chapter IX

🌷   She awoke to a ship's whistle and a muffled voice on the intercom - some guy with an Australian accent who sounded way too happy.

"Good morning, passengers! We'll be at sea all day today. Excellent weather for the poolside mambo party! Don't forget million-dollar bingo in the Kraken Lounge at one o'clock, and for our special guests, disemboweling practice on the Promenade!"

Daphne sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, seeing Annabeth wide awake and moving around the cabin, collecting their bags and weapons. "Did you hear what that guy said?"

Annabeth chewed her lip nervously. "I hope I'm wrong. Come on, get up, we need to get going."

Daphne groaned, still half asleep. She didn't have time to brush her hair before Annabeth was dragging her from the room, littered with nerves.

They urgently knocked on the boys suite's interior door. Finally, Percy opened it up and the girls walked in. Annabeth looked put-together and smart, her braids tied back from her face, and Daphne looked like her hair had become a nesting place for rats. "Disemboweling practice?"

"We need to go. Now." Percy glanced at them, seeing that they hadn't changed clothes from last night. "Do you have everything?"

Tyson yawned loudly from behind him.

"Yeah, I think- oh! Wait!" Daphne scrambled to start rummaging through the bag that she'd brought. After a couple of seconds, she brandished a disposable camera with a grin. "Aha!"

Annabeth squinted her eyes like what she was seeing wasn't right.

At their stares, Daphne lowered the camera reproachfully. "Hey! It's for my scrapbook. Everybody needs a hobby, don't they?"

Tyson looked at the camera interestedly. "Scrap - book?"

"It's just... never mind. I'll tell you when we get back to camp." Daphne pushed everybody together and tilted her camera around to face them. "Smile!"

Flash! The camera snapped a picture with Daphne beaming, Annabeth frowning, Tyson looking away and Percy's face half cut off the frame.

"Ow!" Tyson wiped his eyes at the flash.

"Can we do it again? I think I blinked." Percy said. Annabeth whacked him and Daphne on the back of their heads from between them and scolded him.

"Come on," she commanded them as Daphne slipped her camera back into her bag. "This place is weird."

Once they were all ready, they ventured out into the ship and were surprised to actually see other people wandering the halls. A dozen senior citizens were heading to breakfast and a dad was taking his kids to the pool for a morning swim. Crew members in crisp white uniforms strolled the deck, tipping their hats to the passengers.

Nobody asked who they were. Nobody paid them much attention at all, actually - but there was still something wrong.

As the family of swimmers passed them, the dad told his kids: "We are on a cruise. We are having fun."

"Yes," his three kids said in unison, their expressions blank. "We are having a blast. We will swim in the pool."

They wandered off.

"Good morning," a crew member told them, his eyes glazed. "We are all enjoying ourselves aboard the Princess Andromeda. Have a nice day." He drifted away.

"Guys, this is weird," Annabeth whispered. "They're all in some kind of trance."

They passed a cafeteria and saw their first monster of the quest. She had to restrain herself from snapping a picture of it. A hellhound - a black mastiff with its front paws up on the buffet line and its muzzle buried in the scrambled eggs. It must've been young, because it was small compared to most - no bigger than a grizzly bear. Still, her blood turned cold. She had horrible memories with those creatures.

But the weirdest thing was that a middle-aged couple was standing in the buffet line right behind the devil dog, patiently waiting their turn for the eggs. They didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary at all.

"Not hungry anymore," Tyson murmured.

Before any of them could reply, a reptilian voice came from down the corridor, "Ssssix more joined yesssterday."

Annabeth gestured frantically toward the nearest hiding place (which was, unluckily for Percy and Tyson, the women's restroom) and all four of them ducked inside.

Something - or more like two somethings - slithered past the bathroom door, making sounds like sandpaper against the carpet. "Yesss," a second reptilian voice said. "He drawssss them. Ssssoon we will be sssstrong."

The things slithered into the cafeteria with a cold hissing that might have been snake laughter. Daphne looked at Annabeth and Percy in horror. "We have to get out of here."

"You think I want to be in the girls' restroom?"

"She means the ship, Percy!" Annabeth said hurriedly. "We have to get off the ship."

"Smells bad," Tyson agreed. "And dogs eat all the eggs. Annabeth is right. We must leave the restroom and ship."

Percy knew that if Annabeth and Tyson were agreeing with each other then he should probably listen. But just as they were about to leave, Daphne heard another voice outside - one that chilled her worse than any monster's.

"-only a matter of time. Don't push me, Agrius!"

It was Luke, beyond a doubt. She could never forget his voice. From her comforting brother to the boy who had betrayed her, and Hermes had lead them right to him. She didn't know whether to thank him or curse his name.

