I was standing beside Percy at the starboard as we talked with Annabeth and Piper. She was catching us up with what Seth had told her about what's going on back at Camp Half-Blood. Everyone is preparing for battle with the Romans. It's more of a defensive approach as they waited for Nico, Reyna, and Coach Hedge to bring the Athena Parthenos.
The sky darkened quickly and poured harshly. Suddenly, the ship tilted violently. We didn't have time to grasp the railing. The four of us slid across the deck. Percy managed to grab hold to the mast and grasped my wrist. I grabbed Annabeth's hand as she hit a hold of Piper's. The hull creaked. The engine groaned. I could hear Nike yelling from the stables.
Lightning flashed all around us. Something, or someone, had to have caused this freak storm that appeared out of nowhere. The sails were being ripped to shreds. The ship pitched to port. I scrambled to my feet.
"What's going on?" I yelled, looking toward Percy.
He furrowed his brows with a shrug and tapped his ear. I groaned. He couldn't hear me from how loud the storm was. He yelled something and pointed to the water where a green flash of light was seen from below the waves. Something was causing this storm. I nodded, catching on. Percy grinned and patted my shoulder.
My eyes scanned the deck to see many of the items on deck were moving front the waves crashing into the ship. One look at the girls and we quickly understood what we had to do. Frank scrambled on deck and pointed to the water with wide eyes. We looked to see a wave growing quickly in size.
Percy grumbled curses, well at least I'm pretty sure they were foul language, under his breath when we saw the huge wave the size of a skyscraper coming our way. He went straight to work, extending his arms out to control the water. The wave crashed into us. Water flooded the deck, washing the front crossbows and half the port out into the sea. Percy pushed the opposite way and the ship tilted to stabilize the hull. He summoned giant fists of water from the ocean to slam into the larger waves before they hit the ship.
The girls and I tried to save the rigging. We worked well together without talking, which was beneficial since it was hard to hear anyone over the loudness of the storm. Cold rain poured on us, drenching our clothes. My hair plastered to my face and I had to roughly move it aside so I could see. It was the wrong day to have it lose.
Frank had turned into a gorilla when he came to deck and was swinging upside down off the starboard rail. He worked on untangling the broken oars. Leo was trying to get the ship airborne with a bungee cord tied to himself. Every time a wave hit, he was smacked into the control board. Festus was spewing fire at the rain.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw Hazel and Jason come to deck. Poor Hazel looked awful with her seasickness. Her complexion held an odd color of paleness and green. She clung to the railing of the stairs. Jason staggered toward the mast. Leo was yelling at him, but his voice was drowned out by the storm.
A cable almost smacked me in the face if it weren't for Annabeth grasping my arm and pulling me to the side. I gave her a grin and grabbed the cable. I secured it with a tight tug and glanced over my shoulder. Percy and Jason were trying to communicate with each other in this hectic storm. They were pointing at each other and the water.
Percy glanced over his shoulder. His black hair was plastered to his face, his clothes soaked. He didn't keep himself dry, too focused on fighting the waves. We made eye contact. I could see an idea brewing that I most likely wouldn't like. He brought his attention back to Jason. The waves grew worse when Percy lowered his arms. He gave Jason a shrug.
I narrowed my eyes at him knowing he was about to do something stupid. My hands reached out to hold the railing as I saw my boyfriend run toward the starboard rail. He pushed another massive wave away from the ship. My eyes widened when I saw him getting ready to jump. I called out his name when he jumped overboard.
Jason glanced back at us. Piper and Annabeth were also clinging to the railing. His eyes widened a bit when he saw me cursing and glaring at the spot Percy once was. Piper's expression to her boyfriend screamed Are you out of your mind?
Jason gave her an okay signal. He staggered to the railing and looked up at the storm. Winds raged and clouds churned. Jason raised his arms and summoned a lasso of wind. He lashed out with his wind rope and caught a storm cloud. Jason pulled in the storm spirit and it encircled him. The storm above us lessened a bit. Piper started to call out his name as he levitated off the deck.
