Percy jumped as a wave of water splashed against his face, smashing his head against he top bunk. The sharp pain made him wince in agony, rubbing his head to ease the feeling, though it didn't work. He looked up to see his "jailor" holding an empty bucket and gave him as angry of a glare as he could manage. "You know, I would appreciate it if I wasn't splashed in the face with a bucket full of water, especially when I'm awake." Sure, he wasn't wet, but it had startled him enough to .

The jailor just grunted. He always grunted no matter what Percy asked him - from how long the guy had been under the service of his captain to how bad the Knicks were. Percy wasn't even sure if he could use words at all.

Still smarting from the pain, the young demigod sighed at the current situation. Even though he would have preferred arriving in San Francisco, heading off his teammates to end this stupid quest, instead he found the raft he used to escape Calypso's island next to a giant battleship, run by pirates. Real swashbuckling pirates. That alone was enough to give the boy a massive migraine. Of course, actually being captured, being punched in the face as well, actually did give him a migraine. That blow to the chin still hurt.

And then they sent him to his "cell." Honestly, that was the worst, because he was greeted by a terrified sq~

"P~percy Ja~Jackson~ EEP!"

"Yeah, yeah, you've said my name every other minute for the past hour. And I still don't know how you know me."

Trying to hide behind the opposite bed underneath a very drab blanket, a girl shivered. Well, Percy assumed it was a girl, judging by the high-pitched squeaks of fright. He guessed it could have been a rather large mouse with a tan complexion and black hair. It was kind of hard to tell, as the sheet she was clinging onto barely revealed the slightest of her features.

This… this was definitely a first for Percy. He wasn't used to someone so obviously terrified of him. After all, he looked like a normal teenager, especially when he wasn't waving his kickass sword around. Maybe his face was beaten so badly it bruised, and that was why she was afraid? It couldn't have been what he was wearing - the clothes he got from Calypso were still in mint condition. She really was amazing with that.

He decided to ask the girl again what her deal was. Maybe the eleventh time was the charm. "Hey, you alright? I'm not going to hurt you, you know."

"... You~ You're Percy Jackson!"

"Yes… and you know me how?"

"EEEP!" Okay, this was getting really weird. So, obviously the girl knew about him, and that was the reason why she was scared. Had he ever done anything to a girl before?

He tried to ignore all the circumstances with Medusa, Echidna, Circe, the harpies, etc.

"Listen, I'm not sure why you're scared of me, but could you at least tell me what's the deal with those pirates? 'Cause there's somewhere I kinda need to be at, or else my friends are going to get crushed by some Titan general guy."

Unfortunately, the girl had decided to keep quiet. Annoyed, Percy tried to ignore her scared gaze and instead focus on his situation and what he had on him. He checked his pockets and found everything, including Annabeth's way-too-awesome Yankees hat, as well as the mysterious little vial Calypso had given him before he left.

Of course, those thoughts helped him recall her last parting gift - his first kiss. And man, what a kiss that was. He was so shell shocked that Calypso had to be the one to push off and get him to sea.

The memory of how she smelt like cinnamon, which her lips oddly tasted like as well, made the boy blush a deep shade of red.

"Is that how you react when a girl walks into the room?"

Percy looked up, only for his flush to get quite a bit deeper. Seriously, what was with all the beautiful women coming into his life lately?

There, in the doorway, stood a Hispanic girl, staring down at him with dark eyes. Her shoulder-length, choppy black hair framed her proud face. She looked like she was an upperclassman in high school. Of course, it was taking every effort for Percy to focus on her attractive face, because her body, in his mind, was a ten - a form-fitting tank top and cut-off jean short shorts did little to hide her tanned arms and long legs. The boy doubted there was an inch of fat on her, other than what might have been the most impressive rack he had ever seen on a human girl. All in all, she looked like she was some awesome action movie actress that would fit right in killing zombies or something.

Slowly his mind rebooted from the shock of such a hot girl, forgetting that she asked a question. The new girl rolled her eyes, turned, and spotted her other cellmate, shivering in the corner. She immediately shot as angry a glare as she could muster at the one boy in the room. "What did you do to my sister?"

