The Fates Want Change

by FMPtrumpets

Percy and a few others go back in time to the Winter Solstice meeting where the bolt was stolen, set during the beginning-ish of Son of Neptune. Includes Romans. Original, I know, but hey, each author has their own unique way of doing it at least. (Re-titled: formerly reading the series: book 1)

32. Tyson Plays with Fire

Younger kids with an older self. kids with no younger self. The Seven.

Normal talking, telepathy

Sadly, I do not and probably never will own Percy Jackson and associates. I really, really wish I did, though.

---

"I hate cliff-hangers." Leo deadpanned.

"Then it's a good thing we're not stopping, isn't it?" Rachel asked, plucking the book from Perseus' hand and sitting down with it before anybody else could volunteer to read.

"What could be attacking?" Connor asked his group of demigods quietly, concerned.

Beckendorf bit his lip, but didn't have an answer for them. There were many monsters that could be attacking. The fact that a group of demigods had gone out to chase it off was what concerned him, normally if a monster came up to the barrier they just kept an eye on it but otherwise let it be, as long as they weren't aware of any demigods incoming with their protector. For them to have to drive it off...

Chapter four: Tyson Plays with Fire

"Oh, this already sounds interesting." Rachel interrupted herself to laugh.

"Good thing he's immune to fire." Percy muttered, shuddering as he remembered seeing that bull try it's hardest to turn Tyson into a pile of ash.

"Is this when you finally realize he's not human?" Thalia asked, teasing.

Percy turned red. "Shut up!" He would forever deny that he whined.

(Mythologically speaking... ladies, it's bulls.)

Annabeth grimaced. "You don't have good experiences with either of those, do you?" She asked. Every time he saw a trio of old ladies, something bad happened. The Fates, the Sisters... bad things for Percy.

Bulls... he never came away from those encounters unscathed.

"I don't like bulls, either." Theseus assured his brother.

After the first book, everybody else could understand where his aversion to trios of old ladies and bulls came from. And that was only after one book!

(Last summer... Half-Blood Hill.)

"Very impressively, as well." Ares said, still (reluctantly) impressed with that. He had no training, no experience, he didn't even know the Minotaur existed until that moment, he had no weapon and he defeated it with his bare hands.

Literally.

(This time what... breathe fire, too.)

"That's not good." Was all Hephaestus and Beckendorf had to say on the matter. Leo just looked apprehensive. He wondered how the Bulls came to be at Camp, but at the moment they were attacking.

"Why do those sound familiar?" Poseidon asked slowly, turning to glare at Hephaestus.

"Uh... That's because they sound like the Colchis bulls. I wondered where they went." He muttered the last part quietly to Ares, who had to stifle his laughter.

"Is there a reason why two of your creations are currently attacking camp?" Sally asked evenly, staring at the blacksmith.

He shifted. Now he knew why Zeus looked so uncomfortable every time he was faced with the angry mortal woman.

"I don't keep track of them all... I don't know why they're attacking." He said, uncomfortable.

Her eyes narrowed. "I think that's a situation that needs to be fixed, don't you?" She asked, sounding every inch the mother who's child was just caught misbehaving.

"As soon as possible." He nodded, not even thinking of disagreeing. Hestia covered her mouth and tried to hide her amusement.

(As soon as... life was safer.)

"Well, there were certainly less rampaging bulls." Katie commented with a laugh.

"I think they just wanted to get away from Percy." Annabeth smirked. Percy made a face but didn't bother to protest.

They didn't want to tell him, and he had kind of threatened them with the possible destruction of their only eye.

(They didn't even...-drachma payment.)

"Good thing, because I didn't have it." Annabeth commented. "And we were a little too busy for me to ask Chiron for money."

"They really were desperate to get away from Percy, weren't they?" Paul asked in amusement.

(They just left... gym clothes.)

"I've seen campers come into camp with less." Grover shrugged.

"Yeah, but how many of them were walking into a fight with two large mechanical, fire-breathing bulls?" Percy asked.

"Most of them are being chased by something, though." Chiron pointed out.

("Oh, man," said... on the hill.)

"Wasn't going well, was it?"

"Not from what we saw it wasn't." Annabeth shook her head. Clarisse scowled.

(What worried me... booties whooped.)

"Excuse me?" Clarisse thought that her patrol getting beaten was cause for a lot of concern. She chose not to say anything about the way that was worded, either.

"I was worried about them, but I was more worried about..." Percy paused to let Perseus keep reading, motioning for him to do so, having an idea of where the book was going with the last statement.

Reyna pursed her lips, but didn't say anything, despite how much she wanted to gloat that a Roman squad would have those bulls dealt with in no time. She'd only read about the Colchis bulls in passing, so she honestly couldn't say how well a Roman would do against them.

(What worried me... the pine tree.)

"That." Percy finished his earlier statement and watched as everybody who wasn't there that summer sat in shock.

"Ok, I suppose that is a bit more concerning then us." Clarisse admitted. Especially since it was supposed to be impossible.

"That's why Chiron called to tell you not to come that summer." Sally said softly. Percy never had given her the full story for this summer, just that there had been a quest to save Grover and find the Fleece, and the Fleece brought Thalia back.

(That shouldn't have been possible.)

"No, it shouldn't be." Zeus muttered, still in shock over the possibility that something was wrong with the tree crafted from his daughter's dying spirit. Obviously she was alright now, she was alive and well, but...

(The camp's magic... doing it anyway.)

"It couldn't be because they were created by Hephaestus, could it?" Gwen asked hopefully.

"No, the boundary would still keep them out unless they were summoned or invited in." Chiron shook his head, looking worried.

Percy frowned. "Then why did they keep Tyson out?" He whispered to Annabeth.

She looked surprised, but bit her lip in thought. "Maybe because of his age? His power still hasn't fully matured, so he couldn't force his way through like the bulls could." She suggested. She resolved to ask Poseidon about it later.

(One of the ... and familiar.)

"Border patrol? Since when have we had one of those?" Connor asked, blinking in shock.

"Not since before Annabeth and Luke came to camp." Chiron said grimly, and everybody else understood what he was saying. Thalia's sacrifice made border patrol unnecessary, as her sacrifice empowered the camp's magical boundary lines.

"Something happened to the tree." Annabeth said grimly. That was the only explanation for why the bulls were able to go where they wanted, without regard for the magical boundary line that protected them.

Only half the group was paying attention when Luke shifted uncomfortably.

(Border patrol?... a border patrol.)

"We used to. It is only recently we have not needed it." Chiron repeated, his gaze turned towards Thalia again. They had actually continued with patrol for roughly a month after she 'died', not knowing the full extent of what Zeus had done when he connected her spirit to the magical boundaries.

It was only until they watched a monster try to get in, and fail, that they considered something more had happened that night, and he consulted with Apollo and Hermes, the two most likely to actually tell him.

