A/N So, it's been about two years since I last updated this. About. I'm not sure exactly, all I know that it was in '09. My writing style has changed and slightly improved between then and now. Ah, well. So, this is the ending to The Sea of Monsters. This is 1,225 words (Word says 1,213. Still not quite sure of the reason for the difference.) Anyway. I promised I would write this. And so I did. Also, if you want to, check out my other story Lights! Camera! Action! You don't have to. And because I hate reading these, you may read on.

The Sea of Monsters

A storm raged that night, but it parted around Camp Half-Blood as storms usually did.

Lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in our valley. We were protected again, thanks to the Fleece, sealed inside our magical borders.

Still, my dreams were restless. I heard Kronos taunting me from the depths of Tartarus:

Polyphemus sits blindly in his cave, young hero, believing he has won a great victory. Are you any less deluded? The titan's cold laughter filled the darkness.

Then my dream changed. I was following Tyson to the bottom of the sea, into the court of

Poseidon. It was a radiant hall filled with blue light, the floor cobbled with pearls. And there, on a throne of coral, sat my father, dressed like a simple fisherman in khaki shorts and a sun-bleached T-shirt. I looked up into his tan weathered face, his deep green eyes, and he spoke two words: Brace yourself.

I woke with a start.

There was a banging on the door. Grover flew inside without waiting for permission. "Percy!"

He stammered. "Annabeth ... on the hill ... she ..."

The look in his eyes told me something was terribly wrong. Annabeth had been on guard duty that night, protecting the Fleece. If something had happened—

I ripped off the covers, my blood like ice water in my veins. I threw on some clothes while

Grover tried to make a complete sentence, but he was too stunned, too out of breath. "She's lying there ... just lying there ..."

I ran outside and raced across the central yard, Grover right behind me. Dawn was just breaking, but the whole camp seemed to be stirring. Word was spreading. Something huge had happened. A few campers were already making their way toward the hill, satyrs and nymphs and heroes in a weird mix of armor and pajamas.

I heard the clop of horse hooves, and Chiron galloped up behind us, looking grim.

"Is it true?" He asked Grover.

Grover could only nod; his expression dazed.

I tried to ask what was going on, but Chiron grabbed me by the arm and effortlessly lifted me onto his back. Together we thundered up Half-Blood Hill, where a small crowd had started to gather.

I expected to see the Fleece missing from the pine tree, but it was still there, glittering in the first light of dawn. The storm had broken and the sky was blood red.

"Curse the titan lord," Chiron said. "He's tricked us again, given himself another chance to control the prophecy."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The Fleece," he said. "The Fleece did its work too well."

We galloped forward, everyone moving out of our way. There at the base of the tree, a girl was lying unconscious. Another girl in Greek armor was kneeling next to her.

Blood roared in my ears. I couldn't think straight. Annabeth had been attacked? But why was the Fleece still there?

The tree itself looked perfectly fine, whole and healthy suffused with the essence of the Golden Fleece.

"It healed the tree," Chiron said, his voice ragged. "And poison was not the only thing it purged."

Then I realized Annabeth wasn't the one lying on the ground. She was the one in armor, kneeling next to the unconscious girl. When Annabeth saw us, she ran to Chiron. "It... she ... just suddenly there ..."

Her eyes were streaming with tears, but I still didn't understand. I was too freaked out to make sense of it all. I leaped off Chiron's back and ran toward the unconscious girl.

"Percy, wait!" I heard Chiron call after me.

I knelt by her side. She had short black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like a long-distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth—a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of bands I'd never heard of.

I heard a pop and looked up at the tree to see that it was still spitting out objects. The girl had been the biggest one, so she took the longest. Object after object popped out of the healed tree. Books, toothbrushes, old used light-bulbs, a cartouche with something written in hieroglyphics, an old phone from like the 60's. Things just kept piling up next to me and the girl.

I heard a frightened shriek from behind and turned around to see Chiron galloping away quickly.

Nobody else would come close to the girl or the mysterious objects.

I put my hand on her forehead. Her skin was cold, but my fingertips tingled as if they were burning.

I took her by the shoulders and lifted her into sitting position, resting her head on my shoulder. I grabbed the cartouche, making a mental note to translate it later, and started dragging her towards camp. However, there was a large road that hadn't been there before in between me and camp. Odd.

"Come on!" I yelled to the others. "What's wrong with you people? Come and help me!"

No one moved. They were all too stunned. I heard a gasp from one of the campers and looked up to see her pointing down the road. A train came barreling towards us. I shook the girl in my arms to try and wake her up. It worked.

Then the girl took a shaky breath. She coughed and opened her eyes.

Her irises were startlingly blue—electric blue—so different from the grey-blue of Annabeth's eyes.

The girl stared at me in bewilderment, shivering and wild-eyed. "Who—"

"I'm Percy," I said. "You're safe now."

"Strangest dream ..."

"It's okay."

"Dying."

"No," I assured her. "You're okay. What's your name?"

"I am Thalia," the girl said. "Daughter of Zeus."

I heard a horn blare at us. It sounded as though it was coming from a distance, even though it is right behind us. I heard screams from the campers as they saw the train come barreling towards us at full speed, its brakes squealing but not having enough room to stop. That's when it hit me. Where had this road come from anyway? It hadn't been there before we got to the tree. It couldn't have been Kronos' fault, because killing the two of us would totally eliminate his chances of being freed from Tartarus.

One of us had to free him. So, why the road? And speaking of roads, why was there a trail barreling down a road? Isn't it supposed to be on tracks? It's almost as if this was planned, but some unseen force. … It had to have been Zeus. Definitely. Maybe Hades. Probably not, though. He wasn't the type to just shove us in front of a train. He seemed more of a 'sic a Fury on you' kind of guy. Ah, well. It doesn't matter now.

Now that I think about it, why haven't we been hit yet? Am I really thinking this fast? I've never been able to think this fast before, or for this long. Interesting. I looked up; the train was moving in slow motion. In my arms, Thalia was still waiting for an answer to her declaration. I decided to give her one.

"Not for long."

A/N yay! that's the end. I may or may not get around to writing the third one anytime soon. I make no promises. It took me two years to write this one. Well, two years to remember to write it, and about an hour to write it. Anyway. Ciao. Review if you want, I know I don't.