The next couple of days passed by agonizingly slowly, and the nights were even longer. Kronos's hellish visions didn't let up for a moment, and my attempts to sleep were invaded by gruesome scenes of cruelty and brutality perpetrated by the gods.
He showed me his brothers strung up in Tartarus, being tortured around the clock by servants of the gods while forgotten beasts circled hungrily around their prison, prowling for scraps of flesh.
I saw the plethora of injustices the Olympians carried out against mortals and heroes. Zeus's predatory advances against unsuspecting or unwilling women, Hera jealously punishing said women for daring to catch her husband's eye, war crimes committed in the heat of battle by Ares, punishments dished out to mortals over nothing more than wounded pride. The list went on and on. It seemed that nearly every god on the Olympian Council had skeletons in their closet, and some of them didn't even bother to hide them.
Kronos's voice shook my dreams. Do you think I am cruel, young hero?
He belted out a deep, sardonic laugh.
You don't even know the meaning of cruelty. The gods will pay for each and every wound they inflicted on my brethren and I.
Every vision I saw made me more and more nauseous. If there had been any doubt in my mind that the gods needed to be toppled, any hint of remorse about leaving them behind, it was long gone by now.
The very last thing Kronos showed me before I woke up screaming was my mom, trapped in that golden light in the Underworld as Hades' wrath incinerated her.
I spent hours in the ship's fitness room after that, beating my knuckles bloody against a punching bag and pretending it was Hades's deathly pale face.
Between my lack of fulfilling sleep and my worry over camp, I just wasn't able to fully commit myself to my daily exercises. Every round of sword training with Luke ended with me flat on my back, and I just couldn't seem to get the hang of activating Kronos's blessing again. Even my hydrokinesis practice went awry. The majestic pegasus that I tried to sculpt out of water ended up resembling an overweight ostrich, and the giant Python that I tried to recreate looked more like a plate of spaghetti than an ancient, fearsome monster.
Frustrated, I ended up pacing up and down the length of the ship, observing all the normal daily going-ons of a monster cruise.
Luke was leading sword fighting and disemboweling classes on the Promenade, showing demigods and monsters alike the best ways to take down their opponents. Two towering, bear-like creatures stood behind him, their arms crossed and teeth bared in an intimidating show of hostility to anyone who drew near. I immediately recognized them from the dreams I'd been having.
They were the Bear Twins of Polyphonte, half-beast and half-human, and they had no shortage of grievances against the gods. For one reason or another, their mother had been commanded by Aphrodite to marry against her will, so she ran to Artemis for help. The Goddess of the Hunt had allowed Polyphonte to join her band of hunters, but did nothing to protect her from Aphrodite, who, like most narcissistic immortals, didn't take too kindly to having her commands disobeyed. Aphrodite drove the poor girl to madness and made her fall in love with a bear. In a perfectly rational and well-tempered response (sike), Artemis banished her from the hunters and sicked every animal in the forest on her. She had no choice but to flee to her father and give birth to her children in secret.
Now, it appeared the twins were Luke's new bodyguards. One of them met my gaze and grinned at me, licking his chops. I decided to leave them to their work.
Later that day, we docked at a port in Massachusetts where a huge, unmarked shipping container was loaded into the cargo hold. I went down to the lower decks to watch the scene. Instead of using a crane, several Laistrygonians wearing XXXL overalls and yellow hard hats carried it up the gangplank on their shoulders like an oversized casket. I could hear whatever was inside shrieking and banging on the walls. With one particularly loud CLANG, a dent the size of a truck tire appeared out of the metal. If the mortals bustling around the port found any of this unusual, they didn't show it.
Tyson was just outside the cargo hold, dressed similarly to the Laistrygonians and playing tug-of-war with a Hellhound, trying to pry a round metal object out of its jaws. When he saw me, his big eye widened in alarm and he wrenched the object away from the pooch. Whatever it was, he hid it behind his back and smiled at me nervously. I raised an eyebrow, wondering why he was behaving so strangely, but then he retreated back into the cargo hold, leaving the oversized rottweiler sulking by itself. I guessed I wasn't supposed to see whatever it was it'd been playing with.
The next place I found myself was the general cabins, where most of our recruits slept. I found Chris in his room watching TV with his leg propped up in a cast, looking like he had a major case of cabin fever. The room was even messier than mine. Soda cans and candy wrappers littered the floor, and dishes were piled up in the sink. I sympathised with him. For regular mortals, a week's worth of bedrest and taking it easy was relaxing at best and mildly annoying at worst, but for an ADHD demigod like Chris, it was probably torture.
The last time I'd seen him was after I'd gotten back from our mission to poison the tree. I'd told him that Luke and I hadn't gone through with the original plan, and that I was preparing to venture out and find the Fleece myself. He'd seemed pretty relieved at the time, so I wasn't sure how he was going to take the news that none of that actually happened. If I was lucky, Luke would have already told him.