"Sister? Oh you mean her? Nothing! She's been like that since I was pushed in here, I promise!" Percy answered desperately, panicking at the look the older girl was giving. What with Thalia, Annabeth, and Zoë, he knew hot girls could have a temper. Fortunately, the new prisoner seemed able to accept this, swearing under her breath and quickly moving to comfort the terrified occupant of the room.

The son of Poseidon spoke up, concerned. "Um, is she always like this?"

The older sister looked at the only male quizzically and stayed silent for a few minutes. In the awkward silence, it felt to Percy as if she was trying to figure how she could kill him in this small room. Luckily, this wasn't the case. "No. She had some trouble dealing with the pirates at first, but not on this level."

"So it is me…" sighed Percy. He turned to the girl still huddled up in her blanket and gave a quick apology. "I'm not sure what I did, but I won't do it again, okay?"

There was no reply, but at least the shivering went down again. A little progress, Percy supposed.

The two female occupants started whispering furiously between them in Spanish, leaving the boy alone, not that he minded. In his mind, it was better to be ignored than feared. Despite only knowing how to count to ten in Spanish, he could actively guess what the two were talking about. Did Percy do anything? Don't worry, he's an idiot, blah blah blah. Well, that's what most of his female friends would whisper to each other whenever they thought he wasn't listening, specifically Thalia and Annabeth. It kind of hurt his feelings. Well, at least he couldn't really understand what these two were talking about. Though, if he had to venture a guess, the younger sister was named Reyna, and the older was… Hylla?

Everything clicked - an attractive girl with a clipboard, her name on the tag she was wearing, leading Annabeth away for some spa treatment while he was left in the care of ~ "Circe! You were there with Circe!" The younger girl qualed at the sudden interruption, but Percy ignored that. Instead, he looked at the two with horror. "S~ She's not here, is she?" He really didn't want to be turned back into a guinea pig only six months later - he still got nightmares from that experience.

Hylla angrily glared at her fellow prisoner, making the son of the Sea God back up as far as he could on the bench. She was bigger than him, and he had plenty of experience being beaten up by high-strung girls. Plus, she learned under a witch goddess that felt men made better rodents than humans. Percy wouldn't be surprised if she let him know how much her former teacher instructed her in ways of the arcane.

Fortunately, the girl answered his question with words, and not her fists nor magic. "No, she ran away, thanks to you and that blondie unleashing a bunch of pirates on that spa! She and a few of her closest apprentices managed to escape, while I stayed back to protect Reyna. And we've been their prisoners for the last six months, thank you very much."

"... Oh… sorry?" So that explained why the younger sister was so scared of the boy. He basically was the reason why she lost her home and was now on a boat with a bunch of pirates. And if the younger sister was anything as remotely attractive as Hylla, then… Percy shuddered, hoping that the two girls were still … good.

It seemed the older sister picked up on his worries, so she eased his mind. "Don't worry. Though these pirates are pretty disgusting and make at least one lewd joke about me or my sister whenever we're doing chores, they usually know to stay clear with us."

"Eh? Why's that?"

"The Captain threatened to feed them to whatever sea monster was in the area."

This time the younger sister stammered out a further explanation, no doubt trying to muster up some courage. "W~we're al~also d~daughters of B~bellona." As if that explained everything. Of course, Percy had no clue what she was talking about, but now that she was finally opening up a bit, the boy could see that she was a miniature Hylla around his age - in other words, pretty hot. A small blush blossomed again on his cheeks, earning him a threatening glare from the older sister.

She turned back to her little sister, scolding her. "Reyna, you know we shouldn't go around saying that. He's Greek, after all." Her eyes widened as she realized that her voice may have been a little louder than the whisper she intended. Slowly she turned to Percy, hoping that he hadn't caught on to what she was saying.

It wasn't meant to be.

"Um, who's Bellona? And what does me being Greek have anything… wait… there are other gods?!"

Both of the captive sisters flinched, realizing that a huge secret had just been revealed. They kept glancing at each other, trying to figure out what to say, when Percy spoke up again. "Ah, well, should have figured that." The two girls just stared at him, awestruck at how he was taking this so chalantly. He noticed their looks and tried to defend himself. "When you think about it, if there are Greek gods, then it would make sense if other gods were around. I mean, I'm pretty sure places like Japan and China knew nothing about Zeus. What gods helped them?"

