Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson

A/N: Fight scenes are really hard. I hope I did a good job…. Hope you enjoy!

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Getting into the armory took longer than I had wanted and originally planned. Why? Well, (1) because I'd broken in once before and ruined probably a dozen or so of their arrows (I'm not ashamed of that, honestly) so they rose the security, and (2) because of the harpies. Tantalus had put extra patrols out so I was constantly trying to dodge them and pray they wouldn't find me when they caught my scent.

It was very frustrating, but if I wanted to ever get out of here, I was going to finish this mini mission within my bigger mission. I guess you could say I didn't need, need the arrows, but sometimes they came in handy. I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to lose to a monster ever again, because if I did that might just be the last time I do.

I'm not exactly sure how long it did take, but I'm estimating probably a good 10 to 15 minutes. (Okay, so it wasn't that long, but it was long to a half-blood who had ADHD. You can't blame me.)

Finally, though I got the arrows I needed and shoved them into my quiver, then proceeded to shove them into my backpack. Then, decided to put my blade and sword in as well. I don't know what made me do it, but I had a feeling I'd want them hidden. Better to be safe than sorry, right?

I crept my way around another patrol, and sprinted up Half-Blood Hill. I stopped, though, at the top and turned to look back at camp. I didn't know when, or if, I'd be coming back. I wanted one last look. Even though the camp was dying, seeing it bathed in moonlight, it looked magnificent. The Long Island Sound sparkled, reflecting back the moon's rays and the stars (just barely though). The strawberry fields, pavilion, and forest glowed silver.

A wave of nostalgia hit me before I could push it down. But I couldn't let that distract me. I had a mission I needed to complete before Luke went too far. I was going to save him.

I swallowed the fear, and anxiety, and nostalgia and turned around, only to see someone standing there. I gasped and let out a small squeal as I started to fall backwards, my arms flailing. Thankfully this person reached out, before I could hit the ground and go rolling, and pulled me back up. I stumbled into this person who then righted me. I made sure that my feet were firmly planted on the ground before I let go and stepped back.

My heart pounding inside my chest from the shock of that little surprise, I looked up to see who it was.

My eyebrows furrowed, and I had to squint them to get a better look. To make sure my mind wasn't playing tricks on me.

"Luke…?" I asked hesitantly.

His eyebrows arched. "I didn't know I looked so much like him." he said. It took me a second to realize who it was.

"Oh!" I gasped. "Oh my go-odness." I almost said gods. "Lord Hermes!" I panicked. I wasn't sure what to do. I wasn't expecting to find him here! He took a couple steps forward coming out of the shadows of Thalia's tree. He did look like Luke, and the Stoll Brothers (all his children) with his elfish features and always that mischievous gleam in his eyes, but he had salt-and-pepper colored hair.

"Calm, child." he told me.

My ponytail bobbed with my head as I nodded. "Right. Right. I'm calm." I said taking deep breaths. "You scared me, is all. I wasn't expecting to find someone there when I turned around."

"Going somewhere?" Hermes asked his eyes flickering to the backpack slung over my shoulder.

"Oh, this…" I trailed off looking down at my pack. "Yeah. I'm leaving camp…" I said slowly. Hermes's eyebrow rose again. "To find… Luke." I finished.

"Oh," he said in understanding. "The love interest part of the story. Tori, right?" I nodded, blushing. The "love interest part of the story"? It didn't make it any better that Hermes was Luke's father. "Aphrodite has told me a lot about you and Luke." he continued. Great, now the gods were talking about us.

Just great. Did I ever have a private moment?

"And just exactly what are you going to do when you do find him?" the god asked.
I looked down as I said, "I want to save him." I didn't know what else to say. It seemed pretty explanatory to me. When Hermes didn't say anything for a long time I finally looked up.

"I want to show you something." he said when I met his eyes. He stepped forward, put a hand on my shoulder, and turned me to look out across the camp again. He pointed. "Do you see that small dot of light in the distance?" he asked.

