A/N: I'm such a geek because I'm so excited to write more in this fic. Not much else to say but to enjoy the chapter and give a review when you're done reading. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I wish I did own it…but sadly I do not.

Chapter 7 Captain Phantom

"Okay, here's the plan," was the first sound Danny heard as he woke up the next morning. He gave a sleepy moan and rolled over to block Theo out. Danny had only managed to sleep for a few hours; five at the most, because it took him forever to dry off in front of the fire. He was in no mood for Theo and the Greek world.

Theo incessantly tapped Danny's back with the tip of his sandal to get the ghost boy awake. He would like to sleep for another hour too, but they had some traveling to do. The next two weeks were going to be rough. They couldn't afford to do anything they wanted.

"I'm up now, Theo, happy?" Danny grumbled up at Theo. The demigod sat down next to Danny and placed a map of Greece right on Danny's stomach to go over the plan. Danny rubbed his tired eyes and sat up with a sigh.

"We're here," Theo said while pointing to their spot on the map on Danny's stomach with a forefinger. "I've decided that we shouldn't go with what your sack as been telling us."

"Meaning?" Danny asked with a tight smile.

"Your magical sack has been showing us to each god or goddess that has been the closest to us," Theo explained. "Only one symbol shows up at a time when the god or goddess is near. But what I'm telling you is that it will be smarter to plan out a route."

"I like it so far," Danny said. "Go on."

Danny studied Theo closely as the demigod stared intently at the map. Theo was different than what he was before. Now that he was into the mission, actually trapped into it, his passion and devotion showed. Danny could just imagine the wheels spinning rapidly in Theo's head as he tapped his chin, clearly in deep thought.

"I know how to find some of the gods by myself," Theo said. "We have a one shot at this thing. We can't just trust that the sack will show us the way the whole time. So what I propose is that we go here first." He pointed to a place on the map that was close to the Middle East, "Then work our way back to Mount Olympus where we will either make it or break it. Then there is the issue of the Underworld…," he trailed off in thought.

"We'll think about that when the time comes," Danny said with the shake of his head. There was just so much to take in and things to do. It was going to overwhelm him if he didn't put it out of his mind right away. "Let's just get some food and start walking."

Theo snatched the map off of Danny's stomach and pulled his sleepy companion to his feet. "Oh, we're not going to walk all the way to our destination, unless you don't care about flying for a whole day while carrying me," he said with smile. He knew that would be terrible on Danny, so he already had a transportation plan in mind.

"No, let's do this your way," Danny said in a rush. "I do like the less painful ways."

-Three Days Later-

"Hey, a symbol appeared in my bag!" Danny whispered urgently to Theo. The two had paid two coins to a human farmer to permit them a ride on the back of his hay cart which he was riding to the city of Athens. It took about a day for the two to get used to the jostle and bumpiness of the cart to finally manage to sleep after going without any for hours. Finally they had gotten close enough to a god or goddess to set the magic sack into action.

Theo was dozing on top of the pile of hay, for once looking at total ease. Danny climbed the tall pile and shook him awake. The demigod sat up and looked into the open sack silently, shaking off the tendrils of sleep still trying to pull him back into dream land.

"There are grapes in your sack," Theo stated dully.

"Aren't they the symbol for the god of wine or something?" Danny asked. It seemed like his brain was at last able to remember some things he had been taught about the gods and goddesses.

Theo stretched and gave a giant yawn. Then suddenly his eyes went wide as Danny's words hit him. "Dionysus, you mean?" he asked in surprise. He looked back into the sack then looked around in confusion. "But there isn't a vineyard, tavern, or theater for miles! And Athens should be at least three more hours away."

The demigod was correct from what he saw. For miles on out there were only fields with freshly planted corn and other crops. Rolling hills carried these fields for as far as the eye could see. But it was evident that a town was coming up because small houses dotted the hills, and the dirt road they were traveling on was getting more and more crowded.

"Well, apparently there will be one," Danny said.

Theo whipped out his normal map from that morning and studied it for a second. "Did I sleep that long?" he asked Danny. "I didn't think I'd sleep for more than a few minutes."

"You were out for three days!" Danny answered. "You just now finally woke up. At one time I thought you were dead."

For a brief moment Theo believed Danny's words and looked like he was going to freak out. But then he saw the sly smile on Danny's face and frowned. "Cute," he muttered. "Seriously, how long was I…," he faded off as the cart they were on topped the hill, and they saw the large metropolis before them.

"Wow," was all Danny could think of to say.

Athens was huge. It wasn't tall and sleek like New York City or Chicago, but it was pretty big. All the buildings were made entirely out of large, cumbersome bricks. But somehow the Greeks could form the bricks into any shape possible. Colossal structures stood up by large, sculpted pillars. Smooth and polished statues dotted the busy streets. Even from a distance Danny felt the business, the rush of the city.