("It's Clarisse,"... to help her.")

Clarisse scowled at Percy, who ducked apologetically.

He could have probably handled that better, after all.

(Normally, rushing... my 'to do' list.)

"We really didn't get along back then." Percy shrugged when he saw the looks he was getting. They got along much better these days.

"Nope." Clarisse shook her head. "I probably would have just left him there." She admitted.

"No you wouldn't have." Annabeth rolled her eyes.

(She was one of... my head to a toilet.)

Clarisse scowled, especially when the Hermes group and Leo started laughing at the reminder.

"With very amusing results." Jason smirked, remembering that description as well.

"I still don't understand how you didn't start putting it together right then." Gwen admitted. "I mean, water powers! How could you have not put that together to start figuring out who his father was?"

Annabeth, Beckendorf, and Luke glanced at each other. Luke, of course, had already known about it since Kronos told him. "I guess we just didn't want to see it." Beckendorf said slowly.

(She was also... hated my guts.)

"I'd say it was a bit more then a 'disagreement'." Chiron chuckled briefly, enjoying Percy's habit of understating things.

"He was asking for it." Percy shrugged. Clarisse nodded in agreement while Clarisse looked like she didn't know which side to take in that argument. Ares glared at Percy for the reminder, but glanced at his father and didn't say anything, not wanting to draw attention to himself or remind his father of his part in the Bolt being stolen.

(Still, she was in... bulls charged.)

Chiron shook his head in disappointment.

"They were fine until the bulls started crossing the boundary and we realized they could breathe fire." Clarisse growled, not liking the disappointed look on her teacher's face.

Chiron frowned, but conceded that those circumstances would have shaken anybody. But still, they were going to have to do more mental exercises. They could not afford to lose it in the middle of a battle like that!

(The grass was... fiery Mohawk.)

"That's embarrassing." Leo muttered, trying not to laugh at the picture that presented. This wasn't the time, place, or crowd for that.

"I think that was an Aphrodite kid, actually." Clarisse muttered.

"You got one of my brothers to put on armor and go out and fight?" Piper asked, shocked. Did they have any idea what it took for her to do that?

"Things were different in the Aphrodite cabin under Selena." Clarisse smiled sadly at the thought of her best friend. "They still sat out for a lot of physical activities and games, but they actually trained without too much protest, and they fought when needed."

It was only when Drew took charge that things changed into what they were when Piper first arrived.

(Clarisse's own armor... spear shaft,)

"And third degree burns." Will spoke up, glaring at her. He knew why she'd kept fighting, and even why she waited until all her campers had been seen to first before she would admit to being hurt, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Really?" Reyna asked, looking at her in interest. To keep fighting and trying to rally the troops with a broken spear and severe burns? She would fight with Clarisse at her back any day.

"The battle wasn't over." Clarisse said gruffly, but enjoyed the looks she was getting, especially the proud glint in Chris's eyes.

(the other end... bull's shoulder.)

"It was barely slowing it down." She scowled at the reminder. It had been the only chink in that thing's armor where she thought she could do some damage, and it barely fazed it. Needless to say, she had not been impressed when she noticed that.

"Apologies." Hephaestus offered. "I designed them to be unstoppable." He shrank back when he saw the rather... unimpressed look on Sally Blofis' face.

"Dad... you need to keep better track of your creations." Beckendorf sighed, shaking his head, exasperated. Percy and Nico nodded in agreement.

(I uncapped my... "We need him.")

"I still hadn't realized that Percy didn't know." She shrugged.

"It truly is amazing." Amphitrite muttered, amazed at how oblivious he and his father could both be.

(I stared at her... he can't-")

"That's when I realized he hadn't noticed yet." Annabeth snorted. After all, why else would Percy try telling her right now that he was mortal?

("Percy, do you... to a crisp.")

"I'm sorry? How do you fight mechanical bulls with sunscreen?" Piper asked, shocked. She was half tempted to tell them not to bother with anything Medea had to offer, but she didn't.

"The bulls generate so much heat, that without protection from that, we couldn't even get near them." Clarisse shrugged. That was mostly why her patrol was having so much trouble with them, after all. That, and they'd completely lost it when the bulls started charging back and forth over the boundary line without pause.

"They make sunscreen that strong?" Rachel asked, looking confused.

"Medea does." Annabeth shrugged.

"Not anymore." Leo muttered, rolling his eyes. After the way they burst out of her place, she probably wasn't going to be making things like that for a while.

("Medea's what?")

"She was sounding like a crazy person." Percy shrugged and took the punch to his arm with a pout and baby-seal eyes.

"I was not sounding crazy." She rolled her eyes.

"You were talking about sunscreen when there were giant mechanical bulls rampaging on Half-Blood Hill." Percy deadpanned after his moment.

There was laughter from the demigods while Poseidon hid his grin and Aphrodite tried her best to destroy Ares' ears with her quiet squeal at the moment between the two. They already sounded like an old married couple after a long, happy marriage.

(Annabeth rummaged... stand at home.)

"Now you really sound crazy." Clarisse commented lightly.

"Coconut scent? What do you need that one for?" Piper asked, even more confused now then when she said she wanted sunscreen.

"The bulls like the scent. It's the only thing that can calm then down when they start a rampage." Hephaestus answered. And he wasn't about to tell anybody why he'd made them that way.

(Why didn't I bring... more confused.)

"It happens a lot." Percy shrugged.

"Agreed." All of Annabeth's closer friends agreed while Thalia snorted.

Annabeth just glared around until Tyson patted her on the back gently (for him, anyway), sending her forward with a grunt. She just shot him a thankful smile at his show of support while rolling her shoulders.

("Look, I don't... Tyson get fried.")

"He won't be." Most of the crowd said, amused by this point.

"This is just sad." Leo muttered, shaking his head. Piper rolled her eyes and hit him lightly over the head. "Hey!" He pouted, holding onto his head as if it hurt. In reality, he barely felt it. She just rolled her eyes again.

("Percy-"

"Tyson, stay back.")

"You're going to need him." Poseidon noted. With his immunity to fire, and superior strength, he could stop the bulls.

He might be the only one there who could stop the bulls before anybody died.

"I know, I just didn't want him getting hurt. I still hadn't realized he wasn't human, remember?" Percy reminded the room.

Clarisse snorted. "How could we forget?" She asked, rolling her eyes. It was still painful to listen to.

(I raised my sword. "I'm going in.")

"Wow, talk about dramatic." Piper muttered.

"He can be, sometimes." Annabeth laughed while Percy turned red and grumbled something incoherently.

(Tyson tried to... phalanx formation.)

"Hmm... that's a good idea, if you were facing anything but the Colchis Bulls." Athena reasoned.

Hephaestus nodded in agreement. "They will just run right through you."

Clarisse gritted her teeth. "Yeah, I figured that out, later." She muttered.

