They passed forty or fifty cabin doors and heard no sound behind any of them.
"It's a ghost ship," Draco murmured.
3rd Person P.O.V.
"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 they were away from Camp Half-Blood, the Mist had distorted his face again. Unless Draco concentrated hard enough, it seemed that he had two eyes instead of one.
"Okay," Annabeth said. "So what exactly do you smell?"
"Something bad," Tyson answered.
"Great," Annabeth grumbled. "That clears it up."
They 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 them fore and aft were more levels—a climbing wall, a putt-putt golf course, a revolving restaurant, but no sign of life.
And yet ... Draco sensed something familiar. Something dangerous. Draco had the feeling that if he weren't so tired and burned out on adrenaline from their long night, he might be able to put a name to what was wrong.
"We need a hiding place," Percy said. "Somewhere safe to sleep."
"Sleep," Annabeth agreed wearily. Draco just nodded. They explored a few more corridors until they found an empty suite on the ninth level. The door was open, which struck Draco as weird. There was a basket of chocolate pastries 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!
The group opened their 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 Annabeth's cap of invisibility, which made them all feel a lot better.
"I'll be next door," Annabeth said. "You guys don't drink or eat anything."
"You think this place is enchanted?" Draco asked.
She frowned. "I don't know. Something isn't right. Just ... be careful."
They locked the doors.
Tyson crashed on the couch. He tinkered for a few minutes on his metalworking project—which he still wouldn't show Draco—but soon enough he was yawning. He wrapped up his oilcloth and passed out.
Draco laid on the bed and stared out the porthole. Draco thought he heard voices out in the hallway, like whispering. Draco knew that couldn't be. They'd walked all over the ship and had seen nobody. Draco started to feel doubt and stayed awake. They reminded Draco of Hogwarts and the orphanage he had to visit—the way the spirits of the dead sounded as they drifted past.
Finally Draco's weariness got the best of him. He fell asleep ... They woke to a ship's whistle and a voice on the intercom— some guy with an Australian accent who sounded way too happy for Draco's tastes.
"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!"
Draco sat up in bed. "What did he say?" He asked alarmed.
Tyson groaned, still half asleep. He was lying facedown on the couch, his feet so far over the edge they were in the bathroom. "The happy man said ... bowling practice?"
Draco hoped he was right, but then there was an urgent knock on the suite's interior door.
Annabeth stuck her head in—her blond hair in a rat's nest. "Disemboweling practice?"
Once they were all dressed, they ventured out into the ship and were surprised to see other people. A dozen senior citizens were heading to breakfast. A father 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 they were. Nobody paid them much attention. But there was something wrong, Draco could feel it in his gut.
As the family of swimmers passed them, the father 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 them, his eyes glazed. "We are all enjoying ourselves aboard the Princess Andromeda. Have a nice day." He drifted away.
"Percy, Draco, this is weird," Annabeth whispered. "They're all in some kind of trance."
Then they passed a cafeteria and saw their 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, Draco's blood turned cold. He had never fought 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 Annabeth, Draco, or Percy could reply, a reptilian voice came from down the corridor, "Ssssix more joined yesssterday."
Annabeth gestured frantically toward the nearest hiding place—the women's room—and all three of them ducked inside. Draco was so freaked out it didn't even occur to him to be embarrassed, besides he had done this before.
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.
Annabeth looked at them. "We have to get out of here."
"You think I want to be in the girls' restroom?" Percy whispered almost yelled. Draco rolled his eyes and tried to look around. "How are we going to get out?" He asked. His questioned was ignored.
"I mean the ship, Percy! We have to get off the ship," Annabeth slightly yelled.
"Smells bad," Tyson agreed. "And dogs eat all the eggs. Annabeth is right. We must leave the restroom and ship."
Percy shuddered. If Annabeth and Tyson were actually agreeing about something, it's better to actually listen to them.
Then Draco heard a familiar voice outside—one that chilled him worse than any monster's.
"—only a matter of time. Don't push me, Agrius!"
It was Luke, beyond a doubt. Draco could never forget his voice.
"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?"
They exchanged looks and came to a silent agreement.
"We can't," Percy told Tyson.
"We have to find out what Luke is up to," Annabeth agreed. "And if possible, we're going to beat him up, bind him in chains, and drag him to Mount Olympus," Draco added.
Annabeth volunteered to go alone since she had the cap of invisibility, but they convinced her it was too dangerous. Either we all went together, or nobody went. They couldn't handle being separated in the ship with monster around.
"Nobody!" Tyson voted. "Please?"
But in the end he came along, nervously chewing on his huge fingernails. They stopped at their cabin long enough to gather their stuff. They figured whatever happened, they would not be staying another night aboard the zombie cruise ship, even if they did have million-dollar bingo. Draco made sure his twin daggers were in his pocket and the vitamins were with Percy and thermos from Hermes were at the top of his bag. Percy didn't want Tyson to carry everything, but he insisted, and Annabeth told him not to worry about it.
Tyson could carry three full duffel bags over his shoulder as easily as Draco could carry his book bag. They sneaked through the corridors, following the ship's YOU ARE HERE signs toward the admiralty suite. Annabeth scouted ahead invisibly. They hid whenever someone passed by, but most of the people we saw were just glassy-eyed zombie passengers.
