Title: A Demigod's Tale
Status: In Progress
Fanfiction Type: Percy Jackson "Reading the Books" Fic
Beta: None
Expected Update Rate: Uncommon; once a month or less.
Words per Chapter Goal: A chapter per chapter.
Rating: T, for safety.
Pairings: Percabeth with touches of other pairings; Frank/Hazel, Jasper, Tratie, etc. No Thalico.
Point of View: Third Person
Plot Plans: Reading "The Last Olympian"
Expected At Full Length: Entire "The Last Olympian"
. : A DEMIGOD'S TALE : .
A Percy Jackson Fanfiction
Chapter One: I Go Cruising with Explosives
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson in any way, shape, or form.
The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car.
"A pegasus?" a student inquired.
"You have a car?" the demigods asked.
Percy sighed. "Yes, a pegasus. No, I don't have a car, so don't even think about it, Stolls," he added, giving the well-known (in Camp Half-Blood, anyway) thieves and pranksters a sideways glance. The sons of Hermes pouted playfully at him.
"Is this in your point of view?" another kid questioned. Percy nodded.
"I didn't think it would be, but after reading that… Yeah, guess it is."
Up until then, I was having a great afternoon. Technically I wasn't supposed to be driving because I wouldn't be sixteen for another week, but my mom and my stepdad, Paul, took my friend Rachel and me to this private stretch of beach on the South Shore, and Paul let us borrow his Prius for a short spin.
"That was really irresponsible of him," several of the teachers muttered. Paul smirked as he read the next line.
Now, I know you're thinking, Wow, that was really irresponsible of him, blah, blah, blah,
The teachers blushed a little as their comments were repeated while everyone else laughed lightly.
but Paul knows me pretty well. He's seen me slice up demons and leap out of exploding school buildings, so he probably figured taking a car a few hundred yards wasn't exactly the most dangerous thing I'd ever done.
"Not by far," the demigods murmured to themselves as they looked at the son of Poseidon, who shrugged. It was true, no denying it. The mortals were startled at how easily the demigods accepted it and wondered what could be so horrible about being half god. Most of the students were wishing that they were demigods. They thought it would be awesome to have cool powers.
Anyway, Rachael and I were driving along. It was a hot August day. Rachel's red hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore a white blouse over her swimsuit. I'd never seen in anything but ratty T-shirts and paint-splattered jeans before, and she looked like a million golden drachmas.
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "A million golden drachmas, Seaweed Brain?" Percy grinned and pulled her into a hug.
"Yup. But, on the other hand, you're so beautiful that nothing can describe it, so I'm not even going to try," he said. The girls cooed as Annabeth blushed, punching him gently as she muttered something about him being too cheesy. He smirked at her in response.
"You're just too lazy to come up with a better compliment," Nico corrected with a cheeky grin.
"Oh, shut up, Zombie Dude."
"Whatever you say, Aqua Man. You know it's true."
"Oh, pull up right there!" she told me.
We parked on a ridge overlooking the Atlantic. The sea is always one of my favorite places, but today it was especially nice – glittery green smooth as glass, as though my dad was keeping it calm just for us.
My dad, by the way, is Poseidon. He can do stuff like that.
"We know!" the Stoll brothers yelled. Percy rolled his eyes at them.
"So." Rachel smiled at me. "About that invitation."
"Oh… right." I tried to sound excited. I mean, she'd asked me to her family's vacation house on St. Thomas for three days. I didn't get a lot of offers like that.
"I don't think anyone does," a classmate commented drily.
My family's idea of a fancy vacation was a weekend in a rundown cabin on Long Island with some movie rentals and a couple of frozen pizzas, and here Rachel's folks were willing to let me tag along to the Caribbean.
"Why wouldn't you be excited for that?" almost every student in Goode wondered. Percy shrugged, deciding to let the book explain.
"You'll see." The students and teachers wondered why they felt like they were going to hear that phrase a lot.
Besides, I seriously needed a vacation. This summer had been the hardest of my life. The idea of taking a break even for a few days was really tempting.
"All the more reason to go," a classmate pointed out with a nod. Others agreed with him, but Percy just shook his head beckoning for Paul to continue.
Still, something big was supposed to go down any day now. I was "on call" for a mission. Even worse, next week was my birthday.
"Even worse?" someone echoed. "Dude, birthdays make everything better!"
"Not if a prophecy says otherwise," Percy sighed.
There was this prophecy that said when I turned sixteen, bad things would happen.
"Oh."
"Very bad things," Annabeth agreed, leaning into her boyfriend's touch. The Romans, specifically Octavian, Reyna, and Gwen, exchanged looks. They knew of that prophecy and had thought it was a dud of sorts, since it never came to pass.
Apparently, it had. Just not on their side of the war.
"Percy," she said, "I know the timing is bad. But it's always bad for you, right?"
She had a point.
The demigods nodded grimly. Again, the mortal students wondered what was so bad about being so powerful.
"I really want to go," I promised. "It's just–"
"The war."
The teachers frowned, not liking the idea of kids young enough to still be in school fighting in a war that would determine the fate of the world. The demigods, however, were all too used to it. After all, they were plunging into yet another one.
I nodded. I didn't like talking about it, but Rachel knew. Unlike most mortals, she could see through the Mist – the magic veil that distorts human vision.
"I still think that's cool," one of the class clowns grinned, thinking of all the things he could get away with. A couple others agreed.
A jock, James, scoffed. "Not really. We're all going to be able to see through this Fog thing sooner or later, like those old ladies said."
"Mist," Piper and Annabeth corrected.
"Doesn't matter. Isn't important."
"Yes, it is," Annabeth retorted.
James rolled his eyes. "Why are you all so afraid of a trio of old ladies, anyway? They're just old people. Wimps."
"Fool!" This time, it was Reyna who spoke up. "Those are the three Fates! They decide who die, and when."
Paul cleared his throat, wanting to steer away from that topic.
She'd seen monsters. She'd met some of the other demigods who were fighting the Titans and their allies. She'd even been there last summer when the chopped-up Lord Kronos rose out of his coffin in a terrible new form, and she'd earned my permanent respect by nailing him in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.
