Agrius and Oreius lunged at the cyclops, claws flashing. Polyphemus startled backward, raising his tree trunk club to block the attack, only for it to be shredded down to wood chips. Now devoid of a weapon, he roared and threw a wild haymaker, catching Oreius in the side and slamming him into the wall of the cave. His brother pressed on, swiping at the giant and leaving angry red scratches on his arms and legs.

While the cyclops was distracted, Grover and I each grabbed one of Tyson's arms and slung them over our shoulders. Tyson grunted in pain as we helped him to his feet, and I felt a stab of guilt run through me. That blow had been meant to kill me, and he'd taken the full brunt of it. His left shoulder was purple and splotchy, and it'd be a wonder if none of his ribs were broken.

Slowly, and painfully, we began making our way towards the cave's exit. Luke rushed over to escort us out, keeping Backbiter pointed towards Polyphemus in case he decided to slip past Agrius and make a grab for his "bride". The Golden Fleece was folded over his shoulder, emitting a warm golden light on the cave wall. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Oreius leap back into the fray with a snarl, easing some of the pressure off his brother, who was slowly getting pushed back. Grover eyed the battle in perplexion, and now that we were next to each other, I could feel his confusion pouring through the empathy link in waves.

Sunlight beamed down on us as we emerged from the grotto. Tyson's breaths came out in ragged gasps, and on the other side of him, I could see Grover struggling with the cyclops' weight, but I urged us forward, wanting to put some distance between us and the mouth of the cave. When we were finally a safe distance away, I stopped and lowered Tyson into a resting position. Grover sat down hard, tearing the bridal veil away from his face and taking a moment to catch his breath.

"Wing ponies," Tyson wheezed. I looked up and saw our pegasi circling overhead. No doubt they'd been spooked off when Polyphemus returned. As much as I wanted to call them down and get Tyson and Grover the heck out of here, I knew there was no way my half-brother would be able to ride with his injuries.

Footsteps from behind us drew my attention. Luke was approaching, Backbiter still in his hand. Evidently, he trusted Agrius and Oreius to deal with the cyclops on their own.

"Luke!" Grover cried, nearly tripping over his wedding dress to run to him. "You came to rescue me too!" The satyr launched himself at the taller demigod and threw his arms around his waist.

Luke shifted awkwardly, and I met his eyes. I hadn't had the chance to tell Grover that we ran away from camp yet. For all he knew, we were here to save him on official quest business. The camp wasn't in any danger, there were no new developments sprouting from our brief brush with Kronos last year in the underworld, and Luke and I had simply been training at camp as year rounders since Grover left last year. I tried to convey all that to Luke without saying anything, and he seemed to get it. He smiled and patted Grover on the shoulder, returning the hug.

"Good to see you alive, Grover," Luke greeted him. He looked at me again, and his lips pressed into a thin line. I knew what he was thinking. We'd need to have a talk with Grover once we got back to the ship.

The two of them separated, and Luke's gaze locked on Tyson, still on the ground watching the pegasi circling overhead.

And then I remembered. Half an hour, he'd told me. Half an hour before he'd send in the rest of his troops. Half an hour before they'd come for Tyson. My eyes fixed on his sword, the sunlight reflecting off of it in a wicked, crimson glow. No, he couldn't! Immediately, I rooted myself between Luke and the prone form of my half-brother.

"Don't you even think about it," I warned him. "Tyson saved our lives."

Grover looked between the two of us, confusion and alarm at the sudden tension overtaking his features once again.

Luke froze, eyeing me strangely, before his gaze drifted to the sword in his hand and a look of understanding passed over his face.

"Oh," he mused, reaching over his shoulder and sliding Backbiter into its sheath. "Yes, I know. I heard everything from outside the cave while we were trying to move the boulder." He pulled the Fleece off his shoulder and cautiously approached Tyson, shame written on his features. "It seems I was wrong about you, Tyson," he admitted, stooping down to drape the Fleece over his injuries. Relief flooded over the young cyclops's face, his muscles immediately relaxing with the soothing aura. He shifted his one eye from the pegasi to older demigod now standing above him. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you," Luke continued. "I had a grudge and I shouldn't have let it dictate how I treated you. You're a damn hard worker and it's a pleasure to have you on our ship."

