LONGEST CHAPTER YET 7000+ WORDS

again i'm going to apollogize for not updating for so long. kill me if u wish

i hope i will never take so long to update again

i love ur reviews and thank u for supporting me even i took an eternity. u guys motivate me :)

i hope u guys like this and thank you for ur ideas that you've given me they REALLY help

long authors note

jeez

now just read the story, i hope its okay :P

I don't know if u knew, but i ain't Rick Riordian

CHAPTER ELEVEN

)))Lucas Charles Jackson(((

STARTING OFF OUR QUEST.

We all sit/stand in the completely crammed subway. I can barely breathe, honestly. I'm holding onto the overhead bars, along with Leo, Ella, and Nico. Hunter is sitting on one of the tiny seat/benches, squeezed between an old man who looks quite dead, and a lady who is talking into her phone in rapid-fire Spanish.

Hunter looks miserable. He sees me looking and mouths: the old man smells like soup.

I shrug in apology, but I'm laughing on the inside.

Why aren't we happily riding through the air on Festus? Because Mom insisted that we get out of town first, to avoid attention. I don't know why she's worried. The Mist would keep the mortals from seeing.

"Hey, Lucas," Leo elbows me and points, while laughing, at Nico. "Look at Nico."

I turn, confused. Then I laugh with him. Nico has a circle of about two feet around him that no one is entering. The people around him are pressing away from him, giving him a comfortable amount of elbow room.

Nico seems to finally notice this, looking over at us. When he sees us laughing, he shoots us a glare, and the people around him try to step away even farther.

Leo laughs harder, even though the crowd is getting more and more packed together (thanks, Nico!) (that was sarcasm!), and I quickly glance around for Ella and Hunter.

Ella is looking out the window with headphones in her ears, nodding to the beat. She has the same type of phone as me. So basically, Leo invented it, and it doesn't attract monsters.

Hunter looks even grumpier, especially since he doesn't know that we're laughing about.

The train announces another station, and I look over at Leo, who's still laughing, then at Nico. Nico shakes his head at me. Not our station.

I'm technically leading the quest, but I'm also kind of letting Nico lead. I have no idea what I'm doing. Nico knows exactly what he's doing.

I look at Leo again. In a way, he knows what he's doing, too, but I honestly wouldn't trust him to lead a quest. Or with much of anything.

Okay. Dad told me a while ago how to do quests. One: check for monsters.

I do a three-sixty, switching my hands on the overhead bar so I can properly scan my surroundings.

I don't see anything suspicious, and no one is looking our way.

So for now, that part's okay.

Two: be alert, and avoid getting cornered.

Oops. Does sitting on a subway count?

Three: never–

My thought process is interrupted by the overhead announcing the next stop.

"Lucas!" Nico calls. "This is us!"

"Okay!" I respond, and move to tell Ella.

And just then, Leo burst into flame.

-_-_Zachary Jason Grace_-_-

I GET ACCUSED OF DATING MY MOTHER.

In the back of my mind, I could comprehend that Annabeth, Hedge, and Buford (Leo's table) were rushing around, repairing stuff. Percy and Jason were searching. Piper was staring at her knife, waiting for a helpful vision (yeah, her knife shows visions).

I probably should be doing something helpful, too. Looking for our friends, or putting out fires or something.

Nope. I'm not doing any of those things.

My hands are still gripped to the rail, as they were during the attack. I'm still staring at the same spot where Aubrey jumped overboard.

The monster's screams still echo in my ears. Aubrey's face as she smiled at me, still consumes my mind.

I think I'm hyperventilating, but I don't know. I can't tell. I'm still freaking out.

I heard Piper huff in frustration, and that almost snaps me out of my frozen state.

Yeah, I'm not much help lately.

Notice?

The moon still shone overhead. The water is as still as if we're on a lake, as if it was mourning for Aubrey.

I don't know why I'm freaking out so much. Water is Aubrey's thing. It's pretty much impossible for her to die there, right?

If she died… oh the irony. A descendant of Poseidon dying in the freaking water!

No, she'll be fine. Water was okay with her.

Then why isn't she back yet?

Will she ever come back?

I know I'm exhausted. My limbs ache and my fingers scream where they clutch around the rail.

This has been the longest day of my life. The hardest day. This morning seems like an eternity ago. Already, Aubrey's face is seeming less and less real, and more and more of just a memory.

I close my eyes, trying to relive good memories with Aubrey, but a shameful tug at my heart reminds me none of them are recent.

"Zach?" a voice behind me questions. "Are you okay?"

My eyes fly open. I realize with a start that I'd been halfway asleep.