"Seriously?" someone asked, laughing with the rest of the room, although most of them had pictures of awe on their faces too. "A blue plastic hairbrush?"
"That's right," Percy confirmed, glancing at the Oracle.
"It was all I had," Rachel defended, blushing a little as she tried to ignore the looks she was getting. She was smiling, though, slightly proud of herself.
She put her hand on my arm. "Just think about it, okay? We don't leave for a couple of days. My dad…" Her voice faltered.
"Is he giving you a hard time?" I asked.
Rachel shook her head in disgust. "He's trying to be nice to me, which is almost worse. He wants me to go to Clarion Ladies Academy in the fall."
Another one of Percy's classmates, one decidedly more 'girly' than most other people, squealed. "That's, like, my dream school!" She turned to Rachel. "You're so lucky!"
"Not really," she replied with a sigh.
"The school where your mom went?"
"It's a stupid finishing school for society girls, all the way in New Hampshire. Can you see me in finishing school?"
I admitted the idea sounded pretty dumb. Rachel was into urban art projects and feeding the homeless and going to protest rallies to "Save the Endangered Yellow-bellied Sapsucker" and stuff like that. I'd never even seen her wear a dress. It was hard to imagine her learning to be a socialite.
"Still," the girl protested stubbornly. Everyone else glanced at Rachel and agreed with Percy.
She sighed. "He thinks if he does a bunch of nice stuff for me, I'll feel guilty and give in."
"Which is why he agreed to let me come with you guys on vacation?"
"Yes… but Percy, you'd be doing me a huge favor. It would be so much better if you were with us. Besides, there's something I want to talk–" She stopped abruptly.
"Something you want to talk about?" I asked. "You mean… so serious we'd have to go to St. Thomas to talk about it?"
Another student, sitting closest to Percy, leaned over. "Oblivious," she sang into his ear quietly.
He blushed. "It's not like that!" he hissed. She giggled.
"Sure… Whatever you say."
She pursed her lips. "Look just forget it for now. Let's pretend we're a couple for normal people. We're out for a drive, and we're watching the ocean, and it's nice to be together."
I could tell something was bothering her, but she put on a brave smile. The sunlight made her hair look like fire.
Leo hummed "This Girl is on Fire" under his breath, sparking a flame on his fingertips as he did so. Piper reached over to slap him, but he suddenly sat up straight and set his hair on fire. The mortals yelped in surprise, but Leo turned to Percy. "Did she look like this?" he asked.
"No," Percy sighed, pulling water vapor out of the air and dousing the fire with a twitch of his hand. "Don't do that, Leo. I think you're scaring the mortals."
"He just set his hair on fire… and didn't get burned," the chemistry teacher muttered to himself, sounding quite startled. "Science doesn't work in the world of gods, I guess."
We'd spent a lot of time together this summer. I hadn't exactly planned it that way, but the more serious things got at camp, the more I found myself needing to call up Rachel and get away, just for some breathing room. I needed to remind myself that the mortal world was still out there, away from all the monsters using me as their personal punching bag.
"Cowards," James taunted. Immediately, a silver arrow pinned the legs of his jeans to the ground as Thalia glared at him.
"Don't even go there," she snarled. He recoiled a little.
"Demigods, so violent," he muttered once she turned her attention away from him, pulling out the arrow with a wince as he did so.
"Heard that. Do you want another arrow, boy?"
James shook his head rapidly. Percy snickered and whispered in Annabeth's ear, "Who's the coward now?"
"Okay," I said. "Just a normal afternoon and two normal people."
She nodded. "And so… hypothetically, if these two people liked each other, what would it take to get the stupid guy to kiss the girl, huh?"
"Winning a war," Annabeth mused to herself silently as Percy buried his face in her hair, more than just a little embarrassed as everyone smirked knowingly at him.
"Oh…" I felt like one of Apollo's sacred cows – slow, dumb, and bright red. "Um…"
"Like how you look – and probably feel – right now?" Nico asked innocently. Percy jerked upright and punched him. The son of Hades stuck his tongue out at him in return.
I can't pretend I hadn't thought about Rachel. She was so much easier to be around than… well, than some other girls I knew.
Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "You'd better not be thinking about me, Seaweed Brain."
"But I'm always thinking about you!" he protested innocently.
"You know what I mean."
"But what if I don't?"
"Then I will gut you with my knife." Percy yelped and ducked behind his cousins, who were laughing their heads off.
"Save me," he pretended to beg. They laughed even harder, with their other friends joining in as well. Meanwhile, everyone else just stared at the exchange in bemusement, especially the Romans.
I didn't have to work hard, or watch what I said, or rack my brain trying to figure out what she was thinking. Rachel didn't hide much. She let you know how she felt.
I'm not sure that I would have done next – but I was so distracted, I didn't notice the huge black form swooping down from the sky until four hooves landed on the hood of the Prius with a WUMP-WUMP-CRUNCH!
The mortals blinked in confusion while some of the demigods muttered, "Saved by the pegasus."
Hey, boss, a voice in my head said. Nice car!
Their confusion grew even more.
Blackjack the pegasus was an old friend of mine, so I tried not to get too annoyed by the craters he'd just put on the hood; but I didn't think my stepdad would be a real stoked.
Paul glanced at Percy, who rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced apologetically. Everyone else finally understood what was going on – mostly, anyway.
"You can talk to pegasi?" asked a peer excitedly. "That's so cool!"
"Yeah, since they're related to horses, and my dad created the horses… They treat me like I'm their king or something."
"Horse royalty," Travis snickered. Connor heard and laughed.
"Blackjack," I sighed. "What are you–"
Then I saw who was riding on his back, and I knew my day was about to get a lot more complicated.
"'Sup, Percy."
Charles Beckendorf, senior counselor for the Hephaestus cabin, would make most monsters cry for their mommies.
Percy smiled sadly with the Camp Half-Blood campers as most of the mortals laughed a little at the description. Demigods from Camp Jupiter raised eyebrows, wondering if Percy had been exaggerating. Leo grinned excitedly, hoping to learn more about the previous counselor.
