chapter 6
run-in with an old friend

❝ shut up or i'll make you shut up, you stupid fucking- ❞

ANNABETH HAD VOLUNTEERED to go alone, since she had the cap of invisibility, but Percy and Jiwon convinced her it was too dangerous. Either they all went together, or nobody went.

Jiwon could not believe she was agreeing with him.

"Nobody!" Tyson voted. "Please?"

But in the end he came along, nervously chewing on his fingernails. The group stopped at their rooms long enough enough to gather their stuff. The group had figured whatever happened, they definitely would not be staying another night aboard the zombie cruise ship, even if they did have million-dollar bingo. As much as Jiwon would've loved to win that, she was on a tight schedule.

Get the fleece. Save camp. Prove she was worth more than some dumb fish boy. Yeah, she didn't have the time to waste.

Tyson insisted on carrying the duffel bags, but Jiwon made sure to carry her own backpack–it wasn't that heavy and she didn't want to abuse of Tyson's kindness.

The group snuck through the corridors, following the ship's YOU ARE HERE signs toward the admiralty suite. Annabeth scouted ahead invisibly. Percy, Tyson, and Jiwon hid whenever someone passed by, but most of the people they saw were just glassy-eyed zombie passengers.

As they came up the stairs to deck thirteen, where the admiralty suite was supposed to be, Annabeth hissed, "Hide!" and shoved the three of them into a supply closet.

Jiwon heard a couple of guys coming down the hall.

"You see that Aethiopian drakon in the cargo hold?" one of them said.

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

Annabeth was still invisible, but she squeezed Jiwon's arm. She assumed she did the same to Percy, cause he flinched slightly.

Realization dawned on her face almost immediately. That was Chris.

She knew him from the amount of times she'd hang around at the Hermes Cabin— he was nice to her, well, as nice as you could be from a distance, but he usually kept to himself. Now, she understood why.

"I hear they got two more coming," Chris said. "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."

Jiwon frowned. She'd been wondering why he wasn't around recently. She'd assumed he'd just been staying at home longer, but now she knew she was wrong.

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

Annabeth shook her head, clearly troubled.

They kept going down the corridor, closer to Luke.

"Percy." Annabeth stopped suddenly. "Look."

She stood in front of a glass wall looking down into the multistory canyon that ran through the middle of the ship. At the bottom was the Promenade—a mall full of shops— but that's not what had caught Annabeth's attention.

A group of monsters had assembled in front of the candy store: a dozen Laistrygonian giants, and a few even stranger creatures—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. Jiwon's eyes widened when she realized the dummy was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. The guy in armor stabbed the dummy through its belly and ripped upward. Straw flew everywhere. The monsters cheered and howled.

Annabeth stepped away from the window. Her face was ashen.

"Come on," Percy said, "The sooner we find Luke the better."

At the end of the hallway were double oak doors that looked like they must lead somewhere important. When they were thirty feet away, 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."

Jiwon blinked and Tyson's voice changed again, becoming deeper and gruffer, like the other guy they had heard talking to Luke outside the cafeteria. "You really think the old horseman is gone for good?"

Tyson laughed 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 puzzled. "Just listening."

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

Tyson closed his eye again. He hissed in the gruff man's voice: "Quiet!" Then Luke's voice, whispering: "Are you sure?"

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

Jiwon's eyes widened, she grabbed Annabeth's arm and started taking a step back. Percy just had time to say, "Run!" when the doors of the stateroom burst open and there was Luke, flanked by two hairy giants armed with javelins, their bronze tips aimed right at their chests.

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

The stateroom was... interesting, to say the least.

Huge windows curved along the back wall, looking out over the stern of the ship. Green sea and blue sky stretched all the way to the horizon. A Persian rug covered the floor. Two plush sofas occupied the middle of the room, with a canopied bed in one corner and a mahogany dining table in the other. The table was loaded with food—pizza boxes, bottles of soda, and a stack of roast beef sandwiches on a silver platter.

