I used every ounce of my control over the ocean to put as much distance in between us and the scene of the battle as possible. We didn't slow down until the moon was out and the stars were visible. Even then, we spent a while looking behind us before deciding it was safe to stop.
Echidna was gone. There was no way anything could survive after turning into the filling on a Charybdis-and-Scylla sandwich. But we couldn't be sure if the titanic monsters themselves were actually dead, or just stunned. Rather than take the risk, we decided to give ourselves a head start.
When we finally stopped, it began to sink what we had just done. Some of the crew had been lost, but if anything, the pirates' mood seemed to be better than ever.
They demanded a celebration, and before we knew it crates of booze had been dragged up from below deck. The crusty guy that had been manning the crow's nest back in San Francisco pulled out a flute, one of his friends found a banjo, and a third began belting out a shanty.
I tried to keep watch at the back of the boat at first. That didn't last long. I was the man of the night, apparently, for what I pulled off. Every single pirate wanted to clap me on the back. Valentina grabbed me, dragging me to the middle of the deck, where the crew had started to dance.
It was less awkward than the school dance at Westover, and more human than the post-war party on Olympus, the last two celebrations I'd been to. Valentina was an excellent dancer. It didn't take her long to start grinding, though, and giving me a hooded look. Considering I wasn't ready to leave the party just yet, I was glad when Clarisse dragged her away before she could cause a scene.
I danced with Lou Ellen for a long time, and even spent a while with Artemis. The goddess didn't really understand the appeal, but she gave dancing a try nonetheless.
Eventually, Annabeth got her turn. She'd always been a better dancer than me. At one point that might've embarrassed me, but we were past anything like that now.
We paced and twirled around the deck. We passed Emily, dancing with Blackbeard and giggling as the pirate pulled her around.
"We really never can do things normally, can we?" Annabeth said.
"Are you complaining?"
"I don't think so. After this long, I think anything else wouldn't feel right."
"Besides," I said, "you've got to admit our lives are pretty fun sometimes."
The stars were completely out now. The pirate band was playing a fast song, perfectly in time with our steps. It felt like we could keep moving and holding each other forever.
"It has its upsides," Annabeth admitted.
I twirled her around, then dipped her down while she raised one leg. The crew cheered. I pulled her back up, and when I did, she stepped away.
"I think that's a good stopping point," she announced. "It's been a busy few days. Let's enjoy the downtime now that we can."
After that, the night turned into a blur. I drank, and danced, and learned that one of the pirates was named Bartemus, and that he really missed his mommy. I wasn't the only one who'd had plenty to drink.
It was at least an hour later when I finally got sick of stumbling around from the alcohol. I leaned off the deck, calling a tendril of water up. It hit me in the face, wrapping around my head and giving me a refreshing jolt. When I let it fall back down into the waves, I felt completely refreshed.
Somebody clapped behind me.
"You are a man of many tricks, Percy Jackson," Hylla complimented.
She was sitting on top of a barrel near the center of the deck. She must've had her share of rum, because her cheeks were pink. Her shirt was the same frilly one she'd been wearing when she picked us up, but she'd shed her long captain's coat and hat at some point during the night. Either that, or she lost them in the battle. She gestured for me to come closer with her finger.
I walked over. The band had called it a night and gone below deck alrady. A few pirates were still stumbling around here or there, but in general, the party was over. I absently adjusted the rigging with a thought, keeping us on the right course.
"You've got some tricks yourself," I told her. "Do you know how many teenage girls I know that could take over Blackbeard's ship? Like five, probably, and that's only because I know a lot of crazy people."
Despite the blush engrained on her features, I didn't see a cup in her hands. She leaned forward on her barrel, bracing her hands on the rim and looking directly at me.
"I hated you, you know," she said.
I winced. "I mean, I did get you kidnapped."
The first time we met, I hadn't even known her name. She was a receptionist on the island of Circe, the famous sorceress. A lot of things happened, but the big parts are as follows: Circe turned me into a guinea pig; Annabeth dropped a bottle of divine vitamins; I got my buck teeth around one and turned human again, while a whole crew of pirates chowed down on the others. Blackbeard plundered the island and took the workers as servants, including Hylla and her younger sister. As far as first meetings went, even I would admit ours was abysmal.
Hylla nodded. "It was not a pleasant experience. But it turned out well enough." She paused, looking around us, before returning her attention to me. "I am happy to say my first impression of you was misguided."
She patted the barrel beside her. There wasn't a whole lot of space, but it seemed rude to turn her down considering the mood she had set. I squeezed in, our shoulders pressing against one another.
I sniffed as I sat down next to her. The only alcohol I smelled was the general scent coating the deck after the party. Hylla, it seemed like, hadn't been drinking at all.
But she was blushing, and her body was drooping forward, as if keeping up straight were a challenge.
"So," I said, "how far along is the curse?"
Hylla giggled. She planted her hand on my knee, giving it a squeeze through my torn jeans.
"It seems I've been figured out," she said. "It does certainly feel better now, with you so close."
"You should've seen Clarisse. She was the first one to get it. When I got close, she went from unconscious to wrestling me in seconds."
The last of the crew had gone below deck. I spotted Annabeth standing by the door, looking over at us. 'Good night,' she mouthed knowingly at me.
She disappeared. Hylla and I were left alone.
"You watched us the entire time we were in the car, right?"
Hylla nodded.
"Which means that when you came to offer us a ride, you already knew about the curse. And how it works."
Hylla nodded again, smirking this time.
"Were you hoping for this?" I had to ask.
"I'll let you in on a secret," she said, leaning forward until her face was in front of mine. "My sister and I have plenty in common… including our taste in men."
She kissed me.
Hylla's lips tasted vaguely like gunpowder. I know that doesn't sound pleasant, but take my word on this, it had a nice tang.
One of her hands went right to my hip, sliding around to grip my butt. Her other one held onto my shoulder with surprising strength. It was assertive, almost dominant in a way I wasn't used to.
