Twins of the Hunt - Book 2: Torn Apart ✔️

Chapter 14: I Am Struck

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Chief, wake up.

Agro's warm tongue licked my face.

"Huh?" I sat groggily. In the distance, I could see the sun setting behind a beachside highway lined with palm trees and a harbor filled with ships. "Where are we?"

"Miami, I think," said Annabeth.

At her words, I burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" asked Annabeth, frowning.

"I've been banned from Florida for two years," I choked through my laughter.

Annabeth's eyebrows raised. "Why?"

Raiden grinned. "An incident with a few drakons, a lightning bolt, and a fire hydrant. We knocked down a few buildings and generally destroyed half of downtown Orlando."

"Jeez," said Percy. "I thought I did bad by blowing up the St. Louis Arch but destroying half of downtown Orlando. That's something else entirely."

Raiden laughed, and I caught Percy's eye for a moment, before looking away. Percy looked like he wanted to say something to me but, I cut him off.

"We gotta get off," I said. "The hippocampi won't take us any farther; too much pollution in the water."

No one was very happy about this, but we still dismounted all the same. Tyson said a tearful goodbye to Rainbow, took off the makeshift saddle he'd made, and swam for shore followed by the rest of us. Zade sat on my shoulder while I swam, screeching about how much he hated water.

Once we got to shore, all of us pushed and shoved through the crowds of shouting mortals. I heard a lot of Spanish; I couldn't understand the words, but from the tone, I could tell the words were my level of swearing when someone flirted with me. Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box, looked at the Miami Herald, and swore.

"We've been away for 10 days!" she said. "Thalia's tree is most likely dead by now!"

"What do we do?" asked Raiden. "We need to get the Fleece back."

"I could run it back," I offered, "but this is Clarisse's quest. She needs to take it back."

"Run it back?" Percy looked confused.

I rolled my eyes. "I have superspeed, Jackson. Keep up."

"How is she supposed to get the Fleece back, though?" said Grover, chewing his lip nervously. "I mean, we have no way-"

"Fly it back," Annabeth interrupted. "We'll pool our money, and Clarisse can fly back to camp."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea-" Percy began but I gave him a look, and he shut up.

We all searched our pockets. Everyone came up with nothing, except Grover, who pulled a tin can out of his jacket pocket and immediately began chewing it.

"No money," Tyson said, pulling out a plastic bag of his duffle, which was full of green paper. "Sorry. Just have green paper."

Percy's eyes widened. "Tyson, where did you get that?"

Tyson shrugged. "Found it in the bag. Thought it was a treat for Rainbow."

Percy grabbed the plastic bag from Tyson and grabbed the cash out. There were tens and fives; at least three hundred dollars. Percy grabbed the Fleece, which Raiden was holding, and shoved it and the cash into Clarisse's arms.

She looked stunned. "What-"

"Go," said Percy firmly.

Clarisse stared at Percy in disbelief. "You're just giving me the Fleece?"