Surprisingly, I didn't get much sleep that night.

You'd think after hearing a big prophecy that predicted my death, I'd be out like a light, but nope. I just stared dumbfounded at the ceiling trying to make sense of it all. Bits and pieces of the prophecy Rachel spoke repeated themselves over and over again; the twins' bane, a flag of bones, spirits of slaughter; how did it all fit together? Why did Drew of all people get the prophecy, and why was I supposed to join her? I was clearly the daughter of sea, and there was another daughter of war that was meant to go with us. Part of me hoped that it was Annabeth. At least with Annabeth, someone would know what they were doing, but she still hadn't returned to camp yet. Besides, that line was vague enough to apply to daughter of a war god.

I couldn't help but think that the prophecy and the dream I had the night before were somehow connected. I mean, I have a creepy dream the same day Drew gets a prophecy? The Fates were basically spelling it out for us. I'd insulted if I weren't so scared.

Questions kept tumbling around in my head like a brick in a dryer until I finally fell asleep. Six minutes later, I awoke feeling just as confused as I had before, now with the added bonus of being groggy. Breakfast was a drag; my Froot Loops tasted like cardboard. Immediately after, the cabin counselors—plus Drew—met up in the rec room to discuss the prophecy.

It was the same as before: we all sat around the ping pong table with snacks and diet cokes (ew). Clarisse had her boots up on the table and was throwing knives at the dart board. Leo was fiddling with bits of metal like he sometimes did when he was anxious. Lou Ellen and the Stoll brothers were annoying Miranda Gardiner from the Demeter cabin by magically stealing her ears and playing keep-a-way.

I spotted Annabeth at the head of the table, twirling her dagger around on the table top. I sighed and felt as if a bit of weight was lifted off of my shoulders. If anyone could help us figure this out, it was Annabeth.

When she saw me, she nodded to acknowledge me but otherwise remained quiet. Her face looked grim and her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed. She looked like she barely got any sleep over the last few days.

Next to Annabeth sat Chiron in wheelchair form. Even Rachel was present. She forced a reassuring grin when she noticed me.

For some reason, no one seemed eager to start the meeting. Someone coughed awkwardly.

"Sooo…" Leo started.

"I had a dream the other night," I blurted out.

Everyone's attention was now on me, which under normal circumstances wouldn't have bothered me. I squirmed in my seat.

"And why," Drew said, "does that matter."

I tried not to stick my tongue out at her. "Because I think it might related to the prophecy."

I explained my nightmare from beginning to the end. I tried to speak evenly so I wouldn't let on that the dream still creep me out.

Everyone was silent for a moment after I finished. Rachel was the first to speak up. "A giant being reborn from the earth…" She turned to Annabeth. "Do… do you think that it could it be Antaeus?"

Annabeth looked pained, like the name brought back bad memories. "Maybe, but I'm not so sure. Giants can only be killed by a combination of gods and demigods, so why would Gaea raise a giant who can be killed more easily, uh, comparatively speaking?"

"The prophecy said destroy twins' bane," Lou Ellen recalled. She was wearing Miranda's ears like ear earrings now. "That's means the giant, right? Maybe he can be killed without the gods help."

Clarisse La Rue, the head counselor of cabin five, tossed a snausage over to Seymour—the living decapitated leopard head mounted on the wall—who happily snatched it up. "It's not saying that he will be killed, just that we have to to halt impending doom. If we do need the gods, then I don't see how that would even be possible."

Uneasy glances and some muttering were exchanged all around.

Annabeth looked like she was deep in thought, her stormy eyes almost black. "The twins' bane sounds like it refers to Artemis and Apollo." She looked at Will. "Do you have any idea who this bane might be?"

Will thought about it for a moment. "Maybe it's Orion? He was made to oppose Apollo and Artemis."

"Orion was a much smaller giant than his brethren," Chiron said, "only about ten feet, and could pass for an extremely tall human man, but the giant in Kaia's dream sounds at least twice as big."

