I still do not own PJO or HOO

In this story Percy is sixteen. In the 1600s boys as young as 10 could be sailors.

As the ship came to a stop. The sea suddenly calmed, in the sky above the clouds cleared and the hot sun beat down on the exhausted sailors. They looked around dazed at the sudden weather change, but the Captain strode out to the stern bellowing "Prepare the boats" before walking into his quarters. He heard a few yeses come from outside his window, before going to his chest of drawers.

Inside the dark gloom of the non-lit office you could see the drawer filled with clothes. He lifted them up and set them carefully down on the dressing chair next to him. Then he gripped a rusted metal ring, previously hidden from view. The bottom of the draw creaked as if on squeaky hinges and layers of dust rose up from it. Then the bottom of the draw swung back to reveal a secret compartment.

In the bottom of it was two crinkled bits of paper. These two bits of paper were personally given to the Captain by the Prince of Orange himself. One piece of paper was an ancient prophecy, the other a map handed down generation by generation through the line of Orange. He grunted pleased that the papers hadn't wasted away.

He grabbed them and shoved them down a bronze tube, before sealing it with hot wax, from a pot that the wax had been bubbling in most of the morning. He consulted his star charts one more time before stuffing the tube into his sealskin sack. Outside Percy was shouting orders at the men. As first mate it was his duty to keep the rowboats, which were kept in the hull of the ship, in pristine condition. As the boats were lowered, a man could be seen climbing down the rigging clumsily. As he jumped the last three meters onto the rapidly drying deck, the boats were lowered into the water. The man who jumped down was Klaus the third mate, and with his razor-sharp eyesight he was nicknamed 'De Arend' The Eagle. Klaus was your stereotypical Dutchman tall, blond, blue eyed, but his most defying feature was the fact he was missing an arm. His shirt sleeve was rolled like a snail's shell and then clasped with a gold pin through the sleeve. Percy strode over to him. "You saw the pile?" He questioned. Klaus nodded "Yes looked exactly liked a fist, from the angle sixty degrees south" "Good" Percy replied, "less chance the Spaniards find us". Klaus nodded in approval, before going to organise the landing crews, with the helmsman Jan.

The Captain strode out of his quarters "landing crews ready?" "Yes Captain" replied Percy "Rations and armaments?" "Yes, sir each man equipped with a sabre, flintlock and rations for three days, and Jan has his musket." Recited Percy. "Good job" "Thank your sir" Percy uttered, before the Captain stalked over to the raised platform, and stepped up turning to face his men. "Landing party, A, I want you with Percy on the Dolfijn. Landing party B, with Klaus on the Meermin. Landing party C with me on the Leeuw. Are we clear?" Bellowed the Captain like a schoolteacher at the assembled lines of men. "Yessir" the men shouted, the noise echoing through the clear afternoon air, as the seagulls called to each other high above in the sky. "First and Second mate take control, see you on the beach." Percy and Klaus who were standing at the back nodded and started to file their landing parties down the ladders into the boats below. The three boats cast off and started rowing towards the shore. Percy's boat was the fastest, due to Percy constantly practising his crew's rowing. Shouts of heave echoed across the water as crews of men pulled on their oars. After about fifteen minutes the boats crested the last swell and came to rest on the beach. The nine burliest sailors grabbed the boats, three on each and pulled them far up the shore, past the tide line and onto the dunes. The 40 odd men climbed up the beach and looked at the sight in front of them. There was a huge steep hill on one side leading down into a densely packed pine forest. The only landmark was a pile of boulders that if you looked at from the right angle looked like a towering fist rising out of the ground. They had arrived. If Percy had turned to look the Captain in the eye, he would have seen the glint of greed in his eye, but Percy was too busy studying the scene in front of him to notice. The Captain marched out in front, the sailors starting out of their stares and jogging after the Captain who was heading towards the pile of boulders. Percy personally thought the cluster looked more like a pile of droppings then a fist, but he shrugged and followed the rest of his men into the forest.

The Captain hollered back "Keep close to the person in front of you single file line. Jan watch our backs." As he trudged through the treeline into the deepening forest. The captain cut through branches till he fell through a bush. He gasped. In front of him was a huge lake, with a big clearing next to it. As if something was going to be built there. "Mijn Goden" he breathed "They already are preparing." As the rest of the landing crew emerged through the gap the Captain made, they too gasped at the huge lake, it was the deepest azure blue. The Captain shook his head "keep moving" he shouted getting to his feet. He crossed the giant clearing to the forest on the other side, before plunging back into the dark forest then the trees started thinning slowly till eventually the Captain stumbled into a small glade in the centre was the towering pile of rocks you could see from the beach. The Captain walked up to it inspecting every side till he saw it. A gap in the rocks large enough for a skinny man to sidle through. He called back "Bosuns stay guard. Everyone also follow me, after my signal." He said facing his men before squeezing through the gap.

Outside everyone waited with bated breath. "You can come down now." The Captain's voice echoed up through the gap. Jan, Klaus and Percy went first. Then the rest of the of the group went one by one through the gap, while the nine burly men who had pulled the boats up the shore, stood watch around the rocks. The last man came through into a stone room with a single door. The room was already packed with sailors who hadn't washed since the beginning of the voyage filling the room with a salty and sweaty smell. The Captain said "Klaus, if you would do the honours." Klaus nodded and opened his satchel inside it was a piece of rock. Klaus picked it out of the satchel and inserted it into the only non-smooth bit in the whole wall, the one bang in the centre of the door. As the rock clicked into place, a groaning could be heard and slowly the door fell open. Dry, musty air rushed out. The Captain looked into the dark and took a tentative step forward. He beckoned Jan "pass the bright stone." Jan fiddled with his pockets and opened his left one he picked out a shiny grey metal chunk around the size of an apple. "Your musket ready?" he asked Jan, Jan nodded "your flintlocks" said the Captain to Klaus and Percy they too nodded. "Okay on the count of three. Three, two, one now," the Captain chucked the bright stone into the darkness as the three fired their guns. One of their bullets hit the bright stone and it exploded flaring out light everywhere. Illuminating a huge cavern covered in moss and at its centre was a fountain. From the brief view Percy got before the rock's flare died out, was it was carved out of marble. It showed four women dancing around a tree that bore fruit, but he didn't have time to see which fruit. Coiled around the tree was a huge snakelike creature. There was water flowing out of the creature's mouth down into a hole. "The Fountain of the Hesperides or The Fountain of Immortality" the Captain whispered as if speaking his thoughts, which he probably was.

Thank you, for your support. I am going to try to make chapters at least 1.5k from now on. Expect a chapter around every week at least, unless I forget. Thank you for reading.

Finally, a dim light goes on in that head of yours—Grandma Zhang-The Son of Neptune