I gave her the same treatment. My hands ruffled her white shirt. I grabbed her ass, squeezing the sensitive flesh.
Hylla growled as we kissed. Her tongue began to shove harder against mine. I felt her hand pull me, repositioning me with her strength. I wasn't even sure she was doing it on purpose. This was simply the way she was used to having sex.
We continued on this way, slowly one-upping each other, until we were scraping our fingers over the other person's body. The barrel wobbled beneath us. A moment later we pushed it too far, and tumbled toward the deck.
The sudden fall surprised me, and for a moment I quit holding back at all. When it passed, and I caught up with what was happening, Hylla was beneath me, her arms pinned to the deck.
"Uhn!" she moaned girlishly, her usually-severe features taking on a new look. I felt her warm wrists trapped beneath my palms, while her soft body pressed up against mine, and I realized she must be feeling the opposite— herself on the bottom, stuck beneath a bigger, stiffer, stronger man.
It was a new position for a girl who got as far as she had by always being tough. I felt the way she was shaking and realized right away:
The Amazon queen loved it.
Her puffy lips were puckered, waiting for me to kiss them again. Instead, I decided to take things to the next level. She was going to get a treat I'd make sure she wouldn't forget.
I stood up, pulling her up with me. Hylla looked confused, then doubly so when I stepped back. A moment later, she yelped as ropes all over the ship snapped to new positions.
The rigging reworked itself in an instant, directed by a single thought from me. Ropes wove together and knotted themselves. Hylla was lifted off the deck as her feet kicked. She gasped, trussed up helplessly.
I paused to admire her. She looked exactly like a more mature version of her sister— which was to say a Puerto Rican beauty with tanned skin, sharp features, and a prominent nose. Both looked somewhere between stern and aloof most times, a result of either their parentage or their important roles. But in this moment, trussed up and waiting for me, I thought Hylla looked years younger.
"Let me down!" she protested, swinging her legs.
"Do you really want that?" I asked.
She went silent. Because she didn't. Smirking, I started to undress.
I pulled off my shirt. My pants came off next. I took my time on purpose. Hylla growled with impatience, watching my muscled body be revealed slowly, yet also kept out of her reach.
When I finished I sighed, and stretched. Hylla wiggled against her restraints. Finally stepping forward, I raised my hands.
She shut her eyes, unable to keep a smile off her face. She couldn't wait to finally feel my touch— but there was still waiting to do.
I popped the buttons on her blouse, one by one. Her eyes opened again, and she glared. I ignored her, continuing to work. Ropes moved out of my way like they had a life of their own, but never lost their tightness. When her blouse opened, I pulled the right sleeve off first, then the left one after.
I removed her pants at a similar speed. She was left in a bra and underwear, almost all her dark skin on display for me to enjoy. I paced around behind her, unclasping her bra still without touching her skin. I watched her wriggle, trying to brush her back against my fingers just to feel something, but even that failed.
Finally, I pulled her panties down with a grip on the sides. Her ass might have been even bigger than Valentina's. Where the daughter of Aphrodite had the ultimate genetics, Hylla had good genetics combining with a lifetime of intense exercise. It took a ton of willpower not to give it a good smack, but I just about held back.
Just at the moment she was ready to lose her mind, the ropes moved. She was dropped abruptly backwards, so that her long black hair hung down and brushed the deck. Her chin was the highest point on her body, barely beating out the stiff nipples on her perky breasts. Right in front of her upside down face, she got to watch in real time as my cock swelled to full mast. I saw her swallow.
"Open," I said.
I've never seen someone unhinge their jaw faster.
Aiming my shaft with a hand on the base, I pushed straight into her mouth.
I was the one moving, and as she was right at crotch-height, it was an easy job. I went slowly; almost maddeningly slowly. Something about the position changed the sensations, making it not feel like an ordinary blowjob. I slid slowly into Hylla, watching her upturned throat begin to bulge in the shape of me.
It was difficult not to choke her completely, but I think I managed it pretty well. There was no reason to be rough. She was so vulnerable in this position that it would've been counterproductive. Each thrust, even when they took multiple seconds, was enough to make her whole body quiver.
I guess I was getting more sensitive to these things, because I could smell Hylla's arousal. When I looked down at the wild black muff around her crotch — appropriate for a pirate captain — I spotted traces of moisture leaking out, wetting down patches.
Within a few minutes I could feel myself getting close, so I made the decision to end with a bang.
I sped up. It was just a tiny bit, but every difference could be felt. At the same time, I wrapped my hands around Hylla's throat. When I pushed forward, I could feel myself making her throat bulge. Her breath was certainly blocked now, but only for a few seconds until I came.
Right away, the ropes pulled her up. She coughed, her eyes wide and her cheeks flushed again. Her arousal was at its peak, even as she struggled to recover her breath. Even though I'd cum, I was still completely hard. We weren't done yet.
The ropes holding her spread Hylla's legs. A moment later, as I stood completely still, they plunged her back against me.
My whole cock slid into her moist, eager pussy, pushing aside the thick muff. This time the pace was frantic. Her whole body flew forward
"Oh my gods!" Hylla wailed. With her mouth freed up, there was nothing to block in her cries. "I'm cumming! By the go-oo-oo-ods…"
Her voice undulated as her body was pitched forward and back. I just stood there, holding my ground and basking in the pleasure. The ass I'd admired rippled constantly as it crashed against my hips. Periodically, as it made contact with me, I started to deliver sharp slaps, relishing the feeling of her flesh jigging. Bright red marks formed, two on her upper thighs where she was hitting my body, and another two on her ass, where my palms were landing.
She hadn't been exaggerating about cumming. If I didn't know better, I would've guessed her mother was the goddess of fountains. So much tangible arousal was leaking out that it was running down me, dripping off my balls onto the deck.
"What would your crew think, if they could see you now," I teased.
She just yowled.
As much as I was enjoying this, I've never liked feeling like a passenger in bed. Maybe it's the ADHD in me. I always enjoy it more if I'm at least doing something.
