Harry and Annabeth soon met Percy and the Cyclops by an alley near Church Street. When they were alone, Harry stepped up, "So Jackson… Let's start by addressing the elephant in the room. Who's the big guy?"

Annabeth demanded, "Yeah, where did you find him! Do you even know what he is?"

Percy got mad, "He's my friend! You have a problem with that?"

Harry stepped between the two glaring demigods, "Oi! Cool it, you two! Beth, I'm handling this, and watch your tone. Jackson, don't mind her, where did you find him?"

The boy shrugged, "That's Tyson, he's homeless. Why don't you ask him? He can hear you and he can talk."

Harry turned to the Cyclops, who was staring at Annabeth. He murmured, "I talk… you are pretty."

Annabeth looked a little revolted, but Harry chuckled and spoke up, "She is, isn't she? Unfortunately, pretty lady doesn't like you so much. It's nothing personal, mate."

Percy blurted, "Tyson! Your hands! They aren't even burnt!"

Tyson wasn't paying attention, instead reaching out to touch Annabeth's blonde hair. Harry smacked it away, "Hey big guy! No touchy. Though I'm surprised that the Laistrygonians had the balls to attack you with Tyson around."

Percy tilted his head in confusion, "Laistry-what?"

Annabeth explained, "Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym were a race of giant cannibals who used to live in the far north. Ulysses encountered them in the Odyssey."

Harry tugged on his hand, "Come on mate, let's get back to your apartment. Our stuff is there, along with Mackenzie. We'll pick her up and head to camp. It's in a spot of bother."

Percy replied, "My mom said something along those lines. What kind of trouble?"

Annabeth piped up, "We'll explain later. I don't know the details myself, but I think Harry does. I've been attacked from Virginia, all the way until I reached the airport to pick up Harry."

Eventually, they reunited with Mackenzie, and the five of them walked down the streets. Percy turned to Harry, "So what did you mean by those Laistrygonians having the guts to attack me with Tyson around?"

Harry motioned to Tyson, "He's a cyclops. Probably a baby, from the looks of him."

Just then, Annabeth began digging in her backpack and fished out a drachma. She chanted, "Anakoche Harma epitribeios!", before throwing the drachma onto the street.

On cue, the area around the coin darkened and it melted into a rectangular pool. This pool was the size of a parking space and was filled with bubbling red liquid. Then, a smoky grey taxi erupted from it and parked right in front of them.

The name on the taxi was unclear, mostly because of Harry's and Percy's dyslexia. However, Mackenzie confirmed that this was the Gray Sisters Taxi. The window rolled down, revealing an old woman with a mop of grizzled hair. She murmured, "Passage? Passage?"

Annabeth opened the back door and called out, "Five to Camp Half-Blood."

However, the woman screeched, pointing at Tyson, "Ach! We do not take HIS kind!".

Harry quickly negotiated with an extra three drachmae, a deal that was quickly accepted. Everyone squeezed in, with Mackenzie sitting on Harry's lap. Inside, there was a surprising sight, with three old ladies sitting in the front seat, and one of them was driving. Next to the frizzy-haired woman was a lady with short curly hair, and the last one was a woman with straight stringy hair.

The taxi's interior was smoky grey and resembled a typical taxi in New York. Meanwhile, the three women up front had bony hands and charcoal-coloured sackcloth dresses. The frizzy haired one, Harry was going to refer to her as Winifred, stomped in the throttle. On cue, all of the passengers were flattened in their seats.

As the taxi zoomed fast enough to make Ayrton Senna jealous, a pre-recorded voice sounded on a nearby speaker. It cheerily said, "Hi! This is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus! When I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!"

Harry hollered over his friends' screams, "Oi Annabeth! Who are the Sanderson siblings look-alikes?"

Annabeth yelled back, "They're the Gray Sisters! Dammit Harry! I knew we should not have let the Stolls host a movie marathon!"

Eventually, the women began arguing, and Harry could finally put names to the faces. The driver was called Wasp, the middle sister was called Tempest, and the last one was called Anger. They were squabbling about an eye.

