I stood at the Pit once more.
"Already off on another quest, little Percy," mused the familiar voice of Kronos. "No rest for the demigod?"
I took a deep breath, "Why do you want the Fleece?"
He chuckled, "There are many uses to powerful artifacts, no matter if those uses are their original purpose."
"The Fleece doesn't heal though. It's just… uniquely suited for this."
"By design," he agreed.
"Then why?"
He hummed, not seeming too interested in explaining.
"There are many options here. You simply don't have the perspective to see them. Wait and see, Percy. The answer will be revealed in time."
The pit shook, and I yelped as I tumbled, groaning as I pushed up.
The scene had changed.
Grover was sitting at the loom, frantically unravelling the threads of his unfinished bridal train.
"Honeypie!" the voice of the Kyklopes shouted.
Grover stiffened, shooting a wary look that way as he started weaving the threads back together.
The Kyklopes that walked into the room was as massive as ever, at least 15 feet tall.
"What are you doing?" the terror demanded as it stepped closer.
"Nothing!" Grover squeaked in a weird high-pitched voice. "Just weaving my bridal train, as you can see."
I winced at the phrasing. The Kyklopes' single eye was scarred and webbed with cataracts. I doubted he could see much at all.
The Kyklopes, as if acting to prove my thoughts, stuck one hand into the room and groped around until he found the loom. He pawed at the cloth.
"It's not any longer!"
"Uh- yes, it definitely has dearest. See? I added at least three centimeters!"
The monster grumbled.
"It is too slow!"
"Oh," Grover forced a weak giggle. "I, ah, also wish we could marry now, de-dearest, but you know the traditions! I must finish the bridal train and it must look per-perfect. It wouldn't be right to have the wedding with-without that."
He sniffed in annoyance, then sniffed again in interest.
"Mmm, you smell good, like goats. I just want to eat you up!"
Grover shifted, "D-do you li-like it? It's this-this lovely new perfume, Eau de Chévre. I wore it just for you."
"Good," The Kyklopes growled with a sharp toothed grin. "Good enough to eat."
Grover let out a high-pitched giggle that sounded more like he was crying, "You're such a flirt, dearie."
"The wedding will be tomorrow!"
"Oh but dear, I need more time. Ten more days."
"Three!"
"Oh well, eight then."
"Five!"
"How about seven? Seven is a good number."
The Kyklopes considered for a moment.
"Not long?"
"Just one week," Grover soothed with a shaky voice. "And then the best wedding ever shall occur. Have you made the plans for the venue?"
The Kyklopes hesitated.
"Venue?"
"Oh well, a home wedding is fine. But you have sent out the invitations, right?"
"… invitations?"
"What about picking the flowers?"
"… I must go. Much work to do."
The Kyklopes turned and left quickly, mumbling something about invitations as he rolled the rock back in place.
Grover let out a slow breath, his gaze turning back to his Woolly Mammoth.
"I hope Percy gets here soon, Momo. I don't know how much longer I can delay."
The Woolly Mammoth, apparently named Momo, ambled over, patting his head with its long snout.
I woke up.
There was a shrill whistling noise that made me groan and pull the blanket over my head. A voice crackled on the intercom—some guy with an Australian accent.
"Gooooood Morning , passengers! We will be arriving at the North Carolina Port in five hours for a short refueling and tourist time. In the meantime! We have excellent pool weather today, and you should certainly not forget the hundred-drachma bingo in the Kraken lounge at one o'clock."
"Drachma?" Annabeth muttered, moving around in bed.
"And for those looking for some more excitement today, disemboweling practice is on the Promenade at three o'clock—"
Tyson groaned, and I heard him roll out of bed.
"Bowling practice?" he mumbled with a furrowed brow.
"Disemboweling practice?" Annabeth hissed. "Percy are you awake?"
I grumbled but pulled the blanket off my face.
"Why are they bowling?"
"Disemboweling," Annabeth corrected. "Like cutting people open and removing their internal organs."
"Maybe we misheard?"
Annabeth didn't seem so sure.
"—and thank you for joining us on the Princess Andromeda Cruise! The Legendary Cruise for the Legends."
"What?" I muttered, parsing through what else was said while we got up. "The guy didn't say sword fighting, did he?"
Annabeth frowned, strapping her knife to her side.
Martha hissed, winding around my arm as I landed on the floor.
"Perhapsss we are on a ssship for demigodsss?"
"Those exist?" I asked curiously.
"There are ssseveral."
