The Mediterranean
Everyone was handed chores, with Piper and Jason going to the hull, Frank and Hazel moving to work on something around the bedrooms, Leo prescribed himself to work on Festus whilst Annabeth and Percy were sent to the deck. Kassandra was given the task of repainting parts of the ship.
After grabbing a can of paint and brush from the storage room, she made her way to the top floor to admire what work she needed to pull off exactly. Chase and Jackson were already scrubbing the floor with mops, so Kassandra made sure to avoid them since they seemed deep in conversation.
Looking around, there didn't seem to be anywhere that needed work. But she was sure Leo had told her the ship needed repainting, so where did he...
Sighing, the thought of what he could have meant came to her mind. Peering over the railing, she gazed down to the sight of the ship side scraped and battered, paint flaking off.
Did Leo seriously think she could fly? Did he think she could magically float in the air and repaint the whole ship?
"I've got an idea, but you may not like it," spoke the voice in her head.
She stumbled back caught off guard, before realising that it was just Hector.
"Really? And what's this idea then?"
A minute or so later, Kassandra found herself dangling off the rails of the ship with her ankles firmly held by the prince of Troy. She could just about reach the furthest point that needed to be painted if she stretched out far enough. Her dagger lay on the deck as she feared it would fall from its sheath and she'd lose it.
Now from anyone else's perspective, the goddess was floating mid-air overboard with a can of paint in one hand and a brush in the other. It was a shiny brown paint and, due to her terrible skills, some of it had gotten on her clothes and in her hair.
Hector was holding her with relative ease, for whilst Kassandra was a goddess she still weighed the same amount as a normal seventeen year old mortal girl. So he stood there just fine, occasionally switching to holding her with just one hand to test his strength.
The whole chore took around half an hour or so, by the time she was hauled back up the ship side was looking good as ever. After admiring her work, she looked around to discover that Percy and Annabeth were also finishing up their job of mopping the deck. Perfect. She waltzed on over to join them as Hector vanished to thin air.
"Nice work you two, perhaps I'll have dinner on this floor," she complimented, nodding her head.
"Thanks, we would have gotten it done sooner if someone hadn't been trying to instigate a water fight every three minutes," said Annabeth, glaring at Percy. However, there was a trace of a smile evident on her face as she said so.
The son of Poseidon awkwardly grabbed the back of his neck, nervously laughing. "Well now we have the rest of the day free, any ideas of what to do?"
"I'm sure you can go back to your dorms, or to the stables and resume what Frank interrupted," Kassandra grinned, the two blushing. But neither of them objected to the idea.
"Well I will go back to my dorm for a bit," said Percy after he cooled down from his red face. "See you down there wise girl?"
"Obviously sea-weed brain," responded Annabeth.
They both made way for the stairs down to their rooms, but whilst Percy began to march down the stairs, Annabeth found herself unable to move. With shock, she realised that her feet were shackled to the deck. Jackson, upon hearing the rattling of chains, turned to face the situation, but a look from Kassandra shot him down telling him to 'keep moving'.
With Percy gone, the two girls now stood opposite each other on the squeaky clean deck.
"What is this?" asked Annabeth, gesturing down to the chains that ensnared her.
"We need to talk. I still have respect for you of course after everything, so if you promise to stay up here with me for the duration of our conversation I'll take the chains off of you."
"Uhm, alright then," laughed Annabeth nervously, and the chains were gone.
Kassandra took a deep breath and made a silent prayer to both her mother and her father.
"I'll put it nice and simple. I saw what went down the day Luke died. And I know you saw my father bleeding out but didn't say anything. I just want to know why you did that, nothing more."
There was a moment of silence between them for a moment, where they could hear nothing but the wind and quiet sounds from below deck. It was as if the whole world had stopped, just for them. Chase broke that silence.
"I... I was scared," sobbed the girl, her eyes suddenly very wet. "Luke was there and I just... I just thought that... that-"
"Thought what?" snapped Kassandra.
