Chapter 13: Here Comes Tyson
All rights to recognizable characters and bold text belong to Rick Riordan.
The morning came sooner than he would have liked. But he was all—grumpy, tired, and unhappy, but not present. How could it be any other way when Paul had quite literally pulled him out of his bed? Percy had woken up right when his head had hit on the floor.
"Why're we still doing this?" Percy muttered irritated.
Annabeth patted him on the shoulder but didn't say a word, fairly figuring it might exacerbate it. Jason and Leo wisely pretended they hadn't heard anything. The rest of the class, too, was doing their best to overlook such an inconsequential detail of Percy being mad in the ungodly hour of eight in the morning. He had every reason for that, of course he did.
Although everyone would offer their condolences, not one soul thought of abandoning the book. They would rather take a chemistry test with Mr. Rowel and rakes. Heck, they would clean the chemistry classroom with their own toothbrushes if it meant they would continue reading the book!
(Those rare sparks of clarity were frequently shoved in the back of their mind for convenience.)
Paul was aware of that. He, just like every single teacher in this school, including Mr. Rowel who had not read anything but a manual for health class in about ten years, was wasting their precious academic time on a book about his stepson—some more begrudgingly than others, but Frederick had lost the debate with the Principal, and ignoring the decrees would land him more extra work than he had now. Children simply refused to cooperate and do anything but reading first thing in the morning. That was the reason why they had to scrape the chemistry classroom clean now.
Paul, for the twentieth time this week alone, entered the classroom accompanied by a chorus of 'let's start reading!'
(Thanks the heavens, it was one class only. Although, he would love to test the claim that the book would not open in any other hour after it, he had enough sense to realize gods might have tweaked with them to accommodate… something. As curious as Paul was, he was not ready to open that can of worms.)
The only people who were yet to greet him this way were Percy and his friends. But those were a special case and Paul would genuinely worry if they suddenly became avid book readers.
They might as well appreciate the effort Paul put in his daily routine of delaying the reading, even if those attempts never worked.
Like, right now.
"Ahem, how are you—a-all feeling?" he asked, blinking at least seven times in this short time.
It was futile. Everything he was doing nowadays could be characterized with this word, including placating Sally. He had even less luck with reassuring Percy. Now he was having trouble with diverting attention from the book, which was the source of the chaos that was his life.
And no one seemed to care.
All the kids did was stare at him as though Paul were tap-dancing and offering them a free subscription to the 'Life Is a Rainbow' magazine their Biology teacher might or might not have been spreading around. And Paul hated this magazine.
In other words, kids were perplexed. And despondent. They didn't have any inclination to talk. They wanted the book! Paul with his sudden love for small talks didn't fit this new reality. Plus, he had made them believe he might need medical assistance. Just in case.
"Mr. Blofis, are you all right?" Lyssa wondered from the desk in front of him.
Paul flinched and nodded. "Y-yeah—Um, the weather—ahem—is so w-won—?" he faltered the second he took notice of a strange activity in the first rows: three kids ducked, the rest leaned away from his as far as possible; all were staring at him with vivid horror on their faces.
On the one hand, that was quite an overreaction to a simple question. On the other, the first thing Paul did upon arriving to the class was hide the book behind his back and standing in front of it as though he believed it might make people forget its existence. They couldn't. Besides, Paul's endeavor at a small talk had gone south immediately, all because of the occasional nervous laugh that he would let out. All while he was blinking so fast he might as well have been trying out for the role of a windmill; clasping his hands as though he were trying to produce a thunderclap wasn't helping much.
They did have a reason to worry about their English teacher.
Steven was the one breaking the heavy silence. He leaped to his feet and with a loud, 'Mr. Blofis!' rushed toward Paul. He crashed into desks, stumbled on the feet of his classmates and his own, and pushed Sarah's books on the floor.
"Steven!" she gasped, but Steven ignored her. He strode forward until he was stopped by an unexpected obstacle in the face of Lyssa, who put her foot forward just to slow him down. Instead, Steven fell… right into Paul's arms.
"Ms. McKeenley!"
Lyssa stared in front of her, pretending it was not her.
"I'mma fine! I'mma fine!" Steven held out his arms, almost poking Paul's eye out, and began blinking excessively in an attempt to recollect himself. It didn't take him long. "What I wanted…" he sucked in a deep breath. "Mr. Blofis, why don't you sit there and relax? We'll read it for you!"
Apparently, Steven's initiative was news to others, for no one backed him up. Actually, if you'd peek in the classroom at the moment, you would find two dozens of children gaping at Steven. Even the most composed ones submitted to the craze and were peering at Steven with those 'what-the-heck-are-you-on-about' questions in their eyes.
Steven seemed to miss it. He was too busy mulling over his own idea, details of which he had not thought through. He hadn't had the time before!
"How 'bout…" he snapped his fingers effectively making half the class wince and the other half lean on their seats; all to avoid him.
Leo looked up from the cylinder he was holding and looked at Jason, who shrugged, his eyes on his own project. A moment later, Leo returned to his own affairs, fairly figuring that this issue was not theirs to deal with.
Steven didn't stop humming under his breath and fidgeting.
