Chapter Five: Helios Speedboat

Rachel's eyes widened and she looked at Apollo. "Hi, Lord Apollo—I'm a big fan. I love the sun!" Annabeth rolled her eyes at Rachel. Then looked at Thalia with an expression that said: Here's the idiot I was stuck with on the last quest. Why was she being so rude? It was like the Labyrinth all over again. I remembered something Rachel had said last time she acted this way. Something like: "Boys. So blind." What had she meant?

"Thanks," said Apollo.

"So, Rachel," I asked. "Do you want to come with us?"

"Yes! Should I pack?" she asked.

"Um, I think you should be fine. None of the rest of us brought anything extra," I said.

"Oh, yeah," said Apollo. "That reminds me. Here's the key to my old sun ship," he said, tossing me a key.

"Sun ship?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, before the sun chariot, I used the sun ship. You know, sun breaking the horizon…anyway, it was too much of a hassle to make the sun rise when you had to stay down in the water. It should ride okay, but it hasn't been checked in a while so don't expect any top-of-the-line race boat." He winked at me.

"I'm sure I'll manage," I said.

"What? I don't get it. What's so funny?" Rachel said.

"Oh yeah—I'd forgotten I never told you who my god parent was. You'll find out soon enough." I smiled at Annabeth and this time the smile was returned. I turned to the sun god. "So where're we going to find the boat?"

"Gemini Docking Station," he said, smiling. I'll drive you guys there. I hope one of you doesn't mind using the middle seat in the back." Rachel shrugged.

"Sure," she volunteered.

So Rachel was squeezed in between Thalia and me (Apollo had wanted Thalia to sit next to him on the ride back, but when Thalia reached for her quiver, he'd backtracked and asked Annabeth instead—smart move.). Rachel clutched my arm like a vise for the entirety of the ten-minute ride. When we landed, I rubbed my arm, wondering vaguely if it would bruise.

The docking pier was freshly stained with rows upon rows of motorboats, yachts and other vessels (all extremely expensive-looking). Apollo pointed us to a beautifully crafted streamline powerboat with the words Helios Speedboat painted on the stern

"This is mediocre?" I said. "You lent us a speedboat!"

"Calm down, Seaweed Brain," said Annabeth, though she was pretty openly gaping, as were the others. "We don't want you to start spouting sea foam."

"Thanks, Apollo!" I said.

"Yes, thank you, Lord Apollo," said the others.

"No problem. I know you can drive it, just make sure the sun-towing cables are retracted. You shouldn't call too much attention with it, seeing as the sun's already on my chariot," said Apollo. "But before I go: I feel a Haiku coming on!" Thalia and I grimaced, having experienced the teenage god's Haikus before.

"A sun boat for you

Be careful everybody

Don't scratch the speedboat!"

"Well, I have to go do sunrise in the Eastern Hemisphere, so see you later." He smiled and waved. We waved good-bye back.

Then Apollo took off into the sky and curved slowly over the horizon, making the sun set for the night.

"Climb aboard," I said, ushering them onto the yacht.

"You can steer a boat?" said Rachel.

"Yes, I can steer a boat," I said, grinning. "My god parent is Poseidon, Lord of the Sea.

"Oh," she said. "Okay, then. Let's get going."

I untied the boat and pulled away from the dock, hitting eighty knots before we were fifty feet away. Instead of sitting in the driver's seat, I chose to walk around the deck, using my powers to speed us away from the pier. Eventually, I set the speedboat to go at about one hundred ten knots. I felt so at home here, in the sea—content. Just like on the journey to the Sea of Monsters, I had perfect bearings on our location.

When my other passengers started looking a little green, I opted to try something: I went up to Annabeth and asked, "Can I test an idea I have? Maybe I can stop the seasickness."

She nodded mutely, looking miserable. I put my hands on her shoulders and closed my eyes, concentrating. I tried to visualize Annabeth healthy, able to stand firm on the deck without getting dizzy… "Percy. I'm better," Annabeth said in a surprised voice. I opened my eyes. "How…?"

"I don't know, I just sort of visualized it and…"

She shook her head. "It's just like in the Sea of Monsters, when you were discovering all those new powers," she said in an amazed tone. I wanted to stay there, staring into her gray eyes, the color of the ocean during a storm, but then Rachel spoke:

"Can you get rid of my seasickness too, Percy?" she groaned.

"Yeah, I'll be right over," I said, kind of annoyed she had interrupted. "I'll be right back," I told Annabeth.

"Sure," she said, kind of agitatedly.

I cured Rachel and Thalia's seasickness, and their sickly green coloring changed back to a pale peach. Then I went back over to Annabeth, who was sitting on her knees on a chair facing the opposite way, looking out at the Atlantic, which was swathed in nighttime shadow.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi," said Annabeth. With the seasickness gone, she looked more than healthy. She looked radiant. I sat next to her, assuming the same position facing the sea. Thalia was shivering, bundling her life preserver vest tightly around her. The darkness grew until it was almost pitch black, but I could see everything around me, my senses at their most sensitive, nerve endings stretched taut.

First Rachel fell asleep, then Thalia. We were still going at about a hundred knots, and I was itching to go faster, but I knew that the wind would probably bother the others too much—Thalia had been shivering at one hundred ten knots, let alone one-fifty or faster.

Annabeth looked at me in confusion. "Aren't you tired at all?" she asked softly. Her eyelids were beginning to droop.

"No," I said. "I feel wide awake actually."

"Hmm," she said, turning around so she was seated normally in her seat. I copied her. "That's better. I was starting to feel kind of sore."

I knew that another chance like this probably wouldn't come again for a while. Thalia and Rachel were asleep, so we were practically all alone in the dark. I knew I had to follow Apollo's advice now.

"Annabeth?" I said.

"Hmm?"

"You know how when you got captured, Bianca was killed in New Mexico?" I asked.

She was more aware now. "Yeah," she said.

"Well, before that happened, Ares and Aphrodite came to where we were."

She picked up on the infamous meddler's name: "Aphrodite?" she asked. "Why was she there?"

She must see this coming, I thought. Why do I have to say it? But I kept going. "She wanted to talk to me…about you. She said that I…" I had to force it out— "That I loved you. And now I know…that it's true."

She looked at me, and for a while I was worried that Aphrodite was wrong and that Annabeth didn't love me back, but then she said, almost inaudibly, "I love you too, Percy." And then I kissed her, and in that moment I was more grateful that I had left Calypso's island than I'd ever been.