The Cyclops, whose name is apparently Tyson, tried to stop Percy from going but it was already too late, Percy had run up the hill. I turned to Annabeth.

"Annabeth, help me take the wounded out of the battlefield," I glared at the cyclops next. "You. Don't. Touch. Anything. Got that?"

The Cyclops looked scared. It should be. I don't trust that thing. For the next twenty minutes Annabeth and I tried our best to haul the injured campers all the way back to the Big House without getting charged at by the Colchis Bulls. It was hard to ignore the fighting though. With Annabeth and I tending to the campers it was only Percy and Clarisse fighting the bulls.

Annabeth and I rushed back to get more campers. But as we were running to the hill we saw Percy on the ground, unable to stand as one of the Colchis Bulls charging at him.

Annabeth grabbed my shoulder. "Go help him! I have an idea!"

We didn't have time to waste, so I acted immediately. I charged at the Colchis Bull and grabbed it by one of its horns, my arm wrapping around it. I tried to pull it down to the ground or at least slow it down until Annabeth's plan came to fruition, but the body of a Colchis Bull is HOT!

I could feel my arm scolding from the heat. I gritted my teeth together and hissed in pain. Just being this close to a Colchis Bull was making my body heat up. If I was still on it a bit longer, I'm sure I would've felt like my entire body was on fire. But the Colchis Bull shook me off and threw me through the air. "Maia!"

Wings sprouted from my sneakers before I could hit the ground. "Maia."

I landed on the ground safe-well, safe-ish. My arm felt like I dipped it in a pit of lava. But I couldn't stop yet. I turned and ran to help Percy again, but what I saw next made me stop in my tracks. The Cyclops, he was standing at the Colchis Bull completely unharmed, holding it by its horns. Of course that's to be expected, Cyclopes are fireproof, but it had protected Percy. "BAD COW!"

The Cyclops slammed his fists in the bull's face, making a crater where the bull's snout used to be. Then he hit it again, and again. "Down!"

The bull staggered back and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steaming coming out of its head. I walked over to Percy to check on him, Annabeth crouched down next to him as well. She gave him some nectar in her canteen and then handed it to me. "Gross."

"Just drink it," Annabeth told me. I took the canteen and waterfall'd it. I was beginning to feel better, I felt like I could move my arm around again.

"What about the other bull?" Percy asked, sounding like he was dreading having to fight another one of those things.

Annabeth pointed down the hill, it looked like Clarisse had finished off the second Colchis Bull. She had impaled it through the back leg with her celestial bronze spear.

Clarisse marched our way as she took off her helmet. Her now dirty blonde hair was smoldering, but either she didn't notice, or she was very mad. She yelled at Percy. "You-ruin-everything! I had everything under control!"

"Good to see you too, Clarise," Annabeth grumbled.

"Argh!" Clarisse screamed in frustration as she threw her helmet to the ground. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"

"Clarisse," I said. "We've got wounded campers."

Clarisse's anger melted away, even though she may be a jerk, she always cared about the soldiers under her command, she rounded back to Percy and growled, "I'll be back."

Clarisse trudged off.

Percy stared at the Cyclops, surprised. "You didn't die."

The Cyclops looked down as if he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."

"My fault," Annabeth said. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would've died."

"Let him cross the boundary line?" Percy asked. "But-"

"Percy," I said. "Don't tell me after all this time that you've known him, you haven't looked at him closely? As in, the face? Have you ever ignored the mist and genuinely looked at him?"

Percy looked closely at Tyson and he widened his eyes in realization. "Tyson…You're a.."

"Cyclops," I glared.

"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," Annabeth said.

"One of the what?"

"They're in almost all the big cities," Annabeth said. "They're…mistakes, Percy. Children of nature spirits and gods…Well, one god in particular, usually…and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."

"But the fire. How-"

"He's a Cyclops," I said. "They have to be fireproof. They work in the forges of the gods."

Percy was completely in shock. I took a look around, I couldn't believe it. Four monsters have attacked the camp at once, and we already have so many injured campers. I can't imagine what it would be like, living like this without the proper barrier for the camp.

Clarisse came back over and wiped the soot off her forehead. "Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry back the wounded campers to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."

