Return of the Disgraced Archangel

Hercules

     The sound of another ship's horn woke everyone up the next morning. A sound so loud it knocked Piper out of bed.

     Everyone except for Percy and Zoë burst onto the deck to get mad at Leo for playing a trick on them, but when he came out onto deck, wearing singed clothes implying he had set himself on fire, looking just as tired and frustrated as everyone else, they were confused. They all looked around, before Percy came onto the deck and sighed. Zoë followed behind him.

     "It's a cruise ship, guys." He said, pointing at a passing cruise ship. Passengers were waving at the demigods. They hesitantly waved back.

     "Leo, where are we?" Hazel asked.

     "The mouth of the Mediterranean." Zoë said. She pointed over to a mountain. "That's the Rock of Gibraltar, at the tip of Spain." She pointed more south. "That's Africa over there."

     "So, what? Do we just sail in?" Leo asked.

     "Why not? Ships come in and out of here all the time." Frank said.

     "In the 'ancient' days, this area was known as the Pillars of Hercules." She spit out the ancient hero's name. "The Rock of Gibraltar was one pillar, with one of the African mountains as the other."

     "Hercules, huh?" Leo asked. "That guy was like the Starbucks of Ancient Greece. Everywhere you looked, he was there."

     "If Starbucks sold douches instead of coffee, sure." Percy muttered.

     "What?" Jason asked.

     "Hercules was a huge asshole. Super arrogant, womanizer like his father. He was the big bad bully on the playground."

     "So, do his pillars pose a threat to us?" Piper asked.

      "The pillars themselves, no. They more represented the edge of the known world. There was an inscription— Non Plus Ultra. Nothing Further Beyond."

     "So, again, do I just sail in?" Leo asked.

     "Hold on." Jason held up a hand. "Was that piece of land always there?" He asked, pointing into the sea.

     Where he was pointing, a land mass had risen out of the sea. Looking like a beach out of the Bahamas, the sand was white. Two Greek marble columns rose out of the sand. Standing in between them was a man wearing a golden lion's pelt.

     A flame started to lick Percy's hand.

     "It's him. H-" Piper was interrupted by Percy.

     "Hercules." He grit out of his teeth.

     "So, what do we do? Because I'm not hearing a lot of talks about a course of action." Leo asked.

     "Zoë and I will go ashore, and request access." Percy said. "With luck, we'll get back before his arrogance causes another tragedy."

     Percy and Zoë jumped off of the ship and let their wings catch the wind. They glided down, before touching down on the soft sand of the beach. He folded his wings behind him and stuck his hands in his pockets.

     He hated to admit it, but Hercules looked pretty well. The dude looked good. His feet were buried in the sand. He wore a purple cloak underneath the lion's cloak. His beard was scruffy, like a 'he hadn't shaved in two days, but he still looked awesome with it' kind of way.

     His black hair was buzzed down. His eyes shone light blue, like Jason's. Immortality was treating him well, he still looked twenty.

     A club laid in the sand next to him. It was basically a large baseball bat, made of mahogany, with a handle wrapped in leather and studded in gold.