Chapter 22:

Percy, Annabeth and Tyson watched Markus rush forward at faster than normal speeds towards the two bronze bulls the size of elephants that were attacking camp. The two demigods had a lot going on in their heads, but their main concern was trying to save the camp.

As soon as they got out of the cab, the three Gray Sisters high-tailed it out of there. Neither one of them was sad to see them go.

Annabeth brought her knife while Percy brought out his pen and uncapped Riptide, turning it into a sword. They were about to charge into battle when Percy stopped, suddenly remembering something. "What is it?" Annabeth prompted urgently.

He turned to her. "What about Tyson? He can't fight."

Annabeth paused, breathed in deeply and breathed out through her nose, as if she was annoyed. Percy was confused on what she was so angry about, and waited for her to explain herself. He always did that when she knew something he didn't, and had to explain to him. "Percy," she said slowly, as if talking to a slow child. "We have bigger issues to deal with. Besides, Tyson can handle himself."

"But how would you know?" Percy insisted, confused on the supposed inside joke that she and his brother shared. Just what the hell was going on?

"Because I do. He'll be fine. Now let's go," Annabeth said.

Percy was about to argue again when Tyson clapped his hands loudly, drawing the duo's attention. They turned to see he was clapping in joy, as he looked at the scene taking place. "Look! Son of the Sea God punched bad bull in the face!"

Percy and Annabeth turned to the scene Tyson was pointing at to see what he said was true. Markus did punch one of the bronze bulls in the face.

XXX - While the two were talking - XXX

As Markus ran towards the ten or so campers in need of aid, he could hear a gruff and familiar voice. "Border patrol, to me!"

Markus immediately recognised the voice of Clarisse, daughter of Ares. Instantly, he was skeptical on helping her. On one hand, she was one of the biggest bullies at Camp Half-Blood, and always pissed Markus, as well as Percy, off. Also, since him and Percy defeated her father last summer, he doubted that she would want his help. But on the other hand, while she was a bitch, as well as a pain in the ass, she was still a, ahem, comrade. Plus, Markus knew that Silena would be sad if Clarisse were to die, since he knew they were best friends. Why, he would never know.

Clarisse's fellow warriors were scattering, running in panic as the bulls charged. The grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree. One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles, the horse-hair plume on his helmet blazing. Clarisse's own armour was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.

As he ran at the bull that they were fighting, he channelled a large amount of earthquake energy into his right arm, making it vibrate heavily. He knew that punching the bull normally would break his hand, even if he used earthquake energy. But since he was running at high speeds, he predicted that the velocity would increase his attacking power.

Not wanting the others to get into the way, Markus yelled out, "INCOMING!"

The campers heard his shout, and looked to who it was, but Markus was running too quickly and too closely for them to see. Clarisse managed to save them, however. "Are you guys deaf?! MOVE!"

Thank the gods for demigods' ADHD. It did wonders for their reaction time. The campers managed to jump out of the way just as Markus zoomed past them and delivered a mean right hook to the side of the bronze bull. The force of the attack dented the hull of the side and sent it careening down the hill, tumbling and turning.

As Markus saw the fruits of his attack, the pain just registered to hand. He roared in pain as he cradled his now broken wrist and busted hand. Damn, he really wish he thought his plan through.

"Henderson?" Clarisse asked, shocked. That shock, however, quickly changed to anger, naturally, as she registered who saved her. "What the hell are you doing here? And how did you send that hunk of junk packing?"

"Nice to see you too, Clarisse," Markus muttered, taking out the water bottle he used earlier, using the last remains of his water to heal his hand. While the water did its work, he winced a little as his hand cracked a little, settling back in place.

"Don't give me that 'It's nice to see you, Clarisse' bullshit!" Clarisse shouted, furious. Damn, he could see the similarities between Clarisse and Ares. Both stupid and quick to anger. "I don't need you butting in! I can handle myself."

"Of course you can," Markus said sarcastically. He saved her ass, and this is how she thanked him? By shouting at him? He made it a note not to save her again. "Because you were handling yourself just fine when that bull kept on trying to barbecue you."

Clarisse would've shouted some more, but Markus held up his hand. "Look, as much as I love having a battle of wits with you, in which I'd win, can we focus on the task at hand?" He pointed to the bull that he punched. Guess that he didn't kill it with that last attack. Damn. At least he gravely injured it. There was a massive dent on its side, along with most of its insides falling out of a small opening on its front, but it wasn't dead. Also, its mouth looked a little dislodged, making it look comical. Damn, he didn't kill it, but he sure did a hell of a lot of damage.

