The Fallen Goddess...PJO

Chapter 11

Armani Pov

Annabeth volunteered to go alone since she had the invisibility cap, but Percy was trying to convince her it was too dangerous. Either we all went together, or nobody went. And honestly, I was okay with staying.

"Nobody!" Tyson voted. "Please?"

But in the end he came along, nervously chewing on his huge fingernails. We stopped back at our rooms to gather the stuff we hadn't brought with us earlier. We figured whatever happened, we would not be staying another night aboard the Princess Andromeda. Tyson insisted on carrying everything, all four of the duffle bags, in which he carried a little too easily.

We sneaked through the corridors, following the ship's YOU ARE HERE signs toward the VIP suite. Annabeth scouted ahead, while we hid everytime someone passed by, but most of the people we saw were glassy eyed zombie passengers. We came up the stairs to deck thirteen, where the VIP suite was supposed to be and then Annabeth hissed, "Hide!" and shoved the others into the supply closet. 

"You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" minion one said.

"Yeah it's awesome." said minion number 2.

Annabeth was still invisible, but I heard her quietly shuffle in her spot. When Percy looked at the empty space Annabeth was and nodded, I got the feeling that they recognized the voice of minion 2.

"I hear they got two more coming," the familiar voice said. " They keep arriving at this rate, oh man—no contest!"

The voices faded as they proceeded down the hallway.

"That was Chris Rodriguez!" Annabeth took off her cap and shimmered back into existence. "You remember—from Cabin Eleven."

"What's another half-blood doing here?" Percy asked, confused and troubled from the whole situation.

Annabeth shook her head, her two troubled by the situation. I looked at the door to the supply closet, worried about what else we might learn, but ever since we got on this boat my senses were telling me that something dark and pure evil was here. That I needed to run or swim away quickly.

We kept on going down the corridor, no maps needed to know anymore to know we were getting close to Luke. The dark, cold and unpleasant feeling—the presence of evil--- said it all. The same one I felt before we even got on this boat.

I stopped suddenly as something caught my eye, "Guys. Look". I pointed to the glass wall looking down into the multistory canyon that ran through the middle of the ship. At the bottom was the promenade—a mall full of shops—but that's not what had caught my attention. A group of monsters had assembled in front of the candy store: a dozen Laistrygonians giants (Canadians), two hellhounds, and a few stranger creatures—humanoid female creatures with twin serpent tails instead of legs.

"Scythian Dracaenae," Annabeth whispered, I raised my eyebrows hoping to get an easier translation. "Dragon women."

The monster made a semicircle around a young guy in Greek armor who was hacking on a straw dummy. A lump formed in my throat when I realized the dummy was wearing an orange Camp Half Blood T-shirt. The same one I'm wearing right now, I blame this on Percy's terrible luck. As we watched, the guy in armor stabbed the dummy through its belly and ripped upward, straw flew everywhere and the monster cheered/howled.

I took a step backward and quickly changed into my gray hoodie.

"Hey, it's okay. Don't worry, I won't anything happen to you." Percy said, trying to calm me down.

I muttered some curses, knowing right now wasn't the time to be weak and be some damsel in distress, especially if it will distract Percy from the quest.