That kind of made Jiwon hungry, but she didn't want to think about that right now.

On a velvet dais at the back of the room lay a ten-foot-long golden casket. A sarcophagus, engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dying grisly deaths.

Despite the sunlight streaming through the windows, the casket made the whole room feel cold.

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

He'd changed since last summer. Instead of Bermuda shorts and a T-shirt, he wore a button-down shirt, khaki pants, and leather loafers. His sandy hair was now clipped short.

He still had the scar under his eye—a jagged white line from his battle with a dragon. And propped against the sofa was his magical sword, Backbiter, glinting strangely with its half-steel, half-Celestial bronze blade that could kill both mortals and monsters. It was a little tacky, but Jiwon wasn't going to criticize his very pointy sword that could easily be used to kill her.

"Sit," he said. He waved his hand and four dining chairs scooted themselves into the center of the room.

None of them sat.

Luke's large friends were still pointing their javelins at their group. They looked like twins, but they weren't human.

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

They all stayed quiet.

"You don't know Agrius and Oreius's story?" Luke asked. "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.

"Hehe! Hehe!" His brother Oreius laughed, licking his fur-lined lips. He kept laughing like he was having an asthmatic fit until Luke and Agrius both stared at him.

Okay, that was odd.

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

Oreius whimpered. He trudged over to the corner of the room, slumped onto a stool, and banged his forehead against the dining table, making the silver plates rattle. Jiwon flinched.

Luke acted like this was perfectly normal 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. "Right to the point, eh? Okay, sure I poisoned the tree. So what?"

"How could you?" Annabeth sounded so angry. "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."

"Liar!"

"If you knew what was coming, you'd understand—"

"I understand you want to destroy the camp!" she yelled. "You're a monster!"

Luke shook his head. "The gods have blinded you. Can't you imagine a world without them, Annabeth? What good is that ancient history you study? 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 intelligence, Annabeth."

"Because you have none of your own!"

His eyes narrowed. "I know you, Annabeth. 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 said.

"Traveling with a Cyclops ," Luke chided. "Talk about dishonoring Thalia's memory! I'm surprised at you, Annabeth. You of all people—"

"Shut up, Luke!" Jiwon finally spoke.

"She speaks!" He chuckled, "I don't think I've ever seen you that quiet. I'm impressed."

"Yeah, well maybe you should take notes." She raised an eyebrow.

"Julie." He faked a pout, "You wound me." She narrowed her eyes at his use of the name. She didn't go by that anymore.

"You know, that's not as attractive as you think it is. Actually—"

"Julie." He crouched in front of her. "Think of old times. You, me, Connor, Travis. We could—"

"You're delusional if you think you fall into the same category as Travis and Connor, Luke."

"You're still as fiery as ever, aren't you, Julie?" He said.

"Don't call me that." She glared at him.

"It's your name, isn't it?" He gave her a tight-lipped smile.

"My name is Jiwon." She gritted her teeth.

He rolled his eyes, and stood back up to where he was pretty much towering over her, but that didn't faze Jiwon. "Please, Jiwon, you're being ridiculous. Stop looking at me like that."

"I can look at you however I want, Luke." She said his name with the same venom he'd been using, "You're the one being ridiculous here. You're really about to throw everything away because you're mad at the gods? You're really turning yourself over to Kronos, just like that?"

"Just like that." He chuckled dryly. "I know you hate them too– not just the gods. I know you want to prove them all wrong. I could help you, you know? Nobody would ever look at you like you were nothing again."

Jiwon smiled at him, almost like she was grateful for his words. "That's a tempting offer." Her look turned murderous in a second. "But I wouldn't turn my back on the people I love."

Luke chuckled. "How is my baby brother, by the way? You two still avoiding your feelings for each other?"

"Don't pretend to care about us."

