PRETTY TYPICAL, ISN'T IT? But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Once we were out of view of Polyphemus's island, our trip was actually rather calm. I saw maybe one sea monster, a fin in the far distance, but everything seemed to be giving us a wide berth. 

I think they knew who had sent the Hippocampi. I did, anyway. After spending the entire trip frustrated that Poseidon had been giving us the bare minimum help, it felt a little weird that he ended up saving our lives. I owed him an apology, said one part of my brain. It's literally the bare minimum to not let kids die, said another. Instead of listening to either, I let myself doze, lulled to sleep by sound of waves and smell of sea. 

My sleep was, to my surprise, dreamless. I woke to a setting sun. We had arrived at a post card worthy beach, soft white sand lined with palm trees. Sailboats and cruise ships filled the harbor. Circe, I thought, before realizing it couldn't be her island. I could feel it. The waters had changed – we had left the sea of monsters. 

The hippocampi had become agitated as we approached the beach. They were slowing now, whinnying and swimming in circles. I shared a look with Percy. There was not magical mind connection. It was just obvious what they were thinking – this place sucked. It was pretty, sure, but the water felt dirty. Hidden below us was definitely a collection of beachside trash. And there were too many people. Even hidden from mortals, they were uncomfortable with all of the possible attention. They helped us because we were their lords' children. 

We would have to swim to shore. 

No one was happy about it, but after their help, we couldn't exactly complain to them. We thanked Rainbow and his friends. I comforted Tyson, who wept as he unfashioned his makeshift saddle pack. He hugged Rainbow and he'd him a soggy mango as a good bye. 

I felt guilty making them separate. It was obvious Tyson had made a real friend. It was a sad sight to watch the hippocampi disappear into the waves. 

Thankfully, we were still in the middle of the ocean, so we weren't allowed to sit around and feel bad for ourselves. With the waves pushing us forwards, we swam towards the shore. 

No one seemed to notice when we exited the sea. They were too busy with their own work. Crowds of vacationers were wandering about, some beelining to ships and others seeming to go no where in particular. Porters were bustling around with carts of luggage. Taxi drivers yelled at each other and fought for customers. We were probably only the least weird things these people had seen today – definitely the least important. 

Among the mortals, the mist rolled in. Tyson's eye was no longer visible, blurred behind an inability to look above his crooked teeth. Grover had put on his cap and sneakers. The Fleece has transformed into a red–and–gold high school letter jacket, with a large glittering Omega on the pocket. 

Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date. She cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from camp ten days!"

"That's impossible!" Clarisse said. 

"The Sea of Monsters," Veerle said. "Time must move slower there..."

"Can that happen?" Pat asked. 

I twisted my ring. It not only could happen, it happened regularly. I remembered the Lotus Casino. We had even found the date from a newspaper there, too. 

"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 mules away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault!" Clarisse jabbed a finger at Percy and me. "If you hadn't interfered –"

"That's enough!" Veerle snapped. She grabbed Clarisse by the back of the shirt, yanked her to the feet, and stared her down like she was scolding a misbehaving puppy. "What's done is done. You aren't going to impress Dad sulking like that."

"Easy for you to say." Clarisse tried to look tough, but her lower lip kept trembling like she was trying not to cry. "You got everything you wanted. I had to be rescued like some...some...some loser."

Veerle sighed and squeezed her sister's arm. For a moment I saw this whole thing from Clarisse's point of view. This was supposed to be her quest. Sure, Veerle and Pat had come along, but she was the leader. Now we'd butted in and made her look bad. While we were off on our dangerous quest, she and Pat had floated around on a boat and then got caught (which was fair for Pat, it was his first quest, but was probably humiliating to a seasoned demigod like Clarisse.) 

"Clarisse," Percy cut in. "What did the Oracle tell you exactly?"

Veerle chewed her lip and Pat suddenly became very interested in his sneakers. So...it wasn't good. Clarisse glared at us. For a moment I thought she was going to bite out heats off. 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. 

"I figured we were good, since there was three of us, and that's lucky and all, right?" Pat turned to Veerle. She nodded. "But guess not..." 

That must have been why they agreed to bring him along, I realized. He might be a newbie, and if he wasn't such a natural at demigod...ing (listen, it's not my best, but it works) he would have been dead weight, but he filled out the numbers. They had hoped that it would keep Clarisse from "failing without friends." Unfortunately, their hope had failed. 

But Percy didn't look quite convinced. He dug through his pockets, then asked, "Does anybody have any cash?"

I scoffed and patted my pockets. Where was I supposed to keep that? Annabeth, Grover, and Veerle shook their heads. They were as lost as I was. Clarisse pulled a wet Confederate dollar from her pocket, and Pat managed to produce a couple gold drachmas, but neither of those were getting anywhere. 

"Cash?" Tyson asked hesitantly. "Like...green paper?"

"Yeah. Paper money," I said. 

I thought Tyson was just confused, but then he started rummaging in his saddle pack. He pulled out the Ziplock bag full of cash that Hermes had included in our supplies. 

