Percy

I fastened my sword to my belt and let out a deep sigh, looking up at the gigantic ship before me. This was my dream. This ship had been all my father and I had hoped for my whole life and here I was and I wasn't even particularly excited. We had been chasing this stupid ship for years now, but every time we arrived in the port it was said to be docking at, it was gone. We always missed it by minutes.

I wanted to smack myself for finding it so unspectacular. My father, Poseidon, had been a captain of three ships in his life, one bigger, better and more famous than the other. The only ship that came from the bay, he had never set foot on, was this one. The 'Kolasi'.

I had to admit it was big. Like, huge. And I also couldn't help but envy the anonymous Captain, of this beauty of a ship. She was colossal, with huge white sails and over 100 crew members and I was about to be one of them.

Picking up my leather bag, that I had placed on the ground while admiring the ship, I made my way up the plank that led to the deck. A man placed a hand on my chest before I could make it all the way up though.

"Who're you?"

He was scruffy, like any pirate, with a strange cap on his head and a tattoo of an owl on his bare stomach. A bottle in one hand and a list of names in the other, which was strange, since I had never seen a ship that literally checked up on the people that entered, to this extent. Maybe that was why it had never been defeated or taken over? I made a mental note.

"I'm Perseus Poseidon Jackson. I'm looking for work."

The man stared at me like I was a lunatic. Then he burst out laughing. Whiskey sloshed out of his bottle, as he tried to calm himself down again. I scrunched up my eyebrows.

"So," he gestured around the ship. "You just decide to come here and just get a job?"

"Yes?"

He stared at me again, a small smile playing at his lips. "Son, no man, no object, no animal has come aboard 'The Kolasi', without earning their way in first. Have you earned your way in?"

"I… um," I tried to think of something to say. I had been so sure that they would just hire me and here I was trying to find a reason as to why they should hire me. I had never had this problem before: I would just say my name, try and get the word 'Poseidon' in there at some point and they would let me on. My father had been a well respected man in the bay.

"Look," he put a hand on my shoulder and started pushing me down the plank. "You come back here next time we're hiring and then you can tell me, what you've done in that time that could possibly make you worthy of our Captain's time. Ay?"

"Could I speak to the Captain?" I tried.

"Son, you really need to do your research," he muttered. "Have a splendid day!" he grinned and took a gulp from his bottle of beer. As soon as he was aboard the ship again, he kicked the plank off, so it fell into the water with a splash.

I felt my heart pounding with rage and annoyance. What the hell? I glared at the guy, who was picking his teeth with his long, dirty fingernails. What was this, a marketing job? I kicked a bucket that was standing by the pier and couldn't help but think how stupid I had been. My plan had been ridiculous. But at the same time, this ship was ridiculous.

It was the same game on every ship on the seven seas: you turn 18, you go aboard any ship in the harbour, you scrub the decks, until the Captain promotes you. Anyone can become the leader of something on the ship, even if it is scaring off mice or cooking or being on look out for the rest of your life. It's the life of the pirate – never resting, always ready for change. "Don't ever get comfortable in your position," is what my father used to say.

I started backing up, moving back to shore, scowling. My sack of underwear and apples suddenly felt heavier on my back. The only weapons I owned were a dagger and a small pistol, nothing to gamble my way onto the ship. It was basically hopeless.

Scanning the ship, I thought of any possible way of getting on but they all seemed ridiculous. Finally my eyes landed on something interesting. At the bow of the ship, right beneath the figurehead, I could see someone open a window. It was a fairly large window, and as I walked down the pier to get a better look, I could see that I could easily fit in.

They wouldn't make me walk the plank if I smuggled myself onto the ship, would they? I knew that 'The Kolasi' was ruthless in battle, but the man I had just talked to just seemed like a good ol' pirate, protecting the name of his ship. Annoying, yes. Ruthless, no. Besides, I was the son of Poseidon. As soon as I got to explain myself, I would easily be welcome aboard. Who knows maybe I would even get a good place, on lookout or steering or something.

