by Rick Riordan
‘Miami, I think,’ Annabeth said. ‘But the hippocampi are acting funny.’
Sure enough, our fishy friends had slowed down and were whinnying and swimming in circles, sniffing the water. They didn’t look happy. One of them sneezed. I could tell what they were thinking.
‘This is as far as they’ll take us,’ I said. ‘Too many humans. Too much pollution. We’ll have to swim to shore on our own.’
None of us was very psyched about that, but we thanked Rainbow and his friends for the ride. Tyson cried a little. He unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he’d made, which contained his tool kit and a couple of other things he’d salvaged from the Birmingham wreck. He hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he’d picked up on the island and said goodbye.
Once the hippocampi’s white manes disappeared into the sea, we swam for shore. The waves pushed us forward, and in no time we were back in the mortal world. We wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage. Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers. If anybody noticed us – five kids dripping wet and looking like they’d just had a fight with a monster – they didn’t let on.
Now that we were back among mortals, Tyson’s single eye had blurred from the Mist. Grover had put on his cap and sneakers. Even the Fleece had transformed from a sheepskin to a red-and-gold high school letter jacket with a large glittery Omega on the pocket.
Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the Miami Herald. She cursed. ‘June eighteenth! We’ve been away from camp ten days!’
‘That’s impossible!’ Clarisse said.
But I knew it wasn’t. Time travelled differently in monstrous places.
‘Thalia’s tree must be almost dead,’ Grover wailed. ‘We have to get the Fleece back tonight!
Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. ‘How are we supposed to do that?’ Her voice trembled. ‘We’re hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It’s your fault, Jackson! If you hadn’t interfered –’
‘Percy’s fault?!’ Annabeth exploded. ‘Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest –’
‘Stop it!’ I said.
Clarisse put her head in her hands. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration.
The thing was: I’d almost forgotten this quest was supposed to be Clarisse’s. For a scary moment, I saw things from her point of view. How would I feel if a bunch of other heroes had butted in and made me look bad?
I thought about what I’d overheard in the boiler room of the CSS Birmingham – Ares yelling at Clarisse, warning her that she’d better not fail. Ares couldn’t care less about the camp, but if Clarisse made him look bad…
‘Clarisse,’ I said, ‘what did the Oracle tell you exactly?’
She looked up. I thought she was going to tell me off, but instead she took a deep breath and recited her prophecy:
‘You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,
You shall find what you seek and make it your own,
But despair for your life entombed within stone,
And fail without friends, to fly home alone.’
‘Ouch,’ Grover mumbled.
‘No,’ I said. ‘No … wait a minute. I’ve got it.’
I searched my pockets for money, and found nothing but a golden drachma. ‘Does anybody have any cash?’
Annabeth and Grover shook their heads morosely. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket and sighed.
‘Cash?’ Tyson asked hesitantly. ‘Like … green paper?’
I looked at him. ‘Yeah.’
‘Like the kind in duffel bags?’
‘Yeah, but we lost those bags days a-g-g –’
I stuttered to a halt as Tyson rummaged in his saddle pack and pulled out the airtight bag full of cash that Hermes had included in our supplies.
‘Tyson!’ I said. ‘How did you –’
‘Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow,’ he said. ‘Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. Sorry.’
He handed me the cash. Fives and tens, at least three hundred dollars.
I ran to the kerb and grabbed a taxi that was just letting out a family of cruise passengers. ‘Clarisse,’ I yelled. ‘Come on. You’re going to the airport. Annabeth, give her the Fleece.’
I’m not sure which of them looked more stunned as I took the Fleece letter jacket from Annabeth, tucked the cash into its pocket, and put it in Clarisse’s arms.
Clarisse said, ‘You’d let me –’
‘It’s your quest,’ I said. ‘We only have enough money for one flight. Besides, I can’t travel by air. Zeus would blast me into a million pieces. That’s what the prophecy meant: you’d fail without friends, meaning you’d need our help, but you’d have to fly home alone. You have to get the Fleece back safely.’
I could see her mind working – suspicious at first, wondering what trick I was playing, then finally deciding I meant what I said.
She jumped in the cab. ‘You can count on me. I won’t fail.’
‘Not failing would be good.’
The cab peeled out in a cloud of exhaust. The Fleece was on its way.
‘Percy,’ Annabeth said, ‘that was so –’
‘Generous?’ Grover offered.
‘Insane’, Annabeth corrected. ‘You’re betting the lives of everybody at camp that Clarisse will get the Fleece safely back by tonight?’
‘It’s her quest,’ I said. ‘She deserves a chance.’
‘Percy is nice,’ Tyson said.
‘Percy is too nice,’ Annabeth grumbled, but I couldn’t help thinking that maybe, just maybe, she was a little impressed. I’d surprised her, anyway. And that wasn’t easy to do.
‘Come on,’ I told my friends. ‘Let’s find another way home.’
That’s when I turned and found a sword’s point at my throat.
‘Hey, cuz,’ said Luke. ‘Welcome back to the States.’
His bear-man thugs appeared on either side of us. One grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars. The other tried to grab Tyson, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at Luke.
