I just wanted to take a moment and remind readers that the layout is the way it is because I don't want to get in trouble with the site admins for potential copy-right issues. It is not this way out of laziness, but because I would rather my stories stay on the site and not get taken down. Please remember that before flaming me for it. I know it can be annoying this way, but this is the way it has to be if you want a story to enjoy.
And I liked the Disney movie Hercules, too, but somehow I don't think the Olympians would have appreciated the way they were portrayed. Especially Hades.
And this was a ridiculously short chapter. I got it on here and then went looking through the book to make sure I had it all.
Younger kids with an older self. kids with no younger self. The Seven.
Normal talking, telepathy
Sadly, I do not and probably never will own Percy Jackson and associates. I really, really wish I did, though.
"I'll read!" Rachel volunteered.
"Didn't you already read today?" Annabeth cut in. "Why don't we let Luke read? He hasn't read at all yet, and this might be a good chapter for him." She gave him a Look.
"Er, are you sure this is a good idea?" Percy muttered. He was pretty sure the last thing Luke needed right now was getting and keeping Zeus's attention on him, especially in a chapter where he was likely to be front and center, anyway, if he was thinking correctly about what was next.
"It'll be fine!" Annabeth assured him while the Seven glanced at each other uneasily. Nevertheless, three of them surrounded Luke while two stayed with Luke, and the others were off to the side watching everybody.
"Two more chapters, and then I think we should end for the night." Hestia announced after a moment's thought. They were going to need time to process these next two chapters, she thought, if she was reading Percy and Annabeth's faces correctly.
Luke slowly took the book, and swallowed at the chapter title, before reading out:
Chapter eight: We Board the Princess Andromeda
"Oh, boy." Luke said slowly with a heavy sigh.
"This should be interesting." Percy muttered to Annabeth, who grimaced and nodded. She wondered what her younger self was thinking having Luke read this chapter.
Chris shifted in his seat, smiling shakily at Clarisse when she squeezed his arm. "It'll be alright." She whispered to him.
(I was staring at... things are attacking!")
"Somehow I don't think Percy would have actually said that." Beckendorf tilted his head.
Percy shrugged. "How am I supposed to know why Hermes woke them up the way he did." He said.
("I didn't call you... was holding. "What-")
"I think I should have stuck with 'who'." Annabeth muttered. Instead of asking 'what'.
"I bet that was confusing." Rachel said, sympathetically.
"Beyond confusing." Annabeth agreed.
("Just listen," I... up our scent.)
"You better hurry."
"They will not be gentle when taking you to the Big House."
"You would know, you get caught out often enough."
"I never get caught." Percy shrugged, and smirked at the glares from those who had gotten caught before.
("Percy," Annabeth... at getting expelled.")
"Even though it's not even my fault half the time." Percy groused under his breath.
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Yancy. The monster attack happened way before you were expelled." She said. From what the book said, it was his own declining attitude and grades that got him kicked out.
"Technically... you could argue he wasn't expelled. He just wasn't allowed to come back." Hermes said slowly.
"What?" Athena asked, annoyed.
"Expulsion means 'get out now'. He was allowed to finish the year." Hermes pointed out. "The same thing with Meriwether. He wasn't expelled from his last two schools, he just wasn't allowed to apply for the next school year."
"That's one way of looking at it." Sally sighed after a moment. She'd had enough going to get him in the middle of the semester to know some of what Hermes was talking about.
("So? If we fail... promised Chiron-")
"She promised to keep you safe. She never said anything about keeping you in camp." Travis said slowly.
"Which means the best way to keep you safe is to go with you." Connor added. "Especially since nobody will be safe if camp is overrun with monsters."
("I promised I'd keep... close to panic.)
Now everybody was really curious. They knew from Percy that Annabeth had personal issues with Cyclops, but before this moment that was all they had since she only seemed to hate Tyson for some reason.
This was the first time she'd sounded anything close to scared of him. Just what happened?
"Of course you would catch that." Annabeth grumbled. In the beginning, she barely tolerated Tyson's presence without having a panic attack or meltdown because Percy was there. The thought of having to rely on him to watch her back and not stab it had almost been more then she could handle at that moment.
("I mean... Percy... wasn't telling me.)
Annabeth sighed. "Which means our little heart to heart about it is going to be read out for everybody to hear." She sounded much less irritated by that then Percy would have expected.
"You alright with that?" Percy asked carefully, knowing that he most certainly was not alright with it, with any of these books as a matter of fact.
Annabeth sighed. "I don't have much choice, do I?" She gave him a small smile, knowing all his privacy being stripped away was much harder for him.
(She and Tyson both... and farther away.)
"You do realize that I packed three duffles, right?" Hermes asked dryly.
Annabeth didn't say anything, knowing that she really should have noticed that Hermes clearly wanted all three of them to go. Otherwise why would there have been a third bag?
(The thing was... Tyson along.)
Percy sighed and looked away, sure that this was going to reveal something he hadn't even admitted to himself.
(I'd spent the... needed some space.)
"That was a very small part." Percy said immediately.
"It's understandable, really. With the way the rest of the camp acted towards the both of you, it's natural that you would come to somewhat resent the reason for it." Paul reasoned out, used to how teenagers reacted and how they treated each other for their slightest differences.
"That may be, but I shouldn't have done that." Percy shook his head. This was Tyson, after all. He'd always protected Tyson, and then he'd been thinking things like this?
"It is alright." Tyson assured Percy. He could feel Percy's emotions, he'd known how Percy was feeling whether Percy would admit it or not.
