anti hero - percy jackson ²

xii. source

"never bet against annabeth."

Cassandra was really starting to wish she had stayed in Cape Cod.

Annabeth, Coach Hedge, and Budford the table were running around the ship, making repairs, while her and Jason—who were still completely exhausted—flew around the rigging, putting out fires from the Greek fire explosions. Percy—also exhausted—was searching the ocean for Frank, Leo, and Hazel, who were still missing. And Piper was staring at her dagger, searching for some sort of vision that could help.

By the time the sun rose, not a single one of them had slept. Percy had found nothing when he'd searched the ocean floor. The Argo II was no longer in danger of sinking, but without Leo, they couldn't do full repairs. The ship was was capable of sailing, but no one suggested leaving the area.

Piper, Annabeth, and Cassandra had sent Chiron an Iris-message, warning him of what had happened with the Romans at Fort Sumter.

Annabeth told him about her exchange of words with Reyna. Piper relayed a vision from her knife about a bunch of SUV's racing north, and Cassandra told him about their meeting with Aphrodite.

The centaur's face seemed to age thirty years over the course of the call, but he assured them he would see to the camp's defense. Tyson, Mrs. O'Leary, and Ella had all arrived safely. If necessary, Tyson could summon an army of Cyclopes to the camp's defense, and Ella and Rachel were already comparing prophecies, trying to learn more about what the future held. The job of the eight demigods aboard the Argo II, Chiron reminded them, was to finish the quest and come back safely.

After the Iris-message, the demigods paced the deck in silence, staring at the water and hoping for a miracle.

When it finally came—three giant pink bubbles bursting at the surface off the starboard bow and ejecting Frank, Hazel, and Leo—Piper went a little crazy. She cried out with relief and dove directly into the water.

She paddled over to Leo and kissed him on the cheek, which clearly wasn't what Leo was expecting her to do.

"Miss me?" He laughed.

"Where were you?" Piper demanded. "How are you guys alive?"

"Long story" He said. A picnic basket bobbed to the surface next to him. "Want a brownie?"

Once they got on board and changed into dry clothes (poor Frank was forced to borrow a pair of too-small pants from Jason) the crew all gathered on the quarterdeck for breakfast—besides Coach Hedge, who grumbled that the atmosphere was getting 'too cuddly' for his tastes and went below to hammer out some dents in the hull. While Leo fussed over his helm controls, Hazel and Frank related the story of the fish-centaurs and their training camp.

"Incredible" Jason said. "These are really good brownies."

"That's your only comment?" Piper demanded.

He seemed surprised. "What? I heard the story. Fish-centaurs. Merpeople. Letter of intro to the Tiber River god. Got it. But these brownies—"

"I know" Frank said, his mouth full. "Try them with Esther's peach preserves."

"That" Hazel said, "is incredibly disgusting."

"Pass me the jar, man" Jason said.

Cassandra gagged. Boys.

Percy, for his part, wanted to hear every detail about the aquatic camp. He kept coming back to one point: "They didn't want to meet me?"

"It wasn't that" Hazel said. "Just...undersea politics, I guess. The merpeople are territorial. The good news is they're taking care of that aquarium in Atlanta. And they'll help protect the Argo II as we cross the Atlantic."