chapter twenty-seven

─── i disagree with earlier thoughts; don't become a matador

          𝔇espite popular opinion, I do love animals. I love all animals. Apart from one, singular thing;

Bulls.

Now, there's many reasons for this, including the fact that one almost killed my mother and me last year. So, you see, when I saw two, bronze bulls, the size of elephants on Half-Blood Hill that could breathe fire, my first thought was murder.

Again, I think that's perfectly justifiable.

The Grey Sisters peeled away from us as soon as Tyson exited the cab, not even waiting for their extra three drachma payment, and instead leaving us on the side of the road (which could possibly be considered child endangerment). Annabeth and I had nothing but our backpacks, Tyson was still in burnt tie-dyed gym clothes and Luke, as per, looked done with life.

"Oh..." Annabeth caught Luke's eyes, closing her mouth quickly before she cussed in front of her big brother.

Now, I wasn't too worried about the bulls (despite the fact they were breathing fire). I was more worried about the fact that they were inside Camo Half-Blood, past Thalia's pine tree. The camp had magical borders, designed to keep monsters out, yet these were going over the barrier line as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

I hung back, turning to Luke.

"This is what went wrong." He didn't say anything, his face falling dark for a moment, eyes narrowing into a glare. I placed a brief hand onto his arm, squeezing.

One of the heroes shouted, "Border patrol, to me!" Border patrol? I thought. The camp didn't have a border patrol.

"It's Clarisse," Annabeth said, the thirteen year old's dark eyes wide in confusion. "Come on, we have to help her."

Clarisse's fellow warriors were scattering, running in panic as the bulls charged. The grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree. One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles, the horse-hair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery Mohawk. Clarisse's own armour was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.

I uncapped Riptide, flipping it around in my hand as I got used to the familiar weight of it. Behind me, I heard the tell tale sound of something being unsheathed, and turned to see Luke pulling his own sword, Backbiter, from seemingly nowhere. I shivered at the sight of the sword.

Despite knowing that Luke was on our side, the sword was a sharp reminder that, should he wish, he could harm anyone mortal, demigod or human, or immortal, monster or god. 

"Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances." I turned to Tyson, distracting myself from the memory of last summer, and the scars that the hell hound had left on my chest.

"No!" Annabeth said. "We need him."

I stared at her. "He's mortal. He got lucky with the dodge balls but he can't—"

"Andi, Annabeth's right, do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We'll get burned to a crisp," Luke called, already walking up towards them.

My brain short circuited at his sentence.

Annabeth rummaged through her backpack and cursed. "I had a jar of tropical coconut scent sitting on my night-stand at home. Why didn't I bring it?"

"You didn't know what we were going to be fighting," Luke replied.

I'd learned a long time ago not to question Annabeth too much. There was so much going on in her brain at any one time that it was hard to make coherent sense of her at points. 

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not going to let Tyson get fried, because I'm nice like that."

"Romy—"

"Tyson, stay back." I raised my sword. 

Tyson tried to protest, but I was already running up the hill toward Clarisse, who was yelling at her patrol, trying to get them into phalanx formation. It was a good idea. The few who were listening lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, locking their shields to form an ox-hide-and-bronze wall, their spears bristling over the top like porcupine quills.

Unfortunately, Clarisse could only muster six campers. The other four were still running around with their helmets on fire. Annabeth ran toward them, trying to help. She taunted one of the bulls into chasing her, then turned invisible, completely confusing the monster. The other bull charged Clarisse's line.

I was halfway up the hill, Luke beside me—not close enough to help. Clarisse hadn't even seen me yet. 

The bull moved deadly fast for something so big. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun. It had fist-sized rubies for eyes, and horns of polished silver. When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out.

"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered her warriors.

Whatever else you could say about Clarisse, she was brave. She looked like she was born to wear Greek battle armour, but I didn't see how even she could stand against that bull's charge.

