Blade's Edge || Deception Book II ||

Chapter 14: A Twist in the Web

I shielded my eyes against the last rays of light as the sun slowly dipped below the city skyline of Miami, Florida. 

We'd arrived in the harbour in the evening of June 10th, the same day that Alabaster and I had finally called a truce. 

Today was June eighteenth, which meant that we'd done nothing but stalk around the city for eight days. Eight days of patrolling the streets for any sign of Percy, lounging around the ship, sparring, and generally doing nothing. 

"My gods, how long are they going to take?" Nicole asked grumpily as she kicked a shower of sand up into the air. "It's been eight days. Eight. And they're still not out of the Sea of Monsters?" 

I rolled my eyes, doing my best to ignore the loud sounds of the city around us. "How many times do I have to tell you, time works differently in monster-y places? Eight days for us could very well seem like a couple for them." 

Nicole sighed in resignation. "I swear to the gods, if I have to stay another day in this city, I'm going to go insane. As a person from a very quiet town in Maine, I can't stand busy, bustling cities full of people, tourists-" she cut off suddenly, jumping aside to avoid the splash as a yellow taxi hurled by us "-and crazy taxi drivers," she finished, glaring at the rear lights of the car as it disappeared into the cramped streets among the cruise line docks. 

"Aren't you originally from Shenzhen?" I asked, glancing around for any sign of Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, or Grover. "Metropolitan places and crazy taxi drivers should be right up your alley." 

"Don't even get me started about China's traffic," Nicole grumbled. "You literally can't go anywhere. I made the mistake once of going on the subway during rush hour, and it's seriously unbelievable how cramped it is. I got flattened into a pancake." 

I snorted, sitting down on a bench beneath a palm tree, scanning the crowd of people milling about hopelessly for any signs of demigods. "No wonder." 

"Anything?" Luke's voice crackled over through the walkie-talkie in my pocket. "Anything at all?" 

"No," I replied. "Not a soul in sight." 

"Maybe you two should just come back," I heard Ally say. "I mean, if we can't spot them from the ship, then it's unlikely that you'll ever see them in the harbour." 

"Yeah, I suppose I-" I paused, glancing at Nicole, who had suddenly sat upright, her eyes alert. "Nicole?" 

"What's going on?" Luke asked, his voice crackling over the system. "Do you see them?"

Nicole didn't say anything, only nodding towards a nearby newspaper box. I followed her gaze, my eyes landing on a group of five teenagers, two girls and three boys, all of them dripping wet and looking like they'd just passed through a hurricane. 

From where we were sitting, about thirty meters away, I could clearly make out who they were. Percy. Annabeth. Grover. Tyson. And Clarisse. To make matters worse, Annabeth was carrying a red and gold letter jacket, but I wasn't fooled by the mist. They had the fleece. 

"Hello? Ri? Nicole?" Luke said. "Are you guys still there?" 

"Y-yeah," I replied, my eyes never leaving the group. Annabeth and Clarisse were arguing about something, and though I couldn't hear, it was obvious it was about getting the fleece back to camp. 

"Where are you guys right now?" Luke asked. I heard distant clanging noises in the background and knew he was arming up with Agrius, Orieus. 

I had to stall. No matter what, Luke could not get the fleece. But how was I going to throw him off when Nicole was literally sitting right next to me?