Hello there, gods, half-bloods and friends, welcome to the next chapter of The God Hunter.
Hope you enjoy and not on to the review.
Lucius Walker: It would be fun if Matt went on a rampage over the ship. But it's a bit early for that I'm afraid. And your welcome.
And now story time.
Annabeth volunteered to go alone since she had the cap of invisibility, but the two boys disagreed. Either they all went together, or nobody went.
"Nobody!" Tyson voted, "Please?"
But in the end he came along, nervously chewing on his huge fingernails. They stopped at their cabin long enough to gather their stuff. Tyson could carry four full duffel bags over his shoulder as easily as one could carry a backpack.
They sneaked through the corridors, following the ship's 'You Are Here' signs toward the admiralty suite. Using her cap of invisibility, Annabeth scouted ahead. They hid whenever someone passed by, but most of the people they saw were just glassy-eyed zombie passengers.
As they came up the stairs to deck thirteen, where the admiralty suite was supposed to be, Annabeth hissed, "Hide!" and shoved them into a supply closet. A couple of guys coming down the hall.
"You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" one of them said.
The other laughed, "Yeah, it's awesome."
Annabeth was still invisible, but she squeezed Matt's arm.
"I hear they got two more coming." the familiar voice said, "They keep arriving at this rate, oh, man! No contest!"
The voices faded down the corridor.
"That was Chris Rodriguez!" Annabeth said as she took off her cap and turned visible.
"Who?" Matt said confused.
"The guy from Cabin Eleven." Percy said.
"...Do you any idea how little that narrows it down?" Matt said.
"He's from last summer." Percy said, "He was one of those undetermined campers who got stuck in the Hermes cabin because his dad or mom never claimed him."
"Well if he was that important, you'd think I'd remember him." Matt said casually, "So what's another one of us doing here?"
Annabeth shook her head, clearly troubled.
"But seriously, Annabeth. A supply closet?" Matt said, "This is most cliched hiding place you could have chosen."
"I'm sorry, I didn't take us to the Bahamas of hiding places!" Annabeth said dryly.
They kept going down the corridor. They didn't need maps anymore to know they were getting close to Luke, Because something cold and unpleasant permeated the air. The presence of evil.
"Guys." Annabeth said as she stopped suddenly, "You need to see this."
She stood in front of a glass wall looking down into the multistory canyon that ran through the middle of the ship. At the bottom was the Promenade, a mall full of shops, but that's not what had caught Annabeth's attention.
A group of monsters had assembled in front of the candy store: a dozen Laistrygonian giants like the ones who'd attacked Percy with dodge balls, two hellhounds, and a few even stranger creatures, humanoid females with twin serpent tails instead of legs.
"Scythian Dracaenae." Annabeth whispered, "Dragon women."
The monsters made a semi-circle around a young guy in Greek armor who was hacking on a straw dummy, which was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. As they watched, the guy in armor stabbed the dummy through its belly and ripped upward. Straw flew everywhere. The monsters cheered and howled.
Annabeth stepped away from the window, her face was ashen.
"Guess someone has some issue's." Matt said trying to sound casual, "Let's go find Luke."
At the end of the hallway were double oak doors that looked like they must lead somewhere important. When they were thirty feet away, Tyson stopped. "Voices inside."
"You can hear that far?" Percy asked.
Tyson closed his eye like he was concentrating hard. Then his voice changed, becoming a husky approximation of Luke's. "...the prophecy ourselves. The fools won't know which way to turn."
His voice changed again, becoming deeper and gruffer, like the other guy they'd heard talking to Luke outside the cafeteria, "You really think the old horseman is gone for good?"
He laughed Luke's laugh, "They can't trust him. Not with the skeletons in his closet. The poisoning of the tree was the final straw."
Annabeth shivered, "Stop that, Tyson!" she said, "How do you do that? It's creepy."
Tyson opened his eye and looked puzzled.
"Yeah, creepy awesome." Matt said, "Continue Big T."
