"Clarisse it's your turn" Chris said, holding out the book to his girlfriend, who eyed it with distaste before reluctantly taking it off him.

"My Mother teaches me Bullfighting,"

Grover let out a mournful blah-ha-ha.

"My Mom taught me how to fix things" Leo said, cocking his head. "She never taught me how to wrestle bulls though. Must have been waiting until I was older."

Piper's eyes went wide and she leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the book cover again. "The Minotaur! Is that after you?"

Jason's eyes widened and he hissed involuntarily, a flash of forbidding running down his spine.

Grover nodded, not trusting himself to speak, his mind lingering on the old guilt that remained from this journey.

"The Minotaur?" Leo repeated craning his head to get a better look at the book too. "Oh yeah, right. Bullfighting; that's clever. Is he wearing tighty whiteys? It's not a good look."

"Shut it" Clarisse growled, sorely tempted to pull Maimer out and show just why it was called that.

We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.

Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.

"Shag carpet pants!" Leo hooted with laughter. Thalia snorted loudly unable to help herself. Annabeth closed her eyes and shook her head. Did she REALLY want to know what went on in Percy's head?

But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.

Thalia let out a bark of laughter, half covering her face with one hand. Rachel was silently shaking with laughter. Leo was in stitches, ignoring the glare from the annoyed satyr.

All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"

Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."

"Watching me?"

"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "Iamyour friend."

"That's reassuring but it's probably not the best time to explain things" Rachel told Grover.

"Percy would just keep asking questions until I answered" Grover shrugged guiltily. He still felt bad about all of this.

"Urn ... whatareyou, exactly?"

"That doesn't matter right now."

"If my best friend was wearing shag carpet pants I'd want to know what's going on too" Leo declared and Piper started to shake with laughter.

"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"

Leo choked on his laughter and Jason managed to crack a smile at the affronted look on Grover's face. Nico sniggered quietly and Chris fought valiantly to keep a straight face. Piper let out an inelegant snort of laughter, cracking under the strain of not laughing and setting Jason off into chuckles.

"Donkey" Grover grumbled. "Donkey."

"It's ok Grover" Rachel assured him, fighting a smile of her own. "It's Percy; he's not known to think before he speaks."

Annabeth let out a low vaguely affirmative noise from the back of her throat and straightened her back, letting her spine crack.

Swallowing her own smile, Clarisse scowled at them and continued.

Grover let out a sharp, throaty"Blaa-ha-ha!"

I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.

Leo found himself still snickering and his humour was infectious, making Jason bite his lip and Piper elbow him gently in his ribs.

"Goat!" he cried.

"What?"

"I'm agoatfrom the waist down."

"You just said it didn't matter."

"He's got you there" Leo pointed out.

"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"

"And then there's Coach Hedge, who'll just trample you for fun" Jason murmured to Leo, who snorted.

"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"

"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand amyth,Percy? Was Mrs Dodds a myth?"

"So youadmitthere was a Mrs Dodds!"

Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Of course."

"Then why—"

"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."

"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"

The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.

"Crap" Piper sobered. Percy was twelve for goodness sake. She was luckier than him, at least she was older and had had Jason to save her when she had met a monster. How would a kid demigod, a mortal and a satyr get out of this intact?

"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."

"Safety from what? Who's after me?"

"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. Leo stifled a snicker. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."

"Grover!" Rachel admonished, giving the satyr a severe look. "You shouldn't have said it like that."

Grover nodded meekly.

"Grover!"

"Sorry, Mrs Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"

I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.

"You don't need imagination to have weird dreams" Annabeth murmured. Their dreams were bad enough without having to imagine them.

Though what she wouldn't give to have a useful dream now instead of night terrors involving Percy and the danger he could be in.

My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.

"Home sweet home" Chris said under his breath.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared.

Brave woman, Rachel thought, bowing her head.

"The place your father wanted to send you."

"The place you didn't want me to go."

"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."

"Because some old ladies cut yarn."

Clarisse shook her head in disgust as she read the words.

"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."

Piper winced and noticed Annabeth's expression, sending a chill down her spine.

"Whoa. You said 'you.'"

"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"

"You meant 'you.' As inme."

"I meantyou,like 'someone.' Not you,you."

"That clears that up" Leo coughed.

"Probably not the best time guys" Thalia said dryly.

"Boys!" my mom said.

She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.

Piper shivered and shifted closer to Jason.

"What was that?" I asked.

"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question.

