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✧.*
I was staring at the waves when Annabeth and Tyson found me.
"What's going on?" Annabeth asked. "I heard you calling for help!"
"Me, too!" Tyson said. "Heard you yell, 'Bad things are attacking!'
"But then who..." Annabeth noticed the three yellow duffel bags, then the thermos and the bottle of vitamins I was holding.
"What-"
"Just listen." I said. "We don't have much time."
I told them about my conversation with Hermes. By the time I was finished, I could hear screeching in the distance-patrol harpies picking up our scent.
"Percy," Annabeth said, "we have to do the quest."
"We'll get expelled, you know. Trust me, I'm an expert at getting expelled."
"So? If we fail, there won't be any camp to come back to."
"Yeah, but you promised Chiron-"
"I promised I'd keep you from danger. I can only do that by coming with you! Tyson can stay behind and tell them-"
"I want to go," Tyson said.
"No!" Annabeth's voice sounded close to panic. "I mean ... Percy, come on. You know that's impossible."
I wondered again why she had such a grudge against Cyclopes. There was something she wasn't telling me.
She and Tyson both looked at me, waiting for an answer. Meanwhile, the cruise ship was getting farther and farther away.
The thing was, part of me didn't want Tyson along.
I'd spent the last three days in close quarters with the guy, getting razzed by the other campers and embarrassed a million times a day, constantly reminded that I was related to him. I needed some space.
Plus, I didn't know how much help he'd be, or how I'd keep him safe. Sure, he was strong, but Tyson was a little kid in Cyclops terms, maybe seven or eight years old, mentally.
I could see him freaking out and starting to cry while we were trying to sneak past a monster or something. He'd get us all killed.
On the other hand, the sound of the harpies was getting closer....
"We can't leave him," I decided. "Tantalus will punish him for us being gone."