He was huge, with ripped muscles from working on the forges every summer, two years older than me, and one of the camp's best armorsmiths.
The Romans frowned, wondering where their Greek counterparts got their metal. Octavian instantly came to what he thought was the logical conclusion; they'd stolen their Imperial gold, obviously! He tapped Reyna's shoulder, but she fixed him with a single glare.
"No. Stop accusing them, Octavian. Or do you dare go against the Fates?"
Jason overheard and narrowed his eyes at the descendent of Apollo. "For your information, they use Celestial bronze," he growled. "Imperial gold is practically nonexistent to them."
Octavian gritted his teeth, but relented… for now.
He made some seriously ingenious mechanical stuff. A month before, he'd rigged a Greek firebomb in the bathroom of a tour bus that was carrying a bunch of monsters across country. The explosion took out a whole legion of Kronos's evil meanies as soon as the first harpy went flush.
"Whoa!" Several people grinned. "That's awesome!"
"Such a great idea," Leo agreed.
Beckendorf was dressed for combat. He wore a bronze breastplate and war helm with black camo pants and a sword strapped to his side. His explosives bag was slung over his shoulder.
"Time?" I asked.
He nodded grimly.
"For what?" everyone from Goode wondered.
A clump formed in my throat. I'd known this was coming. We'd been planning it for weeks, but I'd half hoped it would never happen.
Rachel looked up at Beckendorf. "Hi."
"Oh, hey. You must be Rachel. Percy's told me… uh, I mean he mentioned you."
The student body rolled their eyes, some stifling chuckles as they did so.
Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Really? Good." She glanced at Blackjack, who was clopping his hooves against the hood of the Prius.
"More dents," Paul sighed, pausing in the reading.
Percy apologized again.
"So, I guess you guys have to go save the world now."
Once again feeling rather protective, the teachers internally cursed the fact that kids, of all people, had to save the world. What pressure!
"Pretty much," Beckendorf agreed.
I looked at Rachel helplessly. "Would you tell my mom–"
"I'll tell her. I'm sure she's used to it. And I'll explain to Paul about the hood."
"Unfortunately, I was still blamed," Percy sighed.
I nodded my thanks. I figured this might be the last time Paul loaned me his car.
"Maybe," Paul said before continuing.
"Good luck." Rachel kissed me before I could even react.
Everyone looked at Annabeth expectantly, waiting for her to blow up on Percy or something. She shrugged. Percy had already confessed it to her, and she was smarter than to blame Percy for Rachel's actions; she was wisdom's daughter, after all! Besides, Rachel was the Oracle now, meaning she was a sworn maiden, like the Hunters.
"Now, get going, half-blood. Go kill some monsters for me."
"Encouraging."
My last view of her was sitting in the shotgun seat of the Prius, her arms crossed, watching as Blackjack circled higher and higher, carrying Beckendorf and me into the sky. I wondered what Rachel wanted to talk to me about, and whether I'd live long enough to find out.
"Wow, you have such pessimistic thoughts," Frank realized. "You acted so optimistic all the time during our quest."
"Not really, remember the muskeg?"
"Well, we were all pessimistic at that point."
"No, Hazel wasn't, and you were just panicking."
"My friends almost suffocated, of course I was panicking!"
"And to be honest, I wasn't that optimistic in my head," Hazel added.
The ones who couldn't follow the conversation were confused.
"So," Beckendorf said, "I'm guessing you don't want me to mention that little scene to Annabeth."
"I told her anyway," Percy grinned.
"Oh, gods," I muttered. "Don't even think about it."
"Seemed like you dreaded the thought at that point," someone observed.
"Well, we didn't exactly sort out our feelings until later," Percy laughed uneasily. "Until then…"
"You have to suffer through his stupidity!" the Stoll brothers yelled, making everyone laugh.
Beckendorf chuckled, and together we soared out over the Atlantic.
It was almost dark by the time we spotted our target. The Princess Andromeda glowed on the horizon – a huge cruise ship lit up yellow and white. From a distance, you'd think it was just a party ship, not the headquarters for the Titan lord. Then as you got closer, you might notice the giant figurehead – a dark-haired maiden in a Greek chiton, wrapped in chains with a look of horror on her face, as if she could smell the stench of all the monsters she was being forced to carry.
"Do they smell?"
"Generally, we can only smell the really obvious ones," Annabeth answered. "Satyrs can scent almost all of them, though."
Seeing the ship again twisted my gut into knots. I'd almost died twice on the Princess Andromeda. Now it was heading straight for New York.
Some people shifted nervously.
"Wait, twice?" someone asked.
Percy nodded. "Yeah, in earlier years. Not very happy memories."
"You know what to do?" Beckendorf yelled over the wind. I nodded. We'd done dry runs at the dockyards in New Jersey, using abandoned ships as our targets. I knew how little time we would have. But I also knew this was our best chance to end Kronos's invasion before it ever started.
"I guess it didn't work," a couple students mused sadly, wondering what went wrong during their 'mission'.
"Blackjack," I said, "set us down on the lowest stern deck."
Gotcha, boss, he said. Man, I hate seeing that boat.
"Even the pegasi don't like Kronos?"
"Well, Blackjack has some personal issues against the ship, which you'll probably see soon," Percy corrected. "But later, I think Kronos said something about making pegasus soup, so… Yeah, they don't really like him."
Three years ago, Blackjack had been enslaved on the Princess Andromeda until he finally escaped with a little help from my friends and me. I figured he'd rather have his mane braided like My Little Pony than be back here again.
"Oh, I see now."
The Stoll brothers shared an evil grin, making the nearby people edge away. Percy saw them and deducted what they were thinking of, but let it slide.
"Don't wait for us," I told him.
But, boss–
"Trust me," I said. "We'll get out ourselves."
Blackjack folded his wings and plummeted toward the boat like a black comet. The wind whistled in my ears. I saw monsters patrolling the upper decks of the ship – dracaenae snake-woman, hellhounds, giants, and the humanoid seal-demons known as telkhines – but we zipped by so fast, none of them raised the alarm.