"Um… hmm… yeah…" he froze. His eyes lit up. "Yes!"
Now the other half of that class that had not yet attempted to run away; ducked. Just in case, of course.
Steven turned toward Paul, who visibly winced.
"Lyssa!"
Lyssa grimaced and peered at Steven. "What are you—"
At the same time, Steven picked the book and practically dropped in on Lyssa's hands.
"STEVEN!"
"Lyssa will read!" he announced. "Will you?" he threw a glance at her. "She will."
The change went fast. They couldn't ever react properly to the events because those had ended much before they settled in their heads. The last thing they heard was Steven ordered Lyssa to start reading.
So she did.
And for any inconvenience she would blame Steven.
Tyson plays with fire, Lyssa read loudly.
Very loudly. Several people grimaced; some recoiled, afraid the disease Steven carried, was contagious. Some believed Lyssa would suddenly grow a pair of fangs and bite them all to death.
Lyssa could. That was the reason why no one objected—their lives meant to them more than their ears. All but one.
"Who's Tyson?" Peter asked.
Instantly, students turned to Percy, who twitched under the stares and grumbled, "Tyson is Tyson."
He was sooo not going to explain anything.
Two things happened at once: Lyssa hissed at them and someone let out a giggle. They never figured out who it was because Lyssa returned to the book.
…worse than trios of old ladies, it's bulls.
"What do you have against old ladies?"
"What do you have against bulls?"
Steven and Cassandra looked at each other. Three long seconds later, both turned toward Percy, who looked like he had eaten a big and sour lemon and was still struggling with the aftertaste. Although Percy was evidently in a bad mood (when was he not with this stupid book in sight?), no one could tell what had caused it: the question or Jason and Leo, who were openly watching him. For that, they'd abandoned their previous occupations. Leo was still holding the cylinder, a screwdriver in his mouth while Jason gaped at them, not bothered in the slightest by the image he presented.
"What?" Percy grumbled, shooting him a dirty look, which Jason pressed his lips together at.
A moment later, all three returned to whatever they'd been busy with before. Lyssa hummed.
"All right!" she announced. "Let's get back to reading!"
…on top of Half-Blood Hill.
"The story we all would like to hear about," Mike chimed in.
Silence was his answer, which Mike took calmly. Same couldn't be said for his reaction to Lyssa, who hissed at him. After that Mike did not dare interrupt her.
…two bulls.
Jason and Leo perked up and gave Percy confused looks.
…bronze ones the size of elephants.
"Size of an—When did you meet the bulls?" Leo bellowed, too astonished to contain his surprise.
Disturbed, Annabeth looked up blearily from the binder that she'd been hypnotizing the past few minutes. "Hm?"
"Why'd you have my—I mean when did you meet the bulls?"
For a split second, confusion prevailed, but it was quickly replaced by indignation when Annabeth realized his question had nothing to do with her struggle. (Her struggle? What struggle? She didn't struggle! It was an unfortunate setback that she'd deal with quickly, later.) Instead of straight answer, she pointed at Percy. So Leo, just like every single person in this classroom, including Paul, looked at Percy. All of them were ignoring Lyssa who had grown red in the face and was breathing heavily, almost fuming as if she were a chimney.
So Percy silently motioned toward her.
They had to concede.
Naturally they had to breathe fire, too.
Leo heaved a breath and put the cylinder aside. He was going to learn why his father's creations had been in the camp. As far as he was concerned, those were not supposed to roam near people, let alone demigods.
…where life was safer.
"Who are—" Sarah's question coincided with Lyssa's hissing. "Lyssa!"
"I'm reading!"
"And I'd like to know who these people are!"
They stared at each other for good ten seconds before Peter cleared his throat and asked them both to get back to the point. Loudly.
…extra three-drachma payment.
"You have your own taxis?"
This time Lyssa's hiss was ignored, for everyone was more interested in hearing about this detail than listening to Lyssa. Needless to say, she did not enjoy the fact. She, however, also wanted to hear that story.
As well as Leo, who had heard of the magic special demigod taxis, and therefore made it his mission to get this one out of his friends.
First, he simply waved at Percy and Annabeth, who looked abnormally pained for someone who hadn't even opened the binder. As if on cue, she snapped it open and stared intently at, as Leo figured from the images, a fully-developed shrine blueprint. She didn't move after that—only soft drumming on the tabletop reminded him she was still here.
But she didn't react, so he clapped then exhaled and put his hand inside his toolbelt. There he had an awesome distraction bottle that contained so much red pepper that even rocks would cough their lungs out. Percy and Annabeth stood no chance.
"I'd suggest you move to the side," he told Jason, who did just that and now was standing safe five feet from the epicenter of the future battlefield, watching Leo work.
With a piece of cloth over his mouth, Leo opened the bottle and poured a tiny bit of it on the couples' desk. Neither took notice of his movements which was saying a lot about their state: Annabeth was all but incinerating the blueprint with her look (Leo saw no flaws with it, but he was no architect to spot those small imperfections that seemed to be ruining her mood these past few days) and Percy appeared too busy merging with the desk to see anything around him. Having counted to three, Leo blew the pepper right into their faces.
A moment of silence…
A round of loud coughs rang through the air. Annabeth and Percy leaped to their feet, still sneezing and coughing. Whatever they were trying to achieve, clearly was not working, for Percy stumbled on the foot of the table and almost crashed head-first into his neighbor. Annabeth had more luck because her only obstacle was the wall, which she promptly bumped into and stiffened.
Quickly, Leo pushed the bottle inside his toolbelt, disposed of the evidence that might lead him to a punishment worthy of Olympus and bit his lower lip. If nobody knew he was the mastermind behind this undoubtedly silly plan, they would have figured it out without a problem.
Finally, the sneezing ceased, allowing the couple to regain their senses and assess the situation. That it was pepper, both realized quite quickly. The person behind it was found equally as fast.
"LEO!"
Leo twitched from the noise and closed his eyes. He was ready to die like a hero again. He had already written his own obituary, which he wanted his friends to paint on the walls of the armory. Or Athena's cabin. Or Poseidon's, for he believed the Sea God would be more lax about the disrespect than the Wisdom Goddess. In fact, he would tolerate either. He had gained his well-deserved spot in Elysium.
It took him ten excruciatingly long seconds to start wondering about the lack of action. Where were they? Why had they not murdered him yet? They hadn't even yelled at him! It was sooo wrong!
Leo opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed, were two of his friends watching him grimly.
"Oh, hi! What's up?!"
Annabeth held up her draft in front of her, subsequently hiding her from Leo, while Percy began whirling his pen with his fingers, not looking at anyone.
Well, it could have been worse.
With a heavy––heavy and loud––sigh, he turned back to his cylinder.
"Um, Lyssa, you may continue. I don't wanna know anymore."
…tie-dyed gym clothes.
Steven opened his mouth to ask but closed it immediately when he saw Lyssa glaring at him. Who needs to know the details of this clearly amazing story? Obviously, not him!
…battle raging on the hill.
"Battle?" Jason muttered and whirled toward Lyssa. His whole attention now on the book, which was disclosing events no one had bothered to share with him before.
…But the metal bulls were doing it anyway.
"They did what?" Jason yelled despite himself.
Lyssa instantly faltered but, to everyone's surprise, did not hiss at him.
Jason wouldn't care either way. He was more concerned with the fact that at some point monsters had an opportunity to roam around the camp. They had managed to break through the boundary which, as Jason had been assured a long time ago, could not be broken. It was a safe space. Their safe harbor. The place where they could be sure not one monster get through. (Let's forget all those times the rule didn't work; Jason hadn't been there in those times.)
So what the hell was going on?
"Percy, what happened?"
Percy blinked. His eyebrows knitted together while he was trying to make sense of Jason's question. Judging by his expression, Percy didn't have much luck in that department. At last, he gave up and looked at Jason.
"What do you mean?"
"Why the monsters roam around the camp?"
"They didn't tell you this story?" Percy turned to Annabeth, who was watching them both with rapt attention. "You didn't tell him?"
Annabeth shook her head. "We were more worried about you, then about the gods and everything. Didn't really get a chance to sit and talk."
Percy nodded slowly then glanced at Jason, who was still waiting for an explanation.
"I guess this book will tell you."
The collective groan that echoed around the classroom, drowned Leo's disgruntled, 'Hey, why does he talk to you?!'
…The camp didn't have a border patrol.
Leo, too, looked up from the scraps and frowned. Jason was right: it should not be happening. Camp Half-Blood had no border patrol. Ever. So what had happened to them?
The next sequence went in silence. For once, everyone was in an agreement. They wanted to know what was happening in this god-forsaken chapter and why people who knew the camp inside and out were so bothered by it.
And there was a lot to be concerned about; starting with Percy admitting there was a huge trouble to children being chased by bulls. Oh, and burned grass! Not one person in this room wanted to learn more about this one. Seriously, between statements like, 'One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles' and 'She was fighting with a broken spear shaft', it could hardly be called a light chapter.
The more Lyssa read, the more tensed Jason became. It was so wrong. It should not have happened. The bulls should not have traversed the invisible boundary, the boundary that his sister had given her life for. He should not be reading about his friends getting hurt. He shouldn't hear about their pain.
Thanks the heavens, Percy couldn't stand still either.
…I don't want you taking any more chances."
And he didn't want his brother's help.
Jason blinked.
"Err, Perce, why don't you…" Jason shook his head then focused on Percy who was watching him with question in his eyes. "Why didn't you want Tyson to help you?"
Annabeth snorted softly, compelling everyone around her to look at her. "He doesn't know."
"Doesn't know what?" Cassandra asked at the same time as Jason expressed his amusement at the revelation.
"Apparently, it's something embarrassing," Sarah noted. "See how red he is."
That was true. Percy did not offer Jason any verbal response, but red spots crawled onto his cheeks and forehead, which was all the explanation Jason would need.
"Why am I not surprised?" Jason chuckled, suddenly feeling calm about the whole 'camp's on fire' situation this book had damped on his head. At least, he knew it had gone better than he feared. "Um, you may continue."
Lyssa twitched then stared back at the book. Five seconds later, which she'd spent searching for the part she had stopped at, she began to read.
"No!" Annabeth said. "We need him."
"I see," Jason said quietly.
