PERCY SAID EITHER WE ALL WENT TOGETHER OR NOBDOY WENT. Tyson and I tried to convince them on nobody, but they weren't listening. So I guess it was all of us. 

By now it was well agreed that we were not staying on this ship. Tyson ended up carrying most of our bags. Something about it being easier if we needed to fight, and he was strong enough to carry them. personally, I still kept my bag. Not that I didn't trust him, but I like keeping my stuff on me. Especially after our last trip got all our supplies blown up in a bus. 

We snuck through the corridors, following the ship's YOU ARE HERE signs towards the admiralty suite. Luckily, there was a lot of them. Sort of expected when the ship was the size of a city block. Annabeth scouted ahead with her invisibility cap. We hide whenever someone passed – even the brain-washed passengers. For all we knew they were some kind of security system. 

As we reached deck thirteen, home of the admiralty suit, Annabeth hissed "Hide!" and shoved us into a supply closet. I was surprised she managed to close the door behind us. 

I almost asked what her problem was. Then I heard people coming down the hallways. It sounded like a pair of guys, maybe around our age. 

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

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

I've never seen an Aethiopian drakon, but it sounded incredibly not awesome. Sounded like something that would bite my face off. 

"I hear they got two more coming," the first voice said. Now that I was listening, it sounded familiar. "They keep arriving a 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 did, vaguely. He was one of the undetermined campers who stayed in the Hermes cabin, waiting for his Olympian parent to claim him. I'd been too busy to keep track of every single Hermes kid, and I'd assumed a lot of the missing people were just staying home because of Thalia's tree being poisoned, but I hadn't seen him this summer. 

"What's another half-blood doing here?" Percy asked. 

"PB said some other kids were having dreams. She thought it might be...him...trying to recruit people," I said. "I thought – I mean, it didn't sound like it was actually doing anything."

I wanted to think who would turn against camp like that?, but I knew the answer. Luke had already done it. Kronos was manipulative and a lot of kids resented their parents for ignoring them. 

We kept going down the corridor. Now it was easy to find our way. There was a cold and unpleasant air that led us towards what could only be our destination. 

"Wait." Annabeth stopped suddenly. "Look."

She stood in front of a glass wall looking down into the multi-story canyon that ran through the middle of the ship. At the bottom was the Promenade. The shops that lined it wasn't what got her attention. It was the group of monsters had assembled in front of the candy store. A dozen of what I recognized as Laistrygonian giants, two hellhounds, and what I guessed were the snake people we'd heard from earlier. Humanoid females with twin serpent tails instead of legs.

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

The monsters were circled around a young guy in Greek armor. He was hacking a straw dummy dressed in – my stomach turned as I realized this – an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. He stabbed the dummy through its "belly" and ripped upwards. The monsters cheered and howled. 

Guess that's disemboweling practice, I thought. I felt sick imagining it was a real person instead of a straw dummy. 

"Come on," Percy said. I turned to see Annabeth had gone ashen. I imagine I looked the same. "The sooner we find Luke the better."

I took a deep breath. I suppose...

At the end of the hallway was a pair of important looking oak doors. When we were thirty feet away, Tyson stopped. "Voices inside," he said. 

"you can hear that far?" Percy asked. 

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

I flinched at how accurate it sounded. It got even weirder. Tyson's voice switched, turning into that of the guy we'd heard talking to Luke earlier. "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 turned to me. One person was scared and the other wanted him to continue, so I guess he wanted me to break the tie. I nodded nervously. It was freaking me out, too, but I this was probably the safest way to listen in. Tyson closed his eye. 

He hissed in the gruff man's voice: "Quite!" 

Then Luke's, whispering: "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Tyson said in the stranger's voice. "Right outside."

"Wait –" I said.

The doors of the stateroom bust open. There was Luke, flanked by two hairy giants armed with javelins. The bronze tips aimed right at our chests. 

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

"No thanks," I said. 

