Chapter 110 - 110. Percy Jackson and the curse of lust part 4

Canned applause bathed the room as we stood blinded, trying to blink our vision back.

The first thing I made out were empty seats. There were enough to fit hundreds of spectators rising toward the ceiling in rows. Aisles ran between them for easy access. It was like standing inside a massive movie theater, except we were the movie.

Ahead of us, directly between the stage and the seats, a rectangle rose out of the floor. Curled in the center of it was a huge shape with a lion's body, a woman's face, and a bob haircut.

We'd met her before, or at least Annabeth and I had. It was the Sphinx— The riddle-loving monster Oedipus first killed.

"Welcome ladies and gentleman, to the show! I am your beloved host, S. F. Inks. Please, hold the applause."

She held a paw up toward the empty seats. At the same time, I watched her click a button with her claw, restarting the canned applause.

"Well, if you insist," the Sphinx said magnanimously.

"What's going on?" Emily said. "What is that?"

"I'm glad you asked, contestant!" The Sphinx's head whipped around, focusing on us. She licked her lips, revealing sharp fangs on her deceptively human head. "You are here to compete on the hottest new show Hephaestus TV has to offer. One-hundred-percent more embarrassment! One hundred percent more drama! This truly is… Hole in the Wall: Couples Edition!"

The Sphinx hit her button and the crowd noise restarted.

"This is wrong!" Annabeth shouted, trying to be heard. "Last time was bad enough! You were asking trivia! Now you aren't even asking questions, it's nothing but a game show!"

"Thank you for noticing." The Sphinx preened. "I changed businesses. Game shows are where all the views are these days. You know what they say— keep up with the times or get left behind."

Shit hit another button next to the one that controlled the 'crowd'. Before I could blink, I'd been teleported across the stage.

I appeared on a separate platform about fifty feet from my friends. Still positioned in full view of the empty seats, I was standing on a wide white line at the end of what looked like a runway. A wall faced me at the opposite end, mounted on tracks and covered by a huge cloth.

"The game is simple!" Sphinx announced. "Choose a partner. Escape the wall. If you can do that three times, you win! But if you fail…

A metal sheet slid away behind me, making me jump. A vat of green liquid was revealed. Old bones scattered along the floor, every speck of skin and sinew picked away.

"Well?" said the Sphinx.

I dragged my eyes off the unlucky contestants that came before me. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Choose a partner," the Sphinx chided. "Deliberating is fine to build tension, but not too long. Audiences have short attention spans these days."

My eyes darted to my friends. They looked as confused as I felt, but my mind raced. The Sphinx called this Hole in the Wall. Judging from the pool behind me, we would have to squeeze through something to keep from being knocked back. I stared at Clarisse for a few seconds.

"What?" Clarisse demanded, crossing her burly arms. "I don't like the way you're looking at my glorious muscles."

"I'll take Lou Ellen," I said.

"Me?" Lou squeaked. But the Sphinx was already mashing another button.

Lou appeared beside me, looking more than a little surprised. I wanted to say something to reassure her, but our host was already on a roll.

"Our contestants are determined!" she bellowed. She faced the camera near the stage, treating it to an uncanny smile. "That means its time… TO REVEAL THE WALL!"

The curtain fell to the floor. Lou and I stared at a wall of solid steel too wide to dodge and impossible to scale. With a whirring of gears, the wall lurched toward us. There were only two small, distinctly human-sized cutouts for us to squeeze through— one female, the other one male.

The female figure was on her knees, head pressed against the male at a very specific height.

"Gaps are sized perfectly for our contestants, the magic worked on them verified by Hecate herself!" the Sphinx announced happily. "Unfortunately for our contestants — but fortunate for you, viewers — clothes are not included in that." She smirked at us. "I'd start stripping, if I were you."

The wall was closing in. It was only moving a few inches a second, but the speed was increasing.

Lou and I burst into motion, clawing off our clothes. In her rush, Lou dropped her shirt too close to the edge. It flopped over, dipping into the green pool, and instantly one sleeve was eaten away. We started at it, gulping.

No wonder the bones at the bottom looked so clean. The entire pool was a vat of acid.

Lou and I stripped even faster after that. When we were finished, our clothes disappeared, teleporting back to where we'd first entered and reappearing in neat piles. The wall was moving faster now. Lou met my eyes and dropped to her knees.

Maybe it was the danger, or seeing Lou's naked body again, or maybe it was just bad luck. Whatever caused it, my cock was fully erect.

Lou licked it a couple times to work up her courage. Then she opened her lips as wide as they'd go.

I felt the moist embrace of her mouth envelope me, sliding lower. My hands held the back of her head. That was where the cutout's were: pressing the woman's head with both hands.

We were doing pretty well until I hit the back of her throat.

With nearly half my cock still to go, Lou ran out of room in her mouth. It wasn't like she wasn't trying. I saw her stretching and straining. I was sure her jaw would be sore in the morning. My cock was just too big for her.

The wall was getting close. Emily was covering her eyes. Valentina and Clarisse were shouting at Lou, telling her to stop messing around. For the first time in my life, I cursed not having been born much smaller between the legs.

"Oh no!" said the Sphinx. "A distinct lack of deepthroating has them in deep trouble! Will this be it for our heroes? Find out after a quick word from our sponsor!"

There was no time. I looked down at Lou, cross-eyed and straining without luck, and offered her a mental apology.

I shoved with all my strength.

Lou tried to cry out in surprise, but all it ended up doing was passing a peculiar vibration through my cock. I had to be halfway down her throat. Her mouth was stuffed and her nose was squished shut against my abs, cutting her off from drawing even half a breath. I tried not to feel guilty… or get carried away by how good it felt.

The wall rushed past us. The Sphinx wasn't kidding about the fit. I felt it brush my skin, but the gape was perfectly sized. With Lou affixed in position, nothing so much as clipped us, and we avoided what could've been the last bath we ever took.

As soon as we passed Lou disappeared. She reappeared next to the others, gasping for air and clutching her throat. As she coughed, the Sphinx frowned.

"Hmm," she said. "Something's missing."

"This is your show," I reminded her, a little bit annoyed that risking our lives and Lou's tonsils still hadn't satisfied the monster. "What's with that reaction?"

The Sphinx's face lit up.

"Reactions!" she said. "That's it! That's what we're missing! And I have just the way to fix it."

She started mashing buttons on her platform in a never-ending chain. Just as I was about to ask what we were waiting for, the first one arrived. A Harpy teleported into a seat near the back.

Chair by chair the audience space filled. Some, like giants, took up three seats by themselves, while other seats fit whole families of Stymphalian birds. Monsters blinked, disoriented, before starting to catch sight of us. They roared and squawked and clamored. I was sure they would all mob the stage, but when they tried to rise seatbelts strapped them down.

"Much better!" said the Sphinx. "Now we have live reactions! I can't wait to hear the way you dull brutes will clamor!"

"Yes, it'll be quite a sight won't it?"

When hundreds of monsters go silent, something is wrong. It's simply not in their nature. They're only obedient in front of a power much greater than theirs… sort of like middle schoolers in math class. So when the entire studio turned quiet enough to hear a drachma drop, my whole body stiffened up.

Heavy footsteps descended the aisle. Monsters kept their mouths and muzzles shut tight. I scanned the room for the source of the voice, only finding her when she had nearly reached the stage.

"Oh my," said the Sphinx. She turned to the camera. "We have a celebrity in the house tonight! Please, help me in welcoming—!"

"Echidna," I said.

The Sphinx shot me an annoyed look for stealing her thunder before quickly smoothing it out with a smile. "Even our contestants know the Mother of Monsters! What a treat, folks, to have an A-lister in attendance!"

The 'celebrity' stopped at the base of the stairs, right next to the Sphinx's platform. She cast slit pupils over the room. Her lavender sundress showed more skin (or in her case, scales) than anybody ever needed to see, while her arms and torso were squat and wide. She looked like she couldn't run fifty feet, and she probably couldn't. She didn't have to, not when you gave birth to almost every monster in existence and had them on a tight leash. She and her pet Chimera nearly killed me within my first week of being a demigod, and even now she was the only monster I ever fought that I never killed.

"So, what brings you here tonight?" the Sphinx asked, holding a microphone she scooped from somewhere out toward Echidna.

"Oh, it's quite simple actually," Echidna said. "My dear husband has been trapped under volcanos for the last couple millenia, and the one time he finally breaks free, he gets defeated without even paying me a visit. Well, a lady has her needs. And recently, a lovely thought just magically appeared in my head. Wouldn't that hero that Zeus had me test as a boy, who's all grown up now, make a wonderful toy?"

"Fascinating!" said the Sphinx. "What a heartfelt plea!"

