The next few days, weren't the greatest, which must've been Tantalus' plan. Tyson was moved into the Poseidon cabin, and giggled to himself every fifteen seconds saying "Percy is my brother? Macaria is my sister?"

"Aw, Tyson." Percy said. "It's not that simple." But he was in heaven, which was rather nice. If you asked Macaria's opinion, Tyson and his siblings were known for being mostly Poseidon's children. But having another family was nice to have, even if it wasn't as close as Percy. But the comments of the campers didn't stop, though no one bothered speaking to her about it, but it was enough to hear about it from Percy. Who, in Macaria's opinion, was too upset about having a 'monster' as a brother.

"He's not my real brother!" Was what he protested, which always received a punch to the side, since Tyson was never around for it. "He's more like a half brother on the monstrous side of the family. Like … a half-brother twice removed, or something."

Though the comment didn't do much. Annabeth and Percy suggested that they should team up for the chariot race to take their minds off of the problems. Though since Macaria was 'officially-unoffically' apart of the Hermes cabin, she didn't have much say in that department. Which meant, she was left off, once again. Honestly, it would be nice to have another sibling, who had least had to deal with the same thing she did. 'Maybe Hades could have some random kids.' Macaria thought with a smile and paused, thinking about those strange kids the brother-sister duo from before. 'No, not likely.'

Macria spent her time either with Tyson or with the various nymphs and centaurs. The nymphs were more likely to appear by her side, which was fine, they were stuck to her like glue. Though the answer about why was confusing.

"Lost and alone. Stuck in the unknown. A lonely man met a beautiful woman, too enchanting and mysterious. The woman disappeared into the ground and what was left was you. No one speaks about her, they believe she's too dangerous, to speak of. But she had many admirers, that will now be passed onto you." Was the current riddle that made Macaria's skin crawl, it didn't get her any closer to the truth.

"Sometimes I wonder if I'm even mortal." Macaria said, which left her with complete silence and she felt her heart feel heavy. They never explained everything to her and chances were, she wasn't going to find out for a long time.

A few mornings had passed since that day and Macaria spent her time with Percy and Annabeth, who sat by the canoe lake as the sketched chariot designs when some campers from Aphrodite's cabin walked by and asked if Percy needed to borrow some eyeliners for his eye. "Or sorry, eyes." They walked away as they laughed and a wave of water splashed over them and they ran away.

"Nice sis." Percy said and Macaria sent a smile over to him.

"Just ignore them, Percy. It isn't your fault you have a monster for a brother." Annabeth said.

"He's not my brother!" Percy snapped. "And he's not a monster, either!"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "Hey, don't get mad at me! And technically, he is a monster."

"Well you gave him permission to enter the camp."

"Because i t was the only way t o save your life! I mean … I'm sorry, Percy, I didn't expect

Poseidon to claim him. Cyclopes are the most deceitful, treacherous-" Annabeth started.

"He is not! What have you got against Cyclopes, anyway?" Percy asked and Annabeth's ears turned pink.

"Just forget it," she said. "Now, the axle for this chariot-"

"You're treating him like he's this horrible thing," Percy said. "He saved my life."

Annabeth threw down her pencil and stood. "Then maybe you should design a chariot with him."

"Maybe I should."

"Fine!"

"Fine!" She stormed off.

"That didn't help Percy." Macaria said and he glared at her. "You getting mad at me won't solve anything."

"Yeah, I know." Percy grumbled and Silena Beauregard, one of the girls from Aphrodite's cabin gave Percy his first riding lesson on a pegasus. She explained that there was only one immortal winged horse named Pegasus, who still wandered free somewhere in the skies, but over the eons he'd sired a lot of children, none quite so fast or heroic, but all named after the first and greatest. The pegasi adored her as well so Macaria also convinced Silena to let her join in.

It was too easy to be on them, as Macaria soared into the sky with ease. Though it was the opposite for Tyson, who wanted to ride the 'chicken ponies' too, but they were skittish whenever he approached. It took for Macaria to fell them it was alright, for Tyson to get on for a few minutes. He was sad he culdn't be on them longer, but it was enough for them.

Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin were the only other camper who didn't mind him since he always worked with them in forges. So he took Tyson down to the armory to teach him about metalworking. He said he'd have Tyson crafting magic items like a master in no time.