I rolled my eyes at hearing his name.

"Tantalus?" Percy asked.

"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.

"Chiron's the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here," Percy said.

"Guys," I said, frustrated. "Argus got fired. So has Chiron. You've guys been gone for a while. Things have changed."

"But Chiron…He's trained kids to fight monsters for three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?" Percy asked.

I pointed over to Thalia's tree. "That happened."

The once flourishing green leaves of my sister's tree were now yellow, and a huge pile of dead yellow leaves surrounded the tree. In the center of the trunk, there was a puncture mark which was the size of a bullet hole. Yes, her tree indeed was poisoned. Once we got all of the campers into the Big House, Percy went to give Tyson a tour of the camp.

Things at camp have really changed since they left. What was once a bright, happy, and warm place now felt like the opposite. The camp had become a more militaristic place. The satyrs, counselors, and nature spirits were stockpiling weapons, barely anybody was playing volleyball.

The campers from over the summer started coming back not too long after Percy and Annabeth arrived, and to say that they weren't expecting this was an understatement. I promised them that I'd explain it at the campfire. I walked back to my Cabin, which had gone through quite a bit of changes on the inside. Before I didn't bother making any upgrades or decorations to it because I didn't want to "offend my father" or something like that. But now, I don't really care. So I've made my own adjustments to which I see fit.

Now in the Zeus Cabin I've got things like posters of heroes and movies that I thought looked cool. There's some racks that were filled with comic books all the way to the left side of the cabin. There's some shelves on the walls that have snacks on them too. I walked up to the dresser and reached inside, pulling out two objects: a mace canister and a silver bracelet.

These might not look like much, but these two objects used to belong to my sister, Thalia. The mace canister was the disguise for a spear that she used, and the silver bracelet was a disguise for a replica of the shield known as Aegis. Thalia and I both had a replica of Aegis. I got mines from the god Hephaestus after I had completed a quest for him when I was ten. But Thalia had gotten hers from the house of Halcyon Green, I'll touch on that later.

Before she sacrificed herself she gave these two weapons to me. I felt ashamed that I haven't been using them since she gave them to me. She wouldn't have wanted them to be used instead of just collecting dust. I guess I didn't want to risk them being destroyed, which is what happened to my old spear and sword.

I sighed. I took off my bronze ring, which was the disguise of my replica of Aegis, I took off the white spiked bracelet off my left wrist and put it on my right one, and put the silver bracelet on my left wrist. Yes, it was the same shield with the same capabilities, but it's the principle to it. Unless my sister's shield is destroyed, I will not put my version of Aegis back on.

I held the mace canister in my right hand and flicked it, and in the next second I was holding a full sized spear with a celestial bronze point in my right hand.

Afterward I headed down to the dining pavilion. Usually the camp counselor led their siblings down to the dining pavilion, but since I was the only child of Zeus at camp, I walked all the way to the pavilion on my own. It's actually kinda relieving, I don't have to waste time making sure everybody is in a single file line.

From the meadow came about a dozen satyrs…but not Grover. Grover is the satyr who took Thalia, Luke, Annabeth, and I to Camp Half-Blood years ago. He also went on the quest to return the master bolt with Percy, Annabeth, and I. After completing the quest with us Grover got his searcher's license which means he could go out into the world and search for the missing god of the wild, Pan. No satyr had ever come back when they went to go search for Pan, but hopefully Grover will be the first. The first to come back, and the first to find Pan.

I had changed my clothes before I went down to the pavilion. I was now wearing a long-sleeved knit Camp Half-Blood sweater with gray sweatpants. I was still wearing my black sneakers. I had changed up my style of clothing along with my style of hair since last summer.

I usually wore all black punk/goth clothing to honor my sister Thalia, who wore the same thing before her death. But lately I've been finding my own style. My hair? It used to be close-cropped, but now I like to have it brushed up.

Anyways, I sat down at the Zeus table. Suddenly, all conversation came to a stop when Percy entered the pavilion with Tyson.

"Who invited that?" Somebody at the Apollo table said out loud.

