𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇 [Jason Grace]

32

𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐥 out of their shock at seeing three of their friends disappear along with the monster.

The ship was in a bad condition, the daughter of Athena wrangled everyone and gave them jobs. She, along with Coach and Buford the table rushed around repairing things so that the ship wouldn't sink. Dante did whatever small tasks she thought he could handle. Percy, despite being exhausted, searched the ocean for their missing friends. Jason, also exhausted, flew around the rigging like a blond Peter Pan, putting out fires from the second green explosion that had lit up the sky just above the mainmast.

By the time the sun rose, none of them had slept. Percy had scoured the seafloor and found nothing. The Argo II was no longer in danger of sinking, though without Leo, they couldn't do full repairs. The ship was capable of sailing, but no one suggested leaving the area—not without their missing friends.

Dante suggested iris messaging his brother to see what could have happened to their friends, but Annabeth waved aside the idea. She and Piper iris messaged Chiron the centaur and told him about the vision in Piper's blade— something about SUVs driving north from Charleston, packed with Roman demigods.

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 straight into the water.

Jason tried to stop her, but there was nothing that could hold her back. She paddled over to Leo and kissed him on the cheek, which seemed to surprised him.

"Miss me?" Leo laughed.

Piper was suddenly furious. "Where were you? 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 had to borrow a pair of too-small pants from Jason) the crew all gathered on the quarterdeck for a celebratory breakfast—except for 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 looked 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."

"I trust you man, pass me the jar" Dante made grabby hands.

Hazel and Piper exchanged a look of total exasperation. 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."

Percy nodded absently. "But they didn't want to meet me?"

Annabeth swatted his arm. "Come on, Seaweed Brain! We've got other things to worry about."