"Macaria, wake up." Salt water splashed on my face as Annabeth shook my shoulder and did the exact same thing to Percy. In the distance the sun set behind a city skyline with a beachside highway lined with palm trees, storefronts glowing with red and blue neon, a harbor filled with sailboats and cruise ships.

"Miami, I think," Annabeth said. "But the hippocampi are acting funny." Said creatures had slowed down and whined, swimming around in circles, sniffing the water. They didn't look happy and one of them sneezed.

"This is as far as they'll take us," Percy and Macaria translated. "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own." Frowns went around the group but they thanked Rainbow and his group of friends for the ride. Tyson cried a little. He unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he'd made, which contained his tool kit and a couple of other things he'd salvaged from the Birmingham wreck. He hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he'd picked up on the island, and said good-bye.

The hippocampi nuzzled Macaria and she heard them think "Good luck" as the white manes disappeared into the seat. Macaria took a deep breath and focused ice surfboards formed near all of them.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked and he shook his head.

"It's me." Macaria replied tiredly, still exhausted from whatever her mother had done to her head. "Get on." They did just that and the ice surfboards made locks around their feet so that they wouldn't get blown off my the waves. She tiredly raised her hands and a large wave pushed them forward, they wandered along the cruise line docks and pushed through crowds of people arriving for vacations. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage. Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers, none seemed to notice five kids dripping wet, looking like they had just fought a monster while riding ice surfboards.

Tyson's single eye blurred through the Mist and Grover put on his cap and sneakers. Even the Fleece had transformed from a sheepskin to a red-and-gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery Omega on the pocket. Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the Miami Herald. She cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"

"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.

"Time travels differently." Macaria explained and rubbed her eyes, trying to ignore her aching ears and intense headache. It was around this time when she wondered about her father and other relations, as she hadn't heard from them in a while, she hoped her mother had nothing to do with this lack of contact.

"Thalia's tree must be almost dead," Grover wailed. "We have to get the Fleece back tonight."

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "How are we supposed to do that?" Her voice trembled. "We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered-"

"Percy's fault?!" Annabeth exploded. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest-"

"Stop it!" Percy said.

Clarisse put her head in hands. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration.

"It's Clarisse's quest, it's not her fault it went wrong." Macaria muttered right as Percy looked over at Clarisse.

"Clarisse," He said, "what did the Oracle tell you exactly?"

She looked up, took a deep breath and recited her prophecy:

"You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,

You shall find what you seek and make it your own,

But despair for your life entombed within stone,

And fail without friends, to fly home alone."

"Ouch," Grover mumbled.

"No," Percy said. "No … wait a minute. I've got it." and searched his pockets. "Does anybody have any cash?" All of them shook their head and Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed.

"Cash?" Tyson asked hesitantly. "Like … green paper?"

The Jacksons looked at him. "Yeah."

"Like the kind in duffel bags?"

"Yeah, but we lost those bags days a-g-g-" Percy stuttered to a halt as Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out the Ziploc bag full of cash that Hermes had included in their supplies.

"Tyson!" Percy said. "How did you-"

"Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow," he said. "Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. Sorry." He handed Percy the cash and Macaria counted it, they had at least three hundred dollars, all in fives and tens. Percy ran to the curb and grabbed a taxi that was letting out a family of cruise passengers.

"Clarisse," Percy yelled. "Come on. You're going to the airport. Annabeth, give her the Fleece." He took the Fleece letter jacket from Annabeth, tucked the cash into it's pockets, and put it in Clarisse's arms.

Clarisse said, "You'd let me-"

"It's your quest," Percy said. "We only have enough money for one flight. Besides, I can't travel by air. Zeus would blast me into a million pieces. That's what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help, but you'd have to fly home alone. You have to get the Fleece back safely."

She jumped in the cab. "You can count on me. I won't fail."

"Not failing would be good." The cab peeled out in a cloud of exhaust. The Fleece was on its way.

"Percy," Annabeth said, "that was so-"

"Generous?" Grover offered.

"Kind?" Macaria added.

"Insane," Annabeth corrected. "You're betting the lives of everybody at camp that Clarisse will
get the Fleece safely back by tonight?"

"It's her quest," He said. "She deserves a chance."

"Percy is nice," Tyson said and Macaria smiled at him tiredly.

"Percy is too nice," Annabeth grumbled, though she seemed a little impressed, as he had surprised her.

