Good evening (or morning, afternoon or night) people! I'm updating in a bit less than a month, which sure, sounds like a lot, but in my unrealistic timing is rather okay.

I hope you're all happy and enjoying the weekend. May Dionysus bless all Saturdays in our lives. Without further ado, enjoy chapter 13 :)

PJO belongs to Uncle Rick!

Percy offered the Duchess his arm, once they went back outside, and took her wandering the high grounds of the little peninsula the city was built in. Temperature was building in, and the reasonable heat gave him a sense of comfort he knew to be fake.

"You hadn't met her, then?" he asked. He hated long silences.

"No," she answered. "I mean, perhaps I saw her at some feast or other, back when I was younger. But Prin... Lady Artemis was always a very independent person. Jason avoids speaking of his elder siblings, rumours find their ways, however."

"He doesn't speak of them?" he wondered. "Doesn't he live with them?"

"It is a big castle, theirs is," she explained. She realised her reasoning was feeble, for she added, "He does mention them from time to time. Once he told me she liked travelling, and that his father allowed it because he had a mild favouritism towards his daughters."

"That's not…"

"It is not exactly fake, either," she interrupted. "His daughters never get into as much trouble as his sons. Regardless, it was a thing Jason said. His point of view could be biased. King Zeus was always quite cold towards his younger children."

"My father didn't have many kids," Percy said.

"Or he did not recognise them," she suggested.

He stared at her.

"That was rude," she admitted.

He rolled his eyes, "You're probably right, anyway. But what I meant to say was: I always thought my father loved his… real, I guess? –legitimate, at any rate- kid better. Then once, talking to the bloke, he told me he thought it was the other way around. Maybe Jason feels the same."

She shrugged, "Jason is a good person. He tries to impress his father a lot. I think his Majesty should, at least, throw a glance in his direction, once in a while."

"Trust me when I tell you, our parents aren't very demonstrative with affection."

They talked and walked around until they found themselves on a cliff, overlooking the ocean before them.

Percy relaxed under the Duchess' grip on his arm. She seemed to be debating something inside her head; she made to let go of the arm, perhaps now that they weren't walking anymore. No doubt some ridiculous rule of aristocracy, of the likes, Never hold onto a man's arm too long. You give the wrong impression. He remembered Thalia complaining about them when she first joined the crew.

But, apparently, she didn't want to let go. She strengthened her hand on his arm again, which –he reluctantly admitted to himself- he didn't particularly object to.

He saw her blush, and opened his mouth to make some probably unnecessary comment, when he saw something in his peripheral vision.

Percy stiffened, suddenly alert.

"Shit," he mumbled.

Annabeth looked horrified, and -he was sure- she was about to tell him to mind his vocabulary. To spare him the mess, he pointed towards the horizon.

There, a tiny spot to their left was a ship. And one with familiar colours. Then he spotted another one. And another one. No less than seven ships loomed clearly on the panoramic view.

King Zeus' emblem could be distinguished from the furthest distance, it appeared.

"That is not particularly good," she offered.

"You think, love?" he snorted. "C'mon, we have to warn the others!"

There were quite a few things Percy couldn't understand at all. And one of them was his uncle's ungodly timing.

And naval speed, come think of it. After all, they should've had at least a whole two days advantage, if his quick math had been right. Which clearly it hadn't been.

Never your strong suit, math, he remembered his mother telling him while trying to give him as best an education as possible.

She had been right, as always. He despised numbers, and even more so now that they came with a responsibility.

He grabbed Annabeth's arm and sped their sprint towards the motel.

"Uh," he muttered, seeing the few crew members that sat in the dining hall and bar stools.

He cleared his throat, "Where're the rest of you?"

Nico di Angelo raised his head calmly from the card game he was playing, then shrugged.

"Didn't you give us the night off, yesterday?" the boy replied, as if Percy's question had the most obvious answer ever.

"Lord Zeus has decided to pay us a visit," he announced with annoyance. "Your free time has to be shortened."

Percy saw seven pairs of eyes widen significantly.

"So," he tried again. "Where are the rest of you?"

Getting the crew together was a nightmare, not even a whole day of idleness and they'd already spread like drops in the ocean.

It took him the best part of the morning, and by the time he had them all on deck, King Zeus' ship was big enough in the horizon to create mild unnerve in his men.

He called a council meeting, which is what he liked to call it when the people who'd been part of his team the longest got together and made decisions as a group, rather than giving in directly into Percy's impulsiveness.

"We can hide and pretend we've gone in some other ship!"

"They'd never believe the Cap' would leave the Blackjack, don't be ridiculous."

"I say we just straight up fight them!"

"They've a whole navy, and we're one ship. How about we really go in another ship?"

"Leave the Blackjack?"

"We can come back for it later! When we're sure they've gone."

"They'd blow it up without second thought," Percy intervened before the crazy talk could go further. "We need to fight but strategically, we only need a couple more hours. Beckendorf said he'd be done by then."

There was a pause in the ramblings, as if each of his comrades was thinking what the hell he meant by 'strategical fighting'. Especially considering his diplomacy usually came 'hand by hand with sharp swords and threats thrown a destra e a sinistra, as his cousin had so kindly paraphrased that one time.

He shook his head, and tried to make some sense to his thoughts.

"What I mean is," he begun. "We're few, but we're mighty. I couldn't ask for a better crew, and I have complete faith in every single one of you. I need us to work together, like parts on a machine."

"Strong words but still no plan," Nico pointed out. "We need to protect the ship, but if we all stay around the same place we'll be an easy target."

Percy tried really hard not to glare at his cousin. Such a knack for ruining his morale boost speeches in one so young.

"You mean we should split up? It'll be a mess!" Clarisse grumbled.

"Not split up," Nico shrugged. "Or yes, but more on the idea of rendezvous points. We choose several of them, make our stands there."

"And we should figure out some kind of signal," Percy suggested. "When the ship is movable we'll all board somewhere..."

"Perhaps someone should play messenger," Travis advised. "I could stand with the ship until it is ready and then go around finding all the others. Cap', you can manoeuvre the ship around the island and pick us all up on the last rendezvous point."

"All right, then," Percy agreed. "Now we need a plan to defend the ship."

Clarisse smirked.

What I mentioned about Zeus liking his daughters is solely based on my opinion. At the end of BoO (spoiler ahead) he's pissed at Apollo, and yet, when Artemis tries to defend her brother, Dad Zeus doesn't get too mad at her. Also he totally likes Athena more than his sons in the original myths.

I promise next chapter will have some fighting at last. And I'll try to throw in some more Percabeth and Annabeth character development (I've been quite unfair to Annabeth's awesome-ness so far).