shiiki
in
shiikifics
FIC: The Golden Fleece, chpt 23
Title: The Golden Fleece (Daughter of Wisdom 2)
Author: shiiki
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Tyson, Luke Castellan, Clarisse La Rue, Chiron, Thalia Grace, various others, Gen
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Summary: Annabeth Chase returns to Camp Half-Blood to find the safety of her home shattered: Thalia's tree has been poisoned, destroying the magic barriers protecting the camp, and Chiron is blamed. Only one thing can save the camp, and it's up to Annabeth and her best friend Percy to find it. The problem is, they set off with a monster in tow. Once again, the quest and the surprises it has in store is about to change everything she thinks she knows. An alternate PoV retelling of Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.
In this chapter
Chapter Title: Chiron's Relatives Stampede A Ship
Rating: PG
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Grover Underwood, Tyson, Luke Castellan, Chiron
Word Count: 4,346
Chapter Summary: Chiron and the Party Ponies ride to the rescue, and Annabeth and company take the Centaur Express back to Long Island.
A/N: A note on Luke-I do think he had multiple motivations to serve Kronos, which Percy as the PoV character doesn't see, particularly in the earlier books. The way Percy's first-person narrative presents Luke in LT and SoM is actually staggeringly different from descriptions in the later half of the series, which initially seemed like inconsistent characterisation of Luke, but on subsequent analysis, I felt it showcased Percy's character growth as he begins to see Luke differently-no longer a two-dimensional villain but a flawed human being. Especially when Luke himself realises he's got in over his head and what he thought was the right path turned out to be the worst decision of his life. Anyway, this isn't a Luke fic, but I still wanted to hint at the possible motivations that drove him. People are complicated and trying to portray that in characters is one of my favourite parts of writing fiction.
As usual, recognisable dialogue is from Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.
Back to Fic Content Page
We were back on the Princess Andromeda. Luke's hideous henchmen, the bear twins, hauled us on board and dropped us on the swimming pool deck in front of an army of monsters and demigods. I felt sick, both from the array of mixed forces Luke had assembled before us and my own stupidity. How could I have forgotten that Luke was after the Fleece, too?
It was lucky that we no longer had it. Percy's decision to send Clarisse off was turning out to be a fantastic idea after all. Luke had no idea we'd joined forces with Clarisse. Now the Fleece was nowhere he would expect.
He paced back and forth in front of us, finally stopping at Percy. 'The Fleece-where is it?' He levelled his sword menacingly, first at Percy, then at Grover, who protested when it pierced his jeans.
Luke smiled, but it was completely devoid of warmth. 'Sorry, old friend. Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest.' His voice was calm, but his eyes betrayed his agitation, at least to me.
Grover bleated indignantly. 'Some old friend!'
Luke raised an eyebrow and turned to Percy. 'Maybe you didn't hear me. Where-is-the-Fleece?' He repeated the question with exaggerated slowness, each word as cold as ice.
'Not here,' Percy said, lifting his chin defiantly. 'We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up.'
I would have elbowed him or stomped on his foot to get him to shut up if fifty pairs of monster and demigod eyes hadn't been staring at us. Anyway, it was too late. Luke was quick to realise the truth.
I sighed. First Clarisse, now Percy-why did they have to be so dense at crucial moments, giving away our strategies?
'Clarisse?' Luke spluttered. 'You trusted … you gave …' And then he went ballistic. He screamed out orders and threats, paced the deck, and cursed so fervently that it almost sounded like a prayer. His eyes were completely wild. He seemed frantic to get to Miami Airport, to chase down Clarisse and obtain the Fleece.
He looked like I'd seen him in my dream, running through the dark tunnels in a panic.
I'd seen him lose his temper before, most recently when Percy had tried to talk to him about Hermes. But he was infinitely more crazed now. I'd never seen him look this desperate … except-except on that long-ago night on Half-Blood Hill, when he'd carried me away from Thalia.
Why would losing the Fleece induce this level of desperation in him? What did he want it for? I suspected his plan was to revive Kronos, but this reaction … it was so over the top, so personal, I felt true fear for him. Did Kronos really engender such deep loyalty from Luke?
You showed me that Kronos is not the way, you were able to build the world better. The Sirens' vision played in my head. This was still my old friend Luke, who cared deeply about something, only Kronos had twisted his emotions to serve the wrong cause.
Percy called out to Luke, 'You've been toying with us all along. You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it.'
Luke whirled around to face him. He looked angry enough to slash through Percy there and then with his sword. 'Of course, you idiot!' he growled. 'And you've messed everything up!'
'Traitor!' Percy yelled. He pulled a golden coin from his pocket and flung it at Luke in an uncharacteristic display of temper.
I narrowed my eyes. Angry at he might be at Luke, it wasn't like him to throw things about in rage.
'You tricked all of us!' Percy continued loudly. 'Even Dionysus at Camp Half-Blood!' He enunciated the last words carefully, which gave me a clue as to what he was really doing.
The Iris message that started to form in the fountain of pool water behind Luke was an even bigger hint. Percy drew his sword as though he intended to start fighting, effectively capturing Luke's attention, along with that of half the onlookers. I quickly backed him up. The giant Oreius still had a threatening hand on my collar, so I twisted like I meant to free myself. Oreius tightened his grip and I made a big show of struggling even harder as Percy goaded Luke into revealing his role in poisoning Thalia's tree. He was good, too-he even managed to work it round to Chiron's innocence. I carefully avoided looking at the fountain, although I knew Mr D's face would be there, watching the entire spectacle.
Oreius grew tired of my squirming and he smacked my head into Grover's. It was just a warning bump-at least I thought it was-but it still made me see stars.
