Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed last chapter and I hope you're gonna enjoy this one. They're reaching the Sea of Monsters! Also, Annabeth is a great friend and Percy definitely has some trauma regarding Alabaster which will keep being a problem-I mean the dude tried to throw her into Tartarus and he's fucking with her life so of course she does.

There was an uncomfortable silence for some time, until the sun started rise, as Percy sat glaring out at the ocean ahead of them.

Eventually it was Annabeth who joined her, sitting down on the seat next to hers, frown on her lips. "Luke said it was the Hunters. I've met them before once. With Thalia."

"You did?" Percy glanced at her best friend, "What happened?"

"Thalia nearly killed Artemis' Lieutenant. I don't know what she said to her but Thalia lost her mind, Artemis had to pry her away."

"Did they ask her to join?"

"Yeah." Annabeth nodded, "I guess they asked you too, huh?"

"Yeah." Percy nodded, looking down at her hands which were clasped together in her lap. "I guess you had a point about how alike Thalia and I are. I slapped one of them-"

"Why?" Annabeth shifted slightly.

"She implied that I had feelings for Alabaster and that was why I refused." Percy snorted, "What I felt for him-whatever the hell it was, was barely more than a crush." she shook her head, "The fact that anyone could suggest that I-"

"Percy-" Annabeth wrapped an arm around Percy's shoulder, tugging her into her side, "That hunter doesn't know you. Why do you care?"

"Because what if other people think that?" Percy shook her head, "I-I hate him Annabeth. I hate him and people are out there thinking that I care about him like that? Does he think I do?"

"Okay we really don't wanna go by what he thinks." Annabeth snorted, "That asshole is delusional Percy, he's insane you know that-"

"Lady Artemis pointed out that he contacted me. He could have sent a message to camp or something-done it anonymously-we wouldn't have even known he wanted the fleece then but he came straight to me."

Annabeth hesitated, "I... I hate to say it because you won't like it but you might not have any kind of warm fuzzy feelings for him but I'm pretty sure that in some twisted way he still has them for you-"

"Ugh." Percy groaned, "My feelings for him are all feelings of complete loathing you know that right Annabeth-"

"I do." Annabeth nodded, "Of course I do Seaweed brain." Annabeth nudged her with her shoulder lightly, "Now stop letting it bug you. You're better than this Percy."

"Yeah, yeah I guess you're right." Percy gave a small nod and a faint smile, "You know you're the best friend ever right?"

"I try." Annabeth grinned, "And I'm going to tell Grover you said that-"

"No!" Percy's eyes widened in almost comical horror, "Annabeth no! That would be evil!"

"Yes, yes it would." Annabeth let out what could only be described as a cackle, "And I'm doing it-" she was cut off by Percy unceremoniously shoving her off the seat and onto the floor.

But she'd done what she'd wanted to Percy realized with a rush of fondness, she'd distracted Percy from her moping.

The laughter drew Luke in, the older boy raising an eyebrow at the sight of the two girls, "Do I even want to know."

"Annabeth threatened to tell Grover I said she was the best friend ever."

"I see." Luke nodded slowly, eyeing them as if they were strange creatures he wasn't quite sure how to handle, which honestly probably wasn't a bad way of looking at it.

In any case the mood shifted to a more pleasant one, and the next day and a half went smoothly.

It was midday when Percy felt the shifting-she'd known they were approaching their destination based on the coordinates they'd been give, but she could also feel the sea changing-usually it was comfortable, welcoming to her-and it still was of course-even if the Sea of Monsters was apart from the normal seas it was a sea, but that didn't mean it was as strongly within her power as the rest of the seas. No it felt wilder, more dangerous-but still water was water and if she couldn't handle it then no one could.

When she told Luke and Annabeth this the trio made their way to the front of the ship, Percy in the centre as they stared ahead, and it was Annabeth who spoke first as they approached a pair of huge rocks-the gap between them was fairly narrow but it would be wide enough to get Poseidon's Joy through.

They were tall things, stretching up into the sky, intimidating masses.

"The Sympleglades-Clashing rocks."

"Right. So... are we sure they stopped clashing after Jason and the Argonauts."

"That's what the story says-"

"Yes." Luke said slowly, "But the stories also say that Theseus killed a certain monster that Percy then had to kill when we were on our way to camp."

Annabeth faltered, "You make a good point." they were gaining speed as they headed towards the rocks and she swallowed hard, "I mean, we won't know for sure until we try and go through right?"

"Right." Luke nodded, "So what we want to do is go through very very fast."

"I can speed us up somewhat." Percy offered quickly, a determined look on her face."

"And I think I can do more. Wait here." Luke rushed off, and Percy and Annabeth exchanged nervous glances as they got closer and closer to the rocks.

He returned a few minutes later clutching the Thermos Hermes had given him, "A bit of wind could speed us up right?"

"Get to the back of the boat then." Percy nodded, "When I call, you open it up so we get a good wind boost."

"Got it." Luke did as he was told, and as they sped towards the two rocks they sped up, and when they were right next to them Percy called, "Wind!" and she focused hard, gripping the railings tightly, knuckles turning white-and she saw Annabeth doing the same as Percy willed them to speed up, as she made the water beneath them push them along.

And they were moving at eye watering speeds as they heard the eardrum shattering creaking that had to be the rocks moving.

