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Percy XXIX

"Yeah, I guess seven's our lucky number." Leo said dryly.

Thalia and the parents of the Seven couldn't help but worriedly grimace at the number of the attacks.

They must be exhausted. Hestia thought, biting her lip.

A flock of flesh-eating Stymphalian birds swooped out of the night sky, and Festus torched them. Storm spirits swirled around the mast, and Jason blasted them with lightning.

"And this was all under an hour." Will reiterated in disbelief.

"Gods, when they said the ancient lands were dangerous they weren't kidding." Chris muttered, eyes wide and face pale.

"It's like they were waiting for us to show up." Percy said, brushing his hair back.

While Coach Hedge was having dinner on the foredeck, a wild pegasus appeared from nowhere, stampeded over the coach's enchiladas, and flew off again, leaving cheesy hoof prints all across the deck.

Despite the situation, the Stolls laughed.

"Seriously?" Travis said in between his snickers.

"That one's not so bad," Apollo chuckled.

"You say that, but you weren't the one who had to listen to an angry goat yelling at you to turn the ship around and follow it so he could have 'his revenge'." Leo grumbled.

His ears were ringing just remembering it.

Revenge, Valdez! I must have my REVENGE! That horse is going to be GLUE when I'm finished with it! the satyr had hollered, waving his club and swinging like he was hitting for a home-run. Leo didn't know why Coach thought he needed a megaphone, his regular voice worked just fine.

...Finally around midnight, after the ninth or tenth aerial attack,

The readers grimaced.

Jason turned to him. "How about you get some sleep? I'll keep blasting stuff out of the sky as long as I can. Then we can go by sea for a while, and you can take point."

"Don't push yourself, Jay." Thalia muttered.

Percy wasn't sure that he'd be able to sleep with the boat rocking through the clouds as it was shaken by angry wind spirits, but Jason's idea made sense. He went belowdecks and crashed on his bunk.

His nightmares, of course, were anything but restful.

The demigods loudly groaned.

"Why am I the one who always gets demigod dreams?" Percy complained.

Figuring they were just regular nightmares, Leo picked up his ball and continued adding rubber bands.

He dreamed he was in a dark cavern. He could only see a few feet in front of him, but the space must have been vast...

He heard heavy footsteps, and the twin giants Ephialtes and Otis shuffled out of the gloom.

The readers stiffened. A few shuddered in fear.

Leo on the other hand looked up in confusion. This sounded like it was a demigod dream, but that didn't make any sense. Percy hadn't said anything about having one and he had no reason to hide it from him and the others.