━━ ❝ 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 to shine like a star you must burn
like one ❞
•--• ✹ •--•
[ i. completed / edited
ii. previously called folklore
iii. extended summary inside
iv. book 1 of the greek tragedy series ]
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Cassie, wake up."
Salt water splashed her face. Percy was shaking Cassie's shoulder.
Cassie groaned, still tired.
He splashed her one last time. "Rise and shine."
Cassie groaned in response.
In the distance, the sun was setting behind a city skyline.
"Malibu, I think," Annabeth said. "But the hippocampi are acting funny."
Cassie remembered her last trip to Malibu, strawberry ice creams, she and her mother side by side.
Percy looked at Cassie, her smiling profile facing the city, the afternoon light bathing her face.
Annabeth saw Percy looking at Cassie, and smiled, as usual, knowing what was happening before others did.
Sure enough, their fishy friends 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.
Once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, they swam for shore. The waves pushed them forward, and in no time they were back in the mortal world.
The six wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacation.
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 glittery Omega on the pocket and back.
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 ten days!"
"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.
Cassie tied up her hair due to the heat. "Time works differently in monstrous places."
Grover agreed with her. "Thalia's tree must be almost dead. 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 "