The bull mooed, like an actual moo, and tried to smash the group. But Markus wouldn't have that.

Holding up both his hands, his right one being fully healed, he performed one of his favourite spells. "Stella Inspiratione!"

A bomb of light erupted from his palms, heading towards the mechanical bull. As the attack connected, there was a huge boom, drawing the attention of the other campers fighting. This also triggered a small flash of light as the spell went off.

As the flash faded, the campers were able to witness the effects of the spell. The bull was now nothing more than a puddle of liquid bronze, haven been heated and melted. The puddle was inside a small burnt crater, with the grass on the hill burnt on the side.

"Damn," one of the Ares campers whistled. The others shared his sentiment.

Eventually, they were broken out of their awe when they heard another loud 'moo', signifying that they had another bull to deal with.

Clarisse turned to shout to her patrol. "Get into phalanx formation! We still have another one to deal with!"

And with that order, the campers sprung into action. The few who were listening lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, locking their shields to form an ox-hide-and-bronze wall, their spears bristling over the top like porcupine quills.

Unfortunately, Clarisse could only muster six able campers. The other four were still running around with their helmets on fire. Markus could see Annabeth running towards them, trying to help. She taunted one of the bulls into chasing her, then turned invisible, completely confusing the monster. However, it did little good. The bull eventually ignored Annabeth's taunting and charged Clarisse's line.

"Hold the line!" Clarisse shouted as the bull shot out a searing jet of flame at her and Markus. Luckily the two got out of the way.

Then the bull charged towards them. Clarisse tried to dodge, but she was too slow. She got hit and went flying backward and landed in a smoldering patch of grass. The bull charged past her, but not before blasting the other heroes with its fiery breath. Their shields melted right off their arms. They dropped their weapons and ran. Then the bull closed in on Clarisse for the kill because as it charged at her, it also blew out some fire.

Luckily, Markus was able to get in front of her and held up one of his defensive magic circles on his palms. He held his hands together, shielding himself and Clarisse from the fire. He was able to bear the brunt of the heat, since he was slightly heat resistant because of being a son of Poseidon. Still, while he was able to block the fire, his hands were warming up slightly.

Thankfully, Percy came in and dragged Clarisse away to safety. "Let me go!" Clarisse pummeled Percy's hand. "Percy, curse you!" He did that just by the pine tree just to be safe while Annabeth ordered the remaining warriors to attack.

With that, Markus dropped his magical shields and rolled away, narrowly dodging the blast of fire. Percy stepped in, lunging at the bull that was only a few feet from him but it sent stream of fire, making him have to roll to the side to dodge.

Unfortunately, a tree root caught Percy's foot, making pain shoot through his body. The damn root sprained his ankle! Still, he was able to swing his sword at the beast, cutting off its snout. It ran away in pain and confusion.

However, it regained some of its composure and glared at the water boy menacingly before it charged the son of Poseidon. Percy tried to get back up, but with his sprained ankle, he didn't get very far.

Markus was about to dash in and save Percy, but Annabeth intervened instead. Seeing her friend about to be trampled on by an elephant sized bronze bull, she shouted, "Tyson! Help him!"

Somewhere near, toward the crest of the hill, Tyson wailed, "Can't get through!"

"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!" she shouted desperately.

Thunder shook the hillside. Suddenly Tyson was there, barreling toward Percy, yelling: "Percya and new friends need help!" He got between Percy and the last bull just as it sent a stream of fire towards them.

"Tyson!" Percy yelled as his friend was engulfed in flames as it swirled around him like a red tornado.

When the fire died, Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. Not even his grungy clothes were scorched. The bull must've been as surprised as Percy was, because before it could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. "BAD COW!"

His fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.

"Down!" Tyson yelled.

The bull staggered and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of head in odd places.

"... Holy hell, that was awesome!" Markus said, looking impressed. Damn, he wished he could do that! Now Tyson was alright in his opinion.

Annabeth ran over to Percy and saw that his ankle was making him in pain, so she gave him some nectar to drink and he felt a lot better thanks to it healing properties. That is when he noticed a burning smell that was coming from him, which was all the arm hair he used to have but now was singed off. Oh well, not much loss there.

"Ugh, thank the gods that's over!" Percy said happily.

"You are just lucky that you are not dead." Annabeth said.

"It looked like it did!" Percy said.

It was then they saw Clarisse coming up to them, seething. She pulled off her helmet and glared right at Percy and Markus. "YOU! RUIN! EVERYTHING!" She screamed, her new spear strapped to her back. "I had everything completely under control until you came along!"

"A simple 'thank you' would suffice," Markus said, annoyed.

Annabeth grumbled, "Good to see you too, Clarisse."

"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"

"Noted," Percy muttered. Markus nodded gleefully.

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "you've got wounded campers."

The three of them saw that this sobered her up a bit. "I'll be back," she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.

Percy then saw his friend Tyson and said in awe and confusion, "You didn't die."

Markus rolled his eyes while Annabeth sighed in frustration.

Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."

"My fault," Annabeth said. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would've died."

"Hey, I would've saved him." Markus interjected, but he was ignored.

Percy blinked in confusion. "Wait, what do you mean, 'let' him cross the barrier?"

At this, Markus walked forward, slapping him on the back of the head. "Ow!" Percy yelled in pain. He glared at his brother. "What the hell did you do that for?!"

"Because you are a blind dumbass, that's what!" Markus said to him. Percy blinked in confusion again. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"Percy," Annabeth said, "have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."

Percy sighed before he looked at his tall friend, I mena really looked this time and saw the Mist disappear around his face area and that made Percy's eyes widen.

"Tyson," Percy stammered. "You're a..."

"Cyclops," Annabeth offered. "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."

"One of the what?"

"They're in almost all the big cities," Annabeth said distastefully.

Markus sighed. "You finally found out." Then he turned to his brother. "Percy, these guys like your friend here are mistakes. Children of nature spirits and gods…uh, well it is just one god since he gets pretty bored, I guess. Anyway, they don't come out right and no one wants them and I can sympathize with our large friend here that it sucks for him. So they get tossed out onto the streets and they grow up wild. Not sure how Tyson found you but I guess it is a good thing."

Annabeth glared at Tyson, not that he noticed and said, "We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."

Markus turned to her. "He's not going anywhere."

"But - " Annabeth started, but Markus cut her off with a glare. "No, Annabeth. He's staying."

Both of them were locked into a battle of glares, sea green eyes versus storm grey. In the end, Annabeth relented, sighing resentfully. "Fine," she said, making Markus smile.

"Wait, but the fire. How-"

"He's a cyclops." Annabeth paused, as if she were remembering something unpleasant. "They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you." Percy just let his jaw drop at that, trying to figure out how he had never noticed that little fact about his tall friend.

Clarisse came back over and wiped the soot off her forehead. "Jackson, Henderson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."

"Tantalus?" Percy asked, confused. Markus was the same also.

"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.

"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here." Percy argued.

Clarisse made a sour face. "Argus got fired. You guys have been gone too long. Things are changing."

Markus was wondering about what happened to Chiron when he'd contacted him before. But he didn't think things were this bad. "What the hell do you mean? Chiron is our trainer. He's been teaching heroes for thousands of years."

"Look, I don't know all the details. All you need to know is that happened," Clarisse snapped as she pointed to Thalia's tree.

The pine tree's needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.

"Oh… shit," Percy said with wide eyes.

"Well said," Markus said with a grimace.

XXX

The three demigods and one cyclops surveyed the camp as they walked to the Big House. The forest looked a little sickly and everyone was on edge, thinking they could be attacked at a moment's notice, but they were all ready. To Markus, it was way to quiet. He saw that Percy seemed to be bothered by this as well.

When they got to the Big House, they found Chiron in his apartment, listening to his favorite 1960s lounge music while he packed his saddlebags. He was a centaur after all. From the waist up he looks like a regular middle-aged guy with curly brown hair and a scraggly beard. From the waist down, he's a white stallion. He can pass for human by compacting his lower half into a magic wheelchair. Percyknew that form easily since he was his teacher in the last school they were in.

As soon as they saw that man, Tyson froze. "PONY!" he screamed with stars in his… eye.

Chiron turned, looking offended. "I beg your pardon?"

Annabeth ran up and hugged him. "Chiron, what's happening? You're not... leaving?" Her voice was shaky. Chiron was like a second father to her.

Chiron ruffled her hair and gave her a kindly smile. "Hello, child. And Percy, Markus, my goodness. You've grown over the past year."

"Thanks," Markus said."But you can't really be fired, can you?"

Chiron's eyes glinted with dark humor. "Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he'd created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr. D had to punish someone."

"That's bullshit!" Markus yelled out, furious. So just because Thalia's tree was poisoned, Chiron had to take the blame. The one who actually cared about the demigods was being punished, while the asshole god gets off scot-free. "So just because that fat, lazy, useless piece of-"

"Markus, that's enough," Chiron said sternly.

