Ok, I am 90% all the reviews are by the same person, if not, please correct me, and I will say, that story is rough around the edges, I'll be fixing that, it's next on my list.

Chapter 6

BIRDS OF DEATH!

Skylah P.O.V

The next few days were torture, just like Tantalus wanted. First, Tyson was moving into the Poseidon cabin, giggling to himself every fifteen seconds and saying, "My friends is my siblings?" like he'd just won the lottery.

"Aw, Tyson," Percy'd say. "It's not that simple."

But there was no explaining it to him. He was in heaven. As much as I liked the big guy, I couldn't help feeling a tad weirded out. Percy seemed ashamed(something I've scolded him over and over for) and Jaden acted completely normal like he was the only one that accepted the fact(which I find odd, he went from ready to silt his throat in his sleep to be his brother perfectly fine).

I mean, can you really blame Percy? Our father got all lovey-dovey with some nature spirit and Tyson soon followed. I mean, I felt just slightly off about him actually being related to us.

Percy had never thought about being related to them either until the comments rolled in.

Suddenly, he wasn't Percy Jackson, the cool guy who'd retrieved Zeus's lightning bolt last summer. Now he was Percy Jackson, the poor schmuck with the ugly monster for a brother. And I was just there. No one really knew what I was capable of. I will tell you, I'm amazing! And Jaden quickly shook off whatever rust was on him, because he was near peak fighting condition.

"He's not my real brother!" Percy protested whenever Tyson wasn't around. "He's more like a half-brother on the monstrous side of the family. Like…a half-brother twice removed, or something."

After he did that, I nearly killed him. He just wants to be your brother Percy, and you're talking about him from behind his back

I admit—I was angry at my dad. I felt like being his kid was now a joke.

Annabeth tried to make Percy feel better. She suggested we team up for the chariot race to take our minds off our problems.

Don't get me wrong, we all(Jaden included) hated Tantalus with a burning passion and we were worried sick about camp, but we didn't know what to do about it.

Until we could come up with some brilliant plan to save Thalia's tree, we figured we might as well go along with the races. After all, Annabeth's mom(/my mom), Athena, had invented the chariot, and our dad had created horses. Together we would own that track.

One morning Annabeth, Percy, and I were sitting by the canoe lake sketching chariot designs when some jokers from Aphrodite's cabin walked by and asked me if I needed to borrow some eyeliner for my eye…"Oh sorry, eyes."

As they walked away laughing, Annabeth grumbled, "Just ignore them, Skylah. It isn't your fault you have a monster for a brother."

"He's not our 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 it was the only way to save your life! I mean…I'm sorry, Percy, I didn't expect Poseidon to claim him. Cyclopes are the most deceitful, treacherous—"

"He is not! What have you got against Cyclopes, anyway?"

Annabeth's ears turned pink. She is hiding something, is it related to the story of how she got to camp?

"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!"

I stood helpless. You dunce! You just gave away our chance to win!

She stormed off and left me feeling even worse than before. For the next couple of days, I tried to keep my mind off my problems.

Silena Beauregard, one of the nicer girls from Aphrodite's cabin, gave us our 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.

Although, no matter how much she pushed, Jaden refused. I'm 90% sure she tried to Charm speak to him, but it failed. Charm Speak is a power that makes the user very...convincing. You could nearly make anyone do whatever you want. Normally found in children of Aphrodite, but can be found in other places.

Now, as a half-child of Athena, I must say that it was quite enjoyable. I'd prefer to stay inside at be nice and cozy with a book and hot choco, but also this could determine whether I live or die someday.

I could understand their thoughts. Which makes sense, the daughter of the guy that created them. It sucks that I currently show no signs whatsoever of ever developing water powers like Percy or Jaden. Those two are just complete powerhouses when you think about it. Think about it, Percy has a great deal of control over water, which is insane and probably will only get stronger, on the flip side, Jaden can also control water, be his main thing is the temperature.