(It was a good... porcupine quills.)

"I love how you describe things sometimes, you know that?" Thalia asked Percy dryly, rolling her eyes.

"What? That's what it looked like!" Percy defended himself.

"That is a deadly wall of sharp, pointy objects, and you compare it to a porcupine." Clarisse agreed with Thalia, who made a face, but didn't comment. Percy blinked, shrugged, and nodded.

"Unbelievable." Clarisse muttered while Nico laughed. Now he kind of wanted to hear Percy's thoughts on the Fifth Cohort's formation during the War Games.

(Unfortunately, Clarisse... helmets on fire.)

"They didn't think to take off the helmets?" Somebody deadpanned.

"They clearly weren't thinking." Annabeth huffed. She'd gotten them to calm down long enough to take them off before any harm had been done, thankfully. Luckily the helmet itself was rather thick, and they'd been mostly protected from the flame, even if their heads may have been a little heated for a bit.

(Annabeth ran toward... the monster.)

Hephaestus winced. "Good plan, but that's only going to work for so long before you make it angry." He warned. And when they got angry, they would start to truly rampage while setting their sights on the targets they could see.

Annabeth grimaced. "Yeah, realized that." She said. Luckily Percy was able to get Clarisse out of the way in time, even if his execution could have been a bit better.

(The other bull... seen me yet.)

"Which is why you shouldn't say anything." Clarisse grumbled, glaring.

"I said I was sorry, ok?" Percy muttered, slipping down in his seat.

(The bull moved... so big.)

"Size is deceiving." Athena said wisely.

"Tell me about it." Percy muttered, thinking of everything he'd fought over the years that should not have been so fast, by all rights because of their sheer size.

(Its metal hide... of polished silver.)

Hazel hummed in interest, wondering idly what cut those gems were, and just how pure the silver was. If this thing was made of gems and silver, and who knew just what it's hide was made of...

She should be able to handle those bulls easily enough.

(When it opened... blasted out.)

"That's really, really hot." Leo commented, blinking.

"Can you get it that hot?" Jason asked Leo curiously.

"Yup." Leo shrugged. "It's exhausting, though." The hotter it was, the worse.

("Hold the line!"... her warriors.)

"They're going to run right through you." Reyna warned. A good fighter, maybe. But she didn't seem to realize when to back down and come at it from a different perspective. But that could be taught.

Clarisse turned slightly red as she realized it for herself. "Yeah, they probably would have." She sighed and sat back, mentally berating herself.

Those bulls were huge, heavy, and hot. They were also coming straight at her and her six comrades like freight trains without a braking system. There was no way the seven of them would have been able to stop that, maybe if all of her patrol unit had been made up of her siblings, but... Instead it was a mix of hers and Aphrodite kids.

She couldn't have done it even if she'd been able to muster all ten.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Nobody died, and it was a decision made in the heat of the moment." Chris tried to pull her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, learn from it and move on." Percy quirked a grin and a shrug at her. "We all made mistakes up there." He admitted.

(Whatever else... she was brave.)

"That's one word for it." Athena muttered. Another word was stupidly stubborn. She wasn't considering the safety of her campers. They were just going to be run over at this rate.

"Sometimes, it's best to get out of the way and come up with something else." Hestia murmured. Direct conflict wasn't her style, she was a master of knowing when to back down and come at it from the side. Ares snorted, but didn't say anything.

He was very interested in hearing how his daughter was handling this, after all.

(She was a big... her father's.)

Chris scowled at Percy, but Clarisse held him back when he went to stand. She knew it was true. That was just one of the many traits she got from her father.

"Huh." Piper muttered. "I think her eyes have softened." She said, looking between the two Clarisse's.

It was true. Clarisse's eyes still held that hint of cruelty she got from her father, while her older self's eyes looked softer. Not really kinder, but not as cruel, at least. If Percy didn't have any self-preservation skills, he might have said that Chris was the reason for it.

(She looked like... Greek battle armor,)

Chris only looked vaguely mollified, which Clarisse rolled her eyes at.

Clarisse looked between the two of them curiously, still trying to understand how the two of them could have gotten together.

(but I didn't see... that bull's charge.)

"Maybe if you had more campers." Percy said, frowning. "Or if you were up against something that wasn't charging like a freight train and could cook you just by being nearby."

She scowled. "Yeah, maybe." She grumbled.

(Unfortunately, at... in finding Annabeth.)

"Yup." Annabeth muttered. "Or that could happen first."

"Now what?"

(It turned, wheeling... unprotected side.)

"Oh, no."

"That's not good."

"Turn around, turn around." Chris muttered, gripping Clarisse's hand hard. She winced, but didn't protest. Clarisse bit her lip, but didn't say anything. Aphrodite noticed, though, and laid a hand on her shoulder.

("Behind you!" I yelled. "Look out!")

"No! You idiot!" Clarisse burst out. "Don't say anything! You're just going to distract me!"

Percy winced. "I know..." He paused. "This was a bit of a Catch-22. If I didn't say anything, you would have probably beaten the first bull, only to get run over by the second bull. I did say something, and you got distracted and got run over anyway..." He trailed off muttering about things he could have done differently.

Clarisse sighed while everyone else stared at him in surprise. "No... you did the best you could." She said reluctantly. "I was the one who was out of line about it after this." Percy blinked at her, but accepted her unspoken apology.

(I shouldn't have said anything,)

"Catch-22." Clarisse repeated with a sigh.

"I hate them." Percy agreed. The other demigods nodded their own agreement.

(because all I... off their arms.)

Jaws dropped at the confirmation of just how hot that was.

"How have none of you cooked yet?" Gwen asked in shock.

"Like I said, we couldn't get close." Clarisse shrugged. "That's why we were having such a hard time with them."

"Were they alright?" Apollo asked his son, who winced.

"Yeah, they had pretty severe burns, though. And the straps and metal of their gauntlets and stuff also melted, we had to surgically remove the melted metal before we could even see how severe the burns were, and start to heal them." Will informed the room, who all winced. Luckily their healing methods were much quicker, and less painless, then what they could do in a mortal hospital. Granted, they were still in the infirmary for about a week, and it was still painful, but it wasn't as bad.

(They dropped their... Clarisse for the kill.)

"Oh, that's nice." Clarisse grumbled.

"Well, to be fair, I don't think they're doing much thinking right now." Will said with a grimace, having been one of the ones to treat them, he felt safe in saying that.

(I lunged forward... freight-trained past.)

Chris glanced at Clarisse, noticed the stubborn set to her face, and rolled his eyes before nudging her in the side. She glanced at him and sighed.

"Thank you." She said shortly, irritated. Chris beamed and kissed her temple while tightening his arm around her waist for a moment. She rolled her eyes but let it and the warmth in her chest from his actions happen.

"You're welcome." Percy decided not to raise a fuss about it, and glared everybody else into submission. He knew how much she hated having to thank anybody for things.