(Plus, I didn't... years old, mentally.)
"That's another consideration." Poseidon muttered. Tyson was young, but he trusted that the young Cyclops would be more then useful on a quest. His age made him surprised when Percy told him that Tyson was a general in the Cyclops army.
"There is a reason why I don't let anybody go on a quest until they reach twelve years old." Chiron sighed. "Of course, there are times when I have no choice." Like when the gods sent somebody younger on the quest.
"Wait, what?" Annabeth asked, surprised.
Chiron nodded. "Even if quests were being assigned in the last couple of years, you would not have been sent on one." He confirmed. She'd been too young for him to feel safe sending her out, no matter if she'd been trained enough to go.
(I could see him... get us all killed.)
"I didn't see him doing that." Annabeth said. "Boarding the ship, though..." She'd heard his laughter halfway up the ladder.
"Yeah... he did good the rest of the time, though." Percy grinned at his brother.
(On the other... us being gone.")
"Yes he would have." Chiron said grimly. It would not have been pretty. In fact, Tantalus might have just 'forgotten' Tyson's Claiming to carry out his previous wish to set Tyson loose in the forest and have the campers hunt him with sharp objects.
"All the more reason to not leave him behind." Katie said, ashamed to say that she would have happily joined in on the hunt Tantalus had practically promised before Tyson was Claimed.
("Percy," Annabeth said... what I mean!")
"Were you worried about Tyson siding with Polyphemus?" Poseidon asked, tilting his head.
Annabeth was quiet. "Partly, yes." She finally said. She hadn't trusted Tyson, she hadn't trusted him not to stab them in the back in favor of the older Cyclops. "I know better now." She smiled towards Tyson.
("Tyson can go,"... time to argue.)
"Both." Annabeth rolled her eyes.
("All right," she... to that ship?")
"Well, you could always call a Pegasus." Katie shrugged.
"I don't think they have time." The harpies were coming, after all.
"That wouldn't be very stealthy, either, I don't think." Connor shrugged.
"Either way, I don't think you have to worry about getting out there with a child of Poseidon in the group." Reyna pointed out.
Percy tilted his head. "I could get a group out there no problem now, but at this point I hadn't explored my powers to that extent yet." He admitted. It wasn't until he was in such complete command of the Queen Anne's Revenge that he'd really considered his powers.
("Hermes said my father would help.")
"Always." Poseidon said immediately.
"The laws are clear." Zeus gritted with a glare.
"I will help my children." Poseidon said simply. He was good at finding loopholes. Apollo and Hermes smirked, knowing exactly what Poseidon meant.
("Well then, Seaweed... "How's it going?")
Apollo snorted. "Smooth, Percy. Real smooth."
"The last conversation I had with him didn't exactly go well." Percy shot back, rolling his eyes.
"That's not your fault." Amphitrite assured her step-son. Poseidon was the one that had no tact when speaking with his children for the first time.
("Percy!" Annabeth... and stuff, so...")
"That's one way to ask for help." Poseidon chuckled.
"If it works." Percy shrugged.
(At first, nothing... through the ocean.)
"Hmm..." Poseidon tilted his head, thinking about what creatures he might have sent to aid them. Not a shark, the daughter of Athena may not appreciate it and they were short on time. Not a dolphin, too flighty. He also had to take into account that whatever he sent would have to essentially beach themselves to let the kids grab hold, unless Percy could get Annabeth to swim far enough out, which would take more time as well.
"Perhaps hippocampi." Triton suggested.
"Yes." Poseidon nodded slowly. "I believe they are the only creatures suited for this task." He agreed.
(As they neared... breath. "Fish ponies!")
"Just saying right now, but Tyson is a little fascinated with equine's in general." Percy warned the crowd. He called them all ponies in some way, even Chiron. It was just a shame that most equines wanted nothing to do with Tyson.
Poseidon nodded in satisfaction. Yes, this would do just fine.
(He was right. As... "They're beautiful.")
"Yes they are." Poseidon said proudly.
"They're highly intelligent, as well." Triton added with a small smirk playing at his lips at the looks of amazement on some of the demigods' faces.
(The nearest one... for lucky harpies!")
"For somebody that doesn't actually eat campers, it sure sounds like they plan to." Sally commented incredulously.
"They won't eat anybody." Chiron assured her again, hiding his own worry that they just might. They shouldn't, they knew better. But then again... who knew what Tantalus had told them.
No, that was silly. Dionysus may not like his job, and he may not like the demigods, but he wasn't about to let any of them be eaten by camp staff. Not the least because then he would have to deal with that demigods' parent afterward.
(Five of them were... with dodo birds.)
While Annabeth's forehead met her palm, the rest of the Greeks burst out laughing. Percy chuckled a bit, but mostly watched Annabeth's reaction. The gods watched in amusement while the Romans shook their heads. Sally sighed and laughed a bit while Paul blinked and mouthed the description to himself.
"Heh, Percy. Never change." Thalia said, clapping him on the shoulder fondly.
"I love your descriptions." Leo informed him with a giant grin.
"I'm telling them about this!"
"No, you are not! I don't want them attacking you." Chiron cut in sharply, glaring at the one who said that before rolling his eyes. Honestly, these kids.
Percy shrugged. "It's the truth." The Seven glanced around at each other and decided not to mention Ella. They would get there in the books eventually.
(They weren't very... they caught you.)
