Percy talking

Percy thoughts

Adamos talking

Adamos thoughts

Characters are owned by Rick

(except Adamos he's mine)

Chapter 30

Cruises Suck

"YAY FISH PONIES!"

"Tyson don't be so loud. They might hear you."

"Yay fish ponies." Tyson cheered in an excited whisper.

I chuckled a little bit as Lou, Tyson, and I rode the Hippocampus towards the cruise ship. The mythical mounts cut through the water so effortlessly it was almost as if there was no resistance at all.

I turned around to look back at the camp, only to see a dark smudge fading into the background. I click my tongue at the thought of what's to come when the camp finds out we left. Mr. D probably didn't even care, not that he cared when I was setting up the bounded field. Tantalus would probably ban us, but it wouldn't matter when we succeed. The other questers would probably be pretty pissed, but it'd be pretty funny.

I felt the hippocampus slow down and I got good look at the ship. It was so much bigger than I thought it would be.

The white hull stretched up ten stories with a dozen more decks topping it with brightly lit portholes and balconies. Faintly I could hear conga music coming from the main balcony. The ships name was painted on the side in bronze lettering, lit up by spotlights.

PRINCESS ANDROMEDA

Attached to the bow was a three-story tall woman in a white chiton dress. She was carved as if she was chained to the front of the ship, her young and beautiful face twisted into a terrified scream.

"Why do I get the feeling this is some kind of sick joke against me?"

"Welcome to the club Percy. Where your loved by many and hated by even more. Give Denice your measure measurements and you'll get the complimentary robe in a few days." Adamos spoke in a casual tone.

"…Are you the only member of the club?"

Adamos was quiet, the only sound was the drinking of some liquid. "…Silk is very comfy."

"Hey, look a service ladder." Lou called out over the sound of the waves.

I looked over to see a bunch of metal handles riveted to the starboard side of the ship's hull. I nodded at Lou and she swung her bag over her shoulder and started climbing. I waited she was high enough before climbing after her. The sound of hysterical laughter brought my attention back down below.

Tyson seemed to be having the time of his life as he and his hippocampi were doing tricks. The hippocampus was jumping out of the water spinning in midair. I'll admit that it looked like a lot of fun and they were some sick tricks but now wasn't the time…no matter how tempting it was. "Tyson. Keep quiet and come on." I called trying to get his attention.

"Can we bring Rainbow with us?" He asked with pleading eyes, er—eye.

I immediately pair Rainbow with the hippocampus that he's riding. "Rainbow doesn't have hands bud. And I don't think he would enjoy being out of the water for too long."

I don't think I had ever seen Tyson so sad until that moment. He hugged Rainbow by neck. "Goodbye Rainbow. I will miss you!" At that moment I could have sworn the hippocampus was crying as well. Then with reluctant acceptance Tyson climbed onto the rails and began to ascend.

We climbed until we made it to some sort of maintenance deck, although what were we expecting from a service ladder. All around us were yellow lifeboats and a set of locked double doors at one end.

"You think you can make it through to the other side through there?" I nudged Lou for a moment and pointed at the vent in a corner of the room, one that I'm pretty sure the short girl could fit through if she squeezed herself.

"Bite me." She snapped back with and elbow into my arm that I laughed off. She then walked over to the door and began to work her magic until the door unlocked itself. She must have seen my questioning look. "A neat little trick that earned me quite a few free dinners." She said with a smirk.

I just shrug while I cloak myself in shadows while Lou goes invisible. Neither of us wanting to be discovered. Lou then spreads the mist even more so over Tyson so that hopefully no one notices him either. He giggles a little saying that it tickles.

With the three of us properly cloaked we head out, making sure to a least stay closer to the darker places and away from being out in the open as much as possible.

"Its quiet. Too quiet." I said as I looked around. We had passed by thirty or so cabins, yet no sound could be heard from them. We were currently walking through a set of shops that were set up on the deck of the ship. most likely food stalls.

"I can't believe that you just said that." Lou grumbled.

I look over to where I assume, she is. "Hey, I have a list that I plan to get through. You never know when some kind of monster will kill you." I said with a shrug. "Although I don't know how I will stumble across two different ways to achieve eternal youth."

"Why would you go looking for it twice?"

"So, if I lose it both times I can say 'the secret of eternal youth alludes me yet again!' or such things."

"…makes sense." Lou nods with complete understanding.