"No, this isn't fair for you!" Markus said angrily. "You're the trainer of heroes. Where does Mr. Boltfarter get the idea to blame you for something so unreasonable. And Mr. Dick doesn't get jackshit!"

A large boom of thunder went off in the sky, showing Zeus was offended. Markus walked to the window, opened it, and yelled to the sky. "If you're so offended, then you can come down here and kiss my ass, you piece of shit!"

A bolt of lightning struck from the sky, hitting the area where Markus was previously at. He used kinetic energy to swiftly dodge the bolt, seeing that it was going to strike. He pointed to the sky mockingly. "Ha! You missed!"

"Markus, that's enough!" Chiron shouted now, getting Markus to look to him quickly while the others jumped. They'd never seen Chiron angry before.

While he stopped taunting Zeus, he turned to Chiron. "But Chiron-"

"I said that's enough, my boy," he said tiredly. "Please, don't endanger yourself on my behalf. I couldn't bear it."

"But Chiron, you know it's true. You can't take the fall for this," Markus insisted.

"But this is crazy!" Annabeth cried. "Chiron, Markus is right. You couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia's tree!"

"Nevertheless," Chiron sighed, "some in Olympus do not trust me now, under the circumstances."

"But that's not fair," Percy said. "Chiron, it's not your fault. You can't be blamed for something that you didn't do."

"Noble of you to say, but what's been done cannot be changed." Chiron said sadly.

"I don't like it." Percy said with an angry scowl. He really did not like Mr. D at the moment. He wasn't sure if he had the balls to say that to his face, though.

Chiron's face darkened. He stuffed a Latin-English dictionary into his saddlebag while the Frank Sinatra music oozed from his boom box.

Tyson was still staring at Chiron in amazement. He whimpered like he wanted to pat Chiron's flank but was afraid to come closer. "Pony?"

Chiron sniffed. "My dear young Cyclops! I am a centaur."

"Chiron," Percy said. "What about the tree? What happened?"

He shook his head sadly. "The poison used on Thalia's pine is something from the Underworld, Percy. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus."

"Then we know who's responsible. Kro-"

"Do not invoke the Titan lord's name, Percy. Especially not here, not now."

"But last summer he tried to cause a civil war in Olympus! This has to be his idea. He'd get Luke to do it, that traitor."

"Perhaps," Chiron said. "But I fear I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless..."

"Unless what?" Annabeth asked.

"No," Chiron said. "A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago."

"What is it?" Percy asked. "We'll go find it!"

"Yeah! We can go right now," Markus offered.

Chiron closed his saddlebag. He pressed the stop button on his boom box. He then turned rested his hands on the two boys' shoulders, looking them both in the eyes. "Markus, Percy, you must promise me that you will not act rashly. I told your mother, Percy, that I did not want you coming here…. even though Markus brought you here anyway. It has gotten too dangerous. But now that you are here, stay here. Train hard. Learn to fight. But do not leave."

"Wait, you can't be serious," Markus said, shocked. "Chiron, we can help. We want to save the camp."

"Yeah," Percy said. "I want to do something! I can't just let the borders fail. The whole camp will be-"

"Overrun by monsters," Chiron said. "Yes, I fear so. But you must not let yourself be baited into hasty action! This could be a trap of the Titan lord. Remember last summer! He almost took your life."

As Percy reflected on what happened last year, Markus scowled. "I am not going to sit here and do nothing. We can actually do something. We can-" Markus was interrupted by Chiron, who sighed and put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I know it is not easy, but please until there is a way, stay here," Chiron said.

"... Fine," Markus muttered, relenting slightly. He still didn't plan to give up. Meanwhile Annabeth was trying hard not to cry.

Chiron brushed a tear from her cheek. "You must stay with Percy and Markus," he told her. "Keep them safe. The prophecy - remember it!"

"I - I will." She said.

Markus wanted to ask what prophecy they were talking about, but he knew that now wasn't the time to ask.

"Um ..." Percy said. "Would this be the super-dangerous prophecy that has me and Markus in it, but the gods have forbidden you to tell me about?"

Nobody answered.

"Right," Percy muttered. "Just checking." Markus scowled at this.

"Chiron ..." Annabeth said. "You told me the gods made you immortal only so long as you were needed to train heroes. If they dismiss you from camp - "

"Swear you will do your best to keep Percy and Markus from danger," he insisted. "Swear upon the River Styx."

