Chapter 14

"Chiron, it's New Rome!" Kala shouted. Chiron and Kala had been riding their pegasus for hours. It was about time they reached their destination.

Chiron rode his Pegasus using magic similar to that of his wheelchair. He just replaced the wheelchair with a saddle and he was able to fly on Pegasus himself. Kala rode a reddish brown pegasus named Cherry, who was fast, sweet, and only slightly reckless. Maybe more than slightly.

"Let's land, Cherry." Kala said as they flew to the ground. Cherry must have somewhat understood her, because she headed toward the ground, following Pegasus. Kala had been sent her mother's address from a man in New Rome who called himself "Captain Valdez". The envelope with her mom's address had come with a package. Inside the package was a free 'Team Leo' t-shirt.

As they landed, Chiron returned to his centaur form. Kala hopped off of Cherry and thanked the winged horse. She pet Cherry's mane then gave her a sugar cube, and the pegasus flew away with Pegasus.

"Let's go." As they headed towards Kala's mom's house, they spotted Rick and Kala' mother heading to her house as well.

"Mom!" Kala shouted in excitement. She hugged her mother, then hugged Rick. Chiron shook hands with each of them, telling Rick how sorry he was about Anthony. He didn't seem mad at all that Rick had gone on a quest without permission or approval.

"It's good to see you." Rick stated without much enthusiasm. After Kala and Chiron stared at him blankly, he decided to admit the failure. He told them everything. Tears began to form in Chiron's eyes.

"Percy has broken." He muttered to himself.

"We don't need him." Tarah said.

"Thanks mom, but helpful cyclops are hard to come by." Kala replied.

"No, I'm serious." Tarah said, emphasizing her point. Chiron looked at Rick.

"Thanks for the confidence, Mrs. Williams." Rick added.

"Will you children shut up and look behind yourselves?"

Rick and Kala each looked over their shoulder. What they saw amazed them.

An army of Poseidon's cyclops.

Led by Tyson.

With Amy and Annabeth Chase at his side.

"How do you think they got in here?" Ryan asked Nico. The son of Hades had just returned from Camp Jupiter.

"I don't know how the monsters entered the camp." Nico replied, not really wanting to talk. To stop Ryan from asking more questions, Nico tried sending him away.

"Ryan, could you check to make sure the tree is in good condition?" Nico asked.

"Sure. Maybe that's how they got in! Maybe the tree was damaged!" Ryan left the mess hall to check on the tree. When he returned, Nico was annoyed. Ryan didn't take the hint that Nico didn't want to talk. Nico wasn't the most social person ever.

"Nico, the tree..." Ryan started, a horrified expression on his face. Nico took notice.

"What is it?" Nico asked, actually caring about what Ryan had to say.

"The Golden Fleece is gone. And the tree. It's been chopped down."

"Rick!" Amy cried. She ran toward him and hugged him. Rick was happy to see his friend, until he remembered whose side she was on. As soon as Amy noticed Rick's reluctance, she stepped away.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked, concerned. Rick glared at her.

"You betrayed us." Rick replied harshly. Amy was confused.

"I don't understand."

"You joined the enemy. You tried to kill Kala." Rick explained as he mentally prepared to generate his magic force field.

"Rick, I promise you, I'm on your side. The right side. Always have been, always will be." Rick took a moment to think, then decided he could trust her. The blonde woman standing next to Tyson, who Rick guessed was Annabeth Chase, stepped up next to Amy.

"Amy's been imprisoned for at least a week. We started talking a few years after she was thrown into her cell. It must have been someone messing with the Mist, or some kind of illusion." Annabeth explained.

"Alright, I think I can trust you." Rick replied. He wanted one of the few friends who had left to be his friend.

"What's happened? Why are you in New Rome?" Chiron yelled to Amy and Rick to come into Tarah's house, so they walked through the doorway. They headed into the living room, where Chiron, Kala, Mrs. Williams, Annabeth, and Tyson were already talking. Amy and Rick took their seats.

"What are we gonna do about Stevens?" Rick asked.

