Chapter 3: The Song of Death

Oliver stared back at me, "You ok, Rosa? Your dad didn't tell you that your mom was a Greek Goddess?"

I stared blankly at him. Greek Gods too? No way, this has to be a prank.

"Dad said that I was a descendant of Hatshepsut, and he was an Egyptian Magician."

Oliver looked back at the road as the light turned green. He tensed, then mumbled, "This isn't good. This isn't good at all…"

I tapped his shoulder, "What?"

He continued with his weird mutterings. I leaned back in my seat and Casey grabbed my hand, "Are you ok?"

I laughed, "I am a descendant of a long dead Egyptian pharaoh, my mother is supposedly a Greek Goddess, who's also supposed to be dead. Oliver is muttering weird things while taking us to Long Island, and we got attacked by our teacher/demon. But yeah I'm fine."

Casey managed a grin, "No matter what you are , I'm with you."

I blushed, "What did your mom tell you?"

Casey let go of my hand and sighed, "She said my father was a Greek God. She wanted to explain who, but Oliver convinced her, even though he didn't know, that I have to find out through claiming, whatever that was. We sat in silence for 3 minutes, but I didn't get claimed. So we came back into the living room."

I processed this, then said, "So our world is overrun with mythical gods that are supposed to be dead."

Casey laughed, "You could put it that way."

Just then Oliver pulled up to a pier at what looks like Miami Beach. All three of us got out. I looked around, "Oliver, why are we here?"

He turned to me, "Well, driving to New York will take too long and is super dangerous. So we're going to ride a boat."

"How is it more dangerous than sharks and crashing into rocks?"

Oliver smiled, "You don't wanna know. Let's rent a boat."

Oliver walked towards the stand as I looked around for Casey. I saw him down by the dock, his feet playing in the water. I sat down next to him, "Remember how this day couldn't get any weirder? Oliver plans to take a boat all the way to Long Island."

Casey's eyes widened, "Seriously? That will take forever."

"Exactly."

We sat there in silence. About 10 minutes later, Oliver came by with the keys to a boat. He showed us a boat with two decks: one is the main deck, and the other is where the wheel was, which was sitting above a lounge and kitchen area. We stepped onto the boat.

As soon as we started moving, Casey sat up straight and looked less pale than before. His eyes glowed like the ocean being hit just right by the sun. He looked stronger, less tired.

He then got a puzzled look on his face, "Oliver, if we're in Miami, which we are, wouldn't that mean we are in The Bermuda Triangle?"

Oliver said, "We call it the Sea of Monsters. And yes, we are. But unless I get lost, nothing should happen to us."

That wasn't comforting. This was the place barely anyone returns from. Who knows what could happen, and it's not like me and Casey could do anything.

Me and Casey went below deck and sat down. I pulled the wand Dad gave me out of my backpack. I stared at it, and wished it could be something I could actually use. All of a sudden, it morphed into a bronze dagger. On the hilt, there was a dove symbol. Now what was that supposed to mean?

I looked at Casey, wondering if he had noticed, but he looked like he was trying to sleep, so I said nothing.

I stared at the dagger for a while, hoping I would get a sign from my mother.

Just then the boat almost tipped. The dagger fell out of my hand and I was thrown to the other side of the boat, to where Casey just so happened to be sitting.

The boat continued to shake. It threw me and Casey across the room so many times.

After about 5 minutes, the boat stopped. Me and Casey were bruised all over, but I grabbed my dagger and we managed to run upstairs to the deck. Oliver was sprawled all over his seat.

"Are you ok? What happened?" I yelled over the sound of the waves as me and Casey ran to help him.

"I'm fine, but there is a sea monster. We're gonna have to go farther into the Sea of Monsters." He said, his voice full of anxiety.

Me and Casey said nothing for the next few minutes.

Finally, Casey said, "I'll drive. I have a feeling I'd be good at this…" He trailed off. I nodded and took Oliver downstairs..

I looked back at Oliver, "Any cuts or something?"

He shook his head, then brought out what looked like tiny cubes of cheese. "Here. It's ambrosia. It'll make you feel stronger and it will heal you pretty well."

