A/N: PJOBookWorm: Totally sorry for the wait. The next chapter will be out sooner, I promise! Thanks so much to the people who continually come back to read this story and review or add it to their favorites! I'm so happy to have continuous support and to know that people are reading and liking this story! It really does mean so much! Thank you! I hope you'll like this super long chapter!
carameltootsieroll: Hey guys! Thanks for those heartwarming reviews! And yaaay! We learned something new: fanfics don't have to be plausible! Haha a little shout out to Sunny99 for that review. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: If we owned PJO, we'd be super rich. Sadly, we are not, and therefore, we don't.
The Quest for the Golden Fleece
Chapter 4
As soon as I reached Church Street, I turned down into an alley and heaved a big sigh. I definitely needed a rest. And the pounding pain in my head just added to that thought.
But I couldn't just forget about camp, nor could I leave Percy behind while all the monsters attacked him. And his Cyclops friend was another thing. What was Percy even doing with a Cyclops? How did the Cyclops even find Percy in the first place?
I tried to control my emotions, but memories broke free of the dam I had mentally built in my mind to help myself forget of the horrible times. They came flooding back into my head: a cave; Cyclopes; Thalia. It was because of the Cyclopes that the monsters caught up with us. It was because of the Cyclopes that Thalia was now a pine tree.
I put my hand to my forehead, feeling a pounding headache as thoughts muddled around in my head. Why did Percy have to find a Cyclops? Closing my eyes and trying to get my thoughts straight, I started slipping back into a memory. A memory of what happened after Thalia sacrificed herself.
I heard Luke's voice echoing in my head, I heard his cursing the Cyclopes, I heard quiet sobbing, I heard thundering. If only…
The sound of feet pounding against the pavement startled me out of my thoughts. I blinked and turned just in time to see Percy and Tyson running. I quickly tried to shake the memory out of my head, but in the back of my mind, I knew there was no way I would be able to fully get rid of it. I might have prevented myself from sinking back into that memory for now, but as I looked at the Cyclops running towards me, I knew the memory would be crawling back into my mind soon.
I pulled Percy into the alley, Tyson following. Under different circumstances, I would've been really glad to see Percy. Sure, he was the son of Poseidon and technically we weren't supposed to get along, but we made our peace and I figured he wasn't that bad after all.
But the Cyclops he was with just ruined my mood. Cyclopes were horrible, horrible creatures. And I knew that from experience.
"Where'd you find him?" I glared at Tyson, my voice coming out harsher than I had expected.
"He's my friend," Percy replied.
I snorted internally. How could a Cyclops be anyone's friend? "Is he homeless?"
"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"
"He can talk?" I asked, having apparently forgotten that Cyclopes weren't just horrible monsters and did have some skills. But of course—basically all monsters could talk.
"I talk," Tyson said. "You are pretty."
Whatever I had been expecting him to say—say, death threats or unintelligible grunts—I definitely wasn't expecting that. "Ah! Gross!" I squeaked and stepped back, disgusted.
Percy ignored me and took Tyson's hands. He examined them under the light and seemed amazed.
"Tyson," he said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."
"Of course not," I muttered. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around."
While I was having a serious conversation with Percy about the latest life-threatening situation, Tyson just seemed fascinated by my blonde hair. He tried to touch it, but I swatted his hand away. I did not need any more dirt or spit in it, and I definitely didn't want to let some Cyclops touch it.
"Annabeth," Percy said. "What are you talking about? Laistry—what?"
"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."
"Laistry—I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"
I thought about it. "Canadians," I decided, trying to hide my smirk. Heh, they were north of the U.S. Besides, it wasn't like he'd hold me to it and remember them as Canadians. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."
"The police'll be after me."
"That's the least of our problems. Have you been having dreams?" I asked, recalling Percy's fitful state this morning and wondering if he knew the level of danger that camp was in.
"The dreams…about Grover?" Percy asked.
I felt my fingers go numb. First there was trouble at camp, then Percy had made friend with a Cyclops, and now Grover was in danger? This day just kept getting better and better. I immediately began worrying for my friend. "Grover? No, what about Grover?"
Percy sighed, a pained expression on his face. "Well, in my dream, Grover was on this really stormy island. He was running away from a monster or something. He ran into a shop and hid behind a rack of wedding dresses to get away from the monster. But then, the store exploded and the monster yelled, 'Mine!' And…that was the end of my dream."
My eyes widened and shivers ran down my spine. I had a bad feeling about this. That this was much worse than just a monster. If Grover was caught by that monster…
Percy let out a deep breath, they asked, "Why? What were you dreaming about?"
I tried to digest what I just heard. If Grover was in trouble… I knew I had to help. But camp… "Camp," I replied to Percy. "Big trouble at camp."
