After thanking our hosts and graciously turning down a complimentary itinerary of pedicures and massages (which Oreius looked downright torn over), the four of us made it back to the ship and pulled out of the harbor.

Before we left, C.C. informed us that our friends' conditions had stabilized and that they'd be back on their feet in no time, so we planned to stop at the strange island again on our return trip, bringing any information we had found about Oceanus, and with any luck, the Golden Fleece as well. C.C. also gifted us with a shipment of sorely needed medical supplies, at which point I began to suspect she knew who we were working for and was attempting to curry favor.

The further we sailed back into the choppy waters, the more uneasy I felt about leaving Cam and Mary behind. Everything about our brief stop there had rubbed me the wrong way. I mean, who sets up a health spa in the middle of the Sea of Monsters? And why didn't there seem to be any men there? Whoever this C.C. was, I sensed she was dangerous, and the fact that she was the granddaughter of the titan ruler of the seas meant she was probably more powerful than she let on.

Kronos seemed to share my displeasure when we apprised him of the situation.

"Oceanus?" his voice grated, making no effort to hide his contempt. "A waste of time. Let my traitorous brother stay missing."

Luke frowned. "But my lord, when we finally make our move on Olympus, won't you need someone to take back control of the seas? Oceanus could ensure Poseidon doesn't rise against us."

"He cannot be trusted," the titan king asserted. "When the time comes, I will find someone else to wrest control of the seas from my ungrateful spawn. For now, focus on the task at hand. Get the Golden Fleece and revive the girl. That is all that matters."

And that seemed to be the end of the discussion.

Much to everyone's relief, our journey was uneventful for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Luke and I resumed command of the ship while Tyson, Chris, and the rest of the crew finalized repairs and caught up on sleep. I saw Adri at dinner, looking well-rested, yet troubled. It seemed she wasn't fully on board with leaving some of our wounded in the care of strangers, but I guess she understood there was little else we could do since she didn't argue the decision.

As we navigated further into the dark seas, I made sure to keep exercising my newfound "sonar" ability to make sure we didn't crash into any unseen obstacles. Since we were sailing in open waters, I didn't pick up much except for a few large sea creatures, but at some point during the night, I detected the sea floor sloping upwards until it crested the water.

There was an island ahead, and I could make out the general shape of a crescent, with a round body of water filling the center. A lagoon.

Alarm bells went off in my head. I recognized the description of the island from Jason's records. This was the home of the Sirens, monsters whose songs were so enchanting that anyone who heard them would be hypnotized into jumping overboard and either drowning, or swimming to the island to be eaten.

Jason's crew had survived because they had Orpheus aboard, who must've been a rock star back in Ancient Greece, because it was written that he sang so beautifully that his voice drowned out the Siren songs and kept his fellow sailors from hearing them.

I glanced at the captain's microphone mounted to the wall next to the control panel. A simple button press would project my voice across the entire ship. Unfortunately, I was tone deaf, so I didn't think the same strategy Orpheus used would work for me. Luke snored lightly on the chair beside mine. I thought about waking him up to ask what we should do, but decided against it.

We'd simply have to take a detour around the island. Far around. We'd lose time, but at least we wouldn't take any more casualties. It was the safest option.

So I adjusted the controls, and soon thousands of tons of steel was being redirected south. I wasn't concerned that we'd get lost going off course. My bearings were still as sharp as ever. If there were no more unforeseen interruptions, we'd reach Polyphemus's island sometime around noon tomorrow as long as we kept our current pace.

Of course, when you're a demigod, you should really plan on things not working out the way you expect.

Some hours later into the night, I could see a black silhouette rising against the starry sky. It was, yet again, another island. I extended my senses towards it, trying to get a layout of the land, but froze before I could reach it. I caught another blip in the water between us and the island, too small to be a land formation, but too large to be a part of the local marine wildlife. My next thought was that it might be an iceberg, but that was impossible. We were much too far to the south for them to form. Another ship maybe?

I sent out another ping, and my heart began to quicken when I realized it was moving toward us, and fast.

"Uh oh. Not good, not good."

I ran to the window and looked out onto the blackened seas, but I could see little besides the white crests of the moonlit waves and the rising slope of the island in the distance. Luke stirred behind me. "Percy? What's wrong?" he asked blearily.

"Something's coming. Something big."

That woke him up.

"What is it?" he asked, his eyes widening. "A monster? A ship?"