"I swear it upon the River Styx," the she stated.

Thunder rumbled outside.

"Very well," Chiron said. He seemed to relax just a little. "Perhaps my name will be cleared and I shall return. Until then, I go to visit my wild kinsmen in the Everglades. It's possible they know of some cure for the poisoned tree that I have forgotten. In any event, I will stay in exile until this matter is resolved... one way or another."

Markus crossed his arms. "For everyone's sake, it better be."

Annabeth stifled a sob. Chiron patted her shoulder awkwardly. "There, now, children. I must entrust your safety to Mr. D and the new activities director. We must hope... well, perhaps they won't destroy the camp quite as quickly as I fear."

"Who is this Tantalus guy, anyway?" Percy demanded. "Where does he get off taking your job?"

"I have been wondering about that too." Markus commented.

A conch horn blew across the valley. Was it already that late? It was time for the campers to assemble for dinner.

"Go," Chiron said. "You will meet him at the pavilion. I will contact your mother, Percy, and let her know you're safe. No doubt she'll be worried by now. Just remember my warning! You both are in grave danger. Do not think for a moment that the Titan lord has forgotten you two!"

With that, he clopped out of the apartment and down the hall, Tyson calling after him, "Pony! Don't go!"

Percy realized he'd forgotten to tell Chiron about the dream he had of Grover. Now it was too late. The best teacher he'd ever had was gone, maybe for good.

Tyson started bawling almost as bad as Annabeth. Markus tried comforting the crying blonde. Percy decided to comfort the young Cyclopes, but none of them thought it was going to be OK for a while. Things where defiantly going south.

XXX

The sun was setting behind the dining pavilion as the campers came up from their cabins. The little group stood in the shadow of a marble column and watched them file in. Annabeth was still pretty shaken up, but she promised she'd talk to the boys later. Then she went off to join her siblings from the Athena cabin - a dozen boys and girls with blond hair and gray eyes like hers. Annabeth wasn't the oldest, but she'd been at camp more summers than just about anybody. You could tell that by looking at her camp necklace - one bead for every summer, and Annabeth had six. No one questioned her right to lead the line.

Markus scanned the group of campers until he saw Silena sitting at the Aphrodite table with her brothers and sisters. She didn't seem to change that much from last year. When he was able to catch her eye, he smiled and waved at her. Her face lit up brightly and she waved back at him. Her siblings took note of her expression, and when they saw who she was waving at, the snickered and started teasing her. Markus smiled, turning to look at the Demeter table and was able to see Katie there, chatting with her siblings. She smiled when she saw him, waving slightly. Markus returned the gesture.

Next came Clarisse, leading the Ares cabin. She had one arm in a sling and a nasty-looking gash on her cheek, but otherwise her encounter with the bronze bulls didn't seem to have fazed her. Someone had taped a piece of paper to her back that said, YOU MOO, GIRL! But nobody in her cabin was bothering to tell her about it.

After the Ares kids came the Hephaestus cabin - six guys led by Charles Beckendorf, a big fifteen-year-old African American kid. He had hands the size of catchers' mitts and a face that was hard and squinty from looking into a blacksmiths forge all day. He was nice enough once you got to know him, but no one ever called him Charlie or Chuck or Charles. Most just called him Beckendorf. Rumor was he could make anything. Give him a chunk of metal and he could create a razor-sharp sword or a robotic warrior or a singing birdbath for your grandmother's garden. Whatever you wanted.

The other cabins filed in: Hermes, Apollo, Aphrodite, Dionysus. Naiads came up from the canoe lake. Dryads melted out of the trees. From the meadow came a dozen satyrs.

After the satyrs filed in to dinner, a couple of the Hermes cabin brought up the rear. They were always the biggest cabin. Last summer, it had been led by Luke, the guy who'd fought with Thalia and Annabeth on top of Half-Blood Hill.

Now the Hermes cabin was led by Travis and Connor Stoll. They weren't twins, but they looked so much alike it didn't matter. Neither Markus or Percy could remember who was older, but it didn't really matter. Now the Hermes cabin was led by Travis and Connor Stoll. They weren't twins, but they looked so much alike it didn't matter. I could never remember which one was older. They were both tall and skinny, with mops of brown hair that hung in their eyes. They wore orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts untucked over baggy shorts, and they had those elfish features all Hermes's kids had: upturned eyebrows, sarcastic smiles, a gleam in their eyes whenever they looked at you - like they were about to drop a firecracker down your shirt.