"Thought that he would be okay! He's (Y/N) (L/N), the mortal turned god! He's always been okay and never needed any of us, but was always there for me and Percy and Grover and Clarisse and Chiron and the hunters and just everyone else! I had never seen him like that before; so broken. I was scared."
The goddess didn't know how exactly to react. She wanted to yell at Annabeth, expel her pent up anger over the whole situation. But it was wrong. Part of her knew it was wrong to bring up old wounds by even having this conversation. But the better half of her had gotten to her.
"Did you ever tell anyone? Or think back on it? Or even consider telling me?"
"Of course I think about it! It's the nagging bit in the back of my head that keeps me up at night, the part that plays in my nightmares if given the chance. I think about what I could have done to change that day even now."
She really was serious, Kassandra could see it on her face.
"Well then, that's all I needed. I heard that you guys met Gaia in his body as a vessel, which means he isn't lost. I expect your help in regaining him if what you've said to me is true."
Annabeth nodded eagerly. Kassandra swallowed back her emotion and stared out overboard. The fusion of her father and Gaia was somewhere out there, alongside Ichiro and Ikari. When she turned back around, she was alone on the deck.
Kassandra spent the rest of her day either training with Hector like normal or just tucked away in the storage room, occasionally handing items out to whoever came by. Her conversation with Annabeth was nothing big, it shouldn't have been anyway, but she was glad she had it. The air between them felt a little clearer on her end.
Night came, night went as usual. She actually got an hour of clear sleep, but she was rudely awoken by the sound of a ship horn.
She had been sleeping in the most awkward position possible, tumbling out of the cupboard sized room and into the hallway where she collapsed on the floor in a heap. If Valdez was responsible for this she'd drag him overboard for a dip in the sea.
Scampering up to the deck, she found everyone had already gathered, hastily dressed with the exception of Hedge.
Frank's Winter Olympics shirt was inside out. Percy wore pajama pants and a bronze breastplate, Hazel's hair was all blown to one side as though she'd walked through a cyclone; and Leo had accidentally set himself on fire. His T-shirt was in charred tatters. His arms were smoking.
About a hundred yards to the ships left (port, but Kassandra doesn't know sailing terminology), a massive cruise ship glided past. Tourists waved at them from fifteen or sixteen rows of balconies. Some smiled and took pictures. None of them looked surprised to see an Ancient Greek trireme. Maybe the Mist made it look like a fishing boat, or perhaps the cruisers thought the Argo II was a tourist attraction.
The cruise ship blew its horn again, and the Argo II had a shaking fit.
Hedge plugged his ears. "Do they have to be so loud?"
"They're just saying hi," Frank speculated.
"WHAT?" Hedge yelled back.
The ship edged past them, heading out to sea. The tourists kept waving. If they found it strange that the Argo II was populated by half-asleep kids in armour and pajamas and a man with goat legs, they didn't let on.
Mortals were weird that way.
"Bye!" Leo called, raising his smoking hand.
"Can I man the ballistae?" Hedge asked.
"No," Leo said through a forced smile.
Hazel rubbed her eyes and looked across the glittering green water. "Where are- oh... Wow."
Following the daughter of Pluto's view, Kassandra had a similar reaction. Without the cruise ship blocking their view, she saw a mountain jutting from the sea less than half a mile to the north; a fist of blinding white rock thrust into the sky.
On one side, the limestone cliffs were almost completely sheer, dropping into the sea over a thousand feet below. On the other side, the mountain sloped in tiers, covered in green forests and vegetation.
"The Rock of Gibraltar," Annabeth said in awe. "At the tip of Spain. And over there—" She pointed south, to a more distant stretch of red and ochre hills. "That must be Africa. We're at the mouth of the Mediterranean."
Had they really travelled that far already? It didn't feel like it had been that long, yet it clearly had been. She wondered whether her father had been here before, seen the pillars of the Mediterranean and marvelled at them the way she was now. How much of the world had he really seen?
"What now?" Piper asked. "Do we just sail in?"
"Why not?" Leo said. "It's a big shipping channel. Boats go in and out all the time."
"The monsters in there are ten times anything to be found in America, and there's a good chance the summoner Ichiro is somewhere in there. Are you guys sure we want to be charging in?"