As the front seat passengers squabbled, Tyson was beginning to look queasy. Harry grumbled, "Give me the Knight Bus any day over this!"

Percy quipped, "For the record, I think we're all going to die."

Annabeth tried to sound reassuring, "Don't worry. The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."

Anger agreed, "Yes, wise! We know things!"

Wasp bragged, "Every street in Manhattan! The capital of Nepal!"

Tempest added, "The location you seek!"

Mackenzie piped up, "What location?"

Tempest clamped her mouth shut, while the other two pummelled her on either side. However, Percy caught on, "Tell us about this location."

They screamed in unison, "No!"

Tempest trembled, "The last time we told, it was horrible!"

Anger helpfully supplied, "Eye tossed in a lake! Years to find it again! Give it back, Wasp!"

Wasp shrieked, "No!"

In response, Wasp got a whack to the back of her head. On cue, something flew out of her face and her wild swing only succeeded in batting it behind. Percy understandably freaked out when the eye landed on his lap. Just like that, the eyeball rolled off and barely missed getting stepped on.

Annabeth screamed, "Give her the eye! It's there by your foot!"

Percy yelled back, "I'm not picking that thing up! It's gross!"

Harry snapped exasperatedly, "Just do it, Jackson! I'll clean up your hands later!"

The son of Poseidon shuddered and then picked up the eye. Anger cooed, "Nice boy, please give it back!"

Percy started to hand it over, but suddenly had a thought. He said, "One condition. What is the location that I seek?"

Tempest cried, "There's no time!"

Annabeth warned, "Percy… What are you doing? Just give them the stupid eye!"

However, he wasn't budging, "Either they tell us, or I throw the eye out of the window!"

They wailed, "No!"

"I'm rolling the window down!", he sing-songed.

That did it, they all blurted, "Thirty! Thirty one! Seventy five! Twelve! That's all we can tell you! Give us the eye! Almost to camp!"

Satisfied, Percy tossed the eye to the driver, and Harry promptly cleaned his hands with the Scourgify spell. The driver slammed the brakes, prompting the car to spin a few times and stop in the middle of the road, right at the base of Half-Blood hill.

Everyone staggered out, and Tyson belched, "Better now."

The taxi sped off, and Harry looked towards camp. He groaned, "Oh bollocks! We've got to hurry, camp's under attack!"

Harry unsheathed his hunting knives and pressed them into Mackenzie's hand. He said, "I take it that you know how to use them, Kenzie? I know that Phoebe took you back to the Hunter camp and personally trained you while we were looking for the Lightning Bolt."

She nodded vigorously and adopted a steely look on her face. With that, everyone rushed towards camp, and it looked like a literal warzone. All of that was the work of two elephant-size bronze bulls, and a platoon of demigods facing them. Worryingly, the bulls were running amok, even breaching the camp borders.

Harry got out his bow and arrows, and began to charge with the others right on his heel. He heard Jackson mutter, "I freaking hate bulls. First the Minotaur and now these jerks."

In the distance, he heard a familiar voice yell, "Campers! To me! Miss Beauregard, please lead the non-participants to the safety of their cabins! The rest of you try to close the bulls in!"

Percy turned to Tyson as they ran, "Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more-"

Harry interrupted, "Quit going all mama bear, Jackson. He's a cyclops, he'll be fine."

Annabeth hollered in agreement, "Yes, we need him! Those are the Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. Cyclops' can withstand the heat, we can't!, Here, take this!"

She began rummaging in her backpack before fishing out something. She squirted some kind of lotion on her palm and rubbed it all over herself before tossing the lotion to Harry. He studied it and read the label, which was thankfully in Ancient Greek, Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. He quickly slathered himself before passing the lotion to Mackenzie, who passed it to Percy.

Percy unsheathed his own sword as the campers, led by Clarisse, began to scatter in a panic. The daughter of Ares was already trying to get her troops back under control. She was frantically ordering them to get into a phalanx formation. The few that managed to obey, lined up shoulder-to-shoulder and locked their shields together. A host of spears poked out through gaps in the ox-hide and bronze wall, and they all held firm.

