BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, — the banging was getting louder as whatever was on the other side continued trying to get through.

The attendant looked confused as he asked Hylla, "What do you mean you were half right?"

Hylla did not take her off the splintering door, "I used a white package."

"Are you insane?" demanded the attendant. "Lady Circe warned us about using those. There isn't a set result for them!"

"I've used them before." Hylla defended. "The most I ever got was an annoying chihuahua."

Annabeth wasn't following a single word. She turned to Circe who was still at knife point. "Explain. Now!"

She motioned to the powered drink mix packets. "We use those to turn the men. Each one has a set result. Strawberry is for guinea pigs for example. But we avoid using the white packets."

Annabeth inched her knife closer, "Why?"

Circe gulped, "Each person has an inner animal, usually one that matches one's personality. The white packets turn the drinker into that animal. It risk we try to avoid."

"What's the risk?" Annabeth asked.

KER - ACK! — went to the doors came off their hinges and fell to the floor in pieces. In the doorway, stood one very angry and very large silver panther.

It was the size of small truck. The thick coat gleamed like polished silver and seemed to reflect light. It had relatively stocky build to it with short but thick muscular limbs and paws the size of large dinner plates. Its teeth were bared as it growled which sounded like a small thunderstorm. It's tail was long and thick, flicking back and forth as it examined the room. Its claws made a slight screeching sound as it flexed its paws.

"That's the risk." said Circe.

The panther began to walk forward. As it did Annabeth saw each step made click sound. Like someone was dropping coins onto the hard floor. Then she saw it. One its front left paw was a silver ring. She looked at its neck and saw tooth necklace hanging.

"It couldn't be . . . " said Annabeth. "Artie?"

The attendant jumped forward, green fire curling around her hands, "I'll protect you my lady!"

Artie pounced and sent her to the floor hard. Hylla tried to cast a spell, but ended her incantation as Artie snapped at her. He then sent Hylla to the floor with a strike at her legs. Without stopping, he then tensed and pounced on Circe, pinning her to the floor. She began to mutter a spell but clammed up when Artie snapped his massive jaws at her neck. Artie locked eyes with Annabeth and flicked his head at the guinea pig cage.

"Artie? Is that you?" she asked.

Artie responded with tapping the multivitamin jar in her hands and pointing to the cage with his new tail.

"Right," she said going to the cage. "We can talk later."

Since she had no way of knowing which was Percy, she eliminated the possibility of a wrong choice and poured the whole jar of multivitamins into the cage. As Artie and Annabeth waited for them to take effect, Hylla made a desperate dash for the door. Artie snarled and chased after her. He was clearly still adapting to his new body, as he pounced and landed inches to Hylla's right, forcing to dash left away from the door. He continued to chase and pounce after her, breaking furniture and more or less destroying the room in the process. While everyone was distracted, Circe made her own sprint for the door. Artie locked eyes with her and she froze. They stood like living statues, until Hylla made a slight scared whimper. Artie then turned his attention back to her, dismissing Circe with a flick of his tail.

Circe took a step then a voice bellowed, "Arg! There be the witch what captured us, lads. Run her through! And then I mean to find me a bowl of celery!"

"No!" screamed Circe as she ran from the room with Blackbeard and his crew in hot pursuit.

Artie paused to watch for a moment and then turned to Hylla curled up in the corner. Artie raised a massive paw overhead slowly and brought it down. Hylla screamed as she brought up her hands in a meager attempt to ward off the blow.

Percy jumped in front of her, arms thrown out. "Artie stop!"

Artie's claws stopped an inch from Percy's face.

Artie snarled and snapped his jaws before flicking his head to side, he clearly was telling Percy to get out of the way.

"She's not worth it." said Percy.

Before Percy could talk Artie down, Hylla made a mad dash to the right. Artie struck faster then lighting, but missed by inches when Hylla dived under a desk. Artie then pounced on the desk, splitting it in two. Hylla screamed and dived behind the remains of a sofa with Artie giving chase close behind.

Annabeth leaped in front of Hylla, much like Percy had. "Stop it Artie! This isn't you. You're not an animal."

Artie did not bother telling Annabeth to move and opted a more practical solution. He snaked his head behind her and picked Annabeth like kitten by her shirt. He set her down gently to the side and continued chasing after Hylla around the room, often destroying what remained of the furniture as Hylla scrambled for cover.

"Are you alright?" Percy asked Annabeth.

"I'm fine." she said. "But Artie isn't. He can't seem to control his instincts."

"We have to snap him out of it!" said Percy. "Before he kills her."

Annabeth looked around for something to use and then her eyes lit up when she spotted the wetbar, "That's it!"