"Understatement." Connor and Travis said at once, seriously. They'd been in the Infirmary tent for two weeks after that!
Luke sighed. "What did you two do?" He asked warily. He didn't remember them having an issue with the harpies, so whatever it was must have happened after he left.
"Uh..." The brothers glanced at each other. "Let's just say they can't take a joke and leave it at that." Percy rolled his eyes.
"You guys went a little far with that one." Annabeth said.
"A little?" Katie echoed with snort. "Try 'a lot'." Luke raised an eyebrow, but kept reading.
("Tyson!" I said... hanging open.)
There were some fond chuckles from the future Greeks at that while the younger group and the Romans glanced at Tyson in amazement.
They were still getting used to the thought of a friendly Cyclops.
("Tyson!"
"Uh?"
"Come on!"... carrying a Cyclops.)
"Of course I would have known." Poseidon shrugged.
("Giddyup!" I said... right behind.)
"They do know not to submerge, right?" Sally asked suddenly, glancing at Annabeth.
"They should." Triton shrugged. "Like I said, they are highly intelligent."
"They didn't go under, I was fine." Annabeth flashed Sally a smile. That didn't mean she'd appreciated zipping along at those speeds, of course. They'd been going fast enough that she was surprised she didn't have wind burn at the very least, especially since the water hitting her face actually hurt a bit.
(The harpies cursed... to come back,)
"No thank you." Percy muttered.
"Don't blame you, buddy." Chris said seriously.
(but the hippocampi... a dark smudge.)
"Wow, that's fast."
"Just how far away was this ship?"
"Far enough." Annabeth muttered.
(I wondered if I'd... the Sea of Monsters.)
"Or at least as far as we can safely stay on board without getting caught and almost killed." Percy muttered under his breath, shooting Luke a small glare. Luke shrugged with a small smirk until he remembered how Percy escaped, again.
"We went far in that one night, though." Annabeth reminded him. Percy shrugged. They went far enough, he supposed, but he almost wished they had gone further. If only so he didn't have to deal with the skeleton crew of the ship, or almost losing Tyson.
(Riding the... riding a Pegasus.)
"Don't tell Blackjack." Percy immediately said.
Luke smirked at the thought of the black horse. That thing's spirit was part of the reason he'd wanted him in the first place.
(We zipped along... how huge it was.)
"That's why we chose it." Luke muttered. The first ship had become too small too quickly, which had nothing to do with the ship's unfortunate fate, but still. They'd needed a bigger ship once that one met its demise.
"It was still cramped at times." Chris muttered to Clarisse, especially with the passengers and ship staff around. Clarisse just raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. They both knew his past, and they'd agreed that it had no bearing on their future. Or, rather, it wouldn't as soon as his probation was up.
(I felt as though... I had no idea.)
"We actually put that there." Luke muttered.
"Why...?" Percy asked, confused. Luke shrugged.
"Why not?" He asked, and went back to reading. The entire time since he started reading, he'd felt Zeus's glare on him, and he wanted to get this chapter done with so he could go back to playing 'least in sight'.
Nobody else had spoken during the rather boring and pointless (in their eyes) description of the ship.
(I remembered the... to a sea monster.)
"Harsh parenting."
"And I thought I had it bad."
"They aren't parents." Sally muttered darkly. No parent would ever do something like that to their child.
"They never spoke with her again after this, either." Perseus said darkly, remembering his in-laws with less then fondness.
(Maybe she'd gotten... or something.)
"Actually, her mother insulted my sisters." Amphitrite cut in, glaring at Poseidon. "Your father, of course, overreacted." Poseidon turned bright red but didn't say anything.
"Of course he did." Athena muttered darkly. Triton didn't even react to her glaring at his father.
"She was meant as a sacrifice to appease the sea creature Poseidon sent to destroy the kingdom for her mother's comments. They, of course, didn't even consider that such a thing wasn't likely to stop the creature who had his orders." Aphrodite explained further. She considered what happened to be one of the greatest love stories ever.
"That's just wrong." Percy muttered.
(Anyway, my namesake... head of Medusa.)
"I married her, she ruled by my side for many years." Perseus smiled fondly. It was only her insistence that he not destroy her parent's kingdom for what they tried to do to her.
"Such a cute couple, too." Aphrodite cooed happily, making Perseus' smile turn into a grimace as he remembered all the issues she'd caused.
(That Perseus always won.)
"Not always." Perseus corrected. "The losses just didn't quite make the history books."
"It kind of ruins the legend." Theseus said wisely with a small grin. Not that he really cared how big his legend was.
(That's why my... got a happy ending.)
"Which is just depressing." Piper commented.
"Tell me about it." The other demigods agreed.
(The others died... cursed by the gods.)
The demigods shifted uncomfortably at the reminder that the gods they fought for and served could turn on them so quickly and easily, that they had a history of doing so.
"And you wonder why some demigods would betray you." Luke scoffed. All demigods knew that the gods did not return the same loyalty they were shown.
Hestia sighed. "Please continue reading. We will discuss this more later." She said, not wanting them to get into it right now, especially not when Zeus was already liable to explode at any moment. Not now.
(My mom hoped I... wasn't real optimistic.)
"Well, I can still hope, can't I?" Sally grumbled a bit, hoping that things got better for her son.
"Of course, Sally." Paul kissed the top of her head.
("How do we... I told Annabeth.)
"You know, 'ladies first' is not always a good thing. You have no idea what's waiting for you up there." Aphrodite commented.
"I didn't consider it to be anything but a regular cruise ship." Percy shrugged.