"Another mile. Please. Please. Please."

There was an uncomfortable shift in the group, being reminded that this was not simple fiction. This had actually happened to a person some of them knew and others had heard about, it wasn't just a story.

I didn't know wheretherewas, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.

Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She reallyhadn'tbeen human. She'd meant to kill me.

"Wow that took a while there" Thalia rolled her eyes. Clarisse agreed and kept reading. Idiot son of Poseidon.

Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattlingboom! And our car exploded.

"What happened?" Rachel jolted forward. Nico jerked too, dark eyes narrowing.

Thalia exchanged a glance with Annabeth, who nodded darkly.

"Lightning" Jason murmured, flexing the fingers of his left arm. Piper and Leo exchanged looks.

"Dad did that?" Thalia's lips were thin. Nobody dared to say anything and avoided looking up at the clear blue sky.

There was a pause before Clarisse started reading again.

I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.

"That sucks" Leo said unnecessarily before glancing warily at his friend. "You're not zapping me dude."

"I'll try to remember that" Jason deadpanned, making Nico smirk at him.

I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."

Annabeth closed her eyes and took Grover's hand.

"Percy!" my mom shouted.

"I'm okay..."

I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.

Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump.

Thalia chuckled slightly at the slightly disgruntled expression on her friend's face, glad for the lightening of her mood.

"Grover!"

He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!

That broke the building tension for a moment as Leo and Nico started sniggering. Jason covered his mouth with one hand and winked at Piper, who grinned broadly.

"How sweet" Rachel giggled.

"Percy's really very good at breaking up a tense moment isn't he?" Thalia murmured to her two friends.

"I just wish he'd stop using me as the joke." Grover muttered back, with a faint smile.

Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.

Grover groaned. "See?" he complained to Thalia who was laughing at him.

Annabeth shook her head, eyes bright.

"How can you be thinking of food at a time like this?" Rachel demanded, snickering.

"He always says that in his sleep" Annabeth smiled fondly. "It's like him snoring. Besides, he really likes to eat."

"And he doesn't gain an ounce the lucky goat" Rachel shook her head. It was so unfair.

"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.

I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.

Annabeth slowly exhaled as the humour began to drain from the area. Grover was squeezing her hand tightly and she returned the pressure.

I swallowed hard. "Who is—?"

"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."

My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.

"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"

"What?"

Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.

Thalia twitched. Even now she was still sensitive about her time as a tree.

"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."

"What about her?" Piper whispered.

"Mortals can't cross the boundary line-with a few exceptions" Annabeth caught Rachel's eye. "But Sally wouldn't be able to cross."

"He's not going to go" Leo's face was uncharacteristically grim, his tone absolutely certain. If it had been him…he wouldn't have left.

Piper squeezed his wrist.

"Mom, you're coming too."

Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.

"No!" I shouted. "Youarecoming with me. Help me carry Grover."

"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.

Grover hung his head, his eyes shut, remembering the old failure with crystal clear clarity. His grip tightened on Annabeth's hand and he could feel the weight of Thalia's gaze on him before she put a hand on his other shoulder.

The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized hecouldn'tbe holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns …

"Are horns" Clarisse muttered. Get with the program Jackson!

"He doesn't wantus," my mother told me. "He wantsyou.Besides, I can't cross the property line."

"But..."

"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."

I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat,

Grover grunted at that and Thalia grinned faintly. "At least he didn't say donkey" she whispered, troubled by his melancholy.

At the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.

Clarisse growled quietly. Good grief. This was the punk that had mortally insulted the Ares cabin?

I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."

"I told you—"

"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."

"I was their protector and he was protecting me" Grover muttered bitterly.

"And what could you have done against the Minotaur?" Thalia suddenly understood Grover's behaviour and was not about to let her friend blame himself. "He would have killed you."

"I should have been able to help them" Grover said angrily. "If I wasn't so"

"Stop it Grover" Annabeth ordered, listening to the conversation and easily deducing the real problem. Lord of the Wild he was now, but that still didn't stop him from reliving his supposed past failures. "You wouldn't have been able to help Percy or Sally. You would have gotten killed and what would Percy have done then? Everything worked out." Lowering her voice she added "if I'm not allowed to brood, neither are you."

Thalia shot her an amused look but Grover sighed and nodded, straightening.

I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.

Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.

Jason glanced at the satyr and winced at the expression on his face. He sympathised. It wasn't easy when you realised the people you were supposed to be protecting ended up protecting you.

Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover ofMuscle Manmagazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except under wear

"Why underwear?" Leo spoke up, trying not to be affected by the grim atmosphere. "Seriously, that's not cool."

"Would you rather we went out in his birthday suit?" Piper asked pointedly, making Leo groan in protest with the images in his head.

"Maybe he just had to get out of bed to chase him?" Nico suggested. Annabeth looked at him; it sounded like something Percy would say.

"Monsters have beds?" Leo asked stupidly. Clarisse glared at the book and continued through gritted teeth.

I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—which would've looked funny,

"Sounds funny" Leo muttered as Jason coughed softly.

Except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.

His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.

"It's not something I'd want to meet at twelve" Piper winced. "Or now for that matter."

"He's not a nice monster to face" Annabeth agreed. "But he is predictable. You use strategy instead of strength with him."

"Like what?" Jason asked keenly, looking at the daughter of Athena.

"Make him angry" Annabeth smiled grimly. "He's not very clever. And an angry monster makes mistakes."

Piper absorbed this, filing it away for future reference. She and Leo were amateurs compared to senior campers like Annabeth, Thalia and Clarisse. Even Jason with his memory loss was vastly more superior. Learning from them would help her be a better demigod.

I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.

I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"

"Pasiphae's son," my mother said.

"Very clever" Thalia's eyebrows rose as did her estimate of Sally's character.

Rachel nodded in agreement. Sally Jackson was nobody's fool.

"I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."

"But he's the Min—"

"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."

"She's smart" Jason spoke quietly, respect for the woman forming. He felt a surge of admiration for her capabilities and sensibilities.

"She knew one day this would happen. She prepared" Annabeth murmured concurrently with Jason, nodding to him. She reluctantly acknowledged she'd been a little unfair to the Roman, resenting his presence here. It wasn't as if it was his fault Hera had done this and took Percy from her. It would be better if she just blamed the Queen of Heaven. That would not be difficult.

The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.

I glanced behind me again.

The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away.

"The Minotaur has poor vision" Annabeth informed the newer campers distractedly. "He has an excellent sense of smell though. He could smell you even if you were fifty feet in the air."

"You've tested this, huh?" Leo asked the Athena camper.

"Percy has" Annabeth smiled grimly. "Even before Gaia, this monster was a fast reformer. I wouldn't be surprised if he's reformed by now."

Grover winced.

"Great" Leo deadpanned.

"Food?" Grover moaned.

"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"

"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."

"I'm seriously impressed" Rachel raised her eyebrows. "She must have spent years reading up on Greek myths to know as much as she does."

"Probably" Annabeth murmured. Sally loved Percy. Of course she would have learned as much as possible trying to keep him safe.

As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning.

"This should be good" Nico grinned wickedly, intuition giving him a good idea of what was about to happen.

He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.

This prompted several people to start laughing, Nico and Leo actually cheering.

Not a scratch,I remembered Gabe saying.

"Oops" Thalia grinned wolfishly. Clarisse smirked at the daughter of Zeus.

Oops.

Annabeth snorted.

"Looks like you two think alike" Jason grinned at his sister who groaned.

"Way to be insulting little brother" Thalia narrowed her eyes playfully at him.

"It's true though" Annabeth spoke directly to Jason who was caught a little off guard by her addressing him but hid it well. Annabeth noticed his surprise, but she didn't react to it. "They're so alike it's scary. I once told Percy, before they'd met; that they'd be either best friends or they would have killed each other."

"That's true" Thalia said ruefully, remembering vividly her fight with Percy by the river. Several other campers were obviously recalling it too; Grover flashed a big smile. "I'm glad we decided to be friends though."

Jason nodded, a faint pang of envy needling him as he thought of his sister's friendship with Percy Jackson. He barely knew his sister and Percy Jackson was good friends with her, knowing her better than he did.

Seconds later he felt Piper nudge him and received a sweet smile when he'd turned to look at her. It was amazing how she could read people's moods and he wouldn't put it down to just her Aphrodite talents either.

"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"

Annabeth quirked an eyebrow. Even she hadn't realised the depths of Sally's knowledge. She had been well prepared, or as well as she could have been.

"How do you know all this?"

"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."

"She wasn't selfish" Rachel said sadly. It wasn't selfishness to want your child to stay with you."

"Keeping me near you? But—"

Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.

He'd smelled us.

The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.

The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.

