ʙᴏᴏᴋ ɪɪ : 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙚𝙖 𝙤𝙛 𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 | 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚢 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

Chapter 6

At first, nothing happened. Waves crashed against the shore like normal. The harpies sounded like they were right behind the sand dunes. Then, about a hundred yards out to sea, three white lines appeared on the surface. They moved fast toward the shore, like claws ripping through the ocean. As they neared the beach, the surf burst apart and the heads of three white stallions reared out of the waves. The creatures pulled themselves onto the sand - they were only horses in the front; their back halves were silvery fish bodies, with glistening scales and rainbow tail fins - Hippocampi.

Poseidon must've known Tyson was one of the passengers, because one hippocampus was much larger than the other two-just right for carrying a Cyclops.

The harpies cursed at them, wailing for their snacks to come back, but the hippocampi raced over the water at the speed of Jet Skis. The harpies fell behind, and soon the shore of Camp Half-Blood was nothing but a dark smudge. Y/N was already having a lot of regrets. A stupid decision made on a whim just because of a boy could expel her forever. She wondered if she'd ever see the place again. But well, they had other problems for the time being.

The cruise ship was now looming in front of them - their ride toward Florida and the Sea of Monsters. Riding the hippocampus was even easier than riding a pegasus. They zipped along with the wind in their faces, speeding through the waves so smooth and steady.

As they got closer to the cruise ship, they noticed the ship's name was painted just above the bow line in black letters, lit with a spotlight - PRINCESS ANDROMEDA. Y/N remembered the myth about Andromeda and how she had been chained to a rock by her own parents as a sacrifice to a sea monster. Perseus, namesake of Percy, had saved her just in time and turned the sea monster to stone using the head of Medusa.

"How do we get aboard?" Annabeth shouted over the noise of the waves, but the hippocampi seemed to know what they needed. They skimmed along the starboard side of the ship, riding easily through its huge wake, and pulled up next to a service ladder riveted to the side of the hull.

"You first," Percy told Annabeth.

She slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and grabbed the bottom rung. Once she'd hoisted herself onto the ladder, her hippocampus whinnied a farewell and dove underwater. Annabeth began to climb.

"Y/N?" Percy called her.

"Uh yeah," she replied and moved forward slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder like Annabeth. Y/N looked a bit hesitant to climb up. She licked her lips and looked up at her friend who was climbing up like a pro.

"Here," Percy offered for help.

Y/N awkwardly muttered a small 'yes'. She felt him closing near behind her, and waited. It took him longer than she expected, so she looked behind to find him just behind her, his hands near her waist. She cleared her throat and said, "You don't have to touch me. Just hold the bottom rung. I just need to hold you for support for a while, it's dark for fuck's sake."

He did as was told, and soon everyone was up on the deck stacked with yellow lifeboats. There was a set of locked double doors, which Annabeth managed to pry open with her knife and a fair amount of cursing in Ancient Greek.

Y/N blushed at the thought. How was Percy thinking of helping her? By hoisting her up by holding her waist? Clearly he looked uncomfortable by it. Sure, they were friends but they weren't really on the stage where they could casually touch each other. It was kind of okay before, but after their little fight it was definitely awkward. For her though, it was a bit worse since she had a crush on him and any kind of close touch would make her take two steps back on forgetting these feelings she had for him. Harris on the other hand...she was comfortable with him.