The Pirate of Greece

Chapter XVII (Percy)

"Charlie decided to bring one of his inventions along. Needless to say it exploded," she said.

Piper's nose scrunched up and she sneezed. "I am so not cleaning that up."

Percy felt Leo move beside him, walking to the front of the stairs. The son of Hephaestus was squinting down at the group, his mouth forming a small 'o'.

"Beauty Queen?" he said.

Percy watched in confusion as Piper's head spun around so fast he feared she'd get whiplash. Her eyes landed on Leo, and soon she was grinning from ear to ear.

"Leo!" She shouted gleefully. Leo laughed and jumped down the stairs, running towards Piper and sweeping her in a hug.

They started up a conversation that involved a lot of 'what are you doing here?' and 'why haven't you visited.' Leo insisted on using as much humour as possible.

Percy was still confused as he stood near the wheel. No one was given him an explanation (not that it was entirely important). In the corner of his eye he caught Annabeth approaching him.

"Does everybody know each other?" he exclaimed.

Annabeth focused back on the crew below. "They were childhood friends. From what I heard off Piper they were real close, until one day a band of criminals ransacked Leo's home and she never saw him again."

He grimaced. "That's cruel."  

She nodded her head. "Well, at least they know what happened to each other now."

Percy was about to reply, but for some reason the docks became more chaotic. Pedestrians stopped what they were doing and looked in one direction, gulls flew off without a moment's notice. The whole crew of the Blackjack forgot about their previous engagements and listened.

Percy frowned and moved to the side of the boat, slightly hanging over the rail. Annabeth stayed where she was, but her heard was cocked to the side in question.

"Can you hear that?" she asked.

He listened intently, and sure enough two very familiar voices could be heard shouting in the distance.

Percy sighed. "The Stolls are back."

A moment later two sons of Hermes could be seen rounding a corner at high speed, nearly knocking over a fruit stand. They were red faced and breathing hard, but they didn't stop, and Percy soon found out why.

From the same corner came a burst of armed men in guard uniform, all shouting and aiming weapons at Connor and Travis. Someone even notched an arrow that just whizzed past Connor's ear. To make matters worse, when one saw where the brothers were running to, the guard noticed the ship. He notified his comrades, and soon they were picking up their pace.

Percy cursed and flew from his spot to the front of the quarter deck, shouting commands.

"Raise the gangplank! Lower the sails! Get this ship moving!"

Nobody needed to be told twice.

Tyson hoisted the gangplank up, nearly knocking a few people aside. Annabeth and Leo were already climbing the ropes to reach the sails, quickly untying them. At one stage Annabeth had to cut at the twine with her dagger. The rest of the crew focused on hanging two lengths of rope overboard, gripping them tight and positioning themselves for when the boys grabbed hold, ready to pull them up.

Percy looked back to where Connor and Travis were, and to his dismay there was no way they'd make it on time. The guards were catching up, and one had thrown his spear which landed right in front of Travis. This caused him to stumble and trip, rolling into a nearby florist stand. Connor stopped when he realised his brother wasn't with him, and went back to help him up.