CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
( bitter reunions )

     ANNABETH VOLUNTEERED TO go alone since she had the cap of invisibility, but there was no way I was going to let her. Percy backed me up and convinced her it was too dangerous. He suggested that we all went instead, to watch each other's backs.

     "Nobody!" Tyson voted. "Please?"

     But he came along in the end. We stopped at our cabin long enough to gather our stuff. No matter what happened or what we found out, we weren't going to spend another night on this creepy cruise ship. Tyson offered to carry everything, insisting to do so when Percy told him it wasn't necessary. Luckily for us, Tyson was able to carry four duffel bags over his shoulder as if it wasn't a big deal.

     We sneaked through the corridors, following the ship's YOU ARE HERE signs towards the admiralty suite. Annabeth had it easy and scouted ahead invisibly. We had to hide whenever someone rounded the corner, but most of the people we came across were glassy eyed passengers, stuck in a trance too.

     As we climbed up the stairs to deck thirteen, where the admiralty suite, Annabeth hissed, "Hide!" and pushed us into a supply closet.

     I could make out the footsteps of several people walking down the hall.

     "You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" a masculine voice asked.

     The other laughed. "Yeah, it's awesome."

     That voice. I recognized it – I just couldn't remember who it belonged to. Subconsciously, I took a step forward to the supply closet door as if this allowed me to hear properly. Annabeth saw me doing this and gripped my wrist tightly, still invisible, trying to prevent me from taking any other steps.

     "I hear they got two more coming," the familiar voice spoke again. "They keep arriving at this rate, oh, man – no contest!"

     The voices faded down the corridor.

     "That was Chris Rodriguez!" Annabeth took off her cap and turned visible. "You remember – from Cabin Eleven."

     I sort of recalled Chris from the summer before. He was one of those undetermined campers who got stuck in the Hermes cabin because his Olympian dad or mom never claimed him. Now that I thought about it, I realized I hadn't seen Chris at camp this summer – probably not since Luke left too.

     "What's another half-blood doing here?"

     Annabeth shook her head, clearly troubled.

     We kept walking down the corridor. There was no need for a map to tell me I was getting close to where Luke was. A chill ran down my spine, as if something dangerous was near.

     "Guys." Annabeth stopped suddenly. "Look."

     She stood in front of a glass wall looking down into the multistorey canyon that covered the middle of the ship. At the bottom was the Promenade – a mall full of stores – but that's not why Annabeth made us look. A group of monsters had assembled in front of the candy shop: a dozen Laistrygonian giants ( or Canadians, as it was easier to pronounce ), two hellhounds and a few humanoid females with twin serpent tails instead of legs.

     "Scythian Dracaenae," Annabeth whispered. "Dragon women."

     The monsters made a semicircle around a young guy in Greek armor who was hacking on a straw dummy. My eyes widened when I recognized the bright orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt that the dummy was wearing. As we stared in horror, the guy in armor stabbed the dummy through its belly and ripped upwards. Straw flew everywhere and the monsters cheered like it was a piñata exploding.

     Annabeth backed away from the window with a pale face.

     "Come on," I placed a hand on her shoulder to softly pull her away from that sight. I tried my best in disguising the fear in my voice for her sake. "We have to keep going."

     "Yeah." Percy nodded. "The sooner we find Luke the better."

     At the end of the hallway were double oak doors that looked like they were hiding something important. When we were ten meters away from them, Tyson stopped. "Voices inside."

     "You can hear that far?" Percy asked.

     Tyson closed his eye like he was concentrating hard. Then his voice changed, becoming a husky approximation of Luke's. "– the prophecy ourselves. The fools won't know which way to turn."

     The action made me involuntarily take a step back from him. I didn't like what he was doing– it was creepy – and reminded me of why I was opposed to the idea of bringing him along. But before I could say something about it, Tyson's voice changed again, becoming deeper, like the other guy we'd heard talking to Luke. "You really think the old horseman is gone for good?"

     Tyson laughed, a carbon copy of Luke's laugh. "They can't trust him. Not with the skeletons in his closet. The poisoning of the tree was the final straw."

     Annabeth shivered. "Stop that, Tyson! How do you do that? It's creepy."

