Rick Riordan Percy Jackson and the Olympians
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" 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 poisoned the tree , you betrayed Thalia , you set us up — all to help Kronos destroy the gods ." Luke gritted his teeth . " You know that ! Why do you keep asking me ?"