•as the world caves in•

•an unexpected surpise•

We walked across the deck of the ship, passing by a ton of lifeboats. I desperately wanted to escape because I knew we were most likely monster food.

Suddenly, Tyson slammed himself against Oreius, knocking him off the deck and into a pool.

I turned and punched one of the guards in his face, Annabeth finishing him off with a kick. I turned to Percy, as alarms started wailing.

"Lifeboats!" He shouted, and we sprinted to the nearest one.

We pulled the cover off as monsters began to surround us. We jumped in and I tried to figure out how to launch it as a hellhound jumped at us, but Tyson knocked it away with a fire extinguisher.

"Cut the ropes!" I yelled as I struggled with the release pulley. "Percy, cut it!"

"Hold on!" He shouted as he slashed his sword and we fell into the sea. "Thermos!"

"What?" I screamed. He definitely lost it.

Tyson, however, happily gave him the thermos.

"Hang on!" Percy shouted.

"We are!"

"Tighter!"

He opened the thermos and wind shot out from it, sending us flying across the water until the Princess Andromeda disappeared.

With the water flying from the wind, we were able to send Chiron a brief Iris-Message, but we had poor connection and I'm pretty sure he was at a club. The only thing I could make out was something about Miami.

We spotted land an hour later, full of boats. Annabeth frowned. "That's Virginia Beach! How did the ship travel so far over night? That's like..."

"Five hundred and thirty nautical miles." Percy said.

We stared at him. Annabeth cocked her head. "How did you know that?"

"I... I don't know."

"Percy, what's our position?" I asked.

"36 degrees, 44 minutes north, 76 degrees, 2 minutes west." He said right away; then shook his head. "How did I know that?"

I shrugged. "Your dad. When you're at sea, you have perfect bearings. That's so cool!"

A coast guard ship started coming after us, and I knew we had to hide. Annabeth and I led Percy and Tyson to the hideout we had made with Luke and Thalia.

Percy looked around. "You don't think Luke will look for us here?"

I shook my head. "We made a dozen places like this. I doubt Luke even remembers where they are. Or cares for that matter."

Percy got Tyson to go get snacks and sat across from me, Annabeth searching her bag.

"Sorry you had to see Luke." He said.

"Not your fault," I muttered, fiddling around with my ring.

"He let us go too easily,"

I nodded. "I was thinking the same thing, probably Annabeth too. What we overheard him saying about a gamble, and 'they'll take the bait', I think he was talking about us."

"The Fleece or Grover?"

I studied the gem. "I dunno, Percy. Maybe he wants the Fleece for himself. Maybe he's hoping we'll do the hard work and then he can steal it from us. I just can't believe he would poison the tree."

"What did he mean that Thalia would've been on his side?"

"He's wrong."

"You don't sound sure."

Annabeth snapped. "Percy, shut up." She then returned to her knife.

"You know who you remind me of the most?" I asked. "Thalia. You guys are so much alike it's scary. I mean, either you would've been best friends or you would've strangled each other."

"Let's go with 'best friends.'" Percy suggested.

"Thalia got angry at her dad sometimes. So do you. Would you turn against Olympus because of that?"

"No."

"Then neither would she. Luke's wrong." I sighed. "I know what you're about to ask. Luke mentioned the real reason Thalia died. You can never trust a Cyclops."

Suddenly Tyson burst in. "Powered donuts!"

Annabeth stared at him. "Where did you get that? We're in the middle of the woods-"

"Fifty feet, Monster Donut shop just over the hill!"

•.•.•.•

"Why are we whispering?" Percy asked as we crouched before the shop. "Tyson went in and bought a dozen, nothing happened to him."

"He's a monster." Annabeth hissed. After more bickering between the two, she froze. "No. Sudden. Moves."

I knew it was a monster, and took my ring off, ready to fight, but knew I didn't need it yet. It was a Hydra, two heads tearing through one of our bags, the other tracing what I assumed was our scent.

"Scatter!" I yelled, knowing it was bound to find us any moment.

I dove to my right, barley missing an arc of a green liquid. Percy drew his sword and before Annabeth and I could stop him, he sliced a head off.

Suddenly, it had eight heads and I desperately wished I had some sort of fire power to make this easier. We backed into a river, where a strange noise began, sounding like a steam engine.

I didn't dare look, but a familiar voice shouted in the distance. "There! Prepare the thirty-two pounder!"

A male voice shouted, "they're too close, m'lady!"

"Damn the heroes! Full steak ahead!"

"Aye, m'lady."

"Fire at will, Captain!"

I could barley make out what was happening before Annabeth screamed; "Hit the dirt!" as we dropped down before a BOOM echoed and the Hydra exploded.

"Gross!" I groaned as I wiped weird green goo off of me.

We looked out towards the River, seeing a strange boat making its way to us. If history with Annabeth had taught me one thing, it would have to be that that boat was a Civil War Era boat.

I looked at the deck, seeing a flag waving, a boar and a spear on it colored red. The deck was covered with what looked like zombies or like the ghouls that stood in the Underworld.

Standing next to a smoking cannon, in full Greek armor, was the one and only Clarisse. She sneered down at us. "Losers. But, I suppose I have to rescues you. Come aboard."