A/N: I own nothing but plot. Enjoy!
Annabeth was able to roughly estimate which island among all the archipelagoes Pegai was located on, recalling what geography knowledge she had. The village was much further than she had thought. Magic must have brought her boat to travel such a far distance.
"We shall visit these first, and then move on to the next set of islands if that is not where your village is." Perseus decided. The sea god had not also heard of Pegai.
As it was, Pegai was an insignificant sea town where nothing remotely interesting happened for all the years of Annabeth's life, except for how Annabeth and the Blade of Souls came to be.
After settling most of the lieutenant's duties so they could be run smoothly during the sea god's absence, Perseus took Annabeth out to the surface of the sea.
Instead of the barely seaworthy boat that she had first traveled in, she was now sitting in a trireme. They traveled by ship as the sea god could attend to other duties along the way, inspecting the seas. Quite a contrast from how she first started out, Annabeth mused. The ship even obeyed every command the sea god willed as Annabeth watched fascinated as oars moved by themselves and ropes unraveled.
"I had these powers even as a demigod." Perseus said, amused as Annabeth observed how the three masts moved themselves in accordance with the wind.
"How fortunate." Annabeth sighed. If she had such powers, she would have left Pegai years ago to adventure on quests like she had read the most famous demigods had done. "Do children of Athena ever receive magical powers?"
"Athena is the goddess of wisdom and war. Likewise, her children rely on their intelligence, quick wit, and inner strength instead of powers to survive in battles and in life."
That made sense, Annabeth thought. She would much rather win using her intelligence and what she had on hand instead of brute strength. Leitus, the archon's son, was always so much of a brute that she wondered whether muscle took up so much of his brain that there was hardly anything left in his head.
Perseus smirked. "How rare for a child of Athena to ask for magical powers."
Annabeth boldly stuck her tongue out at him. "I was simply curious. Then did you receive your powers because you have no intelligence, quick wit, or inner strength?" She asked, innocently. "Ow! Okay, okay, I was wrong! "
The sea god had walked over and pinched both of her cheeks. "I see you have become even more audacious than usual. Have you forgotten that I am a god?" He pulled and squished at her cheeks.
"Ow, ish hurt-sh!"
This close to him, the scent of fresh sea breeze wafted off of him. Just peering over his over-the-shoulder chiton was leather cord necklace with some faded clay beads.
Annabeth glared at him when he finally let go after he had pinched her cheeks to his satisfaction. It was true that until the incident of their argument a few days ago, the fact that Perseus was a god had not registered in her mind. He did not behave like she had thought gods would in her imagination, but that could be just that she had painted all gods with the same brush.
The ship traveled on. Annabeth relished the sun on her face. It had been quite some time down in the dark depths of the seas, and she missed the natural sunlight. How unfortunate that she could only briefly enjoy soaking in the sun's rays with her luncheon before the sea god dragged her to help read through several reports.
"Am I allowed to read this?" Annabeth asked, doubtfully.
"I am giving you those reports to read and compile as an olive branch. A sign of my faith in you." Perseus answered. "We did promise each other not to betray the other."
"A sign of faith. Are you sure you're not giving me work to do as punishment from earlier?" She eyed the pile of scrolls before her.
The sea god smiled. "I am not so petty as to do that." Then with the same smile, he added three more scrolls to the pile.
Annabeth frowned. And here, she had thought that his smile was quite nice since he always appeared to be broody. Instead, she sighed and pulled the nearest scroll towards her.
She was halfway finished with her work when a large splash sounded by the side of the ship. Annabeth looked up to see Perseus casually toss a crimson sea serpent with a body as wide as her torso overboard.
"What…was that?" Annabeth said in disbelief.
"A sea snake. Common around these parts, but a young one at that. One of Ceto's companions." The sea god was unfazed. "Are you done with those reports?"
"Almost."
"Then take a break for now, and let us practice your swordsmanship."
Annabeth stretched and picked up her sword, facing Perseus.
"Ah, but I fear your opponent today will not be me as usual." The sea god only turned her around and pointed up to a few bird shapes circling in the sky above them. "Those will be your opponents."
"Lord Perseus." Annabeth scowled as she looked at the dark shapes.
"Yes?"
"I thought we made a promise not to betray each other."
"I'm not betraying you. I'm merely training you. Fighting me is quite different than gaining actual battle experience. There are many different fighting styles, and you will encounter a variety of monsters in your future. Therefore, it will be to your benefit to have some actual fighting experience." He shaded his eyes with his hand as he stared at the flying creatures overhead. "These are just mere harpies. Usually such low-level creatures would avoid my ship as much as possible, so I surmise someone has sent them as a warning gift. It would be a disservice if we do not tell them how much we appreciate this 'present' of theirs."
Both of them stared at the creatures that were circling lower and lower as they descended.
Perseus tossed a shield towards her. "Do not fear. Should I detect anything awry, I will immediately step in."
He was right in that she did need actual battle experience, and as soon as possible to prevent any more assassination attempts on her life. Out here in the seas with a sea god for backup would be a controlled environment at best and would not be a great simulation of what awaited her demigod fate in the world, but at least she would have a good understanding of where her weak points lay.