That info didn't exactly sit well in my stomach.

"You shall sail south towards the land in full bloom," Jason recalled. "A place south of here with flowers? That could be anywhere."

"There are a lot of places with notable flowers south of New York," Miranda Gardiner said, rubbing her newly reattached ears. "But if I had to guess where you need to sail to, then I'd say Florida would be the place to go. Florida is notable for the beautiful flowers during springtime."

"You would know all about that" Connor muttered, rubbing his arm like he was hit.

Miranda blushed. "Shut up!"

"So we sail to Florida and check every single cave until we find this giant's army?" Drew asked. "There's got to be a better way to find them."

I looked to Annabeth. "Didn't you rebuild that video shield? Couldn't we use that to find the giant?"

She shook her head. "Not if they're underground, like in your dream. The video shield only works if it's hit by natural light. But there's another problem. The Sea of Monsters."

Uncomfortable silence settled over everyone. Seymour the leopard let out a toothy yawn.

"If we're going through the Sea of Monster," Clarisse said casually, "then we'll need a better ship than the CSS Birmingham."

Drew raised a brow. "We, Clarisse?"

"Well, of course. I'm going on this quest."

Drew's eye twitched. "Wait just a second. What makes you think you're going on my quest?"

"You need a daughter of war to go with you on this quest, right? I'm a child of Ares, volunteering to go on this quest. I'm not going to sit here at camp and do nothing, especially if you're leading the quest. You'll need me."

"No, I don't! That line of the prophecy could easily mean a child of Athena, or a child of Enyo, or something. It could be anyone else."

The other counselors and Chiron were mumbling and nodding in agreement. I couldn't help but agree with Drew. The daughter of war didn't have to be a child of Ares. Even Clarisse looked almost convinced enough to reconsider.

Drew smirked, and I felt like something was wrong. It was only when I noticed Piper glaring at Drew did I realized that she used charmspeak on everyone. Again.

"Drew," Piper said, her voice cutting through my clouded thoughts, "maybe you should reconsider. Clarisse is one of the most experienced campers here, and she's been through the Sea of Monsters before. She'll be a big help on your first quest."

Drew looked like she want to argue, but everyone was nodding and agreeing with Piper's idea.

I didn't get why Drew was so against Clarisse joining us anyway—she was scary enough to make most monsters run crying to their mamas. I've heard stories from other campers that describe her as a one woman army, annihilating monster armies without even any armor. And we needed all the help we could get.

"Fine," Drew conceded. "Whatever. You can come."

Clarisse grunted, satisfied.

"Wait a minute," Leo said apprehensively. He was so uncharacteristically silent until now. "Didn't the prophecy say something about marauders? Those are, like, pirates or something?"

"Leo has a point," Jason said. "If they have to face pirates, maybe the sea isn't the safest place."

"We don't have a better option," I said. "Over land is way too dangerous. The Pegasi are fast, but they aren't meant for long, three people quest. The sea is the safest route."

The same way sticking a fork in an electrical socket is safer than, say, wearing a meat dress and jumping into a lions' den.

Annabeth sheathed her dagger. "Well that settles who's going, where, and how, but we don't know who this giant is or what daemons are serving him. I don't like the three of you going in blind. If only we had more time…"

My stomach sank when she said that. It didn't look like time was something I had much of left.

I noticed that everyone was trying not to stare at me. No one was bringing up the last line, which was fine by me. I didn't feel like discussing my death. Still, I couldn't help but feel terrified and embarrassed.

"That settles it then," Chiron said like he just decided on what flowers to put on my casket. "Drew will lead Kaia and Clarisse. I advise you three to prepared and pack. Tonight, you will begin your quest.


I tried to do some research on who this giant might be, or what kind of daemons we were facing, but I found next to little useful information. I sucked at research; I was never good at it in school and doing research always made me feel stressed out.

