Hello everyone,

Thank you all for reading my story, blah, blah, blah. Disclaimer: I don't own any excerpts from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters.

Thanks to the reviewers:

Mundster Madman, redlox2, chornos the cookie thief, RedNebulosity, Die hard fan (guest), Study (guest), krasni & monkeyface123.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719

Περσεύς 9

I Have a Bad Family Reunion

Annabeth volunteered to go alone since she had the cap of invisibility, but I convinced her it was too dangerous. Either we all went together, or nobody went.

"Nobody!" Tyson voted. "Please?"

But in the end he came along, nervously chewing on his huge fingernails. We stopped at our cabin long enough to gather our stuff. We figured whatever happened, we would not be staying another night aboard the zombie cruise ship, even if they did have million-dollar bingo.

I made sure Riptide was in my pocket and the vitamins and thermos from Hermes were at the top of my bag. I didn't want Tyson to carry everything, but he insisted, and Annabeth told me not to worry about it. Tyson could carry three full duffel bags over his shoulder as easily as I could carry a backpack.

We sneaked through the corridors, following the ship's YOU ARE HERE signs toward the admiralty suite. Annabeth scouted ahead invisibly. We hid whenever someone passed by, but most of the people we saw were just glassy-eyed zombie passengers.

As we came up the stairs to deck thirteen, where the admiralty suite was supposed to be, Annabeth hissed, "Hide!" and shoved us into a supply closet.

I heard a couple of guys coming down the hall.

"You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" one of them said.

The other laughed. "Yeah, it's awesome."

My blood turned to ice. I recognized the second guy's voice. Last year, he'd been afraid of me, but he'd helped me find Silena while I was helping her and Beckendorf by being their messenger. I never thought he'd join the Titans. What did Ethan do?

Annabeth was still invisible, but she squeezed my arm hard.

"I hear they got two more coming," Chris said. "They keep arriving at this rate, oh, man—no contest!"

The voices faded down the corridor.

"That was Chris Rodriguez!"

Annabeth took off her cap and turned visible. "You remember—from Cabin Eleven."

I nodded grimly. A sudden memory came back. I remembered his face, which looked like any other Hermes camper—upturned eyebrows, a sarcastic smile, and that Hermes gleam in his eyes. He was undetermined, yet the Hermes cabin took him in like family. I swear, he had to have been Hermes' kid.

"What's another camper doing here?" Annabeth asked, clearly troubled.

Realization hit me and I scowled. "Hermes never claimed him."

"What?!"

"He's been too busy watching Luke, he didn't even claim some of his own kids." I wasn't trying to make Hermes angry, especially because he gave us all of our stuff, but that was pretty selfish, only thinking about one kid.

I noticed Annabeth look to the side a little bit, but otherwise, she stayed silent.

We kept going down the corridor. I didn't need maps anymore to know I was getting close to Ethan. I sensed something cold and unpleasant—the presence of evil.

"Percy." 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 dodgeballs, two hellhounds, and a few Scythian Dracaenae.

The monsters made a semicircle around a young guy in Greek armor who was hacking on a straw dummy. A lump formed in my throat when I realized the dummy was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. As we watched, the guy in armor 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," I told her, trying to sound braver than I 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?" I asked.

Tyson 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 I could react, Tyson's voice changed again, becoming deeper and gruffer, like the other guy we'd heard 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."

Annabeth shivered. "Stop that, Tyson! How do you do that? It's creepy."

"Skeletons?" I was basically trembling with rage.

Tyson opened his eye and regarded Annabeth puzzled. "What? Just listening."

"Keep going," I said, trying to keep my cool. "What else are they saying?"

Tyson closed his eye again.

He hissed in the gruff man's voice: "Quiet!" Then Ethan's voice, whispering: "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Tyson said in the gruff voice. "Right outside."

Too late, I realized what was happening.

I just had time to say, "Run!" when the doors of the stateroom burst open and there was Ethan, flanked by two hairy giants armed with javelins, their bronze tips aimed right at our chests.

