Sorry this is so late! It's, what, five days late? Sorry! I've literally been suffocated by the amount of homework and studying I have to do, and top of all that, I had writer's block for a week. I've just now gotten my inspiration back, and I promise the next chapter will be up sooner!

One more thing-did anyone get the Son of Neptune? It came out on Tuesday, and I literally have it next to me right now. I'm itching to start reading it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

It turned out we didn't get to drag Luke to Olympus in chains. In fact, it'd be safe to say the plan didn't go quite as smoothly.

After we crept out of the girl's bathroom—much to Percy's comical relief—we quickly devised a plan to track down Luke. I offered to go alone, armed with my invisibility cap and dagger, but Percy wouldn't have it. He eventually convinced me that it was too dangerous to split up.

The hallways were still eerily tranquil, but we crept through them anyway, expecting more hellhounds or other monsters of the sort to jump out now that we knew who occupied the ship. We stopped by the cabins just long enough to round up our stuff, because there would be no way we were spending another night aboard the Princess Andromeda.

Tyson slung all three duffel bags over his shoulders, even though Percy protested. I told him not to worry about it—Cyclopes were very strong, and I was sure Tyson was able to carry three bags. And I was right, as Tyson carried them as if they were just a simple backpack.

We snaked through the corridors, trying to blend into the shadows as we followed the ship's YOU ARE HERE signs to the admiralty suite, to Luke. I scouted ahead invisibly, making sure we weren't seen. We hid from everyone who passed, but they seemed to all be glassy-eyed passengers.

Well, that was until I caught a glimpse of a shockingly familiar face striding up the next hallway.

I quickly backtracked to Percy and Tyson. "Hide!" I hissed, shoving them into a supply closet before they had a chance to sidestep themselves.

I quickly closed the door to the closet and crouched down low, my hand still invisibly clutched around Percy's arm, listening.

"You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" An unfamiliar voice leaked through the door frame.

Another voice laughed, speaking in a voice I'd heard snatches of every now and then. "Yeah, it's awesome."

I squeezed Percy's arm; did he recognize the boy as I did?

"I hear they got two more coming," the familiar voice continued. "They keep arriving at this rate, oh, man—no contest!"

The voices continued to gush about the drakons until they faded down the corridor.

I turned to Percy and whipped off my cap so he could see my face. "That was Chris Rodriguez! You remember—from Cabin Eleven."

Vague recognition washed over his face. Then he narrowed his eyes. "What's another half-blood doing here?"

I shook my head. If another half-blood was here, one that I knew had once been on our side, how many other had gone over with him?

As much as it troubled me, I knew that it would have to take a backseat to our current mission: to find Luke.

We left our spot crouched against the door and continued to creep own the hallway. I opted to not put my invisibility cap back on; I could almost sense Luke getting closer, and the first thing I wanted him to see when we came face to face was the anger in my eyes.

The air seemed to get colder the more we followed the conspicuous arrows leading us toward Luke. It was almost like a thick, tantalizing aura of evil.

The sense of evil was multiplied when I caught sight of something that made me freeze. To my right was a glass wall that peered down into the multistory canyon of the ship—and at the bottom was the biggest assortment of monsters I'd ever seen.

Standing in front of a candy shop were a dozen Laistrygonians—the sight brought me back to day I gathered Percy, which seemed so long ago—two shadow-colored hellhounds, and humanoid females with tentacle-like limbs that flowed out of their torsos where their legs should've been.

"Scythian Dracaenae," I whispered, sensing that Percy probably didn't have the faintest clue what the snake-ladies were. "Dragon women."

The monsters, I noticed, made a semi-circle around a young guy—with a growing sense of dread, I realized he was another half-blood—who was hacking viciously on a straw dummy that was wearing a familiar orange shirt. I didn't want to know how they got it. As we watched, the half-blood stabbed the dummy through the stomach and jerked upwards, slicing clean through the middle. Straw flew everywhere as the monsters howled and cheered.

I tore myself away from the grotesque scene. A leaden feeling was pooling in the pit of my stomach. Percy glanced at me and put on a brave face, though it was a weak one.

"Come on," he said. "The sooner we find Luke the better."

I nodded, finding myself unable to speak. Between the scene of the dummy getting ripped apart and the prospect of seeing Luke again, my tongue felt dry. I picked up my feet, determinedly walking away from the window. The end of the hallway was getting closer.

The oak doors seemed to grow imminently as we approached them. They were towering and a rick dark color, with expensive-looking moldings lining the frame. There were no more arrows around, so I assumed we were at our destination.

I gritted my teeth and prepared myself to rush right through the door, turn on Luke and accuse him of betrayal. I was capable of that, right?

Thirty feet away, however, Tyson stopped us. "Voices inside."

"You can hear that far?" Percy asked.

