1st Person
Percy

I'd finally found something I was really good at.

The Queen Anne's Revenge responded to my every command. I knew which ropes to hoist, which sails to raise, which direction to steer. We plowed through the waves at what I figured was about ten knots. I even understood how fast that was. For a sailing ship, pretty darn fast. It all felt perfect—the wind in my face, the waves breaking over the prow. Adira stood right in the front, feeling the air hit her face. She said it reminded her of the tree. Our Tree, as she said it.

But now that we were out of danger, all I could think about was how much I missed Tyson, and how worried I was about Grover.

I couldn't get over how badly I'd messed up on Circe's Island. If it hadn't been for Adira, I'd still be a rodent, hiding in a hutch with a bunch of cute furry pirates. I thought about what Circe had said: See, Percy? You've unlocked your true self!

I wondered what Adira thought of me after this experience...

I still felt changed. Not just because I had a sudden desire to eat lettuce. I felt jumpy, like the instinct to be a scared little animal was now a part of me. Or maybe it had always been there. Adira said that's how she felt every time she turned into a certain animal. She said when she turned into a wolf, all she wanted was meat. Somehow, that didn't surprise me.

That's what really worried me.

We sailed through the night.

Annabeth tried to help me keep lookout, but sailing didn't agree with her. After a few hours rocking back and forth, her face turned the color of guacamole and she went below to lie in a hammock. She left Adira, who still looked wide awake in the front. She was fearless from the water. She'd let her feet dangle off the side of the boat.

I watched the horizon. More than once I spotted monsters. A plume of water as tall as a skyscraper spewed into the moonlight. A row of green spines slithered across the waves—something maybe a hundred feet long, reptilian. I didn't really want to know.

Once I saw Nereids, the glowing lady spirits of the sea. I tried to wave at them, but they disappeared into the depths, leaving me unsure whether they'd seen me or not.

Sometime after midnight, Adira came up on the top deck, after looking at the ocean for a few hours. We were just passing a smoking volcano island. The sea bubbled and steamed around the shore.

"One of the forges of Hephaestus," she said. "Where he makes his metal monsters."

"Like the bronze bulls?"

She nodded. "Go around. Far around."

I didn't need to be told twice. We steered clear of the island, and soon it was just a red patch of haze behind us.

I looked at Adira, who fumbled with her arrowhead. "The reason you hate Cyclops so much... the story about how Thalia really died. What happened?"

It was hard to see her expression in the dark, but I know that it was one that turned dark.

"I guess you deserve to know," she said finally. "The night Grover was escorting us to camp, he got confused, took some wrong turns. You remember he told you that once?"

I nodded.

"Well, the worst wrong turn was into a Cyclops's lair in Brooklyn."

"They've got Cyclopes in Brooklyn?" I asked.

"You wouldn't believe how many, but that's not the point. This Cyclops, he tricked us. He managed to split us up inside this maze of corridors in an old house in Flatbush. And he could sound like anyone, Percy. Just the way Tyson did aboard the Princess Andromeda.

"He lured us, one at a time. Thalia thought she was running to save Luke. Luke thought he heard me and Annie scream for help. And me and her... we were alone in the dark. I was seven and 1/2 years old. I couldn't even find the exit."

She brushed the hair out of her face. "I remember finding the main room. There were bones all over the floor. And there were Thalia and Luke and Grover, tied up and gagged, hanging from the ceiling like smoked hams. The Cyclops was starting a fire in the middle of the floor. Annie drew her knife, but he heard us. He turned and smiled. He spoke, and somehow he knew Annabeth's dad's voice. I guess he just plucked it out of her mind. He said, 'Now, Annabeth, don't you worry. I love you. You can stay here with me. You can stay forever.' Then he turned to me and said, 'It's okay, Adira, darling, I won't hurt you ever again.'"

I shivered. The way she told it—even now, seven years later—freaked me out worse than any ghost story I'd ever heard. I wondered about the 'hurt' part. What happened to her?

"What did you do?"

"Annie stabbed him in the foot. Then, I threw my knife into his eye."

I stared at her. "Are you kidding? You were seven years old and you stabbed a grown Cyclops in the freaking eye?"

"Oh, he would've killed me. But I surprised him. It gave me just enough time to run to Thalia and cut the ropes on her hands. She took it from there."

"Yeah, but still... that was pretty brave, Adi."

She shook her head. "We barely got out alive. I still have nightmares. The way that Cyclops talked in my father's voice. It was his fault we took so long getting to camp. All the monsters who'd been chasing us had time to catch up. That's really why Thalia died. If it hadn't been for Cyclops, she'd still be alive today. Maybe if... I just knew what he was saying in dad's voice was a lie-"

"No, Adira. You can't say that," I stopped her. She shook her head.

"It's true! If I clung to the fact my dad's a #%$hole, yeah, she'd be alive." Adira's arms were folded, then I realized we never talked about her father, and why she really didn't like him. What was the reason?

"Ad," I began, grabbing her hand. She looked at me, and she looked like she was angry, but then I realized the tear sliding from her cheek. "What's the real reason you don't like your father?"

She shook her head, and didn't speak.

"Come on... you can tell me-"

"No, I can't..."

"Ads, you can trust me-"

Then, the tears bursted out. She fell onto her knees onto the floor, and I followed her. I placed my hands on her shoulders, moving them up and down to comfort her. She let out bad, painful sobs.

"He hit me, okay?!" she shouted out. "If he didn't hit me, he'd hit the others! My family! I couldn't let that happen!"

I was awestruck. How could he do that to someone?! How could he do that to her?!

But, I decided to keep my calm, for Ad's sake.

"Is that why... your bruise?" I pointed to the bruise, which was still on her eye from the past weeks. Like a little child, she nodded. She didn't really say anything, till her sobbing and muttering covered a little "mhm."

It was weird, seeing her like this. She wiped her tears, tried to stand, but all they did was come right back to her. She flung herself onto me, wrapping her arms around my neck. I wrapped my arms around her, and put my head on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm not usually like this... ijustfeellikehshsddhuehe." She muttered to the point it died down, and you couldn't hear her.

"It's okay. It's okay," I comforted her. "You're here. You're with me, Adi. You're safe."

We sat there for a few minutes, as she tried to calm herself. She sat up straight, wiping away the remaining tears.

"I'm s-s-sorry," she said, still having that shivering feeling after you cry where you repeat the beginning of every sentence. "It's okay, Ad. You needed to get that out," I said, rubbing her arm. She nodded, letting out a sigh.

We sat on the deck, watching the Hercules constellation rise in the night sky.

"Go below," she told me at last. "You need some rest. If I don't break down again, I could try telling you more about my dad tomorrow."

I nodded. "See you in a bit," I said, as she waved me good night.