Thanks the gods, Annabeth was there as well!
…He got lucky with the dodge balls but he can't–"
"Dodge balls?" Peter cut in. He ignored Lyssa's loud hiss, instead concentrating on Percy who shrugged.
"That was a weird day," he said simply.
Annabeth giggled. Jason and Leo exchanged a look at that, but she didn't see either. "If you count five Laestrygonians as 'weird', then it was definitely weird."
"Leastry-who?"
Lyssa roared softly in indignation at the stupidity of her classmates, but did not dare resume the reading, for she realized she would have to read the same part twice. Might as well skim through the text to see how bad it all was going to get.
"Laes-try-go-ni-ans," Annabeth repeated cheerfully.
This time Percy cast her a quizzical look too before staring at Jason and Leo in question. They could only shrug, absolutely lost as to what had gotten over her.
(There were no gods that presided over bad trips, right?!)
"And who are they?" Jenna asked meanwhile, hanging on Annabeth's every word. Those two asshole were assholes; they didn't even realize how surreal this whole experience was and how unabashedly human these four were.
"Man-eating monsters," Annabeth shrugged.
There was a short pause as everyone mulled over her response.
Jason pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. Of course, if there were any sort of cannibal within a mile radius, it would inevitably find Percy. Of. Course.
"So not only cyclops eat people," Leo muttered absent-mindedly, examining Annabeth and her pristine clean desk bar a blueprint that she had not moved on from just yet. He tilted his head to have a better look but that didn't help. Whatever the issue she was having with her mother's shrine, it must be too insignificant to catch anyone eye but hers.
"Man-eating—How'd you survive?" Lora asked, staring at Percy as though she had never seen him before.
"With difficulty," he admitted, scratching his head. "I'd rather not see them again."
"With your luck you'd meet them on your way home," Annabeth called from his side.
Percy snorted. "True."
They fell silent again, which was an obvious sign to continue, which they did by turning to Lyssa, who didn't even look up, as she leaned on the desk with a book tightly in her grip, too engrossed to care. Her lips were moving as she was reading the chapter to herself.
"Um, Lyssa," Cassandra called. Lyssa didn't twitch. "Does she even hear us?"
"Nope," Mike responded to her. Cassandra whirled toward him as though silently asking him to elaborate. Mike only shrugged and looked at Paul. "Mr. Blofis, could you, please, take the book from her? She'll get back to us when she's done with the whole thing."
Surprised, Paul reached Lyssa, snatched the book out of her hands, and hid it behind his back, closing it tightly.
Lyssa stood motionless for the next couple of moments, her lips still moving. Then, having tried to turn the page, she blinked. Her hand froze in the air, her eyes drilling the hole in the space in front of her. Lyssa clearly could not understand what had just happened and why there was no book anymore.
"Ms. McKeenley,"Paul said softly. "Resume your seat, please."
He pushed her toward her desk. Still dazed, Lyssa followed the order. Just as she took her place, Paul opened the book and found the spot she had stopped at.
…without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000…
"Medea's what?" Cassandra frowned.
Paul chuckled.
"Medea's what?"
Several people giggled but otherwise no one uttered a word.
There were more pressing matters to take care of, like destroying the Hephaestus' bronze bulls, which you could deal with only when you had a Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000 (what was that?). Judging by Annabeth's reaction, it was important. Heeding the expressions Jason and Leo wore, it was vital.
Although Percy did not understand a single thing that was going on, he still strove to ensure that Tyson guy would be safe.
Despite Tyson's evident disagreement with Percy.
…their spears bristling over the top like porcupine quills.
Jason nodded to himself. That would do. At least, it might buy them some time to reinforce or, which seemed a more likely outcome, conjure up a new plan.
Unfortunately, Clarisse could only muster six campers.
Jason's sigh turned out louder than he expected. It did cause curious looks, but those did not extend further than they probably should, for which Jason was thankful.
The reason of his sigh was quite easy to guess: the plan. Whatever this Clarisse girl was planning to do, it did not work out the way he would like it to. Or, perhaps, he did not enjoy Annabeth's part. Why she was trying to confuse monsters, no one could tell. She did. Period.
After that, there was not much to comment on apart from an occasional gasp, hiccup, and 'oh my God!'. In short, the fight seemed to go as smoothly as Jason envisioned it to go. For one, those were bulls, creatures of Hephaestus; they were a much intimidating enemy than he would like to admit. Then, they were breathing fire. Plus, Percy was diverting from the main point by talking about Clarisse more than the fight itself. Jason did agree that she was brave. Insufferable but brave. The problem was that Jason didn't care about that. He wanted to see how the fight would progress.
And it was going worse that he expected.
…behind Clarisse on her unprotected side.
"Damn it!" Jason muttered, balling up his fists. That was not fun, he could say.
Several people, the ones who heard his words, were now staring at him curiously. To be honest, they were constantly forgetting the fact that he was a demigod too. He had been in the same situations as Percy. He had fought the same fights. Granted, they were yet to hear about him specifically, but his stance was a dead giveaway: Jason had been through a lot of pain.
And he certainly did not like the direction this fight was going in.
"Behind you!" I yelled. "Look out!"
