YEAH, I KNOW. I've been told a thousand times that "it was a stupid decision" and "you're not the center of everything" and "wow, that's not fair to the original questers!" Just keep reading. It'll make sense why we had to give involved, even without permission. 

Anyway. I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to being punished unfairly because the guy in charge hates us. 

According to Tantalus, the attack was entirely our fault. I guess the Annabeth, Tyson, and Percy's charioteering was so atrocious it offended the Stymphalian birds into violence. But also Annabeth's brother did nothing wrong and would be punished, and me sitting in the stands made me an accomplice or something. Totally logical!

And people wonder why I don't trust adults. 

We were assigned kitchen patrol as punishment. Which wouldn't be too bad. Maybe a little boring. Except for some reason the pots and platters were washed in lava instead of water (seriously, what is with this camp and random, misplaced lava?) According to the cleaning harpies it "gave an extra-clean sparkle" and "killed ninety-nine point nine percent of all germ." I told them hand sanitizer did that without melting my hands off, to which they responded by threatening to eat my face. 

Annabeth, Percy, and I were giving asbestos gloves and aprons. It was great that they didn't want us burnt, but I don't know why giving us lung damage was better. 

The only person who didn't mind was Tyson (not counting Pat, who showed up after lunch so he could poke at the lava with a stick until he was chased out by the cleaning harpies with threats of having to work.) He was immune to the lava and enjoyed the work. I tried to look cheerful for him. It's hard when I was about to shrivel up into a prune, assuming I didn't get third degree burns from the lava.

It didn't help that there were extra plates. Tantalus ordered the Stymphalian birds be cooked as a special luncheon to celebrate Clarisse's chariot victory. 

There was one good thing about our punishment: Annabeth and Percy fixed their argument. Whatever that was. Percy explained his dreams about Grover to her, including a new one he had had the night before. I listened in silent as he talked about Grover finding something. Something that we, apparently, needed to know about. I considered telling them about my own dream. It fits the theme, you know? But PB's reaction had made me scared of bringing it up, incase there was some extra new problem that came up. 

"If he's really found it," Annabeth murmured. "and if we could retrieve it –"

"Hold on. You act like this...whatever-it-is Grover found is the only thing in the world that could save camp. What is it?" Percy asked. 

"I'll give you a hint."

"Ergh, really?" I muttered. Annabeth shot me a look and, in a fake cheery tone, I amended, "I mean, wow! Really? Thanks, Annabeth, for giving us a hint instead of just telling us directly."

She rolled her eyes at me. "You're the worst. What do you get when you skin a ram?"

"Messy?" Percy said, uncertain. 

"A fleece. The coat of a ram is called a fleece." 

"Ah, yes," I said dryly. "Which I would know from my regular sheep-skinning hobby."

"The Golden Fleece! I'm talking about the Golden Fleece!" Annabeth finally blurted out, seemingly frustrated with my sarcasm and Percy's obliviousness. "Percy, remember the Grey Sisters? They said they knew the location of the thing you seek. And they mentioned Jason. Three thousand years ago, they told him how to find the Golden Fleece. You do know the story of Jason and the Argonauts?"

Percy and I nodded. 

"That old movie with the clay skeletons," Percy said. 

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh my gods, Percy! You are so hopeless."

"Hey!" I protested. "It was a good...a funny...it was a movie." 

"Just listen. The real story of the Fleece: there were these two children, Cadmus and Europa, okay? They were about to get offered us as human sacrifices, when they prayed to Zeus to save them. So Zeus sent this magical flying ram with golden wool –" For a moment I wondered why he couldn't have done the same for Thalia, but I didn't think Annabeth would appreciate that. "– which picked them up in Greece and carried them all the way to Colchis in Asia Minor. Well, actually it carried Cadmus. Europa fell off and died along the way, but that's not important."

"It was probably important to her," Percy pointed out. 

"The point is, when Cadmus got to Colchis, he sacrificed the golden ram –" 

"Because it killed his sister," I said. 