The ropes stopped swinging. Hylla stilled in the air. No sooner had the change come than I was grasping her long hair, holding it tightly.
Now I was the one thrusting, like normal. I plowed into her, hardly tiring at all in the cool night air. The red marks on her thighs grew and turned scarlet. I reached around her to grab her perky breasts, showing them some love while my other hand still pulled against her hair.
With a jolt, I yanked her head all the way back next to mine, just using her hair. She moaned. My lips brushing her ear, I whispered, "Well, captain? How is it losing control for once?"
"Amaziiiiiiiiing," Hylla groaned, her speech slightly slurred from the beating her throat had taken.
I came. The load was sudden and brutal. My control over the ropes slipped. Hylla dropped to the deck, and I lost my balance too, falling on top of her. The result was that my downward momentum buried me almost impossibly deep inside her, spewing semen all through the recesses of her pussy.
As I lay on top of her, gasping while we caught our breath back, I asked, "Are you going to tell Kinzie about this, too, when you get back?"
Hylla looked back at me, her exhausted face looking incredulous.
"The Amazons would have to find a new queen!"
Here's a boating hack for your next trip to Hawaii. If you want to get right-of-way every time on the water, pull into harbor atop a pirate ship that looked like it sailed out of two centuries ago, with a huge gash in its side dangerously close to the waterline and towering black sails.
I watched a million dollar speed boat zip along the waves before stopping dead, its driver sliding down his sunglasses to gape at us as we passed. They weren't the only ones. Fishing boats, jet skis, and even a cruise ship stopped to give us looks. I think the cruise thought we were a tourist attraction, because the passengers cheered for us
"Land Ahoooooooooy!" a pirate in the crow's nest screamed.
The part of my brain that naturally tracked our position at sea told me we were five minutes out from our destination, and closing in quick. I paced on the deck. It was crazy to think we were finally here— and we didn't even have to worry about being chased.
The TV on deck, the same one Hylla watched our progress from before we reached San Francisco, had a news bulletin on it. A son of Hermes read from a teleprompter in a neutral monotone. Alone the base of the screen was a bulletin.
Syclla, Charybdis, discovered dead this morning off the shore of the west coast. Cause of death: neighborly squabble?
That put to rest the last worry we had left: maybe the deadly monsters were only stunned, and they would catch us up in no time. But they really hadn't moved. Echidna was vaporized, probably reforming somewhere in the deepest cranny of Tartarus, while the monster army she collected to capture me must have been breaking apart, spreading to the winds without their leader. It almost seemed too good to be true.
Except that we'd earned it, and I thought we deserved at least this much good luck, after everything.
"Prepare to disembark, boys!" Blackbeard howled.
He was all the way at the front of the boat, pirates collecting around him. Standing just a short distance back, I watched them with Hylla at my side.
"Don't worry," she said, dressed once more in flashy captain's clothes (instead of bound up in my helpful ropes). "I will make sure they stay controlled.
"Aw, let them have some fun," I said. "They deserve to cut loose a little bit. Just don't, you know, let them sack the island."
"I will try," Hylla said gravely.
"Wait, they would actually do that? I was only joking—"
The boat jolted as gentle waves pitched us forward onto the beach.
In case you're wondering, no, you are not supposed to ride ships straight out of the water onto land. Proper protocol is to drop the anchor and row to shore in dinghies. But the pirates knew they had me to get them seabound again, and they were just so excited to be here that whoever was steering aimed straight up onto the shore.
Sunbathers screamed and ran away. Pirates jumped off the deck, howling and cheering, hitting the sand with heavy thuds.
Hylla raced forward like a cat owner whose pet was somewhere they shouldn't be. "Hey, hey! What are you getting up to right now? Hey!"
She leaped overboard after them, chasing them down. I was sure she could handle it.
I clambered down more gracefully, Annabeth and the rest of the girls following, except for Emily who was standing with Blackbeard while the ex-captain pulled on a system of ropes.
When we hit the beach it looked about like what I expected. There were people all over it, and most've them just looked like they had money. If you've ever walked through parts of Tribeca, you'd know the feeling. But that vibe was being completely disrupted by the big, hairy, dirty men running along the beach, laughing and kicking sand at each other.
"Stop that!" Hylla snapped, trying to marshal her men. She whipped around as another one stomped on a kid's sand castle, making the boy burst into tears. "Hey!"
"Should we help her?" Lou Ellen wondered.
"Eh, I'm sure she can handle it," I said.
"Hey. Hey!"
While Hylla worked so hard to keep her crew under control, a voice said, "Percy?"
Turning, I found the girl we traveled all this way to find staring at us. Rachel Elizabethe Dare wore a pink sundress that I just knew her dad had bribed her to get her into, because it was the complete opposite of her usual style. A thin, tall blond boy stood beside her, wearing a button-up shirt over top of his swim trunks. When Rachel stopped to stare at us, he took advantage of her distraction to wrap an arm around her shoulder, which she was too surprised to buck off.
"Careul," he said, "there's hooligans out!"
He would've been better off keeping quiet. His warning made Rachel notice the arm, and she quickly extricated herself with a sour look.
"You made it!" she said, ignoring him completely in favor of approaching me.
"Well, just about," I said.
"And in only a week, too! That's better than I expected!"
She gave me a quick hug, then gave another one to Annabeth. The other girls got a knowing look about why they were here, but that was all.
"You know these… people?" asked the blond boy.
The way he said 'people' started off sour as he looked at me, but quickly turned pleasant as he noticed the beautiful girls behind me.
"Thomas?" I guessed.
He flashed a vain smile. "Rachel spoke of me, I assume?"
"Er, yeah." She had called the annoying son of her dad's friend, and looked like she was talking about a roach as she did it, but I didn't have to tell him that.
Speaking of Rachel's dad, Mr. Dare appeared suddenly beside Thomas.
"I have no idea what's happening," he said, "but it seems to me that a band of homeless ruffians are assaulting the hotel beach!"