♆

BUT WE DIDN'T HAVE MUCH OF A CHOICE. We were brought into the stateroom. It was a pretty nice room. There were two plus sofas in the middle room, and a canopy bed in the corner. The dining table was loaded with food. 

I barely noticed any of that. I recognized those windows. I had been in here, in my dream. Lowering my eyes, I could see where the voice had come from. Not a person, but a ten foot golden sarcophagus. It was engraved with Ancient Greek scenes of cities in flames and heroes dying grisly deaths. Cold came off it in waves. Even with the sunlight steaming through the windows, darkness seemed to settle over us. 

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

"Not with that thing in it," I said, eying the sarcophagus. 

Luke sneered at me. 

Since last summer, he'd changed. The casualness he'd carried with him was gone. His sandy hair had been clipped short and he dressed in a button-down shirt, khaki pants, and leather loafers. I half expected him to start asking me if I wanted to hear about his lord and savior, Kronos. 

Propped up against one of the sofas was a strange sword. Percy had told me last summer about Luke's new blade, named Backbiter, which was made by some horrible process to merge steel and celestial bronze. Supposedly it had been made so it could kill both mortals and monsters. That idea had always disturbed me. Doubly so now that I was staring at it. Evil radiated off it, almost as strong as what came from the casket. 

"Sit," Luke told us. 

He waved his hand. Four dining chairs scooted themselves into the center of the room.

None of us sat. 

The point of a javelin poked at my back. I shot a glare over my shoulder at the guy standing behind me. The two looked like twins, and clearly not human. They were about eight feet tall and their chests were covered in shag-carpets. No – fur. Their hands were clawed, teeth all pointed like a predator's, and their bare feet looked like paws. Actually, they were only wearing blue jeans. 

"Where are my manners?" Luke said smoothly, like we hadn't just rejected his offer. "These are my assistants, Agrius and Oreius. Perhaps you've heard of them."

"No, not really," I said. 

My throat felt dry. Though I was trying to keep from giving away, but I was terrified to be standing here. Luke had haunted my nightmares since last summer. Over and over he'd kill us. Sometimes he'd break into our apartment to find us. Sometimes Percy would get the smart idea to hunt him down for revenge and it would all go sideways. Standing on a cruise ship wasn't among them, but it felt the same. 

Except this wasn't a dream. I wouldn't wake up if he decided to drive Backbiter through my chest. 

"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."

"Revenge," I repeated hollowly. 

Was this the best time to talk? No. But I couldn't help myself. Stuff like this...at risk of getting vaporized, this is everything wrong with the gods. What revenge was there to be taken? The woman just didn't want romance! I get that it's Aphrodite's whole thing  and I respect that, but it's not everyone else's thing. 

And Artemis! I hadn't met her yet then, but I did know she was supposed to be the protector of young woman. How could she abandon this girl in her time of need? 

I regretted saying anything, though, when Luke gave me an approving look. He said, "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..."

Agrius growled. "For lunch." 

Oreius cackled like a hyena and licked his fur-lined lips. It was weird at first, but then he kept going and going, until I was starting to worry about him. It sounded like he was having an asthma attack. 

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

Oreius whispered. 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. I turned to Luke, confused, but he was acting like this was totally normal. He was just lounging on the couch. I wanted to say something. Sure, Oreius threatened to eat us, but this seemed cruel. Unfortunately, Agrius was holding a spear to my back, and I don't think I was in the spot to question him. 

"Well, Percy, Attie, we like you survive another year," Luke said. I felt a spike of fear. Of course he knew where we lived. Where we went to school. "How's your mom? How's school?"

"Leave Mom out of it." My voice was at least two octaves higher than normal. 

"Of course, of course," Luke said. His voice was honey sweet, which only made me feel more sick. "You care for your Mom. I understand. We wouldn't want anything to happen to her."

I didn't like the threat hidden in that. 

"You poisoned Thalia's tree," Percy accused. 