I wince as I pry my fingers from the rail and turn to Piper. "I hope so," I say honestly, my voice reflects my exhaustion.

Piper all but collapses onto the railing. "Me too. Do you think they're okay?"

I stare out at the deathly calm ocean. "I have no idea."

After a moment of silence where we're both deep in thought, she says, "You should probably get some sleep."

I shake my head. My eyes are heavy; it's becoming an exercise to keep them open. "Not until Aubrey gets back."

"You're not superhuman, Zach," she sighs. "You should seriously sleep."

"Are you sleeping?" I snap.

"Well, no," she admits.

I nod. "Don't be a Hippo-crit."

She looks at me, puzzled. "What? Do you mean hypocrite?"

"Whatever," I retort.

"I don't think that wouldn't make me a hypocrite, Zach," Piper continues slowly, still slightly confused.

"What… ever," I snap.

She pats me on the back comfortingly. "I'm sure Aubrey's fine, Zach. Don't worry."

"Are you worrying?" I moan.

"Well, of course," she sighs. She leans closer, her voice comforting. "But the demigod world is new to you. You should probably–"

"What are you doing?!"

We spun, Piper's hand leaving my back.

Jason was looking at me accusingly.

"Jason!" Piper glances at me. "It's honestly not what you think!"

I'm honestly confused. "Wait what?"

Jason glares at me fiercely. "Why was my girlfriend's hand on your back?"

Then I figure it out. Several emotions flash through me. Realization, shock, disgust. Listen here. Piper is my freakin' mother. I don't care if she's a teen right now… no, just… no. That's gross.

Jason grabs Piper's hand, scowling at me. "Back off." I don't think this guy (my dad!) could hate me any more than he does.

"Jason, I was just comforting him," Piper defends.

"What's going on here?" Percy walks up, followed by Annabeth.

"I'll tell you what's going on!" Jason snarls, pulling Piper farther away from me. "Zach is trying to make a move on Piper!"

I shake my head, feeling the full force of Jason's gaze. "I'd never do that! Seriously, man, ask–" I look around. No one that knows my secret is here. Just my luck.

For not the first or probably the last time, I absentmindedly begin to arrange my own funeral.

"Jason," Piper insists more forcefully. "I was just comforting Zach!"

Jason looks at her, before he rounds on me. "I don't trust him!" he half-yells.

That hurt. My own father. Maybe now would be a good time to do "I am your father," from Star Wars in, like, reverse.

I should turn dramatically, extending my hand in slow motion, and announce in a deep voice, "Jason, I am your son." Then I'd probably drop to the ground and cower, with my hands above my head and add, "So don't kill me, good sir!"

Of course, I don't do that, and instead I make another mistake. "Guys, seriously, I would never date Piper. Like ever." Unfortunately, they mistook my disgust for dating my mother as an insult to Piper.

"What does that mean?" Annabeth defends.

You see why I'm hopeless without Aubrey? As this point, she'd clear everything up or at least announce she was hungry and we'd all go eat blue pizza and be best buddies again.

"Nothing," I try and clear up. "I just meant that…" Someone conveniently interrupt me! I don't have anything to say!

Naturally, they don't interrupt me, and wait for a response.

Percy steps forward, with a wild grin spreading on his face. Half of me is relieved. The other half wants to dive overboard, though that wouldn't really be an escape from Percy.

"I know what he's trying to say," Percy smirks.

"Wow, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth laughs. "You actually know something?"

"I know, right?" he seems to be enjoying this. "And better yet–" he playfully elbows a still-furious Jason, "–Jason, I don't think you know!"

Jason immediately looks confused. "Okay. What are we talking about?"

Piper looks around at us all, before a sly smirk creeps onto her face. She rolls her eyes. "Jason, Zach wouldn't ever date me."

Panic surges through me. They figured it out, didn't they? I'm toast. "I don't, uh, k-know what y-you're t-talking about," I rub the back of my neck nervously.

"Of course you do, Zach!" Annabeth teases. She punches my shoulder playfully, wiggling her eyebrows knowingly.

This is not what I expected their reaction to be. At all.

"Look, guys," I say, my hands shaking.

"Okay, hold up!" Jason hadn't figured it out yet then. So he was still mad at me. "What the Hades is going on? Why wouldn't Zach ever date Piper?"

"Because!" Piper laughs. "He's in love with Aubrey!"

That takes me like five seconds to process.

Okay, so they don't know I'm their kid.

But they have figured out… I mean they think… that I'm in love with Aubrey.

Jason looks at me, and laughs at my expression. What, does this guy have multiple personalities or something?

I realize they're all smiling knowingly at me, and I feel like I should probably defend myself.

"I don't know what you're, um, talking about," I say, looking at the deck of the ship.