(I gave it a... a frozen burrito.)

"Dang, that's hot!" Leo blinked. He could get that hot, of course, but to maintain that as a body temperature? That would probably be exhausting. Well, maybe not as exhausting now as it would have been... say five months ago, but still exhausting.

"How long would it have taken?" Chris asked, tilting his head.

"Maybe twenty seconds?" Percy guessed after a few moments. The microwave always took a few moments to heat up before it started to actually cook the food, these bulls wouldn't have taken that long.

"Ok, that's really hot."

"You're telling us, we were there!" Clarisse retorted, waving a hand between herself, Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson. She was getting annoyed with the discussion of how hot those things were, and wanted to get this fight over with, not at all proud of how it ended.

("Let me go!"... "Percy, curse you!")

Percy and Annabeth froze and glanced at each other. After a moment, Percy cleared his throat. "In the future, be more careful about saying stuff like that." He said carefully, eyeing Clarisse and wondering for a moment if one of those curses they got was Clarisse's wordless curse right there on that hill.

Those who paid attention saw the haunted look that appeared in his eyes before he hid it again.

Apollo went silent and stared at the two of them apprehensively while the other five glanced at the two of them before moving closer to show their support. "There are monsters in some... areas, that are the physical embodiment of every curse that is laid against a person." He explained. He wasn't surprised that none of the demigods knew about it, Arai weren't seen outside of Tartarus.

"And they're not fun to fight." Percy muttered, to the rest of the council's alarm. Arai weren't allowed outside of Tartarus. They'd been banished there centuries ago... how did he come across any? They didn't want to consider that he might have...

(I dropped her... bulls got past us.)

Everyone tensed even more.

Reyna wondered where their back-up was. Why was nobody coming? Surely somebody had seen this happening?

(Annabeth shouted... back toward me.)

"Hmm... they can't turn very quickly." Jason noted. "They may be fast, and like freight trains, but if you can do zig-zag patterns, you could stay ahead of it."

"That would have just made it angrier." Percy shook his head. "And then it would have started spitting more fire. The hill was already burning enough, we're lucky enough the fires didn't spread down to the camp." And, of course, the first thing he'd done after the fighting was over, was put the fires out with his then-limited abilities. Although he'd had much more time and knowledge of them to experiment before leaving the previous summer.

(As it passed... a strong wind:)

The campers relaxed a little. "Ok, so the boundaries aren't down completely, they're just severely weakened at this point." Annabethreasoned out.

"Good, because I don't know how we could even raise them again." Luke muttered while eyeing his future self suspiciously. Did he do something to Thalia's tree? Sure, he was angry and he wanted to tear Olympus down, but right now he couldn't even begin to imagine thinking that was a good idea, not the least because that was Thalia's tree.

Hermes felt some hope that Luke was the one to say this, but didn't let it show. He didn't want the boy to lash out again or draw more attention to himself. Zeus was still glaring at the two every few minutes and itching to grab his Bolt.

"There were protections before Thalia's last stand, though, right?" Reyna asked suddenly. If the protection provided by Thalia failed, they weren't going to be completely helpless, were they?

"Yes. There were. They couldn't keep out the stronger monsters, of course, and had to be repowered every few years, but they were there. Those protections, however, became almost entirely powered by Thalia's spirit after she 'died'. If the protection she offers fails, I don't know what will happen to the protections as a whole." Chiron answered, tense.

(but then it... things personal.)

"Probably did." Hephaestus muttered. "And they aren't programmed to feel pain, per say, but they do know when they've taken significant damage. And they do have something of a personality." He shrugged. At the time of their creation, they had been two of his greatest creations to that day.

Now, of course, he knew that he could do better.

(I couldn't fight... the same time.)

"That was another part of our problem." Clarisse grumbled. "Instead of splitting the group up to concentrate on one bull each, I tried to deal with both at once. Instead, one bull would break through our defenses while the other would scatter or plow through us and cause injuries." She explained. "Those two have very good teamwork for a couple of machines." She said grudgingly. She could respect a good opponent, though.

"I don't think you had enough campers to safely split up, either." Athena mused. "Not against the Colchis bulls." They were too fast, too big, and could build up too much momentum. Not to mention the heat.

(I'd have to take... back into range.)

"Good plan." Most of the demigods nodded in approval, with Athena and Ares narrowing their eyes.

Good plan or not, it was going to be extremely difficult to pull off.

(My arms already... of practice I was.)

Sally sighed. "When I made you promise not to practice in the apartment, I didn't mean not to practice at all. We could have found somewhere for you to go." She said, shaking her head. Even if all he did was lift some weights in the school's weight room.

Percy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Where? A gym or a dojo or something would cost money, and abandoned places draw too many of the wrong crowd to be safe, not to mention that my scent would linger which would attract monsters to that spot, and our building didn't have roof access..." He trailed off. This problem had never really been solved, he just spent more time at camp during the year after this because the war was starting to heat up, or monster attacks were much more frequent without Tyson around.

She sighed again. "We could have found something." She promised, somewhat frustrated. Poseidon listened, and planned.

He was going to have to set up a safe space for Percy to train in once they returned to normal time, maybe send a letter back with Percy so the Poseidon of his time could continue the training he'd already started and find somewhere safe for him to train as well.

(I lunged but Bull... a tree root, maybe-)

"I would apologize, but..." Thalia shrugged. She had no control over how the roots grew on her tree. She was only vaguely aware, after all.

"Gee, thanks." Percy said dryly.

"Please don't break or sprain..." Sally whispered. He wouldn't be able to move out of the way if that were the case.

(and pain shot... the monster's snout.)

The demigods rose up in cheers again. "Take that!" Clarisse muttered quietly. It was times like this where she regretted her main weapon being a spear, she could only do so much with it rather then having the power and slashing power of a sword. But, she made it work.

Percy smirked when he heard her, but didn't say anything.

(It galloped away... maybe broken.)

"Just sprained, thankfully." Will reported, watching Sally in concern. She visibly wilted in relief that it wasn't broken. It was a pretty bad sprain, granted, but still just a sprain at the end of the day. The Nectar Annabeth gave him was enough to heal it, although he would have preferred not using it when sticking him in a tub of water worked just as well.

"Didn't even need Ambrosia or Nectar." Percy shrugged. Even though Annabeth gave it to him, anyway. He'd noticed that the Apollo kids tended to avoid giving him such things if they could help it. If they were at camp, and they could, they preferred sticking him in a salt water bath for a bit. Lee had said something about letting his natural healing work, and saving supplies for somebody else who needed it.

"That's still not good." Poseidon muttered. They were in the middle of a battle with the Colchis Bulls, who were proving themselves to be very annoying with their speed and seeming ability to show up out of nowhere and when the defenders least expected it.

(Bull Number... toward me.)

"Move!"