"Tyson!" Percy said. "how did you –" 

"Thought it was a feed bag for Rainbow," he said. "Found it floating in sea, but only paper inside. Sorry."

Tyson handed the cash to Percy. Once it was counted up, it was at least three hundred dollars in fives and tens. 

"Man, this guy's a wizard," Pat said, vocalizing what I'm pretty sure we were all thinking. How did Tyson always manage to have exactly what we needed? 

Percy ran to the curb and grabbed a taxi that was just letting out a family of cruise passengers. "Clarisse!" Percy yelled back to us. "Come on. You're going to the airport. Annabeth, give her the Fleece."

For a moment all we could do was stare at him. Finally, he grabbed the Fleece from Annabeth, tucked the cash into its pocket, and shoved it into Clarisse's arms. I shook my head. Had he lost his mind? Clarisse was the last person I would have trusted to get the Fleece back to Camp Half–Blood. 

Clarisse seemed equally stunned. "You'd let me –"

"It's your quest," Percy said. "We only have enough money for one flight. Besides, Attie and I can't travel by air. Zeus would blast us into a million pieces. That's what the prophecy meant: you'd fail without friends, meaning you'd need our help – all of our help – but you'd have to fly home alone. You have to get the Fleece back safely." 

Emotions played across Clarisse's face. I could tell she was suspicious, at first, but then realized we weren't stopping her. She jumped into the cab and promised, "You can count on me. I won't fail."

"Not failing would be good."

Before we could say anything else, the cab peeled away. I let out a sigh. I don't know if it was of relief or exhaustion – quite possibly both. 

"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?"

"Hey," Veerle snapped. "My sister knows what she's doing with her quest." 

"She's pretty cool, you know," Pat offered. 

"And Percy is nice," Tyson added. 

"Percy is too nice," Annabeth grumbled. 

For a moment, Veerle and Annabeth had a glaring match. Then Pat cleared his throat and they refused to look at each other. 

Feeling an argument brewing, I interrupted, "Well, if you wanted to chase down the taxi, be my guest. But the rest of us are going to find another way home." 

To emphasize my pointed, I turned to leave. Or turned to try to leave. Instead I almost walked straight into a sword's point that had been aimed at my throat. 

"Hey, cuz," said Luke. "Welcome back to the States." 

The bear–men seemed to materialize on either side of us. One grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their t–shirt collars. Veerle lunged at him, but his brother caught her by the upper arm and yanked her off her feet. Pat darted under a hand grasping for him and hid behind Tyson, who roared at Luke. 

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

Orieus grinned and raised Annabeth and Grover off the ground, kicking and screaming. Veerle twisted in Agrius's grasp, looking no closer to getting free. 

I took a small step back – just enough to get Luke's blade away from under my chin. Sure, we out number them, but three of our friends were in monsters' grasps and Pat was unarmed. There was no way of winning this fight without someone dying. Probably all of us. 

"What do you want, Luke?" Percy growled. 

Luke smiled. He gestured toward the end of the dock. I had missed it before, but now the Princess Andromeda stood out like a sore thumb. 

"Why, Percy," Luke said, "I want to extend my hospitality, of course." 

♆ 

WE WERE HERDED ABOARD THE PRINCESS ANDROMEDA. I had hoped Tyson and Pat might be able to run, but now we were all trapped. Monsters and armed demigods leered at us from all sides. The bear twins didn't even bother holding onto our friends, tossing them down in front of a swimming pool. If any of us tried to run, we'd be cut down or mauled or lit on fire. Or all of them, in various orders. 

A fountain sprayed up from the pool, water glittering in the air. It was pretty. I hated it. How dare something be pretty while we're about to get murdered. 

"And so, the Fleece," Luke mused. "Where is it?"

He started prodding at us with the tip of his sword. 

"Hey!" Grover yelled. "That's real goat fur under there."

Luke smiled. I remembered when I first arrived at camp, when I thought his smile was warm, and I wondered how I could have possibly missed the cruelty beneath it. 

"Sorry, old friend. Just give me the Fleece and I'll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest." He prodded at Grover again. 

"Stop it!" Veerle snapped. Her hand flexed over her pocket, where her switch blade was kept, but she didn't pull it. Instead she stared Luke down with a withering glare. "We don't have the Fleece. My sister took it ahead." 

Luke's eyes narrowed. "You're lying. You couldn't have..." His face reddened as he looked between us and realized we all looked deadly serious (easy, when a bear–monster–man was preparing to crush you to death.) "Clarisse? You trusted...you gave..."

"Yeah," Percy said dryly. 

"Agrius!"

The 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!" Luke screamed. "Or I'lll feed you to the drakon!"

Agrius gulped and lumbered down the stair. I knew we had freaked Luke out. He paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. His crew was growing uneasy. They hadn't seen this side of Luke, either. 

I wondered if there was some way we could get them to turn against him. The demigods at least. If Luke sounded insane enough, they wouldn't want to follow him. For their safety or their logic. 