"I'm not pushing you!" another guy growled. His voice was deeper and even angrier than Luke's. "I'm just saying, if this gamble doesn't pay off-"

"It'll pay off," Luke snapped. "They'll take the bait. Now, come, we've got to get to the admiralty suite and check on the casket."

Their voices receded down the corridor.

Tyson whimpered. "Leave now?"

Annabeth and Daphne exchanged looks and came to a silent agreement.

"We can't," Daphne glanced at Tyson.

"We have to find out what Luke is up to," Annabeth agreed. "And if possible, we're going to beat him up, bind him in chains, and drag him to Mount Olympus. I can go with my invisibility cap, and-"

"No," Daphne shook her head. "No way. That's too dangerous. Either we all go, or none of us go."

"Nobody!" Tyson voted. "Please?"

But in the end he came along, nervously chewing on his huge fingernails. They stopped at Tyson and Percy's cabin long enough to gather the stuff they'd left strewn around the room messily. ("Boys," Annabeth and Daphne exchanged a look.)

Though the thought of million dollar bingo was actually quite tempting, Daphne knew that they wouldn't be staying another night on the ghost ship.

Percy made sure Riptide was in his pocket and that some vitamins and a weird thermos he'd received from Hermes were at the top of the bag. He seemed hesitant to let Tyson carry everything, but he insisted, and Annabeth told him not to worry about it. Tyson could carry three full duffel bags over his shoulder as easily as Daphne could carry her backpack. She didn't want to give it up to him and slung it over her shoulder somewhat protectively, but Annabeth passed hers over to him. Her lipgloss sword was slipped into her jeans pocket.

They sneaked through the corridors, following the ship's YOU ARE HERE signs toward the admiralty suite. Annabeth scouted ahead invisibly. They hid whenever someone passed by, but most of the people they came across 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 them into a supply closet.

Daphne heard a couple of guys coming down the hall and tried to still her breathing.

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

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

Daphne froze. The voice... Chris Rodriguez. Another one of her old cabin members who hadn't returned for the summer, and well, now she understood why. Her heart was stuck in her throat and she squeezed Percy's arm. He turned, his face showing a little recognition, but not enough to tell her that he knew who was speaking.

"I hear they got two more coming," the familiar voice 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. "From-"

"Cabin eleven." Daphne finished somewhat painfully. "What's a demigod doing here? You think he... I don't know, got lost?"

Annabeth shook her head, clearly troubled.

They kept going down the corridor. She didn't need maps anymore to know they were getting closer to Luke. Daphne sensed something cold and unpleasant - the presence of evil - and despised how Luke was once associated with safety and light. Now there was just fear and pain.

"Daphne." Annabeth stopped suddenly. "Look."

Annabeth 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 like the ones who'd attacked Percy and Tyson with dodge balls, two hellhounds, and a few even stranger creatures - humanoid females with twin serpent tails instead of legs.

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

"That's a little on the nose, don't you think?" Daphne whispered.

The monsters made a semicircle around a young guy in Greek armor who was hacking on a straw dummy. A lump formed in Daphne's throat when she realized the dummy was wearing an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, matching the one she was wearing. As they watched, the guy in armor stabbed the dummy through its belly and ripped upward. Straw flew everywhere. The monsters cheered and howled.

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

"Come on," Percy told her, trying to sound braver than he felt. "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?" I 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."

Before Daphne could even react, Tyson's voice changed again, becoming deeper and gruffer, like the other guy they'd 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 and grabbed for Daphnes hand. She didn't really know why she was seeking her for comfort, but of course obliged. "Stop that, Tyson! How do you do that? It's creepy."

Tyson opened his eye and looked puzzled. "Just listening."

"Keep going," Percy encouraged. "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."

Too late, she realized what was happening.

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 cousins. Come right in."

The stateroom was beautiful, and it was horrible.

The beautiful part: huge windows curved along the back wall, looking out over the stern of the ship. It showed a dazzling green sea and blue sky which stretched all the way to the far horizon. A Persian rug covered the floor and 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.

The horrible part: 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 the last summer Daphne had seen him. Instead of the Bermuda shorts and t-shirts she'd grown accustomed to seeing him in, he wore a button- down shirt, khaki pants, and leather loafers. His sandy hair, which used to be so unruly, was now clipped short. He looked like an evil male model, showing off what the fashionable college-age villain was wearing to Harvard this year.

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 new magical sword, glinting strangely with its half-steel, half-Celestial bronze blade that could kill both mortals and monsters. Daphne only knew about this sword from Percy recounting it after being stung by the pit scorpion. Apparently, he called it Backbiter.

