Ch12

Annabeth gripped her dagger as she and her siblings assisted the Ares Cabin. How did the tree get poisond. When she first heard of Thalia's tree being poisoned she nearly cried and as the camp faced more attacks her anger grew. Luke please don't tell me you're behind this.

She didn't want to face it but the monster attacks were getting more and more frequent by the day and if Thalia's tree perished she didn't know what she would do.

"Charge!" Clarisse yelled as the first line of Colchis Bulls came at them.

The daughter of Ares lunged at the first bull with her spear as her siblings fell upon the monsters. She drew her knife and went to assist Clarisse. Gripping her knife she stabbed a bull in the eye as Clarisse went for the throat.

"Come on wise girl," Clarisse as the sound of the battlefield intensified. "Lets take these things out."

She nodded. "Everyone stay in formation!"

In the distance she could see that son of Nemesis, Ethan Nakamura and the Hecate Cabin come to their assistance as fire reigned down from the sky. While the Hephaestus and Hermes Cabins were by their sides. They clashed with the monsters preventing them from getting inside

"Hey look is that Percy Jackson!" Malcolm yelled.

She looked up and frowned. Oh great. In the distance, she saw that bastard Alabaster Torrington along with Percy Jackson and a figure that made her freeze. No.

Her body shook as she saw a cyclops alongside Percy and Alabaster. Why did they bring that here? Memories of her past replayed in her mind, suddenly she was a little girl again.

A hand shook her shoulder. "Come on lets go wise girl!" Clarisse yelled snapping her out of her thoughts.

Green cards floated in the air as Alabaster Torrington summoned a barrage of flames that hit them monsters that came close to them while Percy protectively stood in front of the cyclops.

Stupid seaweed brain had to bring a monster of all things to camp. She watched in disgust as Alabaster let that cyclops inside, the hairs on her neck stood up as the memories of her childhood came back to her. Those things are nothing but monsters. What is he thinking? Bringing that thing here? A shiver went down her spine as she fought the urge to cry.

Clarisse shook her by the shoulder. "You ok wise girl?"

"Oh uh yeah," she muttered.

"Come on lets go," Clarisse said.

As she watched Percy Jackson greet the children of Hecate her blood boiled as they all greeted Percy, Lou Ellen ran over and gave him a hug. Stupid extras.

Percy sighed as he looked at Tyson. Who would've thought that the guy I befriended was a cyclops. It had been a rough day; first his mother tried talking him into not going to camp then at school he was ambushed by some giants and was saved when Alabaster came to get him.

Surprisingly the day got stranger. From there he and Alabaster met the Gray Sisters, got some weird coordinates, and arrived at camp where things went south when Tyson was claimed.

"It's alright Tyson you can stay with us," he said firmly as they headed to the Poseidon Cabin. His blood was boiling at how the camp laughed at Tyson and how Tantalus humiliated them.

Tyson looked at him and nodded his gaze downward. "Th-Thank you Percy."

He put on a tight smile, his brother was a monster in the eyes of the camp and in a way they looked down on him too, most of them at least.

"Don't worry Percy he seems like a nice guy," Ethan said. "I'm sure camp will warm up to him."

"I hope so," he muttered as he headed to the Poseidon Cabin. To his surprise he found Alabaster sitting on a bed with his deck of cards in his hand. "Don't you have your own cabin now?"

The son of Hecate froze. "It's quieter here." Alabaster avoided his gaze as he shuffled his cards in a fancy way.

"Uh ok. Come on Tyson you can take that bed," he said pointing to a bed by the corner.

Tyson nodded and rested on the bed. "So do you think we can save the tree?" He asked as he sat across from Alabaster. Ethan sat down on a bed next to him his face calm.

A shadow crossed Alabaster's face as he shook his head. "I got nothing. Neither I nor my siblings know how to cure it. The poison isn't that common and I doubt the gods would be willing to let our aunt check up on it given who that tree was."

He had heard the story from Grover of how Thalia Grace sacrificed herself and was now a tree. It was sad but he hoped the situation could be fixed. Sitting on his bed he listened to the sound of the leaves rustling outside and the sound of a branch breaking.

"The only solution is to find another way to cure it," Ethan said as he plopped himself on a bed. "But it would be a miracle at this point."

"Yeah true," he muttered. Outside he swore he heard the sound of someone walking around the cabin but upon looking out he saw nothing. "So about those coordinates we got, do you know what they are?"

Alabaster frowned as he sat a card down. "The Sea of Monsters, or as mortals call it the Bermuda Triangle. Also where my big sister Circe lives." He said the last part with a bit of disgust.

"Oh," he said as Alabaster frowned at the cards. "You don't get along with her?"

"She does have a habit of turning people into pigs," Ethan said. "At least according to the myths."

Alabaster sighed. "I met her a few times but she always did prefer daughters of Hecate. But she is loyal to our mother."

He scratched his head. "You think there could be something there that could help the tree?"

Alabaster set a card down and slowly nodded. "The golden fleece could help but it's not an easy location to get to."

"Yeah there are a lot of monsters among other things," Ethan said. "Besides it's not like we can just leave camp."

