𝙩𝙪 𝙢𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙨 - p. jackson [₂]

𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒊.

―✧―

"𝐆𝐔𝐘𝐒," 𝐏𝐈𝐏𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃.

immediately, percy and i were by her side.

piper was supposed to be on watch while the rest of us got geared up, so if she was calling us, something was up.

turns out that something, was snake people.

"oh, great," percy said. "dracaenae."

i narrowed my eyes, "nah, they don't look it. dracaenae have two serpent trunks for legs. these guys only have one."

"you're right," percy said. "these look more human on top, too. not all scaly and green and stuff. so do we talk or fight?"

i waited, trying to see what these snake dudes were up to.

the snake man in the middle held his head high. his face was chiselled and bronze, his eyes black as basalt, his curly dark hair glistening with oil. his upper body rippled with muscles, covered only by a greek chlamys — a white wool cloak loosely wrapped and pinned at the shoulder. from the waist down, his body was one giant serpent trunk — about eight feet of green tail undulating behind him as he moved.

in one hand he carried a staff topped with a glowing green jewel. in his other, he carried a platter covered with a silver dome, like a main course for a fancy dinner.

the two guys behind him appeared to be guards. they wore bronze breastplates and elaborate helmets topped with horsehair bristles. their spears were tipped with green stone points. their oval shields were emblazoned with a large greek letter k — kappa.

they stopped a few yards from the argo ii. the leader looked up and studied the demigods. his expression was intense but inscrutable. he might have been angry or worried or terribly in need of a restroom.

"permission to come aboard." his raspy voice made me on edge.

"who are you?" i asked.

he fixed his dark eyes on me. "i am kekrops, the first and eternal king of athens. i would welcome you to my city." he held up the covered platter, "also, i brought a bundt cake."

piper narrowed her eyes at him, but spoke to me, "a trick?"

"probably," i agreed.

"at least he brought dessert." percy smiled down at the snake guys, "welcome aboard!"

kekrops agreed to leave his guards above deck with buford the table, who ordered them to drop and give him twenty push-ups. the guards seemed to take this as a challenge.

meanwhile, the king of athens was invited to the mess hall for a 'get to know you' meeting.

"please take a seat," jason offered.