"That's pretty fast," Reyna murmured, not sure if her pegasus was even that fast. Jason recalled the time he'd seen Blackjack, and decided he wasn't too surprised at his speed.
We shot down the stern of the boat, and Blackjack spread his wings, lightly coming to a landing on the lowest deck. I climbed off, feeling queasy.
"Air sickness," Percy said. "Sons of Poseidon don't belong in Zeus's domain, even though pegasi are neutral ground."
Good luck, boss, Blackjack said. Don't let 'em turn you into horse meat!
A few nervous titters echoed through the room.
With that, my old friend flew off into the night. I took my pen out of my pocket and
"What, are you going to write on the monsters?" James snorted, interrupting Paul mid-sentence and forgetting about his earlier experience with Thalia. She didn't need to remind him, though. Percy simply stood, slipped the said pen out of his pocket, and uncapped it.
It lengthened into its true form; a glowing Celestial bronze sword.
"Quick lesson," he said, and lunged forward, thrusting the blade through the jock's chest. The boy stumbled backwards in shock as the teachers sprang forward in alarm. They were startled to see that he was completely unharmed.
Percy smirked. "As you just saw, Celestial bronze passes through mortals, because they're not important enough for the metal to kill." Some mortals frowned at his definition. "However, it is lethal to monsters and other mythical beings."
uncapped it, and Riptide sprang to full size – three feet of deadly Celestial bronze glowing in the dusk.
James flushed at the mention of the sword, muttering under his breath about how all demigods were wimps and how he was so much better than them because he didn't depend on freaky powers.
Hazel heard and flinched slightly, recalling when she was called a 'freak'.
Frank noticed and put an arm around her shoulders in reassurance. She smiled at him gratefully.
Beckendorf pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. I thought it was a map or something. Then I realized it was a photograph. He stared at it in the dim light – the smiling face of Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite.
Piper sat up straighter, just as eager to learn about Silena as Leo was about Beckendorf.
They'd started going out last summer, after years of the rest of us saying, "Duh, you guys like each other!" Even with all the dangerous missions, Beckendorf had been happier this summer than I'd ever seen him.
The girls cooed, even Piper, who tended to avoid doing anything that seemed Aphrodite-like.
"We'd make it back to camp," I promised.
Percy closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He would have to hear about his friends' deaths again. Annabeth, sensing his uneasiness, leaned into his side and whispered soothingly in his ear.
Leo frowned as he suddenly understood what would happen.
For a second I saw worry in his eyes. Then he put on his old confident smile.
"You bet," he said. "Let's go blow Kronos back into a million pieces."
Some of the more immature students cheered.
Beckendorf led the way. We followed a narrow corridor to the service stairwell, just like we'd practiced, but we froze when we heard noises above us.
Everyone tensed, wondering if things were going to go wrong already.
"I don't care what your noses says!" snarled a half-human, half-dog voice – a telkhine. "The last time you smelled half-blood, it turned out to be a meat loaf sandwich!"
"We do not smell like meat loaf sandwiches!" the demigods protested, much to the amusement of the mortals.
"Meat loaf sandwiches are good!" a second voice snarled. "But this is half-blood scent, I swear. They are on board!"
"Bah, your brain isn't on board!"
"Nice comeback. Still wrong, though."
They continued to argue, and Beckendorf pointed downstairs. We descended as quietly as we could. Two floors down, the voices of the telkhines started to fade.
Everyone was greatly amused and surprised – the mortals were, at least. "Monsters are so dumb," one of the students laughed.
"Luckily for us," Leo agreed.
Finally, we came to a metal hatch. Beckendorf mouthed the words "engine room."
It was locked, but Beckendorf pulled some chain cutters out of his bag and split the bolt like it was made of butter.
"That's cool," a student said. "We should get one of those. You know, as defense from monsters," he added hastily when some teachers sent looks his way.
Inside, a row of yellow turbines the size of grain silos churned and hummed. Pressure gauges and computer terminals lined the opposite wall. A telkhine was hunched over a console, but he was so involved with his work, he didn't notice us. He was about five feet tall, with slick black seal fur and stubby little feet. He had the head of a Doberman, but his clawed hands were almost human. He growled and muttered as he tapped on his keyboard. Maybe he was messaging his friends on uglyface. com.
"Sure," Nico snorted. "That's totally what he was doing."
I stepped forward, and he tensed, probably smelling something wrong. He leaped sideways toward a big red alarm button, but I blocked his path. He hissed and lunged at me, but one slice of Riptide, and he exploded into dust.
Some students cheered quietly.
"One down," Beckendorf said. "About five thousand to go."
The cheering ceased, to be replaced by groans.
He tossed me a jar of thick green liquid – Greek fire, one of the most dangerous magical substances in the world.
"Then should you really be tossing it around like that?" someone inquired.
"Well, we've been using Greek fire for a while now. We know how to handle it. Most of the time."
"Reassuring," she muttered.
The he threw me another essential tool of the demigod heroes – duct tape.
"Duct tape is awesome!" the Stolls and Leo yelled gleefully.
"Slap that one on the console," he said. "I'll get the turbines."
We went to work. The room was hot and humid, and in no time we were drenched in sweat.
The boat kept chugging along. Being the son of Poseidon and all, I have perfect bearings at sea. Don't ask me how, but I could tell we were at 40.l9° North, 7I.90° West, making eighteen knots, which meant the ship would arrive in New York Harbor by dawn.
"Your powers are awesome," one of the younger students said with a smile.
This would be our only chance to stop it.
I had just attached a second jar of Greek fire to the control panels when I heard the pounding of feet on metal steps – so many creatures coming down the stairwell I could hear them over the engines. Not a good sign.
Everybody tensed.
I locked eyes with Beckendorf. "How much longer?"
"Too long." He tapped his watch, which was our remote control detonator. "I still have to wire the receiver and prime the charges. Ten more minutes at least."
Judging from the sound of the footsteps, we had about ten seconds.
"Crap," someone muttered, which summed up the situation and everyone's thoughts pretty well.