"Perhaps they're immigrants?" Thomas suggested. "They arrived in a boat, and they certainly look dirty enough."
"Whatever the case, I'm sure the staff will deal with them soon," said Mr. Dare. "If not, then the police can handle it! I'm not paying to be accosted by a bunch of low-brow nobodies… Percy?"
Rachel's dad finally noticed me. We never got along great, but we'd been civil in the past. It was years since we had seen each other, though, and since I wasn't trying to tag along on his daughter's vacations anymore, I didn't need to try nearly as hard to keep my mouth shut.
Besides, the way he treated his ex-wife, tossing her away like an outdated model at the first signs of age…
"Mr. Dare," I said pleasantly. "You're looking great! Really rocking those gray hairs."
The man jerked as if struck, frantically patting his red hair as if trying to yank out any gray bits on the spot.
"Percy's on vacation too!" Rachel said happily. "And he picked the same hotel we did. Isn't that such a coincidence."
"Yes," Mr. Dare said, "in fact, I can't think of anything more surprising."
I was pretty sure it was meant to be a dig about my economic class, but I couldn't help but say, "I can think of something more surprising."
Just then, I heard the squeak of gears from the pirate ship. A dinghy had been properly rigged up, being lowered slowly onto the bench like a floating stage. Blackbeard himself handled the ropes, making sure the descent was smooth, while right in the center somebody stood on full display.
In an elaborate frilly dress that looked straight out of a noblewoman's closet from the eighteen hundreds, Emily Mcmillan Neé Dare stepped off the boat.
"Mom?" Rachel asked at the same time that Mr. Dare said, "Emily?"
She giggled as she glided up to us, her dress just short enough not to pick up any sand.
"See?" I said. "I told you it could get more surprising."
Hotel employees had just managed to gather up all the pirates, grouping them up and trying to force them off hotel property. But Emily quickly cupped her hands around her mouth, calling over, "Leave them, please! They're new guests. Just give me the bill for as many rooms as it takes!"
Then, while everyone was still staring at her, she bent down and gave Rachel a proper motherly hug.
O-O-O
"You brought my mom."
"Technically," I said, "your mom kind of brought herself."
"You brought my mom!"
I laughed awkwardly while Rachel stared me down.
We were sitting far up on the beach, down the shoreline from the hotel itself, leaving the chaos behind. We'd checked in. Emily got us rooms, and we stowed what stuff we had before heading for the beach, eager to kick back and relax.
Rachel and I went ahead because we hardly needed anything. She was already dressed for the beach, while I could splash around in regular clothes and dry them off with nothing but a thought.
"If it makes you feel better," I said, "we couldn't have gotten here without Emily. She paid for train tickets when we had no other way of traveling West. It was kind of hard not to bring her at that point."
Rachel looked like she wanted to keep arguing, but in the end she just sighed.
"I'm glad you're here," she said. "And not just because of the curse. If I had to spend one more day around—"
"Him?" I asked, pointing.
Because there was Thomas, coming toward us down the beach. And he wasn't walking alone.
He was trailing our friends, all of whom had completely changed their clothes. I had to stop and stare.
Lou and Valentina were both in bikinis, but very different ones. Lou's was modest and blue, contrasting her pale skin. Valentina's was red and unbelievably sheer, to the point that it hardly covered her body at all, only shielding her crotch and nipples. It was scandalous, and completely in-character.
Hylla had a bikini bottom with a shirt over her chest, while Annabeth and Clarisse both wore one-piece bathing suits. Probably the least surprising thing all day was that Artemis was the most modestly dressed. A hoodie multiple sizes too big for her covered her from the thighs up past her neck, her auburn hair pooled in the hood.
"I'm something of an investor," Thomas was saying, walking too close behind Valentina for his motives to be pure. "You should really see my portfolio. I'm not one to brag, but with that much money, I could buy out this hotel for a week. I could buy so many pairs of designer clothes… If I was motivated to."
Artemis's eye twitched. The boy had no idea how lucky he was that her powers weren't working right, or else Hawaii's Jackalope population would have risen by one a long time ago.
Clarisse was cracking her knuckles like she wanted to send Thomas packing her own way, but Valentina reacted first.
Reaching me and Rachel, she hurled herself to the ground. Her lips locked with mine, and her tongue entered my mouth. She planted both my hands on her barely contained tits, pressing them against her flesh until I squeezed down. Her leg wedged itself between my legs, the knee rubbing my crotch in the most obvious way imaginable.
Finally, after fifteen seconds, she broke the kiss.
"I'm his," she told Thomas pleasantly. "So, if you don't mind…"
She meant for him to leave, but apparently that implication wasn't obvious enough.
"Sure," Thomas said, turning straight to Artemis. "Say, have you ever heard about the benefits of crypto?"
Artemis dove onto me, squeezing in next to Valentina, and kissed me just as passionately. Thomas gaped.
When she was done, Artemis looked back at him. "Sorry," she said, her voice lacking even the slightest bit of sincerity.
All of the girls sat down on the towel, spacing themselves out around me.
"What?" Thomas said. "I mean… How?"
"Hey, we've been through a lot to get here," I told him. "Our car blew up. So did our train. Our second car ran away. And we fought two natural disasters intent on bringing about our demise… So could we enjoy our one day at the beach in peace?" When he still stood there frozen, I added, "Please?"
It wasn't a question, even though I phrased it like one. It wasn't even a suggestion. I was telling him to get lost. Finally, something got through.
With one last jealous look, Thomas shoved his hands in his swim trunks and stomped off, muttering about how I probably didn't even know what a shareholder was.
"Lou," Artemis said eagerly, turning her head toward the daughter of Hecate. "You can do it, right? The way that you said?"
Nodding slightly, Lou raised her hands. Mist swirled around them. I didn't notice anything happening. But after a while, I realized that our own little patch of beach was clearing out. No mortals were coming closer anymore.
"A bit of privacy," Artemis said. She rose, pulling me up by the hand. "Shall we take advantage?"