"And on that note…" Echidna leaned a flabby, scaly arm on the edge of the Sphinx's platform. "Won't you be a dear and hand him over? I think I've already been quite patient, you see, and my children as well. They're just itching for a meal."

"Contestants are off-limits," the Sphinx said, still smiling. "They're mine. If you'd like some demigods, find your own."

The crowd began booing and jeering. I spotted a giant straining against his seat's restraints. But Echidna quieted them with a raised hand.

"If they fail, they're of no use to you anymore, isn't that correct?"

"True enough," said the Sphinx. "Losers aren't good for ratings."

"Give them to us then," Echidna said. "If they fail, I'll take them off your hands. Permanently. And I'll even leave a few of my children to use as you see fit, just as a show of faith."

"Deal!" the Sphinx announced into the microphone. "Now, if you will please take a seat."

Echidna paused, staring straight at me. We made eye-contact and I shivered. When her forked tongue darted over her lips, I shivered again. When she put her fingers in a heart shape, I almost vomited. Then she sauntered to the closest seat, shoving a stray Harpy to the floor to take it for herself.

"Enough delay!" said the Sphinx. "We have our competitors! We have a crowd! And now, we even have raised stakes! It's time to get the second round underway."

She paused expectantly, and I realized she was waiting for me to pick a new partner. A second wall had replaced the first one Lou and I beat. When I looked at my girls, one stood out.

Valentina had pushed her way to the front, jumping up and down with her hand raised.

"Me!" She said. "Ooh, ooh! I want to try!"

She started stripping before I even picked her. At that point, it would've just been rude not to.

Valentina appeared next to me as naked as I was.

"Isn't this exciting?" she said. "There's so many eyes on us! Doesn't it make you just want to put on a show?"

I stared at her. "You're turned on… by having monsters watch us?"

She pouted.

"No," she said. "I'm turned on by your big fat cock. But c'mon, you can't honestly tell me you thought you'd ever have sex in front of an army that wants to kill you. I'm all about trying new experiences."

"Begin!" cried the Sphinx.

The new wall revealed itself. This time, the man was the one on the ground. The female cut out was perched on him with her back arched, holding his hands.

"Get down!" Valentina squealed.

She pushed me so that I landed on my back. From there, she jumped down, spearing herself on my cock. She moaned immediately, tossing her head back and bucking her hips.

With a start, I realized these cutouts were moving. The woman's ass actually bounced and grinded against the man at a methodical pace. It should've been almost impossible to sync up your hips to a specific speed like that, but Valentina wasn't a daughter of Aphrodite for nothing.

She moved perfectly— both to bring us pleasure, and to save our lives. But as beautiful as she was, dark skin glistening under the bright spotlights, I kept glancing back at the crowd. My head was screaming that it would only take one monster getting loose to be ambushed with our guards down. And there at the front Echidna was watching, a hungry expression I was sure I didn't like clear on her face.

"Focus, Percy," Valentina chided.

I nodded. But seconds later I was back to scanning our surroundings.

It was too much to let go of. The danger pumped adrenaline through my body, making lying still almost impossible. My battle instincts had roared to life. Monsters bellowed and jeered, calling for us to make one mistake and end up as their lunch or worse.

Warm lips mashed into mine.

My eyes widened, Valentina stealing back my full attention. The wall was almost on us, and she'd completely abandoned the position, bending forward to kiss me fiercely.

Our tongues danced and slipped against each other. My movements were clumsy at first, but slowly experience took over, getting me in the groove. At the last second, Valentina pulled away.

"Attention on me, Baby!" she cried, slipping back into the proper position with less than a second to spare.

Her hips synced up. Her hands pulled mine into the proper place. The wall passed over us, wiping away a thin trail of spit that had still been spanning the gap between our lips.

"Ohh, that's the spot!" Valentina cried.

That moment of danger and the last-second save was exactly the thrill she volunteered for. I felt her cum, even though we'd hardly had sex at all.

She was teleported back to the others while still in the spasms of her orgasm. The monsters booed, but I felt nothing but relief as I struggled back to my feet.

"The competitors survive to the end!" the Sphinx announced. "It all comes down to the final round!"

The monsters' displeasure only grew louder. Unbothered, the Sphinx started her canned applause up again, giving the impression of a mixed crowd.

In the front row, Echidna yawned.

She didn't say anything. She didn't have to. Right away, the Sphinx's eyes locked onto her.

"Is our local celebrity bored?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice.

"I would never disparage your show that way!" Echidna said. "But, Deary, don't you think that was a bit tame?"

"Tame?" asked the Sphinx.

"I don't mean to offend, of course. But surely to beat this show they'll need to do better than that."

The Sphinx rubbed her chin with two clawed fingers. C'mon, I thought. You're the host! Just tell her to sit quietly.

Finally, the Sphinx said, "I suppose we can step it up a notch."

A screen dropped from the ceiling above her, flashing the words: Random Participant! At the same time, the new wall revealed itself. This time the man was holding the woman off the ground, and he was the one moving— although just the word moving didn't really do it justice. He was pummeling her, pumping his hips faster than a mortal could ever manage, without the pace dipping for even a single second.

Bright lights flashed down from the ceiling, illuminating each of the girls that hadn't gone yet one at a time. Finally, after an extremely long few seconds, it settled over Emily.

That was better than it could've been. If I had to hold Clarisse in a position like this one, I think my arms would've given out before the wall got us. I just hoped Emily's mortal hips could hold out under that kind of pounding.

She appeared in front of me naked. I was reminded again that even among trophy wives, her body was the kind you'd get a case special-made for.

"We'll be alright, right?" she asked nervously.

I tried to project confidence. "We'll get through this," I said. "Just… maybe you won't be walking much for the next few days."

The wall started moving. She shut her eyes and held her arms out, giving me permission to lift her. With a deep breath, I got to work.

I bent forward, hooking my elbows behind the back of her knees. I had to look at the wall a few times to even decipher the position. By the time I had it right, my arms were looped under her legs and around the back of her head, holding her almost straight up.

Then came the hard part. I bucked my hips and started to speed up.

Emily's voice erupted right away. The danger certainly wasn't keeping her dry. My cock slid inside her easily, which was necessary if I was going to have any chance at this.

I sped up. Emily's voice erupted even louder, but it was drowned beneath the monsters roaring. The wall came closer.

Our friends were shouting encouragement. I could just about hear it, very slightly, over all the noise. Our bodies clapped together. Emily was definitely going to be sore in a few key places after this. But I still wasn't fast enough.

My voice joined Emily's, grunting as I demanded more from every muscle. The wall was bearing down on us. This one was faster than either of the two before it. Echidna leaned forward, smiling. The Sphinx was commentating but I couldn't make out a single word.

With a desperate final wind, I pushed my hips to the speed of the wall just as it hit us.

Something went wrong.

I'd been so focused on the speed that I missed a key detail: the male figure was holding the woman's breasts. Without my hands containing them, Emily's huge rack was clipped. It wasn't enough to send us flying, but it destroyed our balance. My grip loosened. Emily tumbled toward the acid, screaming as she went.

"Urhng!" I grunted.

At the last second, I caught hold of Emily's red hair. Her face hovered inches above the acid, close enough for a few drops of spit to drip from her mouth and sizzle into nothing. Her scream of terror twisted into something else, something different, at the sudden tug on her scalp and the sensation of my cock deep inside her. As I pulled her back to safety, I could feel an orgasm shaking her body.

"I think I just developed a new kink," I heard Valentina say from beside the others.

"We did it!" I yelled as I helped Emily tenuously stand. "We beat your game! So release us!"

"Yes," Echidna purred. "Release them."

The monsters in the crowd rose, breaking through the bindings that had held them down, and all of a sudden I had a sick thought: Echidna was so calm because she'd been hoping this would happen. She cut a deal to get us if we failed the game show, and if we beat it, she planned to get us from the start. The moment we were released, we would be mobbed.

"We had a deal!" I told the Sphinx. "If we win, we survive! Letting her take us is breaking that! The integrity of this show will be ruined!"

The Sphinx didn't immediately answer. For once she was silent, sitting like the Egyptian monument atop her perch.

"Nonsense. You aren't breaking any promises, Deary," Echidna said. "They survived your show. You let them go. It isn't your fault what happens after. And anyway… Don't you think it would be wise to listen while my mood is so good?"

"The viewers will boycott!" I said.

"I can do much worse than any faceless viewer," Echidna promised. "And I'm right here."

She made a gesture and monsters streamed toward the stage. I ran for the others, but I wasn't going to make it, especially since I had to pull Emily along. I didn't expect that whole 'unable to walk' thing to catch up with us quite this fast. I watched the girls get ready as best they could, Annabeth drawing her knife and Clarisse brandishing her spear, but the odds were a million to one.