‘Percy,’ Luke said calmly, ‘tell your giant to back down or I’ll have Oreius bash your friends’ heads together.’
Oreius grinned and raised Annabeth and Grover off the ground, kicking and screaming.
‘What do you want, Luke?’ I growled.
He smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face.
He gestured towards the end of the dock, and I noticed what should’ve been obvious. The biggest boat in port was the Princess Andromeda.
‘Why, Percy,’ Luke said, ‘I want to extend my hospitality, of course.’
The bear-man twins herded us aboard the Princess Andromeda. They threw us down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed into the air. A dozen of Luke’s assorted goons – snake people, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armour – had gathered to watch us get some ‘hospitality’.
‘And so, the Fleece,’ Luke mused. ‘Where is it?’
He looked us over, prodding my shirt with the tip of his sword, poking Grover’s jeans.
‘Hey!’ Grover yelled. ‘That’s real goat fur under there!’
‘Sorry, old friend.’ Luke smiled. ‘Just give me the Fleece and I’ll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest.’
‘Blaa-ha-ha!’ Grover protested. ‘Some old friend!’
‘Maybe you didn’t hear me.’ Luke’s voice was dangerously calm. ‘Where – is – the – Fleece?’
‘Not here,’ I said. I probably shouldn’t have told him anything, but it felt good to throw the truth in his face. ‘We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up.’
Luke’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’re lying. You couldn’t have…’ His face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. ‘Clarisse?’
<
br /> I nodded.
‘You trusted … you gave…’
‘Yeah.’
‘Agrius!’
The bear-man flinched. ‘Y-yes?’
‘Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to Miami Airport, fast!’
‘But, boss –’
‘Do it!’ Luke screamed. ‘Or I’ll feed you to the drakon!’
The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white.
The rest of Luke’s crew looked uneasy. Maybe they’d never seen their boss so unhinged before.
I started thinking … If I could use Luke’s anger, get him to talk so everybody could hear how crazy his plans were…
I looked at the swimming pool, at the fountains spraying mist into the air, making a rainbow in the sunset. And suddenly I had an idea.
‘You’ve been toying with us all along,’ I said. ‘You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it.’
Luke scowled. ‘Of course, you idiot! And you’ve messed everything up!’
‘Traitor!’ I dug my last gold drachma out of my pocket and threw it at Luke. As I expected, he dodged it easily. The coin sailed into the spray of rainbow-coloured water.
I hoped my prayer would be accepted in silence. I thought with all my heart: O goddess, accept my offering.
‘You tricked all of us!’ I yelled at Luke. ‘Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALF-BLOOD!’
Behind Luke, the fountain began to shimmer, but I needed everyone’s attention on me, so I uncapped Riptide.
Luke just sneered. ‘This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your puny little sword, or I’ll have you killed sooner rather than later.’
‘Who poisoned Thalia’s tree, Luke?’
‘I did, of course,’ he snarled. ‘I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus.’
‘Chiron had nothing to do with it?’
‘Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn’t have the guts.’
‘You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?’
Luke raised his sword. ‘You don’t understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece … once I was done with it.’
That made me hesitate. Why would he let me take the Fleece? He must’ve been lying. But I couldn’t afford to lose his attention.
‘You were going to heal Kronos,’ I said.
‘Yes! The Fleece’s magic would’ve sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven’t stopped us, Percy. You’ve only slowed us down a little.’
‘And so you poisoned the tree, you betrayed Thalia, you set us up – all to help Kronos destroy the gods.’
Luke gritted his teeth. ‘You know that! Why do you keep asking me?’
‘Because I want everybody in the audience to hear you.’
‘What audience?’
Then his eyes narrowed. He looked behind him and his goons did the same. They gasped and stumbled back.
Above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus, Tantalus and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They sat in stunned silence, watching us.
‘Well,’ said Dionysus drily, ‘some unplanned dinner entertainment.’
‘Mr D, you heard him,’ I said. ‘You all heard Luke. The poisoning of the tree wasn’t Chiron’s fault.’
Mr D sighed. ‘I suppose not.’
‘The Iris-message could be a trick,’ Tantalus suggested, but his attention was mostly on his cheeseburger, which he was trying to corner with both hands.
‘I fear not,’ Mr D said, looking with distaste at Tantalus. ‘It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse’s pinochle games.’
Tantalus grabbed the cheeseburger. It didn’t bolt away from him. He lifted it from the plate and stared at it in amazement, as if it were the largest diamond in the world. ‘I got it!’ he cackled.
‘We are no longer in need of your services, Tantalus,’ Mr D announced.
Tantalus looked stunned. ‘What? But –’
‘You may return to the Underworld. You are dismissed.’
‘No! But – Nooooooooooo!’
As he dissolved into mist, his fingers clutched at the cheeseburger, trying to bring it to his mouth. But it was too late. He disappeared and the cheeseburger fell back onto its plate. The campers exploded into cheering.
Luke bellowed with rage. He slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done.
I was feeling pretty good about myself, until Luke turned and gave me a murderous look.