Then she ran, giggling, and pulled me toward the nearby rocks.
They were jagged and a bit taller than a person, but they didn't run all the way down to the water. Artemis led me around them, and on the other side, we found a sandy area shielded from view in both directions.
Artemis let go of my hand. She spun around, still looking at me and giggling.
"Would you like to see a secret?" she asked.
"Hit me with it," I told her.
She pulled off her sweatshirt. My jaw dropped.
Her entire knockout body was on full display, tight in all the right places and glistening around the upper thighs, slick with arousal. Artemis twirled for me, showing off her fit ass and tight, perfectly-shaped back. When she was done she smiled nervously, holding out her arms as if to say, ta-da!
I grabbed her, squeezing her close.
We kissed while my hands rubbed the body she showed off so cutely. I gave her ass a light slap, then squeezed and rubbed the cheeks. One of my hands slid up her smooth back all the way to her shoulder blades. She was still a poor kisser, but she made up for her lack of skill with enthusiasm. Behind us, I heard a voice.
"We're a few seconds late, and they've already gotten started."
I broke the kiss to look toward the voice, finding Valentina standing with a hand on her hip, talking to Lou, who nodded fiercely.
"Well then," Valentina declared, "it seems like we'll just have to go and get ourselves involved!"
They walked over, Valentina swaying her hips seductively while Lou did her best to copy her. Missing the feeling of my mouth, Artemis started to suck at my neck and chin, nibbling me freely.
When the newcomers got to us, they grabbed one side of my shirt each, pulling it up over my head and forcing Artemis to jerk her face back. In the moment my face was away from the goddess, Lou wrapped her hands around my head and pulled me into a kiss. Artemis hissed like a cat at seeing her fun stolen, before contenting herself with suckling on my collarbone.
Valentina, the only one getting no action, leaned in to whisper in my ear, "Touch me, Percy."
I only had one hand free, but it roamed her body at the open invitation. Her bikini bottom was nearly a thong, letting me group her huge, round, dark cheeks. My hand slid around and jammed under top, pinching her nipples and causing Valentina to moan. When it slid down her belly and found her slit, my fingers discovered sopping skin.
Valentina wrapped her hands around my wrist, stopping me.
"We're all ready," she said. "Let's not waste time."
She undid her bikini top, tossing it away. Lou did the same. They walked over to the rocks, and when she saw, Artemis joined them. They pressed their hands on the surface in front of them, bending their backs at ninety degree angles.
"Who will you start with?" Valentina asked.
I walked up to Artemis, right in the middle. The goddess gasped excitedly, giggling again.
I slammed her tight pussy from behind, feeling her gooey insides strain as they tried to accommodate me. Before Lou or Valentina could feel disappointed, I pushed aside the fabric of their swimsuits, digging my fingers into their moist holes.
"Oh Perseus Jackson!" Artemis cried. "What a man you are!"
She came for the first time right after we started, utterly turned on. The sun was still out, high above us, bathing us in its warm rays. My fingers plunged in and out of Lou and Valentina, who were quickly screaming as loud as Artemis herself.
"Even your fingers are incredible!" Lou cried.
"Don't stop Papi!" Valentina begged me. "Fuck me forever! Treat this pussy like a playground!"
I hooked my fingers up, digging through them and pinching at their clits. My cock continued ramming into Artemis the whole time, fucking her increasingly-wet walls hard enough to make her ass recoil.
I took a moment to enjoy the view— Lou, pale and petite on the left; Artemis, athletic and oh-so-tight in the middle; Valentina, dark curvy and sultry on the right. I pulled my fingers out of the two on the sides just to slap their different but equally appealing asses, then jammed my fingers back inside before they had time to adjust to the absence.
The girls were all screaming now, not even making the slightest attempt to hide their voices. I hoped Lou's spell had some kind of noise dampening effect, otherwise even keeping mortals to five hundred feet away might not be enough to hide what we were up to. All three had cum at least once. The sand under their stretched pussy's was starting to look like the sand where the ocean was hitting— dark beige and matted down with moisture.
Grunting, I squeezed Valentina and Lou's clits harder than I had at any point yet. At the same time, I dragged my cock out of Artemis's pussy. I came, and as I did I turned my hips side to side, sharing the sticky white wads evenly between the three of them.
The girls all dropped to the sand when I was done, breathing hard while their legs shook. Lou and Valentina looked like they'd been properly fucked, even though my cock never touched them. I was getting ready to fix that second part when three shadows slid over us from further down the beach. Looking over I found Clarisse, Annabeth and Hylla standing there, eyeing us up.
"Our turn," Annabeth announced.
As they strutted over, pulling off swimsuits while they walked, I came to a decision.
I really, really liked Hawaii.
I had a blast over our day at the beach. And, no, it wasn't just sex.
Although there was a lot of it.
After the girls got their fill we returned to Rachel, who was doing an impressive job at looking natural. I took turns bringing different people to the ocean floor, summoning fish and letting them see the gorgeous kaleidoscope of aquatic plants. When that was done, we had a sandcastle building competition. Annabeth won.
As the afternoon dragged on, Rachel suddenly grabbed me, pulling just me back to the hotel.
"You're having dinner with my family," she said. "If I have to deal with that alone one more time, I'm actually going to flip."
I figured I owed her at least that much after leaving her on her own earlier.
We swung by my room to get me dressed up. I was sure I wouldn't have anything good enough for the standards of this kind of hotel, but someone had come by and left a nice button up with dress pants draped on my bed. It wasn't until later that I figured out who.
Rachel herself met up with me in a backless red dress that was unlike anything I'd seen on her. It was a deeper scarlett than her hair, bright against her pale skin.
"Come on." She pulled my by the hand, leading us to a dining room positioned for perfect oceanside views. As soon as we stepped inside, I stopped. I could've cut the tension with Riptide.