Tyson closed his eye again, he hissed in the gruff man's voice, "Quiet!"
Then Luke's voice, whispering, "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Tyson said in the gruff voice. "Right outside."
"Oh shit." Matt said when the doors of the stateroom burst open and there was Luke, flanked by two hairy giants armed with javelins, their bronze tips aimed right at their chests.
"Well, if it isn't my three favorite cousins." Luke said with a crooked smile, "Come right in."
The stateroom was beautiful, and it was horrible.
The beautiful part: Huge windows curved along the back wall, looking out over the stern of the ship. Green sea and blue sky stretched all the way to the horizon. A Persian rug covered the floor. Two plush sofas occupied the middle of the room, with a canopied bed in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other. The table was loaded with food, pizza boxes, bottles of soda, and a stack of roast beef sandwiches on a silver platter.
The horrible part: On a velvet dais at the back of the room lay a ten-foot-long golden casket.
A sarcophagus, engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dying grisly deaths. Despite the sunlight streaming through the windows, the casket made the whole room feel cold.
"A little nicer than Cabin Eleven, isn't it?" Luke said, spreading his arms proudly.
He'd changed since the last summer. Instead of Bermuda shorts and a T-shirt, he wore a button-down shirt, khaki pants, and leather loafers. His sandy hair, which used to be so unruly, was now clipped short.
He still had the scar under his eye, a jagged white line from his battle with a dragon. And propped against the sofa was his magical sword, Backbiter, glinting strangely with its half-steel, half-Celestial bronze blade that could kill both mortals and monsters.
"Sit." he told them. He waved his hand and four dining chairs scooted themselves into the center of the room.
None of them sat.
Luke's large friends were still pointing their javelins at them. They looked like twins, but they weren't human. They stood about eight feet tall, for one thing, and wore only blue jeans, probably because their enormous chests were already shag-carpeted with thick brown fur. They had claws for fingernails, feet like paws. Their noses were snout-like, and their teeth were all pointed canines.
"Where are my manners?" Luke said smoothly, "These are my assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them."
"Who?..." Matt said, thinking of all the ways he wanted to take Luke down.
"You don't know Agrius and Oreius's story?" Luke asked, "Their mother..."
"Cares?" Matt interrupted him.
"...Glad you see you haven't changed, Matt." Luke said, "How's everything going?"
"Just dandy." Matt said with a frown, "Tell me, it was you right? You poisoned Thalia's tree."
Luke sighed, "Right to the point? Okay, sure I poisoned the tree. So what?"
"How could you?" Annabeth said, sounding so angry, one would think she'd explode, "Thalia saved your life! Our lives! How could you dishonor her..."
"I didn't dishonor her!" Luke snapped, "The gods dishonored her, Annabeth! If Thalia were alive, she'd be on my side."
"Liar!"
"If you knew what was coming, you'd understand..."
"I understand you want to destroy the camp!" she yelled, "You're a monster!"
Luke shook his head. "The gods have blinded you. Can't you imagine a world without them, Annabeth? What good is that ancient history you study? Three thousand years of baggage! The West is diseased, rotten to the core. There is no saving it. We need to pull it out by the roots. Wipe the slate clean. Burn it down! Join me! We can start the world anew. We could use your intelligence, Annabeth."
"Because you have none of your own!" Annabeth shouted.
"Burn!" Matt said approvingly.
His eyes narrowed. "I know you, Annabeth. You deserve better than tagging along on some hopeless quest to save the camp. Half-Blood Hill will be overrun by monsters within the month. The heroes who survive will have no choice but to join us or be hunted to extinction. You really want to be on a losing team... with company like this?" Luke pointed at Tyson.
"Hey!" Percy said.
"Traveling with a Cyclops. Talk about dishonoring Thalia's memory!" Luke chided, "I'm surprised at you, Annabeth. You of all people..."
"Stop it!" she shouted, she buried her head in her hands like she was about to cry.
