Jake's POV

"You guys ready?" Malcolm asks Bell and I.

We're in the ship that my dad, Apollo, gave us. It was nice of him, I guess. It sort of makes up for him not talking to me for sixteen years. Well, seventeen now, technically. Today, August 18, is my birthday. Not that anyone really knows except Malcolm and my half-siblings at camp. Not even Apollo said happy birthday to me, but he seemed to have known Bell, with his "supernatural abilities" and stuff.

Bell starts the engine and gives Malcolm a thumbs up, who is at the wheel or whatever else you call it. I watch as Bell walks below deck.

Malcolm begins steering or whatever, I'm not good with this whole pirate ship type of stuff. We sail into the sea, and I watch as the shore slowly comes out of view.

Am I scared? I don't know, actually. I've been asking myself that question ever since Chiron issued this quest. I was hoping to be terrified, that's what people normally feel like when you have to go to one of the most dangerous places for a demigod. The thing is, I don't feel terrified, or even slightly scared. I feel something, but I think it's more worry than fear. There's an annoying little voice in my head asking what if something goes wrong. What if one of us really dies? What if we don't save the three other half-bloods? What if one of us get hurt or injured or something?

I sigh and shut the voice out, walking towards Malcolm. "Hey," I say to him. "So, how long do you think it'll take us to get to the Sea of Monsters?"

Malcolm shrugs. "I'm not sure. It might take a while, though," he tells me. "There's a bigger distance between Florida and the Bermuda Triangle than you would think. Happy birthday, by the way."

"Not as happy as you think." I mutter to myself.

"Hey guys!" Bell says, walking to us enthusiastically. She's holding a candy wrapper, and I noticed her pockets seem full.

"Where'd you get that?" I ask her, pointing at the wrapper.

"Oh, your dad put a huge stack of food in the back! He had a little note saying that it's all fresh." she tells the two of us, grabbing some more candy from her pocket.

"Gimme one." Malcolm says. She hands one to him, and I hold my hand out, too. Bell raises her eyebrows at me and says, "You can get it yourself, Jake. I only gave one to Malcolm because he's steering the ship."

I sigh and walk inside, looking around, still thinking of the conversation Malcolm and I had with Apollo. He seemed to have warned Malcolm about something with knowledge, and I don't know what that's supposed to even mean. And why did he give us this boat? He didn't have to, honestly. I'm also sure that Malcolm is wondering the same thing.

I take one more sweep of the area, and walk back out, onto the deck. "I can't find it, Bell."

She's standing next to the railing on the deck, looking at the water. Bell turns to me, and I notice that the blessing of Aphrodite is beginning to wear off, but it doesn't make much of a difference. The sunlight makes her hair glow a dark red, but only around her hair, making the rest a dark brown and black. There's a cute gleam in her eyes, letting me see the different colors that change so nonchalantly. Why does she have to be like that? I mean, she's beautiful without even trying, and I can't even compete with my own mind about that. It feels like I melt every time I look at her, wether I like it or not.

"You can't be blind," Bell says, looking up to me. "Here, I guess I'll have to show you, then." She walks down and inside as I follow behind.

She looks up and searches for something, then jumps to try and reach a chord for the light. "I had to jump earlier. . ." she mutters to herself. I snicker and lift my arm a bit, turning on the lights for her. I guess she's not that tall, only at the height of my shoulders.

"Thanks. Alright, this way." She looks around then walks into an area that I didn't notice before. I reach for another chord for the lights but she stops me, saying, "No, I wanna get it this time." I step back and let her jump helplessly, the tips of her fingers hardly touching the chord. She looks around and grabs a large box, placing it on the floor, and stands on it. I don't know how, but Bell can hardly pull the chord again, so she has to get another box to stack, climbing up.

I stand close by and watch while she's finally able to turn the lights on. Bell begins to turn around, but her foot slips off the edge of the box while the ship is rocking. She is about to hit the ground, but I move swiftly and catch her, my arms under her knees and behind her head. I place her on the floor, letting her stand.

"Uh, thanks." Bell says, and calmly walks over to a stash of food.

There's varieties of edible goodness, and I also notice stashes of clothes. I walk over to the clothes and notice there are six different sizes for people, not three. I guess my dad had the three other half-bloods that we're supposed to save in mind, too. I notice a stack has some small sized clothes. I guess there's gonna be a kid on board, too, and not just us teens.