     Tyson opened his eye and looked confused at her tone. "Just listening."

     "Keep going," Percy encouraged. "What else are they saying?"

     Tyson closed his eye again and hissed in the gruff man's voice, "Quiet!" Then Luke's voice returned, "Are you sure?"

     I frowned at the sudden change of the conversation. I looked between Annabeth and Percy, and they were both as perplexed as I was.

     "Yes," Tyson said in the gruff voice. "Right outside."

     That's when I realized. Percy had barely enough time to utter the word, "Run!" when the doors of the stateroom suddenly burst open. There stood Luke, having two hairy giants armed with javelins on either side of him, like personal bodyguards.

     "Well," Luke said with a crooked smile. "If it isn't my three favorite cousins. Come right in."

     THE STATEROOM WAS beautiful and, despite the terrible situation we were in, I still had time to admire the surroundings. There were huge windows curved along the back wall, looking out over the stern of the ship. The green sea and blue sky blended together as far as the horizon. Two plush sofas were placed in the middle of the room, a canopied bed in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other. The table was covered with food: from boxes of pizza to roast beef sandwiches on a silver platter. On the other hand, one of the things that made the room not-so pleasant to be in was the velvet dais at the back of the room, where a three-meter long golden casket stood. A sarcophagus, engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dying gruesome deaths. The mere presence of the casket in the room made the temperature drop more than it was capable of.

     "Well," Luke said, spreading his arms proudly. "A little nicer than Cabin Eleven, huh?"

     He'd definitely changed a lot since last summer. He wasn't wearing his classic Bermuda shorts and the Camp Half-Blood shirt anymore, instead he was dressed in a button-down shirt, khaki trousers and leather loafers. His sandy hair, which used to be so tussled, was now clipped short. He looked. . .unrecognizable. Any sign of the Luke I once knew was completely gone. Propped against the sofa was his magical sword, glinting strangely with its half steel, half Celestial bronze blade that could kill both mortals and monsters.

     "Sit," he told us. He waved his hand and three dining chairs scooted themselves into the center of the room.

     None of us moved a muscle.

     Luke's large friends were still pointing their javelins at us. They were twins, but they certainly weren't human. They stood about two and a half meters tall and wore only blue jeans, because their enormous chests were already covered with thick brown fur. They had claws for fingernails, feet like paws. Snouts instead of noses and their teeth were pointed, like an animal's.

     "Where are my manners?" Luke said smoothly. "These are my assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them."

     No one spoke. I figured that once I opened my mouth, I wouldn't be able to stop screaming at Luke – all the resentment I'd built for him throughout this entire year finally building up in my mouth.

     "You don't know Agrius and Oreius's story?" Luke asked after the beat of silence. "Their mother. . .well, it's sad, really. Aphrodite ordered the young woman to fall in love. She refused and ran to Artemis for help. Artemis let her become one of her maiden huntresses, but Aphrodite got her revenge. She bewitched the young woman into falling in love with a bear. When Artemis found out, she abandoned the girl in disgust. Typical of the gods, wouldn't you say? They fight with one another and the poor humans get caught in the middle. The girl's twin sons here, Agrius and Oreius, have no love for Olympus. They like half-bloods well enough, though. . ."

     "For lunch," Agrius growled, and I realized that his gruff voice was the one talking with Luke earlier.

     "Hehe! Hehe!" His brother Oreius laughed like he was having an asthmatic fit ( and believe me, I would know ) until Luke and Agrius both stared at him.

     "Shut up, you idiot!" Agrius growled. "Go punish yourself!"

     Oreius whimpered. He trudged over to the corner of the room like a scolded child, collapsed onto a stool, and banged his forehead against the dining table several times.

     Luke didn't seem fazed by this behavior. He made himself comfortable on the sofa and propped his feet up on the coffee table. "Well, Percy, we let you survive another year. I hope you appreciated it. How's your mom? How's school?"

     "You poisoned Thalia's tree."

     Luke sighed in disappointment. "Right to the point, eh? Okay, sure I poisoned the tree. So what?"

