TONIGHT! :D I GET BOO TONIGHT AT 8 PM! Because I live in Hawaii, my kindle delivers pre-orders at that time-mostly because that's midnight PST. So, technically speaking, I get BoO 4 hours ahead of schedule :D And then tomorrow after work I'm off to B&N to grab my preordered hard copy :) SUPER EXCITED~!

So, that being said, I will post TWO chapters today, both in Bobby's POV (how appropriate it be Percy's son)! One now, and one after work :D After that, be prepared to not see me until I finish BoO, which will probably be in, like, two days :P

Disclaimer: I own the kids/teens but not any of the canon characters.


VI

BOBBY

Bobby Jackson would be lying if he said he wasn't a little bit afraid.

Going on a quest? Not Bobby's forte, like Tulio. He was a planner, an architect like his mother and grandmother. He didn't have his mother's ambition to lead or go on quests. He only went on quests if a prophecy specifically mentioned him—which, thankfully, hadn't been very many times.

Now he was expected to ride on this gigantic warship to gods-know-where to find his missing mother! And that was only a start. He still had to stay on the warship to find his father and every other missing parent!

He was the youngest of the questers at 13, at most by three years (from Lacy); and at least by one year (from Mark). Gus, Aria and Zac would not be going on the quest—thank the gods—so Chiron actually arranged for them to stay in the Hephaestus and Ares Cabins. Aria wasn't a true legacy like Zac, but Chiron assured her it was okay for her to stay at camp until her parents and siblings returned. He even promised that all three of them would get a bead for spending their time as campers—even little Zac.

Bobby had poured over every single book he could find with riddles—even kids' books, for good measure. If there was a battle of riddles, he would need to know as many as possible. As for the wit part…well, he wasn't a legacy of Athena for nothing! He'd show anyone or anything that he was the master of wits!

He just hoped he wouldn't be facing spiders.

He shuddered at the thought as the Argo II floated down to hover just above the omega of cabins. Bobby was really impressed. He'd never really seen the Argo, seeing as how going into Bunker Nine sounded more like a death wish if you weren't in the Hephaestus family.

But dayum! That ship was AWESOME!

From what Esperanza had told him this morning after breakfast, Tulio and Leo had spent pretty much the entire night going through final preparations to get the ship airborne after over two decades of sitting inside the bunker. Apparently, those final preps included completely installing the newest masthead—a kick-ass bronze dragon head that looked almost as awesome as Festus, the Valdez family's 'pet' automaton dragon.

This dragon head didn't have ruby eyes like Festus. Instead, two sapphire eyes gleamed down at the gathering campers, satyrs, and dryads. A huge collar was welded to its neck. Bobby squinted a bit to see if he was reading it right.

ICARUS

The Valdez duo lowered the gangplank. Leo was grinning proudly, his muscular arm wrapped around his son's scrawny shoulders. Bobby couldn't believe Leo had once been as scrawny as Tulio. He'd seen the pictures, and quite frankly, Bobby had to wonder if they were photoshopped or something. There was no way Leo had built this giant warship almost single-handedly and still had managed to be stick-thin.

Speaking of which, how had Tulio managed to not gain some muscle while building that dragon figurehead? That thing was enormous and very high-tech. And yet Tulio…

The Valdez family must have some weird metabolism that prevents them from gaining muscle until they hit adulthood, Bobby concluded. That can be the only answer…

"All hands on deck," Leo yelled. "Let's get this show on the road!"

Sammy Leo bro-hugged Gus, muttering, "We'll be back soon, Gus. Don't let the Ares campers bully you. Think of it as a test of courage and strength before you go to the Wolf House. Trust me; if you can survive the nastiness of our Ares cousins, you can survive Lupa!"

Gus didn't look to thrilled about it, but nodded as Sammy walked onto the Argo II.

Espie waved goodbye to Aria and Zac as she followed Sammy. Apparently, the Valdez family had already said their farewells. Say what you will about them, they knew how to cope with situations and get down to business.

Mark followed Espie. Bobby saw him blush and his blue eyes flashed, but with what, he didn't know.

Finally, Lacy grabbed Bobby's hand. She smiled at him, her green eyes sparkling. "Ready to go, lil' Bob?"

Bobby rolled his eyes. "Yeah, let's go."

He was about to step onto the gangplank, but Lacy held him back.

"What?" he demanded.

She smiled sadly. "We'll find Mom and Dad. Don't worry."

"I'm not worried," he lied. He was downright terrified that he might not be able to win this battle of wits, but he was the only one among the seven of them—Leo included—that could even come close to winning it.

Lacy gave him a withering look. Then, she sighed. "Get on the ship, bozo. We'll discuss how bad a liar you are when we're in the air."


