Percy Jackson and the Child of Victory (Annabeth Chase x Reader)

We Hitch A Ride With Dead Confederates

 "Thermos!" Percy screamed as we hurtled toward the water. "What!?" She was holding on to the boat straps for dear life, her hair flying straight up like a torch. But Tyson understood. He managed to open my duffel bag and take out Hermes's magical thermos without losing his grip on it or the boat.

Arrows and javelins whistled past us. Percy grabbed the thermos "Hang on!" "I am hanging on!" Annabeth yelled. "Tighter!" as Tyson grabbed Annabeth, Percy and me by the backs of our shirts, I gave the thermos cap a quarter turn. Instantly, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the thermos and propelled us sideways, turning our downward plummet into a forty-five-degree crash landing.

The wind seemed to laugh as it shot from the thermos, like it was glad to be free. As we hit the ocean, we bumped once, twice, skipping like a stone, then we were whizzing along like a speed boat, salt spray in our faces and nothing but sea ahead.

I heard a wail of outrage from the ship behind us, but we were already out of weapon range. The Princess Andromeda faded to the size of a white toy boat in the distance, and then it was gone. 

As we raced over the sea, Annabeth and I tried to send an Iris-message to Chiron. We figured it was important we let somebody know what Luke was doing, and we didn't know who else to trust. The wind from the thermos stirred up a nice sea spray that made a rainbow in the sunlight—perfect for an Iris-message—but our connection was still poor. 

When Annie threw a gold drachma into the mist and prayed for the rainbow goddess to show us Chiron, his face appeared all right, but there was some kind of weird strobe light flashing in the background and rock music blaring, like he was at a dance club. ".....is in a club, while were out here in the middle of the fucking ocean!?"

We told him about sneaking away from camp, and Luke and the Princess Andromeda and the golden box for Kronos's remains, but between the noise on his end and the rushing wind and water on our end, I'm not sure how much he heard.

"Percy," Chiron yelled, "you have to watch out for—" His voice was drowned out by loud shouting behind him—a bunch of voices whooping it up like Comanche warriors. "What?" Percy yelled.

"Curse my relatives!" Chiron ducked as a plate flew over his head and shattered somewhere out of sight. "Annabeth, you shouldn't have let Percy leave camp! But if you do get the Fleece—"

"Yeah, baby!" somebody behind Chiron yelled. "Woo-hoooooo!" "Omg, shut up! trying to save a tree here!" I screamed but the music got cranked up, subwoofers so loud it made our boat vibrate, I had to cover my ears. "—Miami," Chiron was yelling. "I'll try to keep watch—" Our misty screen smashed apart like someone on the other side had thrown a bottle at it, and Chiron was gone.

An hour later we spotted land—a long stretch of beach lined with high-rise hotels. The water became crowded with fishing boats and tankers. A coast guard cruiser passed on our starboard side, then turned like it wanted a second look. I guess it isn't every day they see a yellow lifeboat with no engine going a hundred knots an hour, manned by four kids.

"That's Virginia Beach!" Annabeth said as we approached the shoreline. "Oh my gods, how did the Princess Andromeda travel so far overnight? That's like—" "Five hundred and thirty nautical miles," Percy said. I stared at him. "How the fuck did you know that, dude?"

"I—I'm not sure." Annie thought for a moment. "Percy, what's our position?" "36 degrees, 44 minutes north, 76 degrees, 2 minutes west," he said immediately. "Exsqueeze me?"

"Whoa. How did I know that?" "Because of your dad," Annie guessed. "When you're at sea, you have perfect bearings. That is so cool." Tyson tapped my shoulder. "Other boat is coming." I looked back. The coast guard vessel was definitely on our tail now. Its lights were flashing and it was gaining speed.