"Aw!" Percy mocks. "Zachy's in looooove."

"Am not," I snap.

"Are too!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I insist, but my voice cracks. "I mean… I just…"

Percy clamps me on the shoulder. "It's okay, man. Love is a horrible thing that will probably destroy you in painful ways–"

"Excuse me?!" Annabeth interrupts.

"Yeah, but it'll also make you stronger," he finishes, smirking.

"That's deep, man," Jason comments.

"But I'm not in love!" I say. "I'm fifteen, and frankly, crap at any romance-y stuff!"

Percy snorts. "You said 'FRANK-ly'."

They look around, seeming to snap out of their momentary bubble of happiness, and the gloom settles back down.

Percy frowns, stepping towards the rail. "I'm going to search for them again." Before anyone could protest, he was overboard.

"Piper," Annabeth says. "We should probably warn Camp about those SUVs you saw on your knife."

Piper nods, glancing back at Jason and I slightly nervously, like she was afraid he would beat me up or something.

What a coincidence! I was afraid of that too!

Jason turns to me, eyeing me like he doesn't really know what to think of me. "Look, Zach, I don't trust you. You seem so familiar, yet I know I've never seen you before. You look like me and you seem like you're hiding secrets. My doubts and suspicions kind of all exploded just now. I'm sorry, dude. Good luck. With Aubrey I mean." He turns and walks away, leaving me unsure whether or not that was to make me feel better or if it was an apology or what.

The moon is lowering in the sky, and I stare overboard, hoping for a miracle.

As the sun peaks over the horizon, I'm pacing the deck, close to tears.

Percy's returned and is talking with Annabeth and Jason. Piper stares across the water.

Suddenly, Piper gasps, diving overboard. We all run to the side and see Leo, Hazel, Frank, and Aubrey.

Before I know what's happening, I'm overboard, too, and swimming over to Aubrey.

I'm not the best swimmer, honestly, but I get to Aubrey in a few seconds flat. I wrap my arms around her and squeeze her so tight that she probably can't breathe.

My relief is so strong I feel like I'm flying (metaphorically, of course).

"Zach!" Aubrey pants, wriggling in my arms. "Let me go!"

"Oops," I say, but I don't sound sorry. Just relieved. I reluctantly let her go and she pretends to be gasping for air, very dramatically.

Then she looks up at me and laughs. Her laugh is the most amazing thing in the world.

I laugh with her.

I suddenly feel eyes on my back and turn (in the water, obviously) to see the Seven staring at us. They all quickly avert their eyes, but Percy winks knowingly at me.

I glance at Aubrey, and I can feel the awkward tension in the air.

"Alright then!" Leo interrupts. "Jason, dear, do you mind flying me on deck?" he mocks, batting his eyelashes.

"Shut up, Valdez," Jason says.

A combination of Jason's, Percy's, and Frank's powers/ability-to-turn-into-a-giant-eagle gets the other three on board.

I wrap my arms around Aubrey and fly her on deck.

Lot harder than it sounds, let me tell you. In movies, the main character boy always has no problem picking up the main character girl, but newsflash: Aubrey is not very light. Or I'm not very strong. Let's just choose the one that's nice to my self-esteem.

After we'd all changed into dry clothes (Aubrey and I could've done a commercial for Georgia Aquarium), we all gathered on the quarterdeck. Excepting Coach Hedge, of course, who exclaimed the atmosphere was getting too cuddly for his tastes, went below deck to hammer out some dents in the hull.

Leo was fusing over his helm controls, and Hazel and Frank told their part of the story.

"Incredible," Jason says. "These are really good brownies."

"That's your only comment?" Piper demands.

"What?" he looks surprised. "I heard the story. Fish-centaurs. Merpeople. Letter of intro to the Tiber River god. Got it. But these brownies–"

"I know," Aubrey says between bites. "They belong in Elysium. Or my grandmothers kitchen. Or my mouth."

I didn't have much of a sweet tooth, but they were very good. However, I'd only had one. My second one was in my hand and I was working on eating it.

"Try them with Esther's peach preserves," Frank says with his mouth full.

"That," Hazel sounds revolted, "is incredibly disgusting."

"Pass me the jar, man," Jason says.

"Give me 'em when you're done," Aubrey adds.

Hazel and Piper exchange a look of total exasperation. Boys. And Aubrey.

Aubrey is her own species. I stopped trying to understand her long ago.

Percy, who would normally be shoveling the brownies faster than even Aubrey, wants to hear every detail of the aquatic camp. Water nerd.

He kept coming back to the same question: "They didn't want to meet me?"

"It wasn't that," Hazel comforts.