"Percy, why?!" Jason groaned as he whirled on the spot to face Percy.
Percy sat straight, a pen in his hand.
"W-what?" he stuttered, still looking around wildly, striving to see who was so unkind that they felt it fit to scare him.
There was no tangible threat as of now. The sky clear, the classroom silent, Annabeth immersed in her project at last. Everything was fine.
Then his eyes found Jason, who was staring at him intensely.
"What?"
"Why did you distract Clarisse?" Jason exclaimed.
There was silence for a split second. Percy blinked. "Err…"
"The book. Bulls. You distracted Clarisse."
Percy got him. Jason could see it in his eyes. Unfortunately, Percy seemed too eager to pretend he was blind and dumb, so Jason received nothing he could work with.
Jason heaved a sigh and motioned Paul to continue. Who could have thought that Percy's disinclination to talk would extend to his friends who were supposed to know things like this.
…because all I did was startle her.
Jason exhaled loudly and rubbed his forehead. At least, he realized!
Apparently, that was not enough in Percy's universe, for everything went downhill almost instantly. Firstly, the bulls almost killed Clarisse. Then, maimed other campers. Lastly, melted their only weapons.
…by the straps of her armor.
"She wouldn't like it," Leo said, not looking away from the cylinder in his hands. At the moment, it had several wires around it but not one was connected to the base—Leo still did not know what exactly he wanted to get. Perhaps, he'd better start a new one.
Too engrossed in the project of his, for it was the only class where he could dedicate himself fully to the job, Leo missed curious looks and whispers that spread around the classroom as everyone endeavored to learn what he meant by that.
As always, no one provided answers, reducing them to making wild guesses about the statement.
…could feel the heat of its metal skin…
And other not-so-flattering descriptions of the fight Percy had found himself in the middle of. It was one of those rare times when children did not have any strength to complain or talk. All of them wanted to know one thing: what had happened. Oh, and when this particular scene would end, so they could return to moaning about how cruel Percy was and how much they did not enjoy his evasiveness.
Other than that… What else except, 'Oh my God, Percy, run!' could you think of when the main protagonist was describing just how dangerous the bulls were? They breathed fire! They were bronze! They were not easy to kill! The only thing that stopped them seemed to be magic that none believed in. Such a wonder when you remember the fact they were reading about Ancient Greek Gods' children and equally ancient monsters that had come from the pages of their Greek Mythology book that they all had read––or skimmed though––in middle school.
In any case, they showed signs of life only when Percy mentioned a weird reaction the bull was providing to the camp boundaries.
…but then it broke through and kept coming.
Lyssa raised her hand, silently asking Paul to stop. So he did.
"Guys!" Lyssa called, whirling on the spot to face demigods.
Jason turned his head to her, Percy straightened up and shook his head violently as though he were trying to dispose of auditory hallucinations that he believed he was having right now. Leo yelped and dropped the god-forsaken cylinder, which landed on the floor with a loud thud and broke in a half. Annabeth didn't as much as glance at them, too busy doodling. As she'd figured out a few classes ago, doodling helped her battle a burning urge to take all the blueprints and rip them to pieces, which was losing against her pride that was telling her that she had to finish the project before Gods had gotten fed up with her stalling and taken the project away. The faint, practically invisible part of her did not care about any of it, so she returned to trace the outlines of something that looked suspiciously like that one shrine she'd seen in the pictures, just less opulent than she remembered it to be. But that thought died buried beneath the avalanche of unbridled rage she felt simmer inside of her every time she allowed her mind go loose and wild.
The truth was, no other project would be as satisfying to her ego. What was there that could rival Olympus?
Her pencil cracked, forcing her to halt and take a shaky breath.
She couldn't afford to lose Olympus. She'd been given a chance to design a whole city. Her dream of leaving a mark was here, solid and tangible. A real chance to show them just how good she was; how right they'd been in selecting her as the architect.
The last thought did her in, and Annabeth turned the pages until she'd found the latest project: Her mother's shrine.
Not one should took notice of her internal debate, for everyone's attention was focused solely on Leo.
"Hostia!" Leo cried out. He mesmerized the remnants of the cylinder for ten seconds then rubbed his neck and left the cracked piece on the floor. "That's the easy way to dispose of 'em."
With that, he pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil and scribbled something down. He paid no attention to any of his classmates, fairly thinking they could solve the problem without him (as always).
As two of the four potential sources of information did not appear conscious, Lyssa turned to the other two, both of whom seemed quite apprehensive but showed glimpses of life in their eyes.
"What's about that boundary line?"
"What's with that?" Jason and Percy asked in unison.
"If I remember correctly, there was some kind of a border around the camp, the one that was protecting you, right?" both nodded. "What's happened to it?"
To her surprise, Jason turned to Percy with the same very question she had just voiced. As she had expected, Percy shrugged and mumbled something that vaguely sounded similar to both, 'The book will tell' and a 'Go to hell'.
Lyssa gestured Paul to read, realizing the book would provide answers faster than Percy ever could.
…how out of practice I was.
Jason covered his forehead in disbelief and several people let out feeble laughs.
…My ankle was sprained, maybe broken.
