Miss Quinn

50 ~ Monster Donut

"Thermos!" Percy screamed as they hurtled toward the water.

"What?" Annabeth must've thought he'd lost his mind. She was holding on to the boat straps for dear life, her hair flying straight up like a torch.

But Emma understood. She managed to open Percy's duffel bag and take out Hermes's magical thermos without losing her grip on it or the boat. Arrows and javelins whistled past them. Percy grabbed the thermos and Emma hoped he was doing the right thing.

"Hang on!" Percy yelled.

"I am hanging on!" Annabeth yelled back.

"Tighter!"

Emma hooked her feet under the boat's inflatable bench, and as Tyson grabbed Annabeth and Percy by the backs of their shirts, Percy gave the thermos cap a quarter turn. Instantly, a white sheet of wind jetted out of the thermos and propelled the boat sideways, turning the 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 they hit the ocean, the boat bumped once, twice, skipping like a stone, then they were whizzing along like a speed boat, salt spray in their faces and nothing but sea ahead.

Emma heard a wail of outrage from the ship behind them, but they 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 they raced over the sea, Annabeth and Emma tried to send an Iris-message to Chiron. They figured it was important to let somebody know what Luke was doing, and they 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 their connection was still poor.

When Annabeth 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. The two girls 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 their end, Emma wasn't 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!"

The music got cranked up, subwoofers so loud it made the boat vibrate.

"—Miami," Chiron was yelling. "I'll try to keep watch—" The misty screen smashed apart like someone on the other side had thrown a bottle at it, and Chiron was gone.

An hour later they 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 they 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.

She stared at him. "How did you know that?"