"I'll distract them," I said. "Meet you at the rendezvous point."
"Percy–"
"Wish me luck."
Percy held Annabeth's hand tighter.
He looked like he wanted to argue. The whole idea had been to get in and out without being spotted. But we were going to have to improvise.
"Good luck," he said.
I charged out the door.
"Kick their butts!" some students encouraged, ignoring the fact that they were speaking to a book that had already happened.
A half dozen telkhines were tromping down the stairs. I cut through them with Riptide faster than they could yelp. I kept climbing – past another telkhine, who was so started he dropped his Lil' Demons lunch box. I left him alive – partly because his lunch box was cool,
"Only you, Percy," Thalia sighed, rolling her eyes. "Boys."
partly so he could raise the alarm and hopefully get his friends to follow me rather than head towards the engine room.
"I had a reason, see?"
I burst through a door onto deck six and kept running. I'm sure the carpeted hall had once been very plush, but over the last three years of monster occupation the wallpaper, carpet, and stateroom had been clawed up and slimed so it looked like the inside of a dragon's throat (and yes, unfortunately, I speak from experience).
The teachers looked horrified.
Back on my first visit to the Princess Andromeda, my old enemy Luke had kept some dazed tourist on board for show, shrouded in Mist so they didn't realize they were on a monster-infested ship. Now that I didn't see any sign of tourists. I hated to think what had happened to them, but I kind of doubted they'd been allowed to go home with their bingo winnings.
"Did he kill them?" the young student asked, afraid of the answer.
"They're dead," Percy confirmed sadly. "Don't know what happened to them, maybe monsters, maybe Kronos, but…"
I reached the promenade, a big shopping mall that took up the whole middle of the ship, and I stopped cold. In the middle of the courtyard stood a fountain. And in the fountain squatted a giant crab.
I'm not talking "giant" like $7.99 all-you-can-eat Alaskan king crab. I'm talking giant like bigger than the fountain.
People gaped.
A life science teacher muttered in amazement under his breath.
The monster rose ten feet out of the water. Its shell was mottled blue and green, its pincers longer than my body.
"That's huge. How'd you beat that thing?"
"I'm just awesome like that," Percy joked.
Nico rolled his eyes. "Nah, just luck," he told the inquirer.
"Skill," Percy chided, causing Annabeth to punch him lightly.
If you've ever seen a crab's mouth, all foamy and gross with whiskers and snapping bits, you can imagine this one didn't look any better blown up to billboard size.
"Disgusting," a girl muttered. Her friends agreed.
Its beady black eyes glared at me, and I could see intelligence in them – and hate. The fact that I was the son of the sea god was not going to win me any points with Mr. Crabby.
"Of course not," Annabeth sighed. "Your luck is terrible."
Percy smiled sheepishly.
"FFFFfffffff," it hissed, sea foam dripping from its mouth. The smell coming off it was like garbage can full of fish sticks that had been sitting in the sun all week.
"Yuck," the girl from before said, pushing the mental smell out of her head.
Alarms blared. Soon I was going to have lots of company and I had to keep moving.
"Hey, crabby." I inched around the edge of the courtyard. "I'm just gonna scoot around you so–"
"Like I just said, your luck would never let that happen. Ever."
"Jeez, Wise Girl, thanks for making me feel like such a lucky person."
The crab moved with amazing speed. It scuttled out of the fountain and came straight at me, pincers snapping. I dove into a gift shop, plowing through a rack if T-shirts. A crab pincer smashed the glass walls to pieces and raked across the room. I dashed back outside, breathing heavily, but Mr. Crabby turned and followed.
Several people caught their breath.
"There!" a voice said from a balcony about me. "Intruder!"
If I'd wanted to create a distraction, I'd succeeded, but this was not where I wanted to fight. If I got pinned down in the center of the ship, I was crab chow.
"Crab chow. Really."
The demonic crustacean
"Demonic crustacean," Thalia snickered. "Some neutral ground there, Death Breath, Kelp Head?"
"Nah, just big words – for Percy, anyway," Nico said, laughing.
"You guys are jerks," Percy complained.
lunged at me. I sliced with Riptide, taking off the tip of its claw. It hissed and foamed, but didn't seem very hurt.
I tried to remember anything from the old stories that might help with this thing. Annabeth had told me about a monster crab – something about Hercules crushing it under his big foot? That wasn't going to work here. This crab was slightly bigger than my Reeboks.
"Just a little," Leo chuckled.
Then a weird thought occurred to me. Last Christmas, my mom and I had brought Paul Blofis to our old cabin at Montauk, where we'd been going forever. Paul had taken me crabbing, and when he'd brought up a net full of the things, he'd shown me how crabs have a chink in their armor, right in the middle of their ugly bellies.
The only problem was getting to the ugly belly.
Paul felt a burst of joy at being able to help his stepson, even if it was unintentional.
I glanced at the fountain, then at the marble floor, already slick from scuttling crab tracks. I held out my hand, concentrating on the water, and the fountain exploded. Water sprayed everywhere, three stories high, dousing the balconies and the elevators and the windows of the shops. The crab didn't care. It loved water.
"So… The point of doing that was…?"
"You'll see."
It came at me sideways, snapping and hissing and I ran straight at it, screaming, "AHHHHHHH!"
"What kind of battle cry is that?" James scoffed.
Percy grinned. "An epic one, just like peanut butter!"
Those who didn't get the inside joke were just confused, while the ones who did were laughing their heads off and agreeing.
Just before we collided, I hit the ground baseball-style and slid on the wet marble floor straight under the creature. It was like sliding under a seven-ton armored vehicle. All the crab had to do was sit and squash me, but before it realized what I was going on, I jabbed Riptide into the chink in its armor, let go of the hilt, and pushed myself out the backside.
"Great," Gwen said, startling most people. The Romans had been so quiet, almost everyone had forgotten about them. "Except you just lost your weapon."
"Or did I?" Percy asked mysteriously, tossing his pen up and down. Then, he threw it into the far side of the room, much to Gwen's confusion.
