When I woke up this morning, I wasn't expecting to be fighting two massive bronze, fire-breathing bulls the size of a war elephant. "Border patrol! To me!" Clarisse shouted. However, her orders went unfollowed as everyone scattered, the bulls charging. I raced through the flaming grass and skidded to a stop next to her. A couple others managed to join us. One of the bulls charged at us, our shields pressed tightly against each other to block the upcoming bull. However, a voice broke our concentration,
"Behind you!" Someone called. "Look out!" I flinched, and the bull ran Clarisse over. Clarisse went soaring, and I rolled out of the way, barely missing the flames that singed a couple of my hairs. The other bull turned it's ruby eyes fixated on Clarisse. I jumped up and sprinted toward her, grabbing the straps of her armour to pull her away. Beside me, Percy showed up to help.
"Let me go!" Clarisse batted at our hands. "Percy, curse you!"
"A thank you would be nice!" I snapped at Clarisse, sitting her next to Thalia's tree. Percy then ran off. I grabbed the flask of nectar I had on my hip and pressed it into her hand. "Drink." Clarisse looked at me weirdly, and then took a sip. I looked around to scope out the battlefield. "Come on, the…uh…the Cyclops is saving Percy, we can get the other one."
"Cyclops?"
"Yes! Let's go!" Clarise screwed the flask shut again and put it away. I turned one of my rings into a spear and handed it to Clarisse, my other one forming the halberd that settled in my hands. Clarisse charged and managed to shove the spear into it's back leg, while I raced forward and cut down, the bull's head falling at my feet. Clarisse then approached me, pressing the button on it, the golden weapon shrinking into it's ring form, handing it to me. "You…know where the button is?" I asked softly.
"Well, yeah, you use it so often It wasn't too hard to figure out." Clarisse admitted, looking away. The two of us headed over to Percy, Annabeth and the Cyclops. "You ruin everything!" Clarisse almost roared at Percy. "I had it under control!"
"Good to see you too, Clarisse." Annabeth stated.
"Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"
"Clarisse, you've got wounded campers."
"I'll deal with them, Clarisse." I told her.
"I'll be back." Clarisse growled at the others before trudging off. I slipped my ring back onto my finger.
"Percy, Annabeth, welcome back." I said, crossing my arms.
"You didn't die." Percy said, looking up at his friend.
"I am sorry." The Cyclops muttered, ducking his head. "Came to help. Disobeyed you."
"My fault." Annabeth admitted, turning to me. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the Boundary Line to save Percy. Otherwise, you would've died."
"Let him cross the Boundary Line?" Percy repeated. "But-"
"Wait, do you not know?" I wondered. "You're a Demigod, how heavy is the Mist over your brain?" Percy looked up at his friend…and then his eyes widened.
"Tyson…" Percy stammered. "You're a…"
"Cyclops." Annabeth offered, though I could see she was uncomfortable. "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."
"One of the what?"
"Tyson is…" I tried to find the right words to not offend the creature beside me. "He's one of many that live in major cities. He's a child of a Nature Spirit and a God, however, their parents aren't…too fond of him, because of his species, so they become homeless. Tyson seems nice." I glanced at Annabeth when I said that, though she looked away from me. "How he found you, is something that eludes me. But, he likes you."
"We should take him to Chiron." Annabeth suggested. "Let him decide what to do."
"Well, that's-"
"But the fire." Percy but in. "How-"
"Cyclops are immune to fire." I said. "Many work for the Gods, in their forges, so being immune to fire is a must." Clarisse then came up to us.
"Jackson, if you can stand, get up, we need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what happened."
"Tantalus?" Percy wondered.
"He's the new activities director." I sighed. "I was trying to tell you."
"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here."
"Argus got fired." Clarise said after making a sour face. "You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."
"But…Chiron…" Percy protested weakly. "He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three-thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?"
"That happened." Clarisse snapped, her finger jabbing at Thalia's tree. I looked at it myself…it looked even worse than when I got here the other day. The pine needles were yellow, and a lot of them had fallen, there was a small hole about a meter from the ground, in the centre of the trunk, which was oozing green sap. Thalia's tree, therefore Thalia herself, had been poisoned.