(She slung her duffel... side of the ship.)
Luke paused and sighed. "Really?" He muttered. "How did nobody notice that?" He asked himself, shaking his head.
All the monsters on that ship, most of which had extremely enhanced hearing, and not one of them heard any of that. No wonder they kept losing.
"Too bad this isn't really the time." Rachel grimaced. "It sounds like he was having fun." Tyson nodded eagerly. It was fun.
("Tyson, shhh!" I... at him. "Rainbow?")
"What's wrong with Rainbow?" Tyson asked.
"Nothing." Percy shrugged. "I just wasn't expecting you to have named it." He grinned at Tyson.
"I like it. It's fitting." Annabeth declared with a teasing grin at Percy.
(The hippocampus whinnied... can't climb ladders.")
"He could probably jump up onto the deck though, no problem." Triton offered. "He would need a good swimming start, but..." He shrugged.
Poseidon nodded. "Hippocampi are excellent jumpers." He agreed.
Percy blinked. "Well, either way he still couldn't come with us." He rolled his eyes at their grins.
(Tyson sniffled. He... sworn was crying.)
Poseidon sighed. "I'm sure that you'll see him again soon." He shook his head. With how attached Rainbow had become to Tyson, he had no doubt that the Hippocampus was going to follow them.
"Rainbow is my friend." Tyson said firmly. He and Rainbow often went swimming together when he wasn't busy in the forges or (more recently) helping search for Percy. They'd explored all of Atlantis and much of the surrounding oceans together.
Poseidon smiled slightly, knowing that Rainbow was effectively Tyson's horse now, much like Blackjack would consider Percy to be his rider.
("Maybe we'll see... immediately. "Tomorrow!")
"That might have been difficult on the quest." Percy muttered.
"It's a good thing Rainbow followed us at any rate." Annabeth shrugged. It was also a good thing the Hippocampus had been able to keep up since their life raft traveled so fast.
(I didn't make any... in Ancient Greek.)
"Why not just stay there?" Persephone asked. "It may not be the most comfortable..."
"It's secluded, the only reason anybody might go there is in case of emergency, at which point none of the ship's crew are going to care that they have stowaways." Hades finished for her.
"There should also be rations in the boats, just in case rescue doesn't come quickly or if for some reason a mayday call can't be sent out." Amphitrite cut in. "If you stay there, you could ride unnoticed without starving." Not to mention whatever food supplies Hermes should have packed.
Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other, blinking. "I didn't even think of that." Annabeth said, turning slightly red. They had found the rations, unfortunately the Hydra destroyed most of it.
"Neither did I." Percy admitted. But it was good that they'd gotten the door open, anyway, because it turned into a good escape route for them.
(I figured we'd... to hide from.)
"Really? I know it's late, but a cruise ship never sleeps." Poseidon said, confused. Even if all the passengers were in bed, there would still be staff or ships security wandering around, either enjoying the quiet before they themselves went to bed or patrolling.
"It was creepy." Percy said immediately. Annabeth nodded in agreement. It was even creepier when they found the passengers the next morning.
(I mean, sure it... met no one.)
Simultaneously, both Luke and Chris face-palmed. "I told you to put the demigods on patrol, not the monsters." Chris muttered, only loud enough for the demigods to hear.
While the younger demigods looked between him and his younger self in horror, it was a good thing the council didn't hear him, because they already found his reaction to be suspicious enough.
"Yeah, yeah." Luke sighed under his breath before he kept reading, glaring at Percy's smirk.
(We passed forty... any of them.)
"Creepy." A few people said at once, shivering at the thought.
"Tell me about it." Percy muttered, fully agreeing.
("It's a ghost ship,"... bag. "Bad smell.")
Most of the gods sat up, suddenly remembering what was said earlier about Luke having a ship.
"That's not just a random cruise ship Hermes sent you three to, is it?" Poseidon asked, studying Luke.
"No it wasn't." Luke admitted uncomfortably and then started reading again.
(Annabeth frowned. "I don't smell anything.")
"You, my dear, are not a Cyclops." Poseidon pointed at her.
"Or a Satyr." Grover muttered. Annabeth turned red again.
"For future reference, in case you have not realized it yet." Theseus informed the younger demigods sarcastically, (if they hadn't then something was wrong with them). "If a Satyr or a Cyclops tells you something smells off, it usually means monsters."
"In which case, either run or get ready for a fight." Perseus shrugged, rolling his eyes at his cousin.
("Cyclopes are like... instead of one.)
"Huh. That's odd." Poseidon muttered, but didn't say anything else about the subject.
("Okay," Annabeth said... "That clears it up.")
"If I were to tell you the same thing, what would have been the first thing to come to mind?" Grover asked her.
During the entire conversation, Annabeth had been bright red. "Monsters." She muttered. "And I know, I was being stupid towards him. I didn't even consider... and Percy just told me he could smell monsters, too!"
"You do know it's not an exact science, right? We can smell that there are monsters, but we can't always tell what they are based on that alone." Grover raised an eyebrow at her. Annabeth sighed and nodded. Yes, she knew that, Grover had told her that before.
(We came outside... no sign of life.)
"Even though most of those 'attractions' would close at a certain time of the night, to give the staff a break, there should still be people wandering around." Paul murmured. He knew that this was Luke's ship, but even still, there should be guards or patrol, or something.
"First an abandoned water park, now an abandoned ship." Leo muttered with a shudder. Well, a seemingly abandoned ship, anyway. He was pretty sure it wasn't actually abandoned.