I realized that was the first time I'd ever heard Luke actually say my half-brother's name. I watched his big eye begin to well up, but whether it was from the pain or Luke's words, I couldn't tell.

Further down the hill, I saw the rest of our troops heading our direction. Many of them were covered in tufts of wool, others with scratches and bite marks. I had a feeling we'd be eating our fill of mutton on our return trip.

Grover's eyes widened when he saw just how many people there were. "Did you bring the entire camp to help me?" he asked incredulously. Then he laid eyes on the assortment of monstrous infantry supplicating our ranks. "Percy, what…"

"A lot's changed, Grover," I told him. "I'll explain later." He met my gaze for a moment, his eyes searching, and I could tell he was trying to sift through my emotions. After a moment, he swallowed and nodded.

"You should get Grover situated on the ship," Luke suggested to me, turning his attention back to the cave. "I think we can handle the rest here."

I followed his gaze back to the cave, where I could hear the bear twins still locked in combat with the cyclops.

"Are you going to kill him?" I asked.

Luke's face darkened. "I doubt he'll simply let us go if we don't."

"You can't!" Tyson yelled, shooting up from his resting spot, though the grimace that overtook his features quickly showed he regretted that decision. "We… we already took enough. Please."

The older demigod growled in frustration. "Why do you care so much? He tried to kill you. He's a mon—" He quickly snapped his mouth shut when he remembered who he was talking to.

It really shouldn't have mattered to me. Polyphemus kidnapped my friend, and he was responsible for the deaths of dozens of satyrs and unfortunate sailors. But I'd been spending a lot of time around monsters since I made my home aboard the Princess Andromeda, and I'd come to find many of them weren't as thoughtlessly evil as I'd believed. Sure, there were plenty who took delight in the torment of their prey, but many others simply just wanted to… exist. They ate demigods because their only other option was to starve and endure a painful reformation in Tartarus. Polyphemus wasn't all that different. The guy was perfectly content with living by himself here on this island, far removed from society, tending to his flocks and minding his own business (for the most part). Taking the Fleece back and rescuing Grover was one thing, but to kill him in his own home seemed unnecessarily cruel.

Luke sighed and turned away from Tyson. "Fine," he muttered. "I'll see if we can get away with simply injuring him. Stay here, Tyson. This won't take long. We'll get you some proper medical attention. Percy, you and Grover take the pegasi. I'll meet the two of you back at the ship when this is over."

With that, he waved an arm towards the cave, beckoning the approaching squad of soldiers to follow his lead. Together, with raised swords and battlecries on their lips, they charged into the mouth of the cave. Polyphemus wouldn't even know what hit him.

The breeze was warm as Grover and I took to the air. I could tell by the way he was hanging on to Guido for dear life that my satyr friend had never ridden a pegasus before. Compound that with the harrowing experience he'd had with Luke's cursed flying shoes last year, and I couldn't blame him for keeping his eyes shut the whole time he was in the air.

I steered Blackjack alongside him and tried to focus on the empathy link, attempting to send comforting thoughts his way. After a moment, one of his eyes opened and focused on me.

"I know you're trying to help," he called over the wind, "but your emotions are seriously chaotic right now!"

Oops. I eased up on the telepathy, and Grover's countenance seemed to relax a bit. At the very least, he had his eyes open now. We gazed down at the island as it passed underneath us. Much of it had been destroyed by the rampaging demon-sheep, the bodies of which were scattered around the front part of the island. It seemed our troops had made quick work of them. Some were already being loaded onto lifeboats and sent back to the ship, no doubt to be prepared for dinner.

