We dropped towards the ocean like a strangely shaped stone. Wind whipped past us. Arrows flew over us.
Annabeth's hair was in my face.
I scrambled for the bags. I fell.
"The flask!" I screamed.
The water was right below.
Annabeth clung to the boat.
"What!?"
Tyson yanked out the flask, thrusting it towards me.
"Hold on!"
"I am!"
"Tighter!"
I hooked my feet under the boat's inflatable bench. Tyson grabbed Annabeth and me, clinging tight.
I gave the Flask cap a quarter turn.
Wind whipped out. My breath was knocked from me.
A sheet of wind so strong it was visible shot from the flask, propelling us sideways so our downward plummet changed into a forty-five-degree crash landing.
The boat creaked dangerously as the wind shot us forward.
I wrapped it in my power, desperately holding it together.
We hit the waves with a boom, water spraying around us, on us, soaking us through.
The wind seemed to laugh as it rushed out. The sound almost drowning out the shouting from the Princess Andromeda.
And then we were away.
A risky glance back revealed the ship small as a toy and growing smaller with every breath.
Annabeth slumped, relief on her face.
"We made it."
Annabeth suggested trying to contact Chiron, but I didn't think he'd be much help. In the end we decided against it.
I spent my time focusing on keeping the boat from falling apart from the force of the wind and water, and Annabeth spent the time muttering about how to reach our destination.
"Where even are we?" she wondered.
"Thirty-six degrees, fifty-four minutes, and twenty-nine seconds North, seventy-five degrees, fifty-six minutes, and three seconds West."
Annabeth turned slowly to stare at me.
"What?"
"Er…" I faltered. "That's uh.. where we are…"
"How do you know that?"
I opened my mouth, then closed it again.
"Mossst children of the sssea have a good ssssenssse of locatttttion in the sssea."
"Yeah… I guess it's that. I've always known where I was in the sea so-"
"Wow… that's- wait…" Annabeth's gaze was drawn to the side suddenly. "Is that Virginia Beach?"
I peered where she was looking, then winced as the flask was put off location.
We zipped by a coastguard boat.
"Avero," I muttered, straightening us out.
"The cruise ship made good time, didn't it?" Annabeth wondered. "If we're at Virginia beach… head into the bay there, Chesapeake Bay. I know a place to go."
"Mosssst cruisssse sssshipsss of that make would not quite be able to travel that dissstanccce," Martha said helpfully. "It wassss above average, for it's make. But not imposssssible conssssidering if it wasss more dessssigned for ssspeed."
I listened curiously as Martha proceeded to give a lecture on the way cruise ships worked and their nornmal speeds (the average large cruise ship traveled at a speed of twenty-one to twenty-four knots [nautical miles per hour], while one built for speed could travel over thirty knots).
We whizzed under a bridge, another ahead of us.
"There is a boat following us," Tyson declared, interrupting Martha's speech on how much speed our little boat should be able to handle (three to four knots, maybe seven at most… we were going twenty-three knots).
Annabeth turned to look, "It's the coastguard."
"We can't let them catch us," I muttered. "They'll ask too many questions."
I opened the lid slightly more, the blast of wind rocketing us ahead.
"Go under that bridge and then see that opening? There, with the land on both sides?"
If I squinted I could see what she was talking about.
"Yeah?"
"Go there."
We passed under the bridge, the opening ahead of us.
The boat was left behind.
I felt the moment we started leaving the salt water. I felt more tired, my exhaustion from holding everything together growing rapidly. I reluctantly tightened the lid once more, letting the wind stop pushing us as I took direct control of the water around us, guiding us forward still.
Annabeth kept directing us, "Past that sandbar."
"Where are we?" Tyson wondered.
"Chucktauk Creek," she said. "Stop at the Cypress tree."
I beached the lifeboat at the foot of the giant cypress, surrounded by marshy grass.
"Why are we here?" I asked, slumping in my seat as I clung to the last bits of my energy to hold the boat together.
"Come on, we can stay here."
I idly tugged my braids, smoothing them out from the tangled mess they'd become in the wind. They probably needed to be redone but I didn't really have the time for it.
"Hop on out," I said.