The monsters collided with an invisible barrier. Harpies were squished flat in an explosion of feathers. I watched a Laistrygonian bounce off and fall back, beginning to cry. Others pounded on the obstacle, all without any luck.

"Prizes must be handed out," the Sphinx said, hitting buttons on her control panel. "Otherwise, the people will never trust Hollywood!"

I was way too grateful to point out that her studio was about three states away from California.

Another teleport hit me, Emily, and all the others, the room fading around us. The last thing I saw was Echidna shaking her head.

"Bad choice," she said. "I'll have to look elsewhere for my meal now."

The studio disappeared along with its seats, cameras, and monsters. We reappeared in our van. I was back in the driver's seat. Faster than I ever had before, I cranked the wheel around and stomped the gas.

We squealed out of the parking lot and sped off into the West.

With my forehead pressed to the glass of the window, I had a great view of the gas station we were rolling past. There was nothing special about it, except that we passed the California border a couple of miles back. I hadn't known prices could even get that high. Thank the gods our van ran on something different.

Of course, that meant needing to generate another type of fuel… like I was doing right now.

Smack! Smack! Smack!

My hips beat hard enough against Clarisse's backside to drown out the radio. My head was shoved against the top of one of the windows. Beneath me, Clarisse was pressed to the window herself. Her nose was being pulled up, giving her a pig nose, while her tits were jammed against the crack between the window and the door. She growled each time I penetrated her. Her hands were under mine, our fingers interlocking, trapped against the wall of the car.

Lou lay in the seat behind us, sprawled with her clothes missing and dried sweat across her skin. Her eyes were closed, but she was smiling. Emily was in the passenger seat with her clothes very much on. Even two days later, her legs hadn't recovered from our sex on the Hole in the Wall set. She was more than happy to watch, though.

My breath was leaving a fog cloud on the window. Clarisse surged sideways, trying to roll out from underneath me, but I pinned her in place. The moment I overpowered her she came again, tightening even more against my cock. In the corner of my eye I watched the fuel gauge climb.

"So… gods damned… tight," I grunted.

"Is that all you've got, Jackson!" she shouted.

But her nose was still squashed, so it came out sounding more like, "Is zat all zou got?"

It was not.

I stood up straight, although I had to bend my head to keep from banging it on the roof. I pulled my hands away from Clarisse's. I reached down with one hand, digging my finger against her clit without my cock slowing down for a second. My other hand found her hair. I yanked it back, at the same time keeping her pressed to the window with the force of my thrusts. Clarisse's tongue came out, licking the window the way mom's are always having to tell toddlers not to.

From one of the seats all the way in the back, Artemis suddenly asked, "She is enjoying that?"

As if answering her question, I felt Clarisse cum again. I thrusted even faster in response, not giving her a second to catch her breath.

"Of course," Valentina, sitting beside Artemis, told the goddess.

"Why?"

"Because she's a slut."

"I see."

Valentina laughed.

"I'm joking," she said. "Although, it is true. But even though it looks like that, Percy knows what he's doing. It might hurt a little in some ways, but that's only to make it feel better in others."

I felt their eyes burning into my side, Artemis in particular. It felt like a teacher was waiting to call on me. Valentina was being strangely civil about all this, too. Usually her dislike of the goddess leaked through right away, but maybe if Artemis was asking about her favorite topic, sex, that outweighed her dislike.

"Does she not feel helpless?" Artemis asked.

"Of course she does," Valentina said. "That's the fun part."

Artemis furrowed her eyebrows. Valentina glanced at her. It looked like she was getting an idea, and that scared me, because the last idea she got involved fucking on a New York street corner for handouts.

But I had my hands full— literally. I had been plowing away at Clarisse for twenty minutes now, and it felt as good for me as it did for her.

I cut loose and, like Lou put it so many days ago, gave Clarisse her 'treatment'.

Clarisse fell forward when I released her, face sliding down the window until she was huddled on her knees. I didn't feel much more energetic than her. I dropped into an open seat, gazing through lidded eyes at the gas gauge. It had risen from near empty, the lowest it got as we sped across the Great Basin, to about halfway full. That was better, but not enough to make it all the way to the Pacific.

Even as I let myself relax, settling in for a much-needed nap, I could see Valentina shooting glances at Artemis.

That couldn't be good. I just hoped whatever she was thinking wouldn't piss Artemis off too much when it inevitably caused something crazy.

Our plates were plenty full without adding more.

O-O-O

We made the call to stop when it got dark. Emily's legs were still too shaky to hit gas pedals, Artemis didn't know a single traffic law, and I was too tired to drive. Lou and Clarisse were out of it themselves. That left just Valentina to spell Annabeth behind the wheel, but for some reason she was entirely in favor of stopping overnight.

We found a campground on the shores of Lake Tahoe. The lake was so big it had waves like an inland sea, with pine trees and rocky beaches ringing it. I'm pretty sure you had to pay to reserve a site, but that was nothing Lou couldn't fix with a few careful spells.

I thought we'd have to sleep in the van, but Artemis pulled out a new trick.

She clapped her hands and three state-of-the-art tents appeared from thin air. I don't go camping much, but even I could tell these were nice. And the best part? They showed up completely assembled. No clipping straps onto tent-poles or hammering stakes into the ground for us. All I can say is, if you're going camping, bring a nature goddess with you.

"Could I get a nice chair please?" Emily asked when she saw the tents appear.

Artemis took one look at her wobbly legs and clapped again. A portable chair with two mesh cup holders appeared, and Emily dropped onto it with a delighted sigh.

It wasn't just tents and chairs for jello-legged women. Artemis made a campfire with a gesture. She conjured hot dogs marshmallows by swishing her wrist. Soon the sun had gone down and the night had turned cold, but not for us. We huddled around a warm fire, packed together basking in the scent of fresh smoke.

"So I've been wondering," I said. "What do we do when we get to the ocean?"

The others exchanged looks.

"Find a boat, I guess," said Lou Ellen.

"It kind of has to be," I said. "The only thing is, it's two and a half thousand miles from San Francisco to Hawaii. That's not going to be quick."

Left unsaid was whether we could outrun Echidna once we left. She'd have to leave behind her children that couldn't fly… but who knew how many nasty surprises might be waiting underwater.

"Maybe your father can help us," Annabeth suggested.

"I can pray to him," I said.

But Artemis shook her head.

"Do not expect too much of Poseidon," she said. "With all the trials that have threatened the world in recent times, we Olympians have pushed the ancient laws quite far. My brother helping you when you freed me, for example. I'm sure you can think of other examples from your trials. The Fates are growing irritated. Unless straights are truly dire, Poseidon will stand by for fear of bringing repercussions on himself or us."

"What about you?" I asked, ignoring the sudden urge to set down my food and step far away from the summoned fire.

Artemis actually laughed. It was a wonderful sound, as crisp as fresh leaves crunching underneath your boot.

"You do not have to worry about paltry things like these," she said about the campsite. "The Fates hardly care about that. So long as I do not fight your battles for you, minor comforts should bring you no fear."

"That's good," I said.

But to be honest, I was barely paying attention by the end. It was settling in again just how pretty Artemis was. Ethereal and down to earth all at once.

I looked away, not wanting to stare. I still saw Valentina lean over, whispering something in Artemis's ear. The goddess stiffened so quickly I almost thought the fire burned her.

I narrowed my eyes. Valentina was up to something. It was obvious just from the fact that she was still next to Artemis, sitting at her side just like she had been in the car. Before I could ponder it any longer the conversation moved on, and I was distracted.

The talk turned to lighter things. Artemis told stories of old hunts. I think she was glad to have an audience other than the Hunters, half of whom knew her stories because they'd been there. Emily told baby stories about Rachel. Lou showed us she knew a few mean ghost stories. It started to feel like we were really camping, not just taking a pit stop on a life-threatening quest.

Some of that mood evaporated when it came time to settle down to sleep.

"Someone should keep watch," Annabeth said.

"I can do that," Artemis offered. "I am used to sleepless nights, and my senses are the sharpest."

"Uh-uh." Valentina crossed her arms. "We aren't relying on a goddess right after you talked about the Fates getting all testy with you helping mortals."

Artemis looked confused. "As I said, they do not care about inconsequential things—"

"It's out of the question!" Valentina said.

Everyone was looking at her strangely. Finally, Lou said, "I can take first watch."

We hammered out a system for two-hour shifts. Each of us picked a slot except for Emily, who we would let sleep for the whole night. Not only did she need the rest, it just wasn't right to leave a mortal in that kind of position.

Finally, with everything else done, we packed ourselves into the tents, all of us except Lou who settled back down by the fire.

