Percy Jackson Son of Hera and Zeus [BEING REWRITTEN]

Battle at Half Blood Hill

Percy/Nerva POV:

Mythologically speaking, if there's anything I hate worse than the Echidna and trios of old ladies, it's bulls. Last summer I fought the Minotaur on top of Half-Blood Hill to try to protect James, Grover, and Mrs. Waters. This time what I saw what I saw was even worse: two bulls. And not just regular bulls – Colchis bulls, they were made by Hephaestus himself. They were made of some type of bronze, the size of elephants and naturally they could also breathe fire.

As soon as we exited the taxi, the Grey 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 on the side of the road, I had my swords, a bow, and a dagger, and James had the sword of Theseus in the form of a necklace, and Tyson, well he's a Cyclops I'm sure his brute strength can help. Unfortunately, James and Tyson were still in burnt-up tie-dyed gym clothes.

"Skata," I said, looking at the battle raging on the hill.

What worried me the most weren't the bulls themselves. Or the ten heroes in full battle armor who were getting their bronze booties whooped. What worried me was that bulls were ranging all over the hill, even the backside of the pine tree. That shouldn't have been possible. The camp's magical boundaries didn't allow monsters to cross past Thalia's tree. But the Colchis bulls were doing it anyway. One of the heroes shouted, "Border patrol, to me!" A girl's voice – gruff and familiar.

Border patrol? I thought Why in Hades does the camp need a border patrol. What happened while I was gone? I looked back towards the battle and saw Clarisse leading the counterattack against the bulls. "It's Clarisse," I said. "Come on, we have to help her."

Clarisse was one of my closest friends at Camp Half-Blood, she, Luke, and Grover are really the only mortal friends I've ever had except for Jason but I can't see him that often. I saw James hesitate to come and help, I get that Clarisse doesn't like him much but that's his fault for acting like a spoilt brat all the time and trying to claim other people's accomplishments.

Clarisse and the other heroes were in trouble. Her fellow warriors were scattered, 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. Clarisse's own armor was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.

I uncapped my pens. They shimmered, growing longer and heavier until I held to bronze swords Anaklumos and Astrapi in my hands. "Come on!" I yelled

James nodded, "Tyson, stay here. I don't want a mortal killing themselves clear-sighted or not!"

I groaned internally, how many times did I call him a Cyclops earlier? How does he still think Tyson's mortal? "No!" I said glaring at him. "We need him."

He just stared at me, "He's mortal. He got lucky earlier but I'm not explaining to Chiron why we bought a mortal onto a mythological battlefield!"

"James, do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We'll get burnt to a crisp, a Cyclops is our best hope."

"Medea's what?"

I rummaged through my backpack and cursed. "It's empty! Why didn't I get another jar of tropical coconut scent?"

James just stared at me looking confused, "Look, I have no idea why coconut scent is so important but I'm not going to let you get Tyson killed."

"James –"