gold. The Stoll's chariot clearly hadn't been used since the races were banned, it was as green as the Statue of Liberty (a version of Athena, according to Annabeth. Minerva just blushed when I had asked her about it five months ago.)

The race started when everyone had lined up, and the Hermes & Apollo chariots went out inside of twenty feet, making me glad I had decided to stay out of it when I spotted an enormous flock of birds. I took a close look at them (I had extremely good eyesight, closer to an eagles' thanks to Father) and thought I saw something odd about them. Then I caught a scent in the air: sulfur, coming from the birds. That's when I realized that I knew them from one of the tales I heard on Olympus. Hercules was very proud of what he'd done in his life, and enjoyed telling his story whenever someone gave him the chance, and it was thanks to him that I recognized the birds. I immediately ran out of the stadium and activated Ventus' bow form and started shooting them, but I quickly realized that it wouldn't be enough, especially when they started diving in at us, taking Charlie out of the race, not that anyone besides Tanty was paying any attention to it anymore. That's when Percy and Annabeth noticed the birds and started fighting them with no more luck than me. I tried using what aerokinetic powers I had against them, but they just got madder. While Annabeth and Percy ran for the Big House to follow my brothers' example, I decided things were desperate enough to use my electrokinetic powers and started calling down lightning, blasting dozens of them. The Stymphalian birds were stubborn though and kept coming back, until Percy and Annabeth came back with a stereo and started playing Dean Martin music (who knows why, he's a pretty good singer, even if he sings in Italian at times. I thought Heracles made a terrible sound to scare them off,) and yet oddly enough it actually worked. Between the arrows of Apollo and my lightning, we annihilated the birds, no more than five or ten could have escaped alive.

Unfortunately, Tanty was more concerned with the race. He crowned Clarisse champion, and sent Annabeth, Percy and me to the kitchen, actually blaming us, or at least Percy and Annabeth's "bad chariot driving skills" for the attack. Percy told him to "go chase a doughnut," I just had to laugh at that. The one good thing about our punishment was that it gave Percy and Annabeth time to reconcile and a chance to plan. Percy told us about a dream that he'd had about Grover, and what he said made me think that it just might be possible that they were talking about it. Annabeth seemed to agree with me "If he's really found it, and if we could retrieve it . . ."

"Hold on, you make it sound like this . . . whatever-it-is is the only thing that could save the camp. What is it?"

Yep, Annabeth and I were thinking along the same lines, so I helped out with the explanation. "Percy, what do you get when you skin a sheep?"

"Messy?"

Annabeth was a little upset with that answer. "A fleece. The coat of a ram/sheep is called a fleece. And if that ram happens to have golden wool-"

"The Golden Fleece. Are you two serious?"

Annabeth then told Percy the background of the Fleece and Jason's quest to bring it to Greece, ending with, "It can revitalize any land where it's placed. It cures sickness, strengthens nature, cleans up pollution-"

"It could cure Thalia's tree."

"And thanks to the Graeae and Athena, we now know exactly where it is." Annabeth and Percy looked at me confused. "You still don't know the significance of the numbers? Eh, it took me a while to figure it out too, but they're coordinates, latitude and longitude. And thanks to Athena, we have an accurate map, including the Sea of Monsters."

"So we can rescue Grover and save the camp at the same time. It's perfect!"

"A little too perfect, don't you think? What if it's a trap."

"Ah, Annabeth! Don't ruin Percy's good mood with your pessimism. After all it's a sea, his home turf. How hard could it be?"

Annabeth couldn't silence her pessimism however. "We'll have to talk to Tantalus, get approval for a quest. He'll say no."

"Who says we have to get permission? I didn't have permission when I went after you guys, I just left."

"Or we could tell him tonight at the campfire in front of everybody. The whole camp will hear. They'll pressure him. He won't be able to refuse."

That night around the campfire, Tanty was just about to make an announcement about the schedule when Percy said "We have an idea to save the camp."

Tanty wasn't impressed. "Indeed. Well, if it has anything to do with chariots-"

"We know where the Golden Fleece is." Before my dear brother could say anything else or stop us, Percy told his dreams involving Grover and Annabeth reminded everyone what the Fleece could do.

"The Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."

"Actually, we know exactly where it is. We've known where it is since before we arrived at camp. 30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. Your exact location, all we need to do is go and get it." The campers quickly drowned out Tantys' opposition, but instead of granting the quest to Percy, he gave it to his favorite camper, Clarisse. There was a lot of arguing about that, even growing to a food fight, but Tanty put a stop to that by telling his story, not even Percy dared object to him now.

"Good. And let me remind everyone-no one leaves this camp without my permission. Anyone who tries . . . well, if they survive the attempt they will be expelled forever, but it won't come to that. The harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry! Good night my dear campers. Sleep well." If you think that is going to stop us, I thought, you've got another thing coming, brother, because the four of us are going, and you can't stop us. Besides, even if you do expel me, I've still got Camp Jupiter available to me.