There was only one group dining in the whole place. They must've rented the entire restaurant, a fee which was probably more than my mom's annual Manhattan rent. The table itself was long enough to be straight out of a Middle Ages painting, with a white tablecloth and way too many forks in front of each seat.
Sitting at the head of the table was Rachel's dad. He had a full-length tie on despite this being his vacation, which I'm pretty sure is a federal crime. His knuckles were resting on the table, and a bottle of wine was next to his plate. I hated the way he looks at people, and I had ever since I first met him in high school. It's like he's always sizing up everything in the room, estimating not only its value but the exact way he can siphon it into his own bank account.
Sitting to his right was a blond woman who only looked a little older than Rachel and I. She had full figure, but her head looked empty. Beyond her was a very fat, heavily balding man, and beside him was Thomas.
The blond boy looked irritated to see me, but was having trouble pulling his eyes away from Rachel's flashy dress, which meant his mood appeared pretty good overall.
It was a huge table, but there weren't a ton of chairs set out. In fact, after Rachel and I sat down (in the furthest seats from everyone else), that left only one more.
"Who are we waiting for?" I asked.
"Me, I suppose."
I didn't even look to see who had spoken. The familiar voice came from beside the door, calm and confident. A moment later, Emily swept in.
And she wasn't alone.
Her dress was as beautiful as Rachel's, and hugged her body twice as close. Her huge bust strained it, natural rack bobbing slightly with each step. She walked casually in heels as long as Riptide's hilt. Her arm was linked with someone else's, a huge man who immediately caught my attention.
He had rippling muscles, shown off by the short-sleeved shirt he was wearing. His jaw was sharp and clean shaven. He had stern, striking features, paired with fierce eyes. His hair was combed and gelled back. I was sure I'd never seen him before, yet he felt unbelievably familiar at the same time.
"Who?" asked Rachel's dad, voicing the question I'd been wondering.
"Hello," Emily greeted her ex-husband. "I admit, I was surprised to get you invitation. But after everything we've been through, it would've been rude not to accept. Dear, I'd like you to meet Edward."
My jaw dropped. Edward inclined his head. The man turned sideways immediately after, helping Emily stoop into her seat. He looked around for a seat for himself, promptly finding none.
"Ah." Mr. Dare's voice was tight. "The invitation was intended just for Emily, actually. As you can see, we don't have any more chairs available."
He sounded sickeningly polite. Instead of answering, Edward wandered over to the bar. It was lined with stools, each fastened to the ground. He gripped the underside of one with both hands. His muscles rippled. With a soft grunt that was drowned out by groaning metal, he tore it straight up, as if the screws were made of nothing but thin wood.
Returning to the table, he dropped his new seat between me and Emily, sitting down.
"Found one," he reported.
Unable to hold it in any longer, I leaned over to him.
"Blackbeard?" I whispered. "Is that you?"
"Aye, lad," he said, sounding sad.
"What happened to you?"
"Makeover."
He said it like a dreadful punishment. Emily smiled at everyone.
"Well then," she said, "shall we eat."
I learned a few important things during that meal. First, rich person restaurants had a real fetish for extra silverware. Second, the blond woman next to Mr. Dare was named Nancy, and she was Rachel's new stepmom, a twenty-eight year old woman with a social media following. And third and finally, I learned that Thomas really did not like me.
"You don't hold it like that."
I looked down at my fork in my hands, hovering above my plate.
"What's wrong with it?" I asked. "This is how I always eat."
"Yes, I'm sure it is," Thomas said. "But that is a salad fork, and you're using the complete wrong fingers."
"If they're getting the food into my mouth, how can they be wrong?" I asked.
"Well, I tried," said Thomas. "No helping it."
He looked at Rachel, as if commiserating with her about what a buffoon I was. He seemed to think they shared a moment. Rachel wasn't even looking.
Mr. Dare was talking about how well his business was doing. Nancy was nodding at all the right times, along with Thomas's dad, Mr. Dare's fat friend. I don't think Blackbeard understood a word the entire meal, too busy glaring at salads for polluting his dinner table. The pirate stacked his plate with meat when it arrived, eating voraciously. Mr. Dare visibly flinched when Blackbeared picked up a steak with his hands.
"Not like that," Emily said gently. "Use your silverware."
She grabbed Blackbeard's wrist, getting him to drop the meat, before staring at his fingers, slick with meat juice.
"Oh, we'll have to get those cleaned up first," she said.
And she bent across, sucking his fingers dry with her doubty lips.
Rachel covered her eyes with my hand, although it did nothing to block out the erotic slurping sounds. The whole table gaped. Thomas, his dad, and Mr. Dare drooled a little bit.
"There we go." Emily straightened. "All clean."
The meal went on a little longer after that, but everyone seemed a little out of it. Or, everyone except Emily, who acted as if nothing had happened. When the food was gone, she stood up, Blackbeard standing with her.
"Thank you," she told Mr. Dare warmly. "This was a lovely meal. But it was a long trip to get here today, so I think we'll be returning to our room now."
Our room. Blackbeard winked at me. He hooked his arm over Emily's shoulder and they left, the redhead's hips swaying all the way across the room. Even I felt a little dazed.
Mr. Dare looked at Nancy sitting beside him. He looked back at Emily's hips, still swaying as they disappeared out the door. He scowled and stood up, pulling his wife along as they left without a word.
Things had already been awkward, but with just four of us left I was ready to get out of there. Unfortunately, when I stood up with Rachel, Thomas felt the need to get in the way again.
"Rachel, you and your mom have such a strong resemblance," he said.
"Thanks," Rachel said flatly.
Seeing that conversation hadn't gone anywhere, Thomas scrambled. "The bar's open. Let's have a few drinks, on me!"
He paused, glancing at me.
"Just the two of us, of course. I can't be bothered to explain how to hold a shot glass the way I had to explain a salad fork."
"Thanks," Rachel said, "but I think I'm just going to go back to my room."
Thomas shot up. "I'll walk you!"
"No you won't," she told him.
Rachel pulled me toward the door.