The thing is, I'm not so lucky. A deep frown crawled its way onto his face when I told him what had really transpired outside the camp that day, and that Kronos wouldn't permit us to go on the quest for the Fleece ourselves. He stared at the TV for a moment, eyes hardened, and then sighed.
"I guess we have no choice but to hope the campers take the bait, then," he surmised.
I nodded and melted into the couch, feeling that he pretty much summed up the whole, sucky situation.
"I just hope it's not—well…"
I opened an eye, taking in his troubled expression.
"Not what?" I asked.
"Nevermind."
I let the subject drop. Chris offered me a Coke, which I accepted half-heartedly, and we refocused our attention back on the TV. He had on an old Western film, filled with cowboys and Indians and Mexican standoffs. My lack of sleep caught up with me, and I started to nod off halfway through the movie. As my eyes drifted shut, I briefly wondered if the Native American gods had ever existed, and if they had, if they were still around.
I awoke in a dark, ominous cave, the only light filtering down in god rays through the gaps in the ceiling. For a moment, I was afraid I was about to be shown yet another horror flick directed and produced by Kronos, but then the smell of barnyard animals assaulted my nostrils.
I could hear a cacophony of bleating coming from behind a refrigerator-sized boulder. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I began to make out shapes in the room. A stone bed covered in sheepskin sat in one corner, looking about as comfortable as a cactus, and an old-fashioned loom was set up in the other, an unfinished bridle train sitting under the needle.
Standing straight in front of me, wearing a dirty wedding dress and fiddling with my dream conduit like it was a video camera was… Grover?
He stepped back, and I could clearly see the two small horns poking through his hair. "Percy, Percy! Please tell me you can hear me. This is the best I can project."
Yep, that was him all right.
"I can hear you, Grover," I said.
He sighed in relief, and told me all about how he'd followed the scent of Pan to Florida only to be captured by a giant Cyclops named Polyphemus. Apparently, the Cyclops' eyesight wasn't so great on the account of someone poking it out a while back, which was the only reason Grover was still alive right now.
Somehow, he thought Grover was also a Cyclops, and what's more, a lady Cyclops. They were going to be married as soon as Grover "finished" his bridal train.
"Can you believe that, Percy? It's here! That's why so many satyrs haven't ever returned. It's nature magic smells just like Pan. They come here and get eaten!"
I realized I'd gotten so lost in the ridiculousness of the situation that I'd stopped paying attention. "Huh?" I asked. "What's there?"
"Weren't you listening? The Golden Fleece!"
My eyes widened. "30, 31, 75, 12," I said automatically, stunned. It was too much of a coincidence.
Grover looked at me, confused. Just then, a low grunt from the entrance echoed through the cave. The boulder covering the door rolled to the side, and a deep voice bellowed into the room. It asked Grover if the bridal train was almost ready, but Grover made up something about needing more time. The voice was obviously dissatisfied, but it put the boulder back and left the two of us alone again.
"As you can see, he's not very bright, but I can't fool him forever. Eventually, he'll get impatient. Let Chiron know about the Fleece. He'll get the message to the Council of Cloven Elders so that satyrs will stop following it."
It dawned on me in that moment that Grover still didn't know that I'd run away from camp last summer. He didn't know I turned my back on the gods. We hadn't had the chance to speak to each other since the day he'd begun his search for Pan, so he was out of the loop on just about everything that happened. For all he knew, I was still at camp, continuing my year-round hero training.
"Percy? Something wrong?"
"I… I can't do that, Grover. Tell Chiron, I mean."
"Huh? What do you mean? Why not?"
"Because… well…"
The words stuck in my throat as I tried to figure out how to explain it to him. I was afraid to see how he'd react when I told him I was working for Kronos, the same guy who'd nearly dragged him by the hooves down to Tartarus last year during our little visit to the Underworld.
"Because you're going to tell him yourself," I said, feeling guilty that I couldn't bring myself to tell him the truth. "I'm gonna come rescue you, ok? I even know where you are already. Just hang on a little longer and you'll be able to deliver your report in person."
Screw what Kronos said. My friend was in danger, and one way or another I'd find a way to help him.
Grover stared at me for a second, his eyes becoming a bit watery. Then he looked down and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "That's the other thing I needed to tell you," he said. "I created an empathy link between you and I. That's how we're speaking right now."
He went on to explain that an empathy link was something only satyrs could do. It allowed the two of us to share thoughts and emotions no matter the distance between us, but it came with a catch. If one of us were to meet an untimely demise, the other's entire psyche would be destroyed, essentially leaving them as a vegetable if not outright killing them.
