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Chief, wake up.

Agro's warm tongue licked my face.

"Huh?" I sat groggily. In the distance, I could see the sun setting behind a beachside highway lined with palm trees and a harbor filled with ships. "Where are we?"

"Miami, I think," said Annabeth.

At her words, I burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Annabeth, frowning.

"I've been banned from Florida for two years," I choked through my laughter.

Annabeth's eyebrows raised. "Why?"

Raiden grinned. "An incident with a few drakons, a lightning bolt, and a fire hydrant. We knocked down a few buildings and generally destroyed half of downtown Orlando."

"Jeez," said Percy. "I thought I did bad by blowing up the St. Louis Arch but destroying half of downtown Orlando. That's something else entirely."

Raiden laughed, and I caught Percy's eye for a moment, before looking away. Percy looked like he wanted to say something to me but, I cut him off.

"We gotta get off," I said. "The hippocampi won't take us any farther; too much pollution in the water."

No one was very happy about this, but we still dismounted all the same. Tyson said a tearful goodbye to Rainbow, took off the makeshift saddle he'd made, and swam for shore followed by the rest of us. Zade sat on my shoulder while I swam, screeching about how much he hated water.

Once we got to shore, all of us pushed and shoved through the crowds of shouting mortals. I heard a lot of Spanish; I couldn't understand the words, but from the tone, I could tell the words were my level of swearing when someone flirted with me. Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box, looked at the Miami Herald, and swore.

"We've been away for 10 days!" she said. "Thalia's tree is most likely dead by now!"

"What do we do?" asked Raiden. "We need to get the Fleece back."

"I could run it back," I offered, "but this is Clarisse's quest. She needs to take it back."

"Run it back?" Percy looked confused.

I rolled my eyes. "I have superspeed, Jackson. Keep up."

"How is she supposed to get the Fleece back, though?" said Grover, chewing his lip nervously. "I mean, we have no way-"

"Fly it back," Annabeth interrupted. "We'll pool our money, and Clarisse can fly back to camp."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea-" Percy began but I gave him a look, and he shut up.

We all searched our pockets. Everyone came up with nothing, except Grover, who pulled a tin can out of his jacket pocket and immediately began chewing it.

"No money," Tyson said, pulling out a plastic bag of his duffle, which was full of green paper. "Sorry. Just have green paper."

Percy's eyes widened. "Tyson, where did you get that?"

Tyson shrugged. "Found it in the bag. Thought it was a treat for Rainbow."

Percy grabbed the plastic bag from Tyson and grabbed the cash out. There were tens and fives; at least three hundred dollars. Percy grabbed the Fleece, which Raiden was holding, and shoved it and the cash into Clarisse's arms.

She looked stunned. "What-"

"Go," said Percy firmly.

Clarisse stared at Percy in disbelief. "You're just giving me the Fleece?"

"Yes," said Percy. "Now, go. The camp needs you, Clarisse. Finish your quest."

Clarisse still looked very surprised but nodded. "I won't fail."

She ran towards the street with the Fleece in her arms, hailed a taxi, and was off.

"Let's find another way home," said Percy, but when he turned around, he found himself face-to-face with a sword.

"Hey, cuz," said Luke, smiling coldly. "Welcome back."

Luke's goons, the bear twins, grabbed Grover and Annabeth by their shirt collars. They hung in midair, squirming.

"Let them go," Raiden growled, pointing her axe at Luke.

"No," Luke said. "I don't think I will." He smiled even more widely. "Now, if you don't want your friends to be hurt, I suggest you come with me."

He turned around and headed down the dock, toward the Princess Andromeda. We followed, both Raiden and I ready to snap Luke's neck. Once we got to the ship deck, the bear twins threw Grover and Annabeth onto the deck.

"Now," said Luke, still pointing his sword at us, "where's the Fleece?"

He poked Grover with his sword.

"Hey!" bleated Grover.

"Sorry, old friend," said Luke. "Just give us the Fleece, and we'll let you go."

"You're too late, son of Hermes," snarled Raiden. "The Fleece is already gone."

Luke's smile turned into a very ugly look. I could tell that Raiden had purposely mentioned Hermes to enrage Luke.  All eyes were now on Luke.

"Don't talk about him in my presence," he hissed, glaring at Raiden. "And what do you mean the Fleece gone?"

Comprehension dawned on Luke's face suddenly. "No- You didn't- Clarisse-"

"Oh, yes." Raiden smiled evilly at Luke, and for a moment, she looked quite frightening. "You're too late, Luke. You failed."

Luke's faces turned even redder, if that was possible.

"Agruis!" he barked. "Get me my steed! I need to get to Miami Airport, stat!"

"But-"Agrius began, but Luke cut him off.

"Do it!" Luke screamed. "Or I'll feed you to the drakon!"

Agrius hurried below deck and out of sight.

"Ainsley, now!" Raiden shouted.

I willed it to storm, and the sky turned black. A bolt of lightning came blasting down from the sky toward the ship. I deflected it off my dagger, intending it to hit the other bear twin, and Luke if I was lucky. But...

