In which our girls make plans- and Annabeth and Piper know what they like gods damn it!
Replies:
Undeath9087: Who says I'm planning anything? So suspicious.
Rage2091: Percy and Sadie competing would cause so much damage! Carter would just be there like 'Come on guys stop it!' And the twins would cheer them on.
ant-death: As much as I love Paul he won't have a role in this fic- after all Sally is already married and still in a fairly happy long distance relationship with Julius and Ruby.
Guest: I know right?
Spacesnoopy: They're going to have everyone wrapped around their little fingers. And yes, Percy is indeed rare and powerful. And yet still capable of being a dumbass and getting hurt.
Noir nyan: Hopefully I can soon- I just need to try and get some more writing done and start settling back into the routine. It's just hard. And you shall have to wait and see :).
The goodbyes were never easy. Percy was all too used to that. Understandably so, but at least it was a better send off than she and Piper had gotten last time, with Sadie and Carter making it clear that if she needed them all she'd have to do was send a message. And when Percy had pointed out that her phone might not work Carter had, at Zia's suggestion, traced the eye of Horus onto the palm of Percy's hand.
A simple activation word and Carter and Sadie would A; know that something was wrong, and B; know exactly where Percy was.
And Percy knew her siblings would find their way to her no matter what- they were stubborn enough that they'd undoubtedly pull it off.
And after breakfast the three girls and Sally headed down to New York Harbor- and Sally quickly located the boat she was purchasing for them- though the man she was buying it from wasn't aware that it was the three teenagers who would be using it.
And while Sally dealt with paperwork Percy dragged Piper and Annabeth into the living area of their new boat. The boat itself was around 40 ft long, a good size, and inside it had a little kitchen area with a seating area around a wooden table just across from it.
There was a little bathroom with a shower, towards the front of the boat, the only part that wasn't open plan.
The bedroom area- if it could be called that, was towards the back of the boat- a large area, with a built in mattress. It was raised somewhat- with large drawers built in beneath the bed. And it was big enough that all three of them would be able to sleep there at once. Not that they would all be sleeping at the same time- as was usual with adventures of this nature they'd take it in shifts.
Soon enough Sally was coming down the steps into the cabin, a tired smile flitting across her lips. "Everything's all arranged girls. Paperwork's signed and sorted, the boat is all yours-" she looked around, nodding, "This is nice. I'd feel a lot better about all this if you three weren't using it to sail into danger."
"Ah but mom-" Percy gave a wry smile, "You know how our lives work." she shoved her hands into the pockets of her shorts as she got up from where she'd been sitting on the bed, hopping down off it and making her way to their mom. "Thank you for this."
"Hm." Sally pressed her lips to Percy's cheek, "Doesn't mean I have to pretend to be happy about it." her voice was fond as she brushed Percy's hair behind her ear. "Have you girls got everything you'll need."
"We will in like, five secs." Percy shoved her hand to the side, into the Duat.
When she pulled it back she had a large duffel bag in it- "We have our first bag here, second bag kept safe in the Duat. We have the maps in the bag, and all our supplies."
"Oh honey..." Sally let out a breath, tugging Percy into a hug, "Just be careful. And keep in contact as much as you can. Call Carter and Sadie for help if you get in trouble okay-" her gaze shifted to Piper and Annabeth, "And you two as well. Look after yourselves girls. And maybe when this is over you girls will take me out on this boat- and the others."
"It'll be great," Percy nodded, taking a small step back, freeing herself from her mom's grip.
And she followed her mom up and out onto the deck of the ship, watching as Sally leapt onto the solid wood of the dock.
Percy watched her go before she headed back inside, heading to the control panel- which was towards the front of the boat, up two steps, and she she slipped into the seat up the front, looking through the wide bright glass windows as she laid her hands onto the control panel- and she felt the engine purring to life without so much as a press of a button.
And Percy blinked slowly- huh. She took a small step back from the controls- but that didn't change anything. The boat felt almost alive. Like it was responding automatically to her.
She blinked before grinning, unable to help herself.
"You know what. That'll work nicely." she muttered to herself.
And within ten minutes they were pulling away from the dock- and Percy waved to her mother as they pulled away.
And then Sally was out of sight- and Percy took a deep breath, tilting her head back slightly a smile playing across her lips as she let herself savor the feeling.
She could feel the water all around her- the sea.
She smiled to herself before murmuring softly under her breath- it was a simple spell- she was pretty sure that she could control the boat just by being on it-but the spell would ensure that the boat took them where she wanted to go.
Once Percy was sure it was working the daughter of Poseidon moved into the main cabin, grinning at Piper and Annabeth, who had opened up the bad and pulled the map out, laying it on the table.
"Hey." Annabeth didn't look up, she had a pen out and she was carefully drawing a triangle onto the map. "Piper and I figured we should get a rough idea of where exactly we are and where we're going now that we're here."
