cacoethes |PERCY JACKSON| [book 2]

XVII

WHEN PERCY WOKE, he immediately tried to sit up and wobbled slightly. Selena pushed him down slightly, "Rest," she told him, "You're going to need it."

"Tyson...?" Percy asked, looking around for his half-brother,

Selena shook her head. "Percy, I'm really sorry."

They were silent while the waves tossed them up and down. "He may have survived," Annabeth stated halfheartedly. "I mean, fire can't kill him."

Percy nodded but had no reason to feel hopeful. Selena felt the same. She had seen that explosion rip through solid iron. If Tyson had been down in the boiler room, there was no way he could've lived.

He'd given his life for them.

Waves lapped at the boat. Annabeth showed them some things she'd salvaged from the wreckage—Hermes's thermos (now empty), a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia, nectar, a couple of sailors' shirts, and a bottle of Dr Pepper. 

Sadly, Selena's camera was now destroyed. She made a small reminder in the back of her mind to get a new one.

After they'd fished Percy out of the water and found his knapsack, bitten in half by Scylla's teeth. Most of his stuff had floated away, but they still had Hermes's bottle of multivitamins, and of course, Percy had Riptide. The ballpoint pen always appeared back in his pocket no matter where he lost it.

They sailed for hours. Now that they were in the Sea of Monsters, the water glittered a more brilliant green, like Hydra acid. The wind smelled fresh and salty, but it carried a strange metallic scent, too—as if a thunderstorm were coming. Or something even more dangerous. 

Luckily, Percy knew what direction they needed to go. He knew they were exactly one hundred thirteen nautical miles west by northwest of their destination, which Selena thought was pretty cool. 

No matter which way they turned, the sun seemed to shine straight into their eyes. The three took turns sipping from the Dr Pepper, shading themselves with the sail as best they could. And they talked about Percy's latest dream of Grover.

By Annabeth's estimate, they had less than twenty-four hours to find Grover, assuming Percy's dream was accurate, and assuming the Cyclops Polyphemus didn't change his mind and try to marry Grover earlier.

"Yeah," Percy scoffed bitterly, "You can never trust a Cyclops."

Annabeth stared across the water. "I'm sorry, Percy. I was wrong about Tyson, okay? I wish I could tell him that."

Selena reached over and grabbed his hand and squeezed. She couldn't imagine losing a sibling.

She could tell Percy was thinking hard about something. He looked over at the two girls, his eyebrows furrowed, "What's Chiron's prophecy?"

Selena's eyes widened and Annabeth pursed her lips. "Percy, I shouldn't—"

"I know Chiron promised the Gods he wouldn't tell me. But you didn't promise, did you?"

"Knowledge isn't always good for you." Annabeth replied,

"Your mom is the wisdom Goddess!" Percy glared,

"I know! But every time heroes learn the future, they try to change it, and it never works." Annabeth told him.

"The Gods are worried about something I'll do when I get older," Percy guessed. "Something when I turn sixteen."

Selena gulped nervously and played with her shoelaces, "Percy, I..." She made eye contact with Annabeth and she gave her a nod, "... we don't know the full prophecy, but it warns about a half-blood child of the Big Three—the next one who lives to the age of sixteen. That's the real reason Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades swore a pact after World War II not to have any more kids. The next child of the Big Three who reaches sixteen will be a dangerous weapon."

Percy shook his head, "Why?"

"Because that hero will decide the fate of Olympus. He or she will make a decision that either saves the Age of the Gods, or destroys it." Annabeth informed him,

Percy paled, "That's why Kronos didn't kill me last summer."

Selena nodded. "You could be very useful to him. If he can get you on his side, the Gods will be in serious trouble."

"But if it's me in the prophecy—"

"We'll only know that if you survive three more years." Annabeth interrupted, "That can be a long time for a half-blood. When Chiron first learned about Thalia, he assumed she was the one in the prophecy. That's why he was so desperate to get her safely to camp. Then she went down fighting and got turned into a pine tree and none of us knew what to think. Until you came along."

On their port side, a spiky green dorsal fin about fifteen feet long curled out of the water and disappeared.

"This kid in the prophecy ... he or she couldn't be like, a Cyclops?" Percy asked. "The Big Three have lots of monster children."

Annabeth shook her head. "The Oracle said 'half-blood.' That always means half-human, half-God. There's really nobody alive who it could be, except you."

"Unless there's another child of the Big Three out there that we don't know about." Selena commented,

"Then why do the Gods even let me live? It would be safer to kill me." Percy questioned,

"You're right." Annabeth replied,

Percy narrowed his eyes at the blonde, "Thanks a lot."

"Percy, I don't know. I guess some of the Gods would like to kill you, but they're probably afraid of offending Poseidon. Other Gods ... maybe they're still watching you, trying to decide what kind of hero you're going be. You could be a weapon for their survival, after all. The real question is ... what will you do in three years? What decision will you make?"

"Did the prophecy give any hints?" Percy asked,

Annabeth hesitated and she and Selena made eye contact. Should they tell him?

Maybe they would've told him more, but just then a seagull swooped down out of nowhere and landed on their makeshift mast. Annabeth looked startled as the bird dropped a small cluster of leaves into her lap.

"Land," she said. "There's land nearby!"

Percy sat up and the trip looked out across the water. Sure enough, there was a line of blue and brown in the distance. Another minute and they could make out an island with a small mountain in the center, a dazzling white collection of buildings, a beach dotted with palm trees, and a harbor filled with a strange assortment of boats.

The current was pulling their rowboat toward what looked like a tropical paradise.