Those Who Know but Do Not Say Everything
While Percy was thinking about why those giants seemed to have suddenly come looking for him, considering that there had not been monster attacks in that area for quite some time, a taxi suddenly came out of a side street at the corner and turned straight toward him. Percy immediately turned around, eyes widening, and took in a sharp breath.
But before he could do anything, the taxi screeched to a halt right in front of him with a loud squeal and a skid, while the back door flew open. No one got out. Instead, it was as if it were waiting for someone to get in.
That made Percy frown slightly, since he had not called any taxi. And much less one this old and ragged, gray in color and made of smoke. Literally, it looked like you could walk straight through it. That put him even more on edge.
As his level of alertness rose, he began to notice something else. Something that seemed to have been ignored… or rather, forgotten. Something he actually had been paying attention to ever since he woke up.
He shifted his gaze, then slowly lowered it toward the ground, noticing how the dust moved almost imperceptibly beside him. Almost. But not to him.
Then he remembered.
That constant feeling of being watched. At first, he had thought someone would attack suddenly, so he had simply been waiting for the moment. But after some time passed and nothing happened, he figured it might just be his imagination.
Now, however, everything fit into something he remembered very well.
So he let the air out slowly, like a balloon deflating, and smiled, genuinely happy and excited.
In front of him appeared a blonde girl, truly beautiful, though with somewhat ragged hair and scratch marks on her face and arms. She carried a worn backpack and torn clothes. In her left hand she held a Yankees cap, while in her right she gripped a shining bronze dagger, pointed directly at Tyson with a serious gaze, heavy with danger.
"Percy, careful," she said firmly, staring straight at Tyson.
Tyson had the maul in his hands and a completely confused expression, hugging the massive war hammer as if he had no idea what was going on. Annabeth looked ready to attack him the instant he moved. Her gray eyes had a slightly unhinged look, as if she had fought her way there every step of the journey.
"Wait, Annabeth, stop. He is not an enemy," Percy said immediately, setting aside his happiness at seeing her.
"Oh. The girl from the photo Percy is always looking at," Tyson said with a smile, taking a step forward to greet her.
Annabeth raised the dagger even higher, her expression hard.
"I do not look at her photo that much. Wait, Annabeth, he is my partner… disciple," Percy said quickly, feeling a bit embarrassed for a moment, but immediately focusing on calming the situation. "Wait… were you following me all day? Even at my house, through my bedroom window?" he asked, remembering something very specific.
Annabeth blushed instantly.
"That is not important right now," she said, before looking back at Tyson. "Partner?" she asked with slight surprise.
That implied something very important. Another disciple of Miraak. That man so powerful who, from her point of view, had faced all of Olympus for Percy.
Her hand trembled slightly as she lowered the dagger, though she kept looking at Tyson with suspicion… and with a faint hint of jealousy that almost went unnoticed.
At that moment, the taxi horn blared loudly, urging Annabeth to hurry. She looked at the vehicle, then at Percy, and then at Tyson.
"There is no time. Hurry up and get in," she said, pointing at the taxi. Then she looked at Tyson with clear disgust. "Bring him too," she added, as if it pained her to say it.
The two of them got into the strange smoke taxi, following Annabeth.
"Ugh! We do not take that kind of people," suddenly said one of the three old women sitting in the front seat, pointing at Tyson with a bony finger and an annoyed expression.
Before Percy could say anything, one of the old women smacked the one who had spoken on the head. Then, with a hint of panic, she whispered something into her ear. The old woman went pale. Well, paler than she already was, because she looked like a corpse at least a thousand years old.
She received a scorching glare from the one who had hit her. Yes, a glare. Because none of the three seemed to have eyes, and they passed the single eye from hand to hand before placing it.
When one of them looked at Tyson, she opened the eye as wide as possible, so much that it fell out and was caught by another, who placed it herself and stared at him in fear.
It was that same look Percy always received when some mythological being, aside from monsters, learned that he was the son of Poseidon and a disciple of Miraak. A look that always made him wonder what the hell his teacher had done in the past to make these beings react like that when they heard his name, especially within Greek mythology.
Although, in truth, it was not an unanswered question. Miraak had been the first, and perhaps the only one, to make an immortal soul like Echidna's cease to exist in this world.
"Ahem… excuse my sister for that. Do not worry. We will give you a ten percent discount," said immediately the old woman sitting on the left.
"Uh… thanks," Tyson replied awkwardly, looking at the three of them with genuine confusion, before moving a little closer to Percy.
"They have one eye," Tyson said.