Pat slowly raised his hand, like this was a classroom. 

"What?" Luke shouted, and I saw a few of the demigods flinching. 

"Sooorry, I'm a little new here," Pat said, his voice dripping with false apology. "Who are you?" 

Somehow, Luke's face seemed to turn even redder. 

"Where we supposed to bring you the Fleece or something?" Pat glanced at the others. "Did I miss that part of the plan?"

"No! He tricked us!" I said. 

It was easy to sound offended – I kind of was. I side eyed the crowd around us. What exactly did they get from this exchange? Sure, Luke would look cool for coming up with such a trick. But he'd also look like a giant idiot for not considering something as simple as one of us going ahead. 

Percy glared Luke down. "You wanted us to save you the trouble of getting it."

"Of course, you idiot!" Luke scowled. "And you've messed everything up!"

"Sounds like we fixed it!" Veerle shouted. "As if we give the Fleece to you." 

I don't think I'd heard anyone make the word you sound as disgusting as Veerle had in that moment. And I understood why. At least we had met him after leaving Camp Half–Blood. She, Pat, and Clarisse had no idea Luke was leeching off their quest. For all she knew, this guy had just popped out of no where right when they thought they'd won. 

"Traitor!" Percy shouted. 

He dug a gold drachma out of his pocket and threw it at Luke. Luke dodged it. It flew past him and sailed into the spray of rainbow–colored water. 

"You tricked all of us!" Percy yelled at Luke. "Even Dionysus at Camp Half–Blood!" 

"What does Mr. D –" I nearly choked. Because behind Luke, the fountain had began to shimmer. 

An iris message, I realized. Listen, I give Percy and lot of grief, but he's definitely got his clever moments. But that wasn't the time to congratulate him. The others and I had to do our best to pretend something wasn't happening behind Luke. Which – surprise! – is really hard to do. 

Percy helped out by uncapping Riptide, bringing everyone's attention to him. 

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

"Oh," I said. "We get a choice?"

"Who poisoned Thalia's tree, Luke?" Percy asked. 

"I did, of course," he snarled. "I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus."

Man, Luke really did like monologuing. I mean, we just wanted a confession. He didn't have to talk about he use Evil Poison from the Evil Pit of Evil. Even Pat, new as he was, seemed to realize that was bad. The monsters didn't care, of course, but I could see other demigods shifting in place. Nervous glances darted between them. 

"What is wrong with you?" Veerle demanded. "Chiron –"

"Ha! They really believed he did it, didn't they?" Luke shook his head. "You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn't have the guts." 

I was seething, and I wasn't the only one. Veerle was clenching her jaw so hard I thought I heard a tooth pop, and Grover looked close to taking swings at Luke. Annabeth looked even worse. I don't know how she managed to keep from crying. I think it would have turned into a full on brawl, if it weren't for the fact we needed him to keep talking...

"You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?" Percy demanded. 

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."

Wait.

What?

I felt something cold run down my spine. "Kronos. You wanted to heal Kronos." 

"Yes! The Fleece's magic would've sped his mending process by tenfold," Luke boasted. I was suddenly seasick. "But you haven't stopped us. 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," Percy said. A pretty good recap. 

Luke gritted his teeth. "You know that! Why do you keep asking me?"

"Well," Pat pointed over his shoulder, "they don't." 

The color drained from Luke's face. I would have been thrilled, if I wasn't currently freaking out about Kronos. He turned to look behind him – then gasped and stumbled back. The shimmering mist of the fountain had revealed Dionysus, Tantalus, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They were all watching us in stunned silence. 

"Well," Dionysus said dryly, "some unplanned dinner entertainment." 

"Mr. D, you heard him," Percy 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.

"Dude, shut up!" I blurted out. Not that it mattered, because Tantalus was more interested his cornering his cheeseburger than listening to us. 

"I fear not," Mr. D said. He studied Tantalus with a look of absolute disgust. "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games." 

Tantalus didn't hear him, either. He grabbed his cheeseburger. To everyone's surprise – including the burger's, I'd bet – it didn't dart away. He lifted it from the plate and stared at it as in amazement. Tantalus was cackling about finally getting it when he was dismissed, dissolving into mist. He scrambled to get the border to his mouth in time, but it was too late. It fell back to the plate, safe for...the next minute or so. Someone was definitely going to pick that up later. 

Luke bellowed with rage. He lashed his sword through the fountain. The message dissolved. I guess it wasn't satisfying his homicidal urges, because he promptly turned on us. 

"Kronos was right, Percy," he snarled at my brother. "You and your sister are unreliable weapons. You need to be replaced." 

I was a little confused, and almost mentioned that we couldn't exactly be replaced if we were never involved in the first place. I didn't get to. One of Luke's men blew a brass whistle. The deck doors flew open and a dozen more warriors poured out. In seconds we were circled – even more than we already would – with brass spears pointed right at us. 

Luke smirked. "You'll never leave this boat alive."

Spoiler alert: we left the boat alive.