I apologize for the long layoff. I am finishing chapter 12 (the chapter I was on when I started posting). I plan to post through that chapter and then stop for NaNoWriMo, which will hopefully get me back in the writing habit so I can finish this starting in December. I will finish this eventually.
I do not own any shops that appear in this chapter. I did enjoy visiting them though.
Chapter 9: Haunted By My Darling Aunt
"You see their plan. You must stop them. Take the helm to my daughter. Do not fail!"
The words of Hades still rang in my ears as I jolted awake and slipped out of the hammock. The light reflecting off the Celestial Bronze cannons provided enough light to get around. Since Airiana and Kim were both girls, and the whole crew were men, it had been decided that I would sleep on the hammock on what I was calling the sleep deck and they would take the Captain's quarters. I'd been outvoted.
I'd never had a repeat nightmare before, but I had one that night. I wasn't quite sure what to do about it. I still wasn't sure what Hades meant by "take the helm to my daughter." I was, however, pretty sure I was gonna keep having this nightmare until I figured it out.
Judging by how refreshed I felt, I guessed I had at least fallen asleep. But I was surprised to find it still dark when I arrived on the top deck. A sailor I hadn't met yet was at the wheel while Roberts played with a black, metal instrument and frowned at the sky. Every once in a while he would turn to the stern, and turn back shaking his head. He cracked a small grin when he saw me and waved me over.
"I'd like to introduce you to our night helmsman," Roberts said. "Laurent Richard, meet Alexander Jackson. Alex, meat Laurent."
"Pleasure to meet you," I said.
"And you Monsieur," Laurent said.
"You are French?" I asked.
"Oui," Laurent said. "I once was French."
"You're not anymore?" I asked.
"No," Laurent said. "Now I am dead." Even Roberts laughed. He raised his head to the sky and his frown returned.
"Damn clouds," Roberts said. "Can't see a thing."
"As long as my father keeps losing the battle, those clouds are going to be there," I said.
"I thought he'd start winning," Roberts said.
"I didn't call that wave," I said. "It means he sent his Lieutenant to watch after me instead of having him fight."
"Why would he do that?" Roberts asked.
"Because he loves me," I said. "And he will sacrifice to world to save the ones he loves. It has always been his greatest flaw."
"Great," Roberts said. "We need the stars to properly navigate the Atlantic."
"Can you get to Cuba without them?" I asked.
"Well, I wouldn't be a good son of Hermes unless I thought I could," Roberts said. "But even I need the stars that far from land; from Hermes' kingdom."
"Perhaps we could sacrifice to Zeus so he'll clear the sky," Airiana said, walking up behind us.
"What would we sacrifice?" I asked.
She shrugged. "I still have your father's armor," she said. "He could use it back right now. Zeus may not believe that he's in danger, but he'll still need to help Percy as much as he can."
Her mention of my father's armor gave me an idea. My father had received the armor as a gift. It was strong armor, stronger than anything mortals could make. And it was magically enchanted to meld with the clothing you were wearing. If you put it on, it will slowly become weightless and disappear, providing protection without the hassle. When you wanted to take it off, you simply thought about taking it off and it would appear around you. I thought that maybe Hades' gift would work the same way. Focusing on Airiana, I thought about the Helm of Darkness; the only helm Hades could have been talking about.
A Symbol of his power to rival Chris for control.
Sure enough I felt a tug at my gut. My hand moved of its own accord and a golden military helmet appeared in my hand. The night sky got even darker, as if a shadow had come over the ship.
I tried to think of something witty and awesome to say. Something that would really impress Airiana at that moment. What I said was something like "Here."
"Is that?" Airiana asked in awe.
"The Helm of Darkness," I said. "Hades wanted me to give it to you. He came to me in a nightmare." She took it gently and it disappeared in her hands. "It seems to be like my father's armor. It will come when you call it."