"We should stop by a theater performance at some point," Theo said. Danny noticed that the guy looked like he was so winded up that by a simple touch he would break. His cat ears were twisting in crazy directions, and his tail that had been seconds ago very calm was now a snappish mess. His eyes were narrowed slightly and observed everything. Cities freak Theo out, Danny thought.

"You okay?" Danny asked quietly. "You almost look scared, dude."

"Yeah," Theo said while standing up. "My senses just get jumbled up in cities. I'll get over it sooner or later. And…stop calling me dude. It doesn't fit into this time period." He was getting moody again. Danny sighed in frustration but went along with him anyways. At least he could trust Theo to be the one to make the right move. Well…at least he hoped.

"So…what do we do first?" Danny asked.

Theo sighed. "Dionysus could be anywhere in Athens," he said. "We could waste a whole day looking for him. He likes to move around. One hour he'll be at a bar and the next he'll hang out at a theater. Let's just say he likes to have as much fun as possible."

"Won't he be pointed out because he's a god?" Danny asked. Before Theo could respond, Danny voiced the answer in another question. "Or are gods like me and can have a human form?"

"You're not as dumb as you look," Theo said with a grin. "But yes. Convenient isn't it? And you shouldn't turn ghost in cities like this. Humans will either run screaming or urge you to be its hero. You don't want any of that, I'm sure."

"What about you? It's kind of obvious that you're a demigod," Danny stated while pointing to Theo's tail.

"I'll be fine," Theo said. "I haven't been here in five years, but people will recognize me enough to know I won't help them. Plus, when humans see me they think cute and fuzzy, not a hero for their doomed city."

Theo pulled Danny to his feet and then pushed him off the cart. Danny gave a sharp yelp as he almost did a face plant in the muddy ground. He pin wheeled his arms to keep from falling. Theo landed gracefully next to him and quickly grabbed his arm to prevent Danny from losing balance.

"Let's head for the theater to see when the next showing is," Theo said to Danny. "Dionysus should be there anytime today." He started to jog down the street with Danny by his side. It felt good for both of them to finally get their legs moving after three days of doing nothing.

"How do you know so much about the gods?" Danny asked, bewildered by Theo's knowledge.

"When you get banished, it's like you committed a crime and you're on probation," Theo explained after a long pause to get his words right and put it into Danny's terms. "So for 15 years I was under close watch by the gods and goddesses. It was their job to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. I got a lot of visits by them. If I did anything not to their liking, I would have either gotten killed or banished from Greece. Only for the past 5 years have I been free from them."

"Wait," Danny said, confused, "How old are you? I thought you were my age."

"People live a lot longer in this time period because the air is 10 times fresher than yours and not very toxic," Theo said. "Remember, Adam lived for almost a thousand years and so did Noah from the Bible. The numbers are getting lower every century, but they are still pretty high. Demigods (if their lucky) can live past any human because they're half ghost. And to answer your question, I'm 74 years old. But for your time period, I'm 17."

"You learn something new everyday," Danny said with a chuckle.

Theo grinned while hearing this. He was about to say some comment but skidded to a stop when seeing that Danny wasn't beside him anymore. His smile faded and was replaced by a deep frown as he scanned the crowded street for him. He was just beside him! The demigod couldn't get his mind around the fact that Danny had vanished in the matter of seconds.

Panic threatened to overtake his mind. Theo blocked the feeling, using every sense he had to pick up any trace of his friend. He snapped his head around as he saw Danny standing on the other side of the road, staring blankly at him. It looked like he was in some kind of trance.

"I don't like this," Theo muttered to himself.

Danny took off down the street, uncharacteristically managing to stay out of people's way and cleanly cutting through the crowd of humans. Theo swore under his breath and sprinted to follow. He had to roll, jump, and fling himself around the throngs of people standing in his way. His eyes were only on Danny, who was hard to track with so much people around.

Danny was defiantly under one of Dionysus's spells. Demigods could easily be drawn into one, except for demigods who weren't from Greece. Theo, who was Egyptian, had built up some kind of resistance to the mind power Dionysus would sometimes put on humans and demigods for his own entertainment. While under the spell, the victim would only see what Dionysus wanted them to see. Theo had no clue what Danny saw now, but whatever it was, it wasn't going to end well.

Athens was booming with humans. The streets were stuffed with slaves and servants running errands. Street venders had set up every kind of store. They sold anything from food like fish and bread to mindless trinkets like carved wooden blocks of god and goddess symbols and colorful robes of any shade. Even a few wealthy business people were scattered around the road, lifting their noses to each peasant that walked by.