Unfortunately, at that moment, the other bull lost interest in finding Annabeth. It turned, wheeling around behind Clarisse on her unprotected side.

"Behind you!" I yelled. "Look out!"

I shouldn't have said anything, because all I did was startle her. Bull Number One crashed into her shield, and the phalanx broke. Clarisse went flying backward and landed in a smouldering patch of grass.

"Oops?" I murmured, as Luke shot me a somewhat exasperated look.

"First rule, Andi, don't distract someone already in a fight!" Luke called.

The bull charged past her, but not before blasting the other heroes with its fiery breath. Their shields melted right off their arms. They dropped their weapons and ran as Bull Number Two closed in on Clarisse for the kill.

I lunged forward and grabbed Clarisse by the straps of her armour. I dragged her out of the way just as Bull Number Two freight-trained past. I gave it a good swipe with Riptide and cut a huge gash in its flank, but the monster just creaked and groaned and kept on going.

It hadn't touched me, but I could feel the heat of its metal skin. Its body temperature could've microwaved a frozen burrito.

"Thanks, Romy," Clarisse called, as I pulled her to her feet and we turned to face the bulls, Luke appearing on my other side.

We were on the inside slope of the hill now, the valley of Camp Half-Blood directly below us—the cabins, the training facilities, the Big House—all of it at risk if these bulls got past us.

Luke shouted orders to the other heroes, telling them to spread out and keep the bulls distracted.

Bull Number One ran a wide arc, making its way back toward me. As it passed the middle of the hill, where the invisible boundary line should've kept it out, it slowed down a little, as if it were struggling against a strong wind; but then it broke through and kept coming. Bull Number Two turned to face me, fire sputtering from the gash I'd cut in its side. I couldn't tell if it felt any pain, but its ruby eyes seemed to glare at me like I'd just made things personal.

I couldn't fight both bulls at the same time. I'd have to take down Bull Number Two first, cut its head off before Bull Number One charged back into range. My arms already felt tired. I realized how long it had been since I'd worked out with Riptide, how out of practice I was.

Maybe I should have stretched?

I lunged but Bull Number Two blew flames at me. I rolled aside as the air turned to pure heat. All the oxygen was sucked out of my lungs. My foot caught on some-thing—a tree root, maybe—and pain shot up my ankle. Still, I managed to slash with my sword and lop off part of the monster's snout. It galloped away, wild and disoriented. But before I could feel too good about that, I tried to stand, and my left leg buckled underneath me. My ankle was sprained, maybe broken.

"Andi!" Luke grabbed my arms with Clarisse's help, dragging me out of the way, but not fast enough, as Bull Number One charged straight towards the three of us.

All I could think was that Clarisse, Luke and I were shit matadors.

Annabeth shouted: "Tyson, help them!"

Somewhere near, toward the crest of the hill, Tyson wailed, "Can't—get—through!"

"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"

Thunder shook the hillside. Suddenly Tyson was there, barrelling toward us, yelling: "Romy needs help!"

Before I could tell him no, he dove between us and the bull just as it unleashed a nuclear firestorm.

"Tyson!" I yelled, as Luke wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled my head down, away from the flames.

The blast swirled around him like a red tornado. I could only see the black silhouette of his body. I knew with horrible certainty that my friend had just been turned into a column of ash.

But when the fire died, Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. Not even his grungy clothes were scorched. The bull must've been as surprised as I was, because before it could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. "BAD COW!"

His fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminium foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.

"Down!" Tyson yelled.

"What the actual...?" A hand went over my mouth.

"Don't you dare," I shot Luke a glare as the bull staggered and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of its ruined head in odd places.

Annabeth came running over to me and Luke. My ankle felt like it was filled with acid, but she gave me some nectar to drink from her canteen, and I immediately started to feel better. The hair on my arms had been completely singed off, and I was glad my eyebrows hadn't gone with it.

"The other bull?" I asked.