A few hours later, Bobby was sitting next to the dragon head at the bow of the Argo II, examining the workmanship. The bronze that formed it was different than the rest of the ship. Bobby knew Leo had built the Argo II long ago while Tulio had just recently finished the dragon head, but he didn't realize how different their styles of forging were.

Where Leo's craftsmanship was sort of bumpy and excited (and probably rushed from the deadline he had had when first building the ship), Tulio's was smooth and patient. Bobby could almost see where the fire and hammer had touched Leo's metal, whereas when it came to Tulio's, there wasn't any sign of fire or beating at all—which was intriguing, to say the least. Each style was different, but both of them were clearly masters of their trade.

Bobby stroked the figurehead's metal plates. The dragon seemed to purr, but Bobby put that out of his mind. Dragons didn't purr—especially if they weren't even alive.

"Icarus likes you."

Bobby jumped and turned. Tulio stood there, his head tilted slightly, a smile playing on his lips.

"Pardon?" Bobby asked.

Tulio walked up and stroked the dragon in the same spot. The dragon purred more intensely. The demititan glanced at Bobby. "Icarus likes it when someone pays attention to him. He says he likes you since you're the first person outside the family to notice him. Congrats."

"Icarus," Bobby mused. "You named it Icarus? After Daedalus' son? The one who fell to his death after flying too high with false wings?"

"The very one," Tulio said, grinning. "I feel like Icarus deserves to fly after what happened to him. Even though this Icarus isn't the same one from the past, I figured it'd be a nice gesture."

Bobby nodded. "As long as this one doesn't cause the Argo II to fall apart and make us fall to our deaths, I'm okay with it." He stroked the dragon again. "Icarus is a really great dragon, though. We're lucky to have him."

Icarus's teeth rotated and whirred. Tulio patted him. "Yeah, yeah. Don't get a big ego. You still gotta impress Festus when we get back."

"Those two haven't met yet?"

Tulio smiled. "Nah. I'm kinda working on building Icarus a body. I'm making it so he'll be easy to attach and detach to both the ship and his body on a whim. Icarus's head is actually three times lighter than Festus's. Still took me a while to install him, though."

Icarus growled playfully.

Bobby shuffled his feet. "Tulio," he began. "Do you feel…nervous?"

"About what?"

"About…this quest," the legacy of Athena answered. "I just…I feel like I'm gonna puke every time I think about my mom and how I'm gonna have to win a 'battle of riddles and wits'…"

Tulio patted his shoulder. "'Course I'm nervous. I suck at quests. Hence why I don't go on them often. But, I keep thinking this is for my mother. I would go to the ends of the Earth for her, and so would my Papi and Espie. Sure, I'm nervous, but then again who wouldn't be in this situation?"

Bobby nodded. It was weird to think that the demititan had been on fewer quests than him. Tulio was powerful, even if he didn't think so himself. He was a master healer—almost as good as Apollo—an inventor and mechanic that could rival Hephaestus, an internal fire user that could melt anything, and had the strength and teleportation powers of a Titan. Yet, despite having so much power, Tulio always felt inferior to those around him (besides Espie and Leo). Go figure.

Bobby glanced behind Tulio. Leo was at the helm, looking totally at home. The 37-year-old man was delicately holding Annabeth's key while juggling a Wii remote, keyboard, game cube controller and a Mario Kart steering wheel. Apparently, that was how extremely ADHD Hephaestus children steered ships. The helm was basically just for show…

Tulio smiled at Bobby. "Don't worry about that riddle thing. Try to do what my Papi does; go with the flow and try not to worry about the future. It'll come when it's supposed to, not when you want it."

"Yeah, well, I hope it hurries up," Bobby groaned. "I'd like to get this over with."

"Oi, boys!"

Bobby and Tulio turned back towards Leo. Mr. Valdez was currently cocking an eyebrow at the key in his hand, which was now glowing brighter and pointing at a downward angle.

"I think we're getting close to Annabeth," he called, waving his Wii remote and causing the ship to descend. "Get ready to land, boys!"

Tulio wandered over to the side of the ship and gazed down. "Where are we?"

Bobby followed suit. He had never been to this city, but he would recognize it anywhere. Built next to a huge river, this city had a piece of architecture that Bobby's parents had once visited. Bobby had always wanted to go see it.

The Argo II landed next to the Gateway Arch and floated in the Mississippi River.

They were in St. Louis, Missouri.


A/N: Haven't been there in a while, have they? I'd say that's my hometown, but I'd be lying. I'm actually from 50 miles SW of St. Louis :)

Did you guys like Icarus the dragon? I've been in a sort of Icarus mood lately and after I read BoO will probably write a little one-shot about him (the kid, not the dragon).