As they came up the stairs to deck thirteen, where the admiralty suite was supposed to be, Annabeth hissed, "Hide!" and shoved them into a supply closet.
Draco heard a couple of guys coming down the hall.
"You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" one of them said.
The other laughed. "Yeah, it's awesome."
Annabeth was still invisible, but she squeezed his arm hard. Draco squeezed back Chris was there with another guy.
"I hear they got two more coming," the familiar voice said. "They keep arriving at this rate, oh, man—no contest!"
The voices faded down the corridor.
"That was Chris Rodriguez!" Annabeth took off her cap and turned visible. "You remember—from Cabin Eleven."
Draco remembered Chris from the summer before. He was one of those undetermined campers who got stuck in the Hermes cabin because his Olympian dad or mom never claimed him. The people in the cabin had mentioned to him last summer that Chris suddenly left, and they had absolutely no idea where he went. Some of the campers joked that he might have become crazy and left or that he ran away from camp. "What's another half-blood doing here?" Percy questioned.
Annabeth shook her head, clearly troubled.
They kept going down the corridor. Draco didn't need maps anymore to know they were getting close to Luke. He sensed a familiar vibe cold and unpleasant—the presence of evil. The presence Lucius and Narcissa had whenever they got back from their 'trips.'
"Percy, Draco," Annabeth stopped suddenly. "Look." She stood in front of a glass wall looking down into the multistory canyon that ran through the middle of the ship. At the bottom was the Promenade—a mall full of shops— but that's not what had caught Annabeth's attention.
A group of monsters had assembled in front of the candy store: a dozen Laistrygonian giants like the ones who'd attacked Percy back on his school with dodge balls, two hellhounds, and a few even stranger creatures Draco couldn't identify clearly.
"Scythian Dracaenae," Annabeth whispered. "Dragon women."
The monsters made a semicircle around a young guy in Greek armor who was hacking on a straw dummy. A lump formed in Draco's throat when he realized the dummy was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. As they watched, the guy in armor stabbed the dummy through its belly and ripped upward. Straw flew everywhere. The monsters cheered and howled.
Annabeth stepped away from the window. Her face was ashen.
"Come on," Percy told her, with a slight shake in his voice. "The sooner we find Luke the better."
At the end of the hallway were double oak doors that looked like they must lead somewhere important. When they were thirty feet away, Tyson stopped. "Voices inside."
"You can hear that far?" Draco asked.
Tyson closed his eye like he was concentrating hard. Then his voice changed, becoming a husky approximation of Luke's. "—the prophecy ourselves. The fools won't know which way to turn."
Before Draco could react, Tyson's voice changed again, becoming deeper and gruffer, like the other guy we'd heard talking to Luke outside the cafeteria. "You really think the old horseman is gone for good?"
Tyson laughed Luke's laugh. "They can't trust him. Not with the skeletons in his closet. The poisoning of the tree was the final straw."
Annabeth shivered. "Stop that, Tyson! How do you do that? It's creepy."
Tyson opened his eye and looked puzzled. "Just listening."
"Keep going," Percy said. "What else are they saying?"
Tyson closed his eye again.
He hissed in the gruff man's voice: "Quiet!" Then Luke's voice, whispering: "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Tyson said in the gruff voice. "Right outside."
Too late, Draco realized what was happening.
Draco just had time to say, "Run!" when the doors of the stateroom burst open and there was Luke, flanked by two hairy giants armed with javelins, their bronze tips aimed right at our chests.
"Well," Luke said with a crooked smile. "If it isn't my three favorite cousins. Come right in."
The stateroom was beautiful, and it was horrible. The beautiful part: Huge windows curved along the back wall, looking out over the stern of the ship. Green sea and blue sky stretched all the way to the horizon. A Persian rug covered the floor. Two plush sofas occupied the middle of the room, with a canopied bed in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other. The table was loaded with food—pizza boxes, bottles of soda, and a stack of roast beef sandwiches on a silver platter.
The horrible part: On a velvet dais at the back of the room lay a ten-foot-long golden casket.
A sarcophagus, engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dying grisly deaths. Despite the sunlight streaming through the windows, the casket made the whole room feel cold.
"Well," Luke said, spreading his arms proudly. "A little nicer than Cabin Eleven, huh?"
He'd changed since the last summer. Instead of Bermuda shorts and a T-shirt, he wore a button-down shirt, khaki pants, and leather loafers. His sandy hair, which used to be so unruly, was now clipped short. He looked like the pictures Draco has seen in his old house.
He still had the scar under his eye—a jagged white line from his battle with a dragon. And propped against the sofa was his magical sword, Backbiter, glinting strangely with its half-steel, half-Celestial bronze blade that could kill both mortals and monsters.
"Sit," he told them. He waved his hand and three dining chairs scooted themselves into the center of the room.
None of them sat.
Luke's large friends were still pointing their javelins at them. They looked like twins, but they weren't human. They stood about eight feet tall, for one thing, and wore only blue jeans, probably because their enormous chests were already shag-carpeted with thick brown fur. They had claws for fingernails, feet like paws. Their noses were snoutlike, and their teeth were all pointed canines.
