Ren was obviously not happy with them following him onto the ship. But he couldn't do anything about it now.

It reminded Gem of the good old days when she followed Impulse on mining trips and he ended up acting like a parent.

"I want donuts," Tango complained to Gem.

"I don't have donuts, sorry," Gem said to him.

Tango pouted, then looked up hopefully. "Do you have... pancakes?"

Gem huffed. "No, I don't have pancakes!"

"What about golden carrots?" Zedaph asked.

"I do have some of those," Gem said, and gave him one. "But why am I suddenly in charge of all the food? Stop asking me!"

"I'm hungry, though," Tango complained.

Ren walked in. "You guys need to be more quiet," he hissed. "Clarisse heard you. I managed to cover it up by saying it was an undead guy, but just try to be a little more careful! Jeez!"

Gem nodded. Tango and Zedaph, after a brief hesitation, did as well.

During their secret stay aboard the CSS Birmingham, Ren had explained the origins of the ship. It was a boat from the American Civil War, according to Clarisse.

And what was the Civil War?

Gem had no idea.

But Ren and Tango had shared a good laugh and said something about pranks and Capture the Flag.

Gem had a feeling that wars in this world were much less of a laughing matter than they were back home.

She didn't say that out loud, though.

As Ren left, Tango nudged her again. "Do you have any... brownies?"

"No!"

Zedaph sighed and put down his carrot. "All we have is whatever Ren brings us," he said.

"But I want brownies," Tango whined.

Gem froze. "Be quiet," she hissed.

"Be quiet?" Tango demanded. "You be quiet!"

Gem tackled him and put a hand over his mouth as they heard footsteps, and the familiar voice of Clarisse walking by.

"-lifeboat, Miss," a skeleton was saying. "We think they might be in trouble now."

"Oh my goodness," Clarisse grumbled. "WHAT ARE THEY DOING?"

"We await your command," the skeleton said.

"Fine," she said. "Fine. Let's go rescue them. Tell Ren to steer us into Chesapeake Bay."

The skeleton walked away, and then Clarisse did too.

The three Hermits in the bunk room let out the breaths they had been holding.

"That was too close," Zedaph said.

"Who are we rescuing?" Tango asked.

"We aren't rescuing anyone," Gem said. "But Clarisse and Ren and the dead guys are going to rescue someone."

------

It was a few minutes later when Ren walked in. "Guys," he said. "We may or may not have found the rest of the Hermits, plus Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson."

Zedaph stood up so fast that he fell over. Gem jumped. Tango's stomach growled.

"At least they're alive," Zedaph said.

"Not for long," Ren said gravely. "They went inland. We don't know where they are exactly, or if a monster found them."

"There's five of them," Gem said. "They should be fine. All of them except Tyson have had a lot of practice fighting."

"Ren!" Clarisse yelled, stomping down the hall. "Get out of your room and be useful!"

"Hide!" Ren said, and they quickly drank potions before Clarisse opened the door.

"There you are," the daughter of Ares said. "Get over here."

Ren followed her out. Thankfully, she didn't notice any of the particles from the potions.

After the door closed, Tango's disembodied voice echoed through the room.

"Are you sure you don't have brownies?"

Gem aimed a kick in his general direction.

The next few minutes were stressful. Their potions wore off. Nobody came into the bunk room, which was good. But without Ren to give them updates, Gem had no idea what was going on.

"Zedaph, can I have another potion?" Tango asked.

"Sure, why?" the son of Athena replied.

Ren suddenly came in. "I don't have much time. It's a Hydra," he panted. "We've spotted all of the except Grian. Clarisse wants to blow the Hydra to Tartarus, but everyone's too close."

"I'm coming," Tango said.

"No! You'll get caught!" Ren yelped.

Tango grabbed an invisibility potion. "Not with this." He drank it and disappeared.

"If he's going, we're going too," Zedaph said, giving Gem a potion and drinking on himself.

"I didn't agree to this!" Gem protested.

"Come on," Zedaph said.

Gem gave in and drank the potion, gagging at the bad taste.

Ren led them back upstairs to where Clarisse was bossing a bunch of skeletons around. Up ahead, Gem could see four figures in orange shirts avoiding sprays of acid from an eight-headed creature. As the ship approached them, Gem started to hear them yelling at each other.

"Hercules, right?"

"Yeah! We need fire!"

"Did someone say fire?" Tango asked, and then a floating burst of flame appeared in thin air.

"WHO- WHAT-" Clarisse stammered.

"TANGO?" Bdubs yelled.

"Hi!" Tango said, jumping onto the bank just as his potion wore off. Immediately, he slipped in the mud, fell on his face, and then got back up, his hands blazing again.

Oh, he grabbed one of the three-minute ones.

"Ready the cannons!" Clarisse yelled.

"No!" Ren said. "They're too close!"

Percy cut a head off. Tango immediately shoved his burning hands at the stump.

"Gross," he said. "I don't like this!"

If Gem didn't have to stay quiet, she would have agreed with him.

Bdubs ran forward and cut off another head. The rest of the heads hissed and spit acid, which he tried to dodge, but a drop hit his shoulder and left a nasty burn. Bdubs grabbed a stick and got as much of it off as he could. "Ow. OW!"

A pair of footprints appeared in the mud on the bank. "Eat this!" Zedaph yelled, and a bag of ambrosia shoved itself into Bdubs' face.

"WHY IS THERE SO MUCH- WHAT-" Clarisse yelled.

Gem guessed that she didn't really like having invisible stowaways on her ship.

Her attention went away from Bdubs as Percy and Tango cheered wildly at their success killing the Hydra. Annabeth looked annoyed. Tyson had run over to Bdubs and was fascinated by "Invisible Ghost Boy," aka Zedaph. Clarisse was stomping around the deck of the CSS Birmingham, yelling to nobody in particular while Ren watched her in amusement.

Clarisse stomped over to the railing, pointed at Tango, and yelled, "HOW DID YOU GET HERE?"

Ren grinned and gestured for the demigods and Cyclops on land to come onto the ship. "Come aboard!"

"NOT until he explains himself," Clarisse demanded. "One, why is he on my boat, and two, how can he control fire?"

"Where's Grian?" Tango asked, ignoring Clarisse completely.

The unregistered questers exchanged glances.

"We have a lot to talk about," Annabeth said.

~~~

TWO CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY?

I know, I'm amazing *flips hair dramatically*

I definitely didn't have half of this one written like three days ago but I remembered that things happened before that- nope-

- Indigo