Both Percy and Cressida had had a mini panic when the group returned to the ship and Percy saw her hands and dress stained with blood. Cressida had just worried that she hadn't done enough to save Jason, just like she'd done nothing to save Percy with the gorgon's blood.
Percy remembered what Coach had told him before he left about getting Cressida to calm down. He took a minute to assure her that he was fine and that she was fine, and that Jason would be fine because she helped save him and keep him alive. There was nothing more she could've done just like there was nothing more she could've done for Percy down in Tartarus.
She'd still been trembling a little when Percy took her down to his cabin to clean Jason's blood off her hands and get her out of that ruined dress and into something more comfortable. She'd been a bit better after that.
They'd then taken Juno's advice and set course for Olympia. They were nearing their destination as they had a meeting in the mess hall for breakfast, Festus completely able to steer the ship by himself as all of them gathered below deck, Buford the Wonder table staying above as backup.
After Coach Hedge left on his shadow-travel expedition, Leo had decided that his three-legged table could do just as good a job as their 'adult chaperone'. He had laminated Buford's tabletop with a magic scroll that projected a pint-sized holographic simulation of Coach Hedge. Mini-Hedge would stomp around on Buford's top, randomly saying things like "CUT THAT OUT!' 'I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" and the ever-popular "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" Today, Buford was manning the helm. If Festus's flames didn't scare away the monsters, Buford's holographic Hedge definitely would.
Leo stood in the doorway of the mess hall, taking in the scene around the dining table. It wasn't often he got to see all his friends together - well almost all of them.
Frank and Hazel used their cereal bowls to flatten out a map of Greece. They looked over it, their heads close together. Every once in a while Frank's hand would cover Hazel's, just sweet and natural like they were an old married couple, and Hazel didn't even look flustered, which was real progress for a girl from the 1940s. Until recently, if somebody said gosh darn, she would nearly faint.
At the head of the table, Jason sat uncomfortably with his T-shirt rolled up to his ribcage as Nurse Piper changed his bandages. "Hold still," she said. "I know it hurts."
"It's just cold," he said. Leo could hear the pain in his voice. That stupid gladius blade had pierced him all the way through. The entrance wound on his back was an ugly shade of purple and it steamed. Probably not a good sign.
Percy was eating a huge stack of blue pancakes while Annabeth chided him for pouring on too much syrup. "You're drowning them!" she complained.
"Hey, I'm a Poseidon kid," he said. "I can't drown. And neither can my pancakes."
The seat between them where Cressida normally sat was empty and Leo just assumed that she ran out of clean clothes in Percy's cabin and had to go get some from her own. The two of them hadn't spent a night apart since they returned - not that they did so before - but considering that on their first night back, Cressida had woken screaming from her nightmare and Percy was the only one that could calm her down, they'd long since stopped trying to separate them.
Leo found it a little unfair that his friend could calm everyone except herself. At least Percy could help her.
It was a minute later when the girl herself walked into the mess hall, dressed in leggings and one of Percy's hoodies, her feet bare.
"Morning, Houston," she said as she walked past him with a small smile.
"Hey, Hollywood," he returned as he gave her a supportive smile and watched as she walked over to her empty seat.
"Please talk to your Seaweed Brain about his absurd eating habits," Annabeth pleaded once she saw her best friend and Cressida narrowed her brows as she looked at Percy's plate of pancakes and picked up a fork.
"What's wrong with them?" she asked, about to cut off some to eat as Percy pushed his plate closer to her when Annabeth said,
"Can you not see how much syrup he put on his pancakes?!"
Cressida froze from where she'd been about to lift her fork to her mouth. "You're right," she said as she picked up the syrup bottle. "It needs more."
And as she drizzled more syrup onto the pancakes, Percy just gaped at her.
"Damn, you're perfect," he said dumbly, and Cressida laughed as she took a bite.
"Thanks for the validation, Barnacle Brain," she said as she cut more with the fork.
"No, I mean, I'm serious. Like you're seriously perfect and I love you and please don't ever break up with me."
