daughter of the mist

i'd rather not

i glared at tantalus's ugly donkey face (i wasn't allowed to swear yet). he smiled sickly at all of us, especially directing it towards percy.

"Yes, well," said Tantalus after the campers had stopped talking. "Another fine meal! Or so I am told!" i hoped it kept that way.

He inched his hand towards the refilled dinner plate slowly, but I noticed. Not on my watch...beach. I cast a spell for it to hurtle down the table.

"And here on my first day of authority," continued Tantalus, as if nothing had happened. "I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here."

I stifled a snort. Of course he would say things like this. Like the arrogant brat with zero remorse he was. He had killed his son and served him up to the gods...what a psycho.

"Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture—er—interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat."

I don't I thought, commenting on my sickly thin frame. I was nearly as thin as Tantalus, except I hadn't been starved for centuries. I would rather he had died from starvation, but guess that was part of the punishment.

Dionysus started clapping politely, prompting the satyrs to give some half-hearted applause. My hands didn't move an inch. None of the other campers clapped.

"And now some changes!" He gave a crooked smile, revealing his disgustingly yellow teeth that obviously were decaying. I wished I could barf on his face.

"We are reinstituting the chariot races!" Multiple emotions swept through the campers. Excitement, fear, disbelief.

I remembered the last chariot race I had been to. my cabinmates from Hermes had to stay in the Big House for a few weeks to heal those gashes and broken bones.

"Now I know," said Tantalus, raising his raspy voice so he could be heard through the murmurs, "that these races were discontinued some years ato due to...ah...technical problems."

"Three deaths and twenty-six mutiliations!" called someone from the Apollo table. I was surprised it wasn't one of the Athena kids to yell out the numbers.

I glanced in their direction and a few of them were rolling their eyes, but Annabeth's eyes were trained on Percy, gauging his reaction.

"Yes, yes!" shouted Tantalus. "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition."

Not likely. Even the Ares cabin—who should've been very excited by this—were exchanging uneasy glances.

"Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days' time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses."

If Percy decided to participate, he would have an unfair advantage. He could motivate the horses by talking to them, which he inherited from Poseidon. Other campers couldn't do that. But horses usually pulled chariots, and it was their decision, not mine.

"Oh, and did I mention? The victorious team's cabin will have no chores for a month in which they win!"

The campers emotions quickly switched. Bipolar much? They were already discussing their chariots and whether they would compete. I definitely wouldn't. No thank you. No gruesome deathly chariot races for me.

Then a voice, loud and clear, rang through the conversations. Clarisse stood up nervously, the You moo, girl! sign still on her back.

"But, sir," objected Clarisse. "What about patrol duty? I mean, if we drop everything to ready our chariots—"

"Ah," exclaimed Tantalus. "The hero of the day. Brave Clarisse, who single handedly bested the bronze bulls!"

Clarisse blinked, then her cheeks grew hot. "Um, I didn't—"

"And modest, too!" interrupted Tantalus again. "Not to worry, my dear! This is a summer camp! We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?"

I clenched my fists. Was Tantalus trying to get us all killed on purpose? He was grinning, which made me think so.

"But the tree—" said Clarisse, who through plain reasoning could see that we needed patrols. Her cabinmates, or as I liked to call them, the hogheads, pulled her back into her seat.

"And now," said Tantalus. "before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue."

I could guess what he was talking about by the way his eyes darted to the gigantic figure standing at the head table.

"Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring this here," he continued, waving his hand at Tyson.

Lots of campers gave Percy dirty looks and side eyes. Percy looked like he was trying to hold himself back from pulling out his sword—Riptide, Annabeth had called it—and killing Tantalus.

"Now, of course, Cyclopes have a reputation of being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity." Gods, he's thinking what I thought. I did not want to agree with him on something.

"Under normal circumstances, I would release this...beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks."

"But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it!"

Not the Hermes cabin. I was pretty sure Hermes would not welcome Tyson as a traveler. Besides, the Hermes kids would never accept it.

"I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous." Phew.

"Hermes's cabin, possibly?" He suggested.

My eyes dropped to the ground. No, I simply refused to let him into our cabin. No matter how "good" Percy thought Tyson was, I would never let him get within 5 feet of me.

"Come now, the monster may be able to do some menial chores," said Tantalus. "Any suggestions as to where such a beast should be kenneled?"

I glanced over to Tyson, who was twisting his gigantic fingers nervously. I gasped. A brilliant green light suddenly appeared above his head, a holographic image of a trident, the same thing....

Oh gods. I remembered the myths. He's Poseidon's kid.

Percy whipped around and stared at it in disbelief, hoping it was a hallucination, a prank, whatever.

Tantalus overcame his shock. He began laughing, slowly getting louder. The campers followed, laughing, but some laughed half-heartedly.

Ethan Nakumara, sitting beside me, folded his arms and glared at Tyson bitterly. He hadn't been claimed immediately like Tyson. Tyson hadn't even been here for one day. Ethan had been here for what? Two years? Three?

Even I had to wait for several years and hard work before Hecate decided to claim me. And Tyson? He just barged in and got claimed. The gods were sick. It wasn't like Cyclops were any better or more worthy than demigods. If anything, they were even worse.

"Well!" said Tantalus, stopping his laughter. A chuckle escaped his lips. "I think we know where to put the beast now!"

I would've ignored him if he hadn't said the next sentence.

"By the gods, I can see the family resemblance!" he cackled with laughter.

My patience broke. I had had enough of his insults and pathetic comments. I concentrated on the diet coke he had wanted earlier and forced it to spill onto his lap.

Tantalus, surprised, stopped laughing and stared at the stain on his loincloth. I desperately urged the wisps of white smoke to disappear.

Percy hadn't noticed. He was too busy watching Tyson, more wary now. He was swatting the golden trident above his head, and Percy was watching every move.