FISHER
Jason and Thalia said their goodbyes to everyone as we were preparing to leave. The seven seemed like a very close group and I knew that they would be devastated if something happened. Juliet, Maverick, Taylor, and I all left the big house to leave the group time together.
"That's horrible, poor Piper must be devastated." Juliet said. I swung my arms around Juliet and Maverick who were walking at my side.
"This has been a crazy day for us too. I found out that I have a brother. Taylor is the daughter of a virgin goddess." I said and high fived Taylor. "Maverick is already trying to get with half the girls at the camp and Patrick completely betrayed us."
"First of all, hitting on one girl is not half the girls at camp." Maverick said.
"So, you were hitting on her."
"Whatever, how are we going to get to Hawaii anyway? Isn't it like a rule that children of Poseidon can't fly?"
"Yes, it is. That's why we're going to drive there." Annabeth said coming from behind us.
"We have a week and the drive to California is like two days. How is that going to work?" Juliet asked.
"There is absolutely no way we are taking the Labyrinth." Percy said joining the group.
"Yea, I'm not a fan of dark tunnels anyway." Piper said finishing the group. She had obviously been crying.
"Perhaps I can be of assistance." A new voice said from behind me. I turned around to see a man who appeared to be glowing standing in front of a ridiculously expensive car.
"That's an amazing ride but who are you?" Taylor asked. The man looked at Taylor.
"So, this is my little sister's kid. How about a hug for your uncle?" The man said.
"You're Apollo." Juliet realized.
"Dad?" Maverick asked. Apollo took off his sunglasses and looked at Maverick.
"Maverick, I'm sorry that I couldn't be there for you, but I've been watching you and I couldn't be more proud." Apollo said.
"It's okay, I understand and thanks dad." Apollo nodded.
"That reminds me, I brought gifts." Apollo raised his hands above his hand and a golden bow and quiver appeared. "These are for you Maverick. The quiver's enchanted so that it doesn't run out of arrows. Try it out and try to tell me you've used a better bow." Maverick slung the quiver on and tried out the bow. Of course, he hit the target in the bull's eye.
"This is amazing. Thanks dad."
"No problem. Just don't tell your siblings." Maverick nodded.
"Don't I get a majestic bow like my cousin?" Taylor asked. Artemis walked past and tossed an identical silver bow and quiver to Taylor.
"Same deal." Artemis said nonchalantly. Taylor ran over and hugged Artemis.
"Thanks mom." Taylor said. For the first time, Artemis didn't seem so awkward with the situation and hugged Taylor back.
"You're welcome and remember you are my daughter and have an automatic position in my hunt if you want it." Poseidon and Aphrodite appeared next to Artemis and Apollo.
"Well, this is nice the whole family's here." Percy said.
"We have gifts as well." Poseidon said and tossed a watch to me. "It's kind of similar to Riptide. Click the face of the watch to activate." I did as he was told and a shimmering gold spear appeared in my hand. "The spear is magically connected to the watch. If you throw it, you can just reach for it and it will fly back into your hand."
"Sweet." Aphrodite clapped.
"Now me." She said. A bag appeared in her hand and she whispered something to Juliet. "I know that you're not much of a fighter but there is a dagger in there too. I know Piper will be watch out for you." Aphrodite turned to look at me. "You better not hurt my daughter." Then she looked at Maverick. "Either of you." Then she smiled like nothing happened. "Bye everyone and good luck." Poseidon and Aphrodite vanished leaving our group with the Artemis and Apollo.
"We are heading out. It will take us about five days to reach Hawaii while hunting the pack." Artemis said. "You will have a few days head start on us there." Artemis's hunt emerged from the cabin and walked towards Artemis. Jason also left the big house with Thalia to meet up with the hunt. "Good luck." Artemis's hunt, including Jason, stormed out of the camp in search of the enemy.
"How are we going to have a head start? We still have no way of getting there." Annabeth said.
"I said, leave that to me." Apollo said. He tossed a pair of keys to Maverick and flashed a glaring smile. "This ride's all yours. It will get you there in plenty of time. Apollo out." I looked at Maverick.
"Your dad is so weird." He shrugged.
"Hey, at least we got a sweet ride now." Maverick said and jumped in the front seat.
"Uh, Maverick? Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Piper asked.
"No idea." Maverick responded. "There's only one way to find out."
"Shotgun!" Percy and I both said at the same time. Juliet and Annabeth hit us.
"You two idiots are sitting with us in the back." Annabeth said.
"Yes, ma'am." I said and climbed in next to Juliet. Piper sat next to Maverick in the passenger seat. Percy, Annabeth and Taylor were all standing outside the car.
"Aren't you guys coming? I'm pretty sure we need you." I said.
"There's not enough room in your Porsche, Maverick." Annabeth said.
"Hmm, let me try something." Maverick said. He pressed a button and the car transformed into an armed military car.
"Are you kidding? You can't drive this thing across the country." Annabeth said.
"Uh, fine." Maverick said and pressed another button. The car transformed into a black van.
"Now, we are going to look like pedophiles."
"Oh my gods, is there any way of pleasing you."
"The answer to that is no." Percy said and earned a punch in the stomach from Annabeth.
"Oh, I have a better idea." Maverick said and hit another button. The van transformed into a small plane with Maverick and Piper sitting in the cockpit. "This is your pilot, Maverick, speaking. We will begin departure in two minutes. That's two minutes. We will begin departure in two minutes. Thank you that is all."
