A Leap of Faith (Percy Jackson and the Olympians)

9

It only took an hour into their journey south for them to see a stretch of land. They sped into waters populated by fishing boats and tankers. They even passed a coastguard who looked at them with confusion and surprise. Astri had to refrain from waving hello to him with a grin on her face.

"That's Virginia Beach!" Annabeth perked up when she gave their surroundings a proper look. "Oh, my gods, how did the Princess Andromeda travel so far overnight? That's like—"

Percy cut her off, "Five hundred and thirty nautical miles."

"How did you know that?"

Percy looked surprised and answered that he wasn't sure how he knew. Astri simply nodded when Annabeth looked at her with surprise and confusion. They were actually five hundred and thirty-three nautical miles from Long Island, but she wasn't going to say that.    

"Percy, what's our position?" Annabeth asked carefully after a moment of thinking, her grey eyes narrowed slightly.

"36 degrees, 44 minutes north, 76 degrees, 2 minutes west," he answered without missing a beat. His eyes widened and he shook his head. "Whoa. How did I know that?"

"Because of your dad," Annabeth guessed. "When you're at sea, you have perfect bearings. That is so cool."

He looked at Astri, his eyes still slightly wide, and she simply nodded. "It's true. Perfect bearings. You will always know where we are exactly in the sea, and you can recite that information at the drop of a hat."

"Other boat is coming," Tyson said, and they all looked to see the coast guard speeding towards them.

Astri muttered a curse with annoyance under her breath. She really disliked mortals sometimes. Especially those of some kind of authority. They were always so bugging, getting in the way, and making things a lot more difficult than they had to be. Just because the coast guard saw them going at least a hundred knots an hour with no engine and they were on a lifeboat manned by no proper adult did not mean the coast guard had to come and bug them.

What happened to the good old days when public safety didn't exist and people minded their own business?

"We can't let them catch us," Percy said, frowning. "They'll ask too many questions."

"Keep going into Chesapeake Bay," Annabeth instructed. "I know a place we can hide."

"I can always break their engine," Astri offered casually. "And throw them in the water."

Percy blinked. "How?"

She decided not to demonstrate, not wanting to freak them out. She opted for a brief explanation instead. "I can force their boat to stay in place. Their engine will strain and then overheat. Or I can send a subtle wave that will dramatically tilt their boat and flop them into the ocean."

Astri stuck her hand into the water, and she felt a mischievous smirk tugging at her lips. "It'll get them off our tail... buy us some time. I have not messed with mortals of power in a few decades."

Seeing the gleam in her eyes, Percy laughed, "I don't think we need to go that far. I'm all for throwing officers in the water, but I don't think we should cause any harm."

Removing her hand from the water, Astri rolled her eyes as Percy loosened the cap on the thermos more so that they sped up. "Chiron warned against having a little fun with mortals, didn't he?"

Demigods were stronger and faster than mortals, even those who had no manifestation of powers like Annabeth. They were half-god, and so it was only natural that demigods would be stronger than a regular human. And those who did have actual powers had a very dangerous advantage.