"Maybe," Annabeth murmured. "I've heard of them of course. They're cruises, trains, the like, used for vacations for demigods so that they don't have to hide what they are. But… the Aphrodite cabin likes to talk about them when they happen, and I've never heard of the Princess Andromeda in their talks."
"Maybe we should look around? We have some time before the next stop."
Martha hissed softly on my arm.
"Let's stick together," Annabeth decided. "We might be okay, but if this is something suspicious…"
"Safety first," I agreed.
"We only need to stay on for five more hours anyways, we can manage."
We wandered out of our room and did a double take at the people. There were several wandering around, wearing swimsuits and summer clothes.
I saw a family wander past, chatting cheerfully.
"You know," I muttered as we walked through the halls, "I never really thought about what it would be like to have a family as a demigod."
"I have some siblings that call," Annabeth whispered back. "It requires some care for how their powers can combine at times, but overall it's… normal."
I imagined it helped to have parents protecting them properly. Children of demigods wouldn't be in as much danger as demigods would be, with only one parent and the Godly parent unable to offer proper protection.
Two girls walked past us, giggling about something.
"I think we should find some food," I said slowly. "Then maybe check where we should sneak out."
We were doing fine till we reached the cafeteria.
There was a hellhound there—it resembled a black mastiff, but bigger, and furrier. It's front paws were up on the buffet counter and its muzzle was buried in the scrambled eggs.
It was only the size of a grizzly bear, so smaller than most, but it still made me freeze.
Annabeth froze as well.
"Dylan?" she whispered.
I blinked, pulling my gaze from the dog terror and followed her gaze, finding the boy who'd questioned me last summer sitting at a table with some other boys.
I remembered what Annabeth had told me, a brother of her's leaving to join… uh oh.
Annabeth yanked me back, tugging me towards the bathroom. I waved Tyson along.
She tore open the door to the gender-neutral bathroom and snapped it shut just after Tyson slipped in.
"We're on a ship for the Titan King's people," she hissed.
Martha hissed, "Yesss, it ssseemsss thisss isss not a ssssafe boat."
All three of us looked at Martha.
"What do we do?"
"Shh," Annabeth hissed before Martha could speak. She pressed against the door.
I quickly copied her, Tyson next to us.
"Several more to pick up at the port."
"Yesss, the aid we've gained has been invaluable."
"But of coursssse, our King has many alliessss."
"Ssssoon we sssshall be ssstrong."
Annabeth was pale.
The hissing voices were like Martha's, but… deeper?
"We need to get out of here. This ship is the Titan King's, which means Luke might here. We can't- we can't get caught."
I nodded quickly, a shiver running down my spine at the thought of facing Luke again. My fingers curled over my palm, rubbing the scar there.
"Yeah, bad idea to stay here."
"Who is Luke?"
Martha hissed, a tone that sounded almost mournful.
"He's a traitor," Annabeth declared fiercely.
"He… hurt me," I muttered.
Tyson frowned, "Are you okay?"
"Fine… just… just fine…"
"We must leave," Tyson declared. "The ship is bad, with bad people."
We were about to push the door open when a new voice became audible.
"—only a little bit more. They'll take the bait, so stop being pushy about it."
My breath caught. It was one of the missing kids, one I actually knew.
Alabaster.
"I'm just stating facts," growled another, unfamiliar, voice. "If this doesn't pay off—"
"I did as our Lord said, have faith. He has yet to lead us wrong. Let's go report to our dear admiral."
Tyson whimpered, sinking back. "Leave now?"
I swallowed, exchanging a look with Annabeth. We came to a silent agreement.
"We can't," I told Tyson.
"We have to find out what they're doing," Annabeth agreed. "And… depending on who's here…"
"If it issss Luke?" Martha asked.
"Yeah… if—if Luke is here… if it's Luke then we need to capture him and bring him to Mount Olympus."
Annabeth originally offered to go alone, since she had the invisibility cap.
As much as I would've loved to leave it to her, to let her face Luke without me, I couldn't let her.
No matter the way it made my hand prickle and my breath catch, we needed to face him. We needed to get more information on our enemy.
Metani had given me some information, but we still didn't know the why behind their actions.
Triton said that why someone did something was often just as important as what they did.
Tyson was advocating for none of us to go. He didn't want us going after someone dangerous.
Martha said it was our choice, she thought it would be safer to stay hidden and escape… but sometimes risks were necessary to help everyone. And Hermes sent us here for a reason.
That decided, we slipped back to our room and grabbed out things.
I slid my knife onto my belt and hooked my waterskin around my shoulder. Annabeth shoved her hat into her pocket. Tyson offered to carry everything.
With everything ready, we snuck out.
