Chapter 12

CLARISSE POV

To clarify something about the response section, this is where I put my response to constructive criticism. So questions, advice, the like.

(A/N As far as I know, I am a teenager living in Scotland, not a forty-something year old in Texas, so I don't own PJATO. Also this is the first Author Note I've written since we got the news about PJATO on Disney+, and who else is bouncing off the rafters with excitement? *coughs* hmm, anyways, back to the chapter.)

After Meg got back with Percy, Clarisse got straight to the point. "How many foes do you have, Percy?" He looked puzzled, then laughed.

"A lot, the Arai in Tar-the pit proved that. Almost every monster I've ever fought gave me some curse or threat with their last breath." Charisse nodded, unsatisfied.

"How many living foes do you have? Ones that cursed you, but didn't die?" Percy paled.

"Tell me the prophecy. The full thing." After Clarisse finished, Percy got up and started pacing the room. "No, no, no, no no." He turned back to Clarisse. "Sea of Monsters. Cyclops. Golden Fleece." Clarisse's mind tunnelled, bringing on a bout of memories she had tried to suppress, a boat exploding, sailing adrift for days, washing up on an island and promptly captured and stuck in a cave.

"Despair for your life, entombed within stone." Clarisse knew with absolute certainty where she had to go. Everyone in the room but her and Percy looked unsettled by her pronouncement. The stand in for Apollo voiced his concerns.

"That's not part of this prophecy, right?" Clarisse nodded at him.

"It's not. It's a line from the prophecy of my first quest. The Quest for the Golden Fleece. We have to go along the same route." Percy, his fears confirmed, turned to her.

"I can't ask you to do this Clarisse. To go back there, and face him. There's got to be another way. I never defeated Echidna, we could go and find her-"

"NO!" Clarisse's anger shocked everyone, even herself. "Your stupid self-sacrifice complex isn't getting in the way now, Jackson. All these years, I've owed you my life for saving me then. I'm paying it forward now to Annabeth and your kid. Got that?!" Percy, the noble idiot, seemed for a second like he would refuse. But he hung his head and sat back down. Chiron, appearing a bit unsettled by this, recounted the information so far.

"Well then, you know who is going, you know what you'll face, and you know where you need to go. I believe that's all the information we need. We'll give you some time to get packed, then we shall see you off. I think this meeting is adjourned." Most people started getting up at this point, until a familiar satyr ran into the room. "Rowan? What is the matter?" The satyr, though winded, still worked up enough breath to form at least a half-complete sentence.

"It's the Leontes… They're back." (A/N Haha, you didn't think I'd forget about these guys did you? Also, If this chapter wasn't so short and the previous one so long, I would have made this the end, because come on, that's a perfect cliffie right there. Curse me and my accidental murder of Piper.) Clarisse was nonplussed.

"So, just shoot them or something. Stand at the edge of the barrier, and rain arrows on them until they go away." Rowan shifted nervously on his hooves. We tried that, but they just back off."

"I'll fight them." The voice came from Percy, who was still sitting in his chair. "It's the least I could do for you guys. I'll bring some water from the lake and trap them while you get out." Clarisse sighed, of course he would do something like this. But try as she might, she couldn't find any flaws in his plan.

"Fine. Let's go and beat up some cats."

—

Clarisse, Chris, Meg and Percy stood at the edge of Camp Half-Blood's border, a few steps away from Thalia's Tree. The Leontes paced at the bottom of the hill, growling and looking up at the demigods every once in a while. Percy watched them for a few moments, then stretched his left hand out back towards Camp and closed his eyes. Meg started to speak up, but Clarisse shushed her; she had seen Percy in action before and it was a sight to see, not to hear. After a few seconds, the ground started shaking. Meg fell over, and Clarisse had to stab her spear into the ground and grab hold of Chris to stop herself following suit. He muttered a 'Thanks' under his breath, but the 'No problem' Clarisse was going to reply with crawled back down her throat to die, as a massive stream of water shot out of the lake, cut through the air and coalesced into a sphere above Percy's outstretched hand, growing bigger every second. His eyes snapped open and glowed green, an intense dark emerald, like the sea during a storm. He pointed his other palm at the Leontes, who were visibly cowering in fear of the Son of Poseidon. One tried to run away down the road, but Percy reached out his hand and made a grabbing motion. A stream broke away from the sphere, which was now the size of a small car and restrained the monster. It thrashed about, but could not escape it's bonds. Percy drew it back in next to the other Leonte, and bound them both in the same stream. His eyes flashed an even more brilliant green than before, as he constricted his hand tighter and tighter, the Leontes writhing in pain, before simultainously combusting into yellow power, that was quickly disintegrated by the water. With a final effort, Percy swept a his left hand behind him and all the water returned to the lake. His eyes turned back to normal, and he crumpled to the ground. While Clarisse and Chris were still stunned by the show of power, Meg rushed over to him, shaking his shoulder. "Percy? Are you okay?" He got up on his knees, still hunched over.

"Yeah, I'm fine, haven't drained myself like that since, like, Mt St Helens or Charleston. He flashed a grin, a got to his feet. "I'll go take a nap, eat something, it'll be fine." He turned to Meg, suddenly serious. "Remember, okay?" The younger girl swallowed and nodded. Percy turned to Clarisse and Chris. "Thank you, seriously. This means a lot." Chris shrugged and held his hand out to Percy.

"Hey man, you'd do it for us. Saviours need saving eventually, right?" Percy cracked a grin and shook his hand, then faced Clarisse. Offering no words, he held his hands out in a silent invitation. Why not, She thought, and stepped into his hug.

"If you get killed, I'm going down to Hades and dragging you back." Clarisse drew back and flashed a smile.

"Spar when we get back?" Percy nodded.

"See you later." The Son of Poseidon turned and walked down the hill. Clarisse turned to her companions.

"Now we need to get to Miami. Who's got the drachmas?" Meg raised her hand and one out of the small coin bag given to her by Chiron.

"I don't think New York taxi drivers will take that though." Clarisse supposed she'd better fill the girl in.

"You ever heard of the Grey Sisters?"

(A/N Whew, I 'Deus Ex Machina-ed' myself hard here. I needed a way to get the questers out of camp while dealing with the Leontes, without breaking the barriers of Camp or literally bringing in a god. Two in twelve chapters is quite enough. Also, would you guys be interested in some Lorien Legacies fics? I've been getting back into it recently, and as there is only one currently updating fic of that series that I've found on this site (Props to anonymous-read btw, you're an amazing author, and the fact you put 10-20k words a chapter is brilliant) I thought the series could use some new blood.)

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