Tyson meanwhile is munching on a large bag of kettle corn…that he found somewhere.

"So, does anyone else think this place reeks of magic." I asked as I look around. It was a feeling that I had been having for a while, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Tyson just starts shoveling kettle corn more nervously as he looks around, nodding in agreement.

"Totally." Lou says as she eyes her surroundings.

"You wanna rob them for of their shit before crashing." I asked with a smirk. One which was mirrored by Lou as we went around grabbing random stuff around the ship and stuffing it into my infinibag. We stole a cotton candy machine, a few thousand in mortal cash, a metric fuck ton of party food, gallons of soda and water, a soft pretzel machine and various other things. And thus, starts the legend of Percy Jackson: The Pirate King.

"I whole heartedly agree with this course of action." I could feel the grin coming from Adamos at the thought of pillaging from the suspicious ship.

X

After stealing as much stuff as we could the three of us found an empty room to crash in together. I mean we're on a suspicious ship that reeks of magic. There is no way in Hades that we should split up. In the duffel bags were the standard supplies that I got from my first quest. Cash, toiletries, clothes, drachmas, ambrosia and nectar, and even Tyson's oilcloth of tinker projects.

Tyson had taken the couch while Lou slept next to me on the large bed. We were still sleeping practically shoulder to shoulder, but it was at least large enough to spare a few inches between us.

That didn't keep the demigoddess from stealing all of the blankets on the bed.

I try to take some of the blankets back over to my side, but the short girl has them wrapped around her like a cocoon…that's padlocked with steel chains.

"You know your not getting those back."

"I figured that out after the fourth try." I say as I rest my arm over my face.

"Hmm…" Adamos hummed in fondness. "Athena always stole the sheets when we slept together."

"And how did you manage to get them back?"

"Who said I ever got them back?" Adamos spoke with mirth. "You either give up and let her have the blankets or…"

"Or…?"

"Or you get really intimate~"

The room seemed to heat up a hundred degrees as I felt the blood rush to my cheeks at the implication. "No no no no no nonononononono." I mentally repeat as I fast walk to the door.

"And where do you think your going?" Adamos asks, clearly amused.

"To get…" I say before shutting up, my voice a slightly higher pitch. "To find a storeroom and get some blankets." I mentally say before walking out of the room and closing he door as quietly as I could.

Once I make it outside, I cloak myself under the night and walk as quietly and quickly as I could. My feet going from heel to toe to reduce the sound as shrouded in the power of night I may be that doesn't exactly reduce sound.

"Storeroom, storeroom, storeroom…" I quietly mutter as I look around for anything that could be marked as such. With many of the lights on I can't just take from there in case someone resides inside.

I went through a door leading to the interior of the ship. I couldn't trust a map they had as I knew that they wouldn't have what I was looking for. I mean, why would a guest need to know where the storerooms were.

"Where the hell is it?" I grumbled as I took a swig from a water bottle. I had been looking through a bunch of rooms that I thought it would be and found a bunch of activity rooms as well as the kitchen, where I snagged a bottle of water.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as a shiver goes down my spine.

"Hide! Now!" Adamos orders and I don't bother to argue as I immediately duck into the nearest room. It was just my luck that the room I chose to hide in was the very room I had been looking for. Piles of blankets and bed sheets sat around me in neat folded piles. Not really caring I hopped into a laundry cart filled to the brim with dirty bed sheets.

Like a small, frightened child I wrapped my self in the blankets and tried to press myself further down into the cart, slowing my breathing as much as I could.

My heartbeat in my chest as listened. My breath was trapped under the blankets, making the hiding place turn warm.

I could hear multiple pairs of footsteps thumping against the floor. Each one far heavier than a normal person should make. A subtle growl fills my ears along with a faint hiss. I try to reach out with my senses to feel out what exactly is outside the room, but some thing is that I can't feel anything. I can definitely feel the water that's beneath us but for some reason it feels out of reach.

"If there was any evidence that somethings wrong with this ship its this." Adamos spoke seriously. "Whatever magic is here is strong enough to turn this ship into its own territory."

I remembered the lesson that Adamos had on bounded fields. They potentially could rewrite the authority of an entire area if provided with enough power, but that would require access to a leyline and some very powerful wards that could withstand the raw power of the leyline. But the problem with that is that leylines don't move from where they are, meaning that something powerful is providing enough power affect a moving ship this size.

"But the ship is moving. It should be impossible to make a moving territory." I say as I poke my head out from under the pile of blankets, trying to listen in on whatever was beyond those doors in case they approached.

"Not if you're a deity." Adamos spoke seriously as the sounds outside stopped.

I pressed myself lower yet still out enough to keep an eye on the door. I have to strain my ears, but it seemed to be enough to pick up on what they were saying.

"—can smell it around here." A deep voice growled.

"Of course, you can." Another one scoffed, this one a female. "The entire ship has been filled with them. Their stench is everywhere."

"No, this one is stronger. It smells like…the sea."

"We are on a boat." Another voice spoke this one had a rasp like a smoker. "Surrounded by the ocean. It always smells like that!"

"But—"

"I don't want to hear it." The female snapped. "You dragged us out here for nothing. I could be getting a facial right now from that cute masseur in the spa."

"You know he doesn't know who you are right." The deep voiced male voice spoke.

"A girl can dream!" The female snapped and stomped off.

"Now look at what you did." The raspy voice gave a despondent sigh before leaving. The other guy following after them asking what he did wrong.

I waited a few minutes before getting out of the cart. I grabbed a blanket off of the shelf and looked around before sprinting as quietly as I could back to my room. This place was definitely odd and come morning we were going to have to leave as quickly as possible.

X

After a rather restless yet somehow fulfilling sleep, I should look into water beds when I get back, I told Lou and Tyson about what I heard and felt when I went to get the blanket last night. Both were apprehensive when it came to leave. Not about leaving, no, they were nervous at what could be out there now that it was daytime.

The sound of countless steps could be heard outside our room. Voices communing with one another.

The three of us poked our heads out of the door, and if anyone was paying attention, they would probably resemble us to a totem pole. We only fully left the room with all of our stuff when we realized that it was only regular people walking about.

We tried to blend into the crowd as seamlessly as we could, but it was far to easy. Even when I bumped into some one, they just brushed it off, barely paying any mind to me.

It was only then when I got a good look at the woman I bumped into. Her eyes were unfocused and glazed. The same kind of eyes that I had seen in the homeless drug users in New York. Or in the eyes of those effected by the mist.

Even what they were saying sounded completely robotic. Their sentences were stunted and straight to the point. As if some one had written horrible dialogue in a story. They were always explaining what they were doing, like going to the pool and that they were excited to spend time in the pool before going to get ice cream at the sundae bar. It was honestly a bit cringy to hear and Adamos had long since shut the horrid dialogue out.

As we explored around, we came up to a balcony on one of the higher floors and immediately ducked behind the white painted metal plates used for railing. Down below us a large grouping of monsters formed a circle with one of them at the center.

Hacking a straw dummy with a sword.

A straw dummy in a very familiar orange camp shirt.

I watched as the one in the center gut the camper stand-in, sending the straw flying into the air. The crowd cheered and we immediately left.

"We need to leave." I whispered as we tried to blend in with the crowd of mindless mortals.

"Yes," Tyson muttered as he chewed on his fingernails. "Leaving good."

"But how? We're surrounded by miles ocean." Lou pointed out.

"My guess would have to be to find some lifeboats." I said while rubbing my chin. "But we don't know where those are."

"I might have a way, but we'll need something round. Maybe a hockey puck or a casino token."

"Where are we going to find th—WOAH!" I yelped as I slipped on something. Saved from bashing my head against the floor by Tyson and Lou catching my arms as I fell. "Thanks." I said as I got to my feet. I looked down to see what exactly that I nearly fell over. To find a shuffleboard puck.

It seemed that in all of our walking getting away from the monsters we accidentally wandered into a section of the ship designated specifically to shuffleboard.

"Guys, I have an idea, but it requires a lot of pucks."

X

"Is that all?"

"Percy. I can only give so many pucks." Lou grounded out in annoyance as she dumped a load of shuffleboard pucks into a small pile. "This is already enough to be suspicious. Do you need anymore?"

I sat on the floor of our accommodated cabin and was writing a simple sell into the pucks. It was a rather simple spell that was complex at the same time. Normally this was a spell meant for tracking, but with a little alteration and such and increasing the number Adamos says that it can be used for scouting. And with the second set of spell craft written on the bottom, a little surprise if needed.

"No. I think I have about all the pucks I can handle." I say with a grimace as I roll my wrist. Damn, I might have carpal tunnel after this.

Without another word Lou sits down and starts to help me and Tyson go through the pile. With the three of us it only takes ten minutes as they are rather naturally gifted at this kind of tinkering.

With but a snap of my fingers all of the pucks line up in even lines like soldiers waiting for marching orders. Lou lets out a little gasp in awe and Tyson giggles at the display.

"I want this entire ship mapped out and searched. Now go." I ordered and the pucks complied. Each one scurrying off like a mouse as I open the door slightly, some of them squeezing through the vents in the room and any other place they can fit.

Within minutes I can already tell that the puck scouts are already doing their work as I pull my magical tome out of my backpack. A blank page being inscribed with the appropriate magic circle and a 3-D projection of the ship begins to form. Little blue blips making up the scouts while yellow ones are passengers and red ones are monsters.

"That is so cool." Lou whispered as the nearly hundred blue blips move around forming the 3-D ship. Even the rooms are formed to the smallest detail.

"What's that?" Tyson asked and I took a look at what he was pointing at. It was a blank area on the holographic ship.

"Let's find out." I mutter as I draw another circle off to the side and connect them. Immediately one of the pucks changes courses to the room and sound begins to form from the magic.

"—you really think that old centaur is gone for good?" A rough voice asked. It was deep and gruff like an old biker.

"They can't trust him." A far younger voice spoke out. My eyes widened as even after a year I still recognized Luke's voice. Quickly and only with Adamos steadying my hands I drew a magic circle to record the conversation on a blank page. "Not with the skeletons in his closet. Poisoning the tree was the last straw. And with all the monsters gathering within the hold we will be strong enough to start some of our more aggressive plays."

"Can't wait." I could feel the mad smile the gruff voice was making. "Demigods make for good eats."

"Good eats! Good eats!" A second voice just as gruff as the first laughed out, almost like he was having an asthma attack with how long it was going on.

"Shut up Oreius!" The first voice roared. "Go punish yourself." The first voice ordered. The steady yet distinct sound of a head hitting something kept a steady rhythm.

"If that was truly Oreius, then the other one must be his twin Agrius. The twins born much like the minotaur but replace the bull with a bear."

"As I was saying…" Luke restarted the conversation, sounding like he was trying to regain the seriousness that was just lost. "We will be able to go with some of our more advanced plays. Some of our sponsors have been pushing for some more 'immediate' results.

"Their results can wait." Agrius huffed. "Gathering the monsters is what's important."

"Indeed. If we can gather a large enough gathering of beasts to protect the ship than it won't matter what they want. We'll have enough freedom to travel anywhere in the oceans and increase our recruitments for the coffin."

"Oreius, cut that out!" Agrius snapped at his brother as the steady thumps stop. "IF you keep that up you'll suff—"

I shut of the connection and look at my two companions. Lou's face scrunched up in seriousness and Tyson not really understanding past that the situation was bad.

"I don't like the sound of this coffin." I mutter as I get up with the two of them following me as I lead us to the nearest lifeboats on the deck below us.

I lift the cover of the boat and quickly usher Tyson and Lou inside.

"Hey!" The three of us whirl around as a pair of Laistrygonian giants shout at me as they see Lou and Tyson sneak into the lifeboat. They barrel through the mindless mortals, knocking tourists and employees to the ground without a care.

"Shit!" I curse as I jump into the boat with them. Without thinking I pull Riptide out of my pocket and cut the cable. Apparently, Lou had the same idea and cut the opposite cable with me, sending us down into the waters below, just narrowly dodging the large hand trying to grab my head.

I couldn't tell which of us was screaming the loudest as we fell. "Hang on!" I shout, trusting that they heard me over their own shouting. I reached into my duffle bag grabbing the thermos and holding it close. It nearly fumbles out of my hand as we hit the water.

"Quarter turn!" Adamos reminds me.

I hooked my feet under the boats bench as Tyson grabbed both Lou and me, holding us in a tight embrace. I pray that this works as I turn the thermos a quarter way. The wind screams in joy at its newfound freedom as a white jet blast us sideways.

The lifeboat skims along the waves faster than even the hippocampi. It wasn't that long until the Princess Andromeda was but a speck in the distance.

A/N: Heyo. Another chapter here and while its not the best one I hope that what I have planned for the rest of the second book is entertaining. Anyways remember to leave a review if you like. If you want an Omake I'll try to fulfill it if it fits with what I'm going. If you have advice to help the story improve. Go for it.