"It's not like we have much of a choice, we have to go save Nico as soon as we can," said Jason.
The goddess only saw it in her peripheral, but she could have sworn to have sighted Hazel with a small smile on her face. It was nice that the two had made amends after their little scuffle over the son of Hades. Annabeth definitely looked different since their talk had a look on her face too, but it was the look when she was anticipating trouble.
"In the old days," Chase said, "they called this area the pillars of Hercules. The Rock was supposed to be one pillar. The other was one of the African mountains. Nobody is sure which one."
"Hercules, huh?" Percy frowned. "That guy was like the Starbucks of Ancient Greece. Everywhere you turn- there he is."
A thunderous boom shook the Argo II, though Kassandra worryingly wasn't sure where it came from this time. There weren't any other ships, and the skies were clear so Zeus was out of the question.Her mouth suddenly felt a little more dry.
"So... these Pillars of Hercules. Are they dangerous?"
Annabeth stayed focused on the white cliffs. "For Greeks, the pillars marked the end of the known world. The Romans said the pillars were inscribed with a Latin warning-"
"Non plus ultra," Percy said.
Annabeth looked stunned. "Yeah. Nothing Further Beyond. How did you know?"
Percy pointed. "Because I'm looking at it."
Directly ahead of them, in the middle of the straits, a beautiful island had shimmered into existence. Either one of two things had happened; Kassandra had hit her head in the storage room too hard or that island had just appeared from nowhere.
It was a small hilly mass of land, covered in forests and ringed with white beaches. Not very impressive compared to Gibraltar, but in front of the island, jutting from waves about a hundred yards offshore, were two white Greek columns as tall as the Argo's masts. Between the columns, huge silver words glittered underwater- maybe an illusion: NON PLUS ULTRA.
"Guys, do I turn around?" Leo asked nervously. "Or..."
No one answered, as they had all collectively sighted a figure on the beach. A dark-haired man in purple robes, his arms crossed, staring intently at their ship as if he were expecting them. He didn't look like he was in a very good mood. She had seen this guy before, or at least posters of him on Olympus. His name was treated very differently during her time with the hunters.
Frank inhaled sharply. "Could that be-?"
"Hercules," Jason said. "The most powerful demigod of all time." The Argo II was only a few hundred yards from the columns now.
"Need an answer," Leo said urgently. "I can turn, or we can take off. The stabilisers are working again. But I need to know quickly-"
"Don't turn around, I just have to see this," grinned Kassandra. She wanted to see what all the hype was about, whether or not he deserved the Hunters slander or Olympian praise. "Plus, if that really is the mortal turned god we can't get past him without confronting him."
"Won't Hercules be on our side?" McLean asked hopefully. "I mean... he's one of us, right?"
Jason grunted. "He was a son of Zeus, but when he died, he became a god. You can never be sure with gods."
Kassandra glared at the back of his head, and he must have felt it because he very sheepishly turned around with a nervous look on his face. "Uhh, sorry. Most gods."
"Yeah, I'm always listening Grace," she muttered loud enough for him to hear.
"We can take him! Seven demigods, a satyr and a goddess!" cheered Hedge a little too motivated.
"I've got a better idea," Annabeth said. "We send ambassadors ashore. A small group—one or two at most. Try to talk with him."
"I'll go," Jason said. "He's a son of Zeus. I'm the son of Jupiter. Maybe he'll be friendly to me."
"Or maybe he'll hate you," Percy suggested. "Half brothers don't always get along."
Jason scowled. "Thank you, Mr. Optimism."
"It's worth a shot," Annabeth said. "At least Jason and Hercules have something in common. And we need our best diplomat. Somebody who's good with words."
All eyes turned to Piper.
Kassandra was half motivated to nominate herself, but after properly thinking about the situation went against it. Her presence could escalate things to an unwanted level, and if what the hunters said was true... She'd rather not think about it. So McLean seemed to be the next best option.
"Fine," said Piper. "Just let me change my clothes."
Leo anchored the Argo II between the pillars, and Jason summoned the wind to carry himself and Piper off to the island. A true blonde superman.
