Hey guys! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, some good stuff is coming up soon which I hope you all enjoy- and I love causing you all fear about what's gonna happen next, it's always super duper fun. Please please do review it always makes my day.
It was almost dark by the time the three demigods spotted the Princess Andromea glowing on the horizon, the huge cruise ship lit up yellow and white. Percy shuddered slightly. The last time she'd seen that ship had been on the way to rescue her mom, Leo and Artemis. And before that- she grimaced slightly at the memories.
She had nearly destroyed it once before, she should have made sure she submerged it rather than stranded it, but this time they'd make sure that the Princess Andromeda was truly destroyed.
And gods but it didn't look like anything out of the ordinary, you wouldn't know from the outside what horrors laid within- though as they got closer and Percy saw the familiar giant figure head she felt like the expression of horror on Greek maiden's face was fitting- almost like she could smell the stench of the monsters she was carrying.
Percy shook herself slightly when Beckendorf called out, "We know what to do, right?"
"Of course." Percy nodded, and Luke nodded silently too before Percy leaned further over Blackjack and whispered, "Set us down on the lowest stern deck Blackjack buddy."
"I hate this stupid boat." And Percy winced.
"I know buddy. I know you do." he probably hated it just as much as she did- after all, he'd been enslaved on the boat until he'd come to camp and she'd freed him from the monsters using him to cart them around. "Don't wait for us okay? You and Porkpie go once you've set us down, you hear me?"
"But boss lady-"
"Trust me. We'll get out by ourselves, we can handle it Blackjack."
"I- okay." Blackjack sounded reluctant, but he folded his wings and plummeted toward the boat like a black comet. The wind whistled in Percy's ears and she saw monster patrolling the upper decks of the ship- dracaenae snake-women, hellhounds, giants, and the humanoid seal-demons known as telkhines- as Annabeth had told Percy when she'd admitted she had no idea what they were, but they zipped by so fast that none of the monsters noticed- let alone raised an alarm.
They shot down the stern of the boat and Blackjack spread his wings, lightly coming to a landing on the lowest deck, Porkpie following his lead close behind.
Percy slid off his back, Luke and Beckendorf following her lead as they did.
"Good luck Boss Lady, don't let 'em turn you into horse meat!"
"We won't." Percy promised, and she watched as the two Pegasi took off and flew away.
Once they were gone Percy pulled Riptide from her pocket and flicked open her locket, the familiar armor forming around her, the pearl like scales would stand out more than she liked but there was very little she could do about that in any case.
Beside her Luke pulled a familiar cylinder from his pocket, pressing down the top, the familiar celestial bronze blade growing from it- she had to admit she was somewhat fond of the blade- it was her second favorite sword after all, and she gave Luke a small nod. "You ready for this?"
"Yeah, If I don't come back Thalia will show up in the Underworld to kill me again so we best do this right."
"Tell me about it." Beckendorf gave a slight smile, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket- and Percy knew without asking that it was a picture of Silena.
"Gods we're all sappy idiots aren't we? We'll make it back to our girlfriends."
"We better- Drew would probably come and murder me in the Underworld if I didn't- she hides it but she's fond of Silena now."
"Well then. That makes it even more important. We wouldn't want Drew to come to the Underworld- uncle Hades would end up tossing her out within a week."
That made Luke and Beckendorf laugh quietly. "I bet he would." He grinned at her, "Now let's go and blow Kronos back into a million pieces."
"And coincidentally we'll get to blow up Alabaster the stalker too." there was a glint in Luke's eyes as he slung an arm over Percy's shoulder, it was a bloodthirsty one. "Just, y'know, pointing that out."
"The guy has it coming." Beckendorf agreed, looking amused- everyone knew of the history between Percy and Alabaster after all, and they all knew how protective Luke could be of her- his fight with Alabaster that had resulted in the scar on his face was a memorable one- if he hadn't intervened when he did Percy honestly wasn't sure what would have happened- she'd have either been kidnapped or killed, probably the former knowing Alabaster.
"This should be fun then." Percy gave a wide grin before they headed off, Beckendorf led the way, and they followed a narrow corridor to the service stairwell, just like they'd practised- but they froze when they heard noises above them.
"I don't care what your nose says!" snarled a half-human, half-dog voice—a telkhine. "The last time you smelled half-blood, it turned out to be a meat loaf sandwich!"
"Meat loaf sandwiches are good!" a second voice snarled. "But this is half-blood scent, I swear. They are on board!"
"Bah, your brain isn't on board!" They continued to argue, and Beckendorf pointed downstairs. The trio descended as quietly as they could. Two floors down, the voices of the telkhines started to fade and Percy let herself relax very slightly.
Finally they came to a metal hatch. Beckendorf mouthed the words "engine room."
It was locked, of course, but they'd been expecting that- it was part of the reason they'd brought Luke with them and he stepped forward without a word, pressing a hand over the lock, closing his eyes and focusing.
It had been a long time since he'd first used his gift with locks to get to Percy and Alabaster, and he'd practised a lot since then. Still the lock on the hatch was much more complicated than that first lock, it took a few moments of focus, then there was the soft click of the lock unlocking and Luke swung the door open.
