Reyna turned to the next page and took a deep breath.

Chapter Four

Tyson Plays with Fire

"Well, that's an excellent start right there," Beckendorf said dryly.

Mythologically speaking …

"No, that's an excellent start," Travis said, grinning. "That's the start of a brilliant sentence, I can just tell."

Reyna just rolled her eyes – she hadn't known the Stolls for that long, but she was already used to them – and started again.

Mythologically speaking, if there's anything I hate worse than trios of old ladies, it's bulls.

"And you were right," Connor said. "Just brilliant."

Last summer, I fought the Minotaur … This time what I saw up there was even worse: two bulls.

"That's not too bad," Silena said brightly.

… bronze ones the size of elephants … Naturally they had to breath fire, too.

"Never mind," Silena said with a sigh.

"Colchis bulls," Lee said grimly. "You think Tyson's a match for them?"

"Well, if he was a match for the – uh – Canadians," Luke said, his lips twitching in a smile, "he should be a match for the bulls, whatever he is."

As soon as we exited … the Grey Sisters peeled out … They didn't even wait for their extra three-drachma payment.

"They wouldn't," Hermes said, frowning. "They don't like conflict."

… What worried me most weren't the bulls themselves.

"That didn't worry you?" Michael asked.

Or the ten heroes in full battle armour who were getting their bronze-plated booties whooped.

"But how?" Aphrodite asked, putting a protective hand on Silena's arm. "Chiron said so himself, the bulls can't get past the tree."

What worried me was that the bulls were ranging all over the hill, even around the back side of the tree.

"In which case, there should be more than ten of us," Lee said sharply. "I don't know how they're doing it, but there'll be younger kids there."

"Not yet maybe," Michael said. "Summer season hasn't technically started."

"Except a lot of the younger kids are at Camp that young because they've got nowhere else to go," Lee said. "They'll be year-rounders."

… The camp's magical boundaries didn't allow monsters to cross past Thalia's tree.

"So how are they doing it?" Luke muttered under his breath, tense with worry.

… One of the heroes shouted, 'Border patrol, to me!'

"We haven't had border patrol for a long time," Lee said sadly. "Not since …"

"Not since I died I'd imagine," Thalia said, her voice strangely unemotional.

"Well, a little bit afterwards," Lee said. "It took us a little while to figure out about the boundary line."

A girl's voice – gruff and familiar.

"Only just back for summer season and you're already leading border patrol," Silena said, smiling.

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Well, obviously."

… Normally, rushing to Clarisse's aid would not have been high on my 'to do' list.

"I'm sure that's mutual," Clarisse muttered.

… I'd had a very serious disagreement with her father last summer …

"I wouldn't call that a disagreement," Aphrodite said. "You just found out he'd been an idiot."

… so now the god of war and all his children basically hated my guts.

"That's not just you," Annabeth said. "I think they hate most of us."

"We carry grudges that aren't ours," Clarisse retorted. "Don't pretend you never do that."

"Clearly not," Annabeth said, nodding to her future self, who was holding hands with her boyfriend.

Still, she was in trouble.

"Of course you were going to help," Nico said. "That's a given."

Her fellow warriors were scattering … She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.

"Well, that's not good," Aphrodite said, frowning.

"Always carry an extra weapon," Athena said to the campers. "Just in case something like this happens."

I uncapped my ballpoint pen.

Travis sniggered. "You know, if we didn't know it turned into a sword, that would sound so, so weird."

… 'Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances.'

"You still haven't figured it out?" Thalia asked.

Percy sighed. "Be nice to me."

… 'Percy, do you know what those are up there?

"No," Percy answered, bewildered.

The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself.

"But they were a gift for a demigod, right?" Luke asked. "King Aeetes was a son of Helios, wasn't he?"

"That is true," Apollo confirmed. "But they are still monsters, and they would have been tied to Aeetes – anyone else would be in danger."

We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000.

"That's was the girl my namesake screwed over, right?" Jason asked.

Piper nodded with a grimace. "That's the one."

She might have sympathised with Medea under other circumstances, but that sympathy was somewhat stymied by Medea's attempt to kill them.

'Medea's what?'

