Published: October 26, 2021
Edited: September 4, 2022
'•'

That afternoon was one of the happiest I'd ever spent at camp, which maybe goes to show, you  never know when your carefully taped-together world is about to be re-shattered into pieces and glued into a whole new shape. Grover announced that he'd be able to spend the rest of the summer with us before resuming his quest for Pan. His bosses at the Council of Cloven Elders were so impressed that he hadn't gotten himself killed and had cleared the way for future searchers, that they granted him a two month furlough and a new set of reed pipes. 

The only bad news: Grover insisted on playing those pipes all afternoon long, and his musical skills hadn't improved much. He played "YMCA," and the strawberry plants started going crazy, wrapping around our feet like they were trying to strangle us. I guess I couldn't blame them.

Grover told us he could dissolve the empathy link between him and Percy, now that they were face to face, but Percy told him to just keep it if that was okay with him. He put down his reedspipes and stared at us. 

"But, if I get in trouble again, you'll both be in danger, Percy! You could die!"

"If you get in trouble again, I want to know about it. And we'll come help you again, G-man. I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, I already have an empathy link with Neridia that we can't dissolve, another one can't hurt me."

In the end he agreed not to break the link. He went back to playing "YMCA" for the strawberry plants. I didn't need an empathy link with the plants to know how they felt about it. Later on during archery class, Chiron pulled Percy aside and told him he'd fixed his problems with Meriwether Prep. The school no longer blamed him for destroying their gymnasium. The police were no longer looking for him.

"How did you manage that?" I asked. Chiron's eyes twinkled. 

"I merely suggested that the mortals had seen something different on that day—a furnace explosion that was not your brother's fault."

"You just said that and they bought it?"

"I manipulated the Mist. Some day, when you're ready, I'll show how it's done."

"You mean, I can go to Meriwether with Percy next year?"Chiron raised his eyebrows. 

"Oh, no, they've still expelled him. The headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, said Percy had—how did he put it?—un-groovy karma that disrupted the school's educational aura. But he's not in any legal trouble, which was a relief to your mother. Oh, and speaking of your mother..." He unclipped his cell phone from his quiver and handed it to me. 

"It's high time you called her."

The worst part was the beginning—the "Percy-Jackson what-were-you-thinking-do-you-haveany-idea-how-worried-I-was-sneaking-off-to-camp-without-permission-going-on-dangerous-quests-and-scaring-me-half-to-death" and the "Neridia-Jackson-how dare-you-put-yourself-in-so-much-danger-there-are-better-ways-to-help-camp-than-spying-on-a-monster-ship" parts. But finally she paused to catch her breath. "Oh, I'm just glad you're both safe!" That's the great thing about our mom. She's no good at staying angry. She tries, but it just isn't in her nature.

"I'm sorry, Mom," I told her. 

"We won't scare you again." Percy added.

"Don't promise me that you two. You know very well it will only get worse." She tried to sound casual about it, but I could tell she was pretty shaken up. I wanted to say something to make her feel better, but I knew she was right. Being halfbloods, we would always be doing things that scared her. And as we got older, the dangers would just get greater.

"We could come home for a while," I offered.

"No, no. Stay at camp. Train. Do what you need to do. But you will come home for the next school year?"

"Yeah, of course. Uh, if there's any school that will take Percy." I laughed.

"Oh, we'll find something, dear," my mother sighed. "Some place where they don't know us yet."

As for Tyson, the campers treated him like a hero. I would've been happy to have him as my cabin mate forever, but that evening, as we were sitting on a sand dune overlooking the Long Island Sound, he made an announcement that completely took me and Percy by surprise.

"Dream came from Daddy last night," he said. "He wants me to visit." I wondered if he was kidding, but Tyson really didn't know how to kid.

 "Poseidon sent you a dream message?" Percy asked, his eyes wide. Tyson nodded. 

"Wants me to go underwater for the rest of the summer. Learn to work at Cyclopes' forges. He called it an inter—an intern—"

"An internship?"