"So, you're alright with the fact that there are Roman gods as well? Greeks and Romans don't mix!"

"Oh, so Bellona is Roman? Huh. Then again, Mr. Brunner taught Latin, so that would fit~"

"Mr. Brunner? Who in Hades' name is that?"

"Eh, old teacher. Nevermind." Both girls once again stared at the boy, wondering just how bad the usual demigod symptoms of ADHD were in Percy. "Look, like I said, I don't really care whether you're Greek or Roman. In the end, we're the same children of gods and goddesses who like to watch the adventures we demigods stumble through. You fight monsters to stay alive; I fight monsters to stay alive. Anyways, I've got somewhere to be, so is there any way to get in contact with the captain here? Wait, this is just like Pirates of the Caribbean. There's a word… parleley, parlelellyleloooo, par le nee, partner, par... snip, parsley…"

"Parley?" Reyna offered.

"That's the one! Parley! Parley!" Percy got up and started shouting the word down the hall, leaving the two flabbergasted at the boy's … erratic personality. How could someone be so random? One minute he was basically giving them a motivational speech, and the next he was quoting a comedic scene in an epic movie. They just sat there, staring at the boy's back, trying to figure out the puzzle behind him.

Pretty soon the dumb guard came to take him to the captain, but before he left, he turned to the sisters and asked them what the name of the captain was. And there was another odd aspect of the boy's personality: obliviousness. Seriously, how did he ever escape the Sea of Monsters?

"Edward Teach," explained Hylla, her voice layered in a deadpan monotone, "otherwise known as Blackbeard."

Wow. Now I know why he got that nickname. That is one awesome beard.

"Argh, what did you think of the two lassies?"

Percy shook his head, his attention broken from the man before him stroking his amazingly long, curly facial hair. "Lassie? Like that dog that died in the movie?"

The pirate captain frowned. "What is this 'movie' you speak of?"

Percy was stumped. The guy didn't know what a movie was? "Er, it's… it's like TV."

"Teevee? Is that some sort of device, much like this ray-dor and in-tar-calm?"

"Uh, sure. But you can see things in it. I guess you could say it's a box that carries a play, and Lassie is one of its shows."

Teach grunted. "Blast these technarlagenies. What me soul would give but for a compass and a map. Or me old ship. If I recall right, yer the feller who stole me boat, lad."

"Err…" Percy didn't know what to say. Last time he was on any pirate boat, a cyclops had smashed it with a giant boulder. "A boat? I don't remember any boat."

"Ya mean ya don't remember me beautiful Queen Anne's Revenge? That ship was top of the line, boy. All them redcoats could do nothing against me vessel on the open seas. Why, half me crew were from them hulks."

"Oh, that ship! Yeah, it was very nice. Amazing! Sailed beautifully!"

"Ah, yes, boy, it does. Still, it helps when ole Barnacle Breath's very own boy guides the ship, right boy?"

A vein started bulging in Percy's head. This man had insulted his father! No one did that. As he studied the pirate, trying to see how he could bash his head in a bit, he noticed an all-too-familiar sneer. "You're Ares's son!"

"Aye! That's right! Me da would be so proud of all the destruction I did in me day. And now look! Me da blesses me a metal ship that can float for me crew and I to sail the seven seas! It's a bloomin' miracle, lad."

"Uh, you know that all war ships are made out of metal now, right?" That shocked the pirate captain. "Yeah, it's been like that since, like, a hundred years ago."

"Lies! Doncha talk to me like that boy! We will destroy them redcoats and find me some gold." Percy wanted to tell him that whatever these "redcoats" were, they were no longer able to be destroyed, but the next words out of the pirate captain's mouth shut him up for a bit. "And yer gonna help me!"

"...Wait what?"

"I said, laddie, that you're gonna help me! A son of Poseidon belongs on the sea, boy."

"... You know what I did to your dad, right?"

"Aye, and lemme say, I'm mighty happy ya did that, boy. Da needs to be brought down a peg or three! Why, look at meself. I'm just a humble pirate, bent on finding me some treasure. Da is always thinkin he's the best, but we pirates know there is always someone better; if we come across them, we fight and try to beat them. It's as simple as that."

"Seriously? You're all battle-hungry idiots?"