Percy grinned nervously in their direction because before he left last year. He was caught in one of their pranks… one that included his brother. The trio were little demons when it came to pranking … especially Markus being able to turn invisible with his jacket.

As soon as the last campers had filed in, Percy and Markus led Tyson into the middle of the pavilion. Conversations faltered. Heads turned. "Who invited that?" somebody at the Apollo table murmured.

From the head table a familiar voice drawled, "Well, well, if it isn't Peter Johnson and Marcia Hunding. My millennium is complete."

Percy gritted his teeth. "Percy Jackson and Markus Henderson... sir." He answered for his brother because he knew that he would give a smartass comment. Something they didn't need at the moment.

Mr. D sipped his Diet Coke. "Yes. Well, as you young people say these days: Whatever."

Markus was mentally counting down to calm himself. He was usually easy to anger. Now that he learned that Mr. D basically copped out of his punishment so Chiron could take the fall, he was pissed. Just one comment would be enough to trigger him.

Mr. D was wearing his usual leopard-pattern Hawaiian shirt, walking shorts, and tennis shoes with black socks. With his pudgy belly and his blotchy red face, he looked like a Las Vegas tourist who'd stayed up too late in the casinos. Behind him, a nervous-looking satyr was peeling the skins off grapes and handing them to Mr. D one at a time.

Mr. D's real name is Dionysus. The god of wine. Zeus appointed him director of Camp Half-Blood to dry out for a hundred years - a punishment for chasing some off-limits wood nymph.

Next to him, where Chiron usually sat (or stood, in centaur form), was someone Markus and Percy had never seen before - a pale, horribly thin man in a threadbare orange prisoner's jump-suit. The number over his pocket read 0001. He had blue shadows under his eyes, dirty fingernails, and badly cut gray hair, like his last haircut had been done with a weed whacker. He stared at me; his eyes made me nervous. He looked... fractured. Angry and frustrated and hungry all at the same time.

"These boys," Dionysus told him, "you need to watch. Poseidon's children, you know."

"Ah!" the prisoner said. "Those one." His tone made it obvious that he and Dionysus had already discussed Percy and Markus at length. "I take it that the wizard one is the one to watch out for."

"Usually," Mr. D said. Markus almost blew a vein at how angry he was. He had to close his eyes, as his eyes were glowing an emerald light (which he always did whenever he was angry).

"I am Tantalus," the prisoner said, smiling coldly. "On special assignment here until, well, until my Lord Dionysus decides otherwise. And you two, Perseus Jackson, Markus Henderson, I do expect you to refrain from causing any more trouble."

"Aw, you already know about us," Markus muttered sarcastically. "That just takes away the fun of messing with you."

Tantalus' eye twitched. Percy almost laughed, but held it in, lest he get in trouble.

Dionysus snapped his fingers. A newspaper appeared on the table - the front page of today's New York Post, There was Percy's yearbook picture from Meriwether Prep. It was hard for the him to make out the headline, but he had a pretty good guess what it said. Something like: Thirteen- Year-Old Lunatic Torches Gymnasium.

Markus chuckled seeing that. "Damn, you're popular with the press again. That has to be some kind of record." Percy's eye twitched at that reminder, remembering all the trouble being infamous was from last summer.

"Yes, trouble," Tantalus said with satisfaction. "You caused plenty of it last summer, I understand." Percy was too mad to speak.

A satyr inched forward nervously and set a plate of bar-becue in front of Tantalus. The new activities director licked his lips. He looked at his empty goblet and said, "Root beer. Barq's special stock. 1967."

The glass filled itself with foamy soda. Tantalus stretched out his hand hesitantly, as if he were afraid the goblet was hot.

"Go on, then, old fellow," Dionysus said, a strange sparkle in his eyes. "Perhaps now it will work."

Tantalus grabbed for the glass, but it scooted away before he could touch it. A few drops of root beer spilled, and Tantalus tried to dab them up with his fingers, but the drops rolled away like quicksilver before he could touch them. He growled and turned toward the plate of barbecue. He picked up a fork and tried to stab a piece of brisket, but the plate skittered down the table and flew off the end, straight into the coals of the brazier.

"Blast!" Tantalus muttered, making Markus chuckle slightly.

"Ah, well," Dionysus said, his voice dripping with false sympathy. "Perhaps a few more days. Believe me, old chap, working at this camp will be torture enough. I'm sure your old curse will fade eventually."

