Anthízo, Percy Jackson

VIII. percy isn't the only fish boy she knows

AS THE ARGO II RACED across the waves, everyone on the ship seemed to agree that percy and jason were a little too good at cooking up massive storms.

leo had to use his skill just to keep the ship in one piece. and at one point, karina and annabeth stood next to him, yelling against the roar of the wind: "percy says he talked to a nereid in charleston harbor!" karina shouted.

"good for him!" leo yelled back.

"the nereid said we should seek help from chiron's brothers." annabeth said.

"what does that mean? the party ponies?" leo asked.

karina was completely lost in this whole conversation, considering she didn't know who in the world chiron was, or his brothers, or who the party ponies were.

she'd make annabeth fill her in later.

"not sure," annabeth said. "but i've got coordinates, can you input latitude and longitude in this thing?"

"i can input star charts and order you a smoothie, if you want. of course i can do latitude and longitude!"

"hey, watch the attitude, valdez." karina warned.

"sorry," leo muttered half-heartedly, and annabeth rattled off the numbers. leo somehow managed to punch them in while holding the wheel with one hand. a red dot popped up on the bronze display screen.

"the location is in the middle of the atlantic," he said. "do the party ponies have a yacht?"

annabeth shrugged helplessly. "just hold the ship together until we get farther from charleston. jason and percy will keep up the winds!"

"happy fun time!"

karina gave him a reassuring smile, ruffling his curly hair, before exiting the room, and going back to the deck with annabeth, where jason and percy continued to create a storm.

"how did you manage to get those two to work together?" annabeth asked karina as they watched them.

karina shrugged. "piper is a miracle worker. and, they both probably knew they'd have poison ivy shoved in their underwear if they didn't."

annabeth snickered, and nodded her head. "they definitely knew that."

it seemed like forever, but finally the sea calmed and the winds died.

percy and jason immediately slumped to the floor, their backs leaning against the mast, heads slumped in exhaustion. karina and piper were trying to get them to drink some water.

"if you don't drink this, percy," karina threatened. "i swear i'm going to shove a rose thorn straight up your— "

percy's eyes widened, and cut her off by snatching the cup from her hands, gulping it down in three large sips.

hazel and frank stood just out of earshot, having an argument that involved lots of arm waving and head shaking. karina had no idea what it was about, but she knew she'd have to talk to hazel about it later.

the argument stopped abruptly when hazel saw leo, who looked like he was about to pass out. everybody gathered at the mast.

frank scowled like he was trying hard to turn into a bulldog. "no sign of pursuit," he said.

"or land," hazel added. she looked a little green, though karina wasn't sure if that was from the rocking of the boat or from arguing.

karina scanned the horizon. nothing but ocean in every direction. that shouldn't have surprised her. she knew that she was traveling overseas for this quest. but until today, their embarking on a journey to the lands hadn't seemed real. karina had never been outside the US before— except for the time she accidentally teleported to a small village in the amazon. (don't ask). now they were in the middle of the open sea, completely on their own, sailing to the mare nostrum, where all the scary monsters and nasty giants had come from. the romans might not follow them, but they couldn't count on any help from camp half-blood, either.