In simple terms, this was what we demigods liked to call a problem. Not only because Grover was currently in the lair of a Cyclops in the middle of the Sea of Monsters, but also because I was #1 on Olympus's Most Wanted list. If I were to be captured and executed, Grover would be paying the price for my betrayal. I couldn't let that happen.
The sound of the boulder moving echoed through the cave again. "Honeypie! Dinnertime!"
Grover whimpered, and a spike of fear shot through me. I took that to mean the empathy link was working. The image began to flicker. "He's only giving me two weeks! Please hurry," he hissed, and then the dream went black.
My eyes opened and I sat up on the couch, my back stiff. It took me a moment to gather my bearings as I looked around the unfamiliar room, but then I remembered I'd passed out in Chris's cabin. I glanced out the window and was surprised to see it was dark outside. I must've been more tired than I thought. I figured Chris had retired to his bed, because the lights in his cabin were out except the one by his door.
He'd left a couple blankets and pillows on the couch for me, and even looked like he made an effort to clean the cabin up a bit, but I knew I couldn't crash there for the rest of the night.
I had to speak to Luke immediately.
My fist rapped frantically on the mahogany door. I waited a few seconds and knocked again, even louder this time. A string of grumbling and curses streamed out from behind the door, and the sound of locks unlatching echoed down the dimly lit hallway. The door swung open to reveal Luke, wearing his blue and white striped silk pajamas and a blindfold pulled up over his head.
"Wha—?" he asked tiredly. My face must have conveyed my urgency, because he immediately looked concerned. "Percy?"
"We have a problem," I said.
I told him about my dream, about how Grover was being held captive in the Sea of Monsters by a killer Cyclops, and that the Golden Fleece was on the same island. Luke's jaw stiffened when I mentioned Polyphemus, but he seemed to take the rest in stride. It was only at the mention of the empathy link Grover created that Luke's eyes finally widened.
"An empathy link? You're sure he said that?" he pressed.
I nodded.
Luke cursed, running a hand through his bed-ruffled hair agitatedly. It seemed he already knew exactly what that meant. I could see his mind racing as he grit his teeth and turned, fist balled tightly against the door frame. After a moment, he cursed again.
"Grover ruins everything he touches," Luke said with contempt. "The whole point of poisoning the tree was to keep you out of the Sea of Monsters, so you'd be safe. But now that your life force is tied to his, it's like you're already there. Ugh, what was he thinking?"
He closed his eyes and sighed. But at once, they opened again and narrowed suspiciously at me. "Wait a minute. This is exactly what you wanted, isn't it? You're not making all of this up just so you can save the camp and be a hero again, are you?"
I stepped back, astonished at the accusation. I hadn't even considered how my current predicament would look to Luke. First, I'd directly opposed him in his plan to poison Thalia's tree, and now here I was giving him the exact specific set of circumstances that forced us to go with mine. Further, for Luke to acknowledge that we had no choice but to sail into the Sea of Monsters was akin to admitting that he had poisoned the spirit of his friend for nothing. It wasn't difficult to see why he was so reluctant to believe me.
I held my hands up placatingly. "I swear I'm not making this up. I didn't even know what an empathy link was until Grover explained it to me."
Luke stared hard at me for a few moments before he let out a deep breath. He stepped aside and gestured into his cabin. I hesitated a moment before stepping in. Inside, the layout of the rooms looked a lot like mine, but there were quite a few notable changes. Whereas my living room was filled with entertainment systems and plushy furniture, it seemed Luke had chosen a more Spartan lifestyle.
Where the TV would've been was a weight bench, already plated with a few 45s. The popcorn machine in the corner was replaced by a punching bag, and a rack of free weights sat right beside it. On the other side of the room where the couch would've been was instead a leather reading chair and a small coffee table. A bookshelf had been added in, lined neatly with old scrolls and texts. The place was pristine in a no-nonsense, ascetic sort of way. The only thing that looked out of place was a book sitting crookedly on the coffee table.
"Wait in here," Luke said. "Lord Kronos will need to hear of this."
The door closed quietly behind me, Luke off to consult with the Titan king in his PJs. I stepped into the living room, careful not to disturb anything. I leaned against the wall for a bit, too antsy and shaken up from my dream of Grover to sit.
Curiosity got the better of me, and I put my ear to the wall, trying to see if I could catch any bits of conversation from the room across the hall, but to my disappointment, the walls were pretty soundproof. Would Kronos allow the quest now? If the only thing holding him back before was my own safety, then there was no longer any reason to deny it. It was as Luke said. With Grover in danger of being eaten at any time, my life was practically on a timer.
Minutes ticked by, and Luke hadn't returned yet. Wanting to shake myself out of my thoughts, I eyed the weight bench. Over the past few months, Luke had been putting me through the ringer in endurance and hydrokinetic training, but we hadn't really incorporated weights into my routines yet. I wondered if I'd be able to lift as much as he did.