Inside a row of yellow turbines the size of grain silos churned and hummed. Pressure gauges and computer terminals lined the opposite wall. A telkhine was hunched over a console, but he was so involved with his work, he didn't notice the opened door or the three demigods behind him. He was about five feet tall, with slick black seal fur and stubby little feet. He had the head of a Doberman, but his clawed hands were almost human. He growled and muttered as he tapped on his keyboard. Maybe he was messaging his friends on .
Percy stepped forward, swinging Riptide even as the monster tensed, sniffing slightly.
He leaped sideways towards a big red alarm button but Luke was there already swinging Episkopos, and he sliced the monster in half and he exploded into dust.
"One down." Beckendorf snorted, "About five thousand to go." he tossed them both jars of thick green liquid, and then he tossed them both some duct tape.
"You two get the consoles. I'll get the turbines."
"Aye aye Captain." Percy gave a mock salute before she and Luke got to work.
The room was hot and humid- uncomfortable as hades and soon enough they were all drenched in sweat- and all the while the Princess Andromeda moved ever onwards- it was heading towards New York Harbor. That was the only reason they'd managed to locate it, and it would be their only chance to stop the army in their tracks. Percy knew exactly where they were and how fast they were moving. They'd have enough time, but only just.
Percy and Luke were making short work of the control panels when they heard the pounding of feet on metal steps- either monsters of demigods coming down the stairwell- and since Percy could hear them over the engines they had to be pretty close.
She cursed under her breath, shaking her head as she exchanged looks with her brother and friend. "How much longer do we have?"
"Too long." He tapped his watch, which was the remote control detonator. "I still have to wire the receiver and prime the charges. Ten more minutes- maybe we can reduce that to five if one of you can help but it's a delicate job."
"Yeah we don't have five minutes." Percy could hear the footsteps getting closer and she gripped Riptide tightly, "Luke, stay and help Beckendorf- and don't wait too long for me okay, if you whistle for him Blackjack will come, if I don't-don't reach the rendezvous point then you leave without me."
"What, but Sephie-" Luke's expression was panicked, "We can't leave you behind here-"
"Luke- do you trust me? And if the answer is no I'm gonna be pretty pissed off honestly."
"Of course I trust you." Luke said quickly, "But you're my baby sister-"
"Yeah, and I'm capable. You need to let me do what I've got to do." And Beckendorf laid a hand on Luke's shoulder, a grim look on his face.
"Good luck-"
"You can't-" Luke's voice was panicked but Beckendorf shook his head.
"Luke, Percy's our heavy hitter, she can take out a lot of monsters at once and you know it, I need help down here and she's not good at that, you're more likely to be able to help me than she is-"
"It's not fair." Luke's voice shook, "Sephie- I swear if you get hurt-"
"Believe me." Percy's smile was lethal, "I won't get so much as a scratch." then she was whirling around and charging out of the room, kicking the door shut behind her and meeting a group of six telkhines that were tromping down the stairs- they didn't even have time to cry for help, she was moving and slicing, her blade almost whistling through the air as she sliced into them- within less then ten seconds all six were dead and she was bounding up the stairs, her mind racing.
The next telkhine she saw was so startled that he dropped his Lil' Demons lunch box- which admittedly was pretty cool.
That was only partly the reason she left the monster alive- if she killed it more monsters would come down the stairwell when she was done, they could find Luke and Beckendorf- that was the last thing she needed, if she left him alive he would raise the alarm and they'd come rushing after her rather than going down towards the engine room.
She sped onwards, bursting through a door onto deck six and kept running.
The once luxury halls had been thoroughly destroyed- the wallpaper, carpet and stateroom doors had been clawed up and slimed so it looked like the inside of a dragons throat.
She couldn't help but notice that there weren't any mortals now- not like there had been the last time she'd been aboard the Princess Andromeda- she felt a rush of pity for them- she had no doubt about their fates- they'd probably been monster chow. But she couldn't dwell on that now. She needed to keep moving, she needed to focus.
She reached the promenade, which took up the whole middle of the ship and she stopped cold, in the middle of the courtyard stood a fountain. And in the fountain squatted a giant crab.
Percy blinked, mouth dropping open as she stared at it. The crab was bigger than the fountain. The monster rose ten feet out of the water. It's shell was mottled blue and green and it's pincers were longer than Percy's body.
It was by far the most hideous crab Percy had ever seen- and she'd seen some pretty bad ones- and the size of it just made it more horrifying than it already was. It's beady black eyes focused on her, and she could see intelligence in them- and hate too.
Well, Mr Crabby wasn't going to cut her any slack because she was a daughter of Poseidon that much was clear very very quickly.
"FFFFffffff," it hissed, sea foam dripping from its mouth. The smell coming off it was like a garbage can full of fish sticks that had been sitting in the sun all week.
Alarms blared and Percy let out a groan, she was going to have to keep moving, she needed to be as much of a distraction as she could be.
Well, maybe it was time for her to put her new curse to the test. And she couldn't help but remember the trip the family had taken to Montauk, when Paul had taken her and the boys crabbing, he'd shown them all how crabs had a chink in their armor, right in the middle of their bellies.
And she smirked to herself.
Well. At least she had a plan now.