"That's easy." Percy slid onto her seat- next to Piper, and she leaned over so that she could look. "Okay so that's the triangle- the Sea. Okay." she pointed to a spot on the map, not far from the habor, "Right now we're here." she informed them, "I think mom said this boat can go a max of twenty five knots. With my powers I think I could safely increase it to thirty without risking tiring myself out." she told them seriously. "I don't want to risk pushing it too much. It could damage the boat and if I'm tired-"
"We definitely don't want that." Annabeth spoke up, a serious look on her face, "You're the most experienced."
"We all have our weapons right?" Piper's brows furrowed very slightly, "In case we do run into any trouble."
"Of course." Annabeth drew her dagger out from her thigh holster, and Piper held up her hand, her own dagger appearing in it like magic- mainly because it literally was magic.
"Good." Percy tapped the map, tracing her finger along the preferred route. "We should be clear until we reach the Sea of Monsters." she tapped the map at the closest point of the triangle, "Which should take-" she paused, staring at the map and considering before, "Just under two days. As long as we make good time."
"We know nothing once we're in the sea right?" Piper's brows furrowed, "There isn't exactly a map of the Sea of Monsters."
"Correct." Annabeth glared at the map unhappily, "We have an idea of the stuff we might run into. But we have no map- no way of knowing what we'll run into where. And we don't even know how we're going to get into the Sea of Monsters."
"It's magical." Percy pointed out, "So- is it safe to assume that no matter where we breech-" she dragged her finger along the lines of the triangle, "We're going to find ourselves in one of the two possible entrances."
"That seems likely." Annabeth sighed, "Neither of which are likely to be good for us."
"Okay so the two entrances- there's Scylla and Charybdis right?" Piper asked slowly, "I remember that from Percy reading to us."
"Yes, and there's the entrance that Jason and the Argo used." Annabeth added, "The Sympleglades. I don't know which one I'd prefer truthfully."
"The Sympleglades-" Piper thought for a moment before, "Isn't that the two rocks that clash together when something goes through them?"
"Yes." Annabeth nodded, "We can probably move fast enough I'm just not sure-"
"We should be able to." Percy laid her hands flat on the table, "I can use my powers to speed up the boat if that's the entrance we come to. No Scylla and Charybdis are likely to be more of a problem so we should focus on planning for them."
"Of course." Piper nodded, "That makes sense. So- Charybdis is like- the whirlpool one right."
"She sucks in large amounts of water and then releases it." Annabeth confirmed "In a huge blast- it would destroy this boat easily. Percy do you think you'd be able to counter her."
"Possibly but I wouldn't count on it." Percy furrowed her brows as she considered the situation for several long seconds. "She's a child of Poseidon too- and probably very powerful. I wouldn't want to risk getting sucked in because if we're in, we're probably not getting out."
"Well then there's Scylla." Annabeth pointed out, "A monster with multiple heads and very long necks. The heads come down and eat any crew- I'm not sure what she'd do if we're below deck. She could tear the ship apart."
"A physical assault, I think we can maybe deal with that more safely." Percy's fingers traced symbols into the paper- though she was careful not to complete them, "I can create a shield- a strong one. And- while she's trying to get past it I should be able to put her to sleep, with enough focus."
"I might be able to help with my charmspeak." Piper offered, "I don't know how much good it would do but between the two of us we should be able to fend her off."
"What about me?" Annabeth asked almost hesitantly.
"You will focus on the controls." Percy decided, "As long as we're careful we should be fine but if we get knocked towards Charybdis even a little bit I want you ready to turn us away from it- we do not want to get sucked into the current while we're dealing with Scylla."
"Okay." Annabeth nodded, "Okay, we actually have a good plan." she leaned back, "After that-"
"We know the potential threats," Percy sighed, "And we know that there's not much we can do until we're there. So I'd say we should try not to worry too much about it for now." She leaned back, "We have almost two days until we have to worry about that."
"Two days." Piper whistled lowly, "I've said it before, I'll say it again, it feels so weird that we're just sat around waiting for shit to hit the fan."
"Yep." Percy laughed, "You learn to make the most of the calm moments though-"
"I know how I'd like to make the most of it." Annabeth gave her best innocent look- which made Percy raise and eyebrow.
"Okay, what are you up to."
A moment later Annabeth had a book out on the table, and an innocent look on her face as Piper laughed brightly. "Okay, okay credit where it's due." the daughter of Aphrodite shook her head, "That isn't a bad idea-"
"You guys-" Percy felt her face flushing, "You know I'm gonna lose my voice one of these days, you guys like me reading to you far too much." despite her protests Percy let Annabeth slide the book across the table to her- and her lips twitched.
"I know it's out of order- and I've read it before but-" Annabeth gave a small shrug, a smile playing across her lips, "It was so great listening to you reading the Odyssey. You can't blame me for wanting to hear you reading the Iliad."
"Sounds like fun to me." Piper spoke up, an innocent smile playing across her lips.
"You two are ridiculous." Percy laughed softly, grabbing the book and opening it up, "Greek?"
"Of course." Annabeth laughed.
And Percy forced back her smile.
She was willing to admit that the one time she really, really enjoyed reading was when she was reading to the two other girls.