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

The stateroom was beautiful, and it was horrible.

The beautiful part: huge windows curved along the back wall, looking out over the stern of the ship. Green sea and blue sky stretched all the way to the horizon. A Persian rug covered the floor. Two plush sofas occupied the middle of the room, with a canopied bed in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other. The table was loaded with food—pizza boxes, bottles of soda, and a stack of roast beef sandwiches on a silver platter.

The horrible part: on a velvet dais at the back of the room lay a ten-foot-long golden casket. A sarcophagus, engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dying grisly deaths. Despite the sunlight streaming through the windows, the casket made the whole room feel cold.

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

He hadn't changed much. He still wore Celestial bronze armor and carried a helmet and sword with him, but his face had gotten much more weary, as if becoming Kronos' servant came with a price. The only part of his face that hadn't change at least a little was his right eye. It still gleamed brightly with that Hermes look, the only sign that he was still human and not some heartless monster. The black eyepatch that covered his left eye was still there but it looked more worn out.

"Sit," he told us. He waved his hand and three dining chairs scooted themselves into the center of the room.

None of us sat.

Ethan's large friends were still pointing their javelins at us. They looked like twins, but they weren't human. They stood about eight feet tall, for one thing, and wore only blue jeans, probably because their enormous chests were already shag-carpeted with thick brown fur. They had claws for fingernails, feet like paws. Their noses were snout like, and their teeth were all pointed canines.

I recognized them alright. They were Agrius and Oreius. Let's just say their story was tragic.

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

I said nothing. Despite the javelins pointed at me, it wasn't the bear twins who scared me.

It was Ethan. It sounded ridiculous in a way, but I'd spent most of my life scared of a fat walrus I could have easily beat in a fight. Ethan was the only sword fighter that could actually disarm me in a fight, though I always beat him at camp. He had only defeated me once. His swordplay was matched to someone like Ares, though not as good. I figured if I could thrash the god of war, I could thrash Ethan, but there was just something about him that was unsettling.

"You don't know Agrius and Oreius' story?" Ethan asked. "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 with 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. His gruff voice was the one I'd heard talking with Ethan earlier.

"Hehe! Hehe!" His brother Oreius laughed, licking his fur-lined lips. He kept laughing like he was having an asthmatic fit until Ethan and Agrius both stared at him.

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

Oreius whimpered. He trudged over to the corner of the room, slumped onto a stool, and banged his forehead against the dining table, making the silver plates rattle.

Ethan acted like this was perfectly normal behavior. He made himself comfortable on the sofa and propped his feet up on the coffee table. "Well, Percy, we let you survive another year. I hope you appreciated it. How are Thalia and Luke? How's school?"

"You poisoned the pine tree."

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

"So what?!" Annabeth looked like she was about to explode. "You," she said with distaste, "poisoned camp's trees just so you could what? Invade?"

"Oh, it's a lot more complicated than that, Ms. Chase," Ethan said smiling. "It's so complicated, I doubt you would be able to comprehend what will happen."

Annabeth was furious. "You did not just call me stupid. You did not just call me stupid!"

I put a hand on her shoulder, but gave Ethan a sharp glare. "Calm down, Annabeth. He's trying to make you angry. Don't fall into his trap." I turned to him. "What's the point of all of this? Destroy camp?"

"Like I said, it's a much more complicated plan than that," Ethan said. "But why would I tell you the plan anyway? That would just be foolish. I will tell you something, though. I wanted to kill you. Your death would mean the Titan Lord to rise faster. There would be no threat against us."

I clenched my fists. "Scared?"

Ethan smiled humorlessly. "But milord had other plans. I now know why he is called the Crooked One. He knows plans inside out and creates multiple backups. He has convinced me to keep you alive, Percy. You should be grateful to him."

"He'll never be grateful to a Titan!" Annabeth spat. "He already defeated one!"

"Ah, yes, Coeus." Ethan laughed. "That fool is in hiding. Milord already knows of his betrayal and his defeat to Percy here. So that's why I'm here to change you for the better, Percy."

