Clara POV
It felt nice to be back in my bed at Camp Half-Blood and know that I would be getting sixty drachmas from my brothers. But as I'd come to learn, good things never last.
Tantalus was being a jerk and making Percy's life a living hell, and I refused to let Renee charmspeak him out of it.
"Percy can deal with it, Wren." But I knew she was really annoyed with the Aphrodite cabin, except for Silena, so I tried to let her be. Instead, we discussed the chariot races and the state of the camp at length. Renee had hinted that Silena was going to use pegasi. She had asked Renee to be her second member, but Renee had declined, and Silena was forced to take Drew.
As for me, I wasn't going to be riding either. My parents would hate that I disobeyed them so soon.
At night, I did border patrol with Percy and some of the other campers. Even though Tantalus insisted that the camp was safe, the cabins had worked out a schedule for the different cabins, and I was always at night. It got pretty boring at times, but it was always nice to talk to Percy.
One night, he surprised me. I had started the conversation.
"Percy, how are things with Tyson? Do you need any help with your feelings?" I had suspected that Annabeth and he had gotten into an argument that afternoon, which made me really upset. I hated it when my friends fought.
"No, no, I could never ask you….you saved my life, Clara. I never even thanked you properly."
I gasped. "Percy, you think I need any thanks for that? I was helping a friend, it wouldn't have been any different if it were Clarisse! Or Drew, even. It's in my nature."
"Really? I mean, I thought so, but I don't know. I didn't know you then."
"So? Percy, tell me what's wrong. Tell me why this is so hard on you."
"It's just….I feel like being Poseidon's son is some big joke. Like he did this just to embarrass me, as if I needed it more."
"Did I ever tell you about my half-brother? On my wizard side?"
"You've only been a witch for one year. And Annabeth never tells me about your correspondence."
"Well, his name is Draco Malfoy, and he's the worst. I mean, he and some others are in the same house as Renee, and they're the ones who made Ginny say that all Slytherins are bad. This will get better, okay?"
"Thanks, Clara."
"Any time."
It was time for us to switch shifts. Percy and I walked back to the cabins. "You're really helpful, Clara," Percy said before going in.
"Clara? Percy? Can you hear me?" He sounded frantic. And that's when I realized what he was wearing.
Yes, the satyr, Grover, Percy Jackson's best friend, was wearing a wedding dress. I saw him clearly, as if in a movie in front of me. But somewhere in my peripheral vision, Percy was there too.
"Thank the gods, I can see you. Can you hear me?"
My dream self was slow to respond, but Percy beat me to the punch. "Grover? We can hear you, what's going on?"
"Honeypie? Are you done yet? It's been two weeks, hasn't it?" A voice roared in the background. I shuddered.
"Not quite, dearest. A few more days!"
"Five more days!"
"No, no, I need two weeks, so seven more days."
"Okay. That's less than five, right?"
"Yes, dearest." The other voice faded out.
"Grover, what's going on?" I demanded.
"You have to help me! No time! I'm stuck in this island cave-"
"Where?"
"I don't know. I went to Florida and turned left!"
"You got to a bridal boutique," I remembered. "And then what?"
Grover looked slightly happier at this news. "So you got my first empathy link?"
"What?"
"Clara, it's a trap. Satyrs come here looking for Pan, and they get attracted to the strong nature scent because it's here! They come, and then Polyphemus traps and eats them!"
"Grover, you're not making sense. Where are you?" Percy asked. "And Poly who?"
"Polyphemus, the Cyclops Odysseus fought. Percy, Clara, I have to go. The cyclops thinks I'm a lady one of its kind, he thinks I'm wearing goat-scented perfume. Odysseus blinded him, so he can't tell. But there's something you should know. I have empathy links with both of you. That's how I can communicate with you. So if I die…."
"We die? Grover, that's hardly fair!"
"Percy, shut up. Hear him out!"
"Well, you might live in a coma for the rest of your life, but yeah. You'll probably die. You have to come rescue me!"