"Aw," she said as she looked at him adoringly. "I love you too. And relax," she continued as she took another bite of the blue food. "We swore on the Styx. I'm not going anywhere."
And she leaned over to kiss him, both their lips tasting sweet like syrup before Percy tugged her over to share his recliner and his pancakes as Annabeth just sighed and shook her head.
"Why am I even friends with you two?" she huffed but the couple were more concerned with each other. Percy was whispering things into her ear as she smiled between bites of pancake, also stopping every once in a while, to feed him some and then kiss away the syrup that inevitably dripped down his chin. They looked happy. Happier than they'd been in the last few days since they'd been back. They almost seemed like their old selves again. Even Annabeth couldn't help but smile at them.
"What's up guys?" Leo said as he finally strolled into the mess hall. "Aw, yes to brownies!"
He grabbed the last one – from a special sea-salt recipe they'd picked up from Aphros the fish centaur at the bottom of the Atlantic. The intercom crackled. Buford's Mini-Hedge yelled over the speakers, "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"
Everyone jumped. Hazel ended up five feet away from Frank. Percy spilled syrup in his orange juice. Jason awkwardly wriggled back into his t-shirt, and Frank turned into a bulldog.
Piper glared at Leo. "I thought you were getting rid of that stupid hologram?"
"Hey, Buford's just saying good morning. He loves his hologram! Besides, we all miss the coach. And Frank makes a cute bulldog."
Frank morphed back into a burly, grumpy Chinese Canadian dude. "Just sit down, Leo. We've got stuff to talk about."
Leo squeezed in between Jason and Hazel. He figured they were the least likely to smack him if he made bad jokes. He took a bite of his brownie and grabbed a pack of Italian junk food – Fonzies – to round out his balanced breakfast. He'd become kind of addicted to the things since buying some in Bologna. They were cheesy and corny – two of his favourite qualities.
"So ..." Jason winced as he leaned forward. "We're going to stay airborne and drop anchor as close as we can to Olympia. It's further inland than I'd like – about five miles – but we don't have much choice. According to Juno, we have to find the goddess of victory and, um ... subdue her."
It was an uncomfortable silence around the table before Cressida broke it.
"Well, that sounds like cake," she said sarcastically, and Percy couldn't help it.
"Like pancakes?"
Leo couldn't help but crack up at the terrible joke and everyone else smiled, appreciative of their attempt to lighten the move.
Percy sipped his syrup-flavoured orange juice. He seemed to find it okay.
"Ok, that's just weird," Cressida remarked and Percy raised a brow at his girlfriend.
"What part of dating me did you think would be normal?"
Cressida opened her mouth to answer with the gods knows what kind of a response before Annabeth pointed her spoon at Cressida. "Don't you dare answer that."
"Buzzkill," Cressida muttered before taking another bite of pancake.
"I'm cool with fighting the occasional goddess. Still very jealous that I didn't get a chance to talk to Hera," Percy said.
"I think your girlfriend covered it," Piper said and Percy waved her off.
"But isn't Nike one of the good ones? I mean, personally, I like victory. I can't get enough of it."
Annabeth drummed her fingers on the table. "It does seem strange. I understand why Nike would be in Olympia – home of the Olympics and all that. The contestants sacrificed to her. Greeks and Romans worshipped her there for, like, twelve hundred years, right?"
"Almost to the end of the Roman Empire," Frank agreed. "Romans called her Victoria, but same difference. Everybody loved her. Who doesn't like to win? Not sure why we would have to subdue her."
Jason frowned. A wisp of steam curled from the wound under his shirt. "All I know ... the ghoul Antinous said, 'Victory runs rampant in Olympia.' Juno warned us that we could never heal the rift between the Greeks and Romans unless we defeated victory."
"How do we defeat victory?" Piper wondered. "Sounds like one of those impossible riddles."
"Like making stones fly," Leo said, "or eating only one Fonzie." He popped a handful into his mouth.
Hazel wrinkled her nose. "That stuff is going to kill you."
"You kidding? So many preservatives in these things, I'll live forever."
"Hey, I used to say the same thing to my brothers about microwave popcorn. Now that is food worthy of the gods," Cressida said.
