A/N: So my new story, Love Letters to my Roommate, is up, and thank you to chocolate-writing-perfection for being the first to review. It's in Ron's perspective and it will be short and most likely funny, I won't give as much time to it as I do to this story though. Anyway, the story is in Ron's perspective, told through his diary, and it shows his relationship with Harry Potter as boyfriends. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you.
So now I'm back to Camp Half Blood. Let me know if I start to use one character much more than another, I really want to have a healthy balance between Clara and Renee.
On another note, I was just looking at my stats. Last month just BLEW UP with views and visitors. For the month of March, I had 1,131 views and 248 visitors. Many of the viewers were international, and I would love it if the international viewers-and everyone else-told me what you thought or even commented something about yourself, I really want to know my viewers.
Thanks for reading this and sorry it was long. Now onto chapter 28.
Renee POV:
I didn't know how to feel about Clarisse, but one thing was clear. She hadn't changed much.
I shuddered when I saw what was attacking the camp. I had decided last year that I did NOT like bulls. And that was just one of them then.
I saw Percy shudder alongside me. He had experiences with the Minotaur too. I reached for Clara's hand. I was still clingy to her. But Clara didn't notice, and Percy took hold.I gave him a small smile and remembered myself.
I had been a jerk from the minute Annabeth showed up, most likely because if nerves, but I could remedy that. "Come on, we need to help Clarisse!"
Clarisse was being attacked by two metal bulls the size of trucks.
"Border patrol, to me!" I looked at Percy. We didn't have a border patrol.
"Tyson, stay here. I can't have you getting hurt, okay?" Percy's friend started to protest, but he and I were already running to Clarisse. Annabeth and Clara were close behind us, Annabeth trying to get Percy's attention.
Unfortunately, Clarisse could only gather six campers. The other four were running around with their helmets on fire. That was when I noticed the worst thing about these Bulls: they were behind the pine tree, Thalia's pine tree, the one that kept the camp safe from attacks. Or at least, it had.
Annabeth and Clara had run to the other four campers to help. Annabeth had taunted one of the bulls into chasing her, and then turned invisible, confusing the bull. The bull then went for Clara, and I gulped.
Miraculously, Clara was able to summon a sunbeam at the last second, and whisk herself away from the bull. She landed on the other side, and I could almost feel the wind in her hair and hear her laughing. Apparently sunbeams were funnier than I thought.
I grinned. The sunbeams were just what I needed to distract myself from this funk I'd been in ever since we arrived in New York.
But it was almost too late. The bulls were both charging Clarisse, and without thinking, I yelled, "Clarisse, look out!" at the same time Percy yelled, "Behind you!"
All our yelling did was startle her, and I gasped, running toward her, but I wasn't fast enough. Percy lunged at her and fell, and all hope was lost.
There was a flash of light and Clara landed next to Clarisse, pulling her away from the bulls. Annabeth was commanding the other kids. Suddenly, she looked to Tyson. I knew what she would do a second before she did it. "Annabeth, no!"
But Annabeth ignored me. "I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"
"No!" Percy cried. He was fighting one bull, but he still knew what was going on.
Tyson ran to Percy and pulled the bull off him, yelling, "Percy is in trouble!" He then wrestled both of the bulls and punched one in the snout, and they could no longer move.
"BAD COW!" Tyson yelled, throwing the metal carcasses around. Percy and I were astounded. Annabeth and Clara, not so much.
Percy ran to Tyson. "Are you okay? Tyson?"
But Tyson looked at Percy like everything was fine. I came closer. "You're….alive?"
"Of course he's alive! Have you two actually taken the time to look at his face? Beyond the Mist?" Annabeth asked, annoyed
"Mist?" Percy asked confusedly.
"Look," Clara urged, and Annabeth nodded.
We looked, past the mouth, and onto the nose and eyes we had never seen before. No, not eyes. Eye. I gasped. If Hermione were here, she could tell me what, exactly, I was looking at. But she wasn't there, so I waited for Annabeth to explain.
