Annabeth Chase and the Sea of Monsters

Chapter 12 - Plotting while playing with lava

Our punishment was scrubbing. I know what you're thinking. That's not that dangerous or particularly hard. Add in that we had to use lava instead of water, and it becomes a lot closer to expectations.

According to Tantalus, Tyson, Percy and I had "invoked" the Stymphalian birds to attack with our "bad chariot driving" and that they wouldn't have as they been "minding their own business" before. Percy's reply to that was that Tantalus should go chase a doughnut.

So here we were, having to wear asbestos gloves and aprons and stuck cleaning hundreds of plates as Tantalus had arranged a massive banquet in celebration of Clarisse's victory. We hadn't received any, but we could see the remains - mainly the main course of grilled-and-sauced Stymphalian death-bird.

The only good thing that came out of the punishment was that Percy and I forgot that we were mad at each other. It's kinda hard to be after one of our customary near-death experiences.

Percy told me again about his dream about Grover while we cleaned, Tyson plunging his hands right in the tub of lava without wearing gloves. The more that Percy talked, the more I started to believe him. He truly seemed convinced by what he saw and his eyes betrayed his concern. Besides, he had no motive from what I could see about trying o deceive me and if he was right, we could save the camp.

"If he's really found it," I said, "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?"

"I'll give you a hint." I didn't want to make it too easy for him. "What do you get when you skin a ram?"

"Messy?"

I sighed. "A fleece. The coat of a ram is called a fleece. And if that ram happened to have golden wool -"

"The Golden Fleece. Are you serious?" He sounded so incredulous.

I scrapped some Stymphalian bones off into the lava water. "Percy, remember the Grey Sisters? 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 do know the story of Jason and the Argonauts?"

"Yeah. That old movie with the clay skeletons."

I rolled my eyes. I swear he did this just to annoy me. "Oh my gods, Percy! You are so hopeless."

"What?" he demanded.

"Just listen. The real story of the Fleece: there were these two children of Zeus, Cadmus and Europa, okay? They were about to be 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. Well, actually it carried Cadmus. Europa and fell off and died along the way, but that's not important."

"It was probably important to her."

"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 bought 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 -"

"It could cure Thalia's tree," interrupted Percy, understanding suddenly.

I nodded. "And it would totally strengthen the borders of Camp Half-Blood. But Percy, the Fleece has been missing for centuries. Tons of heroes have searched for it with no luck."

"But Grover found it," Percy said, frowning. "He went looking for Pan and he found the Fleece instead because they both radiate nature. It makes sense, Annabeth. We can rescue him and save the camp at the same time. It's perfect!"

"A little too perfect, don't you think?" I said cautiously. "What if it's a trap?"

Percy seemed to think about this. We'd been in traps before. They weren't exactly our favorite thing

"What choice do we have?" he asked finally. "Are you going to help me rescue Grover or not?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. He knew that I would of course help Grover, but what he didn't know was all of the story.

I glanced over at Tyson, who was making toy boats out of cups and spoons and floating them in the lava. He looked harmless as he played, but I knew how vicious Cyclops could be.

"Percy," I said, lowering my voice so he had to lean in to hear me, "we'll have to fight Polyphemus, the worst of the Cyclopes. And there's only one place his island could be. The Sea of Monsters."

"Where's that?"

Was he actually dumb, or just pretending to be? I knew that some girls dumbed themselves down to be attractive to boys, but did boys do the same thing? If so, it wasn't that attractive to me.

"The Sea of Monsters," I said slowly for his benefit. "The same sea Odysseus sailed through, and Jason, and Aeneas and all the others."

"You mean the Mediterranean?"

"No. Well, yes . . . but no."

"Another straight answer. Thanks."

"Look, Percy. The Sea of Monsters is the sea all heroes sail through on their adventures. It used to be in the Mediterranean, yes. But like everything else, it shifts locations as the West's centre of power shifts."

"Like Mount Olympus being above the Empire State building," Percy said. "And Hades being under Los Angeles."

"Right," I said.

"But a whole sea full of monsters - how could you hide something like that? Wouldn't the mortals notice weird things happening . . . like ships getting eaten and stuff?"

"Of course they notice. They don't understand, but they know something is strange about that part of the ocean. The Sea of Monsters is off the east coast of the U.S. now, just north-east of Florida. The mortals even have a name for it."

"The Bermuda Triangle?"

"Exactly."

Percy looked stunned. I thought he'd been used to this stuff by now, seeing as he'd been at camp a year now. Hadn't he realised that anything strange or unusual in the world always had a Greek influence behind it?

"Okay . . ." he said. "So at least we know where to look."

"It's still a huge area, Percy," I told him. "Searching for one tiny island in monster-infested waters -"

"Hey, I'm the son of the sea god. This is my home turf. How hard can it be?"

I frowned. Famous last words much.

But he had a point. Due to his parentage, he could control water and breathe underwater, but he could have more unknown powers. Still, it was going to be difficult.

I pulled myself up short suddenly. We were already assuming that we would be going on the quest, like it was already official.

"We'll have to talk to Tantalus, get approval for a quest." I signed, already knowing his answer. "He'll say no."

"Not if we tell him tonight at the campfire in front of everyone," Percy said, grinning wickedly. "The whole camp will hear. They'll pressure him. He won't be able to refuse."

"Maybe," I said, not willing to admit that it was actually a pretty good plan. For a son of Poseidon. "We'd better get these dishes done. Hand me the lava spray gun, will you?"