Nico winced.
"I'm sorry Perce, I shouldn't have asked you or anybody to make such a promise."
Percy gave him a smile.
Blackjack gave me a ride down…hey, it beats waterskiing any day.
Everybody snickered.
"It does, he made me do this once and I loved it." Annabeth said
Percy grinned.
Here. Blackjack slowed…unless I wanted them to.
"Lucky kid." Travis said
Percy snickered.
I shot down into the darkness…like an aluminum can.
"That's a happy fact." Leo said sarcastically
I should've been blind…but I could tell where everything was.
"That's pretty cool." Chris admitted
As I got closer to the bottom…glowing phosphorescent.
"Wow, they sound beautiful." Rachel breathed.
"They really are." Tyson said
Their manes were white…. I hated those things.
"Us too" the sea gang scowled.
"They're so irritating, they can catch dolphins and all and even mythological creatures sometimes." Triton grumbled.
It was bad enough they drowned…let the trapped animals die
"That's horrible." Castor gasped
The sea gang nodded.
Apparently this poor creature…top of the tangled animal.
"That's sad." Dakota said
The hippocampi were…was trying to chew the net
"Their teeth aren't meant to cut rope." Amphitrite winced.
Hippocampi are really strong, but they don't have hands, and they're not (shhh) all that smart.
"Except Rainbow." Tyson said
"Except Rainbow." Percy agreed
Free it, lord!... "Mooooooo!"
The gods froze.
"You met it before too?" Poseidon asked
Percy nodded.
I got next to the thing…like an enormous eel
"It's a good thing Percy met him and luckily he could track him too." Grover said
"Yeah otherwise it would have been really risky." Thalia said
Whoa, little one," I said…. "So I've heard."
"It's very powerful." Hades said
I uncapped Riptide, and the sword grew to full length in my hands, its bronze blade gleaming in the dark.
"It's not going to like that." Triton winced.
"You need it to stay calm." Poseidon said
The cow serpent freaked…which didn't help.
"Oh no." Apollo said
"It has to calm down and feel safe with Percy." Hermes said
"Okay, okay!" I said…Vegetarianism."
Everybody chuckled.
"Percy and his words." Grover snickered
Percy grinned.
I doubted the cow serpent understood…around me quite so fast.
"That's good." Poseidon nodded
Free it, lord! they pleaded…how dangerous they were.
"Yeah well I was wrong about him being a girl." Percy sighed
Everybody snickered.
All right," I told the hippocampi…collapse on the baby cow serpent.
"Good job, one of the dangers is lessened." Demeter said
Then I went to work on the net…video game controller wires.
"Untangling controller wires is soo irritating." Travis groaned
"I know right." Connor said
The whole time, I kept talking to the cow fish.
"Cow…fish?" Poseidon asked uncertainly
Percy grinned sheepishly.
"You and Tyson have quite a talent for naming sea creatures." Triton said, shaking his head
Tyson and Percy grinned at each other.
Telling her everything…"Good cow. Nice cow."
"Cute name." Chris smirked
"Why thank you." Percy grinned
Finally, the net came off…Thank you, lord!
Everybody cheered.
"Great job son." Poseidon praised
"Thanks dad." Percy grinned
"Moooo!" The cow serpent nuzzled me and gave me the big brown eyes.
"You've won its trust." Zeus sighed
"Yeah," I said. "That's okay. Nice cow. Well…stay out of trouble."
Everybody chuckled.
Which reminded me…Almost got stampeded."
"But you did a good job." Triton said
Percy nodded and smiled
I couldn't help thinking about my dream, with Annabeth crumpled and lifeless in Luke's arms. Here I was rescuing baby monsters, but I couldn't save my friend.
"That's not true, you did save me and you've been really worried and you wanted to go for the quest." Annabeth said gently
Percy nodded.
As Blackjack flew back…by the way he was crouching.
Hades raised an eyebrow at Nico.
"Blackjack," I said…he was spying on the Hunters.
Grover blushed.
"Pulling a Grover." Travis snickered
"I'm so using that." Connor said
Grover turned redder.
There were voices…and put it on
Zoe was thinking about when but then there was only one conversation at that point of time. She raised an eyebrow at Nico and Percy who grinned innocently. She rolled her eyes.
I didn't feel any different…Tour T-shirt with it."
Artemis glared at the Stolls.
"How dare you harm my hunter?" Artemis asked
"How dare she harm us in our home in a game that we play which was supposed to be friendly for no reason?" The Stolls snapped
Artemis stayed quiet.
"Exactly." They said
"We aren't like her, we don't like hurting people for no reason." Travis said
"That's terrible"… It could be a land without rain."
"That's a good interpretation but lose one normally means death." Apollo said
"Sometimes you believe what you want to." Thalia said
Apollo nodded.
"But—"…risk another Hunter."
The campers scowled but didn't say anything.
Bianca was silent…She sounded really anguished.
The ones on the quest gave her sympathetic smiles.
"I hate that guy." Percy said
"Normally telling your companions necessary dreams does help a lot." Thalia said
"I know but that was a little personal." Zoe said
"We will find out soon enough…He was faster than me.
Nico smirked at Percy.
Percy stuck his tongue out at him.
As the girls sprinted down the steps…out of the pavilion.
"You got saved and you got lucky." Travis said
"Boys you need to give Percy a lesson on sneaking." Hermes told his kids
"He's quite experienced at it now." Travis said
Hermes chuckled.
Poseidon paled and groaned.
I could tell what Nico was thinking…"Wow. Cool."
"It is pretty cool." Annabeth grinned
"Yeah being invisible is awesome." Hades smirked
"How did you know…I guessed.
"NO!" Hades said, all amusement forgotten.
"Percy talked me out of it." Nico assured his dad.
"I know you didn't go but you almost gave me a heart attack." Hades said
Poseidon snorted.
"Welcome to my world."
Everybody laughed.
Percy and Nico grinned sheepishly.
"How did you know that?"… Some of the heroes will die."
The demigods nodded.
He shoulders sagged…"You're planning to go anyway, aren't you?"
"Nailed it." Will grinned
Nico smirked.
I wanted to say no…"I won't tell on you," he said.
"Good boy." Hermes said to Nico
Nico snickered.
"But you have to promise to keep my sister safe."
Silence.
"Nico, that's not possible to promise especially after the prophecy." Reyna said gently
"I didn't know then…" Nico said, looking down
"I shouldn't have asked anybody for such a promise, if somebody asked me even I couldn't promise that." Nico said
Percy put his hand on Nico's shoulder. The younger boy looked up, his eyes welling with tears. Percy pulled Nico into a hug.
"You were young then Nico, it's okay." He said
"I…that's a big thing to promise…I promise that."
"And you did try your best." Thalia said
"Yeah, whatever." Percy sighed
Everybody looked at him worriedly but didn't say anything…yet.
"Get going, then!" he said…. "I'm good at that. Go on!"
Everybody laughed.
"You definitely are." Will said
Nico grinned.
"If I wouldn't have known that Percy would sneak out then I might have believed him." Chiron said, shaking his head fondly
Nico smirked.
I ran, putting on Annabeth's cap…"Yeah. Let's fly."
Everybody laughed.
"Blackjack's awesome." Percy grinned
"Chapter's done." Clarisse said
"I'll read." Chris smiled
Clarisse tossed him the book which he caught and smirked.