Chapter Title: Calm Waters Are Supposed To Offer Respites, Right?
Once we got there, needless to say — it wasn't a pretty landing. With the oars damaged and the foresail torn, Leo could barely manage a controlled descent — the key word being barely here. It looked more like the descent of the penguins sliding on their bellies during that one scene in Happy Feet, like no seriously — that's really what it looked like. The others, including myself, strapped themselves in below, with Colton simply holding onto Kayla for dear life while she sat in his lap with both of them strapped onto the same seat —except for Coach Hedge, who insisted on clinging to the forward rail, yelling, "YEAH! Bring it on, lake!"
I was convinced that this man was insane for a satyr. I mean, look.. Grover — who was seated next to Percy and Annabeth while screaming at the top of his lungs for gods know what reason — had done some insane stuff while on quests with those two, but Hedge seemed to take the insanity to a whole another level.
Leo stood astern, alone at the helm, and aimed as best he could. I was honestly hoping he wouldn't get launched off the ship and into the water at the first impact. It would be rough for us if that happened to be honest. I held Katie's hand, as she sat next to me and looked very nervous, my touch reassuring her that things were going to be okay.
Festus creaked and whirred warning signals, which were relayed through the intercom to the quarterdeck — and like usual, only Leo could understand what Festus was actually trying to say.
"I know, I know," Leo said, gritting his teeth.
He really didn't have much time to take in the scenery, and to be fair, there was a lot to see even as the ship plummeted to the Great Salt Lake. To the southeast, a city was nestled in the foothills of a mountain range, blue and purple in the afternoon shadows. A flat desert landscape spread to the south. Directly beneath them the Great Salt Lake was glittering almost like aluminum foil, the shoreline etched with white salt marshes that seemed to remind me of aerial photos of Mars.
"Hang on, Coach!" Leo shouted. "This is going to hurt."
"I was born for hurt!"
"This man is crazy.." Luke commented.
He was indeed. Like I said, I genuinely now believed that Coach Hedge was crazy. Well, not as crazy as some of the other members of this quest — cough cough Colton — but crazy nevertheless. I didn't get much time to think any further with this because just a couple of seconds later..
WHOOM!
Impact with the lake.
A swell of salt water washed over the bow, dousing Coach Hedge. The Argo II listed dangerously to starboard, then proceeded to right itself and rocked back and forth for a few moments on the surface of the lake. Machinery hummed as the aerial blades that were still working changed to nautical form — a testament to the thoroughness to whoever the hell came with the concept for the ship that Leo made a reality with help from his cabin and the rest of us to some degree or another.
Three banks of robotic oars dipped into the water and began moving them forward. "Ugh.. I'm drenched.. and I just cleaned these clothes yesterday.." Silena moaned.
"At least we you weren't plunging into water up in Alaska.." Percy said, causing Luke to start cackling for a few moments.
Silena looked mortified at the thought.
"Good job, Festus," Leo said. "Take us toward the south shore."
"Yeah!" Coach Hedge pumped his fists in the air. He was drenched from his horns to hooves, but grinning like a crazy goat. "Do it again!"
Katie just sighed. "There is definitely something wrong with him.." she muttered.
Crazy as can be. Like seriously, Coach Hedge really has a few screws loose.
"Uh...maybe later," Leo said. "Just stay above deck, okay? You can keep watch, in case—you know, the lake decides to attack us or something."
I decided to turn to look at probably the obvious person that quote would resonate with, and sure enough, Colton was already scanning the lake, looking for any threats. That man really did not miss a beat.
"On it," Hedge promised.
Leo now noticed Colton looking around and sighed. "You can relax, Colton.." Leo said, reluctantly saying his name a little still. Guess he was still a bit in shock over him coming to his defense earlier.
Leo rang the "all clear" bell and headed for the stairs as we all unstrapped ourselves. Before he got there, a loud clump-clump-clump shook the hull and we all turned. A tan stallion appeared on deck with Hazel Levesque on the back of it.
Needless to say, a lot of us were flabbergasted. I for one was simply bewildered to be honest here.
"How—?" Leo's question died in his throat. "We're in the middle of a lake! Can that thing fly?"
The horse whinnied angrily.
"I don't think it can, buddy.." Colton said.
"You're right. Arion can't fly," Hazel said. "But he can run across just about anything. Water, vertical surfaces, small mountains—none of that bothers him."
"Oh."
"Yeah — and it makes traveling over really long distances a whole lot more simple thankfully.." Luke commented, which was true. After all, apparently, it was because of
Hazel was looking at him strangely, the way she had during the feast in the forum—like she was searching for something in his face. For his part, Leo seemed to be thinking of something. What it was, I don't really know.