"Get out of the way!"

Percy shifted in his seat. "I'm right here." He reminded the crowd quietly.

(No way could I crawl out of its path.)

"Oh, no."

"That's not good."

"Please tell me somebody is nearby!" Sally almost begged.

(Annabeth shouted... "Can't-get-through!")

"So, the bulls can come and go, but the boundary line is keeping Tyson out?" Piper asked. "That doesn't..."

"I was going to ask about that." Annabeth said, looking at Poseidon. "Is it because of his age? His own power hasn't really matured, so he can't force his way through like the bulls can?"

Poseidon looked thoughtful for a few moments while he considered and had a mental conversation with Chiron. "Yes, I believe so." He finally said, nodding thoughtfully. That was an interesting thought, actually. They were going to have to test that theory.

("I, Annabeth Chase... "Percy needs help!")

"Go Tyson!" People called out. Even the younger campers and Romans were starting to warm up to the big guy now, especially since he clearly wanted to help Percy and was friendly, on top of that.

The Romans silently wondered if there was really that much of a difference between 'Roman' Cyclops and 'Greek' Cyclops, like there was with Fawns and Satyrs, or if they just saw them all as bloodthirsty and didn't give potentially good ones a chance. Reyna decided to speak with somebody about it, probably Poseidon since he'd already said most Cyclops were actually his children.

(Before I could... nuclear firestorm.)

"Whoa."

"That's a lot of fire." Leo whistled, very impressed. Of course, he really shouldn't have been considering that his father was the one to make them, but still. He didn't think he could sustain something like that, not as controlled and hot, anyway. Well, he could, but only if he wanted to completely destroy the surrounding area in the process.

("Tyson!" I yelled... a column of ashes.)

"I am here." Tyson reminded his brother.

Percy smiled slightly. "I know, buddy. I didn't know you were immune to fire then, remember? I thought..." He shook his head. "Well, it doesn't matter anymore."

(But when the... were scorched.)

"Dang." Leo muttered, impressed. Even he still had issues with that sometimes.

"Thank goodness for fireproof clothes." Leo muttered. Piper nodded in agreement. Calypso had really come through for him there, that was for sure.

(The bull must've... the bull's face, "BAD COW!")

The past demigods and the Romans, plus Leo, Jason, and Piper were shocked.

"That's what happened to them?" Leo gaped at Tyson. He'd asked what happened to the two bulls they used as work-horses, nobody would give him a straight answer.

"Yup." Percy declared proudly and clapped Tyson on the shoulder, or as high as he could reach, anyway.

Clarisse snorted. "Bad cow." She muttered.

"Wait, you know those bulls?" Reyna asked Leo in realization, confused.

"Yeah, we use them for when we need to haul something heavy around." Katie shrugged. They came in handy during the start of their next planting season when they tilled the fields. "Cabin nine had to fix them first, of course."

Percy smirked. "Oh, yeah. Beckendorf was pleased with that." He said sarcastically. Luckily the blacksmith hadn't held it against Tyson, since Tyson had been protecting camp (and Percy) when the damage was done.

"He enjoyed the project." Annabeth offered, shrugging. Beckendorf blinked, shrugged with a small smile, and went back to his current project. Sometime in the last ten minutes, he and Leo had found themselves a corner, which Tyson was now eyeing like he wanted to join them.

Percy rolled his eyes and pushed his brother towards them. If he wanted to tinker with something during the reading, he could tinker with something. Although he was considering asking if Tyson could remake his old shield, even though he couldn't seem to ever keep it for long before it got damaged beyond repair or lost in battle.

(His fists made a... snout used to be.)

The demigods broke out into cheers while Hephaestus and his sons grimaced at the amount of damage such beautiful pieces of machinery just sustained. They couldn't be mad about it, though, because Tyson was just defending Percy, and camp by extension.

Chris whistled. "He's strong." He muttered to his brothers, who nodded in amazement and awe.

That was solid Celestial Bronze, they were willing to bet. And Tyson just...

(Two small columns... like aluminum foil.)

... Did that. Solid Celestial Bronze, and he made it look like weak, flimsy aluminum foil.

"I don't think it's just that mortal made objects are flimsy against his strength." Connor said weakly, referring to something said in an earlier chapter, when Percy was debating whether bringing Tyson to camp was a good idea purely because of how he regularly broke playground equipment.

Percy laughed. "Yeah. He learned to control it, though. Mostly." He shrugged and grinned towards his brother.

(The bull's face... pulled inside out.)

"He has the most interesting descriptions." Thalia commented, truly amazed by that. Everybody else nodded in agreement.

Annabeth laughed while Percy looked torn between being offended and taking it as a compliment.

("Down!" Tyson yelled.)

"Yeah, Tyson!" The crowd of demigods burst out into cheers again, making Tyson turn red and accidentally bend the piece of metal in his hands.

He frowned in irritation and bent it back, carefully, to straighten it back out again so nobody could tell it was bent. He examined it carefully, but quickly determined that the metal's integrity hadn't been compromised too badly to accomplish what he wanted to do.

Leo and Beckendorf watched, glanced at each other, and decided not to comment. They were amazed, though, at the strength it took to bend a solid piece of Celestial Bronze like it was tinfoil.

(The bull staggered... head in odd places.)

There was scattered laughter at the picture that presented in people's heads, while Hephaestus sighed. Mentally, he was going over improvements he could make so that they weren't defeated like that again, before remembering that that would be bad should the bulls ever attack camp in the future. (He would, of course, try to find them so that didn't happen.) The other parents wouldn't be happy if he made them even more difficult to defeat then they already were.

Now that half the threat was taken care of, they were starting to relax. There was still one more bull loose, but they could team up on it easier now that it's partner was out of the way.

(Annabeth ran over... to feel better.)

"If you'd waited for five minutes, we could have put him in a salt-water bath, and we wouldn't have had to use precious resources." Will deadpanned. Of course, that was only for the non-threatening injuries.

Annabeth blinked. "Er- sorry." She said. She hadn't even thought about that, she was just thinking that her best friend was hurt and she could help him right then.

(There was a... completely singed off.)

"It felt weird. And smelled awful." He nodded once.

"That was as far as the damage was, though?" Sally asked in concern.

"Yes, mom. I didn't get burned. I don't burn that easily, anyway." He smiled grimly and glanced towards his father, who understood.

"That is the ocean in him." His father said with a small, proud smile. He was concerned, though, by the look on his sons face when he said that.

("The other bull?"... Bad Cow Number Two.)

A few people snorted. "The name has already stuck, huh?" Annabeth teased lightly. They'd gone from being Bull Numbers One and Two, to Bad Cow Numbers One and Two.

Percy grinned. "Why not?" He shrugged. "It's a good name for them."

"Good job, Clarisse!" Clarisse looked surprised, but smirked after a moment as her accomplishment with the bull was acknowledged. Ares merely nodded in approval, but it was more acknowledgment then most of her siblings got, so she took it.

