The view on Half-Blood Hill wasn't pretty. There were two bulls terrorizing the camp. And not just regular bulls – bronze ones the size of elephants. And even that wasn't bad enough. Naturally they had to breathe fire, too.
As soon as we exited the taxi, the Grey Sisters peeled out, heading back to New York, where life was safer. They didn't even wait for their extra three-drachma payment. They just left us on the side of the road, Tyson and Percy still in their burned-up tie-dyed gym clothes, and me with nothing but my backpack and knife.
"Oh, man," I said, looking at the battle raging on the hill.
What worried me most weren't the bulls themselves. Or the ten heroes in full battle armor who were getting their bronze-plated booties whooped. What worried me was that the bulls were ranging all over the hill, even around the back side of the pine tree. That shouldn't have been possible. The camp's magic boundaries didn't allow monsters to cross past Thalia's tree. But the metal bulls were doing it anyway.
Thalia warned me.
One of the heroes shouted, "Border patrol, to me!" A girl's voice – gruff and familiar. Border patrol? I thought. The camp didn't have a border patrol.
"It's Clarisse," I said. "Come on, we have to help her."
Normally, rushing to Clarisse's aid would not have been high on my 'to do' list. She was one of the biggest bullies at camp. She tried to torment me for most of my time at camp.
Still, she was in trouble. Her 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 horsehair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery Mohawk. Clarisse's own armor was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.
Percy uncapped his ballpoint pen. It shimmered, growing longer and heavier until he held the bronze sword Anaklusmos in his hands.
"Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances."
"No!" I said. As much as I don't want any help from his kind, Tyson was our best bet. "We need him."
Percy stared at me. "He's mortal. He got lucky with the dodgeballs but he can't –"
"Percy, do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We'll get burned to a crisp."
"Medea's what?"
I rummaged through my backpack and cursed. "I had a jar of tropical coconut scent sitting on my nightstand at home. Why didn't I bring it?" Bronze bulls hated coconut, I found that out the hard way.
"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not going to let Tyson get fried"
"Percy –"
"Tyson, stay back."
Percy raised his sword. "I'm going in."
Tyson tried to protest, but Percy and I were already running up the hill towards Clarisse, who was yelling at her patrol, trying to get them into phalanx formation. It was a good idea. 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 campers. The other four were still running around with their helmets on fire. I ran towards them, trying to help. I taunted one of the bulls into chasing me, then turned invisible, completely confusing the monster. The other bull charged Clarisse's line. Percy was halfway up the hill – not close enough to help. Clarisse hadn't even seen him yet. The bull moved deadly fast for something so big. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun. It had fist-sized rubies for eyes and horns of polished silver. When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out.
"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered her warriors. Whatever else you could say about Clarisse, she was brave. She was a big girl with cruel eyes like her father's. She looked like she was born to wear Greek battle armor, but I didn't see how even she could stand against that bull's charge.
Unfortunately, at that moment, the other bull lost interest in finding me. It turned, wheeling around behind Clarisse on her unprotected side.
"Behind you!" Percy yelled. "Look out!"
He shouldn't have said anything, because all he did was startle her. Bull Number One crashed into her shield, and the phalanx broke. Clarisse went flying backwards 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 as Bull Number Two closed in on Clarisse for the kill.
Percy lunged forward and grabbed Clarisse by the straps of her armor. he dragged her out of the way just as Bull Number Two freight-trained past. He gave it a good swipe with Riptide and cut a huge gash in its flank, but the monster just creaked and groaned and kept on going.
"Let me go!" Clarisse yelled. "Percy, curse you!"
He dropped her in a heap next to the pine tree and turned to face the bulls. We were on the inside slope of the hill now, the valley of Camp Half-Blood directly below us – the cabins, the training facilities, the Big House – all of it at risk if these bulls got past us.
I started shouting orders to the other heroes, telling them to spread out and keep the bulls distracted. Bull Number One ran a wide arc, making its way back towards Percy. As it passed the middle of the hill, where the invisible boundary line should've kept it out, it slowed down a little, as if it were struggling against a strong wind; but then it broke through and kept coming. Bull Number Two turned to face Percy too, fire sputtering from the gash he had cut in its side.
Percy was extremely out of practice. He lunged but Bull Number Two blew flames at him. He rolled aside and his foot caught onto a tree root. Still, he managed to slash with his sword and lop off part of the monster's snout. It galloped away, wild and disoriented.
Percy stood, but fell right away. His ankle was sprained, maybe broken. Bull Number One charged straight towards him. No way could he would be able to crawl out of its path.
I shouted, "Tyson, help him!" Somewhere near, towards the crest of the hill, Tyson wailed, "Can't – get – through!"
I cursed myself, how could I have forgotten?
"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"
Thunder shook the hillside. Suddenly Tyson was there, barreling towards Percy, yelling, "Percy needs help!"
He dived between Percy and the bull just as it unleashed a nuclear firestorm.
"Tyson!" Percy yelled.
The blast swirled around him like a red tornado. I could only see the black silhouette of his body. 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, which was saying something, but 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 aluminium 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 its ruined head in odd places.
I ran over to check on Percy and I gave him some Olympian nectar to drink from my canteen. There was a burning smell that was coming from Percy. The hair on his arms had been completely singed off.
"The other bull?" Percy asked. I pointed down the hill. Clarisse had taken care of Bad Cow Number Two. She'd impaled it through the back leg with a celestial bronze spear. Now, with its snout half gone and a huge gash in its side, it was trying to run in slow motion, going in circles like some kind of merry-go-round animal.
Clarisse pulled off her helmet and marched towards us. A strand of her stringy brown hair was smoldering, but she didn't seem to notice. "You – ruin – everything!" she yelled at us. "I had it under control!"
"Good to see you too, Clarisse." I grumbled.
"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"
"Clarisse," I said, "you've got wounded campers."
That sobered her up. Even Clarisse cared about the soldiers under her command.
"I'll be back," she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.
Percy stared at Tyson. "You didn't die."
Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."
"My fault," I said. Why I was defending him, I didn't know. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would've died."
"Let him cross the boundary line?" Percy asked. "But –"
"Percy," I said, realizing he didn't even have a clue about what Tyson was. "have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."
The Mist makes humans see only what their brains can process... I knew it could fool demigods, too. Percy looked Tyson in the face. It wasn't easy. I forced myself to focus at his crooked teeth, then to his big lumpy nose, then a little higher at his eye. One large, calf-brown eye, right in the middle of his forehead, with thick lashes and big tears trickling down his cheeks on either side.
"Tyson," Percy stammered. "You're a..."
"Cyclops," I 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," I said distastefully. "They're ... mistakes, Percy. Children of nature spirits and gods ... Well, one god in particular, usually ... and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."
"But the fire. How –"
"He's a Cyclops." Memories came flooding back, and I pushed them away. "They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you."
Percy was completely shocked, but Tysons predicament would have to wait. The whole side of the hill was burning. Wounded heroes needed attention. And there were still two banged-up bronze bulls to dispose of, which I didn't figure would fit in our normal recycling bins.
Clarisse came back over and wiped the soot off her forehead. "Jackson, 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. "The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.
"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here." Fear crept up my throat and threatened to suffocate me.
Clarisse made a sour face. "Argus got fired. You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."
"But Chiron ... He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?"
"That happened," Clarisse snapped. She pointed to Thalia's tree and the color drained from my face. It felt like I was sucked back into my dreams.
My dreams weren't lying. Thalia's tree was dying because someone had poisoned it.
A/N: NOT ME LITERALLY FORGETTING TO POST THIS. I HAD IT WRITTEN OUT BUT DIDNT POST IT OMFG