"How did he survive?" Jason asked himself. Truly, he would not have lasted a day in Camp Jupiter. If monsters didn't kill him, then other campers would.
…No way could I crawl out of its path.
"So much for having optimistic mindset," Sarah groaned.
"Who told you Percy has any kind of optimism in him?" came from the place where Annabeth was sitting. She was yet to look up from the paper and generally did not show that she was listening, so her comment came out as a huge surprise for everyone involved.
Sarah blinked. "Umm…"
Annabeth instantly looked up; a grimace that no one could be sure had ever been there, melted into compassion as leaned forward, crossing her arms on top of the papers.
"When it comes to tough situations, Percy tends to get pessimistic. So much that only a miracle can save him," Annabeth faltered then added as an afterthought. "Usually that's what happens."
"And what miracle saved him here?"
In response, Annabeth motioned somewhere in the area of Paul, provoking every single student to look at him
Paul cleared his throat.
Annabeth shouted: "Tyson, help him!" he read.
Instantly, everyone turned to Annabeth, who was smiling reassuringly at an apprehensive Percy. He was eyeing her incredulously, receiving more and more supprotive smiles in response.
"Well," Mike uttered after a couple of seconds, sensing that there would be no explanations anymore. "This does look like a miracle. What can this Tyson guy do? Breathe fire?"
For the first time in a long while Percy cracked up. (And shocking everyone.)
"Oh, he can do a lot, but breathing fire? No," he said. Then fell into a short deliberation. "Actually, this one would be cool. And it would save us a lot of trouble."
"Which would've been very bad," Annabeth cut it. "That year wasn't fun."
Percy nodded seriously. His mirth dissolved, allowing room for worry as he leaned closer to Annabeth and whispered something in her ear. She shook her head, evoking a heavy, pained sigh from him.
…"Can't—get—through!"
Jason frowned. What was wrong with the border if Tyson couldn't get in while the bulls could?
…as it unleashed a nuclear firestorm.
"Will he be all right?" someone asked. When they received no response, everyone got even more tensed.
…my friend had just been turned into a column of ashes.
"NO!" the whole of the class screamed.
Tension grew rapidly and now had reached the levels of the top level of the Empire State Building.
Paul continued reading fast, realizing that to them Tyson was some stranger that they knew nothing about. They did not know his fate and they did not want him to die in the fire.
…completely unharmed.
Some people gasped. Others, less smart ones, widened their eyes, too astonished to make a good analysis of the situation.
Not even his grungy clothes were scorched.
Lyssa frowned. How?
The bull must've been as surprised as I was,
"He's not the only one," Lora muttered under her breath.
…"BAD COW!"
Sighs of relief and giggles were heard through the classroom. Even Jason released the breath he was holding. That was definitely nerve-wracking.
…looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.
The class dissolved into giggles. The students truly took every opportunity that they could to calm down.
…"You–ruin–everything!" she yelled at me. "I had it under control!"
"Thanks the gods!" Jason declared and covered his faces with his hands. That was one heck of a ride right here! Even for him, and he knew that all four were perfectly fine!
Jason sucked in a deep breath and opened his eyes. The rest of the kids seemed equally as relieved, evidently enjoying the fact that everything had ended on a good note.
…"Good to see you too, Clarisse."
"Who's that?" Cassandra asked.
She didn't expect any answer. She truly didn't. In fact, Cassandra had acclimatized to the fact that all their questions would soon faded in the sea of indifference, so she asked them just to ask.
She jumped on her seat when Percy spoke up.
"She's the daughter of Ares," he said simply. Thunder rumbled right next to the window. "Oh, shove it!"
Whatever Ares wanted to tell him, would forever remain a mystery, for it was right in that moment when Percy got distracted and tuned out from the entertainment.
…"Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"
"She's very… nice," Cassandra said.
"That's her good side, actually."
Cassandra frowned. It did not sound like a joke.
…then trudged off to assess the damage.
While Clarisse was busy with examining other campers, Percy went to discuss a more important issue: Tyson.
I stared at Tyson. "You didn't die."
"Would you rather he died?" Sarah wondered almost absent-mindedly. She, just like every single one of her classmates, did not expect any answer.
"Of course I wouldn't want him to die!" Percy objected then took a deep and calming breath. "But he did go under the fire—quite literally—I was surprised to see him unscathed."
Cassandra raised her hands in the defeat, her expression somewhere between disbelief and resignation.
Whatever she gathered from Percy's comment, no one knew, but it certainly was not close to what Tyson did.
…"I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."
"How old is he?" Jenna asked. She, unlike her classmates who seemed to have made a habit of turning to Percy every two minute to seek out answers, did not even twitch. She kept stubbornly staring in front of her, which might or might not have scarred some of her classmates for life.
Although Jenna's conviction was explicable, even she would not be able to stay nonchalant for more than a minute when waiting for a response. She broke on thirty-two. When Jenna looked back, her confusion grew significantly because she saw something she had never thought she would: puzzlement. Percy sat there, his expression blank. Jenna would not think much of it if it weren't for Annabeth who seemed to be in a similar state.
Jenna did not take her eyes off the couple until she was offered a satisfying answer. Well, just an answer. Okay, it was a statement that did not clear anything up but did tell her everything about Percy that she didn't need to know.