Annabeth jumped out, her feet sinking into the mud. Tyson followed, carrying our bags. I got out last, letting go of my support as I did.
The boat creaked dangerously as the boards weakened rapidly. Water was bubbling into the boat.
"Wow," Annabeth muttered. "It was really strained."
Martha hissed in agreement. "Thissss isss where one of your ssssafe-housssesss isss?"
Annabeth jolted, "It- yeah… how did you-"
"We have alwayssss watched, hiding the ssssancturariesss from threatsss. Guiding you in your travelssss."
She let out a slow breath.
"Oh."
Annabeth shook her head and grabbed some branches.
"We need to hide the boat. It'll draw attention."
After burying the lifeboat with branches, Tyson and I followed Annabeth along the shore. I stumbled as we walked, my eyes heavy. I wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep.
Annabeth led the way. Her feet squelching in the mud or crunching in the leaves and branches. Mosquito's swarmed us, and Annabeth mumbled a prayer to Zeus Apomuios to drive away the bugs.
"Apomuios?" I asked.
She jolted, "Oh uh, yeah it's one of his epithets."
She pushed aside the branches, leading us a bit farther in.
"It's technically referring to him as driving away the flies, Herakles was the first to mention it I believe. The Eleans sacrificed to Zeus under the name."
"Huh… cool… you really do know your myths."
Annabeth huffed, "Yeah… I spend a lot of time researching them."
"So… do you know the myth of the two from the boat? Agrius and Oreius?"
She hummed, "Yeah, I know the myth. It's uh… not the nicest of myths but I read it a few years ago."
"A few years ago?" I asked. "And you remember it just off the top of your head?"
"Well yeah?" she shot me a look of confusion. "Don't you?"
"Only stuff that really interests me…"
I could barely remember what I ate for breakfast (nothing today), much less a random myth read years ago. If it wasn't something interesting it didn't stick.
"You have a good memory," Tyson said with a solemn nod.
"Children of Athena have very good memoriessss," Martha hissed. "You will find that ssshe remembersss much that ssssshe hassss experiencccced."
"Oh… wow…"
"We're here," Annabeth said.
She pushed aside a woven circle of branches, like a door, and revealed the shelter behind them.
"Oooh," Tyson said.
Inside was everything you could want for a campout—sleeping bags, blankets, an ice chest and a kerosene lamp. There were demigod provisions too—a quiver full of arrows, a handful of drachmaes, and a box of ambrosia.
"The arrows weren't much use to us," Annabeth said, noticing me studying them. "Thalia was alright with a bow, but it was too unwieldy to carry with us everywhere. We didn't find many other weapons either… a few other knifes, a sword once… Well- celestial bronze weapons are rare."
"Indeed," Martha agreed. "I know the arrowsss were a gift from Artemisss. I recognize Her touch on them."
She blinked, "Oh… I didn't know that… do you think the other weapons were gifts too?"
Martha hissed, "Your knife came from a child of Apollo I know, gifted to Luke. Lord Hermesss guided them towardsss ssssome other weaponssss assss well."
"The more you talk the more I realize the Gods helped us more than we knew," she muttered.
Martha hissed, rising up from her coil on my arm.
"You are Their children, of coursssse They watch over you. Jussst becaussse you don't ssssee Them doessssn't mean They aren't there."
I let out a breath. It was… comforting to have confirmation of something I'd believed ever since talking with Leilani. I knew Triton watched over me, but knowing others likely did, or do now, or maybe they didn't before when I was hidden, or perhaps they did for my mom's prayers- whatever they did… it was comforting to know.
"So, uh, you made this place?" I asked Annabeth.
She looked up, her gaze focused once more, "Thalia and I… and Luke."
"Wow," I murmured. "You don't think they'll look for us or anything?"
She sighed, flopping down onto the blankets. That looked way too comfortable considering the ground outside was muddy and stick covered. I wanted to flop down next to her.
"Even if Luke did tell them about the safe houses, we made dozens of them all up and down land. I doubt they'd be able to find it."
She was staring at the wall of the shelter, her brow furrowed and her eyes distant.
I gently coaxed Martha off my arm. I couldn't sleep yet.