'You don't understand the half of it,' Luke said, and he sounded more enraged than ever. 'I was going to let you take the Fleece … once I was done with it.'
I wondered if the knock to my head had addled my brain. Luke sounded so adamant, so sincere-yet he subsequently agreed that he meant to use the Fleece to help Kronos's regeneration.
Scenes I had seen in my dreams flashed quickly through my head. The first one at the start of the whole business-Luke (I knew it had been him, now) telling the tree, trust me. Luke's anxious conversation about running out of time. His talk about a gamble. His bargain with Kronos to save my life. Had that been the deal all along? If he acquired the Fleece for Kronos, the Titan lord would let him heal Thalia's tree and spare me? The idea gave me some hope that under the polished mask of Kronos's servant, vestiges of my oldest friend still remained.
But Luke had poisoned Thalia's tree. It wouldn't have needed saving if he hadn't done it in the first place.
It didn't make sense. There was still something I was missing.
Percy concluded his trick, finally drawing everyone's attention to Mr D's face in the fountain. And not just Mr D. We'd caught him at dinner time, so the entire mess hall, including Tantalus and all the remaining campers were listening to Luke's confession with open mouths. I caught sight of Connor Stoll, who was holding his fork halfway to his mouth. A piece of brisket fell from it back onto his plate.
'Mr D, you heard him-you all heard Luke,' Percy said. 'The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault!'
'I suppose not,' Mr D said.
If I hadn't been so conflicted about Luke, I probably would have cheered along with the other campers in the Iris message, thrilled with Percy's success. He'd cleared Chiron's name. Tantalus was going to be fired.
I promised myself I'd tell him how brilliant he was later. Right now, we still had to get out of this mess. And though things were looking up for Chiron and the camp, they were definitely looking bad for us.
Luke slashed through the Iris message and turned on Percy. 'Kronos was right, Percy,' he snarled. 'You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced.'
Although there were more than enough fighters on deck to handle the four of us, Luke summoned a dozen more, as if to show that he could. A ring of masked demigods encircled us, their spears gleaming as their brass tips aimed at our hearts. I couldn't tell who they were beneath their masks, though it was highly likely that I knew some of them.
'You'll never leave this boat alive,' Luke said with a cold smile.
Percy didn't even glance at Luke's henchmen. He issued a challenge directly to Luke: 'One on one-what are you afraid of?'
The warriors all turned to Luke. Percy had presented him with a dilemma-the wisest thing to do would be to ignore Percy and leave, but that would also give his men the impression that he feared taking Percy on himself.
At the same time, Agrius returned to the deck with a black Pegasus that seemed about as thrilled as we were to be on board the ship.
'I told you last summer, Percy. You can't bait me into a fight.' In spite of these words, Luke ignored Agrius and his ride to the airport, keeping his eyes fixed on Percy.
'And you keep avoiding one. Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?'
Percy's comment was designed to sting. Luke was the best sword-fighter Camp Half-Blood had seen in three hundred years. He had a lot to lose backing down from a challenge … and admittedly little by actually fighting Percy. I knew Percy was good-I'd seen him battle Ares last summer-but Luke had trained Percy himself.
Percy must have known all this, too, but still he stood calmly staring Luke down. He had to know that all he could do was buy time. I mentally calculated how long it would take for Clarisse to get on a flight and out of Luke's grasp. She had to be at the airport by now.
Luke raised his sword-a blade with a dual edge of bronze and steel. I'd seen him training with it last summer before he'd left camp. He'd said it was new. I wondered morbidly if it had been his prize for pledging his service to Kronos. It made me think again, what exactly had Kronos promised Luke in return for his loyalty?
'I'll kill you quickly,' Luke said to Percy. He whistled sharply and one of the demigods threw him a shield. My heart clenched miserably. Bad enough to have two boys I cared about facing off in combat. The sight of Percy on top of that, looking so pitifully defenceless against a fully-armed Luke, who had over sixty men and monsters as back-up …
'Luke, at least give him a shield,' I pleaded.
Luke looked at me for the first time since he'd ambushed us. We locked eyes for a second, but I couldn't read his expression. Finally, he said, 'Sorry, Annabeth. You bring your own equipment to this party.'
With that, he lunged forward. I bit back a scream as his blade narrowly missed Percy's heart. Before this, I'd only heard about Luke's previous attack on Percy second-hand, from Percy himself. Actually seeing Luke lunge and strike mercilessly at Percy brought me to tears.
I'd watched Luke fight many times at camp and thought his craft to be a thing of beauty, but there was nothing beautiful about this duel. This man, who fought with cold, calculated murder in his eyes, was not my old friend. It couldn't be. It had to be Kronos through and through.
I wanted to close my eyes. I couldn't bear to watch the two of them duel. But the only thing worse than watching Luke kill Percy would be knowing Percy had died at Luke's hands and I'd been too cowardly to look.
Percy's blood splattered the pool deck. He was cut over and over again, and while he tried to use the water in the pool to his advantage, Luke was too good. He was wearing Percy down.
Finally, Percy rolled across the deck and lay still, just ten feet away from me. I tried to run to him but Oreius held me fast. He gave my head another warning knock against Grover's.
Luke smiled, a cold, malicious smile that made me shiver. 'One thing I want you to watch before you die, Percy.' He looked at Oreius and I thought I saw a shadow pass through his eyes, breaking up that cruel look in them for a split second. He jerked his head to the right almost imperceptibly. Oreius shifted, loosening his hold on me slightly.
'You can eat your dinner now, Oreius,' Luke said. 'Bon appetite.'
Oreius laughed and raised Grover to his mouth. Grover bleated in terror.