"Why was I put on this, Grover? I get Percy, but you barely know me!"
"You saved Percy's life last year. Also, you're a Hufflepuff, and Pomona told Willowmist all about Hufflepuffs before she left! And she told Juniper, who told me."
"Who's Willowmist? And what happened with Pomona?"
"Juniper's mother. And I can't tell you, Clara! I don't know. Nobody does except for Willowmist, and Pomona made her swear on the Styx. Listen, I have to go, but rescue me!"
I woke up suddenly, banging my head against the wall. Luckily, my siblings didn't notice. I would have to check with Percy in the morning, if he had had this dream too, then it was beyond real, and we could die at any moment. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I waited for someone else to get up. It was already getting light out, and maybe I could get to see Dad's golden sun chariot today. I had never seen it, but Lee said it was amazing.
I went over to the window and heard a soft cough. I looked around, and it was Ruby, one of the twins Lee had introduced me to. She was wide awake.
"Clara, right?" She whispered. She beckoned me over. "Look out the window."
I stared as the sun came up, and behind it, there was a gigantic chariot, as big as Hogwarts. It was shaped like a cow and so dazzlingly golden I had to shield my eyes.
"I've been watching him every day," Ruby whispered to me. "I can't believe people don't get up for this. And do mortals really never see him? They just think the sun does it all by itself?"
"I guess so," I said, finally able to regain my voice after the breathtaking sight.
"Do you think Daddy will ever let me ride with him?" The question threw me off guard.
"Um…I don't know, I'm not sure. What's your Apollo power?" Nearly all my brothers and sisters had them. Apollo had the highest range of talents that got passed onto his offspring. Will was a healer, Lee and Michael were poets (although bad ones), and some others were very good singers. And of course, we all are good with archery. But as far as I knew, I was the only one who could summon sunbeams at will.
Apparently, however, I had said the wrong thing. The little girl frowned, and I could see tears sparkling in her eyes. "I don't know, Clara. Diamond is always gloating over me, she could sing like a siren since we were three. So now she knows hers. But I don't think I have one."
"You'll figure it out."
Ruby smiled up at me, and I felt good. "Clara?"
"Yeah?"
"Which cabins are the ones to watch out for?"
"Um…." that was an odd question. "Well, there are many people to watch out for. I don't know about any cabins in particular. Like, Silena and Renee from the Aphrodite cabin are really nice, but Drew and her friends are not. And Clarisse is sometimes nice."
"Why does Percy's cabin only have him, and now Tyson?"
I couldn't believe Lee hadn't told her any of this. "Percy is a son of the Big Three, which are Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Do you know the story of Kronos?"
"Um…I think so. He's the guy who ate his children, the gods? Except for Zeus?"
"Exactly. Well ever since then, the Big Three have never really gotten along. I believe the rumor is that it caused World War Two."
"Really?" The young girl looked frightened.
"Yeah. So anyway, the Big Three agreed not to have children after that. But Poseidon broke the promise. Well, Zeus did too."
"Thalia?"
"Thalia. The tree we need to save. I think there might be like, a great prophecy about any child of the Big Three, but I'm not sure. Chiron and Annabeth won't tell anyone."
Ruby nodded. Others were starting to get up.
"Ruby! You got up without me again!"
"You hate to wake up early, Di."
Diamond pouted. "You woke her up."
"I didn't, she got up herself!"
There was a frantic knock at the door, and I had a feeling I knew who it would be. I left Ruby and Diamond to their bickering to go and answer it.
"Clara! I was hoping it would be you! Can you come out for a sec?"
"Yeah," I said, my heart sinking. If Percy was here this early, then there could only be one reason.
"Was I dreaming last night," Percy wondered when we got out into the sunshine, "or was Grover engaged to a Cyclops?"
I met his eyes and nodded.
"Aww man. I have to tell Annabeth, I guess."
Lee came out then. "You two need to go get ready for the chariot races. Well, you do, Percy. Clara, you should get ready for the day."