"Percy," Nico said seriously, "have you ever tried to read Greek mythology or do you just wing it?"

"Mostly I wing it," Percy admitted. "Annabeth's usually there and she knows everything anyway. Besides, you can't expect me to remember every single monster I ever read about."

"I do," Annabeth said.

"Yes, but you're you," Percy said. "We all have our strengths; that one's yours."

… 'I had a jar of tropical coconut scent sitting on my nightstand at home. Why didn't I bring it?'

"It wouldn't do you much good," Athena said, looking much worried. "But it would be better than nothing, I suppose."

I'd learned a long time ago not to question Annabeth too much. It just made me more confused.

A few people laughed.

'Look … I'm not going to let Tyson get fried.'

"So why start questioning me now?" Annabeth asked with a sigh.

"Because you'd never actually told me what was going on," Percy answered. "So far you'd just insulted him and implied that I was an idiot."

"Too easy," Thalia decided.

… Tyson tried to protest …

"I don't think he realised I didn't know," Percy said.

"To be fair, I don't think he realised he wasn't … you know … like you," Annabeth said. "I mean, he knew he wasn't like you, but he didn't know …"

"I get it," Percy said with a sigh.

… but I was already running up the hill towards Clarisse, who was yelling … trying to get them into phalanx formation.

"Excellent idea," Athena said, "but you probably don't have enough people for it to work."

… Unfortunately, Clarisse could only muster six campers.

Athena grimaced. "It might still work."

… Annabeth ran towards them … She taunted one of the bulls into chasing her …

"Do I need to talk to you about self-preservation as well?" Thalia asked.

"No, because then you'd be a hypocrite," Annabeth said. "And I know you hate those."

Thalia pulled a face at her. "Do as I say, not as I do."

Annabeth snorted. "Oh gods, you are such a mom."

… then turned invisible, complete confusing the monsters.

"Alright, you had a plan," Thalia conceded. "I'll let you off."

Percy rolled his eyes. "It's Annabeth, Thalia. Of course she had a plan."

The other bull charged Clarisse's line.

"One's better than two," Silena said hopefully.

"Still not great though," Clarisse said grimly.

I was halfway up the hill – not close enough to help.

"How did Annabeth get there that fast then?" Nico asked.

"Annabeth's always been faster than me," Percy said. "It's only recently I've started to catch up."

Clarisse hadn't even seen me yet.

Clarisse frowned, even as her father said, "Observation, kid; it's important."

"Give her a break," Aphrodite said. "She's a little distracted."

The bull moved deadly fast for something so big.

"That was kind of the point," Hephaestus admitted.

… When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white hot flame blasted out.

"Duck!" Several people shouted.

'Hold the line!' Clarisse ordered her warriors.

"Are you insane?" Silena demanded.

Whatever else you could say about Clarisse, she was brave.

"That's one word for it," Silena muttered.

… but I didn't see how even she could stand against that bull's charge.

"I can handle it," Clarisse said, but she didn't look convinced.

Unfortunately, at that moment, the other bull lost interest in finding Annabeth … 'Behind you!' I yelled. 'Look out!'

"Shouldn't have done that," Clarisse scowled.

"I know," Percy said. "I realised that as soon as I said it."

I shouldn't have said anything, because all I did was startle her.

"It's the catch-22," Reyna said, pausing. "If you hadn't said anything and something happened, you'd feel guilty."

Bull Number One crashed into her shield … Clarisse went flying backwards and landed in a smouldering patch of grass.

"At least we know we're not getting the effects of the book," Silena said, when Clarisse didn't flinch.

"Percy and I didn't get anything in the last book," Annabeth pointed out.

"Yes, but your future selves are here," Silena said, proving that it wasn't just Athena's children who got logic. "They might be getting the effects instead."

The bull charged past her, but not before blasting the other heroes … Their shields melted right off their arms.

Lee sucked in a breath. "That's hot – third degree burns, I'm guessing, at the very least.

They dropped their weapons and ran …

"Seriously?" Clarisse demanded.

"People react differently to that kind of pain," Annabeth said. "And none of them was used to that kind of conflict. It was later in the war that that changed."

… I lunged forwards and grabbed Clarisse by the straps of her armour. I dragged her out of the way just as Bull Number Two freight-trained past.