Percy and I nodded sagely, as if we totally understood. I mean, if some stupid sheep just dropped Percy in the middle of the ocean (assuming there was no "child of the sea" magic to save him) I'd be kinda mad, too. 

Annabeth just looked like she wanted to drown us in the lava. 

"He sacrificed the ram as a gift to the gods," Annabeth corrected, "and hung the Fleece in a tree in the middle of the kingdom. The Fleece brought prosperity to the land. Animals stopped getting sick. Plants grew better. Framers had bumper crops. Plagues never listed. That's why Jason wanted the Fleece. It can revitalize any plant where its place. It curse sickness, strengthens nature, cleans up pollution –"

"It could cure Thalia's tree," Percy realized. 

Annabeth nodded. "And it would totally strengthen the borders of Camp Half-Blood. But the Fleece has been missing for centuries. Tons of heroes have searched for it with no luck." 

"But Grover found it," Percy said. "He went looking for Pan and he found the Fleece instead because they both radiate nature magic."

"It makes sense," I admitted. "And Grover has always had a talent for finding the impossible."

He'd been the seeker who found Thalia, the daughter of Zeus, then Percy and me. According to the Big Three's oath, none of us were supposed to exist. 

"We could rescue him and save the camp at the same time. It's perfect!" Percy said. 

Annabeth hesitated. "A bit too perfect, don't you think? What if it's a trap?" 

I frowned. Maybe I was on edge from my dream, but it made sense. Luke would definitely know that we were alive by now and Kronos wasn't above trickery. I had to believe it would work, though. Otherwise, there was no chance. We wouldn't know what was happening with Grover. We'd have to sit around until Thalia's tree died and the camp was without protection (at least until some other poor kid was used to make a new border.)

"What choice do we have?" Percy asked. "Are you going to help us rescue Grover or not?" 

He was only asking Annabeth, and I realized he'd assumed I would go along with his plan. He wasn't wrong. Grover was my friend, too. Yet I still felt a small jolt of surprise (or maybe I was just nervous. I was never a fan of the whole "saving things" deal.) 

Annabeth glanced at Tyson. He wasn't listening to us, instead making toy boats out of cups and spoons in the lava. 

Lowering her voice until there was no chance of him hearing, Annabeth said, "We'll have to fight a Cyclops. Polyphemus, the worst of the Cyclopes. And there's only one place his island could be. The Sea of Monsters."

"Oh boy," I said. "I can hear the capitalization. That's really bad, isn't it?" 

Annabeth nodded. "It's the same sea that Odyssesus sailed through, and Jason, and Aeneas, and all the others."

"You mean the Mediterranean?" Percy asked. 

"No. Well, yes...but no."

"Did it move?" I asked. 

Mythological features had a tendency to move, like they were one big package getting dragged around with the gods. Whenever something wasn't where it belonged, "it moved" is typically the answer. 

"The Sea of Monsters is the sea all heroes sail through on their adventures," Annabeth explained. "It used to be in the Mediterranean, but like everything else, it shifts locations as the West's center of power shifts." 

"Like Mount Olympus being above the Empire State Building," Percy said. "And Hades being under Los Angeles."

"Right."

"But a whole sea full of monsters—how could you hide something like that? Wouldn't the mortals notice weird things happening...like, ships getting eaten and stuff ?"

"Of course they notice. They don't understand, but they know something is strange about that part of the ocean. The Sea of Monsters is off the east coast of the U.S. now, just northeast of Florida. The mortals even have a name for it." 

As things tended to do. Mortals were really good at rationalizing the too-weird-to-ignore parts of mythology – usually by turning it into urban legends and other forms of myth replacements. 

"The Bermuda Triangle?" Percy realized. 

Annabeth nodded. We feel silent for a moment as Percy and I registered that. I mean...it wasn't the weirdest thing that I had learned in the last year. Yet somehow it seemed like the most offensive one. I can accept that the Greek Gods are real, but I draw the line at the Bermuda Triangle. That just felt extra ridiculous. 