Whenever Tyson was with Beckendorf, Macaria would watch Percy at the arena with Apollo's cabin. Percy was almost as good as Luke, who people always compared him with. Percy easily thrashed the Apollo guys, but he really wanted to test himself against Ares and Athena. Though he was still terrible at archery, and made a marble bust of Poseifon which wasn't bad.

Macaria would work alone or with Percy, as she climbed the climbing wall full lava and eathquake mode. The lava didn't even sting, something that was the same as last year. Most of the on ground work, Macaria did good at. Though climbing was definitely her favorite. Other than that, she spent time on border patrol. Even though Tantalus had insisted we forget trying to protect the camp, some of the campers had quietly kept it up, working out a schedule during our free times.

Border patrol didn't last long because the dryads would come and grab her, as they sang to the dying pine tree. The satyrs brought their reed pipes and played nature magic songs, for a while the pine needles seemed to get fuller. The flowers on the hill smelled a little sweeter and the grass looked greener. But as soon as the music stopped, the sickness crept back into the air. The whole hill seemed to be infected, dying from the poison that had sunk into the tree's roots.

But nevertheless, Macaria spent her time in the woods, they always made her want to cry inside, because they were so injured. She still slept in the woods, which seemed to help the area a little. The nymphs would drag her to one area to another, but being her father's daughter, she could feel the slow decay on the woods. Whenever it was really bad, the nymphs wouldn't let her leave, they would just stay there.

The night before the race, Macaria watched as Tyson and Percy finished their chariot. Which was very nice. Tyson had made the metal parts in the armory's forges. Percy sanded the wood and put the carriage together. It was blue and white, with wave designs on the sides and a trident painted on the front. After all that work, Tyson would ride shotgun with Percy, though the horses wouldn't like it and his extra weight would slow them down.

The next morning, Percy told her about a dream with Grover in it. Apparently Grover was in a wedding dress and was in the Sea of Monsters, which was somewhere off the coast of Florida. He apparently had a empathic link, which was pretty good. It seemed things only went down hill from thre.

The morning was hot and humid. Fog lay low on the ground like sauna steam. Millions of birds were roosting in the trees-fat gray-and-white pigeons, except they didn't coo like regular

pigeons. They made this annoying metallic screeching sound like submarine radars. They followed her as she walked by, Macaria only guessed that they were monsters.

The racetrack had been built in a grassy field between the archery range and the woods.

Hephaestus's cabin had used the bronze bulls, which were completely tame since they'd had their heads smashed in, to plow an oval track in a matter of minutes. There were rows of stone steps for the spectators- Tantalus, the satyrs, a few dryads, and all of the campers who weren't participating. Mr. D didn't show. He never got up before ten o'clock.

"Right!" Tantalus announced as the teams began to assemble. A naiad had brought him a big

platter of pastries, and as Tantalus spoke, his right hand chased a chocolate eclair across the judge's table. "You all know the rules. A quarter-mile track. Twice around to win. Two horses per chariot. Each team will consist of a driver and a fighter. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anybody!" Tantalus smiled at them like they were all bad children. "Any killing will result in harsh punishment. No s'mores at the campfire for a week! Now ready your chariots!"

Beckendorf led the Hephaestus team onto the track. They had a sweet ride made of bronze and

iron-even the horses, which were magical automatons like the Colchis bulls. I had no doubt that their chariot had all kinds of mechanical traps and more fancy options than a fully loaded Maserati. The Ares chariot was bloodred, and pulled by two grisly horse skeletons. Clarisse climbed aboard with a batch of javelins, spiked balls, caltrops, and a bunch of other nasty toys. Apollo's chariot was trim and graceful and completely gold, pulled by two beautiful palominos. Their fighter was armed with a bow, though he had promised not to shoot regular pointed arrows at the opposing drivers. Hermes's chariot was green and kind of old-looking, as if it hadn't been out of the garage in years. It didn't look like anything special, but it was manned by the Stoll brothers.

That left two chariots: One driven by Annabeth and one by Percy. Before it started, Annabeth and Percy seemed like they were having a serious conversation, which must've been about the dreams he had. "Charioteers!" Tantalus called. "To your mark!" There were even more 'pigeons' in the trees, which were screeching like crazy, and made the whole orest rustle. Though no one else seemed to pay any attention, their beaks glinted strangely and their eyes were shinner than other birds.