"Oh crap, those are today?"
Lee laughed nervously. "Yeah. Good luck, Percy."
"Thank you, and you as well."
As we walked towards the woods, there was a chorus of pigeons. They weren't quite cooing, more like a metallic screeching. I wasn't sure why, but they made me nervous. I sat over by Renee and watched as the cabins showed their displays one by one.
The racetrack was stationed between the archery range and the woods, and I didn't like being that close to the birds. The Hephaestus cabin had plowed the fields with the metal bulls, which were perfectly tame after Tyson's work. There were stone bleachers set up for the spectators, and Juniper joined us. Oh man, I had so many questions for that girl, most of them starting with, "why."
"Right," Tantalus announced as the teams assembled. "Well, you know the rules. Twice around the track. Two horses and two riders. One fighter and one driver. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anyone. Otherwise, no s'mores at the campfire for a week."
I frowned. That wasn't a punishment worthy of killing.
The Hephaestus team walked out first. Their driver was Charles Beckendorf, and their fighter was his second in command, Jake Mason. All of their chariot was made of metal, including their horses. I clapped as the horses snorted fire.
Next was Clarisse's, which was bloodred and made me kind of sick to look at. She was the fighter, and Mark was their driver.
Ours was next. It was fully gold and sparkled in the light. We used to Palominos, and they sparkled with the Chariot. Michael was the driver, Lee was the fighter.
The Hermes chariot looked plain, but I knew they had some tricks up their sleeves, and it was manned by the Stoll brothers.
Demeter's cabin, led by Katie Gardner and Walter Kann, had a chariot that would have made Sprout proud. I noticed Percy and Annabeth arguing about something below, and realized he was probably trying to tell her. I wanted to tell Renee, but I couldn't do it without letting Juniper know, and I didn't want to do that then.
As Percy and Annabeth finally walked onto the track, I noticed the birds getting louder. There seemed to be many more of them.
The race began, and the first chariot to go was ours, which was attacked by the Hermes chariot. Our horses got confused and charged the Hermes chariot, and that made the pegasi from the Aphrodite chariot go beserk. They flew up, knocking Silena and Drew off in the process. It was chaos from there, and I couldn't watch. All I knew was that soon, Percy, Annabeth, and Clarisse were contesting for the lead. And then only Clarisse was still on the track. Everyone else was running. I pulled out my wand and summoned my bow and arrows. The birds were attacking.
Annabeth and Percy had disappeared, and they came back with Chiron's boombox. Lee called to me, and I went over to join the rest of my siblings, Renee at my heels.
"Archers! Now!" Annabeth yelled, and we fired our arrows at the birds. Renee waved her wand, yelling spells. Within minutes, all the birds were down, but the wreckage wasn't pretty.
"Bravo, bravo!" Tantalus yelled, but he was looking at Clarisse. "We have a winner for the first race!" Then he turned and looked at Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, Renee, and me. "And now to punish the troublemakers who started this mess."
According to Tantalus, the birds had been minding their own business when Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson disrupted them with their bad chariot driving. To make matters worse, Renee and I had "pulled out your sticks and pointed them at the birds, you could have taken someone's eye out, they were already threatened enough."
Renee and Percy blew up at Tantalus. Renee threatened to hex his ears off, while Percy yelled, "go chase a donut" repeatedly.
The five of us were sentenced to dishwashing, which is the worst of all the Camp Half-Blood chores. We had to wear heavy gloves as we plunged our hands into the lava to wash the plates for the big banquet that we had had at lunch to celebrate Clarisse. The only good thing was, it gave us time to talk to Annabeth and Renee about the dream.
"If he's really found it," Annabeth murmured, "and if we could retrieve it…."
"What is this 'it?'" Percy asked, but by then I had figured it out.
"Annabeth, you think he's found….the Golden Fleece?"
Annabeth nodded. "Percy, remember the Gray Sisters? They said they know the location of the thing you seek, and they mentioned Jason. You do know about Jason and the Argonauts, don't you?"