‘Kronos was right, Percy. You’re an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced.’
I wasn’t sure what he meant, but I didn’t have time to think about it. One of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around us, the brass tips of their spears bristling.
Luke smiled at me. ‘You’ll never leave this boat alive.’
18 The Party Ponies Invade
‘One on one,’ I challenged Luke. ‘What are you afraid of?’
Luke curled his lip. The soldiers who were about to kill us hesitated, waiting for his order.
Before he could say anything, Agrius, the bear-man, burst onto the deck leading a flying horse. It was the first pure-black pegasus I’d ever seen, with wings like a giant raven. The pegasus mare bucked and whinnied. I could understand her thoughts. She was calling Agrius and Luke some names so bad Chiron would’ve washed her muzzle out with saddle soap.
‘Sir!’ Agrius called, dodging a pegasus hoof. ‘Your steed is ready!’
Luke kept his eyes on me.
‘I told you last summer, Percy,’ he said. ‘You can’t bait me into a fight.’
‘And you keep avoiding one,’ I noticed. ‘Scared your warriors will see you get whipped?’
Luke glanced at his men, and he saw I’d trapped him. If he backed down now, he would look weak. If he fought me, he’d lose valuable time chasing after Clarisse. For my part, the best I could hope for was to distract him, giving my friends a chance to escape. If anybody could think of a plan to get them out of there, Annabeth could. On the downside, I knew how good Luke was at sword-fighting.
‘I’ll kill you quickly,’ he decided, and raised his weapon. Backbiter was a foot longer than my own sword. Its blade glinted with an evil grey-and-gold light where the human steel had been melded with celestial bronze. I could almost feel the blade fighting against itself, like two opposing magnets bound together. I didn’t know how the blade had been made, but I sensed a tragedy. Someone had died in the process. Luke whistled to one of his men, who threw him a round leather-and-bronze shield.
He grinned at me wickedly.
‘Luke,’ Annabeth said, ‘at least give him a shield.’
‘Sorry, Annabeth,’ he said. ‘You bring your own equipment to this party.’
The shield was a problem. Fighting two-handed with just a sword gives you more power, but fighting one-handed with a shield gives you better defence and versatility. There are more moves, more options, more ways to kill. I thought back to Chiron, who’d told me to stay at camp no matter what, and learn to fight. Now I was going to pay for not listening to him.
Luke lunged and almost killed me on the first try. His sword went under my arm, slashing through my shirt and grazing my ribs.
I jumped back, then counter-attacked with Riptide, but Luke slammed my blade away with his shield.
‘My, Percy,’ Luke chided. ‘You’re out of practice.’
He came at me again with a swipe to the head. I parried, returned with a thrust. He sidestepped easily.
The cut on my ribs stung. My heart was racing. When Luke lunged again, I jumped backwards into the swimming pool and felt a surge of strength. I spun underwater, creati
ng a funnel cloud, and blasted out of the deep end, straight at Luke’s face.
The force of the water knocked him down, spluttering and blinded. But before I could strike, he rolled aside and was on his feet again.
I attacked and sliced off the edge of his shield, but that didn’t even faze him. He dropped to a crouch and jabbed at my legs. Suddenly my thigh was on fire, with a pain so intense I collapsed. My jeans were ripped above the knee. I was hurt. I didn’t know how badly. Luke hacked downwards and I rolled behind a deckchair. I tried to stand, but my leg wouldn’t take the weight.
‘Perrrrrcy!’ Grover bleated.
I rolled again as Luke’s sword slashed the deckchair in half, metal pipes and all.
I clawed towards the swimming pool, trying hard not to black out. I’d never make it. Luke knew it, too. He advanced slowly, smiling. The edge of his sword was tinged with red.
‘One thing I want you to watch before you die, Percy.’ He looked at the bear-man Oreius, who was still holding Annabeth and Grover by the necks. ‘You can eat your dinner now, Oreius. Bon appétit.’
‘He-he! He-he!’ The bear-man lifted my friends and bared his teeth.
That’s when all Hades broke loose.
Whish!
A red-feathered arrow sprouted from Oreius’s mouth. With a surprised look on his hairy face, he crumpled to the deck.
‘Brother!’ Agrius wailed. He let the pegasus’s reins go slack just long enough for the black steed to kick him in the head and fly away free over Miami Bay.
For a split second, Luke’s guards were too stunned to do anything except watch the bear twins’ bodies dissolve into smoke.
Then there was a wild chorus of war cries and hooves thundering against metal. A dozen centaurs charged out of the main stairwell.
‘Ponies!’ Tyson cried with delight.
My mind had trouble processing everything I saw. Chiron was among the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him. There were centaurs with black Arabian stallion bodies, others with gold palomino coats, others with orange-and-white spots like paint horses. Some wore brightly coloured T-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER. Some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, some with paintball guns. One had his face painted like a Comanche warrior and was waving a large orange Styrofoam hand making a big Number I. Another was bare-chested and painted entirely green. A third had googly-eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on Slinky coils, and one of those baseball caps with soda-can-and-straw attachments on either side.