"Undersea politics or somethin'," Aubrey adds. "But the good news is they're taking care of that aquarium in Atlanta."

"And," Hazel puts in, "they'll help protect the Argo II as we cross the Atlantic."

"But Aubrey's descended from Poseidon!" Percy protests.

Aubrey smirks. "I'm just better-looking."

"Please," Percy says like that was the most ridiculous thing in the world. "No one's better-looking than me!"

"Come on, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth swats Percy's arm. "We've got better things to worry about!"

"She's right," Hazel sighs. "After today, Nico has less than two days. The fish-centaurs said we have to rescue him. He's essential to the quest, somehow."

She looks around defensively, as if waiting for someone to argue. No one did.

"Nico must have information about the Doors of Death," Piper says. "We'll save–"

But the brownie I'd been chewing on flew out of my mouth. "What the hell are the Doors of Death? That does not sound like a trip to Disney World."

Everyone exchanges glances, realizing that I had no idea what the quest was about. Aubrey also exchanged a few of the amused looks. So she already knew what the quest was about, then. I was alone in this pit of unknowingness… Is that even a word?

It took ten minutes for the briefest summary possible of what was going on. By then, I decided I wanted off of this ship.

"Okay," I say. "That's it! I'm outta here! I don't give crap if I can't go home I ain't stayin' here!" Jason suddenly looks hopeful.

Aubrey raises an eyebrow. "We can't leave."

Jason's face falls. "Why not?" Well that's hurtful.

"I'm not going home until Gaea is destroyed, Zach," Aubrey cracks her knuckles loudly. "Because she's undoubtedly the one who put us here."

"Wait where?" Percy interrupts. "This ship?"

"Doesn't matter!" Leo interrupts. "Anyway, we should reach the Mediterranean tomorrow morning. Then spend the rest of that day sailing to Rome, or flying, if I can get the stabilizer fixed by then…"

Jason suddenly looks like the brownie with peach preserves didn't taste so good. "Which will put us in Rome on the last possible day for Nico. Twenty-four hours to find him– at most."

Percy adds, "And that's only part of the problem. There's the Mark of Athena, too."

Annabeth doesn't seem happy with the conversation's new direction.

She opens her backpack and takes out a thin bronze disk the diameter of a donut. "This is the map that I found at Fort Sumter. It's…"

Her voice stops abruptly, staring at the smooth bronze surface. "It's blank!"

Percy took it out of her hands and examined both sides. "It wasn't like this earlier?"

"No! I was looking at it earlier in my cabin…"

Aubrey stands up quickly. "I'll be right back!" She sprints away, and down the stairs.

I, not really caring to hear any more about some Mark of Athena and a magical map, get up and follow her.

First, I check Hazel's cabin. Then Percy's. Then everyone else's. Maybe she just had to go to the bathroom.

I descend the stairs again to the even lower decks and open the first door.

Aubrey is hacking dummy after dummy with her sword, an expression of pure fury on her face.

The door shuts behind me, but she doesn't notice. The room is about the size of a garage or small workshop. The walls area all metal and the walls are hung with weapons. I'm assuming this is the armory.

I lean against the wall, watching her swing away at the poor, poor dummies, and let myself fantasize about her.

She looks so hot when she's angry…

"Zach?!" Aubrey seems so shocked to see me here.

"Huh, what?" I snap out of my R-rated thoughts.

"What are you doing down here?" her voice comes in gasps in between her heaving breaths. Sweat trickles down the side of her face.

"Uh, I…" I look at the ceiling. Why do I keep getting myself in these situations? "I'm… um…"

"Want to practice?" she asks, twirling her sword in her hand.

"What? Oh. Yeah!" regaining my pride and manliness, I slip my sword from its sheath.

Aubrey grins, sword hanging casually at her side. In flash, her blade is arching towards my face and I duck slightly, intercepting her blade with my own.

"Thought you could get me that easy, Jackson?" I mock.

"Not really," she shrugs. Then she attacks again.

Our parents have trained us in sword fighting ever since we were little. (Though I'd never thought the skill would be useful.) We used to duel together all the time. Not recently, of course, and she's definitely gotten better.

We fight back and forth for a few minutes, until, suddenly, she swings for my shoulder, and at the same moment, ducks and swings her leg out to hit me in the knees, knocking me painfully to the floor.

"Hell!" I scream, lying on the floor. "Aubrey Jackson, I condemn you to the fiery, deepest pits of hell, where you are alone and cold and in pain–"

"But I hate going to your house!" she whines.

"What?" I ask, before I realize what she'd said. "Wait a sec… Hey! That's not nice! My mom is very good at cleaning, thank you very much!"

