A/N: I don't own the rights to any of the Percy Jackson series or it's characters. That right goes to Rick Riordan. I also don't own the rights to Animorph including it's title.

I am, however, the person who posted 'The Tales of...' series.

This is not a crossover of the Percy Jackson series with the book/tv series Animorph, despite what you might think from the title. I just thought it be a proper name for the ability to turn into animals since that's why the tv/book series 'Animorph' was called that in the first place.

If you haven't read this yet, read:

Animorph Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Clarisse Finishes Off the Hydra with an Explosion

"Thermos!" I screamed as we hurtled toward the water.

"What?" Annabeth must have thought I had lost my mind She was holding on to the boat straps for dear life, her hair flying straight up like a torch.

But Tyson understood. He managed to open my duffle bag and take out Hermes' magical thermos without losing his grip on it or the boat.

I grabbed the thermos and hoped I was doing the right thing. "Hang on!"

"I am hanging on!" Annabeth yelled.

"Tighter!"

I hooked my feet under the boat's inflatable bench and as Tyson grabbed Annabeth and e by the backs of our shirts, I gave the thermos cap a quarter turn.

Instantly, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the thermos and propelled us sideways, turning our downward plummet into a forty-five-degree crash landing.

The wind seemed to laugh as it shot from the thermos, like it was glad to be free. As we hit the ocean, we bumped once, twice, skipping like a stone, then we were whizzing along like a speed boat, salt spray in our faces and nothing but sea ahead.

The Princess Andromeda faded to the size of a white toy boat in the distance, and then it was gone

…

As we raced over the sea, Annabeth and I tried to send an Iris-message to Chiron. We figured it was important we let somebody know what Luke was doing, and we did not know who else to trust.

The wind from the thermos stirred up a nice sea spray that made a rainbow in the sunlight—perfect for an Iris-message—but our connection was still poor. When Annabeth threw a gold drachma into the mist and prayed for the rainbow goddess to show us Chiron, his face appeared all right, but there was some kind of weird strobe light flashing in the background and rock music blaring, like he was at a dance club.

We told him about sneaking away from camp, and Luke and the Princess Andromeda and the golden box for Kronos' remains, but between the noise on his end and the rushing wind and water on our end, I'm not sure how much he heard.

"Percy," Chiron yelled. "you have to watch out for—"

His voice was drowned out by loud shouting behind him—a bunch of voices whooping it up like Comanche warriors.

"What?" I yelled.

"C- my relatives!" Chiron ducked as a plate flew over his head and shattered somewhere out of sight. "Annabeth, you shouldn't have let Percy leave camp! But if you do get the Fleece—"

"Yeah, baby!" somebody behind Chiron yelled. "Woohoooooo!"

The music got cranked up, subwoofers so loud it made our boat vibrate.

"—Miami," Chiron was yelling. "I'll try to keep watch—"

Our misty screen was smashed apart like someone on the other side had thrown a bottle at it, and Chiron was gone.

An hour later we spotted land—a long stretch of beach lined with high rise hotels. The water became crowded with fishing boats and tankers. A coast guard cruiser passed on our starboard side, then turned like it wanted a second look. I guess it is not every day they see a yellow lifeboat with no engine going a hundred knots an hour, manned by three kids.

"That's Virginia Beach!" Annabeth said as we approached the shoreline. "Oh, my gods, how did the Princess Andromeda travel so far overnight? That's like—"

"Five hundred and thirty nautical miles," I said.

She stared at me. "How did you know that?"

"I—I'm not sure."

Annabeth thought for a moment "Percy, what's our position?"

"36 degrees, 44 minutes north, 76 degrees, 2 minutes west," I said immediately. Then I shook my head. "Whoa. How did I know that?"

"Because of your dad," Annabeth guessed. "When you are at sea, you have perfect bearings. That is so cool."

I was not sure about that. I did not want to be a human GPS unit. But before I could say anything, Tyson tapped my shoulder. "Other boat is coming."

I looked back. The coast guard vessel was on our tail now. Its lights were flashing, and it was gaining speed.

"We can't let them catch us," I said, "They'll ask too many questions."

"Keep going into Chesapeake Bay," Annabeth said. "I know a place we can hide."

I did not ask what she meant, or how she knew the area so well. I risked loosening the thermos cap a little more, and a fresh burst of wind sent us rocketing around the northern tip of Virginia Beach into Chesapeake Bay. The coast guard boat fell farther and farther behind. We did not slow down until the shores of the bay narrowed on either side, and I realized we had entered the mouth of a river

I could feel the change from salt water to fresh water. Suddenly I was tired and frazzled, like I was coming down off a sugar high. I did not know where I was anymore, or which way to steer the boat. It was a good thing Annabeth was directing me.

