Percy POV

"Come on Prince Perseus, hurry up!" My friend Jason complained.

"Jason, he's walking as fast as he can." Grover responded, slightly pushing me forward. "But Perce, that doesn't mean that you have to walk like an old lady."

I rolled my eyes. "Very funny you two."

Grover and Jason shared a look. "We know. We're hysterical!" All of a sudden, I heard something.

"Give it back!" One of the shopkeepers yelled. I turned and saw that he was yelling at a girl with curly, blonde hair and grey eyes that reminded me of thunderclouds, pretty, but intimidating all at the same time.

"And I said I didn't take it!" The girl complained as the shop keeper pushed the girl to the ground. I ran to try to help.

"Percy!" Grover yelled. "What are you doing?"

"We may as well follow him Grover. Once Percy puts his mind on something, there's no stopping him." Jason said before I got out of earshot.

"What's going on?" I asked, stepping in front of the girl.

"She stole one of our apples Your Highness." The shopkeeper said, bowing down to me once he said 'Your Highness'. To be honest, it gets on my nerves when people call me that, you know?

"I-I didn't!" Insisted the girl. "I swear!"

"It's true." Said one of her friends, coming up behind her. She had eyes that changed color every second, along with brown hair that reminded me of chocolate. "We all brought one coin with us so we could get a snack. Melia was using her coin to buy an apple."

"You can look in here for proof Prince Percy." Said another girl. She had dark brown hair, darker than the girl's before her, and dark green eyes.

"Just Percy, please." I said as I walked over and looked in the bag. Sure enough, there were only two coins in the bag. "They're right. There are only two coins in the bag."

"Well, if she paid, then where's the coin?" The shopkeeper asked, giving me a disapproving face.

"I put it on the table!" The girl said behind me. "It must've fallen in the dirt."

"It's okay." I said, getting out a coin. "I'll pay."

I gave him the coin. "Okay, you're off this time. But next time, a prince won't be visiting to help you out." Said the shopkeeper, glaring at the girl.

Once the shopkeeper, I helped the girl up. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Not like I haven't been knocked down before." Said the girl. "I'm Amelia, but most people call me Melia or Ame." (pronounced aim)

"Nice to meet you Melia, I'm Percy, and in case you didn't already figure it out, I'm the prince of Crete. These are my friends, Jason and Grover behind me."

"Behind me are my friends, Piper and Juniper." Melia said, indicating to the girls behind her.

"Lovely to meet you girls." Jason said, mock bowing to Piper and Juniper.

"We're ever so grateful that you helped out Melia, which is why we're sorry that we have to do this." Piper said as the world went dark.

I woke up tied to a mast. Melia was sitting across from me on the ground.

"Ame, what's going on?" I asked, my head throbbing.

"Um, isn't it obvious?" Melia asked. "We kidnapped you, Grover, and the blonde boy-"

"Jason?"

"Yeah. Him. For ransom money."

"Why?" I asked as Melia got in my face. She was so close, I could smell strawberries on her breath.

"Because we're pirates. That's what we do."

(Who do you think Amelia really is? Hint, she's a character from both the PJO series and HOO series.)