σɾɳιƚԋαʂ (ρʝσ x ɱαʅҽ σƈ)

I Meet a Certain Blonde Bastard

Theo's POV

The stateroom was beautiful, and it was horrible at the same time.

The beautiful part: Huge windows curved along the back wall, looking out over the stern of the ship. Green sea and blue sky stretched all the way to the horizon. A Persian rug covered the floor. Two plush sofas occupied the middle of the room, with a canopied bed in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other. The table was loaded with food--pizza boxes, bottles of soda, and a stack of roast beef sandwiches on a silver platter.

The horrible part: On a velvet dais at the back of the room lay a ten-foot-long golden casket. A sarcophagus, engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dying grisly deaths. Despite the sunlight streaming through the windows, the casket made the whole room feel cold.

Luke: Well. A little nicer than Cabin Eleven, huh?

He'd changed since the last summer. Instead of Bermuda shorts and a Tshirt, he wore a button-down shirt, khaki pants, and leather loafers. His sandy hair, which used to be so unruly, was now clipped short. He looked like an evil male model, showing off what the fashionable college-age villain was wearing to Harvard this year.

He still had the scar under his eye-a jagged white line from his battle with a dragon. And propped against the sofa was his magical sword—which Percy told me Luke called Backbiter—glinting strangely with its half-steel, half-Celestial bronze blade that could kill both mortals and monsters.

Theo: I like it. It really reflects your bitch-ass personality.

Luke: (chuckles) Nice to see you haven't changed much, Theo. Sit.

He waved his hand and four dining chairs scooted themselves into the center of the room.

None of us sat.

Luke's large friends were still pointing their javelins at us. They looked like twins, but they weren't human. They stood about eight feet tall, for one thing, and wore only blue jeans, probably because their enormous chests were already shag-carpeted with thick brown fur. They had claws for fingernails, and feet like paws. Their noses were snout-like, and their teeth were all pointed canines.

Luke: Where are my manners? These are my assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them.

No one said anything. I've wanted to beat the ever-loving shit out of Luke for a whole year. But now that he was right in front of me, I couldn't stop my hand from shaking.

Luke: You don't know Agrius and Oreius's story? Their mother ... well, it's sad, really. Aphrodite ordered the young woman to fall in love. She refused and ran to Artemis for help. Artemis let her become one of her maiden huntresses, but Aphrodite got her revenge. She bewitched the young woman into falling in love with a bear. When Artemis found out, she abandoned the girl in disgust.

I clenched my fists, trying to stop myself from lunging at Luke and punching that nasty scar right off his face.

Luke: Typical of the gods, wouldn't you say? They fight with one another, and the poor humans get caught in the middle. The girl's twin sons here, Agrius and Oreius, have no love for Olympus. They like half-bloods well enough, though...

Agrius: For lunch.

His brother Oreius laughed, licking his fur-lined lips. He kept laughing like he was having an asthmatic fit until Luke and Agrius both stared at him.

Agrius: Shut up, you idiot! Go punish yourself!

Oreius whimpered. He trudged over to the corner of the room, slumped onto a stool, and banged his forehead against the dining table, making the silver plates rattle.