About a hundred yards to port, a massive cruise ship glided past. Tourists waved at them from fifteen or sixteen rows of balconies. Some smiled and took pictures. None of them looked surprised to see an Ancient Greek trireme. Maybe the Mist made it look like a fishing boat, or perhaps the cruisers thought the Argo II was a tourist attraction. The cruise ship blew its horn again, and the Argo II had a shaking fit.
Coach Hedge plugged his ears. "Do they have to be so loud?"
"You'll have to excuse the mortals. They think you're one of those new sea schools," an unfamiliar feminine voice called from behind them. They all spun around to see a small, furry creature sitting on a nonexistent chair that was too big for her feet to touch the ground.
Everyone's weapon was, of course, immediately drawn. "Who are you and what do you want?" Jason demanded. The creature giggled and floated down from her seat, landing gracefully and slowly walking towards them.
"My friends call me Dez," she replied.
"You aren't from New Rome," Jason said, approaching the small girl.
"I haven't seen you at Camp Halfblood either," Annabeth said. "Who's your parent?"
"I'm not a demigod," she chuckled in reply. Annabeth's weapon raised slightly and she sighed. "My brother is . . . was . . . I don't know, he died so I guess was." Hazel's shoulders went up at the mention of a dead brother and Frank squeezed her head.
"Your brother?" Percy asked, head tilted to the side. He wanted to trust the girl (the more help the better) but he didn't want to be lead straight into a trap. They were dealing with enough already.
She grinned. "On my mother's side. He was . . . great. Usually. Everyone makes mistakes, right?" She shrugged before grinning. "And now for the part I've been waiting for." She grabbed a knife from her boot and crouched, turning to Annabeth with malice. "Goodbye, child of Athena." Dez was thrown backwards as an impact came from her side, knocking her knife away from her and herself onto the ground. She looked up and saw Leo holding her down with a very focused face.
"Stay very still or I cannot promise that you won't be covered in scorch marks come tomorrow morning," he hissed down to her. She grinned up at him and held very still, looking very pleased with how everything was going.
Leo was thinking about what a shame it was. The girl below him was so pretty, if only she hadn't tried to attack Annabeth, he could have been enjoying his position very much. She was lightly tanned with dark brown hair that he would have called black if not for the red in it. She had a small nose and a full mouth with the most hypnotic golden –yes, literally golden, like the freaking sun- eyes. She was . . . She was gorgeous. And out of his league, exactly how he liked his girls.
"Leo, take her somewhere and lock her there. We have to deal with these pillars and then we can deal with Dez," Piper commanded as they approached the island. Leo called up a length of rope from his toolbelt and quickly tied the girl's hands together. He stood and she stared up at him.
"How exactly do you expect me to get up?" she teased, lifting her bound hands. He grabbed her arms and lifted her to a standing position, keeping a hand on her arm. "Wow. Okay, stronger than I thought."
"Lighter than you think," he corrected, leading her to the most secure area of the ship, a small prison near the stables. She wriggled around, forcing Leo to pick her up and carry her.
"They're going to go meet Hercules," she pointed out. Leo ignored her. "He may try and kill them. I could help."
"I've seen your brand of help. No thanks."
"It was the only way." She wriggled until the boy looked at her. "I promise, what I did was for the best."
"Even if they were about to murder us all and spread our blood on the mountain themselves," Leo stopped and glared down at her, "attacking anyone on this ship is never for the best."
She smiled. "If I had wanted to kill Annabeth, don't you think I would have done it?" Leo's head fell to the side as he kicked a door out of his way. "If I had failed, do you think I would seem so pleased?"
Leo tensed. "We're playing right into you plan, aren't we?"
She laughed. "If everything was going my way and I was against you, do you think I would tell you that you were doing your job exactly as I'd planned?"
"What's your plan then?" She frowned. "You're on our side, right? So tell me your plan." He stared down at her, daring her to not say anything.
"You deserve to know," she mumbled. "You do, and I'm sorry. But I can't tell you. Not yet at least."
"Then can you tell me how me throwing you in a dungeon works into your plan?" he asked, opening the door and pushing her into the prison/cage.
"It's not."
"Then how is your plan going perfectly?" None of this made sense. She was trapped in a prison, she had tried to kill one of them, yet she was pleased and said everything was going her way and that she was on their side. He stared at her and she smirked, giving no indication that she wanted to tell him her plan. He shook his head and ran upstairs, going to help the rest of his crew.
Piper and Jason flew off the ship after a bit of discussion. They weren't sure what was going to happen or how they were going to handle it, but both of them were pleased that most of their friends would be able to escape.
"Let me handle this," Dez said, appearing beside them as Jason and Piper's feet touched the ground.
"How did you get here?" Jason asked, alarmed.
"Same way I got on the ship," she replied, walking in front of them backwards so she could see them. "Let me handle this. Your brother can be cool, but he's also sort of an ass."
