First Person: Zytaveon
Whelp, that was fun. We hadn't found anything in the Civil War sub or elsewhere in the museum; just a few elderly tourists, a dozen security guards, and, when we tried to inspect the artifacts, a whole battalion of glowing zombie dudes in gray uniforms. The idea that Frank could control the spirits? Yeah…no. Good thing I was there, or else we'd have been attacked by a pack of angry dead Confederates. I asked them about a map and things about the Mark of Athena, but they had no idea what I was talking about. They mostly ranted on about the war and such, like the Lares back at Camp Jupiter. By the time Piper Iris-messaged us, we were already halfway back to the ship, having walked back through downtown Charleston with no luck.
Percy and Audrey said they'd talked to a Nereid in the Charleston Harbor, and said we should seek help from Chiron's brothers. Annabeth gave some longitude and latitude coordinates to Leo, and he said that the location was in the middle of the Atlantic. Jason and Percy took over the winds and the sea to help us move and stay together, but eventually the sea calmed and the winds died. The boys and Zy and Audrey were tired out, all leaning against the mast with their heads slumped in exhaustion. Annabeth and Piper were tending to the boys, while Kaze and I handled the girls. Hazel and Frank stood just out of earshot, having an argument that involved lots of arm waving and head shaking. The argument stopped abruptly when Hazel saw Leo coming down from the helm, and everyone gathered at the mast.
"No sign of pursuit," Frank said.
"Or land," Hazel added. She looked a little green, though I wasn't sure if that was the rocking of the boat or from arguing. There was nothing but ocean in every direction. It was still hard to believe that after all these months of planning and preparing, this was how we were going across the Atlantic and heading to the Mare Nostrum. I expected this trip to be a little more graceful. Silly me.
I hoped that Camp Half-Blood would be okay. They may be able to handle themselves, and I could only imagine the terror that the Hermes, Ares, and Hephaestus cabins could unleash if they were all on the same team together. It was scary enough during capture the flag, but all of the camp together had to be a recipe for disaster. Still, the Romans were organized, headstrong, and team-oriented. Greeks fought erratically, and that might take the Romans by surprise, or it may make it so that the Romans have the advantage. Who could say? I have no doubt that the camps were about equal in skill and power in their own ways, but with Octavian in power, I have no doubt that he might start to play unfair.
"Did you find the map you wanted?" Leo asked. Annabeth nodded, though she looked pale. Emily put her hand on her shoulder and Annabeth took a deep breath before calming slightly.
"I have to study it," Annabeth said, as if that was the end of the subject. "How far are we from those coordinates?"
"At top rowing speed, about an hour," Leo said. "Any idea what we're looking for?"
"No," She admitted. "Percy? Audrey?" Audrey looked to be asleep, or too tired to respond. Percy raised his head. His green eyes were bloodshot and droopy.
"The Nereid said Chiron's brothers were there, and they'd want to hear about that aquarium in Atlanta. I don't know what she meant, but…" He paused, like he'd used up all his energy saying that much. "She also warned us to be careful. Keto, the goddess at the aquarium, she's the mother of sea monsters. She might be stuck in Atlanta, but she can still send her children after us. The Nereid said we should expect an attack."
"Wonderful," Frank muttered. Jason tried to stand, which wasn't a good idea. Piper grabbed him to keep him from falling over, and he slid back down the mast.
"Can we get the ship aloft?" He asked. "If we could fly…"
"That'd be great," Leo said. "Except Festus tells me the port aerial stabilizer got pulverized when the ship raked against the dock at Fort Sumter."
"Sorry," Audrey muttered. Guess she was awake. "We were in a hurry trying to save you."
"And saving me is a noble cause," Leo agreed. "I'm just saying, it'll take some time to fix. Until then, we're not flying anywhere."
"Fine with me," Percy said, flexing his shoulders and wincing. "The sea is good."
"Speak for yourself," Hazel said, glancing at the evening sun, which was almost to the horizon. "We need to go fast. We've burned another day, and Nico only has three more left." I looked down. Eight days felt like enough time to get to Nico. Now we were down to three. If we had just been able to sail off peacefully, we'd probably already have made it to him.
"We can do it," Zy promised. She looked like she hadn't slept for days, and was on the verge of passing out. "We'll save him, I promise."
"We can make it to Rome in three days," Leo assured us. "Assuming, you know, nothing unexpected happens." Frank grunted. He looked like he was still working on that bulldog transformation.
"Is there any good news?"
"Actually, yes. According to Festus, our flying table, Buford, made it back safely while we were in Charleston. Unfortunately, he lost the laundry bag with your pants."
"Dang it!" Frank barked. I guess he did need more wardrobe options. He'd gotten some shirts from that aquarium back in Atlanta, but no pants. We couldn't exactly stop at a shop in the middle of the Atlantic (at least not to my knowledge, but you never know in this life) and it's not like he could just wear the same pants every day.
"I can loan you some of mine," I offered. Percy interrupted by doubling over and groaning.