Tyson closed his eyes and, before I could even prepare, spoke in voice that was achingly familiar, but definitely not his. It was husky, proud—Luke's. "—the prophecy ourselves. The fools won't know which way to turn."

I flinched; the sound of the Cyclops imitating Luke's voice brought me back painfully to an old warehouse, when I was young and lost and scared…

Tyson continued to speak, but the voice no longer belonged to Luke. It was deeper and rougher, like the voice we'd heard Luke talking to outside the cafeteria. "You really think the old horseman is gone for good?"

They were talking about Chiron, I knew it. And from the way the man said it, I knew my suspicions had been right all along: Luke had poisoned the tree. Whether directly or indirectly, it didn't matter; he still went through with it when he had the power to stop it.

Luke's laugh bubbled out of Tyson's mouth. "They can't trust him. Not with the skeletons in his closet. The poisoning of the tree was the final straw."

I shivered; it was difficult hearing Luke's voice, especially when he was speaking in such a sinister way. "Stop that, Tyson! How do you do that? It's creepy."

Tyson opened his eye and looked at me in a puzzled way. "Just listening."

"Keep going." Percy said. "What else are they saying?"

Tyson closed his eye again, falling back into the two men's voices.

"Quiet!" The gruff man's voice said.

"Are you sure?" Luke whispered.

"Yes," the gruff-voice man growled. "Right outside."

Of course I realized what was happening, but there was only enough time for Percy to say, "Run!" before the doors swung open with a creak and a swoosh of air. Before I knew it, I was face-to-face with Luke. Two giants flanked him, aiming pointed spears at our chests.

"Well," Luke said with a crooked smile. "If it isn't my two favorite cousins. Come right in."

There are a lot of things I could've—should've—done when I saw Luke standing there, his scar turning down the left corner of his mouth. I could've aimed a punch at him, screamed insults, or challenged him to a duel right then and there. But at the sight of my old mentor—my old friend—with a crooked smile tainting his tanned face, all I could do was stare.

He looked almost the same—the same golden hair, the same bright blue eyes, the same sculpted muscles. But an icy aura surrounded him now, and instead of the easy smile I'd grown to love, there was cold, almost stiff purse of the lips, and it was a change I wasn't fond of.

Luke stood back and allowed us to walk into the room. When I passed him, I half expected his eyes to soften a little, or his cold smile to melt a bit, but he remained chilly and stiff. I dropped my eyes, disappointed.

The suite was beautiful. It had huge windows that curved gracefully along the back wall, painting within it a sight of pure tranquility. Green sea and blue sky stretched out peacefully to the horizon. A Persian rug covered the floor, holding up two plush sofas. Propped against one of them, I noticed, was a black sword I didn't recognize. It glinted strangely in the light. A canopied bed occupied a corner of the room, with an elegant mahogany table in the other. The table was loaded with food that made my empty stomach growl.

But what the room was paired with my skin crawl. In the back of the room was a velvet dais, holding up a ten-foot-long golden casket. It was a sarcophagus, engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities burning to the ground and heroes dying awful deaths. Even though sunlight was steadily filling the room with sunny warmth, the casket seemed to emanate a counterintuitive bitter cold.

"Well," Luke said, spreading his arms proudly. "A little nicer than Cabin Eleven, huh?"

I glared at him. I noticed that he looked a little different than last summer, with his hair clipped and orderly, unlike its former unruliness. He no longer sported Bermuda shorts and a camp shirt, instead opting to go for khaki pants, a crisp button-down shirt, and loafers.

"Sit," he said. He waved his hand and three chairs scooted to the center of the room.

None of us bothered to use them.

My eyes shifted to the two goons standing behind Luke. They looked like twins, but they were definitely not human. Their claw-like hands each clenched around a javelin, still pointed at our chests. They stood at about eight feet tall, and their chests were so thick with brown fur that a shirt wasn't necessary. They wore only blue jeans, and paw-like feet peeked out from beneath the fabric. Their noses swooped in a distinctly snout-like way, and their teeth were sharp.

"Where are my manners?" Luke said smoothly. "These are my assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them."

He looked at me as he said the last part; he knew me too well. Of course I knew them.

"You don't know Agrius and Oreius's story?" Luke asked, more to Percy than to me. "Their mother… well, it's sad, really. Aphrodite ordered the young woman to fall in love. She refused and ran to Artemis for help. Artemis let her become one of her maiden huntresses, but Aphrodite got her revenge. She bewitched the young woman into falling in love with a bear. When Artemis found out, she abandoned the girl in disgust. Typical of the gods, wouldn't you say? They fight one another and the poor humans get caught in the middle. The girl's twin sons here, Agrius and Oreius, have no love for Olympus. They like half-bloods well enough, though…"

"For lunch," Agrius growled. I recognized his husky voice to be the one talking to Luke earlier.

