Hey! So I hope you enjoy-and also, I hope people can figure out just what I've done here. It should be fairly easy for people to spot.
Replies:
Rage2091: And we love her for it lol.
Zephyr0f8: Have no fear! There are always future cuddles to come.
Undeath9087: Why nothing, there will be nothing too traumatic in this one lol.
12problems89: Thank you! I try hard not to make it too ridiculous.
Guest23: Heh, you shall see.
Noir Nyan: See I don't trust him to let Nico be happy. I like my death kids to end up happy don't'cha know. As for a schedule- I am still trying to build up more of a backlog again but I do want to get back more regular- though with two brand new puppies along with our six month old my house is chaos- and there's not counting our two oldtimers lol. And no it's not been scrapped but I'm not doing more than two at once. That way lies madness lol.

The fish had given some very helpful advice- which Percy had then relayed to Annabeth and Piper. Which led to them all sat up in the bright sunshine on the deck, the map laid out between the three of them. Percy had drawn three little circles on their map, each with a question mark on them, as well as a few smaller circles dotted across the map.

"The fish told me-" she paused- shooting Piper a withering look when the other girl tried to stifle a laugh. "Is something funny Mclean?"

"I dunno." Pipers lips twitched, "What do the fish think- hey!" that was because Percy shoved her shoulder lightly, rolling her eyes and shaking her head as Annabeth laughed.

"Come on you two, it's time to be serious. You were saying Percy?"

"Right." Percy poked her tongue out at Piper before tapping on the map, "There are three major islands which the fish think could have the fleece due to their sizes and what they know about the other islands- based on our current location-" she pointed to a spot on the map- she hadn't drawn anything there purely because they were still moving, "Which is here-"

"It really is amazing how you just know." Annabeth piped up, "Perfect bearings when you're out at sea- it's a cool gift even if it's not the most showy of your powers-"

"I agree completely." Percy grinned proudly. "Anyway-" she moved her finger, pointing at the circle closest to their spot, "The fish can't see anything on the islands really. This one is the closest to us- they said there's some boats there, which is interesting. This one." she moved her finger again, pointing at a second island- between the boat island and the third and final of the big islands on the map, "This one is apparently surrounded by lots of jagged rocks."

"Now call me crazy but that makes me think of the Sirens right?" Piper raised an eyebrow, "Didn't they lure ships onto the rocks?"

"Yes." Annabeth nodded- and Percy noticed a faint gleam in her eyes, "Odysseus tied himself to the mast and listened to their song."

"Well as much as I love our personal Siren-" Percy nodded towards Piper, "I am very much not in favor of meeting the real things right now- though- Carter did pack us wax to use as ear plugs if I remember what he said correctly."

"He did." Annabeth shifted, "And the other island?"

"They didn't have too much to say about that one- which could be good, could be bad. Anyway, those three are the ones which the fish think should be of interest to us."

"Can I-" Annabeth held out her hand, and Percy quickly gave her the pen.

And she couldn't help but stare slightly as Annabeth carefully wrote the word 'Sirens' in Greek beneath the middle island. Her handwriting was impressively neat, given the fact that she was using her left hand- she'd taken off the bracelet since she was pushing three hours and had learned from experience that it was very painful to go over. Then she set the pen down and leaned back, her eyes scanning over their little map.

"Well." Piper hummed, "That leaves Circes island and Polyphemus' Island right?" she asked carefully. "Those are the major islands from the Odyssey and we think it'll be on one of those right? And we don't know which is which, and which one is likely to have the Golden Fleece."

"And it could still be with the Sirens." Annabeth pointed out. "It's not as likely but it's a possibility."

"At least we have a rough idea where we're going now." Percy tapped the first island again, "It's as good a place to start as any right?" she crooked an eyebrow. "Even if we don't know exactly what we're going to face when we're there-"

"I mean, we do know. Kind of." Piper pointed out, "We just don't know which one of them it'll be."

"She's not wrong." Annabeth took a deep breath. "I'm hoping it's Circe, and I'm also hoping that we don't have to find Polyphemus." she shuddered- and Percy gave her a sympathetic look.

She knew why of course- over the year Annabeth had opened up a lot- had told a lot of stories from her past, and Percy knew that she'd had a traumatic run in with a Cyclops before she'd reached camp- and Piper reached out, grabbing Annabeth's hand and squeezing gently.

"We can handle it brain box." her voice was soft, comforting. "Whatever comes our way we can handle it."

"Of course we can." Annabeth visibly pulled herself together. "Percy, you're our Captain. How long will it take for us to hit land-"

"Ugh, honestly Annabeth. Asking me to do math. How low can you sink?" she asked almost teasingly.

"Truly she is a cruel cruel person." Piper snickered, pressing a hand to her chest.

"Just answer the question." Annabeth shook her head, "Before I strangle both of you."

"Well." Percy's eyes narrowed as she focused on the map, and it took her a few minutes before she nodded to herself slowly. "It should take us three hours, give or take. I can't say exactly because there's too many potential factors but- around three hours."

"In that case-" Annabeth pushed herself to her feet. "I am going to go below deck and have a nap if that's okay with you guys."

"Sure." Percy nodded, "I feel fine, you Pipes?"

"I'm good- if we have any trouble we can wake you-" she grinned, "And uh- you know, I would very much enjoy being spoiled if our wonderful Sea Star is feeling up to some cooking."