I looked, but I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be looking at. I shook my head. "No, I-I don't…"

"Just off the coast." Hermes said. I looked and sure enough I did see a small speck of yellow light.

"Oh, yeah." I turned to face Hermes. "Why…?"

"I think you'll find it'll help you find Luke." he told me with a smile. I was cautious, but you usually didn't take a god helping you very lightly (even if he was the god of thieves).

"But, how will I get onto the ship?"

"I think this'll help you." he said pulling an apple out of one of the pockets of his running short.

"Thanks." I said a little dryly as he handed it to me.

"You'd better get going before the ship leaves." Hermes said nodding in the direction of the Long Island Sound.

I nodded. "Thanks," I said again with more sincerity. I looked across camp again.

"Good luck." he told me. I turned to say bye, but he had already disappeared.

I sighed and started down the hill with the apple still in my hand. It was weird because I thought that I'd have trouble getting past all the harpies again, but they were nowhere to be seen. It was good for me, but had me a little paranoid, thinking they were just waiting somewhere to jump out and eat me.

As I was getting closer to the beach, I looked at the apple in my hand and turned it around. I was trying to think of why exactly how an apple would help me get to the ship that was several hundred yards away from the beach, when I passed the stables. That's when I heard one of the horses, or pegasi, whinny from inside. I stopped.

No way.

Looking around, just to be sure, I opened the door to the stables and walked in. It was really dim, but I was afraid to open the door any wider. I saw all the sleeping horses and pegasi. But there was one Pegasus—that was pure white by the way—that was wide awake, and whinnying. I wanted something a little more inconspicuous, but if it was my only way, I'd have to take it.

I quickly took out my blade and cut the apple in half (one for now, one for later). I opened the stable gate and coaxed the Pegasus out with one half of the apple. Every time it whinnied I froze and told it to be quiet. (This was really draining physically and emotionally. I wasn't expecting it to be this way.)

As soon as we were out of the stables I gave the Pegasus the apple and hopped on. I'd only ever rode a Pegasus once before in my six years here, so I was really nervous, more so about falling off into the ocean than getting caught. The Pegasus trotted down to where the beach began; then started galloping to gain momentum. I held my breath as we took off just at the water's edge.

The flight was smooth, flawless, and quiet. As we got closer I finally comprehended this was a cruise ship. It was huge! The hull had to be at least ten stories high, topped off with probably another dozen or so levels of decks with its balconies and portholes ablaze with light. The ships name was painted in big, black letters and highlighted with a spotlight. It was hard to read because of my cursed dyslexia, but I finally decoded it: PRINCESS ANDROMEDA.

Attached to the bow was a three-story-tall woman wearing a white Greek chiton, sculpted so that it looked like she was chained to the front of the ship. Andromeda was young and very beautiful with a full head of flowing black hair, her expression, however, was that of pure horror. I vaguely remembered her myth, but then again I didn't really pay attention to a lot of the Greek myths (I know, it's kind of bad of me…).

We landed on the very top deck of the ship. I hopped off, grateful to be on solid ground, and fed the other half of the apple to the Pegasus.

"Go back to camp. Thank you." I whispered. The Pegasus nodded and whinnied before turning and flying off. I watched it fly away until it was too far to see anymore. That was one of the worst choices I've made, because while I had been distracted someone had managed to sneak up on me.

"Well, well, well," a horribly familiar voice drawled.

Busted.

I slowly turned around to come face to face with the empousa that had I'd come across on New Year's Eve. Immediately I knew this wasn't just any cruise ship.

"You know," I said a little breathless. "I don't think I ever got your name."

She smiled showing her fangs. "It's Kelli. And you're Tori." she said. I swallowed hard. She started to circle me. I didn't dare move. "Luke has told me so much about you."

"Has he now?" I asked, trying to hide my fear.

