Ch 5 Zeus Yeets Our Ship Out Of The Sky
Percy had barely been in Pietro's cabin for ten minutes when the demigods showed up.
He'd asked around town for a while trying to find Pietro, but no one had given him straight answers. That is, until a random old man on the beach had mentioned a cabin up in the woods that someone definitely lived in, but never came out of. Percy headed in that direction, and sure enough, found both the cabin and Pietro. The guy looked enough like Percy that he could probably pass for him, except Pietro was about ten years older and had a neatly-trimmed beard while Percy…didn't.
Then he knocked Pietro out (He wasn't able to muster up the courage to follow through on his dad's instructions, but that would work for his current purpose) and proceeded to look around the house. He found a backpack and some basic supplies to put in it. (He had no idea how prepared these demigods would be. Sometimes people would go on quests with literally nothing)
Just barely after zipping up the backpack and sitting down to wait for the adventurers to show up, someone knocked on the door. He hesitated at first. This was it.
Remember, your Pietro, not Percy, He told himself, What would a recluse treasure hunter act like?
He had no clue, so he just hoped that whoever these demigods were, they didn't know the real Pietro and Percy could just act normally.
He opened the door to a goth kid in all black and a tan aviator jacket probably a few years younger than him. He then looked to see six others with him. Among them were a short guy with curly dark hair and a tacky Hawaiian shirt with margaritas on it, a girl with tan skin and dark hair in various braids, and an Asian guy with a build not unlike The Rock. Percy immediately made a note to not get in a fight with him.
Okay. They were all staring at him. What should he say? What would Pietro say?
"Hello?" He said. That was always a good place to start, "Can I help you?
The girl with the braids muttered under her breath, "I thought he'd be older." Uh-oh. He was only minutes into this operation and they were already suspicious. This could be bad.
Just keep going.
"Pietro Mendoza," A girl with dark skin and curly hair said, "we were sent by Apollo to ask for your assistance."
Okay, so this was definitely the group of demigods he was waiting for.
"A-Assistance?" He said, hoping he sounded surprised.
"Yes," The Asian Rock said, "You see, he lost a magical lyre and told us to go find it and to come to you because you'd have a better idea of where it is."
The story sounded identical to what Dad had said. So far so good. He just had to keep his cool and make these demigods think he was Pietro.
Did Pietro have special powers? He must have, considering they seemed to believe he knew where the lyre was. It was a good thing Dad had told Percy about its location.
Percy laughed and shook his head, "Honestly, why can't the gods find their own junk?" The Rock and curly-haired girl seemed offended by that. No one else batted an eye. He continued, "But it doesn't mater. I think the object you want is in the Sea Of Monsters, on the Isle of Wadlisle."
"Wade-Lyle?" The short guy asked.
"Uh…" Why was he stuttering? He shouldn't be stuttering. That would make them more suspicious. And dang, was that emo kid glaring at him? Did he know he was an imposter?
Focus, Percy, "Yes?"
"Where's that?" Said a girl in the back of the group. This was the first time Percy noticed her. And gods, she was pretty. With her curly blonde hair and those gray…slightly…okay no…really terrifying eyes. Actually, as pretty as she was, she was just as, if not more, intimidating. She had an extremely intelligent look in her eyes, like she knew the exact questions to ask to get someone to spill their darkest secrets.
"Right at the center," Percy said, then realized if he told them all where it was they might just go without him and that would ruin the entire plan so he continued, "But don't worry, I can take you all there."
The emo kid frowned at that. Why did he look like he knew something?
"Great!" Margarita shirt said, "We can take you back to our boat and show you around the Argo II."
Percy recognized that name from somewhere. Maybe from one of the old myths? He wasn't sure. Either way, he was immediately curious about this boat, but didn't let that show. Pietro was supposed to be a seasoned adventurer. He wouldn't be that excited about something as menial as a boat.