"Tyson," she said, "is a Cyclops. And he seems to like you, Percy." She scowled.
"What's wrong with that?" Clara asked innocently.
"It's….it's nothing," Annabeth said embarrassedly. Clarisse was coming over to us.
"Jackson! Sanderson! you ruin everything!"
I was about to retort, but Clara nudged me with her foot. "Later," she whispered.
"It's nice to see you too, Clarisse," Annabeth said dully.
"I had it under control! All I really needed was Clarissa Malfoy to come and act like the hero or something and for Jackson and Sanderson to yell at me and endanger me more! Do you three have a conspiracy against me?"
"You have wounded campers, Clarisse," I whispered. Clarisse could be a jerk, but she would always pay attention to her military duties. "And don't use that name! Her name is Bradley! If you call her that disgusting, belittling, horrid name again, I will personally escort you to Tartarus!"
"Wren, don't! You'll just make it worse. Anyway, we need to know what happened." She looked at Clarisse.
Did I mention last year on the Andromeda Jean that Clara could keep her calm when Clarisse and I were about to kill each other?
Clarisse snarled. "That happened." She pointed at Thalia's tree. "You four have been gone way too long."
We looked over at the tree. The needles were yellowing, and many had fallen off. We all looked at each other and gulped.
Someone had poisoned the tree, and I had a very good idea who.
"Come on, we have to get these kids up. And then I need to report you four to Tantalus, tell him we have many more of our campers here. Not that you can help much." Clarisse said gruffly, looking at Percy and Renee especially.
"Who's Tantalus?" Clara asked. All of this was so much to take in, and everything had changed so much since last summer. Not least being Thalia's tree.
"The activities director. Now come on."
"But Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus?"
"Someone will explain everything soon," Clarisse snapped. "Now go away."
Percy and I didn't need telling twice, and Tyson ran after him. Reluctantly, Annabeth and Clara followed us.
I wanted to tell Clarisse that I didn't need the way she was treating me, not after this year at Hogwarts. She was one person I knew I could trust, and aside from Clara, Percy, Annabeth, Silena, Jade, Harry, and Ron, those people were rare in my life. It wasn't easy being a demigod and a witch. I guess I could add Ginny and Hermione, and maybe Gill, Sandra, and Luna, but I just wasn't sure with the way things had been this past year. This was too much to come home too.
We walked to the big house, not talking much. Well, except for Tyson.
"Wassat?"
"That's the horse stables. We have horses and pegasi here." Percy felt resigned to respond to his friend.
"Wassat?"
"Those are the toilets."
"Wassat?"
"That's the big house, where we're going. Come on, I'll show you."
Tyson grinned and clapped his hands. I stepped closer to Clara.
"Did you….know? About Tyson?"
"I suspected," she whispered. "I didn't believe Percy's insistence that he was mortal, that's for sure."
I nodded. "When did you become so sensible?"
Clara laughed. "When did you become so perceptive?"
I put my arm around my best friend, and we walked into the Big House.
Clara POV:
I walked into the big house and something nearly killed me. "Clara! Rennie! You're safe!"
"Jade! You can't just run at us like that."
"I heard what happened, though. I actually thought I'd never see you again! Oh, Clara!"
I embraced Jade….Juniper. Yes, Juniper. I'd need to get used to calling her that. "How did you know?"
"Pomona. Even though she had a falling out with her mother and Chiron and Olympus, she was always very fond of the wood nymphs. Not that I ever knew her personally, of course, but she and my mother were close. I mean, she was counselor of the Demeter cabin when she was here, and head girl of Hufflepuff to boot. She keeps in touch with us, and who knows who else."
"Wait, what happened with Sprout and Olympus?"
Juniper blushed. She looked really sick when her green skin turned red. "She never told you? Oh gods, then I've said too much."