Percy followed close behind as she jumped over the counter and began digging around her. "I'm not sure what you're planning, but you better hurry up. Artie is just about out of furniture."

"Found it!" Annabeth exclaimed.

Percy saw she was holding a seltzer spray bottle. The very same one clowns used to use in old cartoons. It was simply a large glass bottle filled with seltzer water with a small metal nozzle attached to the top.

Percy was confused. "How is that gonna hel — "

"No time!" she told him and ran to where Artie had cornered Hylla.

Percy watched as Annabeth jumped in front of Artie again. Hylla was breathing hard and Percy doubted she could keep running for much longer. Her dress was torn and she had several small cuts from broken glass and splinters left in Artie's wake. When Annabeth wouldn't move, Artie tried to pick her up again. Annabeth responded with what Percy though was either ingenious or incredibly reckless. He prayed it was the first.

Annabeth sprayed Artie in the face with the seltzer bottle. "No! Bad Artie! Bad!"

Artie hissed and snarled, but surprisingly did not attack her. He made several attempts to go around her, but was met with seltzer water up the nose.

"Bad Artie!" Annabeth repeated with a squirt. "No eating people!" Annabeth looked back at Hylla, "Leave now, slowly and no sudden moves."

Percy watched as Hylla backed up slowly. Artie looked like he wanted nothing more than rip her to pieces as slowly as he could, but he could not get past Annabeth and her deadly squirt bottle. Artie was staring daggers at Annabeth as his lip lifted and growled threateningly.

Annabeth responded with a squirt of the bottle. "Stop that."

Artie hissed at her but Annabeth held her ground and hefted the bottle to show she would not hesitate to use it again.

Percy ran to Annabeth. "That was insane."

"Best I could come up with." she admitted. "We need to get out of here, while Circe is distracted."

"Right." he agreed. "We should back to where the boats are docked. And fast as we can."

Artie nudged Annabeth with his snout, "What?"

Artie crouched low to the ground and flicked his head.

"We can't understand you Artie." explained Annabeth.

Artie rolled his eyes as he crouched again in front of them. He then jabbed his tail at Annabeth and Percy before pointing to his back. He repeated the gesture twice more and so they would understand.

"I think he wants us to get on." said Annabeth.

"He just tried to eat someone." said Percy. "And now he want us to ride him?"

Artie did not wait for them to talk it over. Like before, he snatch up Annabeth by her shirt and gently placed her just behind his neck. Artie then wasted no time and wrapped his tail around Percy's waist. Like an elephant's trunk, Artie's tail placed Percy right behind Annabeth. Once he felt them grab his thick coat, Artie tensed and ran towards the open window.

"Does he remember we're two floors up?" Percy asked uneasily.

"We're whaAaggghhh . . ." screamed Annabeth as Artie leaped out the second floor window.

Artie landed on a small balcony a few feet below the window. Artie turned and leaped onto a another balcony below. He did this several times, breaking the large descent to ground level into several small ones. As they went down, Percy and Annabeth saw that the Blackbeard pirates had not lost their touch as they pillaged and ransacked the spa. They broke tiki torches for the luau, threw herbal wraps into the pools, and kicked over tables of sauna towels. It was a scene of pure chaos as spa attendants, patrons, and animals ran all over screaming as they ran for cover or from pirates carrying either swords or flaming torches.

"That way!" shouted Annabeth, pointing to the boats in the distance. "To the docks!"

Artie growled his understanding and took off. Despite his bulk, Artie's new body was quite agile. He leaped over flaming wreckage, climbed over fences and barred gates, and batted away any pirate foolish enough to attack with a massive paw. Percy and Annabeth saw Artie had lost his speed as they reach the docks in minutes.

"Which ship?" asked Annabeth when Artie skidded to a stop.

Percy looked around and pointed to the far end of the dock. "There!"

Annabeth blinked. "But — "

"I can make it work."

Artie wasted no time in arguing and sprinted towards an three mast old sailing vessel. The ship's name was written on its prow which Percy would later see that it said Queen Anne's Revenge. Artie did not bother with the loading deck and leaped right onto the main deck, quickly crouching to let Percy and Annabeth off his back. Artie then turn and flipped the loading deck into the ocean so no one else could board, unless they were a excellent jumpers with a massive running start.

"Arrgh!" bellowed Blackbeard as he entered the docks, flanked by several of his crew. "Those scallywags are a-boarding me vessel! Get'em lads!"

"We'll never get going in time!" said Annabeth.