"I don't know," I said. "But it's fast. Faster than we are."

"Then there's no outrunning it."

I nodded.

Luke cursed and rushed over to the ship's microphone, pressing down the button and saying in his most authoritative voice, "General quarters, general quarters. All hands, man your battlestations. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."

Within seconds, monsters and demigods were spilling out onto the main deck, armed with bows, javelins, and celestial bronze spears. Laistrygonians ran to the sides and stood guard over the railings, flaming metal balls materializing in their hands. A group of telkhines toiled with a pulley system to hoist a heavy piece of machinery up from the cargo hold.

As I watched, they unloaded it and rushed it to the bow of the ship, where they pulled the tarp off to reveal a massive harpoon, tipped with what looked to be barbed celestial bronze.

Luke stood beside me at the window, looking down on all this with an easy smirk on his face. "Whatever's out there picked the wrong ship to mess with."

I wished I shared his confidence. As the threat got closer and closer, I began to get a clearer image of it in my head. It was long, longer than the ship even, and about as thick as the Big House. Our small army looked impressive, but I wasn't sure it'd even be able to put a dent in this thing.

"It's a mile out and closing fast," I told Luke. "5000 feet. 4000. 3000…"

And then at that moment, I really, really wished I still had Medusa's head. Off the starboard bow, a few thousand feet in the distance, a column of scales erupted from the sea. Our spotlights trained in on it, and I took in its appearance.

It looked familiar somehow. Back in 5th grade, my classmates used to play this card game, and this creature looked similar to one of the monsters on the cards. I think they called it a Gyarados.

Blue-green scales shimmered all along its body, with spiny dorsal fins too numerous to count. Its snakelike body stretched on and on as it arced through the air, its head reaching so high it framed the moon above the horizon. It had the head of one of those mean looking angler fish, with sunken, beady gray eyes and a mouth stretched horrifyingly wide, revealing rows of long, sharp teeth. A huge antenna-like appendage stretched from its head, emanating a blinding light from its tip like the world's largest lighthouse.

Its head crashed back down into the water with an enormous splash with the rest of the body slamming down after it, sending rogue waves in our direction. It flicked its tail end out of the water, revealing a caudal fin the size of a jumbo jet.

I looked over to see the color drain from Luke's face. "The Sea of Monsters," he said. "Apt."

We shared a look and rushed to the elevator, taking it down to the deck where Agrius and Oreius were standing guard.

"Sir!" the bear twins barked, saluting. "A giant sea monster was spotted nearby!" said Oreius.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious. Any more valuable insight?" Luke stormed past them, not wasting any time returning their salutes.

I followed after Luke. Oreius glanced at Agrius in confusion as I passed by. "I thought he was the Captain," he said to his brother.

The two of them caught up to us in the middle of the deck as Luke began belting out orders.

I kept track of the beast using my sonar. For now it seemed to be circling the ship, perhaps unsure if we were predator or prey, until it suddenly changed direction and zig zagged towards us.

"It's charging us!" I told Luke. "Port side!"

"BRACE!" Luke commanded.

Along the sides of the deck, each of our soldiers grabbed onto the railing for dear life as a faint glow in the water came speeding toward the ship. BOOM. The Princess Andromeda was rocked to the side as the creature struck the hull, causing the floor on one side to drop, while those standing on the other side of the ship were catapulted into the air. I could practically feel the ship's stabilizers kicking into overdrive. Luke and I were safest from the onslaught standing in the middle of the ship, but even there we were nearly thrown off our feet.

"Get back up!" Luke ordered the crew. "Fire at it! Aim for the light!"

He was right. It was impossible to see the creature's body in the black water, but its light shone like a beacon under the surface, giving us a general idea of where its head was. From the looks of it, it was sitting immobile just below the ship. Maybe the creature had figured its opponent was made out of something softer than tempered steel when it decided to headbutt it at full speed. Whatever the case, it remained stationary for a moment, probably stunned.

The Laistrygonians began hurling cannonball after cannonball into the water while archers loosed arrows at the beast, though I wasn't sure how effective they were. The telkhines wheeled the harpoon launcher over to the port side, took aim, and launched.

A high pitched screech rattled the ship, and I knew we'd made a direct hit. The monster thrashed around in the water, buffeting the ship with waves and forcing us to hold onto the railings.

"Man overboard!" someone shouted.

I glanced in their direction as the violent rocking began to lessen. Chris and a couple other half-bloods were staring over the guard railing, pointing down at the water.

I began to run toward them. "Percy, don't do what I think you're about to do!" Luke called from behind me.

I ignored him and made a beeline for Chris, who looked like he was preparing to jump in himself.

"Wait, let me," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder and pulling him back from the railing. "Where is he?"

Chris shook his head. "I don't know, he fell and then the light disappeared. It's too dark to see down there."

I sent out a ping, trying to locate the monster. It was still nearby, but it had dived so far that the light on its head was no longer visible. That meant I had some time to search. The quick scan had also revealed another smaller presence underneath the ship.

I climbed up onto the railing and leapt. Floors of cabins rushed past as I plummeted into the water.

Kerplunk!

Even with my enhanced senses underwater, I could barely see a thing. The water in the Sea of Monsters seemed murkier, more hostile. I swam as fast as I could to where I detected our fallen friend. He was unconscious, and sinking slowly. I couldn't see any air bubbles coming from his mouth or nose, which wasn't good. The impact with the water must've knocked all the wind out of him.

Wrapping my arms around him, I rushed us back to the surface. Chris and the others had lowered a lifeboat down to the water. Grateful for their quick thinking, I backstroked over to it with the demigod resting on my chest the way I'd always seen lifeguards do it. Once there, I threw him unceremoniously in the raft and prepared to give him CPR when I noticed a light underneath me slowly growing brighter. I cursed to myself. The monster was coming back for more.

I hopped in the raft and yelled for Chris to start lifting. It bounced unsteadily as the ropes became taut, and we began ascending.

Too slow, I thought. It'd take minutes to reach the top, but I figured we only had a few seconds at most before the beast was back. I couldn't let it hit the ship again, or the raft would likely fall.

"Can't this thing go any faster?!" I called up.

"We're cranking it as fast as we can!"

I stared at the unconscious demigod and concentrated on the water in his body. His lungs had been filled, making it impossible for him to breathe. I felt a tug in my gut as I smacked his chest. A fountain of water sprayed from his mouth, and he woke up sputtering.

Satisfied he'd be okay, I jumped back into the water and stared down at the oversized lightbulb growing closer and closer. I had to make sure its target changed from the ship to me.

I tried to think, racking my brain for any stories of heroes defeating this monster, but I was coming up empty. I didn't even know if our attacker had a name.

The light was so close now that I needed to put a hand over my eyes to block it. A strategy began to form in my head. If it needed that light to see where it was going, chances were its eyesight wasn't very good. If I could sever that appendage from its head, I was willing to bet it wouldn't be able to follow us anymore.

Steeling myself, I swam downwards, planning to meet the creature halfway. Its terrifying face began to emerge through the murky water, and I immediately knew I wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight. With teeth as long as I was and soulless eyes emblazoned by its light, the thing looked like a demon that crawled straight from the depths of Tartarus. The celestial bronze harpoon had been lodged in its mouth like a fish hook, and now this thing was out for blood.

As the beast approached, I began to see a problem with my plan. Up close, I could see the antenna was as thick as a tree trunk, and it was armored with some kind of rocky shell. I doubted I could make a clean slice through it with just Riptide. I'd need something bigger and stronger.

Above me, the ship thrummed as it propelled itself away, trying to put as much distance as it could between itself and this eldritch horror. An idea struck me, but it was risky.

Just as the monster was upon me, I darted upwards, doing my best to grab its attention. I unsheathed Riptide, hoping the celestial bronze glow would attract its gaze. Unfortunately, it worked. The beast opened its maw and emitted a deafening screech as it darted after me.

I led it towards the ship, which might seem like a stupid idea at first, but I didn't have much time to think of a better option. My eyes locked onto my target: five 30-foot-long blades spinning at 250 RPM. Normally, I hated ships with oversized propellers. If the captains weren't careful, they'd often end up killing curious sea creatures that wandered too close. At the moment though, I was sort of banking on that to happen.

I shot towards the rear of the ship, the monster hot on my tail. The light from its head radiated so intensely on my back that it began to heat up the water around me. We approached the spinning blades of doom, and I channeled the sensation I felt when I faced down Scylla the day before.