Just imagine that you are an angry monster and see two little demigods near the water. Suddenly, you get slammed in the face with water pushing with enough force to wreak a tank, and on top of that, the water is hot enough to make diamonds from coal.

Anyway, the problem was that Tyson wanted to ride the "chicken ponies," too, but the pegasi got skittish whenever he approached. Percy told them telepathically that Tyson wouldn't hurt them, but they didn't seem to believe him(even after he offed them sugar cubes! The nerve of some horse-like creatures am I right?). That made Tyson cry.

The only person at camp who had no problem with Tyson was Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin. The blacksmith god had always worked with Cyclopes in his forges, so Beckendorf took Tyson down to the armory to teach him metalworking. He said he'd have Tyson crafting magic items like a master in no time. It would be dope if I got some cool magic weapon. Everyone and their momma(/daddy) had one! But me! Percy got a cool pen sword, Annabeth had an invisibility cap, Jaden has a silver sword(I mean to be fair, it isn't as effective as celestial bronze but he had recently sharpened it) and he has another ring that I haven't seen!

After lunch, I grabbed the best weapon I could find for myself. A bow. I might not be good with it, but I was far better than Percy and Jaden. So maybe I have some hope. I grabbed a dagger and used that for close range.

Since Percy wasn't on speaking terms with both of the houses with the best fighters(Athena and Ares) he was stuck with Jaden.

Jaden easily sidestepped another slash. "Too slow."

When Percy managed to cross blades with him, he ducked and swapped Percy's legs from under him. "Not enough force, you let your guard down after assuming I couldn't attack until the stalemate was broken"

Jaden...sucks as a teacher. He is smart, but that's about it. He tends to be a bit blunt with people when it comes to their skills. Swordplay-wise, Jaden and Percy might be as good as Luke, the best swordsmen to bless camp half-blood in one hundred years. Percy and Jaden are evenly matched, in a simple spar, but Jaden is faster and stronger than Percy. His reaction time isn't up to par with Percy's though.

I went to archery class and tried to learn, but it didn't feel right with Mr. Pony.

In Arts and Crafts, we all tried to make a marble bust of our father. We all ended up ditching them though. Percy's kinda looked like Sylvester Stallone, mine kinda looked like a hot anime girl, and Jaden's started to look like Kronk(afterward, Jaden tried to cheer us up by going Oh yeah, it's all not coming together).

I scaled the climbing wall in full lava-and-earthquake mode(I rocked at this, by the way, I'll ignore that Percy and Jaden were just as good). And in the evenings, I did 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. I sat at the top of Half-Blood Hill and watched the dryads come and go, singing to the dying pine tree. Satyrs brought their reed pipes and played nature magic songs, and 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.

I felt pure resentment bubble up in my stomach, for this stupid poison, the gods, luke, and even my stupid life. Why must I be one of the two meant to change how things go? What's the point of giving prophecies if I or my brother come along, it all just falls into shambles?

At night, I had more dreams of Grover. Sometimes, I just heard snatches of his voice. Once, I heard him say: It's here. Another time: He likes sheep.

Could this be a sign? That my dream sharing is happening? I hope it's not permanent.

I thought about telling Annabeth(or maybe Percy, maybe I should tell Percy) about my dreams, but I would've felt stupid. I mean, He likes sheep? She would've(very understandably, any ration person would make that assumption) thought I was crazy.

The night before the race, all four of us finished our chariot.

It was wicked cool. Tyson had made the metal parts in the armory's forges. Percy had 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(curtsy of Moi). Jaden reinforced the sides with water(Not sure how he did that, but he said there was a healing station inside in case things got dicey).

After all that work, it seemed only fair that Tyson would ride shotgun with Percy, though I knew the horses wouldn't like it, and Tyson's extra weight would slow us down. But still, he did most of the work, well besides Percy.

As we were turning in for bed, Tyson said, "You are mad?"

I realized Percy had been scowling.

"Nah. I'm not mad." He said.

"Yeah, why would Percy be mad?" I asked, staring off in Tyson's general direction.

