Gabe Ugliano-Jackson

It's funny how some things never change.

For instance, we walked into the Big House to witness my dad and Chiron in a heated discussion that I would personally call an argument.

I'd say they fight like an old married couple, but D doesn't argue with my dad nearly as much as he does with Chiron.

"Somebody must go, Dionysus." Chiron insisted as I noticed Annabeth somehow already connect the dots about their argument.

"We haven't even talked to all of the kids yet, Chiron! It's the middle of the day, and Father clearly insisted that the deadline was midnight." D snapped back at him. "Connor gave us names of kids who he suspects and we haven't spoken with any of them yet, why don't we call them to—"

"Why, Gabriel, what a pleasant surprise!" Chiron cut their fight where it was. "I see you've brought Percy and picked up Annabeth along the way, that's kind of you, thank you for saving Argus the trip. If you just give us a minute, Mr. D can talk with you and Percy about anything he'll need to know about Percy this summer."

But as the person who makes the schedules, it didn't make sense that Chiron wouldn't be apart of the start of summer check in for Percy. He was always at mine when I was younger.

"Without you, sir?" I questioned. "If it's a meeting or a class you have to get to, I can wait or come back tomorrow. I know we're here a few hours earlier than planned."

"No, no, Gabriel, I wouldn't want to leave you waiting." The centaur insisted as he picked up his travel bag from the other side of his desk. "if you waited, only the Fates know how long you'd be doing so. I was just waiting to make sure Percy and Annabeth returned safely. So if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way now. My brother is quite displeased, and somebody has to calm him down."

"Wh— no, Chiron, you're not excused," Mr. D returned to their argument. "Unless you did it, you're not turning yourself in to leave me to run the camp alone. You're mad if you think I'm dealing with these brats on my own."

"You won't be alone, Mr. D, I'll ensure somebody is sent to take my position." Chiron responded. "perhaps one of the vets out west would be interested— I can reach out and ask."

Mr. D scoffed.

"Yeah, no, because they would love to work here," he responded with enough sarcasm dripping from the statement to fill a goblet. "We have until midnight, Chiron, just... give it until midnight."

"Give what until midnight?" Percy finally spoke up. "Sorry, I'm lost, what... where are you going, Chiron? Why is— I assume— Zeus mad? It doesn't have anything to do with me, does it?"

"You're correct that it is Zeus, but as for your other question," my old mentored answered. "I don't know, Perseus. Does it have anything to do with you? We don't—"

"Oh, don't scold the boy who hasn't been around for something he obviously doesn't know about," my dad snapped at Chiron. "We have a list, you old man, stick to it. He's not on it."

The god sighed.

"Let's go sit," he figured. "I'll catch you up on what you've missed while Chiron tracks down the demigods on our list."

"On the..." Percy repeated, processing what my dad just told us as we walked out onto the porch and sat down. "where is he going? What happened while I was gone? Is somebody in trouble?"

Dad sighed, dealing cards and summoning a Diet Coke for himself.

"If we can find the person who did it," he admitted. "but considering the fact that we somehow still don't know who stole Father's Master Bolt last year... the chances of us finding either perpetrator are slim to none— if they're not the same person."

"If they're not— what happened?" I asked. "It doesn't have to do with Grover being gone, does it?"

"Hm? Oh, no, he's off doing his own thing right now," my dad insisted, waving his hand away from the Big House. "I'll touch on that in a second. This is different, it's... weird."

There was a moment of silence as Mr. D set down two cards, face down.

"Somebody poisoned Thalia's Tree, effectively weakening our border." The god announced. "At the moment, I give it a week until the border completely gives. Healing magic isn't doing much, but we don't know who did it or why they did. Two aces."

"And you guys have no idea who did it?" I questioned, putting down a card on the pile. "One two."

He shrugged.

"We questioned a couple of kids, but we had a camper recently tip a list of kids he was suspicious of. Some of them aren't at camp anymore, though, and Chiron has been... hesitant to consider them. I'd question them myself, but..."

"You can't leave?" Percy recalled, putting four cards down. "who do you think did it? Four threes."