"Did the world just turn upside down?" He asked. Jason pressed his hands to his head.
"Yeah, and it's spinning. Everything is yellow. Is it supposed to be yellow?" Zy flopped onto her side, her head hitting the deck.
"I can't see anything," She muttered. "What the heck are you talking about? There's a black blob in front of me." She poked me before dropping her arm, probably too tired to do that. She began muttering things in Japanese, but then switching to some really unintelligible Russian. She did say that Russian was her worst language, after all.
"I'm gonna go now," Audrey muttered. "Bye-bye." She passed out leaning on Percy, but he wasn't able to support her and they both collapsed.
"Summoning that storm really sapped your strength," Piper said. "You've got to rest."
"My head hurts too much to rest," Zy said in Chinese, poking her own head in a dazed state. Kaze moved her to sit vertical and put one of her arms over his shoulders. "Go away, red blob," She said in English. "Black blob is more comfortable." She switched to Russian again. "Me wants a pie of tacos."
"Okay, they need to get below deck and into some beds," I announced. "Kaze, take her to her room. Slowly please." He nodded.
"Hai." He walked her off.
"I am tired, so you inquired, and I desired rest," Zy muttered. "What's transpired, I do admire, our group's amount of zest. Yes! Red blob small, black blob tall, but all in all, I feel like blah…L. Doop-a-dah, la-la-la, I'm gonna fall, catch me Saul! Who's Saul? I have no idea." She suddenly fully collapsed, and Kaze was the only reason she didn't face plant. He was physically strong enough to support her, but she was still a bit taller than him and it was hard for him to get a proper grip on her. He managed though and took her down to her room.
"Em, take Audrey, will you? I think her waterbed will do her good." She nodded and took one of Audrey's arms, putting it over her shoulders and her arm around Audrey's waist, following Kaze below deck. "Frank, help with the boys, will you?" Frank glanced at Leo, no doubt reluctant to leave him alone with Hazel.
"It's fine, man," Leo said. "Just try not to drop them on the way down the stairs." Annabeth, Piper, Frank and I got the boys down to their rooms, and I left the three of them to look after the two. Emily popped out of Audrey's room, reporting she was fast asleep and healing. She joined Annabeth and the others in helping the boys, so I went over to Zy's room. She was on her bed and Kaze was mixing something in a bowl. There was a pile of shields, lances, swords, and armor that he'd probably gotten from the Romans, and it was a good thing this room was bigger than it should've been. I wondered if we were going to keep them, or if Zy would make him throw them away. When I walked up and looked over his shoulder, I saw it was some kind of mud-colored paste.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Medicine," He said. "Onesan taught me how to make it when we were surviving together. We couldn't afford to be sick for long with our lives. I got the herbs from the dining hall." He took the spoon he was mixing the paste with and spread some of it on her forehead. It instantly absorbed into her skin and disappeared without a trace. He moved to put it on her forearm. "I added a small bit of this nectar thing you told me about. I figured it would work well with the paste. I just seem to know when things go together. Onesan calls it "alchemy" and tells me my father was good at it." He put some on her other forearm and then at the base of her neck. "I've seen her turn to lightning before, but it always drains her significantly. I didn't know she could go and merge with a storm, but she must be on the verge of fading."
"Fading?"
"When she overworks herself she can tend to get stuck between lightning and human. Her body can't decide whether she's one or the other, therefore she becomes hard to touch, both because she's made of enough electricity to power the world, and because she's not entirely solid. The worse it is, the less solid she becomes, and the electricity she's made of will disperse. I've never seen what happens if she completely fades, and I hopefully never have to."
"I've never heard of that happening. She's got a lot of power within her."
"She didn't always have it though. This must be partially because I wore her out during our sparring match earlier. Then the attack happened, and she must've already lost at least a quarter of her strength by that point."
"She's gonna be fine, Kaze. She knows not to push her limits."
"She didn't back when we were surviving together. She'd push herself to dangerous extents to protect me when I went and got myself into trouble."
"She sounds like a good big sister." He nodded.
"I lost my real big sister back before I went to the "orphanage." She couldn't support us both on the streets. My mom died giving birth to me, and my father didn't help us at all. My sister talked about how he abandoned our mom after she got pregnant with me. He never came back, not even to meet me." I noticed he was fiddling with Zy's switchblade, swinging the blade back and forth. "He's Hermes. He can go anywhere, whether he's invited or not. So why couldn't he at least visitme? Just once. He could've helped us, but instead he left my sister to die while she called for his help…" I put my hand on his and took the knife. He didn't object, and pulled a metal sphere that seemed to be some contraption out of his pocket and began fiddling with it instead.
"I'm sure your dad wanted to see you. Gods aren't allowed to meddle in the affairs of their children, no matter how much they want to."
"Then why does your dad see you all the time?"