Suddenly, the grip on my neck slackened off. I twisted free of Oreius and found that the bear twin had been struck by an arrow straight in the mouth. Grover collapsed to the deck and crawled away quickly as Oreius exploded into monster dust. Luke paused, his attention diverted from Percy, who was trying to get back on his feet. I drew my knife just as the deck exploded into a whirlwind of colour.
The cavalry had arrived, in the form of an assortment of whooping centaurs, who were charging out of every exit. The whole ship seemed to reverberate with the beat of their hooves against the deck and the echo of their cries and hoots. Their bodies were a dizzying explosion of colour, not just from their skins and hides but the gaudy t-shirts they sported, with neon letters announcing that the PARTY PONIES had arrived. They galloped in too fast for me to be certain, but I thought some of them had actually painted the words straight onto their chests.
'Oh yeah, baby!' screamed the Party Ponies as they trashed the deck like they were having some insane revelry that was half battle and half blowout bash.
They had the most unconventional weapons I had ever seen, from paintball guns to baseball bats, but they were certainly effective. Bright paint bullets slammed into monsters' hides, sending them ducking for cover from the multi-coloured onslaught. Demigod warriors dropped like stones when bats slammed them in the head. Some of the Party Ponies had bows, but their arrows looked like they'd come from a joke shop, with tips ranging from suction cups to boxing gloves. One of the latter flew at Luke and knocked him straight into the swimming pool with a big splash.
A very familiar, very welcome face came galloping through the crowd of his relatives.
'What ho, Annabeth!' Chiron said. He grabbed Grover and me by our waists and tossed us onto his back. He called out to the other centaurs, 'Withdraw, brethren!'
'We have to get Percy!' I said, scanning the deck. I'd lost sight of him in the mêlée. 'Before Luke does!' I could see Luke, dripping wet from his enforced swim, trying to rally his troops.
'You won't get away with this horse man!'
'And yet, we are,' Chiron said as he turned away and ran for the guard rail. 'Don't worry, Annabeth. Larry has him.' He pointed to a palomino centaur, who was sagging a little under the combined weight of Percy and Tyson. And then he picked up speed and vaulted straight off the Princess Andromeda, landing the ten-storey jump with no more than a faint thud-less turbulence than an airplane landing. The other centaurs followed like a rainbow arching from the ship. Miami went by in a blue of buildings, palm trees, and centaur cat-calls. If I'd ever wondered how Chiron always seemed to travel quickly to places when he left camp, I was no longer in doubt. It was like riding a whirlwind through the marshes of Florida.
Chiron barely seemed winded by the exertion. As we ran, he spoke with only the slightest pant in his voice, like he was only taking a leisurely jog.
'I'm proud of you, my child. Now tell me, what happened in the Sea of Monsters?'
I glowed at his praise. While we sprinted north, I related everything that had happened since we'd last spoken, from our entrance into the Sea of Monsters to our departure from Polyphemus's island. 'Percy was amazing,' I concluded. 'If it wasn't for him-'
'Yes,' Chiron said. For some reason, his eyes were crinkled in amusement. 'He is becoming quite the hero, isn't he? It is a good sign for the prophecy.'
The prophecy! I bit my lip. 'Um … Chiron, I told Percy …'
Chiron's eyes darkened. 'I take it he asked you about the prophecy?'
'I'm sorry. I think Luke said something about it to him, and he wanted to know, and …'
'And you thought it would do no harm?'
'Well, Percy isn't going to turn against the gods. Knowing about the prophecy-I mean, it's scary, but maybe it will help him figure out how to fight Kronos.'
Chiron slowed to a trot. We fell quickly to the back of the centaur pack. 'It is not just the prophecy itself that I hoped to protect him from. Annabeth, have you considered that Percy's knowledge of the prophecy might affect how Kronos views him?'
'What do you mean?'
'The Titan lord seeks to manipulate heroes-while a vague prophecy hung over Percy's head, he would feel like he could still use it to turn Percy's loyalties. Yet if Percy knows the prophecy and still chooses to stand with Olympus … well, Kronos loses any leverage he might have. The risk of allowing Percy to live becomes too great. And given the scene I interrupted on the Princess Andromeda, it does seem like Kronos has indeed written Percy off as a possible ally.'
I bit my lip. 'I didn't think of that.'
'It is all right, child. I had hoped … but no matter. I shall think on how we can best advise him, now that he knows.'
He increased his speed again and we didn't slow down until we were far from the city, in what looked like a trailer park next to a lake. Only instead of caravans and mobile homes, there were enormous horse trailers that had electronics set up side by side with hay beds. A messily-painted sign on one of them said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER.
Larry the palomino centaur deposited Percy and Tyson on a picnic blanket by the lake and cracked his back.
'Dude,' he told Tyson, 'you could stand to lose a few, you know what I'm saying?'
Another centaur, who for some reason sported glasses with fake eyes that bugged out, trotted by and high-fived Larry. 'That was awesome! Head slam!'
Larry didn't take him up on it, but another centaur did. They head-butted with so much force, one of Fake-Glasses's googly eyes fell off and dangled on a spring. The two of them went staggering off towards a campfire in the centre of the trailer park.
'I really wish my cousins wouldn't slam their heads together,' Chiron said mildly, shaking his head as he helped Grover and me off his back. 'They don't have the brain cells to spare.'
Percy walked over. 'Chiron, you saved us.'
'Well now, I couldn't very well let you die, especially since you've cleared my name,' Chiron said.
A question I hadn't thought to ask before suddenly occurred to me. 'But how did you know where we were?'
Chiron winked at me. 'Advance planning, my dear. I figured you would wash up near Miami if you made it out of the Sea of Monsters alive. Almost everything strange washes up near Miami.'
'Gee, thanks,' Grover said.
