❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒳𝒱. 𝒞.𝒞.'𝓈 𝒮𝓅𝒶 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝑅𝑒𝓈𝑜𝓇𝓉

𝒫𝑒𝓇𝒸𝓎 woke up after a while. By the time he was up, Annabeth had made a makeshift sail stitched of gray uniform fabric. The blond sat next to Zoe, tacking into the wind.

Percy tried to sit up but Zoe pushed him back down.

"Rest," she said. "You're going to need it."

"Tyson...?" 

She shook her head. "Percy, I'm really sorry."

They were silent while the waves tossed them up and down.

"He may have survived," Annabeth said halfheartedly. "I mean, fire can't kill him."

Percy nodded but Zoe could still sense his grief.

Annabeth showed Percy some things they'd salvaged, like the ambrosia, sailors' shirts, and Dr Pepper. Zoe also made sure he knew they had Hermes's bottle of multivitamins and the thermos even though it was empty.

They sailed for hours. Now that they were in the Sea of Monsters, the water glittered a more brilliant green, like Hydra acid. The wind smelled fresh and salty, but it carried a strange metallic scent, too—as if a thunderstorm were coming. Or something even more dangerous.

No matter which way they turned, the sun seemed to shine straight into their eyes. They took turns sipping from the Dr Pepper, shading themselves with the sail as best they could. And they talked about Percy's latest dream of Grover.

By Zoe and Annabeth's estimate, they had less than twenty-four hours to find Grover, assuming Percy's dream was accurate, and assuming the Cyclops Polyphemus didn't change his mind and try to marry Grover earlier.

"Yeah," Percy said bitterly. "You can never trust a Cyclops."

Annabeth stared across the water. "I'm sorry, Percy. I was wrong about Tyson, okay? I wish I could tell him that."

"Annabeth, what's Chiron's prophecy?"

She pursed her lips. "Percy, I shouldn't—"

"I know Chiron promised the gods he wouldn't tell me. But you didn't promise, did you?" Percy got that baby seal look on his face again.

"Knowledge isn't always good for you." Annabeth tried to dissuade him.

"Your mom is the wisdom goddess!" Percy exclaimed.

"I know! But every time heroes learn the future," Annabeth sighed, "they try to change it, and it never works."

"The gods are worried about something I'll do when I get older," Percy guessed. "Something when I turn sixteen."

Annabeth twisted her Yankees cap in her hands. "Percy, I don't know the full prophecy, but it warns about a half-blood child of the Big Three—the next one who lives to the age of sixteen. That's the real reason Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades swore a pact after World War II not to have any more kids. The next child of the Big Three who reaches sixteen will be a dangerous weapon."

"Why?" Percy asked.

"Because that hero will decide the fate of Olympus," Zoe finally spoke up. "He or she will make a decision that either saves the Age of the Gods, or destroys it."

"That's why Kronos didn't kill me last summer." Percy realized.

The Stark nodded, flipping one of her clips between her fingers. "You could be very useful to him. If he can get you on his side, the gods will be in serious trouble."

"But if it's me in the prophecy—" Percy started

"We'll only know that if you survive three more years," Annabeth cut him off. "That can be a long time for a half-blood. When Chiron first learned about Thalia, he assumed she was the one in the prophecy. That's why he was so desperate to get her safely to camp. Then she went down fighting and got turned into a pine tree and none of us knew what to think. Until you came along."