Hello there, gods, half-bloods and friends, welcome to the next chapter of The God Hunter.
I know I've been a bit on a PJO streak lately, but I've been super busy in RL and I've been working on upcoming stories.
Anyways, hope you enjoy and now story time.
Matt slowly opened his eyes as he woke up in a rowboat with a makeshift sail stitched of gray uniform fabric. Annabeth sat next to him, tacking into the wind.
"Hey, you." Annabeth said, "Your finally awake."
"Oh jeez..." Matt muttered as he sat up.
"Rest." she told him, "You're going to need it."
"Where is everyone?" Matt said as he looked around, "And with everyone I mean Percy and Tyson."
She shook her head as they sat in silence while the waves tossed them up and down.
"No... This can't be happening." Matt said as his brain worked over time to think of a reasonable explanation, "Tyson might have survived, I mean I survived and he shouldn't even be hurt by fire! A-And Percy can't be dead... I don't know, I just know he isn't dead! They are both alive!"
Waves lapped at the boat. Annabeth showed some of the things she'd salvaged from the wreckage. The now empty Hermes's thermos, a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia, a couple of sailors' shirts, and a bottle of Dr. Pepper.
She had fished Matt out of the water and found one of the knapsack, bitten in half by Scylla's teeth. Most of the stuff had floated away, but they still had Hermes's bottle of multivitamins.
Matt and Annabeth sailed for hours. Now that they were in the Sea of Monsters, the water glittered a more brilliant green, like Hydra acid. The wind smelled fresh and salty, but it carried a strange metallic scent, as if a storm was approaching.
They took turns sipping from the Dr. Pepper, shading themselves with the sail as best they could.
"Hey, Annabeth..." Matt said suddenly, "What's Chiron's prophecy?"
She pursed her lips, "Matt, I shouldn't..."
"What? Because Chiron promised the gods he wouldn't tell Percy anything?" Matt said, "Well, I'm not Percy, and you didn't make that promise."
"Knowledge isn't always good for you."
"Who's mom is the goddess of wisdom again?"
"...Shit, walked into that one." she said as she twisted her Yankees cap in her hands, "I don't know the full prophecy, but it warns about a half-blood child of the Big Three, the next one who lives to the age of sixteen. That's the real reason Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades swore a pact after World War II not to have any more kids. The next child of the Big Three who reaches sixteen will be a dangerous weapon."
"Okay, details."
"Because that hero will decide the fate of Olympus." she said, "He or she will make a decision that either saves the Age of the Gods, or destroys it."
"Is that the actual prophecy? Because that's not a very good one, it didn't rhyme." Matt said, "All good prophecies rhyme."
"There is no such thing as a good prophecy." Annabeth said, "When Chiron first learned about Thalia, he assumed she was the one in the prophecy. That's why he was so desperate to get her safely to camp. Then she went down fighting and got turned into a pine tree and none of us knew what to think..."
On their port side, a spiky green dorsal fin about fifteen feet long curled out of the water and disappeared. Matt was looking bored up at the sky as a seagull swooped down out of nowhere and landed on their makeshift mast. Annabeth looked startled as the bird dropped a small cluster of leaves into her lap.
"Land." she said, "There's land nearby!"
Sure enough, there was a line of blue and brown in the distance. An island with a small mountain in the center, a dazzling white collection of buildings, a beach dotted with palm trees, and a harbor filled with a strange assortment of boats.
The current was pulling their rowboat toward what looked like a tropical paradise.
"Welcome!" a lady with a clipboard said.
She looked like a flight attendant, blue business suit, perfect makeup, hair pulled back in a ponytail. She shook their hands as they stepped onto the dock. With the dazzling smile she gave them, one would've thought they'd just gotten off the Princess Andromeda rather than a banged-up rowboat.