"That's a powerful gift," Roberts said. "It's a symbol of Power. It gives you a claim to the Underworld same as the Sword does for Nash. Protect it; use it." Roberts' eyes widened and he jerked the wheel from Laurent just as a needle sized tornado jutted from the cloud cover and destroyed the air our sails would have occupied. Even with Roberts' action several of the sails were torn to shreds from the wind.
"What was that?" Ariana said, unsuccessfully attempting to hide her fear.
It was Laurent who spoke. Roberts had full control of the wheel now. "Storm demon," he said. "Born of only the fiercest battles between sea and sky."
The ship lurched to starboard as Roberts struggled for control. "We're not making it to Cuba," he said simply. "Not on those sails."
"We have to go someplace that the Navy can't find us," I said.
"The mortals can only see this ship because they know what it looks like," Laurent said. "It would take a bit longer, but we could paint the ship. With paint and some magic from Ms. Santos, we could do it in an hour."
"It can't be a military port," I said. "That rules out almost every city on the East Coast."
"Any small towns that would still have sails for sale?" Laurent asked. His French accent made that even harder to understand.
"I don't know if they have sails for sale," Ariana said, the fear now under control. "But I went to Key West a couple of summers ago. They have some whaling gift shops that might sell sails."
"Can we make it to Florida?" I asked as the sunlight began to become apparent. A second storm demon aimed for the ship. Roberts was ready this time and it did minimal damage.
"Without any more damage, yes," Roberts said. "But unless your father gets control over the ocean this is gonna be one demon-filled day."
I think Ariana responded with some words, but I was immediately lost in my thoughts. After what was probably a minute or two or ten I ran along the tossing rail and slipped onto the Gun Deck. I heard Ariana screaming at me trying to figure out what was going on as I dodged and danced around about twenty undead crew. I didn't knock as I entered the Cabin's Quarters. I heard a feminine scream from far to my right but I didn't stop and didn't look. I figured I had just walked in on Kim changing.
My bag was in a corner of this room, and I grabbed the book on ancient religions off the top of the bag. The desk was right next to the bag and I was sitting and opening it to ancient Egypt by the time Ariana came into the room. The bookmark was still on the correct page.
"Does a girl get no privacy?" Kim asked angrily and Ariana shut the door and stood between Kim and me. It was the best she would get.
"Care to explain what that was about?" Ariana asked.
I didn't take my eyes off the book; partly for Kim's sake and partly because I was deep in thought. "Something Roberts said," I said, flipping to the section on calendars.
"What thing?" she asked, her tone interested instead of angry now. Kim appeared next to her wrapped in a bed sheet.
"A demon-filled day," I said. "Here it is. Yes!"
"You gonna fill us in sometime?" Kim asked.
I smiled and summarized. "I read it a few years ago and hadn't gotten to the section yet in this book. The Ancient Egyptians used a lunar calendar. It had 12 months of 30 days each. That equals 360 days."
"But there are 365 days in the year," Airiana said.
"Exactly," I said. "The story goes that their original king god, Ra, received a prophecy that a child of their sky and earth gods, Nut and Geb, would overthrow him."
"Sounds like Chronos," Kim said. The sky rumbled.
"Careful," I said. "Anyway, Ra forbade Nut from having children on any day of the year. She gambled with the moon god and won enough moonlight for five new days. She gave birth to one child on each of the days. The five days, being the birthdays of several gods, were added to the end of the year. The Egyptians called these five days the Demon days. They proceeded cautiously on those days, not doing anything risky. Sometimes they didn't even go outside on those five days."
"We thought that December 31 might be an attack day. Anything to suggest Menos is powerful that day?"
"Menos' power is the same as his father's power," I said. "But the Egyptians were cautious on those five days for centuries. They may still be doing that today. The gods' power is tied to our actions. If a large portion of the world is inactive on that day then there are no parties, no agriculture, no messages or travelers, no war, little love. The Olympians power would be weakened, not much but probably enough to get them back to Winter Solstice levels. And the drain on their powers would likely build, culminating on the final day of the year. That, combined with the added power of new beginnings on January 1; attacking Olympus on that day makes sense."
