In which Percy goes off on her own.
Replies:
Validmeup: Why thank you- I live to please.
Undeath9087: I don't know what you're talking about- fluff doesn't mean bad stuff is gonna happen.
Zephyr0f8: I mean, there will be lots of cuddles in the future- with all of them being protective.
Guest: Enter Cruise ship.
PJ Fan 285: Hey! I believe the fleece can heal anything usually but it won't be healing Annabeth's wrist because A, they won't think of that, and B, the Egyptian magic used to heal it would interfere at this stage. And they didn't portal there because it was quicker to get a boat where they were.
For the second half of your review, I admit that did make me laugh. And I'm doing okay all considered, very busy with the puppy and struggling to write at times but I'm getting back into it- I just don't have as much time lol.
SpaceSnoopy: Percy and Piper combined are a very chaotic duo with dumbass ideas which Annabeth just watches like 'Dear gods why am I in love with them?' or she will when she realises she is in fact in love with them. Though Piper is at least more sensible than Percy lol.
Percy woke up slowly, to the sensation of something very very large very close. And it was cooler than she'd been expecting, even with the thin blanket that the three girls had used to cover themselves.
She squirmed slightly, carefully slipping herself free from her friends and getting to her feet as she looked around.
Her gaze instantly focused on a huge cruise ship which was blocking out the sun- and huge could be an understatement. It made the Egyptian Queen- destroyed almost four years earlier- look like an ant compared to an elephant.
This white hull was at least ten stories tall, and then it was topped with at least another dozen levels of decks with brightly lit balconies and portholes. The ship's name was painted just above the bow line in black letters.
Percy peered at them, scowling slightly as she desperately tried to focus- which wasn't an easy thing to do but she was trying her best. And after a few moments she managed to figure out that the name was Princess Andromeda.
Attached to the bow was a huge masthead—a three-story-tall woman wearing a white Greek chiton, sculpted to look as if she were chained to the front of the ship. She was young and beautiful, with flowing black hair, but her expression was one of absolute terror.
That had to be the namesake of the ship- Percy knew the myth of course. She would become the wife of the hero Perseus, one of her favorite heroes, if only because he was probably one of the least controversial- he'd made mostly good and noble decisions and he'd been a good person, especially for those times. And she'd have been named after him if she'd been born a boy- Percy was glad she hadn't, she liked her name. Perseus was good but Persephone was much cooler.
In any case, the huge cruise ship- because it had to be a cruise ship, was blocking out the sun, which annoyed Percy, even if it was an irrational annoyance. And something about it made her brows furrow as she moved towards the prow of the ship, her eyes glued to the giant cruise ship.
She wasn't sure what it was- but most of the time Percy's gut could be trusted. Besides- sure it could be a coincidence but- a ship named after a Greek Princess while they were on a mission that involved the Sea of Monsters and saving the Greek Camp? That didn't feel like a coincidence.
"Percy?" and Percy turned her head at that. Piper's voice was pitched low, presumably to avoid waking Annabeth, who was snoring softly, her head resting on her own arm. And Piper was sitting up, rubbing her eyes as she stifled a yawn. "What is- is that a cruise ship?"
"Yeah." Percy turned to look at Piper, her mind racing. "Called the Princess Andromeda." she hesitated. "Listen- Pipes I uh-"
"You want to check it out don't you?" Piper raised an eyebrow, a knowing look on her face.
"Yes." Percy nodded, "I know it's probably nothing but I'd rather be safe than sorry- we want to know what's going on after all. And if there is a connection to our quest."
"Makes sense- but Percy how exactly are we going to check it out?" Piper was hauling herself to her feet, "I feel like it'd be a bad idea just to abandon the boat right now."
"It would." Percy glanced at Annabeth, "Besides, I'd rather not wake Annabeth- with how she's been sleeping lately it'd be best if she has a decent nights sleep. Can you stay with her while I check it out?"
"Percy-" Piper's eyes narrowed, "I trust you, and I know you're capable but- I don't like the idea of you rushing off on your own, even if you can handle anything that might happen."
"It's probably nothing." Percy pointed out, "I just want to be safe- and if it's not nothing we might get some good information we can use right?" she pointed out logically.
Piper hesitated before nodding, "You'll need to be careful though. I should really be going with you-" she looked unhappy, "I don't-"
"Pipes I don't want to leave Annabeth on her own when she's sleeping."
"I-" Piper groaned, "Percy what if something goes wrong. What if it's an enemy ship."
"If it is then we get some info." Percy pointed out, "I can cast an invisibility spell- I think I've pretty much mastered it now. They won't be able to see me at all. It'll be fine. And even if Annabeth was awake only one of us could go. I only have the one shabati and I don't want to waste too much time making two more when the ship could move on.
"I still don't like it." Piper pulled a face, "You're the most distinctive looking out of all three of us, what if something goes wrong?"
"It's only my hair-" Percy paused, "And I can cover that."
"I-" Piper groaned, "I can't change your mind can I?" she asked after a moment.
"Nope." Percy popped the P, "I'm gonna go down, tie my hair back, cover it up and then I'll swim over to our friendly looking cruise ship over there."
