𐌙/𐌍 Ᏽ𐌵𐌀𐌋𐌄 & 𐌕𐋅𐌄 Ᏽ𐌐𐌄𐌀𐌕 𐌌𐌙𐌕𐋅𐌔 ¹

Chapter 9

Nine
𖧷

Worst Family Meeting EVER AFTER

  Annabeth volunteered to go alone since she had the cap of invisibility, but I convinced her it was too dangerous. Either we all went together, or nobody did.

  "Nobody!" Tyson voted. "Please?"

  But in the end he came along, nervously chewing on his huge fingernails. We stopped at our cabins long enough to gather our stuff. We figured whatever happened, we would not be staying another night aboard the zombie cruise ship, even if they did have million-dollar bingo. I made sure my mother's gifts were all safely strapped around my wrists and the vitamins and thermos from Hermes were at the top of my bag. I didn’t want Tyson to carry everything, but he insisted, and Annabeth told me not to worry about it. Tyson could carry four full duffel bags over his shoulder as easily as I could carry a backpack.

  We sneaked through the corridors, following the ship’s YOU ARE HERE signs toward the admiralty suite. Annabeth scouted ahead invisibly. We hid whenever someone passed by, but most of the people we saw were just glassy-eyed zombie passengers.

  As we came up the stairs to deck thirteen, where the admiralty suite was supposed to be, Annabeth hissed, "Hide!" and shoved us into a supply closet.

  I heard a couple of guys coming down the hall.

  "You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" one of them said.

  The other laughed. "Yeah, it’s awesome."

  Annabeth was still invisible, but she squeezed me under her hug harder. I got a feeling I should know that second guy’s voice.

  "I hear they got two more coming," the familiar voice said. "They keep arriving at this rate, oh, man–no contest!"

  The voices faded down the corridor.

  "That was Chris Rodriguez!" Annabeth took off her cap and turned visible. "You remember–from Cabin Eleven."

  I sort of recalled Chris from the summer before. He was one of those undetermined campers who got stuck in the Hermes cabin because his Olympian dad or mom never claimed him. Now that I thought about it, I realized I hadn’t seen Chris at camp this summer. "What’s another half-blood doing here?"

  Annabeth shook her head, clearly troubled.

  We kept going down the corridor with Annabeth gripping the side of my shirt to keep herself calm. I didn’t need maps anymore to know I was getting close to Luke. I sensed something cold and unpleasant–the presence of evil, and the smell of fresh blood.

  "(y/n)." Annabeth stopped suddenly. "Look."

  She stood in front of a glass wall looking down into the multistory canyon that ran through the middle of the ship. At the bottom was the Promenade–a mall full of shops–but that’s not what had caught Annabeth’s attention. And oh boy, I wish that was it.

  A group of monsters had assembled in front of the candy store: a dozen Laistrygonian giants like the ones who’d attacked me and Percy with dodge balls, two hellhounds, and a few even stranger creatures–humanoid females with twin serpent tails instead of legs.