𝒊𝒊. 𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆

𝒊𝒊.

Noelle was waiting for Percy and his friend in and alley down Church Street. She pulled her boyfriend and the cyclops off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriweather Prep.

"How'd you meet...?" She trailed off, not knowing this seemingly friendly monster's name.

"Tyson," Percy filled in. "A friend I made at school."

Noelle's brows furrowed at that. Percy couldn't understand why she seemed so confused to see Tyson with him.

"Is he homeless?" she asked.

Percy could tell she didn't mean it in a rude way, but he'd just been attacked by three cannibal giants, and Tyson had saved his life three or four times.

Percy snapped, "What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"

She looked surprised, completely forgetting she'd heard him speak in the gym. "He can talk?"

"I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty."

Noelle smiled softly at him. "Thank you."

Percy examined Tyson's hands, which he was sure must've been badly scorched by the flaming dodge balls, but they looked fine aside from what they normally looked like. "Tyson," Percy said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."

"Of course not," Noelle said like it should've been the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with this big guy around."

Tyson seemed fascinated by Noelle's chestnut beach waves. He reached out to touch it and she let him, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

"Noelle," Percy said, "what are you talking about? Laistry-what?"

"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live far north. Annabeth told me that Odysseus fought them once, but I never thought they'd be this far south."

"Laistry-- I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Canadians," she decided. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police'll be after me."

She shrugged. "Nothing new. Besides, that's the least of our problems. Have you been having the dreams?"

"The dreams... about Grover?"

Noelle's face paled. "Grover? No, what about Grover?"

He told her his dream. "Why? What were you dreaming about?"

Her pupils shrunk drastically in size. She thought maybe she should try and smile to ease both hers and Percy's nerves, but decided it wouldn't help much.

"Camp," she said at last. "Big trouble at camp."

"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"

"I don't know. Annabeth sent me an Iris-message when she got to camp a week ago, but the information was fuzzy. All I know is something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Rhode Island. Have you had a lot of attacks since spring break?"

Percy shook his head. "None all year... until today."

"None? But how..." Her eyes drifted to Tyson, who was still playing with her hair. "Oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh'?"

Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class, releasing Noelle's brunette locks. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something... Son of the Sea God?"