Blackbeard ignored the insult. "Aye! And lemme tell you somethin', boy, I always won. E'en when everythin' went to Hades and ole governors bought sailors to hunt me down - strong sailors at that, boy - I always won. And I let them know it! Why, doncha know why they call me Blackbeard?"

"Because you have a black beard?"

"Err, aye, so it is, but it is mostly because I let them live to see it! They would always know that I, Edward Teach, beat them."

"... So?"

"So?!" Blackbeard shouted, making the boy jump before quieting down again. "So, whatta say: will ya join me crew?"

"Wait, that was a recruiting pitch?"

"Err, ah, aye, so it was," stammered the pirate captain. Now this was familiar territory for Percy: no matter who they were, it almost seemed assured that Ares and his children all tried to hide a self-conscious side of theirs. Percy could really start to see the resemblances of a friend from camp in the once-thought-dead Blackbeard. It made him kind of sad that they actually lacked confidence. Not sad enough to accept the offer, but still kind of sad. Of course, he was sure that refusing his offer meant his throat slit and his body dumped somewhere off the coast of California, so he had to play smart with this.

"Well, Captain Blackbeard~"

"Just Blackbeard, boy."

"Yes, Blackbeard, sir. Can I have some time to think about your offer? I'd rather not decide too quickly, you know. A choice like this is pretty big."

"Ah, aye, that is wise, boy." Percy stifled a small laugh; who would ever think a son of Ares would talk about being wise? "I'll give ya an hour. Nothin' more. Now, get yaself back down to ya cell, boy. I've gotta figure out where we are. I still haven' got a clue about dis ray-dor thing yet."

Hylla seriously hated her life. No matter what she did, who she met, and where she went, trouble always seemed to pop its ugly head and mess up everything. And for some odd reason, trouble seemed to have a name: Percy Jackson.

She wasn't sure why she was thinking of the brat at the moment. Usually, when a girl thought of a boy as she stood there changing, it was for reasons that would only embarrass them if it was ever found out. And yet, right now, the older teenager was rehashing everything that had to do with the son of Poseidon in her life. And despite the little amount of experience with him, the girl was absolutely sure about one thing: wherever Percy was, Chaos loved to be.

She remembered the first time she saw him, with that blonde daughter of wisdom, practically stranded at sea. She knew her boss would take an immediate interest in the girl - pretty, smart, and ambitious? The girl was destined to become Circe's second-in-command within two years. Not that Hylla cared at all. She was simply there to keep her little sister away from anything dangerous. Frankly, she was shocked that Circe even let them join; it was way too obvious that the two sisters had absolutely no talent in magic. Then again, she might have thought they were cute and could be "trained" to be proper play toys - Hylla was absolutely sure that the goddess had no interest in guys, what with the entire guinea pig thing and all.

That idea had sickened the girl as she watched the dark-haired, green-eyed demigod steered away by the beautiful witch-goddess. In ten minutes, another rodent would be added to the collection. Perhaps that was why Hylla let the daughter of wisdom roam off in the direction where the transformation would occur. Of course, she had no idea that the two visitors had the means to undo the magic; she also had no clue that an entire crew of pirates were in the same room under the same spell. So, when she first saw Circe running away from a large group of men, she stood there, too shocked to move. Pretty soon her sister and she were rounded up, and Hylla knew that her wish to protect Reyna from violence had not come true. And that all started when a son of the sea god popped up.

Now, truth be told, she didn't mind her life as a pirate "captive." Sure, she could feel the trolls known as the crew staring at her and her sister lewdly, no doubt imaging something … unappealing. Hylla couldn't blame them: it had been a good three-hundred-years since they "got some," and the two Ramirez-Arellano sisters were attractive. The older teenager had that much confidence in herself. That didn't stop it from being an uncomfortable feeling, and Reyna was much too young to have to experience something like that.

Luckily - and shockingly - the pirate captain, of all people, would not allow his crew to do what they pleased with the two girls. For all the fear his name would incite, Blackbeard… really was a nice guy. He saw potential in the girls and taught them how to fight with swords. After four months of his training, he became what amounted to a surrogate father to Hylla and Reyna. And like all surrogate fathers, he simply waved them off when they expressed this to him, claiming he had done too much in this world to ever deserve an affectionate title like "father." Besides, he needed to help them, since all three of them were "children of war."