"Wine Vine, they said that because you eat an unnatural amount of the stuff. You can't keep eating that stuff in place of actual meals," Percy scolded.
"Oh, and I suppose you're going to cook for me?"
"Hey, I can make a mean lasagne. It's basically fancy pizza. And my ordering take-out skills are second to none."
"Debatable."
Percy's jaw dropped at her audacity before Cressida was stuffing another bite of pancake into his mouth and he pouted as he chewed. Cressida rolled her eyes before pecking his lips and they returned to the topic at hand.
"But, hey, about this victory goddess being popular and great – Don't you guys remember what her kids are like at Camp Half-Blood?" Leo said.
Hazel and Frank had never been to Camp Half-Blood, but the others nodded gravely.
"Houston's got a point," Cressida said. "I mean, saying that the kids in Cabin Seventeen are super-competitive is putting it lightly."
"Yeah, I'll say," Percy agreed. "When it comes to Capture The Flag, they're almost worse than the Ares kids. Uh, no offence, Frank."
Frank shrugged. "You're saying Nike has a dark side?"
"Her kids sure do," Annabeth said. "They never turn down a challenge. They have to be number one at everything. If their mom is that intense ..."
"Their mother would be worse than them," Cressida pointed out. Gods were always worse than whatever talents their children possessed.
Piper put her hands on the table like the ship was rocking. "Guys, all the gods are split between their Greek and Roman aspects, right? If Nike's that way and she's the goddess of victory –"
"She'd be really conflicted," Annabeth said. "She'd want one side or the other to win so she could declare a victor. She'd literally be fighting with herself."
"Victory runs rampant in Olympia," Cressida recited as she stared at the pancake on her fork, her legs still tangled with Percy's and his hand resting on her hip. "Talk about poetic. And dramatic."
"Tell me about it," Percy agreed before opening his mouth as Cressida fed him some blue pancake. If this topic of conversation wasn't so dreadful, he'd be enjoying having his beautiful girlfriend sit on his lap and feed him blue pancakes. Actually, nothing seemed better - well maybe if they were alone and he could sneak in a few more kisses.
Hazel nudged her cereal bowl across the map of Greece. "But we don't want one side or the other to win. We've got to get the Greeks and Romans on the same team."
"Maybe that's the problem," Jason said. "If the goddess of victory is running rampant, torn between Greek and Roman, she might make it impossible to bring the two camps together."
"How?" Leo asked. "Start a flame war on Twitter?"
Cressida snorted a laugh at that as she took another bite of the pancakes.
"Maybe she's like Ares," Percy suggested. "That guy can spark a fight just by walking into a crowded room. If Nike radiates competitive vibes or something, she could aggravate the whole Greek–Roman rivalry big-time."
"Wow, honey, that was actually a smart thought," Cressida said and Percy glared at her.
"I've had smart thoughts before. Namely, the ones that have saved your life more times than I could count, baby," Percy said dryly before his teeth scraped along the metal of the fork she held in front of him and he chewed the pancakes.
Everyone else found it rather strange that they seemed to use conventionally sweet nicknames for each other as insults and insults as conventionally sweet nicknames. Then again, nothing about those two was normal.
Frank pointed at Percy. "You remember that old sea god in Atlanta – Phorcys? He said that Gaia's plans always have lots of layers. This could be part of the giants' strategy – keep the two camps divided; keep the gods divided. If that's the case, we can't let Nike play us against each other. We should send a landing party of four – two Greeks, two Romans. The balance might help keep her balanced."
"I think Frank is right," Annabeth said. "A party of four. We'll have to be careful who goes. We don't want to do anything that might make the goddess, um, more unstable."
"I'll go," Piper said. "I can try charmspeaking."
Worry lines deepened around Annabeth's eyes. "Not this time, Piper. Nike is all about competition. Aphrodite ... well, she is too, in her own way. I think Nike might see you as a threat."
"Who should go together?" Piper wondered.
"Jason and Percy shouldn't go together," Annabeth said. "Jupiter and Poseidon – bad combination. Nike could start you two fighting easily."