"Where are my manners?" Luke said smoothly. "These are my assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them."
Draco said nothing. Despite the javelins pointed at them, it wasn't the bear twins who scared him.
He had imagined meeting Luke again many times since he'd tried to kill Percy last summer. He always pictured himself boldly standing up to him, giving him the biggest lecture of his life and bitch slapping him till he begged for mercy. But now that they were face-to-face, Draco could barely stop himself from shaking.
"You don't know Agrius and Oreius's story?" Luke asked. "Their mother ... well, it's sad, really. Aphrodite ordered the young woman to fall in love. She refused and ran to Artemis for help. Artemis let her become one of her maiden huntresses, but Aphrodite got her revenge. She bewitched the young woman into falling in love with a bear. When Artemis found out, she abandoned the girl in disgust. Typical of the gods, wouldn't you say? They fight with one another and the poor humans get caught in the middle. The girl's twin sons here, Agrius and Oreius, have no love for Olympus. They like half-bloods well enough, though ..."
"For lunch," Agrius growled. His gruff voice was the one they'd heard talking with Luke earlier.
"Hehe! Hehe!" His brother Oreius laughed, licking his fur-lined lips. He kept laughing like he was having an asthmatic fit until Luke and Agrius both stared at him.
"Shut up, you idiot!" Agrius growled. "Go punish yourself!"
Oreius whimpered. He trudged over to the corner of the room, slumped onto a stool, and banged his forehead against the dining table, making the silver plates rattle.
Luke acted like this was perfectly normal behavior. He made himself comfortable on the sofa and propped his feet up on the coffee table. "Well, Percy, we let you survive another year. I hope you appreciated it. How's your mom? How's school?"
"You poisoned Thalia's tree," Percy spat.
Luke sighed. "Right to the point, eh? Okay, sure I poisoned the tree. So what?"
"How could you?" Annabeth sounded so angry Draco thought she'd explode. "Thalia saved your life! Our lives! How could you dishonor her—"
"I didn't dishonor her!" Luke snapped. "The gods dishonored her, Annabeth! If Thalia were alive, she'd be on my side."
"Liar!" Annabeth yelled.
"If you knew what was coming, you'd understand—" Luke was cut off.
"I understand you want to destroy the camp!" she yelled. "You're a monster!"
Luke shook his head. "The gods have blinded you. Can't you imagine a world without them, Annabeth? What good is that ancient history you study? Three thousand years of baggage! The West is rotten to the core. It has to be destroyed. Join me! We can start the world anew. We could use your intelligence, Annabeth."
"Because you have none of your own!" She spat.
His eyes narrowed. "I know you, Annabeth. You deserve better than tagging along on some hopeless quest to save the camp. Half-Blood Hill will be overrun by monsters within the month. The heroes who survive will have no choice but to join us or be hunted to extinction. You really want to be on a losing team ... with company like this?" Luke pointed at Tyson.
"Hey!" Percy said.
"Traveling with a Cyclops," Luke chided. "Talk about dishonoring Thalia's memory! I'm surprised at you, Annabeth. You of all people—"
"Stop it!" she shouted.
Draco glared at Luke, he was able to control his shaking he had faced worst. The slight memories of his tutors lecturing him, 'Malfoy's don't cry, Draco.' Or, 'get over it Draco you're not a baby anymore, she's gone!'
"Leave her alone," Percy said. "And leave Tyson out this."
Luke laughed. "Oh, yeah, I heard. Your father claimed him."
Percy must have looked surprised, because Luke smiled. "Yes, Percy, I know all about that. And about your plan to find the Fleece. What were those coordinates, again ... 30, 31, 75, 12? You see, I still have friends at camp who keep me posted."
"Spies, you mean," Draco said, narrowing his eyes at the person he had once called a brother.
He shrugged ignoring Draco. "How many insults from your father can you stand, Percy? You think he's grateful to you? You think Poseidon cares for you any more than he cares for this monster?"
Tyson clenched his fists and made a rumbling sound down in his throat. Luke just chuckled. "The gods are so using you, Percy. Do you have any idea what's in store for you if you reach your sixteenth birthday? Has Chiron even told you the prophecy?"
Draco looked at Luke in alarm, "He'll know when he's ready, now is not the time Luke," he growled. "I know what I need to know," Percy agreed. "Like, who my enemies are."
"Then you're a fool," Luke said.
Tyson smashed the nearest dining chair to splinters. "Percy is not a fool!"
Before anyone could stop him, he charged at Luke. His fists came down toward Luke's head—a double overhead blow that would've knocked a hole in titanium—but the bear twins intercepted. They each caught one of Tyson's arms and stopped him cold. They pushed him back and Tyson stumbled. He fell to the carpet so hard the deck shook.
"Too bad, Cyclops," Luke said. "Looks like my grizzly friends together are more than a match for your strength. Maybe I should let them—"
"Luke," Draco cut in. "Listen to me. Your father sent us."
His face turned the color of a tomato. "Don't— even— mention him."