I swung my legs over the edge of my bed and ran my fingers through my hair. Hopelessness was filling up my lungs, making it hard to breathe. I imagined that was what it was like to drown.

My eyes scanned the piles of books and scrolls on my bed. I was tempted to throw it all on the floor in frustration, but instead I hopped off and decided to go down to the lake to get some fresh air.

I sunk to the deck, swirling my bare feet around in the cool water. I was supposed to be packing, but packing for a quest when you know you're gonna die wasn't as fun as it sounds.

Staring at the water, I couldn't help but think about the last time I was here when I thought I was going to die. That time I had Hayden. And in that case, the circumstance was that I might die, this time around it was looking pretty final. Whether we saved the camp or not, I was doomed. It felt as if there was an elephant standing on my chest, slowly crushing me.

If, for some reason, the line of the prophecy didn't refer to me, then I just felt worse. Could it mean Percy? I doubted it. Even if we ran into each other during the quest, Percy had the Curse of Achilles. He was pretty hard to kill. I, on the other hand, was not.

I remembered a story Percy told me Titan's curse. That prophecy predicted two deaths, but they all went anyway, knowing that any one of them could die. I wasn't nearly that brave. Right then, I wanted to talk to Percy more than anyone else. Maybe I could get some big brotherly advice on not dying. He always seemed to be good at that even before he took a dip in the Styx.

I kept repeating the prophecy over and over again in my mind, trying to figure out different interpretations. The line about impending doom stood out to me. Everyone assumed that it referred to the giant and his army destroying camp, but something was gnawing in the back of my head, telling me that maybe it meant something else—

"EARTH TO KAAAI-UUUUUH!"

I jumped so suddenly I almost fell into the lake.

I turned to see Will, Lou Ellen, Nyssa, and Lacy were coming down the dock.

I forced a grin. "Howzit, guys?"

They all sat down on the pier around me. Lacy tackled me with a hug. She sniffed like she was trying not to cry.

I patted her back. "Uh, is everything okay?"

"We're fine," Nyssa said. "How... How are you?"

"I'm okay."

"Liar," Will said.

"And you're Captain Metal Detector?" I said, trying for a joke. No one laughed.

Lacy hit my arm. "Be serious!"

I sighed. "Sorry, sorry. It's just... This was..."

"We get it," Nyssa said sympathetically. "That's why we're here."

She pushed forward some items I didn't notice them carrying; a baggie of Ambrosia, a thermos of Nectar, and a few golden drachmas.

"We gathered some supplies for you," Will said. "Thought it might help."

I stared down at the supplies. I felt speechless. " Guys… I don't know what to say. "

"'Thank you' is a good place to start."

I made a face at him. "Thank you guys. Seriously. You don't know what this means to me."

Lou Ellen gasped excitedly. "I almost forgot! This is for you."

Seemingly out of nowhere, she pulled out Hayden's lavender bag and handed it to me nonchalantly.

My eyes darted between Lou and the bag. "How did you get this?"

She rubbed her arm embarrassingly. "Well I–"

"She stole it," Lacy said bluntly.

"You gotta stop hanging around the Hermes cabin," I told Lou. "They're a bad influence."

"I had a good reason!" She grabbed the bag. "Watch this."

With a snap of her fingers, the lavender satchel morphed into a backpack.

Lou Ellen grinned, a speck of crazy light twinkled in her eyes. "This bag has some insane magic. You could fit the entire camp in there three times over. Oh, and check this out!" She grabbed the backpack and hurled it into the lake like a discus.

My jaw hit the deck. "Lou, what the fu—"

She held up a finger. "Wait for it…"

A moment passed. Suddenly, the back pack appeared on my back.

I gasped. "Witchcraft and sorcery!"

Lou stuck her tongue out at me. "Har-dee-har! Have some respect, it was hard to do this."

I laughed, running my hand through my hair. "Guys. I—thank you."