'No, no, I didn't mean … Oh, never mind. I am glad to see you, my young satyr. The point is, I was able to eavesdrop on Percy's Iris-message and trace the signal.' He explained how he'd gotten Iris to track any important messages, and then convinced his cousins to ride in to save the day once he'd pinpointed our location. I wondered if Chiron had presented the idea to them as crashing a party.
'So what now? We just let Luke sail away?' Percy traced a gash in his pant leg that Luke's sword had sliced. The cloth around it was dark with blood. 'He's got Kronos aboard that ship. Or parts of him, anyway.'
'I'm afraid, Percy, that today has been something of a draw,' Chiron said. He knelt so that he was level with Percy and pulled bandages out of a pouch on his belt. 'We didn't have the strength of numbers to take that ship. Luke was not organised enough to pursue us. Nobody won.'
'But we got the Fleece!' I reminded them. 'Clarisse is on her way back to camp with it right now.' That had been the whole point of the quest-to get the Fleece and make it back alive. Surely that counted for something?
'You are all true heroes,' Chiron allowed. 'And as soon as we get Percy fixed up, you must return to Half-Blood Hill. The centaurs shall carry you.'
'You're coming, too?' Percy asked.
'Oh yes, Percy. I'll be relieved to get home. My brethren here simply do not appreciate Dean Martin's music.' Percy and I exchanged a look. I hoped Chiron never found out how we'd used his records to scare away the Stymphalian birds. 'Besides, I must have some words with Mr D. There's the rest of the summer to plan. So much training to do.' He fixed Percy with a stern look. 'And I want to see … I'm curious about the Fleece.'
We were silent as we let this sink in. I hoped Clarisse had indeed gotten safely on her plane, out of reach of Luke. Surely we'd delayed him enough.
A bright blue missile shot right between us and smashed into Larry, who went toppling into the lake. Cheers rang out from around the campfire. A group of centaurs were patting Tyson on the back as he wielded a paintball gun.
Chiron gave me a significant look. 'Annabeth, perhaps you and Grover would go supervise Tyson and my cousins before they, ah, teach each other too many bad habits?'
He didn't look at Percy, but he didn't have to. I knew that he needed to discuss the prophecy with him.
I linked my arm through Grover's. 'Come on, goat boy.'
'But I don't like paintball!' Grover protested, with a nervous glance at Tyson.
'Yes, you do.' I hauled him up and dragged him away with me.
'Joining the game, doll?' said a chestnut-skinned centaur.
Grover and I exchanged looks. I shrugged. 'Sure. What do we do?'
'You ever play capture the flag?'
I grinned. 'You bet.'
'Annabeth!' Tyson pulled away from his newfound centaur friends and came over to me. 'You are on my team.'
'We get the goat-boy, then!' Larry said.
Capture the flag with the centaurs was a lot less organised than the game at camp. As far as I could tell, it was more of a free-for-all where the teams shot at each other across the entire park while darting around trying to pick up as many assorted 'flags' (really smiley-face balloons tied to sticks shoved in the mud) as they could while being pelted with paintball bullets. There weren't enough guns to go around, so Grover and I ended up just running around dodging the exploding sprays of paint. I wasn't sure whose team won in the end, but we all wound up looking like our shirts had been tie-dyed.
Percy and Chiron joined us for dinner around the campfire. Chiron tried to enlist a few centaurs to carry us to Long Island and ended up with the entire chapter volunteering once he mentioned Mr D.
'That guy gets up to some wild stuff,' said the centaur carrying me. He introduced himself as Rick. 'I can't wait to party. Man, the last time I was there-'
I touched my necklace with the six camp beads, one for every summer. One of them was painted with a centaur in a prom dress. 'I've met you before!' I realised. 'You guys crashed Camp Half-Blood and made us throw a prom.' The Aphrodite cabin had been all over the idea. It was the only time I'd ever seen them leading a camp project.
Rick laughed heartily. 'Yeah, oh my gods, that was awesome, wasn't it? I was with the Jersey Chapter then-before we disbanded, of course.'
The run north was the fastest I'd ever travelled over land. A thousand miles and we managed to cover it in less than three hours. I think it was just after midnight when we arrived at the foot of Half-Blood Hill. A cab was driving away when we approached. As we got closer, I could see a figure swathed in shining gold halfway up the hill. Clarisse had barely beaten us back.
Border patrol spotted her right away. Someone blew conch horn and campers flooded out. The looks on their faces when from no, not again to thank the gods in seconds when they realised what Clarisse was carrying.
We all crowded around Thalia's tree. It was barely hanging in there, with the last withering leaves just about ready to fall and the trunk black and rotting around the puncture wound and the crack down its middle. But the moment Clarisse laid the Golden Fleece on its lowest bough, I could feel the magic ripple across not just the tree, but the entire camp. Everything seemed to be bathed in a rich, silvery glow, like we had been doused in a healing light. A soft breeze stirred up the air, filling it with a sweet, fresh scent I recognised from Polyphemus's island. More campers came hobbling up the hill to join us-many on crutches or supporting injured comrades-and they watched in awe as the magic of the Fleece flowed into Thalia's tree, slowly returning it to full health. The blackness in the trunk seeped away, replaced by strong, healthy bark. The last sickly leaf fell to the earth, but new ones grew in its place, filling the branches with dense green pine needles once more.
By the time the transformation was complete, every camper who was still mobile had gathered in a ring on Half-Blood Hill to witness the miracle. My hand found Percy's as we stood next to Chiron, Grover, and Tyson on the far side of the tree, closing the united circle of campers around Clarisse and the tree. Although we couldn't see the barrier, I could feel it settling over the valley like a light shawl.
A sense of peace fell over me. Our quest was complete. The camp was safe again.