From the head table, Dionysus (the Camp Director) spoke up. "Well, well, if it isn't Peter Johnson. My millennium is complete."

"Percy Jackson…sir," Percy said.

Dionysus sipped his Diet Coke. "Yes. Well, as you young people say these days: Whatever."

Next to Mr. D was Tantalus, the new activities director. Tantalus is a pale and thin man in a threadbare orange prisoner jumpsuit. I don't know if Percy had seen him beforehand before dinner, but if he hasn't then I'm genuinely interested to see how he handles being in his presence. Gods know I wish I could run him through with a spear.

"This boy," Mr. D told Tantalus. "You need to watch. Poseidon's child, you know."

"Ah!" Tantalus said. "That one. I am Tantalus. On special assignment here until, well, until my Lord Dionysus decides otherwise. And you, Perseus Jackson, I do expect you to refrain from causing any more trouble."

"Trouble?" Percy demanded.

Mr. D snapped his fingers. A newspaper appeared on the table—the front page of today's New York Post.

"Yes, trouble," Tantalus said with satisfaction. "You caused plenty of it last summer, I understand."

A satyr placed a set of barbecue in front of Tantalus. He licked his lips and turned to his empty goblet next to him and said, "Root better. Barq's special stock. 1967."

The glass filled itself with foamy soda. Tantalus stretched out his hand hesitantly, just wait till you see what'll happen, it's hilarious. Tantalus grabbed for the glass, but it scooted away before he could touch it. A couple drops from the goblet spilled but when Tantalus tried to dab them up they rolled away from him. Tantalus picked up a spork in order to take some brisket, but the plate flew away from him and into the coals of the brazier. "Blast!"

"Ah, well," Dionysus said. "Perhaps a few more days. Believe me, old chap, working at this camp will be torture enough. I'm sure your old curse will fade eventually."

"Eventually," Tantalus muttered while staring at Dionysus' diet coke. "Do you have any idea how dry one's throat gets after three thousand years?"

"You're that spirit from the Fields of Punishment," Percy said. "The one who stands in the lake with the fruit tree hanging over you, but you can't eat or drink."

Tantalus sneered at Percy. "A real scholar, aren't you, boy?"

"You must've done something really horrible when you were alive," Percy said. "What was it?"

Tantalus' eyes narrowed at Percy. Behind him, the satyrs were shaking their heads vigorously at Percy, trying to warn him.

"I'll be watching you, Percy Jackson," Tantalus said. "I don't want any problems at my camp."

"Your camp has problems already…sir."

"Oh, go sit down, Johnson," Dionysus sighed. "I believe that table over there is yours-the one where no one else wants to sit."

Percy balled his fists. "Come on, Tyson."

"Oh, no," Tantalus said. "The monster stays here. We must decide what to do with it."

"Him," Percy snapped. "His name is Tyson."

Tantalus raised his eyebrow.

"Tyson saved the camp," Percy said. "He pounded those bronze bulls. Otherwise they would have burned down this whole place."

"Yes," Tantalus sighed. "And what a pity that would've been."

If he's so desperate to go back to the Fields of Punishment then I'd be more than happy to send him back myself, that's what I wanted to say. But I held myself back.

"Leave us," Tantalus ordered. "While we decide this creature's fate."

Tyson looked at Percy with fear in his eye.

"I'll be over here, big guy," Percy promised. "Don't worry. We'll find you a good place to sleep tonight."

Tyson nodded. "I believe you. You are my friend."

I almost rolled my eyes. But I managed to control myself. Look, he might seem harmless to everybody, but I have experience with being deceived by monsters. They're always hiding something. I'm not gonna let myself be fooled again. Especially now more than ever. Even more especially when it comes to him being a Cyclops. Cyclopes and I have a…not very good history.

Percy moved over to the Poseidon table and slumped onto it alone. After that we received our food. A wood nymph gave me two plates: one with two hamburgers with fries on the side, and another one with two slices of pepperoni pizza. I walked over to the bronze brazier in the middle of the pavilion. I took off a piece of one of the burgers, a bit of fries, and half a slice of pizza and tossed them into the brazier.

"Zeus," I said. "Please accept my offering."