My friends all smiled at me, but I saw the look in their eyes. They were scared, too. For me, for themselves, for the camp. They were counting on me. I couldn't fail them.

Still, the pain in my chest lessened with my friends here with me. I was still scared and overwhelmed, but now I felt a little more confident and at peace.


After dinner, it was time to grab our things and go. I had everything I needed in my backpack; a change of clothes, the supplies from my friends, and some mortal money that I saved from my birthday cards. Achilles' shield was on my back, and my sword hung at my hips.

With the exception of Annabeth and Chiron, the whole camp was at the bonfire. I tried not to be bitter or think that I'd probably never attend another one again.

I wanted to at least say goodbye to Leo before I went, but I hadn't seen him since the meeting. Maybe it was better that way. If I confessed any hidden feelings I may or may not have for him, he'd most likely reject me, and I'd survive the quest and have to live in awk-weirdness and embarrassment for the rest of my life.

Drew and Chiron were down by the shore having a conversation. Their words were drowned out by the sound of the waves, but I knew he was probably giving her some wise, sagely advice about her leading her first quest.

Clarisse was already aboard, getting ready to sail. She was the only one excited to go on our little death quest.

I stood with Annabeth saying our goodbyes. I yawned and Annabeth smiled sympathetically at me.

"No sleep last night, huh?" she asked.

"Nah. Too excited" I grinned half-heartily, the sighed as it immediately fell. "Annabeth. I... We're going up against a giant and his army of daemons, just the three of us. And the prophecy says–"

"Prophecies are never straightforward," she insisted. "Trying to change it will result in it coming true anyway."

"Loving this pep talk."

"Kaia, I'm sorry. I didn't expect Gaea to attack directly, at least not so obviously and so soon. Unless…"

Annabeth trailed off. I stared at her, practically seeing the gears turning in her head.

"That's your thinking face," I said. "Unless what?"

"The line impending doom bothers me. What if that's not referring to the giant and his army? What if that means Gaea's ultimate plan to have the giants destroy the gods at their roots in Greece?"

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. You, Drew, and Clarisse stop the giant, but that won't stop Gaea in the end. The seven will still have to go to Greece to stop Gaea and the giants. You fail and the camp is destroyed? Great. If not? No problem. Things will carry on as planned. Gaea has nothing to lose in this. It's a Sisyphean labor."

"So basically Gaea is screwing with us." I balled my hand into a fist. I wanted to go find Gaea myself and end this once and for all. I wanted to hit something, someone, anything. Gaea was taunting us, putting my home and my friends in danger. The threat of the Gaea and the giants never felts so real to me before that moment. I was scared. But I was also very, very angry.

I noticed my sword was growing warm at my hip.

"It doesn't matter," I said trying to sound confident. "I gotta kill that giant. No matter what."

Annabeth nodded, but her face was unreadable. "I believe I know who can help you with that."

"Who?"

"The Party Ponies."

"Chiron's cousins? You think they'd want to help? The last time they helped us a lot of them were killed. I know they're monsters and all, but being killed probably isn't fun."

She shrugged almost helplessly. "It's worth a shot. You'll need strength in numbers."

I didn't have a better idea. "Thank you, Annabeth. Wish me luck."

We hugged. I gave her a brave smile and watched as she headed back towards the campfire.

I shouldered my backpack and was about to get ready to climb aboard, when someone called my name.

It was Leo, running over the sand dunes.

My face felt warm. I smiled again. "Hey, Leo. Why aren't you at the camp fire?"

Looking at Leo, I couldn't help but remember all the days I spent in bunker nine with him, reading him Greek stories, swapping prank stories, trying to top each other for the worse joke. Leo could always cheer me up with a good laugh, and hanging out with him in Bunker Nine were some of the best times I've spent at Camp.

My smile melted. I knew that one day it would come to an end; Leo and the rest would sail to New Rome to find Percy and the rest of the Seven so they could close the doors of death and defeat Gaea. I didn't expect that I'd be gone before that.