O-O-O
"Well, that was exciting," I said.
"I can't believe that he invited mom," Rachel muttered. "Is he crazy? I can't figure out if he was trying to make her feel jealous, or trying to win her back."
"Either way, it failed."
She giggled. "Definitely. Did you see the look on his face?"
We were climbing the stairs, walking side by side. It had been a long time since we left the dining room, but despite dropping her pace and no longer pulling me along, Rachel still hadn't let go of my hand.
"As fun as it was… There was something else that we came all this way for."
"Are you rushing your Oracle right now," Rachel asked.
"Trying not to. But there's a lot at stake, so…"
She looked into my eyes. "I know. Come on."
We kept climbing until we reached the fifth floor of the hotel. We walked down a nice hall that smelled a little too strongly of over-the-counter cleaning supplies, until Rachel stopped in front of one of the many identical doors.
As she pressed her card against the electric lock and waited for it to beep, sounds leaked through the wall from the room next door.
Very high-pitched, distinctive, feminine sounds.
"Mom got that room," Rachel said, although even voicing that sentence seemed to make her a bit nauseous.
"Ah," I said.
The same way that Mr. Dare had been trying to make an impression on Emily, she'd been trying to make her own right back. It started with her flashy entrance, continued when she helped the pirates stay at the hotel, and only got more extreme at dinner. She must've been the one who left fresh clothes in my room, to help me look presentable. She really wanted to get in her ex-husband's head.
And it had worked incredibly well, something she seemed to be celebrating with Blackbeard. Privately. Without clothes.
The door to Rachel's room opened. We stepped quickly inside.
She'd taken some liberties, shifting the furniture to make room for painting canvases and an art easel. There were colorful splatters on the wall, something Mr. Dare would definitely be paying extra for at check out. That was probably the reason Rachel had left them in the first place.
She walked into the middle of the room, her hands linked behind her back. We could still hear Emily, faintly, through the wall, which Rachel was doing her best to ignore. She cocked her head.
"So…" she said. "Prophecy time."
I nodded, telling her to please go on. She hesitated.
"It's like I warned you," she said. "My connection to Apollo… something is getting in the way of it. It's like it's being blocked. But I really do believe I can get through it. It will just take a little bit of work."
"What kind of work?"
"Well, prophecies are more likely to work properly when the oracle is interacting with the person they're for. It's why campers would always go visit my predecessor up in the attic, and that's when the prophecies would come out. My thought is, if it's difficult to get a prophecy out, then us being together will make it more likely to work."
"That all sounds good. But we've been hanging out all day, and nothing's happened yet."
"Then," and here Rachel's voice got quiet, "we should probably interact a little more closely then, shouldn't we?"
The window in her room looked out over the ocean, glittering under the sun's setting rays. It was almost the same color as her hair, framed against the orange tinted glass. Her pale back was dotted with freckles. She was damn pretty. For a moment I felt like I'd hopped back through time, back to days before oracle oaths and relationships.
"My connection to Apollo is blocked right now," she said. "What happens in here would just be between us."
I kissed her.
I looped my hand under her armpit, reaching up from behind and holding her chin in place while our lips mashed together. My other hand went down, cupping her crotch through her dress. All I did was squeeze, letting her know what was coming, and she clenched her legs, shivering.
When our lips separated, I smirked. "Let's just hope you're a screamer in bed."
She threw her lips back onto mine, red curls bobbing out behind her. Twisting in my arms, she pawed desperately at my clothes, tearing open my shirt and sending half the buttons cascading to the floor. I gripped her backside, finding it firm beneath my fingers.
There was real passion in her kiss. I could taste the pure want, built-up over years of denial. I realized right there, under the sensation of her tongue, that she never gave up on me. She just picked what she felt she had to.
Rachel nibbled my lip. I felt her nails in my back, pushing my shirt the last bit off. To even things up, I gripped her dress from behind, tearing it cleanly down her back. Rachel whimpered into my mouth, repeating it a second time when my hands clapped down on her underwear-clad ass.
Somebody knocked on the door. Rachel cursed, tearing her head away reluctantly.
"I'm busy!" she shouted.
"Rachel, it's me," said Thomas's voice. "I tried a glass of this wine and just knew we had to finish the bottle together. I know you weren't interested at the bar… but that was just because you wanted a more private setting."
"Doesn't he ever learn?" she whispered to me, before raising her voice and yelling, "I'm changing!"
"Even better," he said, which I guess was his idea of flirting.
The door beeped, unlocking. Rachel's eyes widened. "Dad gave him the other key?"
She stumbled to the door in her torn dress, which was just about staying up in the front, in time to stop the door from opening all the way. Thomas stood there in the crack that was open about six inches, looking like he'd had more than just a glass of the wine he tried.
"I thought you were changing," he said.
"I was," Rachel snapped. "Get out."
"Still playing hard to get, huh?"
He peered around her into the room, seeing nothing. When the door had opened I slipped around, standing behind Rachel to stay out of sight. This was her problem to deal with as she saw fit.
Of course, if she asked for him to disappear…
While I waited to follow her lead, kneeling off to the side, I quickly became aware of what was in front of my face. While Rachel's dress was just about staying up in the front, the same couldn't be said back here. Her ass was completely visible, only half covered by skimpy green panties. Her skin was so pale that I could see marks from my fingers. I leaned in.
"Playing hard to get implies that in the first place I ever considered playing with you–uuuuuuuuu!" Rachel said.
Her sentence turned into a slurred howl as I pushed aside her panties and dug into her from behind. My strong fingers that had marked her skin kept her cheeks spread. My tongue went at her fiercely and rhythmically, causing her whole body to tremble.
"What is it? Are you sick?" Thomas asked.
"Sick of you," Rachel muttered. But speaking was difficult for her. She shifted her grip on the door, moving her hands so that they were helping keep her standing, instead of just keeping the door closed.
"Just give me a chance already," Thomas said a bit angrily. "Your father likes me. What right do you have to disagree with him? It's like you don't like men at all!"
