Percy and Cressida were assigned to clean the entire upper deck along with the rigging that was still a tangled mess from the sea monster attack. It was actually a lot of fun. Being together made everything fun as they danced around on the deck, even chasing each other around with their wet mops and rags before Cressida scaled the mast to begin untangling the rigging. And when she came down, she slid down one of the rope riggings before deliberately falling the last few metres where Percy was waiting to catch her and kiss her.
She liked that they could take something as mundane as scrubbing the deck and untangling ropes and make it fun.
However, the next morning after they had quite a bit of fun with their rain check, they woke to a different ship's horn.
The first time it sounded, they jumped awake, thinking it was just Leo making a joke or something, but then it sounded again, and Percy confirmed that it was several yards away and coming from another ship as they rushed to get dressed.
They were one of the first ones on deck before the others came, all hastily dressed except for the Coach who pulled the night watch.
Frank's Vancouver Winter Olympics shirt was inside out. Hazel's hair was all blown to one side, as though she'd walked through a cyclone; and Leo had accidentally set himself on fire. His T-shirt was in charred tatters. His arms were smoking. Percy wore pyjama pants and a bronze breastplate, which was an interesting fashion statement. But that was only because Cressida had stolen his T-shirt, which just so happened to be the one with her face on the back. She'd also yanked on a pair of bike pants and one shoe, her other foot still bare as her hair was hastily dumped into a ponytail.
About a hundred yards to port, a massive cruise ship glided past. Tourists waved at them from fifteen or sixteen rows of balconies. Some smiled and took pictures. None of them looked surprised to see an Ancient Greek trireme. Maybe the Mist made it look like a fishing boat, or perhaps the cruisers thought the Argo II was a tourist attraction. The cruise ship blew its horn again, and the Argo II had a shaking fit.
Coach Hedge plugged his ears. "Do they have to be so loud?"
"They're just saying hi," Frank speculated.
"WHAT?" Hedge yelled back.
The ship edged past them, heading out to sea. The tourists kept waving. If they found it strange that the Argo II was populated by half-asleep kids in armour and pyjamas and a man with goat legs, they didn't let on.
"Bye!" Leo called, raising his smoking hand.
"Can I man the ballistae?" Hedge asked.
"Absolutely not! What was the rule?" Cressida asked, with her hands on her hips, and even with how dishevelled she was, she still looked pretty scary.
Gleeson huffed. "That I can't man the ballistae until you say so because I almost killed Jason, Frank and Leo last time. Even though it was a warning shot."
Cressida just narrowed her eyes in a glare before Leo saw what was printed on her top and laughed. "Nice shirt, Hollywood," he remarked, and she grinned.
"Thank you, Houston. Annabeth and Thalia gave it to Percy for his sixteenth birthday," she said as she swept her ponytail over her shoulder to give everyone a view of her face printed on the back below the words I heart.
"It was a joke, but now it's true and I proudly wear that shirt," Percy said as he wrapped an arm around her and kissed her temple.
"You proudly wore it on our first date," she countered, and his grin just grew.
Hazel rubbed her eyes and looked across the glittering green water. "Where are—oh...Wow."
Piper followed her gaze and gasped. Without the cruise ship blocking their view, she saw a mountain jutting from the sea less than half a mile to the north. Piper had seen impressive cliffs before.
On one side, the limestone cliffs were almost completely sheer, dropping into the sea over a thousand feet below. On the other side, the mountain sloped in tiers, covered in green forest, so that the whole thing reminded Piper of a colossal sphinx, worn down over the millennia, with a massive white head and chest, and a green cloak over its back.
"The Rock of Gibraltar," Annabeth said in awe. "At the tip of Spain. And over there—" She pointed south, to a more distant stretch of red and ochre hills. "That must be Africa. We're at the mouth of the Mediterranean."
"Guess now's our chance to turn back before things get...rocky," Cressida said and half the demigods laughed while the other half rolled their eyes.
"What now?" Piper asked. "So we just sail in?"
"Why not?" Leo said. "It's a big shipping channel. Boats go in and out all the time."
"In the old days," Annabeth said, "they called this area the pillars of Hercules. The Rock was supposed to be one pillar. The other was one of the African mountains. Nobody is sure which one."
"Hercules, huh?" Percy frowned. "That guy was like the Starbucks of Ancient Greece. Everywhere you turn—there he is."
"So...these Pillars of Hercules. Are they dangerous?" Piper asked.
Annabeth stayed focused on the white cliffs as if waiting for the Mark of Athena to blaze to life. "For Greeks, the pillars marked the end of the known world. The Romans said the pillars were inscribed with a Latin warning—"
"Non plus ultra," Percy said.
