In Between Two Worlds (HP/PJO Crossover)

Chapter 70: We Check Into C.C.'s Spa & Resort.

I woke up in a rowboat with a makeshift sail stitched of gray uniform fabric. Annabeth sat next to me, tacking into the wind. Percy was sitting up next to me.

"Percy!" I shouted. "Your OK!" I tried to sit up and immediately felt woozy.

"Rest you guys," she said. "You're going to need it."

"Tyson ... ?" Percy asked.

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

We were silent while the waves tossed us up and down.

"He may have survived," she said halfheartedly. "I mean, fire can't kill him."

He nodded. I could tell he wasn't hopeful though. We'd all 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 us, and all I could think about were the times I'd called him a monster and didn't want him along.

Waves lapped at the boat. Annabeth showed us some things she'd salvaged from the wreckage-Hermes's thermos (now empty), a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia, a couple of sailors' shirts, and a bottle of Dr Pepper. I was in the lifeboat with Annie so all of the stuff in my backpack was there. It had my clothes and thankfully my wand in it.

She'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 he still had Hermes's bottle of multivitamins, and of course Riptide.

We sailed for hours. Now that we 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.

No matter which way we turned, the sun seemed to shine straight into my eyes.(Yeah dad! I know your there!) We took turns sipping from the Dr Pepper, shading ourselves with the sail as best we could. And we talked about our latest dream of Grover.

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

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

Annabeth and I looked at each other. "We're sorry, Percy. We were wrong about Tyson, okay? We wish we could tell him that."

I looked down at our measly possessions-the empty wind thermos, the bottle of multivitamins. I thought about Luke's look of rage when we'd tried to talk to him about his dad.

"Annabeth, what's Chiron's prophecy?" Percy asked suddenly.

She pursed her lips. "I shouldn't-"

"I know Chiron promised the gods he wouldn't tell us. But you didn't promise, did you?" Percy said.

"Knowledge isn't always good for you."

"Your mom is the wisdom goddess!" I said.

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

"The gods are worried about something we'll do when we get older," he guessed. "Something when we both turn sixteen."

Annabeth twisted her Yankees cap in her hands. "I 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. And the special child of Apollo. Which means Karlee. That's the real reason Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades swore a pact after World War II not to have any more kids. They didn't know what a special child of Apollo meant so they didn't really bother with that part because as long as they didn't have kids, Apollo wouldn't have his 'special' child. The next child of the Big Three and the special Apollo kid who reaches sixteen will be dangerous weapons."