"He told us to take this boat. I thought it was just for a ride, but he sent us here to find you.
He told me he won't give up on you, no matter how angry you are at him, he still cares Luke! He always had!" Draco yelled.
"Angry?" Luke roared. " Give up on me? He abandoned me, Draco! I want Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! You tell Hermes it's going to happen, too. Each time a half-blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker and we grow stronger. He grows stronger." Luke pointed to the gold sarcophagus.
The energy the box gave creeped Draco out, but he was determined not to show it. "So?" he demanded. "What's so special ..."
Then it hit him, what might be inside the sarcophagus. The temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees. "Whoa, you don't mean—"
"He is re-forming," Luke said. "Little by little, we're calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges our cause, another small piece appears—"
"That's disgusting!" Annabeth said.
Luke sneered at her. "Your mother was born from Zeus's split skull, Annabeth. I wouldn't talk. Soon there will be enough of the titan lord so that we can make him whole again. We will piece together a new body for him, a work worthy of the forges of Hephaestus."
"You're insane," Annabeth said.
"Join us and you'll be rewarded. We have powerful friends, sponsors rich enough to buy this cruise ship and much more. Percy, your mother will never have to work again. You can buy her a mansion. You can have power, fame—whatever you want. Annabeth, you can realize your dream of being an architect. You can build a monument to last a thousand years. A temple to the lords of the next age! Draco he can help you, he'll tell you who was your godly parent and could bring you mom back to life!"
"Don't talk about my mother like you know her," Draco growled as Annabeth said, "Go to Tartarus."
Luke sighed. "A shame."
He picked up something that looked like a TV remote and pressed a red button. Within seconds the door of the stateroom opened and two uniformed crew members came in, armed with nightsticks. They had the same glassy-eyed look as the other mortals they'd seen, but Draco had a feeling this wouldn't make them any less dangerous in a fight.
"Ah, good, security," Luke said, "I'm afraid we have some stowaways."
"Yes, sir," they said dreamily.
Luke turned to Oreius. "It's time to feed the Aethiopian drakon. Take these fools below and show them how it's done."
Oreius grinned stupidly. "Hehe! Hehe!"
"Let me go, too," Agrius grumbled. "My brother is worthless. That Cyclops—"
"Is no threat," Luke said. He glanced back at the golden casket, as if something were troubling him. "Agrius, stay here. We have important matters to discuss."
"But—"
"Oreius, don't fail me. Stay in the hold to make sure the drakon is properly fed."
Oreius prodded them with his javelin and herded us out of the stateroom, followed by the two human security guards.
As they walked down the corridor with Oreius's javelin poking them in the back, Draco thought about what Luke had said—that the bear twins together were a match for Tyson's strength. But maybe separately ...
They exited the corridor amidships and walked across an open deck lined with lifeboats. Draco knew the ship well enough to realize this would be their last look at sunlight. Once they got to the other side, they'd take the elevator down into the hold, and that would be it.
Percy looked at Tyson and said, "Now."
Thank the gods, he understood. He turned and smacked Oreius thirty feet backward into the swimming pool, right into the middle of the zombie tourist family.
"Ah!" the kids yelled in unison. "We are not having a blast in the pool!"
One of the security guards drew his nightstick, but Annabeth knocked the wind out of him with a well-placed kick. The other guard ran for the nearest alarm box.
"Stop him!" Annabeth yelled, but it was too late. Just before Percy banged him on head with a deck chair, he hit the alarm. Red lights flashed. Sirens wailed.
"Lifeboat!" Percy yelled.
They ran for the nearest one.
By the time they got the cover off, monsters and more security men were swarming the deck, pushing aside tourists and waiters with trays of tropical drinks. A guy in Greek armor drew his sword and charged, but slipped in a puddle of piña colada. Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above them, notching arrows in their enormous bows.
"How do you launch this thing?" screamed Annabeth.
A hellhound leaped at Percy, but Tyson slammed it aside with a fire extinguisher.
"Get in!" Draco yelled. Percy uncapped Riptide and slashed the first volley of arrows out of the air. Any second they would be overwhelmed.
The lifeboat was hanging over the side of the ship, high above the water. Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson were having no luck with the release pulley.
Draco jumped in beside them.
"Hold on!" Draco yelled, taking out one of his daggers and cut the ropes. A shower of arrows whistled over their heads as they free-fell toward the ocean.
"Thermos!" Draco screamed as they hurtled toward the water.
"What?" Annabeth must've thought he'd lost his mind. She was holding on to the boat straps for dear life, her hair flying straight up like a torch.
But Tyson understood. He managed to open his duffel bag and take out Hermes's magical thermos without losing his grip on it or the boat.
Arrows and javelins whistled past them.
Draco grabbed the thermos and hoped he was doing the right thing. "Hang on!"
"I am hanging on!" Annabeth yelled. "Tighter!" He yelled. Draco hooked his feet under the boat's inflatable bench, and as Tyson grabbed Annabeth, Percy, and himself by the backs of their shirts, he gave the thermos cap a quarter turn. Instantly, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the thermos and propelled them sideways, turning our downward plummet into a forty-five-degree crash landing. The wind seemed to laugh as it shot from the thermos, like it was glad to be free. As they hit the ocean, they bumped once, twice, skipping like a stone, then they were whizzing along like a speed boat, salt spray in their faces and nothing but sea ahead.