"My mom's been saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"
"I don't know exactly," I admitted. "Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?" I asked, eying Percy for any signs of scars or wounds.
Percy shook his head and said, "None all year…until today."
"None?" I repeated. "But how…" How did that make sense? I had more than usual, and Percy should have had even more because he was the son of Poseidon. My eyes drifted over to Tyson and I felt my gaze harden. "Oh." The Cyclops.
"What do you mean, 'oh'?" Percy asked.
Tyson waved his hand in the air. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something… Son of the Sea God?"
Percy and I looked at each other. Should we tell him? He was a Cyclops, so he already knew about the gods… plus he was probably the son of… but then again, if we told him, he'd have to most likely go with us to camp.
"Big guy," Percy said gently, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena—" Thank you, Percy, for actually mentioning Athena before Hades!
"Yes," Tyson said.
"Well…" Percy said. "Those gods are sill alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."
"Yes," Tyson said again, impatiently.
"Uh, well," Percy said awkwardly, "Annabeth and I are half-bloods. We're like…heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."
"Yes." Was that the only word that Cyclops could say?
Percy looked a little confused and surprised as he stared at Tyson. "So… you believe me?"
Tyson nodded, and asked hopefully, "But you are… Son of the Sea God?"
"Yeah." Percy nodded. "My dad is Poseidon."
Tyson frowned, looking confused. "But then…"
Did that mean that Tyson was also the son of—?
Just then, a siren wailed as a police car raced past the alley, a 99.9% chance that it was heading for Percy's school.
"We don't have time for this," I said, referring to how slow the conversation was going. "We'll talk in the taxi."
"A taxi all the way to camp?" Percy asked, shocked. "You know how much money—"
"Trust me," I said. We definitely weren't taking a normal taxi.
Percy's eyes darted over to his friend. "What about Tyson?" I tensed. I was hoping he wouldn't ask about Tyson. "We can't just leave him. He'll be in trouble, too."
I crinkled my nose and frowned, definitely not wanting to take Tyson to camp. I was tempted to leave him here to get in trouble as he deserved, but he was Percy's friend, and I guessed there had to be a reason for that. And what if the Cyclops decided to run his mouth off to the next person he saw about what we just told him? I remembered my dream and the Iris message with camp, and I knew if there were monsters, we might possibly need the Cyclops' help.
"Yeah." I sighed resentfully, not too happy with possibly having to get a Cyclops' help. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on."
I walked down the alley with Percy and Tyson following me, and inconspicuously traveled down the streets, away from the gym, trying to look innocent. When we got to the corner of Thomas and Trimble, we stopped.
"Here," I said. I looked around my backpack for a drachma, wishing I hadn't wasted them on the Iris messages that hadn't even worked. I was getting too rusty with planning. That's what happened when I didn't stay at camp year-round. "I hope I have one left."
"What are you looking for?" Percy asked.
Ignoring him, I continued digging through my backpack until I saw a flash of gold. Relieved, I reached in and pulled out the drachma. "Found one. Thank the gods."
"Annabeth," Percy said, looking at me like I was crazy, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."
I ignored him again, remembering just how much he still didn't know, and shouted in Ancient Greek, "Stêthi Ô hárma diabolês!", before throwing the drachma onto the street, where it sank through the asphalt.
When nothing happened for a minute, I grew panicked, thinking I had wasted my last drachma and wondering how we were ever going to get to camp. But when the asphalt started to darken, I breathed a sigh of relief, figuring the Gray Sisters must have been a little behind schedule. The asphalt melted into bubbling, red liquid in the shape of a rectangle, and from the ooze sprouted the taxi.
It was funny how an odd taxi that looked like smoke could ease my spirits so much. One of the Gray Sisters stuck her head out the window, her hair as mop and rag-like as ever, and mumbled, "Passage? Passage?"
"Three to Camp Half-Blood," I said, opening the door and motioning at Percy, who was glued to the ground in shock, to hurry up and get in the taxi. We didn't have all day here!
"Ach!" Anger screamed, pointing at Tyson. "We don't take his kind."
Believe me, I didn't want him along either. But a nagging voice in my head told me it was absolutely necessary for him to come along, so I sighed and said, "Extra pay. Three more drachmas on arrival."
"Done!"
Percy wouldn't get into the taxi, and I glared at him and jerked my head towards the door. He reluctantly crawled in, followed by Tyson, and then me.
I slid onto the old, lumpy seat and tucked my hair behind my ear, remembering the last time I rode in this taxi—not the best taxi ride I'd had. Gazing at the Gray Sisters all crammed in the same seat, their yarn hair covering their eye sockets, their bony hands flung sporadically around, I wondered why I was doing this.
Oh, yeah. To get to camp.