"Once you only had one to deal with, it was much easier to focus on the fight, I bet." Reyna nodded. "Why were there only eleven of you? And why did back-up not arrive? Surely somebody else heard the fight? Or saw the flames?" She asked what had been bothering them throughout the entire fight.

"Ah, I think... they were on their way to come, but got waylaid." Clarisse said slowly, trying to remember. She'd asked around, wondering that same thing. Tantalus had ensured nobody came.

"Who would waylay back-up to such an important fight?" Hazel asked, horrified.

"You'll see." Percy sneered at just the thought of Tantalus. He wondered how the gods would react to hearing that he was out of the Underworld, let alone interacting with their children.

(She'd impaled it... go-round animal.)

More cheers broke out for Clarisse, making her turn slightly red while her smirk turned into a genuine grin.

Hephaestus huffed and had to force himself, again, to stop thinking of ways to make the bulls more indestructible. He had to resist the urge to make a new set of bulls, even better then before. Maybe later.

(Clarisse pulled off... seem to notice.)

Even Luke winced. "Oh, she's not happy." He muttered quietly, trying to make sure the other demigods were the only ones to hear him. To not even notice her hair was on fire?

"Really, what gave it away?" Percy asked dryly. He was quiet for a moment. "We worked it out." He finally said.

"I feel like you should be running right now." Leo informed Percy and Annabeth, tilting his head to the side.

("You- ruin- everything!"... under control!")

"We could tell." Poseidon informed the daughter of Ares dryly, raising an eyebrow pointedly. "You were winning the fight when they pulled up, after all."

Clarisse turned red at the silent rebuke, but didn't say anything else. She'd already thanked him and apologized for her behavior once, that was it.

"That is no place for pride to rule." Demeter spoke up, for the first time in a long time.

(I was too stunned... you too, Clarisse.")

"Yeah, you could have at least said 'hi'." Annabeth informed the girl, who looked at her dryly.

"Why would I do that when yelling at him is so much more satisfying?" She asked. Most of the crowd couldn't tell if she was genuinely confused or if she was pretending. Judging by the smirk that curled around Percy's lips, they were willing to say she was pretending.

("Argh!" Clarisse... saving me again!")

"So... leave you to die on the island? Ok." Percy shrugged idly, smirking.

She growled. "You know what I meant." She grumbled as she realized that this wasn't the only time Percy had saved her life. And Polyphemus' island wasn't the last time, either.

("Clarisse," Annabeth... her command.)

"Good." Reyna and Jason both muttered, although had already seen that first hand when he was there.

A good general always cared about the men under them.

("I'll be back."... "You didn't die.")

"After all that, and you still think he's mortal?" Rachel stopped reading to deadpan.

Amphitrite winced while her men looked at each other. "The Mist is really affecting him this time, it seems." She offered. Even she would have thought that he would start to figure out something wasn't right about Tyson by now and start to figure it out.

Perseus smirked and leaned over to whisper something in Theseus' ear. Theseus turned dark red. "That was years ago, and you agreed not to mention it again! Ever." He emphasized. Perseus just kept smirking.

(Tyson looked down... Disobeyed you.")

"Not your fault, man. You did what you had to do, and I wouldn't be here if you hadn't." Percy said firmly, and refused to budge on that.

("My fault," Annabeth... line to save you.)

Thalia and Luke pulled Annabeth into an unexpected hug, Percy inwardly cursing and watching the gods warily as Luke just brought attention to himself.

But he understood. He may not have known it then, but he knew now how much it had cost her to push past her previous experience with Cyclops and trust Tyson enough to save Percy's life right then.

"I'm proud of you." Luke whispered before pulling away and slinking back to his spot. Or trying to, anyway. The futures wouldn't let him, they pulled him in to sit with their group and wouldn't let him go back to his lonely corner. Maybe if he was with them, Zeus wouldn't be so quick to try and blast him once it was revealed who poisoned the tree.

But she hadn't let her personal feelings towards Tyson distract her from doing what she knew she had to do to save Percy.

(Otherwise, you would've... I asked. "But-")

"As far as I knew, he was mortal, and mortals couldn't cross at all, permission or not." Percy shrugged.

("Percy," she said... really look at him.")

"Finally!" Demigods cried, and threw their hands up in exasperation. Percy turned beet red.

"That was so painful." Nico groaned, flopping back in his seat with an eyeroll.

"Can we stop talking about it like that?" Percy huffed, annoyed now.

(The Mist makes... It wasn't easy.)

"That is the Mist." Hazel muttered, having seen the varied effects it had on Percy. It was actually rather interesting to study, and amusing to mess with him sometimes. As if he read her mind, Percy looked at her, suspicious about what she was thinking right then. Her innocent grin didn't help. He looked away grumbling, unwilling to actually confront her right now else she start manipulating it around him again.

"Indeed." Amphitrite agreed, looking at the small girl curiously. She was easily the smallest, and possibly youngest, of the Messengers, but no less powerful. She'd sensed her talent with sorcery earlier when they first introduced themselves, the first time they had to step between the gods and demigods. Her skill was shown with how casually she bound Athena to her throne

(I'd always had... understood why.)

"The Mist." A few people said at the same time.

Percy shot the crowd a wry look, starting to get annoyed.

(I'd thought it was...

No, not eyes.)

"And he finally realizes." Clarisse muttered.

"Annabeth's only been dropping a ton of hints." Katie agreed, grinning.

"Come on!" Percy whined. "Leave me alone about it, please?" He asked, sounding tired and annoyed.

"Nope!" Thalia and Nico grinned at him, eyes promising to never let this go.

(One eye. One large... the looks of him.)

"I wouldn't go that young, more like seven or eight." Poseidon repeated.

Annabeth turned red. "I wasn't the best judge of a monster's age." She shrugged. Then she paused. "Not that Tyson is a monster, per say..." She hurried to say, glancing at Tyson. Percy snorted quietly, remembering what Tyson told him a week or so after coming to camp.

(Probably why he... as the bulls.)

Poseidon nodded in agreement, having already given this theory. He was pleased that the girl was able to draw the same conclusions so easily.

(Tyson's one of the homeless orphans.")

"Just how many are there?" Gwen asked, a little disturbed by that. How many children Cyclops were living homeless and without either of their parents. It was no wonder they hated demigods if they were abandoned to the streets.

Amphitrite almost growled while Poseidon shifted. "Er... a few." He said carefully, glancing at his wife. "I try to bring them to Atlantis when I can, but they don't always want to come down. I've tried to stop them from being left on the streets, but they never learn how to survive then, and they die far more quickly."

("One of the what?" ... mistakes, Percy.)