"Yes."

I let that sink in. I'll admit, I felt a little jealous. Poseidon had never invited me or Percy underwater. But then I thought, Tyson was going? Just like that?

"When would you leave?" I asked.

"Now."

"Now. Like...now now?" Percy said worriedly.

"Now." I stared out at the waves in the Long Island Sound. The water was glistening red in the sunset.

"I'm happy for you, big guy," I managed. "Seriously."

"Hard to leave my new brother and sister," he said with a tremble in his voice. "But I want to make things. Weapons for the camp. You will need them."

Unfortunately, I knew he was right. The Fleece hadn't solved all the camp's problems. Luke was still out there, gathering an army aboard the Princess Andromeda. Kronos was still reforming in his golden coffin. Eventually, we would have to fight them.

"You'll make the best weapons ever," I told Tyson. Percy held up his watch proudly and I tapped my silver bracelet. 

"I bet they'll tell good time, too." Percy added. Tyson sniffled. 

"Siblings help each other."

"You're my brother," Percy said. "No doubt about it." Tyson patted me on the back so hard he almost knocked me down the sand dune. Then he wiped a tear from his cheek and stood to go. 

"Use the shields well."

"We will, big guy."

"Save your life some day." The way he said it, so matter-of-fact, I wondered if that Cyclops eye of his could see into the future. 

He headed down to the beach and whistled. Rainbow, the hippocampus, burst out of the waves. I watched the two of them ride off together into the realm of Poseidon. Once they were gone, I looked down at my new bracelet. I pressed the button and the shield spiraled out to full size. Hammered into the bronze were pictures in Ancient Greek style, scenes from our adventures this summer. There was Annabeth slaying a Laistrygonian dodgeball player, Percy fighting bronze bulls on Half-Blood Hill, Tyson riding Rainbow toward the Princess Andromeda, me slashing the ropes to drop our lifeboat off of the Princess Andromeda, the CSS Birmingham blasting its cannons at Charybdis.

I ran my hand across a picture of Tyson, battling the Hydra as he held aloft a box of Monster Donuts. I couldn't help feeling sad. I knew Tyson would have an awesome time under the ocean. But I'd miss him—his fascination with horses, the way he could fix chariots or crumple metal with his bare hands, or tie bad guys into knots. I'd even miss him snoring like an earthquake in the next bunk all night.

"Hey, guys." I turned. Annabeth and Grover were standing at the top of the sand dune. I guess maybe Percy hoped they thought he had some sand in his eyes, because he was blinking a lot to hide the tears welling up.

"Tyson..." He told them. "He had to..."

"We know," Annabeth said softly. "Chiron told us."

"Cyclopes forges." Grover shuddered. "I hear the cafeteria food there is terrible! Like, no enchiladas at all." Annabeth held out her hand. 

"Come on, Seaweed Brain, 'Dia. Time for dinner." We walked back toward the dining pavilion together, just the four of us, like old times. 

A storm raged that night, but it parted around Camp Half-Blood as storms usually did. Lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in our valley. We were protected again, thanks to the Fleece, sealed inside our magical borders. Still, my dreams were restless. I heard Kronos taunting me from the depths of Tartarus: 

Polyphemus sits blindly in his cave, young hero, believing he has won a great victory. Are you any less deluded? 

The titan's cold laughter filled the darkness. Then my dream changed. I was following Tyson to the bottom of the sea, into the court of Poseidon with Percy beside me. It was a radiant hall filled with blue light, the floor cobbled with pearls. And there, on a throne of coral, sat my father, dressed like a simple fisherman in khaki shorts and a sun bleached T-shirt. I looked up into his tan weathered face, his deep green eyes, and he spoke two words: 

Brace yourself.

I woke with a start. There was a banging on the door. Grover flew inside without waiting for permission.