"Hehe! Hehe!" Oreius giggled, licking his lips. He kept bobbing his head and sniggering in glee until both his twin brother and Luke were staring at him.

"Shut up, you idiot!" Agrius growled. "Go punish yourself!"

Oreius whimpered in a resigned kind of way. I watched, alarmed, as the bear man trudged over to the corner and banged his head against the dining table, making the silverware jump.

Luke acted like this wasn't strange at all. He flopped down casually onto the sofa, propping his feet up on the coffee table. "Well, Percy, we let you survive another year. I hope you appreciated it. How's your mom? How's school?"

"You poisoned Thalia's tree."

Luke sighed. I looked desperately at him, not caring that I seemed vulnerable. I just wanted him to deny the accusation, to say he still cared too much about Thalia to destroy her. But, even if he said it, would I believe it?

"Right to the point, eh?" he said. "Okay, sure, I poisoned the tree. So what?"

At his words, the first thing I felt was extreme disappointment. He'd let me down. I'd trusted him—Thalia had trusted him—and he' tossed her life aside like a rag doll. And then, before I could stop it, an anger so intense it made me shake boiled in my stomach, quickly rising up my throat. It grew until my fury was beyond words. As if him admitting to poisoning Thalia wasn't enough, he had to go act all casual about it, as if he didn't care that he was the cause of his oldest friend's slow death. How dare he?

"How could you?" I screamed at him. I felt hysterical with anger. "Thalia saved your life! Our lives! How could you dishonor her—"

"I didn't dishonor her!" Luke snapped, retracting his feet from the coffee table. "The gods dishonored her, Annabeth! If Thalia were alive, she'd be on my side."

"Liar!"

"If you knew what was coming, you'd understand—"

"I understand that you want to destroy the camp!" I yelled. "You're a monster!"

Luke shook his head, like he might with a stubborn child. "The gods have blinded you. Can't you imagine a world without them, Annabeth? What good is that ancient history you study? Three thousand years of baggage! The West is rotten to the core. It has to be destroyed. Join me! We can start the world anew. We could use your intelligence, Annabeth."

If I hadn't known him for five years, I might not have noticed the slight desperation in his eyes, the edge of hysteria. If he'd been just some stranger yelling at me to join him, I wouldn't have even observed the slight crack in his voice. What had happened to him?

I shook away that thought. He was a traitor now. I didn't care about him.

"Because you have none of your own!" I shouted.

His blue eyes narrowed. "I know you, Annabeth. You deserve better than tagging along on some hopeless quest to save the camp. Half-Blood Hill will be overrun by monsters within the next month. The heroes who survive will have no choice but to join us or be hunted to extinction. You really want to be on a losing team… with company like this?" Luke pointed a finger at Tyson.

"Hey!" Percy said indignantly.

"Traveling with a Cyclops," Luke said it as if he were chiding me. "Talk about dishonoring Thalia's memory! I'm surprised at you, Annabeth. You of all people—"

"Stop it!" I shouted. My voice was strained; I was on the edge of tears. Didn't he know it was hard form me to travel with a Cyclops, after everything that had happened? Did he not think that I still felt guilty? I could still see Thalia, dangling helplessly from the roof, limp from unconsciousness…

I buried my head in my hands. The memories were becoming more vivid, and I didn't want Luke to see me cry.

"Leave her alone," Percy said. "And leave Tyson out of this."

Luke laughed humorlessly. "Oh, yeah, I heard. Your father claimed him. Yes, Percy, I know all about that. And about your plan to find the Fleece. What were those coordinates, again… 30, 31, 75, 12? You see, I still have friends at camp who keep my posted."

"Spies, you mean."

I dropped my hands from my face, curling them to my chest. There were spies at camp?

"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 fist and a feral growl bubbled from his throat.

Luke just chuckled. "The gods are so 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?"

The determinedly angry look on Percy's face faltered a little at the mention of the prophecy. Luke knew how to distract him.

"I know what I need to know," Percy said. "Like, who my enemies are."

"Then you're a fool."

Tyson reached up his hand and brought it down on the nearest dining chair, smashing it to splinters. The crash made me jump, and I could tell it startled Luke a little too. "Percy is not a fool!"

Tyson charged Luke, his face contorted like I'd never seen it before. He raised his fist and started to bring them down towards Luke's head—a blow that knock someone out cold—but Agrius and Oreius intercepted. They seized both of Tyson's arm and forcefully shoved him onto the Persian carpet. The floor shuddered under the Cyclops's weight.

"Too bad, Cyclops," Luke said. He hadn't even flinched when Tyson had started to rush him. "Looks like my grizzly friends together are more than a match for your strength. Maybe I should let them—"

"Luke," Percy cut in. "Listen to me. Your father sent us."

