AS THE BOAT SPED DOWN THE COLUMBUS RIVER, karina and hazel had begun to help ella make a makeshift nest out of old books and magazines they'd liberated from the library's recycling bin.

they hadn't really planned on taking the harpy with them, but ella acted like the matter was decided.

"friends," she muttered. "'ten seasons. 1994 to 2004.' friends melt phineas and give ella jerky. ella will go with her friends."

now she was roosting comfortably in the stern, nibbling bits of jerky and reciting random lines from charles dickens and 50 tricks to teach your dog.

percy knelt at the bow, steering them towards the ocean with his freak mind-over-water powers, which karina found extremely fascinating. she had realized over the journey they'd been on that her and percy's powers were sort of similar— at least, in the way they work. as karina can control plants and some aspects of the earth, percy can control the ocean, or bodies of water ( and horses, which she found kind of amusing. )

she sat on the bench just behind percy as he crouched at the front, seemingly getting lost in thought as he watched the horizon, his eyes glazed over in a dreamy sort of state.

karina scooted off the bench and sat beside him, leaning back on the front it and pulling her knees to her chest, turning her gaze to percy.

"how did you know you were going to survive?" she asked percy quietly, so only he could hear.

percy averted his glossed gaze from the horizon, and instead directed it to karina, who was staring at him with a calm expression, her facial featured relaxed.

he swallowed. "i didn't," he admitted, carefully positioning his body to where he was sitting beside her, his legs pulled up into his chest in the same position as her. "i just had a lot of hope that my gut feeling wouldn't fail me for once."

karina scoffed, her head drooping down slightly. "are you saying your gut feeling's have failed you in the past?"

"oh, yeah. almost every time," he replied honestly, nodding his head as a small laugh escaped him. "now that i think about it, trusting my gut in a life of death situation probably wasn't the best idea."

"ya' think?" she said sarcastically, and watched as a real belt of laughter escaped him, his eyes closing for a moment before opening again to meet hers.

"hey, i never said i was smartest one here," he said, his shoulder brushing over hers as he scooted closer to her.

karina, not fully realizing the closeness of them two, leaned in closer to his side as well, her voice dropping lower as to keep the conversation between them only heard between the pair. "you sure make it seem like you are."

"what's that supposed to mean?"

she sighed, turning her line of sight to the open river they were passing through. "you always seem to have a plan every time things go to hell, and never seem terrified of the outcome of the plan if it goes wrong, like the rest of us are. it's quite irritating, actually. it makes you seem like you're not human."

percy looked to her with an amused, but slightly somber expression, his eyes shining in the fading sunlight. "well, technically, none of us are completely human, rina."

karina turned to him with a deadpanned expression, her eyebrows raised in a way that spoke, really? percy laughed at her reaction and proceeded to raise his hands in surrender.

"okay, okay, i'm sorry," he said through small fits of laughs, but then cleared his throat, getting serious. "i guess i never show that i'm scared because i feel as if i'm not supposed to be. i mean, i'm getting recognized by all these gods, saying how i'm special in some way, and they need me most to fix some sort of huge disaster that's in the making— and i have no idea why. they make it seem as if they see me as some sort of powerful god-in-the-making that's supposed to be strong enough to fix everything that's gone wrong, and i'm just supposed to go along with it, with memories or not."

karina was silent for a moment, taking in the words he had just confessed to her, before reaching over and taking his hand and placing it into her lap, wrapping both of her hands around his, cradling it on top of her legs.

he looked to her in gratefulness, and with some look that told her that he trusted her with this type of information.

"i think what you need to realize is that you're only a teenager," she began, playing with percy's fingers as she spoke. "and that you're not the only one that's needed to solve whatever problem is going on. you need help. and i think that's why juno sent you here, because she knew that you couldn't do this on your own. you needed us. you needed me, hazel, frank, the legion, everyone. you needed friends. and you needed to realize that the fate of the world isn't sitting on your shoulders, it's divided among all of us that are here to help you, and that it is not fully depended on you succeeding."

after she spoke, she turned to see percy staring at her, his lips parted slightly as he tried to find the words to say to her. but, he honestly couldn't think of anything else but to kiss her, right then and there. the way she spoke to him with such confidence, made it seem like the only thing in her world that mattered to her was him. and that made him want to drop everything and let her become is own world— his whole entire being.

"i . . . " he began, forcefully stopping himself from leaning in and trapping her lips in his. "thank you, karina." he finally settled on, but mentally slapping himself at how stupid he sounded. 'thank you, karina?' really? that's all you could think of?

but, she just smiled at him in return. "of course, fish face. can't have you holding the whole world in your hands, right?"

he scoffed lightly. "right."

the two demigods finally settled into a peaceful silence, watching as the river widened into the ocean. the pax turned north. as they sailed, karina and percy continued to bask in each other's presence, not needing words to express how they were feeling. just sitting with percy as the sky began to darken was good enough for her.