Then he plunged into the water. Piper and I exchanged looks as we just saw both of our boyfriends dive into the water. Another large wave hit us. I almost lost my grip on the railing from how powerful it was. I spluttered out salt water and glanced around to make sure everyone was okay. The crew was hanging on to anything they could hold to. Hazel had gone below decks again, which was for the better with how sea sick she was. Her weak state would have made her go overboard.
After a few minutes, the storm went away and the waves calmed down. We let go of the railing we clung to. Piper and I went to the starboard railing to peer over into the water. The ship was in horrible condition. Some of the sail fabric had fallen to the deck. Lose cables. Broken pieces of railing.
"I'm going to kill him." I grumbled, desperately looking for my boyfriend.
"I'm in the same boat as you." Piper agreed, her hands turning white from how hard she was gripping the railing. "He isn't fully healed. He can make his injury worse."
Leo undid the bungee cord from around his waist. Frank jumped onto deck and transformed back to himself. Hazel slowly made her way to us, no longer looking like she was about to hurl.
"They must've fought what created the storm." Annabeth stood beside us. "But I don't know what's taking them so long."
"Probably know their girlfriends are going to wring their necks." Leo said as he made his way toward us.
"Should I go down to check on them?" Frank asked.
"Let's give them a few minutes." Hazel grasped her stomach and placed a hand on Frank's arm. The ship had rocked a little bit. "Maybe Percy saw someone."
"Knowing his luck, yeah." I sighed, taking a hand through my wet hair. "If it's someone good or bad..."
"He'll be fine." Annabeth reassured me.
There was a splash of water. We all peered over the railing to see Percy and Jason swimming toward the ship. They both looked okay. Jason looked better than he did before diving into the water. I sighed in relief. Leo tossed the ladder over the ship so the both of them could climb up.
Once my boyfriend stepped onto the ship, I noticed he was weak and pale. I walked over to him. Percy opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. I wrapped my arms around him.
"I hate it when you do that." I grumbled into his chest.
"Love you too, Vine Girl." Percy weakly chuckled, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
"You okay?" I glanced up at him.
"Little weak." He admitted. "Nothing rest and ambrosia can't help."
"Then let's get you down to the sick bay. You can explain your diving trip." I laced my fingers with his. Percy slowly nodded, his eyes meeting Jason's for a little bit before Jason was attacked by Piper's hug. "And the whole truth."
"Yeah, all right." Percy sighed as we started to head downstairs. He grumbled under his breath. "I knew I couldn't slip it past you."
"But you tried." I raised a brow at him.
"Stupid of me." Percy sighed, tilting his head to see me giving him a smug look. "Yeah, yeah. Okay."
I laughed and pushed open the door to the sick bay. Percy hopped onto the bed and swung his feet as I got the ambrosia. I handed him the square piece and stood in front of him.
"What happened down there?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"Met my sister Kym. She's wonderful." Percy took a bite from the ambrosia. "Tracked me all the way from Tartarus to kill me. Polybotes was there-"
"He was there?" I said, dropping my arms. "I-is that why you're like this?"
"Yeah, walked into some black poison stuff he threw in the water. Some real gross stuff." Percy shivered, his face tinted a little green. He looked like he was growing sick. "Jason managed to convince Kym to help us since she's a goddess. He promised to build shrines and cabins at both camps. Even at Olympus."
"That's a big promise."
"And to top that, he promised to make action figures." A smile tugged at his lips as he took another bite. I breathed a chuckle. Leave it to Jason to make a promise of action figures. "Anyway, Kym helped us defeat Polybotes. She's actually Briares's wife, so he's my brother-in-law? Weird. But, uh, both Polybotes and Kym warned me that my blood would awaken Gaea."
"Dirt Face has been telling us that for a while now." I frowned, nerves growing on my stomach. Percy had frowned slightly. "You think it may be true..."