Then again, the rowboat wasn't the weirdest ship in port. Along with a bunch of pleasure yachts, there was a U.S. Navy submarine, several dugout canoes, and an old-fashioned three-mast sailing ship. There was a helipad with a 'Channel Five Fort Lauderdale' helicopter on it, and a short runway with a Learjet and a propeller plane that looked like a World War II fighter.
"Is this your first time with us?" the clipboard lady inquired.
"Obviously." Matt said dryly.
"First. Time. At. Spa. Let's see..." the lady said as she wrote on her clipboard, before looking them up and down critically, "An herbal wrap to start for the young lady. And of course, a complete makeover for the young gentleman."
"Excuse you?" Matt said offended.
But she was too busy jotting down notes to answer.
"Right!" she said with a breezy smile, "Well, I'm sure C.C. will want to speak with you personally before the luau. Come, please."
They followed the lady, the duo was used to traps, and usually those traps looked good at first. But they had been floating in a rowboat for most of the day.
"We need to stay on guard." Matt whispered.
"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." Annabeth said dryly.
The place was made out of white marble. Terraces climbed up the side of the mountain, with swimming pools on every level, connected by watersides and waterfalls and underwater tubes you could swim through. Fountains sprayed water into the air, forming impossible shapes, like flying eagles and galloping horses.
"This place is fancy!" Matt said impressed.
"Matt." Annabeth scolded him, "Focus!"
They passed all kinds of tame animals. A sea turtle napped in a stack of beach towels. A leopard stretched out asleep on the diving board. The resort guests, only young women, lounged in deck chairs, drinking fruit smoothies or reading magazines while herbal gunk dried on their faces and manicurists in white uniforms did their nails.
"My dad would like this place." Matt noted, "A few teachers back at my school called him a... I don't remember the exact word, but it was something along the likes of DILF."
"That's not a real word." Annabeth said.
They headed up a staircase toward what looked like the main building, where they could hear a woman's singing voice. Her voice drifted through the air like a lullaby. Her words were in some language other than Ancient Greek, but just as old.
They came into a big room where the whole front wall was windows. The back wall was covered in mirrors, so the room seemed to go on forever. There was a bunch of expensive-looking white furniture, and on a table in one corner was a large wire pet cage. The cage seemed out of place, however.
The lady who'd been singing sat at a loom the size of a big screen TV, her hands weaving colored thread back and forth with amazing skill. The tapestry shimmered like it was three dimensional, a waterfall scene so real one could see the water moving and clouds drifting across a fabric sky.
Annabeth caught her breath, "It's beautiful."
The woman turned. She was even prettier than her fabric. Her long dark hair was braided with threads of gold. She had piercing green eyes and she wore a silky black dress with shapes that seemed to move in the fabric: animal shadows, black upon black, like deer running through a forest at night.
"You appreciate weaving, my dear?" the woman asked.
"Oh, yes, ma'am!" Annabeth said, "My mother is...", she stopped herself but their hostess just smiled.
"You have good taste, my dear." the hostess said, "I'm so glad you've come. My name is C.C."
The animals in the corner cage started squealing. They must've been guinea pigs, from the sound of them.
Matt and Annabeth introduced themselves to C.C., who looked Matt over with a twinge of disapproval, as if he'd failed some kind of test. Which only resulted in Matt raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, dear." she sighed, "You do need my help."
"We do?" Matt said surprised.
C.C. called to the lady in the business suit. "Hylla, take Annabeth on a tour, will you? Show her what we have available. The clothing will need to change. And the hair, my goodness. We will do a full image consultation after I've spoken with this young gentleman."
"But..." Annabeth said, sounding hurt, "What's wrong with my hair?"
C.C. smiled benevolently. "My dear, you are lovely. Really!" she said, "But you're not showing off yourself or your talents at all. So much wasted potential!"
"What?" Matt said, but he was ignored.
"Well, surely you're not happy the way you are! My goodness, there's not a single person who is. But don't worry." C.C. said, "We can improve anyone here at the spa. Hylla will show you what I mean. You, my dear, need to unlock your true self!"