"Now wait a second, how come we aren't sending in the goddess here?" asked Leo. "She's worth at least 10 Franks!" he said, and the mentioned son of Mars did nothing but roll his eyes.
"Because Heracles is supposed to be a scummy guy. At least from what the hunters and my parents told me a while back. He's strong but shallow underneath all that. I imagine that it's for the best we don't cross paths, especially because I'm a goddess-in-training."
"Shouldn't we have told them that then?" wondered Leo. "That Heracles isn't the happiest tool in the box?"
"Ehh, I'm sure it'll all work out fine, charm speak and all that. Plus, this means we have some down time, so you guys can find me up in the crows nest taking in the glorious Mediterranean sun."
There was no opposition to that, and soon enough everyone still on deck disbanded to go do their own thing whilst Jason and Piper dealt with Heracles.
Kassandra spent her time enjoying the warm sun, Percy stayed up on deck staring out to sea probably thinking about fish-men, Hazel and Frank took off to the mess hall, Leo moved back to the command room messing with the control board and Annabeth returned to her dorm. She let her hair down, undoing her bun to let it tumble down to her shoulders.
The daughter of Athena had spent the last few days in her cabin, cross legged on her desk researching more into the bronze map from her mother on her Daedalus computer. That was exactly what she was doing whilst Kassandra sat up in the crows nest.
Chase could still remember being gifted the prized possession. Back when (Y/N) was still around...
She found herself being reminded of him more and more everyday by the smallest things. Her own guilt was strangling her and she really needed to stop it. What Kassandra had told her was true, she needed to help her in reclaiming the god of demigods from Gaia's grip. For now though, she shook her head and got back to working.
All paths so far into her research had been dead ends, she was praying for some sort of breakthrough that never seemed to come. She was sure Malcolm would be able to help her see whatever it was that she was missing.
As Chase rocked back and forth on her bed, something began to stir in her mind. The demigod sense of danger began to fire off like an alarm in her head, warning her of danger. But just as she looked up from her screen, she was too late to react.
From nowhere a hand clamped over her mouth and she found herself slammed down onto the bed, restrained.
"Easy now Annabeth Chase, you're valuable cargo."
Annabeth could still twist her head, and to her horror standing over her was the robed figure of the summoner Ichiro in his ceremonial robes. The character keeping her down was a young laistrygonian giant who barely fit into the confines of the room. Ichiro must have entered without her knowing and then brought in the monster.
The giant growled in her face, spit flying from its mouth and splattering on her face. Ichiro grimaced.
"Take your revolting hand off her mouth and let her speak beast. You're disgusting."
The giant huffed, but did submit and pulled its hand from the daughter of Athena's face. However it still kept her down by holding her at the stomach. Gasping for air, Annabeth blinked rapidly and shook her hair from her face. However, whenever she did so more hair just rolled down and covered her face.
Ichiro stared at the situation on the bed and rolled his eyes.
"Hey, if I get rid of this guy here, will you promise not to start kicking and screaming?"
Considering all the ways this interaction could go, Chase nodded silently.
"Great."
With a snap of his fingers, the laistrygonian giant began to dissolve. It opened its mouth to roar, but by the time it could react the bottom half of its jaw was gone. Soon enough it was nothing more than dust and ash, and quickly drawn into the sleeves of Ichiro.
"That one's a meat-head, I'm sorry you had the displeasure of coming face to face with him. Here," he said, wiping her face rather aggressively with his robe.
"What... do you... want?" she asked, finally pushing away his arm.
"A talk, that's all. I've been around imbeciles and apes for so long I figured it would be nice to engage someone who knows up from down."
Annabeth narrowed her eyes at Ichiro. From what she had seen at Camp during his raid and heard from the Romans, she had no idea what to do for her next move. Attempting to alert anyone would probably get her killed, and there was no way to fight him, so she would have to act neutral for now and buy time.
"Talk about what?" she asked, holding her head high and sitting up against the dorm wall.
"Well I didn't really have anything in mind, but I suppose there is one topic that will enlighten both of us; your quest."