"Okay..." Percy finally said. "So at least we know where to look."

"Yeah," I grumbled. "The giant monster fest where people constantly go missing. What could go wrong?"

"We're the children of the sea god. This is our home turf. How hard can it be?" Percy insisted. 

Annabeth knit her eyebrows. "We'll have to talk to Tantalus, get approval for a quest. He'll say no." 

Percy got a troublesome gleam in his eyes. "Not if we tell him tonight at the campfire in front of everybody. The whole camp will hear. They'll pressure him. He won't be able to refuse." 

Or he'll just see it as another reason to punish us, I thought. I didn't say that. Annabeth looked hopeful for the first time since we arrived at camp. 

♆

WE DECIDED TO INACT OUR PLAN AT THE CAMPFIRE. That was the point where every camper was together (well, aside from dinner, but trust me. No one wanted their dinner interrupted.) 

We waited patiently as the Apollo cabin led the sing-along. They were a variety of songs you probably know, given a Greek twist. "Down by the Aegean", for example, and "this Land is Minos's Land." It was cheesy and weird. That was what made it fun. Every night it would lighten the mood, no matter how bad the day before was. 

Currently, though, the bonfire was reading VERY BAD. It was only fife feet high (which sounds really big for a campfire, but trust me, was actually rather short.) The flames were barely warm and the flames weren't even yellow. It was the dull color of lint. Even Mr. D seemed unhappy with what was going on (instead of just being unhappy with our existence in general.) He stalked off, muttering about missing pinochle and giving Tantalus bitter looks. 

Tantalus didn't notice. 

"Well, that was lovely!" he said, as the last song finished up. 

There was a hundred pairs of eyes glaring at Tantalus as he approached the fire. Tantalus tried to casually pluck a toasted marshmallow on a stick. At once the marshmallow flew off the stick and threw itself into the flames. For a moment it looked like he was going to have a screaming fit. 

Instead, he turned and smiled at us coldly. "Now then! Some announcements about tomorrow's schedule."

"Sir," Percy interrupted. 

Tantalus's eye twitched. "Our kitchen boy has something to say?"

Some of the Ares campers snickered. I flexed my hand. My ring felt cold on my finger. It was still blue-green, but I couldn't help but feel like I was in danger. Percy glanced at Annabeth and I and stood. Without much of a choice, we followed. 

"We have an idea to save the camp," Percy said. 

People were silent, but the campfire gave away their interest. It flared bright yellow. 

"Indeed," Tantalus said blandly. "Well, if it has anything to do with chariots –" 

"We were thinking boats," I corrected.

"The Golden Fleece. We know where it is," Percy said. 

At once the flames burned orange. People were excited, and we took the moment to share our plan. Percy explained his dream about Grover and Polyphemus's island. Annabeth stepped in to explain what the Fleece could do. I mostly butted in with some extra comments, I will admit, but there wasn't much for me to add. Percy had the dreams and Annabeth did most of the convincing. 

"The Fleece can save the camp," Annabeth concluded. "I'm certain of it." 

Tantalus scoffed. "Nonsense. We don't need saving."

That was blatantly false. So blatantly false, in fact, that everyone stared at him until tantalus started looking uncomfortable. 

Quickly, he added, "Besides, the Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look." 

"Yes, I would," Percy said. 

Annabeth leaned towards us and whispered, "You would?"

"Yes!" I blurted out, mostly because I felt obligated to back my brother up. "We know exactly where it is."

I really hoped Percy knew exactly where it was. 

"30, 31, 75, 12," Percy rattled off. 

"Ooo-kay," Tantalus said. "Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers."

"They're sailing coordinates," I realized. "It's the latitude and longitude of Polyphemus's island. About as exact as it can get, you know?"

Annabeth gave us an impressed look. "30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. He's right! The Gray Sisters gave us those coordinates. that'd be somewhere in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!"