Draco heard a wail of outrage from the ship behind them, but they were already out of weapon range.
The Princess Andromeda faded to the size of a white toy boat in the distance, and then it was gone.
As they raced over the sea, Annabeth, Draco, and Percy tried to send an Iris-message to Chiron. They figured it was important they let somebody know what Luke was doing, and they didn't know who else to trust.
The wind from the thermos stirred up a nice sea spray that made a rainbow in the sunlight—perfect for an Iris-message—but their connection was still poor. When Annabeth threw a gold drachma into the mist and prayed for the rainbow goddess to show them Chiron, his face appeared all right, but there was some kind of weird strobe light flashing in the background and rock music blaring, like he was at a dance club.
They told him about sneaking away from camp, and Luke and the Princess Andromeda and the golden box for Kronos's remains, but between the noise on his end and the rushing wind and water on our end, Draco was not sure how much he heard.
"Percy," Chiron yelled, "you have to watch out for—"
His voice was drowned out by loud shouting behind him—a bunch of voices whooping it up like Comanche warriors.
"What?" Percy yelled.
"Curse my relatives!" Chiron ducked as a plate flew over his head and shattered somewhere out of sight. "Annabeth, you shouldn't have let Percy leave camp! But if you do get the Fleece—"
"Yeah, baby!" somebody behind Chiron yelled. "Woo-hoooooo!"
The music got cranked up, subwoofers so loud it made our boat vibrate.
"—Miami," Chiron was yelling. "I'll try to keep watch—" their misty screen smashed apart like someone on the other side had thrown a bottle at it, and Chiron was gone.
An hour later they spotted land—a long stretch of beach lined with high-rise hotels. The water became crowded with fishing boats and tankers. A coast guard cruiser passed on our starboard side, then turned like it wanted a second look. Draco guessed it isn't every day they see a yellow lifeboat with no engine going a hundred knots an hour, manned by three kids.
"That's Virginia Beach!" Annabeth said as we approached the shoreline. "Oh my gods, how did the Princess Andromeda travel so far overnight? That's like—"
"Five hundred and thirty nautical miles," Percy said. Both Demi-Gods stared at Percy. "How did you know that?" Draco asked.
"I—I'm not sure," Percy stampers.
Annabeth thought for a moment. "Percy, what's our position?"
"36 degrees, 44 minutes north, 76 degrees, 2 minutes west," Percy said immediately. Then he shook his head. "Whoa. How did I know that?"
"Because of your dad," Annabeth guessed. "When you're at sea, you have perfect bearings. That is so cool."
"Dude, you've become our living compass!" Draco exclaimed, amazed at his friends new found power.
Percy was about to object, but before he could say anything, Tyson tapped his shoulder. "Other boat is coming."
They all looked back. The coast guard vessel was definitely on their tail now. Its lights were flashing and it was gaining speed. "We can't let them catch us," Percy said. "They'll ask too many questions."
"Keep going into Chesapeake Bay," Annabeth said. "I know a place we can hide."
Draco didn't ask what she meant, he risked loosening the thermos cap a little more, and a fresh burst of wind sent us rocketing around the northern tip of Virginia Beach into Chesapeake Bay. The coast guard boat fell farther and farther behind. We didn't slow down until the shores of the bay narrowed on either side, and Draco realized they'd entered the mouth of a river.
Draco looked at Percy and saw his poster become less and less alarmed and energetic as it was before. "There," Annabeth said. "Past that sandbar."
They veered into a swampy area choked with marsh grass. Percy beached the lifeboat at the foot of a giant cypress.
Vine-covered trees loomed above them. Insects chirred in the woods. The air was muggy and hot, and steam curled off the river. Basically, it wasn't London or Scotland, and Draco didn't like it.
"Come on," Annabeth said. "It's just down the bank."
"What is?" Percy asked.
"Just follow." She grabbed a duffel bag. "And we'd better cover the boat. We don't want to draw attention." After burying the lifeboat with branches, Tyson, Draco, and Percy followed Annabeth along the shore, their feet sinking in red mud. A snake slithered past Draco's shoe and disappeared into the grass.
"Not a good place," Tyson said. He swatted the mosquitoes that were forming a buffet line on his arm.
After another few minutes, Annabeth said, "Here."
All Draco saw was a patch of brambles. Then Annabeth moved aside a woven circle of branches, like a door, and Draco realized he was looking into a camouflaged shelter.
The inside was big enough for three, even with Tyson being the third. The walls were woven from plant material, like a Native American hut, but they looked pretty waterproof. Stacked in the corner was everything you could want for a campout—sleeping bags, blankets, an ice chest, and a kerosene lamp. There were demigod provisions, too— bronze javelin tips, a quiver full of arrows, an extra sword, and a box of ambrosia. The place smelled musty, like it had been vacant for a long time.
"A half-blood hideout," Draco looked at Annabeth in awe. "You made this place?"
"Thalia and I," she said quietly. "And Luke."