"I—I don't know."
Students, who had not been staring at him before, were doing it now. Percy didn't notice them, too busy re-evaluating his whole life. How come he hadn't wondered about it? Percy did not have any explanation for such a mishap.
As the silence had been dragging for far too long and there was no sign of it being broken anytime soon, Paul decided he might as well continue and spare everyone an embarrassment.
Who knew it would only complicate everything?
…Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."
"Why do you need to look at him closely?"
"What's 'the mist'?"
Peter managed to duck before Lyssa glared at him. For one, he wanted to live to hear the story.
On the other hand, they shouldn't have bothered asking because Percy wouldn't provide any sort of explanation either way.
Unlike Paul, who made a strange sound and instantly began reading to cover it.
The Mist makes humans see only what their brains can process…
"Wait, wait, wait, what?" Steven shouted, startling everyone around him and making Leo drop his pencil (at least, this time he didn't squeal).
"Dude!" he expressed his disgruntlement nonetheless.
No one heard him.
They were too busy watching Percy.
He didn't disappoint.
Percy's sigh was so loud it might have woken Clovis up and caused several gods a migraine.
"What is this mist thing?" Peter made another try to get answers he deserved.
"The thing that's supposed to keep you in the dark," Percy grumbled, hitting the desk.
Instantly, his head began to ache, prompting Percy to slide down on his seat and close his eyes. He'd had too much for today.
"Percy wanted to say that it's a veil between the realities," Annabeth supplied with a bit too much eagerness to everyone's liking.
"A what?"
"A wall," Lyssa said.
Annabeth nodded. "In normal language it's a wall between the worlds that keeps us hidden from you, it replaces things you're not supposed to know about with the ones that are normal to you. Say, you see some mythical creature, but you don't see it, you don't even know it's a supernatural beast. You'd see something more usual, like—"
"A tank instead of a dog?" Mike cut in.
Annabeth snapped her fingers and pushed the binder to the side. "Exactly! If you see a tank, you'll think it's a tank and not an enormous dog from the Underworld."
"So it was a hellhound," someone whispered.
"Does the Mist always work?" Lyssa inquired.
"Usually, yes," Annabeth confirmed, having regained a serious tone. "Unless you're clear-sighted, of course. Then not any magic in the world would make you see a tank instead of a dog."
"Clear-sighted?" Sarah repeated.
Annabeth stiffened then looked at Percy and sighed. He was still half-lying on the seat, pretending he was a piece of furniture and not a human. No way would she convince him to help! Percy was too boneheaded sometimes.
"Yeah, clear-sighted," she said, leaning forward and lacing her fingers together. Gritting crunching of papers made her internally wince, but she refused to budge for now. Five minutes would not make any difference. "Usually only children can see through the Mist. But some adults can, too. We call them clear-sighted."
"And how many people are clear-sighted?"
"I know two. Paul?"
I knew it could fool demigods too, but…
"Really?" Sarah raised her eyebrows. "How—?"
Annabeth her chin tipped toward Percy, making Sarah falter. Of course! She shouldn't have asked!
…I'd never quite understood why.
Jason shook his head. For some reason, this admission did not surprise him.
"Cyclops," Annabeth offered.
"They exist?" most of the class turned to Levi to give him a 'are-you-dumb-or-just-pretend' look.
They were reading a book about Greek Gods! Cyclops was the least of their worries.
Well, they tried making it sound like a minor issue. At least, up until the moment Annabeth began discussing the Cyclops heritage.
…We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."
"What god?"
Steven should take offense at the thunder taking offense, because contrarily to whatever the grumpy cloud thought, Steven did not ask to mock, he was genuinely curious!
On the other hand, Lyssa was free to get mad at him all she wanted. After all, she knew what god it was and could confidently state that if Steven opened the book once in his life, he would have known it too.
She said nothing, though.
"But the fire. How—"
Lyssa slapped her forehead.
"How do you cope with it?"
"With difficulty."
If Percy heard them, he would argue. But he didn't. He was too deep into his own head to care.
…How had I never realized what Tyson was?
Three out of four demigods let out a collective snort. No one deprecated that.
…let Tantalus know what's happened."
Lyssa blinked, went over the sentence in her head and sucked in a deep breath.
"Is it the Tantalus?" she inquired loudly.
Her question did nothing to most of her classmates (seriously, one day she would disown them all), but Jason and Leo perked up. Both had heard of the guy, of course they had. What neither had heard, though, were details. Hardly any camper mentioned things that had been going on long before their arrival; everyone had been too concentrated on Percy's disappearance to pay attention to such minute details as problems camp had faced before. No one bothered, really.
Percy heaved a sigh and Annabeth nodded; her expression grim.
"Should we—no? All right."
She motioned Paul to read, not letting other people to throw in their own questions. Those would wait.
"Tantalus?" I asked.
"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.
"Wasn't it Chiron?" Lora marveled.
No one said anything, but Jason, who for, some unknown reason, was still standing, nodded.
…Things are changing."
"I don't like the sound of it."
No one knew who exactly made a comment, but everyone was agreeing with them.
She pointed to Thalia's tree.
Jason tensed. What had happened to his sister? Why did Clarisse mention her?
