RIPTIDE - Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus, Pirate AU fanfic

4 | An Invitation

Piper laughed for the fourth time that today. Thinking back and remembering the scrawny, drunken man put her in a humorous mood. The thought of him captaining a ship was too much, she doubled over, clutching her stomach.

Finally she stood up straight and wiped the hair out of her face. Her hair was turning into dreads because Piper refused to take care of it. Whenever she felt like it she just threw it up into a ratty ponytail and ignored other people's comments.

But no matter how disgusting her hair was, the smoothness of her skin and whiteness of her teeth outshone every flaw.

She skipped down the streets of Castellan hoping that something fun might happen, and suddenly it did. With a loud crash and a burst of orange light Piper saw that a couple blocks away a building had caught on fire.

She stopped midstride with surprise and curiosity riddling her face. She dashed towards the vibrant colors and stopped when she ran into a crowd of people.

The people here must have been stupid, because it took a moment of the crowd gaping before even a thought of putting the fire out occurred to them.

She watched as the men of the town traveled back and forth between the stream and the burning building carrying pails of water to douse the fire. Piper also noted the elderly lady yelling furiously and threatening to string up the man who did this. She tried not to snicker.

She decided it was time to go and turned to leave, only to smack right into what felt like a tree. When she looked up she met the eye of an ominous man in a black coat.

The man grunted. "Watch where you're going."

For a moment she thought she recognized him. "Do I know you?" She hesitated to say more when the man turned to face her.

He looked like nothing she'd seen before, or perhaps, nothing she'd been a part of before. He bore the markings of a pirate, he wore an eyepatch over his left eye and looked upon her like a hawk looked upon a mouse. Piper shuddered.

The man studied her for a few moments and then locked eyes. "What's your name."

"Piper McLean, sir."

The man snickered. Why had she said sir? Her face was turning hot from embarrassment.

"Are you frightened by me?"

Piper finally snapped out of her daze. "No, of course not! Who do you think you are muckface."

The man smiled and slipped a hand into his coat pocket. A gun? Piper thought. No. He wouldn't take out a gun in such a crowded place. She watched as the man slipped out a small bronze plate, like a coin, and handed it to her. "If your interested in something of a more exciting nature, come to The Regal tonight. Ask for Beckondorf and give him this."

Piper took it from him. She fingered the bronze plate noting how smooth and shiny it was. She flipped the piece over and saw it was engraved with a skull and words ringing the coin. Those sent by death bear the burden of life itself.

"Hey what's your name-" When piper looked up the man was nowhere to be seen. A rippling effect sent a chill down her spine into her toes. She felt like she'd just been invited to a funeral.

🔱

Piper sat under the shade of a fig tree, unconsciously flipping the coin in her hand. Who was that man? And why had he invited her to such an exclusive event? He was a pirate, and a scary one at that. It looked as if he'd taken off a few fingers before while torturing his enemies.

The curiosity was enveloping her completely. What did this man have that made her want to die for whatever cause he was for. She pondered these thoughts deeply, just barely noticing the sun dipping below the rooftops of the town.

The evening bell rang and Piper's head shot up. The Regal was waiting for her.

She found the saloon quickly, it was one of the biggest buildings in upper Castellan. The inside was decked out in royal purple. Rugs hung on the walls for decoration and soundproofing, because by the look of it, several serious outside-of-the-law transactions were going down.

A couple of eyes followed her as she headed to the bar, she needed to find this Beckondorf fast. "Hey, can you steer me toward someone called Beckondorf?" The bartender pointed to the fall wall at a burly looking man with dark skin. "Uh, thanks."

She walked up to him as confidently as she could. "Uh... Are you Beckondorf." The man looked down, startled. "I have a-" Piper rummaged through her bag. Beckondorf's hand went to his belt. "No,wait. I have this!" Piper held up the coin.

Beckondorf's face tensed at the sight of the coin, but eventually relaxed. "Come with me."