     "How could you?" Annabeth seethed. "Thalia saved your life! Our lives! How could you dishonor her –"

     "I didn't dishonor her!" Luke snapped. "The gods dishonored her, Annabeth! If Thalia were alive, she'd be on my side."

     Anger filled my veins at those words – he had the audacity to poison her tree, and then disrespect her memory by saying she would agree with him? I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "That's a lie!"

     His eyes fell on me. "If you knew what was coming, you'd understand – "

     "You want to destroy the camp!" I yelled. "That's enough for me to understand."

     Luke shook his head. "The gods have blinded you. Can't you imagine a world without them, Maia? What good is that ancient history you so blindly admire? Three thousand years of baggage! The West is rotten to the core. It has to be destroyed. Join me! We can start the world anew. We could use your strength, Maia."

     "Since you clearly have none!"

     His eyes narrowed. "I know you. You deserve better than tagging along on some hopeless quest to save the camp. Half-Blood Hill will be overrun by monsters within the month. The heroes who survive will have no choice but to join us or be hunted to extinction. You really want to be on a losing team. . .with company like this?"

     Luke pointed at Tyson.

     "Hey!" Percy protested.

     "Traveling with a Cyclops," Luke chided, spitting the word like it was poison. "Talk about dishonoring Thalia's memory! I'm surprised at you both. You of all people – "

     I felt my face grow hot from all the anger, multiplying even more after he brought that up. "Shut up!"

     "Leave her alone," Percy interfered. "And leave Tyson out of this."

     Luke laughed. "Oh, yeah, I heard. Your father claimed him."

     Percy seemed surprised at this, causing Luke to let out a mischievous laugh. "Yes, Percy, I know all about that. And about your plan to find the Fleece. What were those coordinates, again. . .thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five, twelve? You see, I still have friends at camp who keep me posted."

     "Spies, you mean."

     He shrugged. "How many insults from your father can you stand, Percy? You think he's grateful to you? You think Poseidon cares for you any more than he cares for this monster?"

     Tyson clenched his fists and made a rumbling sound in his throat.

     Luke found this amusing. "The gods are so using you, Percy. Do you have any idea what's in store for you if you reach your sixteenth birthday? Has Chiron even told you the prophecy?"

     I tensed in my spot, and the silence that followed that sentence was uncomfortable. Percy remained quiet, obviously caught off guard, and I prayed to all the gods above that he wouldn't glance my way in questioning or I would break. Annabeth and I exchanged a nervous look, her head shaking as if she knew what was going through my head.

     "I know what I need to know," Percy spoke up. "Like, who my enemies are."

     "Then you're a fool."

     Tyson smashed the nearest dining chair to pieces. "Percy is not a fool!"

     Before anyone could stop him, he charged at Luke. His fists came down towards Luke's head – a double overhead blow that would've done enough damage – but the bear twins intercepted before his fist collided with Luke's face. They each caught one of Tyson's arms and pushed him back. Tyson stumbled back and fell to the carpet so hard the deck shook.

     "Too bad, Cyclops," Luke taunted. "Looks like my grizzly friends together are more than a match for your strength. Maybe I should let them –"

     "Luke," Percy cut in. "Listen to me. Your father sent us."

     His face reddened, I was convinced smoke would steam off his ears. "Don't – even – mention him."

     "He told us to take this boat. I thought it was just for a ride, but he sent us here to find you. He told me he won't give up on you, no matter how angry you are."

     "Angry?" Luke roared. "Give up on me? He abandoned me, Percy! I want Olympus destroyed! Every throne crushed to rubble! You tell Hermes it's going to happen, too. Each time a half-blood joins us, the Olympians grow weaker and we grow stronger. He grows stronger."

     Luke pointed to the gold sarcophagus. I stared at it, and the hairs in the back of my head immediately stood up in fear. He couldn't possibly be talking about –

     "So?" Percy demanded. "What's so special. . ."

     He was suddenly hit with realization. The temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees. "Whoa, you don't mean –"

     "He is re-forming," Luke said. "Little by little, we're calling his life force out of the pit. With every recruit who pledges our cause, another small piece appears –"

     "That's disgusting!" Annabeth yelled.

