Annabeth was waiting for us in the alley down Church Street. She pulled us both off the sidewalk just as a fire truck went past, siren wailing.
"Where'd you find him?" she demanded, pointing at Tyson.
I blinked, I would normally be delighted to see her. Really, she was a good friend of mine and I'd been worried about her being at home. But I was just attacked, found out some of my friends were guards for me (and oh didn't I feel dumb for missing the signs), and now she was glaring at Tyson, my friend. I never had gotten around to telling her I had a Kyklopes friend but really-
"He's my friend," I said firmly.
"Is he homeless?"
I took a deep breath, "Yes he is. And he can hear you. Why don't you ask him?"
She scowled, "Talk to him? He can talk?"
"I talk," Tyson assured her. "You are pretty."
"Ah! Gross!" She stepped away with her nose scrunched up in disgust.
I scowled, "What's your problem with him? He's my friend. And he helped fight the Laist-rie-gons."
"Laistryonians, and I'm surprised they had the guts to attack you with him there. Doesn't change what he is though."
Tyson tried to reach out and touch Annabeth's blonde hair, his eyes wide, but she smacked his hand away.
I gently tugged him back while shooting her a frown.
"Annabeth, leave him alone. He hasn't done anything wrong and just because he's a Kyklopes-"
"You know that he's a Kyklopes and still hang out with him," she asked with a sour look.
"Yeah?" I said in confusion. "Why wouldn't I? He hasn't hurt anyone."
She shook her head, "We need to get out of here."
I frowned at the abrupt change of topic but allowed it for the moment. Tyson didn't need to hear her insults.
"Why? I mean other than the cops coming after me… again."
"I told you about my dreams of camp, right?"
I nodded.
"They've gotten worse. There's big trouble there."
I frowned, "What kind of trouble?"
"I'm not sure yet, but monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia. Have you had a lot of attacks?"
I shook my head, "This was the first one all year… though…"
"Though what?"
"Just… I'm pretty sure a few of my classmates are supposed to be guarding me."
She blinked. "Oh… well-"
Tyson raised his hand, "Giants in the gym called Percy… Son of the Sea God?"
"Er… yeah. I'm the son of Poseidon."
He frowned, looking confused. "But then…"
A siren wailed as a police car raced past our alley.
"We don't have time for this," Annabeth interrupted. "Percy, do you have a drachma?"
"Not with me? I have some in my apartment though."
"You don't carry them?"
I shrugged, "I normally do but mine are currently in the locker room with my bag from Triton so…"
She winced but nodded, "Yeah, alright. A quick stop at your apartment."
"So why do we need a drachma anyways?" I asked.
"I need it to pay for the taxi, but I'm out now."
"That is bad," Tyson said.
She ignored him and nodded to me, "Lead the way."
I sighed but did so. What taxi took drachmas though?
Stopping at my apartment went fairly quick.
My mom wasn't there when we arrived, so I quickly changed then grabbed another backpack.
I shoved some clothes, my armor pieces, some accessories, my knife, Ran, and a few other things into my bag, plus of course the drachmas. I moved Carl to his special bowl for transport (which didn't fit in the full bag so I grabbed a duffle) then made one for Hippolyta too.
And, of course, my water skin.
"That's an octopus," Annabeth muttered.
"This is Hippolyta," I said. "Tyson can you grab the food- thanks."
He handed it to me and smiled at 'Lyta. "Hello, pretty octopus."
She preened at the praise.
"We need to get going," Annabeth said with a frown.
"Yeah, I think I've got everything I need."
I paused in the kitchen to write a quick note for my mom, telling her where I went, then let Annabeth lead the way.
As we walked I noticed that she was looking a lot worse than I'd realized. Her chin had a nasty cut on it and her hair was tangled with grass and twigs. Her shirt had several stains, and one sleeve was torn off, while her pant hems had some suspicious claw marks in them, with the knees worn down in a way that was not meant to be stylish.
She stopped us at the corner of Thomas and Trimble.
"Drachma," Annabeth demanded, holding out a hand.
I handed her one.
"παύω," she declared fiercely. "O ἅρμα Γραια."
Chariot of the Graiai? I knew about the Graiai… where had I heard that…
She threw the coin to the ground, but instead of hitting the ground it sunk in.
There was a brief pause.
"What does that-"
The tarmac darkening interrupted Tyson. It melted into a rectangular pool of bubbling red liquid, about the size of a parking space. Then in a blink a car erupted up.
Somehow the liquid didn't spray everywhere, simply seemed to part for the car.
The car was clearly a taxi, just not like one I'd ever seen. It was a misty white color, literally. It reminded me of a seafoam spray at the beach.
The door had Γραια written on it in a dark grey. Graiai, Grey Ones.
The passenger window seemed to vanish in a mist and an old woman stuck her head out. She had short grey hair that was messy, fluffed out everywhere like a disheveled bird.
"Passage?" She said in a raspy voice, like an echo of waves on the shore.
"Three for Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth declared, opening the door and motioning me in.
The women squinted at Annabeth, "That'll be extra, we don't take Athena's."
Annabeth blinked, "What-"
It suddenly clicked where I'd heard of them, "Oh, you're the Gray Sisters!"
Her head swung towards me and I noticed she didn't have an eye.
"Give me the eye Deinô, I smell the sea on this one."
I waved hesitantly as there was a brief scuffle, then another woman stuck her head out.