"We can't fly Maverick. Uncle Zeus will blow us out of the sky." Percy said.
"Luke, I am your father."
"Oh my gods, you're so immature, Maverick." Juliet said.
"Actually, Luke's father is Hermes." Percy said.
"You just had to bring look up didn't you?" Annabeth said.
"Oh, here we go!"
"Can we please just take off already?" Piper asked.
"We seriously can't fly." I said.
"With me as your pilot we can." Maverick said.
"I know a thing or two about flying also." Piper said.
"There you go. Piper and I got this. It's the only way we get there on time."
"He's right let's just go." Annabeth said. No questioned it but Percy and I exchanged a nervous look.
"Do you really think that Maverick can get us there with Zeus blasting at us?" Percy asked.
"Absolutely not." I replied.
"That's what I figured." We all boarded the plane anyway. Juliet and I sat next to each other with Percy and Annabeth on the other side of the aisle. Taylor decided to take a nap behind us.
"Please fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy ride." Piper said over the intercom.
"Not you too. Maverick, you're corrupting all my friends." Annabeth groaned.
"I'm sorry but the captain can't here while he is being awesome and flying a plane." Maverick said over the intercom.
"Like father, like son." Annabeth said. I could definitely see how Maverick is Apollo's kid.
We flew without any trouble for a few hours. Maverick was surprisingly a great pilot. Either Piper is the best copilot in history or Maverick inherited some natural flying skills from Apollo. Juliet fell asleep on my shoulder and Annabeth did the same to Percy. Percy was still awake probably for the same reason as me.
"You still nervous about flying?" I whispered to Percy.
"Yea, but I got to say, Maverick is a good pilot." Percy whispered.
"That's my boy." We stayed quiet for a few seconds. "Are you worried about Jason and Thalia?" Percy nodded. "Prophecies usually have double meanings right? Final retire could mean a lot of things." Percy nodded but didn't really seem convinced.
"I've lost a lot of friends you know? I'm always worried it could happen again. If I lost Annabeth I don't know what I would do. I'm really glad I met you though. I really need a brother for something like this."
"I know what you mean. You're not the only one who has lost someone close to you to those things."
"What do you mean?" I sighed.
"Well, my mom didn't want me to know about any of this stuff. She thought that by not telling me it would all go away or something." I started choking up. "She was so ignorant. She thought they wouldn't come or something just because I didn't know about them."
"Was? Thought? As in past tense?" I nodded.
"I'm sorry, bro. I can't really relate to losing a family member like that."
"It's okay. It's just always been this burden you know? Like, if she had told me, I could have left and then that thing wouldn't have come and killed my family. My mother and sister both dead because of me."
"It's not your fault."
"I know, but if I ever find the thing that did that to them. I will kill it and every last one of them."
"Do you know what it was? I could help." I shook my head.
"I've only ever seen one of them. It was a girl I think and it had…snakes where her hair should have been. Just these horrible red snakes that were hissing as she killed my family."
"Snakes for hair?" I nodded. "Are you familiar with Medusa?"
"Yea, I've heard of her and I thought it was her for a long time, but then I was thinking. I looked at her and I didn't turn to stone, my family didn't turn to stone, so how could it be her?"
"It can't but it might be someone like her." Percy nudged Annabeth awake.
"What do you want Percy?" Annabeth mumbled.
"Didn't Medusa have sisters?" Percy asked.
"Yea, but you killed her don't tell me that you're having nightmares or something."
"I'm not having nightmares."
"You killed Medusa?" I asked. Annabeth nodded.
"It was pretty hot."
"Okay, Annabeth, you can go back to sleep now." Percy said.
"No, wait. Annabeth, did any of these sisters have red snakes for hair." I asked. Annabeth sat up.
"Yea, why do you ask?" Percy and I looked at each other.
"What's her name?"
"Stheno, she killed more than both her sisters combined. Again, why do you ask?"
"She killed my family and now I have to kill her."
"We have your back every step of the way." Percy told me. Annabeth nodded in agreement.
"Than-
Suddenly the plane jerked sending Taylor on the floor and waking Juliet up.
"Watch where you're flying Maverick!" Taylor yelled. We heard Maverick over the intercom.
"This is your captain speaking. We are experiencing some minor turbulence." There was a static noise like the microphone was being moved.
"This is Piper. We just got struck by lightning. This is not minor turbulence. The plane is going down!" There was a static noise again.
"This is Maverick again. You guys are going to jump. We're about a mile from Maui. Percy can get you guys there. I'm going to put this in the ocean." We all started scrambling to open the door. Percy was the first one out so that he could cushion us from the fall. Annabeth jumped out right after him. Taylor jumped out without evening worrying about the situation. Piper came out of the cockpit with tears in her eyes.
"We can't just leave Maverick. What if he can't land it?" She said.
"Don't worry. I trust Maverick and I know he can land it."
"I can't just leave him!"
"Yes you can." Tears were streaming down her face now. "Don't be mad." She gave me a confused look. I grabbed her by the wrist and jumped out of the plane. As we fell all I could here was here sobbing.
"How could you do this? He is your friend." A large wave shot up and carried us safely to the rest of the group.
"He is my friend and I know that he is going to be just fine." As I said that, the plane hit the water and a large explosion surged across the sky.
"Maverick!" Piper yelled.
I watched as the plane and my best friend disappeared underneath the waves.