Leo wiped the sweat from his brow. "It took half a day, but I think I nailed it."

He pulled something from his tool belt (i.e. the fanny pack) and handed to me proudly. I stared dumbfoundly at the device in my hand.

"Oh, wow." I tried to sound enthused. "Thank you?"

He grinned. "I know. I'm a genius. I outdid myself this time."

"You made me a PKE meter? You think we'll run into any ghost?"

He gave me that wow-this-girl-can't-be-serious-look he gave me so often. "What? No—"

"It'll work on daemons, too right? Because I don't think ghost will be an issue for us."

"It's a—"

"Kaia!" Drew interrupted from the deck of the trireme. "Kiss your little boyfriend and hurry up! We're kind of on a quest here."

I glared up at her, my face burning. Don't drown her, Kai, I thought to myself. Don't drown her, don't drown her, don't drown her!

"That's my cue," I laughed nervously. "Um, Leo?"

"Yeah?"

Next, I did something so impulsive and bold you wouldn't believe it.

I hugged him.

Leo was so shocked, he was speechless (no easy task, mind you). I don't think I ever hugged him before.

I broke up hug and held eye contact with him for a second too long. Leo had really pretty eyes… don't you dare tell him I said that.

I cleared my throat and hefted my bag higher on my shoulder. "I'll see you later, Valdez." And I jogged off to the ship, not daring to look back at him.


The three of us talked long enough to decide that we'd take turns sailing the ship. I volunteered to go first since I liked being on the open seas. Plus, I was afraid to fall asleep again and dream.

Drew gave me and Clarisse a death glare and went down to the barracks for the night. I got the impression she would've charmspoke the two of us to jump off the ship and drown ourselves if she could, but she needed us for this quest. Besides, there was the pesky problem that I couldn't drown.

Clarisse stayed on deck with me for a while, sparing with a practice dummy. She hacked and slashed at it until its straw guts littered the deck. She swept the straw off to a pile before heading down to the barracks for the night. She nodded a farewell in my direction before disappearing below.

I never really talked much to Clarisse before. I don't really know what to think about her other than that she was kind of scary. I remembered the stories that Percy told me about her about dunking people's heads in toilets, tossing them into the lake, and other cliché nineties bully stuff, but I think she's mellowed out a bit since then. I've never seen Clarisse flush someone's head since I've been to camp, and Clarisse occasionally will break up a fight if they go too far— around the time the maiming starts.

We sailed along smoothly into the sea, the glow of the campfire dimmed and faded into the fog.

We've had practice fights against sea monsters on ship before at camp. The triremes at camp had magically automated oars, so we were taught to steer and work the sails manually, which I was always pretty good at.

Sailing was like second nature to me. If I relaxed and didn't think too hard (which was pretty easy for me), I knew what to do and when to do it. I knew how fast we were going and our exact coordinates at all time. I remember Percy telling me that children of Poseidon sometimes have perfect bearings at sea, which is great because otherwise I'd probably sail us straight to the North Pole.

Waves crashed and broke against the boat. I remembered how long it's been since I last surfed, Hayden was alive then. Maybe after this quest I could start surfing on the beach; the waves on there were always pretty epic.

That is if I didn't die on this quest.

My stomach dropped and I combed my fingers through my hair. Normal kids didn't have to worry about quest, I thought bitterly. They didn't have to worry about monsters, giants, and the end of the world. They didn't have to worry about dying because of some stupid prophecy.

I thought of my family, my friends, my life at Camp Half-Blood. I was happy, despite my past. I've built friendships, I've sharpened my skills. I've accepted that the crazy world of monsters and gods was just my reality, my new normal. I wanted to see my life through. I didn't want it to end anytime soon.