Draco went quiet and glanced at Percy. He looked quite... uncomfortable..? No, he looked quite jealous. Draco hid a smirk, 'does Percy have a crush on Annabeth?'
"So ..." Percy said. "You don't think Luke will look for us here?"
She shook her head. "We made a dozen safe houses like this. I doubt Luke even remembers where they are. Or cares."
She threw herself down on the blankets and started going through her duffel bag. Her body language made it pretty clear she didn't want to talk.
"Um, Tyson?" Percy said. "Would you mind scouting around outside? Like, look for a wilderness convenience store or something?"
"Convenience store?" Tyson asked.
"Yeah, for snacks. Powdered donuts or something. Just don't go too far," Percy said, not expecting Tyson to actually find anything.
"Powdered donuts," Tyson said earnestly. "I will look for powdered donuts in the wilderness."
He headed outside and started calling, "Here, donuts!"
Once he was gone, both males sat down across from Annabeth. "Hey, I'm sorry about, you know, seeing Luke."
"It's not your fault." She unsheathed her knife and started cleaning the blade with a rag.
"He let us go too easily," Percy said. "I was thinking the same thing. What we overheard him say about a gamble, and 'they'll take the bait'... I think he was talking about us," Annabeth agreed.
"The Fleece is the bait? Or Grover?" Draco asked.
She studied the edge of her knife. "I don't know, Draco. Maybe he wants the Fleece for himself. Maybe he's hoping we'll do the hard work and then he can steal it from us. I just can't believe he would poison the tree."
"What did he mean," Percy asked, "that Thalia would've been on his side?"
"He's wrong," she said.
"You don't sound sure," Percy noticed.
Annabeth glared at him, and Draco started to wish Percy hadn't asked her about this while she was holding a knife.
"Percy, you know who you remind me of most? Thalia. You guys are so much alike it's scary. I mean, either you would've been best friends or you would've strangled each other," Annabeth said, gazing back at her knife.
"Let's go with 'best friends.'" Percy said.
"Thalia got angry with her dad sometimes. So do you. Would you turn against Olympus because of that?" Annabeth asked, looking at Percy.
Percy stared at the quiver of arrows in the corner. "No."
"Okay, then. Neither would she. Luke's wrong." Annabeth stuck her knife blade into the dirt.
"So what did Luke mean about Cyclopes?" Percy asked. "He said you of all people—"
"I know what he said. He ... he was talking about the real reason Thalia died." Draco looked away this was a sour subject for Annabeth, Luke had convinced people not to come ask her about it when they had first arrived at camp. People understood since her sister figure had just died.
Annabeth drew a shaky breath. "You can never trust a Cyclops, Percy. Six years ago, on the night Grover was leading us to Half-Blood Hill—"
She was interrupted when the door of the hut creaked open. Tyson crawled in.
"Powdered donuts!" he said proudly, holding up a pastry box. Annabeth stared at him. "Where did you get that? We're in the middle of the wilderness. There's nothing around for—"
"Fifty feet," Tyson said. "Monster Donut shop—just over the hill!"
"This is bad," Annabeth muttered.
oOo
They were crouching behind a tree, staring at the donut shop in the middle of the woods. It looked brand new, with brightly lit windows, a parking area, and a little road leading off into the forest, but there was nothing else around, and no cars parked in the lot. They could see one employee reading a magazine behind the cash register. That was it. On the store's marquis, in huge black letters that even I could read, it said:
MONSTER DONUT
A cartoon ogre was taking a bite out of the O in MONSTER. The place smelled good, like fresh-baked chocolate donuts.
"This shouldn't be here," Annabeth whispered. "It's wrong."
"What?" Percy asked. "It's a donut shop."
"Shhh!" Draco shushed him.
"Why are we whispering? Tyson went in and bought a dozen. Nothing happened to him," Percy whispered, annoyed at the whole situation.
"He's a monster," she whispered back.
"Aw, c'mon, Annabeth. Monster Donut doesn't mean monsters! It's a chain. We've got them in New York," Percy said.
"A chain," she agreed. "And don't you think it's strange that one appeared immediately after you told Tyson to get donuts? Right here in the middle of the woods?"
"True, back in London we don't even have donut shops. Instead there's pastry shops that you can buy the snacks from," Draco agreed with Annabeth. Both stared at Draco, "What?" He asked embarrassed at the stares he was getting, he could feel a slight blush come to his pale cheeks. "We didn't know you where British," Percy said amazed at the fact that his friend is from the other part of the world. "Well I'm not- I'm not British! I'm half- French, half-Greek— you know what just forget about it, Annabeth what did you wanted to explain," Draco asked Annabeth.
"It could be a nest," Annabeth explained.
Tyson whimpered. "A nest for what?" Percy asked.
"Haven't you ever wondered how franchise stores pop up so fast?" she asked. "One day there's nothing and then the next day— boom, there's a new burger place or a coffee shop or whatever? First a single store, then two, then four— exact replicas spreading across the country?"
"Um, no. Never thought about it," Percy said.
"Percy, some of the chains multiply so fast because all their locations are magically linked to the life force of a monster. Some children of Hermes figured out how to do it back in the 1950s. They breed—"
She froze.
