❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒳𝒳𝐼. 𝒲𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒰𝓅 𝒾𝓃 𝑀𝒾𝒶𝓂𝒾

𝒵𝑜𝑒 woke up to Percy asleep on her shoulder and the sun setting behind a city skyline in the distance. She could see a beachside highway lined with palm trees, storefronts glowing with red and blue neon, a harbor filled with sailboats and cruise ships. She figured they were near Miami.

"Percy, wake up."

Zoe splashed salt water in Percy's face and when that didn't work, she started shaking his shoulder.

"We're near Miami, I think," Annabeth said when she noticed Percy was awake. "But the hippocampi are acting funny."

The creatures had slowed down and were whinnying and swimming in circles, sniffing the water. They didn't look happy. One of them sneezed.

"This is as far as they'll take us," Percy said. "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own."

None of them were very psyched about that, but they thanked Rainbow and his friends for the ride. Tyson cried a little. He unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he'd made, which contained his tool kit and a couple of other things he'd salvaged from the Birmingham wreck. He hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he'd picked up on the island, and said goodbye.

It was kinda cute but kinda sad. Zoe hoped she got to see Rainbow again. Once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, they swam for shore. The waves seemed to push them forward, and in no time they were back in the mortal world. They wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage. Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers. If anybody noticed them—six kids dripping wet and looking like they'd just had a fight with a monster—they didn't let on.

Now that they were back among mortals, Tyson's single eye had blurred from the Mist. Grover had put on his cap and sneakers. Even the Fleece had transformed from a sheepskin to a red-and-gold high school letter jacket with a large sparkly Omega on the pocket.

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

"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.

"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 miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault, Jackson! If you hadn't interfered—"

"Percy's fault?!" Zoe exploded. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest —"

"Stop it!" Percy said.

Clarisse put her head in hands. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration.

"Clarisse," Percy said after a moment of silence, "what did the Oracle tell you exactly?"

She looked up. Zoe thought she was going to tell him off, but 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.