"I don't know. Not yet." Percy finished his ambrosia. Some of his color returned to his skin. He glanced at me, placed his hands on my hips and pulled me towards him. I stood between his legs and I placed my hand on his arms. Percy placed his forehead on my shoulder. "But they did a bring you up, momentarily. They didn't say much, but-"
"Hey." I stopped him. One of my hands went to cup the side of his face so he could face me. Green met purple. I gave him a soft smile. "We'll worry about that later, okay? For now, we need to focus on getting to Delos and fixing this ship."
"Yeah." Percy muttered as he sat up. I kissed him softly. Percy's shoulders relaxed as he pulled me closer toward him. My hands snaked around his neck as I smiled. Percy glanced down at me, his forehead touching mine. "I know we should probably go back up, but I kind of don't want to."
"Me neither." I admitted. "It won't hurt if we stay a little longer, right?"
"I don't think so." Percy grinned, pressing his lips against mine.
"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" Buford's Mini-Hedge yelled. Percy and I jumped far away from each other. My heart raced in my chest. I turned around to see Buford walking into the sick bay. Mini-Hedge was waving a bat in our direction. "CUT THAT OUT! GIVE ME THIRTY PUSH UPS!"
"I'm going to kill him." Percy grumbled, hopping off the bed.
"How about we go and help on deck?" I intertwined our hands to distract him a little. Percy muttered curses under his breath as I started to lead him up the stairs. Buford followed after us with Mini-Hedge still yelling. "Come on, Shark Boy. We can kiss later."
🍇
The Argo II limped through the Aegean, too damaged to fly and too slow to outrun monsters. We attracted schools of curious fish. At one point, the ship got stuck on a rock, and Percy and Jason had to get out and push. Over the course of three days, Leo was able to get the ship more or less back to working in order as we made port at the island of Mykonos.
Those nights were filled with the same dream of Gaea. I was standing in ruins. My powers wouldn't work. The earth swallowed me whole. I refused to tell anyone about it. I could already see how tense and nervous they were getting the closer we got to Athens.
Throughout the past few days, Percy would get sick. His face would tint a little green. He would rush to the bathroom to throw up. Percy had told me he believed it was from the poison Polybotes had used against him. He would eat ambrosia and soup to settle his stomach. It seemed to be working.
Percy and I went ashore to scout while Leo went to work on the ship. The island was gorgeous. We strolled down the streets holding each other's hands. White stucco buildings with blue doors, roofs, windows, and metal railings were everywhere. There were beautiful bright flowers were growing over the walls. A tourist couple had seen us and directed us toward the Little Italy section.
Nothing had screamed monsters or Gaea's minions as of yet. Percy and I followed the tourists's advice and went to the Little Italy area. Pelicans roamed the streets as if they owned the city. The towns people and tourists would feed them and stop to let them walk by. We browsed the charming white-covered shops.
"Well, I'll have to say this is a much better date than our last one." I stepped in front of Percy still holding his hand. I started to walk backward with a smile. "Don't you think?"
"Much better." Percy grinned, twirling me around so I was beside him. I laughed, wrapping an arm around his and leaning my head on his shoulder. His smile grew bigger. "A lot brighter. No monsters."
"Everything is white and not black." I added.
"I'll have to rate this nine out of ten." Percy stated. "Paris is for sure still a ten out of ten."
"I agree." I nodded. A pelican entered one of the bars and no one seemed opposed to a large bird entering. "Huh, would you look at that."
"That one," Percy pointed to another pelican heading towards a table from an outdoor seating restaurant, "is going to try and get that tourist's fish. Just watch."
The pelican walked over to the unsuspecting tourist as he drank his drink and chatted with the group he was with. His plate was near the edge of the table in perfect reach for the bird. We walked passed them, looking over our shoulders to see what happened. The pelican stealthily grabbed the grilled fish in his beak and started to take off. The tourist's group laughed and record videos on their phones as the tourist didn't know if he should laugh or yell at the bird.
"If life were only that easy." I sighed, looking back in front of us. I let out a yelp. I had to stop in my tracks and hold Percy back. A pelican walked in front of us. It stopped, looked at us as if we had bothered and offended it, and continued to walk away. Percy and I exchanged a look before we laughed. "Yeah, maybe it can be sometimes."