"i think i understand now why you watch the sunrise every morning," percy said quietly.

"yeah?"

he nodded. "i never appreciated the beauty of the sunrise, or sunset until now. and i think get it now."

karina smiled softly, leaning her head into his shoulder, keeping her eyes on the darkening horizon. "you should start watching them with me then," she whispered.

percy leaned his head on top of her's, a soft smile gracing his face as well. "yeah, i think i will."

after another moment of silence, karina began to realize as the sea turned the same rusty color as ella's wings, that june 21 was almost over. the feast of fortuna would happen in the evening, exactly seventy-two hours from now.

karina heard frank bring out some food from his pack— and removed one of her hands from percy's momentarily to extend her arm behind her, beckoning frank to give her a snack.

she heard hazel giggle, and she could basically see frank rolling his eyes, mumbling something along the lines of, "i cant escape her," and placed a two blueberry muffins into her hand.

karina smiled to herself and recoiled her arm back in front of her, handing percy one of the muffins before biting into hers.

she could faintly here frank and hazel begin to converse, and couldn't help but listen in on what they were talking about.

she heard hazel tell frank everything. she explained how her mother had summoned pluto and fallen in love with the god. she explained her mother's wish for all the riches in the earth, and how that had turned into hazel's curse. she described her life in new orleans— everything except her boyfriend sammy, which karina assumed that she was the only one hazel told. she assumed hazel couldn't bring herself to talk about it.

she described the voice, and how gaea had slowly taken over her mother's mind. she explained how they moved to alaska, how hazel had helped to raise the giant alcyoneus, and how she had died, sinking the island into resurrection day.

now that, karina didn't know about.

it was silent for a moment, and karina knew hazel was waiting for frank's response. she tapped percy's hand lightly, and signaled for him to sit up with her, as to formally listen to hazel speak.

as karina and percy sat up, she saw frank take hazel's hand into his. "you sacrificed yourself to stop the giant from waking. i could never be that brave."

"it wasn't brave," she said, "i let my mother die. i cooperated with gaea too long. i almost let her win."

"hazel," percy said. "you stood up to a goddess all by yourself. you did the right . . . " his voice trailed off, as if he'd had an unpleasant thought. "what happened in the underworld . . . i mean, after you died? you should've gone to elysium. but if nico brought you back— "

"i didn't go to elysium." karina looked at hazel empathetically, knowing what she was feeling— considering she'd been in the same situation. "please don't ask . . . "

but it seemed as if it was too late, and hazel looked like she was slipping out of consciousness.

"hazel?" frank asked.

"slip sliding away," ella muttered. "number five u.s single. paul simon. frank, go with her. simon says, frank, go with her."

karina had no idea what she meant, but all she saw was hazel grip frank's hand before slipping completely unconscious, along with frank.

"frank? hazel?" percy said in concern, reaching over to see if they were still breathing.

"don't worry," ella said. "frank and hazel are sharing. sharing is caring. trademarked by the salvation army in 1950. sharing is good."

"what do you mean . . . sharing?" karina asked ella, looking from the harpy back to frank and hazel in slight worry.

"just sharing," ella chirped, bouncing in her nest of books. "sharing is good."

karina sighed in defeat and turned to reposition frank and hazel on the benches so they weren't hunched over. she carefully laid both of them down on the bench, facing opposite ways so they didn't bump heads somehow.

after she was finished, she sat back up and made her way back to her spot beside percy, who had moved back up to the front after seeing that frank and hazel were okay.

"what do you think happened to them?" percy asked as the last bit of sunlight sunk below the horizon.

karina sighed again. "hazel has these . . . flashbacks, of a sort. when certain things about her past are mentioned, she basically relives them— and that causes her to pass out. so i'm guessing that when you mentioned the stuff about the underworld to her, she got triggered and somehow took frank with her."

percy blow air out of his cheeks in exasperation. "wow," he said. "so it's basically my fault?"

karina immediately shook her head. "gods, no! you had know idea it would trigger that sort of reaction. don't blame yourself at all."

percy nodded, "okay."

they sunk into a deep silence after that, the only sounds heard being the occasional rustle of books from ella's small nest, and the smack of the waves hitting the pax on it's sides.

as they got further and further out to sea, karina's eyes began to droop, leading her to rest her head on percy's shoulder once again.

she stayed like that for a while, not asleep, but also not fully awake, as percy continued to stare out to sea, occasionally turning his eyes down to see if she was still sleeping, and would begin to twist the rings on her fingers lightly, examining each one to see if he could figure out the significance of them.