"He's not an Olympian. He doesn't have as many eyes on him as your dad does. Besides, your dad is the son of Zeus, and he's strict. And my dad has to be careful when he talks to me too. It's not like he can visit whenever he wants. He could see me once when I discovered my heritage. He said I was special or something. I met a lot of the gods, but it wasn't like they paid much attention to me. I usually have to be on the brink of death if he wants to talk, and I'm not thatcareless in battle. I visit the Underworld when I have free time, but Hades can't act like he cares about me or Zeus will be on his tail. Sure, I see him a lot, but it's not like he sees me every day for a checkup."
"Your father doesn't have many children. Hermes probably doesn't even know I exist, what with all his more important descendants at those camps. You've at least met your father. I've never met Hermes once. If my sister hadn't told me about him, I probably wouldn't know Hermes was my father."
"Hermes must be trying, Kaze. Zeus killed my mother for falling in love with my dad. He doesn't want that to happen to you."
"The Big Three aren't allowed to have children. Hermes isn't forbidden to have them." His sphere of metal transformed into a humanoid-shaped robot that walked across his palm. It whirred and muttered "Kill. Kill. Kill." while pointing its arm that held a little gun. It was smiling, and would've been cute had it not fired off a little blast and burnt a small dot into the wall. Kaze put his finger on its head and it transformed back into a sphere.
"Well if we can fix the gods, then I'll take you to meet Hermes. Or your sister will. I think we have the connections to do so, and maybe if we win this war for them, the gods will grant us a pass."
"Maybe." His sphere turned into a cat this time, with no visible weapons, as far as I could see. It moved pretty smoothly, and you'd almost believe it was real, if it wasn't multiple shades of gray, had red mechanical eyes, and whirred and clicked when it moved. It walked across his hand before hurrying up his arm and sitting on his shoulder, rubbing its head against his neck affectionately like a real cat would. It made a series of clicking sounds that resembled a purr. I bet Festus would love to have it as a friend.
"Have faith in the gods, Kaze. They can be jerks, but some of them are trying. I'm gonna go up for guard duty. Look after your sister, all right?" He nodded, and his cat put its tail to its forehead in salute motion. I laughed and headed out. Above deck, Hazel and Leo were talking, while Hedge was on the quarterdeck singing the Pokémon theme song, except the coach had changed the words to "Gotta kill 'em all." I didn't want to interrupt Hazel and Leo, so I watched from a distance.
"'Oops,'" Leo was saying, in his best impression of Frank. "'Dropped Leo into a squad of enemy soldiers. Dang it!'"
"Go easy on him," Hazel said, though she didn't sound angry. "You and your fireballs make Frank nervous."
"The guy can turn into an elephant, and I make him nervous?" Hazel paused. Everyone on this ship was trustworthy, and we should inform each other of the secrets we all hold, but still. It was Frank's decision if he wanted the others to know of his weakness. His firewood was so small, it was scary. If he even thinks of fire for too long, he might end up setting the wood ablaze without wanting to, and with its size, he'd be dead in seconds. It was understandable why he'd be afraid to tell a fire-user about his condition.
"Leo, about what happened at the Great Salt Lake…" There was a pause between them, and I saw Leo had taken the fortune cookie he'd gotten from Nemesis out of his tool belt and was turning it in his fingers.
"I'd be willing," He said. "I could use the fortune cookie to find your brother." Hazel looked stunned.
"What? No! I mean…I'd never ask you to do that. Not after what Nemesis said about the horrible cost. We barely know each other!" But we were all still friends, and every person on this ship would be willing to take a price if it meant we could find Nico.
"So…that's not what you wanted to talk about? Uh, did you want to talk about the holding-hands-on-the-boulder moment? Because-"
"No!" She said quickly, fanning her face. "No, I was just thinking about the way you tricked Narcissus and those nymphs…"
"Oh, right." Leo glanced self-consciously at his arm. The HOT STUFF tattoo hadn't completely faded. "Seemed like a good idea at the time. I mean, Zy and Emily must've done a lot to convince the nymphs and Narcissus too…"
"You were amazing. I've been mulling it over, how much you reminded me of-"
"Sammy," He guessed. "I wish you'd tell me who he is."
"Who he was," She corrected. "I've been thinking…I might be able to show you."
"You mean like a photo?"
"No. There's a sort of flashback that happens to me. I haven't had one in a long time, and I've never tried to make one happen on purpose. But I shared one with Frank and Veon, so I thought…" Hazel locked eyes with him, and Leo looked nervous.
"When you say flashback…" He swallowed. "What exactly are we talking about? Is it safe?" Hazel held out her hand.
"I wouldn't ask you to do this, but I'm sure it's important. It can't be a coincidence we met. If this works, maybe we can finally understand how we're connected." Leo glanced back at the helm, but Hedge seemed to be doing fine. The sky ahead was clear, and there was no sign of trouble.
"Okay," He relented. "Show me." He took Hazel's hand, and they froze, taken to the past. The moment belonged to the two of them, and I really shouldn't intrude, but I did want to know if there was some significance to their meeting. I could take a guess that Leo was a descendant of Sammy, but that was still a guess. Curiosity got the best of me, and I walked over to them. I put my hand on Hazel's shoulder, and the world dissolved.