My tongue dug deep into Rachel, making her moan. I drove it to her depths. Mustering all she had, Rachel managed to spit out her reply.
"It's you I can't stand," she complained. "You, an overgrown baby that pretends he's a man. You, who can only talk about how much money he has, when it was your family that gave it to you in the first place. You who're too stupid, too arrogant and too headstrong, to ever take a hint. Just get lost!"
She was breathing hard, from anger but also from the work I was doing. Her grip slid slightly down the door, lowering her flushed face. Through the crack, Thomas got a look into the room, at my stripped-off shirt still on the floor.
"Oh," he said, eyes widening.
Rachel slammed the door on him, cracking against his nose on its way shut.
I pulled my face away from her. "What if he lets himself in again?"
"Then he can see just how much I like men," Rachel moaned. "Just don't stop."
Shrugging, I put my tongue back to work.
As I slurped against her body she leaned forward, arching her back. She pressed her forehead to the door, letting her voice out. Her palms were sliding down the door extremely slowly, a few centimeters every couple seconds, squeaking the entire way. My hands had her cheeks in vice grips. With a final flourish, I could tell instantly that I'd put Rachel over the edge.
I pulled back just in time to watch her cum, squirting all over the carpet beneath us. She screamed— and right as the wail reached its apex, her voice changed into something supernatural.
"You will journey West, to the Island beyond the setting sun.
Beset by covetous monsters, forced to move on the run."
Just as it seemed like Rachel was about to keep speaking, she cut off and gasped. I kneeled there, looking up at her.
"That was a prophecy," I said, stating the obvious. "But… it was only half."
The island beyond the setting sun was here, Hawaii, while the monsters had been Echidna and her brood. It was the sort of thing heroes were supposed to hear before a quest started, but instead I was only getting it now, after the fact.
"There's more," Rachel muttered, "but the block came back too quickly. I couldn't get it out!"
I nodded, standing up. "That's not important."
She craned her neck, looking back at me. "It isn't?"
"No. Because now we know what works."
She yelped as I scooped her up. Her dress fell away, pooling on the floor, leaving her in just her askew panties and a bra. I carried to the bed and tossed her down, where she landed and bounced.
"If that wasn't enough," I said, unbuttoning my pants, "we'll just have to step things up a notch."
My pants and underwear fell away. Rachel leaked between her legs.
I crawled onto the bed, kneeling above her bare body. My erect cock rested above her crotch, running up to her bellybutton, like a visual representation of what she was about to experience. I reached down, my arms flexing the way Blackbeards had when he tore out the stool as I snapped Rachel's bra in half, revealing her perky tits with stiff purple nipples.
"Let's get you talking," I said.
Rachel whimpered. With a firm grip on her hips, I slammed myself into her.
I hit her womb in one go, opening her up in ways she'd never felt before. I knew she was a virgin, but yet it didn't feel like it, without the pain that usually accompanied first times. Rather than question it, I just took advantage to fuck her faster.
Rachel's back arched up off the bouncing bed like she was possessed. Her voice immediately burst from her lips. This was exactly what she'd dreamed of for years. I probably should've been scared of being disappointing after all that build up, but at this point, I didn't even think about things like that. I was almost as confident in bed as I was in a fight.
My hands held her hips in place, despite my furious thrusts clapping into her body. Her perky breasts jiggled and shook, until I bent forward and stilled them with my teeth. Rachel's hands twisted up the sheets. She screamed even louder; but no prophecies. Yet.
The bed loudly protested the strain we were putting on it. But as loud as Rachel and the springs were, they weren't the only sound in the room. From the wall behind the headboard, similar sounds were leaking through, along with… rhythmic thumping?
Emily must have been pressed up against the wall, right there on the other side. It was a strange thing to think about, but it gave me a sudden idea.
I hefted Rachel, pinning her against the headboard. Instead of her hips, I grabbed her legs, holding them by the insides of her knees. I folded them up, pressing them against the wood, exposing her pussy. And then I continued to plow into it, creating a sopping mess between her legs.
"I wanted you so bad, for so long," Rachel groaned. "I would touch myself every night, and pretend it was you."
The bottoms of her thighs were turning red. Her curly hair hung down in front of her face, partially blocking it, like a veil.
"So?" I asked. "How do I compare to your fingers!"
Rachel hurled her head back as I stretched her. "I won't be able to feel them ever again!"
Her moans had become so loud that they were basically screams. At the same time, the noises filtering in were growing louder too. Emily and Rachel both wailed, pressed up to the different sides of the same wall. There was something hot about how their voices wove together like a natural duet.
Rachel wasn't the only one who had wanted this. I moved on in life, but she had been one of my first crushes, and she'd only gotten more attractive since. Burying myself up to the balls inside her was a position I never expected to be in, so it felt like a dream come true.
With a final burst of willpower, I managed to pull myself out of her at the last moment. Rachel screamed as I came across her body with surprising force, decorating her tits and even getting trace amounts inside of her open mouth.
That was the final straw. Screaming, Rachel's eyes rolled back, and she spoke.
"You will journey West, to the Island beyond the setting sun.
Beset by covetous monsters, forced to move on the run.
Beyond two great beasts the Oracle will tell
That it is love herself, where the blame first fell."
Rachel slid down the headboard while I breathed hard, processing what I'd just heard. Love herself. That meant…
Before I could think deeply, Rachel reached up, tugging on my hand.
"There might be more," she said, not looking at me.
"But that was four lines already," I said.
Sometimes prophecies came in six, but not when each line was that long. Still, Rachel didn't let go of my hand.
"I'm just saying," she mumbled. "It wouldn't hurt to be thorough."
I stared down at her, unable to meet my eyes. My cock, just starting to droop, shot back up to full mast.
"Of course," I said. "Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking."
Her eyes widened as I rolled her over. A moment later, I plunged into her from behind. It was a very long time before we stopped— and the entire time, our neighbors next door kept going, matching us step for step.
What a night.