I shielded my eyes against the last rays of light as the sun slowly dipped below the city skyline of Miami, Florida.
We'd arrived in the harbour in the evening of June 10th, the same day that Alabaster and I had finally called a truce.
Today was June eighteenth, which meant that we'd done nothing but stalk around the city for eight days. Eight days of patrolling the streets for any sign of Percy, lounging around the ship, sparring, and generally doing nothing.
"My gods, how long are they going to take?" Nicole asked grumpily as she kicked a shower of sand up into the air. "It's been eight days. Eight. And they're still not out of the Sea of Monsters?"
I rolled my eyes, doing my best to ignore the loud sounds of the city around us. "How many times do I have to tell you, time works differently in monster-y places? Eight days for us could very well seem like a couple for them."
Nicole sighed in resignation. "I swear to the gods, if I have to stay another day in this city, I'm going to go insane. As a person from a very quiet town in Maine, I can't stand busy, bustling cities full of people, tourists-" she cut off suddenly, jumping aside to avoid the splash as a yellow taxi hurled by us "-and crazy taxi drivers," she finished, glaring at the rear lights of the car as it disappeared into the cramped streets among the cruise line docks.
"Aren't you originally from Shenzhen?" I asked, glancing around for any sign of Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, or Grover. "Metropolitan places and crazy taxi drivers should be right up your alley."
"Don't even get me started about China's traffic," Nicole grumbled. "You literally can't go anywhere. I made the mistake once of going on the subway during rush hour, and it's seriously unbelievable how cramped it is. I got flattened into a pancake."
I snorted, sitting down on a bench beneath a palm tree, scanning the crowd of people milling about hopelessly for any signs of demigods. "No wonder."
"Anything?" Luke's voice crackled over through the walkie-talkie in my pocket. "Anything at all?"
"No," I replied. "Not a soul in sight."
"Maybe you two should just come back," I heard Ally say. "I mean, if we can't spot them from the ship, then it's unlikely that you'll ever see them in the harbour."
"Yeah, I suppose I-" I paused, glancing at Nicole, who had suddenly sat upright, her eyes alert. "Nicole?"
"What's going on?" Luke asked, his voice crackling over the system. "Do you see them?"
Nicole didn't say anything, only nodding towards a nearby newspaper box. I followed her gaze, my eyes landing on a group of five teenagers, two girls and three boys, all of them dripping wet and looking like they'd just passed through a hurricane.
From where we were sitting, about thirty meters away, I could clearly make out who they were. Percy. Annabeth. Grover. Tyson. And Clarisse. To make matters worse, Annabeth was carrying a red and gold letter jacket, but I wasn't fooled by the mist. They had the fleece.
"Hello? Ri? Nicole?" Luke said. "Are you guys still there?"
"Y-yeah," I replied, my eyes never leaving the group. Annabeth and Clarisse were arguing about something, and though I couldn't hear, it was obvious it was about getting the fleece back to camp.
"Where are you guys right now?" Luke asked. I heard distant clanging noises in the background and knew he was arming up with Agrius, Orieus.
I had to stall. No matter what, Luke could not get the fleece. But how was I going to throw him off when Nicole was literally sitting right next to me?
Before I could say anything, Nicole spoke. "We're on the main harbour street, third dock line from the Andromeda. Currently trailing them."
I whirled around to stare at her incredulously as Alabaster's voice crackled through the talkie. "Okay. Luke'll be there in a couple of minutes."
I turned off the input before turning my attention back to Nicole. "Why did you lie? We're on the fifth dock line."
Nicole's dark gaze was as unreadable as she watched me. "Did you not want me to?"
Fuck. This wasn't good. "Why would I want to lie to Luke?"
"Oh please, Rianna. You don't need to pretend around me. I don't want Kronos to return any more than you do."
"I-wait, what?" All excuses eddied out of my head at those words. The memory of her weird expression on the day of Ally's initiation flashed back into my mind, along with all those other times where I'd found her behaviour a bit too sarcastic, even for her. I scanned her gaze intently, finding nothing but truth in her eyes, and slumped down against the bench.
"You know I could turn you in, right?" I said quietly, staring at Percy as he shoved the fleece into Clarisse's arms. "Why did you risk telling me that?"
"You were the one who saved my life, Anna," Nicole replied evenly. "You brought me here, taught me how to survive, and though Luke may be the leader of this army, my loyalty is to you. Besides, I never signed up for the complete destruction of the western world. All I wanted was somewhere where I could feel safe. It didn't take long for me to realize that what I wanted wasn't what Luke wanted. What Kronos wanted."
"But it was clear to me that you were hiding something. Something no one knew. I couldn't tell what it was and I still don't know why you're here, but it was obvious when you let Percy and Annabeth escape that this ship wasn't your friend."
I closed my eyes after seeing the taxi peel away, Clarisse and the fleece with it.
Godsdammit. I could literally see my death in front of me, looming like a black shadow. My chest tightened with anxiety, pressure, and dread. Honestly, dread was nothing compared to what I was feeling right now. It was absolute, mind-numbing terror. If Nicole had found out, who else knew? I was definitely, three hundred percent, doomed.
"No one knows," Nicole added, smirking slightly at the panicked look on my face. "Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."
Just like that, oxygen seemed to exist in the world again and the huge elephant on my chest stepped off.
She reached for the walkie-talkie in my hand and phoned the ship. "Hey, we're on the fifth dock line now."
A muffled curse came through on the other side as Alabaster ran after Luke to tell him that our position had changed and Nicole smiled slightly before closing the connection. "Jeez, Ri, breath before you suffocate yourself."
I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her violently. "Don't you dare ever spring that on me again," I said, my voice slightly on the higher end as the blinding horror that had filled me gradually dissipated. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."
I was lightheaded with relief, that dark monster of death instantly plunging back down into the depths, and I covered my face with my hands. "I swear to the gods, Colie," I said, my voice muffled. "If you ever do something like that again, I'll have you train the newbies for the rest of your life."
Nicole laughed, her dark hair swaying as she leaned over to pat me on the back. "And I promise that the next time you call me Colie, I'll go find Alabaster and raise hell for you by refusing to train the newbies."
I breathed in slowly, feeling my heartbeat slowly drop down to normal after it had probably spiked into the thousands, and dropped my hands.
Nicole stood up, watching me in amusement as I collected myself. "You good?"
"Yeah. Yeah. Feeling peachy," I said, standing up. "Absolutely fantastic."
"Good," Nicole said, nodding towards Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson as Luke emerged from the crowd, his blade in his hands and the two bear-twins at his back. "Because we've got company. And I'd hate to see my commander get fired because she thought Kronos was a disgusting pile of fleshy pieces that is currently sitting in a casket on a monster-filled ship."
I pressed my palm into my forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "Please, Nicole, no more. Eight days of listening to your morbid talk is more than enough to make anyone sick."
"As you wish, ma'am," Nicole said, striding forwards towards Luke as they headed back towards the Andromeda, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson successfully apprehended. "Are you coming or not?"
I shook my head in exasperation, the burden in my chest slightly lightened by the nightmarish daughter of ghosts. "Coming."
I caught up to Nicole, the two of us quickly trailing Luke back towards the Princess Andromeda. With each step, I felt lighter, the heavy burden I hadn't known I'd been carrying lessening. Someone else on the ship finally knew. And though Nicole didn't know exactly what my plan was, I knew that at least one person was with me in the midst of enemy territory. Which was good, because I had new problems.
Because Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson were captured, which meant that I'd now have to worry about getting them out.