The others, except for that strange goth kid, all agreed with curly hair. They allowed Percy to go get his stuff (the backpack he'd packed in a hurry just a few minutes prior) before following the crew to the boat. On the way, he learned everybody's names, which was helpful, but it was going to take a while to get them all straight. Leo had the Margarita shirt, Frank was the really strong one, Piper had the braids, or was that Hazel…? He wasn't sure. So far, everyone seemed pretty chill. No one seemed too suspecting. That was most likely a good thing. Percy just hoped he could keep it that way.
"So, Pietro," a voice came up from next to him. Percy jumped out of his thoughts as he saw Annabeth, the really pretty but also really scary one, walking next to him, "I've been doing some research about your father. I've never heard of Petro, the god of missing objects."
Percy laughed, "Oh yeah. He's a pretty minor god. Keeps to himself mostly."
"And you have the talent to find anything that's been lost?"
No. "Yep."
"How long have you been living on Equira? According to what I found, you're a pretty big name in the treasure hunting community. It also says that you're like thirty-something, but you don't seem that old. I'd say your probably around my age."
Percy's head started spinning. This girl was asking so many questions at once. How did he come up with a convincing answer for all of them?
"Uh…I've been here a while." He said, "And I guess the legends are just wrong."
"Why did you hide from everyone?"
"Well, you know, when you can find any object, people will often-"
"Ask favors from you, of course!" She finished, then blushed, "Sorry, I just get excited about adventurers and stuff. That must suck though. No wonder you cut off society."
"Yeah." Percy had no idea how to reply, so he figured that would do.
Annabeth said nothing for a moment, then asked in a bit quieter tone, "So did you really find the Sceptre of Dagobert?"
Percy blinked. The what? "Um…yep."
"How did you do it?"
Percy laughed nervously, "Well! That is…that is a long story. And you know, it's pretty crazy, because you see, it was a long time ago and I'm gonna have trouble remembering the details…" Annabeth looked at him curiously, as if something had just dawned on her. Crap. Did she think he was a fake now too? "But you see-"
"Annabeth, holy Hephaestus! Stop grilling the poor guy!" Leo appeared out of nowhere and put his arm around Percy's shoulder, which was quite awkward considering he was like half a foot shorter than him, "Listen, don't mind her, she's just excited, getting to meet a legendary adventurer and all that."
"Where'd you come from?" Annabeth asked.
Leo shrugged, "Well I was talking to Nico, but then he threatened to kill me if I didn't shut up, so…" Annabeth stepped back as Leo took over the conversation, but she didn't stop looking at Percy, deep in thought.
Leo took his arm off of Percy, "Captain Valdez, at your service. Son of Hephaestus, fire user, etc, etc."
Percy resisted the urge to introduce himself as himself. He had to remember he was only playing a part. He couldn't exactly say, 'Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, half-siren, here to steal the lyre Apollo sent you to find, blah blah blah.'
Leo then lowered his voice, "Listen man, I saw that look in your eyes."
Percy frowned, "What look?"
Leo scoffed, "You know, the look."
Oh. That look. Percy had dealt with enough attention in Atlantis to know what Leo was talking about. But that was absurd. He wasn't…well she wasn't…well Annabeth was but he didn't…
Percy shook his head. He couldn't get attached. But these people seemed cool. Leo seemed like someone he could match energy with. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he thoroughly enjoyed talking with Annabeth and the way she lit up while asking him questions. He felt bad about lying to her.
Stop it, He told himself. It didn't matter how he felt. At the end of the day, he would have to betray them, regardless of any bonds created.
Even if, despite the fact he'd only known them for a few minutes, they already felt like home.
"Listen man," Leo said, "I'd say go for it if you're really that interested. But Annabeth's not one to mess with. She'll judo-flip you without a second thought if you piss her off." Leo looked ahead, "Oh look, we're here."
Percy looked up.
A warship.
An ancient trireme-style giant freaking warship floated above, moored to a tree. A rope ladder swung down from the side, beckoning everyone on.
"Pietro," Leo said, "Welcome to the Argo II."
oooooooo
Things went wrong almost immediately.