Thrown off by the bold call, Dad examined his hand and scowled.

"Honestly, kid? Couldn't tell ya. You and your friends are safe, though, don't worry."

Percy returned a look of confusion.

"My friends?"

"Annie and Gerald?" He responded, and— having forgotten that my dad purposefully fucks the names of kids up, I almost choked. "Neither of them were in the state of New York when the tree was poisoned. You do remember your friends, right? One four."

"Wh— I— of course I remember my friends!" Percy insisted. "I wasn't sure if you were also like, talking about Beckendorf or Travis or like... I think that's it."

"Hm? Oh, yeah. They're fine."

"They— okay, but Grover isn't fine." Percy told the Camp Director, stumbling over himself to get the words out as I set down two more cards. "He— he's been in my dreams all week and at first I thought it was just a dream because I haven't had a lot of demigod dreams this year, but after like two days my dad reminded me that that might not be a normal dream and it happened again and he's in trouble down like... he fell into a trap. Not literally fell, but... he's trapped. He's in danger."

He paused, realizing it was his turn.

"One six."

Dad raised an eyebrow.

"BS."

Percy flipped the card, showing one six.

The god scowled and took the cards, swearing in ancient Greek as he did so.

"I'll pass the message to the old man when he gets back," Mr. D responded while sorting his cards, not looking at Percy. "Tell me more at dinner. Until then, your girlfriend is waiting."

Dad motioned to Annabeth and I almost choked again.

"My— no." Percy insisted, which made me smile. "Annabeth and I are not dating."

He rolled his eyes.

"Go tell her that. Go have fun."

Somewhat flustered, Percy gave me a high five goodbye (there were too many people around for a hug) and reminded us that Annabeth wasn't his girlfriend before running down the valley to meet with her and Tyson.

"His friend of the year was a cyclopes this year?" Dad asked me, sounding concerned. "Sorry— a baby cyclopes?"

I shrugged.

"I don't think he realized Tyson was a cyclopes until the end of the year," I explained. "Especially with their height difference. His name is Tyson, he lived in a refrigerator box in an alley, so I wouldn't worry. He's probably like, a toddler."

"Oh, if Percy befriended him, I'm not worried about him being a threat." He responded. "A little more about the potential of him getting hurt by being close to Percy but... whatever. I'm not the fates. Do you..."

He looked up at me.

"Did Percy give you any specifics about Grover? I know he's worried about him so maybe it's just hard for him to form the words— he's also only 13, but it seems really vague."

Nodding, I gave him the report Percy gave Sally and I this morning about Grover's current bridal shower that he's planning in case he can't get out of wherever off the coast of Florida he is.

"So basically, he's going to want to leave to go get him himself." Dad summarized and I couldn't help but sigh as I looked down to my son as he talked with Annabeth, I think giving her the same update I just gave my dad.

Watching the anxiety creep up when he talks about how frantic Grover seemed and how worried he gets...

Don't get me wrong, Percys been worried all year about Grover. Last month, when Grover stopped calling and writing regularly, it was hard to have to watch Percy cope with what that could have meant without being able to give him any answers or point him in a direction that would actually help.

Like, thank the gods that Grover isn't dead.

But he could die soon, and that's spiked his anxiety again, and I'm worried for Percy all over again.

"Grover did ask him to."

The god of wine groaned, running his hands down his face.

"Of course he did," dad insisted, not masking the stress very well. "Who do they think they are? Romeo and Juliet? Orpheus and Eurydice? Have they never read the end of those stories?"

There was a beat of silence.

He sighed.

"I'll figure it out," he promised me. "Go home, spend time with your wife. It's a long drive back on your own."

Smiling, I stood up and pushed my chair in.

"Will do, Dad. Promise to take care of him for me this summer?"

"If he lets me." My dad announced as he stood. "come— I'll walk you to the border. I should check the trees conditions. It's been quiet, and I don't like that."

"Maybe the healing is working," I suggested as we walked down the steps and away from the farmhouse."maybe it just needed time to let the magic get in the root system and—"

He jinxed himself.