The monster shuddered and hissed. Its eyes dissolved. Its shell turned bright red as its insides evaporated. The empty shell clattered to the floor in a massive heap.
"Woo-hoo! Point for Perce!" one of Percy's school friends cheered.
I didn't have time to admire my handiwork. I ran for the nearest stairs while all around me monsters and demigods shouted orders and strapped on their weapons. I was empty-handed. Riptide, being magic, would appear in my pocket sooner or later, but for now it was stuck somewhere under the wreckage of the crab, and I had no time to retrieve it.
"Oh. Huh. Useful."
"But that's not possible," several of the teachers and some students protested. Percy grinned.
"In our world? Almost anything can happen. Give it a minute."
In the elevator foyer on deck eight, a couple of dracaenae slithered across my path. From the waist up, they were woman with green scaly skin, yellow eyes, and forked tongues. From the waist down, they had double snake trunks instead of legs. They held spears and weighted nets, and I knew from experience they could use them.
"Good to know."
"What isss thisss?" one said. "A prize for Kronosss!"
"Never!" Percy shouted defiantly, striking a half-dramatic pose. Half, because he was still sitting on the ground. Some people laughed at his immaturity. Annabeth just rolled her eyes, watching as the Stolls gave him a high-five.
"Seaweed Brain."
I wasn't in the mood to play break-the-snake, but in front of me was a stand with a model of the ship, like a YOU ARE HERE display. I ripped the model off the pedestal and hurled it at the first dracaena. The boat smacked her in the face and she went down with the ship.
"I see what you did there. Very punny."
"I try."
"Please, don't."
I jumped over her, grabbed her friend's spear, and swung her around. She slammed into the elevator, and I kept running toward the front of the ship.
"Get him!" she screamed.
Hellhounds bayed. An arrow from somewhere whizzed past my face and impaled itself in the mahogany-paneled wall of the stairwell.
One of the girls snickered, unable to help herself despite the serious situation. "That is mahogany!" she whispered to herself, referring to the Hunger Games movie. Some nearby people heard her and laughed.
I didn't care – as long as I got the monsters away from the engine room and gave Beckendorf more time.
"Your stupid fatal flaw," Annabeth sighed.
As I was running up the stairwell, a kid charged down.
He looked like he'd just woken up from a nap. His armor was half on. He drew his sword and yelled, "Kronos!" but he sounded more scared than angry. He couldn't have been more than twelve – about the same age I was when I'd first arrived at Camp Half-Blood.
That thought depressed me. This kid was getting brain-washed – trained to hate the gods and lash out because he'd been born half Olympian. Kronos was using him, and yet the kid thought I was his enemy.
The teachers were even more horrified, if possible. They'd forgotten to consider the kids on the other side as well. They wondered just how many kids were killed in this not-so-mythical war.
No way was I going to hurt him.
"Good," one of the teachers breathed.
I didn't need a weapon for this. I stepped inside his strike and grabbed his wrist, slamming it against the wall. His sword clattered out of his hand.
Then I did something I hadn't planned on. It was probably stupid. It definitely jeopardized our mission, but I couldn't help it.
If I hadn't done that, would Beckendorf still be alive?
Percy shoved the though out of his head, but it clung stubbornly to the edges of his consciousness. Guilt flooded through him.
"If you want to live," I told him, "get off this ship now. Tell the other demigods." Then I shoved him down the stairs and sent him tumbling to the next door.
"Why'd you do that?" someone asked. "He's an enemy, isn't he?" Percy sighed, ignoring the question.
Annabeth repeated, "Your stupid fatal flaw." Nobody really knew what it meant. Some adults knew what a fatal flaw was, but didn't understand how the concept applied to the story.
I kept climbing.
Bad memories: a hallway ran past the cafeteria. Annabeth, my half brother Tyson, and I had sneaked through here three years ago on my first visit.
"Tyson?" some asked, but the people from Camp Half-Blood smiled.
"Yup, my Cyclops half-brother," Percy announced proudly. "He's the general of the Cyclops army, now."
Octavian muttered about how Greeks housed monsters, like Mrs. O'Leary the hellhound and Tyson the Cyclops.
Jason, Frank, and Hazel cast him a glare.
I burst outside onto the main deck. Off the port bow, the sky was darkening from purple to black. A swimming pool glowed between two glass towers with more balconies and restaurant decks. The whole upper ship seemed eerily deserted.
All I had to do was cross to the other side. Then I could take the staircase down to the helipad – our emergency rendezvous point. With any luck, Beckendorf would meet me there. We'd jump into the sea. My water powers would protect us both, and we'd detonate the charges from a quarter mile away.
Percy wondered how he'd been so naïve as to think everything would go perfectly, just like that.
I was halfway across the deck when the sound of a voice made me freeze. "You're late, Percy."
Luke stood on the balcony above me, a smile on his scarred face. He wore jeans, a white T-shirt, and flip-flops, like he was just a normal college-age guy, but his eyes told the truth. They were solid gold.
"We've been expecting you for days." At first he sounded normal, like Luke. But then his face twitched. A shudder passed through his body as though he'd just drunk something really nasty. His voice became heavier, ancient, and powerful – the voice of the Titan lord Kronos.
"He hosted a Titan lord?!" several gasped in horror. Of course! How had he risen out of that pit otherwise? It wasn't like they could glue the pieces of Kronos back together. Okay, never mind, bad mental image.
The words scraped down my spine like a knife blade. "Come, bow before me."
"Yeah, that'll happen," I muttered.
"If you did, I would kill you, because you'd be an imposter," Thalia said matter-of-factly, examining one of her arrows.
"Good thing I didn't, then." Percy eyed the arrows warily.
Laistrygonian giants filed in on either side of the swimming pool as if they'd been waiting for a cue. Each was eight feet tall with tattooed arms, leather armor, and spiked clubs. Demigod archers appeared on the roof above Luke. Two hellhounds leaped down from the opposite balcony and snarled at me. Within seconds I was surrounded. A trap: there's no way they could've gotten into position so face unless they'd known I was coming.
"How had he known?" one of the smarter ones mouthed to herself, thinking.