Each was stocked with sleeping bags and comfortable foam mats. I unzipped mine and snuggled inside, sharing a tent with Annabeth. I was comfier than some hotel beds. With birds chirping and waves lapping the shore, it was no surprise I was asleep in minutes.

Sometime later, I woke to the sound of the zipper sliding open. I tensed, but only a little. I assumed it was one of the girls. Sure enough, soft hands shook me a moment later.

"Get up, Percy," Valentina hissed.

I rolled over, blinking. "Is it my turn on watch?" I whispered.

"No silly," she said. "This is much more important than that."

She dragged me up, pulling me toward the entrance. I resisted long enough to slip my shoes on, then let myself be dragged along. I'd known she was up to something. If anything, I was glad to find out what.

One step outside of the tent my brain forgot all about those things and stopped working entirely. Waiting for us, looking even more beautiful than earlier, was Artemis.

And she had nothing on.

"You're naked," I said.

As you can tell, I have a real talent for catching the little details most people would miss.

Artemis looked away, not meeting my eyes. Two arms wrapped around the ruffled t-shirt I'd slept in from behind.

"Like I said," Valentina whispered, her breath hot against my neck. "Much more important things."

I gulped. "Who's on guard duty?"

Vaelentina's fingers slipped under my shirt, stroking my chest. "I am," she said. "So don't worry. We have plenty of privacy."

There was a moment of silence, filled only by the sloshing of the nearby lake. Finally, Valentina said, "Artemis has something to ask you. Doesn't she?"

I could sense her telling Artemis to get on with it. The goddess crossed her arms, propping up her perky breasts.

"I would like to have sex again," she said.

"Not like that."

Artemis looked hesitant for a second, before swallowing and saying, "Please break my slutty pussy in two and use it to your heart's content, master."

I choked. The line didn't match at all with her expression, slightly embarrassed but still proud and a bit arrogant. Considering who this was, I was pretty sure she only knew what half those words meant in that order.

"We'll work on the delivery," Valentina promised. "But all in all, not bad. Better than I expected out of you."

Ignoring how offended Artemis suddenly looked, I pulled myself free from Valentina's clutches.

"What is all this?" I asked bluntly.

She pouted. "Come on, Percy. Don't tell me you hadn't noticed."

"Noticed what?"

"Why, the sexual awakening going on right next to you of course!"

She darted past me and, much to my shock, started molesting our resident goddess.

She wrapped her arms around Artemis in a way not unlike what she'd done to me moments ago. But I hadn't been naked, and even that hadn't been as extreme as this.

She pried Artemis's arms away. She squeezed the goddesses breasts, and at the same time, pushed a hand into her crotch with zero hesitation. Artemis groaned. She blushed. But for some reason, she didn't push Valentina off.

"She's been with us long enough to understand," Valentina said. "She's seen what a real man can do. And when she thinks about getting a true taste of it herself…"

She dragged her fingers across Artemis's slit, making the goddess's head roll. Valentina held up two fingers, wet and glistening under the light of the stars.

"This happens," she said.

Despite all the things I've accomplished in my life, I think I'm still a pretty regular guy. So can you blame me for how cramped my shorts quickly became?

"You're sure?" I asked, directing the question at Artemis.

"Don't ask questions like that now," Valentina chided. "She wouldn't be here if she wasn't. They'll only spoil the mood."

Despite what she said, I kept my eyes locked on Artemis. The goddess's cheeks were bright pink. She was shaking slightly, and I was sure it wasn't from the cold. She wouldn't meet my eyes… But she did offer an almost imperceptible nod.

I pulled my shirt off.

Both girls gave my muscular chest appreciative looks, even though it was nothing they hadn't seen before.

"Not here," Valentina said.

She led us away, releasing Artemis to drag the goddess along by the hand. Moments later, she stopped in front of the van.

Pulling open a door, she told me, "Get in!"

"Why here?" I asked.

We'd banged plenty of times inside it over the last few days. It was necessary if we wanted to keep the thing moving. But it wasn't exactly the most comfortable place in the world.

"If we're having fun anyway, we might as well make it useful," Valentina said. She pointed toward the fuel gauge, only about half-full.

"That's… surprisingly pragmatic."

"When it comes to sex, I actually use my head— and I don't just mean blowjobs. Which, speaking of…"

She dragged us into the positions she wanted. Soon I was sat all the way in the backseat, the last of my clothes stripped away. Artemis and Valentina were on their knees on the van floor, and only Valentina was still dressed.

I'd never seen her miss an opportunity to lose her clothes before. When she caught my disbelieving look, she smiled indulgently.

"This is her night," she said, meaning Artemis. "I'm merely a teacher… or a mentor, if you will. Besides, I'd hate for my amazing body to completely steal the show."

I'd heard of mortals cursed for showing less arrogance in front of gods. But to be fair, I don't think Artemis was really listening. She was staring at my cock, eyes darting vertically along its length.

"Go on," Valentina told her. "Suck it."

Slowly, Artemis opened her lips. She sucked on my tip, grazing it with her teeth, and I did my best not to wince.

"Not like that! Here."

Valentina grabbed the goddess' head. She massaged the sides of her jaw, opening her mouth wider and morphing it around my cock. The sensation of teeth disappeared. Artemis dipped lower, taking more of me. I watched her eyes widen as her mouth was stuffed full— and the way they widened further when Valentina kept pushing.

Artemis pulled away, coughing. "What was that?" she gasped.

"My thoughts exactly!" Valentina said. "And you call yourself a goddess? That was the most pathetic attempt I've seen at taking a cock since I watched that video of a nymph trying to mate with a Laistrygonian!"

"What in the world have you been watching?" I asked.

"Never mind that! Get back to work!"

As soon as Artemis got her lips around me again, Valentina shoved her all the way to the base of my shaft.

Artemis grabbed my hips for stability. I felt her esophagus twitching. Valentina laughed maniacally, twisting Artemis's head side to side.

"Take it!" she roared. "Now that's a blowjob!"

She would make an amazing supervillain, I decided. Just a particularly horny one.

Artemis flared her nostrils as she tried to suck in air. She needed to relax her throat, but that was easier said than done. And, if I was being completely selfish, it felt better this way. The way she tensed was squeezing my cock in a way I had never felt before, and probably never would again.

Valentina finally pulled her up. I watched Artemis relax. But just as her mouth was about to be freed, Valentina mashed her down once more. Artemis's beautiful face was turning messy. When her nose ended up squashed flat, she finally decided to hold her breath completely.

"Feel it," Valentina whispered in her ear. "You're stuck here. Your only purpose is to make this man feel good. So put that divine mouth to proper use for once, and suck him off."

It wasn't like she could say no if she wanted to, but then, that was the entire point. Still holding Artemis down, Valentina reached back and spanked her ass. Artemis yelped. I felt the vibrations throughout my cock.

"I'm not going to last," I grunted.

"Then do it!" Valentina urged, pulling her hands away. "Use her the way you want to, and give it to her!"

My hands replaced Valentina's— bigger, more calloused and far stronger. I watched Artemis's eyelids flutter. My own eyes shut. I came deep inside her constricted throat.

My grip loosened, but Artemis didn't pull away immediately. Instead, she remained pressed to my crotch for as long as I was cumming, and even stayed seconds after I was finished.

I watched as she drew her head back, eyes half-lidded, allowing my length to slide cleanly out of her slick throat.

"What next?" the goddess asked.

For the briefest of moments, even Valentina was frozen.

Then she squealed.

"You have potential!" she cried so loudly, I was certain she'd wake the others. "See, Percy? She wants this."

Artemis wiped a bit of stray semen off my cock with one finger, bringing it to her mouth and absently sucking it clean."

"Yeah," I said. "I, uh, can see that."

"Great!" Valentina beamed. "Then go on already and do what you want to."

She didn't mean it as a way of telling me to relax. She was telling me what to do; instructing me not to hold back. I looked at Artemis, gazing at me with her head cocked and one finger still in her mouth. She was just as beautiful as she'd been earlier that night. I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her back.

She fell back with no resistance and more than a little surprise. I was on her in under a second. My hands wrapped around her wrists, holding them against the fuzzy floor of the van. My lips captured her's. The kiss was aggressive, with lots of tongue. I felt her body shift beneath me— her lithe legs trapped between my muscular ones, our bellies pressed together, and her perky nipples pushed flat against my pecs.

The van door was still open, letting cool air in against our bare skin. Goosebumps spread across the side of Artemis's neck. I broke our kiss, my teeth digging marks into the sensitive skin below her jaw.

"Ahn!" Artemis moaned cutely. "Ah! Ah!"

I shifted my lower body, feeling my cock slide against her. She could feel it too. I lined my tip up with her entrance. It was soaked. I pulled my head up, ending the assault on her neck.