"Eventually," muttered Tantalus, staring at Dionysus's Diet Coke. "Do you have any idea how dry one's throat gets after three thousand years?"

"You're that spirit from the Fields of Punishment," Percy said with wide eyes. "The one who stands in the lake with the fruit tree hanging over you, but you can't eat or drink."

Tantalus sneered at Percy. "A real scholar, aren't you, boy?"

"Like you're any better," Markus scoffed, making Tantalus turn his sneer to him. Mr. D actually chuckled at that. Guess he didn't like the him too.

"You must've done something really horrible when you were alive," Percy said, mildly impressed. "What was it?"

Tantalus's eyes narrowed. Behind him, the satyrs were shaking their heads vigorously, trying to warn the poor fool.

"I'll be watching you, Percy Jackson," Tantalus said. "I don't want any problems at my camp."

"We already had problems when you decided to come here," Markus muttered softly, only Percy hearing him. If Tantalus didn't hear him, he didn't say anything.

"Your camp has problems already ... sir."

"Oh, go sit down, Johnson," Dionysus sighed. "I believe that table over there is yours - the one where barely anyone ever wants to sit."

Percy glared at Mr. D with a red face, but he could do nothing. Then the god turned to Markus, a fiery light in his eyes. "Now, Martin... I believe you just offended my name a while ago."

"It's Markus," Markus said instantly. "And I have no idea what you're talking about."

"No?" Mr. D's light in his eyes glowed a little brighter. "Because I seem to recall you calling me 'fat' and 'lazy'? Along with saying a number of different things?" Markus stayed silent, glaring at him with his own glowing eyes. "Does any of that ring a bell?"

Markus scowled. "Actually, yes. I was talking about another person, one who I found to be a little... bratty. He was fat, lazy, and a whole lot of other things that are a little inappropriate. I cursed him because he chickened out of taking a punishment given to him. But I assure you, Mr. D, I was not talking about you."

Dionysus' glare intensified. From the ground, roots slowly crept along the ground, growing grapes along their path. The god's eyes glowed an intense purple, and Markus could see the madness behind them. "You are lucky, boy. If not for your father's wrath upon me if I were to take action, I would drive you insane. Or better yet, turn you into a little rodent." Percy looked pale in the face at the god's threat. Markus face remained unchanged. He still glared at the god, seemingly not caring about the threat given to him. Tantalus inched away from Dionysus in fear.

When the god didn't say anything else, Markus began to walk to his table, his brother behind him. Percy turned to Tyson and said, "Come on."

"Oh, no," Tantalus said, gaining back some of his bravado. "The monster stays here. We must decide what to do with it."

"Him," Percy snapped. "His name is Tyson."

The new activities director raised an eyebrow.

"Tyson saved the camp," Percy insisted. "He pounded one of those bronze bulls. Otherwise it would've burned down this whole place."

"Yes," Tantalus sighed, "and what a pity that would've been."

Dionysus snickered, his apparent anger forgotten.

"Leave us," Tantalus ordered, "while we decide this creature's fate."

Percy grit his teeth at the order, but he knew he could not disobey it.

"I'll be right over here, big guy," Percy promised. "Don't worry. We'll find you a good place to sleep tonight."

Tyson nodded. "I believe you. You are my friend."

With that Percy trudged over his table where he and his brother sat. He hoped thing would be OK for his Cyclops friend. When a Wood Nymph brought over some food, he took it, but he was not hungry. He was too busy thinking on what had happened so far. But before he let it go to waste. He scraped some of it into the flames to off some to his dad. "Posiedon, accept my offering."

As he went back to his table, he looked over to Markus, who was sitting there frostily. Percy noted his brother's anger from a mile away, and he could understand it. He was actually scared of him as he inched away. Was it suddenly growing colder? Just as he sat down again, one of the satyr's blew the horn again, tell them all that Tantalus had more to say.

"Yes, well," Tantalus said, once the talking had died down. "Another fine meal! Or so I am told." As he spoke, he inched his hand toward his refilled dinner plate, as if maybe the food wouldn't notice what he was doing, but it did. It shot away down the table as soon as he got within six inches. This made some of the campers smile.

"And here on my first day of authority," he continued, "I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture, er, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat."

Dionysus clapped politely, leading to some halfhearted applause from the satyrs. Tyson was still standing at the head table, looking uncomfortable, but every time he tried to scoot out of the limelight, Tantalus pulled him back.

"And now some changes!" Tantalus gave the campers a crooked smile. "We are reinstituting the chariot races!"