"What?" Percy demanded. "They breed what?"
"No—sudden—moves," Annabeth said, like her life depended on it. "Very slowly, turn around."
Then Draco heard it: a scraping noise, like something large dragging its belly through the leaves.
Draco turned and saw a rhino-size thing moving through the shadows of the trees. It was hissing, its front half writhing in all different directions. Draco couldn't understand what he was seeing at first. Then he noticed the thing had multiple necks—at least seven, each topped with a hissing reptilian head. Its skin was leathery, and under each neck it wore a plastic bib that read: I'M A MONSTER DONUT KID!
Percy took out his ballpoint pen, but Annabeth locked eyes with him—a silent warning. Not yet.
Draco understood. A lot of monsters have terrible eyesight. It was possible the Hydra might pass them by. But if he uncapped his sword now, the bronze glow would certainly get its attention.
They waited.
The Hydra was only a few feet away. It seemed to be sniffing the ground and the trees like it was hunting for something. Then Draco noticed that two of the heads were ripping apart a piece of yellow canvas—one of their duffel bags. The thing had already been to their campsite. It was following their scent. Draco was semi- regretting that he brought his bag with him, the monster could smell the bag and get a straight trail to them.
Draco's heart pounded. He'd seen a stuffed Hydra-head trophy at camp before, but that did nothing to prepare him for the real thing. Each head was diamond-shaped, like a rattlesnake's, but the mouths were lined with jagged rows of sharklike teeth.
Tyson was trembling. He stepped back and accidentally snapped a twig. Immediately, all seven heads turned toward them and hissed.
"Scatter!" Annabeth yelled. She dove to the right.
Percy rolled to the left, and Draco went with him. One of the Hydra heads spat an arc of green liquid that shot past their shoulder and splashed against an elm. The trunk smoked and began to disintegrate. The whole tree toppled straight toward Tyson, who still hadn't moved, petrified by the monster that was now right in front of him.
"Tyson!" Percy and Draco tackled him with all their might, knocking him aside just as the Hydra lunged and the tree crashed on top of two of its heads.
The Hydra stumbled backward, yanking its heads free then wailing in outrage at the fallen tree. All seven heads shot acid, and the elm melted into a steaming pool of muck.
"Move!" Percy told Tyson. He ran to one side and uncapped Riptide, hoping to draw the monster's attention.
It worked.
The sight of celestial bronze is hateful to most monsters. As soon as Percy's glowing blade appeared, the Hydra whipped toward it with all its heads, hissing and baring its teeth.
The good news: Tyson was momentarily out of danger. The bad news: Percy was about to be melted into a puddle of goo. One of the heads snapped at Percy experimentally. Without thinking, he swung his sword.
"No!" Annabeth yelled.
Too late. Percy sliced the Hydra's head clean off. It rolled away into the grass, leaving a flailing stump, which immediately stopped bleeding and began to swell like a balloon.
In a matter of seconds the wounded neck split into two necks, each of which grew a full-size head. Now Draco was looking at an eight-headed Hydra.
"Percy!" Annabeth scolded. "You just opened another Monster Donut shop somewhere!"
Draco dodged a spray of acid. "I'm about to die and you're worried about that? How do we kill it?" Percy yelled.
"Fire!" Annabeth said. "We have to have fire!"
As soon as she said that, Draco remembered the story. The Hydra's heads would only stop multiplying if they burned the stumps before they regrew. That's what Heracles had done, anyway. Suddenly, Draco remembered the lighter he had on his backpack, he always had one in case he was the one to lit up the camp fire. "I have a lighter in my bag! Can we use that?" He yelled at Annabeth. His mind already trying to find an answer.
"No hitting my friends!" Tyson charged in, putting himself between the Hydra and Annabeth.
As Annabeth got to her feet, Tyson started smashing at the monster heads with his fists so fast it reminded Draco of one of the fist fights he had seen when he was younger at camp. But even Tyson couldn't fend off the Hydra forever.
They kept inching backward, dodging acid splashes and deflecting snapping heads without cutting them off, but Draco knew they were only postponing their deaths. Eventually, they would make a mistake and the thing would kill them.
Then Draco heard a strange sound—a chug-chug-chug that at first Draco thought was his heartbeat. It was so powerful it made the riverbank shake.
"What's that noise?" Annabeth shouted, keeping her eyes on the Hydra.
"Steam engine," Tyson said.
"What?" Draco ducked as the Hydra spat acid over his head.
Then from the river behind them, a familiar female voice shouted: "There! Prepare the thirty-two-pounder!"
Draco didn't dare look away from the Hydra, but if that was who Draco thought it was behind them, he figured they now had enemies on two fronts.
A gravelly male voice said, "They're too close, m'lady!"
"Damn the heroes!" the girl said. "Full steam ahead!"
"Aye, m'lady."
"Fire at will, Captain!"
Annabeth understood what was happening a split second before Draco did. She yelled, "Hit the dirt!" and they dove for the ground as an earth-shattering BOOM echoed from the river. There was a flash of light, a column of smoke, and the Hydra exploded right in front of them, showering them with nasty green slime that vaporized as soon as it hit, the way monster guts tend to do.
