The Final Invitation
"Let's stop this, Annabeth," Luke said as soon as he appeared, wearing a calm look that made him resemble the boy everyone at Camp Half Blood used to admire.
Clarisse immediately raised her spear into a defensive stance. The last time, on Polyphemus' island, she had not even realized when Luke himself had stabbed her until it was almost too late. She did not trust that gentle look at all.
Annabeth, meanwhile, watched him for a moment, her eyes glowing faintly, showing a trace of surprise and a hint of fear before she quickly regained her calm expression. She did not take her eyes off him.
"The camp is at its weakest right now, and they don't even realize it. If they recover the Fleece, many will die trying to fight over it. You know very well neither you nor I truly want that," Luke said, a tragic look crossing his face.
"Then stop if that is what you do not want. Stop killing the kids who once trusted you. Just stop. You know very well Kronos is using you. What will happen once he is freed?" Annabeth replied in a serious tone.
While speaking, she made a small gesture to Clarisse, tugging lightly at her clothes so they both stepped back just as Luke advanced one step toward them. Alison did the same.
"I cannot do that. He is not using me. He opened my eyes. Besides, once he is freed... Kronos can wake her," he said suddenly, making Annabeth's eyes widen. For a brief instant they seemed to flicker between her dragon eyes and her normal ones.
For a moment, the hallway fell silent.
"Thalia," Luke added. His voice lowered slightly, almost as if the name weighed on him. "He can bring her back. Something Zeus cannot do. But her father can."
"I came to give you one last invitation, Annabeth. Join us. The three of us could be together again, like in the past," he said.
As he spoke, he raised one hand slightly toward Annabeth, as if expecting her to step forward and take it.
Annabeth did not move, but her gaze remained fixed on Luke, as though she were trying to determine whether everything he said was truth or lies.
Her fingers tightened slightly around the hilt of her dagger.
Her eyes dropped for an instant to the hand Luke was offering her.
And for a moment, she truly seemed to hesitate.
Clarisse turned her head toward her, frowning when she noticed that hesitation, tightening her grip on her spear.
"If you join us, the children of Athena will follow you. And then the camp will surrender before a massacre happens. Just take my hand, Annabeth," Luke said softly.
Annabeth took one step.
Clarisse immediately moved in front of her, staring at her seriously, while Annabeth returned the look.
"What are you doing?" Clarisse asked in a truly serious tone.
"Do you remember what I told you a moment ago?" Annabeth replied, staring straight into her eyes.
Clarisse looked confused for a moment, raising one eyebrow, but she still gave a small nod.
Then Annabeth gave Luke a brief smile.
And in the next instant she threw the dagger in her hand straight at Alison, who had been watching the entire scene with an annoyed expression. When she saw the blade flying toward her, she reacted immediately and jumped to the side.
And at that same moment Annabeth shouted,
"Clarisse, jump!"
Clarisse did not understand anything.
But she obeyed anyway.
She followed Annabeth, who ran straight toward the nearest window.
Sea wind burst into the hallway as she flung it open.
And a second later she dove headfirst into the sea, with Clarisse right behind her.
Alison was already raising her daggers to attack them when Luke lifted a hand and stopped her without even moving from where he stood, simply watching them jump with a cold look in his eyes.
"Why are you stopping me? Are you being sentimental again?" she asked, clearly annoyed.
"Yes," Luke replied coldly. "But this is the last time."
Then he added,
"Prepare everything for the attack on the camp. We must recover the Fleece and destroy them completely, so no one will be left capable of interfering with my plans later."
He turned away, though not before casting one final glance toward the place where Annabeth had jumped.
A violent gleam flashed through his eyes.
"This was your last chance," he said before walking away.
...
Two girls emerged from the polluted sea water, completely soaked, climbing onto the pier while pushing their wet hair back. It was Clarisse and Annabeth.
Clarisse wore a truly irritated expression.
Annabeth, on the other hand, seemed to be suffering from a strong headache and an intense burning in her eyes, perhaps from using her dragon eyes too much. They had now returned to their normal gray, though they still glowed faintly.
"Seriously? What kind of stupid plan is jumping from a yacht straight into the sea? What kind of idiot does that?" Clarisse said, still annoyed, though she could not deny it irritated her even more that it had worked.