One of the bulls was chasing four campers, who's helmets were on fire. A quick Aguamenti from Harry doused the flames and there was minimal damage to their faces. Meanwhile, Annabeth charged at the bull and distracted it. Once she was sure that it was after her, she put on her cap and turned invisible, confusing the beast.

The second raging bull charged towards Clarisse, with Percy and Mackenzie rushing to help her. Mackenzie was about to use her wand, but Harry yelled, "Wait! We haven't got the Trace removed from your wand yet!"

That got her to pause and then she brandished Harry's hunting knives. The first bull lost interest in Annabeth, but Harry was able to keep it busy. He then activated his shield and tossed it to Percy like a frisbee. Harry yelled, "Oi Jackson! Go join the phalanx!"

Percy immediately obeyed and slotted in next to one of the campers. Fortunately, said camper was not a child of Ares. As it turned out, they were still sulking about him defeating their father. Bull number 2 impacted against the phalanx, sending Clarisse and a couple of other campers flying. The beast itself continued past, like a freight train.

Then it wheeled around and charged straight towards a recovering Clarisse. Percy grabbed her by the armour and dragged her away, just before it could steamroll her. He drew his sword Riptide and cut a huge gash in the bull's side. Unfortunately, Clarisse was not the least bit grateful for him saving her butt, as she began to pummel his hand.

Suddenly, a jet of water splashed into the side of the bull facing them. Albus Dumbledore had joined the party. He fired a slew of spells at the bull, just as it began to charge at him. Pointing his wand at himself, he chanted, "Wingardium Leviosa!".

On cue, his body flew up in the air. With a startled moo, the bull barrelled into where his body used to be, and nearly went headlong into a tree. In the distance, Tyson was struggling to get past the camp's borders, whatever was left of it. Harry declared, "I Harry James Potter, give Tyson the Cyclops permission to enter camp!"

There was a rumble of thunder and Tyson managed to squeeze through. He dived between Percy and one of the charging bulls. Not a moment too soon, because it unleashed a massive sheet of flame from its nostrils and it engulfed Tyson. Percy understandably freaked out, but was left utterly dumbfounded when the flames died and Tyson was completely unscathed.

The bull was in for the surprise of its life at not having its Cyclops steak well-done. Instead, the only meal it received was a Cyclops-sized knuckle sandwich right on the noggin. Tyson yelled, "BAD COW!", and punched it again. This time, it staggered and fell on its back, with its legs kicking feebly in the air. Meanwhile, Harry and the Apollo campers turned the second bull into a pin cushion before it went down for the count.

Harry regrouped with Annabeth and Percy, just as Clarisse came storming up. She pulled off her helmet, to reveal a strand of stringy brown hair, smouldering away, and a murderous look on her face. The girl screamed, "Damnit Percy! I had it under control! You ruined everything!"

Harry snapped, "I believe the words you're looking for are, 'Thank you for saving my arse'. Look, this is not the time to get into a pissing contest, we've got wounded campers!"

That got her to back off a little and she stomped away to assess the damage. Mackenzie came trotting back and gave Harry his weapons back as he checked her over. She was a little singed, here and there, but was still in one piece.

Later on, Clarisse returned, wiping soot off her forehead. She jerked her thumb towards the Big House, "If you can still move, get a move on. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House and meet up with Dumbledore."

Percy was confused, "Dumbledore?"

She replied impatiently, "He's the new activities director. Mr. D was a little sulky because he wanted Tantalus, but got overruled."

He was still bewildered, "New activities director? What happened to Chiron? And Argus? Isn't he the head of security?"

She snapped, "Argus got fired temporarily. As for Chiron, Potter knows where he is. Besides, THAT happened."

Clarisse pointed to Thalia's tree. They turned and were shocked by what they saw. It had clearly seen better days, because the needles were yellow and a huge pile of dead ones were nestled at the base. However, the thing that stood out was a puncture mark, the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap. Thalia's tree was dying and the magical borders were failing.