He lay down in his bunk and was quiet in the dark. His body was way too long for his bed. When he pulled up the covers, his feet stuck out the bottom. "I am a monster."

"Don't say that," Percy said

"It is okay. I will be a good monster. Then you will not have to be mad."

"Your arent a monster Tyson, you are our friend and most importantly our brother" I chimed in.

Suddenly Jaden shot up. "I'll be back"

"It's just…I never had a half-brother before, like this." He made hand gestures and everything. After a moment of silence, Percy tried to keep his voice from cracking. "It's really different for me. And I'm worried about the camp. And another friend of mine, Grover… he might be in trouble. I keep feeling like I should be doing something to help, but I don't know what."

Tyson said nothing.

"I'm sorry," Percy told him. "It's not your fault. I'm mad at Poseidon. I feel like he's trying to embarrass me like he's trying to compare us or something, and I don't understand why."

I heard a deep rumbling sound. Tyson was snoring.

Percy sighed. "Good night, big guy."

"Night guys. You think Jaden will be back soon?" I asked

"He does that often, he won't be out too long"

I looked outside the window, I heard Jaden, he sounded irritated, and I could see the flickers of fire near him. Strange. I don't recall him taking anything fire with him. I closed my eyes and drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Or that's what I'd say if my life was able to be peaceful for one moment.

In my dream, Grover was wearing a wedding dress. It didn't fit him very well and the color clashed with his skin tone. The gown was too long and the hem was caked with dried mud. The neckline kept falling off his shoulders. A tattered veil covered his face.

He was standing in a dank cave, lit only by torches. There was a cot in one corner and an old-fashioned loom in the other, a length of white cloth half woven on the frame. And he was staring right at me like I was a TV program he'd been waiting for.

"Thank the gods!" he yelped. "Can you hear me?"

I wanted to respond, but nothing. I was still looking around, taking in the stalactite ceiling, the stench of sheep and goats, the growling and grumbling and bleating sounds that seemed to echo from behind a refrigerator-sized boulder, which was blocking the room's only exit, as if there were a much larger cavern beyond it.

"Percy?" Grover said. "Please, I don't have the strength to project any better. You have to hear me!"

"I hear you," Dream-Percy said. "Grover, what's going on?"

Wait, so I can see exactly what Percy sees, but can't do anything else? Worst deal ever.

From behind the boulder, a monstrous voice yelled, "Honeypie! Are you done yet?"

Grover flinched. He called out in falsetto(pretty bad might I add), "Not quite, dearest! A few more days!"

"Bah! Hasn't it been two weeks yet?"

"N-no, dearest. Just five days. That leaves twelve more to go."

The monster was silent, maybe trying to do the math. He must've been worse at arithmetic than I was, because he said, "All right, but hurry! I want to SEEEEE under that veil, heh-hehheh."

Grover turned back to Percy(/me?). "You have to help me! No time! I'm stuck in this cave. On an island in the sea."

"Where?"

"I don't know exactly! I went to Florida and turned left."

"What? How did you—"

"It's a trap!" Grover said. "It's the reason no satyr has ever returned from this quest. He's a shepherd, Percy! And he has it. Its nature magic is so powerful it smells just like the great god Pan! The satyrs come here thinking they've found Pan, and they get trapped and eaten by Polyphemus!"

"Poly-who?"

Polyphemus? Why does that sound familiar?

"The Cyclops!" Grover said, exasperated. "I almost got away. I made it all the way to St. Augustine."

"But he followed you," Percy said. "And trapped you in a bridal boutique."

"That's right," Grover said. "My first empathy link must've worked then. Look, this bridal dress is the only thing keeping me alive. He thinks I smell good, but I told him it was just goat-scented perfume. Thank goodness he can't see very well. His eye is still half-blind from the last time somebody poked it out. But soon he'll realize what I am. He's only giving me two weeks to finish the bridal train, and he's getting impatient!"