Percy gave her a sideways smile. "Yeah, we can't have another incident like in Kansas. I might kill my bro, Jason."
"Or I might kill my bro, Percy," Jason said amiably.
"Or Piper and I might have to actually start planning your wedding," Cressida added and Piper grinned.
"Those blue dresses we were talking about are going to outshine them," Piper said and Cressida grinned.
"I prefer the term one-up them. Fish Face and I have a long-standing competition of one-upping each other, but I completely agree."
"Shut up, Grape Girl," Percy said and she huffed.
"Well then, no more pancakes for you."
"They were my pancakes to begin with!"
"And they're not anymore!"
"Getting back to the point," Annabeth said pointedly. "Percy and I can't go together. We also shouldn't send Frank and me together. Mars and Athena – that would be just as bad. Cress might be able to go. Dionysus doesn't have many rivalries."
"Ha! And you say I'm argumentative," Cressida boasted.
"You are argumentative. And we don't argue, we bicker," Percy retorted.
"We bicker, you admit I'm right and we move on," Cressida said smugly as she took another bite and Percy kissed her shoulder as if it was the worst punishment he could think of.
"Okay," Leo broke in. "So Percy and me for the Greeks. Frank and Hazel for the Romans. Is that the ultimate non-competitive dream team or what?"
Annabeth and Frank exchanged war-godly looks.
"It could work," Frank decided. "I mean, no combination is going to be perfect, but Poseidon, Hephaestus, Pluto, Mars ... I don't see any huge antagonism there."
Cressida set her fork down as she hugged Percy tighter, not exactly wanting to be separated from him again.
Hazel traced her finger along the map of Greece. "I still wish we could've gone through the Gulf of Corinth. I was hoping we could visit Delphi, maybe get some advice. Plus, it's such a long way around the Peloponnese."
"Yeah." Leo's heart sank when he looked at how much coastline they still had to navigate. "It's July twenty-second already. Counting today, only ten days until –"
"I know," Jason said. "But Juno was clear. The shorter way would have been suicide."
"Because Juno is the goddess of giving good advice," Cressida snarked as Percy rested his head on her shoulder.
"And as for Delphi ..." Piper leaned towards the map. The blue harpy feather in her hair swung like a pendulum. "What's going on there? If Apollo doesn't have his Oracle any more ..."
Percy grunted. "Probably something to do with that creep Octavian. Maybe he was so bad at telling the future that he broke Apollo's powers."
Jason managed a smile, though his eyes were cloudy from pain. "Hopefully, we can find Apollo and Artemis. Then you can ask him yourself. Juno said the twins might be willing to help us."
"A lot of unanswered questions," Frank muttered. "A lot of miles to cover before we get to Athens."
"First things first," Annabeth said. "You guys have to find Nike and figure out how to subdue her ... whatever Juno meant by that. I still don't understand how you defeat a goddess who controls victory. Seems impossible."
"Books, our lives are the definition of doing the impossible," Cressida said and Leo grinned.
"Hollywood's right. We'll see how impossible it'll be. Let me get my collection of grenades and I'll meet you guys on deck."
"Hey," Percy said as he looked up at Cressida as Leo, Frank and Hazel left the room to get ready. "You came back to me. I'll come back to you. We promised each other, remember?"
Cressida took a deep breath. "I know. I know. It's just -"
"Whatever worries you have floating around in that gorgeous head of yours, forget them. I'm coming back, you owe me that Halloween thing after all."
Her lips turned up in a small smile as she ran a finger down his jawline. "I said no promises," she said as her finger traced his lips.
"Exactly why I have to come back and change your mind, because the Halloween thing is definitely happening," he declared as he brought her lips in for a kiss to seal the deal. "Come on. I can try and convince you while I get changed before I go and defeat victory, because that makes total sense," Percy said as Cressida slid off his lap.
"Nothing in our lives makes sense, Fish Face," Cressida said as she walked.
"We do," Percy called back as he walked after her, but he stopped to pick up the plate of half-eaten pancakes, putting a forkful of it in his mouth and frowning. "Hey, can you feed me these again?" he called after her. "They don't taste as good when I do it myself."