Inside the camp, the mood looked very grim. A few of them were a little wary of Tyson, but a glare from Harry made them back off. As for Tyson himself, he looked like a person who had not stepped out of his room for years. He was pointing and asking questions, with Percy and Harry humouring him.

Tyson asked about the cabins and Percy was clearly uncomfortable. Harry managed to steer the conversation away from that though. Finally, they entered the Big House, where they saw Dumbledore sitting down and helping himself to a chocolate. Harry smiled, "Hello Prof- Sorry, force of habit. I guess its director Dumbledore, now?"

The old wizard smiled serenely, "Yes… I do believe that is the case. I presume this young lady is Annabeth, and this young man is Perseus? I know Miss Dursley, but who's your other friend?"

Percy couldn't help himself, "I prefer Percy, actually. What happened to Chiron?"

Tyson had a different response though. He cried in total rapture, "Santa!"

Percy face-faulted, but Harry and Mackenzie did their best to suppress their laughter. Dumbledore had no such reservations, and he laughed until he cried. Wiping away his tears, he chuckled, "Dear me! That is a new one for me. Often, many of my fellow wizards have compared me to Merlin. This is the first time that someone mistook me for Father Christmas."

Harry managed to control himself before he turned to Percy. He said, "Basically, Chiron's kind of taken the heat for what happened to Thalia's tree. They did give him leeway to choose his temporary replacement until we all solve this crisis. Mr D had to punish someone."

Annabeth was incredulous, "But this is ridiculous! He couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia's tree!"

Dumbledore spoke up again, "Coincidentally, during Harry's school year, there were a series of incidents. Some sort of monster was petrifying students, and after a point, I was dismissed from my position as Headmaster of Hogwarts for not stopping the attacks. Of course, I later discovered that many of the board members were strong-armed into the decision. They re-instated me, but I managed to ask them to give me some time off as a vacation of sorts. I will admit that I doubt that I would live up to Lord Chiron's reputation, but I shall try my best to look after all of you. I must say though, I haven't enjoyed a skirmish like that since I fought Grindelwald."

Harry asked, "Director Dumbledore, do you have any idea what is wrong with the tree?"

He waved a dismissive hand and replied, "No need for that honorific. You may call me Albus, or Dumbledore if you wish. As for the tree, Chiron did some investigation and he theorised that the venom came from a monster that was located quite deep in the pits of Tartarus."

Percy exclaimed, "Then we all know who did it! It has to be Luke and his new master."

Dumbledore looked grave, "It seems that there are a few who share that sentiment. Sadly, the tree only has a few weeks of life. According to Chiron, there was one thing that could save it. One source of magic that is powerful enough to reverse the poison, but it was lost, centuries ago."

Percy jumped to his feet, "We'll go and find it!"

Harry grabbed him and pulled him back down, "And how the bloody hell are you going to find it? According to Chiron and Dumbledore, whatever this thing is, it has been lost for centuries!"

Dumbledore nodded gravely, "Indeed Mr. Jackson. Chiron warned me that you in particular, have a tendency to act rashly. He was against you coming over to camp this summer, since it has become far more dangerous. However, what's done is done, so stay here and train hard."

Percy exclaimed defiantly, "But why? We have to do something! If the borders fail, then the camp will be overrun with monsters!"

Dumbledore raised his arms placatingly, "I understand your concerns, I truly do, but Lord Chiron fears that this could be a trap, courtesy the Titan Lord and his allies."

Dumbledore then turned to Harry and Annabeth, "I wish for all of you to be safe. Lord Chiron told me that there was an ancient prophecy, and Percy will be a key figure."

Percy raised his hand, "Is this the same prophecy that everyone is forbidden from telling me about?"

Harry patted his shoulder, "It's nothing personal mate. Prophecies suck, trust me, I speak from experience."

Then Dumbledore began to move for the door, "Come, shall we be off? Your friend here can stay with me in the Big House."