Immediately that caught her attention. "My quest?"
"Yes, your quest for the Athena Parthenos. Quite the challenging mission isn't it?"
Maybe there was something for Annabeth to gain from this conversation after all. Everything telling her that she should run away or reach for her dagger faded away. She was a daughter of the wisdom goddess, so Ichiro knew any offering of knowledge would be a hook to the girl.
"What do you know about it?"
"Well, I've met just about all of your siblings who have attempted it. None have ever succeeded, but you already know that. What you don't know however is what the real challenge is once you find the right location."
"Explain," demanded Annabeth.
"Well I won't disclose too much information since that would ruin the fun of the game, but I can tell you that you're going to go back to somewhere you've been before, and that the servants of Mithras are a pain in the minotaur. Actually that's making the minotaur sound better than he is."
"Servants of Mithras? The Roman god of the empire?"
"Yes, that one. Actually, I think it's more interesting if I leave it at that. The surprise for you will be plenty of entertainment."
"No, tell me more," she asked desperately.
"You're not really in a position to be making such demands Annabeth Chase," shut down Ichiro.
Accepting the defeat, she slumped back and blew a strand of blonde hair from her face. The way they both sat, with her on the bed and him at her desk, was weirdly casual, as if the two were friends. Then again, Ichiro never had real reason to despise the children of the gods, only their parents. And even then, young Miss Chase was a daughter of Athena, a goddess who never directly disrespected his name.
"How about this then as an alternative; I propose an offer for you. Now it may sound crazy, but hear me out first."
"Okay then, what's the deal."
"Well, we both understand the importance of intelligence in this world. The true power it holds over strength and powers. It's because of that fact I have the offer of you joining me."
"You work with Gaia, no way," shot down Annabeth straight away.
"Now now, you must hear me out first. It's true that I'm working with Gaia, she is my mother after all. However, that doesn't mean we're completely on the same page. She aims to level the world and build it anew, whereas I wish merely to tear down the gods. Think of it as the same vision as your old friend Luke, minus the titans."
At the mention of Luke, Annabeth clenched her teeth.
"Ahh yes, still a sore topic. But cast your mind to his dream; the only reason you never joined him was because of the Titans, and now I have a similar cause without what you hate. If anything, I should be asking why you haven't come to me to join."
"Because you want to kill demigods! You launched an assault on our camp that killed a camper, a child at that. So no, I don't side with murderers."
"I'll admit I lost a little control with my monsters, but you can trust me that if you join my side that will never happen again for the rest of the conflict between Gaia and Olympus. I am second only to her and will ensure it. And there is more I can give you besides words; access to knowledge from across the ages, your own personal legions of monsters to command and a place of power when Olympus falls."
Annabeth considered it, the deal was pretty tempting like the apple of Eden. Strength, power, intellect; the trifecta of might. She was redesigning Olympus, but what if she could redesign the world? A flashback to the sea of monsters hit her hard, back when she was 13 and naive still.
But if she accepted such a deal, that would mean turning on her friends, removing one less from the seven. They wouldn't be able to fulfill the prophecy.
"What would you do the rest of the seven? Would they be a part of this new world, or would you see them killed?"
"That would depend on several factors, including my brother, Gaia and the Romans. But if everything went well then I could ensure the majority come out of this all alive."
"The majority?"
"Yes. But only if you take my deal here and now. If not then I am afraid to say things will not go well."
There was silence in the cabin as Annabeth sat deep in thought. Whilst she did so, Ichiro grabbed a hair band from her desk and did his hair up. He liked it when Ganymede did his hair up and played with his soft hands. When this was all over they would retire to some foreign land where they wouldn't have to deal with any of the mess gods and titans and giants and primordials created.
Finally though, Annabeth had her response.
"If I deny you now, will you kill me?" she asked as if it was a simple question, like if he would get milk next time he was at the store.
"I'm not that much of a sore loser, so no. Besides, if I wanted to there will be time for that later when there would be more impact."
"Then I can't accept. My friends need me here, and even if I'll be targeted or picked out then at least I'll be with them."