"Change me for the better?"

Annabeth seemed to realize what he meant and she turned to me. "He's going to try to turn you to the Titans' side. Don't listen to him!"

"Shut up!" yelled Ethan. "Don't you realize Percy has been neglected by his own family the same way I was?" He turned to me. "Your uncles. Do they not want to kill you? Or do they? You saw Chris Rodriguez earlier. His own father neglected him just because Luke is his pride and joy. He's using you, Percy. You think he likes you? No, it's only because he wants Luke protected. Athena hates you just because you're Poseidon's son. Artemis hates you just because you're a male. Aphrodite thinks you're just a story!"

I stared at him. The horrifying truth was that he was right. All of those things were true.

"And worst of all—Poseidon." He looked at me sympathetically. "Did you ever wish you weren't born? Did you ever wish you could have just been a different person, not born in this lifetime? He brings you misfortune and terror to your life. Is it not endangered anywhere you go?"

I kept silent.

Annabeth looked at me worriedly. "Percy...you aren't seriously..."

I pursed my lips and looked at Ethan coldly. "You can't convince me to join Kronos, Ethan. The gods may not be the best deities out there but they're a whole lot better than the Titans. I know my priorities."

He sighed. "That's a pity. I had hoped you would have been more calm to this. If only you'd understand what was coming."

"I understand that you want to destroy camp," Annabeth snapped. "You're a monster!"

"Speak for yourself," he snapped back. "You're travelling with a monster!"

"Hey!" I said. "Don't insult him, you retarded fuckface!"

I saw his face twitch, but he kept his eyes trained on Annabeth. "The gods have blinded you Annabeth. Just like the way they've blinded Percy. 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."

"Because you have none of your own!"

His eyes narrowed. "You deserve better than tagging along on some hopeless quest to save the camp. Half-Blood Hill will be overrun by monsters within the 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?"

He pointed to Tyson.

"I said, don't insult him!"

"Remember Chris Rodriguez? His father was taken away from him because of his father's pride and joy. Would you care to see what would happen to Hermes if we took away his pride and joy?"

Silence enveloped us and Ethan stared at us expectantly. Slowly, it dawned on me that he meant...

"Luke would never join you!" Annabeth screamed appalled. "He promised he wouldn't!"

"Promises are never kept, daughter of Athena," said Ethan. "Unless sworn upon the River Styx. But don't worry. Luke hasn't joined us...yet."

"He'll never join you!" she screamed, refusing to believe Luke was capable of turning to Kronos' side.

"And Percy!" he exclaimed. "I heard your father claimed this big guy here." He made a gesture toward Tyson.

"Wait, what?" I must've looked really surprised because Ethan laughed.

"Yes, Percy, I know all about that. And your plan to find the Fleece. I can't believe I never thought of getting the Fleece. Turns out you aren't as stupid as you seem to let on. I never thought Percy Jackson would have been able to figure out coordinates and actually know where they are. What were they again...30, 31, 75, 12? You see, I still have friends at camp who keep me posted."

"Spies, you mean."

He shrugged. "You can never trust your friends, no matter how innocent they seem." He sighed. "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 and made a rumbling sound down in his throat.

Ethan 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?"

I froze. Sixteenth birthday?

I mean, I knew Chiron had received a prophecy from the Oracle many years ago. I knew part of it was about me. But, if I reached my sixteenth birthday? I didn't like the sound of that.

"Like I said, I know my priorities. The gods aren't the best—not by a long shot—but they're a hell lot better than the Titans," I said. "You just haven't figured that out. Kronos is filling your head with false hopes and dreams. He's using you as much as the gods are using me. You had so much potential and everyone at camp liked you. Chiron said you were the most trustworthy camper. That's why he told you the prophecy."

His face softened for a moment before he sneered. "Lies and trickery. Ain't gonna cut it, Perce. I'm actually kinda surprised you know how to deceive people into thinking false facts. You would totally be a good person to have on our side."

"Kronos is deceiving all of those around him," I said. "I know you know this. Monsters and Titans around him are afraid of him. That's why you are afraid to defect back. I know you."