Annabeth pointed down the hill. Clarisse had taken care of Bad Cow Number Two. She'd impaled it through the back leg with a celestial bronze spear. Now, with its snout half gone and a huge gash in its side, it was trying to run in slow motion, going in circles like some kind of merry-go-round animal.

Clarisse pulled off her helmet and marched toward us.

"How...? Why are you here?" Luke pulled me to my feet at Clarisse's question.

"Good question, Clarisse," I replied, shaking my ankle. "My school was blown up this morning and these two decided that it was time I came back. Aren't you glad?"

"No." 

"Fair enough," I replied, before holding out my hand for her to slap. "I see you've been having so much fun without me."

"Don't get me started," She groaned, before someone cried in pain. "I'll be back."

Tyson chose that moment to turn up, and I stared at him. "You didn't die."

Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."

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

"Let him cross the boundary line?'" I asked. "But—"

"Andi," Luke said. "have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean...in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."

The Mist makes humans see only what their brains can process and I knew it could fool demigods too, but...

I looked Tyson in the face. It wasn't easy. I'd always had trouble looking directly at him, though I'd never quite understood why. But it was odd, there was nothing strange about Tyson, nothing at all...

He had one eye.

One eye. 

One large, calf-brown eye, right in the middle of his forehead, with thick lashes and big tears trickling down his cheeks on either side.

"Oh..." My eyes widened. "Tyson, you're a..."

"Cyclops," Annabeth offered. "A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."

"One of the what?"

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

"Okay, that's about fried my brain. Fire...Why...How?"

"He's a Cyclops." Annabeth paused, as if she were remembering something unpleasant. "They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you."

I was completely shocked. How had I never realized what Tyson was? But I didn't have much time to think about it just then. The whole side of the hill was burning. Wounded heroes needed attention. And there were still two banged-up bronze bulls to dispose of, which I didn't figure would fit in our normal recycling bins.

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

"Tantalus?" I asked.

"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.

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

Clarisse made a sour face. "Argus got fired. You've been gone too long. Things are changing."

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

" That happened," Clarisse snapped, but Luke rested a hand on her shoulder. 

"Get Annabeth and the wounded to camp. I'll wait here with Andi and the cyclops, catch her up," He replied gently, as the two younger girls nodded and took off back towards the camp. "Stop the burning, Andi."

I huffed at being commanded, but agreed. Taking a deep breath, I summoned all of my power, pulling the water from the lake further down the hill, feeling it seep through the soil and up towards the hill. The grass grew damp beneath me as the fires began to sputter out, not being able to burn on the now soggy grass. When I opened my mouth, we were surrounded by steam, and Luke was staring at Thalia's tree once more.

"What haven't you told me?" I joined him, staring at the tree.

Every camper knew the story behind the tree. Six years ago, Grover, Annabeth, Luke, and one other demigods, Thalia, had come to Camp Half-Blood chased by an army of monsters. When they got cornered on top of this hill, Thalia had made her last stand here to give her friends time to reach safety. As she was dying, her father, Zeus, took pity on her and changed her into a pine tree. Her spirit had reinforced the magic borders of the camp, protecting it from monsters. The pine had been here ever since, strong and healthy.

But now, its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the centre of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.

Thalia's tree was dying.

"Gods..." I muttered, staring at it in horror, before twisting to face my boyfriend, who's face was hollow and anguished. "Luke, I-I'm sorry."

Reaching up, I pulled him down into me, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing his forehead.

"You didn't tell me."

"I didn't want to worry you." He sighed. "You were doing so well at school, and it was your final year, and then this happened and I didn't want this to put a dampener on it."

"Shit, Luke, it wouldn't have." I clung onto him a little tighter. "I'm here now."

"It's like watching her die all over again." He pulled away, staring at the tree. "I mean, I know she's dead, but th

"What happened?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Someone poisoned the tree."

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, have a chapter. Andi and Luke are sweethearts, and she's finally worked out about Tyson. Her and Clarisse are just chaotic.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx