Both Vitani and Luke (who slept in Vitani's cabin on an occasion) were sleeping when they heard Percy call for help.
"Help! Someone please help!"
The two jolted out of bed and quickly dressed and armed themselves before running out of the cabin and towards the shore. They soon saw Tyson and Annabeth heading the same way, looking frantic.
"What happened?" Annabeth asked when she saw Percy, who was perfectly fine. "I heard you calling for help."
"Same here." Vitani agreed with Luke nodding along with her.
"Me, too!" Tyson said, looking worried. "I heard you say 'Bad things are attacking!'"
"I didn't call you guys." Percy said, confused. "I'm fine."
"But then who..." Annabeth said before spotting the 4 yellow duffel bags at his feet. "What-"
"Just listen, we don't have much time!" Percy said before explaining his conversation with Hermes, who had done this to try and make things up with Luke for being a horrible father. By the time he was finished, everyone could hear the patrol harpies screeching in the distance.
"Percy." Annabeth said. "We're going to have to do the quest!"
"We'll get expelled, you know. Trust me, I'm an expert at getting expelled."
"So? If we fail, there won't be any camp to come back to."
"Yeah, but you promised Chiron—"
"I promised I'd keep you from danger. I can only do that by coming with you! Tyson can stay behind and tell them—"
"I want to go." Tyson said.
"No!" Annabeth's voice sounded close to panic. "I mean... Percy, come on. You know that's impossible."
"I say let him come, he can help!" Vitani said, sticking up for Tyson, who smiled at her. "Accio!"
A familiar looking satchel bag flew towards the witch, who caught it and slung it over her shoulder.
Luke said nothing, looking hesitant and unsure, but slung one of the duffel bags over his shoulder anyways.
"We can't leave him." Percy decided. "Tantalus will punish him for us being gone."
"Percy," Annabeth said, trying to keep her cool, "we're going to Polyphemus' island! Polyphemus is an S-i-k ... a C-y-k . .."
She stamped her foot in frustration while Luke smiled, amused.
As smart as she was, Annabeth was dyslexic, too. They could've been there all night while she tried to spell Cyclops.
"You know what I mean!"
"Tyson can go," Percy insisted, "if he wants to."
Tyson clapped his hands. "Want to!"
Annabeth gave Percy the evil eye, but didn't argue seeing as they were short on time.
"All right," she said. "How do we get to that ship?"
"Hermes said my father would help."
"Well then, Seaweed Brain? What are you waiting for?"
"Urn, Dad?" Percy called. "How's it going?"
"Percy!" Vitani whispered. "We're in a hurry!"
"We need your help," Percy called a little louder. "We need to get to that ship, like, before we get eaten and stuff, so ..."
At first, nothing happened. Waves crashed against the shore like normal. The harpies sounded like they were right behind the sand dunes. Then, about a hundred yards out to sea, three white lines appeared on the surface. They moved fast toward the shore, like claws ripping through the ocean.
As they neared the beach, the surf burst apart and the heads of three white stallions reared out of the waves.
Tyson caught his breath. "Fish ponies!"
Vitani smiled and giggled at Tyson's description.
"Hippocampi!" Annabeth breathed. "They're beautiful."
The nearest one whinnied in appreciation and nuzzled Annabeth.
"We'll admire them later," Percy said. "Come on!"
"There!" A voice screeched behind them. "Bad children out of cabins! Snack time for lucky harpies!"
Five of them were fluttering over the top of the dunes—plump little hags with pinched faces and talons and feathery wings too small for their bodies.
They weren't very fast, thank the gods, but they were vicious if they caught you.
"Tyson!" Percy said. "Grab a duffel bag!"
He was still staring at the hippocampi with his mouth hanging open, "Tyson!"
"Uh?"
"Come on!"
With Annabeth's and Luke's help, Percy got him moving. Everyone gathered the bags and mounted our steeds. Luke and Vitani shared one, while Annabeth and Percy shared another. Poseidon must've known Tyson was one of the passengers, because one hippocampus was much larger than the other two—just right for carrying a Cyclops.
"Giddyup!" Percy said. His hippocampus turned and plunged into the waves. Luke's and Tyson's followed right behind.
The harpies cursed at them, wailing for their snacks to come back, but the hippocampi raced over the water at the speed of Jet Skis.
The harpies fell behind, and soon the shore of Camp Half-Blood was nothing but a dark smudge.
The cruise ship was now looming in front of them, their ride toward Florida and the Sea of Monsters.
They zipped along with the wind in our faces, speeding through the waves smoothly.
As they got closer to the cruise ship, they realized just how huge it was. The white hull was at least ten stories tall, topped with another dozen levels of decks with brightly lit balconies and portholes. The ship's name was painted just above the bow line in black letters, lit with a spotlight. It took everyone except Vitani a few seconds to decipher it: PRINCESS ANDROMEDA.
Everyone was soon boarding the ship using a side ladder they saw, however Percy was having a little trouble convincing Tyson to leave the Hippocampus he was riding, who he had named Rainbow.
However, with the promise that Tyson would see Rainbow again soon, they had a tearful goodbye before Tyson boarded the ship.
They easily got passed the locked set of double doors with a quick unlocking charm, but was soon on guard when they didn't see anyone on the ship.
"It's a ghost ship." Percy murmured.
"No." Tyson said, fiddling with the strap of his duffel bag. "Bad smell."
"I don't smell anything." Luke frowned as Annabeth too tried to sniff the air.
"Cyclops are like satyrs." Percy said. "They can smell monsters, isn't that right Tyson?"
Tyson nodded nervously.
"Okay, what do you smell exactly?" Annabeth asked.
"Something bad." Tyson answered.
"Great." Annabeth grumbled. "That clears it up."
"Annabeth! Don't be so rude! At lease we have a warning." Vitani scolded as Percy looked gratefully at her.
No matter where they looked, there was no sign of life anywhere, and yet, there was a sense of danger in the air. But everyone was tired, and they weren't up to their usual standard of danger awareness.
"We need a hiding place, somewhere safe to sleep." Vitani said.
"Sleep." Annabeth agreed and Luke yawned.
The group explored a few more corridors before they found an empty open suite on the ninth level.
There was a basket of chocolate goodies on the table, an iced-down bottle of sparkling cider on the nightstand, and a mint on the pillow with a hand written note that said: Enjoy your cruise!
They opened their duffel bags for the first time and found that Hermes really had thought of everything—extra clothes, toiletries, camp rations, a Ziploc bag full of cash, a leather pouch full of golden drachmas. He'd even managed to pack Tyson's oilcloth with his tools and metal bits, and Annabeth's cap of invisibility, which made them both feel a lot better.
Vitani was fine as she was always packed because her job as a curse breaker required her to travel a lot. She had her deluxe first aid kit, a wallet full of cash and a familiar looking golden credit card, changes of clothes, toiletries, a bag of golden galleons, a bag of golden drachma, her magic tent, a several cooler boxes full of food, and just about anything else you would need to travel.
Luke looked slightly impressed at Hermes' packing skills.
"Why did Hermes give this to me, and not Luke I wonder." Percy said, looking at the duffel bag thoughtfully.
"Remember, godly parents can't interfere directly, but he managed to find a loophole I guess by using you as the middle man." Annabeth said.
Percy nodded at the logic.
"Vitani and I will be next door. You guys don't drink or eat anything!" Annabeth ordered.
"But I want to stay with-" Luke was cut off by Annabeth's glare.
"Oh no you don't! The less rooms we use the better! So stay here!" Annabeth said with finality before stomping off. Vitani gave look and apologetic smile, giving him a kiss on the cheek before hurrying after the daughter of Athena.
Before everyone went to sleep, Vitani placed a few charms to keep those who were unwanted, out.
"Good morning, passengers! We'll be at sea all day today. Excellent weather for the poolside mambo party! Don't forget million-dollar bingo in the Kraken Lounge at one o'clock, and for our special guests, disemboweling practice on the Promenade!"
Percy and Luke shot up from the bed. "What did he say?"
Tyson groaned, still half asleep. He was lying facedown on the couch, his feet so far over the edge they were in the bathroom. "The happy man said ... bowling practice?"
Then there was an urgent knock on the suite's interior door. Annabeth stuck her head in—her blond hair in a rat's nest.
"Disemboweling practice?"
"We're leaving!" Vitani called from behind her, frantic.
Once everyone was all dressed, they were surprised to see other people on the deck by the pool. But something was horribly wrong, as they all acted soulless and without free will, kind of like moaning zombies.
When they passed a cafeteria, they saw their first monster, a Hellhound. It was smaller than most Hellhounds they had seen, and it was eating from a plate of scrambled eggs.
The five of them ducked into the nearest hiding place, which was the women's washroom.
"We have to get off this ship!" Annabeth said urgently with Tyson and Vitani agreeing with her.
Percy nodded, but before they could move, they all heard a familiar voice.
"—only a matter of time. Don't push me, Agrius!"
"Ethan!" Luke hissed and Percy glowered.
"I'm not pushing you!" Another guy growled. His voice was deeper and even angrier than Ethan's. "I'm just saying, if this gamble doesn't pay off-"
"It'll pay off!" Ethan snapped. "They'll take the bait. Now, come, we've got to get to the admiralty suite and check on the casket."
Luke looked alarmed at that, already suspecting what the casket was.
Their voices receded down the corridor.
"Leave now?" Tyson whimpered.
Vitani, Luke, Annabeth, and Percy exchanged looks and came to a silent agreement.
"We can't." Percy said to Tyson.
"We have to find out what Ethan is up to." Annabeth agreed. " And if possible, we're going to beat him up, bind him in chains, and drag him to Mount Olympus."
Vitani cast strong disillusionment charms on everyone except Annabeth, who had her invisibility cap. They then sneaked through the corridors all the way to the admiralty suite.
They then hid in a supply closet when two men came.
"You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" One of them said.
The other laughed. "Yeah, it's awesome."
"I hear they got two more coming," the familiar voice said. "They keep arriving at this rate, oh, man—no contest!"
The voices faded down the corridor.
"That was Chris Rodriguez!"
"Who?" Percy whispered questioningly.
"He's from Cabin 11, an undetermined camper." Luke said darkly. "I had wondered why I hadn't seen him this summer."
"Ethan must've done some recruiting..." Vitani said, clearly troubled. She and Chris used to be on good terms with each other.
"Guys." Annabeth stopped suddenly. "Look."
She stood in front of a glass wall looking down into the multistory canyon that ran through the middle of the ship. At the bottom was the Promenade—a mall full of shops— but that's not what had caught Annabeth's attention.
A group of monsters had assembled in front of the candy store: a dozen Laistrygonian giants like the ones who'd attacked me with dodge balls, two hellhounds, and a few even stranger creatures—humanoid females with twin serpent tails instead of legs.
"Scythian Dracaenae," Annabeth whispered. "Dragon women."
The monsters made a semicircle around a young guy in Greek armour who was hacking on a straw dummy. A lump formed in their throats when they realized the dummy was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. As they watched, the guy in armour stabbed the dummy through its belly and ripped upward. Straw flew everywhere. The monsters cheered and howled.
Annabeth stepped away from the window. Her face was ashen.
"Come on." Percy told her, trying to sound braver than he felt. "The sooner we find Ethan the better."
At the end of the hallway were double oak doors that looked like they must lead somewhere important.
When we were thirty feet away, Tyson stopped. "Voices inside."
"You can hear that far?" Luke asked.
Tyson then closed his eye, like he was concentrating hard. Then his voice changed, becoming a husky approximation of Ethan's.
"—the prophecy ourselves. The fools won't know which way to turn."
Before anyone could react, Tyson's voice changed again, becoming deeper and gruffer, like the other guy they had hear talking to Ethan outside the cafeteria.
"You really think the old horseman is gone for good?"
Tyson laughed Ethan's laugh. "They can't trust him. Not with the skeletons in his closet. The poisoning of the tree was the final straw."
Luke gritted his teeth while Annabeth shivered. "Stop that, Tyson! How do you do that? It's creepy!"
"Pretty useful talent..." Vitani said, impressed.
Tyson opened his eye, looking puzzled. "Just listening."
"Keep going." Percy urged. "What else are they saying?"
Tyson closed his eye again. He hissed the gruff man's voice: "Quiet!" Then Ethan's voice, whispering. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Tyson repeated. "Right outside."
Everyone widened their eyes and turned to run, but Ethan burst through the door flanked by two hairy giants armed with javelins.
Before they could get away, one of the hair guys grabbed the air in front of him and managed to snag Annabeth's arm. Ethan walked over, he felt her body and easily determined that the invisible person was a girl. He then knew it was Annabeth and ripped off her cap, revealing her.
"I know the rest of you are there, reveal yourselves or she gets it." Ethan threatened, one of the hairy guys pointed the tip of their javelin to Annabeth's throat as she struggled against him.
Vitani and Luke backed away slowly, nodding to Percy who immediately understood. Vitani would reveal only Tyson and Percy, so Luke and Vitani could take the Ethan and his goons by surprise.
With a wave of her wand, Percy and Tyson were revealed.
"Well." Ethan said with a crooked smile. "If it isn't my two favourite cousins. How did you turn yourselves invisible like that?"
"Vitani. She charmed a special shell before she had to leave on a curse breaking job." Percy lied.
"Give me that shell." Ethan demanded.
Percy scowled and reached into his pocket, he couldn't afford to pull out Riptide, so he pulled out a small shimmering shell that he had found on the lake shore when he talked to Hermes.
Ethan snatched it from his hand.
"How do I work it?" He asked.
Percy eyed Annabeth worriedly before telling him, lying through his teeth. "Say 'Hide me'. To re-appear, say 'Show me'."
"Hide me." Ethan said to the shell, Vitani instantly waved her wand, turning him invisible. She used a different spell than before, since the spell she used before allowed those she turned invisible to still be able to see each other. "Show me." Ethan instant reappeared. "Vitani does make the most useful gadgets, doesn't she?"
Ethan then pulled them all into the admiralty room, where a sarcophagus, engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dying grisly death, was at the back of the room. Despite the sunlight, the casket made the whole room feel cold.
Though Ethan offered them a seat, none of them sat.
Ethan then introduced his assistants, Agrius and Oreius. He told them the story of their births, how Aphrodite ordered a woman to fall in love, but she refused and went to Artemis for help and joined her hunters instead. Aphrodite got her revenge by bewitching the woman to fall in love with a bear, but when Artemis found out, she abandoned the girl in disgust.
The story made Luke and Vitani seethe, Vitani's respect for the gods, especially Aphrodite, plummeted. She hated with people played with other people's lives like that, it was despicable, especially when it was a god. She never trusted those who had a seat of power for that long, it tended to make them arrogant with overly inflated egos. Thinking that they know what was best for others, when in reality they were making things worse. The Goddess of Marriage, Home, and Family, Hera, was the one Vitani despised the most. She had read of her history, and disliked her ever since. The Goddess killed and made miserable tens of women and innocent children because of Zeus' unfaithfulness. It was cruel and unfair, not to mention how she had treated her son, Hephaestus because he wasn't good looking like the other Gods and Goddesses. Hera also only liked 'Perfect' families, something that Vitani resented her for. Not every family was perfect, and if because one wasn't perfect, didn't mean that the Goddess should damn them.
"Well, Percy, we let you survive another year. I hope you appreciated it. How's your mom? How's school?" Ethan asked, propping his feet up on to the table as he lounged on the sofa.
"You poisoned Thalia's tree." Percy spat.
Ethan sighed. "Right to the point, eh? Okay, sure I poisoned the tree. So what?"
"How could you?!" Annabeth screamed.
Ethan just ignored her and moved on. "I know all about your plan to find the Fleece. What were those coordinates again? 30, 31, 75, 12? I still have friends at camp who keep me posted."
"Spies you mean." Percy glared.
He shrugged. "How many insults from your father can you stand, Percy? You think he's grateful to you? You think Poseidon cares for you any more than he cares for this monster?"
Tyson clenched his fists.
"The gods are just using you, Percy. Do you have any idea what's in store for you if you reach your sixteenth birthday? Has Chiron even told you the prophecy?"
"I know what I need to know, like who my enemies are."
"Then you're a fool."
Tyson smashed the nearest table to pieces. "Percy is not a fool!"
Tyson tried to attack Ethan, but the bear twins together pushed him back.
"Too bad, Cyclops." Ethan said. "Looks like my grizzly friends together are more than a match for your strength."
A dark looked then cam over his face as he looked at the casket.
"I want Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! Each time a half-blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker and we grow stronger. He grows stronger." Ethan pointed to the gold sarcophagus.
Percy's eyes widened. "You don't mean-"
"He's reforming." Ethan said. "Little by little, we're calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges to our cause, another small piece appears!"
"That's disgusting!" Annabeth said angrily.
Ethan sneered at her. "Your mother was born from Zeus's split skull, Annabeth. I wouldn't talk. Soon there will be enough of the titan lord so that we can make him whole again. We will piece together a new body for him, a work worthy of the forges of Hephaestus."
"You're insane." Annabeth said.
"Join us and you'll be rewarded. We have powerful friends, sponsors rich enough to buy this cruise ship and much more. Percy, your mother will never have to work again. You can buy her a mansion. You can have power, fame—whatever you want. Annabeth, you can realize your dream of being an architect. You can build a monument to last a thousand years. A temple to the lords of the next age!"
"Go to Tartarus!" She spat.
Ethan sighed. "A shame."
He picked up something that looked like a TV remote and pressed a red button. Within seconds the door of the stateroom opened and two uniformed crew members came in, armed with nightsticks.
"Ah, good, security." Ethan said, "I'm afraid we have some stowaways."
"Yes, sir." They said dreamily.
Ethan turned to Oreius. "It's time to feed the Aethiopian drakon. Take these fools below and show them how it's done."
Oreius grinned stupidly. "Hehe! Hehe!"
"Let me go, too." Agrius grumbled. "My brother is worthless. That Cyclops—"
"Is no threat." Ethan said.
He glanced back at the golden casket, as if something were troubling him. "Agrius, stay here. We have important matters to discuss."
"But—"
"Oreius, don't fail me. Stay in the hold to make sure the drakon is properly fed."
Oreius prodded us with his javelin and herded them out of the stateroom, followed by the two human security guards.
As Percy walked down the corridor with Oreius's javelin poking him in the back, he thought about what Ethan had said—that the bear twins together were a match for Tyson's strength. But maybe separately …
They exited the corridor amidships and walked across an open deck lined with lifeboats.
Percy looked at Tyson and said, "Now."
Thank the gods, he understood. He turned and smacked Oreius thirty feet backward into the swimming pool, right into the middle of the zombie tourist family.
Ropes shot out of nowhere and bounded the bear man, gagging him as well. The a beam of red light hit one guard while another just fell to the floor with a thud.
Luke and Vitani reappeared.
"Life boats!" Vitani urged, and everyone ran to the nearest one, jumping in with Vitani shooting curses at every monster in sight. As they couldn't work the pulley, Luke slashed the rope with Backbiter and they free fell into the ocean.
"Thermos!" Percy shouted, and Tyson understood as he took out a thermos from one of the duffel bags, handing it to Percy without losing his grip on it or the boat.
"Hang on!" Percy yelled before giving the thermos cap a quarter spin, releasing a white sheet of wind that propelled the boat at a 45 degree angle towards the water.
When they hit the ocean, the skipped a few times across the water like a flat stone before whizzing away like a speedboat.
The ocean spray made a good enough rainbow or Iris-messaging, they messaged Chiron and told him about their encounter with Ethan and Kronos' casket, but they were cut off by Chiron's relatives, the party ponies, before Chiron could tell them anything helpful.
They soon passed a coast guard cruiser, who did a double take when he saw them zoom by.
"That's Virginia Beach!" Annabeth said as we approached the shoreline. "Oh my gods, how did the Princess Andromeda travel so far overnight? That's like—"
"Five hundred and thirty nautical miles." Percy said.
Everyone but Tyson paused and looked at him with raised brows.
"How'd you know that, Perce?" Luke asked.
Percy furrowed his brow. "I have no idea."
Vitani then had an idea. "Percy, what's our position right now?"
"36 degrees, 44 minutes north, 76 degrees, 2 minutes west." Percy said immediately before he shook his head. "Whoa. How did I know that?"
"Because of your dad." Annabeth guessed. "When you're at sea, you have perfect bearings. That is so cool."
"At least we won't be lost at sea with you around, Perce." Luke grinned.
Then they saw lights flashing, behind them was the coast guard cruiser.
"We can't let them catch us, they'll ask too many questions!" Annabeth said, panicked.
"Keep going into Chesapeake Bay." Luke said. "I know a place we can hide."
"Oh! That place!" Annabeth smiled.