At once, Luke's seemingly cool demeanor changed swiftly. His eyes—which had seemed almost bored—now overflowed with rage and his tanned face turned a color reminiscent of pepperoni. Through clenched teeth, he growled, "Don't—even—mention him."

"He told us to take this boat," Percy said, ignoring Luke's warning. "I thought it was just for a ride, but he sent us here to find you. He told me he won't give up on you, no matter how angry you are."

"Angry?" Luke roared. "Give up on me? He abandoned me, Percy! I want Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! You tell Hermes it's going to happen, too. Each time a half-blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker and we grow stronger. He grows stronger."

He thrust a finger over at the intricately-decorated golden coffin. My skin began to crawl.

"So?" Percy said. "What's so special…"

His voice dwindled to nothingness. My own eyes grew wide. I had an idea as to what might be inside the sarcophagus, and the room got colder.

"Whoa," Percy said, staring wide-eyed at Luke. "You don't mean—"

"He is re-forming," Luke said. How was that possible? "Little by little, we're calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges our cause, another small piece appears—"

"That's disgusting!" I said. Revulsion bubbled in my stomach.

Luke sneered at me. "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," I spit.

"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 ages!"

"Go to Tartarus," I said.

Luke sighed. "A shame."

He picked up a device that looked like a TV remote and pressed a red button. Within seconds, the door of the suite flew open to reveal two uniformed crew members, armed with nightsticks. Their eyes were glassy and they were most definitely mortals, but I had a sinking feeling that they would be worthy opponents in a fight.

"Ah, good, security," Luke said. "I'm afraid we have some stowaways."

"Yes, sir," they said dreamily.

Luke 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!"

I was starting to doubt that he could form articulate sentences.

"Let me go, too," Agrius grumbled. "My brother is worthless. That Cyclops—"

"Is no threat," Luke said. He glanced back at the golden casket in a troubled sort of way. "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 stepped forward and prodded us with his javelin. I gave Luke one last look before we were herded out of the suite, flanked by the two glassy-eyed security guards.

The javelin tip was cold as it prodded into my back. I kept Oreius in my peripheral vision, unwilling to let the idiotic bear man out of my sight. I knew that we had to get out of here, and we would only have one chance.

We emerged from the corridor and onto the deck. The sudden appearance of the sun blinded me for a minute, before settling on burning the back of my neck. Across the deck was a door that I knew hid an elevator behind it. From there, we'd go down to the hold and become drakon meat.

Before I could assemble an escape plan, I heard Percy say, "Now."

Tyson turned around and smacked Oreius thirty feet back. With a grunt and a splash, the bear man landed in the pool, right into the middle of the brainwashed family we'd passed earlier.

"Ah!" the kids yelled in unison. "We are not having a blast in the pool!"

Quickly enough, I caught on. I aimed a kick at one of the guards as he drew a nightstick. He doubled over, breathless, and I kicked his stomach again for good measure. Too late, I realized the other guard was running for the nearest alarm box.

"Stop him!" I yelled. Percy ran forward with a desk chair in his hands, but just before he was able to knock him across the head, the guard pushed down on the alarm.

Sirens pierced through the chaos. Red lights flashed everywhere, adding to the mayhem.

I caught sight of a yellow inflatable boat hanging over the side. The only way were going to evade capture was by leaving now. "Lifeboat!" I yelled.

We ran for the nearest one and struggled to rip the canvas cover off.

I looked back. Monsters and glassy-eyes security officers were swarming the deck, pushing aside tourists and waiters, spilling colorful drinks and expensive-looking food. A guy decked out in Greek armor unsheathed a sword and charged, but slipped in a puddle of red drink. Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above us, notching arrows in enormous bows.

I fumbled with the thick ropes binding the lifeboat to the ship. "How do you launch this thing?" I screamed.

A hellhound leapt toward us, its claws glinting, but Tyson knocked it aside with a fire extinguisher.

"Get in!" Percy yelled, uncapping Riptide. I didn't have to be told twice.

A volley of arrows sliced the air, coming towards us. Percy slashed the weapons away with a skillful swipe while Tyson and I struggled with the release pulley.

He jumped in next to us.

"Hold on!" he yelled. With a single swipe, Riptide decimated the ropes and the sudden change in direction startled me. I gave a strangled yelp as the wind hit my face, watering my eyes. My stomach swopped as the glittering sea came closer and closer.

I heard a whistle above me, and looked up to see dozens of arrows flying over the side of the ship. Even through the fear and adrenaline coursing through me, I couldn't help but give a weak laugh.

It was lost in the wind.

Again, sorry for the lateness! The chapter isn't as good as I wanted it to be, and I wish I had more time to work on it, but I couldn't keep you guys waiting any longer. I'd love to hear your reviews on it, though. :)