"Hey, do you think you two could go look for a Convenience store or something?"
"Convenience store?" Tyson wondered.
"Yeah, for snacks. We need some food… like Powdered doughnuts or something… probably some water too. I mean we have the one lunch box, but more never hurts."
Tyson nodded solemnly, accepting Martha from me.
"Powdered doughnuts," Tyson agreed, bright and eager to do as requested. "I will look for powdered doughnuts in the wilderness."
He headed outside and started calling, "Here, doughnuts! Come here doughnuts!"
I sat down across from Annabeth, forcing myself to sit straight instead of curling up to sleep. I got comfy as I debated how to start a talk.
Her shoulders loosened as we heard Tyson move away.
I decided to continue our previous point.
"So, uh, the myth of Agrius and Oreius?"
Annabeth blinked, looking over at me.
"Oh, right… okay so uh…" she took a deep breath and turned to face me more, her gaze determined, like she was focusing entirely on the story she was about to tell. "The story starts with their mom, Polyphonte."
"Polyphonte?"
"She was the daughter of Hipponous and Thrassa, with Ares being her grandfather through Thrassa and a river God, Strymon, being her great-grandfather."
"Oooh," I said. "A river God."
She cracked a smile.
"She was a fierce woman, a fighter, her very name meant Slayer-of-Many."
"Very nice," I nodded, settling more into the blankets and holding back a yawn.
"Unfortunately, she did not take care how she honored the Gods."
"Oh no."
"While she honored many, including her grandfather Ares, she scorned Aphrodite. She gave her a great insult in not honoring her as she did others, and outright dismissed the realms that Aphrodite rules over. She had no desire for love, and even less care for beauty, and made it known."
Annabeth grimaced as she said it.
"Aphrodite was angry, but even angrier when Polyphonte went and joined Artemis' hunt, gaining the shelter of another Goddess while continuing to refuse any honor to Aphrodite."
"That's not good." I mumbled, my eyes drifting shut as her voice washed over me.
"No, it's not," Annabeth smiled grimly. "Due to the insult given to her, Aphrodite punished Polyphonte. She cursed her to fall in love with a bear and drove her mad."
"Yikes," I muttered, cracking an eye open to see her nod.
"Yep. Artemis found her as she made love to the bear and was disgusted."
"Didn't she know she had been cursed?"
"She may have," Annabeth said. "Or may have not. The myth doesn't say. We just know that she broke her vows and the action itself was immoral and Artemis punished her for it."
"Her vows?" I asked, pushing up and trying to get less comfy before I fell asleep.
"When one joins Artemis' hunt, they vow to abstain from relationships. There are exceptions, you can always talk to Artemis about them," Annabeth paused, deep in thought. "And I think there are groups not technically of the hunt but still… connected? That you can join that have less strict rules… but for the most part you must abstain from relationships to join the hunt."
"So her getting in the relationship with… the bear-"
"Broke the vows yes."
I nodded thoughtfully, covering my mouth as I yawned.
"The point being, Artemis turned all the beasts of the world against her as punishment for breaking her vows and the… action of being with the bear."
I grimaced.
"Polyphonte fled back to her father's house and had two children, Agrius and Oreius."
"The twins we saw there?" I asked, leaning back.
"Yep," Annabeth flashed me a smile before her expression grew pensive. "But uh… they were the nicest of people…"
"What did they do?"
"They were, are, huge and have a lot of strength."
"Yeah," I mumbled, thinking back to the large javelins they'd held. "I noticed."
She laughed, "Yeah… but so uh, they were also majorly disrespectful to the Gods as a whole and hated men-"
"Isn't that what got their mom in trouble?" I wondered as I let my eyes slip shut again.
"Yeah," she snorted. "But on top of that they were cannibals. They'd find strangers and bring them home to eat."
I blinked slowly, opening my eyes to look at her. "They what."
She nodded, "Yeah. Zeus hated their actions, both the disrespect and the eating of humans, so he sent Hermes down to punish them."
"Oh wow."
"Hermes cut off their hands and feet, but then Ares intervened. Since Polyphonte was his descendent he saved her children from their fate, and worked with Hermes to turn them, Polyphonte, and their slave servant to birds."
