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what i saw up on the hill was absolutely terrifying:
two bronze bulls. and not just regular bulls-bronze ones, they were the size of elephants. and even that wasn't bad enough. naturally they had to breathe fire, too.
of course, colchis bulls.
as soon as we exited the taxi, the gray sisters peeled out, heading back to new york, where life was safer. they didn't even wait for their extra three-drachma payment.
they just left us on the side of the road. i had nothing but my backpack and jewellery/weapons, percy and the cyclopes were still in their burned-up tie-dyed gym clothes.
"oh, man," i said looking up at the hill.
yeah sure, the colchis bulls were giant, fire breathing, bronze ones. yeah sure, the ten demigods fighting, were getting their ass whooped. but the thing that scared me was that the bulls were ranging all over the hill, even around the back side of the pine tree.
that shouldn't have been possible. the camp's magic boundaries didn't allow monsters to cross past thalia's tree. but the metal bulls were doing it anyway.
this was my dream. thalia's tree's being poisoned.
one of the heroes shouted, "border patrol, to me!" a girl's voice-gruff and familiar.
clarisse. daughter of the war god.
the camp didn't have a border patrol. well, they probably need it now, if the tree's been poisoned.
"it's clarisse," i said to percy. "come on, we have to help her."
her fellow warriors were scattering, running in panic as the bulls charged.
the grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree. one hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles, the horsehair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery mohawk. i'm pretty sure it was mark. (remember him from capture-the-flag last year?)