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

"How could you?" Annabeth's face was red. Her voice was strained. I recognized it – when you're so angry you feel like letting any of it out would cause you to explode. "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!" 

"The side that's trying to kill her friends?" I retorted. "PB still lives at camp, Luke! Annabeth –" I stopped, not wanting to give away anything about her family situation. For all I knew, he'd use it against her like he was doing to Percy and me. "This is the opposite of what she'd want."

Luke narrowed his eyes at me. A dangerous look crossed his face. 

"You never knew her," Luke said coldly. "And PB made her choice." 

I don't need to know her, I thought. I'm just not stupid. 

"I thought you would understand," Luke continued. He sounded hurt, like I'd betrayed him. "When we met...You were like me. Betrayed. Abandoned by the gods. All I wanted was to help you." 

We had met when I screamed at Chiron that I hated my dad, that he'd never cared about us before, and that he shouldn't bother caring about us now. My body tensed as if bracing for a hit. If I had been angry before, I was seething now. The worst part? It wasn't even because he was wrong. 

I agreed with him that the gods were horrible and cruel. I just didn't agree with the fact that the answer was attacking everyone else. He was as bad as the gods and monsters who took out their anger at each other on innocent people who couldn't fight back. 

"Attie doesn't need your help!" Annabeth said. She said my name, but it sounded a lot like she was talking about herself. 

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

"I understand you want to destroy the camp! 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!" Annabeth shouted back. 

Annabeth looked close to crying. I gave her a weak smile, hoping it was enough to comfort her. 

"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 cried. 

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

"Leave her alone," I seethed. Anger flashed in my chest and, a bit childishly, I stomped my foot. " And don't talk about my brother like that!" 

"Brother? So you claim this...creature?" 

Luke turned to Annabeth with a look of disgust. She buried her head in her hands like she was about to cry. Tyson looked equally upset. I don't think he understood why Luke hated him so much – I didn't either – but he could tell when someone was talking negatively about him. 

The floor shifted beneath me. I thought it was just disorientation, until I looked out the window. The waves had darkened and started to grow. I could hear them beating against the hull like a drum. The sunlight had dimmed, almost like the starting of a storm. I had only a moment to wonder what god we'd upset when Agrius grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me off my feet. I tried kicking at him, but I might as well have been trying to fight a wall. 

"Hey!" Percy shouted. "Put her down!"

Agrius hesitated. But, after a beat, Luke nodded and he dropped me. I landed on my back, which was not fun with the duffle back. 

"Now, Atalanta, I won't be having any temper tantrums," Luke warned, like he was scolding a misbehaving toddler. "Especially not over that. Your father might have claimed him, but he's still a monster."

A look of surprise flashed across Percy's face. One I'm sure I matched, and not just because I had a toothbrush had jabbed me in the rib. It was one thing to know Tyson was related to us. Based off Annabeth's behavior, cyclopses being the children of Poseidon was pretty common knowledge among the more mythologically-inclined. That Dad had claimed him? That was another thing. 

Luke smiled at us. "Yes. 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," Percy said. 

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

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

"Tyson," I said. 

He turned to look at me and I nodded. I hadn't said anything, but I guess he got the idea, because he relaxed a bit. I didn't want him to take Luke's words personally. He was just trying to be cruel. 

Luke chuckled at us. "The gods are so using you two. Do you have any idea what's in store for you if you reach your sixteenth birthday? Has Chiron even told you the prophecy?" 

It felt like a sucker punch to the gut. I mean, I wasn't oblivious to the fact that Chiron had received a prophecy about Percy and me. But what was this about my sixteenth birthday? And what did he mean if? I don't like if. That made it sound like we might not reach our sixteenth birthday. And, with the way Luke said it, it sounded like he was going to make sure we didn't. 

"We know what we need to know," Percy said, but his voice was weak. "Like, who our enemies are."

"Then you're a fool."