"There," she said. "Past that sandbar."

We veered into a swampy area choked with marsh grass.

I beached the lifeboat at the foot of a giant cypress.

Vine-covered trees loomed above us. Insects chirred in the woods. The air was muggy and hot, and steam curled off the river. Basically, it was not Manhattan, and I did not like it.

"Come on," Annabeth said. "It's just down the bank."

"What is?" I asked.

"Just follow." She grabbed a duffle bag. "And we'd better cover the boat. We don't want to draw attention."

After burying the lifeboat with branches, Tyson and I followed Annabeth along the shore, our feet sinking in red mud. A snake slithered past my shoe and disappeared into the grass.

"Not a good place," Tyson said. He swatted the mosquitoes that were forming a buffet line on his arm.

After another few minutes, Annabeth said, "Here."

All I saw was a patch of brambles. Then Annabeth moved aside a woven circle of branches, like a door, and I realized I was looking into a camouflaged shelter.

The inside was big enough for three, even with Tyson being the third. The walls were woven from plant material, like a Native American hut, but they looked waterproof. Stacked in the corner was everything you could want for a campout—sleeping bags, blankets, an ice chest, and a kerosene lamp. There were demigod provisions, too—bronze javelin tips, a quiver full of arrows, an extra sword, and a box of ambrosia. The place smelled musty, like it had been vacant for a long time.

"A half-blood hideout." I looked at Annabeth in awe. "You made this place?"

"Thalia and I," she said quietly. "And Luke."

That should not have bothered me. I mean, I knew Thalia and Luke had taken care of Annabeth when she was little. I knew the three of them had been runaways together, hiding from monsters, surviving on their own before Grover found them and tried to get them to Half-Blood Hill. But whenever Annabeth talked about the time, she had spent with them, I felt… jealous.

"So…" I said. "You don't think Luke will look for us here?"

She shook her head. "We made a dozen safe houses like this. I doubt Luke even remembers where they are. Or care."

She threw herself down on the blankets and started going through her duffel bag. Her body language made it clear she did not want to talk. And I know I was not going to have any luck prying with Tyson here.

"Um, Tyson?" I said. "Would you mind scouting around outside? Like, for a wilderness convenience store or something?"

"Convenience store?"

"Yeah, for snacks. Powdered donuts or something. Just don't go too far."

"Powdered donuts," Tyson said earnestly. "I will look for powdered donuts in the wilderness." He headed outside and started calling, "Here, donuts!"

Once he was gone, I sat down across from Annabeth. "Hey, I'm sorry about, you know, seeing Luke."

"It's not your fault." She unsheathed her knife and started cleaning the blade with a rag.

"He let us go too easily," I said.

I hoped I had been imagining it, but Annabeth nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. What we overheard him say about a gamble, and 'they'll take the bait'… I think he was talking about us."

"The Fleece is the bait? Or Grover?"

She studied the edge of her knife. "I don't know, Percy. Maybe he wants the Fleece for himself. Maybe he was hoping we will do the hard work and then he can steal it from us. I just can't believe he would poison the tree."

"What did he mean," I asked, "that Thalia would've been on his side?"

"He's wrong."

"You don't sound sure."

Annabeth glared at me, and I started to wish I had not ask her about this while she was holding a knife.

"Percy, you know who you remind me of most? Thalia. You guys are so much alike it is scary. I mean, either you would've been best friends, or you would've strangled each other."

"Is that why you were hoping my father was Zeus?" I asked as I remember Annabeth once saying that along with the hope that my shapeshifting powers was somehow connected to the goddess Hecate.

"That and the fact Zeus already broke the oath I thought he might have broke it again," Annabeth said. "Anyway, Thalia got angry with her dad sometimes. So, do you. Only difference is she might not be quick to stay friends with a Cyclops."

"It wasn't easy," I said. "Even before I knew, I had my rough times staying friends with Tyson. But when my mom brought up the idea of welcoming Tyson to live with us, I knew I would have to get use to seeing him as a brother."

"That's what I mean. You are willing to reconsider what you think of others before turning your back completely on them. Thalia's not so different. Luke's wrong." Annabeth stuck her knife blade into the dirt.

I wanted to ask her about the prophecy Luke mentioned and what it has to do with my sixteenth birthday. I know I made it look like it is not a big deal in front of Luke, but he tossed me for a loop. But I figured she would not tell me. Chiron had made it clear that I was not allowed to hear it until the gods decided otherwise.

"So, what did Luke mean about Cyclopes?" I asked. "He said you of all people—"

"I know what he said. He… he was talking about the real reason Thalia died."

I waited, not sure what to say.

Annabeth drew a shaky breath. "You can never trust a Cyclops, Percy. Six years ago, on the night Grover was leading us to Half-Blood Hill—"

She was interrupted when the door of the hut creaked open. Tyson crawled in.