"that's my mother's wedding ring," karina said softly, her eyes lifting slowly as percy looked down at her in surprise.

"i thought you were asleep," he said, slightly embarrassed.

she shook her head. "i sort of was, but i don't sleep well on unstable ground like this."

percy nodded his head in understanding, before turning his attention back to what she said before. "wait," he said. "your mother's wedding ring? but, your mother is ceres, how could they have gotten married?"

karina sat up and turned her body so that she was facing percy completely. "i know. i found it when i was nine. i was going through my dad's closet to find an old watch that he said would tell me when to feed the cows," she laughed slightly, thinking about that time in her life, and how different it was from where she was now. "anyways " she continued. "as i went through his box of possessions, i found this ring laying at the very bottom of it, and i had kept it with me ever since. it just reminds me of her."

it was a beautiful ring. a silver band with a small emerald stone in the center of it, and on the sides of the stone, the silver morphed into a shape of vines that held the rock to the band, as if it was entwining the emerald into the metal. it was her favorite ring she had. it was simple, just what her mother would've liked. just what karina would like.

"i think it's nice that you kept it," percy said as he admired the ring. "it's sort of a reminder that your mother didn't want to abandon you, i guess."

karina let out a deep breath through her nose, a small smile making its way onto her face. "yeah, you're right. it's just sad that i don't even know much about her. my father barely told me anything about her. i think it hurt him too much to talk about it."

percy nodded in understanding, and reached out to pull her into his chest, resting his head on top of her's as she rested her's on the center of his chest. he loved the feeling of holding her in his arms. he felt like that doing could somehow protect her from any danger that may come their way, and that he could shield her from it. that's all he thought about now. how he could keep her safe.

"she'll visit you sometime," percy said softly. "they always do."

karina just nodded in reply, wrapping her arms around his waist tighter, feeling warm in his arms.

safe.

but, their moment of peace was short lived as ella began to chirp again, saying, "sharing. frank and hazel are sharing. blackouts. biggest american blackout, august 14, 2003. blackout not good."

percy groaned quietly in slight irritation, releasing karina from his arms as he spoke. "yes, ella. we know. frank and hazel are sharing."

ella nodded vigorously. "yes, sharing. ella loves sharing. not blackouts."

karina and percy both looked to each other with a look that said, this is going to be a long night.

and it was, those short sided conversations happened with ella as the night droned on, and karina barely got a wink of sleep. neither did percy.

and as dark turned to light, they finally had reached seattle, and percy turned to shake hazel awake.

"hazel." percy was shaking her shoulder. "wake up. we've reached seattle."

she sat up groggily, squinting in the morning sunlight. "frank?"

frank groaned, rubbing his eyes. "did we just . . . was i just— "

"you both passed out," percy said. "i don't know why, but karina attempted to explain it to me. but ella told us not to worry about it. she said you were . . . sharing?"

"sharing," ella agreed. she crouched in the stern, preening her wing feathers with her teeth, which didn't look like a very effective form of personal hygiene. she spit out some red fluff. "sharing is good. no more blackouts. biggest american blackout, august 14, 2003. hazel shared. no more blackouts."

percy scratched his head. "yeah . . . we've been having conversations like that all night. i still don't know what she's talking about."

"it never stopped," karina muttered, resting her face in her hands in exhaustion. percy chuckled at her irritation, to which she flipped him off— her face not leaving her hand.

hazel pressed her hand against her coat pocket, and it looked like she was feeling something small that was in there. karina had no idea what it was.

she looked at frank. "you were there."

he nodded, and gave her a weird look, a look that karina couldn't quite decipher.

"wait," percy said. "you mean you guys shared a blackout? so karina was right. are you guys both going to pass out from now on?"

"nope," ella said. "nope, nope, nope. no more blackouts. more books for ella. books in seattle."

karina gazed over the water. they were sailing through a large bay, making their way toward a cluster of downtown buildings. neighborhoods rolled across a series of hills. from the tallest one rose an odd white tower with a saucer on the top.

percy steered the boat toward the downtown docks. as they got closer, ella scratched nervously at her nest of books.

karina started to feel edgy, too. she wasn't sure why. it was a bright, sunny day, and seattle looked like a beautiful place, with inlets and bridges, wooded islands dotting the bay, and snowcapped mountains rising in the distance. still, she felt as she were being watched.

"um . . . why are we stopping here?" hazel asked.

percy showed them the silver ring on his necklace. "reyna has a sister here. she asked karina and i to find her and show her this."