"Yeah, but you're stench is all over that place," she protests, sitting down next to me. Then she wrinkles her nose and scoots away from me. "Seriously, Zach, borrow some of Percy's deodorant or something."

I hold up my hands in surrender. "Sorry, sorry."

"Guys?" a voice asks. We turn to see Percy. "If you could pause your making out for a sec, Leo wants you guys to clean up the armory."

I blush deeply at the "making out" part of his speech.

"Percy, for the last time," Aubrey sighs, though I feel satisfaction to see that her cheeks are pink, "I only make out with people who wear deodorant," she gives me a pointed look at "deodorant."

"What?!" I defend myself again.

"And besides," she turns to Percy with a mischievous look. "It's not like I slept with someone in the stables."

"We only kissed!" Percy's face is redder than mine.

"Sure you did," I laugh.

"Shut the Hades up," he growls. He turns to leave. "Leo wants it re-organized." He slams the door so hard that I swear the entire ship rattles.

Aubrey and I burst out laughing.

"Gods," she wipes her eyes. "I hope we didn't just make him hate us."

I shrug. "Just one more person on the list."

She looks at me sideways. "How any enemies do you have?"

"Jason, for one," I grumble, rubbing the back of my neck. "He hates my guts."

She raises her eyebrows. "You managed to make your own father hate you." She rolls her eyes. "You're hopeless."

"To be fair, he doesn't know it's me," I reply.

"Whatever," she sighs, getting to her feet. "Let's just get this over with."

She walks over to the dummies she destroyed and starts dragging them into the corner.

After a minute, she looks back over at me. "Well, are you going to help me?"

"Oh!" I scramble to my feet. "Y-yeah!"


The next morning I wake to the load sound of a ship's horn.

I scramble to my feet, grumbling, and notice that Percy is still asleep.

The second time the horn sounds is even louder, but Percy only stirs.

I smirk, before shoving him off the bed.

"Holy Hephaestus!" he jumps to his feet. He sees me. "What'd you do that for?" His eyes narrow.

I shrug. "You didn't wake up. We're being attacked."

"What?!" Percy's eyes go wide and he gets ready in less than a minute, strapping a bronze chest place over his pajamas and grabbing his pen.

I follow him upstairs, taking my own sword with me.

When I see the scene before me, I crack up. Everyone is hastily dressed. Frank's shirt is inside out. I, having slept in my clothes, along with Coach Hedge, who took the night shift, are the only ones who don't look so bad. Hazel's hair was all blown to one side, and Leo had accidentally set himself on fire. Aubrey's sword was barely gripped in her hand, and her eyes were closed and she was breathing deeply. I laughed even harder when I realized she was asleep… standing up.

I then noticed the other ship. It was actually a cruise ship, and quite a few people were waving, not noticing the demigods holding weapons on a Greek ship, in their pajamas.

I laugh even more, before Percy looks at me. "Dude?"

"What?" I gasp for air.

"Shut up," he says.

"Okay."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Aubrey start to tilt backwards. "Holy crap!" (Just so you know, I did not say "crap" I said something else, which I'm not allowed to say. Hint: four letters, starts with "f".)

I dove underneath her and she fell on top of me, still asleep. I push/shove her off me, groaning.

Everyone's staring at us.

Percy starts to laugh. "My gods, is she asleep?"

"Yeah," I snap. I rub my shoulder and neck, both of which are throbbing with pain. "She's almost as deep a sleeper as you."

Leo smirks. "It's almost as if you guys are related." He winks at me and my eyes go wide. I glance at Hazel.

Her expression says: he knows.

We're dead.

Piper, who I hadn't known was missing, ran up on deck, also hastily dressed.

The cruise ship blew its horn again, and the Argo II shook.

Hedge plugs his ears. "Do they have to be so loud?"

"They're just saying hi," Frank replies.

"WHAT?" Hedge yells back.

"Bye!" Leo calls to the departing cruise ship, raising a still-smoking hand.

"Can I man the ballistae?" Coach Hedge's voice is hopeful.

"No," Leo says, through a forced smile.

Hazel rubs her eyes and looks across the glittering water. "Where are– oh… Wow."

I follow her gaze and see a mountain jutting from the sea less than half a mile north. It was blinding white rock: on one side, the limestone cliffs were almost completely sheer, dropping into the sea over a thousand feet below, on the other side, the mountain sloped downwards, blanketed in forest.

"The Rock of Gibraltar," Annabeth says in awe. "At the tip of Spain. And over there–" she points south, to a more distant stretch of red and ochre hills. "That must be Africa. We're at the mouth of the Mediterranean."

"What now?" Piper asks.

"Why not?" Leo says. "It's a big shipping channel–"

Aubrey gave a loud snore and I had to bite back my laughter.

"Zach?" Annabeth looks at me. "Maybe you should bring her downstairs."

I look at Aubrey's sleeping form. "How?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Oh– I don't know. Carry her?" her voice drips sarcasm.

"Oh. Right," I still don't move, but the Seven continue talking about demigod stuff.

Unsure exactly how to do this, I kneel down and slip my arms under her back and legs and stand, trying not to tip over with the extra wait.

By the time I make it to the stairs, I'm already sweating and huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf.

I begin to descend the stairs slowly, my arms aching, wishing one of the much stronger people on this ship was doing this.

While I didn't want any of the other boys this close to her (I mean, I understand we're related, but they don't know that, and I honestly just don't want them near her… just in case…), I knew that I would probably end up dropping her.

And then the accident came. With a gasp, my toe slips and I tumble forwards, painfully down the stairs, trying to shield Aubrey the best I can.

At the bottom, I groan, rolling my already-hurt shoulders and wincing in pain, and look at Aubrey. I groan again, standing up.

"Why am I not surprised your still asleep?" I growl at her sleeping form.

I bend down again, determined to get her to Hazel's room.

It probably takes me five more minutes before she's laying on Hazel's bed, still sound asleep.

I stare at her for a moment, and I notice that her face is featureless, peaceful. The recently-made worry lines have disappeared. The loneliness and misery in her eyes isn't visible. Her shoulders are relaxed, not tense.

I realize I'm leaning closer, and I can see tiny freckles over the bridge of her nose and in between her eyes and temples.

A curl of her blond hair falls into her eyes, and I absentmindedly tuck it behind her ear.

I notice how she breathes in through her nose and out through her mouth a second later, and how her mouth almost seems to twitch into a smile, probably with whatever's going on in her dreams.

Everything about her is beautiful.

Before I know what's happening I'm pressing my lips to hers.

It's only brief, before I jump backwards, but her lips are soft and I feel the blush rise to my cheeks. What the hell am I doing?

I wait for her to wake up and yell at me, but she only stirs slightly.

I breathe a sigh of relief, my cheeks still hot.

I turn to leave when I notice that Aubrey is now frowning in her sleep, her posture no longer peaceful. I freeze, staring as a tear comes out of the corner of her eye and trickles down the side of her face, into her hair, since she's lying on her side.

"Zach!" she says. If possible, I tense even more, before I realize that's she's still asleep.

"Zach," her voice is thick, like she's been crying, "I don't want to die."

My eyes widen. What?

Again, my body seems to have a mind of its own and I walk back over to her, and I find myself whispering to her: "Don't worry, Aubrey. You're not going to die. Not if I have anything to do with it."

This time, I kiss her forehead and get up to leave, and watch with a smile on my face as her body relaxes again.

I take a shaky breath, getting up and walking to the door.

With my hand on the doorknob, I turn and whisper quietly, deciding to do something that I might end up regretting.

"I won't let you die if I can help it, Aubrey," I say so quietly that someone right next to me wouldn't've been able to hear me. "I swear on the River Styx."

',',Piper McLean,','

Swear on the River Styx

"Fine," I was saying, agreeing to go with Jason to see Hercules, when suddenly, thunder boomed loudly overhead.

We all look at the perfectly clear sky.

"What happened?" Hazel asks.

Annabeth looks as if she's thinking hard. "Someone probably made a swear on the River Styx," she says, looking around at us.

No one steps up.

"Aubrey or Zach?" I suggest, looking towards the stairs.

As if on cue, Zach appears, his face has a pink tinge, either from the effort of carrying Aubrey or… something else.

Zach sees us all staring and blushes even more. "What?"

"Did you swear on the Styx?" Annabeth questions.

His eyes go wide. "Um, what?"

"What'd you swear for?" Jason asks. "That's dangerous, you know. It can't be used lightly."

"I didn't use it lightly!" Zach snaps back. "I had a reason and it's none of your business!"

"Okay, okay, chill man," Percy says, holding his hands up in surrender. "Just be careful."

Zach narrows his eyes. "Shut up."

"Seriously, Zach," Hazel says. "Calm down a bit, 'kay?"

Zach didn't reply, but I can tell his jaw is clenched and that he's gritting his teeth.