"Powdered donuts!" he said proudly, holding a pastry box.

Annabeth stared at him. "Where did you get that? We are in the middle of the wilderness. There's nothing around for—"

"Fifty feet," Tyson said. "Monster Donut shop—just over the hill!"

…

This is bad," Annabeth muttered.

We were crouching behind a tree, staring at the donut shop in the middle of the woods. It looked brand new, with brightly lit windows, a parking area, and a little road leading off into the forest, but there was nothing else around, and no cars parked in the lot. We could see one employee reading a magazine behind the cash register. That was it. On the store's marquis, in huge black letters that even I could read, it said:

MONSTER DONUT

A cartoon ogre was taking a bite out of the O in MONSTER. The place smelled good, like fresh-baked chocolate donuts.

"This shouldn't be here," Annabeth whispered. "It's wrong."

"What?" I asked. "It's a donut shop."

"Shhh!"

"Why are we whispering? Tyson went in and bought a dozen. Nothing happened to him."

"Cyclopes are monsters Percy," Annabeth reminded me.

I do not know if I should be angry that she was reminding me that Tyson was a cyclopes and thus, or be glad that she did not say directly that Tyson as a monster—possibly for my sake.

"Aw, c'mon, Annabeth. Monster Donut does not mean monsters! It is a chain. We've got them in New York."

"A chain," she agreed. "And don't you think it's strange that one appeared immediately after you told Tyson to get donuts? Right here in the middle of the woods?"

I thought about it. It did seem a little weird, but, I mean, donut shops were not high on my list of sinister forces.

"I could be a nest," Annabeth explained.

Tyson whimpered. I doubt he understood what Annabeth was saying any better than I did, but her tone was making him nervous. He had plowed through a dozen donuts from his box and was getting powdered sugar all over his face.

"A nest for what?" I asked.

"Haven't you ever wondered how franchise stores pop up so fast?" she asked. "One day there's nothing and then the next day—boom, there's a new burger place or a coffee shop or whatever? First a single store, then two, then four-exact replicas spreading across the country?"

"Um, no. Never thought about it."

"Percy, some of the chains multiply so fast because all their locations are magically linked to the life force of a monster. Some children of Hermes figured how to do it back in the 1950s. They breed—"

She froze.

"What?" I demanded. "They breed what?"

"No—sudden—moves," Annabeth said, like her life depended on it. "Very slowly, turn around."

Then I heard it: a scraping noise, like something large dragging its belly through the leaves.

I turned and saw a rhino-size thing moving through the shadows of the trees. it was hissing, its front half writhing in all different directions. I could not understand what I was seeing at first. Then I realized the thing had multiple necks—at least seven, each topped with a hissing reptilian head. Its skin was leathery, and under each neck it wore a plastic bib that read: I'M A MONSTER DONUT KID!

I took out my ballpoint pen, but Annabeth locked eyes with me—a silent warning. Not yet.

I understood. A lot of monsters have terrible eyesight. It was possible the Hydra might pass us by. but if I uncapped my sword now, the bronze glow would certainly get its attention.

We waited.

The Hydra was only a few feet away. It seemed to be sniffing the ground and the trees like it was hunting for something. Then I noticed that two of the heads were ripping apart a piece of yellow canvas—one of our duffel bags. The thing had already been to our campsite. It was following our scent.

My heart pounded. I had seen a stuffed Hydra-head trophy at camp before, but that did nothing to prepare me for the real thing. Each head was diamond-shaped, like a rattlesnake's, but the mouths were lined with jagged rows of sharklike teeth like an anaconda.

Tyson was trembling. He stepped back and accidentally snapped a twig. Immediately, all seven heads turned toward us and hissed.

"Scatter!" Annabeth yelled. She dove to the right.

I rolled to the left. One of the Hydra heads spat an arc of green liquid that shot past my shoulder and splashed against an elm. The trunk smoked and began to disintegrate. The whole tree toppled straight toward Tyson, who still had not moved petrified by the monster that was now right in front of him.

"Tyson!" I tackled him with all my might, knocking him aside just as the Hydra lunged and the tree crashed on top two of its heads.

The Hydra stumbled backward, yanking its heads free then wailing in outrage at the fallen tree. All seven heads shot acid, and the elm melted into a steaming pool of muck.

"Move!" I told Tyson. I ran to one side and uncapped Riptide, hoping to draw the monster's attention.

It worked.

The sight of celestial bronze is hateful to most monsters. As soon as my glowing blade appeared, the hydra whipped toward it with all its heads hissing and baring its teeth.

The good news: Tyson was momentarily out of danger. The bad news: I was about to be melted into a puddle of goo.