"BULLS!" yelled a kid that so obviously belonged to Apollo that it astonished me to see him wearing a cabin 11 shirt. "THE BORDER ISNT.... DIDNT STOP... THEM..."

The boy stopped in front of us, maybe only a year or two older than Percy.

"Where is Chiron?"

My dad sighed and looked at me.

"Go home, kid. I'll take it from here."

•••
Percy Jackson

The fact that monsters (machines?) exist that can't be killed with celestial bronze is something I wish I never would've had to of learned.

Like, I get that the Colchis Bulls are literally made out of bronze so it's hard to be destroyed by bronze, but it's still dumb.

At least Tyson was able to subdue one of them. I was going to try to, but Annabeth stopped me because apparently their skin is burning hot, and I'm a lot of things, but I'm not fireproof.

Tyson is, though.

"BAD COW!" Tyson yelled as he smashed the face in of the nearest bull.

The bull stopped in it's place, and it's friend seemed to hesitate just in time for a spear to smack it across the face and stunt it as well.

What followed wasn't cheering— it was hysterical laughing.

"Bad cow?" My least favorite daughter of Ares questioned, showing herself from the other side of the bull shed evidently just subdued. "what are you, five? Stupidity must run in the family, holy shit."

"Wh— shut up, Clarisse," I retorted back to her. "Would it kill you to be nice to somebody once in a while? Maybe a thank you for distracting the bull you were trying to deal with?"

I stopped for a second.

"Also, what do you mean by it runs in the family?"

As Clarisse, and most other campers and people in general tend to do, she looked at me like I was a dumbass.

"What do I— he's a cyclopes, Jackass," she pointed out. "I don't know why he's here, but cyclopes are children of Poseidon, just like satyrs are children of Pan— which makes him your brother, kelp for brains. Seems like both of you have about three pieces of seaweed up there that you share. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to bring these to Cabin 9 so they can figure out what to do with them and tell them to childproof cabin 3 while they're at it."

"Because Beckendorf is clearly going to want to make a baby gate that's taller than he is," I snapped back. "why don't you go worry about your siblings not losing a leg on the land mines around your cabin and I'll worry about my own problems."

Clarisse eyed Tyson as she walked away.

"It's a pretty big problem, if you ask me."

I just looked down, trying to control the shitty feeling that was slowly filling my body.

"Why she mean?"

His voice earning my attention, I glanced back at Tyson, who was frowning in the direction that Clarisse had walked away.

I just signed, not having a ready response because Clarisse seems to be mean for the reason that water makes things wet and fire makes things hot: it's just the way she is.

"Because her dad is Ares, so she thinks she has to be an asshole to keep her chair in that council," Annabeth answered for us, shrugging. "She wasn't always an ass— though she's never been super nice. It's just a part of who she is, as annoying as it is."

Kind of like how you always act like you're the smartest person in the room, I thought strictly to myself. Even if you have no idea what you're talking about.

Hey, you made it to camp! Grover's voice was an unwelcome intrusion in my mind that made me flinch. Oh sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Tell Annabeth I say hi! But also, before I lose the ability to talk with you, I found some numbers that seem important: 30, 31, 75, 12. I don't know what they mean, but I found them etched into one of the cave walls. Please tell me somebody is leaving soon.

And even though my best friend wasn't physically here, I still looked down, unable to meet his nonphysical gaze.

I'm going to talk to Mr. D and Chiron about it as soon as I can, I literally just got here.

You're an actual godsend, Percy, I don't know what I'd do with a different best friend. Grover thought to me, which made me smile. Please don't let me get married to a cyclopes—he'll probably eat me after the ceremony. I probably will taste like aluminum cans to him!

I'll be there soon. I promised him, trying to push my thoughts away.

He was trapped by a cyclopes?

In my dreams, the cyclopes sounded really big and gross and like some sort of... monster.

Annabeth told me about a bad run in she had with a cyclopes before coming with to camp and now one has trapped Grover, but Tyson can't...

Tyson can't be one of those, right? He can't be a monster.

"Percy?" My apparent half brother asked, planting a hand on my shoulder that made me flinch from the contact. "Percy okay?"

Or maybe he can be.

I don't know.