"Let me go change and I'll be back in a moment," I say, heading downstairs.

~~~Aubrey Sally Jackson~~~

DREAMS OF DEATH.

I stand alone, on the edge of a cliff. The sky above me is dark, starless, and the drop before me is too far to see.

"I don't want to," I say out aloud. Why would I say that?

I realize, suddenly, that I have the urge to jump. A fall that no one could survive. Not if they hit the ground.

"You have to," a voice says to my right.

I start, and look over to see Zach, with a blank expression.

I feel the tears well in my eyes. "Zach!"

He doesn't move.

"Zach," I plead. "I don't want to die."

As if my wish was coming true, his features softened and his face became caring, but determined. "Don't worry, Aubrey. You're not going to die. Not if I have anything to do with it."

I smile, but my voice doesn't work, and I don't have time to say "Thank you" before everything disappears.

I find myself in a small circular room, the air stale, as if it was sealed. I spot a figure, appearing to be quite unconscious, maybe dead, lying on the ground.

I gasp. "Nico?!" It looks like a younger version of Nico, and definitely one with a far sadder aura. Maybe because he was trapped in this room.

"Nico!" I cry, trying to get him to wake.

He looks about my age, fourteen, but he's both unnaturally skinny and deathly pale.

He doesn't stir.

I try to move forward, but instead, I find myself being dragged out and I find that Nico's trapped in… a jar?

"Nico," I squeak, still looking at the jar.

Again, my whole world shifts, and I stand, sword in hand, tired and hurt, fighting. The sky above me is blood red, the air acid. I am bleeding everywhere. Yet I fight.

I hear a scream of: "Aubrey!"

It's Percy.

Suddenly, I feel like something's been driven directly through my heart, and I wake with a scream.

I clutch my chest, aching with simply the memory of being stabbed.

"Aubrey?" a voice outside the door asks. Percy.

It's like the Fates are teasing me.

"Yeah?" I squeak.

The door opens. Percy looks at me. "You okay? I heard you scream."

"Nightmare," I reply, pulling my knees to my chest and hugging them.

His look turns sympathetic. "I know what you mean," he sighs.

"Did you need something?" I ask him.

"I was wondering if you wanted to take a swim," he shrugs. "Zach, Piper, and Jason went to meet Hercules. Annabeth's busy. I got nothing to do. You want to come?"

"Hercules?" my eyes bulge.

"Yeah," he waves it off. "Anyway, wanna come?"

"Sure," I climb off Hazel's bed, throw my hair into a ponytail, and follow him out.

No one but Leo's on deck, so Percy tells him we're going for a swim.

Percy jumps in and Leo looks at me. "Daddy-daughter time?" he teases.

"Shut up, Valdez," I growl. "You have a daughter too who I could tell you all about."

Leo looks quite shocked, and I smirk and dive in after Percy.

As soon as I hit the water, my mind clears and I feel at home, relaxed.

I see Percy, swimming deeper through the clear water. He's not swimming into the Mediterranean, but out into the ocean. I catch up with him quickly.

We didn't talk (or think telepathically or whatever), but I think we sort of form a bond, one that I'd always had with my dad.

Water has always been Percy's home. His domain. It's always been my safe house. My base. I think we both enjoyed the fact that there was someone else the same way.

We both explore, swimming, talking to fish occasionally, and we form a friendship, unspoken.

Both at peace, at home. As soon as we entered the water, I could tell Percy was tense, angry, and maybe even jealous of Jason for getting to do so much more than him in keeping everyone safe.

But his negative feelings faded as we swam deeper. The water boosted him, as it did to me.

Of course, I'd never known I could breathe underwater, but my dad and I'd always gone to the beach together. He'd taught me to swim, scuba dive, and surf.

Somehow this swim with Percy healed my homesickness, if only partially. Maybe it was the water. Maybe it was Percy, and his familiarity. Maybe it was the combination of both. But I didn't feel so alone.

Percy obviously didn't know I was his future-daughter, but I could tell he came to see me as a close friend, family. Somehow he could tell that he was supposed to have a connection with me, someday.


When we returned to the ship hours later, we hadn't uttered a single word. But we both felt thousands of times better.

His confidence was back. He'd felt useless for a while, like he hadn't done much. The water had healed him.

I didn't feel so alone. Maybe even like I was a little closer to getting home.

The sun was setting, and we could see Zach, Piper, and Jason on the beach, talking to Hercules.

Suddenly, Piper raises a horn to her lips and food (food!) shoots out of it. At Hercules.

"Go!" I can hear Piper's voice even all the way out here. "Go!"

Zach takes off towards the ship, Jason grabbing Piper and following quickly.

As Zach touches down on deck, I rush over to him. "You okay?" I ask him.

He sees me and immediately blushes. "Uh, yeah."