No matter how much her body moved, it was still trapped beneath mine. Her arms were affixed in place. Her legs were wedged between mine. She couldn't move, but she could feel every single move I made.

Her silver eyes stared up into mine, desperate.

My cock filled her up.

Her whole body shuddered under my thrusts. Her voice rose up again, and if I shut my eyes and forgot the last few days, I never would've guessed those sounds coming from a goddess. Her insides were wet, and warm, and as tight as ever. I felt amazing tearing through them.

The van's suspension bounced as I put her hips through their paces. Moans behind us suggested Valentina had jammed a hand down her pants, but I didn't look back to see.

This was Artemis's time, not hers.

I could feel the orgasm building. Artemis was tightening in a way that told me something was on the way: and when it arrived, it would be big. She was still making eye contact. The look she was giving me wasn't desperate anymore, instead almost primal. She was willing to let me do anything as long as it kept feeling this good.

Valentina's voice rose. I sped up. Artemis wrapped her legs around my hips, begging me with her body not to stop.

Something roared outside.

I gasped, but my hips had a life of their own and kept on going. Outside the door, something hit the ground and knocked over our campfire.

Harpies, I realized with a sick start. They were the fastest of Echidna's children, and this group of three had found us while Valentina, technically on guard duty, was busy playing matchmaker. Plans to deal with the monsters were still forming in my head when Artemis screamed, "Do not interrupt!"

Her eyes glowed as yellow as the moon. A cold wind blew, but this time it started inside the van and traveled out. When it reached the Harpies, they squawked and exploded into feathers. They disappeared in an instant. Just like that, they'd been banished to Tartarus.

I thought that was it, and so did Artemis. She smiled at me. My cock kept going, driving her toward the height of pleasure.

The temperature dropped by twenty degrees. Wind far stronger than what Artemis summoned made trees creak and branches snap. The entire van shook. Artemis's eyes widened in alarm.

She screamed.

This was different. It wasn't an exclamation of pleasure. She shut her eyes tight, shaking underneath me. Before I understood what was happening she'd gone still. The cold receded.

Everything went back to normal, but there was something different about Artemis now. She seemed… more normal, somehow. More vulnerable.

"Damn those meddling hags!" she suddenly shouted, her eyes snapping open. "You would act over something so small? Unbelievable!"

"What?" I asked. By now, even my hips had stopped. "What just happened?"

"They have sealed my powers!" Artemis said. "The Fates have! All because I struck down a few monsters who did not know their place, they have punished me!"

"They can do that?"

"Not for long," she muttered. "But, for a short period, it is possible for them to hinder a goddess by knotting her thread. It will pass… but my memory of this slight will not!"

The last bit wasn't aimed at me, but rather at the beings we both knew were listening somewhere. With a sigh, I started to rise. We'd have to wake the others and talk about this. It wouldn't change our immediate plans, but it was still important.

Artemis's legs tightened. I stopped, looking at her.

For the first time since her outburst she wouldn't look at me, instead staring at the seat next to her head like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"We need to figure this out," I said.

"Finish first," Artemis said quietly. And then, even more quietly, "Please?"

I was moving before I realized it.

I just couldn't say no to something like that. We fell straight into our groove as if nothing had happened. Despite what she must've been feeling, Artemis was moaning again in no time. Or maybe it was because of what she was feeling.

In that moment she was all but mortal. She had been pinned underneath me before, but at the same time, she was a goddess. If she really wanted, nothing could stop her from taking her true form and blasting free.

Now that option was gone. She was truly trapped. And in that moment, it was the final piece needed to drive her feelings to another level.

She moaned until her throat was raw. It was a low sound, guttural and seemingly never ending. The moment it hit its climax, so did she. Her walls crushed down on me, and under my hardest thrust yet, we came together.

I kissed her again even as I filled her between the legs. And despite everything that just happened and all there still was to decide, it was a very long time before she let me pull away.

And I was fine with that.

I shut my eyes and breathed in deeply. I know I'm being biased, but there really is no better smell than the ocean's salty tang.

Cracking my eyes open, I stared off of a crowded wharf. Calm waters lay beyond it, and beyond those, a great orange bridge towered into the sky. It took all I had not to laugh like a maniac. Just being this close to the sea was making me feel fantastic.

Unfortunately, those feelings were not shared. I heard a sudden batch of cursing behind me. Someone grabbed my hand.

Artemis huddled next to me, gripping my fingers like a lifeline. I sighed.

"Did somebody walk too close again?"

"A funny look!" she said. "It was a man over there! He looked at me like he wanted to eat me up!"

She pointed at a guy walking with his back to us now, somewhere in his twenties and wearing a San Francisco Giants hoodie.

"That doesn't mean he's a monster," I explained patiently. "It just means he was checking you out."

Artemis was dressed like an average — if slightly un-stylish — teenager. She had on camo pants and a tank-top Valentina loaned her. She was just as pretty as ever, but her expression split in a grimace as I informed her she'd been ogled.

"Monster or not, you ought to stab him at least once," she said imploringly.

I thought about it. "Only if he does it a second time."

This mollified Artemis slightly. She stepped further away from me, although she maintained her grip on my hand. Her head swiveled non-stop, trying to track every single pedestrian on the crowded sidewalk. Her fingers tensed every time a new person passed her blind spot. If I strained my ears, I was sure I could hear her heart beating.

"Relax," I told her gently.

"What," she said, "do you think that I am trying to do?"

The Artemis wasn't taking her punishment all that well. Having her powers sealed made her feel vulnerable. When we arrived in the city, it only got worse. Paranoia was gnawing at her, turning her into a wreck.

I spotted the others coming toward us. I was glad for that. Hopefully, Artemis could relax a bit more with someone else to help watch her back.

"Any luck?" I asked.

Clarisse was wearing a new 'I Heart SF!' t-shirt and Lou had found a snow-globe with a replica city inside that filled with fog when you turned it over. But when I asked the question, they shook their heads.

"Regular boats don't go that far," Annabeth said. "Only cruises. And those need tickets reserved in advance."

"Could we just trick a few mortals?" I asked.

Look, I didn't feel good about snagging an innocent family's spot on a vacation liner, but if that's what it took, it would be for the greater good.

"Maybe," Annabeth said. "I'd prefer something smaller, though. Your powers would be able to speed up the trip that way. Cruises take nearly a whole week to reach the islands. And if Echidna were to catch up, mortals would be caught up in it."

"Something smaller would be better?" Valentina checked.

"Yes," Annabeth said. "Lighter and more maneuverable. Easier for the current to push."

"You mean exactly like that?"

Valentina pointed to the edge of the wharf. It was hard to see what was over there at first, because mortals were clumped up snapping photos with their smartphones. I craned my neck. Finally, I spotted it.

An honest to gods pirate ship was pulling into the wharf.

All of us stared, not knowing what to say. Except for Artemis. She was looking at the rest of us like we were the strange ones.

"It is just a boat," she said.

"A pirate ship," I said. "You know, the kind that sailed the seven seas? The sort of boat Jack Sparrow would ride? Something straight out of the sixteen hundreds?"

"So it's a touch out of date. What of it?"

"Never mind," I told her. "You're right."

I was not in the mood to explain five hundred years of maritime advancement right then. With me in the lead, we approached the edge of the wharf.

"Ahoy!" shouted a man in the crow's nest wearing a skull bandana over his head. He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Landlubbers spotted dead ahead! Ready the cannons!"

"Hold your fire!" shouted a voice from the deck.

The dude up top sounded like a genuine pirate, the kind of guy to have survived for decades off salted ham and rum, but this voice was different. It was young, feminine, and full of authority. I picked out a girl standing at the bow with her hands on her hips. The moment the ship drew within a few feet of the wharf, she hurled herself across the gap, landing firmly on the wooden planks.

She grinned at us, baring pearly teeth that stood out against her dark skin.

"I thought I would find you here," she said.

She wore a frilly white shirt with a low-cut collar underneath a red coat that hung to her ankles. Her black boots came halfway up her calves. On her head, a triangular pirate's hat displayed the Amazon logo like a skull-and-crossbones. Her black hair was pulled forward over one shoulder. I spotted a sword holstered at one hip, and an old-fashioned pistol strapped to the other.

"Hylla?" I asked incredulously.

Reyna's older sister brushed her hair over her shoulder. "It seemed like you guys needed a bit of help. So I thought to myself, why not save the day?"

"What are you doing here? Don't you have an international conglomerate to run?"

"I'm on vacation," she said. "Even queens need breaks. I was touring the world with my old crew when I caught wind of your situation. Hawaii, correct? I'll have you there in three days or less— like a Prime delivery."

"That sounds great," Annabeth said. "But… how did you know we were going there?"