One of the heads snapped at me experimentally. Without thinking, I swung my sword.

"No!" Annabeth yelled.

Too late, I sliced the Hydra's head clean off. It rolled away into the grass, leaving a flailing stump, which immediately stopped bleeding and began to swell like a balloon.

In a matter of seconds, the wounded neck split into two necks, each of which grew a full-size head. Now I was looking at an eight-headed Hydra.

"Percy!" Annabeth scolded. "You just opened another Monster Donut shop somewhere!"

"I'm about to die and you're worried about that? How do we kill it?"

"Fire!" Annabeth said. "We have to have fire!"

Oh, that is right. Hercules defeated this monster on the second task by burning the stumps after cutting off the head. It does not help me, but we had no fire.

I backed toward the river. Then all eight heads fired goo of acid at me. Without thinking, I focus on the most durable animal that popped in my head. I dropped down all four as scales grew over my skin and my arms and legs reformed under my body, lifting my belly up and my mouth extended into U shape snout. I turned into an American Alligator. The Acid shot over my head and it the water and I snapped at one of the Hydra's front legs.

The Hydra roared as it tried to bite back, but Annabeth parried as many heads as possible.

I started twisting and turning my body until I was repeatedly rolling around with the Hydra's foot in my mouth until I manage to sever it from the Hydra.

The hydra roared in pain as it tried to steady itself on its remaining three leg. By the looks of it, unlike the heads, the feet do not grow back with an extra limb.

I tried to go for the other limb, but the Hydra smacked me away with its heads.

"Percy!" Annabeth responded as she tried to come to my aid, only for another head to knock her into the muck.

"No hitting my friend!" Tyson charged in, putting himself between the Hydra and Annabeth. As Annabeth got to her feet, Tyson started smashing at the monster's heads with his fists so fast it reminded me of whack-a-mole game at the arcade. But even Tyson could not fend of the hydra forever.

Fortunately, I got hold of the other front leg in my jaws and started another death roll. I tear apart the leg, and shredded dislocated and removed the other leg

The Hydra forward hitting the ground hard. Its heads snapping and wiggling around. I changed back to human form.

"Nice going Percy," Annabeth said. "If we remove the other legs, it should at least no longer be threat."

"I'll do this with my sword," I said.

"Let me guess: Hydra taste horrible?" Annabeth asked.

"Why do monsters have to taste so horrible?" I complained.

"Hydra blood is supposed to be poisonous. So, count yourself lucky," Annabeth said.

If Annabeth and I were listening, we would notice the strange sound of engine coming our way.

"Fire at will, Captain!"

The ground shook with an earth-shattering BOOM echoed from the river. There was a flash of light, and a column of smoke that knocked Annabeth Tyson and myself to the ground as the Hydra exploded right in front of us, showering us with nasty green slime that vaporized as it hit, the way monster guts tend to do.

"Gross!" screamed Annabeth.

"Steamship!" yelled Tyson.

I stood, coughing from the cloud of gunpowder smoke and air being knocked out of me.

Chugging toward us down the river was the strangest ship I had ever seen. It rode low in the water like a submarine, it decks plated with iron. In the middle was a trapezoid-shaped casemate with slats on each side for canons. A flag waved from the top—a wild boar and spear on a blood red field. Lining the deck were zombies in gray uniforms—dead soldiers with shimmering faces that only partially covered their skulls, like the ghouls I had seen in the Underworld guarding Hades's palace.

The ship was an ironclad. A Civil War battle cruiser. I could just make out the name along the prow in moss-covered letters: CSS Birmingham.

And standing next to the smoking cannon that had almost killed us, wearing full Greek battle armor, was Clarisse.

"Losers," she sneered. "But I suppose I have to help you. Come aboard."

Interesting Animal Fact: That rolling trick I had Percy used as an alligator, is indeed called the Death Roll. Both Crocodiles and Alligators uses it. It helps them shred up and break apart large meat so it be easier to swallow.

I'm also going to mention some key differences between Crocs and Gators other than if you can see their teeth so you don't have to worry about getting a good look at their jaw line

Aligator are freshwater semi-aquatic reptiles with blue-gray coloring, U shape snout and their legs position UNDER their belly for lift. This is mainly because their diet includes mammals that live on land so they need the lift and wide snout to catch them.

Crocodiles are salt-water semiaquatic reptiles with Brown-green coloring, V shape snout, with their legs more position to the side of their bellies, making them more of a Belly dragger on land. This is because their diet is mostly fish and aquatic life so they don't need a wide snout of an alligator to catch it's food and the leg positioning makes them more agile in water.

I only know one place in the world where you can find Gators and Crocs living in the same environment in the wild, and that's a marshy spot in Florida where salt water and fresh water mix together well enough for both species survive in the same area.