The Adventure That Lies Ahead | PJO x HP

CHAPTER 32

Grover and Isa just chatted with each other, catching Grover up on what's been happening at camp.

They rode on the hippocampi for about an hour before Annabeth woke up.

Then the three of them chatted, Annabeth telling Grover and Isa about her trip back home during the year.

Then another hour later, the hippocampi started acting funny.

Isa could tell what they were thinking.

"Annabeth wake Percy up," Isa told her and she nodded.

"Miami, I think," Isa heard Annabeth tell Percy. "But the hippocampi are acting funny."

Their fishy friends had slowed down and were shunting and swimming in circles, sniffing the water. They didn't look happy. One of them sneezed.

"This is as far as they'll take us," Isa said. "Too many humans. Too much pollution. We'll have to swim to shore on our own."

None of them were very psyched about that, and Isa regretted her decision of not taking a nap. But they thanked Rainbow and his friends for the ride. Tyson cried a little. He unfastened the makeshift saddle pack he'd made, which contained his tool kit and a couple of other hints he'd salvaged from the Birmingham wreck. He hugged Rainbow around the neck, gave him a soggy mango he'd picked up on the island and said goodbye.

Once the hippocampi's white manes disappeared into the sea, they swam for shore. The waves pushed them forward, and in no time they were back in the mortal world. They wandered along the cruise line docks, pushing through crowds of people arriving for vacation. Porters bustled around with carts of luggage. Taxi drivers yelled at each other in Spanish and tried to it in line for customers. If anybody noticed them—six kids drilling wet and looking like they'd just had a fight with a monster—they didn't let them.

Now that they were back among mortals, Tyson's single eye had blurred from the Mist. Grover had put on his cap and sneakers. Even the Fleece had transformed from a sheepskin to a red-and-gold high school leather jacked with a large glittery Omega on the pocket.

Annabeth ran to the nearest newspaper box and checked the date on the Miami Herald. She cursed. "June eighteenth! We've been away from Camp for ten days!"

"That's impossible!" Clarisse said.

But Isa knew it wasn't. "Time travels differently in monstrous places."

"Thalia's tree must be almost dead," Grover wailed. "We have to get the Fleece back tonight!"

Clarisse slumped down on the pavement. "How are we supposed to do that?" Her voice trembled. "We're hundreds of miles away. No money. No ride. This is just like the Oracle said. It's your fault, Potter and Jackson! If you two hadn't interfered—"

"Percy and Isa's fault?!" Annabeth exploded. "Clarisse, how can you say that? You are the biggest—"

"Stop it!" Percy and Isa said.

Clarisse put her head in her hand. Annabeth stomped her foot in frustration.

The thing was: Percy and Isa had almost forgotten this quest was supposed to be for Clarisse's. For a scary moment, they saw things from her point of view. How would they feel if a bunch of other heroes had butted in and made them look bad?

They thought about what they'd overheard in the boiler room of the CSS Birmingham — Ares yelling at Clarisse, warning her that she'd better not fail. Ares couldn't care less about the camp, but if Clarisse made him look bad...

"Clarisse," Isa said, "what exactly did the Oracle tell you?"

She looked up. They thought she was going to tell Isa off, but instead she took a deep breath and recited her prophecy.