Chapter 24
Author: shiiki
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Tyson, Luke Castellan, Clarisse La Rue, Chiron, Thalia Grace, various others, Gen
Fandom: Percy Jackson
Summary: Annabeth Chase returns to Camp Half-Blood to find the safety of her home shattered: Thalia's tree has been poisoned, destroying the magic barriers protecting the camp, and Chiron is blamed. Only one thing can save the camp, and it's up to Annabeth and her best friend Percy to find it. The problem is, they set off with a monster in tow. Once again, the quest and the surprises it has in store is about to change everything she thinks she knows. An alternate PoV retelling of Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.
In this chapter
Chapter Title: Chiron's Relatives Stampede A Ship
Rating: PG
Characters: Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Grover Underwood, Tyson, Luke Castellan, Chiron
Word Count: 4,346
Chapter Summary: Chiron and the Party Ponies ride to the rescue, and Annabeth and company take the Centaur Express back to Long Island.
A/N: A note on Luke-I do think he had multiple motivations to serve Kronos, which Percy as the PoV character doesn't see, particularly in the earlier books. The way Percy's first-person narrative presents Luke in LT and SoM is actually staggeringly different from descriptions in the later half of the series, which initially seemed like inconsistent characterisation of Luke, but on subsequent analysis, I felt it showcased Percy's character growth as he begins to see Luke differently-no longer a two-dimensional villain but a flawed human being. Especially when Luke himself realises he's got in over his head and what he thought was the right path turned out to be the worst decision of his life. Anyway, this isn't a Luke fic, but I still wanted to hint at the possible motivations that drove him. People are complicated and trying to portray that in characters is one of my favourite parts of writing fiction.
As usual, recognisable dialogue is from Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.
Back to Fic Content Page
We were back on the Princess Andromeda. Luke's hideous henchmen, the bear twins, hauled us on board and dropped us on the swimming pool deck in front of an army of monsters and demigods. I felt sick, both from the array of mixed forces Luke had assembled before us and my own stupidity. How could I have forgotten that Luke was after the Fleece, too?
It was lucky that we no longer had it. Percy's decision to send Clarisse off was turning out to be a fantastic idea after all. Luke had no idea we'd joined forces with Clarisse. Now the Fleece was nowhere he would expect.
He paced back and forth in front of us, finally stopping at Percy. 'The Fleece-where is it?' He levelled his sword menacingly, first at Percy, then at Grover, who protested when it pierced his jeans.
Luke smiled, but it was completely devoid of warmth. 'Sorry, old friend. Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest.' His voice was calm, but his eyes betrayed his agitation, at least to me.
Grover bleated indignantly. 'Some old friend!'
Luke raised an eyebrow and turned to Percy. 'Maybe you didn't hear me. Where-is-the-Fleece?' He repeated the question with exaggerated slowness, each word as cold as ice.
'Not here,' Percy said, lifting his chin defiantly. 'We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up.'
I would have elbowed him or stomped on his foot to get him to shut up if fifty pairs of monster and demigod eyes hadn't been staring at us. Anyway, it was too late. Luke was quick to realise the truth.
I sighed. First Clarisse, now Percy-why did they have to be so dense at crucial moments, giving away our strategies?
'Clarisse?' Luke spluttered. 'You trusted … you gave …' And then he went ballistic. He screamed out orders and threats, paced the deck, and cursed so fervently that it almost sounded like a prayer. His eyes were completely wild. He seemed frantic to get to Miami Airport, to chase down Clarisse and obtain the Fleece.
He looked like I'd seen him in my dream, running through the dark tunnels in a panic.
I'd seen him lose his temper before, most recently when Percy had tried to talk to him about Hermes. But he was infinitely more crazed now. I'd never seen him look this desperate … except-except on that long-ago night on Half-Blood Hill, when he'd carried me away from Thalia.
Why would losing the Fleece induce this level of desperation in him? What did he want it for? I suspected his plan was to revive Kronos, but this reaction … it was so over the top, so personal, I felt true fear for him. Did Kronos really engender such deep loyalty from Luke?
You showed me that Kronos is not the way, you were able to build the world better. The Sirens' vision played in my head. This was still my old friend Luke, who cared deeply about something, only Kronos had twisted his emotions to serve the wrong cause.
Percy called out to Luke, 'You've been toying with us all along. You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it.'
Luke whirled around to face him. He looked angry enough to slash through Percy there and then with his sword. 'Of course, you idiot!' he growled. 'And you've messed everything up!'
'Traitor!' Percy yelled. He pulled a golden coin from his pocket and flung it at Luke in an uncharacteristic display of temper.
I narrowed my eyes. Angry at he might be at Luke, it wasn't like him to throw things about in rage.
'You tricked all of us!' Percy continued loudly. 'Even Dionysus at Camp Half-Blood!' He enunciated the last words carefully, which gave me a clue as to what he was really doing.
The Iris message that started to form in the fountain of pool water behind Luke was an even bigger hint. Percy drew his sword as though he intended to start fighting, effectively capturing Luke's attention, along with that of half the onlookers. I quickly backed him up. The giant Oreius still had a threatening hand on my collar, so I twisted like I meant to free myself. Oreius tightened his grip and I made a big show of struggling even harder as Percy goaded Luke into revealing his role in poisoning Thalia's tree. He was good, too-he even managed to work it round to Chiron's innocence. I carefully avoided looking at the fountain, although I knew Mr D's face would be there, watching the entire spectacle.
Oreius grew tired of my squirming and he smacked my head into Grover's. It was just a warning bump-at least I thought it was-but it still made me see stars.
'You don't understand the half of it,' Luke said, and he sounded more enraged than ever. 'I was going to let you take the Fleece … once I was done with it.'
