Silver Tears - Ethan Nakamura

Twenty-five: Clarisse is off to New York by herself and Chiron saves us

I'D BE LYING IF I SAID I DIDN'T MISS MY BEST FRIEND AFTER SHE LEFT, BUT IT WAS SO WORTH IT TO SEE LUKE'S EXPRESSION.

In the distance, the sun was setting behind a city skyline. I could see a beachside highway lined with palm trees, storefronts glowing with red and blue neon, a harbor filled with sailboats and cruise ships.

I know Miami when I see it. I hated Miami the last time I was there, Lamia following us trying to eat us alive. I felt a chill go down my spine.

No. She's not here. She's dead in the underworld, I killed her.

I had sent out a message to Chiron letting him know we were washing up on Miami's surfaces. I'm not sure if he got it, but if he did great.

The hippocampi were going in circles whining, and sneezing when they sniffed the water. The water was too polluted for them. I rubbed the side of the hippocampi, to my left I heard Annabeth wake Percy up.

"Percy, wake up." She said splashing water in his face, and shaking his shoulders. He woke up and stared at the city skyline.

"Miami, I think," Annabeth said. "But the hippocampi are acting funny."

"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 us was very psyched about that, but we 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 good-bye.

Once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, we swam for shore. The waves pushed us forward, and in no time we were back in the mortal world. We wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacations. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage. Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to cut in line for customers.

"Movete burto!" Said one of them. The other driver looked like he was ready to fight screaming back, "a quién llamas burto? Porque sé que no soy yo, puto!" Move, dumbass! Who you calling dumbass? Because I know it's not me bitch!

I shook my head and laughed.

If anybody noticed us-six kids dripping wet and looking like they'd just had a fight with a monster-they didn't let on.

Now that we 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.

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.