Annabeth Chase and the Sea of Monsters

Chapter 5 - I meet a "friendly" Cyclops

I waited impatiently for the demigod and cyclops in an alley down Church Street. They were taking so long that I felt sure they'd been caught until I spotted sight of them. Hearing a siren screaming in our direction, I managed to pull them out of a sight as the fire truck zoomed past, headed for Meriwether Prep.

"Where'd you find him?" I demanded, pointing at Tyson, although I couldn't bear to even look at him. Memories washed over me every time I saw that single eye, none of them good.

Percy looked stunned and angry at my accusation. "He's my friend," he told me, narrowing his eyes.

"Is he homeless?"

"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"

I stared at him in surprise. A literate cyclops? "He can talk?"

"I talk," Tyson admitted, his voice making me shiver. "You are pretty."

"Ah! Gross!" I shrieked, stepping away from him. Of all the friends Percy could make, why a cyclops?

Percy seemed to be surprised that Tyson wasn't hurt. What did he think he was, mortal?

"Tyson, your hands aren't even burned," Percy said, looking confused.

"Of course not," I mumbled. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around."

Tyson was gazing at my hair admirably, making me want to puke. He reached out to touch my head, but I slapped his hand away immediately, feeling like his very touch was poison.

"Annabeth," Percy asked, still confused, "what are you talking about? Laistry-what?"

"Laistrygonians," I explained impatiently. "The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."

"Laistry - I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"

I thought about it for a moment. What was big, ugly and a cannibal? "Canadians," I decided. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police'll be after me."

"That's the least of our problems. Have you been having the dreams?"

"The dreams . . . about Grover?"

I felt my heart falter. Oh gods, what else was wrong? "Grover? No, what about Grover?"

He told me the dream he'd had, about Grover running for his life somewhere near a beach. Apparently, he was running from something, something big. Percy didn't know what it was that was chasing him, he hadn't been able to see it, but obviously Grover was terrified. And he'd been muttering, Have to get away. Have to warn them!

I knew that Grover had gone to seek Pan as soon as he'd been granted his seekers licence, but that was as much as I'd heard of him after that. If something bad had actually happened to him, I felt horrible not knowing about it. I was his friend after all.

"What were you dreaming about?" Percy asked, looking at me in concern.

I bit my lip, feeling anxious. "Camp. Big trouble at camp."

"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"

"I don't know exactly. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?"

He shook his head. "None all year . . . until today."

I frowned. "None? But how . . ." Then I realised who was standing beside Percy. "Oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh'?"

Tyson raised his hand, looking like a massive kindergartener. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something . . . Son of the Sea God?"

I looked at Percy. He looked at me.

Your problem, I mouthed at him.

"Big guy," Percy started awkwardly, causing me to roll my eyes. This was why he wasn't allowed to tour the new kids at camp. "Um, you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena -"

"Yes," said Tyson.

I frowned. Was that a yes to he knew them, or yes to 'I'm listening, keep talking?'

Percy wasn't as aware of the technicalities of English as I was. He kept talking.

"Well . . . those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilisation around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."

"Yes," Tyson said again, sounding a little impatient.

Was he even understanding, I wondered.

"Uh, well. Annabeth and I are half-bloods. We're like . . . heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."

"Yes."

Oh he definitely didn't understand. What a waste of time.

Percy looked suspicious and shocked. "So . . . you believe me?"

Tyson nodded solemnly. "But you are . . . Son of the Sea God?"

"Yeah. My dad is Poseidon."

Now Tyson started frowning. "But then . . ."

Suddenly, I understood where this was going. Tyson did understand what Percy was talking about, because he had already known about it. And I knew exactly what he was about to tell Percy. I couldn't let him, not yet. If Percy was his friend now, he wouldn't be after Tyson had told him his true parentage. And as much as I didn't like cyclops, I liked Percy more, and didn't want to see him hurt.

"We don't have time for this," I interrupted hurriedly as more sirens wailed past us. "We'll talk in the taxi."

"A taxi all the way to camp?" Percy asked, incredulous. "You know how much money -"

"Trust me." 

Thank the gods Percy had known me long enough to know that I always, always had a plan.

"What about Tyson?" he asked, looking worried and protective. "We can't just leave him. He'll be in trouble, too."

I looked at the cyclops. I'd seen what he could do in the gym. He'd be handy to have in a fight, which was what I was expecting to find when we got back to camp. And he seemed quite tame, for a cyclops that was.

On the other hand, I knew what that were like. I'd seen them at their worse, and it still gave me nightmares.

I hesitated, torn between my instincts and what I felt was right. I looked at Percy and saw how trusting he was. He had no idea who Tyson really was, but he knew him better than any one else. And he trusted him. If Percy trusted him, then maybe I could learn to also.

Not that I wanted to though.

"Yeah," I said grimly. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on."

I led them downtown, hiding in dark alleys as police cars, ambulances and fire trucks howled past. All the skulking we were doing reminded me of the days with Luke and Thalia, before Camp Half-Blood, when I lived in the streets. I had good memories of those times, and bad ones too. Especially bad ones to end those memories. Bad ones like Cyclops dens.

I shook my head to clear those thoughts and just concentrated on getting us away from the destruction that Percy had wreaked. As usual.