"Leave her alone." Matt growled.
"Yeah!" Percy said, "And leave Tyson out this!"
Luke laughed. "Oh, yeah, I heard. Your father claimed him. Yes, I know all about that. And about your plan to find the Fleece. What were those coordinates, again... 30, 31, 75, 12? You see, I still have friends at camp who keep me posted."
"You have no friends." Matt said, "You have lackey's."
He shrugged. "Same difference. But tell me, Matt. How many insults from your mother can you stand, Matt?" he said, "You think she's grateful to you? You think Hera actually cares for you?"
"Do you honestly think I care?" Matt said anno, "All she did was give birth me, what has she done for me recently?"
Luke just chuckled. "See? That's what I like about you, you don't give a shit! But you don't see it yet." he said, "The gods are so using you. Do you have any idea what's in store for you? Or to Percy once he reaches his sixteenth birthday?"
"Luke... Look at this face." Matt said holding his hand under his chin, "I do not care."
"Matt..." Luke said clicking his tongue, "Always the edge lord."
Tyson smashed the nearest dining chair to splinters, "Matt is not a edge lord!" he shouted.
Before anyone could stop him, he charged Luke. His fists came down toward Luke's head, a double overhead blow that would've knocked a hole in titanium, but the bear twins intercepted. They each caught one of Tyson's arms and stopped him cold. They pushed him back and Tyson stumbled. He fell to the carpet so hard the deck shook.
"Too bad, Cyclops." Luke said, "Looks like my grizzly friends together are more than a match for your strength. Maybe I should let them..."
"Luke, listen to me." Percy cut in, "Your father sent us."
His face turned the color of pepperoni, "Don't. Even mention him."
"He told us to take this boat. I thought it was just for a ride, but he sent us here to find you." Percy said, "He told me he won't give up on you, no matter how angry you are."
"Angry? Give up on me?... He abandoned me, Percy!" Luke roared, "I want Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! You tell Hermes it's going to happen, too. Each time a half-blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker and we grow stronger. He grows stronger.", he pointed to the gold sarcophagus.
"It's kind of ugly." Matt said.
"You shouldn't judge a book by its cover." Luke told him.
"But it's not a book." Matt pointed out, "It's a sarcophagus."
Luke gave him a quick glance, not sure if Matt was being intentionally acting this stupid just to mess with him or not. "It's not the sarcophagus that's special. It's what's inside."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees. "Wait, do you mean..."
"He is re-forming. Little by little, we're calling his life force out of the pit." Luke said, "With every recruit who pledges our cause, another small piece appears..."
"That's disgusting!" Annabeth said.
Luke sneered at her. "Your mother was born from Zeus's split skull, Annabeth. I wouldn't talk. Soon there will be enough of the Titan Lord so that we can make him whole again. We will piece together a new body for him, a work worthy of the forges of Hephaestus."
"Join us and you'll be rewarded. We have powerful friends, sponsors rich enough to buy this cruise ship and much more. Percy, your mother will never have to work again. You can buy her a mansion. You can have power, fame... whatever you want. Annabeth, you can realize your dream of being an architect. You can build a monument to last a thousand years. A temple to the lords of the next age!"
"You know, having thought it over..." Matt said tapping his chin as he stepped forward, "Maybe I was wrong about you."
A silence followed as everyone in the cabin turned towards the blonde. "Am I..." Luke said surprised, "Did I get through to you?", as he held out his hand.
"Your not crazy at all..." Matt said with a grin as he accepted the handshake, "You're bat-shit insane!"
Luke looked shocked when Matt gave him an uppercut to the chin hard enough to send the dazed Luke flying through the air.. "Tyson! Now!" Matt said as his hair glows before he send a fist of white flames towards one of the giants, sending him crashing through a nearby wall.
Tyson understood, he turned and smacked Oreius thirty feet backward into the opposite wall.
"Run!" Matt said, blasting the door open.