Murmuring broke out at all the tables - excitement, fear, disbelief.

"Now I know," Tantalus continued, raising his voice, "that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems."

"Three deaths and twenty-six mutilations," someone at the Apollo table called.

"Yes, yes!" Tantalus said. "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"

An explosion of excited conversation - no KP for a whole month? No stable cleaning? Was he serious?

"But, sir!" Clarisse said. She looked nervous, but she stood up to speak from the Ares table. Some of the campers snickered when they saw the YOU MOO, GIRL! sign on her back. "What about patrol duty? I mean, if we drop everything to ready our chariots-"

"Ah, the hero of the day," Tantalus exclaimed. "Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls!"

"Bullshit," Markus muttered under his breath. He knew Tantalus was purposefully not giving him and Tyson the credit for what they did.

Clarisse blinked, then blushed. "Um, I didn't -"

"Oh, so modest," Tantalus said with fake interest. "Anyway, not to worry. This is a summer camp! We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?"

"But the tree-" Clarisse tried to say but was cut off by the man again.

"And now," Tantalus said, as several of Clarisse's cabin mates pulled her back into her seat, "before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring this here." Tantalus waved a hand toward Tyson.

Uneasy murmuring spread among the campers. A lot of sideways looks at Percy. The boy wanted to kill Tantalus.

"Now, of course," he said, "Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes's cabin, possibly?"

Silence at the Hermes table. Travis and Connor Stoll developed a sudden interest in the tablecloth. Percy couldn't blame them. The Hermes cabin was always full to bursting. There was no way they could take in a six-foot-three Cyclops.

"Come now," Tantalus chided. "The monster may be able to do some menial chores. Any suggestions as to where such a beast should be kenneled?"

Suddenly everybody gasped.

Tantalus scooted away from Tyson in surprise. There above Tyson's head was the same symbol that was above Percy's and Markus' heads last year. The symbol of Posiedon. Markus blinked. Tyson was their brother?! What the hell, dad? Who did you boink that Tyson came out as a result?

There was a moment of awed silence.

Being claimed was a rare event. Some campers waited in vain for it their whole lives. When Markus and Percy had been claimed by their Godly parents last summer, everyone had reverently knelt. But now, they followed Tantalus's lead, and Tantalus roared with laughter. "Well! I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can see the family resemblance!"

Everyone laughed except for Percy, Annabeth, Markus and a few of their friends. Markus snarled, his eyes shining with emerald light. He stood up. Percy tried to stop him, but it was futile. He walked up to the wall opposite his table, and channeled earthquake into his fist. Filled with building rage at everything, at Chiron's situation, at the situation of camp, at Mr. D and Tantalus, he punched the wall, creating a large crater in it and getting everyone's attention from the very large noise.

Markus turned his furious eyes to all the campers who were laughing, freezing them in place out of fear. The reason was because Markus' eyes had become completely neon green with a small pupil. And they were full of rage.

Suddenly, a cold mist started emitting from him. Unknown to Markus, his new ice powers were acting up and were responding to his rage. He didn't know how, nor did he care. The cold air froze everyone's drinks and gave all the campers a shudder, whether in fear of what Markus did to the wall or the cold feeling in the air, they weren't sure.

"Laugh," Markus whispered, though his voice carried out to all of them. "Come on, you guys were having a wonderful time laughing at me and Percy. Go on. Laugh. I dare you." Markus said the last part with a cold smile. "See what happens when you do."

With that, he walked to his seat, eyes trained on him. He sat down, ignoring all the stares and the silence, and continued to eat his food.

It was quiet for a moment. Tyson didn't seem to notice. He was too mystified, trying to swat the glowing trident that was now fading over his head. He was too innocent to understand how much they were previously making fun of him.

No one said anything for a while. And then Tantalus clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention. "Ah... yes. Well, off you go now!" he said it loudly, though everyone could catch the hint of fear in his voice.

Markus scowled. He could tell that he wasn't going to enjoy this summer. At all.

And done! Whoo! I'm so glad!

Good to write to you all! Hope you enjoyed the story.

So here, we see Chiron leaving camp, Markus going rage mode, and Tantalus being a dick. Not much to put there.

I probably will replace some parts of the Sea of Monsters book with episodes of Markus. Some training near the start, where they settle at camp, during the quest, where he'll fight a sea monster (I won't say which one), and his little journey during the quest also. More will be revealed later on.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. And thank you to all those who read, reviewed, followed and favourited the story. I know it's repetitive, but I'm just thankful.

Read and Review!