▃▃▃ ᴅᴏɴᴛ ʟᴇᴛ ʜᴇʀ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ᴏꜰ ɪɴɴᴏᴄᴇɴᴄᴇ ꜰᴏᴏʟ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱʜᴇ ɪꜱ ꜰᴜʟʟ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴋɪɴᴅ ᴏꜰ ʙᴀᴅ-ᴊ ɪʀᴏɴ ᴡᴏʀᴅ
▃▃ ʙᴏᴏᴋ 1 ▃▃ In which the only daughter of Persephone sneaks on a quest to see the world for the first time since she's been at camp. The daughter of wisdom...
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𖥔 ݁ ˖ ⭑ ‧₊˚ ⋅ જ⁀➴๋࣭ ⭑๋࣭ ⭑
As they sailed towards the shore, Annabeth breathed in the sweet air. "The Fleece," she said.
Elara nodded. They couldn't see the Fleece yet, but she could sense its power. Elara believed it could heal anything, even Thalia's poisoned tree.
"If we take it away, will the island die?" Percy asked.
Annabeth shook her head. "It'll fade, returning to its natural state, whatever that may be."
Elara felt a pang of guilt about ruining this paradise, but she reminded herself they had no choice. Camp Half-Blood was in trouble.
In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep milled around. They looked peaceful enough, but they were enormous - the size of hippos. Just beyond them was a path that led up into the hills.
At the top of the path, near the edge of the canyon, stood a massive oak tree. Something gold glittered in its branches.
"This is too easy," Percy said. "We could just hike up there and take it."
"This isn't the same as the story I was told," Elara said.
Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "There's supposed to be a guardian. A dragon or something."
That's when a deer emerged from the bushes. It trotted into the meadow, probably looking for grass to eat, when the sheep all bleated at once and rushed the animal.
It happened so fast that the deer stumbled and was lost in a sea of wool and trampling hooves. Grass and tufts of fur flew into the air. A second later, the sheep all moved away, back to their regular peaceful wanderings. Where the deer had been was a pile of clean white bones.
Annabeth and Elara exchanged looks.
"They're like piranhas," Annabeth said.
"Piranhas with wool. How will we-" Elara began.
"Percy! Lara!" Annabeth gasped, grabbing their arms. "Look."
She pointed down the beach, to just below the sheep meadow, where a small boat had been run aground... the other lifeboat from the CSS Birmingham.
They decided there was no way they could get past the man-eating sheep. Annabeth wanted to sneak up the path invisibly and grab the Fleece, but in the end, Percy convinced her that something would go wrong. The sheep would smell her. Another guardian would appear. Something. And if that happened, Percy and Elara would be too far away to help.
Their first job was to find Grover and whoever had come ashore in that lifeboat-assuming they'd gotten past the sheep. They moored the Queen Anne's Revenge on the back side of the island, where the cliffs rose straight up a good sixty meters. Percy figured the ship was less likely to be seen there.
