Well... Grian, Bdubs, Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson were idiots, but there was nothing Zedaph could do about that.

There was something he could do, however, about Ren going with Clarisse on that quest.

He already had a plan. He just needed Tango and Gem's help. He wasn't about to do this on his own.

Clarisse used a trick she had learned seemingly overnight to summon a ship full of undead soldiers just off the coast. A lifeboat came to pick the two children of Ares up, and then rowed away with a skeleton. Ren looked back and waved.

For a minute, Zedaph had second thoughts. Ren looked like riding on a ghost ship on a deadly quest was all he ever wanted.

Was last summer not enough?

For reasons unknown, apparently not.

Zedaph took off his backpack and reached a hand inside, feeling the cloth and frames made of an unknown material. Thank goodness it fit inside the backpack.

As soon as the campers who had assembled to see them off (mostly Ares campers, and Zedaph was the only Athena kid there) started to scatter and go to their activities, Zedaph took out an elytra and handed it to Tango, and then another one to Gem.

"What-" Tango started.

"Shh," Zedaph said. "We're going to land on that ship and hide in the cargo hold, if there is one. Otherwise, we'll find a room that doesn't look like it's occupied and stay there."

"What?" Gem stammered.

Zedaph handed them each some rockets. "We all know that Ares kids aren't the smartest. They're going to get themselves killed."

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" Tango demanded.

"Look, do you want to stay here with Tantalus?"

They fell silent.

"No," Gem said.

"Well, I liked the chariot race-" Tango started.

"No, you didn't," Zedaph said, and shoved more rockets at him.

"I did though-" Tango protested.

"He's trying to ignore our opinions, but it's okay," Gem said to him. "We can go."

Zedaph laughed at Gem's brutal honesty. "Look, Tango, you don't have to come if you don't want to, but it'll certainly be easier with you there."

"Ehm, you know what, I never liked Tantalus himself..." Tango said.

"Good," Zedaph said. "Now for the other things we need.

"Okay," Gem sighed. "Did anyone bring a brewing stand?"

"Why would we want a brewing stand?" Tango asked.

"For brewing, silly," Gem said, rolling her eyes. "This would be a lot easier with invisibility potions."

"True," Zedaph said, and pulled a large plastic bag out of his backpack.

Gem and Tango leaned in to see what was inside.

Inside, there was a brewing stand, a few golden carrots, and several small containers holding nether wart, fermented spider eyes, and blaze powder.

Tango raised an eyebrow. "Anything else in the bag that could be useful, Mary Poppins?"

"Just some golden apples, ambrosia, and nectar," Zedaph said, ignoring the Mary Poppins comment. "I was thinking we could try and mix god food and Minecraft food and make ultimate healing stuff."

"Ooh, science," Gem said, clapping her hands. "I like science!"

"But invisibility is more important," Tango reminded her.

"Invisibility is more important," Gem agreed, and opened the container of blaze powder. "Zed, did you bring this stuff all the way from Hermitcraft?"

Zedaph nodded. "I figured that as long as Grian existed we would need some."

"But Grian's off on his own quest with Bdubs, Annabeth, Percy, and Tyson," Tango reminded everyone.

"Did you think I forgot that?" Zedaph snapped playfully. "This is one of the reasons we're sneaking onto the ship. We don't know where Grian and Bdubs and the others went, but we know where Ren and Clarisse are. They might cross paths, assuming they went for the Fleece and didn't die a horrible death in the woods."

"Ohh," Gem said. "So that's why we're doing this."

"Ren's actually pretty smart when he wants to be," Tango said.

"Clarisse is leading the quest," Zedaph said, which did make them be quiet.

"Yeah, they're dead," Tango decided.

Gem finished the potions and handed one to each of them. "They won't last long. We only have three minutes."

Zedaph nodded and handed her some redstone dust.

"Ooh," she said. "This'll help."

She added a pinch of redstone to each bottle, gave them a stir, and watched the red glitter dissolve in the purplish gray liquid.  Then she handed the potions back to them.

Zedaph nodded, and together they counted. "One... two... three!"

They chugged the bottles, and Zedaph watched as Gem and Tango disappeared. In their places were two sets of elytra, two backpacks, a pair of jean shorts, some brown overalls, and two Camp Half-Blood shirts.

"Oh," Tango realized. "They don't work on the clothes here."

"Give me gunpowder," Gem said. "I'm brewing a splash batch."

Zedaph handed her a container wordlessly. He'd prefer not taking off his clothes.

Tango and Zedaph watched as ingredients floated in the air and seemingly poured themselves into bottles. The splash potions finished brewing, then floated into the air and dropped onto the ground.

Liquid sprayed everywhere, renewing the effect for the people and starting it for their items.

Zedaph stuck the portable brewing station back into his backpack.

The elytra still wouldn't go invisible, though. Minecraft armor was weird that way.

"Take off your elytra as soon as we land," one floating pair of elytra said. It sounded like Tango.

Zedaph nodded even though they couldn't see him. He saw a bunch of footprints running across the sand, and then the sounds of a rocket, and one pair of wings took off.

Zedaph followed. The third elytra was right behind him.

They flew over the ocean and dropped into the water near the boat, which had actually gotten pretty far. They took off their elytra and took a ladder hanging over the side up to the deck, and then snuck past a few skeletons and found a bunk room.

"I'm going to go do some sneaky-sneaky," Tango said. "Hopefully this potion doesn't run out."

Only some drips of water on the floor showed that he left.

"Okay," Gem sighed. "What now, smart guy?"

They froze as they heard loud footsteps.

"What the heck?" The unmistakeable voice of Ren muttered to himself. "Why is there so much water?"

He walked into the bunk room. "Of course Clarisse gets the captain's quarters and I get the bunk room. Makes sense. Not like we're supposed to be working together or anything."

Zedaph suddenly had a strong urge to tell him that he had chosen this, but he didn't.

And thank goodness, Gem didn't say anything either.

Hmm... maybe I should make a Zedvancement about spying on people. I'm pretty good at this.

"Okay, there's two bunk rooms and a Captain's quarters," Tango whispered, not noticing Ren. "We should be safe here-"

"TANGO?" Ren yelped.

There was a brief silence.

"Nope, no Tango here, don't know what you're talking about," Tango said, and then the potion conveniently wore off.

Zedaph didn't bother drinking another one before he and Gem became visible too. Potions made the loudest sounds in Minecraft anyway.

"Hi," he said.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Ren yelled at them.

"Keeping you from getting killed," Gem said, going visible a split second after Zedaph did.

Ren facepalmed. "You're all here?" he asked. "Clarisse is going to kill you."

"Not if she doesn't know we're here," Zedaph said, holding up a potion.

Ren pursed his lips. "Looks like you all are going to be washing dishes again. But whatever. Whatever! It's not my problem."

Tango snickered. "It is now."

Ren's reply was to flop on a bed and groan, "Why did I do this?"

~~~

Sorry for the long wait between chapters for the past week or so. I was on a short hiatus. Now I'm just procrastinating doing the part with Luke on the cruise ship because I really don't feel like writing that part for some reason.

Yeaaaaaa next chapter might take a while

- Indigo