I shuffled into the bedroom to claim the sofa, my shift finished. Milo and Nico had the two available single beds, but Nico had guard duty now. Milo snored away in his bed, unaware of my arrival. I slipped off my shoes and grabbed the notebook to begin writing what I remembered about the day.

In the back, where I wrote "character analysis's" of everyone I knew, I added Menny to the list. "God of insults, huge jerk, do not confront" all went below his name. Then I wrote down some info on Palaemon. Back at the front of the book, I recorded the date and the day's events- as much of it as I could remember, which wasn't too much at this point. I did remember what I made for dinner: a Nacho Tower, layers of chips filled with cheese and salsa and microwaved for a few minutes. Delicious, if I do say so myself, as did Milo. Nico stubbornly claimed he could make better. I don't believe him. I wrote about hating water-immersion and sand, and about Milo's sleeping issues. They're totally not safe. I think he might have narcolepsy. I wrote to take him to the doctor when we got back.

Nico stuck his head through the door, a worried look on his face. "We've got a problem," he said. "Come up with the medical kit."

And then he left. I shook Milo as awake as possible and piggy-back-carried him half-asleep and angry out of the room with me, grabbing the medkit off the wall on our way up the stairs. It was pitch black outside, only lit by a small lamplight by the stern. I noticed the waves were extremely choppy, causing us to topple back and forth while heading for Nico. I set Milo down on the deck and raced to Nico's crouched form. He sat next to someone lying still on the deck. Once close enough, I realized it was an unconscious Annabeth.

"How did she get here?" I asked, kneeling down beside her. She wasn't bleeding anywhere, her arm was twisted into an unnatural position. From what I could make out in the dark, she looked pale and lifeless. Quickly I checked her pulse- still beating.

Nico shook his head. "I was down at the other end of the boat, looking around, and I heard a splash from behind me. I turn to look, and Annabeth has been catapulted from the ocean and lands smack on the boat. She looked like she hit her head pretty hard. I was hoping a son of Apollo would be able to do something."

While I searched the medkit for the right supplies, I felt his eyes on me. We both knew that I wasn't very adapted to the healing part of my father's powers. Even if I was, I wouldn't remember much of it after the accident. "I'll do my best," I murmured. At least I knew what the names on the medicines in the kit were, and what they were used for. I took one- an anesthetic- pulled some into a syringe, and emptied it into a vein. At least, I hope it was a vein. It was a bit dark to tell. Then I grabbed a splint and some gauze and lined the piece of wood against her arm. I braced myself, then pushed against the broken bone with all my might. The anesthetic was so strong she didn't even flinch. I wrapped it up quickly, then did the same against her back.

"Did she break her spine?" Nico asked. His face was as pale as hers when he asked.

I shook my head reassuringly. "No. It's just in case she fractured something in the spinal column. This'll help it heal a little faster, plus some ambrosia. She should be fine." I turned her head to examine what was probably a huge bruise. It felt a little soft and sore to the touch, but everything was intact. We carefully carried her downstairs (just about when Milo woke up and asked what was happening), mindful of the waves jerking the boat, to one of the beds. There I fed her some ambrosia, and within minutes her colour returned. Soon afterwards her eyes opened.

"Ugh..." She groaned and squinted even in the dim light, holding her hand up to shield her eyes. She saw the splint, and her brows furrowed in confusion, then remembrance. "I... Where's Calyspo? She was with me. Where's Palaemon?"

"We haven't seen them," Nico answered from the other side of the bed. "You just popped out of the ocean onto the boat, about an hour ago. What happened?"

Her eyes widened as she remembered. "We were riding the dolphins fine, until it started getting dark. Then the water got really bad, and Palaemon was having a hard time keeping us on the dolphins. Even he couldn't control the waves. Then... I guess I fell off. I started drowning. Calypso was still on her dolphin. Maybe she and Palaemon made it." She tried to sit up in her excitement, but winced when she felt the board digging into her back. She paled again, just as Nico had when the same thought crossed his mind. "Is my-"

"No, he just took some precautions," Nico answered for me. "In case your spine was fractured."

"I could take it off now." I reached for the scissors on the bedside table. "The ambrosia has probably healed it already."

She gladly let me remove the board, then lay back into the pillows with a sigh. "Maybe Calypso will show up soon, too," she remarked, her eyes closing. "Maybe we'll all end up on the boat. I wonder who's doing this though..."

With that she fell asleep, leaving the three of us to wonder about who and why someone would want to congregate us on a single ship. Easier to kill all at once, I suppose. But why not kill Annabeth when they had her in the water? Why take her to the ship?

Nico sighed and headed for the door. "I'm going to go back to watching." I nodded and Milo snored from the second bed. I stayed in the seat by Annabeth, occasionally checking her forehead for signs of a fever. I was only doing the basics, what you get pounded into your head from health class and from having to do it your whole life. It made me remember when I was eight, out practicing my archery, and got attacked by some sort of Hellhound. Luckily it wasn't as large as most, but it ripped open my thigh and broke a rib or two. I was eight and had to take care of that myself. No way could I show my parents. They'd freak out and never let me back outside the apartment. So I had cleaned and stitched the wound as best I could, which I guess comes naturally since my dad's the God of Medicine. I had bandaged and splinted my own broken bones. That was the worst part. My lungs ache just remembering the applied pressure, the constant tugging pain begging me to stop.