"Oh, so you two went for a swim too."
A somewhat rough voice suddenly spoke not far from them, making both girls turn quickly in that direction.
There was Percy, sitting on a bench on the pier as if nothing had happened, wearing a calm smile. Behind him stood a black winged horse, snorting softly before striking the ground with its hooves.
"This is Blackjack. He says hi," Percy said casually, making Clarisse look at him with some confusion. Annabeth did the same, surprised to see him sitting there so calmly.
But a moment later both of them noticed the blood on Percy's chest, soaking part of his clothes.
"Percy, you're hurt!" Annabeth said, rushing toward him, ignoring the headache and the blur in her vision, though she could barely make out the blood on her friend's clothes.
"No. This works wonderfully. I wonder if I'll be able to borrow it when I have to train with the master," Percy replied, touching the jacket he was wearing, which glowed softly for a moment.
That made Clarisse and Annabeth widen their eyes as they realized what it was.
It was the Fleece.
"So you recovered it," Clarisse said, looking for a moment at Percy and then at the jacket.
"And you did too," Percy said with a smile when he saw that Annabeth had managed to escape.
Without thinking twice, he took the jacket off and threw it straight to Clarisse. She caught it by reflex, her expression clearly confused.
"Blackjack, can you take her to the camp quickly? It's really important," Percy said, looking at the winged horse behind him.
The pegasus let out a snort and nodded his head.
Clarisse stared at him for a moment, still incredulous.
"It's your mission. Obviously you should complete it," Percy said, cutting off any question she might have asked.
"Are you going to let me win?" Clarisse asked, looking at him seriously.
"This isn't a competition… even though I've already won several times," Percy replied with a slightly arrogant smile. Then his expression softened a little. "Speed is the priority. And I know you won't stop for anything."
"But my mission… the mission Ares gave me is…"
"I know. I heard it. And I also figured that since you almost died on that island, you're not very happy about having to obey him," Percy said calmly. "That's why I can trust you with this."
Clarisse looked at him for a moment while staring at the Fleece in her hands, as if she still could not quite believe they really had it. She ran her fingers lightly across the fabric, feeling the sacred glow that seemed to emanate from it.
Then she looked up again and nodded with a serious expression.
"I'll give you a secret for dealing with my master, just in case," Percy said with a small smile while Clarisse began climbing onto Blackjack.
Clarisse looked at him curiously.
"Tell him someone else could do it better." Percy smiled slightly.
"What?" Clarisse looked at him, confused.
"And then get ready."
"Get ready for what?"
"For him to destroy the problem just to prove you're an idiot."
Clarisse and Annabeth looked at each other for a moment, then back at Percy, who said all of that with complete certainty and confidence.
Both of them understood that, in some strange way, something like that would probably work with Percy's master.
"I'll keep it in mind," Clarisse said, though she obviously had no intention of trying something like that with a god who could destroy her with a single breath. She was not nearly as reckless as Percy.
Soon after, Annabeth and Percy watched Clarisse take off with Blackjack. The black pegasus beat his wings once and shot into the sky, racing away over the sea at incredible speed.
Percy and Annabeth turned at the same time and started running.
They also needed to get back to the camp as quickly as possible. They could only hope Grover and Tyson had found some kind of transportation for them.
But they did not have to wait long.
A car suddenly screeched to a stop right in front of them, blocking their path.
The driver's window rolled down. The one in the back seat as well.
"Mom?" Percy said, blinking several times, clearly confused, while awkwardly trying to cover the bloodstains on his clothes so his mother would not see them. But she was already staring at him with a serious expression.
Behind her was Tyson, smiling happily as he waved enthusiastically at Percy. Grover, sitting beside him, only raised a hand timidly, looking rather nervous under Sally's gaze.
Because Sally Jackson did not look like the kindest mother in the world at that moment.
"Get in," Sally said.
Her gaze dropped for a moment to Percy's chest, where the stain of blood was still visible, before lifting back to his face.
"What… how…?" Percy was completely confused.
"Get in!" everyone inside the car shouted at the same time.
So Percy and Annabeth did not argue any further.
They simply ran forward and jumped into the car.