Sunburn- phoebus apollo

--v. their quest gets taken over by war's child, great.

THAT NIGHT AT THE CAMPFIRE, Apollo's cabin led the sing-along. They tried to get everybody's spirits up, but it wasn't easy after that afternoon's bird attack. They all sat around a semicircle of stone steps, singing halfheartedly and watching the bonfire blaze while the Apollo guys strummed their guitars and picked their lyres.

They all did the standard camp numbers: "Down by the Aegean," "I Am My Own Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandpa," "This Land is Mino's Land." The bonfire was enchanted, so the louder they sang, the higher it rose, changing color and heat with the mood of the crowd. On a good night, Rhea had seen it twenty feet high, bright purple, and so hot the whole front row's marshmallows burst into the flames. Tonight, the fire was only five feet high, barely warm, and the flames were the color of lint.

Dionysus left early. After suffering through a few songs, he muttered something about how even pinochle with Chiron had been more exciting than this. Then he gave Tantalus a distasteful look and headed back toward the Big House.

When the last song was over, Tantalus said, "Well, that was lovely."

He came forward with a toasted marshmallow on a stick and tried to pluck it off, real casual-like. But before he could touch it, the marshmallow flew off the stick. Tantalus made a wild grab, but the marshmallow committed suicide, diving into the flames. Tantalus turned back toward them, smiling coldly. "Now then! Some announcements about tomorrow's schedule."

Rhea snickered inwardly to herself. Imagine being so ugly that even a marshmallow would rather burn then to be eaten by you. I'd rather die.

Now me personally, I would never take that level of disrespect. Apollo laughed.

"Sir," Percy spoke up.

Tantalus's eye twitched. "Our kitchen boy has something to say?"

"Some of the Ares campers snickered. Percy stood and looked at Rhea and Annabeth. They both stood up.

"We have an idea to save the camp." Percy said.

Dead silence, but Rhea could tell they'd gotten everybody's interest, because the campfire flared bright yellow.

"Indeed," Tantalus said blandly. "Well, if it has anything to do with chariots--"

"The Golden Fleece," Rhea interrupted. "We know where it is."

The flames burned orange. Before Tantalus could stop Percy, he blurted out his dream about Grover and Polyphemus's island. Annabeth stepped in and reminded everybody what the Fleece could do. It sounded more convincing coming from her. Duh, she was a daughter of Athena.

"The Fleece can save the camp," Annabeth concluded. "I'm certain of it."

"Nonsense," said Tantalus. "We don't need saving."

Everybody stared at him until Tantalus started looking uncomfortable.

"Besides," he added quickly. "the Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."

"Yes, I would." Percy said.

Annabeth leaned in a whispered something in his ear, something that Rhea didn't quite catch.

"Thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five, twelve," Percy said, making Rhea furrow her eyebrows in confusion.

"Ooo-kay," Tantalus said. "Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers."

"They're sailing coordinates," Percy corrected. "Latitude and longitude. I, uh, learned about it in social studies."

Even Annabeth looked impressed. Rhea gave Percy a fist bump. "Thirty degrees, thirty-one minutes north, seventy-five degrees, twelve minutes west. He's right! The Gray Sisters gave us those coordinates. That'd be somewhere in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!"