"Look who is talking," the sisters replied in unison.
"So, are you paying or not?" asked the sister in the middle.
"Oh, right, wait," Percy said as he turned toward Annabeth.
She looked at him and shook her head. "I used my last drachma. I thought you would have one," she said immediately.
"No. My mom got upset because I spent too much money on our first mission and cut my allowance," Percy replied, before turning toward Tyson.
Tyson was still staring with interest at the three Gray Sisters, until Percy nudged him with an elbow.
"Oh. Right. I have something," Tyson said, reaching into a bag similar to Percy's. He pulled out a pouch that jingled with every movement. The sound made the three sisters seem to turn toward him with greed. Well, turning was a manner of speaking, since only one of them had the single eye they shared at that moment.
Tyson took out a coin and handed it to the middle sister. She sniffed it, then bit it to make sure it was real. The sister on the left snatched it from her hand and did the same. Finally, the third one, the one holding the eye, examined it carefully.
"It is real," she said immediately, in a clearly happy tone.
"So this is your boyfriend, huh. No wonder you were always dreaming about him," she suddenly said, looking at Percy with the eye and a genuinely amused expression.
Annabeth's eyes widened at that. "I did not say boyfriend," she replied immediately, a bit flustered. Then she turned to Percy and repeated, "I did not say boyfriend," again, just in case.
"All right, I believe you," Percy said, holding back a smile.
"Good. Hold on," shouted the one sitting in the driver's seat, before slamming the accelerator down.
The car shot forward at full speed, while Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson grabbed onto whatever they could, since there did not seem to be any seat belts.
"Do you know anything about Grover?" Percy asked Annabeth.
But he was interrupted by the middle sister, with obvious interest. "Is Grover your other boyfriend?" she asked, amused.
"You have another one?" Percy said, looking at her with a teasing tone. Annabeth, who was barely managing to hold on without being thrown by the taxi's movement, shot him an annoyed look for a moment.
"No. He is tall. After all, that is how she dreams of him…"
"What is wrong with you? I told you to stop revealing things," the middle one interrupted, just as the one with the eye was about to say something else. The eye then fell onto Percy's lap.
Percy picked it up with clear disgust as he prepared to hand it back, but suddenly remembered something and pulled his hand back, dodging the middle sister, who almost lunged over the seat to retrieve it.
"You are the Graeae. The ones who know, but do not say everything," Percy said immediately, staring at them. "So you must know where Grover is."
"We cannot say anything," they replied at once, panicking without the eye.
Percy looked at Annabeth. "Either way, you do not need the eye to drive."
She nodded. "You are right. We should throw it out," she said, while opening the window.
Percy held the eye out, threatening to drop it.
The sisters panicked immediately. "Wait, wait," they begged. Percy truly looked like he was about to let it fall.
"Thirty, thirty one, seventy five, twelve," the three of them said in unison, rushed.
Percy frowned, confused. The middle sister seized that instant to snatch the eye back and place it immediately. Then she stared at him.
"Oh. He really is handsome. You are lucky," she said to Annabeth, winking the eye. Or at least it looked like a wink, since it was the only one they had.
Right after that, the car screeched to a sudden stop and the back doors flew open, forcing them out.
Percy wanted to ask more, but the three sisters were already arguing among themselves about who should use the eye, saying things like, "Maybe we said too much."
Before he could react, the taxi sank into the ground, giving him no time to ask anything else.
Percy turned toward Annabeth, who wore the same confused expression. They realized they were on a street near the camp.
"That is strange. There is no fire. Everything looks fine," Annabeth said, bewildered.
"Fire?" Percy asked.
"Yes. In my dream, the camp was burning. That is why we had to come back," she explained immediately. She had not been able to say much inside the taxi.
"We had better look for information about Grover and about what is happening," Percy said seriously, before looking at Tyson. He had not expected to bring him along there as well, especially knowing he was a monster. And not just any monster, but another disciple of Miraak. Percy would be safe, since he had been designated Miraak's champion. Tyson, on the other hand, was a different story.
He did not have much time to think further.
Two enormous bulls, made of what looked like metal and the size of elephants, suddenly burst out from among the trees, charging straight toward the camp.
"There it is. The danger," Annabeth exclaimed, as if her dream suddenly made sense.
Without wasting time, she started running toward them. Percy and Tyson followed immediately.
The massive creatures did not slow down. They tore down trees in their path without reducing speed, spewing fire from their mouths. They were like two out of control machines, with a single program: move in a straight line toward the camp, perhaps tearing straight through it from one end to the other.