NPOV

We moved as fast as we could, but the dread in my stomach and ache between my eyes told me it wouldn't be enough. It would never be enough. He would always catch up.

The crew worked to make sure the sails were as wide as they could be. We made it to the Isle de Lenk, then skipped it and moved straight towards Alaquati. We cut down on our portions (especially mine—I gave some of my meal to Will each day, since he wasn't used to our meal sizes yet). We cut down on our free time. Soon, the ship in the distance became the only thing on our minds.

But we were running out of supplies. We made it to Alaquati faster than we normally do with the extra effort put into speed. We used the same groups as last time, because I didn't have the headspace to plan new ones. I didn't feel right leaving the ship, but we would starve if we didn't get supplies. I left Jason on the ship to help protect it this time, though I was pretty sure we'd left enough room that we would have time before He caught up.

Annabeth and I picked up a couple grocery bags that a woman set down as she read the newspaper. Then we overfilled them with extra fish. In the back of my mind, I thought that it would probably be disappointing to Will that we had to eat fish, but they were more filling. I grabbed whatever I could that would last, as well. Nothing seemed like enough.

We were heading back through the crowd when I was grabbed. I shoved at them, but they wouldn't let me go. Shouting erupted from the crowd. Travis Stoll took my bags from me and ran them back to the ship.

This was not the time to be caught. I struggled as much as I could, but there were too many of them. I knew Connor Stoll would be in the crowd somewhere to help me, and Leo would hopefully come down from the ship when he noticed. I had people on my side, and we'd done this before. This was just a really shitty time for it to happen.

I was led to the executioner's block. I kept my posture straight and unafraid.

One guy let loose bellowing laughter. "Don't worry, it's not that you're a bad thief. We were warned you'd be coming."

Warned?

"Got a small army from Rontmion. 'Parently someone found a map of your stealing schedule for the year and gave it to the governor."

I planted my feet in the ground before the steps. I had no idea if Connor or Leo were in position to save me yet. It was a delicate balance between wasting enough time so they had time to keep me from dying and not wasting too much time so that He would catch up and kill us all. I grit my teeth. Now was not the time for any of this.

The guards were rough with me, but I couldn't give in yet. If I was early, I'd be a goner. Besides, I was sure that my crew must be watching from the deck, and they didn't deserve to have to see me get killed. God, Hazel was on that deck. Hopefully someone would have the sense to shield her.

And Will. Without me pushing for it, would they still return him home? He'd only known me for a couple of weeks, and I'd been ignoring him for most of it. Hopefully he realizes that being the captain of the ship was never my dream. Hopefully he realizes the ship isn't as bad as it used to be.

The guard on my left rolled his eyes at my obviously desperate attempts to stall. He shoved me forward, nearly tripping me on the step. I didn't fall, but the noose was getting closer and I hadn't received a signal that they were in position yet. God dammit. I shoved against the guards and tried to twist out of their grip. My crew would come to save me, I knew that. They always did. I just had to hope they were hurrying.

How do you know they won't mutiny against you, too?

No. My ship wasn't made of killers. If Gabe—no use avoiding his name, he was already behind us now—was still captain, I'd be a dead man. But the new Argo II wasn't every man for himself.

I thought I saw a match light on my ship. The signal that everything was in position. Thank God. I allowed myself to be pulled up the last stair, and then walked to the noose. They fitted it around my neck.

"Any last words?" The executioner asked through that infuriating mask of his. His voice was bored, like taking a life was just another thing to do today. Maybe after he'll go grocery shopping. Ha.

"Not today, thank you," I answered. One of my guards made a face.

The executioner shrugged and pushed the lever. Nothing happened. I tried to keep the relief off my face; Leo would be offended if he realized I'd doubted him for even a second. Not to mention the teasing from Connor.

Without warning, the guards at each of my sides fell forward, unconscious. Leo behind one and Connor, the other. They grabbed me, and faster than I could comprehend, we were sprinting back onto my ship, breathing hard. Hazel removed the planks leading onto the ship, and we pulled out.

From the shore, gunshots. One tore through our sail, but guns weren't super trustworthy, so most of the bullets missed, and it took a long time to reload. The bigger threat would be the small ships that were following us; they'd be faster. If they could surround us, then climb into our ship, we'd be forced to fight. There were a lot more of them than us.

"Pull out!" I shouted. Leo was already working on it, and my yell pushed the rest into action. Will started to help this time, but I pulled him back on my way to pull the ropes loosely connecting us to the dock. "Don't give them a reason to think you're helping us. You still have to get home."

He gave our attackers a nervous look. "You think we can get out of this? They're catching up fast."

I swallowed but refused to pull my attention from getting the boat moving. "We might have to fight them off. If that happens, go back to the cells in the basement and lock yourself in. Make sure they know you're not a pirate, and that you were just kidnapped. They should be able to tell. You don't look like a pirate." I threw a pile of rope on the deck, then turned back to my crew. "Go northeast, Leo. We've got to get out of here first, then we'll turn back. Sorry, Will. They were expecting us here. Apparently someone told them we were coming."