Then they were out past the rocks-and now a moment too soon because then there was a earthshaking cracking sound as the rocks clashed together, and the shock wave of water nearly knocked Annabeth off her feet-it would have if Percy hadn't lashed out and caught the girls arm when she nearly toppled overboard.

She glanced back-half expecting to find that Luke had gone overboard, only to let out a relieved noise when she saw that he was on the floor, wet and gaping back at the rocks that were now behind them, but alive.

He turned his head to look towards them and gave a thumbs up that made Percy and Annabeth exchange disbelieving looks before they both burst out laughing, clutching the railings to stay upright as Luke slowly staggered to his feet and made his way towards them, clutching the thermos tightly.

"There should be enough to get us back through on the way home too."

"Thank the Gods." Percy moved to Luke, grabbing her brothers arm to steady him, "That was something else. You're drenched."

"The shock wave caught me." Luke pulled a face, "Can you dry me off?"

"Of course." Percy did so, pulling the moisture from his clothes an sending it in a little stream back into the sea.

"Well, we've made it to the Sea of Monsters at least." Annabeth pointed out, "Now we just need to try and figure out where to go next. Any suggestions?"

"Not really." Percy shook her head, looking out at the sea that stretched out in front of them, dark and dangerous.

"We need to eat." Luke said after a moment, "Then we'll see-we'll go to any islands we spot and we'll try and figure it out from there. I'll go and grab some
food."

"We'll wait up here then."

The two girls went and sat down by the table as Luke headed down into the cabin, and when he returned they settled down, munching on some chips and having some water as they relaxed in their seats, Percy keeping a mental eye on the sea around them.

It was a few hours later-as the sky started to darken once more that a shimmering rainbow image formed in front of them on top of the table.

It took a moment to see who it was, but pretty quickly Percy realized.

"Neeks? Ty? Are you guys okay what's up why are you calling?"

"Percy!" Nico's voice was painfully relieved, "I was worried about you-"

"See little brother. Big sister is fine." Tyson was giving a wide smile that contrasted strongly with Nico's tight little worried frown.

"We're fine." Percy's voice was soothing, "Right you guys?"

"Of course." Luke nodded, "We haven't had any real trouble so far."

"There's nothing for you guys to worry about-"

"I had this dream." Nico's voice shook slightly, "There was some guy and he was talking about capturing you-"

"Some guy?" Luke leaned forward, "Nico what did he look like?"

"Uh... dark hair I think... he had a gold sword. I didn't like him-"

"Alabaster." Annabeth, Percy and Luke exchanged worried looks and Percy grimaced.

"That's a Demigod dream Nico. They're sent as warnings. Thank you for letting us know okay?"

"You won't let him capture you, will you?"

"We won't." Luke's voice was firm, "We'll be careful Nico."

"I promise." Percy nodded, "Seriously Nico we'll be fine-" she shifted slightly so she could see better as Annabeth and Luke pressed closer to her on either side so they could be involved. "How are things at home?"

"Loud." Tyson looked very happy suddenly, "Nico and I are making friends!"

"Some of the younger Campers have arrived then?"

"Yeah." Nico nodded, "It's getting kinda crazy honestly-the house is so full right now but it's not too bad. Mom's in her element."

"Of course she is." Percy laughed, "Mom's never happier than when she's looking after people. Any problems so far."

"I scared away some nasty ladies with the scary stabby girl-"

"Clarisse." Percy, Annabeth and Luke chorused the name in unison, all laughing as Tyson nodded and Nico rolled his eyes.

"Everything's under control then?"

"Yeah." Nico nodded, "Busy but okay-"

"And you're making friends."

"Yeah." Nico grinned slightly, "One boy-Will he's pretty awesome, and there's Jake and Nyssa too. Oh and Will's sister Kayla's awesome."

"That's great." Percy smiled, "What about you Ty?"

"I like Clarisse." Tyson grinned, "She wasn't scared of me! And Jake is nice too."

"Good." Percy wished she could reach out and hug her baby brothers-Gods but now she understood how Luke had felt when she'd went on her first quest-it's
the big siblings job to worry over the baby sibling.

She felt Luke's hand on her shoulder, squeezing reassuringly-he knew what he was thinking-he usually did, and he knew that Percy was closer with their newest family members than he was because she spent literally every day with them where he spent the weekends and Christmas.

Then of course there was a loud crashing noise and Nico groaned "Oh gods what is it this time?"

"Ah yes." Percy laughed softly, "That chaos you mentioned. You guys go-help mom okay? She's going to be so busy with everyone at the moment-"

"We will big sister." Tyson nodded, "Mom says no more school for us-"

"Yeah I expected that. You make your most of your time off-Nico no training in the house-"

"But Percy-"

"No training in the house."

"Ugh, fine." Nico rolled his eyes, "I did tell Will and Kayla I'd show them some stuff you taught me but-"

"Just do it in the garden dumbass." Percy pointed out, "And remember, don't tell anyone who your dad is yet-"

"I know." Nico rolled his eyes, "It's dumb though-my dad hasn't done anything wrong-"

"I know Neeks. Your dad's probably one of the more reasonable Gods but people get dumb over anything connected to death, you know that."

"I know."

"Be careful you two."

"Do as mom says." Luke added quickly.

"And look after each other and the Campers." Annabeth ordered.

"We miss you guys, and we'll be home soon."

Then the connection ended, and Percy let out a slow breath.
Well. At least they knew that everything was okay at home. For now anyway.