"NERIDIA!" he stammered. "Annabeth...on the hill...she..." The look in his eyes told me something was terribly wrong. Annabeth had been on guard duty that night, protecting the Fleece. If something had happened—I ripped off the covers, my blood like ice water in my veins. I threw on some clothes while Grover tried to make a complete sentence, but he was too stunned, too out of breath. 

"She's lying there...just lying there..." For some reason I felt like he didn't mean Annabeth. I ran outside and raced across the central yard, Grover and Percy right behind me. Dawn was just breaking, but the whole camp seemed to be stirring. Word was spreading. Something huge had happened. A few campers were already making their way toward the hill, satyrs and nymphs and heroes in a weird mix of armor and pajamas. I heard the clop of horse hooves, and Chiron galloped up behind us, looking grim.

"Is it true?" he asked Grover. 

Grover could only nod, his expression dazed. I tried to ask what was going on, but Chiron grabbed me by the arm and effortlessly lifted me onto his back. Together we thundered up Half-Blood Hill, where a small crowd had started to gather.I expected to see the Fleece missing from the pine tree, but it was still there, glittering in the first light of dawn. The storm had broken and the sky was blood red.

"Curse the titan lord," Chiron said. "He's tricked us again, given himself another chance tocontrol the prophecy."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, running to keep up. My breath seemed to stop and my chest tightened. 

"The Fleece," he said. "The Fleece did its work too well." We galloped forward, everyone moving out of our way. There at the base of the tree, a girl was lying unconscious. Another girl in Greek armor was kneeling next to her. Blood roared in my ears. I couldn't think straight. Annabeth had been attacked? But why was the Fleece still there? The tree itself looked perfectly fine, whole and healthy, suffused with the essence of the Golden Fleece.

"It healed the tree," Chiron said, his voice ragged. "And poison was not the only thing it purged." 

Then I realized Annabeth wasn't the one lying on the ground. She was the one in armor, kneeling next to the unconscious girl. When Annabeth saw us, she ran to Chiron. 

"It...she...just suddenly there..." Her eyes were streaming with tears, and I understood. I was too panicked to make sense of it all. It couldn't be her, it couldn't! I leaped off Chiron's back and ran toward the unconscious girl. Annabeth grabbed onto my arm but I pulled away. Chiron said:

"Neridia, wait!" 

I whipped my head around, my eyes blazing. "Do not." I growled. I turned and ran up to the tree.

I knelt by her side. I felt Percy crouching beside me but I ignored him. She had short black hair and freckles across her nose. She was built like along-distance runner, lithe and strong, and she wore clothes that were somewhere between punk and Goth—a black T-shirt, black tattered jeans, and a leather jacket with buttons from a bunch of bands I'd never listened to.

"It's true," Grover said, panting from his run up the hill. "I can't believe..." 

Nobody else came close to her. Percy put his hand on her forehead. 

"She needs nectar and ambrosia," He said. I took her by the shoulders and lifted her onto my lap in a laying position.

"Come on!" Percy yelled to the rest of the campers. "What's wrong with you people? Let's get her to the Big House." 

No one moved, not even Chiron. They were all too stunned. My eyes filled with tears and I held onto her tightly. Then the girl took a shaky breath. She coughed and opened her eyes. Her irises were startlingly blue—electric blue. The girl stared at me in bewilderment, shivering and wild-eyed. 

"Who—"

"It's me, it's Neridia," I choked out. "You're safe now."

"Guppy? Strangest dream, how are you so big?..."

"It's okay."

"Dying."

"No," Percy assured her. "You're okay. What's your name?"

The girl's blue eyes stared into mine, and I understood what the Golden Fleece quest had been about. The poisoning of the tree. Everything. Kronos had done it to bring another chess piece into play—another chance to control the prophecy. Even Chiron, Annabeth, and Grover, who should've been celebrating this moment with me, were too shocked, thinking about what it might mean for the future. And I was holding someone who I had seen die, the same position we were in when I felt her body go limp.

"I am Thalia," she whispered. "Daughter of Zeus."

'•'
Word Count: 2365