29, be the light to someone's darkness

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The way Tantalus saw it, the Stymphalian birds had simply been minding their own business inthe woods and would not have attacked if Marlowe, Annabeth, Tyson, and Percy hadn't disturbed them with their bad chariot driving

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The way Tantalus saw it, the Stymphalian birds had simply been minding their own business in
the woods and would not have attacked if Marlowe, Annabeth, Tyson, and Percy hadn't disturbed them with their bad chariot driving.

Marlowe, after having to be held back by Annabeth, told Tantalus to go chase a doughnut, which didn't help his mood. He sentenced them to kitchen patrol—scrubbing pots and platters all afternoon in the underground kitchen with the cleaning harpies. The harpies washed with lava instead of water, to get that extra-clean sparkle and kill ninety-nine point nine percent of all germs, so Marlowe, Annabeth and Percy had to wear asbestos gloves and aprons.

Tyson didn't mind. He plunged his bare hands right in and started scrubbing, but the other three had to suffer through hours of hot, dangerous work, especially since there were tons of extra plates. Tantalus had ordered a special luncheon banquet to celebrate Clarisse's chariot victory—a full-course meal featuring country-fried Stymphalian death-bird.

The only good thing about their punishment was that it gave them a common enemy and lots of time to talk. After listening to Percy's dream about Grover again, the girls looked like they might be starting to believe him.

Marlowe knew it was wrong of her to act on emotions. She knew that Grover was in trouble and already felt guilty for the way she had just pushed him aside earlier. Percy was right—which she hated to admit.

"If he's really found it," Annabeth murmured, "and if we could retrieve it—"

"Hold on," Percy said. "You act like this...whatever-it-is Grover found is the only thing in the world that could save the camp."

"That's because it is," Marlowe sighed.

Percy turned to her. "Oh, so you're talking to me again?" he asked.

"Not willingly," Marlowe snapped back. "But Grover is in trouble and I'm his friend. What Annabeth is saying is true and we need to find it fast."

What is it?"

Annabeth racked her mind. "I'll give you a hint. What do you get when you skin a ram?"

"Uh, messy?" Percy guessed.

She sighed and Marlowe face-palmed. "A fleece. The coat of a ram is called a fleece. And if that ram happens to have golden wool—"

"The Golden Fleece. Are you serious?"

Annabeth scrapped a plateful of death-bird bones into the lava. "Percy, remember the Gray Sisters? They said they knew the location of the thing you seek. And they mentioned Jason. Three thousand years ago, they told him how to find the Golden Fleece. You do know the story of Jason and the Argonauts?"

"Yeah," Percy said. "That old movie with the clay skeletons."

Marlowe rolled her eyes. "Oh my gods, Percy! You are so hopeless."

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