As soon as they took off, Hazel and Frank (the girl with the curly hair and the really strong guy) started showing him around the ship. It was insane, honestly. How Leo had put all of it together Percy had no idea. The sheer size was enough to marvel at, let alone all the inner workings and luxuries he'd added on. It did seem a little strange that there were exactly eight cabins, and there were now exactly eight of them on the ship, but whatever.
He also found out he didn't like flying. The gentle sway of the airship made him want to vomit. Sea sickness? Never heard of her. But air sickness? Gods of Olympus it was bad.
Probably had to do with Zeus not being happy about a son of his arch-nemesis in his domain.
Of course, before Hazel and Frank could even finish the tour, they all heard screaming from above. All three rushed to the top deck to find Leo shouting orders at everyone while he motioned with a Wii remote. Percy frowned at that but figured he knew what he was doing. He then quickly found out what was happening. The ship was falling. Fast.
"Leo, what in Hera's name-?" Annabeth yelled, storming toward Leo.
"I don't know!" Leo said, panicked as he set down the controller and frantically started pushing buttons, "Everything just stopped!" He turned to the blonde guy and Frank, "Jason, Frank, fly out and make sure we land somewhere safe."
"It's all water below us, genius," Nico said.
Leo considered this, "Fair point." He grabbed the steering wheel, switching back to focusing on the ship, "Hold on, this isn't gonna be pretty!" He grit his teeth and tried to slow their fall as much as he could.
The ship landed in the ocean with a splash.
Water flooded the top deck. Percy panicked and prayed to his father that he wouldn't transform. He shouldn't, given that he wasn't fully submerged underwater, but he couldn't be sure. That would be just what he needed. He was already on thin ice with one of the crew, at least he though he was, and turning into a merman on the top deck certainly wouldn't help. Luckily, nothing seemed to happen, although Percy realized that his clothes were still completely dry, while everyone else's were soaked. Oops.
He willfully allowed the water to stick to his clothes, keeping his cover. Hopefully no one had seen any of that. Of course, right then he looked over at Nico, the emo kid, who was looking right at him. He immediately turned away.
Percy shook his head. This would be fine. Maybe Nico hadn't seen anything, or didn't know what he was seeing. Yeah. That was definitely it.
Leo ran down to the control room, Annabeth following on his heels. Everyone else just stood on the deck awkwardly.
"So, uh, Pietro," Frank started, "How many quests have you been on that have gone wrong from the get-go?"
Percy shrugged, "A handful. That's kinda typical when you're a demigod, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Frank said.
More awkward silence. It felt like a scene from a movie when the writer didn't know what they wanted the characters to do, so everyone just did nothing.
That took Percy back. They had movies in Atlantis, but the technology worked differently than on land. They also had different movies. He remembered just a few months ago when Kraken had been in theaters. It was a horror movie about, well, a sea monster named Kraken. The thing was based on human legends and blown way out of proportions, at least compared to the real story, not to mention the cheesy acting, but it had gotten great reviews from Rotten Tuna. Percy had gotten asked out to go see it by a few different mermaids, but he'd turned them all down.
Annabeth appeared back on deck. Percy heard Leo coming up behind her, muttering a string of curse words.
He came above deck, "Well, do y'all want the good news or the bad news?"
"Good news," Said Frank and Hazel while everyone else said "bad". Percy didn't say anything.
"Good news," Leo said, "The ship is not in danger of sinking. There's some minor flooding from the crash, yes, but we'll all be fine." He held up a half-eaten KitKat bar and took a bite, "Plus I found this."
"Do you have any idea how gross that is?" Frank shuddered.
Leo shrugged, "Don't know, don't care."
Jason shook his head, "And the bad news?"
"All of the ship's flight mechanisms are broken."
"What?" Piper asked.
Leo nodded, "Yep."
"But that makes no sense, how could they just-"
"Beats me."
Percy realized that this was most likely his fault. He knew Zeus was annoyed at him for existing, especially in his domain, but this seemed a bit extreme. Hopefully none of them caught onto that.
