The Daughter of Thaluke

{13}

It wasn't the alarm that echoed across the lower decks of the ship that woke her up, it was Sammy over intercoms, screaming profanities May didn't even know existed. She let out a long and hard groan and sat up groggily at first, wiping the weariness that burdened her eyes. Let's get one thing straight: May was not a morning person-- she was the farthest thing from it. She liked watching storms late at night, and gazing at starry skies, she liked staying up to all hours of the night. But alas, all that sleep loss at night had to make up for something. Thus, she was not a morning person, and May would soon learn that there was a heavy price to pay. No matter how early she went to bed, every night consisted restless of endless worry about her linkage and trips to the bathroom. May was so tired, that her eyes felt like they were bleeding and the circles under her eyes were dark enough to be mistaken for charcoal. She just wanted to curl up into a ball and sleep.
Surely enough, when she reached the top deck, the entirety of the crew of the Argo III were too lazy to change into any real clothes before coming out of their quarters. Jake and Castor were running around, trying to shut all the hatches before water leaked through, meanwhile Bianca and Pandora were trying to nurse the seasick Emily and Phoebe. Demi, Sammy, and Luke were pulling at the ropes viciously, Silena was struggling with the steering wheel, not quite sure how to operate it; and Kennedy, probably still sleeping. May had spent the night re-reading her 'father's' journals, trying to make sense of it all. The math just didn't add up-- none of it did. Biologically, she simply just couldn't be his child. But it was the little things that she found within those pages that gave her doubt. Little mentions of things he liked and disliked, or certain phrases he would write that May would recognize as her own.
"Look alive, May!" Luke called out, giving her sarcasm that it was too early in the morning for.
"Boy, I'm trying," she replied, tying her rat's nest of hair into a ponytail. Through all of her weariness, she managed to forget that something was happening, and with another jolt of the ship, a figure appeared on the front deck. Everyone on board was thrown left. Silena was able to grab hold of the ship, but Emily was not as lucky. She hit the side of ship with a thud, then processed to throw up over the side. The figures one the deck of the ship were almost identical. They both were dressed in torn up jeans, ripped black T-shirts and a leather jackets. They looked around 16, due to the slight acne scars around their face. Red bandana wrapped around their greasy black hair. A knife was stuck in on of their belts, and the other had eyes the color of rubies. They looked like they just climbed out of an ACDC concert.
"Where are our favorite nieces?" Phobos asked.
"We've missed them!" Deimos added.
The twins ran forward, greeting their uncles with a hug. May wiped her rope burned hands on her shirt, and shuffled next to Silena.
"Let me guess, not a regular uncle?" May asked
"You could say that," Zoë interjected. "Deimos is the god of terror,"
May's stomach lurched at the word "god." She guessed that sooner of later she would meet one, and as it turns out-- it was the latter.
Deimos ruffled his niece's hair.
"What are you doing here?" Demi asked.
"Can't a guy see his favorite nieces without being questioned? Phobos grinned.
Castor narrowed his eyes, eying the god suspicious. "You want something," he said.
The gods' kind-hearted and friendly grin twisted into something of a devious smirk.
"Clever boy, much like your father. But yes," Deimos sneered. "We do have a favor to ask."