It had taken another two months before the sisters finally understood what he meant by that. On that night, as they sat "enjoying" their meal of extremely old MREs in their "cell," a voice whispered to them, calling herself Bellona, and claiming them as her "daughters." The voice seemed proud and hungry, almost as if she was looking for a fight, which seemed odd with the whole "long lost family" vibe the two got from her speech. They quickly noticed a weird symbol on top of their heads and panicked, fleeing to the captain's cabin to see if Blackbeard could help them understand what was going on. Instead of him trying to calm them down, like they expected, he just started laughing at them, like they should have expected. After a few minutes of him howling in amusement, much to their growing embarrassment, their surrogate father calmed down enough to explain that they were demigods, Roman at that. Seeing as he was Greek, they were bound to be mortal enemies. He then stifled another laughing fit after seeing their uneasy faces, claiming he never understood why there was a bloody rivalry between the two faiths, anyways. In the end, they were practically the same thing - a bunch of arrogant people who behaved more like spoiled children than almighty gods.

No, Blackbeard was many things, but a devout son and pawn of the gods, he was not. Still, the two girls he had practically come to see as daughters deserved to know everything they wanted. He offered them a choice: become part of his crew, or get properly trained back on the mainland. They had promised to think about it, when, unfortunately, trouble in the form of Percy Jackson appeared again. It came as a shock when Hylla found Percy in their "cell," his face extremely worried as Reyna, who really acted like a tough girl most of the time, cowered in the corner.

She then noticed a soft side with the boy, and gradually watched as her sister came out of her shell.

Of course, the older sister had heard rumors that the troublemaker was a natural born leader with a hero-like sense of justice, managing to have a little fun while he's at it. It didn't help that the boy was quite good-looking, even if he was only fourteen. All that made one thing clear: he was everything Reyna would like in a boy, and the older girl figured her sister was developing her first crush right before her eyes, even if she still hid behind a blanket from him. It didn't help that the boy obviously thought she was cute, what with the obvious blush from earlier.

Hylla could only shake her head at this turn of events - she had never seen the point of romance. She wasn't gay at all; she liked younger boys. But that was mostly because they were intimidated by her awesomeness; or at least, that's what she thought. It was then that she realized that she never really had a guy to dominate - all the boys in Puerto Rico thought her sister and she were daughters of the devil, and every guy that made it to Circe's Island Adventure were quickly sold out as a pet guinea pig. And all the guys on board were older than her.

Hmm, maybe she should test her interests on the incarnation of trouble himself…

Just as she was bending down to take off her short shorts, uncaring that her butt (something she was quite sure of) was proudly displaying the pink panties she wore, she heard her sister start. Looking up, she noticed her sister frozen in the middle of taking off her bra that held back the girl's impressive set of boobs - not nearly as big as her own, but far bigger than any other fourteen year old. Curious at the look of sheer horror that was etched into her little sister's face, Hylla turned her head, finally noticing that the door had opened.

And there, staring at the two with a look that somehow entailed both terror and pleasure, was the very same fourteen-year-old boy she had just been thinking about. His face just kept opening and closing, much like a fish, which seemed hilarious considering who he was. All three occupants of the room just stood there in the moment of awkwardness, each too unsure of what to do next.

"N~ N~ Naughty?!" The boy stuttered out something which didn't please the older sister at all. She was about to beat the shit out of Percy, but then she stopped. Wasn't that word printed on some of her panties that were given to her by her old boss? It was another piece of evidence against Circe and her claims of being straight.

So perhaps Percy was just reading off her butt that was still pointed right at him? Hardly his fault.

Okay, maybe she wouldn't beat the shit out of him. Slowly, she stood up and turned toward the hormonal teenager whose eyes instantly raked in the sight of her long and lean legs. She was surprised to note that the boy basically knew it was against his better judgment, what with how he kept trying to tear them away. But an older girl with nothing on waist down but her panties was too much of a temptation to look. She understood that - hell, if a hot guy her age wore nothing but boxers, she'd have trouble looking at his face, too.

Still, an eerie grin broke out on her face, a grin that had come to be the bane of any pervert that ever tried to peek on her or her sister. It was one reason why none of the pirates who weren't eunuchs ever came down to the cell. It spoke of horrible pain and suffering. Beautiful, yet dangerous. And that grin was the last thing Percy would see before feeling something smash against his face.

