The Forbidden Daughter | PJO Book One

twelve

GROVERS A BRIDE?

As they sailed towards the shore, Annabeth breathed in the sweet air.

"The Fleece." she said.

Ariana nodded. They couldn't see the Fleece yet, but she could feel its power. Ariana could believe it would heal anything, even Thalia's poisoned tree.

"If we take it away, will the island die?" Percy asked.

Annabeth shook her head. "It'll fade. Go back to what it would be normally, whatever that is."

Ariana felt a little guilty about ruining this paradise, but she reminded herself they had no choice.

Camp Half-Blood was in trouble.

In the meadow at the base of the ravine, several dozen sheep were milling around. They looked peaceful enough, but they were huge - the size of hippos, just past them was a path that led up into the hills.

At the top of the path, near the edge of the canyon, a massive oak tree. Something gold glittered in its branches.

"This is too easy." Percy said. "We could just hike up there and take it."

"This isn't the same as the story I was told." Ariana said.

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. "There's supposed to be a guardian. A dragon or.."

That's when a deer emerged from the bushes. It trotted into the meadow, probably looking for grass to eat, when the sheep all bleated at once and rushed the animal.

It happened so fast that the deer stumbled and was lost in a sea of wool and trampling hooves.

Grass and tufts of fur flew into the air. A second later the sheep all moved away, back to their regular peaceful wanderings. Where the deer had been was a pile of clean white bones.

Annabeth and Ariana exchanged looks.

"They're like piranhas." Annabeth said.

"Piranhas with wool. How will we-" Ariana began.

"Percy! Ari!" Annabeth gasped, grabbing their arms. "Look."

She pointed down the beach, to just below the sheep meadow, where a small boat had been run aground ... the other lifeboat from the CSS Birmingham.

They decided there was no way they could past the man-eating sheep. Annabeth wanted to sneak up the path invisibly and grab the Fleece, but in the end Percy convinced her that something would go wrong. The sheep would smell her.

Another guardian would appear. Something. And if that happened, Percy and Ariana be too far away to help.

Their first job was to find Grover and whoever had come ashore in that lifeboat - assuming they'd got past the sheep.

They moored the Queen Anne's Revenge on the back side of the island where the cliffs rose straight up a good sixty metres. Percy figured the ship was less likely to be seen there.

The cliffs looked climbable, barely - about as difficult as the lava wall back at camp. At least it was free of sheep. Ariana hoped that Polyphemus did not also keep carnivorous mountain goats.

They rowed a lifeboat to the edge of the rocks and made their way up, very slowly. Annabeth went first because she was the better climber.

They only came close to dying six or seven times, which Ariana thought was pretty good.

Once, Percy lost his grip and he found himself dangling by one hand from a ledge fifteen metres above the rocky surf. But he found another handhold and kept climbing.