"Now, who are all of you?" Percy asked, smiling. Externally, he was the epitome of cool and collected.

Internally, he was freaking out.

Where am I? Who's the captain of the ship? Why are the women armed?

He tried to calm his racing thoughts.

Percy took a few deep breaths before dazzling them with a brilliant smile.

"I am Piper, daughter of Aphrodite." the brown-haired girl stated.

Annabeth pointed towards the dark-skinned girl. "That's Hazel, daughter of Hades."

Percy frowned slightly at that. Hades had children?

"The name's Leo, son of Hephaestus." the short one said.

"You built this ship?" Percy asked.

"Yep!"

"Amazing," Percy said in awe, "I can barely feel it move..."

He wasn't exaggerating, either. The shipped sailed smoothly, almost as if it were automated. He'd never been on anything like it.

The one standing next to Leo said something. Percy didn't know what he said, but it must have been offensive as Leo elbowed the man shortly after.

"Don't mind him. That's Frank, son of...Ares."

Percy examined him. He didn't look like a son of Ares, but he was also young. He'd be a warrior in due time.

"I guess that leaves me. I'm Jason, son of Zeus." the blond-haired boy said.

Percy rose an eyebrow at that one. He looked nothing like the Jason he had heard of.

"Is this the Argo?" Percy asked. No, none of the rumors mentioned there being a woman on the crew of the Argo.

"No, it's the Argo II, named after the original Argo," Jason said.

Percy nodded in understanding.

"Can I please catch I ride until you reach Athens? I can clean the ship or help row—"

"Row?" Leo repeated, in disbelief. "We have automated rowers, man. No need for that."

Percy stared at him. Ships had mechanical rowers now? Just how long had he been gone for?

"I can still help you clean the ship and protect you from pirates. Until you reach Athens, of course. Then we can go our separate paths."

He tried to keep the desperation out of his voice. For once in his life, he was at sea without any understanding of where he was. His senses were going haywire; the only thing he could make out were a few numbers that were repeated in his head. It made no sense to him, either way.

"We're not going to Athens," Jason said.

Percy's heart dropped to his stomach.

"Suonio?"

He was met with blank stares.

"Thebes? Corinth? Argos? Sparta? Alexandria?" He was met with more blank stares.

"If I may ask, where are you going?" He was confused. He just named a few major polis. Where else could they be going?

Annabeth said something quietly to Jason, who only shrugged in response.

"We're going to Rome," Annabeth said.

Percy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Rome? It sounded familiar to Percy, but he wasn't sure where he had heard the name before. It definitely wasn't part of the empire.

"Where is this...Rome?" Percy asked.

"It's in the Mediterranean, on the piece of land that's shaped like a boot," Jason explained.

This only served to confuse Percy further.

"Where is the Mediterranean?" Percy questioned.

"Your joking," Annabeth sputtered in disbelief, "The sea surrounding Greece? Ring any bells?"

"Ahhh." Percy nodded in understanding. "I've never heard of it referred to as the Mediterranean. We simply called it 'the sea'."

"But there are multiple seas," Leo pointed out.

"There are?"

"Yes, of course, there are. Have you never left the Mediterranean?"

"No..."

"Oh my god—"

"That's enough," Annabeth interjected, cutting off whatever Leo was going to say. "Can you give us a minute to discuss your arrival, please?"

Percy nodded. He stood there awkwardly as he heard the crew discuss...something. He couldn't understand, as they had switched back to their strange language (In-gleesh, was it?).

He noticed that only Annabeth, Jason, or Leo ever spoke to him. Did the others not know the language? How could they not know the language? Where were they from, then? Everyone spoke Greek. He'd never met someone who hadn't spoken Greek, but he had heard the rumors. He doubted that this was the language that they were referring to, however. Even so, the crew was strange. They were all teenagers, with no adult in sight. What were they doing on a warship unsupervised? Last he heard, the navy hadn't been in use for the last 4 years. Yet, they were armed. They were clearly going off to fight. And they were too large in number for a quest...

Percy was interrupted out of his thoughts by the Annabeth clearing her throat.

"Here's the deal, Percy. You're going to stay with us until we reach our destination, then we'll part ways. In the meantime, you can help around the ship. Sound like a deal?"

Percy nodded. It was perfect actually—he'd get a ride and a chance to figure out where the hell he was.

"Thank you."

"Leo can show you your quarters. We'll call you when we need you."

Percy nodded and followed the brown-haired boy to the stairwell, where his new life awaited him.

I have updated! Finally! I am so sorry for how long this chapter took. The school year was a pain (7 classes was awful), and last summer my laptop was broken because I accidentally fried my motherboard! (long story) Anywho, I do apologize that it took so long for me to update.

Thank you to this is abandoned entirely for letting me adopt the story!

Until next time (hopefully in like two weeks), peace!