Don't dwell on the future, I told myself. No point in worrying about the inevitable. All I could do is make sure I lived long enough to stop the giant. Saving camp was the most important thing. Nothing mattered as long as my home was safe.

I repeating this mantra in my head over and over all night. I believed it. But at the same time…

"Wait!"

My eyes shot open. I whipped my head around, searching for the origin of the vaguely familiar voice. It sounded muffled, like someone was yelling into a pillow from a block away. I knew that there were no extras stowed away on the ship, so clearly I was hallucinating, which was always a plus.

"Y'know," I said out loud. "Maybe I should sleep—"

The entire ship lurched violently to the side. I was thrown aside and sent barreling over the edge. I managed to twist midair and grab onto the ship just before plummeting into the water.

Beneath me I saw the vague shapes of tentacles under the water's surface. And they were coming straight for me.

I swore and pulled myself back on board just as Clarisse ran onto to the deck, spear in hand. Drew came afterwards, weaponless.

"What in Hades just happen?" Clarisse demanded.

Drew scowled at me accusingly. "Did you hit something?"

"Of course not! I—"

"Then what—"

The ship pitched to the side again, and all three of us were thrown across the deck.

Brown tentacles shot out of the water like an erupting gyser and wrapped around the ship. I felt the snapping of a thousand planks of wood and celestial bronze beneath me.

The water bubbled and the hideous, bulbous head of an octopus surfaced.

I never thought of octopuses (octopi?) as ugly until I saw a giant one up close. It was brown mottled with a shade of puke green. Its single angry goat-like eye bored into us. An octopus is basically a head connected to eight tentacle covered legs the shot ink and could crush your skull if it wanted to, and this monster clearly wanted to.

Clarisse wasted no time. She wielded her spear started stabbing at the sea monster's legs. I drew my sword right as a tentacle about as wide as I was shot right at me. I swiped my sword and the limb hit the deck, disintegrating into a clump of slimy kelp. The monster roared in pain, but didn't disintegrate. The tentacle started to bubble at the severed point and was slowly regrowing itself.

I swore and dodged another flying tentacle.

The ship sunk into the ocean as we fought. I knew that there was no way to save the ship at this point.

Drew somehow had her bow and arrows with her and was shooting two or three at a time with what would be deadly accuracy. A group of arrows shot clean through a tentacle, severing it from its body. It turned to kelp and hit the deck, splattering everywhere. Drew yelped when some touched her foot and jumped away. "Oh, gross!"

I frowned at her. "How 'bout you focus and—"

Before I could finish my sentence, a tentacle wrapped around me and I was hoisted straight into the air. I was so stunned I dropped my sword.

The octopus's grip constricted around me. I gasped for air, trying to blink back the black spots in my vision. I thought to myself that this was how I'd die. Not in a blaze of glory, but squeezed to death by a giant one eyed octopus.

At least my death would be unique. That's what they can put on my tombstone: At least she died uniquely?

I struggled in the monster's grasp, but the death grip became tighter and tighter the more I move. My bones burned. Air was slowly forced out of my lungs.

Clarisse and Drew were twenty, thirty feet below me, but they felt a thousand miles away. I could barely register Clarisse stabbing and slashing at the tentacles that were still wrapped around the trireme, or that the mast had splintered into a million pieces; the sails ripped to shreds.

Suddenly, the death grip around me tightened, and I nearly blacked out from the pain alone. Then, I was let go, plummeting towards the sea.

Before I could hit the surface, I summoned the water to catch me and send me back onto the deck with a graceful plop.

The octopus let out a screech that sounded like the sounds of nails on a chalkboard and car crashes had a colicky baby. An arrow was sticking out of its monstrous eye.

I scanned for my sword and swore when I spotted it go under with the other half of the ship. I needed to get to it before we all were eaten by a giant octopus and/or drowned to death.

Suddenly, I was grabbed by my collar and spun around. Clarisse stared down at me, her spear sparking with electricity.

"I need a wave," she demanded. "Can you do that, girl?"