Hylla looked confused. She scratched her head, just under the brim of her hat.

"I saw it on the broadcast, of course," she said.

All of us exchanged looks.

"What broadcast?" I asked.

Hylla turned sideways. She pointed back onto her boat, and I noticed it wasn't quite time-accurate to the sixteen hundreds. Right under the helm, someone had set up a 65-inch flatscreen TV. Three rough looking pirates were sitting on chairs in front of it, watching Hephaestus TV, the gods best (and only) channel.

Nothing much was happening. The word 'Live' blinked in the corner. It seemed to be a stream from the inside of a car, one that nobody was in.

"Hold on a second…" I said.

I squinted. Sure enough, I knew that shag carpet. I recognized those ugly seats. That dark, miscellaneous stain by the door? I made it. It wasn't just the inside of an empty car. It was the inside of our empty car.

"Has that been on the entire time?" Annabeth asked, dumbstruck.

"The entire time?" Hylla said. "I don't know what that would be, but it has been airing for the last four days. And what a show it has been!"

I tuned her out as she raved about how much fun we were to watch. Four days. That was the whole time we'd been in the car, everything since it saved our lives in the midwest onward.

It wasn't like we didn't suspect anything. The car had been supernaturally convenient, and had anyone ever heard of an engine that ran off sex instead of gas? But we searched the entire car, each of us. We hadn't spotted anything dangerous or overly suspicious. Even Artemis gave it the all-clear.

Oh, gods, Artemis. My eyes widened.

"Apollo's going to kill me," I said.

"You truly weren't aware?" Hylla asked, her eyebrows knitting together.

"Of course not!" Valentina said. "Do you think I would've acted like that if I knew I was on camera? I would've tried so much harder to show it my good side!"

Clarisse didn't say anything, but she did growl and walk toward the car, cracking her knuckles. I don't know what she was planning, but considering violence was her solution to most problems, I expected a broken window at least.

Before she'd taken more than a few steps, the car's engine roared to life. Its headlights flickered on. We looked at each other, but no, all of us were still standing together. I even held up the key to show it was with me.

Which didn't stop the van from squealing away into afternoon traffic, cutting off drivers and honking its horn.

All of us watched it go.

"Well that was strange," Hylla said.

"Strange like a secret camera watching you fuck for days straight?" I asked.

"Of course not," she said. "That's not strange, just underhanded. But a car driving without a driver? That's strange. Even we Amazons only have a handful of those."

Annabeth was rubbing her face. "I guess it all worked out," she muttered to herself. Looking up, she met Hylla's eyes. "You can really get us to Hawaii?"

Hylla just smiled.

"As assuredly as a worker can go without a bathroom break!"

O-O-O

The Queen Ann's Revenge II (named after the ship I stole and sunk in the Sea of Monsters) was an upgrade on its namesake. It was bigger, better equipped, and it had a TV. The TV was the big one. Even if it only had a few channels, it went a long way to not making it feel like we'd crawled a few centuries back through time.

The crew was smelly, and definitely needed a better dentist if they wanted to hold onto the teeth they had left, but they were nice enough. I got to formally meet Blackbeard. How many ten year old boys dream about doing that?

Technically, we'd met before, but Edward Teach was much nicer this time. It probably helped that he wasn't coming off an extended stay inside a guinea pig cage. Or, you know, watching me run off with his ship.

"Listen lad," he said, slapping me on the shoulder with a grimy hand and looking at the girls behind me. "You arrrrr a man after my own heart!"

Turns out the ancient son of Ares had fourteen wives when he was in his prime. I hoped we could figure out this curse before I ended up that way.

Hylla gave us the whole tour— the bottom deck where they kept the cannons, the unnaturally modern bathrooms, a fully-stocked kitchen, and our private quarters.

While the others settled in, I wandered back on deck. I wanted to experience as much of that ocean air as I could, even if we were going to be at sea for the next few days. As I stood leaning against the railing by the stern, Hylla joined me.

She'd ditched her hat, but the rest of her outfit was the same. She looked exactly like an older Reyna, with the same serious dark eyes and regal features. I knew she wasn't to be underestimated in a fight. It took some serious chops to turn Blackbeard into your subordinate, not to mention ruling the warlike Amazons.

"Kinzie will be sorry she missed you," was the first thing Hylla said.

"I'm sure," I said. "Tell her I said hi. You know, whenever you see her again."

Kinzie was Hylla's bodyguard, one of the subordinates I met first, and a girl made no secret about the crush she had on me. Hylla chuckled.

"I will do that," she said. "I can't imagine she will be very happy with me. First I push my responsibilities on her and run off for a break, then I come back with the news that I ran into you. She might even try to stab me. But she will miss, of course, because I am the better fighter."

If there was a way the Ramirez-Arellano sisters differed, that was it. Both were scary tough. Both were born leaders. But Hylla was much prouder, more willing to brag about her achievements when the time came. I didn't mind it. If you pulled off the things she had, I figured you had every right to tell people as much.

The wind was whipping into the sails, propelling us forward. Absently, I willed a few ropes to snap into new positions, turning the boat slightly to orient us better. I molded the current, letting us cut through the waves with an extra bit of oomph.

"Handy," Hylla marveled. "Are you interested in a job as a deckhand?"

"Maybe if things really don't work out after college."

She sighed. "A shame. Edward was really taken with you."

We cut through the waves. It was open ocean under us now, and looking back, San Francisco was nothing but a speck.

"There is someone after us," I warned Hylla. "Echidna—"

"Is chasing you with an army of her children. I saw."

"Oh. Right. I kind of forgot you've been stalking us virtually for the last few days."

"We'll outpace her," Hylla said firmly. "My ship will not let us down. Nothing Echidna tries could stop us!"

My eyes widened. I dropped my head, banging my forehead against the wood railing. Hylla jumped, looking at me like I'd turned insane.

"Why did you have to phrase it that way?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Hylla put a hand across her chest. "It hardly matters how I say it. Nothing could go wrong now."

"Like that!" I whipped my head back up, making her jump for a second time. "You're saying bad phrases!"

"How can a phrase be bad?"

"Because they tempt the Fates! Those nosey old women listen to everything, and they care about these things! If you say, it must've been the wind, it wasn't the wind. If you say nothing can go wrong, something will go wrong. If you say, is that all you've got, it won't be. This stuff matters!"

"You're being superstitious," Hylla said. "It's all in your head."

A great groaning noise cut off my reply, as if someone had started stirring the ocean around like one great mug of hot chocolate. At the same time, a shrieking noise ran underneath it, faint and grating. I lost control of the current. Clouds collected ahead of us, while a twenty-foot wave rose into sight.

Hylla only had time to scream, "Brace yourselves!" at the crew before it broke.

I clenched my hands into fists and did all I could to weaken the wave. One thin slice the width of our boat opened up, and we punched through it. The crew still slid around across the deck, but it was better than capsizing.

When we reached the other side, I realized that wave was the least of our worries.

The source of it was easy to spot— or maybe I should say it was hard to miss. A gaping mouth lay in our path, already sucking in everything for a half-mile in every direction as it readied a second blast.

As if that wasn't bad enough, it wasn't alone. The top third of a craggy mountain somehow, impossibly, was floating not far away, with three long dragon-like heads sticking out, like a hermit crab in its shell.

I turned to Hylla as Riptide formed in my hand.

"This is your fault," I informed her.

She scowled.

A lot of people seem to think, on account of all the things I've faced in my fairly short life, that nothing scares me anymore. That couldn't be further from the truth. Every duel with a Titan, every legendary monster faced and vengeful god escaped from, doesn't make the fear go away. You just get better at ignoring it. And sometimes, you end up in a situation so screwed up that even all that practice can't distract you from the way your gut is tied into more knots than the rigging behind you.

Charybdis and Scylla weren't regular monsters. Maybe they went to Tartarus to reform if destroyed… but nobody knows, because no one has ever pulled it off. They were practically forces of nature, only one step off of Typhon himself, the father of all monsters. The one time I faced them hadn't been a fight. It had been a desperate attempt to survive.

Their only weakness was that they never moved. They were the permanent guardians of the Sea of Monsters; the only way to enter or escape was to pass between them.

So what in the name of Olympus were they doing here?

Pirates ran around the deck, barking to each other and pulling stragglers up from the deck. Beside me, Hylla had drawn her sword and pistol. I didn't know what she planned to do with those, but I appreciated the thought.

"What…?" she said.

"Charybdis and Scylla," I said. "Two of the biggest, baddest monsters of all time."

"I know that," she said. "I lost good men to them on the way out of the Sea of Monsters. There is no way I would not recognize them. What I want to know, is what is that? Look!"

She pointed at something far away, approaching fast. I was impressed she had even seen it. A handful of dark specks were flying toward us, low enough to skim the taller waves.