Annabeth looked stunned. "Yeah. Nothing Further Beyond. How did you know?"
Percy pointed. "Because I'm looking at it."
Directly ahead of them, in the middle of the straits, an island had shimmered into existence - one that definitely hadn't been there before.
It was a small hilly mass of land, covered in forests and ringed with white beaches. In front of the island, jutting from waves about a hundred yards offshore, were two white Grecian columns as tall as the Argo's masts. Between the columns, huge silver words glittered underwater—maybe an illusion, or maybe inlaid in the sand: NON PLUS ULTRA.
"Guys, do I turn around?" Leo asked nervously. "Or..."
No one answered—maybe because they had noticed the figure standing on the beach.
As the ship approached the columns, a dark-haired man in purple robes, his arms crossed, staring intently at their ship as if he were expecting them.
Frank inhaled sharply. "Could that be—?"
"Hercules," Jason said. "The most powerful demigod of all time."
"I disagree with that statement," Cressida said and Percy rolled his eyes at her.
"Crazy Girl, you disagree with most things."
"Be glad I don't disagree with the statement that I love you."
He narrowed his eyes at her before pecking her forehead and turning back to the island. The Argo II was only a few hundred yards from the columns now.
"Need an answer," Leo said urgently. "I can turn, or we can take off. The stabilizers are working again. But I need to know quick—"
"We have to keep going," Annabeth said. "I think he's guarding these straits. If that's really Hercules, sailing or flying away wouldn't do any good. He'll want to talk to us."
"Won't Hercules be on our side?" Piper asked hopefully. "I mean... he's one of us, right?"
"Doubtful," Cressida said. "I knew someone that helped him long ago before he was a god and he screwed her over and cheated her out of the credit."
Annabeth furrowed her brows. "Who?"
Cressida just tilted her head up towards the sky as if she was trying to see past the sunlight to the stars that rested behind the blue sky.
Percy's face grew sad before he said, "Zoë."
And Annabeth bit her lips as she mirrored the sad look on Percy's face. Though Annabeth hadn't known the girl well, Zoë had still died on the quest to save her and Artemis.
And as Piper watched the exchange, sometimes the amount of history between the three demigods surprised her.
Jason grunted, turning the topic back to Hercules. "He was a son of Zeus, but when he died, he became a god. You can never be sure with gods."
"Great," Percy said. "Eight of us against Hercules."
"And a satyr!" Hedge added. "We can take him."
"Oh, just let me at him. I owe him the ass-kicking and mind-messing of a lifetime for Zoë," Cressida threatened as she took a step forward, but Annabeth grabbed her arm.
"I've got a better idea," Annabeth said. "We send ambassadors ashore. A small group—one or two at most. Try to talk with him."
"I'll go," Jason said. "He's a son of Zeus. I'm the son of Jupiter. Maybe he'll be friendly to me."
"Or maybe he'll hate you," Percy suggested. "Half-brothers don't always get along."
Jason scowled. "Thank you, Mr. Optimism."
"My boyfriend oozes optimism, thank you. And he's speaking from experience - Tyson not included of course," Cressida defended and Percy's heart soared as he wrapped his arm over her shoulders and pressed his lips to her temple again.
"It's worth a shot," Annabeth said. "At least Jason and Hercules have something in common. And we need our best diplomat. Somebody who's good with words."
All eyes turned to Piper.
"What about Cressida?" Piper suggested and the girl laughed.
"Oh, nice try, Shakespeare," Cressida grinned. "But I'm the actress. I'm good at faking my words and making people agree with my words. You're the diplomat. And besides, if you can talk three dead spirits out of three dull brains, Hercules will be cake."
"Hey!" all three boys protested as Cressida waved them off and Hazel and Annabeth bit back a smile.
Piper wished she could have Cressida's bravery or was it a carelessness? She couldn't really tell at this point.
"Fine," Piper sighed. "Just let me change. Oh, and can I ask you a favour?"
"Sure," Cressida replied.
"Can I have a little boost or something? Not all of us are as fearless as you to think we could take on Hercules."
Cressida grinned.
"It's not so much fearlessness, it's more like she's completely crazy," Percy said and Cressida's grin morphed into an offended look.
"And you love me. That doesn't say much to your level of sanity then, does it?!" she retorted, and the couple stuck their tongues out at each other, Percy's arm still over her shoulders before he bumped her hip with his and elicited a smile from her as she rolled her eyes.
"But yes," Cressida said. "Go get changed and I'll give you a confidence boost. Literally."