"It's December 1 today," Kim said, adjusting her bedsheet. "So we officially have 30 days then?"
"Yeah, I guess so," I said.
"Fantastic," she said. "Can I change now please?"
At noon, the Constitution was almost finished making a very wide turn around the port of Miami. Kim had done a great job repairing the sails but it was a weak sail and wouldn't last in a storm. We still needed more. And I was getting very hungry. Roberts believed that the Navy would probably be blockading their own major ports in hopes of intercepting us. He did not believe they would blockade a port as small as Key West. They wouldn't expect us to go to a backwater like that. The man had survived as a pirate running from Navies for two years. I trusted his judgment more than my own. We took the long route to Key West so we arrived early on the morning of the second.
The first thing we saw of the port of Key West was a fort. My heart didn't beat again until we realized it was an eighteenth century military fort and was now a national park without a military presence. We were able to slip past it and dock the Constitution on the north shore of Key West.
"I'm going to stay and magically help the crew paint the ship," Kim told me as I returned from a hardware store along the dock's edge. In just that short amount of time the crew had repaired three gun ports. They were making even better time that they thought. "Roberts needs the sails next. They'll need some time to place them."
Airiana and I were walking South down Simonton Street toward what a local had told us was a whaling museum. We hoped that they might have some extra sails hidden somewhere in the back or something. The streets were mostly two lane streets with plenty of window-shopping opportunities as we walked along. When we passed a jewelry store, Airiana slipped her hand into mine.
We walked hand and hand to a four lane highway called Truman Avenue. The shops along this road were a bit sparser, but we were still able to walk along. Just to our east, the museum we were traveling to was just visible over the heads of all the pedestrians. Somehow they had a farmer's market in December. I decided then and there to retire to Florida.
It was difficult to walk along the street but Airiana and I didn't release hands. "What were Whalers again?" I asked.
"Thieves," Airiana said. "They would cast false lights to lure passing ships into rocks and other dangerous underwater things. Then they would rescue the sailors and charge a fee, typically a large one, for their services. Sometimes they just left the wreck alone and took everything when the sailors were dead. They weren't nice people."
We entered the museum. There was a gift shop at the front of the museum. We inquired about whether there were full sized sails in the shop. They said that some were in the museum's basement but they weren't for sale. When we offered $10,000 for each, they provided us with ten. It was good to have connections to Olympus Credit Cards. Our credit limit is a little higher than the average teenagers. And we didn't have to pay it back.
We didn't recognize the ship when we returned. The black sides were now teal with bright yellow trim and it had "Javier was here" painted in red on the starboard side. The only original part was the word Constitution along the stern. It was becoming blue with red letters as Airiana and I approached.
"Wow, record time," I said when we had climbed the loading ramp. Kim, with plenty of paint on her face, turned with a smile. "Same to you. We might be able to get out of here tomorrow."
"Not without food for you all," Roberts said, also covered in teal paint. "We're good on paint but we could use a bit of extra strength to install the sails."
"Can I supply that strength?" Airiana asked.
"You just might be able to," Roberts said. "Ms. Kim, would you accompany Alex to get some food for the voyage?"
It was strange, Airiana and Kim agreed too readily to the switch. And Roberts was acting…odd. I decided I was just overreacting. Since I had grown up in the world of the gods, I had become paranoid about the gods intervening in my life. Surly it was just that paranoia flaring up again.
Kim and I found the farmers market shortly after noon. We found a small booth that could supply us with bags to carry our food.
"What should we get?" Kim asked, looking around.