"What do you think?" Annabeth said. "It's what's been after us for ages."

I did a double take as my girlfriend appeared next to us with no warning. She walked really quietly. I blamed her invisibility cap for that.

That same cap was in her hand now, her dagger ready in the other. Lou, Clarisse, and Valentina were on deck, rallying panicking pirates. Artemis had climbed all the way up the crow's nest. I didn't see Emily, which was probably for the best. If anywhere would be safe for a mortal in this situation, it was tucked deep beneath the deck.

"How do we fight them?" I asked without missing a beat.

Annabeth gave me a dry look. "We don't."

"Not the answer I was hoping for."

"Percy, you remember Scylla and Charybdis," she said. "The last time we tried to fight back, it was only because Clarisse was on a mission to royally screw up her own quest."

"I heard that!"

Annabeth ignored the daughter of Ares's bellow from the other side of the deck. "You can't fight something like that. But things are different this time. We don't need to pass between them. I don't know how they got here, but this isn't the entrance to the Sea of Monsters, and we aren't trying to get there. There's no reason not to run."

I leaned off the side of the ship, looking at the dark specks Hylla had spotted— still coming closer.

"Something tells me she won't let this be that easy," I said.

A wedge of harpies flew in a V-shape. Right in the middle, Echidna rode on the back of one, looking just as heavy as ever. She held the Harpy's hair in one hand like reigns. In her other hand she gripped a white thigh-bone, gnawing it in a horribly suggestive way.

I watched her forked tongue dart over smiling lips as she came close enough to hear our voices.

She released the hair of the Harpy she was riding, hopping across onto the the next one over. The Harpy she landed on jerked in the air, just about catching herself and keeping them up. But the one Echidna had ridden for who knows how long was red in the face, eyes bulging and skin totally sweaty. She nosedived, bursting into dust from sheer exhaustion before even hitting the waves.

"Hello there Percy!" Echidna said pleasantly, not even sparing a look for the fate of her old steed. "Don't you think it's time you ought to give up?"

There were five harpies left in total, including the one she was perched atop. I wasn't too worried about them, though. They looked too tired to even swipe their claws. Besides, it was difficult to take them seriously with Scylla and Charybdis right there.

"Not even a hello for me?" asked Echidna. "And after I–"

She cut off, coughing. She bent forward, pressing a fist to her mouth, and spat out something goldish-brown.

"Whew, I'm sorry dearies," Echidna said. "My last meal was particularly bratty. It's left hair in my throat for days."

I glanced into the water, spotting a small clump of lion's hair bobbing there.

"The Sphinx…" I said.

"Don't talk about other girls right now," she chided. "I'm right here for you, after all."

"I wish you weren't," I told her honestly.

She laughed. "So full of vim. So much fire. You, Perseus Jackson, are going to be delightful to use. And the best part is, you'll offer yourself willingly."

"Go figure."

"Oh but it's true," she said. "After all, your friends are in quite a bit of trouble."

Right then Charybdis finished sucking in another dose of water. The flow reversed, and a new tidal wave roared out, even larger than the first one. I poured everything I had into opening up a gap like before, and I managed it, but I couldn't be sure how many more times that would work. Charybdis was still coming closer. All it would take was one stray piece of debris to send our ship — and everyone on it — straight to the ocean floor.

"I could get rid of them," Echidna said. "They aren't my children, but they've always been lovely girls. They dropped everything when I asked them to be here. If I told them to spare one ship, maybe snatch a few smelly unwanted pirates instead of dear little demigods, I'm certain I could get through to them. All you would have to do is give up—"

Bang!

I jumped as a miniature explosion went off right next to me. Echidna yanked her Harpy's hair, pulling the monster's face into the path of something that made it disintegrate on the spot. Another Harpy swooped in, catching their mother before she could get the slightest bit wet.

Hylla scoffed, her blunderbuss still raised and her finger squeezing the trigger.

"He will be going nowhere with you," she declared. "And my crew is not unwanted, even if they are a bit smelly."

The pirates cheered for their captain. Echidna's new mount fluttered up, elevating her back above the rim of the ship.

"Must you be difficult?" she said.

I looked at Annabeth. I could see her brain racing a million miles a minute. She nodded at me. Hylla had steel in her eyes. I looked back at the rest of the girls, and found them glaring at Echidna. Even the pirates looked up for it. Blackbeard was running a hand through his matted facial hair like it was the pull cord to an engine.

I turned back to Echidna, raising my sword. "Bring it on."

She sighed. "A pity."

She tossed away her Sphinx bone, letting it pinwheel into the waves, and had her Harpies fly higher.

"I can only hope you'll end up in pieces big enough to salvage," she told me. She turned her head toward the monsters. "Hear that, girls? Come and give it your all!"

Scylla's three exposed heads tilted up toward the sky and wailed in unison, sounding like a billion chipmunks screaming murderously at the same time. I know that doesn't sound scary, but trust me, this noise wormed its way straight to your brain.

Even though we were hundreds of feet away, the heads launched toward us, stretching over the entire distance. They were as fast as bullets.

"Down!" Annabeth screamed.

Before reaching the boat, one head turned away. Arrows sprouted from its eyeballs despite the speed it was moving at. In the crow's nest, Artemis tried to notch more arrows in time. No Fates sealing her powers could take her accuracy away.

But the other two heads hit the boat. One collided with the side of the hull, busting open a wide gap to the lower deck. Annabeth grabbed my shirt and pulled me sideways. A moment later, the third head took a bite out of the deck right where I'd been.

"They're after you!" she said.

The head with arrows in its eye was coming around for another pass. I heard a crash, and the whole ship listed sideways. The hull was taking more damage.

"The ship can't take much more of this," I said.

We made eye contact.

"Just do it," Annabeth said. "We'll manage."

Despite the situation, I grinned. Isn't it great to have a girlfriend that's used to what an idiot you are?

With a running leap, I jumped overboard.

On the way down I got a look at what was going on below deck. One of Scylla's snakelike heads was tearing away wood with jerks of her long muscled neck.

"Hey ugly!" I shouted.

A bright pupil slid across the eye I could see, training on me.

"It's me you want, right? Trying to finish what you couldn't four years ago? Then come on… Get me!"

Loose planks decorated the waves, torn off by Scylla's teeth and Charybdis's brutal waves. I summoned one about the size of a car door, using the current to push it underneath me. Both my feet hit the board and I shot away, skimming across the surface of the ocean.

By now, propelling something at sea was completely second nature. Dodging murderous dragon heads was a new one. But I wasn't going to let this be easy for Scylla.

All three heads that went after the boat made a U-turn, firing after me instead. One sped up suddenly, reaching out its fleshy maw, but my board skipped sideways. The head broke the surface of the ocean in a salty spray.

The other two came for me from different directions. I weaved between them. I knew I shouldn't be enjoying this, but in the moment I couldn't deny it was pretty fun.

The heads burst from the water again. They came at me from every direction. None touched me. Everytime they got close, I'd skip sideways faster than they could adjust.

With each miss they attacked faster. I could feel their frustration. Charybdis spat out a wave. My board rode it right up to the crest, and just as I hit the top, all three heads came for me from different directions.

The wave spouted like a geyser. At the last second, I propelled myself into the air, leaving Scylla's heads to crash into each other with an unhealthy crack. They wailed and tried to reel back, but there was no way to escape. As they crisscrossed each other chasing me, their necks had become wrapped together, tied into a series of scaly knots.

"Wooohooooooo!" I cried, feeling pretty great.

Something snatched me out of the air.

It hit me faster than a car, hard enough to rattle my ribs inside my stomach. The board I was riding snapped in half. Wind beat against my back as I soared toward the out-of-place mountain. I had to squint to keep my eyes from tearing up, but from the crack between my eyelids, I could make out a fourth head, this one with a large scar over one eye.

I groaned, and not just from pain. Of course. I should've known better than to assume Scylla only had three heads. From the scar on this head, it was the exact same one that snatched me off the CSS Birmingham years ago. The one I stabbed an eye out on. I would've loved to make it a matching pair, but I lost Riptide when the head hit me, and it was taking all my arms had just to keep her fangs from closing completely around my body.

It was strange that I was alive at all. If she wanted me dead, it shouldn't have been hard for Scylla to do it. All she'd have to do was slam me down on part of her mountain, and that would be it: no more Percy. But instead she seemed to be trying her best to drag me back to her cave in one piece.

It couldn't be…

Well, I had other things to worry about first. Namely escaping the powerful jaws dragging me through the air. I tried to summon a wave to help me, but we were too high up and moving too fast. Riptide would reappear soon, but reaching my pocket and uncapping it would be a challenge even if I lasted that long.