Tantalus tried to protest, but at that point there was no stopping. The campers took up the chant. Soon enough he had a whole crowd of kids screaming "WE NEED A QUEST!" in his face. Finally – looking like he wanted to throttle all of us personally – Tantalus relented. 

"Very well," he muttered. "I shall authorize champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying."

This was going too well. Still, I let myself feel hopeful. We were being allowed a quest. We could save Grover. We could save camp. 

"I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle! And choose two companions for the journey. And I think the choice of champion is obvious." Tantalus looked at us, but I don't think he was talking about us. He looked more like he was trying to will us to explode. "The champion should be one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defense of the camp. You shall lead this quest...Clarisse!"

The fire flickered a thousand different colors. I think my confusion caused at least fifty of them. The Ares cabin was thrilled, though. They started stomping and cheering Clarisse's name. 

Clarisse stood. She scanned the crowd, looking stunned, before swallowing and declaring, "I accept the quest!" 

"Wait!" Percy shouted. "Grover is our friend. The dream came to me." 

"Sit down!" yelled one of the Ares campers. "You had your chance last summer!"

"Yeah, they just want to be in the spotlight again!" another sad. 

"You wouldn't have a stupid chance if we hadn't brought it up!" I shouted back. 

My face burnt. I was seething at the unfairness of it all. They didn't know anything about us! If they did, there was no way they would think we wanted a repeat of last summer. You know, the summer where Zeus threatened to vaporize us before we even knew he existed. Where we were framed for a crime by a guy who claimed to be our friend, who then tried to kill us on his way out. 

"Clarisse, what about –" Veerle started.

But we had wounded Clarisse's pride, and she wasn't listening to anyone. "I accept the quest!" she repeated. "I, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, will save the camp!"

The Ares cabin (bar Veerle, who was looking increasingly nervous) cheered. Annabeth protested, which got the Athena campers to join in. Everyone else started to take sides. Soon enough they were shouting and arguing and throwing marshmallows. I slowly slunk into my seat, feeling more than a little embarrassed to have started this. 

"Silence you brats!" Tantalus shouted. 

His tone stunned everyone into silence. I stared, blinking like I'd just been slapped. 

"Sit down!" he ordered. "And I will tell you a ghost story."

Everyone moved reluctantly back to their seats. I shifted. There was an evil aura radiating off him, as strong as any monsters I've seen. My ring hadn't turned black, but I noticed it had begun to darken, as if even the magic was unsure if this was a threat or not. 

"Once upon a time there was a mortal king who was beloved of the Gods!" Tantalus placed his hand on his chest. As if it wasn't obvious enough he was talking about himself. "This king, was even allowed to feat on Mount Olympus. But when he tried to take some ambrosia and nectar back to earth to figure out the recipe – just one little doggie bag, mind you – the gods punished him."

They did you a favor, bud, I thought. Listen. I have problems with the Gods, too. But unless Tantalus was secretly a demigod, all he would have gotten himself was a painful death. 

"They banned him from their halls forever! His own people mocked him! His children scolded him!" Tantalus cried. "And, oh yes, campers, he had horrible children. Children – just – like – you!"

With each word he jabbed his finger at one of us – Percy and I included. I would have found it cheesy if I wasn't slowly realizing where he was going with his story.

Softly, Tantalus continued, "Do you know what he did tho his ungrateful children? Do you know how he paid back to gods for their cruel punishment? He invited the Olympians to a feast at his palace, just to show there were no hard feelings. No one noticed that his children were missing. And when he served the gods dinner, my dear campers, can you guess what was in the stew?"

No one answered. The firelight had turned a dark blue, casting shadows across Tantalus's face. 

"Oh, the gods punished him in the afterlife," Tantalus croaked. "They did indeed. But he'd had his moment of satisfaction, hadn't he? His children never again spoke back to him or questioned is authority. And you know what? Rumor has it that the king's sprit down swells in this very camp, waiting for a chance to take revenge on ungrateful, rebellious children. And so...are there any more complaints, before we sent Clarisse off on her quest?"