Annabeth's eyes glowed with longing, Matt had never seen her so much at a loss for words. "But... What about Matt?" she muttered.
"Oh, definitely." C.C. said, giving him a sad look, "Matt requires my personal attention. He needs much more work than you."
The guinea pigs squealed like they were hungry.
"Well..." Annabeth said, "I suppose..."
"Right this way, dear." Hylla said.
And Annabeth allowed herself to be led away into the waterfall-laced gardens of the spa.
"Wait, hold on." Matt said but C.C. took his arm and guided him toward the mirrored wall.
"You see, Matt... to unlock your potential." C.C. said, "You'll need serious help."
"That's what the voice in my head says." Matt muttered.
When have I ever said that?
"It's a joke, Ash." Matt thought.
"The first step is admitting that you're not happy the way you are."
"Why wouldn't I be happy with myself. Can't you tell by looking at me?" Matt said, smirking into the mirror, "There is no such thing as a perfect human, but if there was it would be me."
"Now, now, Matt." C.C. chided, "No need to hide behind such bravado."
Oh, no. He's not hiding, he actually believes every word he said.
"And with good reason!"
"The hardest part of the makeover process is giving up control." C.C. continued, "You have to decide: do you want to trust your judgment about what you should be, or my judgment?"
"My judgement, of course." Matt said as white flames appeared in his hand, "I don't really care what other people think of me."
"Interesting. It was unexpected to have the God Hunter at my resort. It seems the stories are right, you are a man." C.C. said with clear distaste to her voice, "I had assumed they were man-washing the stories."
"There are stories about me?" Matt said curiously before he turned serious, "What does me being a man have to do with anything?"
"Men are pigs, Matt Hauer." C.C. said, "I used to turn them into real pigs, but they were so smelly and large and difficult to keep. Not much different than they were before..."
"Don't forget tasty." Matt pointed out, "I mean, I'm more of a pizza dude myself, but a big juicy burger with a few strips of crispy bacon. Sign me up."
Careful here, Matt. We are up against a powerful sorceress. Possibly a daughter of Hecate...
"Circe! Of course!" Matt thought, "Man hating, able to charm, transform guys into animals."
In his free hand, Matt called his sword to his hand, blitzing forward and pressing her against the mirror and the sword edge to her throat.
"Matt?"
Circe smile smugly as Matt looked over his shoulder to see Annabeth standing there. He almost didn't recognize her. She was wearing a sleeveless silk dress like Circe's, only white.
Her blond hair was newly washed and combed and braided with gold. She was wearing makeup, which he had figured Annabeth would be caught dead in. She looked good but, there was something wrong with it.
It just wasn't Annabeth.
"What's going on?" she said.
"Annabeth, help me!" Circe said, pretending to be afraid, "This monster attacked me for no reason."
Annabeth looked straight at him, her gaze skeptical but she was enchanted.
"Come on, Storm Cloud. You know me." Matt said to her, "I never attack anyone just because. Beside this woman isn't who she is, her real name is Circe."
She looked a bit less enchanted and more herself, having easily recognized Circe's name. But Circe completely dropped her victim act, "You are too intelligent, you know better than to trust that silly camp for heroes. How many great female half-blood heroes can you name?"
"There is Atalanta, Amelia Earhart, Kassandra..."
"Bah! Men get all the glory. You shouldn't listen to this filthy man-thing!" Circe said, "The only way to power for women is sorcery. Help me and you can stay here with me forever, you could be immortal!"
Annabeth looked at Circe with a blank expression, her brow furrowed as the dreamy expression melted away. "What did you call him?" she said.
"What he is. A filthy man-thing."
"Okay, good." Annabeth said before she leapt forward, drawing her bronze knife, and holding the point of it against Circe's throat, "Then I heard correctly." she added with a glare.
Circe rolled her eyes as just before her attendants entered the room. Seeing the situation, they raised their hands as if preparing to cast a spell.