"Hylla, should you really have kicked him in the head? He really could be hurt. Maybe a concussion."

"Reyna, relax. Your boyfriend will be alright."

"B~boyfriend?!"

"Besides, I doubt he will be too angry once he wakes up. He walked in on two girls changing - I wouldn't be surprised if he had a few wet dreams right now."

"Hylla! How could you say something so… so…"

"Huh, why did I say something like that? Has the rest of the crew rubbed off on me?"

Percy was hearing this conversation that really should have been private, but fortunately for the two sisters, his head was pounding too much to actually follow what was being said. The only thing he could do was groan, informing the two of his suffering.

"Eeep!"

"Ah, so the pervert is awake!"

"Pervert?"

"Well, what else would you call someone who walked in on two girls changing and didn't leave?"

Ah, that was right! A memory flashed in Percy's brain of two super hot pirate chicks in their underwear. Wait, no, his head was throbbing because of that sight - it's best to file that away in his mind. Right next to Calypso's cute butt and groping Bianca's small yet developed boob.

Besides, something slightly more important popped up: Blackbeard's deadline.

"Shit! How long was I out?"

"Er, maybe five minutes? Enough for Reyna and me to throw some clothes on. Why?"

"Only five minutes? Good, so I still have about forty minutes to make a decision…"

"Decision?"

"Uh…" Percy hesitated, unsure if he should tell the older girl what was up. He basically had two strikes when it came to her - he had ruined her life and then saw something "naughty." But then, who else could he rely on at the moment? Certainly not the younger sister - the girl his age was hiding behind her sister like it was the last thing blocking her from the world's most horrible monster…

… which he realized that, for a teenaged girl, a boy who had torn her from her home and then spotted her undoing her bra would definitely rank up there among horrifying monsters.

Fortunately, Hylla seemed to be quite clever and figured out what the boy was worried about. "So, he wants you to join his crew?" The older daughter of Bellona couldn't help but frown at this - she was sure Reyna wanted training on the mainland, but if her new crush chose the life of piracy...

Luckily, the boy had other plans. "Yeah. But I can't do that; I've got friends to save! They're going to die, and there's nothing I can do about it if I'm stuck in the middle of the Pacific!"

Reyna looked at the boy from behind her sister, awed by his heroic nature. It was like his enthusiasm and bravery was visible around him, surrounding him in a sea-green glow… her sister would so tease her so bad if she ever knew what was going through Reyna's mind. Still, the boy's courage was kind of contagious, enough for the younger sister to break out of her shell just a little bit. "S~so, why not s~say n~no?"

"... Because he'd kill me?"

Hylla shook her head, trying to hide her surprise at her sister opening up a bit. "No, even though his father's a warmonger, Blackbeard doesn't like shedding blood. He'd rather drop you off at your preferred destination than have your blood stain his floors."

"Really?"

"Well, we're technically his prisoners, but he's trained us and helped us understand about who we were. I think he'd still have his men treat us well, even if he didn't know about our mother."

"Oh, that other goddess..."

An awkward silence filled the room. The two sisters were unsure how to respond - it's not every day someone learns there are other gods besides the ones they worship. They still were having trouble understanding it a week after they learned about it.

Of course, Percy didn't really care. So what if there were other gods; it didn't change the fact that these two hot girls were actually quite friendly. He mentally shook his head at the "hot" description. Seriously, what was with him lately? Was checking out every girl some kind of withdrawal from missing his crush? He really needed to find her soon, or else he might start hitting on girls. And, knowing Percy Jackson, Percy was sure that would lead to disaster.

Finally, the boy's ADHD had to break the silence. "Um, listen, you two really don't have to feel like you need to explain anything to me. I can see it's some kind of big secret, so… what I'm trying to say is, it's alright not to tell me anything."

The two girls smiled at his lack of concern. Of course, Hylla could tell he was just trying to keep them happy - which was good for her sister, since the girl never had enjoyed much of her life. Maybe, after all this was over, she could help push Reyna and Percy together - even if they were Greek and Roma~ Wait, what was she thinking?! There was no way she was letting these two younger demigods live some sappy Romeo and Juliet love story. No, no romance. That was final.

