chapter forty

─── i'm a nice person but even i have my limits

          "𝕽ise and shine, Sleeping Beauty." I opened my eyes blearily, staring up at Luke, who was watching me with warm eyes and a half smile.

"You're alright." I wrapped my arms around him, kissing his jaw as I clung onto him. I could hear his heart beating through his shirt, and I could have cried. "You're alright."

"I'm alright." Luke promised, squeezing my hand. "We did it, darling."

In the distance, the sun was setting behind a city skyline. I could see a beachside highway lined with palm trees, store-fronts glowing with red and blue neon, a harbour filled with sailboats and cruise ships.

"Where are we?"

"Miami," Luke replied. "But the hippocampi are starting to act a bit weird."

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 and 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 good-bye.

It didn't take as much convincing as the first time luckily.

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 teenagers 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.

Luke checked the date and cursed (which surprised me slightly).

"June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"

"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.

"Time travels 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."

"Clarisse, calm down, we can still do this," Luke placated as Grover and I stressed in a corner.

"We're gonna die," Grover muttered. "We're gonna fail."

"Obviously," I nodded, urging him on. 

"Andi, stop stressing Grover out. Clarisse, now is not the time for a crisis," Luke placated everyone, as Clarisse stamped her feet, Grover chewed on his cap and I snickered in a corner. 

Finally, I decided that perhaps this might be the time to be a serious. I know, what a rarity, but I do have my sincere moments on occasions.

"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? Luke, please say you do."

"No such luck, Sleeping Beauty," 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 Ziploc bag full of cash that Hermes had included in our supplies.

"Tyson!" I said. "You absolutely amazing brother. 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.

"Luke, I love your dad," I told my boyfriend, who rolled his eyes, before grabbing Clarisse and tugging her to a taxi. "Come on. You're going to the airport. Luke, give her the Fleece."

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, processing what I had said, before nodding.

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.

"Another happy quest," I muttered, turning back to look at Grover, Tyson and Luke, who was shaking his head. "What?"

"Sometimes I think you have brains," He muttered, before chuckling.

"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," said Puck. "Welcome back to the States."

"Fuck," I hissed.

"Puck." Luke huffed.

His bear-man thugs appeared on either of side of us. One grabbed Luke and Grover by their T-shirt collars, which was nothing short of a miracle considering Luke was writhing like a snake to try and stab him. The other tried to grab Tyson, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at Puck.

"Romy," Puck said calmly, "tell your giant to back down or I'll have Oreius bash your friends' heads together."

Oreius grinned and raised Luke and Grover off the ground, kicking and screaming.

"Only my friends call me that. What do you want, Puck?" I growled.

He smiled before gesturing toward the end of the dock, and I noticed what should've been obvious. The biggest boat in port was the Princess Andromeda. How had none of us noticed that?

"Why, Andromeda," Puck said, "I want to extend my hospitality, of course."

The bear 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 Puck's assorted goons—snake people, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armour—had gathered to watch us get some "hospitality."

"Isn't this great?" Luke groaned, sitting up beside me as we both shared looks of annoyance.

"And so, the Fleece," Puck 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," Puck didn't seem very sorry. "Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest."

Grover bleated, stomping his hooves.

"Maybe you didn't hear me." Puck'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 beside me, as he shot me a glare. He was no remembering all the times that I backtalked people more powerful than me and contemplating why he thought that letting me speak was a good idea. 

"You're lying. You couldn't have..." Puck's face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. "Clarisse?"

I nodded.

"You trusted...you gave..."

"Why does everyone think that we're not friends?" I asked, as Puck began to pace.

"Agrius!"

The bear giant flinched. "Y-yes?"

"Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast.'"

"But, boss—"

"Do it!" Puck screamed, like a petulant toddler. "Or I'll feed you to the drakon!"

The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. Puck paced, looking annoyed and slightly deranged, as a plan began to form in my head. It wasn't the best and I felt guilty manipulating the child, but I didn't truly have a choice.

I looked at the swimming pool, at the fountains spraying mist into the air, making a rainbow in the sunset. 

"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."

Puck 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 Puck. As I expected, he dodged it easily. The coin sailed into the spray of rainbow-colored 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 Puck. "Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALF-BLOOD!"

Luke's hand squeezed mine as he nodded. It was the only way. Behind Puck, the fountain began to shimmer, but I needed everyone's attention on me, so I uncapped Riptide.

Puck just sneered. "This is no time for heroics, Andromeda. Drop your puny little sword, or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."

"Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Puck?"

"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?"

Puck raised his sword, though I could see his arm start to tremble as Luke stood up behind me and drew his own sword. Me, he might be able to take in a fight, but not Luke and definitely not both of us. "You don't understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece...once I was done with it."

"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, Andromeda. 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 at the mention of Thalia's tree being poisoned.

"You know that! Why do you keep asking me?" Puck cried.

"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 dryly, "some unplanned dinner entertainment."

"Mr. D, you heard him," I said. "You all heard Puck. 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!" That was very satisfying to watch. 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.

Puck cried out in rage, slashing his sword through the fountain and dissolving the Iris message.

"You tricked me!" He turned to me and Luke, eyes wide with betrayal. 

"I'm sorry, Puck," I shook my head, feeling full of regret.

"Kronos was right, Andromeda. 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.

"You'll never leave this boat alive."

"We are so screwed," Grover murmured and this time, I felt that he was right.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

We're back to Andi antagonizing people she shouldn't for the sheer hell of it and Luke's exasperated with her but stands up for his girlfriend anyway. 

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx