Chapter 6.5, Act II - Attending a Wedding.
Percy's POV
My thoughts were rushed as Annabeth and I ran through the docks of Circe's Island. Niko had told the two of us to find the Queen Anne's Revenge. Right.
It didn't take long to find it. The paint on its prow was peeled, but it was pretty clear this was the ship Niko told us about. "This is the ship?" Annabeth asked skeptically. "Yeah." She frowned. "How are we going to go anywhere? We don't have enough people, or enough time to figure this out. You told me he had a day left." She asked.
I grinned. "Niko helped teach me a thing or two about my powers, remember? It's not just water I can control." I closed my eyes, and focused. I felt the waves lapping against the hull, the ocean currents, the winds all around me. Suddenly, the ship's key word, so to speak, appeared in my mind. "Mizzenmast!" I yelled.
Annabeth yelped as ropes whirled around, snapping taut into place. Canvases unfurled, and old wooden pulleys creaked. I scanned the ship for anything wrong. I didn't feel anything. I smiled, turning to Annabeth, and spreading my arms. "Ta-da! He taught me this trick a few days after we got back from our first quest. He'd told me it might come in handy. Now, c'mon. We've got a ship to explore."
We were quickly approaching the island of the Sirens. Annabeth had me tie her to the foremast, so she could listen safely to the Siren's song. I had stuffed my ears with candle wax, and it was silent, aside from the rush of blood in my head. Annabeth gave me a look, a sarcastic nod, to let me know the improvised earplugs were a real fashion statement.
I stuck out my tongue at her, and turned back to focus on sailing.
We approached the island, and I looked back after I made sure we'd keep sailing safely through the jagged rocks jutting out from the water. For a while, Annabeth seemed fine, but the next moment, she looked puzzled. Her eyes widened. A look of excitement crossed her face for a second, before it wavered.
Then, as if nothing happened, as if she hadn't started to resist it, she started straining against the ropes. She had said something. I could tell just from reading her lips, fortunately, that it was my name. But the message in her face was clear. This was life or death for her. She needed to get out.
She seemed so miserable it was hard not to cut her free.
I forced myself to turn away. I silently urged the ship to go faster. The fog kept me from seeing much of anything, but it was more than enough for me. There were rocks, pieces of wood, fibreglass, the wreckage from old ships who sailed through here. I noted there were also floatation cushions from airplanes.
So did all the disappearing planes here find their way to the Sirens? My gut dropped at that thought. How many more people would die here? Could it be stopped?
How could music cause so many lives to veer off course? I mean, sure, there were some Top Forty songs that made me want to take a fiery nosedive, but still...What could the Sirens possibly sing about?
For one dangerous moment, I understood Annabeth's curiosity. I was tempted to take out the earplugs, just to get a taste of the song. I could feel the Sirens' voices vibrating in the timbers of the ship, pulsing along with the roar of blood in my ears.
Annabeth was pleading with me. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She strained against the ropes, as if they were holding her back from everything she cared about.
How could you be so cruel? She seemed to be asking me. I thought you were my friend.
I glared at the misty island. I wanted to uncap my sword, but there was nothing to fight. How do you fight a song?
I tried my best not to keep looking in her direction. I could hear Luke's voice, from when he taught me, back at camp. "First strike, Percy." He had said, slashing his practice sword against my sleeve.
When I couldn't stand it any longer, I looked back and found...a heap of cut ropes. An empty mast. Annabeth's bronze knife lay on the deck. Somehow, she'd managed to wriggle it into her hand. I'd totally forgotten to disarm her.
I swore. I rushed to the side of the boat and saw her, paddling madly for the island, the waves carrying her straight toward the jagged rocks. I screamed her name, but if she heard me, it didn't do any good. She was entranced, swimming toward her death.
I panicked. She was too far. She was almost to the shore. For some reason, one of my elementary school science classes came to mind. We were told water was in the air. I shut my eyes, and my gut wrenched. "Stay." I told the boat. I dove overboard, landing in the water. The air seemed to catch Annabeth, before she was launched back at me.
I caught her, and for a split-second, I saw what she saw. Three people sat on a picnic blanket in Central Park. A feast was spread out before them. I recognized Annabeth's dad from photos she'd shown me—an athletic-looking, sandy-haired guy in his forties. He was holding hands with a beautiful woman who looked a lot like Annabeth. She was dressed casually—in blue jeans and a denim shirt and hiking boots. I recognized her from the council room last summer. I knew that I was looking at the goddess Athena. Next to them sat a young man...Luke.
The whole scene glowed in a warm light. The three of them were talking and laughing, and when they saw Annabeth, their faces lit up with delight. Annabeth's mom and dad held out their arms invitingly. Luke grinned and gestured for Annabeth to sit next to him—as if he'd never betrayed us, as if he were still her friend.
Behind the trees of Central Park, a city skyline rose. I caught my breath, because it was Manhattan, but not Manhattan. It was beautiful. It had been totally rebuilt from dazzling white marble, bigger and grander than ever—with golden windows and rooftop gardens. It was better than New York. Better than Mount Olympus.
I knew immediately that Annabeth had designed it all. She was the architect for a whole new world. She had reunited her parents. She had saved Luke. She had done everything she'd ever wanted.
I blinked, inhaling sharply. The Sirens came into view. Raggedy, vulture-like creatures, their faces shifting between all the people I knew. My mom, Poseidon, Grover, Tyson, Chiron, and Annabeth. All the people I wanted to see most. I tightened my hold on the thrashing Annabeth. I dragged her underwater. I created a bubble, same as Niko did, back in Santa Monica, so Annabeth could breathe. I was thankful sound was muffled underwater.
She gasped and coughed. Her whole body shuddered, but when she looked at me, I knew the spell had been broken. She started to sob—I mean horrible, heartbroken sobbing. She put her head on my shoulder and I held her.
Fish gathered around us, a school of barracudas, a few curious marlins. Scram! I had told them. The fish rushed away, but I could tell they went reluctantly. I swear I understood their intentions. They were about to start rumors flying around the sea about the son of Poseidon and some girl at the bottom of Siren Bay.
I scowled. "I'll get us back to the ship." I assured Annabeth. "It's okay. Just hang on."
Grover looked like he was about to faint. Polyphemus had a fire going, and he was roasting one of the sheep over the fire. I silently wished Niko didn't up and abandon us when we needed him. I understood why he did what he did, though.
I looked around. The stage seemed to be set. An oversized arch, wrapped in various plants, like you'd see in some media depicting a wedding. I don't know what a wedding really looks like. I've never been to one.
Polyphemus was tending to the flames. I hesitated. He just needed to look up to see us. Annabeth pulled me out of earshot from the Cyclops. "He's blind. His sight isn't very good, but we still can't beat him in a fight. I think our best shot is trickery. I have an idea. I'll distract him, you get Grover?" She continued to explain the plan to me.
I liked it. Apparently Odysseus, when he fought Polyphemus, used the name Nobody, and stabbed the Cyclops in the eye. She thought he might still hold a grudge.
She was right. As the ceremony began, I positioned myself behind a boulder, keeping an eye on the duo. I found myself wondering how they would hold a wedding. They didn't have anyone to officiate it.
I had started to get concerned. Where was Annabeth?
Just as I started to move, worried something happened, she yelled out. "Hey ugly!" Polyphemus stiffened. "Who said that?" He asked. "Nobody!" She called out. His face turned red with rage, and Grover looked relieved. "Nobody! I remember you!" The Cyclops shouted.
"You're too stupid to remember anybody, much less Nobody." She taunted. I really hoped she started moving by then, because Polyphemus picked up a nearby boulder, which happened to be the one I'd just moved away from, and lobbed it in the direction of her voice.
Silence.
And then? "You haven't learned to throw any better, either!" She yelled. I stopped myself from sighing in relief, and I made my move. I ran up to Grover, covering his mouth, and tugging on his arm, dragging him with me. I made a small shushing sound, and he smiled at me, very relieved we were here and alive.
I motioned to where I assumed Annabeth was, and we ran uphill, away from Polyphemus. "Where's Annabeth?" Grover hissed. "I don't know. I was hoping she saw us leaving." I whispered back. The air shimmered, and she appeared, cap in hand. "I'm here. Let's go. We need to find the Fleece. He thinks he caught me, but probably not for long."
We made it across the bridge, and Annabeth thankfully was smart enough to cut the ropes on the bridge, and it collapsed, swinging down, like a ladder part of the way down into the ravine below.
We glanced into the distance, where the tree with the Fleece stood, surrounded by killer sheep. The three of us were plotting on how to get there, when a voice distracted us. "Brother!" I glanced up, and I smiled in relief. "Tyson! You're alive!" I smiled.
He gave us the short version of events. Rainbow, his hippocampus, had followed us to the Sea of Monsters. Rainbow pulled him from the wreckage of Ares' ship, and they had tried to follow us the whole way. I would've hugged him, but he was standing in the middle of a flock of piranhas with fur.
"Hey, big guy, can you get the Fleece for us? The golden one, hanging off that tree." Annabeth asked, pointing at the tree in question. "Oh. Pretty. Yes." He lumbered through the sea of murder sheep, and tugged the Fleece off the tree, and tossed it to me. I caught it, and nearly buckled over.
It was much heavier than I expected. I had a new respect for the tree holding it, considering it didn't snap since that dream where Grover was shown the Fleece. "Tyson! Can you lead the sheep away? Avoid the other Cyclops on this island. We need to get by those sheep to get to our ship. Can you meet us there after you guide them away?" The Cyclops nodded, and bounded away, the sheep following him.
He probably smelt like Polyphemus to them. Our trio made our way to the Queen Anne's Revenge, and we boarded the ship. Not too long after, Tyson came bounding towards us, the sheep still following. As soon as he gripped onto the ladder, I ordered the ship to start moving.
Before long, we were on our way to Miami, if Niko was right.
We pulled into the docks at Miami, and off in the distance, I saw a familiar figure. I waved at the centaur, and he came to meet us. We clambered off the ship to talk with him. "Where's Nikomedes?" He asked, almost immediately. Before I could answer, Annabeth cut in. "He's safe, probably. He figured he was needed elsewhere." She said, a little bitterly.
I was surprised. She didn't take him leaving very well, apparently. I hesitated. I guess I had no right to say anything. If Niko wanted to talk about it, he could Iris Message Chiron and tell him. I passed him the Fleece. "Well, here we go. Now, go. Get that back to camp. We'll meet you there." I promised him.
He nodded, and started cantering away. I blinked, and he was gone. "Woah." I muttered. We started boarding the ship again. I was forgetting something. Something important. Hair stood up on the back of my neck, and I slipped off the ladder, unsheathing Riptide.
"Hey, cuz," Luke said, "Welcome back to the States."
"Alone this time?" I asked, noting the bear twins weren't there. He scowled. "You wish." I heard a yelp, and I twisted my head to see a small group of demigods. One had grabbed Annabeth, the other grabbed Grover, the rest surrounded Tyson.
"Back down," Luke warned, "or your friends are dead."
I lowered my sword. "What do you want, Luke?" I growled. He just smiled. "Why, Percy," Luke said, "I want to extend my hospitality, of course." He swept a hand back, and I flinched. I'm such a dumbass. Docked behind him was the Princess Andromeda.
We boarded the ship, reluctantly, might I add.
Luke's goons surrounded us. A plan formulated in my mind. "The Fleece." Luke said. "Where is it?"
"Safe, for now." Annabeth answered. Luke narrowed his eyes. "You're lying. We searched the ship. You can't be..." His face reddened. "Nikomedes." He growled. Annabeth opened her mouth, but I cut her off. "Naturally," I started, "did you really think he didn't know? He even confided in me how much he really knew. We knew this was gonna happen. Good luck catching up with him and Chiron." I lied.
"Ethan!" One of the demigods in the crowd flinched. "Yes?" The demigod asked. "Get below and prepare my steed. Bring it to the deck. I need to fly to New York, fast." He demanded. "But boss—"
"Do it!" Luke screamed. "Or I'll feed you to the drakon!" The demigod in question scrambled belowdecks. Luke paced in front of the swimming pool, cursing in Ancient Greek, gripping his sword so tight his knuckles turned white.
The rest of Luke's crew looked uneasy. Maybe they'd never seen their boss so unhinged before. I started thinking...If I could use Luke's anger, get him to talk so everybody could hear how crazy his plans were...
Then a thought occurred to me. Niko's plan. I looked at the swimming pool, at the fountains spraying mist into the air, making a rainbow in the sunset. I tried not to smile as I discreetly fished a drachma from my pocket.
"Traitor!" I yelled, tossing the drachma at him. Luke ducked under the flying coin, and it landed in the fountain. I hoped Iris accepted silent prayers. Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering.
"You tried to kill us all! Even Dionysus at Camp Half-Blood!" I shouted. I hoped nobody would notice the way I worded that. Behind Luke, the fountain began to shimmer, but I needed everyone's attention on me, so I uncapped Riptide.
Luke just sneered. "This is no time for heroics, Percy. Drop your puny little sword, or I'll have you killed sooner rather than later."
"You tried to poison Thalia's tree, didn't you?" I demanded. "I thought that the son of Hecate would have told you. Of course I did." He snarled. "You needed Chiron gone, didn't you? So you could try again." I asked. He just laughed. "Did it take you that long to figure out? You're dumber than I thought." He spat.
"It's easier if the only other person who knew was gone. If the sky god can't trust that old horse, who can he trust, after all?" I smiled at the son of Hermes. This must be how Niko felt when he fixed a problem, manipulating things behind the scenes.
"Good that you were straightforward with our audience." I laughed. "What audience?" He snarled. Then his eyes narrowed. He looked behind him and his goons did the same. They gasped and stumbled back.
Above the pool, shimmering in the rainbow mist, was an Iris-message vision of Dionysus, my mom, and the whole camp in the dining pavilion. They sat in stunned silence, watching us. "Well," said Dionysus dryly, "some unplanned dinner entertainment."
"Mr. D, you heard him," I said. "You all heard Luke. We need Chiron. It was his plan to get rid of him." The god sighed, and looked up. "I suppose so. Father?" Thunder rumbled. "It appears I shall have to reinstate Chiron as activities director. I suppose I do miss the old horse's pinochle games."
The campers, my mom included, cheered out. Luke bellowed with rage. He slashed his sword through the fountain and the Iris-message dissolved, but the deed was done. I was feeling pretty good about myself, until Luke turned and gave me a murderous look.
"Kronos was right, Percy. You're an unreliable weapon. You need to be replaced." I wasn't sure what he meant, but I didn't have time to think about it. One of his men blew a brass whistle, and the deck doors flew open. A dozen more warriors poured out, making a circle around us, the brass tips of their spears bristling, alongside them came the demigod sent to fetch a steed, emerging with a pure black pegasus.
Luke smiled at me. "You'll never leave this boat alive."
All hell proceeded to break loose. Arrows rained on us, hitting the surrounding demigods and monsters, but missing us. Centaurs emerged from the treeline, revealing themselves as the source of the arrows.
My mind had trouble processing everything I saw. Chiron was among the crowd, but his relatives were almost nothing like him. There were centaurs with black Arabian stallion bodies, others with gold palomino coats, others with orange-and-white spots like paint horses. Some wore brightly colored T-shirts with Day-Glo letters that said PARTY PONIES: SOUTH FLORIDA CHAPTER.
Some were armed with bows, some with baseball bats, some with paintball guns. One had his face painted like a Comanche warrior and was waving a large orange Styrofoam hand making a big Number 1. Another was bare-chested and painted entirely green. A third had googly-eye glasses with the eyeballs bouncing around on Slinky coils, and one of those baseball caps with soda-can-and-straw attachments on either side.
They exploded onto the deck with such ferocity and color that for a moment even Luke was stunned. I couldn't tell whether they had come to celebrate or attack. Apparently both. As Luke was raising his sword to rally his troops, a centaur shot a custom-made arrow with a leather boxing glove on the end. It smacked Luke in the face and sent him crashing into the swimming pool.
I had to stop myself from laughing. I could imagine Niko's reaction. He would've broken down laughing, ignoring the carnage around us. I smiled. Luke's warriors scattered. I couldn't blame them. Facing the hooves of a rearing stallion is scary enough, but when it's a centaur, armed with a bow and whooping it up in a soda-drinking hat, even the bravest warrior would retreat.
There was cheering and paint everywhere from paintball guns. Arrows were flying in every direction. Chiron galloped toward Annabeth and Grover, neatly plucked them off the deck, and deposited them on his back.
Luke was crawling out of the pool. "Attack, you fools!" he ordered his troops. Somewhere down below deck, a large alarm bell thrummed. I knew any second we would be swamped by Luke's reinforcements. Already, his warriors were getting over their surprise, coming at the centaurs with swords and spears drawn.
Tyson slapped half a dozen of them aside, knocking them over the guardrail into Miami Bay. But more warriors were coming up the stairs. "Withdraw, brethren!" Chiron said. "You won't get away with this, horse man!" Luke shouted. He raised his sword, but got smacked in the face with another boxing glove arrow, and sat down hard in a deck chair.
I couldn't help it. I was almost crying from laughing, until I got lifted up onto a centaur's back. "Dude, get your big friend!"
"Tyson!" I yelled. "Come on!" Tyson dropped the two warriors he was about to tie into a knot and jogged after us. He jumped on the centaur's back. "Dude!" the centaur groaned, almost buckling under Tyson's weight. "Do the words 'low-carb diet' mean anything to you?"
Luke's warriors were organizing themselves into a phalanx. But by the time they were ready to advance, the centaurs had galloped to the edge of the deck and fearlessly jumped the guardrail, as if it were a steeplechase and not ten stories above the ground.
I was sure we were going to die. We plummeted toward the docks, but the centaurs hit the asphalt with hardly a jolt and galloped off, whooping and yelling taunts at the Princess Andromeda as we raced into the streets of downtown Miami.
