"I always knew going to school was a bad idea," Percy muttered. "I just didn't have anything to justify it until now." He, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Hazel, Frank, and Thalia were sitting in Mythology class (with a little help from Hazel, the teachers didn't at all question why there were suddenly two more kids in their classes) when they looked out the window to see a whole horde of monsters attempting to swim out to sea. Emphasis on attempting. Most of them were drowning in the huge waves (courteous of Percy) while the rest were trying to get a tiny rowboat to carry a dozen of them. They didn't even get a few feet out before it started filling with water. (I have no idea where their school is but I'm just going to pretend they're by the beach…)
"Are they trying to get to Mako?" Piper suggested.
"You said Mako was that way, didn't you?" Hazel asked. Annabeth nodded. All of a sudden, the fire alarm goes off.
"There wasn't supposed to be a drill today, was there, Ms. Brides?" a girl yelled over the blaring sound. Ms. Brides's eyes widened and she slowly shook her head.
But she quickly regained her composure. "Everyone stay calm and treat this as if it was a drill. If you make any sound as we are heading out of this building, I won't hesitate to leave you behind." Then the teacher whooshed her dress towards the door and led the class out. The demigods exchanged uneasy glances. They fell into the back of the line and, once Ms. Brides turned a corner, ran off to find Cleo, Emma, and Rikki. Luckily their class wasn't too far and they found them easily.
"What are you guys doing? There's a fire!" Cleo yelled over the alarm.
"No there isn't! It's the monsters. They want us out and vulnerable," Annabeth quickly explained as they walked out of the doors of the school. Emma looked confused but didn't say anything. They all ducked behind a corner and Thalia peaked out. It looked like a normal fire drill with kids in lines talking even though they were supposed to be and teachers counting heads. That was when a couple of large dark figures stampede onto the blacktop. Percy frowned and Annabeth caught her breath. Similar reactions spread throughout the demigods as they were reminded of Percy's half-brother, Tyson. Because the dark figures were Cyclopes. Grown ones at that.
"What's wrong?" Cleo whispered.
"Cyclopes… Tyson…" was all Percy managed to get out. He had forgotten how hard it was to fight them. They aren't Tyson. Percy reminded himself.
"WHERE IS SHE?" one cyclops bellowed. Mortals were running around screaming. Percy wasn't sure what they were seeing but it must not have been cute and cuddly.
The other cyclops sniffed the air. "I smell demigod." Percy caught his breath when he realized the cyclops was a girl, if you could call it that. Both Cyclopes were about twelve feet tall and had matching ugly faces. The female had long stringy brown hair and was wearing a dress that looked like someone had stitched it out of a bunch of normal dresses. The other cyclops, presumably a male, had tufts of greasy blonde hair sticking up out of his head at odd angles and was wearing what Percy called "the mother of all potato sacks." It was a humongous potato sack that could probably hold thousands of potatoes if the monster wasn't wearing it.
The she-monster kept sniffing the air and got dangerously close to the corner the demigods and mermaids were behind.
"We are so stupid, bringing everyone to school like this," Thalia quietly remarked. "Six of the Seven most powerful demigods of this century, including two children of the Big Three, plus a child of Zeus. We are probably overloading their nostrils."
"Hey, Ugly!" Percy yelled as he stepped out from behind the corner. Both Cyclopes turned to look at him.
"Percy!" Annabeth whisper-yelled at him, still hidden.
"Ah! Perseus Jackson. I have been dying to meet you! Brother has told us so much about you!" the female cyclops exclaimed in a horrible attempt at a fangirl squeal.
"Brother? Sorry, who are you?" Percy retorted.
"Oh, Master Antaeus! He said Daddy is most pleased with you. Taking all the attention. I am Beretta and this is Axle." Percy's eyes widened.
"You're my siblings?" he gaped.
"Southern Cyclopes! You are much too smart to fall under Antaeus's spell!" Annabeth stepped out from behind the corner.
"Annabeth Chase! Such a pleasure! Meeting two popular demigods at one time! Can you believe this Axel?" Beretta beamed.
"Such a pleasure to be able to kill you both, really," Axel agreed with the same amount of enthusiasm as his sister.
"Oh, you don't want to kill us! Your father would be very unhappy with you," Annabeth bargained.
Beretta glanced at Axel wearily. "Master Antaeus promised us we would be Daddy's favorites if we killed you! We believe Master Antaeus! He is trustworthy."
Percy scoffed. "He tricked people into fighting to the death in the labyrinth. But yeah, he's trustworthy."
"Don't talk that way about Master Antaeus! He has done so much for us!" Axel bellowed angrily.
Thalia, Piper, Jason, Frank, and Hazel stepped out from behind the corner. "Settle down now, buddy," Thalia cautioned. "No need to start a fight you can't win."
Beretta's eyes widened. "Jason Grace! Piper McLean! Hazel Levesque! Frank Zhang! And Thalia-"
Thalia cut her off. "Yeah, yeah. You know all of our names. So what do you want?"
"Sadly, we cannot kill you now. Master Antaeus won't let us. He says we must have pat- payten- uh…" Axel trailed off, struggling to say 'patience.'
"Patience, brother!" Beretta finished.
"What do I need to wait for?" Axel questioned, oblivious.
Beretta shook her head and turned back to the demigods. "My brother is correct. Master Antaeus won't let us harm you yet. He sent us for the girl. The girl with 'dual blood,' as he put it," the cyclops scratched her head. "Not sure what that means but he said we would smell it." Beretta began sniffing each of the demigods who, in return, drew their weapons. Beretta backed away.
She pointed at Annabeth, who was the last one she got a whiff of (so cringe), and howled, "YOU!" Then she burst into dust. Piper, who was standing next to Jason, shimmered away and revealed the real Piper standing behind Beretta, her sword in hand.
Axel turned to look at Piper with complete and utter hatred. Then he grabbed her around the waist with his big meaty hands and ran off towards the beach and into the surf.