Percy took the reins, once he got the horses together, and maneuvered the chariot to the starting line. He gave Tyson a ten-foot pole. The other chariots lined up, and even more pigeons gathered in the woods. They screeched so loud that the campers in the stands were starting to take notice and glanced nervously at the trees, which shivered under the weight of the birds. Tantalus didn't look concerned, but he did have to speak up to be heard over the noise."Charioteers!" he shouted. "Attend your mark!" He waved his hand and the starting signal dropped. The chariots roared to life. Hooves thundered against the dirt. The crowd cheered.

Almost immediately there was a loud nasty crack, where the Apollo chariot had flipped over, because the Hermes chariot had rammed into it, though it couldn't be seen if it was on purpose or by mistake. The rideres were thrown free, but their panicked horses dragged the golden chariot diagonally across the track. The Hermes team, the Stoll brothers, laughed at their good luck but it wasn't for long. The Apollog horses crashed into theirs, and the Hermes chariot flipped too, and left a pile of broken wood and four reared horses in the dust.

Two chariots down in the first twenty feet. The Posedion chariot was making good time, as they pulled ahead of Ares, but Annabeth's chariot was way ahead of them. She made her turn around the first post, her javelin man grinned and waved "See ya!"

The Hephaestus chariot gained on the Poseion chariot. "Sorry, Percy!" he yelled. Three sets of balls and chains shot straight toward their wheels. They would've wrecked them completely if Tyson hadn't whacked them aside with a quick swipe of his pole. He gave the Hephaestus chariot a good shove and sent them skittering sideways while they pulled ahead. Macaria looked up and saw that the pigeons had risen from the trees, and spiraled like a huge tornado as they head towards the track.

The Poseidon chariot made their first turn, as the wheels creaked underneath and the chariot threatened to tip. But they were only ten feet behind Annabeth. Annabeth's fighter wasn't smiling now. He pulled a javelin from his collection and took aim at Percy. Macaria dodged as a pigeon dive bombed someone near her. Her ring almost immediately turned gold as a large black scythe formed in her hands.

Macaria swamped at them, as some of them turn to ash. There wer thousands of them and there was a big dark pulse from the scythe and a buch turned into black ash. It seemed that it was enough to make them leave her alone, but she went off to help the others, as the campers dived to get out of her away.

The birds slashed at any exposed flesh, and drove everyone into a panic. Their eyes were beady and evil looking, with beaks made of bronze and razor sharp. "Stymphalian birds!" She heard Annabeth yell. "Heroes, to arms!" She yelled and Percy managed to get some with Riptide and they exploded into dust and feathers.

Macaria felt as though she was killing hundreds with every wave of impact, but there must've been millions of them. The Athena campers were calling for shields. The archers from Apollo's cabin brought out their bows and arrows, ready to slay the menace, but with so many campers mixed in with the birds, it wasn't safe to shoot.

The longer it went on, the more it seemed to go into chaos. Down at the track, the chariots were in flames. Wounded campers ran in every direction, with birds shredding their clothes and pulling out their hair, while Tantalus chased breakfast pastries around the stands, every once in a while yelling, "Everything's under control! Not to worry.'"

Black mist started to form, not around her, around the campers. It pushed them away from her and Macaria took a deep breath. The air was filled with violins and a bunch of guys moaned in Italian. The demon pigeons went nuts and started to fly in circles, they ran into each other like they wanted to pash their brains out. They abandoned the track although and flew skyward in a huge dark wave. Something in Macaria snapped as she pressed her hands up. In an instant, a furious tornado of black flames shot from her hands and they burst into flames.

Macaria felt her legs get out as she sat down on the ground. The camp was saved, but the wreckage wasn't pretty. Most of the chariots had been completely destroyed. Almost everyone was wounded, bleeding from multiple bird pecks. The kids from Aphrodite's cabin were screaming because their hairdos had been ruined and their clothes pooped on. All eyes were on her and Macaria felt a shiver down her spine as she looked down at her hands, the ring normal and the scythe gone.

She was getting stronger.