Percy Jackson and the Child of Victory (Annabeth Chase x Reader)

Tyson Plays With Fire

Y/N POV 

Mythologically speaking, if there's anything I hate worse than trios of old ladies, it's bulls. what I saw up there was even worse than the minotaur Percy fought last year: two bulls. And not just regular bulls—bronze ones the size of elephants. And even that wasn't bad enough. Naturally they had to breathe fire, too.

As soon as we exited the taxi, the Gray Sisters peeled out, heading back to New York, where life was safer. They didn't even wait for their extra three-drachma payment. They just left us on the side of the road, Annie with nothing but her backpack and knife, me, chin covered in puke and Tyson and Percy still in their burned-up tie-dyed gym clothes.

"Oh, man," said Annie, looking at the battle raging on the hill. What worried me most weren't the bulls themselves. Or the ten heroes in full battle armor who were getting their bronze-plated booties whooped. What worried me was that the bulls were ranging all over the hill, even around the back side of the pine tree. That shouldn't have been possible. The camp's magic boundaries didn't allow monsters to cross past Thalia's tree. But the metal bulls were doing it anyway.

One of the heroes shouted, "Border patrol, to me!" A girl's voice—gruff and familiar. Border patrol? I thought. The camp didn't have a border patrol. "It's Clarisse," Annie said. "Come on, we have to help her." I wiped my chin and unclasp my spear and shield. Normally, rushing to Clarisse's aid would not have been high on my "to do" list. She was one of the biggest bullies at camp. She was a daughter of Ares, and me and Percy had a very serious disagreement with her father last summer, so now the god of war and all his children basically hated mine and Percy's guts.

Still, she was in trouble. Her fellow warriors were scattering, running in panic as the bulls charged. The grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree. One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles, the horse-hair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery Mohawk. Clarisse's own armor was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.

Percy uncapped his ballpoint pen. It shimmered, growing longer and heavier until I held the bronze sword Anaklusmos in his hands. "Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances."

"No!" Annabeth said. "We need him." Percy stared at her. "He's mortal. He got lucky with the dodge balls but he can't—" "I don't think he's mortal do, did you see how hard that giant thru the ball?" he thought for a moment "Percy, do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We'll get burned to a crisp."

"Medea's what?" Me and Percy said at the same time, Annabeth rummaged through her backpack and cursed. "I had a jar of tropical coconut scent sitting on my night-stand at home. Why didn't I bring it?"

I'd learned a long time ago not to question Annie too much. It just made me more confused. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm not going to let Tyson get fried." Percy says

"Percy—"

"Tyson, stay back." he raised my sword. "I'm going in." Tyson tried to protest, but he was already running up the hill toward Clarisse, who was yelling at her patrol, trying to get them into phalanx formation. It was a good idea. The few who were listening lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, locking their shields to form an ox-hide—and-bronze wall, their spears bristling over the top like porcupine quills. Me and Annie follow close behind.

Unfortunately, Clarisse could only muster six campers. The other four were still running around with their helmets on fire. Annabeth ran toward them, trying to help. She taunted one of the bulls into chasing her, then turned invisible, completely confusing the monster. The other bull charged Clarisse's line. I leaped up into the air when me and Percy were halfway up the hill—not close enough to help. Clarisse hadn't even seen me yet.