"When Luke was talking to Tyson, he mentioned a grudge," I said, bringing up the earlier conversation. I was still reeling at how quickly Luke had come around on his enmity, and even apologized to my half-brother after he saved my life. I guess actions spoke a lot louder than words to him. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Grover's eyes became unfocused, as if remembering an unpleasant memory. "Yeah. It was the real reason Thalia died."

"She was killed by a cyclops?"

"Well, no, but the monsters that chased us up Half-Blood Hill wouldn't have been able to catch up to us in the first place if it hadn't been for the cyclops we ran into just hours earlier."

He went on to explain how he'd accidentally led the trio down a few wrong turns while trying to navigate the city, and they'd ended up in the lair of a cyclops. It had used its ability to mimic and throw voices to individually lure each of them into a trap. They would've all been eaten alive if it hadn't been for Annabeth.

"For real?" I asked incredulously. She'd been only seven years old with nothing but a small knife, and she'd had the guts to walk up to a cyclops and stab it in the foot? I tried to imagine how that would've blown over if I'd attempted that on Polyphemus and couldn't imagine an outcome that didn't involve me turning into a blood splatter on the floor.

Grover smiled wistfully. "Yeah, she was pretty brave. She cut Luke and Thalia free and they handled the rest from there, but by then, we'd lost too much time. I managed to get everyone to the hill, but… well, you know the rest."

So that had been why Luke was so averse to having a cyclops aboard. But what about the rest of our crew? Surely, there had to be other monsters aboard the Princess Andromeda whose kin had a hand in Thalia's death. But he didn't seem to treat any of them with as much disdain as he had with Tyson. The cyclops he'd ran into must've said something that really shook him up for him to build up a grudge like that.

I made it a point to ask him about it later.

We reached the edge of the island and the ship came into view. Grover gasped at the sight.

"That's your ship?"

I laughed. "It is. A luxury cruise extravaganza for your honeymoon."

He openly gaped. "How—where—?"

"You probably have a lot of questions," I interrupted him, thoughts of the conversation we'd soon be having forming a pit in my stomach. "Let's get you settled in first. I can explain everything later over dinner, ok?"

Hearing the "d" word, Grover immediately perked up and brought a hand to his stomach. "Oh, thank the gods. I can't wait to get some real food in me. Polyphemus was a terrible cook. He tried to feed me sheep! Didn't have a single tin can!"

We came in for a landing on the platform near the stables, and I made sure to promise Blackjack I'd bring him and his buddies something from the kitchen for a job well done. Together, Grover and I broke for the cafeteria, but paused when Grover nearly tripped over his wedding dress.

"On second thought, maybe we should get you a shower and some clean clothes first," I suggested.

Grover nodded, his cheeks turning tomato red. "I like that idea."

And so I turned around and led him back towards the elevator to the VIP rooms. Grover eyed the holographic tourists warily as we passed by the pool, some of whom offering Grover heartfelt congratulations upon seeing his attire. We trekked on through the Promenade, where a couple of hellhounds were fighting over a straw-stuffed dummy. Grover halted when he saw them.

"Uhh… Monsters?" he inquired, pointing a finger at the scuffle. He seemed more confused than afraid.

"Don't worry about them," I reassured him, steering us around the oversized dogs. "Like I said, I'll explain later."

I could see his mind racing as we walked the rest of the distance to the elevator. We rode up without a word, an old-timey jazz song the only thing breaking the silence. Grover's discomfort became palpable as we climbed higher and higher. When the elevator doors opened, his lips pressed into a thin line, and his posture became rigid.

"Come on," I told him. "My room is just down the hall."

He hung back for a moment, but then I heard his hooves clopping behind reluctantly. I kept my gaze focused forward, trying to pretend that nothing was amiss, but Grover was good at reading the atmosphere. Only when I reached my door and pulled the keycard from my pocket did I notice he had stopped following me. Instead, he had halted at the first door, staring at it motionlessly like it was from another world.

I sighed. Grover had been with me when we stood at the pit. It was foolish to think he wouldn't notice Kronos's presence. There was just no hiding this from him.