I wondered if the knock to my head had addled my brain. Luke sounded so adamant, so sincere-yet he subsequently agreed that he meant to use the Fleece to help Kronos's regeneration.
Scenes I had seen in my dreams flashed quickly through my head. The first one at the start of the whole business-Luke (I knew it had been him, now) telling the tree, trust me. Luke's anxious conversation about running out of time. His talk about a gamble. His bargain with Kronos to save my life. Had that been the deal all along? If he acquired the Fleece for Kronos, the Titan lord would let him heal Thalia's tree and spare me? The idea gave me some hope that under the polished mask of Kronos's servant, vestiges of my oldest friend still remained.
But Luke had poisoned Thalia's tree. It wouldn't have needed saving if he hadn't done it in the first place.
It didn't make sense. There was still something I was missing.
Percy concluded his trick, finally drawing everyone's attention to Mr D's face in the fountain. And not just Mr D. We'd caught him at dinner time, so the entire mess hall, including Tantalus and all the remaining campers were listening to Luke's confession with open mouths. I caught sight of Connor Stoll, who was holding his fork halfway to his mouth. A piece of brisket fell from it back onto his plate.
'Mr D, you heard him-you all heard Luke,' Percy said. 'The poisoning of the tree wasn't Chiron's fault!'
'I suppose not,' Mr D said.
If I hadn't been so conflicted about Luke, I probably would have cheered along with the other campers in the Iris message, thrilled with Percy's success. He'd cleared Chiron's name. Tantalus was going to be fired.
I promised myself I'd tell him how brilliant he was later. Right now, we still had to get out of this mess. And though things were looking up for Chiron and the camp, they were definitely looking bad for us.
Luke slashed through the Iris message and turned on Percy. 'Kronos was right, Percy,' he snarled. 'You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced.'
Although there were more than enough fighters on deck to handle the four of us, Luke summoned a dozen more, as if to show that he could. A ring of masked demigods encircled us, their spears gleaming as their brass tips aimed at our hearts. I couldn't tell who they were beneath their masks, though it was highly likely that I knew some of them.
'You'll never leave this boat alive,' Luke said with a cold smile.
Percy didn't even glance at Luke's henchmen. He issued a challenge directly to Luke: 'One on one-what are you afraid of?'
The warriors all turned to Luke. Percy had presented him with a dilemma-the wisest thing to do would be to ignore Percy and leave, but that would also give his men the impression that he feared taking Percy on himself.
At the same time, Agrius returned to the deck with a black Pegasus that seemed about as thrilled as we were to be on board the ship.
'I told you last summer, Percy. You can't bait me into a fight.' In spite of these words, Luke ignored Agrius and his ride to the airport, keeping his eyes fixed on Percy.
'And you keep avoiding one. Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?'
Percy's comment was designed to sting. Luke was the best sword-fighter Camp Half-Blood had seen in three hundred years. He had a lot to lose backing down from a challenge … and admittedly little by actually fighting Percy. I knew Percy was good-I'd seen him battle Ares last summer-but Luke had trained Percy himself.
Percy must have known all this, too, but still he stood calmly staring Luke down. He had to know that all he could do was buy time. I mentally calculated how long it would take for Clarisse to get on a flight and out of Luke's grasp. She had to be at the airport by now.
Luke raised his sword-a blade with a dual edge of bronze and steel. I'd seen him training with it last summer before he'd left camp. He'd said it was new. I wondered morbidly if it had been his prize for pledging his service to Kronos. It made me think again, what exactly had Kronos promised Luke in return for his loyalty?
'I'll kill you quickly,' Luke said to Percy. He whistled sharply and one of the demigods threw him a shield. My heart clenched miserably. Bad enough to have two boys I cared about facing off in combat. The sight of Percy on top of that, looking so pitifully defenceless against a fully-armed Luke, who had over sixty men and monsters as back-up …
'Luke, at least give him a shield,' I pleaded.
Luke looked at me for the first time since he'd ambushed us. We locked eyes for a second, but I couldn't read his expression. Finally, he said, 'Sorry, Annabeth. You bring your own equipment to this party.'
With that, he lunged forward. I bit back a scream as his blade narrowly missed Percy's heart. Before this, I'd only heard about Luke's previous attack on Percy second-hand, from Percy himself. Actually seeing Luke lunge and strike mercilessly at Percy brought me to tears.
I'd watched Luke fight many times at camp and thought his craft to be a thing of beauty, but there was nothing beautiful about this duel. This man, who fought with cold, calculated murder in his eyes, was not my old friend. It couldn't be. It had to be Kronos through and through.
I wanted to close my eyes. I couldn't bear to watch the two of them duel. But the only thing worse than watching Luke kill Percy would be knowing Percy had died at Luke's hands and I'd been too cowardly to look.
Percy's blood splattered the pool deck. He was cut over and over again, and while he tried to use the water in the pool to his advantage, Luke was too good. He was wearing Percy down.
Finally, Percy rolled across the deck and lay still, just ten feet away from me. I tried to run to him but Oreius held me fast. He gave my head another warning knock against Grover's.
Luke smiled, a cold, malicious smile that made me shiver. 'One thing I want you to watch before you die, Percy.' He looked at Oreius and I thought I saw a shadow pass through his eyes, breaking up that cruel look in them for a split second. He jerked his head to the right almost imperceptibly. Oreius shifted, loosening his hold on me slightly.
'You can eat your dinner now, Oreius,' Luke said. 'Bon appetite.'
Oreius laughed and raised Grover to his mouth. Grover bleated in terror.