We heard Hercules scream "Kill!" as we took off into the air, like he had a lot of practice saying it.

"How was your trip?" I say to Zach, like he'd just came back from a family vacation (does that count as a family vacation?)

He motions for me to follow him. We go downstairs and enter the mess hall, which is empty.

"It was actually really awkward at first," he sighs. I grab us plates, but nothing appears on his while mine is soon covered in blue food. "Piper tried to make conversation, but I was too tired, and Jason was too busy leading us."

"What happened? Why'd it take so long?" I cram nearly half a slice of pizza in my mouth.

He explains about the mini-quest, Achelous, and the cornucopia.

"Wow," I say when he finishes, grabbing a pack of M&Ms and popping a few in my mouth. "What a day."

"I know," he moans, rubbing his face tiredly.

"You should get some sleep," I suggest.

"I know," he says.

"Eat first, though," I shove a plate towards him.

"I don't want to," his voice is muffled behind his hands.

"Now," I command.

In the end, I get him to eat a cheeseburger (which he's never had before since his mom's vegetarian, and he loved it), before he goes off to bed.

I, having enough of sleep or a while, just sit back in the chair: thinking.

I must've fallen asleep, though (no dreams luckily), because suddenly the ship jerks to the side, sending me tumbling painfully out of my chair.

An alarm went off, not helping my pounding head.

I hate demigod life. Can't I get a break?!

I roll to my feet, reach for my sword, and start towards the door.

Suddenly it bangs open and I shriek as dolphin-human things attack me.

In a swirl of vicious squeaks (can squeaks be vicious?) and silver, I get tied up and dragged from the room. My mouth is gagged and my wrists and ankles bound so tight they're already starting to ache.

I'm brought up on deck and thrown onto a pile of ropes. "Crap," I moan quietly (even though my gag stops my voice from actually being heard) as the coarse ropes stick into my back.

Jason lies unconscious by a pile of crossbows. Piper and Hazel were flopping around like fish, trembling. Percy is talking to a man in a freaky helmet. Frank is nowhere to be seen. In a panic, I look around and notice Zach also next to Jason. I breathe a sigh of slight relief. At least I know he's okay.

For now.

-_-_Zachary Jason Grace_-_-

DOLPHIN ATTACK.

Lying next to the unconscious Jason, bound and gagged, I watch and marvel at Percy's cleverness as he stirs up the crowd of dolphin-men.

"Behold!" Percy was shouting, presenting a soda can. "The god's chosen beverage. Tremble before the horror of Diet Coke!"

The dolphin-men start to panic, chattering nervously.

"The god will take your ship," Percy warns. "He will finish your transformations into dolphins, or make you insane, or transform you into insane dolphins! Your only hope is to swim away now, quickly!"

"Ridiculous!" the man with the weird helmet (who says his name is Chrysaor) cries.

"Save yourselves!" Percy warns. "It's too late for us!"

He then gasps, pointing at something. "Oh, no! Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin!"

Nothing happens.

"I said," Percy repeats. "Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin!"

Frank stumbles from nowhere, making a big show of grabbing his throat. "Oh, no," he says like he was reading from a teleprompter. "I am turning into a crazy dolphin."

My eyes widen as his nose elongates into a snout, his skin turning gray. I gasp through my gag as he hits the deck as a dolphin.

I've seen him turn into an eagle, but this was much cooler, like he and Percy planned this.

Immediately, the crew goes crazy to get off the ship.

In the confusion, Annabeth cuts us from our bonds and Chrysaor is surrounded.

He backs to the edge of the rail. "This isn't over, Jackson," Chrysaor growls. "I will have my revenge. Oh, wait," even under his mask I can tell he's smirking, "I already have."

He dives overboard.

We all stand still for a moment, confused.

"What did that mean?" I ask shakily. "Is Jason dead or something?"

Piper hurries to check and make sure he has a pulse. "No, he's okay."

I look around and my mouth goes dry.

"Guys," I squeak. Everyone spins to look at me. I look around again, confirming. "Guys, where's Aubrey?"

IM SORRY FOR NOT GIVING TOO MANY DETAILS ON THE MINI-QUEST OF JASON, PIPER, AND ZACH'S BUT I REALLY NEEDED TO UPDATE. IF ANYONE WANTS TO WRITE IT AS A BONUS SCENE, PM ME AND THEN U GUYS CAN WRITE IT :)

DONT HATE ME FOR THE CLIFFY I REALLY CANNOT RESIST.
believe me, i've tried

please review. if u hated it really bad, please tell me why because i want to know how to improve. but there's still a fine line between constructive criticism and just being mean, so PLEASE TELL ME WHY IF U HATED THIS CHAPTER, if u did

love u all! thnx for reading. *gives out 100000000000 cookies to everyone*


One last thing, if u have the time, plez check out my other story because i need hep on which Harry Potter house Percy belongs in! :P