In the early morning, Joel called on the TV thingy. I was about to cheerfully tell him about our trip so far, when Mandy's face slid beside Joel's on the screen. My smile froze.

"Hey, man!" she said in a whisper. I guess Garrett is asleep. The screen shifted as she turned the device about, admiring the new technology. "Where the heck have you been? And what is this thing?"

My mouth went dry. I can't lie. It's obvious when I do, especially to Mandy. "It's something a friend made," I answered quickly to cover the pause. "He's super handy with this stuff. Joel, what's his name?"

"Leo," he giggled from out of shot.

"Leo," I agreed. Mandy nodded, her mouth forming an 'o'. She was still a little suspicious.

"Well Joel tells me you've been travelling with some friends. Do I know them?"

My brow creased as I tried to remember if she did. "I don't know if you do or not. They're Nico, Milo, Annabeth, and Calypso. Did I introduce you?"

She shook her head. "Tell me where you are, dude! Jake and I have been worried!"

It never even occurred to me to let them know I was leaving. I totally forgot. Some friend I turn out to be. "I'm sorry, Mandy. Things just got away from me, I forgot to tell you. We're..." My mind worked. How much can I tell? "We've driven to Alabama and are currently on a boat we rented. They just want to hang out, apparently. Not sure how long we're going to be on this thing."

She laughed at me. I found her smile quite refreshing. "You hate water!" she said through chuckles. "Some trip this must be!"

I laughed quietly with her. "Yeah, I remembered once we got on board. Unfortunately we all took one vehicle up here, so no escape for me."

We talked mindlessly. Joel played with her hair as he stared at me through the screen. She told me about Jake's MIT scan for his migraines. I told her (and got footage for her) of Milo's excessive snoring and his possible narcolepsy. Back and forth for hours, until Joel was asleep and Mandy was close to it. We said our goodbyes and hung up. The clock read 4 am, about an hour past Milo's watch shift. What was Nico doing?

I sat on the edge of Milo's bed and prodded his back gently. "Milo, it's your turn to take watch," I whispered close to his ear, still nudging. He groaned and flailed in his sleep, first hitting me across the face and then shoving me off the bed. On the way down, my head hit the bedside table, right by the stitches. I prevented myself from screaming and instead just sat on the floor clutching my head for a few minutes to cry silently. Man, that hurt like Hell. But I knew that Milo didn't mean to do it. So once the pain subsided, I stood back up and pulled Milo's arms around my neck, tugging him out of the bed. He dragged behind me out the door and up onto the deck.

But Nico wasn't there.

Instead Calypso lay on her stomach, unconscious and breathing heavily and bleeding from her nose. A puddle of blood surrounded her mouth, almost suffocating her. Without thinking, I dropped Milo and raced to turn her on her back. She grunted and her eyes opened to squint at me through matted eyelids. "Milo!" I called to the grumpy Swiss. "Get the medkit!"

Luckily he was awake enough to do as I said, hurrying back over and gaping at the blood. Calypso groaned as I felt her stomach for broken ribs. Nothing, but a huge bruise across the skin. Her shoulder had popped out of joint. As I did for Annabeth, I gave Calypso some anesthetic before quickly shoving the joint back into place. She gripped Milo's hand with all her might, which was apparently quite a lot going by the pained look on his face. I pushed her nose back into place as well, and ignored her yelp of pain. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to continue. She also had a black and blue bruise travelling down her temple to her jaw and cheek, from when she'd landed on the boat. Milo helped me to carry her downstairs to the other bed, where we lay her quietly and Annabeth didn't wake up. "Where is Nico?" I asked as soon as she was settled. I handed her a towel for her nose and began wiping the blood out of her hair with another washcloth. "Was he on deck when you fell?"

She nodded, lifting the towel to her nose and holding her head back. "He came over to help me, but the boat toppled against some rough waves and he fell overboard. It was almost like the water grabbed him."

"What happened after Annabeth fell off the dolphin?" Milo asked, keeping his voice low for once to let Annabeth sleep. I handed her some of Will's blue concoction which she drank without question. "What happened to Palaemon?"

"We were looking for her. It started raining super hard and the waves were terrible. One minute Palaemon's riding next to me, and the next I've lost him over a tall wave. Then I get pulled under and choke for a few minutes before I black out, and wake up here."

Her eyes began closing even as she spoke. I reassured her that things would be relatively Ok and that she could sleep with the knowledge that when she awoke a Nacho Tower would await her. Milo and I teetered out of the room, rocking with the harsh waves. As soon as the door shut, it was like the wall of seriousness and confidence was crushed to bits. My heart raced and I started hyperventilating. Nico's gone. Calypso and Annabeth are busted. Milo's an accident waiting to happen. Everyone's getting hurt! Why couldn't I have been a healer instead of an archer? Why did I have to get that gene?

"Hey! Calm down!" Milo rubbed circles on my back soothingly, looking me forcefully in the eye. "You said so yourself. Things are gonna be at least sorta Ok. Just breathe, man. Nico's gonna be spit out of the ocean sometime, and you've done an awesome job so far of patching them up." The look on my face must not have changed, because he pulled me into a tight hug. I hugged back without hesitation, sniffling into his shoulder. "We're getting closer to the island," I heard him whisper into my neck, "where we're gonna beat the crap outta darkness or whatever and then head back to camp, with everyone in one piece. Don't freak out yet."

But I was freaking out. Nico wasn't there.