I really hope that the camp stays safe, it's the only home that I have. If it gets destroyed, then I'll have nowhere to go. No demigod would have anywhere to go, we'd all be hunted down to extinction. Maybe, there is some way for Thalia's tree to stay alive and we could fix all of this…matter of fact, I think there actually is a way. It's foggy, but I remember hearing about something that can potentially fix all of this.

I headed back to Zeus Cabin where I continued to eat what I had left. By the time I had finished, Tantalus had snatched a conch horn out of the hands of a satyr and blew it to get everybody's attention.

"Yes, well," Tantalus said. "Another fine meal! Or so I'm told."

He moved his hand toward a plate still filled with food, but it shot away from him toward the edge of the table. "And here on my official first day of authority, I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture-er-interract with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat."

Dionysus clapped his hands. Tyson stood at the head table, looking scared. Everytime he tried to inch away, Tantalus would pull him back.

"And now some changes!" A crooked smile appears on Tantalus' face. "We are reinstituting the chariot races!"

My eyes widened. What!? Bringing back the chariot races!? Is he insane…wait let me rephrase that. He's insane!

The tables bursted into conversation, some people were excited, others were terrified, others were saying that they were confident that they were going to win (however it was very clear that they were faking confidence).

"Now I know," Tantalus said. "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"

Still not worth it. So many people have died the last time the chariot races were held. This, for some reason, still got more people on board. But then out of nowhere, Clarisse stood from her cabin and spoke.

"But, sir!" Clarisse said. She looked nervous, something that I thought I would never see from her. "What about patrol duty? I mean, if we drop everything to ready our chariots-"

"Ah, the hero of the day," Tantalus said. "Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls, the minotaur, and the nemean lion!"

No way, is he serious? Clarisse only took down one of those things!

"Wrong," I said, hiding it beneath a cough.

Dionysus and Tantalus glared at me, but they didn't say anything.

"He's right," Clarisse said. "I didn't-"

"And modest, too," Tantalus grinned. "Not to worry about him my dear! He just wants all the glory, that's natural for a son of Zeus."

This time I actually rolled my eyes.

"This is a summer camp," Tantalus said. "We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?"

"But the tree-"

"And now," Tantalus said. Clarisse's siblings pulled her back down onto her seat. "Before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring this here."

Tantalus waved his hand at Tyson. A lot of the campers gave Percy and Annabeth dirty looks. "Now, of course. Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes' cabin, possibly?"

The Hermes Cabin members had mixed looks on their faces. But mostly the type of faces that said "NO WAY!"

And then, that's when it happened. There was a blinding green light. Once the light dissipated a bit we saw it. Above Tyson's head was a large holographic image of a green trident. Tyson, a monster, was just claimed by Poseidon.

"Well! I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can see the family resemblance. He has his father's eyes-well-eye," Tantalus said, everybody laughed except for Annabeth, Percy, me, and a few others. Tyson didn't look like he noticed, he was in awe, he tried to swat the trident away, but it was already fading.

Well, looks like Percy has a new cabin mate.

The next three days I was split with a few things: Of course daily camp activities, prepping for the chariot races, and finding out what could be used in order to help the camp. I went to the Athena cabin and asked Annabeth if I could borrow a few books. They didn't mind all that much that I was borrowing their books because they had multiple copies of the same books. But regardless they looked very serious when they told me to be careful with them.

I looked through as many of the books as I could before I finally found it, the Golden Fleece. The Golden Fleece is a magical artifact that has powerful healing properties. If I could get the fleece, then return it to camp and put it on Thalia's tree, then maybe the barrier will be restored. As soon as I found out about it I went to Tantalus and Dionysus, I hounded them to give me the quest in order to get the fleece, but they wouldn't budge.

I tried persuading them in every way possible. I even tried to make a deal that if I win the chariot race then I can go on the quest. Once again, they denied it. So after that I came to the conclusion that after the chariot races, I would sneak out of camp in order to go find the Golden Fleece. Why after the chariot races? Because, well, I still want to be in the chariot race. I've never been able to participate because by the time I got to camp for the first time, the races had been outlawed already. So I at least wanted to get a taste of what it's like before I head off.