There wasn't any way I couldn't know for a fact, though, that the way Hazel was studying Leo did seem to make him feel uneasy and self-conscious. "A horse that can run on water and up small mountains.." Katie muttered. "..wouldn't be surprised if this was an offspring from my mother."
To be fair, that was a subject I honestly did not want to explore due to how weird it sounded. So, I just made zero comment.
Coach Hedge crept forward with his baseball bat, eyeing the magic horse suspiciously. "Valdez, does this count as an invasion?"
Leo looked like he was caught between a rock and a hard place, which to be fair given that we still considered the man to be on thin ice since he tried to ask out you-know-who's girlfriend, he mostly likely still was — even with Colton defending him earlier.
"No!" Leo said. "Um, Hazel, you'd better come with me. I built a stable belowdecks, if Arion wants to—"
"He's more of a free spirit." Hazel slipped out of the saddle. "He'll graze around the lake until I call him. But I want to see the ship. Lead the way."
"Yeah.." Colton said. "I kinda want to see it too."
That made Kayla smile, and for good reason — one that you will see why in a bit. Either way, she took Colton's hand and led him towards the stairs, the Monster King himself smiling a little as she did. Let's face it, those two could be the sweetest things in the world towards each other.
The Argo II was designed like an ancient trireme, only at least four times as big. The first deck had one central corridor with crew cabins on either side, while the second was similar. On a normal trireme, most of the space would've been taken up with three rows of benches for a few hundred sweaty guys to do the manual labor, but Leo's oars were automated and retractable, so they took up very little room inside the hull. The ship's power came from the engine room on the fourth and lowest deck, which also housed sickbay, storage, and the stables.
Leo led the way down the hall. He'd built the ship with a total of 36 cabins plus a few extra spare cabins — eleven alone for the demigods of the prophecy, and a room for Coach Hedge (Seriously—Chiron considered him a responsible adult chaperone somehow, which made zero sense). At the stern was a large mess hall/lounge, which was where Leo was headed.
It was an open and not well hidden secret that Leo had designed the cabins with input from everyone that had been confirmed to go on this quest, and it showed. So long story short, it was little wonder that Colton and Kayla's room literally looked like an exact replica of their room in the Typhon Cabin from what glimpses we could see from the windows — they almost never let any of us in other than Percy, Annabeth, Luke, Clarisse, Chris, Beckendorf, Sherman, Michael, Silena, Katie, Miranda, and Lee. One side was reserved for him, and the other for her.
The MG42 along with the ammo box and spare barrels was propped up along the wall in the corner next to his side of the bed in there, and believe me, words cannot express how thankful I am right now for getting Colton what he always wanted back then. That gun has played a major role in why so many of us are here now — that much cannot be denied.
At this moment, though, Colton turned into their room and just stood at the edge. "Looks nice.." he muttered. "I'll be up in a bit — gotta put my stuff down first." That made sense — for he did have four swords sheathed on his back, plus a bayonet in its scabbard, a cartridge box, cap pouch, and the Whitworth Rifle either on his belt or also slung on his body too.
On the way, we passed Jason's room. The door was open. Piper sat at the side of his berth, holding Jason's hand while he snored with an ice pack on his head.
Piper glanced at Leo. She held a finger to her lips for quiet, but she didn't look angry. That was something. Leo looked like he was trying to force down his guilt, and we kept walking. David was doing something similar with Grace, the Roman girl, when we passed by them in one of the guest rooms. When we reached the mess hall, we found the others sitting dejectedly around the dining table.
Leo had made the lounge as nice as possible, since according to his logic, he figured we'd be spending a lot of time there. The cupboard was lined with magic cups and plates from Camp Half-Blood, which would fill up with whatever food or drink you wanted on command. There was also a magical ice chest with canned drinks, perfect for picnics ashore. The chairs were cushy recliners with thousand-finger massage, built-in headphones, and sword and drink holders for all your demigod kicking-back needs. There were no windows, but the walls were enchanted to show real-time footage from Camp Half-Blood—the beach, the forest, the strawberry fields—although judging by the look on his face, Leo seemed to be wondering now if this made people homesick rather than happy.
Case in point, Percy was staring longingly at a sunset view of Half-Blood Hill, where the Golden Fleece glittered in the branches of the tall pine tree.
"So we've landed," Percy said. "What now?"
Frank plucked on his bowstring. "Figure out the prophecy? I mean...that was a prophecy Ella spoke, right? From the Sibylline Books?"
"Yeah, she did.." Luke said. "Before Colton got hit with that other one in the air."
"The what?" Leo asked.