They were headed to the admiral they said, so we needed to reach the admiralty suite. The ship's YOU ARE HERE signs were a big help as we slipped through the ship, dodging everyone on board as best we could.
Annabeth would slip ahead with her cap on, scouting ahead so we could hide when needed.
It was strange. Many of the people were young, but there were lots of fully-grown adults. Martha occasionally murmured their names as they passed us by.
Amy.
Katie.
Mark.
Absalom.
Oliver.
Joshua.
Brooke.
Zachary.
Sophia.
She knew quite a few, knew them from their parents, from jobs checking in on them, from passing messages, from them being Hermes' children.
She knew them a thousand different ways, each whisper mournful, pained, wistful.
With every whisper of how she knew them it became more and more obvious just how much the Gods watched over us, watched without interacting, watched and helped in small ways.
I wondered, for just a moment, how I hadn't noticed before.
We'd hidden once more, nearly at the admiralty suite on deck thirteen, when Annabeth reacted to another voice.
"You see the Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" one said.
"Yeah, it's awesome," said another with a laugh.
I thought I recognized the voice, but Martha and Annabeth definitely did, both (in)visibly reacted, squeezing my arms.
"There's two more coming soon," continued the first voice.
Annabeth leaned in, "That's Chris Rodriguez."
Martha hissed softly, "One of Lord Hermessss' children."
I couldn't quite place the name to a face.
"If this keeps up it'll be no contest. Everything will be handled by Kronia."
The voices drifted off.
"Chris?" I wondered.
"He was unclaimed," Annabeth whispered. "Disappeared over the school year."
Martha tightened more, "He arrived at camp lasssst year. Lord Hermessss wassss too busy to give him a proper claiming due to the upcoming war."
I let out a breath. How many campers were unclaimed because of that war making all the Gods busy?
"So, there's at least two from camp here," I muttered.
"We need to find out what's going on."
We slipped out of our hiding space and continued onward.
The corridor was long and lined with shops. I glanced in a few as we walked, curious about their contents.
"Percy," Annabeth called softly. "Look."
It seemed to be a window down into a training room.
Inside there was a crowd of terrors, those Laistrygonian giants, two hellhounds, and even more variety.
"Drakaina Skythia," Annabeth whispered, pointing to some humanoid women with twin serpent tails instead of legs. "Dragon women. They were in Herakles myth but- but their home is in the desert why are they here?"
"More importantly," hissed Martha. "What isss in the crowd?"
In the middle of the crowd were two people, wearing armor and holding swords. Blades clashed in time with the crowd cheers.
Annabeth stepped away.
"They're training."
"Why?" I asked. "What's going on?"
"Something that will end on Kronia… that's a holiday in July. We usually celebrate it on the twenty-fourth."
I frowned, "What are they attacking?"
Martha hissed, twining up my arm to poke her head up.
"The camp issss weak right now, the barrier weakening more every day. If ever there wassss a time to target the camp… it would be now."
Annabeth's face went ashen, "Then-"
"We need to get the Fleece," I murmured.
She swallowed, "Right, we- we need to get the Fleece. Maybe they'll talk more about their plans with the admiral?"
"Right."
We steadied ourselves, then continued on.
At the end of the hallway were double oak doors, carved with sea serpents and crashing waves. The handles were matching gold triangles.
"Voices inside," Tyson mumbled, stopping ten meters away from the doors.
"You can hear that?" I whispered.
Tyson closed his eye, brow furrowed.
"—handle things. The alliance is in place and with it our guarantee."
His voice had changed, a woman's voice coming out. It held a strange note to it, powerful.
Before I could react to it his voice had changed again. A familiar voice this time, Alabaster.
"I don't see why we couldn't handle this ourselves. What's the point in letting the camp know a solution?"
"A mercy," chided the woman's voice. "And a necessity. For all the alliance is in place, it is still out of our reach."
Annabeth shivered, "Tyson, stop that! How do you do that? It's creepy."
Tyson opened his eye and looked puzzled. "Just listening."
I nudged them both, "Keep going. What else are they saying?"
Tyson closed his eye again.
He hissed in a gruff man's voice, "Quiet."
"Are you sure?" murmured the woman.
"Yes," said the gruff man. "Right outside."
Too late we realized what they were saying.
"Run-"
The doors burst open.
It wasn't Luke, and I didn't seem him with them. Instead Alabaster stood there, cards in hand. On either side of him was a hairy giant armed with javelins.
"Percy, Annabeth," he paused, studying us. "Why don't you join us?"
The stateroom was beautiful.