But then that brought up the question. How would I get the chariot? Everybody else was making these super cool chariots with their cabin mates (but apparently Percy and Annabeth were working together, though). Since I'm the only child of Zeus at camp, I'm stuck with doing this whole thing by myself. Believe me, I tried my best to make a chariot, but in the end I had a last ditch effort. I knew what to do.

I had to ask my dad for help.

Once I was outside I kneeled onto the ground and closed my eyes. "Lord Zeus, the chariot races will be occurring at Camp Half-Blood very soon. I am your only child at camp and therefore I hold the sole responsibility for the outcome that the cabin has. I request of you, father, to give me a chariot so that I can participate in the race and let Zeus Cabin take its rightful place at the top."

I waited a moment…CRACK!

I opened my eyes, smoke settled. The chariot was there. And to be fair, it looked pretty cool. It was made completely out of gold and was adorned with tiny faces of my father that had tiny sapphires for eyes. On the back of the chariot were two large golden lightning bolts, and pulling the chariot were two creatures that had the body of a lion, head and feet of an eagle, and large wings on their backs. They were Gryphons, and just like the chariot, those Gryphons looked to be made out of gold as well.

The chariot had cannons on their sides. Inside of the cannon were a bunch of buttons and levers made out of different gems. I smirked. "Thanks, Dad."

After I had gotten the chariot and discovered what all the buttons and levers do, I started to do some training with Percy.

We spared for about an hour before we finally stopped. Then finally, the day came. It was time for the Chariot Races.

It was as hot as a sauna, groups of birds had perched themselves on the trees, watching us. They didn't look like regular birds. They made this metallic screeching sound, that was odd. I might have to keep an eye on those birds, they're rubbing me the wrong way.

I was wearing a bronze chestplate over an orange camp t-shirt, leather bracers, and a helmet with a red plume on it.

The chariots were all lined up side by side on the racetrack. The racetrack was built in a grassy field between the archery range and the woods. Hephaestus' Cabin used the two Colchis Bulls, which they had been able to tame, to lead their chariot.

Tantalus stood from one of the rows of stone steps that were made for the spectators. "Right! You all know the rules. A quarter-mile track, Twice around to win. Two horses per chariot. Each team will consist of a driver and a fighter. However, unless you are the sole member of your team, too bad, so sad. Deal with it. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anybody! Any killing will result in harsh punishment. No s'mores at the campfire for a week! Now ready your chariots!"

Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus, led the Hephaestus team onto the track. They had a chariot made of bronze and iron to go with the two bulls pulling their chariot. But I'm sure the chariot had all sorts of mechanical traps and other options, that's something I'll have to look out for.

The chariot the Ares cabin had was bloodred, and was pulled by two horse skeletons. Clarisse climbed onto it with a batch of javelins, spiked balls, caltrops, and a bunch of other weapons.

Apollo Cabin's chariot was trim and graceful and just like mine, it was completely gold and was being pulled by two palominos. Their fight was armed with a bow, but the fighter had promised not to shoot regular pointed arrows at the opposing drivers.

Hermes Cabin's chariot was green and looked pretty worn down. It was being manned by Connor and Travis Stoll, now those two were people that I had to look out for. Who knows what they've got up their sleeve. The other two chariots were the Athena chariot and the Poseidon chariot.

Percy had told me that originally he and Annabeth were going to work together, but they got into an argument and split up.

Before the race began, Percy approached Annabeth and I to speak with us. He told us about a dream that he had last night, he had a dream about Grover. That got us listening. Grover was wearing a wedding dress and was apparently trying to keep himself from being eaten by Polyphemus the Cyclops. Polyphemus has something, something that radiates nature magic so powerful that satyrs think that it is Pan, the god of the wild, but they end up being drawn to Polyphemus and getting eaten instead. Grover apparently needs our help. And Grover had also made an empathy link between him and Percy. It stayed on my mind for a bit. Something that had that powerful of nature magic. I read that when I was reading about the Golden Fleece! The Golden Fleece is with Polyphemus…

"So Grover needs our help?" I asked, still thinking.

"Yes," Percy said. "And he doesn't have that much time left."

Annabeth looked suspicious. "You're trying to distract me."

