riley doesn't like when her dreams come true

what i saw up on the hill was absolutely terrifying: 

two bronze bulls. and not just regular bulls-bronze ones, they were the size of elephants. and even that wasn't bad enough. naturally they had to breathe fire, too. 

of course, colchis bulls.

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. i had nothing but my backpack and jewellery/weapons, percy and the cyclopes were still in their burned-up tie-dyed gym clothes.

"oh, man," i said looking up at the hill.

yeah sure, the colchis bulls were giant, fire breathing, bronze ones. yeah sure, the ten demigods fighting, were getting their ass whooped. but the thing that scared 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. 

this was my dream. thalia's tree's being poisoned.

one of the heroes shouted, "border patrol, to me!" a girl's voice-gruff and familiar. 

clarisse. daughter of the war god.

the camp didn't have a border patrol. well, they probably need it now, if the tree's been poisoned.

"it's clarisse," i said to percy. "come on, we have to help her."

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 horsehair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery mohawk. i'm pretty sure it was mark. (remember him from capture-the-flag last year?)

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 until he held the bronze sword anaklusmos in his hands. "tyson, stay here. i don't want you taking any more chances."

"no!" i said sternly. "we need him." 

cyclopes are immune to fire. and last i checked, demigods weren't.

 he stared at me. "he's mortal. he got lucky with the dodge balls but he can't-"

"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?"

i rummaged to my bag, please be here, prayed. "shit, i had a jar of vanilla bean scent sitting on my night-stand at home. why didn't i bring it?"

percy looked so confused i almost laughed. "look, i don't know what you're talking about, but i'm not going to let tyson get fried."

"percy—"

"tyson, stay back." he raised his sword. "i'm going in."

tyson tried to protest, but percy 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.

unfortunately, clarisse could only muster six campers. the other four were still running around with their helmets on fire. i ran toward them, trying to help. 

i pulled out my bow and shot a sonic arrow.

"hey bronze butt! come get me," the bull charged at me, but i turned invisible, completely confusing the monster. i did this a few times yelling bronze-metal insults, and firing arrows.

the other bull charged clarisse's line.

i kept moving, and tried to stay out of the bull's line of fire. the bull moved deadly fast for something so big. its metal hide gleamed in the sun. it had fist-sized rubies for eyes, and horns of polished silver. when it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out.

"hold the line!" clarisse ordered her warriors.

sure you can say clarisse is annoying, or rude, or absolutely insane. but clarisse, she's also brave. 

she's a big girl with cruel eyes like her father's. she looked like she was born to wear greek battle armor, but there was no way she could stand that bulls charge. and she knew it, herself. yet, she fought.

unfortunately, at that moment, the other bull lost interest in finding where i went. it turned, wheeling around behind clarisse on her unprotected side.

"behind you!" percy yelled, from his place, halfway up the hill. "look out!"

he shouldn't have said anything, because all he did was startle her. bull number one crashed into her shield, and the phalanx broke. clarisse went flying backward and landed in a smoldering patch of grass.

the bull charged past her, but not before blasting the other heroes with its fiery breath. their shields melted right off their arms. they dropped their weapons and ran as bull number two closed in on clarisse for the kill.

percy lunged forward and grabbed clarisse by the straps of her armor. i shot some energy, at the other bull. i tried to levitate it, and throw it away, but it was too big, and moving too fast. 

percy dragged clarisse out of the way just as bull number two freight-trained past. he gave it a good swipe with riptide and cut a huge gash in its flank, but the monster just creaked and groaned and kept on going.

"let me go!" clarisse pummeled his hand. "percy, curse you!"

he dropped her in a heap next to the pine tree and turned to face the bulls. we were on the inside slope of the hill now, the valley of camp half-blood directly below us-the cabins, the training facilities, the big house-all of it at risk if these bulls got past us.

i shouted orders to the other heroes, "spread out. apollo, shoot your arrows from openings you find. ares, taunt them, call them towards you. keep them distracted. we don't want them getting to the cabins!"

bull number one ran a wide arc, making its way back toward percy. as it passed the middle of the hill, where the invisible boundary line should've kept it out, it slowed down a little, as if it were struggling against a strong wind; but then it broke through and kept coming. bull number two turned to face percy, fire sputtering from the gash he'd cut in its side.

he couldn't fight both bulls at the same time. i couldn't watch him any longer. i had to shoot energy at bull one, slowing it down, so it doesn't kill percy. the campers understood, and apollo shot arrows that i laced with my energy.

ares taunted bull two, but he was too focused on percy.

i dodged collumns of white-hot fire, rolling and tumbling away. i blasted a large amount of energy at the bull, and it fixed it's ruby eyes on me. 

as i charged, i felt taller, and it was as if i was skateboarding on the driveway. it felt like i was gliding through the air. all of a sudden, it was easier to move, shoot, and deflect shots.

"how are you doing that?" lee fletcher yelled to me over the noise.

"what?!" i yelled back.

he couldn't answer because the bull charged at me. i somehow, stepped on an invisible platform, jumped over the bull, and stuck a broken spear shaft laying around into him. 

fire started to drip from the wound. 

i looked down, wondering how i did that and yelped.

i was flying. well, not flying. the soles of my feet were emitting pink energy, and i was floating. well, it was only a few inches off the ground, so i'd call it floating. or maybe not floating, it felt more like the energy was creating a platform for me. a little bit higher than the ground itself.