(And yet... I sensed something familiar.)
"That's not good." Somebody muttered.
"You haven't been in the presence of that many beings, and only a few monsters at this point." Athena said thoughtfully.
"And aside from us, there's only one being that would be truly dangerous for him." Hermes pointed out. "We already know this is Luke's ship, and we already know who Luke was serving." Which meant there was every chance Kronos was somehow on that ship.
"He is not making a return." Zeus glared at his son, Hermes just rolled his eyes.
(Something dangerous... what was wrong.)
Everybody was annoyed by that, but they couldn't really fault Percy for it, either.
They'd all done it at some point after all.
("We need a... safe to sleep.")
"You had that on the maintenance deck with the lifeboats." Hermes pointed out, concerned about the trio now that he knew this ship was likely crawling with monsters. Although, would the maintenance deck still be safe once the monsters caught their scent?
"Yeah, well, we weren't going back that way." Percy shrugged. Besides, it hadn't been hard to find an empty set of rooms.
("Sleep." Annabeth agreed... on the ninth level.)
Luke groaned and banged his head against the open book in his hands. "You have got to be joking." He muttered.
"What?" Percy asked, amused.
"My rooms were on the ninth level." He said dryly. "Which room number did you take?" He asked.
"Er-" Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other. "I didn't look at the room number." Percy admitted.
"Hmm, well, all the empty rooms were on the other side of the ship from me, so I suppose it doesn't matter." He muttered. They hadn't even bothered to look for where they might have stayed, mostly because nobody had been able to tell him when they'd come aboard.
(The door was... me as weird.)
"Whoever searched those rooms for stragglers must have forgotten to lock it." Chris muttered to Clarisse, who bit her lip in amusement at his put out expression.
(There was a basket... Enjoy your cruise!)
"Wait, there was still ice? You weren't sailing for very long, were you?" Annabeth realized. She hadn't even noticed that.
Luke shook his head. "No, we had only set sail late that morning." They'd snuck onboard and then took over the ship as soon as they were out of port, it helped that they could manipulate the Mist to ensure they weren't seen.
"That explains the passengers at least." Percy murmured to Annabeth, who nodded in agreement.
(We opened our... of golden drachmas.)
"Nice." Somebody said in appreciation.
"How much was there?" Connor asked, curious.
"About four hundred dollars and twenty-five Drachma for each of us." Annabeth shrugged.
"Thank you." Chiron told his nephew, pleased that he was at least looking out for the demigods he was sending out. He certainly provided them with more money then the Camp did, Camp only sent them off with about ten Drachma and a hundred dollars. Hermes shrugged.
Percy was just glad he'd put the Drachma in his pocket, if only he'd thought to put the mortal money in his wallet, too. But then again, the water would have ruined it, anyway. He was pretty sure he'd seen Annabeth do the same. And, of course, whatever funds they had left over afterwards were theirs to keep.
(He'd even managed... feel a lot better.)
"I'd say that was sneaky of you, but they were both asleep, so..." Apollo teased lightly, earning a pillow to the head.
"Not with me right here!" Artemis protested, yanking an answering pillow out of Hermes hands. She didn't want to get caught in the middle of these two in a pillow war. She was kind of sitting in between them right now.
("I'll be next door,"... or eat anything.")
"The food was safe." Luke cut in, shrugging. "It was easier to just enchant everybody with the Mist over the intercom system." He quickly kept reading before anybody could do more then glare at him.
It would have been too much effort to mess with the food supply, and then he would have had to take the effort to make sure none of his minions, who were clearly incompetent about detecting intruders, didn't accidentally serve him the tainted food.
("You think this...
We locked our doors.)
"Good." Most of the courtyard nodded in approval.
Luke rolled his eyes, not like a lock would have been much good had he discovered them there. It would have been simple to cut or break the door down for any demigod, much less the monsters on the ship with them. Even the ships crew could have done that much... they had to be able to in case of emergency.
(Tyson crashed on... like whispering.)
Luke's face met the pages again as he groaned. "Of course the patrols choose now to be doing their jobs, after they're already out of sight." He muttered.
Chris bit his lip. "It might not have been a patrol." He said quietly. "It might have been... him."
Luke chose not to look at him and instead pursed his lips. "True." He said slowly. "He did like to whisper in dreams, and with Percy falling asleep, it would mean letting his guard down slightly." He muttered, shaking his head.
(I knew that couldn't... as they drifted past.)
"Yeah, that was him." Luke said immediately, recognizing the description. He'd found it rather creepy, of course, not that he told his master that.
(Finally my weariness... worst dream yet.)
"It has since been outdone." Percy informed the room cheerfully. "Many times over." In fact, calling this one the worst might have been overstating it slightly.
"Not surprising." The other Big 3 demigods all said at once.
The rest were still disquieted by their casualness over having horrible dreams.
(I was standing... an enormous pit.)
Percy and Annabeth stiffened minutely at the sudden reference, but didn't move or make a noise otherwise. They were working on it, with all the surprise mentions of That Place, they had no choice. They couldn't just keep leaving the reading area every time it came up, after all.
"Oh, not this guy again." Connor murmured, sure that this wasn't going to be good.
(I knew the place... another great victory.)
"He is vastly underestimating you." Athena commented.
"Or overestimating his minions." Ares sneered at Luke, who scowled.
"That's dangerous. For him, anyway." Poseidon shrugged. You should never underestimate a child of Poseidon. They tended to find ways to surprise you.