With that, Harry, Percy, Mackenzie and Annabeth split off to head to their respective cabins. Soon, a conch horn blew, signalling that it was time for dinner. The Athena Cabin were the first to enter the Dining Pavilion, followed by the Ares Cabin. Harry and Mackenzie were up next and slid into their own table. Charles Beckendorf led the Hephaestus Cabin, with Demeter, Apollo, Aphrodite, Dionysus, and more. Finally, the Hermes Cabin brought up the rear, as they were the largest cabin.

After the campers, dozens of Naiads, Dryads and Satyrs filed in. Percy felt a pang in his heart, as he remembered his best friend, Grover. Finally, Dionysus shuffled in, followed by Dumbledore and Tyson. All conversations stopped and every pair of eyes were trained on the baby Cyclops. An Apollo camper muttered, "Who invited that thing?".

He soon yelped, as Harry flicked a projectile to the back of his head. The son of Artemis quietly snapped, "Zip it! He saved our butts from the raging bulls."

Dionysus lazily eyed the campers and sighed, "Yes, I suppose I have to say it, welcome back, you brats. Now to business, what to do with the monster?"

Dumbledore deliberately coughed, "Now, now Lord Dionysus. It is rather rude to insult someone who helped save the camp. Also, I believe his name is Tyson."

The God drawled, "Is it? I don't care. Now let us decide the creature's fate."

Tyson looked absolutely terrified, but Percy sent him a pacifying look. Dumbledore stood up and held out his arms, "Welcome! Young campers, to another day at Camp Half-Blood. I am truly honoured to be nominated by Lord Chiron to be your temporary Activities Director. Now, I have been in conversation with Mr. D, and we have decided to reinstitute a new game. If I am not mistaken, it is Chariot Racing!"

The whole camp broke out into murmurs of excitement and disbelief. Even Harry could hardly believe it himself. Chariot racing had been discontinued, the year he came to Camp Half-Blood.

Then Mr. D spoke up, "You will also be relieved from your duties in order to prepare your chariots. The winning charioteers will receive golden laurels and will have no chores for a month."

The whispers turned into heightened chatter. However, Clarisse suddenly stood up, "But sir, what about patrol duty? We can't just drop everything just to prepare our chariots."

That declaration triggered several other campers to shout their agreements. However, Dumbledore pulled out his wand and shot a cannon blast in the air. He announced, "I understand your concerns, Miss Clarisse. Border patrol is mandatory, regardless of who wins. After all, everyone's safety takes priority."

That seemed to pacify everyone for the moment. Then Dumbledore gestured to Tyson, "Now, we seem to have picked up an unusual guest. I am aware that he will not be able to fit in the Hermes Cabin. So, young Tyson here shall stay-"

He was interrupted by a brilliant sea-green light floating above Tyson's head. Percy's stomach dropped as he saw a glowing green trident. Everyone at camp was in awe, as Dumbledore announced, "Welcome Tyson, son of Poseidon."

Over the next few days, Percy faced a lot of bullying from many campers, particularly from the Ares Cabin. However there were other tormentors, like some idiot from the Aphrodite Cabin who asked him if he wanted to borrow some eyeliner for his eye, sorry eyes. A week later, the camper fell victim to a Nose-biting cup, as he was taking his morning coffee. As for the Ares campers, they woke up one morning to find Dung bombs under their beds.

Unfortunately, some of the bullying was getting to Percy. There were a fair number of occasions where he would try to keep Tyson at an arm's distance. Whenever the Cyclops was not around, he would protest Tyson's relationship and call him his half-brother. Annabeth was cycling between sympathetic and distant, so she wasn't much help.

After a point, Harry got fed up and dragged the boy away for a private talk. Harry smacked him right in the face, "What the heck is wrong with you, Jackson? Why are you acting like Tyson has the bloody plague? Do you realise how lucky you are to have a sibling? Sure, he's not going to win any beauty pageants, but you can't choose your family."