Annabeth shifted the bronze plated leather shield in her left hand and drew her sword in her right. "All right. I am ready."
"Then prepare yourself." The sea god stepped back and closed his eyes as if concentrating.
The sky above shimmered as though an invisible veil had been removed. Upon discovering the magical barrier removed, the harpies shrieked and dove down.
As they came closer, Annabeth saw that these harpies had the upper torsos of women until red feathers began morphing from skin into the lower halves of eagles with powerful talons. Instead of human arms, they had large wings that spanned longer than a human and ended in sharp claws wicked enough to slash someone's face off.
All this Annabeth was able to see in a second as her battle instincts kicked in. The first two harpies had arrived, their talons outstretched. Annabeth slammed her shield into the one on the left. The harpy shrieked as it crashed into the side of the boat and lay there dazed.
The second harpy was smaller but faster. "I shall feast on demigod blood!" It cried, tossing its stringy hair back.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Annabeth caught sight of Perseus as he analyzed the fight. The sea god had even sat down while eating a cluster of grapes.
"Pay me no attention, Wise Girl." Perseus said as he even lounged back in his chair. "I have faith in your abilities."
"I would appreciate it if you could not talk at this moment!" Annabeth snarled as the harpy dove again.
This time, Annabeth charged forward and slid herself on the ground with the shield on her back with her sword outstretched above her. The wind of the harpy's talons grazed over hair, then poof! "Eeeeek!" The harpy yelled as Annabeth's sword sliced through the harpy like clay. Golden dust rained down.
Annabeth was back on her feet in the next second.
"Not bad, Wise Girl! But always watch your back." Perseus called.
The first harpy was still unconscious but that left the last harpy.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Annabeth flung herself towards the side, just missing the third harpy. This one had hung back while the first two had fought her, and at the critical moment, dove down using Annabeth's blind spot in the sky. Annabeth speculated the last harpy to be the leader and the most intelligent.
"Come here, demigod! I will be rewarded greatly for your death! See how the sea god has already abandoned you as he watches your demise!" The harpy taunted.
The said sea god waved his hand and a wave somehow splashed the harpy's feathers but did no harm. Other than that, Perseus had still not stepped in, so the fight should be in her favor.
Unexpectedly to both the harpy and the sea god, Annabeth ran away from the harpy.
"Come back here, coward!" The harpy gave chase.
As Annabeth passed the mast, she lashed out with her sword at a nearby rope. She had been observing how the ship seemed to run itself under Perseus' command. She grabbed the cut end of the rope with one hand and felt herself lift up into the sky. Just in time, the harpy passed below her.
Using the momentum, Annabeth swung herself around the mast so the rope wrapped around the wood pole. Before the harpy could reverse direction, Annabeth let go of the rope. Her feet slammed into the harpy's back, sending them crashing into the wooden ship floor. With one swing of her sword, the harpy dissolved into dust like her brethren.
Behind her, Perseus stiffened as he sensed something and quickly thrust out his hands. The ship suddenly shook as a humongous force slammed into it from the hull.
Annabeth cried out as she lost her balance and dropped her sword. The ship was now tilting nearly forty-five degrees on its side. The sword clattered towards the opposite side of the ship from gravity as the ship veered dangerously. The trireme would have cracked in half were it not for the sea god absorbing the blunt of the impact with his powers.
"Roaarrr!"
A much larger sea serpent than the one Perseus had gotten rid of burst out of the sea. Its mouth was as wide as the ship and exuded the breath of rotting fish.
"I'll handle the sea monster. Just watch out for the last harpy!" Perseus yelled out.
The third harpy had awakened. Taking advantage of the distraction, the monster flew towards Annabeth, intent on its prey.
Annabeth's sword was too far from her and she had dropped her shield somewhere. She scrambled backwards, slipping on the seawater puddles on the ship. Her hand clasped around the nearest object.
"Prepare for your death!" The harpy shrieked in joy.
Annabeth swung the object in defense. The harpy had only one moment for its face to contort to pain and surprise before it exploded into dust.
Her heart was pounding as the sea god helped her to her feet.
"Nice work, Wise Girl." In the meantime, Perseus had already reduced the sea monster to golden dust as the sea churned the dust away. "Shame about that last harpy. I was hoping to interrogate it to see who sent that flock after us."
"Lord Perseus." Annabeth paled as she stared at the object in her hands.
"What is it?" Then the sea god saw what was in her hands. The bronze glint of a dagger.
The Blade of Souls.
"How?" Confusion was clear on Annabeth's face. "But the dagger was taken away, was it not? I swear I did not steal this!"
"I know you did not. We both saw the dagger locked away.""
And now it had reappeared in her hands just when she needed it to block the harpy's attack.
Percy was grave, touching his clay bead necklace. He couldn't even congratulate the demigod for winning a ferocious battle on her own.
He didn't speak for a long moment. And when he did, his voice was solemn.
"Soul-Eater has chosen you."
He could not bear to tell her, but he feared the portension of sacrifice in her future.
A/N: And there goes my last day of winter break *cries in 60+ hour work weeks and night shifts*