He nodded and looked at the cards Alabaster was shuffling. A part of him really did want to help the tree and go out on some quest but he also wanted to help defend the camp and right now it looked like the camp could use all the hands it could get.

"Well there is no point dwelling on it," Alabaster said as he finished shuffling his cards. "Either way a quest will be issued soon, if the gods don't hear our pleas then the camp will fall sooner or later."

He sighed. "Fine. Well I'm going to bed you both stay here?" Ethan and Alabaster nodded so he clapped his hands and the lights went out.

That night he dreamt of Luke standing in front of a large golden coffin that gave off a colder aura. "We'll just have to be patient," Luke muttered. "Soon they'll go and find it then all will be well."

A cold voice reverberated throughout the room sending a chill down his spine. "You better not fail."

The next few days the mood at the camp worsened and Tantalus was acting even more like a tyrant but decided to hold a chariot race to lighten the morale.

"So I made this chariot design," Ethan said as they looked over a large blueprint. "Percy I was thinking you could drive it and Alabaster you could add protective magic to it."

"Sounds good," he said as he noticed some girls walk past Tyson, giggle, and walk away. He clenched his fists and shook his head. "Come on Tyson we are going to build a chariot."

I shouldn't dwell on them. But it wasn't right how so many people dismissed Tyson without even getting to know him.

The cyclops nodded and went over to him his eyes betraying sorrow beneath them. "I want to help."

"Come on the forges are this way," he said. Luckily the Hephaestus Cabin were the only ones that were actually nice to Tyson.

As Ethan spoke with Beckendorf and showed Tyson what they needed to build a familiar blonde girl came up to him.

"Hello seaweed brain," Annabeth said her arms folded. Her gray eyes were anything but friendly as she looked at Tyson.

"What do you want?" He asked curtly.

Annabeth folded her arms. "What do you think you're doing bringing in something like that here."

"Excuse me?" He balled his fists meeting Annabeth's eyes. Out of all the problems he had he did not want to wise girl bothering him or deal with her attitude.

"A monster like that has no place in this camp," Annabeth said with a hint of disgust causing Tyson to flinch.

His body reacted on its own when he shoved her away. "Get out of my sight!"

A small group of campers stopped and watched as he and Annabeth glared at each other.

"You're such a nuisance," Annabeth said her body shaking as she met his gaze. "Why did you even bring that thing here? Are you stupid?"

"Likewise! Maybe you should join Luke since you're his friend" He yelled. All of the frustration he was experiencing was slowly bubbling to the surface and he wasn't going to have Annabeth of all people lecture him about who was a monster and was not.

There was a small gasp from the crowd and much to his pleasure Annabeth's gaze hardened. "Don't you dare say his name!"

His posture turned rigid, with everything that was going on he was not in the mood for her condescending behavior. "Why not? He betrayed the camp and tried to kill me!"

They both were a few inches from each other's faces, he was sick of everything and the way everyone was treating Tyson and he wasn't in the mood for Annabeth's condescending behavior.

"Hey why don't we just calm down," Lou said as she came between them.

Lou grabbed his hand her presence calming him down. "Lets just focus on our chariots no need for a fight." She then turned to Annabeth. "Tyson is a nice guy maybe you should get to know him instead of judging him off of your own prejudices."

Annabeth's gaze narrowed on Lou. "Mind your own business extra."

His blood boiled. "Hey don't talk to her like that? Who do you think you are?" From behind him, he could feel some of the glares of some of Lou's siblings, unfortunately Alabaster wasn't nearby.

"Just stating the facts," Annabeth said coldly looking at how Lou held onto him. "They are just some extras who can only do some magic tricks, there is nothing special about them."

Surprisingly Lou stepped forward and muttered something in Latin. "You have something on your arm."

Annabeth frowned. "No I-" She paused as she saw the image of a spider on her arm that slowly began to move. "AHH!" She let out a shriek as she hit the tattoo which only made it turn into two spiders. "AHH!" The daughter of Athena rolled around crazily as she tried to hit the moving spider images, but with each one she hit they only split into two.

He had to laugh, along with the other children of Hecate as Annabeth Chase rolled on the ground as tattooed spiders ran across her skin. With each one she hit two more appeared.

"Enjoy my trick," Lou said sarcastically. "Come on Percy."

As much as he was enjoying the show he left. "Thanks," he muttered.

Lou smiled at him. "Don't let her or others get to you. Tyson is a good person."

Her words calmed the tension in his body. "That means a lot," he muttered. "Sorry she said such things about you."

"Just ignore them and do your best to help Tyson," Lou said calmly. "You can't force people to like him just like you can't force people to like us."

He sighed as he looked at Tyson work in the forges with a wide smile on his face. "I know." It wasn't fair though, the children of Hecate were pretty cool yet people like Annabeth treated them like an annoyance.

"Come on lets work on our chariot," Lou said.

It wasn't easy but he did his best to try and ignore the other campers whenever they made a snide remark about Tyson. He put all of his energy into building the chariot with Ethan and Alabaster and when they were done they had a rather cool looking chariot fit with magical protection and everything.