I looked up at Luke, and anger boiled inside me. I didn't know if Luke's consciousness was even still alive inside that body. Maybe, the way his voice had changed… or maybe it was just Kronos adapting to his new form. I told myself it didn't matter. Luke had been twisted and evil long before Kronos possessed him.
A voice in my head said: I have to fight him eventually. Why not now?
"Stop looking at me like that, Annabeth. I know it was stupid."
According to that big prophecy, I was suppose to make a choice that saved or destroyed the world when I was sixteen. That was only seven days away. Why not now? If I really had the power, what difference would a week make?
"A lot," Percy laughed uneasily, trying to forget about what would soon happen, even though it was inevitable.
I could end this threat right here by taking down Kronos. Hey, I'd fought monsters and gods before.
"Gods?" someone asked.
"Yeah, Ares. Another one in this book, too."
"He defeated Ares when he was only twelve," Nico added smugly, a little proud of his cousin, not that he would ever admit it. "And had little to no training."
Everyone looked amazed, and Percy blushed.
As if reading my thoughts, Luke smiled. No, he was Kronos. I had to remember that.
"Come forward," he said. "If you dare."
The crowd of monsters parted. I moved up the stairs, my heart pounding. I was sure somebody would stab me in the back, but they let me pass. I felt my pocket and found my pen waiting. I uncapped it, and Riptide grew into a sword.
Percy pulled Riptide out and showed everyone. "See? Magic."
"It's like a boomerang, only not," Travis laughed. "It always comes back, but never hits you on the head."
Some people, confused by his attempt at explaining, just stared at him.
Kronos's weapon appeared in his hands – a six-foot-long scythe, a half Celestial bronze, half mortal steel. Just looking at it made my knees turn to Jell-O. But before I could change my mind, I charged. Time slowed down. I mean literally slowed down, because Kronos had that power.
"Unfair!" the Greek demigods yelled.
I felt like I was moving through syrup. My arms were so heavy, I could barely raise my sword. Kronos smiled, swirling his scythe at normal speed and waiting for me to creep toward my death.
"You survived this?" a student asked, tensing in his spot. "How?"
"Despite his unluckiness with running into the worst monsters ever…"
"He's extremely lucky in fighting them," Thalia finished Annabeth's statement. Nico thought for a moment.
"He's also a child of the Big Three," he added. "So he's stronger than the average demigod."
"Like I said before; skills," Percy grinned.
I tried to fight his magic. I concentrated on the sea around me – the source of my power. I'd gotten better at channeling it over the year, but now nothing seemed to happen.
I took another slow step forward. Giants jeered. Dracaenae hissed with laughter.
Hey, ocean, I pleaded. Any day would be good.
"Yes, please!" some teachers muttered.
Suddenly there was a wrenching pain in my gut. The entire boat lurched sideways, throwing monsters off their feet. Four thousand gallons of salt water surged out of the swimming pool, dousing me and Kronos and everyone on the deck. The water revitalized me, breaking the time spell, and I lunged forward.
The Romans and people from Goode were shocked, but the Romans more so, because they knew just how strong the titan's power was.
Meanwhile, the other demigods were cheering.
I struck at Kronos, but I was still too slow. I made the mistake of looking at his face – Luke's face – a guy who was once my friend. As much as I hated him, it was hard to kill him.
Annabeth knew how he felt.
Kronos had no such hesitation. He sliced downward with his scythe. I leaped back, and the evil blade missed by an inch, cutting a gash in the deck right between my feet.
The demigods had stopped cheering and had also begun to worry. Percy, on the other hand, had closed his eyes and tried to shut everything out.
I kicked Kronos in the chest. He stumbled backward, but he was heavier than Luke should've been. It was like kicking a refrigerator.
"Or a vending machine," Leo suggested. "Like, kicking a vending machine when it eats up your money and doesn't give anything back!"
"Leo," Piper sighed.
Kronos swung his scythe again. I intercepted with Riptide, but his strike was so powerful, my blade could only deflect it. The edge of the scythe shaved off my shirtsleeve and grazed my arm. It shouldn't have been a serious cut, but the entire side of my body exploded with pain. I remembered what a sea demon had once said about Kronos's scythe: Careful, fool. One touch, and the blade will sever your soul from your body. Now I understood what he meant. I wasn't just losing blood. I could feel my strength, my will, my identity draining away.
The tension increased.
I stumbled backward, switched my sword to my left hand, and lunged desperately. My blade should've run him through, but it deflected off his stomach like I was hitting solid marble. There was no way he should've survived that.
"How?" everyone asked, but they received no answer.
Kronos laughed. "A poor performance, Percy Jackson. Luke tells me you were never his match at swordplay."
"No, he was better!" Nico murmured.
My vision started to blur. I knew I didn't have much time.
"Luke had a big head," I said. "But at least it was his head."
"Nice," Connor grinned, though it was a little forced.
"A shame to kill you now," Kronos mused, "before the final plan unfolds. I would love to see the terror in your eyes when you realize how I will destroy Olympus."
"You'll never get this boat to Manhattan." My arm was throbbing. Black spots danced in my vision.
People sucked in a tense breath and held it.
"And why would that be?" Kronos's golden eyes glittered. His face – Luke's face – seemed like a mask, unnatural and lit from behind by some evil power. "Perhaps you are counting on your friend with the explosives?"
Percy started forcibly regulating his breaths, preparing himself for what was to come. Annabeth rubbed his back soothingly. Everyone else's hearts dropped.
He looked down at the pool and called, "Nakamura!" A teenage guy in full Greek armor pushed through the crowd. His left eye was covered with a black patch. I knew him, of course: Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis. I'd saved his life in the Labyrinth last summer, and in return, the little punk had helped Kronos come back to life.
Several people started cursing him.
"Success, my lord," Ethan called. "We found him just as we were told."
He clapped his hands, and two giants lumbered forward, dragging Charles Beckendorf between them. My heart almost stopped. Beckendorf had a swollen eye and cuts all over his face and arms. His armor was gone and his shirt was nearly torn off.
"No!" the students cried.
"No!" I yelled.