Wasp cackled, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"
She slammed her foot on the accelerator and we lurched forward. Here it goes. Over the speaker, a recorded voice said, "Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!"
I ignored Ganymede's advice. He had always been crazy, anyway. Who'd want to chain themselves to this taxi? I gripped the handle of the door as the car catapulted around the corner of West Broadway.
"Look out! Go left!" Tempest wailed.
"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" Wasp grumbled.
Why didn't Wasp have the eye? For gods' sakes, she was the one driving!
Suddenly, Wasp swerved sharply to avoid ramming into a truck, and I slammed into the door as the taxi sped bumpily over the curb and crashed onto the next block.
"Wasp!" Anger screeched. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it!"
"You bit it last time, Anger!" Wasp snapped. "It's my turn!"
"It's not!" Anger yelled back.
Tempest interrupted their fighting and screamed louder than both of them, "Red light!"
"Brake!" Anger shouted.
Instead of immediately jabbing the break with her foot to cause us to lurch forward and hit the driver seat, Wasp stomped on the accelerator, causing us to lurch back and hit our heads on the back of our seats as the car flew off. We rode up another curb and sharply veered around a corner, knocking over a newspaper box in the progress. I tightened my grip on the door handle and prayed the ride wouldn't go as badly as last time's did.
"Excuse me," Percy gasped out. "But… can you see?"
"NO!" Tempest and Wasp screamed as Anger screamed, "Of course!"
Percy looked at me with fear in his eyes. "They're blind?"
"Not completely," I reasoned. "They have an eye."
"One eye?" Percy asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Yeah."
"Each?"
"No. One eye total."
I clung on to the handle, and Tyson groaned, clutching his stomach and saying, "Not feeling so good."
Not needing a sick Cyclops near me, I subconsciously tried to scoot away from Tyson, but couldn't or else I'd fall out the car.
"Oh, man," Percy said. "Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"
The Gray Sisters ignored him.
"Look out for that building!" Anger screeched.
Percy glanced over at me with a whiny are-you-trying-to-kill-me? look.
"Hey, the Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp," I defended.
"Then why didn't you take it from Virginia?" Percy asked. Come on, I was rusty at planning, but not that rusty!
"That's outside their service area," I said. Didn't he think I would if I could? "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."
"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed, trying to promote her service. After all, whatever a celebrity likes is cool, right? (Uh, not exactly.) "Jason! You remember him?"
"Don't remind me!" Wasp cried. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"
Anger ignored Wasp and said, "Give me the tooth!" She tried to snatch it directly from Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted Anger's hand away.
"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!" Wasp shot back.
"No!" Tempest snarled. "You had it yesterday!"
"But I'm driving, you old hag!" Wasp screeched.
I had to agree with that last part.
"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!" Tempest cried.
The tires squealing, the car took a sharp turn onto Delancey Street, thrusting me into the Cyclops. Wasp hit the accelerator and rushed over the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour. Well, at least she had slowed down a little.
And then the Gray Sisters started a full on catfight, with slapping and hair pulling and high-pitched screeching. Wasp's mossy yellow incisor seemed to be screaming at me, and Anger's bloody green eye swirled around and around. As strands of hair were tugged on and hands clawed out, the cab didn't do anything to decrease its speed.
With a triumphant yell, Anger managed to use her rolling eye to locate Wasp's mossy molar and pull it out of Wasp's mouth. Huffing indignantly, Wasp's face grew red with anger and she strayed to the edge of the bridge, screaming, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"
Lovely. We could plummet off the bridge to our doom at any second and there the three sisters were, arguing over a disgusting molar.
Tyson moaned, clutching his stomach, his face a little green.
"Uh, if anybody's interested," Percy said nervously, "we're going to die!"
Hopefully not. I'd like to live at least until I designed my own building, thank you. "Don't worry. The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise." Well, about most things, anyway.
"Yes, wise!" Anger exclaimed, grinning triumphantly, flashing her molar. "We know things!"
"Every street of Manhattan! The capital of Nepal!" Wasp said smugly while pummeling Anger.
"The location you seek," Tempest couldn't resist adding.
What? The location? Percy wasn't looking for a location…yet…
Anger and Wasp immediately started beating up Tempest, yelling, "Be quiet! Be quiet!" Oh, they were so quiet. "He didn't even ask yet!"
"What?" Percy asked, leaning forward, his—and my—curiosity peaked. "What location? I'm not seeking any—"
"Nothing!" Tempest cried. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"
"Tell me," Percy demanded.
"NO!" the Gray Sisters screeched.
"The last time we told," Tempest said, "it was horrible!"
"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger cried, fingering her eye.
"Years find it again!" Wasp whimpered. "And speaking of that—give it back!"
