Heroes of Olympus - The Blood of Olympus (Discontinued)

Chapter 20 - Piper

Chapter 20 - Piper

Piper awoke to the sound of footsteps scuffling around outside. She could hear hushed, yet frightened voices down the hallway, then the sound of scurrying feet running towards the stairwell leading above deck.

Uggh..... what now?

She couldn't even get a small amount of sleep, let alone a full night. She threw the covers off herself, and crossed to her doorway, turning the knob just in time to see Percy fly by, Leo right on his heels. Percy looked panicked, his face white, his green eyes wide with alarm. Piper barely saw him like that.

"What's going on?" she demanded, a sudden knot of worry seizing her heart.

"Percy can sense something beneath us!" Leo panted as he rushed past her. "I don't know what it is yet, but he says it's big!"

Uh-oh... Was it the return of Shrimpzilla?

Piper threw on her bathrobe and slippers over her pajamas, and hurried after them. "Are the others awake?"

"No," Leo hissed over his shoulder as he ran up the stairs two at a time, Piper following. "Just us. We don't want to start a commotion."

Percy was already on deck, out at the stern of the ship, looking out in the darkness of the sea around them.

Piper suspected that it was around two in the morning. Though the lanterns on board cast an eerie glow in a twenty foot radius around the Argo II, Piper could barely see anything out here. She could just hear the gentle lapping of the waves pushing up against the ship.

Leo bolted up the second stairs to the main deck, and rushed to the control panel, warming up the radar screen. "Anything Perce?" he called to Percy below.

"Nothing yet!" Percy called back. "Whatever it is, it's passed off, way towards the west." He signalled in front of him. "It's behind us now, but it's still there. What have you got?"

Piper looked up to the second level, where Leo's hands flew over the controls, his eyes locked on the screens. She ran up the stairs, coming to rest at his side. "Everything okay?"

"No," Leo replied, his fingers dialing in some buttons. "I can't pinpoint this thing's location!" He scowled. He called without looking back, "Percy, you said it's behind us?"

"Yeah!" Percy's voice answered from the lower deck.

"Hmm..." Leo growled, entering more information onto the screen, searching the radar. "Why isn't it showing...?" he suddenly paused.

"What is it?" Piper demanded. "Can I help?"

"Oh... my..." Leo was speechless.

Piper looked over Leo's shoulder.

On the radar screen, a single green dot had appeared just behind their ship, but from the look on Leo's face, Piper knew it was more than just a dot.

"How big is it?" she asked.

"The numbers are skyrocketing..." Leo murmured. He called over his shoulder. "Percy, you better get come look at this."

Percy was there sooner than Piper thought. He peered closely at the screen.

There was a small silence.

"It's nearly the size of Angel Island..." Leo said.

Piper's mouth dropped.

"Holy Poseidon..." Percy whispered. "How deep?"

"About a quarter of a mile beneath the surface," Leo responded.