Frank explained how their harpy friend was freakishly good at memorizing books. At some point in the past, she'd inhaled a collection of ancient prophecies that had supposedly been destroyed around the fall of Rome.
"So wait.. she's a walking prophet then..?" Cato asked, before Clove nudged him in the ribs.
"Yes, dingus.." she said back, causing Cato to blush. "Pay attention." There was definitely something forming between those two, it was obvious.
"That's why you didn't tell the Romans," Leo guessed. "You didn't want them to get hold of her."
"Bingo.." Luke replied, with a morbid look on his face.
Percy kept staring at the image of Half-Blood Hill. "Ella's sensitive. She was a captive when we found her. I just didn't want..." He made a fist. "It doesn't matter now. I sent Tyson an Iris-message, told him to take Ella to Camp Half-Blood. They'll be safe there."
"For now, at least.." Michael said.
"Poor thing.." Silena muttered. "That must have been awful."
Leo looked like he doubted that any of us would be safe, now that he had stirred up a camp of angry Romans on top of the problems they already had with Gaea and the giants — and that darn war of succession going on; but he kept quiet.
Annabeth laced her fingers. "Let me think about the prophecies —but right now we have more immediate problems. We have to get this ship fixed. Leo, what do we need?"
All our eyes now shifted to Leo, who for the most part seemed like he was managing even with all the attention now on him.
"The easiest thing is tar." Leo was glad to change the subject. "We can get that in the city, at a roofing-supply store or someplace like that. Also, Celestial bronze and lime. According to Festus, we can find both of those on an island in the lake, just west of here."
"Well, let's move then.." Sherman said.
"We'll have to hurry," Hazel warned. "If I know Octavian, he's searching for us with his auguries. The Romans will send a strike force after us. It's a matter of honor."
Leo felt everyone's eyes on him, but before he could speak, Colton decided to make his presence known. "So what..?" he said, causing all of us to turn and I swear to you, I was not expecting to see the sight of Colton Reynolds shirtless. I mean, look, the boy is vicious sure, but those abs and muscles — you could either grind meat on them or he could kill you with just one twitch of those muscles. Not even steroids could give a normal human being anywhere close to how inhuman his muscles were. "Let him come with all the Romans he can bring. I'll just kick their asses anyway."
You could tell that he was definitely itching to snap Octavian's neck the next chance he got.
As could probably be expected, Kayla couldn't help but simply plant adoration on her boyfriend. "Gods.. he's so dreamy — thank god he's mine.." she muttered. Colton just simply smiled.
"You really are head over heels for him.." Lavinia said to Kayla, who just simply nodded. "..and honestly, it's kinda cute to watch."
"Get a room.." David muttered, and the dude in the suit and mask — Leclerc, I believe — just sighed.
"Ah, young love.. I see visions of a couple in Paris between these two.." he reminisced fondly, causing some of us to look at him weirdly, causing him to sigh again. "..well, the moment has passed."
"You sure are a Frenchman, Leclerc.." Colton muttered.
"Oui, monsieur.." Leclerc replied, in perfect French. "..through and through, I am."
"Either way.." Ludwig, the German guy, said. "As much as the chatter is good, we have business to take care of." That served to help put the conversation back on track.
Annabeth raised her hand. "We've been talking. We agree it couldn't have been you, Leo. That cold feeling you mentioned...I felt it too. It must have been some sort of magic, either Octavian or Gaea or one of her minions. But until we understand what happened—"
Frank grunted. "How can we be
sure it won't happen again?"
"Colton already knows one thing — it was Gaea.." Clarisse said, and everyone just looked at him.
"Eidolons.." he just muttered. "Nasty buggers.. have the ability to possess bodies."
Michael and Lavinia instantly put two and two together. "Of course.." Michael finally said. "..it'd make perfect sense.. one of them makes it look like Leo fired on the Romans.. and Octavian's shitty ass brain blows things up. Fucking brilliant." You could really tell he was really pissed now.
"So with that.. civil war.." Lavinia sighed. "..why am I not surprised? Figures Gaea would pull something like this to rile up Octavian."
"Dude was a jerk.. let's be real honest here.." Beckendorf added.
"But now — he wants us dead.." Connor chimed in. "What are we supposed to about that..?"
"Survive.. that's what we do.." Colton answered, and we just all turned to him again, his face stoic as ever when it came to what had to be done. "He wants to make himself great by using his fucking petty, delusional stereotypes about us Greeks to justify finishing us off when doing so means Gaea wins.. well news flash pal, it's going to be over my dead body."
A lot of us gulped, because we all knew what that meant. If Colton got his hands on him next time.. look out. It was going to get very brutal real quickly. You could really see the steam coming out of his ears — like, Octavian really pissed him off in a way that not even Percy could.