"Oh, yes, it's quite… annoying sometimes." She sighed. "I swear, that's all he talks about. It's so tragic. I don't even think you're that pretty." she sniffled and I felt her hand pet my hair. I cringed and jerked away. She came to face me again. "What's in the bag half-blood?" she asked all fake sadness gone from her voice.

I held the strap tighter and with both hands.

"None of your business." I told her.

She laughed. "Oh, I think it is." she said reaching forward to grab it. I stepped back. I was not going to let her take it from me. We had a stare down. "So you wanna play hard ball, huh? Well, I'm game." Her hand darted out and she grabbed my ponytail before starting forward.

I gritted my teeth and stumbled after her, trying not to shift too much. We went down a few flights of stairs, and through a promenade full of closed shops. Down corridors with closed cabin doors. It was probably after the fifth corridor did I realize I hadn't seen anyone. Not one single person. The ship was totally silent. It was… creepy.

Finally Kelli stopped at a door, threw it open, and shoved me in. I would've admired the nice room, but I was too busy being angry.

"You know, I really don't think you should be treating me this way." I spat turning around to face her.

"Oh?" she challenged. "Why is that? Because you and Luke are boyfriend and girlfriend?" she mocked. Her hand—well actually fist—lashed out and hit me clear across the right cheek. And it wasn't like a slap, at all. I could already feel the bruise.

Not expecting this from her, I fell to the floor. Kelli came up, ripped the backpack from my arm and threw across the room (I was just glad it was still in the room at least).

She smiled. "Well, what he doesn't know"—she grabbed my hair, pulled me off my feet, and threw me into the vanity—"won't hurt him." I grabbed the edge to balance myself.

"I could just tell him you did this." I said looking at her through the mirror.

She turned into her human form, her eyes becoming wide.

"I can act clueless." she said in a soft, innocent-sounding voice.

I snorted. "You don't need much help with that." I hadn't exactly meant to say that, it just sort of came out.

Kelli growled and came up to me. She grabbed my neck, spun me around and slammed me up against the wall.

"Big mistake!" she hissed, her hand tightening on my neck, cutting off my airways. As I coughed and gasped, I reached up and dug my nails into her skin. Her hand only tightened, but I started clawing her hand and arm with my nails until she let go. Air whooshed into my lungs, almost painfully. The rush made me slightly dizzy for a moment. "Ugh! You've got a lot of nerve!" she shrieked at me. Her fist came up and hit me again but this time it was right below the temple—about where my eye was—on the left side of my face.

I fell over, seeing, first stars, then black spots, she'd hit me with so much force. Before I could gather my bearings her foot connected with my stomach, I let out a cry of pain. Then she grabbed my upper forearm, pulled me to my feet, and twisted me around into the vanity again, except with so much velocity the mirror shattered, cutting my arms and face.

I frantically grabbed the biggest broken shard I could find and plunged it into her arm. She howled in pain and let go of me. She staggered back giving me a look of pure hatred.

"You're lucky, half-blood. Very lucky." she spat heading for the door leaving the glass shard in her arm. "I'll be back tomorrow morning. You'd better hope I'm in a much better mood." She opened the door and slipped out before slamming it closed. I flinched as the noise hit me.

I slowly sunk to the floor. My head was pounding, and now that the adrenaline was wearing off, I ached and hurt all over. Thankfully she hadn't totally beaten me up, but right now that's the way it felt.

I looked at the bed that was across from the vanity. I summoned the last of my strength and stood up. I limped over to the bed, every move painful; every breath painful, and crawled onto it. The pillows were as soft as silk and light as clouds. I carefully rested my head onto a pillow wincing when I put pressure on my cheek where Kelli had hit me.

I rolled over onto my back and fell into a restless night's sleep.

The ship's whistle followed by an all-too-happy Australian guy's voice over the intercom woke me up. I groaned and rolled over, covering my head with another pillow as the guy said, "Good morning, passengers! We'll be at sea all day today. Excellent weather for the poolside mambo party!" I groaned again and buried my head deeper into the pillows, ignoring the pain from my bruises. "Don't forget the million-dollar bingo in the Kraken Lounge at one o'clock, and for our special guests, disemboweling practice on the promenade!"