Silena breathed a sigh of relief. "At least Percy reacted."

Clarisse scowled. "I won't thank you for that, you know."

"I know," Percy said, with a mild smile. "It used to frustrate me, but I've just got used to it now."

"It really annoys our Clarisse," Annabeth said. "It doesn't matter how many times she yells or curses, Percy just smiles and tells her she's welcome."

I gave it a good swipe with Riptide … but the monster just creaked and groaned and kept going.

"Yeah, you're going to need help," Lee said.

… It's body temperature could've microwaved a frozen burrito.

"Good job it didn't touch you then," Sally said, her voice deceptively upbeat.

'Let me go! … Percy, curse you!'

"Honestly," Silena sighed. "If he hadn't grabbed you, you'd be dead."

"I said I wouldn't thank him," Clarisse said.

I dropped her in a heap next to the pine tree and turned to face the bulls.

"Just be careful," Sally murmured.

We were on the inside slope of the hill now …

Thalia held back a shiver. She had no real memory of the poisoning, or even of really being a tree, but she did remember a sense of wrongness in the darkness that she attributed to monsters getting past her protection.

… the valley of Camp Half-Blood directly below us … all of it at risk if these bulls got past us.

Chiron was looking increasingly concerned.

Annabeth shouted orders to the other heroes … Bull Number One ran a wide arc … As it passed the middle of the hill, where the invisible boundary line should've kept it out, it slowed down a little, as if it were struggling against a strong wind …

Thalia grimaced, squirming in place.

"Can you feel that?" Piper asked.

"Not exactly," Thalia answered. "It's like … you know that shiver you get sometimes? They call it someone walking over your grave? It's like that."

"Well," Percy said. "In your case, they kind of were."

… Bull Number Two turned to face me … I couldn't tell if it felt any pain …

"They don't," Hephaestus said. "But they know the concept."

I couldn't fight both bulls at the same time.

"No one could," Lee said.

… My arms already felt tired.

"Someone hasn't been practicing," Thalia said.

Sally frowned. "Percy, just because you can't practice inside the apartment doesn't mean we couldn't have found you somewhere you could."

"I know," Percy said. "I didn't make that mistake again."

I realised how long it had been since I worked out with Riptide, how out of practice I was.

"That'll make things harder," Jason muttered.

I lunged but Bull Number Two blew flames at me … the air turned to pure heat.

Percy sucked in a breath, coughing harshly.

All the oxygen was sucked out of my lungs.

"Why did I say that," Percy said, still coughing.

Annabeth rubbed his back. "Just try to breath."

My foot caught on something – a tree root maybe …

"Sorry," Thalia said.

"Not your fault," Percy said, rubbing his throat.

… and pain shot up by ankle.

Percy grimaced.

"Want some ambrosia?" Will asked.

"No thanks," Percy said. "It's only the memory. Right?"

Will leaned down and pressed two fingers to Percy's ankle. "At the moment, yes."

Still, I managed to … lop off part of the monster's snout … I tried to stand, and my left leg buckled underneath me. My ankle was sprained, maybe broken.

Percy sucked in a breath. "Okay, maybe I'll take the ambrosia now."

Will frowned and leaned over to touch his ankle again. "Okay, now you've got a nasty sprain."

"It's fascinating how this works," Annabeth said.

"Fascinating isn't the word I'd use," Percy said, nibbling on an ambrosia square.

"Catch," Jason said suddenly.

Percy held up a hand automatically, catching the wet wash cloth – no one had seen Jason get up, but he certainly wasn't going to complain. "Thanks."

Bull Number One charged straight towards me. No way I could crawl out of its path.

"Tyson!" Connor said suddenly. "He could help, right?"

Annabeth shouted, 'Tyson, help him!'

"Wow, you must have been worried," Malcolm said, "given how you've treated him up until now."

His sister gave him a dirty look, but said nothing.

Somewhere near, towards the crest of the hill, Tyson wailed, 'Can't – get- through!'

"Uh oh," Michael murmured.

"What?" Will asked.

"If the bulls can get through but Tyson can't," Michael said, "he must be considered worse than them."