"Oh!" she cried. "Poseidon kid!"
"So?" Annabeth grumbled. "Why won't you let me in? Antonio didn't mention this."
"Bah, Athena causes us problems."
"Sends kids for info."
"Steals our stuff."
"Triton hates her."
"No Athena kids," all three finished.
Annabeth scowled, "What if we pay extra?"
"We can triple the payment," I offered.
There was a brief scuffle and I heard them whispering in Halmaheran, "Poseidon kid- with her though? Well- but if- for triple pay though-"
The first woman stuck her head out again, "Triple pay, get in."
Annabeth nudged us in, Tyson in-between the two of us with our bags on our laps, my duffle with Hippolyta and Carl at my feet.
The interior was slightly damp, like it was actually made of sea foam. The seats had an almost green tinge, and the seat belts were made of what looked like seaweed.
"Long Island!" the first declared. "Let's get started."
"How come it's so… ocean themed?" Annabeth wondered as the driver hit the gas.
A recording started playing on the sea foam rainbow of the seats in front of us, a figure speaking.
"Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer of Zeus. When I'm out buying wine for the King of Olympus, I always make sure to buckle up!"
I turned to Annabeth. "Well, the Graiai are children of Phorkys and Keto, sea Gods. I learned some about them in my lessons."
"Huh, I've only heard about them with the story of Perseus, I didn't realize they were from the ocean."
The cab whipped around the corner of West Broadway as the gray lady in the middle (Deinô) screeched "Go left!"
"Yeah!" I grinned, clutching the door. "They're pretty good at divination."
"That we are! We always know the info our riders need to know."
Annabeth blinked, "What do we need to know?"
"None of your business."
She winced.
"Red light, Persis!" cried Deinô.
The car accelerated through the light.
I leaned forward, "Could you tell us what we need to know?"
"Not a chance, we don't share."
I hummed, digging through my bag for my money pouch. "What about for a few Silava?"
There was a beat of silence.
"We can't be bribed!" Cried the third one.
"Not feeling so good," Tyson muttered as the car whipped around another corner at Deinô's command.
"Hang in there," I muttered before turning back to the front. "What about a sand dollar?"
"A sand dollar?" The middle one asked, whipping around. She had the eye, Deinô.
I held up one of my sand dollars, it'd been in the box of accessories 'cause I'd been trying to make a necklace with it.
"It's a functioning sand dollar? Let me see!"
I held it back, "Nearly fully functioning, made by myself. It's been charging for a few weeks, give it another year or two and it'll be great."
"Twenty-one Silava and three sand dollars and you have a deal."
"Enyô," hissed Deinô.
"Sand dollars, I'm not missing a chance for those."
I only had the one sand dollar with me, I'd left the box in my room.
"One sand-dollar now, and two more if the info turns out to be accurate."
"Of course it is!"
"Pay attention to the road!" Enyô shrieked.
Deinô spun around and screeched, "That's your turn!"
"One sand dollar now, two later, and twenty-one Silava now."
"Percy, don't feel good," Tyson mumbled, face green.
I rubbed his back with a frown, "Well?"
Annabeth was watching with bated breath.
"Deal!" Enyô cried.
"Fine!" Persis grumbled.
"Sand dollar!" Deinô cheered.
"So, what do we need to know?"
"Twenty-eight, eighteen, thirty-three, seventy, fifty, fifty-six."
I blinked in confusion.
"What?"
"We're here!" Deinô chirped and Enyô slammed on the breaks.
"Sand dollar!" Persis snapped.
"Oh, bull," Deinô muttered.
"Percy we gotta go!"
Annabeth slammed the door open, hurrying out and up the hill to-
I shoved the sand dollar into Enyô's grasping hand and dumped Silava into her hand before leaping out, Tyson stumbling out behind me.
The Taxi's wheels squealed as Enyô hit the gas again and they were gone.
Antonio POV
I helped Klara pack her weapons with a sigh.
We'd done our job of keeping the Aipri safe during the school year, but what a mess of a last day. He'd gone with the Athena kid and the other guards had only caught up as the Grey Ones taxi drove off.
That hopefully meant he was reaching camp safely, and thus our jobs were done.
"What should I do with Persi's bag?" Acantha wondered.
"We'll drop it off with Triton-re'aia," I assured. "Put it in the other box."
Kai was carefully packing his notes in the appropriate sealants, to keep them from being damaged in the water when we returned to the sea.
"Do you think we'll be back next school year?" Klara asked.
"It's possible, but that will depend on Triton-re'aia." I tucked her knives into their sheathes and slipped them into the box. "You three did a good job keeping him safe this year, I'm very pleased."
They preened.
"And we made sure that he wasn't in trouble at the school," Kai added. "That was tough, but he'll be able to return next year."
I nodded, "And that was wonderfully done. You've really improved on your aihemne, Acantha."
She flushed, "It was barely enough, I'm just glad it worked. I'm still no good at the himne."
"Well, perhaps you can improve over the summer," I mused. "It's a very useful, if difficult to master, skill to have. Even if it only works on the mortals with no magic of their own at your level, that's still enough to do well on this mission."
"Antonio-fu'oro, have you seen my math book? I have to complete it over the summer if we are going back-"
I smiled and turned to help Acantha find her book.
They did well, they'd earned a nice long rest for the summer.
Hopefully Triton-re'aia didn't need us for anything else this summer.