"that!" lee yelled at me.

i was probably on the energy platform before, for a little while at least. that was the gliding feeling, i thought to myself.

i heard bull number two gallop away, disorientated. i snuck a glance, and saw percy getting up. he grunted in pain, and fell down. 

stupid. 

he had to injure himself while fighting the colchis bull.

bull number one left me, and charged straight toward him. there was no way he could crawl out of its path.

out of options, and time, i did the only reasonable thing i could think of. i shouted: "tyson, help him!"

somewhere near, toward the crest of the hill, tyson wailed, "can't — get — through!"

i panicked. "i, riley annaliese stark, give you permission to enter camp!"

now, many things could go wrong with this.

1. annabeth could possibly hate me forever. (athena kids are good at holding grudges.)

2. chiron could be upset with me, and i might be on dish-duty.

or 3. tyson might get hurt, if a bull knocks him out or something.

but, percy needed help, and the only one who could help him was tyson.

thunder shook the hillside. suddenly tyson was there, barreling toward percy, yelling: "percy needs help!"

he dove between percy and the bull just as it unleashed a nuclear firestorm.

"tyson!" he yelled.

the blast swirled around him when the fire died, tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. not even his grungy clothes were scorched. 

the bull must've been surprised, because before it could unleash a second blast, tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. 

"bad cow!" he yelled.

his fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. 

the bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.

"down!" tyson yelled.

the bull staggered and fell on its back. its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of its ruined head in odd places.

i ran over with some nectar to check on percy.

i gave him some, "you idiot. couldn't you injure your ankle after the fight with the bulls?" i scolded.

"jeez, i'm sorry. next time i'll be sure to tell my ankle that."

"shut up," i punched his arm. 

there was a burning smell that i later learned was me, and percy.

the hair on our arms had been completely singed off.

examining them, i muttered, "at least i don't have to worry about waxing."

"the other bull?" he asked.

without looking up from my hairless arms, i pointed down the hill. clarisse had taken care of bad cow number two. she'd impaled it through the back leg with a celestial bronze spear. 

now, with its snout half gone and a huge gash in its side, it was trying to run in slow motion, going in circles like some kind of merry-go-round animal.

clarisse pulled off her helmet and marched toward us. a strand of her stringy brown hair was smoldering, but she didn't seem to notice. 

"you — ruin — everything!" she yelled at percy. "i had it under control!"

i smiled fakely at her and grumbled, "good to see you too, clarisse."

"argh!" clarisse screamed. "don't ever, ever try saving me again!"

"clarisse," i said, "you've got wounded campers."

that sobered her up. even clarisse cared about the soldiers under her command.

"i'll be back," she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.

percy stared at tyson. "you didn't die."

tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. "i am sorry. came to help. disobeyed you."

"my fault," i said. "i had no choice. i had to let tyson cross the boundary line to save you. otherwise, you would've died."

"let him cross the boundary line?'" he asked. "but—"

"riley!" annabeth yelled, and ran into me.

"ugh! yeah, i missed you too." 

she gave percy a hug, and noticed the cyclops for the first time.

she stepped back in fear. i held her hand and whispered the situation into her ear. she seemed to calm down, only slightly. she nodded, and held a hard gaze. she kept her eyes away from the cyclops.

percy looked offended.

"percy," i said softly, "have you ever looked at tyson closely? i mean... in the face. ignore the mist, and really look at him."

percy looked up slowly.

"tyson," he stammered once he saw it. "you're a..."

"cyclops," annabeth offered. "a baby, by the looks of him. probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. tyson's one of the homeless orphans."

"one of the what?"

"they're in almost all the big cities," i said sadly. "they're... mistakes, percy. children of nature spirits and gods... well, one god in particular, usually... and they don't always come out right. no one wants them. they get tossed aside. they grow up wild on the streets. i don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. we should take him to chiron, let him decide what to do."

"but the fire. how—"

"he's a cyclops." annabeth paused. i knew she was remembering thalia's death. "they work the forges of the gods. they have to be immune to fire."

"that's what i was trying to tell you." i reminded him.

clarisse came back over and wiped the soot off her forehead. "jackson, if you can stand, get up. we need to carry the wounded back to the big house, let tantalus know what's happened."

"tantalus?" percy asked.

"the activities director," clarisse said impatiently.

"chiron is the activities director. and where's argus? he's head of security. he should be here."

clarisse made a sour face. "argus got fired. you two," she said motioning to percy and i, "have been gone too long. things are changing."

"but chiron... he's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. he can't just be gone. what happened?"

"that happened," clarisse snapped.

there was thalia's  pine tree.

every camper knew the story behind the tree. six years ago, grover, annabeth, and two other demigods named thalia and luke (we don't talk about him) had come to camp half-blood chased by an army of monsters. when they got cornered on top of this hill, thalia — a daughter of zeus — had made her last stand here to give her friends time to reach safety. as she was dying, her father, zeus, took pity on her and changed her into a pine tree. her spirit had reinforced the magic borders of the camp, protecting it from monsters. the pine had been here ever since, strong and healthy.

but now, its needles were yellow. a huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. in the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.

my heart dropped.

my dream came true. the camp border's were failing. thalia's tree was dying.

someone had poisoned it.

REY WRITES !

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