Hazel had told him what Thanatos had said about searching for the Doors of Death in Rome, and Percy was anxious to find Nico for his own reasons—to wring the kid’s neck for having pretended he didn’t know Percy when he first came to camp. Still, he was Hazel’s brother, and finding him was a conversation for another time.
“Sorry,” he said. “But yeah, this is my dog, Mrs. O’Leary. Tyson—these are my friends, Frank and Hazel. ”
Percy turned to Ella, who was counting all the barbs in one of her feathers.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “We were worried about you. ”
“Ella is not strong,” she said. “Cyclopes are strong. Tyson found Ella. Tyson took care of Ella. ”
Percy raised his eyebrows. Ella was blushing.
“Tyson,” he said, “you big charmer, you. ”
Tyson turned the same color as Ella’s plumage. “Um…No. ” He leaned down and whispered nervously, loud enough for all the others to hear: “She is pretty. ”
Frank tapped his head like he was afraid his brain had short-circuited. “Anyway, there’s this battle happening. ”
“Right,” Percy agreed. “Tyson, where’s Annabeth? Is any other help coming?”
Tyson pouted. His big brown eye got misty. “The big ship is not ready. Leo says tomorrow, maybe two days. Then they will come. ”
“We don’t have two minutes,” Percy said. “Okay, here’s the plan. ”
As quickly as possible, he pointed out which were the good guys and the bad guys on the battlefield. Tyson was alarmed to learn that bad Cyclopes and bad centaurs were in the giant’s army. “I have to hit pony-men?”
“Just scare them away,” Percy promised.
“Um, Percy?” Frank looked at Tyson with trepidation. “I just…don’t want our friend here getting hurt. Is Tyson afighter?”
Percy smiled. “Is he a fighter? Frank, you’re looking at General Tyson of the Cyclops army. And by the way, Tyson, Frank is a descendant of Poseidon. ”
“Brother!” Tyson crushed Frank in a hug.
Percy stifled a laugh. “Actually he’s more like a great-great-…Oh, never mind. Yeah, he’s your brother. ”
“Thanks,” Frank mumbled through a mouthful of flannel. “But if the legion mistakes Tyson for an enemy—”
” I’ve got it!” Hazel ran to the chariot and dug out the biggest Roman helmet she could find, plus an old Roman banner embroidered with SPQR.
She handed them to Tyson. “Put those on, big guy. Then our friends will know you’re on our team. ”
“Yay!” Tyson said. “I’m on your team!”
The helmet was ridiculously small, and he put the cape on backward, like a SPQR baby bib.
“It’ll do,” Percy said. “Ella, just stay here. Stay safe. ”
“Safe,” Ella repeated. “Ella likes being safe. Safety in numbers. Safety deposit boxes. Ella will go with Tyson. ”
“What?” Percy said. “Oh…fine. Whatever. Just don’t get hurt. And Mrs. O’Leary—”
“ROOOF!”
“How do you feel about pulling a chariot?”
L Percy
THEY WERE, WITHOUT A DOUBT, the strangest reinforcements in Roman military history. Hazel rode Arion, who had recovered enough to carry one person at normal horse speed, though he cursed about his aching hooves all the way downhill.
Frank transformed into a bald eagle—which Percy still found totally unfair—and soared above them. Tyson ran down the hill, waving his club and yelling, “Bad pony-men! BOO!” while Ella fluttered around him, reciting facts from the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
As for Percy, he rode Mrs. O’Leary into battle with a chariot full of Imperial gold equipment clanking and clink ing behind, the golden eagle standard of the Twelfth Legion raised high above him.
They skirted the perimeter of the camp and took the northernmost bridge over the Little Tiber, charging onto the Field of Mars at the western edge of the battle. A horde of Cyclopes was hammering away at the campers of the Fifth Cohort, who were trying to keep their shields locked just to stay alive.
Seeing them in trouble, Percy felt a surge of protective rage. These were the kids who’d taken him in. This was his family.
He shouted, “Fifth Cohort!” and slammed into the nearest Cyclops. The last things the poor monster saw were Mrs. O’Leary’s teeth.
After the Cyclops disintegrated—and stayed disintegrated, thanks to Death—Percy leaped off his hellhound and slashed wildly through the other monsters.
Tyson charged at the Cyclops leader, Ma Gasket, her chain-mail dress spattered with mud and decorated with broken spears.
She gawked at Tyson and started to say, “Who—?”