Silence. Someone coughed, then looked like they thought they were about to die. 

Tantalus nodded at Clarisse. "The Oracle, my dear. Go on."

I pitied Clarisse. The previous pride of her assignment had drained away. She shifted uncomfortably, clearly not wanting to be Tantalus's pet. When she tried to protest, Tantalus snarled at her, and she bowed awkwardly before hurrying off. 

"What about the Jacksons?" Tantalus turned to us. I wanted to shove his stupid smug face into the fire, but I was too terrified to move. "No comments from our dishwashers."

I stayed silent. To my relief, Percy did the same. 

"Good," Tantalus said. "And let me remind everyone – no one leaves this camp without my permission. Anyone who tries...well, if they survive the attempt, they will be expelled forever, but it won't come to that. The harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry! Good night, my dear campers. Sleep well."

With a wave of his hand, the fire was extinguished. 

♆

I HANDLED THIS VERY MATURELY. By which I mean I screamed into my pillow for a solid minute. Now that Tantalus wasn't glaring me down, I felt like I was on fire. It wasn't fair! Grover was our friend. It was Percy's dream. It was our plan. I didn't want another quest. I didn't! If it weren't for all that, I would have happily handed it over to Clarisse. 

Yet everyone was acting like we were fame hungry brats. 

Tyson kept trying to ask what was wrong, but I pointedly ignored him. Not to be rude, but...I was angry at everyone. At the other campers for turning on us so quickly. At Tantalus for being a monster. At the gods for letting him be in charge of us. At Luke and Kronos for getting us into this mess in the first place.

I was certain that, if I tried to talk to Tyson, I would have just screamed at him. That wasn't fair. He hadn't done anything wrong. 

Percy tried his best to explain everything to Tyson. All he got was that we were upset, and that we wanted to go on a trip and Tantalus wouldn't allow it. 

"You will go anyway?" he asked. 

"I don't know," Percy admitted. "It would be hard. Very hard."

"Try impossible," I grumbled, lifting my head just enough that my voice wasn't muffled by the pillow. 

"I will help," Tyson said. 

Percy shook his head. "No. We – uh, we couldn't ask you to do that, big guy. Too dangerous."

The bed creaked as Tyson shifted. 

"What are you building?" Percy asked. 

I remembered the pieces of metal that had been sitting in Tyson's lap when we arrived. It was mostly a pile of springs, gears, and tiny wires. He'd gotten them from Beckendorf and spent every night tinkering at something. 

Tyson didn't answer. He whimpered. 

"Annabeth doesn't like Cyclopes," Tyson murmured. "You...don't want me along?"

He sounded so hurt and betrayed that my heart crumbled into pieces. There was a flare of anger at Annabeth for her rudeness again, but I quickly stamped it out. I had so many other things to be mad about. I didn't want my friend to be one of them. Percy tried to reassure Tyson, but it didn't work. 

There was the clattering of metal, and then the entire bed shifted. I guessed that Tyson had laid down. 

"Daddy always cared for m-me," Tyson sniffled. He sounded close to crying. "Now...I think he was mean to have a Cyclops boy. I should not have been born."

I laid on my side and flexed my hand in front of my face, where my ring usually was. Poseidon had said something similar to us last summer. That he was sorry we had been born. That he'd cursed us to a terrible fate.

I didn't understand. Listen, I get it. He's a god. Important, busy, whatever. But it was cruel to leave your kids like that. To abandon them, leaving them to believe they shouldn't have been born. It had been even worse for Tyson. I thought about those years he'd lived on the streets in a garboard box. At least Percy and I had home and a mom who loved us. 

"Tyson..." Percy sounded choked up. "Camp will be a good home for you. The others will get used to you. I promise." 

I rolled over so I was staring at the wall. I didn't want to say anything, because I knew what I was thinking would just make Tyson feel worse. I was scared the camp wouldn't accept him. After all, they still hadn't accepted us. 