"You realize that many would consider us to be mistakes, right?" Katie asked a little frostily. That was one of the words that were a big no-no around camp. Words like 'freak' and 'mistake', enough demigods got called that out in the mortal world that they didn't need to be called that in the one place they could go to be safe.

Annabeth winced. "Sorry. I'm sorry, Tyson. This was... this was before I got to know you." She insisted to the Cyclops who was looking at her, hurt and confused. He hadn't paid their conversation much attention at the time, too busy staring around in awe at the camp.

Percy sighed. "Lay off, she had bad personal experiences, that's going to color her judgement for a while, so let's just... not get into it every time something is said. We all messed up when Tyson first came to camp, we all said and thought stuff that we shouldn't have. Let's just move on."

Beckendorf gave it a few moments before skillfully distracting Tyson from what was being said with some gears and tools that looked tiny in their large hands. They had absolutely no problem wielding them, though.

(Children of nature... particular, usually...)

Poseidon shifted uncomfortably again while Amphitrite refused to look at him. Just because she'd come to like Sally Jackson, and could certainly see what her husband saw in the mortal woman, did not mean she was happy about all of it, after all.

"Not all of them are mine." He pointed out after a moment, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Most of them are." Amphitrite said icily. Although she could admit that Tyson was a sweetheart.

(and they don't... one wants them.)

"That is not true." Poseidon said immediately, frowning.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Hard to tell when they're growing up in the streets, homeless." She deadpanned, completely at ease with Poseidon in a way that she wasn't with the others, not even her own mother. But then, Poseidon was her boyfriend's father, and he'd visited Sally himself a few times (covertly) after Percy was kidnapped, and Annabeth had happened to be there as well.

His frown deepened. "That does not mean they are unwanted." He said, biting his tongue to keep from saying anything else.

"You know, Annabeth, you are describing a lot of demigods right now, and how many view us." Katie whispered to Annabeth, who frowned and thought back over everything she'd said during this conversation, and was stunned to realize Katie was right.

In fact, she was describing the way many demigods saw themselves. Unwanted, tossed aside, mistakes...

(They get tossed... one found you,)

"Prayed to daddy, asked for a friend. Got found by the school." Tyson cut in, shrugging.

"You manipulated the Mist so that Tyson and Percy could meet." Amphitrite huffed a laugh, shaking her head in wonder.

Poseidon dipped his head in a nod. "I had been thinking about letting them meet for a while, but my Percy, the one who is currently at home with his mother celebrating Christmas, still does not know his heritage. I did not want to risk him. After this, though... I think it is time for him to know." He said thoughtfully. "Maybe he and Tyson can meet sooner."

"I would like that." Percy said softly. And it was strange to think about the fact that there were currently four of him in this time, three in this courtyard. He didn't dwell on it, though. "He would probably take it better, too, if they were introduced by you, and if the news of them being brothers wasn't broken the way it was for me." He told his father with a grimace.

"You seemed fine with it to us." Clarisse frowned, wondering what she missed.

Percy grimaced. "Because you were all giving him a hard time, somebody had to defend him. But I didn't handle it too well in the privacy of my own head." He admitted. They would read about it, anyway.

(but he obviously... decide what to do.")

"Well of course he can stay." Chiron shrugged. It was clear Tyson wasn't a danger to the camp, and they could always use another hand in the forges. Beckendorf was already showing him that he was fine with working with the Cyclops. "If he gets claimed, he can stay in Cabin 3, otherwise I can find somewhere for him to sleep."

"Thank you, Chiron." Poseidon smiled at his younger half-brother, who inclined his head.

("But the fire... something unpleasant.)

"I was." She muttered, shuddering. She still had nightmares about that place. Even when she accepted Tyson, she'd still struggled for a bit not to put her knife through him every time she saw him.

("They work the forges of the gods.)

"Mostly the forges of Atlantis." Hephaestus scowled, but didn't complain too much. He had plenty of Cyclops in his own forges here on Olympus, but most of them chose to work under the sea.

Poseidon just quirked a grin, well aware of Hephaestus' thoughts on the matter.

(They have to be... what Tyson was?)

"A combination of the Mist, it's unpredictable effect on you as a son of Poseidon, and your own cluelessness." Amphitrite said with a wry smirk.

Percy groaned, wishing they would just move on from that already.

(But I didn't have... hill was burning.)

"Which I put out." Percy said immediately.

Clarisse grimaced. "The wind was starting to shift the flames towards camp by then." She added. She didn't know why that wasn't in the book, unless it came up in the next few sentences.

(Wounded heroes... normal recycling bins.)

"You are not throwing them out! They're still perfectly functional, they just need a bit of repair work!" Hephaestus protested the complete destruction of two of his creations.

Percy snorted. "That's exactly what Beckendorf said." He told the Council, amused.

"Well they are." Beckendorf muttered, pleased.

"He fixed them, reprogramed them so they wouldn't attack us again, and we put them to work around camp." Katie reminded the courtyard. "They are very helpful." She added.

(Clarisse came... what's happened.")

The gods froze. "Excuse me. Could you read that name again, Rachel?" Apollo asked, his voice a mass of barely controlled rage at just the mention of him. "Surely I heard that wrong." He was trying not to look at Dionysus or Zeus, knowing that it was one of them who was responsible for this. He didn't even want to guess why Hades would have gone along with it. Chiron's eyes were wide, and horrified, so he knew that whatever was going on here, Chiron had nothing to do with it.

"Um..." Rachel looked around at her friends uncertainly, but Percy just pursed his lips and nodded reassuringly. "'Let Tantalus know what's happened.'" She repeated the last phrase slowly, wary.

"Right." Hermes turned to the three in question. "One of you want to explain what that monster is doing near our children?" He asked, voice making it deathly clear that they better be able to provide a good reason.

"I don't know why he is out of the Underworld, it certainly wouldn't have been my idea." Hades defended himself. If you asked him, Tantalus actually got off lightly, but it wasn't entirely his decision. Not when the entire council had been involved the way they were.

Narrowed eyes all over the courtyard decided he was telling the truth before turning on Zeus and Dionysus. "Don't look at me, I have children there, too." Dionysus immediately denied, glaring at Zeus. Somehow he just knew this would have been his idea.

Zeus glared around. "How am I supposed to know why I put him there?" He asked, irritated. While the gods argued, growing steadily louder as they tried to understand what that madman was doing off his prison island, the demigods were more concerned with something else. Those who had been there weren't as concerned about it, because they mostly managed to stay out of his way, and he wasn't there long, thankfully. The younger ones had only vaguely heard his name in their Greek history lessons with Chiron, but the old centaur had glossed over everything to do with him, not wanting to talk about it.

"What about Chiron?" Annabeth asked, voice small and horrified. For five years Chiron was the only father-figure she had, he was her mentor. Why would they need to report to Tantalus, what about Chiron?