Ichiro nodded his head. "That was what I was expecting really, you mortals are an interesting bunch. Prometheus really should have given you greater intellect in general. But nonetheless, I am pleased by our conversation."
Ichiro stood up from the desk and faced Annabeth.
"Now don't go telling anyone of this conversation, it can be between us. Until we meet again, daughter of Athena."
And with those words he teleported away.
Kassandra was lounging in the crows nest when the ship suddenly jolted forwards. She fell from her perch and into the nest, quickly scrambling up to see what was going on.
Jason and Piper were back on board, an odd looking horn in the hand of the daughter of Aphrodite. A huge wave rose from nowhere and began to barrel towards the island, probably the work of Jackson. The Argo was rising into the air, and soon enough they had left the water entirely.
Everyone seemed to be doing just fine from the looks of it, so she figured there would be no harm done in getting a little longer amount of sun. It was so warm and gentle, Kassandra stretched herself out like a cat in the nest. She could understand why people got sun burns, it was just impossible to move.
"Just a few more minutes," she mumbled to herself, before her eyelids went slack and she began to snore very quietly.
Kassandra knew she was dreaming straight away, because instead of opening her eyes to the warm sun she was greeted by a gloomy tunnel devoid of light besides a few lanterns.
"Greetings," spoke a voice behind her.
She spun around, and to her irritation there stood Ichiro. He seemed slightly leaning more on one leg than the other and a little more pale than usual.
"You!" she demanded, pointing at him, "Why have you brought me here, where are we?"
"I'll give you three guesses and a hint every time you get it wrong to guess where we are."
The two stared at each other for a minute, wondering to herself is this was seriously happening. Was this the same guy who would massacre teenagers because he felt like it? Eventually though, Kassandra gave in. She looked around for any clues of her location, but found none.
"Italy?"
"Nope. Hint one, you've never been here before."
"France?"
"Nope. Hint two, it's home to the greatest wonder of the ancient world."
"Iraq?"
"Yes! Wait no, did you just say Iraq?"
"Well yeah, hanging gardens of Babylon obviously. What are you thinking of?"
"The Acropolis, Athens! Damn, you really are different compared to your father. Do you really think the hanging gardens are better than the Acropolis?"
"Well yeah, have you not seen the- Hey, you're getting me off track, what are we doing here?"
"Of course, this is a conversation for another time. As to why you're here, I don't know."
"But you brought me here, did you not?"
"Not at all," said Ichiro, throwing his hands up in the air. "Your form simply just manifested before me. I had assumed you had air travelled here, but the glowing form you've taken indicated this isn't a physical body."
Looking down at herself, he was indeed telling the truth. Her skin glowed a pale white aura, including her jeans and camp shirt she had sort of stolen from Annabeth.
"So since it's you who has come to me, I flip the question upon you; what are you doing here, Kassandra (L/N)?"
"I... I'm not sure. I just kind of fell asleep and appeared here..."
"Well, I've experienced that sort of thing before."
Flashback
Ichiro was settling in for a sleep, something he didn't do often as he didn't need to rest. But he had decided to do so today for no particular reason.
Pulling up his covers and stretching out, he spread his limbs out to the corners of his king sized bed and fell to Hypnos. He could mask his presence even when sleeping so well to the point that even the god of dreams could not detect when he was in his domain.
As he closed his eyes though, something felt amiss. There was a sudden ruffle in the sheets as if something was moving. When he opened his eyes, he looked over to see Ganymede sleeping peacefully beside him.
At first he thought nothing of it and closed his eyes once more, but after remembering where he just was arose again.
Flashback over
"Air travel is an instinct when you use it too often, as have I recently. I suppose the same can be said for you, or you've started using the technique for the fist time across major distances."
Thinking back to her jump across the Atlantic to the Argo which took her a day or so, she simply nodded in response.
"Yes, well I imagine that the body starts to act upon the will of the subconscious, taking you to wherever you dream of being."
That would definitely explain his trip to Ganymede's bedroom up on Olympus, but didn't give an answer exactly to why Kassandra now stood before him.
"So tell me, is there some reason deep down you wish to be here?"