"No!" yelled Anger, pushing back Wasp.
"Eye! Gimme!" Wasp punched Anger's back, and after a loud pop that reminded me of a toilet plunger's pop, the eye flew out of Anger's socket. Anger scrambled forward and tried to catch it, but she ended up swatting it with her hand. The eye flew up in the air and straight into Percy. Percy looked a little sick and shocked, and he jumped, hitting his head in the process, causing the eyeball to roll off his lap.
"I can't see!" all of the Gray sisters yelled.
I groaned. This was definitely not safe for driving at all.
"Give me the eye!" Wasp screamed.
"Give her the eye!" I screamed at Percy, fearing for our lives.
"I don't have it!" Percy screamed.
I scanned the ground, wondering where the eye had rolled, and finally located some green slime by Percy's foot. "There, by your foot. Don't step on it! Get it!"
"I'm not picking that up!" Percy cried, grossed out.
So Percy would mail Medusa's head to the gods but he wouldn't pick up an eyeball?
As the Gray Sisters went crazy, the taxi slammed against the guardrail on the bridge, making a horrendous, high-pitched squeal and it skidded across the bridge. Instead of getting dents like a normal car would, the taxi's smoke weakened, which didn't make me feel any better.
"Going to be sick!" Tyson whined.
"Annabeth," Percy yelled. "Let Tyson use your backpack!"
"Are you crazy?" I cried. As if I were going to let a Cyclops puke into my bag! I had important stuff in there. "Get the eye!"
As if just realizing the situation the car was in, Wasp yanked the steering wheel while battling her sisters. The taxi finally swerved away from the guardrail and started zooming towards Brooklyn, gaining speed as it raced.
"I want the eye!"
"Gimme it!"
"NO!"
I glanced desperately at Percy, who had a grimace on his face. He shook his head, then took a deep breath and tore a cloth off his tie-dye gym uniform. Kneeling over, he used the cloth to gingerly pick up the eyeball from the ground.
"Nice boy!" Anger cackled, sensing Percy had picked up her eye. "Give it back!"
Percy had that look on his face again, the one when he was thinking of a crazy plan that could possibly get him killed.
"Not until you explain," Percy said. "What were you talking about, the location I seek?"
"No time! Accelerating!" Tempest screeched.
And the taxi was speeding up, shooting past mailboxes, then streets, and then neighborhoods. If Percy thought that the speed we were going at before was fast, now it was even worse. He couldn't just keep a hold of the eyeball! We might not be able to survive if he did!
"Percy," I all but screeched anxiously, "they can't find our destinations without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."
"First they have to tell me."
Oh, fine, don't listen to what I said even though I saved your butt a hundred times before.
"Or I'll open the window," Percy threatened, "and throw the eye into oncoming traffic."
NO!
"No!" the Gray Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!"
"I'm rolling down the window," Percy said.
What didn't he get about breaking into a million pieces? I knew he wouldn't throw out the eye anyway, but he wasn't close to giving it back without the answer. I had to admit, I was curious too, wondering what the location the Gray Sisters were talking about was, but there was no way I'd try to find out by risking our lives and the safety of camp. I'd have to lecture Percy on planning later.
"Wait!" the Gray Sisters cried, and then spat out, "30, 31, 75, 12!"
What? Numbers? What did that have to do with the location?
Percy looked even more confused than me. "What do you mean? That makes no sense!"
"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger repeated. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"
And there was Thalia's pine tree, coming into view, standing and protecting camp. Percy had to give back the eye, or else.
"Percy!" I cried. Did breaking into a million pieces sound appealing to him or something? "Give them the eye now!"
Percy looked at me, and, sensing my urgency, threw the eye at Wasp. Wasp grabbed it and, fumbling, stuck the eye right into her socket, then blinked and cried, "Whoa!"
Wasp slammed down on the brakes and the car spun around in circles, screeching and crying to a dizzy halt at the base of Half-Blood Hill. Disgustedly ignoring Tyson's burp and proclamation of how he was better, I fearfully looked out the window of the taxi, bracing myself, remembering my dream and the Iris messages.
My heart sank when I saw camp and my palms grew sweaty. I guessed that at the back of my mind, I was hoping that the dreams and the Iris messages had intensified everything and made the conditions at camp seem worse than they really were, and that camp would be all right. But as I gazed out the window, I realized the dreams and Iris messages were pretty spot-on.
A/N: carameltootsieroll: Do you guys like the cliff-hanger? Tell us what you think of this chapter guys! Please click that review button! And on another note, is any of you a fan of the band Rocket to the Moon? Well, they just had a concert here in the Philippines, and I MISSED it. I am sad. Well, anyway, hope you guys liked chapter 4 and please do stay tuned for chapter 5! :)