Artie leaped back onto the deck with a snarl and began charging Blackbeard and his crew. To their credit, they did not run. Perhaps their fear of Blackbeard was far greater than a giant panther. Artie bit and snapped at their torches and swords. He batted them like toy mice into either solid walls or into the oceans. They tried to fire several times at him with old flintlock pistols, but as anyone could tell you, flintlock pistols were famous for their inaccuracy and often did not even fire. Blackbeard was proving his ferocity as a son of Ares, slashing and stabbing like madman and was actually driving Artie back, delivering several small cuts to his front limbs in the process.

"What's he doing?" asked Percy.

"Buying us some time." she explained. "But not a lot of it if Blackbeard keeps that up."

Percy looked around at the hopeless maze of sails and rope. He saw the ship was in excellent condition for a three hundred year old ship, but it would take a crew of fifty several hours to get underway. But they did not have several hours, especially with Blackbeard holding his own against Artie. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the waves lapping against the hull, the ocean currents, and the winds all around the sails. Suddenly, the correct word formed in his head.

"Mizzenmast!" yelled Percy.

Instantly the air was filled with the sound of whistling ropes snapping into place, canvasses unfurling, and wooden pulleys creaking. Percy then willed the sails to rise as easily as flexing an arm. He then turn to the wheel as it begun to turn by itself, he could feel the rudder turning to steer the Queen Anne's Revenge. The ship lurched and began pulling away from the dock slowly at first, but began to pick up speed.

"Artie!" shouted Annabeth. "He's still on the docks!"

Percy looked and saw Artie was still trying to hold off Blackbeard. Percy took a deep breath and shouted. "ARTIE!"

Artie glance for a moment and saw the Queen Anne's Revenge sailing out into the Sea Of Monsters. He tipped over a barrel to his right in front of Blackbeard. He stumbled back and gave Artie enough time to turn and sprint to the end of the dock. Artie did not stop or even slow down as he leaped into the air towards the ship.

"He's not gonna make it." said Percy. "Its too far for him."

A loud splash punctuated his words.

Annabeth craned over the edge and smiled. "I wouldn't worry."

Percy craned his neck and saw what she meant.

There was Artie, his head angled upward so not to get his face wet as he paddled towards the ship. Percy willed the ship to slow slightly so Artie could catch up. He wondered how Artie would get on for a moment then he got an answer. When Artie reached the ship, he reached up with his claws and hoisted himself up with almost no effort. Annabeth began to laugh as she saw how Artie looked soaking wet and dripping with pieces of seaweed caught in his fur. After a second, Percy joined in. Artie responded with huff and shook himself dry, showering his friends with sea water.

"Oh come on!" protested Annabeth pulled a chunk of seaweed from her hair. "You have any idea how long it took for me to wash off the hydra gunk?"

Percy laughed even harder, being the son of Poseidon he was still dry. "I thought panthers hated water."

"He's not a panther." Annabeth corrected. "Technically there's no such thing as a panther."

Artie and Percy both cocked their heads in confusion.

"The word panther comes from the word Panthera, which is the genus for big cats." Annabeth explained. "It includes other big cats like the tiger, the lion, the jaguar, and the leopard."

"But the panther isn't?" asked Percy.

"It technically refers to all members of the genus, but most mean black panther when they talk about it. But black panthers are just large cats with a color variant."

"Which means?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "It means a black panther is just another cat with black fur. A black tiger or leopard in Asia and Africa or a black cougar in North America."

"So what is Artie?"

Annabeth walked an examined Artie up and down, "Well, he has an overall muscular build. With short stocky limbs. He has a very large jaw and has rough square appearance to the face. I'd say he's a jaguar. It'd make sense, Brazil is full of them."

"Okay, give him a vitamin and change him back." said Percy. "Before we need that spray bottle again."

"You're right, I forgot about that." Annabeth padded her pockets. "Oh no . . . no-no-no-no-no-no!"

"What?" Percy asked.

Annabeth looked up at her friends, on the verge of tears. "It's not the only thing I forgot. I'm so sorry Artie. I don't have any of the multivitamins."

HOURS LATER . . .

Percy gazed down at Artie.

He was sunbathing, stretched out contently on his belly with his tail hanging off the starboard edge in the water. When Annabeth told them she had forgotten to grab a vitamin for Artie, Percy almost turned the ship around. Both Annabeth and Artie stopped him. Annabeth explained she wanted to help Artie as much as he did, but they didn't have the time. Thalia's pine had little time as it was and Grover had less than day until he was supposed to marry Polyphemus. She suggested that Chiron might know cure or they could even travel to Olympus to ask Hermes for more vitamins. While Artie couldn't speak, he made it clear that he agreed with Annabeth. His problems were not worth sacrificing the safety of everyone at Camp Half Blood. Percy gazed down on the stairs leading to the main deck at Annabeth who looked like she was feeling guilty about Artie.