Annabeth leaned against Grover and he held her tight. It didn't matter that this had already happened and they knew the outcome. Percy's absence just made it hard to listen to the events in his perspective.

Piper reached out and took Jason's hand before doing the same for Leo. Both boys were tense and listening to the narration was difficult for them, Leo especially. They both looked at her and when she simply raised her eyebrows daring them to take their hands back; they just shook their heads at each other. Girls.

My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."

I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.

Annabeth gnawed on her thumb, annoyed with herself. She knew what was going to happen for Athena's sake! Why was she so anxious?

He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.

Rachel cringed and scooted closer to Annabeth to rest her head on her shoulder. Only six months ago, this would have been suicidal. Annabeth gave her a half hug, thinking Percy would have been chagrined and mystified that they were so worried about what happened about five years ago almost. It made her want to sock the imaginary Percy in her head and ache for the fact she couldn't smack him right now, that he wasn't holding her like Rachel and Grover were at this moment. It wasn't right without him.

The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing.

So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.

The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.

Leo tensed. He hoped she would be alright.

We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.

The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.

"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"

"She's very brave" Chris whispered softly. Clarisse gave his knee a squeeze in silent agreement. She would never admit it aloud but Jackson's mother had serious guts.

But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummelling the air.

"Jesus!" Leo shot forward, Piper still clinging to his hand.

"Son of a" Nico growled, equally furious, one hand on his blade.

Annabeth shut her eyes, the scene being painted in glorious detail behind her eyelids. That warm, wet, wild night, Percy as he was so many years ago, staring in horror as his mother was having the life squeezed out of her…

"Mom!"

She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"

Rachel listened, her eyes wide. Sally lived she knew that, so how…

Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash and she was simply ... gone.

"What?" Jason and Piper exclaimed while Leo let out a pained noise. Chris looked flummoxed.

"She's not dead. And the Minotaur can't kill like that anyway" he said.

"Sounds like she was transported somewhere" Nico's eyes were slits.

Thalia nodded slowly; that made sense. Her first thought had been when her Lady had transformed Zoe into a constellation and if that was what happened with Sally. But Sally was alive now so that wasn't possible-unless she had more in common with Sally Jackson than she thought. She hated not knowing what happened-being a tree kept you well out of the loop on camp gossip, for sure.

"Transported where?" Jason asked, keeping a wary eye on his friend. He was more sensitive about his mother's death than had thought. Piper was rubbing his hand soothingly and Leo wasn't even trying to pull away. He told himself to keep a closer eye on his friend.

"Let me read and we'll find out" Clarisse said pointedly, ignoring the looks she got as she turned back. She was just as curious to find out about Jackson's quest as the rest of them, she told herself, and ignored her own concern about what happened to Sally Jackson. She was alive, so she obviously came through this unscathed.

"No!"

Leo's shoulders hunched, his mother's death coming to the forefront of his mind. Piper wasn't letting him get away; holding fast whenever he tried to tug his hand free. Her colourful eyes gave him a reproachful look for even trying so he'd given up, not seeing pity in those odd eyes, but rather sympathy and understanding and was keeping him from losing his composure at the face of another camper's loss. He did not want the others to see him so out of control, so Piper kept him grounded, not even at all concerned for the possibility of being hurt holding his hand despite his penchant for accidentally catching fire when his emotions went spiffy. He squeezed her hand hard in silent, heartfelt gratitude for her help even as he hastily checked he wasn't starting to smoke from his moment of weakness.

Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs Dodds grew talons.

"Go Percy" Rachel murmured.

The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.

Grover sighed deeply and sniffed. Percy Jackson, the most stupid, reckless, insane Seaweed Brain demigod ever, was the greatest friend anyone could ever ask for. He didn't deserve his friend's loyalty.

But by the Gods' he would try.

I couldn't allow that.

I stripped off my red rain jacket.

"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"

"Oh that's a great line" Nico nodded. Percy was twelve right now, a year younger than he was right now. It was a strange thought and the idea that Percy was once an untrained kid seemed wrong, as if in his head, Percy had always been a powerful, trained and skilled fighter. It was a stupid idea, but somehow, it had stuck with him when he was ten, addicted to MythoMagic and having just been rescued by Percy and his friends. Percy wasn't infallible and it was unfair of him to think so.

"He never was as good as you were with the insults" Thalia told Annabeth.

"Mm hmm" Annabeth agreed noncommittally, resisting taking exception to the past tense use in her sentence. She hadn't the strength to argue right now.