"So, I guess I should tell Blackbeard what I'm going to do…"

"Yeah, though if you don't mind, I think it'd be good if we come along. We've got something to say to the Captain as well, don't we, Reyna?"

The younger sister hummed her agreement while glancing at what Hylla could only assume was her prince in shining armor. Hylla rolled her eyes. "You know, if you really want him, you're going to have to make the first move. Guys are awfully dense, from what I hear," whispered the older sister in Reyna's ear, making the younger girl yelp in embarrassment and hide her face in her blankets again. Reyna tried not to show it, but she really had a cute side.

It was times like these where the boy really wanted to know what in Hades girls had go through their heads. His experience with girls was practically limited to Annabeth, Thalia, and Clarisse, and considering those three girls were interested in architecture, punk music, and fighting respectively, there were times he questioned whether they were truly girls or not, a crush on one of them notwithstanding. Maybe he'd get back to camp and talk with Silena Beauregard about them.

That was the last thought he had before he heard a muffled yell behind him. He turned just as what looked like a body was thrown past the window. The frown on his face, mirrored by the two girls, suddenly morphed into horror as a new face peered into the room - a face that Percy knew only too well.

After all, how could anyone forget the face of an unkillable zombie whose sole reason in life was to hunt you down?

Hello again, everyone! So sorry it took forever to get this out... I had a small case of writer's block about how exactly I wanted this to come out. I then realized that, by the time I got to the end of the chapter, it basically was the same length as the other ones. So, how about a little cliffhanger?

Honestly, I can't think of an unluckier character in the entire series than Reyna. I mean, her entire life is crap, and she doesn't even really get that much of a reward in the end. Even Nico, the kid who had to go through as much of a hell as there is in the series by himself and living his life with an unrequited love, got a good ending. Reyna? Nothing. Just stuck being the Praetor for a bunch of bloodthirsty teenagers, with a partner who already has a girlfriend.

And all Reyna wants is to be loved. That's just not fair.

Plus, her sister is awesome. Frankly, hot warrior girls are right up there with femme fatales in my book. And seeing as all the femme fatales want to see Percy dead (unsurprising, of course, but there could have been one redemption project), hot warrior girl is right up my alley. Of course, the BDSM vibe that her... tribe exhibits is somewhat of a turn-off. Meh...

Anyways, did anyone realize how fast both Reyna and Hylla shot up to stardom in both of their respective groups? They met Percy in the summer of 2007... and by the summer of 2009, Reyna was the elder Praetor in the legion. Two years, and she had risen to the top. Now, let's just give a rough estimate on her trip there, based off of actual facts and hints on what other characters went through:

An old American battleship could only go 20 knots at top speed. Naturally, pirates wouldn't go top speed, so cut that by half. Now, from Florida to the Panama canal is roughly 1000 nautical miles. So it'll take roughly a week for the pirates to make it to the Panama Canal. From there to California would take roughly another two weeks (seeing as the distance is about twice as long). So, it'll take roughly three weeks to get from what we consider the Sea of Monsters all the way to San Francisco. (Percy and co were aided by magic, as was Luke and the Princess Andromeda - I doubt the pirates had these considerations, seeing as they weren't in any important quests.)

Of course, I doubt the pirates set off right away. They live on an island paradise with all the food and water they could want. So, I gave them roughly six months of leisure.

Now, we learned that it took Percy two months to fight his way from Wolf House to New Rome. And that was with a Percy hyped up on Achilles' curse.

All told, it probably took Reyna roughly a year to go from new recruit to Praetor.

Now, she may seem extremely out-of-character in this chapter, but remember, she was scared of Percy when he first showed up in Son of Neptune. And that was after she went through the crap of pirates, hungry wolves, and rising through the ranks of a bunch of bloodthirsty teenagers. Now is only six months since her home was lost, so I could imagine her being scared shitless by the very boy who ruined her life.

Also, about the crush... the older girl started hitting on Percy within hours of first meeting him, despite being scared of him. She's a girl who falls for a guy fast.

Anyways, sorry again about the late update. Enjoy the chapter! Give a review! And if you want to read anything more by me, check out my Pokemon fic, where Ash is destined to be the Chosen One... except a few obstacles are in the way.