I relaxed when it stopped. Then I remembered what Kelli had said: I'll be back tomorrow morning. (I wasn't too worried about the disemboweling practice, I knew that weird Australian man wasn't talking about me.) But I was worried that Kelli had other plans for me that was worse than disemboweling and didn't involve going to see Luke.

I sat up in bed and looked around the room. The sunlight was surprisingly bright, shining through the porthole. I wanted to get more sleep, but I had to clean up, and think of a strategy to get away from whatever Kelli planned for me.

I slipped off the bed, grabbed my backpack and went into the bathroom. I took a scorching hot shower, the water soothing the sore, tense muscles in my body, and relieving me of my headache for a few minutes at least.

I dressed into clean clothes, and blow dried my hair before putting it into a loose bun. I briefly looked at myself in the mirror. I had two bruises on my face the color of Welch's grape juice. The one where Kelli had kicked me was big, purple and slightly green. I had bruises in the form of a hand on my left arm, and on my neck. Oh and I did have some cuts on my face and arms from the vanity mirror; they were shallow. But other than that, that was really it.

Then I sat on the bed and thought of a plan. I grabbed my blade, slipped it up my sleeve, and my sword (I was leaving my bow-and-arrows here, regrettably). I was going to ambush Kelli and hopefully dust her. I grabbed another big shard from the broken mirror so I could see where she was standing when I did. I was going to be waiting just on the threshold of the bathroom (which was on the same wall as the vanity, by the way).

I went into the bathroom and waited. I tried sitting still, but as the minutes ticked by I became more and more restless. So I stood up and started pacing the length of the bathroom. At one point I tried the door, but Kelli had locked it somehow. Cursing I went back to the bathroom.

I don't know how long it had been (forever by my ADHD standards, 15 to 20 minutes by others, I'm guessing), but finally I heard the door open. I got to my post and held up my shard. She was standing in the doorway right now. As I watched she came in, looking for me. She still looked pissed.

"You can't hide forever, half-blood." she growled. "I know you're in here." She started walking forward. I quickly and quietly put the shard down on the sink behind me, and reached to unsheath my sword. My sword, however, didn't want to cooperate. It wouldn't come out! I pulled as hard as I could, but it wouldn't budge. I cursed under my breath. Now I had to re-think my whole strategy in less than a second! I grabbed the shard again to see where Kelli was now. She was at least five feet away from the door.

I set it back down, my mind racing.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are." she sang. I could hear the smile in her voice. She had me and she knew it. But I wasn't going to give up that easily.

I turned so that I was standing in the doorway and as soon as Kelli came into sight, I rushed her, jerked the sword—sheath and all—from my waist and rammed the butt of my sword upward, hitting Kelli's chin. She stumbled back and I twirled the blade in my hand, so I was holding the hilt, and slammed her to the side with my blade. Then I took off running while she was still dazed.

"Stop her!" Kelli shouted as I ran through the door. I was met with two spears aimed at my chest, held by two dracaenae—half snake, half human. Their flaw? They were standing together instead of blocking both the corridors and their spears were wood. Easily breakable if you hit them hard enough.

Which I did.

I swung my sword, making an arc and the spears snapped like twigs. Before they could do anything else, I spun my sword around, so I was holding lengthwise and shoved the two dracaenae against the opposite wall and sprinted down the right corridor. I knew where I was going even though I'd never been on this ship. I just had this strong feeling that told me which way to go (don't ask).

I didn't meet much resistance; it was mostly people and crew members with glazed eyes and blank looks. I got to deck four and sirens started blaring. I kept running trying to stay ahead but when I got to deck six and turned a corner I met three half-bloods. I turned to run the other way and three more appeared, stopping me.

All right then. I guess I'd have to fight.