Time rushed past me like the currents in the ocean, and I concentrated on throwing up a dam just as I did before. Behind me, the monster slowed to a crawl. The propeller churned sluggishly through the water as if it had thickened to glue. I swam right between the blades and along the underbelly of the ship, and released the built up tension.

My perception of time rubber banded as it attempted to correct itself. Just as I had hoped, the creature swam right into the heavy machinery, the blades sawing right through the antenna and sending it sinking into the gloomy depths, taking its light with it. Unfortunately, the creature's momentum was too great. It smashed right through the propeller, the sound of bending metal and scales scraping on steel piercing my ears before a pained shriek blasted through the ocean.

In the fading light of the creature's antenna, I saw a huge gash had been opened in its face. It thrashed about, a murky substance spilling out of its wound, before diving straight down after the light.

I watched it go until the light was so dim I could no longer see the creature's outline.

A sigh of relief escaped my lungs, sending bubbles up to the surface just above me. Wasting no time, I swam back to the rear of the ship to inspect the damage.

The blades of the propeller had been bent and nearly broken off. Somehow the motor was still spinning, albeit slowly, and despite time having corrected itself, the ship chugged forward at a snail's pace. I sighed. We'd need to make repairs, but at least it was better than sinking to the bottom of the sea.

I swam around to the side of the ship where the ladder was and began to climb, hoping that was the last we would see of the monster.

"You need to stop giving me heart attacks," Luke said as we inched closer and closer to the island.

The island had only been a few miles away when the monster attacked, but it had taken what felt like hours to approach it due to the damage it had caused to our propeller.

"Running straight towards Scylla, diving right into that monster… If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to throw your life away."

"I fought them both off, didn't I?" I retorted.

"You did. No small feats, either," he admitted with grudging respect. "But you could've just as easily gotten eaten. Remember what I told you about how valuable you are to Kronos?"

I didn't say anything, just stared out the window and watched our painfully slow progress towards the island. Dawn light was beginning to poke over the horizon to the east.

"Do me a favor and just… warn me before you go and pull a stunt like that again, ok?" Luke asked.

I nodded. "I'll be more careful," I promised.

The relief on his face was palpable. "Go get some sleep," he said. "That island's not going anywhere."

Gratefully, I relinquished the controls and retreated to my cabin, nodding off once more on the couch.

I dreamed of the beach at Camp Half-Blood. An armored ship, low in height, was anchored in the shallows. It had iron plating on its hull, smokestacks rising from the top, and rows of cannons poking out the sides. It looked like it was trying to cast off from the beach, but every time it got more than a few feet out from the shore, the sea would rise and shove it back.

A familiar looking man stood on the beach, watching the spectacle with an amused look on his face. The guy looked like he'd just escaped a prison. He wore an orange jumpsuit and was horribly thin and pale, with shrivelled skin and a total of three hairs on his head. He coughed into his hand, and his throat sounded so dry I was surprised dust didn't fly out.

After the fourth or fifth unsuccessful try, the ship's engine cut out, and a very frustrated Clarisse appeared from the engine room door. She wore an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt with the sleeves torn off and a pair of camo fatigues. Two lines of eye black were smeared on her cheeks, and a green bandana was tied around her messy hair. Was she heading out for a quest? I looked around, but didn't see Annabeth anywhere.

She was flanked by two crewmembers. After sailing around for months on the Princess Andromeda, you'd think I'd be used to uncanny sailors, but I nearly shot out of my skin when I saw that these men were little more than walking corpses. They were pale as ghosts, some with horrible wounds and others looking bloated, like they had fallen overboard and drowned. It was as if their ship had been destroyed in some battle a long time ago.

Clarisse approached the railing and leaned over it, shouting down to the man on the beach.

"My father said this ship was seaworthy!" she bellowed. "What gives?"

The man offered a thin smile. "Seems Lord Poseidon hasn't fully forgiven his brother yet. He won't permit the dead to sail. That, or he just doesn't like you."

Clarisse looked confused. "His brother? Which one? And for what?"

The man's grin stretched to reveal yellowed teeth. "Why, Hades, of course. You haven't heard? Oh, you should've seen the look on Minos's face when the Earthshaker himself stormed right up to the judge's table and demanded his beloved be sent to Elysium. For weeks, it was all anyone would talk about in the Fields of Punishment. Not often something exciting as that happens down there, you see."

I realized I did know this guy. I'd seen him on our quest to the Underworld last year. He'd been submerged up to his neck in the water underneath an apple tree. Everytime he went to take a drink, the water receded, and everytime he tried to bite an apple, the branch would lift away.