"hopefully reyna's sister still likes me," karina mumbled, silently praying that she was still in hylla's good graces.

"reyna has a sister?" frank asked, like the idea terrified him.

karina snorted at his reaction, and percy nodded. "apparently reyna thinks her sister could send help for the camp. and karina knows her, so hopefully this will go well."

"amazons." ella muttered. "amazon country. hmm. ella will find libraries instead. doesn't like amazons. fierce. shields. swords. pointy. ouch."

frank reached for his spear. "amazons? like . . . female warriors?"

"that would make sense," hazel said. "if reyna's sister is also a daughter of bellona, i can see why she'd join the amazons. but . . . is it safe for us to be here?"

"nope, nope, nope," ella said. "get books instead. no amazons."

"we have to try," percy said. "i promised reyna, and so did karina. and, reyna's sister is familiar with karina as well, so that must have to help at least. besides, the pax isn't doing too great. i've been pushing it pretty hard."

karina looked down at her feet. water was leaking between the floorboards. "oh."

"yeah," percy agreed. "we'll either need to fix it up or find a new boat. i'm pretty much holding it together with my will-power at this point. ella, do you have any idea where we can find the amazons?"

"and, um," frank said nervously. "they don't, like, kill men on sight, do they?"

karina snorted. "depends on the guy."

ella glanced at the downtown docks, only a few hundred yards away. "ella will find friends later. ella will fly away now."

and she did.

"well . . . " frank picked a single red feather out of the air. "that's encouraging."

they docked at the wharf. they barely had time to unload their supplies before the pax shuddered and broke into pieces. most of it sank, leaving only a board with a painted eye and another with the letter p bobbing in the waves.

"well that's great," karina commented, sarcasm laced in her tone. 

"guess we're not fixing it," hazel said. "what now?"

percy stared at the steep hills of downtown seattle. "we hope the amazons will help."

they explored for hours after that. they found some great salty caramel chocolate at a candy store. they bought some coffee so strong that it made karina's head spin, but she only wanted more. she ended up finishing off the rest of hazel's after she downed her own, hazel obviously feeling the affects of it more than her. they stopped at a side-walk café and had some excellent grilled salmon sandwiches. once they saw ella zooming between high-rise towers, a large book clutched in each foot. but they found no amazons. all the whole, karina was aware of the time ticking by. june 22 now, and alaska was still a long way away.

finally, they wandered south of downtown, into a plaza surrounded by smaller glass and brick buildings. karina's nerves started tingling. she looked around, sure she was being watched. she grabbed percy's hand in nervousness.

"there," hazel said.

the office building on their left had a single word etched on the glass doors: ᴀᴍᴀᴢᴏɴ.

"oh," frank said. "uh, no, hazel. that's a modern thing. they're a company, right? they sell stuff on the internet. they're not actually amazons."

"unless . . . " percy walked through the doors. karina already knew this was the place by the feeling she had in her stomach.

the lobby was like an empty fish tank— glass walls, a glossy black floor, a few token plants, and pretty much nothing else. against the back wall, a black stone staircase led up and down. in the middle of the room stood a young woman in a black pantsuit, with long auburn hair and a security guard's earpiece. her name tag said kinzie. her smile was friendly enough, but her eyes held no emotion, they seemed to look through you, as if they were thinking about who might attack them next.

kinzie nodded at karina, a bolt of recognition flashing through her eyes, before nodding to hazel. "may i help you?"

"um . . . i hope so," hazel said. "we're looking for the amazons."

"hylla specifically," karina added.

kinzie looked at her in acknowledgment, and gaw her look that said, i'll get back to you, and glanced at hazel's sword, then frank's spear, though neither should be visible through the mist.

"this is the main campus for amazon," she said cautiously. "did you have an appointment with someone, or— "

"hylla," percy interrupted, and karina knew exactly what was about to happen. "we're looking for a girl named— "

kinzie moved so fast, karina's eyes almost couldn't follow. she kicked frank in the chest and sent him flying backward across the lobby. she pulled a sword out of thin air, swept percy off his feet with the flat of the blade, and pressed the point under his chin.

karina knew better than to release her weapon, even after seeing percy at knife point, but it seemed hazel didn't, and moved to reach for her sword.

immediately after releasing her weapon, a dozen more girls in black flooded up the staircase, swords in hand, and surrounded her. they looked to karina with a face of caution, but also respect for not drawing her weapon.

kinzie glared down at percy. "first rule: males don't speak without permission. second rule, trespassing on our territory is punishable by death. you'll meet queen hylla, all right. she'll be the one deciding your fate."

3938 words

lol this chapter is literally just convos between percy and karina but am i mad abt it? no.