"Gross!" screamed Annabeth.
"Steamship!" yelled Tyson.
Draco stood, coughing from the cloud of gunpowder smoke that was rolling across the banks. Chugging toward them down the river was the strangest ship Draco'd ever seen. It rode low in the water like a submarine, its deck plated with iron. In the middle was a trapezoid-shaped casemate with slats on each side for cannons. A flag waved from the top—a wild boar and spear on a bloodred field. Lining the deck were zombies in gray uniforms— dead soldiers with shimmering faces that only partially covered their skulls, like the ghouls Draco'd seen in the basement in Malfoy Manor.
The ship was an ironclad. A Civil War battle cruiser. Draco could just make out the name along the prow in moss-covered letters: CSS Birmingham. And standing next to the smoking cannon that had almost killed them, wearing full Greek battle armor, was Clarisse.
"Losers," she sneered. "But I suppose I have to rescue you. Come aboard."
oOo
"You are in so much trouble," Clarisse said.
They'd just finished a ship tour they didn't want, through dark rooms overcrowded with dead sailors. They'd seen the coal bunker, the boilers and engine, which huffed and groaned like it would explode any minute. They'd seen the pilothouse and the powder magazine and gunnery deck (Clarisse's favorite) with two Dahlgren smoothbore cannons on the port and starboard sides and a Brooke nine-inch rifled gun fore and aft—all specially refitted to fire celestial bronze cannon balls.
Everywhere they went, dead Confederate sailors stared at them, their ghostly bearded faces shimmering over their skulls. They approved of Annabeth because she told them she was from Virginia. They were interested in Percy, too, because his name was Jackson—like the Southern general—but then he ruined it by telling them he was from New York. They all hissed and muttered curses about Yankees. Draco just said he was from London and none of the skeletons said or do anything but just stared at him and move away.
Tyson was terrified of them. All through the tour, he insisted Annabeth hold his hand, which she didn't look too thrilled about.
Finally, they were escorted to dinner. The CSS Birmingham captain's quarters were about the size of a walk-in closet, but still much bigger than any other room on board. The table was set with white linen and china. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, potato chips, and Dr Peppers were served by skeletal crewmen. Draco was excited about being served by ghosts. The ghosts in Hogwarts didn't really do much but occasionally prank some students (Peeves.) "Tantalus expelled you for eternity," Clarisse told them smugly. "Mr. D said if any of you show your face at camp again, he'll turn you into squirrels and run you over with his SUV."
"Did they give you this ship?" Percy asked.
"'Course not. My father did," she said.
"Ares?"
Clarisse sneered. "You think your daddy is the only one with sea power? The spirits on the losing side of every war owe a tribute to Ares. That's their curse for being defeated. I prayed to my father for a naval transport and here it is. These guys will do anything I tell them. Won't you, Captain?"
The captain stood behind her looking stiff and angry. His glowing green eyes fixed Draco with a hungry stare. Draco glared at the skeleton and the hungry stare turned to slight fear. "If it means an end to this infernal war, ma'am, peace at last, we'll do anything. Destroy anyone."
Clarisse smiled. "Destroy anyone. I like that."
Tyson gulped.
"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "Luke might be after the Fleece, too. We saw him. He's got the coordinates and he's heading south. He has a cruise ship full of monsters—"
"Good! I'll blow him out of the water," Clarisse said not interested in their help.
"You don't understand," Annabeth said. We have to combine forces. Let us help you—"
"No!" Clarisse pounded the table. "This is my quest, smart girl! Finally I get to be the hero, and you two will not steal my chance."
"Where are your cabin mates?" Percy asked. "You were allowed to take two friends with you, weren't you?"
"They didn't ... I let them stay behind. To protect the camp."
"You mean even the people in your own cabin wouldn't help you?" Percy asked.
"Shut up, Prissy! I don't need them! Or you!"
"Clarisse," Percy said, "Tantalus is using you. He doesn't care about the camp. He'd love to see it destroyed. He's setting you up to fail."
"No! I don't care what the Oracle—" She stopped herself.
"What?" Percy said. "What did the Oracle tell you?"
"Nothing." Clarisse's ears turned pink. "All you need to know is that I'm finishing this quest and you're not helping. On the other hand, I can't let you go ..."
"So we're prisoners?" Annabeth asked.
"Guests. For now." Clarisse propped her feet up on the white linen tablecloth and opened another Dr Pepper. "Captain, take them below. Assign them hammocks on the berth deck. If they don't mind their manners, show them how we deal with enemy spies."
Draco went to an uneasy sleep that night, but no dreams came to him. They woke to alarm bells ringing throughout the ship.
The captain's gravelly voice: "All hands on deck! Find Lady Clarisse! Where is that girl?"
Then his ghostly face appeared above Percy. "Get up, Yankee. Your friends are already above. We are approaching the entrance."
"The entrance to what?" Percy asked confused. He gave Percy a skeletal smile. "The Sea of Monsters, of course."
Aaaaannnddd done! Should I skip some of the things that happened? I mean it's already getting a bit too long so maybe I will... well anyway thank you for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter, bye!
-D.