All six of them drew their swords. I tried mine again, but it was still stuck for some reason. I couldn't fight one group at a time and have my back unprotected. So, I backed up to one of the walls and thought of a plan quickly as they slowly closed in, smirking, thinking they had me (just like Kelli).

Taking a deep breath, I readied myself and my muscles for what I was about to do. I'd never done it before, so there was that potential that I'd fail and land on swords. But, you know, other than that it was a relatively safe move.

Hyping myself up, I ran forward towards the other wall, halfway there I stuck my sword into the floor, lifted my feet off the ground, and catapulted myself forward. Inches away from the wall I stuck my foot out and pushed off, flying over the three half-bloods that had been on my left side. I did a somersault as soon as my hands hit the ground, and then, staying low to the floor with one leg sticking out, I spun around and tripped two of the three immediately in front of me.

The third managed to dodge my leg. She threw her sword down at me, but I blocked it with my own. I stood up and jabbed at her but she evaded. The other three were coming forward, the two I'd knocked down were getting up.

I smacked the one closest to me that was getting up across the head. He went down, unconscious. I turned my sword and hit the other one getting up with my hilt on the forehead before swinging my blade around and hitting him again.

Two down, four to go.

The girl came at me, and I parried her strike, before jumping to my right just as another blade came slicing through where I'd just been. The girl jabbed her sword at me. I blocked while sliding my sword forward so the tip could catch her hilt. I twisted the blade right out of her hand before slamming her across the head. She went down just as the others came forward.

I was fighting three at once now, their swords coming inches away from chopping off my fingers, arms, and my head now and again. Of course there would be times where it was close and I did get cut, but I was on overdrive, I anticipated every move all three of them made. I was hyperaware of my surrounding. No backup had come but I had a bad feeling they were on their way. The sirens were still blaring, but I had learned to block them out.

I needed to end this, and soon, before the backup came and before they managed to press me against the wall because that's what they were doing at the moment. I had to fall back or risk having my hand hacked off.

One of them went in with a thrust. I titled my head to the side to avoid getting impaled and moved in jabbing the tip of my blade into his stomach with as much force as possible. Then I thrust my hilt back to hit the one that slipped behind me in the chest. I turned and connected the flat of my blade with the guy's temple. He crumpled into a lifeless heap.

I pivoted just in time to block another sword. I threw my foot up and kicked her wrist as hard as I could. It worked and her sword dropped from her hand. As soon as it slipped I, just like the others, hit her across the head knocking her out.

I stepped back, breathing hard. Adrenaline rushing through my veins, my heart fluttering against my chest, like a trapped bird.

I sensed someone behind me and reached for my sword. As I twisted around, out of habit I pulled my sword and sheath in opposite directions. Except this time my blade slipped out with ease. I'm not going to lie, it shocked me. But with an enemy behind me I couldn't afford to be shocked. I dropped my sheath and brought my blade down.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed jerking away from my sword. I managed to freeze my arm, my blade stopping a centimeter away from his neck. The sirens cut off. "Tori, it's me. It's Luke."

It took me a moment to understand what he'd said. I was still in battle mode.

"Tori…?" Luke asked cautiously.

I pulled my sword away slowly. "Luke?" I asked. He smiled and nodded. I felt the tears well up in my eyes, but I didn't let them fall. I dropped my sword, but kept it in my hand, and went up to him. So many emotions ran through me. Love, joy, happiness, but also, I was angry with him!

I pulled my sword back up and held it at the base of his throat.

"Don't think that you're off the hook." I told him, putting pressure on my blade. Luke held up his hands and started to back up, I followed. "You totally abandoned me!"

"I needed a spy." he muttered. I raised an eyebrow. "I was going to get you." I looked at him. He swallowed. "Okay, I just needed to get my priorities straight."

I nodded. "Yeah, you got that right!" I pulled away to get my scabbard. Luke came up behind me as I sheathed my sword and put his arms around my waist.