I grab a handful of candy and stuff it in my pockets, and also a water bottle. A small card catches my eye, in the other side of the room. A walk over and pick it up, reading the words.

"Dear Jake,

I know you're on a quest and all, and it might not feel like a good birthday, considering the fact that you have to go on a dangerous quest. Just know that I'm watching, always looking out for you and your brothers and sisters. Stay cool. Here's a haiku for you:

Happy Birthday, Jake!

Your dad is an awesome god.

You're pretty awesome, too.

Love, your dad :)

P. S. Darn, that has six syllables, not five! Oh well. And by the way, you should seriously get to know your girlfriend better, she's more gloomy than you think."

I roll my eyes while reading that last part. She's not my girlfriend, I think to myself. I smile at that bad yet touching haiku my dad wrote for me. So Apollo actually did remember my birthday.

I turn around and see that Bell is still looking at the food pile, searching for more candy. Her eyes light up as she finds one, popping it into her mouth. I laugh in the inside and walk out, turning off the lights as Bell follows me.

She skips out in front of me and onto the deck, putting more candy in her mouth as I walk behind.

"You guys should stop eating that." Malcolm tells her

Bell shrugs. "Who cares? I need my sugar."

"Have you been sleeping, if you need that much sugar to boost you up?" Malcolm asks her, probably remembering that Apollo mentioned she still has sleep deprivation.

Bell looks taken a back, but quickly shields it with a calm expression. "Of course I've been sleeping. Remember? In the sun chariot, the bus, at the hotel, at camp."

Malcolm doesn't look impressed with her answer, but he says, "Okay."

"How long has it been?" I ask Malcolm.

"Twenty minutes or so. Honestly, this is taking forever."

"I think I can steer the ship if you're tired." Bell offers.

Malcolm shakes his head. "No, I'm fine."

Bell shrugs and walks down the small, wooden stairs. She puts her charm from her necklace in between her fingers, which transforms into her bow and arrows. I watch as she shoots at invisible targets, just as accurate as my siblings and I.

"Hey Bell," I say, walking towards her. "Want to practice some hand-to-hand combat with me?"

She shrugs and lets her bow turn back to her necklace, then faces me.

I put my hands into fists, and so does she. I make the first move, swinging my fist at her side, but she deflects it and hits a pressure point by my elbow. I shrink down a bit in pain, but swing my leg under Bell's foot so she falls on her back. I put my knee on her stomach and my forearm to her neck, smirking. "I won." I say to her.

"Yeah, about that. . ." she says. Somehow, she knees my side, making me fall over. Bell swiftly puts her knees on both of my wrists so I can't move them, and her forearm to my neck, like I did to her. Her hair is hanging off one side, and her face is about five inches away from while she's grinning with pride. Oh gods, could she stop that? It's seriously killing me.

"Done yet, or do you wanna keep 'practicing?'" Bell asks.

She expects a reply, but her weight isn't enough to keep me down, so I slide one of my wrists to let her slip, and she does. I quickly stand back up and ready a stance. Bell gets up from the floor, and faces me. I kick her side, but not as hard as I'm capable of, only forceful enough to make her stumble. Once she steadies herself, I'm about to punch her middle, but she swiftly and flawlessly grabs my arm and flips me over her own body, and I fall on the floor with a thud.

"Nice one, Bell!" I hear Malcolm call.

"Shut up!" I playfully yell at him, standing back up.

Suddenly, Bell tackles me from the front, making the two of us fall down, me on my back. Our faces are close again, and I feel this tingly thing in my chest. Ignoring it, I get up and help Bell stand, too.

While Bell is laughing, I grab her arms and pull her towards me. She tries to make me let her go, but I don't. Instead of continuing to fight, I sway a bit, letting my hands slip into hers as she begins to relax.

We joyfully dance with each other to the imaginary music. We both smile at each other, Bell giggling every now and then. We look at each other's eyes, and I watch her's morph into different colors. I twirl Bell around, both of us smiling, then dip her, and she laughs adorably and has a wide smile as I lift her back up.

The two of us continue dancing while the ship slowly rocks side to side, completing the mood. The two of us spin around the deck, and I twirl Bell again. This is fun.

"Guys," Malcolm calls over to us from the wheel. Bell and I stop dancing and face him, still holding one of each other's hands.

Malcolm looks past Bell and I and into the ocean and says, "We're entering the Sea of Monsters."