Kassandra thought for a moment and scoured her mind for some possible odd reason to want to be in the presence of the villain that called itself Ichiro. She couldn't really find one.
"I don't know."
"Well there has to be some reason," huffed the summoner. "Perhaps you wished to join my side?"
"Maybe in your dreams. Now I ask you, what are you doing in a dingy, dark cave?"
"This isn't just any dark dingy cave, it's a sacred dark dingy cave. Home to beings older than Rome itself, beings that I must subdue if certain plans are to fall into fruition."
Despite not physically being there, she could still smell the air, and it reeked. It smelled of sewage and waste and... some musky, unknown smell she just couldn't place her finger on.
"Well it smells like the pegasi stables in here, so you enjoy subduing the natives whilst breathing this in," she responded, gesturing to the air around her.
"I will. Oh, and I hope you enjoy the little surprise I've sent your way, an introduction to the Mare Nostrum. Now bye!" he said all too gleefully, waving as her vision went dark and she lost connection to her spiritual form.
When Kassandra woke up, it was to the sound of Hedge yelling down on the ship deck. It was a foggy morning from what she could tell, very early in the day still. She peered over the side of the crows nest, but instantly pulled back. Down below, the crew of the Argo was being restrained by dolphin-men, and Hedge was being gagged. Frank was out of sight though. It was quite the odd view.
Just about sneaking her eyes over to watch the scene unfold, she could see a warrior in gold facing Percy, who was back-to-back with Annabeth. The warrior stood just at the right angle so he was mostly hidden behind Jackson, but she could see typical Greek armour and a golden mask that resembled the face of a gorgon.
"Fine!" Percy shouted, so loudly that he got everyone's attention. "Take us away, if our captain will let you."
Captain? As in Valdez? Leo was currently being held down there along with the rest of the crew looking pretty unarmed right now, so she wondered what Jackson's plan was.
"What captain? My men searched the ship. There is no one else," barked the golden warrior.
Percy raised his hands dramatically. "The god appears only when he wishes. But he is our leader. He runs our camp for demigods. Doesn't he, Annabeth?"
Annabeth was quick. "Yes!" She nodded enthusiastically. "Mr. D! The great Dionysus!"
A ripple of uneasiness passed through the dolphin-men. One dropped his sword."Stand fast!" the warrior bellowed. "There is no god on this ship. They are trying to scare you."
"You should be scared!" Percy looked at the pirate crew with sympathy. "Dionysus will be severely cranky with you for having delayed our voyage.He will punish all of us. Didn't you notice the girls falling into the wine god's madness?"
Hazel and Piper were sitting on the deck, staring at Percy, but when he glared at them pointedly, they started hamming it up, trembling and flopping around like fish. The dolphin-men fell over themselves trying to get away from their captives.
"Fakes!" golden boy roared. "Shut up, Percy Jackson. Your camp director is not here. He was recalled to Olympus. This is common knowledge."
"So you admit Dionysus is our director!" Percy said.
"He was," the captive corrected. "Everyone knows that."
Percy gestured at the golden warrior like he'd just betrayed himself. "You see? We are doomed. If you don't believe me, let's check the ice chest!"
Percy stormed over to the magical cooler. No one tried to stop him. He knocked open the lid and rummaged through the ice. There had to be one. Please. He was rewarded with a silver and-red can of soda. He brandished it at the dolphin warriors as if spraying them with bug repellent.
"Behold!" Percy shouted. "The god's chosen beverage. Tremble before the horror of Diet Coke!"
The dolphin-men began to panic. They were on the edge of retreat. How the hell was Jackson managing this?
"The god will take your ship," Percy warned. "He will finish your transformation into dolphins, or make you insane, or transform you into insane dolphins! Your only hope is to swim away now, quickly!"
"Ridiculous!" the warrior's voice turned shrill. He didn't seem sure where to level his sword- at Percy or his own crew.
"Save yourselves!" Percy warned. "It is too late for us! I swear it on the Styx that a god walks on this boat!"
The sky thundered but nothing came of it, leading to many of the dolphin-pirates beginning to drop their weapons. Kassandra restrained herself from giggling too loud and blowing her cover.