"We're resurrecting him," I said.

If Grover was surprised, he didn't show it. Instead, he turned to stare at me, eyebrows furrowed and a frown tugging at his lips.

"Why?"

Accusation, disbelief, and disappointment all wrapped up into one three-letter word. It was such a simple question, but it felt like a stake had been driven through me. I felt the urge to get angry, to defend myself.

But why should I have to? I wasn't wrong to serve Kronos. The gods were tyrants. Grover had seen the way they toyed with us all throughout our quest last year. He'd witnessed Thalia's demise at their hands, and he knew just how much they had taken from me. So where did he get off asking me why I turned against them?

"I think you already know the answer to that," I snapped.

He stomped towards me angrily. "Are you crazy? The gods may have their faults, but do you seriously think this is the solution?"

"It's the best chance we have. We're powerless against the gods. Kronos is the only one who can defeat them."

"But—the titan king—he's worse! You remember the stories Chiron taught us in class, don't you? He devoured his own children to remain in power!"

Down the hall, the elevator doors chimed, and Luke emerged carrying his armor and equipment. So, he'd dealt with Polyphemus then.

"Yes, he did," Luke said, evidently catching the tail end of our conversation. "And he's been paying the price for it in Tartarus while the gods allow themselves to repeat the same mistakes. Now, somebody must punish them for their crimes, and that somebody will be him."

Grover stared at Luke, gritting his teeth in frustration. He stared at him a moment as if not sure what to say, but then his eyes widened. "Luke. You were behind all of this, weren't you? You stole the bolt and sent Percy, Annabeth, and I on that crazy quest last year."

"I stole the bolt, yes," he admitted, a half smirk on his face. "But everything that happened afterwards was brought on by the gods' own carelessness."

"I should've known. Your emotions have been all scrambled ever since your quest," he said, earning a frown from Luke. "I knew you were bitter about it, but I'd never thought you'd actually turn on your friends. And now you've brainwashed Percy into following you, too!"

"I'm not brainwashed," I said indignantly. It was insulting he'd even suggest something like that. Like it wasn't my choice to be here. Like I couldn't think for myself. Grover narrowed his eyes at me, his face locked in a glare.

"Kronos treats us with respect," I informed him. "We're not just some sacrificial pawns to be thrown away. Even my own father only ever treated me like I was a tool, but Kronos… he rewards those who serve him well. And on top of that, he doesn't keep life-changing secrets from me, either. He told me the Great Prophecy."

Grover's eyes widened. I tested our link, trying to find any indicators of what he might be thinking, but all I found was surprise… and curiosity. Which meant he'd never learned the contents of the prophecy himself. He must've felt me probing at our empathy link, because his face suddenly became a mask and I found I could no longer read him.

He tried to casually shove his hands into his pockets, but they only made a couple awkward circles before he realized he was still wearing a wedding dress. Instead, he ended up crossing them over his chest and leaning against the wall. "Ah, I see. And, what did it say?" he asked, trying to sound disinterested but failing miserably.

I hesitated, debating whether or not I should tell him. I was still pretty peeved about the brainwashing comment, and if he wanted to support the side that kept secrets like this from the people that needed to know them, then he deserved to be left in the dark. I looked over Grover's shoulder and met Luke's gaze, but he just shrugged.

I shook my head. "Grover… you need to cut the empathy link."

"What? Why?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, his voice laced with concern.

"How many reasons do you want? If you'd been eaten by Polyphemus, I'd probably be in a coma right now. And then there's the fact that I'm number one on Olympus's Most Wanted list. I could get smited at any time, and where would that leave you? Not to mention, we're not really on the same side anymore, are we? I can't exactly have you reading my mind."

"Not on the same side?!" he sputtered. "Percy, you—" He cut himself off, and his eyes narrowed suspiciously. For a moment, he seemed to be searching for words. "What are you not telling me?" he asked. "What did the prophecy say?"