"Wait a minute. This Cyclops thinks you're—"

"Yes!" Grover wailed. "He thinks I'm a lady Cyclops and he wants to marry me!"

Under different circumstances, I might've burst out laughing, but Grover's voice was serious. He was shaking with fear. Maybe I should wait to ask when the honey moon is.

"I'll come to rescue you," Percy promised. "Where are you?"

"The Sea of Monsters, of course!"

"The sea of what?"

"I told you! I don't know exactly where! And look, Percy…um, I'm really sorry about this, but this empathy link…well, I had no choice. Our emotions are connected now. If I die…"

"Don't tell me, I'll die too."

"Oh, well, perhaps not. You might live for years in a vegetative state. But, uh, it would be a lot better if you got me out of here."

"Honeypie!" the monster bellowed. "Dinnertime! Yummy yummy sheep meat!"

Grover whimpered. "I have to go. Hurry!"

"Wait! You said 'it' was here. What?"

But Grover's voice was already growing fainter. "Sweet dreams. Don't let me die!"

The dream faded and I woke with a start. It was early morning. Jaden was giving me a cold look, staring down into the pits of my soul. "Get up, I won't be dragging you anywhere today"

I quickly got up, remembering the one time I didn't get up when he said those words with his, not in the mood tone. He grabbed me by the ankles and damn near threw me out the window. Before we learned we were part god.

"Did you see it?" I asked, assuming his sour mood was related to that, but he shook his head. "No, this was a me thing, I guess only one of us can see dreams with Mr. He's not my brother."

The fact he had a dream that could be just as bad as the one I saw, was concerning, to say the least.

"Are you okay?" Tyson asked. His voice sent a chill down my back because he sounded almost exactly like the monster I'd heard in my dream.

The morning of the race 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 that reminded me of submarine radar. 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 éclair 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 us like we were all naughty 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 did not 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, and I shuddered to think what dirty tricks they'd schemed up.

That left two chariots: one driven by Annabeth, and the other by Percy. Before the race began, we tried to approach Annabeth and tell her about my(our?) dream. She perked up when Percy mentioned Grover, but when he told her what he'd said, she seemed to get distant again, suspicious.

"You're trying to distract me," she decided.

"What? No, I'm not!"

"Come on Annie, Percy is too stupid to make something up like this! I even saw it too!"

"Oh, right! Like Grover would just happen to stumble across the one thing that could save the camp."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked the question for us.

She rolled her eyes. "Go back to your chariot, Percy."

"I'm not making this up. He's in trouble, Annabeth."

She hesitated. I could tell she was trying to decide whether or not to trust us. Despite their occasional fights, they had been through a lot together(I SHIP IT SO MUCH! PERCEBETH FOR LIFE!). And I knew she would never want anything bad to happen to Grover. "Percy, an empathy link is so hard to do. I mean, it's more likely you really were dreaming."

"The Oracle," Percy said. "We could consult the Oracle."

Annabeth frowned. Last summer, before his quest, Percy'd visited the strange spirit that lived in the Big House attic and it had given me a prophecy that came true in ways I'd never expected. The experience had freaked me out for months. Annabeth knew he would never suggest going back there if he wasn't completely serious.

Before she could answer, the conch horn sounded.

"Charioteers!" Tantalus called. "To your mark!"

"We'll talk later," Annabeth told us, "after I win."

As Percy was walking back to my chariot, I noticed how many more pigeons were in the trees now—screeching like crazy, making the whole forest rustle.

Nobody else seemed to be paying them much attention, but they made me nervous. I got a bad feeling from the birds, and to validate my worries, Jaden was pushing away the smaller/younger campers away from the track and the birds.

"I don't want them getting hit by anything from the track, I bet all types of debris will be flying and we don't want them to be hit by something they can't handle," He said, it was clearly an excuse, but not one anyone could argue with. I ever so slightly nudged the dagger I was carrying around, I moved it closer to my hand.

Tyson was having trouble getting our horses under control. Percy had to talk to them a long time before they would settle down.