"It's okay. Surviving comes first. I know you'll get me home once you can. You're sure you won't need my help fighting them off?"

I gave him a lopsided grin. "You're sure you would even be able to help? Have you ever fought a day in your life?"

He shuffled back and forth. "Um, the day I was kidnapped, I punched Leo. Does that count?"

I suppressed laughter. "I think you'd be more helpful to us in the cell not getting caught. Besides, we've fought as a team before. It just sucks that this is all happening at once."

One of the boats managed to get in between us and the open sea, and Leo was struggling to glide us through a small opening. I blew out a breath and decided not to bother him; I was sure he was stressed.

Percy called down from his position in the nets. "To the west, there's a boat about to attack." He dodged a bullet aimed for his heart. It lodged in the crow's nest above and behind him. "They're climbing into our ship!"

I swore, shoved Will towards the stairs down to his cell, and readied myself to fight on the west side of our ship. I drew my sword.

Piper and Jason joined me, and Annabeth pulled out her sword to guard Leo. Percy remained in the nets above the ship to shout warnings at us. Hazel and Frank stood at the bottom of his nets to prevent people from getting close to him. Who knows where the Stolls were—they were probably preparing some sort of trick for our attackers.

The first opponent climbed up onto our deck. Piper sliced her knife at his fingers, and the poor guy fell screaming back into the sea or his boat. Hopefully he could swim.

More replaced him, and we each took one. I stabbed mine in her forearm, and she instinctively let go. Leo steered the Argo II steadily in an arced turn, then switched paths to avoid the boats and headed northeast.

Percy shouted a warning, and in the next moment, we had attackers on the east side of the boat, too. The Stolls were there in an instant, with some sort of round mechanism in their hands—some sort of homemade explosive. Travis threw it at a guy, and it burst upon colliding with his face. Red powder shoots in all directions, and the man screams. The powder spread through the air to the attackers who didn't know to avoid it, and I suppose it was hot somehow, because they acted like they'd been burned alive. They gripped their eyes and face as they cry out, but then it burned their hands too. A few purposefully jumped into the water just to get rid of it, and the others were easy to shove.

I swung my sword in a wide arc, scratching the chests of those brave enough to get near me. The ship was moving faster now. If we could get these last few off the ship, we could escape.

Jason stabbed a guy in the leg, but was hit on the head and crumpled to the ground.

"Defend me while I get him away from the fighting!" Hazel shouted at Piper. Piper nodded, and continued fighting while Hazel got Jason to safety. Frank had his hands full defending Percy, but since there wasn't a lot to warn us about now, Percy slid down the ropes to help.

A knife tore through my thigh and I gasped. I nearly fell, but that would be death. Instead, I quickly shifted my weight and left the knife where it was. I stabbed my sword into the dominant arm of my attacker, then swung it again at the others. It caught on someone else's weapon.

Piper took over part of the group I'd been fighting since I was weaker than before. I grit my teeth and forced myself to get it together. She couldn't fight everyone alone. I let my sword fall lower and scrape the knees of two women attacking me. They fell overboard, and I did the same with the men behind them. Piper shifted back over to deal with her own opponents.

We shoved the last guy over together, and I stumbled over to the Stolls to help them while Piper left to help Frank and Percy. Hazel was probably trying to fix up Jason somewhere as well as she could.

I glanced up at Annabeth and Leo. They were surrounded, but Leo had reinforced the steering mechanisms with traps that he could remove and throw should it become necessary. More of that burning dust stung the air around them, and I gave it a wide berth. It smelled like peppers used in Honnet cooking sometimes, but you only are supposed to use the tiniest bit. It smelled like the Stolls had basically ground up an entire pepper for each explosive.

I stabbed the leg of a guy who was sneaking up on Connor. Then I moved to Travis's side and helped them get rid of the last few opponents. When they realized it was a losing battle, they began jumping back into their boats.

Soon, only my crew was left, breathing heavily on the deck. Leo was moving on track with our original map design, before we'd had to worry about bringing Will back.

Oh, shit. Will.

Since the others seemed to have this deck handled, I headed down to the cells to make sure no one had made it down there. It hurt to walk now that I appeared to be coming down from my adrenaline high. I found Hazel with Jason in the kitchens. His head was propped up, and she'd cleaned some blood off, but there didn't seem to be a lot more she could do. I pulled my long coat over my thigh so she wouldn't be concerned.

"You think he'll be okay?" She worried.

I pulled her into a hug. "I'm sure he will be. Jason has always been fine before. Thank you for caring for him. When he wakes up, I'll make sure he knows you're to thank for it. Maybe I'll make something special for dinner tomorrow in celebration for the win. Sound good?"

She let her head fall to my shoulder. "Yeah. Sounds good. You don't think Will would be able to check on him, would he?"

I pulled away. "I can ask him. I was going to make sure he's alright anyway."

She let out a breath of relief. "Great. Thank you."

I said goodbye and continued on my way down to Will. When I found him, he was sitting in his cell with a worried look on his face. Again, I kept my coat over my wounded leg.

Word count: 2283