I cursed inwardly, my attempt to deflect his attention from the prophecy having been thwarted. He was too good at reading me. This was why we couldn't afford to keep this connection between us active. It could get in the way of Kronos's plans.

Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair. "I'm going to die, Grover."

Silence fell on the corridor, and I could feel Kronos's presence observing our conversation with rapt interest. Stunned, Grover swiveled his head back to Luke, as if trying to decide if what I'd just told him was a joke, but Luke just bowed his head and stared hard at the floor. Slowly, he turned back to me, and I felt a vortex of emotions emanating from him.

"Y-you don't know that," he said softly. "Chiron always said prophecies often have double meanings—"

"This one was pretty clear. A child of the Big Three will reach the age of sixteen and decide the fate of Olympus, and then they'll die. That's the oh-so-Great-Prophecy that Chiron's kept under lock and key."

Grover's mouth opened and closed several times as he tried to formulate a response, and I could feel my patience starting to wear thin. I didn't like talking about this. Luke was the only other person on the ship who knew the contents of the prophecy, and I always changed the topic whenever he tried to broach the subject. I didn't want to think about my eventual death, because it only brought up painful questions. Would it hurt? Would I be alone? And, the one I wanted least to think about: was I truly willing to die for this cause?

"B-but… there has to be another way to interpret it. What… what were the exact words?"

The back of my fist collided with the wall with such force that it shook the nearby pedestal, causing the flowered vase atop it to rattle. "Just cut the link, Grover!" I snapped, the command coming out a little louder than I'd meant it to. Grover flinched at the sudden outburst, and I immediately felt bad. "Please," I added, lowering my gaze to the floor. "It's too dangerous to keep. Just sever it."

Grover looked torn as he considered my request. He seemed to fight himself for a moment, but then something passed behind his eyes.

"Fine," he said. "If that's what you really want."

"It is."

He nodded and stepped towards me before placing his hands on the side of my head. He pressed his thumbs to my temples and screwed his eyes shut, face going tense in concentration. I closed my eyes as well, just because it seemed like the thing to do. A few seconds went by.

"There," Grover said with a note of finality. "I cut it."

I didn't feel any different. But then again, I hadn't felt anything peculiar when the connection was formed either, at least until he contacted me in a dream. And I figured it must have worked, because for the first time in a while, I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

He wouldn't meet my eyes. "Whatever," he muttered.

Silence once again fell over the hallway, this one feeling more tense. Luke pulled out his key and slid it in his door. "You two should get some rest. I'll take nav duty tonight."

"Wait, is Tyson okay?" I inquired.

He nodded. "He's in the infirmary with Adri."

"You left the Golden Fleece with him," I noted.

Luke smirked. "Yeah, well, it's as you said. Kronos rewards those who serve him loyally. He's allowing Tyson to take advantage of its healing magic until tomorrow."

I shot Grover an 'I told you so' look, but he only frowned. "You're going to use the Fleece to speed up his resurrection process," he said, more of a statement than a question.

"That's right. A worthy prize for our quest, if I do say so myself," Luke gloated. "Not that we aren't glad to see you safe, of course," he added to deflect Grover's scowl.

With that, Luke disappeared into his room, probably to shower and get ready for his navigation shift. I urged Grover to do the same so we could go eat. For a moment, I thought he might refuse and take off, but then he seemed to remember he was on a boat in the middle of the Sea of Monsters wearing a wedding dress.

"Fine," he muttered.

I sighed. It had been wishful thinking to hope this conversation would go as well as it had with Tyson when I first brought him aboard the ship, but at least Grover wasn't trying to trample me underhoof. I guess I owed that, in part, to the fact that we hadn't told him about the danger Camp Half-Blood was in yet, and how we had been the cause of it. I dreaded the day when I'd have to have this same discussion with Annabeth.

After an uncomfortable dinner consisting of me chowing down on mutton while Grover glared at me from behind his salad bowl, I decided to turn in for the night. My satyr friend elected to bring a takeout box to the stables and sleep there with the pegasi instead. That was fine by me. I didn't want his ungrateful, furry behind in my room anyways. I'd be too scared of waking up to reed pipes in my neck.

