The Lost Prince

⇀ twelve

FRANK SERIOUSLY THOUGHT that his life couldn't possibly get any weirder. Having a prohibited clandestine relationship with the Second Mate of the enemy ship? Sure, why not? Being a descendant of the Argonaut Periclymenus is sort of cool, right? But seeing two of the most cruel and gruesome pirates in the history of both the mortal and mythical worlds raise a white flag was just plain wrong.

"Hey, man."

The son of Mars nodded in acknowledgement at the direction of the speaker. His eyes were bloodshot and glazed over, as if he wasn't there mentally-which was practically true. His thoughts drifted elsewhere; quite specifically to a certain girl with beautiful golden eyes and curly brown hair.

"Ye look terrible, mate. Long day?" Luke Castellan asked as he plopped down uninvited onto the bunk of the Asian.

It was quite obvious. Dark bags circled the under part of his eyes. He looked beyond exhausted, and his usual cheery attitude had deplated days ago. Frank only mumbled in response.

"C'mon, Zhang, cheer up! I mean, the cap's gonna form a temporary truce with Skull Face because they both want to hunt down the slave boy and some sort of all-powerful ship."

"How d'you know?"

Luke winked at him, but there was some sort of uneasiness in his eyes. "I hear things, Zhang."

"Sure," Frank grumbled, but his eyebrows were furrowed with concentration. What in Mars was the actual reason as to why the two are suddenly collaborating? Had Nico di Angelo not declared his unadulterated hatred for the Grace siblings not seven weeks ago? Why the sudden change of heart?

"I'll just go and get some water," Frank said. He excused himself and left the sleeping area, closing the door behind him as silently as humanly possible.

The lack of information whilst being a demigod doesn't usually mix, so the Roman did the only thing he thought would be able to help appease his growing curiosity.

He turned into an ant.

———————

Thalia spewed curses left and right as she paced the length of her quarters, rubbing her temples every so often. She had only less than half an hour until she needed to be in the designated meeting area in time, and she was already starting to regret her decision. It was only the break of dawn when the older Grace sibling stormed out of the ship with two pirate-demigods in tow.

"Luke, watch my back." Thalia barked, not bothering to keep her voice down. "Phoebe, stay beside me at all times."

"Aye, ma'am."

The sun was slowly rising, turning the sky into a light pink colour. Not that the daughter of Zeus cared, but it was one of those rare moments wherein she was actually able to watch the gigantic star that illuminated the corrupted planet she lived in ascend steadily over the sea, casting a soft glow against her pale skin.

"Enjoying the birth of a new day, Captain Grace?"

"Di Angelo," Thalia replied stiffly, averting her gaze from the horizon. Beside him stood a tall, lean, tanned blond teenage boy and a burly, bloodthirsty-looking woman whose dark hair was tied up in a ponytail. "I see you do not trust to speak with me alone?"

"I see that you have trouble with doing so too," Nico snorted in reply. "So what is it you wish to do with the slave boy Jackson?"

"Straight to the point, eh?" the daughter of Zeus mused, her eyebrows raised slightly in surprise. "Well, since I was the invited one here, let me ask the questions first. Why do you wish to hunt down those who you aided not too long ago?"

The pale boy let out a soft sigh, his fingers drumming against his thigh. "We have many reasons,"

"You hesitated," Luke scowled, his hand resting on the holster of his pistol. The muscular girl from the small party of Nico did the same, only she had two.

"Stand down, Luke." the captain barked, slightly irritated. "We didn't come here to fight."

"She's right, you know." Phoebe said under her breath, and Luke let out an indignant huff of annoyance before crossing both arms over his chest.

"Moving on to more important matters," Nico said, unfazed. "The Titans are after him too."

Thalia almost choked on her own spit. "The-what?"

"Well, him and the blonde princess, that is." the teen beside the son of Hades added, nodding to himself. "They've both got some sort of value to the Titans,"

"You have got to be kidding me," the captain of the Aegis scowled. "You couldn't have volunteered this information before you rescued them from my ship? Or perhaps delivered them over to the said crew?"

The face of the other pirate flushed slightly. "I-I couldn't have brought myself to do it; I never worked that way,"

"And what was the cost of this?"

Di Angelo was silent for a few moments, his face eerily clear of emotions.

"My sister's life,"

Thalia's gaze dropped towards the floor. The Titans took Bianca di Angelo's life just for the slave and the princess. What if they would threaten to take Jason from her? But Bianca...Bianca had been a good friend to her. Innocent, lively, beautiful Bianca, now nothing more than a cold, lifeless, hollow corpse.

"I'm sorry," she croaked, and strangely, she meant it.

"She didn't deserve it," Nico spat, his tone venomous. "She never deserved to die like that."

A new sort of feeling blossomed in Thalia's chest. It felt peculiar, as it wasn't something she ever experienced before. She felt as if wolves were trying to claw their way out of her stomach, and up her throat. What was it called? Disgust? Pity? Sadness? She didn't know.

"We'll find him, Nico." the daughter of Zeus said solemnly. "We'll find him,"

She saw the taller blond from the male demigod's group slip his tanned hand onto the one of the pale boy's. She looked away as if nothing happened, and tried to ignore the faint feeling of tiny legs crawling up her hand.

***
I'm sorry that I haven't updated this in so long!! School is really stressful rn and writing is the only thing I can do to get my mind off things). See you guys soon (hopefully)!!
- Abby