The ship was around one meter from the pier. With a quick glance around to make sure that no one was watching, I grabbed hold of the bottom of the figurehead and sighed with relief, when I realized that there was enough space around the other side for my fingers to get a good grip. Then I swung myself off the pier, trying to target the small window on the other side. This was when I would find out if it would work or not – I would have to let go, to swing myself over to the window. Taking a deep breath, I let go of the small ridge I had been clamping onto. For a short second I was sailing through the air, above the small, glistening waves beneath me, and then my finger grabbed onto the window sill.

Slowly I hoisted myself up through the window, stupid enough not to glance inside, before I tumbled through the opening and landed with a bump on the wooden floor of 'The Kolasi'. I groaned and rubbed my tailbone, before taking a look around.

The room was beautifully decorated, I had to give the Captain that. To be honest, I didn't think I had ever seen a quarter on a ship so beautiful. Normally, considering that the crew on ships was 99% men, the rooms were filled with garbage and chicken bones, mold and dust in every corner.

This room was made of glistening, black wood. On one side was a large bed, with white sheets. I noted that it had been secured to the walls in case of turbulence. Intelligent.

There was also a large table. The décor was held minimalistic, which was probably also a good idea, considering we were on a ship. On the wall hung a large clock. And when I say large, I mean huge – at least two metres in diameter.

My eyes wandered over to the door, past a potted plant and a beautiful pair of tan legs.

One sec.

"Hello."

My eyes snapped up, my heart beating incredibly fast. I had been seen. I was going to get thrown off this ship before even having time to show my worth.

The speaker not only surprised me, but also confused me. It was a girl. She couldn't have been much older than me and she was beautiful. And she was only wearing underwear.

Her blonde hair was damp and she smiled mockingly at me, as she stood there in blue lace, twirling a dagger between her fingers.

"Can I help you?"

Her legs were lean and long, perfectly tanned. My eyes wandered up to the bra.

"Do you want me to cut your tongue out?" she asked, finally making me come back to reality. "Can I help you with anything?"

She gracefully walked over to a small closet, which I hadn't seen before and got out a long-sleeved white shirt. As she put it on it fell over her knees and she turned it into a dress, by putting a belt around her waist.

"Um, yes. Sorry for the intrusion."

I got to my feet. "I'm Perseus Jackson. I'm looking for work."

She started securing her dagger to her belt and then grabbed a worn leather hat and put it on her head, before slipping into some black boots.

"And so… you crawled through my bedroom window?"

"Well, I was declined by one of your crew members and I thought –"

"You thought, 'Why don't I just smuggle myself onto the ship and then I'm sure they won't make me walk the plank, because my last name is Poseidon'. Hm?"

"Um…" she made it sound a lot less rational than it had been in the moment. "You know my father?"

"Yes. I never allowed him to set foot on my ship. Our families go way back, Perseus."

She seemed calm, smiling even, as if we had some inside joke, as she stood there and picked her nails with her dagger.

"Right… um, I wasn't… Did you just say that this was your ship?"

She smiled. "I did. And now I'm going to escort you off it. Come along."

"No, wait. Isn't there anything I can do?"

"No."

"How the hell is this your ship? How old are you?"

She opened the door to the deck. "I don't give out personal information to people who aren't my close-net crew. William!"

I cringed, as the guy from before walked up to us with a grim face.

"Ai, Captain."

I almost choked. "You're the Captain?"

The girl turned around, eyes stormy. She really had pretty eyes.

"Yes, I am. Why shouldn't I be?"

"You're just… so young."

She tilted her head and looked at me, eyes squinted. Then she smiled and I honestly couldn't tell if it was genuine or not. "William," she beckoned the man closer. "I was going to make you throw Mr… What was it?"

"Percy," I grumbled.

"Mr. Percy off the ship, but I would like you to escort him to Room 34."

William stared at her incredulously. "Him?"

"Yes."

I looked from one to the other and it would've been a lie if I said, that my heart wasn't beating a mile a minute. That sounded like some torture room. I was really starting to regret my decision of crawling onto this ship in the first place.