In the end, I got some help from the least likely source ever.

The whole ocean groaned again, even more loudly than when Charybdis first appeared. It took me a moment to realize that the huge mouth was screaming.

It spat out another wave, this one bigger than any of the others. It was so large and fast that it struck the hunk of mountain Scylla brought with her, rocking its whole surface like a rubber duck inside a bathtub. Scylla's grip loosened just a little bit. I pried her fangs open a couple extra inches while she was distracted, just enough to slip out.

I fell about ten feet before landing on the rocky surface of the mountain, then slid for about thirty more. My skin tore underneath my clothes, but I would take a few cuts over what would be waiting for me if Scylla successfully dragged me into her den.

In less lucky news, the ship had been hit by the same wave that rocked Scylla, and it was a whole lot smaller than a mountain. Moments before it crashed against the jagged rocks below me I threw out my hands, managing to slow it just enough. The impact couldn't have been fun, but the ship washed up on the inhospitable beach still mostly in one piece.

People spilled overboard. I saw Emily tumble out of the hole Scylla opened to the lower decks and land on the beach. Artemis was catapulted off the crow's nest. She landed on her feet, but I saw her wince. I half-ran half-skidded down the mountain to her side.

A shower of pebbles dislodged when I hit the breaks. "Are you alright?"

Artemis was standing, but keeping most of her weight on her right side.

"Sprained," she said, glancing at her left ankle.

"How bad is it?"

"It will not kill me." She glanced further up the mountain. "Perhaps it will get me killed, though?"

Two more heads had joined the scarred one that nearly pulled me into Scylla's den, totalling to six when you counted the three I left tied up in the water. They sniffed the air, trying to sense me, before turning toward us and the boat bellow us, all three in perfect sync.

The heads shrieked the same way as the other three. They came for us then, and when I tackled Artemis out of the way they passed straight over us, bearing down on the ship.

Two unlucky pirates got dragged away before they knew what hit them. The third head went straight for Emily. My blood went cold, but before its teeth could close, someone jumped in front of her.

Edward Teach was red in the face, hefting a cannon with a shattered stand in both hands. His huge frame jolted back from the recoil as he buried a celestial bronze cannonball straight into one of Scylla's six esophaguses.

The head coughed and flailed, forgetting all about its original target.

"Aye, you'd best be running!" Blackbeard shouted after it, waving his fist.

"Thank you," Emily said.

He turned to her, resting his hands on his hips.

"Never let it be said that Blackbeard is a cowardly pig," he declared with a saucy grin. "A guinea pig, from time to time, but never a pig. When a lady's in danger, it's only right I step in."

Even from so far away I felt like swooning. No wonder the guy ended up with so many wives before.

"They are brave," Artemis said, watching the crew rally to fight off Scylla's heads. "But that is not enough. We will lose."

It might sound depressing, but she wasn't wrong. Blackbeard had one of Scylla's heads still choking, but the other two were readying a second pass. The three in the water were gradually fighting their way free. Charybdis sent out another wave, shoving the ship further up the beach and nearly crushing Lou underneath it before Clarisse pulled her away.

"Shouldn't you be panicking a bit more?" I asked.

"Why? Because I could not keep my nerve in the city?" Artemis sniffed. "That was because I did not know where danger might come from. Here, I can see the danger very clearly. There is no point complaining about that. I doubt I'll truly die, anyway."

She was still perched on my chest from when I tackled her. I started to ease my way up, and she reluctantly let go of her grip on my shirt.

"Besides," Artemis said when I had found my feet, "I have not hated this experience."

"Your powers have been sealed, you're a mile out at sea on a mountain that a monster dragged here, and you think there's a chance you might die this way. But you don't hate it?"

"All of that is true," Artemis said. "But I got to do things this week that I never would have otherwise. I got to know your body, its warmth and strength and the feeling of being beneath it. So yes. I cannot say this curse has been all bad."

My eyes widened. I spun, looking quickly and forth between the mountain's peak and Charybdis behind us.

"Not all bad…" I breathed. "That's it! We can use the curse!"

"I do not believe that mating here would solve our problems," Artemis said. "Although I can think of worse ways to go out."

"No, not that. I have an idea. If it doesn't work, I'll probably end up decomposing in an oversized stomach. But if I don't try it, I figure that I'll end up that way for sure."

It made me feel happier than it probably should have that Artemis immediately said, "What do you need?"

"Get Scylla's attention," I said. "The rest will be on me."

Still sitting down because of her ankle, Artemis lifted her bow and notched an arrow. She sent it arcing toward Scylla, catching one of her two healthy heads in the gum, just above its scaly lower lip. The head jerked toward us— and right away, I could see it notice me.

"Here goes," I mumbled.

"Good luck," Artemis told me as the head bared down on us.

I stepped away from her, making sure she wouldn't get caught up in this. Because, look, even I felt this was crazy.

I began to run toward the head.

I got my best look at it yet. Scylla's heads each looked like a longer version of a hydra's, with bulging eyes and a shape like a warped nuclear waste barrel. Razor teeth lined every inch inside of her mouths. I spotted drool dripping off the head in the millisecond before it struck me. I slid like a baseball player stealing home plate.

As I moved underneath the head, I wrapped my arms around her surprisingly slippery scales. No longer seeing its target, the head panicked, whipping up into the air and pulling me with it.

I let go.

My body was left with all the upward momentum and none of the mass, and I rocketed frighteningly high in the air. Scylla finally got her three tangled heads unstuck. All six of her heads trained toward me, seeing me so high up and completely defenseless. Charybdis roared. Somehow, in whatever twisted way that monster felt the world, she sensed me too. But I wasn't the only one high in the air.

Echidna had stood by, watching the scene from far above, directly in the strait between both monsters. I flew up toward her now, arcing in her general direction.

She spotted me as I came close. Her eyes widened. She held her flabby arms out wide, and yelled, "Finally! Come to Mommy!"

The Harpy carrying her flapped closer, trying to help her catch me. She thought I was giving up and running to her for safety. That was what I wanted.

The groaning from Charybdis was growing louder. Scylla's heads shot after me.

I should be dead by now, if the monsters were acting normally. But Scylla didn't kill me when she caught me. She was gentle enough to keep me alive, simply trying to drag me into her den. That failed because Charybdis intervened, spitting out a wave that saved me in the nick of time. Echidna called them good girls: emphasis on girls.

She said the monsters were here because she summoned them. She thought she could control both. I was betting everything on her being wrong.

Echidna noticed the heads behind me. I saw her smile twitch.

"Scylla dear!" she shouted. "You can back off now!"

Scylla didn't pause for a second. The other Harpies around Echidna darted further back.

That was a bad decision. The ocean that way had decided to fly.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of natural calamity lurched upward as Charybdis leaped like a dolphin. I saw thousands of teeth, hundreds of old victims, and enough driftwood to fill a forest.

Echidna caught me.

Her clawed fingers latched around my shoulders. We stood together, suspended atop her harpy, caught between two forces of nature.

"What have you done?" she asked me.

I grinned crookedly. "I can fall six-hundred-feet and live. Can you?"

Echidna hissed and opened her mouth unnaturally wide, as if trying to eat my entire body in one go and save it for later. I kicked her in the stomach. She lost her grip, and I fell, while she remained hovering above me.

Charybdis engulfed her.

The monster had a slimy wormlike body that narrowed to a thin tale at the end. Its maw enveloped Echidna without noticing, then swallowed all of Scylla's heads. I heard Scylla shriek, but it was quiet, muffled by the thick skin in the way. If Echidna made any noise, no one but her Harpies could hear it.

I thought Charybdis might eat Scylla in one go. In a way, she did. But she wasn't used to desperate leaps like this, and having no eyes really hurts your ability to look where you're going. The top of her mouth came down on the jagged peak of Scylla's mountain, stabbing straight out the top.

There's no way to describe the sound she made properly. It was deep, and loud, and like nothing else I'd ever heard on the face of the planet. Streams ran down the mountain, all sprouting from the monster's open wound, and each was colored like muddy ichor.

It was a flash-flood as seemingly all the blood in the monster's titanic body scraped the mountain bare, tearing away jagged stones under its current. I watched my friends and the remaining pirates clamber back onboard the ship, praying to every god I could name that they would all make it. The goldish deluge washed the ship straight off the beach, jerking it side to side so violently that the sail nearly skimmed the water.

But it stayed up. It balanced out. The rush of blood carried it away from the mountain, and the titanic monsters tangled up there.

I hit the water. I won't say it didn't hurt, but I lived, so I'm also not going to complain.

I lay there for a moment— floating in the water, aching all over, and indescribably relieved. Then I kicked my feet, propelling myself toward the surface.

I had a boat waiting for me.