Red lights flashed and sirens wailed while the four of them ran over the pool deck, one of the security guards with hazy eyes drew his nightstick, but Annabeth knocked the wind out of him with a well-placed kick. The other guard ran for the nearest alarm box.
"Lifeboat!" Percy yelled, and they ran for the nearest one.
By the time they got the cover off, monsters and more security men were swarming the deck, pushing aside tourists and waiters with trays of tropical drinks. A guy in Greek armor drew his sword and charged, but slipped in a puddle of piƱa colada. Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above us, notching arrows in their enormous bows.
"How do you launch this thing?" Annabeth screamed.
A hellhound leaped at Percy, but Tyson slammed it aside with a fire extinguisher.
"Any ideas?" Matt thought.
Shoot it down with your fire?
"Great idea!" Matt said, "Everyone aboard!"
Percy uncapped Riptide and slashed the first volley of arrows out of the air. Any second they would be overwhelmed. The lifeboat was hanging over the side of the ship, high above the water. Annabeth and Tyson were having no luck with the release pulley.
"Ladies, gentlemen and monsters." Matt said as he charged a fist full of fire, "You will always remember this as the day that you almost caught Matt Hauer." and he burned the rope once he unleashed the fire.
A shower of arrows whistled over our heads as we free-fell toward the ocean.
"Thermos!" Percy screamed as they hurtled toward the water.
"What?" Annabeth yelled, holding on to the boat straps for dear life, her hair flying straight up like a torch.
But Tyson understood. He managed to open one of the duffel bags and take out Hermes's magical thermos without losing his grip on it or the boat.
With his hair glowing, one hand holding on to the boat, while with his free hand he unleashed a continues stream of fire to act as a shield to the incoming arrows and javelins. Percy grabbed the thermos and hooked his feet under the boat's inflatable bench, he gave the thermos cap a quarter turn.
Instantly, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the thermos and propelled us sideways, turning our downward plummet into a forty-five-degree crash landing.
The wind seemed to laugh as it shot from the thermos, like it was glad to be free. As they hit the ocean, their rescue boat bumped once, twice, skipping like a stone, then it was whizzing along like a speed boat, salt spray in their faces and nothing but sea ahead.
The Princess Andromeda faded to the size of a white toy boat in the distance, and then it was gone.
As they raced over the sea, Matt and Annabeth tried to send an Iris-message to Chiron. Someone besides them needed to know what Luke was doing, and who better to trust then Chiron?
The wind from the thermos stirred up a nice sea spray that made a rainbow in the sunlight, perfect for an Iris-message, but their connection was still poor. When Annabeth threw a gold drachma into the mist and prayed for the rainbow goddess to show them Chiron, his face appeared all right, but there was some kind of weird strobe light flashing in the background and rock music blaring, like he was at a dance club.
They told him about sneaking away from camp, and Luke and the Princess Andromeda and the golden box for Kronos's remains.
"Percy!" Chiron yelled, "You have to watch out for..."
His voice was drowned out by loud shouting behind him, a bunch of voices whooping it up like Comanche warriors.
"What?" Percy yelled.
"Curse my relatives!" Chiron ducked as a plate flew over his head and shattered somewhere out of sight, "Annabeth, you shouldn't have let Percy leave camp! But if you do get the Fleece..."
"Yeah, baby!" somebody behind Chiron yelled.
The music got cranked up, subwoofers so loud it made the boat vibrate.
"...Miami!" Chiron was yelling, "I'll try to keep watch..."
The misty screen smashed apart like someone on the other side had thrown a bottle at it, and Chiron was gone.
There you go, another chapter, hope you enjoyed. Many thanks to everyone who reads, reviews, favorite, or follows this story.
So I recently finished watching The Blood of Zeus on Netflix (pretty good in my opinion) and I just wanted to say Hera and Hades did nothing wrong!
Anyways take care of yourself, get some rest, drink plenty of water and I will see you people next time.