"Oh, don't worry about that," a tourist said, walking up to us. The woman looked like Barbie, if she was adjusted so she could walk standing upright. She had flowing brown hair that framed her face as if she was controlling it by will. Her curves were perfect, her legs long and perfectly kept. Her eyes were a blue so deep I knew I'd get lost in them if I stared too long. She was wearing a pink string bikini with cute flowery designs on the little space it had. She swept in between Kim and I and placed her arms around us. "Now, this won't due," she said frowning. She took our hands and put them together saying "Better."
"Who are you," Kim asked, pulling her hand from mine. I found myself strangely feeing sad that she did. That's when I realized what was going on.
"Aphrodite," I said, putting distaste into my tone. "What are you doing here?"
"You are my nemesis' son," she said. "I'm interested in your progress."
"Nemesis?" I asked.
"The enemy of love is marriage," Aphrodite said, grabbing a watermelon from a nearby table and putting it in Kim's bag. "Surly you realized that."
"I have a different opinion," I said.
"You have a wrong opinion," she said, placing a pear in my bag. "But that is another argument. For now, have fun! After all, you won't have much time after this shopping trip. What with the attack and all."
"Attack?" I asked.
"Oh look," Aphrodite said, pulling a can of tuna from a table selling oranges. She put it in Kim's bag.
"You're ignoring me," I said.
"Noticed that did you?" she replied. She pulled a frozen chicken from a box on the side of the road and placed it in my bag. "Were you actually surprised at that?"
Kim placed her hand on my bag and said "Come on, let's go."
"Oh look, there she is," Aphrodite said enthusiastically. She was pointing to a corner near the whaling museum where a woman was exiting the museum. I recognized her as Zoë Nightshade. She looked at us and smiled before turning and walking toward the fort further down the road.
"Time to go," I said.
"Oh, but you're not done shopping yet," Aphrodite said. I suddenly realized why I had been following her orders; she was using charmspeak. She was a master at it. I could resist some since I could use it myself; but Kim was powerless. Not wanting to leave her behind I followed along.
"We need to leave before Zoë gets back," I said, throwing my own charmspeak at Kim. She faltered for a moment before placing a Caesar salad in her bag that had no business fitting in it. Aphrodite must have magically enlarged it. I looked in mine and discovered she had enlarged mine also.
"Good try," Aphrodite said winking at me. I barely heard a low roar over the hum of the market. "Oh some wine, how romantic!" She rushed over to a stand on one of the side roads and returned with a bottle of wine that said For Kim and Alex! on the label.
"I'm underage!" I said when she tried to put it in my bag.
"Not in Europe," Aphrodite said.
"Well I'd like a different brand then," I said. The wine had somehow traveled through the side of my bag.
"Nonsense, it's cute," Aphrodite said, smiling.
"Yeah, honey, it's cute," Kim said. I wasn't sure if she was under a spell or being sarcastic. Aphrodite picked up a 20 galleon barrel of water and placed it in my bag, despite my best efforts.
"Won't that smash the wine?" I asked.
"No, I put it in a different compartment," Aphrodite said. Fire erupted from the fort Zoë had run to. "Time to go," Aphrodite said simply. She managed to place Kim's hand in mine in the blink of an eye before running back down the street.
"Kim, snap out of it!" I said, pulling my hand away. I had to immediately stop because my bag suddenly felt like it weighed five hundred pounds. "What did you put in here?" I yelled up at Aphrodite, who had stopped at a sunglass shop and was modeling the selection.
"The essentials," she replied.
"I can't carry this," I said.
"It's a lover's bag," she said simply, turning away after ensuring the salesman that payment wasn't necessary. "As long as you hold hands, it will weigh nothing; don't and it weighs double."
"You got to be kidding me," I said, grabbing Kim's hand. She was smiling stupidly and seemed to have some extra makeup from what was there this morning. I glanced back toward the fort and saw Zoë ride a giant red dragon out of the fort. Last time I saw that dragon it had nearly killed me. I wasn't looking forward to giving it a second chance. Zoë appeared to be scanning the road looking for us. "Get to the shadows," I said, pulling Kim toward the vendors.