"Looks like our main competition will be the Hephaestus Cabin along with the combined Ares and Athena Cabins," Alabaster said as he finished putting a ward on the chariot.

He rolled his eyes. "Great the two girls who I like the least on the same chariot."

Ethan folded his arms. "Don't worry that means we can hit two birds with one stone."

They all laughed. He didn't like Clarisse because she was a bully, Annabeth on the other hand was a condescending jerk who looked at Tyson as if he were some evil monster who must be killed and forever reason still didn't like Alabaster or his siblings.

"So do you really want to win this to get the quest?" Alabaster asked.

He looked to the ground and sighed. "I don't really care to be honest. Maybe someone else can go? I just don't want to abandon the camp in the state it is in right now." Frankly he could go either way but he just wanted the camp to get better and for Chiron to be reinstated.

"Well we can use all the hands we can get," Ethan said.

Alabaster shrugged. "It'll work out. As my mother says there are many different paths in life. Personally I'm indifferent I don't mind another quest or staying here."

He nodded not knowing what to say. Yeah he was given those coordinates and he could probably navigate the Sea of Monsters but at the same time he didn't want to abandon the camp. I wonder where Grover is now? The last postcard his friend sent him he was in Texas but mentioned he might come and visit camp. I hope we can see each other this summer.

When the day of the race arrived the tension in the air was so thick he could cut it with a knife. Annabeth glared at him and Lou the entire day her face red from hitting herself, he had it on good word that her siblings thought the spiders were real and it was only after a while that Lou ended the spell. All the campers looked anxious as Tantalus and Mr. D watched on the sidelines with apathy.

He gripped the reigns of his chariot while Ethan stood with his spear in hand. "You ready?"

The son of Nemesis nodded. "I am."

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Clarisse and Annabeth having a heated discussion, the daughter of Ares's face was stone cold while Annabeth looked as if she were trying to argue about something.

"Alright winner takes all," Tantalus said. "On your mark, get set, go!"

Their chariot raced past the Hermes Cabin and immediately came to the side of the Hephaestus Cabin. Beckendorf grinned as one of his siblings tried to stab at their wheels with a sword. However, Ethan blocked it with his spear and tried to counter but the Hephaestus Cabin's chariot veered to the left.

Suddenly he heard people screaming. "Look out!" Ethan yelled as he stabbed a large bird that tried to bite him.

The pegasi neighed loudly as he stopped the chariot. Tyson, Alabaster, and the Hecate Cabin came to his aid as a large flock of monsters flew at them. All around them the campers were being attack by the birds as people went to grab their weapons.

"Lucendi!" Alabaster yelled as his siblings yelled similar spells.

Lightning rained down on the monsters as Tyson pulled off a large branch and started hitting the birds. "Come on lets go," he said as he drew Riptide and stabbed a bird. Ethan leaped out of the chariot and stabbed one of the monsters in the chest.

A loud horn blasted through the area as the remaining birds were defeated. "Clarisse and Annabeth are the winners," Tantalus declared before turning to him and Tyson. "Poseidon Cabin you all will clean the dishes as punishment."

He was about to yell but Ethan grabbed his shoulder. "Come not here, it'll just cause trouble."

As he turned away and saw Clarisse who had a stone cold expression and Annabeth who was frowning.

Luckily for them Tyson wanted to do the dishes and was a good cleaner and of course Alabaster had his magic. "So it looks like they'll get the quest," Lou Ellen said as she and her brother used magic to dry the dishes.

He sighed. "Yup looks like it." He shifted in his seat. "You think I should tell her the coordinates?" He knew it would be helpful, the problems was if they would even accept his small bit of help.

Alabaster looked at him with his calm green eyes. "If you want to, it would be their choice to accept it or not."

Ethan nodded. "True. Frankly I think they could use all of the help they can get."

"True," he muttered. "But I'm not really friends with either of them."

"I could go with you," Lou said with a cheery smile. "I'm good at mediating disputes."

Alabaster frowned. "Clarisse isn't a person to fool around with Lou."

Lou rolled her eyes. "Oh come on Al I'll be fine."

He looked at her and nodded. "Sounds good."

The rest of the evening was tense as Clarisse got her prophecy. The mood in the camp as Clarisse came from the Big House attic. "I'll head out immediately," she said before heading off to her cabin her eyes hard as steel.

"Come on lets go," Lou said grabbing his arm.

They followed the daughter of Ares and managed to catch up with her before she returned to her cabin. "What do you want?" Clarisse asked her gaze hardening. "If you want to go on my quest then the answer is no."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not here for that."

"We have information that you might find useful," Lou said her voice as calm and soothing as a night tide. "You see Percy had a little runin with the Grey Sisters."

"Y-Yeah uh we have coordinates for the Sea of Monsters," he said. It may have been his imagination but he swore he heard the leaves rustle behind him as if someone were nearby, but when he looked around there was no one else.

Clarisse's posture stiffened as he told her the coordinates. When he was done she only nodded. "I'll keep them in mind."

With that, she stormed off back to her cabin not even looking back. Geez not even a thank you?