You know, I thought Tyson was going to start crying when he broke. He usually did. Instead he exploded, smashing the nearest dining chair into splinters and shouting, "Percy is not a fool!" 

Before any of us could stop him, he charged Luke. His fists came down toward Luke's head. It would have obliterated him, but the bear twins intercepted him. 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 floor shook. 

"Hey!" I ran to Tyson's side. Thankfully, he was just a little dazed. 

"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."

The look Luke gave us was murderous. "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 towards the gold sarcophagus. The slow realization that I'd been trying to ignore fully settled over me. 

"Kronos," I said. 

The temperature seemed to drop twenty degrees.

"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."

The two continued to argue. I wasn't really listening. My eyes were locked on the window. I could still see the stretch of the sea outside, dark but unthreatening. Kronos had been right. Luke was sailing around on a cruise ship, reforming him out of the pit and collecting demigods for his monster army. And Dad was doing nothing. Nothing except, I guess, helping deliver us right into his hands. 

There was a buzz. I realized Luke had hit a red button on what looked like a TV remote. A few seconds later, the door of the stateroom opened and two uniformed crew members came in. They were armed with nightsticks and had the same glassy-eyed look as every other mortal. 

"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 down." 

Oreius started cackling again. 

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

"Is not threat," Luke said. He glanced at the golden casket, as if something were troubling him. "Agrius, stay where. 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 haven and herded us out of the stateroom, followed by the two human security guards. 

♆

WE EXITED THE CORRIDOR AND WALKED ACROSS AN OPEN DECK. Life boats lined the side. I dragged my feet and stared over the side of the ship. Oreius kept prodding at my back with the spear, trying to get me to talk faster, but I was trying to think of a plan. 

Before I could, Percy turned to Tyson and said, "Now."

I had no idea what he was talking about. Thankfully, Tyson did. He turned and smacked Oreius, sending him flying backwards into the swimming pool. He landed with a splash in the middle of a 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. Before he could swing it, Annabeth kicked him hard in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him. The other ran for the nearest alarm box. Percy hit him over the head with a deck chair...right after he'd trigger the alarm. 

Lights flashed. Sirens wailed. 

"Lifeboat!" Percy yelled. 

We ran to the nearest one. 

Turns out, boat covers are really heavy. It took a solid minute to fumble it off. By that time, monsters and more security guards were swarming the deck. They pushed through the tourists and waiters, who were still entirely unfazed (at least not any more fazed than you would be if someone ran into you.) A guy in Greek armor drew his sword and charged – then slipped in a puddle of piña colada. Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above us, notching arrows in their enormous bows.

And the water was still calm. 

I glared down at the ocean like it personally offended me. Because it had. Rainbow and the hippocampi were awesome but...it so much to ask for Dad to help us when we were actually in danger? Instead of sitting there, all calm and totally not bothered by the massive monster ship threatening the safety of camp (with Kronos reforming on it!) 

I wrapped an arm around the railing and shouted, "Hold on!"

"What?" Annabeth protested. "Attie, don't–"

But she still grabbed the railing, thankfully, because I'd already thrown my hand forward. I half expected nothing to happen. That tended to happen. Instead, there was a sharp tugging in my gut. The waves shifted below us and the entire ship creaked as it listed. Deck chairs slide away from us. 

Then it dropped back with a crash. Monsters, security, and tourists went toppling over each other. The archers had fallen off their perches and more than a few people had ended up in the pool. No one had fallen off the ship, thankfully, but it did enough. We scrambled into the lifeboat. Percy swung Riptide at the ropes and sent us pummeling towards the ocean.

I'm sure something super awesome happened between that and the water. I wouldn't know! Because I passed out as soon as I stepped into the lifeboat. 

Author's Note: We love a powerful girly who fucking sucks at using those powers. <3

But in all seriousness, a big power of this section is that Attie is super powerful, especially on the ocean, but it's also very tied to her emotions. It seemed fitting for the child of the sea god.