"You-hoo!" Aphrodite shouted. She was waving, trying to catch Zoë's attention, which she succeeded in doing.
"What are you doing?" I yelled more than asked. "You trying to get us killed?"
"What's a good love story without the threat of death?" Aphrodite said simply. "Besides, I wouldn't mind if you did get killed. I haven't liked you since Chase gave birth to you. I could smell Hera on you even then."
The vender behind us fell victim to a blast of fire from Zoë's dragon, which I'm pretty sure wasn't covered by insurance. That at least seemed to snap Kim out of her charmspeak spell. She pulled her wand and I saw "water" appear in bronze, Greek letters before she grabbed my hand again and pulled me down the street.
"This is so much fun!" Aphrodite said in front of us, grabbing a full Zebra carcass from a vender and running toward my bag. Why the vender had a Zebra, I'll never understand. She ran into me as she attempted to put the Zebra into my bag, but bumped into me in the process. I fell off balance and dropped my bag. Kim tried to pull me back upright, but I wound up turning into her as I fell. The end result was me on top of Kim with my hands in some very inappropriate places, which I'm positive was Aphrodite's plan in the first place. It took us a second to realize what had happened before we simultaneously shoved each other off.
We just managed to grab our bags and grab hands before the dragon destroyed the ground we had been laying on. Aphrodite turned a corner and the ship appeared as we followed. The paint job was complete and it appeared they were about halfway through changing the gun ports. The dragon landed on a corner building and blew fire into the sky. I smiled: maybe Zoë didn't have as much control on that beast as she thought.
Our path was cut off by a hummer that screeched to a stop in the middle of the road. The hummer was black, with a red stripe down the side with a glow I thought I recognized. The back door opened and Aphrodite slipped into it without a word and it sped off. Two eyes that appeared to be made of fire were visible on the far side of the seat.
"Glad to know she's safe," I said. Kim chuckled and flipped gracefully to the other side of me as a blast of fire flew past where she had been standing. The ship saw us and began to react when we were about halfway down the street. We were making good time considering we had to make the whole trip holding hands. I looked up to see Airiana standing on the stern wearing a golden helmet.
We both stopped cold in our tracks and dropped our bags. Panic like none I had ever experienced washed over me. I wanted to run as fast as I could from the ship, but my body seemed bolted to the ground. Most of the people left on the street fled in panic as fast as they could. I heard the dragon screech, almost as if it was in pain, and turned back in time to see Zoë fall from the beast into the burning streets several blocks away. The dragon flew off as quickly as it could toward Miami.
Our panic subsided as Airiana took the helm off and we grabbed our things again and waddled toward the ship. A plank was lowered just as we arrived and we climbed up to the top deck.
"Why are you holding hands?" Airiana asked immediately.
"Long story," I said. "We need to get sailing."
"We still have a few hours to finish repairs," Roberts said. "Let me help you with that." He attempted to grab Kim's bag, but nearly ripped his arms off trying to pick it up. "How did you carry all that!" he said.
"Aphrodite's magic bag," I said. "They weigh nothing as long as I'm holding hands with Kim. I have the feeling it won't work for any other combination," I added as he made to grab my hand. It didn't work. Roberts let Kim have the bag back and helped us navigate the steps down the two decks to the kitchen area. A new ghost was waiting for us there.
"Can we leave now?" I asked once the food had been delivered. Kim left as soon as she could to try and calm Airiana.
"Repairs will take another six hours at least," Roberts said. "Besides, the dragon ran away.
"Zoë's still out there," I said. "She won't rest until this ship is at the bottom of the ocean. We need a head start on her. Can the repairs be done at sea?"
"We won't be able to make our best time, but I suppose they could," Roberts said. "I'll get us underway."
"Thanks," I said.
"I'd talk to Ms. Wilson if I were you," he said. "She don't look too happy."