He sulkily snapped back, "Easy for you to say. You're not the one who has a monster as a half-brother. Last year, I was the cool guy who brought back the Lightning Bolt and save everyone from being vaporised by a vengeful God. Now I'm the poor schmuck with a monster for a half-brother."

Harry sighed, "Look mate, it's not going to be easy. Did I tell you about what happened in my Second-Year in school?"

"No?"

"Right, so basically, there was a spate of attacks at Hogwarts. The victims didn't die, but they were turning up petrified. For some very, very odd reason, I was suspected in the attacks. We had a Duelling Club and I was facing off against Malfoy, which I kind of suspect was not an accident. He conjured a snake and attempted to out me as a Parselmouth. Though I have no idea where he got that idea."

"What's a Parselmouth?"

"A person who can talk to snakes. In the Wizarding world, the Dark Lord that I supposedly defeated, could speak to snakes. So this wanker wanted me to out myself as one. Fortunately, I was smarter and summoned a mongoose. I told the mongoose to attack the snake, and Malfoy tried to claim that I was a Parselmouth."

"Then what happened?"

"A fair number of idiots believed him and spread rumours. Fortunately I was friendly with some of the gossip queens and they managed to get the story straight. It still left the school divided. Bloody hell! I remember having to defend myself from a fair number of hexes. My point is, you can't stop rumours from spreading and kids can be cruel. Just… think about what I said. I'm sure Dumbledore will curb most of the bullying. Also, I found out from Sirius the other day, that Malfoy and I are related. Turns out, Uncle Sirius has a cousin who married Malfoy's dad."

He shuddered, "I pity you, dude. I wonder if that Malfoy fellow knows."

Harry scoffed, "Wanker's too much of a moron to figure it out."

Later on that week, Percy got his first Flying lesson on the back of a pegasus. Turned out, he adapted very quickly, though if Harry had to guess, it was largely because his father's connection to horses. That day, he and Harry had a small race and Percy barely beat him. Tyson wanted to ride the 'chicken ponies', but they were too skittish around him. Harry was able to calm him down by explaining that he was too big and heavy.

The only ones who had no problems with Tyson, were the Children of Hephaestus. Since the Lord of the Forge often worked with Cyclopes, the courtesy sort of extended to his children. In fact, Charles Beckendorf even took the baby Cyclops under his wing.

One day, Percy and Annabeth were working on their chariot. He was still pretty bothered about the teasing. She grumbled, "Just ignore them. It isn't your fault that you have a monster for a brother."

Percy snapped back, "He's my half-brother! And he's not a monster!"

She raised an eyebrow, "Don't get mad at me! And technically, he is a monster. I didn't expect your dad to claim him. After all, Cyclopes are the most deceitful, treacherous-"

Percy was steaming, "Oh yeah? What do you have against Cyclopes anyway? You're treating him like he's this horrible thing! He saved my life!"

Then she got mad, "Fine! Then maybe you should design the stupid chariot with him!"

He yelled back, "Maybe I will!"

She stormed off and he was still fuming. Harry walked over to him from where he was working on his own chariot with Mackenzie. He mused, "Don't worry mate. Beth's pretty stubborn. She's got some history with Cyclopes, but that's not my position to say anything. Give her some time to calm down."

The next few days passed without much incident, and the day of the first chariot race drew closer. One evening after dinner, he and Harry were hanging out at the top of Half-Blood Hill. They watched various dryads wandering around and singing to the dying pine tree. Satyrs also came by and played songs on their reed pipes. For brief moments, the pine needles perked up. At the same time, the flowers adorning the hill began to bloom and smelt sweeter. However, once the music stops, the feeling died out and it felt like there was a sickness in the air. Just then, he had a thought and turned to Harry, "Hey man, I wanted to talk to you. I've been getting these strange dreams lately. Of Grover, I think he's in trouble. Could just hear snatches of his voice but couldn't make out anything. I think he said something about 'He likes sheep'. Thought of telling Annabeth, but since she pretty much hates me, that's out of the window."

