It had been a few hours since we left Athens. The beautiful white pillars of the temples slowly faded away as Toothless and I, along with our new friends, sailed towards our pending demise.
The boat we commandeered was the most impressive vessel I'd ever seen. It was at least thirty feet long, with a giant white sail adorning an Athenian symbol. The bottom had multiple rooms for us to sleep in and store our stuff. It was like a viking longship, but immensely cooler. According to the king, it was called the Argo, and it use to belong to some Jason guy. The significance of it didn't really hit me, but if Percy and Annabeth's flabbergasted reaction was any indication, the ship was a big deal.
The sides were equipped with ten, long paddles each to be manned, but we didn't even need them. Percy, being the son of Poseidon, commanded the waves to his will. He even knew our exact nautical location without even using the map. I've met some impressive sailors, but this guy really took to a different level.
About halfway through the day, Toothless started to get a little antsy; he was not a big fan of sailing. Deciding to take pity on him, I set up his saddle to take flight. Percy was busy commanding the ship, and Annabeth had ignored me since we left, so flying sounded joyful right about now. Right before I could lock my foot in, a strong hand gripped my arm.
"Where do you think you're going?" Annabeth asked suspiciously.
"Taking Toothless for a flight. He gets clumsy without any flying time." I sighed with impatience. "Dragons need to fly, you do know that, right?"
Her eyes twitched but she didn't take the bait. "How do we know you won't just fly away?"
Percy, who could hear us all the way from the stern, laughed out loud. "Annabeth, if Hiccup wanted to leave, he would've been gone by now. Trust him!"
"Listen to your boyfriend," I teased.
"I already told you," she yelled to Percy, her eyes still firmly on me, "until we fix this problem, we can't take any chances."
Exasperated, I threw my hands up in the air. "C'mon. You're really gonna deny this majestic beast of the sky his domain?"
Toothless, right on cue, put on his best innocent face. With wide pupils and soft, cat-like purrs, no viking had ever been able to resist, and neither could Annabeth.
"Fine!" Just as I was about to take off, she stopped me again. "I'm coming with you."
"Yeah, Wise Girl!" Percy whooped.
I grumbled in discontent but gestured to Toothless to lower his body. If letting her tag along would gain me her trust, so be it.
Annabeth cautiously got on behind me. Her eyebrows were low and she put her hands gently on my waist for balance. I could feel her how stiff she was, and I realized she was actually nervous.
"Okay," she huffed. "Let's get this over."
My brain froze in deja vu. This was almost exactly the same situation Astrid, who also didn't trust me at the time, was in. I smiled — I knew what to do.
"Okay Toothless, up. Gently."
Toothless understood.
With all the power a Night Fury could muster, we blasted off the deck. The ship rocked with our departure, and I swore I could've heard Percy laugh before we were out of range.
Annabeth on the other hand was not so amused.
She had all her limbs wrapped around my torso, screaming out her lungs as we rocketed towards the sun. This was a great idea. With a soft kick to Toothless's side, I signaled for the next part of our act.
"Toothless," I spoke in false confusion, "what are you doing?"
Right of cue, he spread his wings and we leveled out. I pried Annabeth's arms and legs off of me so I could face her.
"Sorry. He's not normally like this."
Toothless tilted to his side, and we began to free fall back towards the sea. Annabeth quickly resumed cocooning me with her body, and bleeping like a sheep during a dragon race. I hid my face so she wouldn't see how happy I was.
"Toothless," I said as we repeatedly hit the water like a pebble on a lake, "we need her to trust us."
He kept at it till we were utterly drenched. Toothless once again zoomed towards the clouds and began to rotate like a twister.
"And now the spinning. Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile."
Annabeth pulled her arms around my shoulders, and buried her face in my neck. "I'm sorry! Okay, I'm sorry! Please stop."
She sounded like she was on the verge of crying. I genuinely felt bad…if only for a little. I signaled to Toothless to ease up, and he obliged.
Toothless hovered a few hundred feet above the Argo. We flew in silence for a few minutes, Annabeth trying to catch her breath. I heard her sniffle a few times, and started to feel some guilt seep in. Before I could say anything, she spoke.
"I'm sorry, Hiccup," she said softly. "I'm sorry for how I treated you back in Athens."
I turned to face her. "We're a team now… at least for the time being. We're going to have to trust each other if were going to make this work."
"I know all that. It's just…there's a lot riding on this mission. We could be stopping a war between demigods and humans alike-"
"Not to mention, vikings," I interrupted.
"Right. Maybe I'm just feeling a little angsty, and have been taking it out on you."
She went silent, and I gave her room to think as she gazed down at our boat. After a minutes, she continued. "A lot of things have just been going wrong lately, and I don't want anything to happen to Percy." Her voice was soft, and as if she realized her words, she looked up. "And our people of course."
I stuck my arm out. "Partners?"
Annabeth clasped hers to mine. "Partners."
We kept flying, Toothless enjoying all the air time. After Annabeth got comfortable, she gave me the okay to do some tricks. We performed a few loops, and did some laps in the clouds. Annabeth even got daring, and we did a few more free falls.
After almost an hour, we leveled out. Annabeth was crying, but this time in exuberance.
"I can see how you vikings get addicted to this." She reached down to rub Toothless's head. "He's amazing."
Toothless purred in response. "He sure is."
"I mean, I thought exploring the ocean floor, in an air bubble, with Percy was pretty exhilarating. But this blows it out of the water. No pun intended."
I laughed. Then I remember my side mission. "So you and Percy are pretty close, right?"
She tried to hide her blush. "Best friends, like I said before-"
"Just that?"
Annabeth sighed. "Alright, genius. Maybe we're a little more than that. How long did it take you to figure that out?"
"Honestly? The first ten minutes I saw you guys together. When I was in bed, and you were insulting my name."
She snorted. "I already apologized-"
"And I accepted it. I was just saying." I turned to look her in the eye."Why don't you do anything about it?"
"Honestly?" she asked. "It's always been me initiating things. That's how our relationship has always been. But this time, maybe… he could take the lead."
She huffed a quick laugh, like she couldn't believe she was saying all this. "I know that sounds crazy considering how headstrong and commanding I am. I don't wait for anyone; I'm a child of Athena for Hades's sake!" She sighed. "It would just feel good if Percy admitted how he felt. I think I made my feelings pretty clear at this point. And hearing him say it would make all this pining worth it…especially if it was mutual."
I stared at her, my mind going to Astrid. Is this what she was waiting for? Me making the first move? Well, actually, she's kissed me a few times already, so this wouldn't be the first move…but we were young, so I wasn't sure if that even counted…
"Uhh, Earth to Hiccup," Annabeth waved a hand in front of my face. "You okay there? You blanked out on me for a second."
"Sorry, I was just thinking."
"About?"
"Taking your advice." Her eyebrows rose in question. "I also have a best friend who's also not really my friend…"
"Ooooh. Hiccup's got a lady." She said in a teasing voice. "Does she have a weird name, too?"
I snorted. "Astrid."
"Astrid? If my old Norse is correct, doesn't that mean divine beauty?"
"It does. The name suits her too" I said softly. "Funny enough, she's a lot like you: blonde, aggressive, head strong, really suspicious of strangers, and very scary when she wants to be." That caused Annabeth to bust out in laughter. "But she's also the most loyal, amazing person you'll ever befriend."
"I'd like to meet her one day," she said. "And it seems like we also have another thing in common: were both waiting for some dumb guy to make up his mind."
"Looks like it."
We shared a smile, but Annabeth glanced behind me, and hers promptly melted away. I turned around and saw what caused it to do so.
"Uhh… does it normally get that foggy around here?" I asked.
"No, it doesn't. We need to land."
A few minutes later, we joined a distressed Percy at the helm of the ship. The fog was giving him problems. It seemed eerily similar to the fog separating the archipelago to the rest of the world. We anchored the Argo right in front of it, as the three of us stared at what lies ahead.
"It's not a natural fog. It's disrupting my connection with water. I can't get a read on the sea!"
If any other sailor said that, I would've laughed. But Percy is the son of Poseidon, and if the fog was making him nervous while sailing, then I was definitely in the same boat. Pun intended.
"The sailors reported some fog, but this is crazy," Annabeth murmured.
"Maybe we could just wait it out?" I suggested.
"I'm not sure this is going to clear up anytime soon," Percy said. "Plus, it wouldn't be a good idea to sit around here, we're pretty close to…them."
At the mention of them Percy shuddered and, surprisingly, so did Annabeth.
"Who's them?" I asked.
"Spartans." Percy said with disdain. "Don't want to tangle with these guys."
It was I who shuddered this time. Even on Berk we heard about Spartans. They were apparently a lot like Dagur and his Berserkers, minus the craziness, and combined with brilliant war tactics and strategy. I'd fight one hundred Berserkers, on Outcast island, before I ever met these guys.
"Okay here's the plan," Annabeth said confidently. "Let's go around, away from Sparta." She turned to me. "Hiccup, I know Toothless just flew, but do you think you guys could scout ahead for a way through the fog?"
I nodded. "Good. I trust you won't fly away?" she asked, grinning.
My lips twitched. "You got it, captain."
In a few minutes, Toothless and I were zooming along the fog's edge. The Argo was following, but eventually we lost sight of it as we kept looking.
After what felt like forever, we finally spotted a narrow clearing. I wasn't so sure how long it would stay open, but Percy was a fast sailor.
"C'mon Bud. Let's go tell the gang."
Toothless roared in anticipation of one last challenge. With a quick flip, we turned back towards the ship. Despite all the flying we'd already done today, it seemed that he still had a lot left in the tank.
Finally, we arrived back to the Argo. Toothless must've ventured further than we thought, because it took us a good while to get back.
"Percy? Annabeth?"
Silence. Something was wrong.
Running up to the helm, I was greeted by…no one. The Argo was empty. Maybe Annabeth decided to leave me? But that wouldn't make any sense; this was her ship.
I looked around and my face froze when I saw it: an arrow imbedded in the floor of the Argo. I rushed over to examine it. The end was sharp to the point and, to my horror, covered in blood.
