“The dreams…about Grover?”
Her face turned pale. “Grover? No, what about Grover?”
I told her my dream. “Why? What wereyoudreaming about?”
Her eyes looked stormy, like her mind was racing a million miles an hour.
“Camp,” she said at last. “Big trouble at camp.”
“My mom was saying the same thing! But whatkindof trouble?”
“I don’t know exactly. Something’s wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?”
I shook my head. “None all year…until today.”
“None? But how…” Her eyes drifted to Tyson. “Oh.”
“What do you mean, ‘oh’?”
Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class. “Canadians in the gym called Percy something…Son of the Sea God?”
Annabeth and I exchanged looks.
I didn’t know how I could explain, but I figured Tyson deserved the truth after almost getting killed.
“Big guy,” I said, “you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena—”
“Yes,” Tyson said.
“Well…those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they’re in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods.”
“Yes,” Tyson said, like he was still waiting for me to get to the point.
“Uh, well, Annabeth and I are half-bloods,” I said. “We’re like…heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That’s what those giants were in the gym. Monsters.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him. He didn’t seem surprised or confused by what I was telling him, which surprised and confused me. “So…you believe me?”
Tyson nodded. “But you are…Son of the Sea God?”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “My dad is Poseidon.”
Tyson frowned.Nowhe looked confused. “But then…”
A siren wailed. A police car raced past our alley.
“We don’t have time for this,” Annabeth said. “We’ll talk in the taxi.”
“A taxi all the way to camp?” I said. “You know how much money—”
“Trust me.”
I hesitated. “What about Tyson?”
I imagined escorting my giant friend into Camp Half-Blood. If he freaked out on a regular playground with regular bullies, how would he act at a training camp for demigods? On the other hand, the cops would be looking for us.
“We can’t just leave him,” I decided. “He’ll be in trouble, too.”