BLAM!

Have you ever been struck by lightning? If you haven't, let me enlighten you; it hurts a lot. Imagine burning yourself on the pan. Now, multiply that pain by 10,000. That's what it felt like when the lightning struck me.

"AUGHHHH!" I screamed in agony.

"No!"

A figure was running up to me. Though my vision was blurred, I could make out red hair. It was Aidan. Then another figure with black hair stepped in front of me, blocking his path.

"You keep away from her," snarled Raiden's voice.

"She's my sister!" Aidan's voice yelled. "Get out of the way, Raiden!"

"Make me," growled Raiden's voice. "You're not going to touch her."

From what little I could see, Raiden had her axe pointed at Aidan, who had just drawn his sword. I realized what he was to do a split second before it happened.

I sprang to my feet, even though it felt like my chest was on fire. I leapt in front of Raiden and pointed my dagger at Aidan.

"Touch her, and I'll kill you." I used my Hunter Stare on Aidan, and he backed away, looking frightened.

We stayed there for a moment before Aidan took a tiny, tentative step toward me.

"Sis..." he murmured. "Sit down. You're hurt."

"Take one step closer," I growled in response. "And, you'll regret it, traitor."

Of course, that's exactly what he did.  In one swift movement, I lunged forward, disarmed Aidan, and put the dagger point to his throat. The effort of doing this caused me such pain that I almost blacked out.

Aidan looked stunned before Luke cleared his throat and said, "Well, Ainsley Theron, you are clearly injured. I suggest you lay down your weapon before you hurt yourself."

It sounded like his "suggestion" was more of a threat.

I pointed my other dagger at Luke.

"Threaten me, again," I growled. "I dare you, Hermes spawn."

Luke's face contorted. Then he forced it into a horrible smile.

"Well, if you won't cooperate," he said, "then, you're no use to me." He waved his hand at the assembled monsters and people in armor. "Kill them."

"Wait, Luke," Aidan said. "You promised-"

"What?" I said extremely coldly. "Afraid I'll kick your butt, coward? I did it once, and I'll do it again. I challenge you to a one-on-one battle, Aidan Theron."

Aidan's face reddened. I could he was doing some very quick thinking; if he refused to fight me, he would looked exactly what I said he was: a coward. On the other hand, if he did fight me, he knew I would most likely win. Aidan glanced at Luke for reassurance, but Luke's face was quite impassive.

"Fine," he said at last. "I accept." 

Aidan backed away from me and grabbed his sword off the deck, and someone tossed him a shield. He caught it, and the monsters and people in armor circled around us, blocking off any chance of escape.

Aidan raised his shield and lunged forward with his sword. I parried with my daggers, and he pushed against them. I stumbled slightly, and Aidan jabbed at my ankle with his sword. It erupted into pain and just added to the agony my body was in. I was stunned for a minute, but I still managed to recover myself.

"Give up?" Aidan whispered.

"Never," I hissed. "I don't surrender to egotistical males."

Even though my body was on fire and I felt like I was going to die from the pain in my chest, I still swung my daggers at Aidan. He blocked it easily with his shield, but that's what I'd wanted him to do. With my uninjured leg, I kicked out. Hard. My foot connected with Aidan's knee, and I heard something crack. I expected him to crumple, but he didn't.

"Is that the best you can do?" Aidan sneered.

"No," I said. "This is."

I lunged forward and knocked Aidan's shield out of his hand. He looked surprised for a moment but blocked my new attack as I swung with my daggers.

"You've gotten better, son of Artemis," I said. "But it's still not enough."

"Don't mention her name in my presence!" Aidan spat. "Not that abandoning, cowardly goddess!"

"Don't talk about my mother that way," I snarled.

I retreated a few steps and lunged forward, using a strategy Dad had taught me. With one dagger, I drew Aidan's sword down by my feinting like I was going to stab him in an ankle. With my other dagger, I jabbed toward his ribs, intending to hit him there, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

As much as I loathed Aidan, I just couldn't stab him and draw blood. Unfortunately, my twin did not feel the same. As I hesitated for just a second too long, he brought his sword swishing upward, and I felt it graze my ribs.

I fell to my knees. The pain in my body made me feel like throwing up. Aidan advanced on me, sneering.

"I'm going to enjoy this," he said, "killing you. "It's a shame, though. I thought you were a better fighter." His smile widened. "Guess I was wrong. Goodbye, Ainsley Theron."

At that precise moment, a red blur barreled through the encircled monsters and head butted Aidan so hard, he was slammed backward into the wall of the encircled army.

You mess with my Chief, Agro growled, her fangs exposed, and you crumple like a leaf.

Yeah, screeched Zade, soaring down to where Aidan was. Never mess with our girl. He grabbed Aidan's sword from his hand. I'll be taking this.

Zade flew up over the ocean and flung Aidan's sword as far as he could out into the ocean. Then, all Hades broke loose.