"What? No I'm not!" Percy yelled.

"Oh, right! Like Grover would just happen to stumble across the one thing that could save the camp," Annabeth responded.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"Go back to your chariot, Percy," Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"I'm not making this up," Percy said. "He's in trouble, Annabeth."

Annabeth hesitated. "Percy, an empathy link is so hard to do. I mean, it's more likely you really were dreaming."

"The Oracle," Percy said. "We could consult the Oracle."

Annabeth frowned, before she could respond, the conch horn blew.

"Charioteers!" Tantalus called. "To your mark!"

"We'll talk later," Annabeth said. "After I win."

"You mean after I win," I said.

Annabeth pushed my shoulder and walked away. "You're delusional."

Percy and I separated and I went back to my chariot. I noticed that the number of birds in the trees doubled since the last time I saw them, and they were screeching even more now. My chariot might have looked cool, but it wasn't that comfortable to sit in.

"Charioteers!" Tantalus shouted. "Attend your mark!"

He waved his hand and the starting signal dropped. The chariots roared to life. Hooves pounded against the dirt. The crowd cheered.

CRACK!

The Apollo cabin was flipped over, the Hermes chariot had rammed into it. And just like that, chaos unleashed. I headed off, the two Gryphons rushed around the track. I was in third place, right behind Hermes and Ares. I grabbed onto one of the golden levers to my left. The lever I grabbed onto controlled one of the left cannons. I aimed and pressed on the button. A blast of insane wind pressure blew out of it and hit the Hermes chariot, sending it tumbling over and onto the ground.

As soon as I knew it I was right next to the Ares chariot. Jermaine Pierce, the fighter of the Ares chariot, thrusted a javelin at me, but I blocked it with Aegis. I clicked the emerald colored button and out of the chariot shot a net. It wrapped around Jermaine and then the next second he was being shocked by electricity.

Electric Net? Cool.

Jermaine fell to the floor of the chariot. Clarisse looked at him and then growled at me. Before she could do anything I shot another blast of wind out of the cannon. It blew the chariot away to the side, and it almost fell when it almost went off the tracks, but Clarisse was somehow able to get it back on. Nonetheless, I was in the lead.

But it wasn't long before something else caught my attention. I looked into the air, the birds that were on the trees had flown off and all of them were spiraling in the air like a tornado. Fortunately I was still paying enough attention to block three arrows shot at me by the Apollo chariot. I looked around, and then I pressed onto the amethyst button and from the sides of the chariot a dozen circular objects leaked out from each side and rolled onto the track. When the Apollo chariot ran over them the objects burst and electrified the entire chariot. The driver for the Apollo Cabin lost control and crashed.

I was the first to make the full race around the track. I was grinning ear to ear, but then I heard screaming. I looked to see the birds attacking everyone in the stands and the other chariots.

Wait. oh…Oh…OH!

Stymphalian Birds! How did I not catch on earlier!? Stymphalian Birds are monster birds, essentially. Now that Thalia's tree is weakening, they're inside the camp. A crowd of Stymphalian Birds flew straight at me. I clicked the emerald button three times and the chariot shot out three electric nets that wrapped around them and shocked them till they turned into dust.

Even more Stymphalian Birds came at me, I looked at a diamond button, I clicked it and a see-through window surrounded the cockpit of the chariot, keeping me safe from them. They tried to peck and scratch it in order to break the glass, but they couldn't. I'm guessing that it's indestructible of some sort. But that didn't stop them from covering my view of the track. I could barely see, I tried using as much of the buttons and levers to get them away, but whenever I would it wouldn't last long before they were obstructing my view again.

Suddenly the Stymphalian Birds started going crazy. They started flying around in circles, running into each other. They finally all flew away into the sky in a huge dark wave. When I finally could see again I saw that the Ares chariot and my chariot were neck and neck. We were almost at the finish line. We both struggled to get ahead of one another. We were super close to the finish line and it didn't look like this was getting any better for either of us. So I grabbed the lever and pressed on the button and the wind pressure shot the Ares chariot away and they crashed onto the track, their chariot flipped over.

And I crossed it. I won the chariot race.