"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.

I had an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all.

"Oh Gods" Thalia groaned. She wasn't alone; Rachel and Grover let out near instantaneous groans of their own and Nico held a hand over his eyes as if he couldn't bear to watch.

"Percy's plans suck" Nico groaned.

"Uh-huh" Thalia agreed.

Grover said nothing, loyalty to his friend warring with his agreement to Nico. Percy's plans really sucked.

Piper bit her lip, holding in an inappropriate laugh at the expressions on the older campers faces. She exchanged looks with her friends, before quickly looking away, fighting down her amusement. At least Leo was smiling again.

I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.

But it didn't happen like that.

"Of course it didn't" Annabeth sighed. Jason pressed his lips together. He didn't want the blonde girl to take offence at his amusement and run him through with that very sharp and shiny bronze knife.

The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.

Time slowed down.

"Eh?" Leo said articulately.

Grover shuddered. His friend wasn't talking about Kronos but Gods that was eerie. Talk about coincidence.

My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in mid-air, and landing on his neck.

Jason's eyebrows shot up.

"That's cool" Leo declared. He'd never been able to do something like that.

"Except now what's he going to do?" Piper frowned." Percy doesn't have a weapon, how will he kill him?"

Annabeth smirked slightly.

How did I do that?

I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.

Rachel winced and had to stop herself touching her jaw in sympathy.

The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.

The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull.

"That's appropriate" Leo quipped weakly.

"Likes his puns I think" Piper said quietly.

"He does" Thalia heard and acknowledged the comment.

"So do you" Annabeth poked her in the ribs. Thalia stuck her tongue out at her.

He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.

"Lucky for you Seaweed Brain" Annabeth muttered. It could be incredibly aggravating; the idiot doing incredibly stupid, dangerous things that should have killed him, only to be incredibly lucky and manage to survive by what seemed a complete fluke. For a logical daughter of Athena, it was maddening sometimes. Not to mention panic inducing. She couldn't be completely sure, but she suspected the grey streak of hair she still had from holding up the sky had gotten a few extra hairs already thanks to Percy Jackson. If they actually made it to thirty she would probably look like an old lady.

Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.

Rachel stifled a moan. Did he have to be so graphic?

"Food!" Grover moaned.

The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge.

Grover gulped. He hadn't realised how close he actually came to becoming one with nature. He would have been better off not knowing the details.

I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap!

Jason leaned forward, listening intently.

The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.

"Whoa" Leo and Piper said in unison. Jason's eyes went wide.

"How strong is this guy?" Leo asked in awe as Chris cursed softly and Nico chuckled darkly.

"When he needs to be? Very." Annabeth's voice was absolute. She wasn't just talking about physical strength either.

The monster charged.

Clarisse read further ahead, as reluctant respect for Jackson unfurled in her chest.

Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barrelled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.

"No way" Leo whistled as the others exclaimed or swore.

"That's incredible" Piper whispered, looking at Jason.

He nodded distractedly, his mind far away.

An untrained demigod, killing a monster like the Minotaur in such a way…that was impressive. Very impressive.

The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs Dodds had burst apart.

The monster was gone.

"Oh good" Rachel breathed, her heart going out for her poor friend.

The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm house. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.

Grover squeezed Annabeth's hand.

The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.

Annabeth started, grey eyes opening wide.

A princess? Really?

Rachel had startled at Annabeth's sudden movement and stared at her. "Is that you he's talking about?" she asked, a huge grin suddenly forming at her friend's face.

Thalia burst out laughing. "Aww" she teased her reddening friend.

"That's soooooo cute!" Rachel cooed excitedly.

Annabeth groaned, trying to fight her embarrassment as well as the warm, giddy feeling she felt at Percy's thought. Maybe finding out what went on in Seaweed Brain's head wasn't that bad of an idea.

"That's really sweet" Piper agreed quietly, ignoring the horrified faces of her two male friends. Maybe….maybe she could find out how Jason felt about her in their book.

Unbeknownst to her, Jason had similar thoughts running through his head at that very same moment and was having a panic attack at the idea of his thoughts being read out aloud. He knew these books were a bad idea!

They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."

"The one what Annabeth?" Nico asked innocently and shrank back at her glare as Chris and Leo sniggered. "Never mind" he said hastily making Thalia and Rachel laugh.

"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."

"There" Clarisse tossed the book to Leo, who yelped as it hit his ribs with surprisingly painful force.