Suddenly, the grip on my neck slackened off. I twisted free of Oreius and found that the bear twin had been struck by an arrow straight in the mouth. Grover collapsed to the deck and crawled away quickly as Oreius exploded into monster dust. Luke paused, his attention diverted from Percy, who was trying to get back on his feet. I drew my knife just as the deck exploded into a whirlwind of colour.
The cavalry had arrived, in the form of an assortment of whooping centaurs, who were charging out of every exit. The whole ship seemed to reverberate with the beat of their hooves against the deck and the echo of their cries and hoots. Their bodies were a dizzying explosion of colour, not just from their skins and hides but the gaudy t-shirts they sported, with neon letters announcing that the PARTY PONIES had arrived. They galloped in too fast for me to be certain, but I thought some of them had actually painted the words straight onto their chests.
'Oh yeah, baby!' screamed the Party Ponies as they trashed the deck like they were having some insane revelry that was half battle and half blowout bash.
They had the most unconventional weapons I had ever seen, from paintball guns to baseball bats, but they were certainly effective. Bright paint bullets slammed into monsters' hides, sending them ducking for cover from the multi-coloured onslaught. Demigod warriors dropped like stones when bats slammed them in the head. Some of the Party Ponies had bows, but their arrows looked like they'd come from a joke shop, with tips ranging from suction cups to boxing gloves. One of the latter flew at Luke and knocked him straight into the swimming pool with a big splash.
A very familiar, very welcome face came galloping through the crowd of his relatives.
'What ho, Annabeth!' Chiron said. He grabbed Grover and me by our waists and tossed us onto his back. He called out to the other centaurs, 'Withdraw, brethren!'
'We have to get Percy!' I said, scanning the deck. I'd lost sight of him in the mêlée. 'Before Luke does!' I could see Luke, dripping wet from his enforced swim, trying to rally his troops.
'You won't get away with this horse man!'
'And yet, we are,' Chiron said as he turned away and ran for the guard rail. 'Don't worry, Annabeth. Larry has him.' He pointed to a palomino centaur, who was sagging a little under the combined weight of Percy and Tyson. And then he picked up speed and vaulted straight off the Princess Andromeda, landing the ten-storey jump with no more than a faint thud-less turbulence than an airplane landing. The other centaurs followed like a rainbow arching from the ship. Miami went by in a blue of buildings, palm trees, and centaur cat-calls. If I'd ever wondered how Chiron always seemed to travel quickly to places when he left camp, I was no longer in doubt. It was like riding a whirlwind through the marshes of Florida.
Chiron barely seemed winded by the exertion. As we ran, he spoke with only the slightest pant in his voice, like he was only taking a leisurely jog.
'I'm proud of you, my child. Now tell me, what happened in the Sea of Monsters?'
I glowed at his praise. While we sprinted north, I related everything that had happened since we'd last spoken, from our entrance into the Sea of Monsters to our departure from Polyphemus's island. 'Percy was amazing,' I concluded. 'If it wasn't for him-'
'Yes,' Chiron said. For some reason, his eyes were crinkled in amusement. 'He is becoming quite the hero, isn't he? It is a good sign for the prophecy.'
The prophecy! I bit my lip. 'Um … Chiron, I told Percy …'
Chiron's eyes darkened. 'I take it he asked you about the prophecy?'
'I'm sorry. I think Luke said something about it to him, and he wanted to know, and …'
'And you thought it would do no harm?'
'Well, Percy isn't going to turn against the gods. Knowing about the prophecy-I mean, it's scary, but maybe it will help him figure out how to fight Kronos.'
Chiron slowed to a trot. We fell quickly to the back of the centaur pack. 'It is not just the prophecy itself that I hoped to protect him from. Annabeth, have you considered that Percy's knowledge of the prophecy might affect how Kronos views him?'
'What do you mean?'
'The Titan lord seeks to manipulate heroes-while a vague prophecy hung over Percy's head, he would feel like he could still use it to turn Percy's loyalties. Yet if Percy knows the prophecy and still chooses to stand with Olympus … well, Kronos loses any leverage he might have. The risk of allowing Percy to live becomes too great. And given the scene I interrupted on the Princess Andromeda, it does seem like Kronos has indeed written Percy off as a possible ally.'
I bit my lip. 'I didn't think of that.'
'It is all right, child. I had hoped … but no matter. I shall think on how we can best advise him, now that he knows.'
He increased his speed again and we didn't slow down until we were far from the city, in what looked like a trailer park next to a lake. Only instead of caravans and mobile homes, there were enormous horse trailers that had electronics set up side by side with hay beds. A messily-painted sign on one of them said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER.
Larry the palomino centaur deposited Percy and Tyson on a picnic blanket by the lake and cracked his back.
'Dude,' he told Tyson, 'you could stand to lose a few, you know what I'm saying?'
Another centaur, who for some reason sported glasses with fake eyes that bugged out, trotted by and high-fived Larry. 'That was awesome! Head slam!'
Larry didn't take him up on it, but another centaur did. They head-butted with so much force, one of Fake-Glasses's googly eyes fell off and dangled on a spring. The two of them went staggering off towards a campfire in the centre of the trailer park.
'I really wish my cousins wouldn't slam their heads together,' Chiron said mildly, shaking his head as he helped Grover and me off his back. 'They don't have the brain cells to spare.'
Percy walked over. 'Chiron, you saved us.'
'Well now, I couldn't very well let you die, especially since you've cleared my name,' Chiron said.
A question I hadn't thought to ask before suddenly occurred to me. 'But how did you know where we were?'
Chiron winked at me. 'Advance planning, my dear. I figured you would wash up near Miami if you made it out of the Sea of Monsters alive. Almost everything strange washes up near Miami.'
'Gee, thanks,' Grover said.