'I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!'

"That'll work," Thalia said, "although you'll get some stick for it."

Annabeth shrugged. "Needs must. Besides, Tyson's a sweetheart."

Thunder shook the hillside.

Apollo winced. "Uh oh."

Suddenly Tyson was there … Before I could tell him no, he dived between me and the bull just as it unleashed a nuclear fire-storm.

Several people cried out in alarm, including Silena.

Her mother hugged her close. "It's alright, darling. Whatever Tyson is, he's stronger than that."

… The blast swirled around him … I knew with horrible certainty that my friend had just been turned into a column of ashes.

"How have you still not cottoned on?" Nico asked.

"Well, it's not like anyone told me," Percy said, a little grumpily.

But when the fire died, Tyson was still standing there … balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. 'BAD COW!'

"Straight to the point," Travis said, grinning. "I like him."

His fist made a crater …

Beckendorf let out a low whistle. "Kid's strong."

… Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminium foil.

"Very, very strong," Beckendorf amended. "What is he?"

The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.

"Huh," Annabeth said. "If you'd asked me, I would never have used that description, but now you've said it ... that is exactly what it looked like."

… The bull staggered and fell on its back.

The campers cheered.

... Annabeth ran over to check on me.

"Worried?" Thalia asked.

"A little bit," Annabeth admitted. "I hadn't spent much time with him at that point, but I had come to learn that he will try and walk off just about anything, so if he collapses, it's probably not good."

My ankle felt like it was filled with acid …

Percy groaned. "I hate myself."

… she gave me some Olympian nectar to drink from her canteen, and I immediately started to feel better.

"Oh good, you did get something," Will said. "That explains why the ribs were fixed up. Although not how you managed all that without them puncturing something."

There was a burning smell that I later learned was me.

Percy and Annabeth immediately pulled a face. Curiously, so did Will.

"Dude, you weren't even on the hill at that point," Percy said. "Why are you getting it?"

"It drifted," Will said, trying not to gag. "It was … interesting."

The hair on my arms had been completely singed off.

Sally grimaced. "At least it's not scarring. It grew back, right?"

Percy nodded, still grimacing from the smell. "Yeah, it dd."

… Clarisse had taken care of Bad Cow Number Two.

Clarisse grinned triumphantly.

… it was trying to run in slow motion, going in circles like some kind of merry-go-round animal.

Malcolm was scribbling frantically.

"What are you making notes on right now?" Connor asked.

"How to deal with these things if we come across them," Malcolm said, pushing his glasses back into place and leaving an ink smudge on his nose.

Annabeth just sighed, being used to that, and wordlessly handed him a tissue.

Clarisse pulled off her helmet and marched towards us.

"Uh oh!" Travis and Connor chorused.

… 'You – ruin – everything!' she yelled at me. 'I had it under control!'

Athena frowned. "This is no time for egos. When it's life or death, you take whatever help comes your way if it keeps you alive."

"My kids shouldn't need help," Ares grunted.

"Oh, get over yourself," Aphrodite snapped, feeling Clarisse flinch beside Silena. "Needing help is not a weakness!"

Rather wisely, Reyna decided to keep reading before the argument could escalate.

I was too stunned to answer … 'Clarisse,' Annabeth said, 'you've got wounded campers.'

… 'I'll be back,' she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.

"It wasn't too bad," Will said hastily. "Mostly a lot of bad burns, but nothing we couldn't fix."

I stared at Tyson. 'You didn't die.'

"Seriously?" Thalia asked. "You still haven't cottoned on?"

… 'I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you.'

"Oh, bless him," Sally said. "As if anyone would be upset about that."

'My fault,' Annabeth said. 'I had no choice … Percy, have you ever looked at Tyson closely? … Ignore the Mist and really look at him.'

"Finally," Malcolm muttered. "I want to know what he is."

… I looked Tyson in the face … I forced myself to focus at his big lumpy nose, then a little higher at his eyes. No, not eyes. One eye.

"Crap, he's a cyclops," Lee said in shock. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Percy said.

"We should have known really," Luke said, a little faintly. "I thought I'd heard his name somewhere before – Percy and Annabeth mentioned it really early in the first book when it mentioned a cyclops."