Harry's eyebrows scrunched up in thought. He said, "I don't know mate. Maybe we should talk to Dumbledore and ask for a quest."

The son of Poseidon lay on the grass and sighed, "Yeah we should…"

Then he got up, "Come on dude, it's getting late and I don't want to stick around for the harpies to catch us, and we've got the race tomorrow."

The next morning, Percy stumbled out of his cabin, looking pretty haggard. Harry managed to stop him from faceplanting into his oatmeal, and shook him back awake. He asked, "You alright? You look like shite."

He mumbled, "Bad dream. Grover again. He was in a wedding dress for some reason and it looked like he was weaving something."

Harry sniggered, "Grover dressed in drag? Now that's something I got to see."

Percy snickered as well before controlling himself. He continued, "Anyway, he's stuck on an island somewhere in the sea. Told me he got a little turned around somewhere in Florida. Then he talked about someone who is a shepherd and he has something. Said that this thing's magic is so powerful that it smelt like the great god Pan."

Harry asked, "So who is this shepherd bloke?"

He shrugged, "Grover said his name was Poly-something. Couldn't quite catch it. All I know is that he's a Cyclops and he thinks that Grover is a lady Cyclops and wanted to marry him. He can't see very well because someone poked his eye out and he's still half blind."

Harry fought the urge to laugh and asked, "So where is this island?"

He replied, "Grover called it the Sea of Monsters. He doesn't know where exactly it is though."

Harry sighed, "We'll cross that bridge when we get there, I suppose. Tell you what, meet me after the race and we'll go tell Dumbledore and Mr. D."

They soon finished breakfast and headed to their respective chariots. Percy's was blue and white with wave designs on the sides. At the front, there was a trident painted in the middle. Harry's chariot, which he was piloting with Mackenzie, was red and gold with a lion emblem and a crescent moon encircling it.. Percy snarked, "Big fan of Iron Man?"

Harry shot back, "Kenzie and I are Gryffindors. Deal with it."

That morning was quite hot and humid, and there was an unusual sight. There were several birds roosting in the trees, and Percy eyed them warily. Harry noticed his friend's strange looks and nudged him, "Knut for your thoughts?"

He grunted, "Those pigeons look weird and sound funny. That metallic sound kind of reminds me of a submarine radar."

Harry eyed them as well and began twisting his rings, "We'll keep an eye on them. It may be nothing, but let's be prepared just in case."

The makeshift racetrack was built on a grassy field between the archery range and the woods. Several feet away, were rows of stone steps where the spectators would sit. Dumbledore and Dionysus were there already, and the non-participating campers took their seats.

Dumbledore stood up and announced, "Racers! You all know the rules! Two laps around this quarter-mile track. Two horses per chariot and each team consists of a driver and a fighter. Weapons are allowed, but please try not to maim anyone."

Beckendorf led the Hephaestus team with a sick-looking bronze and iron chariot. The horses were magical automatons and made from the same materials. Both Harry and Percy vowed to stay clear, as it would clearly be rigged with booby traps.

Clarisse was manning a blood-red chariot, pulled by two grisly horse skeletons. The daughter of Ares loaded a bunch of javelins, spiked balls, caltrops and more. Apollo's chariot was trim and graceful and completely gold, pulled by two beautiful palominos. Hermes's chariot was green and looked fairly rickety, but with the Stoll brothers at the helm, everyone would be wary. Finally, Mistmane and a pegasus called Ace, who had taken a liking to Mackenzie, saddled up. Before the race, Percy made an attempt to approach Annabeth, but she blew him off. Harry guided him back, "I told you that we would talk about it later."

As they made their way to their respective chariots, Percy could not help noticing that more birds had joined the party. He made eye contact with Harry, who nodded and passed his rings to Mackenzie. It took a while for Percy to convince the pegasi that Tyson was harmless, but they too, were saddled up eventually.

Dumbledore pointed his wand towards his mouth and cast a Sonorus Charm. He hollered, 'Charioteers! Take to your marks! Ready? Set? Go! Go! Go!'

With that, everyone was off and the race was on.