Before I returned to my cabin, I went to check up on Tyson in the infirmary. I was hoping he would be awake so I could thank him for saving my life. I'd severely miscalculated when I took Grover "hostage", believing that Polyphemus would never harm his bride-to-be. If it hadn't been for my brother, Grover and I would be little more than smears on the floor of that cave.

As it was, however, he was sound asleep when I got there. The Golden Fleece was draped over his body like a blanket, which looked kind of comical, because it only reached down to his knees.

Adri sat at a desk at the front of the infirmary and didn't seem to notice me entering. I peered over her shoulder to get a look at what had captured her attention and laid eyes on two x-rays under the desk light.

"Incredible," she breathed, shaking her head slowly.

"What's incredible?"

She jumped, banging her knee on the bottom of her desk and inhaling sharply. She shot me a dirty look, a curse ready to fly from her lips, but then Tyson groaned behind us. We waited a moment to see if he'd wake up, and when he didn't, Adri turned back to me and fixed me with a glare.

"When did you get in here?" she hissed.

I chuckled. "You must've been reeeally focused if you didn't hear me come in. I'm about as stealthy as a water buffalo."

She rolled her eyes and swiveled back to her desk. "Yeah, well, it's just… this Fleece is amazing. Take a look at this," she said, picking up the two x-rays and holding them out to me.

I raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you not supposed to show me these? You know, Hippocratic oath and all that?"

She stared at me a moment, her hand still extended and eyes narrowed slightly, before withdrawing the proffered scans. "Fine, if you don't want to see them—"

"No, no, I do, it's just…" I trailed off, still not sure if this was okay.

"The oaths I swore to my father when I became a doctor don't mean anything to me anymore," she deadpanned.

Her father. I sometimes forgot that her dad was Apollo, the god of medicine. It made sense that he would be the god responsible for holding doctors to their Hippocratic oaths.

"Er, fair enough," I acceded, not really looking to get into an argument about ethics at the moment. I grabbed the x-ray scans from her and held them up to the light. "So, what am I looking at?"

She pointed at the picture in my left hand, which depicted a bone structure in the shape of a man's chest and shoulders. The bone looked a lot thicker than any normal human's, but I could see some deformities and dark lines snaking through the image.

"That's Tyson's upper torso when Luke brought him in a couple hours ago."

I gaped at the picture, horrified. It looked like he'd been run over by a truck, only for the driver to stop and throw it in reverse. I couldn't imagine how much pain he must've been in. I definitely owed him one.

"And this is his most recent scan, taken only a few minutes ago."

I glanced at the other one. Where the fractures and breaks used to be was now healthy, white bone, with only a few miniscule cracks left. It was as if he'd simply fallen off a bike instead of getting clobbered by a palm tree.

"No way," I breathed, glancing between the photos and Tyson. "He healed that much in just a couple hours?" If this was the power of the Golden Fleece, I had no doubt it would be able to cure Thalia's tree. Even the brief time that we let it work its magic on Kronos would do wonders for his resurrection.

Adri grinned. "Remarkable, isn't it? Soon, he'll have nothing but a few bruises, and even those will fade overnight. At this rate, he'll be good as new tomorrow morning." She sighed. "If only I could keep the Fleece here. It'd make my life so much easier."

"Too bad there's only one of them."

Reassuring as it would be to have something like the Golden Fleece in our medical inventory, we both knew there was no way we'd be able to keep it. The camp needed it first and foremost, and even if that wasn't a pressing issue and we were able to stow it on the ship, Kronos would commandeer it for his own regeneration. The only reason it was down here now and not sitting on his sarcophagus was because he was returning the favor to Tyson for keeping me alive.

I bade Adri goodnight and returned to my room. It had been a long, long day, but I couldn't say it hadn't been successful. We achieved what we set out to do. Grover was safely aboard the ship, our empathic connection had been severed, and we were now on our way to deliver the Fleece to Thalia's tree and save the camp.

