tartarus and back ⇩

19. The Sea of Monsters

P E R C Y

Chiron sniffed. "My dear young Cyclops! I am a centaur."

'Chiron,' I said. 'What about the tree? What happened?'

He shook his head sadly. 'The poison used on Thalia's pine is something from the Underworld, Percy. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus.'

I hated that place. Every since Kai feel down there, I'd done as much research as possible on Tartarus, and there was no way she could be alive.

'Then we know who's responsible. Kro–'

And then there was the thought that if she was alive, Kronos would be down with her.

'Do not invoke the titan lord's name, Percy. Especially not here, not now.'

'But last summer he tried to cause a civil war in Olympus! This has to be his idea. He'd get Luke
to do it, that traitor.'

'Perhaps,' Chiron said. 'But I fear I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and I
cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless...'

'Unless what?' Annabeth asked.

'No,' Chiron said. 'A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The
magical borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago.'

'What is it?' I asked. 'We'll go find it!'

Chiron closed his saddlebag. He pressed the STOP button on his boom box. Then he turned and rested his hand on my shoulder, looking me straight in the eyes. 'Percy, you must promise me that you will not act rashly. I told your mother I did not want you to come here at all this summer. It's much too dangerous. But now that you are here, stay here. Train hard. Learn to fight. But do not leave.'

'Why?' I asked. 'I want to do something! I can't just let the borders fail. The whole camp will be –'

'Overrun by monsters,' Chiron said. 'Yes, I fear so. But you must not let yourself be baited into hasty action! This could be a trap of the titan lord. Remember last summer! He took Kai's life!'

At that word, Annabeth visibly deflated. No one had taken Kai's death worse than Annabeth, and she didn't even think Kai was dead.

It was true, but still, I wanted to help so badly. I also wanted to make Kronos pay. I mean, you'd think the titan lord would've learned his lesson aeons ago when he was overthrown by the gods. You'd think getting chopped into a million pieces and cast into the darkest part of the Underworld would give him a subtle clue that nobody wanted him around. But no. Because he was immortal, he was still alive down there in Tartarus – suffering in eternal pain, hungering to return and take revenge on Olympus. He couldn't act on his own, but he was great at twisting the minds of mortals and even gods to do his dirty work.

The poisoning had to be his doing. Who else would be so low as to attack Thalia's tree, the only thing left of a hero who'd given her life to save her friends?

⇩⇩⇩

The stateroom was beautiful, and it was horrible.
The beautiful part: huge windows curved along the back wall, looking out over the stern of the ship. Green sea and blue sky stretched all the way to the horizon. A Persian rug covered the floor. Two plush sofas
occupied the middle of the room, with a canopied bed in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other. The table was loaded with food: pizza boxes, bottles of soda and a stack of roast beef sandwiches on a silver platter.