It took less than a second to understand what she meant. I nodded, and Clarisse grunted, sprinted toward the edge of the ship.

As she jumped off, I willed the ocean to rise and harden to support Clarisse and shot the wave towards the octopus. As it got closer, Clarisse leapt like a panther at the monster and stabbed it in the dead center of its eye. Arcs of electricity shot through her spear and the Octopus wailed in pain.

Clarisse jumped toward the water, but I controlled the water to catch her and bring her back to the ship. The monsters turned and swam away (and I swear I could almost hear it whimpering in pain).

Clarisse hopped onto the deck just as the rest of the ship sank below the water. We would've gone under, too, but I willed the water to keep us afloat.

"That," I said to Clarisse, "was amazing."

She looked surprised at first, then grinned smugly. "Well, of course it was."

We watched, silently as the ship slowly went under. My knot formed in my stomach. Without a ship, we had to choice but to travel on land.

Drew groaned and hit the water in frustration, splashing all three of us in the process. "This is just great! Now what do we do?"

"You're in charged," Clarisse said mockingly. "What should we do, leader?"

I've never seen Drew look so overwhelmed. I almost felt sorry for her. "Well... Let's get to shore."

"What about our things?"

"I'll get them," I volunteered. "I shouldn't take too long. You two stay here."

"Wouldn't dream of going anywhere," Drew said.

I dove under the water.

The ship was still slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean floor, pulling wooden planks, the mast, and oars down with it. I swam after it, but was careful not to get too close. I didn't need a hunk of wood bonking me in the head and knocking me out.

I snatched up a lone drifting camouflage backpack that had escaped the wreckage when something flashed in the corner of my eye and caught my attention.

My sword! It was sticking hilt up in a sand dune. I swam for it and sheathed it to my waist. I exhaled a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

The ship had finally settled on the ocean floor. I made my way towards it, searching for our lost items. I slung Drew's pink bedazzled backpack over my shoulder, and was about to search some more for good measure when I spotted a dark floating blob heading straight for me.

Thinking it was the octopus back for more, I torpedoed myself back to the surface.

Drew shrieked when I surfaced, but I didn't have time to laugh. I handed the two of them their bags.

"We need to get to shore," I said. "The monster's back."

Before anyone could protest, I raised my arm and the water carried us back to land.

The three of us sat there for a while in stunned silence. Clarisse swore in both English and ancient Greek.

"This is freaking great!" she said. "We have no ship and now we're stuck on land."

"Blame Kaia for that one," Drew glared at me. "She's the one that drove us into a sea monster."

"Don't blame me!" I snapped. "That octopus came out of nowhere."

"You're a daughter of Poseidon, aren't you? Don't you have sea senses or something?"

I glowered at Drew, but my face heated up, embarrassed. Maybe Drew was right. We were at sea, my home turf. I could've driven away the monster before it destroyed our ship or avoided it all together, right? Was that a power Poseidon forgot to give me? Did he give it to Percy?

Snap out of it, I thought to myself. She's charmspeaking you.

But I still felt guilty.

Drew lost interest in me and looked around at our surroundings. I had landed us on a deserted stretch of beach next to a group of trees that led into the woods. The trees weren't as tall as the ones at Camp Half-Blood, but were twice as pack and probably held its fair share of monsters.

I looked to the sea, which was unnervingly calm. Despite myself, I remember the night Hayden and I were on the beach together, the Indus Worms that attacked…

My stomach felt like it was kicked repeatedly by Chun Li. I blinked back tears.

"We can't stay on the beach," I insisted. "W-we're sitting ducks out here."

"She right," Clarisse said. "We need a spot to sleep for tonight."

We looked at Drew. Her eyes darted around, as if searching for an answer. "Fine. Let's go now, before it gets any worse."

As if on cue, thunder cracked, and it started to drizzle.

I grimaced at sky. "That's not funny."