What was he doing at Camp Half-Blood? I'd never heard of anyone being released from the Fields of Punishment. Was he on parole? And where was Chiron? If Clarisse was about to embark on a quest, shouldn't he have been there to see her off, abrasive as she was?

The daughter of Ares stared at him, trying to put the pieces together. "What are you talking about?"

The man shrugged. "I don't know. I couldn't hear much from where I was. Some woman named Jackson."

Clarisse's eyes narrowed, her brow furrowed in confusion. "You mean, Prissy's—"

"Nevermind that," the ex-convict said, swiping his hand in dismissal. I felt my blood boil at this guy's casualness, treating my mom's death like a piece of Olympian tabloid gossip.

He grinned at Clarisse. "If you want Poseidon to grant you entry into his domain, you'll need to make a sacrifice to appease him."

"What kind of sacrifice?" she asked warily.

The man shrugged. "Something important to you. Something valuable."

Clarisse frowned. "But I don't own anything valuable."

"Not my problem."

Clarisse stamped her foot in frustration before turning on her crew. "Captain, get the engine going again and give it all the power you've got."

The ghost nodded and descended back into the engine room. Soon enough, the ship sputtered to life once more and began churning down the coastline.

Clarisse unstrapped the celestial bronze spear she'd fastened to her back and held it out to the sea. It was just a standard spear. Nothing special. No insignias or designs etched into it. Probably made in the camp's armory. It was nothing like "Maimer", the gift from her father that I'd broken last year when she tried to shishkebab me. I didn't see how a boring weapon like that would appease my father.

"Lord Poseidon," she called out to the sea. "Please accept my humble offering."

The spear fell into the water and sank down into the shallows. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the water exploded. Clarisse yelped and ducked underneath the railing, the spear careening over her head. It slammed into one of the smokestacks and clanged back down onto the deck of the ship. The sea rose in a wave even higher than before and slammed into the side of the ship, knocking Clarisse down and soaking her to the bone.

Further down the ship, behind a stack of crates, I saw a small object fall to the ground. A blue Yankees cap. A hand reached out from behind the crates and swiped it. I caught my breath.

"Urgh!" Clarisse growled. "You've gotta be kidding!"

She stood and stormed over to the crates, but it seemed she hadn't noticed the slight mishap, instead focusing on flipping the lid off one of the boxes to reveal a month's worth of military rations that smelled like they'd been there for a hundred years. She grabbed the crate and dumped it over the side. "Lord Poseidon, please accept my offering!" she pleaded once more.

Within seconds, she was bombarded with a wave of salt water and rotten sardines.

"Damn it!" she cursed, storming off to find other potential sacrifices.

I moved over to the crates where I saw the Yankees cap fall. "Annabeth?" I called, but I doubted she could hear me through my dreamstate.

She was invisible of course, but I could hear her voice, muttering softly as if in prayer. "—out there, I know he is. I promise I'll find him and bring him back, but first we need access to your domain. Please."

Clarisse returned to the railing. She had ripped one of her boots from her feet and was holding it above her head. "Accept this, you stingy old bottom-feeder!"

She chucked the boot into the water, where it splashed and sunk amidst a stream of bubbles. Surprisingly, it didn't come back. The ship groaned as it peeled off from the coastline, unimpeded by any sudden changes in tides.

Clarisse's eyes widened. "It worked," she breathed. She ran to the other side and waved goodbye to the ex-convict. By now, a bunch of other ugly looking Ares campers had come to see her off. "It worked!" she yelled. Her siblings cheered her on, pounding their fists into the air and yelling, "Go Clarisse! Save the camp!" The prisoner simply smiled, a look which I decided didn't really fit him.

Clarisse turned back to the dead man behind her. He wore a tattered old blue navy jacket, with so many buttons I couldn't even count them, and a flat brimmed navy cap. "Captain," she addressed him. "Set sail for the Bermuda Tri—"

A boot flew out of the water and clocked her in the back of the head, bouncing back onto the ship. The cheers on the beach died down as Clarisse unleashed a string of curses into the sea that would have made even Mr. D proud.

I'm blown away by all the positive reviews guys. I've been browsing the /r/camphalfblood subreddit and lately I've been seeing some requests for !PercyJoinsLuke fics. My time to shine!