Slowly, I laid down on the bench underneath the bar and gripped both sides. I took a deep breath and pushed upwards, but was disappointed when the bar didn't budge.
Deciding to throw caution to the wind, I pushed up harder and gasped when the bar slid off of the rests. It came down hard on my chest, forcing the wind out of me and making my eyes bug out. It was all I could do just to keep it from crushing my ribcage.
What was wrong with me? I'd ripped the Minotaur's horn clean off its head before I went through even a day of hero training. How could I not lift this?
After a few seconds to regain my breath, I pushed up with everything I had, and was actually surprised when I started to make some progress. I focused hard, trying to channel the strength that flowed through me that day. After a moment of struggling, the bar crashed down onto the rests, and my arms fell to dangle at the sides of the weight bench.
I laid there, panting for a moment, glad that Luke hadn't been around to see me struggling so hard. I made a mental note to myself never to lift without a buddy again.
Once I was certain my arms were still attached to my body, I stood up and started pacing around the room out of sheer boredom. Eventually, my eyes drifted towards the book that was sitting on the table. Luke was dyslexic just like I was, so I wondered what was so interesting that he would expend the effort to power through it. Curiosity piqued, I stooped over and picked it up. It had been completely encased in leather to protect the contents from the sea air. Undoing the straps, it opened to reveal a collection of loose parchment pages, unbound and therefore very easy to get out of order. The pages had a scent of sea salt and timber, and I could tell just by the texture that these documents were old. Thousands of years old, most likely.
To my surprise, I could read the cover perfectly.
CAPTAIN'S LOG
MAIDEN VOYAGE OF THE ARGO
JASON
I stared at the page, eyes wide when I realized what it was. During her lectures, Annabeth had said these texts had been lost to history, and that tales of Jason's adventures had only been passed down by word of mouth. But here I was holding Jason's direct account of the voyage of the Argo, the legendary ship that brought heroes like Heracles and Oedipus on a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece.
It was all written in Ancient Greek, of course, so reading it came natural to me. I'm no bookworm by any means, but even I couldn't pass up the opportunity to learn about their journey. After all, if everything went my way, I'd be embarking on the same quest soon.
As I flipped through the pages, skimming through accounts of hardships, monster attacks, and betrayals, I suddenly wondered why this book had been taken down off the shelves. Luke had no intention of going after the Fleece himself. He'd been content to let someone else risk their life for it. So why had he suddenly taken an interest in Greek history?
"Well, here's something you don't see every day."
Luke's voice made me nearly jump out of the chair. I hadn't even heard him come back in.
"Percy Jackson? Reading? It truly is the ending of the Fifth Age," he teased.
"Shut up," I said, smirking. His mood seemed considerably lighter now, which I didn't know what to make of. I carefully placed the papers back down on the desk, afraid the slightest mishandling would cause them to tear. "I didn't know you had these," I said.
Luke casually shoved his hands into the pockets of his pajamas. "It's pretty incredible what you can get your hands on with virtually unlimited resources," he said. "I'd suggest you read all the way through it. No doubt we'll come across some of the challenges Jason had to face on our way to get the Fleece."
It took a second for his words to register in my brain.
"On our way?" I repeated. "You mean…"
Luke nodded. "He's not happy about it, but the titan king sees the necessity of cutting off the empathy link. It's too dangerous to have a wildcard like Grover connected to your health. And since the Fleece is right there, there's no point in sticking with the original plan. We'll get it ourselves."
I flashed him a grin. Now, we could get the Fleece and make up for our mistake. We could ensure the safety of the camp again, and perhaps even give new life to the girl that had been protecting it all this time, Thalia.
"So when do we leave?" I asked eagerly.
At this, Luke frowned. "Well, that's the thing. I wish Grover had contacted you a few days ago, before I poisoned Thalia's pine.. Because now, we're working on a time limit. I'd give the tree two weeks tops, which means we'll need to prepare to head out ASAP. I'm going to change our route now, and I'll notify the rest of the ship in the morning."
"Wait, we're taking the whole Princess Andromeda into the Sea of Monsters?" I asked. Jason's ship had been pretty technologically impressive for its time, but he'd only had a crew of about a dozen people. We were about to bring thousands of tons of steel and hundreds of demigods and monsters into uncharted, deadly territory.
"You got another ship we can use?" Luke asked.
I shook my head. I supposed it made sense. Luke had once said this ship was heavily reinforced to protect against monster attacks. It probably stood a better chance than any other vessel in existence.
Luke nodded. "Good. In the meantime, get reading," he said, pointing at Jason's log. "We've got a long journey ahead of us."