Finally, they agreed to let me harness them. Now, if you've never seen a Greek chariot, it's built for speed, literally nothing else. It's basically a wooden basket, open at the back, mounted on an axle between two wheels, and it has a set of speedy boi's yanking it faster than you can think.

The driver stands up the whole time, and you can feel every bump in the road. The carriage is made of such light wood that if you wipe out making the hairpin turns at either end of the track, you'll probably tip over and crush both the chariot and yourself.

It's an even better rush than skateboarding. Percy took the reins and maneuvered the chariot to the starting line.

Percy gave Tyson a ten-foot pole and told him that his job was to push the other chariots away if they got too close and to deflect anything they might try to throw at us.

"No hitting ponies with the stick," he insisted.

"No," Percy agreed. "Or people, either, if you can help it. We're going to run a clean race. Just keep the distractions away and let me concentrate on driving."

"We will win!" He beamed.

He is so wholesome! Shame that our chances of winning broke bedrock and fell into the void after Percy fell out with Annabeth.

As the chariots lined up, more shiny-eyed pigeons gathered in the woods. They were screeching so loudly the campers in the stands were starting to take notice, glancing 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!

The Hermes team had rammed into the Apollo team, totally on purpose by the way.

The riders were thrown free, but their panicked horses dragged the golden chariot diagonally across the track. The Hermes team, Travis and Connor Stoll, were laughing at their good luck, but not for long. The Apollo horses crashed into theirs, and the Hermes chariot flipped too, leaving a pile of broken wood and four rearing horses in the dust.

Two chariots down in the first twenty feet. I loved this sport. I'm totally driving next time.

Currently, we were making good time, pulling ahead of Ares, but Annabeth's chariot was way ahead of us.

She was already making her turn around the first post, her javelin man grinning and waving at Percy, shouting: "See ya!"

The Hephaestus chariot was starting to gain on us, too. Beckendorf pressed a button, and a panel slid open on the side of his chariot.

"Sorry, Percy!" he yelled. Three sets of balls and chains shot straight toward our wheels.

They would've wrecked us 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 we pulled ahead.

"Nice work, Tyson!" Percy yelled.

"Birds!" he cried.

"What?"

We were whipping along so fast it was hard to hear or see anything, but Tyson pointed toward the woods and I saw what he was worried about. The pigeons had risen from the trees. They were spiraling like a huge tornado, heading toward the track.

That...isn't good

Percy tried to concentrate on the race. We made our first turn and now we were now only ten feet behind Annabeth. If Percy could just get a little closer, Tyson could use his pole.

Annabeth's fighter wasn't smiling now. He pulled a javelin from his collection and aimed it at Percy. He was about to throw when we heard the screaming.

The pigeons were swarming—thousands of them dive-bombing the spectators in the stands, attacking the other chariots. Beckendorf was mobbed. His fighter tried to bat the birds away but he couldn't see anything. The chariot veered off course and plowed through the strawberry fields, the mechanical horses steaming.

In the Ares chariot, Clarisse barked an order to her fighter, who quickly threw a screen of camouflage netting over their basket. The birds swarmed around it, pecking and clawing at the fighter's hands as he tried to hold up the net, but Clarisse just gritted her teeth and kept driving. Her skeletal horses seemed immune to the distraction. The pigeons pecked uselessly at their empty eye sockets and flew through their rib cages, but the stallions kept right on running.

Us spectators were far from lucky. Jaden had shoved everyone small enough into a small covered area and stood proudly in front of it, slashing any bird that dared try to approach the small ones...which was a lot actually.

Now that the birds were closer, it was clear they weren't normal pigeons. Their eyes were beady and evil-looking. Their beaks were made of bronze and were razor-sharp.

"Stymphalian birds!" Annabeth yelled. She slowed down and pulled her chariot alongside ours. "They'll strip everyone to bones if we don't drive them away!"

"Tyson," Percy said, "we're turning around!"