"Their… slave servant?" I asked slowly.
"Most translations will call her a woman servant, but that's a nice way of saying slave."
"Oh… yikes…"
She winced, "Yeah… slavery was a thing back then. But uh… yeah so Polyphonte became an owl that became a symbol of war. Oreius became an eagle owl, which is an omen of ill times, and Agrius became a culture, detested by Gods and men who would eat flesh and blood of humans."
"That's… lovely," I mumbled, dropping my head against the wall of the shelter.
"Their slave, unnamed in the myths, prayed to the Gods to not become an evil bird, and Hermes and Ares heard her. They decided that since she had only done what her masters ordered that she would be granted mercy. She was turned into a woodpecker, which is a good omen for those going hunting or to feasts."
"Wow," I said. "That's a myth alright…"
My brain was moving slowly in my exhaustion, but a thought slowly formed. I propped myself up to look at Annabeth again. "How come they're here now if they were changed to birds?"
She shrugged, "I imagine they did… something to change back. The Gods have, at times, removed curses if they felt the subject learned their lesson. Or the birds they were died and they reformed in their original form in Tartarus."
I nodded thoughtfully. That explained why they were against the Gods then, they'd always done so.
I sunk down into the blankets, the softness lulling me to rest. Mmm, sleep, that sounded nice, I would just sleep… maybe she could talk about other myths, it seemed to help. What kind of myth?
Something… something like… helpful… what was a myth that-
Oh yeah, that would be good to know.
"So, are there similar myths about Kyklopes?" I wondered distantly.
"What?"
"Well, I know the Polyphemus one but-"
Annabeth let out a shaky breath and I opened my eyes.
"There are… several myths on Kyklopes…" she said.
"Is that why you're afraid of Tyson?" I asked softly.
She pursed her lips.
"I'm not-" she faltered. "It's… it's complicated."
"I have time," I assured, pushing to a more upright position again. This was an important conversation.
She looked away.
"You have to understand Percy, Thalia, Luke and I… we were on the run for a long time… we faced a lot of monsters."
I nodded, silent as she spoke.
"And… well… there was one particular cause for Thalia's death in the end…"
"What happened?" I asked softly.
"Grover led us back to camp, but—" she rubbed her face "—he took a few wrong turns. One of them… one of them led us into the lair of Kyklopes."
"Did he hurt Thalia?"
"He tried," she muttered grimly. "But it wasn't… it wasn't that… I don't-"
She sighed. "It was… one of the most terrifying moments of my life. Being along in his lair and- and watching him prepare Thalia and Luke for dinner… but in the end that wasn't what killed Thalia."
I tilted my head in confusion.
"It- well… Percy… I just- your dad—he always picks his kids side."
I blinked, "Okay?"
"And well… Polyphemus isn't the only Kyklopes whose asked for revenge after people hurt them to escape."
Understanding slowly dawned on me, my brain sluggishly putting the pieces together.
"Powdered doughnuts!" Tyson declared, sweeping the door open.
I blinked.
Annabeth flinched back.
We both stared.
Tyson was holding up a pastry box, looking very proud of himself.
"Where did you get that?" Annabeth asked, baffled. "We're in the middle of the wilderness. There's nothing around for—"
"Fifteen meters!" Tyson chirped. "Monster Doughnut shop—just over the hill!"
"Monster doughnuts?" I asked.
"Didn't we go to one of those before?" Annabeth muttered.
I nodded. I vaguely recalled having some issue with it, but I couldn't remember what.
"You ssshould not be here," Martha hissed. She'd tried to convince us to not check it out but it seemed important to at least take a look.
"We need to go," Annabeth agreed, crouched at the top of the hill with me.
The doughnut shop was just sitting there… nothing around except a parking lot and little road… and there were a few harpies in line inside.
"It's a monster doughnut shop," Annabeth muttered.
"A shop for terrors?" I asked, stifling a yawn.
"We need to leave," Annabeth muttered. "It's one of the chain shops."
"Chain shops?" I wondered. I was too tired for this.
"Doughnut shops?" Tyson asked.