Ethan stood angrily. "You don't know me at all! You're a fool!"

Tyson smashed the nearest dining chair to splinters. "Percy is not a fool!"

Before I could stop him, he charged Ethan. His fists came down toward Ethan's head—a double overhead blow that would've knocked a hole in titanium—but the bear twins intercepted. They each caught one of Tyson's arms and stopped him cold. They pushed him back and Tyson stumbled. He fell to the carpet so hard the deck shook.

"Too bad, Cyclops," Ethan said. "Looks like my grizzly friends together are more than a match for your strength. Maybe I should let them—"

"Look," I cut in. "The minor gods can be saved. I can get them respect. The minor gods are respected, in fact. You're just overlooking those facts. If you look at the humble campers, they recognize that—"

"Humble? Humble!" he roared. "No! The campers who haven't been claimed know that their parents are being neglected back up on Olympus. Either that, or their parents are too fucking lazy to give a shit about them. The campers who haven't been claimed realize that the gods have been doing a terrible job running the West. The campers who haven't been claimed realize that our lord will overthrow the usurpers called the gods and have joined us in this righteous cause! I want Olympus torn down brick by brick, just like Kronos. Everything will turn 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.

My blood chilled when I realize what was inside the box. The room seemed to dip in temperature. "Whoa, you don't mean—"

"Yes." Ethan nodded. "He is re-forming. 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!" Annabeth said.

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, 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 said.

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. They had the same glassy-eyed look as the other mortals I'd seen, but I had a feeling this wouldn't make them any less dangerous in a fight (though they weren't that dangerous anyway).

"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 us out of the stateroom, followed by the two human security guards.

As I walked down the corridor with Oreius' javelin poking me in the back, I thought about what Ethan had said—that the bear twins together were a match for Tyson's strength. But maybe separately…

Then again, why would he allow the stupid twin to feed us? Something didn't seem right.

We exited the corridor amidships and walked across an open deck lined with lifeboats. I knew the ship well enough to realize this would be our last look at sunlight. Once we got to the other side, we'd take the elevator down into the hold, and that would be it.

I 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.

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

One of the security guards drew his nightstick, but Annabeth knocked the wind out of him with a well-placed kick. The other guard ran for the nearest alarm box.

"Stop him!" Annabeth yelled.

I was lucky that I was able to run fast. Swiftly, I knocked his feet out from under him and stepped on a soft place with as much force as I could.

"Lifeboat," Annabeth said, pointing to the nearest one.

We quickly got the cover off. Annabeth and Tyson tried working with the release pulley but they were having no luck. After a little bit, I heard noises and shuffling, like the movement of security guards.

"Um, guys," I said. "I think we might be having some company."

"Well, why don't you try working with this impossible piece of crap?" Annabeth said.

Just then, a door burst open and security guards started swarming the deck, pushing aside tourists as they made their way toward us. They quickly swarmed the deck, seemingly coming out of nowhere. I didn't know how they knew we were escaping, but I didn't want to know. This ship now gave me an eerie feeling and I wanted to get off this thing.

"Get in!" I called. I uncapped Riptide and backed into the boat.

"Do you know how to launch this thing?" she asked.

"Nope, but I know how to cut rope."

The lifeboat was hanging over the ship, high above the water. Then I cut the ropes and we free-fell toward the ocean.

Hey everyone,

This is part two of experiment one. It's like a science experiment except with writing. I kind of wish I could work on my poetry so that I can have Apollo say them. Well, then again, Apollo's poetry is pretty bad... Anyway, thanks for all of your support and I hope that you continue to support this story no matter how bad it may be. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any excerpts taken from Rick Riordan's book Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters.

I'm sorry for those who wanted some drastic change in this story compared to the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan, but I like keeping it closer. Trust me, later on there will be some parts that never happened in the real series, mainly because Percy has more guts from growing up on the streets. He doesn't take sh*t from anyone and is...different. But that will be later.

I also apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above.

With best regards,
SharkAttack719