"Going the wrong way?" he asked.

"Always," Percy grumbled, but Percy steered the chariot toward the stands. Annabeth rode right next to him.

She shouted, "Heroes, to arms!" But I wasn't sure anyone could hear her over the screeching of the birds and the general chaos. Percy held the reins in one hand and managed to draw Riptide as a wave of birds dived at his face, their metal beaks snapping. He slashed them out of the air and they exploded into dust and feathers, but there were still millions of them left.

Meanwhile, the ever so lovely me, I was dicing through them like nobody's business. Unfortunately, they are worse than the hydra. Everyone that I killed 6 took its place.

Eventually, my guard became swarmed and I felt them dive bomb me, slicing into my flesh. I had taken five slashes to the face, 10 to the ribs, and three to the legs when a hand grabbed my shoulder and yanked me onto the ground. Jaden.

He had a long scratch on his cheek and he was covered in golden dust, it was also starting to build up around his feet. I glanced around and saw several other bigger campers that were also cut up. Luckily nothing too serious.

"Too many!" Percy yelled to Annabeth. "How do you get rid of them?"

She stabbed a pigeon with her knife. "Hercules used noise! Brass bells! He scared them away with the most horrible sound he could—Percy…Chiron's collection!"

"You think it'll work?"

"To the Big House! It's our only chance!"

Clarisse has just pulled across the finish line(which I could barely see from the ground), completely unopposed, and seemed to notice for the first time how serious the bird problem was. When she saw them driving away, she yelled, "You're running? The fight is here, cowards!"

Suddenly Jaden released a string of curses that the kids would have heard if the noise was any dimmer. "Screw it! I could just say you were delusional!"

He threw his silver sword into his left hand, as a bird sliced past, cutting off a bit of his long sleeve, revealing a small tattoo. Imagine a TT with horns on top. That's what it looked like. His black ring changed into a sword just like the silver sword in his left hand, but it was pure black and felt deathly. Just this aura around it made me want to stay away from it.

Then, bare with me, I swear this isn't some kind of joke. No lies here. Jaden, with his tattoo glowing a bright red, his swords set themselves on fire! The child of the sea and knowledge using fire! That defied everything I could ever think that would make sense. He is literally a WATER BOY AND BOOKS! WHAT ABOUT THAT MAKES FIRE!

He raised his flaming blades and started slashing at the birds with a renewed energy, but he growled under his breath. "No Omega, I'm not going to wear a freaking coat like that! Don't call me Kirito!"

Annabeth, who was now in our chariot, rumbled off into the distance, seemingly towards the big house.

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!"

Jaden was yanking more and more campers in but he was clearly running on fumes, his slashes were sluggish and the flames died out.

Suddenly, Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson pulled up to the finish line. Annabeth had a...boom box? Percy pressed PLAY and started up Chiron's favorite—the All-Time Greatest Hits of Dean Martin.

Suddenly the air was filled with violins and a bunch of guys moaning in Italian. The demon pigeons went nuts. They started flying in circles, running into each other like they wanted to bash their brains out. Then they abandoned the track altogether and flew skyward in a huge dark wave.

"Now!" shouted Annabeth. "Archers!"

With clear targets, Apollo's archers had flawless aim. Most of them could nock five or six arrows at once. Within minutes, the ground was littered with dead bronze-beaked pigeons. None remained, the ones that Jaden and the others didn't kill get killed in the arrow storm.

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.

Jaden collapsed to the ground, but now his black sword was replaced with a generic bronze one, and he was face first in dust and metal beaks.

"Bravo!" Tantalus said, but he wasn't looking at Percy or Annabeth.

"We have our first winner!" He walked to the finish line and awarded the golden laurels for the race to a stunned-looking Clarisse. Then he turned and smiled at the main three. "And now to punish the troublemakers who disrupted this race."

So no powers for Skylah yet! but she will from now on have a weapon. That I can promise. Magic? Not quite yet. Powers, It should be happening very soon. Like one to two chapters soon.