(I wanted to shout... into eternal darkness?)
"If he'd truly been destroyed, then he would not be bothering you now." Persephone said warily. He'd caused a lot of problems over the years, in the Underworld especially.
"I wish he'd truly been destroyed." Hades muttered.
(Don't let me... his appreciation lately?)
"He sent me Tyson." Percy tilted his head to the side. "He sent the Hippocampi. He sent the head back so mom could take care of Gabe." He shrugged.
Poseidon smiled slightly, but didn't say anything.
(His laughter filled... in the Cyclops's lair.)
Grover blinked. "This wasn't me." He said. "At least, I don't think it is." He frowned. He didn't try to use the link that day that he knew of, but Percy was unpredictable and tended to surprise people, so he might have accidentally used it.
"I wouldn't worry about it." Hermes informed him. "It's a good thing he can see what's happening.
(Grover was sitting... unfinished bridal train.)
"That's a good way to buy time, but you have to be careful that he doesn't catch you." Amphitrite warned.
"Or get too impatient." Triton added. "He's not known for it." Then again, not many monsters were known for their patience, especially the older ones.
Grover sighed. "Yeah... I know." He muttered. Thankfully, Polyphemus had assumed he was just a bad weaver, and he was not stupid enough to correct that assumption.
("Honeypie!" the monster... threads back together.)
There was some scattered laughter at that, but most of the readers were tense and worried. Grover was so pale that Apollo was eyeing him in concern.
The younger Satyr looked like that every time Percy dreamed about his older self.
(The room shook... vertically challenged.)
"Seriously?" A few people were looking Tyson up and down in surprise. Tyson was pretty tall, after all.
"You forget, Tyson is still rather young." Poseidon reminded the group. "Not to mention Polyphemus is centuries old." He didn't mention that the older Cyclops could actually 'change' their height as they pleased, much like the gods could.
(He had jagged... my whole body.)
"Oh my." Sally murmured faintly at hearing that.
"That's big." The future Greeks said in amazement. They'd fought this guy?
(He wore a faded... pretty darn close.)
"What happened to him?" Gwen asked in surprise, blinking. Unless that was just from old age.
"It'll probably come up in the book." Annabeth said with a small smile on her face. In fact, she was pretty sure she'd shared the story with Percy. Percy smirked while the other Greeks (who already knew the story) were now interested in just what they did this time.
("What are you... found the loom.)
"He can't even see tha much?" Reyna wondered. How much of a threat was he truly if he couldn't even see something that close up?
"Well, his eyesight is rather bad, and the bridal train is rather small compared to him." Poseidon shrugged.
(He pawed at... gotten any longer!")
"Uh-oh." Everybody was on the edge of their seats, tense, as they waited to hear how Grover got himself out of this one, if he even did.
("Oh, um, yes... at least an inch.")
"After removing three." Grover supplied to everybodies amusement. The tension hardly abated.
"Be careful with that." Poseidon warned. "He may not know his math, but he isn't stupid."
("Too many delays!"... good! Like goats!")
The amusement disappeared in an instant.
"Uh-oh."
"Not good."
"Better come up with something fast!"
("Oh." Grover... Eau de Chévre.)
Piper snickered, dispersing the tension. "Seriously?" She asked. "'Goat water'?" She translated for those that didn't speak French.
Even Hazel and Frank had gotten that one, and their dialects were decidedly different.
Grover shrugged. "It worked."
(I wore it just... you're such a flirt!")
"I don't think he was trying to flirt." Piper deadpanned.
"Oh, I know he wasn't." Grover said uncomfortably. "I was trying to get his mind off of where it just went, which was his stomach."
"You are doing a remarkable job of staying alive right now."
("No more delays!")
"Oh, boy. He's getting impatient."
"Careful."
"We were getting there as fast as we could." Percy bit his lip, well aware of how close they'd come to being too late for Grover.
("But dear, I'm not... If you insist.")
"It's a good thing he doesn't seem to know his numbers." Annabeth muttered. She hadn't known the contents of these dreams, Percy had just told her whether or not they were running out of time or not.
"Tell me about it." Grover agreed under his breath.
("Seven! That is less than five, right?")
"It's a good thing he's so stupid." Amphitrite deadpanned while Poseidon groaned and facepalmed. She hadn't heard Annabeth, so didn't know she was almost echoing the girl.
Luke was blinking at the words on the page, unable to believe he'd just read that. "Oh, boy." He muttered.
"Well, he is currently under the belief that somebody as short as Grover is a lady Cyclops." Percy shrugged, glancing at the height difference between Grover and Tyson, knowing that Polyphemus was so much taller yet.
("Certainly. Oh yes."... "Please, please, please!")
"I was going as fast as I could." Percy said again. "Florida isn't exactly a run down the street." He muttered.
"I know." Grover smiled slightly. "I didn't even know you were dreaming this, so..." He shrugged. He was also getting really desperate.
(I woke to a ship's... sounded way too happy.)
"I hate that!"
"Especially so early in the morning." The demigods grumbled.
Sally snickered, knowing that the only reason she'd been able to get them up in the mornings on days they were reading was with cookies.
("Good morning, passengers!... at one o'clock,)
"A million dollars for bingo? I'll play that game." Travis and Connor immediately claimed.
"If there was ever a way to cheat at bingo, you two would find a way." Chris snorted.
"Like you wouldn't?" Connor asked his brother, giving him a dry look. Chris shrugged.
(and for our... on the Promenade!")