"That old movie with the clay skeletons?"
"Percy!" The three of us yelled together. "You are so hopeless," Annabeth continued.
"What?"
"The real story," she said, rolling her eyes, "is this. There were these two children of Zeus, Cadmus and Europa, okay? And they were about to be offered as human sacrifices, so they prayed to Zeus to save them. So Zeus sent this magical flying ram with golden wool, which picked them up in Greece and carried them all the way to Colchis in Asia Minor. Well actually, it carried Cadmus. Europa fell off and died along the way, but that's not important."
"I bet it was important to Europa," Renee interjected, and Percy gave her a high five. I rolled my eyes, some of my friends were so immature.
I knew the story of the Fleece well enough to continue. "Anyway, when Cadmus got to Colchis, he sacrificed the ram to the gods and hung the fleece up in a tree. The Fleece brought prosperity to that part of Turkey, and they had great crop supply for years to come and plagues never visited. That's why Jason wanted it. It could cure sickness, revitalize land, clean pollution, strengthen nature, basically just-"
"So it could cure Thalia's tree."
Annabeth and I both nodded. "But Percy, the Fleece has been missing for centuries, no hero has found it since Jason."
"But Grover did. He went looking for Pan and instead he found the Fleece because they both radiate nature magic."
"But Percy," Renee said, speaking up for the first time, aside from her Europa comment, "what if it's a trap? I mean, we were both tricked by Kronos on our quests last year. He could easily do it again."
Percy thought for just a moment. "Are you going to help me or not?"
"Well, Percy," Annabeth said quietly, glancing at Tyson to make sure he wasn't listening, "we'd have to fight a cyclops. The worst of them, Polyphemus. And there's only one place his island could be."
I caught on right away. "The Sea of Monsters."
Renee seemed to get it. "The Mediterranean?"
"Well yes but….no," Annabeth said.
"Another straight answer from Wise Girl," Percy said, and he and Renee high-fived again.
"Okay, what is with your snark, you two? Anyway, the Sea of Monsters has shifted with Western Civilization, just like the rest of Olympus."
"But you'd have to be crazy not to notice a whole sea full of monsters, even a mortal would-"
"Oh, mortals do notice things. Shipwrecks and plane crashes. They even have a name for it."
"The Bermuda Triangle. Then we know where to look."
"Well, not exactly, Percy. It's a big place. And we'll need to get a quest from Tantalus, and that's likely to happen."
"Yeah….I guess." Percy was disappointed.
I suddenly got an idea. "But we could talk to him at the bonfire tonight, where everyone would be watching. Then he'll have to say yes."
That night, our cabin led the sing-along. Or, we tried to, at any rate. Nobody was in high spirits. We all knew what could happen to the camp if Tantalus kept on leading.
We did all the standard camp numbers, like "This Land is Minos' Land," "Down by the Aegean," and "Pop Goes the Hellhound," but the enchanted bonfire never rose. See, it was enchanted to rise with the feelings of the singers, and on a good night I had seen it twenty feet high and bright purple. Tonight, it was a regular-sized campfire the color of lint.
When we were finished, Tantalus clapped. "Now, a few announcements about tomorrow's schedule."
This was our time to speak. Percy stood first. "Sir," he said calmly, giving Renee a warning look. I could tell that it meant, "don't do anything you would regret." That, coming from Percy….wow.
"Our kitchen boy has something to say?"
There were some snickers from the Ares cabin, but Percy continued strongly. First, though, he looked at Annabeth, Renee, and me. We stood up and went over to him.
"We have an idea to save the camp," Percy continued.
"Well, if it has anything to do with chariots-"
"Will you shut up about chariots for just a second? What Percy was trying to say was, we need the Golden Fleece." Sometimes, I surprised even myself.
"We think we know where it is," Percy added.
The flames burned orange, and Percy gave the rundown of the dream without giving Tantalus time to stop him.