"It's the little moments." Percy added.
We continued to roam the streets until something caught Percy's eye. His hand tightened around me as he froze. I stopped beside him, quickly surveying for any sign of attack or monsters.
"What is it?"
"They have gelato." Percy grinned like a child.
He pointed toward the shop that had outdoor seating. Past the people sitting down and eating frozen yogurt and crepes were two signs that read: savory crepes, sandwiches, omelets, fresh juice, gelato, frozen yogurt, sweet crepes, and waffles. He turned to face me with a pout and fluttered his eyelashes. I gave him a look. I thought he had spotted a monster.
"Come on, Vine Girl." Percy used both of his hands to clasp around one of mine. He pulled it closer to him as he over exaggerated his pout. "Please?"
"Do you have Annabeth's magic card?" I asked, secretly knowing I had it.
"No." Percy's shoulders slumped in disappointment.
"Well, I guess it's a good thing I do." I took out the card from my pocket.
"How did you get that?" His eyes lit up. "She usually keeps a close eye on that thing because she knows we would both abuse it."
"I may have swiped it out of her room before we came onshore." I beamed, pulling his hand as I started to direct us to the shop.
"Are you sure you're not a child of Hermes?" Percy wondered. "Because sometimes I feel like you are."
"You very much know I am not." I chuckled out. "Come on, let's buy everyone a gelato."
"Well, we need to get something else for Frank." Percy said. "He's lactose intolerant."
"We'll find him something."
With a to-go bag of covered gelato cups, we made our way back to the ship. It was a good way to end the stroll around the island. We weaved through people as we grew closer to the ship. I could see some of our friends on deck already as they worked to fix the Argo II.
Once we were on deck, I held up the bag of gelato and called everyone over. Leo was the only one missing. Percy volunteered to go hand him his gelato. I passed out the gelato and spoons to our friends.
"This is all we could find in the gelato shop." I gave Frank a sheepish smile as I held out an apple and fresh pressed juice.
"Thanks." He laughed and grabbed it.
We sat on the deck and waited for Percy and Leo. They walked up the stairs and made their way over to us. Percy sat beside me. We started to eat our gelato- and apple- happily.
"We saw these pelicans walking around town." Percy reported. "Like, just going through the shops, stopping at the bars."
"Monsters in disguise?" Hazel frowned.
"No," I chuckled out, "just regular old pelicans. They're the towns mascots or something. And there's a 'Little Italy' section of town. That's why the gelato is so good."
"Europe is so messed up." Leo shook his head. "First we go to Rome for Spanish steps. Then we go to Greece for Italian ice cream."
"So, the island of Delos is right across the harbor." Piper set down her ice cream cup. "Artemis and Apollo's home turf. Who's going?"
"Me." Leo said immediately. We all stared at him. "What? I'm diplomatic and stuff. Frank and Hazel volunteered to back me up."
"We did?" Frank lowered his half eaten apple. I raised a brow at the two. "I mean...sure we did."
"Leo, did you have a dream about this or something?" Hazel's gold eyes flashed in the sunlight.
"Yes." Leo blurted. "Well...no. Not exactly. But...you got to trust me on this, guys. I need to talk to Apollo and Artemis. I've got an idea I need to bounce off them."
Annabeth frowned. She looked like she might object, but Jason spoke up.
"If also had an idea," he said, "we need to trust him."
"Thanks." Leo smiled.
"Okay." Percy shrugged. "But a word of advice: when you see Apollo, don't mention haiku."
"Oh gods, please don't." I warned them.
"Why not?" Hazel knit her eyebrows. "Isn't he the god of poetry?"
"Just trust me."
"Got it." Leo rose to his feet. "And guys, if they have a souvenir shop on Delos, I'm totally bringing you back some Apollo and Artemis bobble heads!"
"Don't give Apollo any ideas." I said horrified.
Idk why I struggled to find a song for this chapter 😂