𝐃𝐄𝐉𝐀 𝐕𝐔 • Percy Jackson.

II-06

KITCHEN DUTY WAS SO FUCKING BORING. So tedious with the way he had to be ever so careful with how he scrubbed, so boring as he spent the entire afternoon scrubbing plate after plate and bowl after bowl. He really regrets ever opening his mouth because the one time he speaks out after his vision is when he's wearing asbestos gloves and aprons to clean pots with lava with the cleaning harpies.

He can still hear Tantalus' words, "Stymphalian birds were minding their own business and if it were not for you three's bad driving, there would be no such attack." It was such bullshit he was surprised he could even come up with it. What was strange was that Tantalus did not mention his warning as if he had forgotten. "Go chase a doughnut." Percy snapped and here they were.

Unlike him, Tyson didn’t mind. Being a cyclops had its perks; being able to plunge his hands right into the lava and scrub away. Unfortunately the rest of them had to suffer through hours of hot, dangerous work, especially since there were tons of extra plates.

"I swear he's doing this on purpose." Amani said as a large tray of plates filled the counter, from Tantalus' order of a luncheon banquet. The name wasn't even good, Amani thought. "No kidding." Annabeth said with a groan.

Though it wasn't all too bad as Percy had time to explain, in detail, his dream with Grover. This time Annabeth appeared to start believing him and Amani got the full story. "If he’s really found it," she murmured, "and if we could retrieve it –"

"Hold on," Percy said. "You act like this … whatever-it-is Grover found is the only thing in the world that could save the camp. What is it?" He asked and Amani nodded, stopping his scrubbing. "I’ll give you a hint. What do you get when you skin a ram?" She asked.

"Messy?"

"Blood?"

The two said simultaneously, Annabeth would have face palmed if it weren't for the fact she had lava filled hands. "You two deserve being friends, two idiots, a perfect pair. Why am I the only one who uses their brain?." She sighed, "a fleece for goodness sake! The coat of a ram is called a fleece. And if that ram happens to have golden wool –" They caught on.

"The Golden Fleece. Seriously?" Amani asked, Annabeth scraped a plateful of death-bird bones into the lava. "Percy, remember the Grey Sisters?" Oh? Amani thought, listening. "They said they knew the location of the thing you seek. And they mentioned Jason. Three thousand years ago, they told him how to find the Golden Fleece. You both do know the story of Jason and the Argonauts?" She asked.

Percy nodded, "Yeah," he said. "That old movie with the clay skeletons." Amani snickered, Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh my gods, Percy! You are so hopeless."

"What?" He  demanded. "She means the actual story, dumbass." Amani said with a laugh. "You know with the flying ram that came after these two people prayed to Zeus. They got the fleece and it brought prosperity or something." Amani paraphrased, "at least someone knows about it." Annabeth said with a huff.

"The real story of the Fleece: there were these two children of Zeus, Cadmus and Europa, okay? They were about to get offered up as human sacrifices, when they prayed to Zeus to save them. So Zeus sent this magical flying ram with golden wool, which picked them up in Greece and carried them all the way to Colchis in Asia Minor." She explained before adding, "Well, actually it carried Cadmus. Europa fell off and died along the way, but that’s not important." As an afterthought.

"It was probably important to her." Percy pointed out and Amani hummed, "probably really important." He repeated shooting Percy a grin. "The point is, when Cadmus got to Colchis, he sacrificed the golden ram to the gods and hung the Fleece in a tree in the middle of the kingdom. The Fleece brought prosperity to the land. Animals stopped getting sick. Plants grew better. Farmers had bumper crops. Plagues never visited. That’s why Jason wanted the Fleece. It can revitalize any land where it’s placed. It cures sickness, strengthens nature, cleans up pollution –"