Rick Riordan
The Sea Monsters - 02
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"Maybe." A little bit of hope crept into Annabeth's voice. "We'd better get these dishes done.
Hand me the lava spray gun, will you?"
That night at the campfire, Apollo's cabin led the sing-along. They tried to get everybody's
spirits up, but it wasn't easy after that afternoon's bird attack. We all sat around a semicircle of stone
steps, singing halfheartedly and watching the bonfire blaze while the Apollo guys strummed their
guitars and picked their lyres.
We did all the standard camp numbers: "Down by the Aegean," "I Am My Own Great-Great-
Great-Great-Grandpa," "This Land is Minos's Land." The bonfire was enchanted, so the louder you
sang, the higher it rose, changing color and heat with the mood of the crowd. On a good night, I'd
seen it twenty feet high, bright purple, and so hot the whole front row's marshmallows burst into the
flames. Tonight, the fire was only five feet high, barely warm, and the flames were the color of lint.
Dionysus left early. After suffering through a few songs, he muttered something about how
even pinochle with Chiron had been more exciting than this. Then he gave Tantalus a distasteful
look and headed back toward the Big House.
When the last song was over, Tantalus said, "Well, that was lovely!"
He came forward with a toasted marshmallow on a stick and tried to pluck it off, real casual-
like. But before he could touch it, the marshmallow flew off the stick. Tantalus made a wild grab, but
the marshmallow committed suicide, diving into the flames.
Tantalus turned back toward us, smiling coldly. "Now then! Some announcements about
tomorrow's schedule."
"Sir," I said.
Tantalus's eye twitched. "Our kitchen boy has something to say?"
Some of the Ares campers snickered, but I wasn't going to let anybody embarrass me into
silence. I stood and looked at Annabeth. Thank the gods, she stood up with me.
I said, "We have an idea to save the camp."
Dead silence, but I could tell I'd gotten everybody's interest, because the campfire flared
bright yellow.
"Indeed," Tantalus said blandly. "Well, if it has anything to do with chariots—"
"The Golden Fleece," I said. "We know where it is."
The flames burned orange. Before Tantalus could stop me, I blurted out my dream about
Grover and Polyphemus's island. Annabeth stepped in and reminded everybody what the Fleece
could do. It sounded more convincing coming from her.
"The Fleece can save the camp," she concluded. "I'm certain of it."
"Nonsense," said Tantalus. "We don't need saving."
Everybody stared at him until Tantalus started looking uncomfortable.
"Besides," he added quickly, "the Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You
wouldn't even know where to look."
"Yes, I would," I said.
Annabeth leaned toward me and whispered, "You would?"
I nodded, because Annabeth had jogged something in my memory when she reminded me
about our taxi drive with the Gray Sisters. At the time, the information they'd given me made no
sense. But now ...
"30, 31, 75, 12," I said.
"Ooo-kay," Tantalus said. "Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers."
"They're sailing coordinates," I said. "Latitude and longitude. I, uh, learned about it in social
studies."
Even Annabeth looked impressed. "30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes
west. He's right! The Gray Sisters gave us those coordinates. That'd be somewhere in the Atlantic,
off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!"
"Wait just a minute," Tantalus said.
But the campers took up the chant. "We need a quest! We need a quest!"
The flames rose higher.
"It isn't necessary!" Tantalus insisted.
"WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!"
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