The Sea of Monsters

said Luke. “Welcome back to the States.”
    His bear-man thugs appeared on either of side of us. One grabbed Annabeth and Grover by their T-shirt collars. The other tried to grab Tyson, but Tyson knocked him into a pile of luggage and roared at Luke.
    “Percy,” Luke said calmly, “tell your giant to back down or I’ll have Oreius bash your friends’ heads together.”
    Oreius grinned and raised Annabeth and Grover off the ground, kicking and screaming.
    “What do you want, Luke?” I growled.
    He smiled, the scar rippling on the side of his face.
    He gestured toward the end of the dock, and I noticed what should’ve been obvious. The biggest boat in port was the Princess Andromeda .
    “Why, Percy,” Luke said, “I want to extend my hospitality, of course.”
    The bear twins herded us aboard the Princess Andromeda . They threw us down on the aft deck in front of a swimming pool with sparkling fountains that sprayed into the air. A dozen of Luke’s assorted goons—snake people, Laistrygonians, demigods in battle armor—had gathered to watch us get some “hospitality.”
    “And so, the Fleece,” Luke mused. “Where is it?”
    He looked us over, prodding my shirt with the tip of his sword, poking Grover’s jeans.
    “Hey!” Grover yelled. “That’s real goat fur under there!”
    “Sorry, old friend.” Luke smiled. “Just give me the Fleece and I’ll leave you to return to your, ah, little nature quest.”
    “Blaa-ha-ha!” Grover protested. “Some old friend!”
    “Maybe you didn’t hear me.” Luke’s voice was dangerously calm. “Where—is—the—Fleece?”
    “Not here,” I said. I probably shouldn’t have told him anything, but it felt good to throw the truth in his face. “We sent it on ahead of us. You messed up.”
    Luke’s eyes narrowed. “You’re lying. You couldn’t have . . .” His face reddened as a horrible possibility occurred to him. “Clarisse?”
    I nodded.
    “You trusted . . . you gave . . .”
    “Yeah.”
    “Agrius!”
    The bear giant flinched. “Y-yes?”
    “Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to the Miami Airport, fast!”
    “But, boss—”
    “Do it!” Luke screamed. “Or I’ll feed you to the drakon!”
    The bear-man gulped and lumbered down the stairs. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white.
    The rest of Luke’s crew looked uneasy. Maybe they’d never seen their boss so unhinged before.
    I started thinking . . . If I could use Luke’s anger, get him to talk so everybody could hear how crazy his plans were . . .
    I looked at the swimming pool, at the fountains spraying mist into the air, making a rainbow in the sunset. And suddenly I had an idea.
    “You’ve been toying with us all along,” I said. “You wanted us to bring you the Fleece and save you the trouble of getting it.”
    Luke scowled. “Of course, you idiot! And you’ve messed everything up!”
    “Traitor!” I dug my last gold drachma out of my pocket and threw it at Luke. As I expected, he dodged it easily. The coin sailed into the spray of rainbow-colored water.
    I hoped my prayer would be accepted in silence. I thought with all my heart: O goddess, accept my offering.
    “You tricked all of us!” I yelled at Luke. “Even DIONYSUS at CAMP HALF-BLOOD!”
    Behind Luke, the fountain began to shimmer, but I needed everyone’s attention on me, so I uncapped Riptide.
    Luke just sneered. “This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your puny little sword, or I’ll have you killed sooner rather than later.”
    “Who poisoned Thalia’s tree, Luke?”
    “I did, of course,” he snarled. “I already told you that. I used elder python venom, straight from the depths of Tartarus.”
    “Chiron had nothing to do with it?”
    “Ha! You know he would never do that. The old fool wouldn’t have the guts.”
    “You call it guts? Betraying your friends? Endangering the whole camp?”
    Luke raised his sword. “You don’t understand the half of it. I was going to let you take the Fleece . . . once I was done with it.”
    That made me hesitate. Why would he let me take the Fleece? He must’ve been lying. But I couldn’t afford to lose his attention.
    “You were going to heal Kronos,” I said.
    “Yes! The Fleece’s magic would’ve sped his mending process by tenfold. But you haven’t stopped us, Percy. You’ve only slowed us down a little.”
    “And so you