Of course, it wouldn't do to celebrate our victory before we made it out of the Sea of Monsters. We still had to travel back the way we came, which meant we were really only halfway through our quest. Still, I liked to believe we'd made it through the worst of it. Now all that was left was to sail back to C.C.'s island, retrieve Mary and Cam, deliver the Fleece to Camp Half-Blood, and then carry out a proper service for those whose lives were lost on this quest. I hadn't really known Zach and Tristian well at all, but they'd given their lives for this mission's success, and we had to make sure it wasn't in vain, and that they were properly honored.

I threw off my shirt and slipped into my makeshift bed, exhaustion pulling me to sleep.

I dreamt I was at Montauk Beach. The summer sun was beating down on the sand, and I was enjoying the liberating feeling of being free from school for the next few months. The water was cool, an easy breeze waltzed down the shoreline, and seagulls coasted overhead.

Water lapped at my ankles as I caught Luke's pass, tucking the football under my arm and making a dash towards our designated endzone, marked by a discarded t-shirt. I performed a spin move to get past Grover, who was surprisingly agile in the sand even with his hooves, only for me to get absolutely flattened by Tyson. The ball flew out of my grasp and soared through the air, landing on one of the guard towers of Annabeth's sandcastle.

Tyson apologized profusely to an irate Annabeth as I tried to remember how to breathe, while Luke and Grover just exchanged looks and laughed. A wave rolled over me, and when I reopened my eyes, a man with a warm smile was standing over me, his eyes shining with pride.

It was my father. I couldn't believe it. For the first time ever, he'd personally traveled to Montauk just to spend time with me. He extended a hand to help me up, and to my surprise, I actually took it. He pulled me to my feet and slapped a hand to my shoulder, and then his eyes drifted up the beach.

I followed his gaze and saw our wooden cabin standing there, just the way I remembered it from before it was destroyed. Starfish and seashells decorated the ocean-facing facade, with green plants hanging from the porch and tiki torches on either side of the stairs. And descending those stairs with a tray of lemonades in her hands was my mom.

I felt the breath hitch in my throat as tears sprung to my eyes. There she was, alive and well and beautiful, her smile wrinkling the laugh lines at the corners of her mouth.

My feet carried me to her, pounding against the sand as I made my way up the beach. But with every step I took, the distance between us seemed to grow, as if the beach was stretching out. The day gave way to night. The sand turned black. The water grabbed at first my feet, then my legs, and then my waist, pulling me out into the ocean like a riptide. A shrill, horrible sound began to pierce my ears.

Tearing my gaze away from the cabin, I turned and saw the Princess Andromeda sitting still in the water. A song was playing over the loudspeakers, echoing off the surrounding waters so loudly that I couldn't hear anything else. Weren't those Grover's reed pipes? I turned back to look at Grover, but he was gone. They were all gone.

"Mom?" I called. "Tyson? Annabeth? Luke?!"

No answer. Panic began bubbling up inside me. It was so dark. The music was deafening. Where did they go? Where? Where was I? Hadn't we all just been at Montauk?

I blinked rapidly and spun around in the water, trying to adjust my eyes. After a moment, I finally found them, only… it wasn't them. The creatures had their faces, but their bodies were all wrong. They were each the size of humans, with sharp talons, black feathered wings, and long pink necks, like a flock of the largest vultures I'd ever seen. They were huddled together on a beach of black sand, which wrapped around me in the shape of a half-moon.

That's when I realized where I was, and that I was no longer dreaming.

I cursed to myself. Luke had been conked out the first time I'd navigated us past here, and I'd never gotten the chance to inform him of the impromptu detour I'd taken to avoid this place. He must've set the Princess Andromeda on the most direct route back to C.C.'s island.

A route that took us directly past the Bay of Sirens.

I kind of regret giving away Adri's backstory when I introduced her. It's kind of fun dropping hints toward it. Maybe once this part of the fic is done, I'll go back and revise it a bit.