♆

WHEN I FIRST HEARD THE VOICE, I THOUGHT IT WAS A DREAM. The faint sound of someone yelling in the distance. I blinked, slowly realized that I was awake and someone was shouting for help. 

Being on the top bunk, I had to climb down to get my glasses off the top stand. It was then that I noticed Percy's bed was empty. Not just that. He was gone. I realized Percy was in trouble about a second before I recognized his voice as the one yelling. 

Tyson had started shifting in his bed. I don't know if he was having a bad dream or heard the voice, but I shook him awake anyway. I was surprised by how quickly he woke up. I had assumed Tyson was a heavy sleeper, but as soon as I grabbed his shoulder he shot up so fast he smacked his head on the upper bunk. 

"More monsters?" Tyson asked. 

I shook my head. I was about to explain, but Tyson heard Percy's voice and instantly shot out of bed. I had to convince him to put on shoes before he went barreling out of the cabin. I scrambled to get a belt to hold my slingshot and ammo, before following after him. 

Percy's voice seemed to be coming from down by the beach. It made sense that he would go there to think. It also made sense that monsters would crop up – it was the least patrolled part of the camp borders. We met Annabeth at the edge of camp. She also heard Percy and come to help. Which should have surprised me. I mean, if he was yelling loud enough for Annabeth to hear in the Athena cabin, the entire camp should have been in alarm. 

Except only the three of us started down towards the beach. As we crested the sand dunes, I spotted Percy. He was stood by the edge of the surf, staring down at the waves. 

"What's going on?" Annabeth asked. "I heard you calling for help!"

"Us, too!" Tyson said. "Heard you yell, 'Bad things are attacking!'"

"Uh, yeah. That," I said. 

I'm pretty sure Percy had been more specific than bad things are attacking, but now that I thought about it I couldn't remember what exactly he'd said. Percy just stared at us like we'd gone insane. 

"I didn't call you guys. I'm fine," he said. 

It was then that I noticed the four yellow duffel bags at his feet, and the thermos and the bottle of vitamins Percy was holding. He explained what had happened. Hermes had appeared while he was sitting on the beach. The god had given him supplies to go on a quest. 

I was suddenly very aware that I was still wearing my pajamas. Probably not the most intimidating look for any monsters that might have been there. Definitely not what I wanted to start a trip in (this is what happens when you run away in the middle of the night!) Unfortunately, Percy had made it clear that we didn't have much time, and I didn't think I was going to get the chance to run back and change. 

As if they could hear what I was thinking, a screech rose from the distance. The patrol harpies had picked up our scent. Definitely not going back to change. 

"Percy," Annabeth said, "we have to do the quest."

"We'll get expelled, you know. Trust me, I'm an expert at getting expelled," Percy said. 

You and me both, I thought, then said, "We don't have much of a choice, do we?"

Not that I wanted to follow Hermes's order, but you don't really get to ignore gods. They have a tendency to vaporize you if you do. 

"If we fail, there won't be any camp to come back to," Annabeth said. 

Percy frowned. "Yeah, but you promised Chiron –"

"I promised I'd keep you two from danger. I can only do that by coming with you! Tyson can stay behind and tell them –"

"I want to go," Tyson said. 

"No!" Annabeth sounded close to panic. "I mean...Percy, Attie, come on. You know that's impossible."

Both of them turned to us, waiting for an answer. 

"He can't stay here," I pointed out. I sound reasonable, and not at all annoyed that Annabeth was choosing right now of all times to be rude. "You know they'll just use this as an excuse to punish him."

I remembered Tantalus threatening to have Tyson hunted for sport. The other campers wouldn't hesitate, either. Cyclopses were monsters to them. Killing him wouldn't mean much to them when he would just turn into dust and reform later (as if the hunted for sport part wasn't enough to make it terrifying.) 