Then he gasped and pointed to a spot hidden from Kassandra's view. "Oh, no! Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin!" Nothing happened."I said," Percy repeated, "Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin!"
Frank stumbled out of nowhere, making a big show of grabbing his throat.
"Oh, no," he said, like he was reading from a teleprompter. "I am turning into a crazy dolphin."He began to change, his nose elongating into a snout, his skin becoming sleek and grey. He fell to the deck as a dolphin, his tail thumping against the boards.
The pirate crew disbanded in terror, chattering and clicking as they forgot the captives, ignored their leaders orders, and jumped overboard. In the confusion, Annabeth moved quickly to cut the bonds on Hazel, Piper, and Coach Hedge.Within seconds, the golden warrior was alone and surrounded.
Percy and his friends had no weapons except for Annabeth's knife and Hedge's hooves, but the murderous looks on their faces evidently convinced the golden warrior he was doomed. Kassandra leapt down from the crows nest to join them and pointed a finger gun at the pirate, her fingertip glowing gold.
He backed to the edge of the rail. "This isn't over, Jackson," the pirate growled. "I will have my revenge-"
Kassandra was feeling a little too trigger happy, as she fired her shot slightly off course at the golden boys face. It just skimmed past his ear, but still had enough force to nip his ear and force the golden mask from his face.
He screamed, instantly covering his face with his arms and tumbling into the water.They all ran to the rail, but he was gone. The ex-huntress blew her fingertip as if it were smoking like a gun.
"That was brilliant!" Annabeth kissed Percy, and he went about as red as a flag of Ares.
"It was desperate,"Percy corrected. "And we need to get rid of this pirate trireme."
"Burn it?" Annabeth asked.
Percy looked at the Diet Coke in his hand. "No. I've got another idea."
In no time at all Kassandra found herself hauling crates back down below deck, reorganising the storage room and cleaning the deck. She assisted in healing Leo and Jason who were slightly injured, but from a glance anyone could tell that the son of Jupiter's pride was hurt above anything else.
Coach Hedge had a field day on the enemy ship, breaking everything he could find with his baseball bat whilst Percy and Frank got the weapons and armour left behind back onto the pirate ship. Surprisingly, Jackson told them to take nothing.
"I can sense about six million dollars' worth of gold aboard," Hazel said as they all stood on deck and stared at the ship. "Plus diamonds, rubies-"
"Six m-million?" Frank stammered. "Canadian dollars or American?"
"Leave it," Percy said. "It's part of the tribute."
"Tribute?" Hazel asked. "Oh."
Piper nodded.
"Kansas."Jason grinned. "Crazy. But I like it."
Kassandra could remember now, Bacchus' insatiable demand for tribute in return for even a sliver of aid.
The son of Poseidon went aboard and when he came back, Piper brought out her new horn of plenty and, on Percy's direction, willed it to spew Diet Coke, which came out with the strength of a fire hose, dousing the enemy deck. Percy had opened flood valves Leo installed, and that in combination with the soda began to sink the boat.
"Dionysus," Percy called, holding up the golden mask from the pirate she now knew was called Chrysaor. "Or Bacchus- whatever. You made this victory possible, even if you weren't here.Your enemies trembled at your name... or your Diet Coke, or something. So, yeah, thank you."
It was clear he was struggling to get the words out, so Kassandra snatched the mask from him and took over.
"O Bacchus, roaring god of revelry,
Son of Jupiter, crowned with ivy and vine.
Grant us your favour, O wild-hearted one.
In your name, we set ablaze this gilded vessel,
A ship heavy with treasure, bright as the stars,
May the smoke curl skyward to reach your divine sight,
So you may bestow upon us your eternal favour."
Kassandra herself felt off after reciting a prayer like that to Bacchus of all gods, but she completed it and threw the mask aboard with enough strength for it to impale in the mast. When she turned around, everyone was looking at her like she was Shakespeare.
"If you think that's impressive, maybe have Chiron teach you prayers when we get back," she grumbled, making a beeline to her storage cupboard.