A hand was on my mouth when I woke up.

I felt it before I opened my eyes, and fighting down the urge to scream, I slowly opened my eyes.

"Tyson?" I tried to say, but it came out muffled.

His one eye was wide, slowly filling with tears that made me uncomfortable. Then, without any warning, he picked me up like a baby and brought me outside. Tyson finally set me down outside of cabin 3.

I dusted myself off. "Tyson. You can't just barge into cabin that aren't yours and steal somebody."

Tyson sniffed loudly. "Percy's gone."

I froze. "What? What do you mean gone?" I bursted into Tyson and Percy's shared cabin, mumbling under my breath. "I swear to gods if this boy went for the Fleece on his own I will gut him when he returns."

And sure enough, Percy wasn't in his cabin, though Tyson was on the verge of sobbing, and I was not about to death with a mentally unstable cyclops.

"Tyson, Percy could be anywhere in camp. Knowing him, he probably hasn't left yet because he has no time management. You can look for him by the horse stables."

Tyson clapped his hands and ran out of the cabin yelling, "Horsies!"

I sighed and started for the sand dunes.

"Help!" A voice yelled, and I spun around, though there was no one near me. You're just jumpy. Nothing's happening.

"Please! I'm being attacked by bad things!" My head snapped up. Theres only one boy with a voice that annoying.

I started running towards the water. A few moments later, Tyson was running next to me.

Percy was sitting on a blanket, staring at the ocean.

"What's going on?" I asked. "I heard you calling for help!"

"Me, too!" Tyson said. "Heard you yell, 'Bad things are attacking!'"

"I didn't call you guys," Percy murmured. "I'm fine."

"But then who ..." I noticed three yellow duffel bags, then the thermos and the bottle of vitamins Percy was holding. "What-"

"Just listen," Percy said. "We don't have much time."

Percy told us about his conversation with Hermes. By the time he was finished, I could hear screeching in the distance-patrol harpies picking up our scent.

"Percy," I said, "we 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!" I yelled, then blinked. "I mean ... Percy, come on. You know that's impossible."

Percy's eyes narrowed as he looked at me. Meanwhile, the cruise ship was getting farther and farther away as the sound of the harpies was getting closer and closer.

"We can't leave him," Percy decided. "Tantalus will punish him for us being gone."

"Percy," I said, trying to keep my cool, "we're going to Polyphemus's island! Polyphemus is an S-i-k ... a C-y-k . .." I stamped my foot in frustration. As smart as I was, I was dyslexic. We could've been there all night while I tried to spell Cyclops. "You know what I mean!"

"Tyson can go," Percy insisted, "if he wants to."

Tyson clapped his hands. "Want to!"

I gave Percy the evil eye, but I knew he wasn't going to change his mind. And we didn't have time to argue

"All right," I said. "How do we get to that ship?"

"Hermes said my father would help."

"Well then, Seaweed Brain? What are you waiting for?"

Percy always had a hard time calling on his father, or praying, but he stepped into the waves.

"Urn, Dad?" Percy called. "How's it going?"

"Percy!" I whispered. "We're in a hurry!"

"We need your help," he called a little louder. "We need to get to that ship, like, before we get eaten and stuff, so ..."

I slapped my forehead. We were dead. 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!"

He was right. As the creatures pulled themselves onto the sand, I saw that they were only horses in the front; their back halves were silvery fish bodies, with glistening scales and rainbow tail fins.

"Hippocampi!" I said. "They're beautiful."

The nearest one whinnied in appreciation and nuzzled me. I smiled at them.

"We'll admire them later," Percy said. "Come on!"

"There!" a voice screeched behind us. "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!" I yelled.

We gathered the bags and mounted our steeds. 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. My hippocampus turned and plunged into the waves, followed right behind Percy's

The harpies cursed at us, 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. I wondered if I'd ever see the place again. But right then I had other problems. The cruise ship was now looming in front of us- our ride toward Florida and the Sea of Monsters.

Riding the hippocampus was even easier than riding a pegasus. We zipped along with the wind in our faces, speeding through the waves so smooth and steady I hardly needed to hold on at all.

As we got closer to the cruise ship, I realized just how huge it was. I felt as though I were looking

up at a building in Manhattan. 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 me a few seconds to decipher it:

PRINCESS ANDROMEDA

Attached to the bow was a huge masthead-a three-story-tall woman wearing a white Greek chiton, sculpted to look as if she were chained to the front of the ship. She was young and beautiful, with flowing black hair, but her expression was one of absolute terror. Why anybody would want a screaming princess on the front of their vacation ship, I had no idea.

I remembered the myth about Andromeda and how she had been chained to a rock by her own parents as a sacrifice to a sea monster. Percy's namesake, Perseus, had saved her just in time and turned the sea monster to stone using the head of Medusa.

"How do we get aboard?" I shouted over the noise of the waves, but the hippocampi

seemed to know what we needed. They skimmed along the starboard side of the ship, riding easily through its huge wake, and pulled up next to a service ladder riveted to the side of the hull.

"You first," Percy told me.

I slung my duffel bag over my shoulder and grabbed the bottom rung. Once I had hoisted

myself onto the ladder, my hippocampus whinnied a farewell and dove underwater.

I began to climb. After climbing a few rungs, I felt the latter shake as Percy climbed onto it.

Finally it was just Tyson in the water. His hippocampus was treating him to 360° aerials and

backward ollies, and Tyson was laughing so hysterically, the sound echoed up the side of the ship.

"Tyson, shhh!" Percy said. "Come on, big guy!"

"Can't we take Rainbow?" he asked, his smile fading.

I stared at him.

"Rainbow?"

The hippocampus whinnied as if he liked his new name.

"Um, we have to go," Percy said. "Rainbow ... well, he can't climb ladders."

Tyson sniffled. He buried his face in the hippocampus's mane. "I will miss you, Rainbow!"

The hippocampus made a neighing sound I could've sworn was crying.

"Maybe we'll see him again sometime," Percy suggested.

"Oh, please!" Tyson said, perking up immediately. "Tomorrow!"

Percy didn't make any promises, but he finally convinced Tyson to say his farewells and grab hold of the ladder. With a final sad whinny, Rainbow the hippocampus did a back-flip and dove into the sea.

The ladder led to a maintenance deck stacked with yellow lifeboats. There was a set of locked double doors, which I managed to pry open with my knife and a fair amount of cursing in Ancient Greek.

I figured we'd have to sneak around, being stowaways and all, but after checking a few corridors

and peering over a balcony into a huge central promenade lined with closed shops, I began to realize there was nobody to hide from. I mean, sure it was the middle of the night, but we walked half the length of the boat and met no one. We passed forty or fifty cabin doors and heard no sound behind any of them.

"It's a ghost ship," I murmured.

"No," Tyson said, fiddling with the strap of his duffel bag. "Bad smell."

Annabeth frowned. "I don't smell anything."

"Cyclopes are like satyrs," Percy said. "They can smell monsters. Isn't that right, Tyson?"

He nodded nervously. Now that we were away from Camp Half-Blood, the Mist had distorted his face again. Unless I concentrated very hard, it seemed that he had two eyes instead of one.

I took a deep breath, focusing on the floor beneath me. "Okay," I said. "So what exactly do you smell?"

"Something bad," Tyson answered.

"Great," I grumbled. "That clears it up."

We came outside on the swimming pool level. There were rows of empty deck chairs and a bar closed off with a chain curtain. The water in the pool glowed eerily, sloshing back and forth from the motion of the ship.

Above us fore and aft were more levels-a climbing wall, a putt-putt golf course, a revolving

restaurant, but no sign of life.

And yet ... I sensed something familiar. Something dangerous. I had the feeling that if I weren't so tired and burned out on adrenaline from our long night, I might be able to put a name to what was wrong.

"We need a hiding place," Percy said. "Somewhere safe to sleep."

"Sleep," I agreed wearily.

We explored a few more corridors until we found an empty suite on the ninth level. The door was open, which struck me as weird. 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 handwritten note that said: Enjoy your cruise!

We opened our 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 my cap of invisibility, which made me both feel a lot better.

"I'll be next door," I said. "You guys don't drink or eat anything."

"You think this place is enchanted?"

I frowned. "I don't know. Something isn't right. Just ... be careful."

We locked our doors.

I lay on the bed and stared out the porthole. I thought I heard voices out in the hallway, like

whispering. I knew that couldn't be. We'd walked all over the ship and had seen nobody. But the

voices kept me awake all night long.

I woke to a ship's whistle and a voice on the intercom- some guy with an Australian accent who

sounded way too happy.

"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!"

I sat up in bed. What did he say?

I knocked on the suites interior door before popping my head in and staring at Pery. "Disemboweling practice?"

Once we were all dressed, we ventured out into the ship and were surprised to see other people.

A dozen senior citizens were heading to breakfast. A dad was taking his kids to the pool for a

morning swim. Crew members in crisp white uniforms strolled the deck, tipping their hats to the

passengers.

Nobody asked who we were. Nobody paid us much attention. But there was something wrong. As the family of swimmers passed us, the dad told his kids: "We are on a cruise. We are having fun."

"Yes," his three kids said in unison, their expressions blank. "We are having a blast. We will

swim in the pool."

They wandered off.

"Good morning," a crew member told us, his eyes glazed. "We are all enjoying ourselves aboard

the Princess Andromeda. Have a nice day." He drifted away.

"Percy, this is weird," I whispered. "They're all in some kind of trance."

Then we passed a cafeteria and saw our first monster. It was a hellhound-a black mastiff with its

front paws up on the buffet line and its muzzle buried in the scrambled eggs. It must've been young, because it was small compared to most-no bigger than a grizzly bear. Still, my blood turned cold. I'd almost gotten killed by one of those before.

The weird thing was: a middle-aged couple was standing in the buffet line right behind the devil dog, patiently waiting their turn for the eggs. They didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.

"Not hungry anymore," Tyson murmured.

Before Percy or I could reply, a reptilian voice came from down the corridor, "Ssssix more joined yesssterday."

I gestured frantically toward the nearest hiding place-the women's room-and all three of

us ducked inside. I was so freaked out it didn't even occur to me to be embarrassed telling them to come in.

Something-or more like two somethings-slithered past the bathroom door, making sounds like sandpaper against the carpet.

"Yesss," a second reptilian voice said. "He drawssss them. Ssssoon we will be sssstrong."

The things slithered into the cafeteria with a cold hissing that might have been snake laughter.

I looked at Percy. "We have to get out of here."

"You think I want to be in the girls' restroom?"

"I mean the ship, Percy! We have to get off the ship."

"Smells bad," Tyson agreed. "And dogs eat all the eggs. Annabeth is right. We must leave the restroom and ship."

Then I heard another voice outside-one that chilled me worse than any monster's. "-only a matter of time. Don't push me, Agrius!"

It was Luke, beyond a doubt. I could never forget his voice. Anger flooded my vision and I couldn't see for a few seconds. Luke.

"I'm not pushing you!" another guy growled. His voice was deeper and even angrier than Luke's.

"I'm just saying, if this gamble doesn't pay off-"

"It'll pay off," Luke snapped. "They'll take the bait. Now, come, we've got to get to the admiralty

suite and check on the casket."

Their voices receded down the corridor.

Tyson whimpered. "Leave now?"

Percy and I exchanged looks and came to a silent agreement.

"We can't," Percy told Tyson.

"We have to find out what Luke is up to," I agreed. "And if possible, we're going to beat him up, bind him in chains, and drag him to Mount Olympus."

A/N: As we know, its been almost two months since I last updated this. I lost motivation, but I finally got it back again and I'm going to try to plan out how I post instead of deadlines for me. I will be posting once a week unless school decides to be rude and not let me. Im sorry I left y'all hanging.