"Did he just say disemboweling practice?" Katie asked, disturbed. Just what was Luke doing on that ship of his?
"Yes. Yes he did." Percy muttered, frowning. It still bothered him, watching that demigod destroying the dummy dressed as a fellow demigod.
"'Special guests' sounded emphasized, could he be talking about the Titan's army?" Rachel asked.
"Yes." Luke said shortly before he kept reading.
(I sat up in bed. "What did he say?")
Percy shrugged. "I thought I misheard, I was still half-asleep after all."
"I thought the same thing." Annabeth agreed. That was why she'd hurried to the other room so quickly.
(Tyson groaned, still... bowling practice?")
"Unfortunately not."
"I wish that's what he said." Percy muttered, still thinking about that demigod on the Promenade. That sight still haunted him, just like not knowing if any of the demigods made it off the ship or not before he blew it up.
(I hoped he was... to see other people.)
"Really?" Somebody asked, concerned. "Civilians, or..."
"Yeah." Percy said, pursing his lips and grimacing.
"This can't be good."
Luke scowled, not a single mortal civilian was harmed on his ship!
(A dozen senior... hats to the passengers.)
"Where were they the night before?"
"Those that weren't on the night shift on the bridge were locked in their rooms." Luke shrugged. They'd needed somebody who knew how to work the controls, with a group of demigods assigned to learning for themselves, of course.
(Nobody asked who... swim in the pool.")
"Creepy."
"What did you do to those people?" Somebody shot at Luke.
He grimaced. "They were just under a Mist spell, nothing that could hurt them." He said uncomfortably.
"What happened to them?" Rachel asked. "I never heard anything about a ship-full of passengers going missing, so- but..." She trailed off.
"When we reached Florida, they were let off and the enchantments lifted." Luke shrugged. They hadn't been worth the time to deal with any other way, especially not when the mortal authorities would have definitely noticed so many people going missing from one cruise ship, and it would have been too much work to keep the ship off their radar.
And this was before he stopped caring about little things like their lives.
(They wandered off... He drifted away.)
"That is so freaky."
"It's like he recognized you two as not belonging, and just had to reassure you of something, but it's programmed." Piper shuddered. "It's like a Charm speak trance." She glanced at her mother, who pursed her lips in thought. Piper only remembered hearing about Silena, though, joining the Titan army.
Luke frowned. "I only had one child of Aphrodite in my ranks, and she didn't join until after all this." He shrugged, held up the book slightly, and ignored Aphrodite's head whipping around to face him in horror. "All this is just the Mist." He had plenty of children of Hecate on the ship, after all.
"You don't need a child of Aphrodite to entrance somebody when you have a group of Hecate's children." Chris said quietly.
("Percy, this is... Annabeth whispered.)
"It's a bit more then 'weird'." Connor deadpanned.
"This is outright creepy." Travis agreed with a shudder.
"Those poor people." Sally murmured.
("They're all in... our first monster.)
"Uh-oh."
"Does this mean you've been spotted?"
"Run!"
Percy sighed. "Can we keep reading, and you'll find out what happened." He suggested.
(It was a hellhound-)
Mrs. O'Leary raised her head from her paws and whined at the mention of her kin. She hoped that the other one didn't hurt her human, or that her human didn't hurt the other one, but she knew that Percy would defend himself. And if he attacked her human, well... he deserved everything he had coming.
Percy reached over and patted her nose while the others stiffened or cursed softly.
(a black mastiff with... the scrambled eggs.)
There was a pause for a moment as everybody processed the statement.
"You know, if seeing that hadn't been so terrifying, that would have been hilarious." Percy said, tilting his head.
Annabeth snorted. "It was certainly unexpected." She muttered.
"Why was it eating the scrambled eggs?" Katie deadpanned.
"Monsters have to eat, too." Luke shrugged. It was either the eggs, or the other demigods, personally, he was glad it was the eggs.
(It must've been... a grizzly bear.)
"That's considered small?" Paul asked, blinking. That sounded pretty big to him.
Percy raised an eyebrow. "Mrs. O'Leary is considered average-sized." He said, pointing behind him at the dog in question, who barked happily at being mentioned. Paul swallowed, remembering how she destroyed his living room.
(Still, my blood... one of those before.)
Mrs. O'Leary whined again and almost knocked Percy over when she nudged him. Her paw snapped out and dragged him towards her with one claw snagged in his shirt.
"Ah! Mrs. O'Leary!" He yelped in surprise, flailing slightly. She tucked him against her side and didn't let him move away.
Annabeth grinned. "I don't think she likes hearing that." She observed. Percy glared at her, but there was no heat behind it.
(The weird thing... turn for the eggs.)
"That's a strong enchantment." Piper muttered. She wasn't convinced it wasn't Charmspeak, no matter that Luke said he didn't have any children of Aphrodite on the ship.
"I wonder what they saw." Rachel muttered.
"Who knows if they even saw anything." Katie supplied.
(They didn't seem... Tyson murmured.)
"I don't think I would be either." Most of the crowd agreed with Tyson.
"Bad dog ate all the eggs." Tyson said again with a scowl. He'd been really hungry before that, by the way.
(Before Annabeth or... more joined yesssterday.")
"Yesterday was when they were sailing past camp." Chiron said slowly in horror, closing his eyes.
"They joined because of Tantalus. Because of how he was foisted on them and how he was treating them." Luke said quietly.
The gods looked at each other while Zeus's gaze flickered with a hint of regret before resuming his usual stoic expression.