"Come on," Percy said "Let's find another way home." Macaria hadn't even noticed there was a hand wrapped around her neck until it was too late. She froze as she saw that the other arm had a sword pointed at her brother's throat.

A chill went down her spine as a familiar voice spoke. "Hey, cuz," Luke said to Percy. "Welcome back to the States." He had two large bear-man guards on either side of them. One grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars. The other tried to grab Tyson, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at Luke.

"Percy," Luke said calmly, "tell your giant to back down or I'll have Oreius bash your friends' heads together." Oreius grinned and raised Annabeth and Grover off the ground, kicking and screaming.

"What do you want, Luke?" Percy growled, his eyes flickered to Macaria back and forth and Luke smiled, his scar rippled on the side of his face. He gestured towards the end of the dock, the biggest boat in the port was the Princess Andromeda. Macaria suddenly felt very sick.

"Why, Percy," Luke said, "I want to extend my hospitality, of course." Luke dragged Macaria abroad as the beat twins herded the rest. The group was thrown down on the deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed into the air. A dozen of Luke's assorted goons-snake people, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armor-had gathered to watch them get some "hospitality."

"And so, the Fleece," Luke mused. "Where is it?" He looked at them, prodded Percy's shirt with the tip of his sword at Grover's jeans.

"Hey!" Grover yelled. "That's real goat fur under there!"

"Sorry, old friend." Luke smiled. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah,
little nature quest."

"Blaa-ha-ha!" Grover protested. "Some old friend!"

"Maybe you didn't hear me." Luke's voice was dangerously calm. "Where-is-the-Fleece?"

"Not here," Percy said and Macaria poked him into the ribs but he continued. "We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up."

Luke's eyes narrowed. "You're lying. You couldn't have …" His face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. "Clarisse?"

Macaria and Percy nodded.

"You trusted … you gave …"

"Yeah." They said.

"Agrius!"

The bear giant flinched. "Y-yes?"

"Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast.'"

"But, boss-"

"Do it!" Luke screamed. "Or I'll feed you to the drakon!" The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursed in Ancient Greek, gripped his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. The rest of Luke's crew looked uneasy. Maybe they'd never seen their boss so unhinged before.

"You've been toying with us all along," Percy started. "You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it."

Luke scowled. "Of course, you idiot! And you've messed everything up!"

Percy looked over at Macaria and she realized what his plan was. "Traitor!" She yelled and dug out a gold drachma out of her pocket and threw it at Luke who dodged it easily. The coin sailed into the spray of rainbow-colored water.

Macaria closed her eyes for a moment and prayed, she was sure Percy must've thought the same thing: O goddess, accept my offering.

"You tricked all of us!" Percy yelled at Luke. "Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALF-BLOOD!" Behind Luke, the fountain began to shimmer, but Percy uncapped Riptide, to draw the attention away from the fountain.

Luke just sneered. "This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your puny little sword, or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."

"Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?"

"I did, of course," he snarled. "I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus."

"Chiron had nothing to do with it?"

"Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts."

"You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?"

Luke raised his sword. "You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece… once I was done with it."

There was a moment of hesitation from Percy. "You were going to heal Kronos," He said.

"Yes! The Fleece's magic would've sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven't stopped us, Percy. You've only slowed us down a little."

"And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up-all to help Kronos destroy the
gods."

Luke gritted his teeth. "You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"

"Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you."

"What audience?" Then his eyes narrowed. He looked behind him and his goons did the same. They gasped and stumbled back. Above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus, Tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They sat in stunned silence, watching them.

"Well," said Dionysus dryly, "some unplanned dinner entertainment."

"Mr. D, you heard him," Percy said. "You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault."

Mr. D sighed. "I suppose not."

"The Iris-message could be a trick," Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.

"I fear not," Mr. D said and looked with distaste at Tantalus. "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games."

Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It didn't bolt away from him. He lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world. "I got it!" he cackled.

"We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus," Mr. D announced.

Tantalus looked stunned. "What? But-"

"You may return to the Underworld. You are dismissed."

"No! But-Nooooooooooo!"

As he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger and tried to bring it to his mouth. But it was too late. He disappeared and the cheeseburger fell back onto its plate. The campers exploded into cheers. Luke bellowed with rage. He slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done.

"Kronos was right, Percy. You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced."

One of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, made a circle around them, the brass tips of their spears bristled.

Luke smiled at Percy. "You'll never leave this boat alive."