"Okay- okay don't take too long." Piper moved over to one of the seats and sat down, and Percy quickly darted below deck, slipping into the little bathroom and tugging a crush through her curls, tying it back into a bun before she found a bandana she could use to cover her hair- it was a simple blue patterned one. It would do the job well enough and she secured it with a clip before she darted back up to the deck, crouching down onto her knees and pulling her spell kit out of the Duat.
She could feel Piper watching her as she grabbed a shabati and carefully wrapped it in some black linen, murmuring the spell softly.
Percy felt a rush of pride when a mass of darkness bloomed from the package, expanding until it covered her entirely. And she could hear Piper sucking in a sharp breath, and she focused on the daughter of Aphrodite as the girls eyes widened and flicked around.
"I don't think I've ever seen you use that spell before." the daughter of Aphrodites voice was slightly awed, "Maybe I am worrying over nothing... but you'll be careful right?"
"Of course." Percy's voice made Piper jump. And the daughter of Poseidon giggled despite herself.
She pulled herself to her feet, moving towards the other girl. "Relax Piper. This is not the most dangerous thing I've ever done."
"That's part of what scares me." Piper huffed the words, clearly trying to focus on where she thought Percy was-which was pretty close, though her gaze was a little to the left.
"Oh ye of little faith." Percy ducked in close, pressing her lips to Piper's cheek, which made the other girl flush a pretty shade of red.
And then Percy was turning and sprinting towards the prow of the ship, and she dove over the edge, she could hear footsteps behind her as she fell, and she turned her head, laughing brightly as she saw Piper leaning over the edge of the prow with wide startled eyes, and then she hit the water and she slipped beneath the water with ease, instant strength and warmth flooding through her as it always did.
And she resisted the urge to dive deeper. The urge to push herself down and keep swimming until she hit the ocean floor.
As fun as that would be that was not a priority that this stage- she needed to focus on what she was doing, it was too important to get distracted.
So instead she pushed herself through the water, zooming through it towards the looming hull of the cruise ship, water parting easily for her.
She let her head pop up out of the water when she reached it, eyes scanning the hull for what she was certain had to be there- there were always service ladders- the issue was finding it. She needed to try and move quickly- she didn't want to waste time searching- but the boat was huge and it'd take time if she had to circle it- but no, no it seemed that luck was on her side. Percy had to resist the urge to fist pump the air.
The service ladder was riveted to the side of the hull, maybe twenty foot to the left of where she was currently bobbing in the water.
She pushed herself towards it quickly, gripping the first rung tightly and pulling herself up with practised ease. And thankfully it didn't take her too long to reach the end of the ladder. It led to a maintenance deck stacked with yellow lifeboats.
Percy brushed herself down as she looked around, her gaze focusing on a set of double doors. that seemed like a good place to start. She hummed to herself, moving towards them and testing the handles. She wasn't surprised to find that the doors were locked, but it wasn't difficult to open them. Whoever owned the boat wasn't expecting an Egyptian Magician to come aboard.
She felt slightly smug about that as she slipped through the newly opened doors and she padded her way through the halls- once she reached the maintenance deck she started to see people- tourists from the look of things, just woken up for a day of their cruise but- something felt wrong. As a family passed her, clearly dressed to go in a pool, she heard the dad saying, "We are on a cruise. We are having fun."
"Yes," his three kids said in unison, their expressions blank. "We are having a blast. We will swim in the pool."
And Percy felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She definitely wasn't wrong to be suspicious. Gods sometimes she hated her instincts. These people were under some sort of spell-and not just them. She saw dozens of similar sights as she wandered through the cruise ships corridors.
The first monster she spotted was a hellhound in a cafeteria- a black mastiff with its front paws up on the buffet line and its muzzle buried in the scrambled eggs. It was small for a hellhound. No bigger than a grizzly bear but still, not a nice sight on somewhere like this.
Percy closed her eyes, forcing herself to take a deep breath, her mind racing. This was not good, super not good. She looked around slowly before pausing when she spotted two monsters slithering towards her- and she automatically moved backwards, pressing herself against the wall to avoid bumping into them.
They were strange looking things, humanoid females with twin serpent tails instead of legs. And they were talking. "Ssssix more joined yesssterday."
The voice was reptilian. An automatic black mark in Percy's opinion. She grimaced, her eyes narrowing.
Six more what? Okay she was going to need to learn more about this if she could. And since they hadn't noticed her she was doing pretty well.
"Yesss," a second reptilian voice said. "He drawssss them. Ssssoon we will be sssstrong."
The things slithered into the cafeteria with a cold hissing that Percy knew from unfortunate experience was snake laughter.
She was about to follow them when she heard a voice from behind her "-Only a matter of time. Don't push me, Agrius."
And Percy recognised that voice, even a year after she'd last heard it.
Her fingers curled into fists automatically and she forced herself to breathe calmly as she turned around slowly, her gaze automatically focusing on the tall figure walking towards her.
He'd changed since she'd first met him- his hair was clipped short now, he was wearing a button down shirt, khaki pants and leather loafers.
But that scar was just the same, and those eyes.
Percy had to use all of her self control to stop herself from lashing out.
It seemed that the captain of this ship was Luke Castellan.