"It's okay. If she didn't tell us, there must have been an important reason."
Juniper smiled, her face now plain green. "Good. Well, then, Chiron had been hoping to see you four before he left. He's in his apartments."
"He is?" Annabeth squealed. "Clarisse made it sound like he'd been gone for ages! I'll kill her!"
At this, Juniper glanced at Renee and me. "We need time to talk, Renee, Clara. You can tell me everything, and I'll tell you everything that's been going on here. I'm getting worried about Grover, he hasn't Iris-messaged in a while.
I gasped. I hadn't told anyone about my dream. And Renee had called me sensible just a minute before. Then again, it was the same day, technically. But Percy said, "Juniper, I need to tell you something," and I wondered if he had had the dream too. "But I need to go see Chiron first. We could be wasting time."
Juniper nodded. "See you guys at dinner?"
"Yeah, of course," Renee said. Annabeth was beckoning us forward.
"Come on, we're wasting time!"
We nodded and followed her.
Annabeth threw herself at Chiron. "Annabeth!" The centaur was happy to see her.
"Pony!" Tyson clapped his hands, and Chiron looked up, affronted. Then he realized who had just spoken. He looked at us questioningly.
"He's my friend," Percy said indignantly. "And I only found out that he was a cyclops, like, half an hour ago."
Chiron nodded, and Annabeth smiled sadly. "You're not….leaving?"
"Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he made from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned. Mr. D had to find someone to blame."
"Besides himself, you mean," Percy growled.
I remembered Mr. D. and scowled at the thought. He loved to mix up our names and insult us. He was Dionysus, and he was here as punishment by Zeus for something, I couldn't remember what. To him, Percy was Peter Johnson, Annabeth was Annie Bell, Renee was Rain Sanders, and I was Claire Bailey. Yet he always seemed to remember Clarisse's name.
"But this is crazy!" Annabeth yelled furiously. "You couldn't have had anything to do with the poisoning of Thalia's tree."
"Be that as it may, there are many in Olympus that do not trust me now, under the current circumstances. And if the council of gods wish me to step aside, then of course I will."
Renee looked at Chiron as if she were waiting for something more, but that was all Chiron said. He frowned, stuffing a Latin-American dictionary in his saddlebag.
"Pony?" Tyson asked, still staring in amazement and this time, Chiron was prepared.
"My dear Cyclops, I am a centaur."
Something had been bothering me. "Chiron," I asked, "what about the tree?"
"Thalia's tree was poisoned with something from the darkest depths of the underworld, I would have no idea how to even understand a substance that dark."
"So it must have been Kronos," Percy blurted.
"Don't invoke the titan lord's name. Not here, not now."
I exchanged a glance with Renee. Sounded like someone else we knew.
"But it would have had to be him! Maybe he did it through Luke, I don't know," Percy continued. Annabeth frowned.
"Besides, Chiron," Renee said, and I braced myself for her biting wit, "fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself."
"Who told you that?"
"A Hogwarts professor by the name of Pomona Sprout." I knew that was a lie, it was something Dumbledore always said, not Sprout. I expected she had just done that to get a rise out of Chiron.
"Don't talk to me about Pomona. She left this camp, and she knows something, I can tell you that. She doesn't belong here. As for you, stay at camp! Annabeth, make sure they do, especially Percy."
"Why me?"
"I asked your mother not to send you this year. Percy, things are bad. I hope Tantalus and Mr. D don't ruin the camp, but I have to go."
"Where will you go?"
"I'll join my cousins in the Everglades. The Party Ponies."
We nodded, numb. "I need to go," Chiron said again. "Stay safe."
"But Chiron, the camp will be destroyed!" Renee yelled. "Is there no way to cure the tree?"
"There is a way. But….no. It's too dangerous. I need to leave. I'm sorry. Annabeth, you're in charge, okay? Of these three, I mean. I'll see you again, once this is cleared up."