It didn't take long for Theo to completely lose sight of Danny. The ghost kid could run fast if he wanted to. Theo was quick and smooth, but not even he could navigate the busy streets. He was already making a terrible scene by slamming head first into a small amount of humans. A few colorful words were yelled at him as he kept running.

"You're not getting away that easily, kid," Theo said under his breath as he saw Danny disappear into the crowd. He skillfully jumped into the air and grabbed onto a wooden rafter sticking out of a building that held a tarp up for a small street store. Theo pulled himself up, ignoring the stares of the multitude, and then jumped to the rooftop.

Now that he was higher up, Theo could clearly see Danny running down the street. It seemed like he was heading for the large theater on the other side of the Athens, but Theo couldn't be sure. There was only one thing to do…follow Danny.

Theo flung himself through the air, putting his feline genes finally into action. He landed on another rooftop, rolled smoothly to his feet, and then sprinted across it to jump to the next one. The crowd below stared and pointed up at the demigod as he leapt across rooftops like they were mere stepping stones.

His brown eyes were pinned on Danny's bobbing head as he ran through the crowd below. Theo let his senses do the rest. His ears were working like crazy to catch the sound of more voices that indicated to him when he was at the edge of the building and needed to jump to the next. His tail and quick reflexes kept him perfectly balanced the whole time.

For a brief moment Theo smiled to himself. It had been a long time since he had this much high action and adventure. He didn't notice till now how much he missed the adrenaline rushing throughout his system, the motion of his body, and the fast working of his brain. Somewhere in the demigod he liked this work-for-it life style.

It was apparent after a few minutes of running that Danny was heading straight toward the theater. Theo kept his eyes on Danny anyways. Dionysus wanted Danny for some unknown reason. It was up to Theo to find the reason out, deliver the god his symbol, shake Danny out of his trance, and then get both their butts out of there. Better said then done.

Danny ran through one of the openings of the theater that had been carved into the side of a hill. That was how every theater those days were made. Every seat was made out of rock from the side of a hill, all facing a center point that would be the stage. It wasn't built for comfort but only for entertainment.

Theo jumped off a rooftop and landed right behind the ghost boy. He ran straight into the theater entrance, expecting to see rows of seated humans upset that he was ruining the performance. But the moment he stepped into the place, he was seized by a power far too great.

"Holy!" Theo shouted as he stared out at a clear, blue sea. He stopped in his tracks and looked around, his senses freaking out. Salt smelling sea breeze rushed past his body that was now clothed in pirate garb, sword and all. A large mast snapped and flapped in the breeze above him. The wooden deck below him swayed as it swelled and dived over massive waves.

He was on a pirate ship.

"This isn't worth it," Theo muttered to himself as he spun around to run back to where he had come from. He hated to leave Danny there, but his head wasn't in the right place to keep going. He needed a few minutes to clear it. He skidded to a stop with a gasp just in time to keep himself from smacking into Dionysus.

The god was in his human form, which was a lot nicer than his god form. Actually, the god looked surprisingly handsome as a human. He had jet-black hair that fell into blood shot green eyes that could look into anyone's soul, figuring out any anonymity inside of them. He was tall with smooth features. He wouldn't be complete if he didn't have that knowing yet all mysterious smile perpetually planted to his lips.

"Theo," Dionysus said with a grin. "I've been expecting you."

"Really?" Theo asked, trying to come off as nonchalant. He backed away from the god, forcing the panic away with a quick sigh.

Dionysus grinned slightly as he clasped his hands behind his back and took a firm step toward the demigod. He noticed how Theo tentatively took one back. He bent down so his face was only inches away from Theo's. The demigod could now plainly smell the alcohol on the god's breath and had to resist the urge to wrinkle his nose in disgust.

"I've planned a whole theater performance for you and your friend while you were on your way here," Dionysus said with a giggle of his own pleasure. "You've have had to have seen it before, but I wanted you to experience it first hand with your friend. Look, he's already into his character as captain."

Theo kept eye contact with the god for a second before he dared to glance over to where Dionysus was pointing. He winced when seeing Danny standing steadily at the helm of the pirate ship. He was adorned in the usual dirty pirate clothes and a captain's hat. He stared off into the horizon as he charted a course and shouted orders to the crew.

Painfully, Theo tore his gaze away from Danny to look back to Dionysus. Instinctively, his hand went to the sword at his side. Dionysus saw this, waved his hand with an evil smile, and made the sword vanish into thin air. Theo backed away from the god, fear gripping his heart with its icy hold.

"The characters are set," Dionysus declared. "The actors are in place. The audience is all here and seated. You know the plot line, Theo. The only thing that is needed is for the performance to start. It all begins…now."

A/N: I'll leave you guys off here. I'm so evil. I'd laugh evilly if you guys could hear me. More is to come soon!