Percy sat down next to her, "It's not your fault, Annabeth."

"I'm a child of Athena," she answered. "How could forget something as important as those stupid vitamins. Now because of me, Artie is stuck like that."

"Like you said, Chiron's been around long enough that he might know a cure. And we could always go to Olympus and ask the gods for help." He tried to crack a smile. "Worst case, we have Beckendorf make Apollonia a giant litter box."

Annabeth's frown dropped even lower, "Oh gods, I forgot about Apollonia. She's gonna kill me."

"She won't blame you." Percy assured.

"How can you be sure?"

"Artie doesn't blame you, so I doubt she will."

"How can you be sure of that?"

Artie smiled slightly, "Artie didn't eat you when he found out, did he?"

Annabeth chuckled reluctantly, "Give it an hour two, he was sniffling below decks for something to eat."

At that moment, they heard a loud splash followed by a wet splat. They looked down and saw a giant green sea serpent wriggling and flopping on the wooden floor. Percy saw it's mouth was wrapped around the end of Artie's tail. Percy realized that when Artie couldn't find any food below deck, he did the only logical thing and went fishing. The sea serpent looked like an eight foot dark green eel with small beady yellow eyes. Artie stopped its thrashing by sinking his teeth through its head. Once it stopped thrashing, Artie began eating with gusto.

"Lucky you," remarked Percy. "Looks like you have little more time."

"Unless he's saving me for dessert." she pointed out.

Percy opened his mouth to complained when a screech sounded overhead. They both looked up to see Tobias descending from the sky. As he got closer, Percy saw that Tobias was carrying Artie's magic quiver in his talons. Tobias dropped the quiver at their feet before perching on the handrail.

"How did he get that?" Percy wondered.

"He's been following us from the sky since we left the everglades. He probably grabbed the quiver during the chaos." said Annabeth."Wait! If he grabbed the quiver, maybe . . ."

"Maybe what?"

Annabeth went to Tobias, "Please tell me you got one."

Tobias placed a vitamin in Annabeth's palm.

She hugged Tobias as hard as she could without hurting him, "Oh thank you, you big beautiful bird you. I'm sorry for everything I ever said about you."

Annabeth ran to Artie who was still gorging himself on sea serpent entrails. Artie poked his head out from the carcass to see what the commotion was. Percy had to admit how fierce Artie looked without even meaning to. His snout was covered in blood and chunks of serpent hung in clumps in his fur that shook when he licked his chops. He went to a barrel that he had found below filled with drinking water and lapped a few mouthfuls before dunking his head under to wash off the gore.

"Oh Artie." Annabeth said in a sing-song voice. "Look what I got."

Artie poked his head out of the barrel and saw Annabeth was holding a multivitamin.

Artie pounced and pinned Annabeth to the ground faster than Percy thought possible.

"Wait!," cried Annabeth. "Tobias just brought it, I really didn't have it. Don't eat me!"

Artie lowered his head, open mouth towards Annabeth's face.

Percy drew Riptide and was about to jump in when he saw what Artie was doing. Percy doubled over laughing at the spectacle.

Artie began licking Annabeth's face in gratitude, and she did not like it.

"Ew! Gross! Stop it Artie." she protested as tried to get free from Artie's display of gratitude. "My gods! Fish breath! Stop it! Stop!"

With that last stop, Annabeth threw the vitamin down Artie's throat. He instantly backed off her and began coughing like he had a massive hairball. He shook his head several times as if trying to clear his vision. He then began to sway from side to side before finally collapsing with a loud massive thud.

Percy and Annabeth watched as Artie began to shrink and lose his fur. After a few minutes, Artie was back to his old self, for the most part. He was still was wearing his makeshift jean shorts and tank top blouse. His feet were bare as they usually were. His hair was still the same length and color, though it acquired several silver streaks, like his hair had aged a few decades ahead of his body.

"Grab his legs," said Annabeth grabbing Artie's arms. "Lets carry him below deck to rest."

Percy agreed and lugged Artie below deck and set him in a hammock. Despite being back in his old and much lighter body, Artie still felt much heavier than he should be. Tobias flew down and perched on a beam the ran the length of the room overhead. No doubt to watch over Artie as he recovered, Percy returned back to the main deck once they had Artie settled.

"Do you hear that?" asked Percy. "Sounds like music."

"We're close to the island of the Sirens." said Annabeth.

"No problem." said Percy. "I saw some candle wax below deck. We can use that for earplugs."

"Actually," said Annabeth uneasily. "There's something I've been meaning to try, if you don't mind. it'll be safe, I promise. I have a plan."