…oozing green sap.
Jason had lived through the admission that his sister had been a tree for several years. He had taken that one calmly. He was fine with knowing their mother was dead. He could even live with the fact his mother had given him to Hera all those years ago as an appeasement… But he did not like what he was hearing now. Absolutely.
…Thalia's tree was dying.
Someone had poisoned it.
"What?!" Jason shouted, trying to jump to his feet only to come to a realization that he'd been standing all along. Still, that did not deter him from the main point: being mad on the behalf of his sister. "Who did it?! Why no one did anything about it? Why no one told me?!"
His voice definitely had a magic effect (or it was simply too loud to ignore), because Leo dropped his pencil again, Annabeth jolted, and Percy snapped out of his trance.
"What? What happened? Who's hurt?" Percy pulled himself up to his feet, looking around wildly, a pen in his hand.
"My sister!" Jason yelled. "Who did this?"
Percy twitched and looked at him.
"Dude, whatcha on about?"
Jason opened his mouth to tell what and where they all could shove but choked on air and started to cough. Percy crossed the space between them in three leaps and began patting him on the back to help Jason overcome the fit.
Not that it really worked, but deep down a rational part of Jason was thankful to him for trying.
Still, the more he struggled, the more his anger subsided. Whoever had done that to his sister was not here at the moment. Jason being furious with them would do him nothing good. At best, he would strain himself and end up in Will's care, and Jason did not want to spend the night in the infirmary. He needed to relax and look at the book as a piece of fiction, even if he knew it was not the case. He must calm down.
"I'm—I'm fine!" he announced several seconds later and straightened up. Then turned to the class. "Erm, I'm sorry. It won't happen again; promise!"
Leo exhaled loudly and picked up his pen again, his worry for his best friend perished. Annabeth glanced down at the shrine and frowned; a moment later, she picked up her pencil and drew a big cross on it before tossing the paper to the side, opening herself to the blueprint. Neither paid attention to the outside world anymore.
Percy patted him on the shoulder and made his way to his seat. Unfortunately, the class had not ended yet, which meant he would have to suffer some more.
What exactly he had? A nuisance. That's what it was. This book was a nuisance that was messing up his life big time. Why book? Why not something more tangible? A marathon in the name of Zeus the Bestest? A play? A song? Apollo was so bad at poetry that it would instantly secure #1 on all the charts possible and stay there for a year straight. Why this book? They didn't want to experience all the bad, the good, and the ugly first-hand? Ha! Percy didn't either, but here he was, sitting in this particular class and wondering where he had managed to mess up so much that the Gods created a new spectacular way to destroy the remnants of his life.
And this stupid Mist! Here, in the very chapter that had just read, he, Percy, couldn't see past Tyson's chin because the Mist didn't let him. The Mist, the magic veil that was separating the mortal world from a mythological one, was malfunctioning big time right now. Wasn't it meant to divide the worlds? To keep one blind to another? Percy was certain that none of his classmates were clear-sighted or he would have known it by now.
So why, in the name of all Holly and Gaia's dirty face, wasn't it doing its job properly? Why did these kids remember everything the book had revealed so far? Why had they seen Mrs. O'Leary? Why newspapers had been writing non-stop about aliens? Why did not the Mist work?
His eyes opened. Percy straightened up.
"That's what's going on!" he exclaimed, interrupting Paul who was in the middle of a debate with Lyssa about the book and the next chapter.
Perhaps, he should have toned it down. Leo, who dropped his pencil again, Annabeth, who ripped the paper with the pencil, would be very grateful.
"Percy can you be—?" Annabeth made an attempt to reprimand him but did not have much success, for Percy didn't hear her.
"The Mist! That's what's going on!" Percy repeated.
Annabeth frowned then sent a glance at Jason, whose expression mirrored hers. Neither could really understand what he was talking about.
"Err, Percy, what—"
"They're trying to work around it!" Percy yelled. "That's what they're doing! I—I gotta go!"
"Percy, we don't—Where are you going?!" Percy leaped to his feet and sprinted toward the door. The question was ignored. "Stop!"
For a second there was nothing but dead silence then Annabeth and Jason rushed after him.
When the door behind them shut, everyone turned to Leo, who was still looking at the door melancholically.
"Did they get the hall pass?"
They're a slow bunch. :D
Very, very slow. Percy might have put two and two together before, but he's so busy with his paranoia and stress that he'd completely forgotten to check his ideas. Why would he? For all they knew, Hecate was messing with the Mist out of boredom (no one would put it past gods tbh).
...
There's clearly no schedule. If I ever set one for myself, I'll have a breakdown every single day and just delete the whole thing—or abandon it for the next six years again.
..
I've come to realization that everyone here dismisses Percy and Annabeth's states; unintentionally, of course. It was supposed to be a ridiculous story with a pretty improbable premise. They weren't supposed to tackle any of the serious issues. And they most likely won't; even Jason and Leo because I don't want to butcher those conversations.
In other news, I'd like to promote this one story on Archive «Hope Is A Delicate Thing» by oh_peachy, which is a beautiful trip to recovery and healing through their best and worst moments. She's on Son of Neptune now, which means I'll never not admire her dedication.