'No, no, I didn't mean … Oh, never mind. I am glad to see you, my young satyr. The point is, I was able to eavesdrop on Percy's Iris-message and trace the signal.' He explained how he'd gotten Iris to track any important messages, and then convinced his cousins to ride in to save the day once he'd pinpointed our location. I wondered if Chiron had presented the idea to them as crashing a party.
'So what now? We just let Luke sail away?' Percy traced a gash in his pant leg that Luke's sword had sliced. The cloth around it was dark with blood. 'He's got Kronos aboard that ship. Or parts of him, anyway.'
'I'm afraid, Percy, that today has been something of a draw,' Chiron said. He knelt so that he was level with Percy and pulled bandages out of a pouch on his belt. 'We didn't have the strength of numbers to take that ship. Luke was not organised enough to pursue us. Nobody won.'
'But we got the Fleece!' I reminded them. 'Clarisse is on her way back to camp with it right now.' That had been the whole point of the quest-to get the Fleece and make it back alive. Surely that counted for something?
'You are all true heroes,' Chiron allowed. 'And as soon as we get Percy fixed up, you must return to Half-Blood Hill. The centaurs shall carry you.'
'You're coming, too?' Percy asked.
'Oh yes, Percy. I'll be relieved to get home. My brethren here simply do not appreciate Dean Martin's music.' Percy and I exchanged a look. I hoped Chiron never found out how we'd used his records to scare away the Stymphalian birds. 'Besides, I must have some words with Mr D. There's the rest of the summer to plan. So much training to do.' He fixed Percy with a stern look. 'And I want to see … I'm curious about the Fleece.'
We were silent as we let this sink in. I hoped Clarisse had indeed gotten safely on her plane, out of reach of Luke. Surely we'd delayed him enough.
A bright blue missile shot right between us and smashed into Larry, who went toppling into the lake. Cheers rang out from around the campfire. A group of centaurs were patting Tyson on the back as he wielded a paintball gun.
Chiron gave me a significant look. 'Annabeth, perhaps you and Grover would go supervise Tyson and my cousins before they, ah, teach each other too many bad habits?'
He didn't look at Percy, but he didn't have to. I knew that he needed to discuss the prophecy with him.
I linked my arm through Grover's. 'Come on, goat boy.'
'But I don't like paintball!' Grover protested, with a nervous glance at Tyson.
'Yes, you do.' I hauled him up and dragged him away with me.
'Joining the game, doll?' said a chestnut-skinned centaur.
Grover and I exchanged looks. I shrugged. 'Sure. What do we do?'
'You ever play capture the flag?'
I grinned. 'You bet.'
'Annabeth!' Tyson pulled away from his newfound centaur friends and came over to me. 'You are on my team.'
'We get the goat-boy, then!' Larry said.
Capture the flag with the centaurs was a lot less organised than the game at camp. As far as I could tell, it was more of a free-for-all where the teams shot at each other across the entire park while darting around trying to pick up as many assorted 'flags' (really smiley-face balloons tied to sticks shoved in the mud) as they could while being pelted with paintball bullets. There weren't enough guns to go around, so Grover and I ended up just running around dodging the exploding sprays of paint. I wasn't sure whose team won in the end, but we all wound up looking like our shirts had been tie-dyed.
Percy and Chiron joined us for dinner around the campfire. Chiron tried to enlist a few centaurs to carry us to Long Island and ended up with the entire chapter volunteering once he mentioned Mr D.
'That guy gets up to some wild stuff,' said the centaur carrying me. He introduced himself as Rick. 'I can't wait to party. Man, the last time I was there-'
I touched my necklace with the six camp beads, one for every summer. One of them was painted with a centaur in a prom dress. 'I've met you before!' I realised. 'You guys crashed Camp Half-Blood and made us throw a prom.' The Aphrodite cabin had been all over the idea. It was the only time I'd ever seen them leading a camp project.
Rick laughed heartily. 'Yeah, oh my gods, that was awesome, wasn't it? I was with the Jersey Chapter then-before we disbanded, of course.'
The run north was the fastest I'd ever travelled over land. A thousand miles and we managed to cover it in less than three hours. I think it was just after midnight when we arrived at the foot of Half-Blood Hill. A cab was driving away when we approached. As we got closer, I could see a figure swathed in shining gold halfway up the hill. Clarisse had barely beaten us back.
Border patrol spotted her right away. Someone blew conch horn and campers flooded out. The looks on their faces when from no, not again to thank the gods in seconds when they realised what Clarisse was carrying.
We all crowded around Thalia's tree. It was barely hanging in there, with the last withering leaves just about ready to fall and the trunk black and rotting around the puncture wound and the crack down its middle. But the moment Clarisse laid the Golden Fleece on its lowest bough, I could feel the magic ripple across not just the tree, but the entire camp. Everything seemed to be bathed in a rich, silvery glow, like we had been doused in a healing light. A soft breeze stirred up the air, filling it with a sweet, fresh scent I recognised from Polyphemus's island. More campers came hobbling up the hill to join us-many on crutches or supporting injured comrades-and they watched in awe as the magic of the Fleece flowed into Thalia's tree, slowly returning it to full health. The blackness in the trunk seeped away, replaced by strong, healthy bark. The last sickly leaf fell to the earth, but new ones grew in its place, filling the branches with dense green pine needles once more.
By the time the transformation was complete, every camper who was still mobile had gathered in a ring on Half-Blood Hill to witness the miracle. My hand found Percy's as we stood next to Chiron, Grover, and Tyson on the far side of the tree, closing the united circle of campers around Clarisse and the tree. Although we couldn't see the barrier, I could feel it settling over the valley like a light shawl.
A sense of peace fell over me. Our quest was complete. The camp was safe again.
Chapter 24