The girl stabbed a finger into my chest. "Welcome to 'The Kolasi'. You'll be working from 7:30 in the morning, until 22:00 at night, unless I give you other shifts. Since you are at the bottom of the food chain as of now, other crew members can swap shifts with you. We do reward good work, so if you take it seriously you'll be able to work yourself upwards. My name is Captain Chase. You will be bunking in Room 34, with three other crew members. You'll be getting bed 39, whose former inhabitant we sadly had to throw off board."

She shrugged and sent me a sugary smile. "Respect is key to staying on board, Mr. Poseidon, so there will be no maiming or killing here. And no," with a swift movement she grabbed in under William's jacket and pulled out the half empty bottle of whiskey. "Drinking in the daytime. I'll make an exception today. You have been dismissed."

Then she turned around and walked up the stairs, leading to the higher deck. I stared after her. "No drinking?"

William grabbed my arm loosely and tugged me along.

"A pirate ship without drinking?"

"Discipline," William shrugged. "You're allowed to drink at night, kiddo."

I scoffed. William pulled me down some flights of stairs, until we reached a corridor marked 30. It really was gigantic. The ship, I mean.

"31, 32, 33… 34."

He opened the door and pushed me inside.

"'Eyyo Will!"

Inside the tiny room were two bunk beds. Two of the beds were occupied by young boys, not much older than me. One of the boys looked Arabian, with black hair and dark eyes, but his smile was brilliant. The other looked more like Captain Chase, slightly Scandinavian, with pale skin, blonde curls and blue eyes. But Captain Chase had grey eyes, not blue.

"Shut up," William slammed the door behind him.

"'Ello you," the Arabian guy said.

"Hi. I'm new. I'm Percy."

"Nice."

There was a short silence. "I'm Asad. This is Olivier," Asad clapped Olivier on the back. He rolled his eyes. "He doesn't speak very good English," Asad leaned in and whispered this very loudly.

Olivier rolled his eyes again.

"Right. Which bunk is not occupied?"

"Doesn't really matter. We kind of just switch each night."

"Okay," I muttered, slightly confused by this ship and its crew members. I dumped my bag on the bottom bunk of the right bed, sighing. 'The Kolasi' was not what I had been expecting.

"How'd you get on board?" Asad asked. He was chewing on a straw of some sort and since he wasn't wearing a shirt, he exposed a scrawny upper body.

I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands, tired. "Um… through the window."

Asad's grin turned into a sniggering laugh. "So did Leo."

"Who's Leo?"

Asad leaned forward on his bunk and spat out a part of the straw. "You're new, so I'm going to explain this ship a bit to you. I've been here for, like, a month and I'm just starting to get it now."

His eyes had turned more serious now, beckoning me to listen. "So, we're on floor 3, which means that we're in corridor 30. Everyone on this floor is marked as endangered, simply because no one knows us. We've been told you have to be on this ship for 7 years before the Captain starts trusting you. And as long as you're here it means you're not to be trusted, because they don't know you and you're a newbie."

It was a bit hard to follow along, but I got the principle. Asad didn't even ask.

"There's only 8 newbies at a time. 4 here, 4 in the other room. The Captain only takes in a new newbie every time an old one either gets ranked up or dies or something. And as far as I know all the newbies have tried smuggling themselves onto the ship… I don't really get it to be honest. No one does."

"So… she basically waits for people to crawl onto the ship?"

"Yeah."

"It sounds a bit…"

"Grotesque?"

I shrugged. "And why is the Captain… a girl?"

Asad's eyes lit up and I realized that I wasn't the only one who found our Captain incredibly attractive. "It's insane, right? I've heard she's only eighteen. I'm sixteen! I could be Captain of a huge ship like this too in two years."

I scanned Asad from the bottom up and couldn't really imagine him ever being a captain of anything, but I didn't say that.

"No one knows how she became captain. At least no one in corridor 30."

"Right."

"And I wouldn't try to hit on her. That's why Octavian was thrown off the boat in the middle of the Pacific… you're sleeping in his bed. Let's hope it's not a bad omen."

I tried to ignore that. "When do I start work?"

"When's your shift? Probably the same as ours?"

"From 7:30 to 22:00."

Asad's jaw clapped open. "Man," he stared at me. "She must really hate you."