"But you're happy to see me." he murmured in my ear. I pursed my lips and tried not to smile. Because I was happy to see him. Extremely happy to see him, in fact. He turned me around and met my eyes. "Hey, are you all right?" he asked holding my face gently in his hands. His eyebrows knitted together. "You're hurt." he said quietly.

"It's not as bad as it looks." I lied, biting my lip and looking away. Luke's hands dropped.

"Are you sure? It looks… really bad." he whispered one of his hands coming up again. I flinched because if you so much as brushed my bruise, it throbbed painfully. His hand froze for a moment and he looked at me suspiciously. "Are you sure?" he asked again his hand slowly inching forward.

"Yes," I half-yelled, half-gasped slapping his hand away. "Yes." I said with a little more composure. "I'm fine."

"Tori," Luke sighed. "Don't be so stubborn." He reached up again and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Ow, ow, ow. Stop. Stop." I said.

"I'm not even touching it." Luke said flatly.

I opened my eyes. It was true. His hands were nowhere near my face.

"Okay, so maybe it is as bad as it looks." I admitted. "But, I'm fine. Honestly. I am totally fine."

Luke reached up and gently brushed some loose hair behind my ear. It was like being touched by a feather; his fingers were light and delicate against my skin. I looked up at him and then our lips met.

It was so sweet, and soft, and tender, and slow.

"I missed you." I whispered when we pulled away.

"I missed you, too." he replied.

I heard some groans behind me and turned to see all the half-bloods starting to wake up. As soon as they saw me and remembered what happened they jumped up, swords ready. It was lucky Luke was there to tell them, "Stand down."

"But sir!" one of them protested.

"That's an order!" he said.

They all glared at me. I gave them a sweet smile.

"Sorry, about that." I mumbled. Some of them sneered at me; some of them gave me sarcastic smiles back.

"Don't worry about them. They'll be fine." Luke muttered in my ear. "Come on. I have some business I have to attend to."

"Oh, did I interrupt something? I'm sorry." I apologized. "I didn't trust Kelli to take me to you."

"No, that's okay. We can just head over there right now." he assured me. As we walked I could feel the cold and the… evil creep over me. It wasn't only that, but I could feel this pressure building. It was almost time and I didn't think I was ready for it. Just knowing… it made my heart lurch painfully.

I looked over at Luke and realized what he was wearing.

"Wow, fancy." I commented slightly impressed. How had I not noticed this before?

Luke stopped. I stopped too and turned to face him.

"What do you think?" he asked. I started a slow circle around him. Button down shirt. Khaki pants. Leather loafers. That's right, they weren't just loafers, folks, they had to be leather. And then there was his hair.

I puckered my bottom lip slightly and sighed.

"I'm gonna miss the hair." I told him truthfully reaching up and running my hand through his shorter hair, which was soft… and still thick, it was just tamed. "But I think I can adjust." I muttered straightening his already straight collar and patting it down. "Do I get something fancy? Not that I need anything, like, super fancy. But, you know…." I ran my fingers through my hair again, then realized that I'd probably done that too many times. A blush stained my cheeks. I pulled my hand away, and put it behind my back where it would be safe. "Oops. Sorry."

Luke smiled, wrapped an arm around my shoulders and kissed my forehead.

"I have something in mind." he murmured.

"Oh?" I asked my eyebrows rising and my curiosity spiking.

Luke smiled mysteriously and said, "Come on, we should get going." he took a step back.

I guess I'd have to wait.

We continued down the hall and turned a corner. About thirty, or so, feet away were double oak doors.

"Nice." I said.

He shrugged and continued forward. I started chewing my lip as we got closer. The feeling of dread became almost overwhelming.

It was time.

And I wasn't ready in the slightest.

I know I didn't add George and Martha, but I wasn't quite sure that I'd be able to portray their characters very well. So, forgive me! Writing about gods/goddess is harder than you think you know… just sayin'. Hope you enjoyed!

.happiness.

~ See you at Camp Half-Blood