"You Piper Mclean-" Percy pointed at Piper, a mock serious look on her face, "Are a suck up. Flattery will get you nothing?"

"Except a full belly?" Piper asked, waggling her eyebrows, "Besides, we both know that's a lie- it always gets me what I want-"

"Usually you only use flattery when you're trying to convince me to terrorise your dads agents or girlfriends."

"Listen- if they're that easily chased off then clearly they don't deserve to be around my dad." Piper linked her arm through Percy's, and the three girls headed below deck, Annabeth automatically gravitating towards the bed, and Percy couldn't help but giggle at the way that she flopped face down onto the bed.

Percy couldn't blame her in the slightest. She'd had dozens of days like that- days where you just felt so drained that you wanted to drop. And it seemed Annabeth had been very, very drained because even before Percy had gotten to work in the kitchen area the sound of the daughter of Athena's snoring filled the air.

And Percy focused on getting to work- and really she was very grateful to her mom- the woman had thought of everything they might need food wise- so Percy cooked up some burrito's- making sure that Piper's were vegetarian.

She set aside Annabeth's before making her way over to the little table her plate and Pipers, setting them down and leaning back slightly. Piper was glaring at her phone, which she'd set down on the table.

"No signal?"

"No. Which I know isn't a surprise but still." Piper shook her head, "It's annoying. I was thinking about trying to call dad, checking in after eating. You know, making sure he doesn't totally forget I exist."

Percy winced- because yeah, yeah she understood why Piper sounded so resentful- Tristan had been slipping lately. Percy was pretty sure he hadn't actually spent more than five minutes on the phone to Piper since their skiing trip over Christmas. And Percy knew that his most recent call- roughly a month ago had included him telling Piper that he was seeing some new woman, which Piper had not taken well.

That was understandable. Ever since Tristan's first train wreck of a relationship it had been one disaster after another.
The first one really had been the worst, and had started a pattern. It had been just under two years earlier with a washed up ex star who had clearly seized on Tristan's newly rising star as a chance to try and reclaim her fame.

Percy could still remember meeting the woman- she'd went with Piper, since the other girl had asked if she could have Percy's support. And the woman had been so fake that Percy had quietly muttered to Piper that maybe she should try a fire spell to see if the woman would melt like plastic.

That had helped Piper deal with it all- especially when the woman seemed to think that dating Tristan for more than a month meant that she was allowed to start making rules for Piper.

She'd tried to demand that Piper come and stay with her and Tristan.

Percy had spent an hour yelling at the woman for trying to take Piper away- after which, once they were alone, Piper had flung her arms around Percy and clung to her like she was a lifeline.

Yeah Percy had not liked that woman- and she'd liked her even less when she'd very quickly started to spiral and started drinking. she'd demanded that Tristan propose to her after only five months together- Percy and Piper had been dragged outside by Thomas who had taken them to star gaze- but even from outside they'd been able to hear her deranged screaming.

Eventually she'd stormed out of the house, driving away in a squeal of protesting tyres, knocking over a potted plant on the way out.

The next morning Percy and Piper had been rushed home on a plane to protect them from the hoards of press that were going to descend because she had crashed her car, driving it off a bridge, likely because she was so drunk.
And after that, well, while he'd never had any relationships quite so terrible as that particular one, none of them had gone well.

"Piper-"

"I know-" Piper let out a low groan, cradling her head in her hands. "I know okay. I shouldn't care-"

"Of course you should care." Percy shook her head, "He's your dad Piper. You love him."

"I just- it feels like I don't even matter to him. Which- before you say it I know I do okay. I know I matter to him I just hate playing second to his job. If you can manage to have a balance why can't he? And how can he not see through all those ridiculous barbies who latch onto him- wasn't the last one bad enough?"

"She was pretty bad." Percy pulled a face and shook her head, leaning forward slightly so that she could squeeze Piper's hand. "Your dad is just- caught up." her nose scrunched up slightly. It was a pretty weak excuse.

"He's getting worse and you know it." Piper huffed the words, "Sometimes I wonder what it'd take to actually get him to pay me attention- and- what if I hadn't met you? What if I didn't have Brooklyn House Percy? Where would I stay? He doesn't have time for me as it is and he doesn't need to do that much. Would he ship me off to boarding school?"

"It doesn't matter." Percy's voice was gentle. "What might have been doesn't matter because it's not what is." she pointed out softly, squeezing the other girls hand. "You're not at some boarding school. You're with us Pipes, you live at Brooklyn House. You're where you belong. And I don't see you doing anything crazy to get his attention-"

"That's because I have you." Piper said, a smile flitting across her lips, "I have everyone at Brooklyn House. Even if my dad isn't there for me you guys always are."

"And we always will be."

"I know." Piper sighed heavily, "And I feel ridiculously selfish even complaining about all of this because I know how lucky I am. My dad might not be there but I have you guys-" her eyes flicked to Annabeth's sleeping form. "From what we've been told most of our kind don't get that much luck."

"She's doing better." Percy pitched her voice low. "Other than the nightmares but those aren't exactly normal."

"If she visits her dad we go too right?"

"Of course."

"And if we see Luke-"

"We don't let him anywhere near her." Percy finished. "I think he still thinks she's dead- which is better for us. She's safer that way."

"Right." Piper nodded, "Listen Percy, I- there's something I've been thinking about a lot lately- about Annabeth and you and I-"

But Percy was on her feet suddenly- her gaze snapping towards the controls- and the windows. "I see land." she gasped the words, "I see land."