And with that, he walked out of the room.
The dinner bell rang. I hadn't realized it was getting so late. "You're sitting with me tonight, Renee, no exceptions. I'm not putting you through those Aphrodite types."
"Thanks, Clara, but you know Mr. D wouldn't allow it. And we have the new guy to watch out for as well."
"We'll make it work. I promise."
"I do want to see Silena, though."
"Okay. How about this? You eat with them, and you sleep with me."
"Clara, no. I've dealt with Kaylee, you really think I can't handle Drew's crew?"
"Okay, fine, but be careful."
The twelve tables were set out as usual. Nothing had changed; everything had.
Annabeth came first, leading the Athena cabin. No one questioned her right to lead; she had been at camp longer than anyone. Next was Clarisse with the Ares cabin. Someone had stuck a sticker that said, "You moo girl!" on her back, but nobody bothered to tell her about it. I was almost going to help her, but then I remembered how she had treated Renee.
Renee's cabin was next, with Silena at the lead and Renee close behind her. Then was our cabin. Lee embraced me when he saw me.
"Clara! Juniper told me everything, we're so glad you're safe. I noticed my cabin had a few more additions. Two girls, who must have been twins, were sitting and whispering about something. They were redheads, like Ginny, and they were quite small. Lee followed my gaze.
"Ruby, Diamond, come over here, I'd like you to meet our sister Clara Bradley."
The girls waved. "Ruby and Diamond are really shy," Lee whispered to me. "They're eight, and they could use a guiding figure, and they won't talk to anyone but each other. Kind of like you and Renee when you first got here."
"Renee and I were never…okay, fine. I guess so, but how would you know? We were on our quest from the moment Wren woke up."
"True, but I could tell."
I giggled.
We sat down, and I realized I wasn't that hungry. "I'll take a slab of marble cake and a hot chocolate."
"Clara, it's the beginning of July. There's no way you actually want that."
"Watch me. Make that two hot chocolates," I said to my plate. Will Solace and Michael Yew laughed.
"I bet you ten Drachmas you can't make it," Michael taunted
"I'd make it twenty-five."
I looked at my plate. They really did set themselves up for this one, and it made me feel more hungry. "And a steak tortilla with spicy salsa and guac with tamales."
"We'll make it fifty between us. It's sweltering out here." Lee fanned himself and mimed taking off his shirt.
"You're getting in on this too, huh? Well, fifty isn't divisible by three. I guess I just need to add the flaming hot slice of pizza, right off the griddle."
"Sixty if you can get through all that before it gets cold, and without throwing up afterward."
"Deal."
This might have been fun, if Mr. D. hadn't started talking.
Percy led Tyson into the pavilion, and immediately there were whispers. All heads turned.
"Who invited that?" One of my siblings who I didn't know very well whispered.
"Hey, be nice," I said to them.
"Well if it isn't Peter Johnson. My millennium is complete. And that must mean that Rain Sanders and Claire Bailey have shown up as well. Perfect." I was just thrilled to see Mr. D
I glanced over at the Aphrodite table, where Renee looked ready to kill. She stood up. "Actually, my friends are Percy Jackson and Clara Bradley, and I'm Renee Sanderson," she said icily.
"Well, as kids like to say these days, whatever." Mr D. rolled his eyes. He was wearing his usual Hawaiian leopard print shirt and looking like a tourist lost in Vegas. Next to him was a skinny man who I recognized from my mythology books, but couldn't place. I grimaced, he was in Chiron's spot.
"You need to watch Johnson and Bailey, you know. All they do is cause trouble. None of their friends are good news either."
"Excuse me? You will not talk about Clara Bradley like that!"
"Little Sanders has grown feisty, hasn't she?"
If I could use my wand I would. I would curse them all into oblivion. Like that spell Lockhart almost used on Renee. But I was getting ahead of myself again.
