It almost worked ✸ Apollo ¹

XXIV. Burning pile

Lydia held onto the ground as debris flew over from all sides. She could hear the shouts of other campers, and the strangled sounds of the mechanical bulls. But when the fire died, the kid named Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed.

"Are you okay?" Connor asked Lydia.

She nodded "Yeah, but how is he still alive?"

"I- I'm not sure." Connor was just as confused.

Not even Tyson's grungy clothes were scorched. The bull must've been as surprised too, because before it could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face.

"BAD COW!"

His fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.

"Down!" Tyson yelled.

The bull staggered and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of its ruined head in odd places. Lydia was relived that this nightmare was over for now. She wasn't a big fan of these bulls. Yet, it was strange why Hephaestus would create these things.

Speaking of the blacksmith god, his children had done most of the damage to the second bull. It responded to them a lot more than anyone else. Lydia stood up to get a good look at the damage surrounding the camp before turning back to the Stoll brothers. She helped Travis back on his feet to get back to cabin eleven.

"You know, you didn't need to help me?" Travis told her.

Lydia sighed "It's the least I could after what Connor did for me. Plus, i couldn't just leave you guys there."

"Thanks anyway, but I keep telling Connor to not act a fool." Travis replied, looking at his younger brother.

Connor looked down at the ground, refusing to look at anyone. Lydia said goodbye to them before running to Annabeth and Percy. He asked about the other bull.

Annabeth pointed down the hill. Clarisse had taken care of Bad Cow Number Two. She'd impaled it through the back leg with a celestial bronze spear. Now, with its snout half gone and a huge gash in its side, it was trying to run in slow motion, going in circles like some kind of merry-go-round animal.

Clarisse pulled off her helmet and marched toward us. A strand of her stringy brown hair was smoldering, but she didn't seem to notice. "You ruin everything!" she yelled at Percy. "I had it under control!"

Annabeth grumbled, "Good to see you too, Clarisse."

"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"

"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "you've got wounded campers."

That sobered her up. Even Clarisse cared about the soldiers under her command. "I'll be back," she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.

Lydia turned on Annabeth "How's it been?"

"I'm gonna have to get back to you on that. Because I have no idea right now." She gave Lydia a small smile, and they hugged for a moment.

Then Tyson came back to the group. Lydia hadn't seen him up close before, but now she understood why the fire didn't harm him. Tyson was a cyclops. He was obviously a young one, and he wasn't very alarming unless you focused enough.

Lydia saw how Percy was worried about him. So she figured Tyson was trustworthy, and she didn't need any other reason.

Tyson looked down at Percy like he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."

"My fault," Annabeth said. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would've died."

"Let him cross the boundary line?" Percy asked. "But—"

"Percy," Annabeth said, "have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean ... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him."

Percy stumbled for a moment, and it took about five seconds before he realized. "Tyson," He stammered. "You're a ..."

"Cyclops," Lydia said. "You didn't notice?"

Lydia realized the mist could also fool demigods sometimes too, and that's probably why Percy never realized the truth about Tyson. She didn't really think it was a big deal. The kid had just proved himself of being okay by saving Percy and the entire camp from that bull. Yet, campers stopped and stared.

Some of them looked terrified that a cyclops was now among them.

"A baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans." Annabeth added.

"One of the what?" Percy asked.

Sometimes cyclops parents left their kids in big cities to learn the ways. And most of the time, they got into a lot of trouble there. Lydia didn't live in New York or anywhere near here to be honest. So she didn't know much about cyclops around here.

"They're in almost all the big cities," Annabeth said distastefully. "They're mistakes, Percy. Children of nature spirits and gods ...Well, one god in particular, usually... and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside.
They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."

"But the fire. How-"

"He's a Cyclops." Annabeth paused, as if she were remembering something unpleasant. "They work the forges of the gods. They have to be immune to fire.
That's what I was trying to tell you."

The whole side of the hill was burning so nobody had time to think about it. Wounded heroes needed attention. And there were still two banged-up bronze bulls to dispose of. Clarisse came back over and wiped the soot off her forehead. "Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."

Annabeth and Percy looked confused, and Lydia figured they didn't know what was going on with Chiron yet. "Tantalus?" Percy asked.

"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.

"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus?He's head of security. He should be here."

Clarisse made a sour face. "Argus got fired. You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."

"But Chiron .. He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be gone. What happened?" Annabeth looked worried.

"That happened," Clarisse snapped.

She pointed to Thalia's tree. Every camper knew the story behind the tree. Six years ago, Grover, Annabeth, and two other demigods named Thalia and Luke had come to Camp Half-Blood chased by an army of monsters. When they got cornered on top of this hill, Thalia, a daughter of Zeus, had made her last stand here to give her friends time to reach safety.

As she was dying, her father, Zeus, took pity on her and changed her into a pine tree. Her spirit had reinforced the magic borders of the camp, protecting it from monsters. The pine had been here ever since, strong and healthy. But now, its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.

Percy and Annabeth looked at Lydia. She looked away "I should've told you earlier, but I couldn't get the words out. I'm sorry, guys. I don't like it either."