AN: Hi! I'm new, and this is my first story. So, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Well, was Christmas, but I did not receive PJatO or HoO. So, no, I don't own Heroes of Olympus, it belongs to Rick Riordan. I also don't own any pop-culture references I may make. I do own Orion, Ro and Sirius (and Electra, Sisyphus, Pi and Aster, but they don't come in yet).

This is set immediately after the end of The House of Hades.

I: ANNABETH

Annabeth couldn't sleep. Was it something about the way the Argo II was moving, keeping her awake? Maybe because she was in an actual bed for the first time in… how many days had it been? Six, seven? It didn't matter. But every time she closed her eyes she could see Tartarus. She could hear the hissing of… things. She could smell the monsters. It was so salty. Why was Tartarus so salty? No, wait, that was the sea.

The Argo II had headed out to sea for the journey to Athens. Leo had said it would be minimum four days to get there. Maybe five or six if there were any monster attacks. Seven if the attacks severely damaged the ship. Annabeth figured it would take eight days, knowing their luck, and they'd probably have to take a detour to Albania to get supplies… no. She couldn't think like that. It was counterproductive.

She could still taste salt. It was kind of annoying right now. Annabeth knew how irrational that was, being annoyed by salt. But, well, there was nothing she could do. Except, hadn't she read somewhere that milk was a good counter-agent to chloride? And if sugar could counteract sodium … then wouldn't sugary milk counteract salt? Hmm… interesting theory, Annabeth thought. Better go test it.

Annabeth got out of her bed, which Piper had been kind enough to change the sheets of, and squished her feet into some flip-flops which were getting too small. As she walked down the corridor, Annabeth bumped into the walls several times, as her eyes did not seem to have gotten the message about keeping open, and her squished feet were useless in going in the right direction.

In the kitchen, the light was almost blinding, but it figuratively slapped her eyes into keeping open. The clock on the wall said 1:40 AM. Annabeth got out one of Leo's magic glasses and thought, milk. The glass did not respond. Annabeth projected the thought louder. MILK. Still nothing. MILK. Nothing. MIIILK. MIIIIIIILK. MIIIIIIIIIILK.

"You have to say it out loud," said a voice behind Annabeth. She jumped a bit, almost smashing the stupid glass. It was Hazel. Her frizzy hair was almost standing on end, and she looked real tired.

"Um, pardon?" Annabeth said, shaking her head to get her brain back in focus-mode. Hazel smiled and repeated, "You have to say it out loud. Some of the glasses need someone to actually say the command out loud. Hey, are you okay?" Hazel looked at her in concern, as Annabeth had just fallen into a chair.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Milk," she said, and milk appeared in her glass. "Hey, can you pass me that sugar bowl next to you?" Hazel looked at it confusedly and passed it to Annabeth, who dumped about four tablespoons into the uncooperative glass of milk.

BANG-thump. BANG-thump. BANG-BANG-thump. THUMP-BANG.

"What the heck was that?!" Hazel said, as she and Annabeth looked at the ceiling in alarm. The loud bangs and thumps coming from above the kitchen sounded like they were enough to make the ceiling cave in. Hazel ran from the kitchen, sprinting up the stairs, with Annabeth right behind her. Hazel stopped abruptly and almost sent Annabeth flying down the stairs.

It was very dark on the deck, the only light being on the mast, but Annabeth could make out a giant, moving ball of string on the port side. She had to re-evaluate that thought a second later, when the ball of string started to talk.

"Move yourself, Ro." "I can't. I'm under Orion. If Orion would move, then so could I, but–" "Shut up, both of you, I can't move either. I'm pretty sure my foot is caught in your backpack." "No, that would be my jacket that your foot is caught in. And by the way, I'm still wearing my jacket." "Boo-hoo, Sirius. Somebody move before anyone hears us." "Too late for that, genius."

Leo and Piper (who had been on duty with Hazel) were running down from where they had been standing, next to Festus, and Annabeth could hear Frank, Percy and Jason running up the stairs. Piper shined a floodlight onto the giant ball of string, which revealed it to actually be three people tangled up in each other.

It took them approximately two seconds to realise there were seven armed demigods staring at them, and another minute to untangle themselves accordingly. Once they stood up, Annabeth could see there was a girl with two rucksacks slung over her shoulders, and two boys; the one with dark hair was holding a leather jacket, and the one with sandy-blonde hair had a wooden crossbow. The girl was looking sideways at the sandy-haired boy, her eyebrows raised and arms folded, and the dark-haired boy was examining his jacket, presumably looking for scratches.

The sandy-haired guy cleared his throat and said, rather awkwardly, "Um… hi. Well, as I'm sure you would rather be in bed, I'll make my request abrupt. We–" Piper cut him off, "What do you mean request? It's two in the morning and you're invading our ship!" The girl, who was fixing her hair in a bun, said, "What he means is 'give us your gold'. And, uh, valuables. And food. We're gonna take your pancakes."

Annabeth glanced sideways at Percy, who was, typically, trying not to laugh. He caught her eye and mouthed 'I think I missed something.' Piper, who was pointing her knife at the girl now, said warily, "Um, 'give us your gold, valuables and food'? Who the heck are you?"

The dark haired boy, who had finished examining his jacket, said in a Well, duh voice, "We're pirates." Piper looked sceptical. "You are, without a doubt, the worst pirates I've ever seen." The boy flashed her a grin. "But you have seen us." Jason stepped forward from his position halfway down the stairs, but before he could say anything, the girl threw something on the floor, which exploded in a cloud of… dirt? But it tasted like chocolate. Had she thrown a cocoa powder grenade on the floor? Anyway, when the cloud cleared, the three 'pirates' were nowhere to be seen.

There were more bangs as more grenades hit the deck. Annabeth could taste citrus, strawberry and vanilla sugar, before one of them exploded right next to her head, and she blacked out, still smelling cinnamon.

So, that's the end of the first chapter. R&R and tell me what you think. But first, dot point time!

. Who are the pirates?

. What do they want on the Argo II?

. Why are they so bad at hiding?

. Can I find a way to make Piper less annoying than she is in canon?

. Will anyone find the PotC reference I made?

-E