It wasn't the perfect option. I mean, we would have to protect Tyson the entire way. Quests were dangerous and he was still a little kid. He was strong, but he wasn't a fighter. If things got hard, Tyson was more likely to start crying or freeze than actually do anything. I wanted to take him along. I knew we had to. Maybe protecting him on a quest would be hard, but at least we could try. That didn't mean I had to like it. 

"Attie is right," Percy decided. "We can't leave him."

Annabeth was trying to her best to stay calm, but I could see her face reddening. "We're going to Polyphemus's island! Polyphemus is an S-i-k...a C-y-k..." She stamped her foot in frustration. She was dyslexic, too, and there was no way she was going to spell Cyclops under pressure. "You know what I mean!"

"Cyclops. Just say cyclops," I said. Annabeth glanced nervously at Tyson, as if that single word might get him to turn against us. "What?"

Annabeth just shook her head. She gave me a look like she was preparing to give me an I told you so in the future. 

"Tyson can go if he wants to," Percy agreed. 

Tyson clapped his hands. "Want to!"

I could tell Annabeth wanted to argue more, but she must have realized we didn't have the time to change our mind. The harpies were approaching. 

"All right," she said. "How do we get to that ship?"

Percy glanced at me. "Hermes said our father would help."

"Oh, great," I grumbled. "Are we going to have to wait four to five business days or something?" 

"Attie," Annabeth scolded. She eyed the ocean nervously, like the waves were going to sucker punch me. To Percy, she said, "Well then, Seaweed Brain? What are you waiting for?"

"Um, Dad?" Percy called to the sea. "How's it going?"

"Percy!" Annabeth whispered. "We're in a hurry!"

"Sorry about the comment!" I added, in case he'd taken it personally. "Help would be really cool right now."

Percy added, "We need to get to that ship, like, before we're eating and stuff, so..."

I looked up to see what Percy was talking about. At once my stomach dropped. It was a cruise ship, making their way across the sound. Instinctively, I recognized it. From my dream. 

Your father's domain. Yet I pass through freely.

It took me a moment to remember how to breathe. The ship was real. It was really passing camp. Based on the time, I would have bet that it had even been at the point I'd seen the night before. I knew demigod dreams were often prophetic but...I didn't like the implications of this becoming real. 

I tugged on Percy's sleeve. "Guys, I don't think –" 

"Fish ponies!" Tyson cried. 

I realized four animals were pulling their way onto the beach. They had the front halves of white stallions, and the back halves of silvery fish bodies. Their tail fins glimmered in the sun, reflecting rainbows. 

"Hippocampi!" Annabeth said. "They're beautiful."

The nearest one whinnied in appreciation and nuzzled Annabeth. Any other time I would have agreed, but I was still busy trying to figure out a way not to get on that ship.

"There!" a voice screeched behind us. "Bad children out of cabins! Snack time for lucky harpies!"

Why does everything happen at the worst time?

Five harpies appeared over the top of the dunes. They weren't very fast – their wings were much smaller than their bodies – but they were vicious. And, knowing our luck, we couldn't go back to our cabins and call it a night. Tantalus would let them eat us anyway. 

Tyson was too busy staring at the hippocampi to grab his duffle bag. Eventually I grabbed one, shoved it into his hands, and hurried him towards a ride. I guess Poseidon knew Tyson was coming, because there was a hippocampus much larger than all the others and perfectly sized for him. Once he was happily on his "fish pony," the rest of us mounted out steeds (which is a really cool way of saying "floundered into the water and awkwardly climbed onto a hippocampus.) 

"Giddyup!" Percy said. 

The hippocampi plunged into the waves. We left the harpies on the beach, wailing for their snacks to return, as they raced through the water. Soon enough the beach of Camp Half-Blood had disappeared into a dark smudge. 

Before I knew it, the cruise ship was looming in front of us. Guess we didn't have much of a choice but get on...

Author's Note: I think we all need to pity Annabeth for being subjected to Attie and Percy's regular clown–to–clown communication.