¹Royal Cries, p. jackson

002.

ROYAL CRIES
━━ chapter two

━━ AS IT TURNS out, Percy did have other siblings. Namely, Tyson, a Cyclops. The only friendly Cyclops Elisa had ever met. Tyson had to be at least two meters tall and with broad shoulders. He had messy, mousy brown hair and a singular, very large, brown eye.

               Elisa was sure her face showed her shock. It was instinct for Cyclops to want to eat demigods, and it was instinctual for demigods to throw weapons. Percy grabbed her arm tightly as she reached her Acantha tucked away in her jean shorts.

               "Elisa," Percy said, holding onto the girl's arm tightly, "this is Tyson. Tyson, this is Elisa."

               Tyson blinked at the daughter of Dionysus bashfully before saying 'Pretty girl.' With care, he engulfed Elisa in a hug. She patted him awkwardly on the back before letting go. She wasn't one for hugs, never had been, and especially not from Cyclopes.

               Tyson was grinning widely, and Elisa got a perfect look at his yellow and crooked teeth. "I am happy Percy made another friend!"

               Percy's face turned red. "Yeah, Tyson," he said with embarrassment. "Me too."

               Tyson and Annabeth were already acquainted, having met the summer before. The girl seemed happy to see Tyson, but it was easy to see that she was being distant. She kept looking over at the forest, Elisa wasn't sure if Annabeth was thinking about Grover's meeting or the Labyrinth issue they had been trying to solve.

               However, Grover was nowhere to be, and Elisa had to wonder where he had gone to. Finding the lost god Pan was the satyr's life goal. His father and his uncle had both disappeared following the same dream. Last winter, Grover had heard a voice: I await you—a voice he was sure belonged to Pan—but apparently, his searching has led nowhere. If the council stripped him of his searcher's license now, it would crush the satyr.

               "What's this 'other way'?" Percy asked suddenly. "The thing Clarisse mentioned?"

               Annabeth and Elisa exchanged a look. The daughter of Athena picked up a stone and skipped it across the lake. "Something Clarisse scouted out. Elisa and I helped her a little this spring. But it would be dangerous. Especially for Grover."

               "Goat boy scares me," murmured Tyson.

               Percy stared at Tyson. "Why would you be scared of Grover?"

               "Hooves and horns," Tyson answered nervously. "And goat fur makes my nose itchy."

Well, everyone had to be scared of something.

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Before all of them had left the Canoe Lake, Percy asked Elisa if she would come with him and Tyson to the sword arena. To get to know Tyson better! and so Elisa could Tell me who the hell Quintus is. And where your dad is.

               Elisa agreed to go. She had nothing else to do before dinner.

               Quintus seemed glad to have some company. He was the new sword instructor hired by Chiron. He looked to be in his early fifties. With short grey hair and a clipped grey beard, he looked pretty fit. He wore black mountain-climbing pants and a bronze breastplate strapped over a camp T-shirt. At the base of his neck was a strange mark, it looked like a purple-ish blotch, like one ugly birthmark. Elisa noticed it the first time she had ever met Quintus, and she asked with no sense of shame. Quintus answered ( if answering sounded like completely dumb riddles, that is ). But ever since, Quintus was obviously trying to hide the birthmark from her.