Martha hissed in agreement, "Sssshopsss that are connected to monssstersss. They risssse and fall with monsssterssss."
"Oh…"
"If one rose here it means there's probably a monster connected to it nearby," Annabeth hissed. "They're connected to the life-force of monsters, specific ones usually. I believe Hydras are the most common."
"How did that happen?" I asked.
"Some children of Hermes figured it out in the 1950s. They bred a bunch of hydras and some other stuff… I don't know all the details… the information was destroyed after the first mess…"
"They were moving beyond what wasss okay," Martha agreed.
"Regardless," Annabeth continued. "We need to leave before we have to deal with one. Let's grab our things."
"Where do we go?" Tyson asked as we slipped down, heading back to the shelter.
"The Port, North Carolina Port, right?"
I nodded, I didn't actually remember but that sounded right.
"Not sure how we're gonna get there though," she muttered. "We don't have a boat and it's at least… uh…"
"One-hundred-and-thirty-eight nautical milessss away," Martha offered helpfully.
"Yeah… that…"
I hummed, grabbing our bags with them.
"Side pocket," Tyson declared loudly, looking delighted.
He tugged at a side pocket on the duffle bag, revealing a set of extra tools. Huh… we had side pockets… didn't notice…
Annabeth blinked, "Oh, extra things…"
She found the side pocket of her duffle and pulled out a thing jewelry box.
"Oh… it's the charm from the last quest," she murmured.
I found the same slot in my bag and blinked at the jewelry box inside. Unlike Annabeth's, who's only held a bracelet… mine held three things.
The necklace from the Demeter cabin from the last quest… and two gleaming silver whistles.
"I think I figured out how we're gonna get to the Port," I said, the recognition hitting me.
Annabeth turned to me curiously, raising an eyebrow at the whistles.
"What are those?"
"Hippocampi whistles."
Leilani POV
I sighed as I finished cleaning the tank for Hippolyta and Carl.
Hippolyta did not seem very happy about it, but unlike Percy I couldn't use magic powers to clean it.
"Sorry," I muttered. "It's gotta be clean. Today is cleaning day for it."
I leaned back and studied it.
"Is that good?"
Hippolyta twined around her rock, staring at me.
I felt judged.
"Well, I've just gotta finish cleaning up the cabin and then we'll be all done."
I hummed and moved to grab the sheets from Tyson's bed to bring to the washer in the bathroom. It was a fun little cubby that you could miss if you didn't know to look for it, Percy showed me.
I'd just finished shoving them in when there was a knock at the door.
I sighed, but hit the setting to clean the sheets, then moved to open the door.
"Morning!" Silena chirped. "How are you today, Leilani?"
I leaned back slightly, "I'm good… how are you?"
"I'm doing good too," she smiled gently. "I was just wondering if you guys were alright. You missed breakfast. Is Percy sick?"
I bit my lip, I'd started cleaning early and forgotten about breakfast.
"Uh… no he's on a quest."
Silena blinked slowly, tilting her head. Her shimmery black veil shifted over her shoulder.
"What?"
"Er… Mr. D sent them off," I said. "So, uh, he, and Tyson, aren't here."
"I… see…" she nodded to me. "Please make sure you get lunch, you need three meals a day to be healthy."
She turned and swept away, her melodic voice urging me to remember lunch later.
Weird.
Oh well, I still had cleaning to do until lunch. It took a lot more time with only me, normally all three of us did it.
Hopefully people at camp weren't upset that they were on another quest.
Lunch was so awkward. People were staring at my table, the Ares kids were glaring at the Athena table, and the Demeter and Aphrodite kids were whispering.
Plus, I had to eat alone.
I'd never realized how uncomfortable it was. Poor Percy, he had to do it all of last summer.
I was glad I usually had him with me.
Minos was frowning at my table and Tantalus looked incensed. He had a furious argument with Mr. D, but Mr. D ignored him and popped a strawberry in his mouth.
I hoped things were okay. There was tension here, more than before, but there was also hope.
Despite the way the leaders were arguing, and the people were upset, there was a new life to their movements.
It reminded me of something from one of my lessons.
When humanity has nothing else, it has hope.