"But the ship was fine before Equira!" Hazel said, "How could it just stop working?"
Percy caught Nico staring at him again. Geez, that kid creeped him out. Okay, he was probably onto him at this point. He had to come up with something before the rest figured out he was the problem.
"…Maybe Zeus found out about Apollo's little stunt." Percy suggested.
"True, true," Leo said, "But wouldn't Zeus want us to succeed regardless? You know, so Poseidon doesn't get the lyre?"
"Guys, it might be my fault," Frank admitted, "I worried about Zeus not liking me in his domain, you know, with Poseidon being my ancestor and all that."
"Don't be ridiculous Frank," Hazel grabbed his hand, "It's not your fault. Otherwise we would've fallen out of the sky as soon as we took off from camp."
"But I have a connection to-"
"That was long before Zeus and Poseidon went to war with each other Frank," Annabeth said, "Trust me, it's not you."
Percy watched as Nico and Annabeth gave each other a wary look. Percy swallowed hard. This whole cover thing was going to be a lot harder than he thought.
"It could be a design flaw," Piper said, "Leo, are you sure this wasn't on you?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Leo said, "Like I said, this whole ship was made on a hyperfixation fueled by willpower and Red Bull. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee smooth sailing."
The crew seemed satisfied with that answer. Percy, still worried they'd get smart and start asking too many questions, promptly said he needed some to plan out their course (aka turn attention away from him) and went to his new cabin.
It was pretty simple. A bed on one side, a desk on the other. Percy had put his new backpack in there earlier when Hazel and Frank had showed him around. He ignored it and sat on the bed.
What in his father's name had he gotten himself into? Already, two of the seven seemed suspicious of him. How long would it take for the rest of them to realize he was a fraud. And, already, he was finding that these demigods were really nice people. People that, maybe in another world, he would've been good friends with. Why did this have to be so hard? Why couldn't he just be happy and carefree? Sadly, that was impossible for him. Even if he disobeyed his father's orders, sooner or later they'd all find out the truth, and there was no way they'd accept him.
And he'd be all alone all over again.
So it didn't matter. He couldn't form a bond with any of them. It'd only make the betrayal hurt more.
Someone knocked on the door. Percy told them to come in. It was the blond guy with glasses- Jason? Percy thought.
"Hey, sorry to bother you," He said. Percy noticed he had a small scar above his lip. He wondered what that was from, "I just had a question."
Uh-oh. Percy's heart started beating faster, "You did?"
"Petro." Jason said, "Is he Greek or Roman?"
There was a difference!?
"Uhh…Greek," Percy said. Percy knew next to nothing about the Roman gods or myths, so he really hoped Jason didn't ask about those. He wondered who Jason's godly parent was. Leo had mentioned flying. Could this guy really do that? So far he only knew two of the seven's, Leo and Annabeth. And apparently Frank was descended from Poseidon, so that technically made Percy his great, great, great, great, great-
You know what? He wasn't even going to try to figure that out.
Jason nodded, "So, did you ever go to Camp Half-Blood?"
Camp what? "No."
"Ah. So you were a loner then."
Understatement of the century, "Yeah, I guess."
He paused, "I've always wondered what it would be like to grow up outside of camp. I lived at Camp Jupiter, the Roman equivalent of Camp Half-Blood, in case you're wondering, from when I was a little kid. I didn't know any other life. It had its perks, though. I eventually became praetor, although I guess that's expected of a kid of Jupiter," Jason laughed, "Sorry, I'm blabbing, aren't I?"
Jupiter. Wasn't that the Roman version of Zeus? If that was the case, crap. One of the demigods on the quest was the son of his dad's arch nemesis.
Wait. Jason had asked him a question, hadn't he? "It's okay. I do it too."
"So, if you didn't go to either camp, then what did you do?"
Before Percy could answer Jason's question (thank the gods) Leo came running by. His hair was smoking. He didn't seem to notice.
"There you two are." He said, "Come on, I'm setting up a Super Smash Bros Tournament and you guys are gonna get your asses whooped."