"Does this have to do with the tree?" Clarisse asked, frowning as she struggled to put the pieces together. She may be no child of Athena, but strategy is part of her father's domain, too. But for the borders to be failing, something had to be wrong with Thalia's tree. And Zeus was very good at playing the 'blame-game'.

"It's because of what's happening with the tree." Percy said after a moment.

Hestia let the argument continue for a few moments, purely because she was just as angry as the rest of them about this, before she whistled sharply. "We will not know why this is happening unless we continue reading." She said calmly, though everyone could see how angry she was in the way the fire of the brazier next to her writhed.

Apollo visibly forced himself to calm down, then nodded before asking Rachel to keep reading.

("Tantalus?" I asked... said impatiently.)

"What?!" The Council burst out again, while Chiron's frown deepened and he had to look away to hide his concern from the children. He was sure that whatever was going on would soon be fixed and he could be back at camp soon, but would he have a camp to return to with him in charge?

"What is a maniac like that doing as the activities director?" Dionysus burst out, shocked. He'd thought, when the man was first mentioned, that maybe he was just there for a short time doing something with security. Even if Zeus refused to believe that Kronos might be rising, the rest of them would (hopefully) heed the warnings, especially Chiron. His first priority was training and protecting the children of the gods, after all. He'd thought that the man had been 'given' a position that would keep him in minimal contact with the children.

But to be activities director?!

"But Chiron..." The past demigods all said at once, concerned for their teacher.

Rachel decided not to give them any more time to argue, and kept reading over them.

("Chiron is the activities director.)

There was a series of loud agreement and support from the demigods that made Chiron smile at his students. He was proud of every single one of them, and was happy that they cared so much.

The younger demigods were determined to find out what was going on and making sure it never happened.

(And where's Argus?... should be here.")

"That's true. He should have been there helping fight off the bulls." Hera murmured, concerned. "The borders failing is a massive security breach, where is he at?" Nothing happened to him, did it? Maybe he'd gotten hurt in a previous monster attack...

"Something happening to the tree could be seen as failing his job..." Apollo said slowly, wondering if Argus had been fired over it. Whatever it was.

(Clarisse made... "Argus got fired.)

"What?!" The Council burst out again. Just what was going on here?

"Who took his place?" Apollo asked, wondering if Chiron was even there at all anymore if Tantalus was now the activities director.

"Uh... I don't think anybody did." Clarisse said, looking around at the rest of them, but they all shook their heads. No, they didn't have a head of security that summer, not until Clarisse got back with the Fleece and Chiron and Argus were brought back as if nothing ever happened.

(You two have... are changing.")

"I don't like these changes." Apollo said immediately. He was all for change now and then, the music industry was changing all the time, but this was something he did not like.

"Agreed." The rest of the group said at once.

The Romans were trying to imagine how they would act if Lupa were suddenly replaced, and they just couldn't imagine that scenario ever happening. They may not be close with her like the Greeks were with Chiron, but she trained all of them before sending them on to Camp Jupiter. They couldn't imagine her not being there anymore.

("But Chiron... What happened?")

"Good question." The Council muttered, leaning forward as if that would speed up Rachel's reading.

("That happened,"... Thalia's tree.)

"Oh, no."

"What happened?"

"Is Chiron being blamed for it?" Annabeth demanded, incredulous. She didn't even know what had happened yet, but she already knew that it wasn't good, and Zeus was just blaming the first person he thought of.

(Every camper... behind the tree.)

"Are we really going to go into this again?" Thalia deadpanned. Why did they have to keep bringing it up?"

"Probably until the end of this book, and maybe the first chapter or so of the next one?" Percy asked, shrugging.

"Argh!" She flopped back and zapped the nearest person (on accident) in frustration.

"Sorry...?" Percy asked, leaning away from her.

(Six years ago, Grover... to reach safety.)

Theseus and Perseus had been the only ones to not hear about this before now, and they now looked at Thalia in consideration and approval. Perseus was satisfied that this sibling didn't seem to be another Heracles, at least. That was always a concern of his considering everything that happened with him and all the people he hurt, especially during the twelve labors.

Luke and Annabeth bracketed her, and pressed their legs against her to remind themselves that she was right there, and as a way to remind her that they were there, too. Annabeth had noticed when Thalia first woke up that she needed that physical assurance sometimes.

(As she was dying... strong and healthy.)

"But it's not healthy anymore, is it?" Paul asked in dread. He was an English teacher, he knew how to read between the lines. The fact that whoever wrote these books (from Percy's thoughts and memories) felt the need to make that distinction rang his mental alarm bells.

"No, it wasn't." Luke was the one to whisper it, eyes closed and shame written all over his face. Zeus's glare immediately zeroed in on him.

"What did you do?" Annabeth asked, almost not wanting to now. He couldn't meet her eyes, and Percy and Jason casually sat in front of the group he was in the middle of while Frank and Piper sat in front of Luke.

(But now, its needles were yellow.)

"Oh, my." Sally whispered, and got up to hug Thalia from behind.

Thalia didn't protest, she just grabbed one of Sally's arms and let the contact with three of her loved ones ground her. She didn't remember hardly anything as a tree, she'd barely felt the time passing, but she remembered the feeling of wrongness and sickness, and pain.

(A huge pile of... oozing green sap.)

"Poison." Was murmured all over the courtyard, everyone was shocked. They'd hoped that maybe the tree simply became sick.

There were plenty of diseases that a tree could get, even one created by the King of Olympus out of his dying daughter's body.

But this did explain why Chiron and Argus had been fired, or at least simply replaced.

"YOU!" Zeus immediately turned towards Luke, either one would do, but found four of the Messengers and all the demigods from the future in his way. He was half tempted to just blast him anyway, uncaring of his nieces, nephews, and grandchildren in his path, but luckily for him he retained enough control. "You dare poison that tree!" He thundered instead.

"It wasn't my idea." Luke said quietly. "But I didn't exactly fight it too much, either." He didn't once look up. His head was in his hands, and the moment Thalia and Annabeth touched his shoulders, they started shaking.

Luke looked at him in shock. Was he angry, did he want Olympus destroyed? Yes. Did he think he could poison Thalia's tree? No.

Hera reached over and yanked Zeus back into his seat, eyeing the Messengers warily. They'd proven themselves powerful and perfectly capable of defending themselves and others from even Zeus, she didn't want to know what they might do if truly pushed.

(A sliver of ice ran... had poisoned it.)

"That's the end." Rachel said softly, closing the book over her finger, keeping it there so the next reader could find the spot easily.

Everybody was silent, shocked that somebody would even think of doing such a thing. None of the futures could look at Luke, all he could do was sit there with his head in his hands, silently whispering how sorry he was.

Hestia finally spoke up. "One more chapter, and then lunch." She announced quietly. Rachel held up the book, silently asking who wanted it, and handed it off to Nico when the son of Hades raised his hand and stood up to retrieve it.

Chapter Five: I Get a New Cabin Mate