little bird - Percy Jackson

chapter eighteen

When Leo returned to the deck after two solid hours of steering the ship, he was surprised to find Jason and Percy slumped against the masts in exhaustion and a completely exasperated looking Wren trying to force-feed the duo to water. The Valdez boy couldn't hear the full conversation, but he picked up on a few stray sentences: 'no, I am not playing nurse - will you just drink your water?', "why? dehydration. that's why.', and of course, 'will you just drink the damn water, you tool-bags?'.

The last was Leo's favorite, but he watched the frustrated girl hand Annabeth and Piper each the water bottles before she pushed herself off the ground. Wren winced in the process, a burst of pain blossoming in her back where she had hit the rock during the fight, but few of the crew seemed to notice.

"Did you find the map you wanted?"

Annabeth nodded, but she almost looked as pale as Jason, "I'll have to study it. How far are we from those coordinates?"

"At top rowing speed, about an hour." Leo estimated, "Any idea what we're looking for?"

"No." Annabeth reluctantly admitted, "Percy?"

The Jackson boy raised his head, looking paler than usual and with his green eyes all bloodshot, "The Nereid said Chiron's brothers were there, and that'd want to hear about that aquarium in Atlanta. I don't know what she meant, but..." he paused, sucking in a breath like talking was using all the rest of his remaining energy, "She also warned me to be careful. Keto - the goddess at the aquarium - she's the mother of sea monsters. She might be stuck in Atlanta, but she can still send her children after us. The Nereid said we should expect an attack."

"Wonderful." Frank muttered, Wren nodding along with him because she was so not interested in having anything to do with Keto or her babies ever again.

Jason tried to stand, but Piper barely caught the boy as he slumped over and helped to lower him back down to the ground, "Can we get the ship aloft? If we could fly-"

"That'd be great, except Festus tells me the port aerial stabilizer for pulverized when the ship raked against the dock at Fort Sumter."

"We were kind of in a rush trying to save you, dumbass." Wren defended, "Also, it was Annabeth and Percy's fault."

Annabeth not Percy seemed to appreciate the sentiment.

"Saving me was a very noble cause, whoever it was." Leo held his hands up, almost looking amused, "I'm just saying that it'll take some time to fix. Until then, we're not flying anywhere."

"Fine with me. The sea is good." Percy winced as he flexed his shoulders.

Wren wasn't sure she agreed. One day ago she almost died in an aquarium. Much more opportunity for more of that in the middle of the ocean.

"Speak for yourself." Hazel said, looking a little green as she glanced out at the horizon, "We need to go fast. We've burned another day, and Nico only has three more left."

Three days.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. The world's probably gonna end, happy birthday to Wren.

Percy watched Wren's already frustrated expression drop further into a scowl, but the more he tried to focus on anything the more the world seems to spin, so he shut his eyes with a soft groan.

"We can do it." Leo promised the girl, still playing make-up after suggesting they leave Nico for dead a couple days earlier, "We can make it to Rome in three days - assuming, you know, nothing unexpected happens."