There were huge windows curving along the back wall, showcasing the green sea and blue sky that stretched for miles. A Persian rug covered the floor, intricate patterns displaying shining stars and constellations that seemed to be from another time. Two plus sofas occupied the middle of the room, in a tasteful blue, while a canopied bed sat in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other.
The table was covered in food and drink, all manner of it. From pizza's and sodas to gyros and something labeled Ouzo.
On a velvet dais at the back of the room was a shining throne. It seemed to be formed of light and mist.
Sitting upon that throne was a woman, a Goddess (for She could be nothing else). Her hair was a shimmery Gold and her eyes a startling Bronze. She was dressed in a flowy shirt, swirling blues and blacks dancing across the fabric, and a long black skirt dusted in stars.
She held no weapon, but She had no need for one.
She smiled, "Welcome, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena."
"Who are you?" Annabeth blurted out.
The Goddess rose, Her throne vanishing as she did so.
"I am Phoibe, wife of Koios."
Annabeth's eyes widened, "The Titaness of Oracular Intellect?"
Phoibe smiled, "Indeed. Welcome to our ship."
The two giants kept their javelins pointed at us as Alabaster, and a boy I didn't know, moved to stand next to Phoibe.
"Oh, where are my manners," She murmured. "Please, children, take a seat."
She waved Her hand and chairs from the table swept behind us.
None of us sat.
Martha twined tighter on my arm, hissing at the giant men.
"Agrius, Oreius," She chided. "Put the javelins down, they're family."
Annabeth and I shared a look.
"Ah, and I nearly forgot. You already know Alabaster-"
Alabaster nodded to us.
"But this is Ethan Nakamura. He's an up and coming star in our forces."
Ethan nodded to us, his gaze serious.
"And of course, there's Agrius and Oreius behind you."
I glanced behind us at them.
"Why is a Titaness here? You- you were neutral previously weren't you?"
Phoibe leveled a sympathetic look at Annabeth.
"Oh child, this war is not like the last. The previous war was a war against the injustice of my King. Now the injustice is in the God's actions. We were neutral before because I could not bear to fight my husband, nor my brothers, no matter what we thought of the actions taken. Now? Now that my King is free of His madness? How could I do anything except side by Him?"
"Alabaster was the one to poison the tree," I declared. "How can you say doing that is anything just?"
"It's a necessary evil," Alabaster said firmly. "You'll understand, when it's all over."
"How dare you," Annabeth hissed. "How dare you ever call yourself one of us when you'd do this-"
Her voice shook, and she blinked rapidly.
I took her hand, trying to offer what comfort I could.
"How did you know he poisoned the tree?" Ethan asked with a frown.
"He dreamed it," Phoibe murmured. "You have a gift for Prophetic dreaming, I can sense it on you."
I shifted uncomfortably.
Phoibe smiled gently, "I apologize, this is hardly a comfortable place to meet for the first time. It is a pleasure to meet you both, and the young Kyklopes."
Tyson shifted, tense.
"I can't say the same," Annabeth muttered.
"I understand," Phoibe huffed. "We are on opposite sides of this conflict, you could do naught but defend your side. They are your parents after all, you love them dearly. Though I dearly wish you would recognize their crimes, recognize the wrongs they've committed…"
We shared a look as Phoibe sighed.
"It is the nature of the sea to stand by their friends and family," She continued. "And all of you have the sea in your natures."
"I'm a child of Athena," Annabeth corrected.
"And Athena is a Rakil Avimilo, is She not?"
I shifted, remembering one of my lessons from Euphemia, "Her title was stripped from Her."
Phoibe shrugged lightly, "She is still an Avimilo, no matter anything else."
Annabeth shot me a confused look. Tyson tilted his head.
"My point being, I can hardly expect you to side against them. We may be your family, but you do not know. It's alright, we understand." She gave us a gentle look. "We would never hold your loyalty to yours against you."
"Great, then we'll be going—"
"Now, now," Phoibe chided. "There's no need to go. We understand your loyalty, but we cannot let you ruin our plans. There's so much to be done, children. You may stay here, and when it all ends you'll be welcome into our family."
"Thanks, but I already have parents," I said. "I don't need new ones."
Annabeth snorted, her lips twitching.
Phoibe sighed, "Do you understand what is to come? Family will be the center of everything. It is a kindness for us to remove you from the war, from the fate you hold."
"I know the prophecy," I snapped. "I don't care what it may mean, I'm just gonna do my best for my friends and family."