Dionysus snapped his fingers, and a newspaper appeared. It must have been about Percy's adventure that day. I rolled my eyes.
"And Claire here, she can't keep her mouth shut. She made it so much worse for Clarisse, and for Johnson last year."
"She did not, sir. She saved my life, Luke would have killed me. Come on, Tyson, let's go eat."
"The monster stays here, and we will determine how to deal with him."
"No!"
Renee was the one who couldn't shut her mouth, not me.
"Johnson has seen fit to bring this thing here. Why, we do not know, but the monster eats with us."
Percy groaned, and Tantalus laughed along with the Ares cabin. I pulled out my wand. Even though there were no weapons allowed at the table, nobody except Renee, Percy, Annabeth, Silena, and Lee knew that the wands actually were weapons, and I trusted my friends to keep my secret. I was still scarfing the hot food and laughing silently, but I was worried Percy and Renee would make harsh, irreversible decisions. Still, sixty drachmas was a lot, especially since Harry might need them, and I could use them at the camp store. But I was a Hufflepuff, so I was torn.
"And now," Mr. D. said evilly, "I would like to introduce the new activities director, Tantalus."
The thin man grinned and spoke to his plate. "A hamburger with a diet coke, please."
Percy went to sit down, and I glanced sadly at Tyson, all alone with Mr. D. and Tantalus, but then I noticed something strange. As Tantalus reached for his food, it scurried away from him.
"I know who you are! You're that guy who Zeus punished by not being able to eat or drink anything, but you live by a river and a fruit tree!"
Michael kicked me. I guess I did talk too much sometimes.
The meal was over, and I had won the bet. "I'll take thirty drachmas each from you, you, and you," I said, pointing at Lee, Michael, and Will in turn. They were staring at me open mouthed.
"Do they not feed you at that school?" Lee asked, laughing.
"No, they totally do. I just wanted you all to see I could do it." I smirked triumphantly.
"We can't give you the money until tomorrow morning," Lee reminded me. "The last condition I added is that you don't get sick."
I fake-pouted at my brothers. "Okay. But I won't be sick." I was determined.
Tantalus banged on his still-full coke can. It only got the attention of a few, but he started talking anyway.
"Attention, attention. It was a great meal, or so I am told. Anyway a few announcements, and then to bed with you.
"First, we are reinstating the chariot races." I had no idea what that meant, but there were gasps from all twelve tables. "Now, I know that those were cancelled due to injuries, but just know that the winning team gets off chores for a week." Tantalus looked around, expecting to get applause. Some campers clapped, most did not.
"But sir," said the most unlikely voice anywhere, "those are more than dangerous. It wasn't just injuries, there were all types of deaths involved in the most recent ones."
"Ah, Clarisse La Rue, the one who singlehandedly stopped the bulls this afternoon." The Ares cabin grinned and clapped her on the back, laughing at the "You moo, girl!" sticker on her back.
"I didn't singlehandedly…."
"Ah, and modest as well. There's no need to worry. You will be fine, girls and boys."
Clarisse looked like she was going to protest, but Tantalus was speaking again. "Now, as for what to do about the monster…." He indicated Tyson. "We could put him in the stables."
"No," Silena piped up. "That would scare the horses."
Mr. D. nodded. "The girl is right. We could dispose of him, I guess."
"Dispose?" Percy and Renee roared at the same time. "No!"
"We could…." But at that moment, it became very clear what they were going to do with Tyson. There was a flash of blue light, and a trident appeared over the young cyclops.
"Well, well, well. Looks like you've got yourself a roommate, Johnson," Mr. D. said quietly.
A/N: How did you like the first Sea of Monsters chapter? How was my second-ever action scene with the bulls?
So I need advice. I don't know what I should make the fatal flaws for Renee and Clara. Thoughts?
Next chapter will probably be a bit of a filler, although I'm not sure. Thanks for reading, and please review.
~Hufflepufferfish