To us Greeks, this was normal. To the Romans however, and you couldn't really blame them, it probably came off as concerning. "Is he going to blow up like a volcano..?" the David guy asked concerningly.
"No.." Kayla answered, before she simply hugged him looking like the happiest girl in the world and Colton went from being the angriest man in the room to be the absolute softie he always was ever since he met her.
"But either way, now we have to head east towards Rome, and then eventually Greece.." Annabeth said. "Hopefully those two prophecies are all that we have to do." I turned back to look at Colton, having turned in Annabeth's direction, and watched him whisper something to Colton and then mouth to Luke and Lavinia what seemed like "I need to meet with you about my prophecy after this".
I was really confused as to what he needed Luke for, if the prophecy just included him, Lavinia, Kayla, and that last unnamed individual of Hecate. But then, I remembered something. Back when we were out on the deck, that part of Hecate seemed to resonate with my sibling as if he knew exactly who it was talking about. It seemed that Colton had also noticed as well, which wasn't surprising.
"So am I to assume that my services are now at your disposal for the rest of this mission..?" Leclerc asked, seemingly to no one in particular, causing all of us demigods to simply all say "yes" back at him at the exact same time.
"Fine then. Let us move!" He said in response.
Leo's fingers now seemed to heat up like they were about to catch fire. I knew he could summon those at will, but I knew that he was well aware that he had to be careful not to do so by accident, especially on a ship filled with explosives and flammable supplies.
"I'm fine now," he insisted, though he wished he could be sure. "Maybe we should use the buddy system. Nobody goes anywhere alone. We can leave Piper and Coach Hedge with most of the rest of us on board with Jason and Grace. Send one team into town to get tar. Another team can go after the bronze and the lime."
"Split up?" Percy said. "That sounds like a really bad idea."
That granted him a smack on the back of the head by Colton, much to Annabeth's annoyance. "OW!" he shouted. "Really dude..?"
"We have no fucking clue how to deal with eidolons right now, so unless another one of us gets possessed and handed off to the Romans to be killed by going out alone.." he said back, and I shuddered at the thought of it. "..I'd prefer if we did that."
"He's right. Besides, it'll be quicker," Hazel put in. "Besides, there's a reason a quest is usually limited to three demigods, right?"
Annabeth raised her eyebrows, as if reappraising Hazel's merits. "You're right. The same reason we needed the Argo II...outside camp, over 30 plus demigods in one place will attract way too much monstrous attention. The ship is designed to conceal and protect us. We should be safe enough on board; but if we go on expeditions, we shouldn't travel in groups larger than three. No sense alerting more of Gaea's minions than we have to."
"I mean.. we pretty much already are, so might as well start preparing to drive up our kill counts.." Colton muttered, causing Kayla to sigh.
"Not everything has to be about kill counts, you know.." she said back.
"I know, I know.. but hey.. I'm the 'Sniper Of Olympus' after all.." he said, and I swear to you, all the Romans, the engi dude and even Leclerc looked impressed by the nickname Tyson had given him. "..might as well continue to prove to the monsters why I'm currently the scariest demigod of them all."
She giggled, because yeah. He literally was the scariest demigod of the modern era right now, no question about it.
Percy still didn't look happy about it, but he took Annabeth's hand. "As long as you're my buddy, I'm good."
"Typical.." Belle muttered.
Hazel smiled. "Oh, that's easy. Frank, you were amazing, turning into a dragon! Could you do it again to fly Annabeth and Percy into town for the tar?"
Frank opened his mouth like he wanted to protest. "I...I suppose. But what about you?"
"I'll ride Arion with Sa—with Leo, here." She fidgeted with her sword hilt, which made Leo look uneasy. She had even more nervous energy than he did. "We'll get the bronze and the lime. We can all meet back here by dark."
Frank scowled. Obviously, he didn't like the idea of Leo going off with Hazel. For some reason though, it seemed Frank's disapproval made Leo want to go.
"I'll go with them.." Ethan muttered. "Make sure he doesn't try anything."
That seemed to make Frank feel better. "I might as well too.." Leclerc said. "For it seems that this particular quest might require use of my talents."
"That's four people though.." Silena said, concerned. That's when the engi dude spoke up.
"They don't call him one of the best spies in France for nothing.. he'll be okay.." he said, causing all of us to look at him in shock for a moment.
"Leo," said Annabeth, "if we get the supplies, how long to fix the ship?"
"With luck, just a few hours."
"Fine," she decided. "We'll meet you back here as soon as possible, but stay safe. We could use some good luck. That doesn't mean we'll get it."
And then again, with multiple demigods that could literally mow down monsters like psychopaths onboard, not getting it probably didn't matter.