Percy Jackson Son of Hera and Zeus [BEING REWRITTEN]

Kitchen duty

Percy/Nerva POV:

The way Tantalus saw it, the Stymphalian birds had been simply minding their own business in the woods and would not have attacked if Luke, James, Tyson, and I hadn't disturbed them with our chariot driving.

It was unfair, unjust there was no justice at all and if was my choice I would have sent him back to punishment right then and there but since it wasn't I stayed quiet to entice any further punishment. He sentenced us to kitchen patrol - scrubbing pots and platters all afternoon in the underground kitchen with the cleaning harpies. The harpies washed with lava to get that extra-clean sparkle and kill ninety-nine percent of all living substances, including any unfortunate mortals - such as myself - who got in the way, so Luke, James, and I had to wear asbestos gloves and aprons.                                                                          

Tyson didn't mind. He plunged his bare hands right in and started scrubbing, but James, Luke, and I had to suffer through hours of hot, dangerous work, especially since there were tons of extra plates. Tantalus had ordered a special luncheon banquet to celebrate Clarisse's chariot victory - a full-course meal including country-fried Stymphalian death-bird.

The only good thing about the punishment was that it gave Luke, James, and I a common enemy and lots of time to talk. After listening to my dream about Grover they both, well mostly Luke looked worried about the poor satyr. "If he's really found it," Luke murmured, "and if we could retrieve it -"

"Hold on," James said. "You act like this. . . whatever-it-is Grover found is the only thing in the world that could save the camp. What is it?" 

I groaned inwardly. How could he possibly not know what we're talking about? "I'll give you a hint. What did the Argonauts retrieve on their quest?" 

"Uhh, I don't know. Mom never really told me the full story she focused more on Achillies and Herakles, a few other sons of Poseidon as well never really told me about the Argonauts." 

I sighed. "The Golden Fleece. The coat of ram is called a fleece and the golden ram was the child of Poseidon and a girl I think she was called Theopane when Poseidon turned her into a ram in order to have his way with her."

"Wait! The Golden Fleece. Are you serious?"

Luke scraped a plateful of death-bird bones into the lava. "James, remember the Gray Sisters. They said they know the location of the thing we seek. And they mentioned Jason. A few thousand years ago they told him how to find the Golden Fleece."

James looked confused, "Oh." he said dumbly.

I rolled my eyes. "You're hopeless."

"What?" He demanded.

"Look, two children of Zeus prayed to him to save them from being human sacrifices. It carried one of them all the way to Colchis in Asia Minor since one of them fell off and then the surviving son of Zeus sacrificed the ram to the gods and hung the fleece on a tree in the middle of the kingdom. The fleece bought prosperity to the land. Animals stopped getting sick. Plants grew better. Farmers had bumper crops. Plagues never visited. That's why Jason wanted the Fleece. It can revitalize any land where it's placed. It cures sickness, strengthens nature, cleans up pollution -"

"It could cure Thalia's tree."

I nodded. "And it would strengthen to borders of Camp Half-Blood. But James, the Fleece has been missing for two centuries. Dozens, maybe even hundreds of heroes have searched for it with no luck."

Luke - who had been quietly listening the whole time- said, "But Grover found it. He went looking for Pan and he found the Fleece instead, they must both radiate strong nature magic maybe even godly levels. It makes sense. We can rescue Grover and save Tha- the camp at the same time." 

I winced at the mention of Thalia's name. It must hurt Luke even more than it does me that her tree could die. It would be like losing her all over again. "It sounds like it could be a trap, but we have no other choice. I would rather Thantanos take my soul than let the Thalia, the camp die fall."

I remembered how the Titan King, Kronos almost tricked us into starting a godly war last summer, if this is a trap then it's a cruel one. But I wouldn't put it past Kronos. . . Or Annabeth for that matter.

Luke hesitated. "Yeah, you're right I'd much rather spend eternity in punishment than knowingly let her tree die. I can't believe Annabeth poisoned the tree she adored Thalia." 

James kept shooting glances at Tyson as if he was trying to remember something, Tyson had already lost interest in our conversation and was making toy boats out of spoons and cups in the lava. 

"Didn't you say the Fleece and Grover are on an island with a Cyclops? Polyphemus the Cyclops, the worst Cyclops, and the Cyclops who dad favors above all others? Poseidon could punish us if we hurt him haven't you read the Odyssey? 

Luke and I stared at James in surprise, I know he said his mom read the Odyssey to him but I doubted it before then. "You're right but we can't just let camp fall even if it means we have a god lusting for our blood."

Luke looked like he was about to agree before he paled in a dramatic fashion, it's like Zeus was giving him lessons or something. "Isn't Polyphemus's island in the Sea of Monsters? You know the one with the crazy sorceress who turns men into pigs and sirens who make you drown yourself?"

I gulped. "Well, may the gods grant us mercy and the fates leave our strings untoched."

James looked hesitant before he asked. "Whats the Sea of Monsters?"

I shook my head, "You know about Polyphemus and the Oddysey but not the Sea of Monsters?" 

He nodded, "I'm not that good at remembering the details just the. . . exciting parts."

I sighed in exasperation. "Look James, the Sea of Monsters is the sea all notable heroes sailed through in their adventures. It used to be in the Mediterriean, but like all things divine it shifts location as the center of power in Western culture shifts.

"Like Mount Olympus being above the Empire State Building," James said. "And Hades being located under Los Angeles."

"Right."

"But a whole sea full of monsters - how could the gods possibly hide something that big? Wouldn't the mortals notice something happening. . . like a Kraken eating ships or something?"

"Of course they notice. They don't understand what's happening, but they know something is strange about that part of the ocean. The Sea of Monsters is off the east coast of the U.S. now, just northeast of Florida. The Mortals even have a name for it."

"What name, like the Red Sea?"

I rolled my eyes. "No, the Berumeda Triangle."

It completely baffled me how he could go from being a scholar to a class idiot within a matter of seconds, well at least he's better than he was last year. 

"Okay. . . so at least we know where to look," James said.

"It's still a huge area, we'll be searching for ages but I have a feeling those numbers the Grey Sisters told us might come in handy."

"Yeah, I guess," he mumbled, looking not convinced whatsoever not that I was feeling much better about the thing.

Luke looked between us both looking both relieved and stressed at the same time, "You both do know we have to ask Tantalus for approval. He'll say no."

"Not if we tell him tonight at the campfire in front of everybody. Tensions are high and they want to be able to relax, well not relax but get back to their normal schedules theirs no way he'll be able to shut everyone up."

"True." He replied, hope creeping into his voice as a flicker of emotions ran across his iris. 

"Let's just get this done already, I don't want to do this longer than necessary."

A/N:

I'll be releasing chapters every few days now that Christmas and New Years is over, most of my family came other so I've been busy sorry about that.