I smiled, "Why don't we just use this stuff all the time?"

Oliver managed a smile, "Too much ambrosia can make a demigod feel very sick. An overdose could literally burn you to a crisp."

The smile melted off my face, "Nevermind." I plopped the piece of ambrosia in my mouth.

It tasted like Dad's homemade brownies. Warm and chocolate-y. I felt a surge of energy rush through my body, and I could feel the bruises on my back slowly healing. "Wow."

Oliver nodded and plopped one in his mouth. He went upstairs, supposedly to give one to Casey.

I stared at the ocean. After a while, I saw a misty, dark island. I stared at it, trying to get a better look.

I heard singing. Beautiful voices like birds in the woods. I walked towards the edge of the boat.

Now the island looked like a tropical paradise. I could see my dad sitting on the beach. I saw Casey sitting there, too. Only later did I wonder how he got over there.

I could barely hear the screaming of my friends. I knew I should have listened to them, but I didn't. I had an urge to jump straight into the ocean, and swim to the island.

So I did exactly that.

By now, I could only hear the singing. I swam straight for the island, only wanting to be with Casey and Dad.

Something grabbed me. I started kicking and screaming, wanting whatever it was to let me go.

I heard a different kind of music. More nature-y I guess. I started to feel sleepy. I managed to say "What-" before passing out.

I woke up to the sound of the waves. Casey was sitting next to me. When he saw me, he said, "Hey. How are you feeling?"

"I don't know." I said. "What happened?"

Casey smiled, "Well, we passed by the land of the Sirens. Oliver had given me some ear plugs, but not you. So you jumped overboard, and I had to jump in after you."

That's when I noticed his black eye, "Oh gods… Did I do that?" I pointed at his eye.

He nodded, "It's not your fault. The Sirens' song had enchanted you."

I continued to stare at his eye, "How did you get me out? "

He scratched the back of his head, "I don't know. When I grabbed you, you were kicking and screaming a lot. The waves seemed to calm down as I tried to swim over to the boat with you. Finally, I got close enough, and Oliver played a satyr song, which put you to sleep. Then I reached the boat and we got you out. Apparently, that satyr song was strong. All of that was 8 hours ago. We're off the coast of New Jersey at the moment."

"How? We couldn't have gotten that far in 8 hours."

Casey shrugged, "I just had perfect bearings. I knew our latitude and longitude. And when I told Oliver, "I wish this boat would go faster," it did."

I thought for a moment, "Could this have anything to do with who your godly parent might be?"

Casey's eyes shimmered with worry, as if his guess wasn't good, "Oliver told me that another satyr friend of his, Grover, had a friend who could do the same things. His name was Percy Jackson, and he was very popular, among Greeks and stuff of course. He was also a son of Poseidon. The thing with Percy is that Poseidon had broken an oath by siring a son. Percy did end up saving the world twice, and the gods had taken down the oath, but Percy had suffered a lot while helping the gods: betrayal, loss, pain, etc."

He took a deep breath and sighed, "Even after the time Percy had the gods take down their oath, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, the Big Three who were the gods forced to make the oath, still haven't had any kids. Oliver and some other people think the Big Three still believed their kids were dangerous, and normally had horrible futures, so they just chose not to be among mortals and have kids with them."

I processed all of that. Then it dawned on me, "Oliver thinks you're a son of Poseidon."

Casey nodded, "Yeah. He does."

I gasped. Above Casey's head was a glowing green light. A hologram of a trident glowed, almost blinding me.

Casey stared at the trident in shock. His eyes shone with worry and amazement, as if he couldn't believe Oliver was right.

Speaking of Oliver, he ran in, "What the hell are you guys…?" He stuttered to a stop as he noticed the trident above Casey's head,, "Oh my gods."

I managed to say, "You're a son of Poseidon."

Casey looked down at me, his eyes wide, "I guess I am…"

Oliver looked past Casey and out the window. His eyes widened, "Come on!" He ran upstairs and we followed him.

We saw land ahead, "What is it Oliver?" Casey said.

Oliver grinned, "Casey, Rosaleen, Welcome To Camp Half-Blood."