     Luke sneered at her. "Your mother was born from Zeus's split skull, Annabeth. I wouldn't talk. Soon there will be enough of the titan lord so that we can make him whole again. We will piece together a new body for him, a work worthy of the forges of Hephaestus."

     "You're insane," Annabeth said.

     "Join us and you'll be rewarded. We have powerful friends, sponsors rich enough to buy this cruise ship and much more. Percy, your mother will never have to work again. You can buy her a mansion. You can have power, fame – whatever you want. Annabeth, you can realize your dream of being an architect. You can build a monument to last a thousand years. Maia, you'll have everything your heart desires. Your mother, she'll be able to cheat death and be with you again."

     "Rot in Tartarus," I crossed my arms over my chest at the mention of my mother.

     "A shame," Luke sighed.

     He picked up something similar to a TV remote and pressed a red button. In a few seconds the door of the stateroom opened and two uniformed crew members walked in, armed with nightsticks. They had the same glassy-eyed look as the other mortals, but that didn't mean they were going to be less of a challenge.

     "Ah, good, security," Luke exclaimed. "I'm afraid we have some stowaways."

     "Yes, sir," they said dreamily.

     Luke turned to Oreius. "It's time to feed the Aethiopian drakon. Take these fools below and show them how it's done."

     Oreius grinned stupidly. "Hehe! Hehe!"

     "Let me go, too," Agrius grumbled. "My brother is worthless. That Cyclops –"

     "Is no threat," Luke cut him off. He glanced back at the golden casket, as if something were troubling him. "Agrius, stay here. We have important matters to discuss."

     "But –"

     "Oreius, don't fail me. Stay in the hold to make sure the drakon is properly fed."

     Oreius prodded us with his javelin and huddled us out of the stateroom, followed by the two human security guards. It was bad enough to be Luke's captive, but it was even worse with a javelin digging into my back. We exited the corridor amidships and passed by an open deck lined with lifeboats. The sun gleamed above us and I swallowed the lump on my throat in fear that this might be our last chance to see it. Once we got to the other side, we'd take the elevator down into the hold, and that would be it.

     But then Percy looked at Tyson and said, "Now."

     He understood right away. He turned and smacked Oreius backwards into the swimming pool, right into the middle of the zombie tourist family.

     "Ah!" the kids yelled in unison. "We are not having a blast in the pool!"

     One of the security guards drew his nightstick, but Annabeth landed a perfect kick in the stomach, which knocked the air out of him. The other guard ran for the nearest alarm box.

     "Stop him!" Annabeth yelled desperately.

     I grabbed Oreius's forgotten javelin from the floor and lunged it in the guard's direction, but it was too late. The javelin got through his uniform and pinned him to the wall, but he was able to hit the alarm with his free hand. Immediately, red lights flashed and sirens wailed loudly.

     "Lifeboat!" Percy yelled.

     We ran to the nearest one and, by the time we got the cover off, monsters and more security men were swarming the deck. They didn't care how they were pushing the guests and waiters aside to clear their path to us. A guy in Greek armor drew his sword and charged, but slipped in a puddle of spilled piña colada. Laistrygonian archers gathered on the deck above us, notching arrows in their enormous bows.

     "How do you launch this thing?" screamed Annabeth.

     A hellhound leaped at Percy, but Tyson slammed it aside with a fire extinguisher.

     "Get in!" Percy cried out.

     I desperately reached out for my duffel bag, which miraculously still was in Tyson's arms, and searched for my bow in between all my belongings. Percy saw what I was doing and uncapped his sword, Riptide, to buy me some time. The lifeboat was hanging over the side of the ship, high above the water. Annabeth and Tyson were the ones in charge of the release pulley, but had no luck in making it budge.

     "Hold on!" Percy jumped in the boat and cut the ropes.

     A shower of arrows whistled over our heads as we plummeted towards the ocean.

author's note !

i'm so sorry for disappearing (although it sure nobody noticed i was gone for a while lol)

i don't know why it was so difficult for me to write this chapter, like, it's nothing out of the ordinary. well, i'm glad to be back for summer break, the perfect time for a percy jackson fic.

- see you soon, bex <3