"We need a bigger picture of the situation." Chiron replied. "Rick, you start us off." Rick told them everything, starting when Anthony returned to camp. The Amy explained that she had been captured by a guy who perfectly fit Sam Steven's description, along with the Griffin. after her argument with Kala, when she didn't want Kala to know about demigods or that the Greek myths were real. Tarah didn't have much to tell, just what she saw when imposter Amy tried to kill Kala. Kala told her story starting when Mr. Robins has begun teaching them about the Griffin. Chiron didn't have anything to add. Then Tyson began to speak.

"I left Camp Half Blood. I was going to visit New Rome to see my brother and friends. But after I left, I was attacked by a mean girl and her meaner monster. They were waiting. They knocked me out and I woke up in a cell. Then my daddy's cyclops come save me!" Tyson finished happily. Rick hoped he wouldn't have to be the one to break Tyson's spirit by delivering the news that Ella was missing.

"Pretty much the same thing for me." Annabeth began.

"I was going to visit my dad. A fit guy with dirty blonde hair, looked about sixteen, attacked me riding a Colchis Bull."

"That sounds like the guy who attacked Tyler and I. Tyler Robins, you know." Rick tried not to look hurt.

"Anyway, I think the same guy attacked us. And a Colchis bull attacked Anthony and I on the way to New Rome. No coincidence." Rick finished.

"Tyson, what was the monster that the girl had?" Amy asked.

"It was grey and furry. It had a tail kind of like a scorpions." Tyson shuddered at the thought of the girl and her monster.

"Manticore. Probably the same one that attacked the Camp." Rick explained. The pieces were coming together.

"So Sam Stevens, the girl who captured Tyson, the guy who tried to kill me, the Colchis bull, the manticore, and the Griffin are working together?"

"And Rick, I would guess from your story that the Cazmanian Sow and Nemean Lion are with them too." Amy added.

"But how did they get into Camp? And how did they manipulate the Mist to make it seem like Amy was attacking me? And how did those monsters reform so quickly? Weren't most of them killed in the whole war with the Titans, and then Gaea?"

"The only way to get into Camp would be if you were a demigod." Chiron explained.

"But Sam Stevens is a demigod. I bet his two friends are, too." Annabeth said.

"We know Sam Stevens is a son of Iris." Rick confirmed.

"So no Iris messages. It's unsafe." Chiron ordered.

"If I get approval from my daddy, the the other cyclops and I can guard the camp until we find a way to keep out Sam." Tyson offered.

"We need to warn Camp Jupiter." Annabeth commanded.

"Guys." Tarah said quietly.

"Mrs. Williams?" Amy questioned.

"Kala told us about her vision." Mrs. Williams looked scared out of her wits.

"Yeah. And I explained that I'm pretty sure that the Lion and manticore were just decoys for the real attack." Kala clarified.

"We need to get back to Camp Half Blood." Rick said, looking like he'd seen a ghost. No

"Guys, Ryan and Nico are calling." Chiron said, putting the phone on speaker.

"Nico? Ryan?" Chiron asked.

"It's Nico. The tree is chopped down, Chiron."

"What?"

"That's how the Nemean Lion and manticore got into camp."

"But the tree looked fine when the monsters attacked."

"Must've been a trick of the Mist." Nico responded.

"Hey guys! It's Ryan!" Ryan yelled into the phone. "Nico, tell them about the Fleece."

"The Fleece is gone." Nico added, quietly.

"We need to get back to camp!" Kala shouted. The group ran out of the house, telling the cyclops army to get to their hippocampus, but before they could ride away, a figure yelled at them to stop.

"Please! Wait! It's Percy!" Percy Jackson had changed his mind.

"Rick, you made me realize that there are still problems that need to be solved. And I intend to help you solve the world's problems as long as I can. Thank you, Rick."

Annabeth hugged Percy, and Tyson hugged them as well. Rick's former feeling of misery now felt full of hope. Although Sam was victorious so far, he had no idea what Rick and the rest of these heroes were capable. They could defeat this evil. Sam would regret all he had done.