Piper contemplated the situation. While it would probably be nice to have more back up, she didn't want to risk it. They knew nothing about the girl other then she had tried to kill Annabeth.
"Listen," Piper said, using as much charmspeak as she dared. "We appreciate the offer, but we really can handle it. Why don't you just go back to the ship and wait for us, okay?"
She snorted. "Nice try love, but I don't think your charmspeak will work on me. Trust me, it's best this way."
"Welcome!" Hercules boomed, grinning to the demigods.
"Hi!" Dez replied, beaming. "I'm Eury. Must say, big fan, you were one of my favorite stories as a kid."
Hercules grinned. "What a wonderful name! Please, approach, no reason for us to shout across the beach to each other."
Piper was looking at Dez in confusion. Why was she so certain they would need her help? Things were going fine. Her confusion only grew as the other girl's eyes took on a steely determination before melting back into the warm and friendly gold. She walked towards the God confidently. Was she . . . pretending to like Hercules? Why?
"My Lord," Dez curtsied smoothly, the others following her lead clumsily.
"No need." Hercules smiled to them. "We're all friends here." Dez smiled to him in reply, her cheeks turning slightly pink. If this girl was acting, Piper was impressed. If she hadn't been a daughter of Aphrodite, she would have thought that Dez liked Hercules. "What brings you to my lovely island?"
"A prophecy," Jason stated, interrupting Dez. She smiled and let him speak. "We need to get to Rome."
Jason opened his mouth to continue but Dez cut him off. "Come on, Jay, we can't take up all of Lord Hercules' time." She looked up at the god and smiled sheepishly. "We're also on a bit of a time crunch."
Hercules nodded seriously, though he still had a glint in his eye every time he glanced at Dez. "Yes, of course. What is the nature of your quest?"
"We're saving a friend," Dez said before Jason or Piper had a chance to open their mouths. "Angel." Hercules nodded again, excepting this almost truth as fact.
"Well then," he replied, "you'll need a quest!" While he was thinking, a breeze blew past the group and towards Hercules. He stiffened, his friendly eyes hardening into a glare causing Dez to flinch. "One of you smells of Hera."
Piper's mouth dropped slightly. Dez . . . if they'd spoken of their quest they would have mentioned Hera. She had almost forgotten about Hercules' hatred towards Hera after she made him kill his family. Dez was trying to help them, she was just afraid of telling them what they shouldn't say. But . . . then why did she attack Annabeth?
Hercules' eyes settled on Dez and he focused his glare on her. She cowered back slightly, terrified. "It's you. I couldn't smell you under the stench of Hephaestus and death, but it's definitely you." Piper's eyebrows knitted together. Hera and Hephaestus? Death? Who was this girl?
Dez, while Piper thought it, again flinched, her first honest action on this stupid island. Death . . . she'd been having such a good thing with everything going exactly to plan, she'd almost forgotten who she got here . . . She was glad she could keep her features so well-schooled so she didn't burst out crying.
"I'm sorry, my lord," Hercules scowled at her words, "but you have it wrong. I do not work for Hera." Dez spat the name and Jason expected her to drop dead on the spot. "As a child, she made my life miserable, because of her I was beaten and tormented before I even lost my first tooth."
Hercules did not appear impressed. "I do not aid Hera, nor associate with her." Piper was very glad Dez had gone with her. If they had any hope of surviving this island, it seemed it was her. She was very good at thinking on her feet.
"I'm not aiding her. She got me here, yes, but not of her own free will. In fact, I endangered her by having her send me here." Hercules perked up at this, but still looked as if he was thinking about launching them and their ship into the mouth of the nearest monster. "I tricked her with a bet, so she would send me here. They'd left without me, but I was necessary for this quest to succeed."
"How many of you are there?" Hercules asked. "And not from you, Eury. You may be lying."
"Nine," Jason said. "However-"
"There'll be ten if we're successful. We plan to take Angel back with us." Piper interrupted him. Dez smiled in thanks and turned back to the enemy.
"How did you trick her?" Hercules asked, slowly relaxing into the idea that they were on the same side. That is, not Hera's.
"I told her that I knew about my brother," she replied. Everyone other than her tilted their head. "We were raised separately. My brother went to Camp Halfblood and I did not. I told her I could tell her of his life. She did not believe this, she said no family could be that close, seeing as I hadn't seen my brother since he'd left, nor my mother. But I told her everything, and she sent me to the ship."
Hercules nodded, believing this. "Hera, despite her position, does not understand family as well as she believes." Dez nodded in agreement. "Right. Then you need a quest." He continued to think and Jason tapped Dez on the shoulder. She turned to him and he raised an eyebrow.
"Should we not tell him of the prophecy?" he asked. She shook her head quickly. Hercules turned towards them, curious. "He might let us pass if he knew this was for the new Great Prophecy."