"So you're an 'us' now? Wow, Jules, you're all grown up." He grinned.

"Shut up or I'll make you shut up, you stupid fucking–"

"What?" He mocked, "Just being a concerned brother here."

"Please," Jiwon scoffed. "If you cared about him– any of them, you wouldn't have turned your back on them."

He had the nerve to laugh. "I taught you everything you know, little Jiwon. I'm giving you the easy way out, don't be reckless."

"You'd be surprised." She held her chin up, sort of challenging him, in a way. "Like I said, at least I'm not a traitor."

"You know what, maybe I should feed you to Agrius and Oreius."

"Stop it!" Annabeth shouted.

"Leave her alone, leave them both alone" Percy said. "And leave Tyson out of this."

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

Jiwon furrowed her eyebrows. How could he possibly know that? "Yes, Percy, I know all about that. And about your plan to find the Fleece. What were those coordinates, again ... 30, 31, 75, 12? 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 down in his throat.

Luke just chuckled. "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?"

Jiwon's face remained blank, but she had wondered the same thing. Did Percy even know what he was signing his life away for?

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

"Then you're a fool."

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

Jiwon had barely blinked, and Tyson charged Luke.

His fists came down toward Luke's head, but, unfortunately, the bear twins intercepted. They each caught one of Tyson's arms and stopped him cold. They pushed him back and Tyson stumbled. He fell to the carpet so hard the deck shook.

"Too bad, Cyclops," Luke said. "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 turned the color of pepperoni. "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.

Jiwon's eyes widened at his words. He couldn't mean...

"So?" Percy demanded. "What's so special ..." Then it hit him. "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 said.

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. A temple to the lords of the next age!"

"Go to Tartarus," she said.

Luke sighed. "A shame."

He picked up something that looked like a TV remote and pressed a red button. Within seconds the door of the stateroom opened and two uniformed crew members came in, armed with nightsticks. "Ah, good, security," Luke said, "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 said. 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."

It was safe to say that Orieus failed.

Oreius prodded them with his javelin and herded us out of the stateroom, followed by the two human security guards. If there was one thing Jiwon hated more than anything, it was being underestimated. It was awful, being looked at like she was some porcelain doll that could barely even lift her own weight up off the ground.

However, a lot of the time, it was a blessing in disguise.

Jiwon knew what would happen almost immediately after the twins got separated. If they needed to be together to take down Tyson, then it would be easy to escape when there was only one of them around.

They were on deck now, walking by the lifeboats. If they managed it now, they'd be able to get out quickly. It seemed Percy had the same thought.

He looked at Tyson and said, "Now."

The cyclops turned and smacked Oreius thirty feet backward 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 knocked the wind out of him with a well-placed kick. The other guard ran for the nearest alarm box.

"Stop him!" Annabeth yelled, but it was too late.

Just before Percy banged him on head with a deck chair, he hit the alarm.

Red lights flashed. Sirens wailed.

"Lifeboat!" Percy yelled.

They ran for the nearest one. By the time they had gotten the cover off, monsters and more security men were swarming the deck, pushing aside tourists and waiters with trays of tropical drinks.

Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above the four of them, 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 yelled. Percy slashed the first volley of arrows out of the air. The lifeboat was hanging over the side of the ship, high above the water. Annabeth and Tyson were having no luck with the release pulley.

Jiwon jumped in, Percy following her.

"Hold on!" he yelled, and cut the ropes. A shower of arrows whistled over the group's heads as they free-fell toward the ocean.

notes ... period jiwon
end luke's career as u should

she hates him as she should <3
especially after everything like
GIRL u better believe jiwon
despises him...

no cause think about how
destroyed the hermes cabin was
after everything???

luke calls her julie cause he knows
it'll get a reaction out of her
but don't worry percy and annabeth
are gonna take care of that <3

how's everyone?
it's been a while lol
also i'm having issues w graphics
so pls lmk if u can't see them