A Pirate's Life For Me

Returning Home

"So who is this man?" Nico asked.

The Fates had taken up Reyna's (well, Annabeth's) offer with gusto. Apparently this man was someone they really wanted.

"Ladan Graeme evaded the Fates a number of years ago by some ritual he found in a book of dark incantations. My father believed it was given to him by some creatures spawned directly from Tartarus-"

"All creatures come directly from Tartarus." Leo frowned.

Annabeth shook her head. "No no, the deity. Not the place."

There was a murmur of understanding through the group, mixed with some nervous glances. Tartarus was a big enemy to make, and if someone was using magic he'd given them, they would be an extremely dangerous person.

"Anyways, he promised my stepmother to use other rituals in the book for her benefit if she gave him shelter, and she and my father have been allowing him to live in the castle ever since. I hated him from the moment I met him."

"So you want us to just walk into the city where we're still wanted for kidnapping, march right up to the palace, and demand that they hand over a protected man to us?" Jason snorted. "That will go well."

"No, not at all." Annabeth shook her head, grinning. "I'm saying that you show up, having gallantly rescued the poor princess from her captivity." She dramatically held a hand to her head, as if she were about to faint. "I'll testify to your help in saving me from an untimely demise at the hands of horrible people, and we should be fine. You'll be given the run of the castle, surely, and then we can find Ladan and make our escape."

"I hope you've got more to your plan than that." Thalia frowned. "Or it really won't go well."

"Well of course I'll have more than that, I just haven't fleshed out the details yet." Annabeth crossed her arms, glaring defiantly. 

Reyna intervened before it could become more aggressive. "How does everyone stand on this plan?"

She got a mix of responses, but everyone was positive about it.

Well, almost everyone. "What about me?"

Annabeth looked over at Piper as she played with her bracelet.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, won't they recognize me with the pirates? I think it's very clear that I'm not a prisoner." Piper looked down at herself. Her hands were calloused from using her knife and she was pretty scarred up. It was very obvious that she was used to the life of a pirate.

The princess was shrugging when she looked back up. "Odds are they won't even realize that you were my maidservant. They never really paid attention to you. Or you can revert to your attitude when you were my servant and we can pretend nothing ever happened. Either way they won't notice."

Piper didn't say anything, looking at her hands.

Reyna glanced around the group. "Any other issues? I think we will be able to pull this off, so long as we get a better plan put together. Objections?"

The crews glanced at each other, shaking their heads. Piper shifted herself a little farther back in the crowd, keeping her head down. Reyna didn't see her, but Jason did.

"If we're all in favor, we'll set sail for Athens. We should be there by tomorrow."

As the group dissipated, Jason followed Piper to the back deck. "What's wrong?"

She jumped, nearly taking a swing at him. "What- nothing!"

He raised his eyebrows. "Pipes."

Piper sighed and leaned on the back railing. "I don't know, Jason. I just... I don't know if I want to go back?"

"Why not?" He had a bit of an idea as to why, but he wanted to make sure.

"I just... I don't know! I like-" She looked at the wake the ship was beginning to leave as the sails went up. "I like being an individual. I like being recognized. Either way we do this, when we go back to the castle, I become no one. A nameless face, a background character with no consequence."

"You don't have to." Jason leaned on the railing next to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you don't have to go into the castle. You could stay on the ship." He chuckled. "It's actually a pretty good idea in my opinion, if we have someone on the ship we have someone who can get everything ready for us to run."

Piper paused, smiling slowly. "Fair point, Corsair... I'll talk to Reyna."