Beckendorf met my eyes. He glanced at his hand like he was trying to tell me something. His watch. They hadn't taken it yet, and that was the detonator. Was it possible the explosives were armed?
Surely the monsters would've dismantled them right away.
"Maybe," a teacher said, praying that they were somehow still active.
"We found him amidships," one of the giants said, "trying to sneak to the engine room. Can we eat him now?"
"Never!"
"Soon." Kronos scowled at Ethan. "Are you sure he didn't set the explosives?"
"He was going toward the engine room, my lord."
"How do you know that?"
"Er . . ." Ethan shifted uncomfortably. "He was heading in that direction. And he told us. His bag is still full of explosives."
Slowly, I began to understand. Beckendorf had fooled them. When he'd realized he was going to be captured, he turned to make it look like he was going the other way. He'd convinced them he hadn't made it to the engine room yet. The Greek fire might still be primed!
Relief flooded through the room. Nobody spoke, wanting to know what happened as soon as possible.
But that didn't do us any good unless we could get off the ship and detonate it.
Kronos hesitated.
Buy the story, I prayed. The pain in my arm was so bad now I could barely stand.
Several people had to look again to check and see that Percy was still alive and breathing in front of them.
"Open his bag," Kronos ordered.
One of the giants ripped the explosives satchel from Beckendorf's shoulders. He peered inside, grunted, and turned it upside down. Panicked monsters surged backward. If the bag really had been full of Greek fire jars, we would've all blown up. But what fell out were a dozen cans of peaches.
Some nervous chuckles.
I could hear Kronos breathing, trying to control his anger.
"Did you, perhaps," he said, "capture this demigod near the galley?"
Ethan turned pale. "Um–"
"And did you, perhaps, send someone to actually CHECK THE ENGINE ROOM?"
Ethan scrambled back in terror, then turned on his heels and ran.
I cursed silently. Now we had only minutes before the bombs were disarmed. I caught Beckendorf's eyes again and asked a silent question, hoping he would understand: How long?
He cupped his fingers and thumb, making a circle. Zero. There was no delay on the timer at all. If he managed to press the detonator button, the ship would blow at once. We'd never be able to get far enough away before using it. The monsters would kill us first, or disarm the explosives, or both.
"So pessimistic," Travis sighed, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little.
Kronos turned toward me with a crooked smile. "You'll have to excuse my incompetent help, Percy Jackson. But it doesn't matter. We have you now. We've known you were coming for weeks."
He held out his hand and dangled a little silver bracelet with a scythe charm – the Titan lord's symbol.
"Oh no," a clever classmate muttered, piecing it together.
The wound in my arm was sapping my ability to think, but I muttered, "Communication device… spy at camp."
A series of curses flew from the students.
So engrossed in the book, the adults didn't reprimand them at all.
The Greek demigods – the older ones, in any case – did not curse the spy, as they knew who she was and they'd forgiven her long ago.
Kronos chuckled. "You can't count on friends. They will always let you down. Luke learned that lesson the hard way. Now drop your sword and surrender to me, or your friend dies."
I swallowed. One of the giants had his hand around Beckendorf's neck. I was in no shape to rescue him, and even if I tried, he would die before I got there. We both would.
Beckendorf mouthed one word: Go.
I shook my head. I couldn't just leave him.
"Loyalty," Annabeth said. She shifted and realized that Percy wasn't just leaning against her, but had fallen asleep. She guessed he had a good reason. After all, he was tired and already knew what was going to happen.
So do I. She closed her eyes and relaxed against him, slipping quietly into the realm of Morpheus. Only Thalia noticed.
The second giant was still rummaging through the peach cans, which meant Beckendorf's left arm was free. He raised it slowly – toward the watch on his right wrist.
I wanted to scream, NO!
Leo made a strangled sound, eyes wide.
Then down by the swimming pool, one of the dracaenae hissed, "What isss he doing? What isss that on hisss wrissst?"
Beckendorf closed eyes tight and brought his hand up to his watch.
I had no choice. I threw my sword like a javelin at Kronos. It bounced harmlessly off his chest, but it did startle him. I pushed through a crowd of monsters and jumped off the side of the ship – toward the water a hundred feet below.
I heard rumbling deep in the ship. Monsters yelled at me from above. A spear sailed past my ear. An arrow pierced my thigh, but I barely had time to register the pain. I plunged into the sea and willed the currents to take me far, far away – a hundred yards, two hundred yards.
Even from that distance, the explosion shook the world. Heat seared the back of my head. The Princess Andromeda blew up from both sides, a massive fireball of green flame roiling into the dark sky, consuming everything.
Beckendorf, I thought.
Some had tears in their eyes and running down their cheeks.
Then I blacked out and sank like an anchor toward the bottom of the sea.
Paul put down the book for a moment to compose himself. The Greek campers had heavy hearts, recalling moments of the past. Most of them had realized that reading this book would be worse than they expected, because of all the deaths…
Annabeth had fallen asleep, as did Percy. Thalia moved to wake them up, but Nico leaned over and whispered a couple tense words into her ear. She stopped, looked at the two, and settled back down.
Paul took a deep breath and picked the book up again.
"Chapter two, I Meet Some Fishy Relatives."
DragonAce1999: Yeah... This took a while. Jeez! Never really knew how long those chapters were until now. Again, I'm just going to say that this story is not as polished as my other ones because it's a "when-I-have-free-time-or-no-motivation-for-anythi ng-else" type thing.
Special thanks to the reviewers of my last chapter: emblah01, jasmine352, Rachel. .10, blueice2449, HAZEL DAUGHTER OF HADES, horse-crazy girl13, Guest, THEBATMANIMPOSTER, WeasleyatHeart99, Guest, and Luckout22.
By the way, I have no clue what's going on. I keep on fixing the mistakes in this Author's Note, but when I save and look over it again, it's the same as it was before... So, sorry to the reviewers whose names were written down wrong... For some reason it won't save correctly.
EDIT: Added some more Roman input, though they still don't speak much. Also fixed a lot of mistypes.
Published: 5/9/13
Updated: 7/11/13