"So scary." Matt said as he cast a blast of white flames fire from his free hand.
An explosion followed and a bottle of vitamins flew threw the air, landing in the guinea pig cage where its content of vitamins spilled out.
"No!" Circe screamed, "Those are the worst!"
Eating the vitamins seemed to restore the guinea pigs to their human forms.
One of the men stood up, a huge guy with a long tangled pitch-black beard and teeth the same color. He wore mismatched clothes of wool and leather, knee-length boots, and a floppy felt hat. The other men were dressed more simply, in breeches and stained white shirts.
"Argggh!" bellowed the big man, "What's the witch done to me!"
"No!" Circe moaned.
"I recognize you!" Annabeth gasped, "Edward Teach, son of Ares?"
"Aye, lass." the big man growled, "Though most call me Blackbeard! And there's the sorceress what captured us, lads. Run her through, and then I mean to find me a big bowl of celery!"
Circe screamed. She and her attendants ran from the room, chased by the pirates.
"You know... Meeting Blackbeard was not in my top fifty things that would happen to us on this journey." Matt said casually, as Annabeth sheathed her knife and glared at him, "Okay, what did I do now?"
But instead of talking, she tackled him with a hug, then pulled away just as quickly. "I-I'm just glad you're okay."
"Oh, thanks." Matt said with a smile, "Now let's get out of here."
Annabeth nodded as she undid the golden braids in her hair.
They ran down the hillside through the terraces, past screaming spa workers and pirates ransacking the resort. Blackbeard's men broke the tiki torches for the luau, threw herbal wraps into the swimming pool, and kicked over tables of sauna towels.
"Which ship?" Annabeth said as they reached the docks.
"Hey guys!"
"Good question." Matt said as he looked around desperately, "Do you know how to fly a jet?"
"Seriously?" Annabeth said, "You think I can pilot a fighter jet!?"
"Well I wasn't expecting to meet Blackbeard either and yet here we are!" Matt said, "What I'm saying is, stranger things have happened today! Maybe you could pilot a jet!"
"Guys!"
"Not now Percy." Matt and Annabeth said, looking each other in the eyes when they realized what they had actually said.
Turning around and behind them was Percy, who looked completely fine and happy to see his friends alive and well.
"Told you he was alive!" Matt said with the biggest smile as he hugged Percy, "Or he's a very solid ghost."
"Glad your alive." Percy said with a big smile, "The both of you."
"I'm glad your alive, but we need to go." Annabeth said with a smile of her own.
"Follow me." Percy said as he led them to an old sailing vessel.
"Is that the boat you came here on?" Matt said as they approached the three-mast ship.
Painted on its prow was the name: Queen Anne's Revenge.
"No, I was loaned one." Percy said, "But it disappeared the moment I set foot on shore. Probably so I would actually get the ship I came for. That one, we're going to need it."
"Well, I like big boats, I cannot lie." Matt said just as loud yelling came up behind them.
"Those scalawags are boarding me vessel!" Blackbeard yelled from somewhere, "Get them, lads!"
"We'll never get going in time!" Annabeth yelled as they climbed aboard.
The ship was in great condition for a three-hundred-year-old vessel, but it would still take a crew of fifty several hours to get underway. And they didn't have several hours, the pirates were running down the stairs, waving tiki torches and sticks of celery.
Suddenly, Percy yelled, "Mizzenmast!"
"Bless you." Matt said.
Annabeth looked at him like he was nuts, but in the next second, the air was filled with whistling sounds of ropes being snapped taut, canvases unfurling, and wooden pulleys creaking. The Queen Anne's Revenge lurched away from the dock, and by the time the pirates arrived at the water's edge, they were already underway, sailing into the Sea of Monsters.
There we go, another chapter, hope you enjoyed. Many thanks to everyone who reads, reviews, favorite, or follows this story.
Take care of yourself, get some rest, drink plenty of water and I will see you people next time.