"Aren't they dangerous?" Silena asked.

"Very," Percy agreed. "I certainly wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of one. But Tyson is … not different, so much as …"

"Tyson loves Percy," Annabeth finished. "He's safe. Well, safe for anyone Percy likes, anyway."

"Tyson doesn't like fighting," Percy said. "Even then, you'd have to be a pretty big threat before he became a problem."

"That's true," Annabeth conceded. She fixed the room with a steely glare. "So saying, I was pretty awful to Tyson when I first met him, I will admit that. And Percy, while he wasn't awful to Tyson's face, because I don't think he has it in him, was probably a bit awful in his own head, which is obviously about to be broadcast."

"We were both wrong," Percy said. "And no one else is allowed to be horrible about him, okay?"

"Hey, no arguments here," Travis said. "We've been saying how awesome he is; why should that change now we know what he is?"

… 'A baby, by the looks of him … Tyson's one of the homeless orphans … They're in almost all the big cities … Children of nature spirits and gods …

"One god," Amphitrite muttered, rolling her eyes good-naturedly at her husband.

… and they don't always come out right. No one wants them.

Amphitrite frowned. "That's not right … We'd take them down in the forges, easily."

… We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do.'

"Good idea," Chiron said, frowning. "Although quite what I'll do, I don't know right now."

"You'll have to claim him, darling," Amphitrite said to Poseidon. "At least then he can stay; I don't want him to get thrown back on the streets again."

… I was completely shocked … But I didn't have much time to think about it just then … there were still two banged-up bronze bulls to dispose of, which I didn't figure would fit in our normal recycling bins.

There was a round of nervous laughter. Everyone seemed to be coming to terms with what Tyson was; the bigger concern was the danger at Camp and why the protections were failing.

Clarisse came back over … 'We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened.'

An icy chill fell over the room, seemingly emanating from a few of the gods.

"What is he doing out of the Underworld?" Hades asked in a low voice.

Persephone placed a hand on his arm. "Dear, there must be a reasonable explanation."

"I'd love to hear it," Apollo said in a clipped voice, his usual happy-go-lucky demeanour a distant memory.

'Tantalus?' I asked.

'The activities director,' Clarisse said impatiently.

"Wait a second," Hermes said. "Chiron is the activities director."

"I assume I have been replaced," Chiron said frowning.

"But why?" Apollo asked. "That's been your role for a thousand years; why replace you? And even if there's a good reason, who on Olympus decided to replace you with the guy who cooked his own children into pies?!"

'Chiron is the activities director … He can't just be gone. What happened?'

"Whatever it is, it must be bad to remove Argus as well," Hera said. "Surely Zeus is the only one who would do that, but why would you? You've never concerned yourself with Camp before."

Her husband didn't answer. His gaze was fixed on Thalia, who was strangely still, watching Reyna with an almost serene expression.

'That happened,' Clarisse snapped.

She pointed to Thalia's tree.

Luke sucked in a breath, feeling his father's hand settle on his shoulder.

Reyna kept reading, through the recounting of Thalia's last stand on Half-Blood Hill, her voice slowing.

… The pine had been here ever since, strong and healthy.

But now, its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the centre of the trunk, a metre from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.

Over the cries of horror, Thalia sucked in a hitched breath.

"Alright?" Will murmured beside her.

"Maybe," she muttered back.

A sliver of ice ran through my chest.

Percy barely squirmed at the sensation, his worried eyes fixed on his cousin.

… The magical borders were failing because Thalia's tree was dying.

Someone had poisoned it.

As Reyna's voice faded away, Thalia stifled a cough. "Well, this isn't that bad."

"Are you sure?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," Thalia said. "I can't …" She coughed again.

Will pressed a hand against her forehead. "You've got a fever," he said in a low voice. "And, um, there's a stain on your shirt."

Thalia frowned, tugging her shirt down to find a gaping wound over her heart, like the flesh had rotted away. "Oh, that's not good."

"Thalia," her father called over. "Are you alright?"

Thalia swallowed hard. "I … I don't know." She glanced over and met Luke's guilt-filled eyes. "I don't think …"

Before she could finish speaking, her world went black.