"The fleece could cure Thalia's tree," I reminded everyone. "It could strengthen the borders and everything."
There was applause from the campers.
"For the last time," Tantalus said, annoyed, "the camp does not need saving!"
Everyone stared at him. "Sir," Annabeth said, as polite as she could, "we want to ask you to issue a quest."
"No-" Tantalus started, but the whole camp had taken up the cheer. "We need a quest! We need a quest! We need a quest!"
Campers were standing up, and the counselors aside from Percy and Annabeth were all looking pointedly at Tantalus, arranged in a little group.
"Quiet! You wouldn't even know where to look!"
"Yes we would, it's in the Sea of Monsters, the Bermuda Triangle," I said.
"Well, that's hardly an exact location."
"We have something better," Renee said. I looked at Annabeth, and she shrugged. "30, 31, 75, 12! I don't know what it means, but it's some sort of location."
"Thank you for those very meaningless numbers, Sanderson."
"No, sir, they're sailing coordinates," Percy said, seeming to have just figured it out. Annabeth nodded, impressed. I still didn't really get it.
"30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. Where did you learn that?"
"Um….in social studies." Percy seemed hesitant to say in front of Tantalus, but I figured it was a Poseidon thing.
"Well then, the quest shall go to our best camper, to the girl who has saved the camp twice in two days, Clarisse La Rue."
There was silence, except for the Ares cabin, who broke into cheers. "Well, Clarisse, you know the rules. Two other campers if you accept the quest.
"Wait!" Percy shouted over the cheering. "Grover is my friend. The dream came to Clara and me! We should-"
Clarisse glared and interrupted him. "I, Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, accept the quest to save the camp!"
"No!" Renee screamed.
"You had your shot. Clarisse needs to lead a quest!" Someone said.
"Aww, is the widdle babwy upset that she doesn't get anwother adventwure?" Drew mocked.
Renee could be a jerk at times, but I remembered the last time at Hogwarts when she had been in the hospital wing. My best friend could be much more fragile than she acted.
"Shut up, Drew Tanaka! Shut UP!" Like I said, I surprised myself sometimes. I pulled out my wand. "Shut up!"
"Clara," Renee charmspeaked, "stop. She's not worth it."
"Oh, fine then. But she insults you regularly! She's your sister!" I whisper-yelled.
"Did the other widdle babwy have a bad dweam and think it was rweal?" Drew taunted. Silena came over to her, and Renee and I stepped away from the commotion.
Now, people were taking sides in what seemed like it was going to be a full-fledged s'more war until Tantalus yelled, "Silence, you brats!"
At that point, Renee grabbed my hand, and we ran all the way to the Apollo cabin, where we would be safe from Tantalus and the taunting.
"Renee Sanderson, get your things. You're staying here tonight!" Renee nodded, and squeezed my hand.
"I don't want to see Drew Tanaka ever again! I don't want to! I don't want to!"
"I'm sorry, Renee. Here's some ambrosia and nectar, sit down and calm yourself with those. This bed's open, here, next to mine. Sit down. I'll go get your stuff. It will be okay, I swear."
Renee nodded, and I left to the Aphrodite cabin, hoping I could avoid Renee's sisters for the time being.
When I got there, I left a note on Silena's bed, so that she would understand. I gathered up Renee's stuff and left quickly.
I would do the best I could to help my best friend at all costs.
A/N: So there's the next chapter. I want to develop a theme of Renee having emotional episodes, to show her as a multi-layered person. Also, I want to establish this relationship between Clara Bradley and Percy Jackson that is the same as for Harry Potter and Renee Sanderson. Neither pair should be at all romantic, but they are these boy-girl relationship that just get each other.
How do you like Clara's smarts and knowledge coming out? Let me know.
Also, for readers of Love Letters to my Roommate, I feel like I am getting nowhere with the story, even though I just started, I might need a break. It's not really shaping up to be what I thought it was. Let me know if you have any ideas for this, I am really not sure where to go. Thanks.
~Hufflepufferfish