(Annabeth gestured... the women's room-)
That got some laughs.
"I still don't see what the big deal was, it was the closest place to hide. And it's not like there was anybody in there." Annabeth shrugged. Percy hadn't really said anything at the time, but she'd seen the look on his face when they were gone and he'd realized where they were.
(and all three of... against the carpet.)
The future Greeks and the gods frowned at the description.
Unfortunately there were several monsters that could be.
("Yesss," a second... will be ssstrong.")
"Dracaena." Most of the futures said grimly, some shuddering. Luke did a much better job of mimicking how they spoke the second time around.
Before the war they could safely say that they'd only read about or seen pictures of these monsters. Now they could identify them based on how they spoke.
The younger group looked at them, uncertainty written all over their faces.
(The things slithered... get out of here.")
"Are you just realizing that?"
"I would have said that as soon as I saw the Hellhound." Connor and Travis said.
Annabeth shrugged. "The Dracaena showed up before I could."
("You think I... girls' restroom?")
"Better then being out there and found." Percy said quickly from his spot by Mrs. O'Leary.
"Hm-mm." Annabeth hummed with a smirk.
("I mean the ship... restroom and ship.")
The way he worded that got some laughter.
"I love how you word things sometimes." Thalia grinned over at him with a laugh. He was so refreshingly simple sometimes.
Tyson shrugged. "We needed to leave both."
(I shuddered. If... I'd better listen.)
"Why is that agreement between 'enemies' are always the one thing that makes some people listen?" Clarisse pondered. She'd seen it happen all the time.
"I wouldn't say we were enemies." Annabeth protested.
"Yeah, but you didn't exactly like him, either." Clarisse shrugged.
Sally chuckled. "Because people who don't like each other hate agreeing with each other the most. Therefore for them to actually be agreeing..." She trailed off with a shrug. Clarisse hummed in thought.
(Then I heard another... push me, Agrius!")
"What?" Aphrodite and Artemis both said at once. Apollo and Hermes glanced at each other, knowing this wasn't going to end well.
"And in this corner we have yet another screw up by two goddesses taking their anger on each other out on a poor innocent woman." Percy said, trying to mimic an announcer and holding up a fake microphone.
"Another screw up that we have to deal with instead of them owning up to their mistakes, you mean." Luke corrected under his breath.
(It was Luke... forget his voice.)
"Kind of hard to when the last time you heard it was when you were dying." Percy muttered with a shudder.
Luke winced. "Sorry about that." He muttered.
Hermes slumped back at the further confirmation that this was Luke's ship, and not just some other random ship that was taken over by monsters.
("I'm not pushing... take the bait.)
"Wait, what?"
"What bait?" Those who didn't know were confused.
None of the futures would say, though. "It's in the book if you can't figure it out on your own." Percy said stubbornly when they tried to demand answers. He could tell that a few had already figured it out, but most were confused.
The loudest was Athena.
"If you would let him finish reading!" Annabeth finally had enough and glared at her mother. "The sooner we keep reading, the sooner you will get your answers, or you can try to figure it out yourself.
(Now, come, we've... on the casket.")
"I'm sorry, casket?" Hades asked, confused and worried.
"Why do you have a casket?" Persephone asked, concerned. There was only one thing they could think of that could explain why they were sailing around with a casket, especially with what the Dracaena said about growing strong.
"... With every hero who joined us, he grew stronger." He supplied, glancing at the Lord and Lady of the Underworld.
"That's not good." Hades summed up quietly, staring at the traitor like he'd never seen the boy before. He was messing around with dangerous magics, in fact, there could only be one outcome of using this particular method.
"What? What's wrong?" Poseidon demanded, confused by how worried the two were just from the mention of a casket.
"I'm sure it will come up later in the books." Hades reluctantly said. There were many secrets of the Underworld that he would prefer others not know, this was one of them.
(Their voices receded... "Leave now?")
"You can't." Chiron sighed. "This is too perfect an opportunity to learn what Luke is doing. That being said," he pierced them with a stern glare, "you three will be careful and keep your eyes open, especially on a ship full of monsters who can all smell you."
"Yes, sir." Percy and Annabeth said, straightening in their seats at the look. Honestly, though, if it weren't for that bear guy, they would have been fine. (Annabeth still claimed that if Percy had listened to her the first time she said to leave, they might have made it off without a fight.)
(Annabeth and I exchanged... to Mount Olympus.")
"Good plan." Clarisse complimented. "Too bad you didn't have time for that... or that it clearly didn't work out that way." She shrugged. They had to get to the Sea of Monsters to help her get the Fleece, they didn't have time to go back to Olympus, deal with the Council, and then possibly get sent back to camp where they would then have to try and sneak out again before playing 'catch-up' with her. That being said, if Tyson hadn't been there, she wouldn't have even survived the entrance to the Sea of Monsters.
Annabeth sighed. "I know. But we got more information about what he was up to, so..." She shrugged.
"That's the chapter." Luke said, setting the book down gingerly.
"Really?" Percy questioned. "That was short. It didn't even get to the good stuff!" He complained. Chris sighed in relief. Maybe they didn't come across him after all...
"Last chapter, then we will stop for dinner." Hestia decided.
Katie retrieved the book before anybody else could say anything, and Annabeth decided not to make Chris read the next one, best they not be focused on him when his own betrayal was revealed. They'd already known about Luke, so it wasn't as much of a concern.
Chapter nine: I have the Worst Family Reunion Ever