She looked surprised, "I hadn't expected them to announce it, they've kept it so close so far…"
"It was my choice to hear it. I wanted to, and I have. Fighting prophecies never do anything, so I'll just let it play out. I certainly won't let you save me from it, if it's my fate then that's that."
Phoibe studied me.
"You have an excellent understanding of prophecies, it is commendable to take such a stance. Nonetheless, we cannot let you interfere. If you do not wish to join us, or even stand aside, then we will handle this the only way we can."
She motioned to, the giant men, "Agrius and Oreius will take you to the below decks. You'll be kept there, safe and sound, until things are over."
"Tell Luke his father misses him," I said as Agrius and Oreius raised their javelins once more. My heart was pounding as I stared at her.
My mind was moving rapidly through what we'd been told.
She seemed nice, but she was a Titaness connected to intellect, and no doubt every word she said was carefully measured.
I still didn't understand the stance the Titans were taking. A stance where the Gods had committed injustice. How could the Gods be blamed for all the bad in the world? There was so much there, so many factors. Unless they wanted to directly interfere in the Fates of humans they couldn't do much to stop everything, only aid in countering it.
And her statements about family-
What did they want? What did she know about the prophecy?
Family speaks and a King falls
Was she trying to control the family there? Declaring us family?
Well that could work both ways.
"Lord Hermes misses Luke and wishes he'd return home, to his family."
Phoibe smiled, "I imagine he does. It tis a shame his realization has come too late. Family is more than blood after all. It is everything one does for those they love, and he has done too little-"
"You dare?" Martha hissed. "Lord Hermesss hassss done everything for hisss family. Everything he could do hasss been done. He ssssought every opportunity to protect them! To guide them! To aid them! You have no demigod children, what do you know of the grief it involvesss?"
Phoibe sighed, "You are correct I have no demigod children… but I would never stand aside as the Gods do for them. I know the laws and their origins, at the time it was understandable, commendable… now it is clear it does more harm than good."
Martha writhered, rising up on my arm, seeming heavier than a moment ago.
And larger.
"That is enough," Phoibe murmured. "This is farewell, for now. Agrius, Oreius, no eating them."
The two grumbled but nudged us towards the door.
Annabeth and I shared a look, hurrying forward with Tyson beside us.
I cradled Martha close, she seemed spitting mad.
"You will regret ssssuch a ssstatement to my Lord!"
"Perhaps," Phoibe agreed. "Or perhaps you Lord will learn far too late a valuable lesson about treasuring his family."
The doors shut behind us.
Annabeth shared a look with me as we walked, glancing at Tyson, then my waterskin. She tilted her head towards the giant men pointing their javelins at us.
I realized what she wanted.
Tyson would probably not be able to handle both… but if I could hold one and Tyson handled the other we could probably manage.
I took a breath and carefully unhooked my waterskin. A javelin poked my back.
We exited the corridor amidships and walked across an open deck lined with lifeboats.
If ever there was a time to act, it was now.
I looked at Tyson.
"Now."
Thank the Gods, he understood immediately.
He turned and smacked one of the giant men (Oreius) ten meters backwards into the swimming pool.
Shouts from inside it announced the chaos as I lashed out with a whip of water from my waterskin, binding the other giant man (Agrius) in place.
"What the-"
I reached for the water in the pool as Annabeth bolted for the lifeboats.
I curled the water around Oreius in the pool, swirling the sides to make it harder to escape. Agrius struggled against the water as I kept the current strong, so he couldn't break free.
I bit my lip, feeling the strain of two people fighting against the water.
Tyson grabbed a deck chair and whacked Agrius with it.
"What in the name of my mother-"
"What are they doing-"
"Kids!"
"Percy, let's go!"
Annabeth had a life boat over the side.
An alarm started ringing.
"Tyson!"
I bolted for the life boat, Tyson right behind me.
"No!" Shouted someone.
Several terrors charged towards the life boat.
"How do you launch this thing?" Annabeth screamed.
A man in Greek armor drew his sword and charged forward.
Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above us, notching arrows in their enormous bows.
"Get in!"
I raised a shield of water, sweeping it and the arrows coming down on us aside then shoving it forward, knocking the boy down.
Water swirled, the deck rocked, Annabeth and Tyson were in the boat.
The release pulley wouldn't release. The terrors were gaining. More fighters were coming towards us.
A glint of metal, swords raised as the fighters charged.
Terrors snarled and lunged.
Phoibe, shining bright, came into view.
I leapt, water spiraling around me, a whip sharpening.
I landed, the sharpened current cutting through the air with a whistle.
"Hold on!"
The ropes snapped in an instant.
A shower of arrows whistled over our heads as we free-fell towards the ocean.