"Sit," he told them. He waved his hand and three dining chairs scooted themselves into the center of the room.

None of them sat. Daphne shook with anger and it took all of her strength to not lunge and strangle him.

Luke's large friends were still pointing their javelins at them. They looked like twins, but they weren't human. They stood about eight feet tall, for one thing, and wore only blue jeans, probably because their enormous chests were already shag-carpeted with thick brown fur. They had claws for fingernails, feet like paws. Their noses were snoutlike, and their teeth were all pointed canines.

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

They all said nothing. Despite the javelins pointed at Daphne, it wasn't the bear twins who scared her.

She'd imagined meeting Luke again many times since he'd tried to kill Percy last summer. She'd pictured herself boldly standing up to him, challenging him to a duel. Perhaps after defeating him, coaxing him out of his evil ways. But now that they were face-to-face, she could barely stop her hands from shaking.

"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. His gruff voice was the one they'd heard talking with Luke earlier.

"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.

"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.

Daphne jumped back at the noise, looking at the bear creatures in disgust. 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." Percy said instead of answering. Somehow, his voice wasn't shaking.

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

"So what?" Daphne burst, taking a step forward in fury. "What do you mean, so what? How could you? Thalia saved your life, and so you dishonour her in death-"

"I didn't dishonor her!" Luke snapped, almost making Daphne recoil. She'd had a lot of time to understand that he was evil now, sure - but she'd never truly seen it with her own eyes yet. "The gods dishonored her, Daphne! Just as they dishonoured you! You know that if Thalia were alive, she'd be on my side."

"Liar!" Annabeth shouted, so angry that Daphne thought she was going to explode. "She would never-"

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

"I understand you want to destroy the camp!" Annabeth carried on yelling. "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 and Daphne don't deserve a fate like that. You really want to be on a losing team... with company like this?" Luke pointed at Tyson.

"Hey!" Percy snapped in offence.

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

"Stop it!" she shouted. Annabeth buried her head in her hands like she was about to cry.

"You have no right to talk about Thalia!" Daphne seethed, coming to Annabeths defence. "No right to talk about Annabeths honour or loyalty. Leave her alone!"

"Oh, Daphne," Luke sighed. "I so wish that you'd come to your senses after our last meeting. Chances like that don't come around very often, you know."

Daphnes blood went cold. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Luke rose an eyebrow. "No?" A sudden wicked grin stretched over his lips as he realized that Daphne had kept his secret. "Maybe it's not Annabeths honour that we should be talking about. Where do your loyalties lay, Ducky?"

The nickname shouldn't have hurt her as much as it did. But it stung her straight through the heart, as though she were a vampire and the stake was crafted from ice.

"With my family. Always." she trembled.

He seemed satisfied with her answer and Daphne felt instantly guilty. Some part of her buried deep knew that she couldn't hate him, not entirely - and he knew that. With an evil smirk he surveyed the rest of them: Daphne acting defensive, Annabeth looking broken. Percy watching their interaction in bewilderment and Tyson looking lost. "And is this your family now? Replacing your best friend with a monster?"

That part struck her, and Percy must've noticed. "Leave her alone," he said defensively. "And leave Tyson out this."

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

They must have looked surprised, because Luke smiled. "Oh 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." Daphne whispered.

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 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?"

He staggered back slightly. Sixteen? The prophecy? Annabeth twitched in recognition and Daphne was glad to see in Percy's eyes that she wasn't the only one who had no idea what Luke was talking about.

Also, Daphne didn't like the use of an 'if' in that sentence. Not at all, actually.

"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, making Annabeth wince and recoil in fear. What Luke had said must've hit hard, because again, she reached for Daphne's hand. "Percy is not a fool!"

Before any of them could stop him, he charged Luke. His fists came down toward Luke's head - a double overhead blow that would've knocked a hole in titanium - but 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."

Annabeth and Daphne caught their breath simultaneously.

His face turned a shade of red you usually only saw in volcanoes. "Don't - even - mention him."

"He told us to take this boat." Percy continued stupidly, never knowing when to stop. "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.

The box was making her shiver. It was cold and creepy and seeping into her blood, but she was determined not to show it.

"So?" Percy demanded. "What's so special ..."

Then it hit him, what might be inside the sarcophagus. The temperature in the room seemed to drop twenty degrees. "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 hissed.

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," Daphne shook her head with a horrified whisper. "Luke, what happened to you? He's been corrupting you-"

"Join us and you'll be rewarded." he chose to ignore her last comment. "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! And Daphne..."

He turned to her and she sized her shoulders up, waiting for an attack. But instead, his eyes became warm again.

"This is your last chance." Percy and Annabeth turned to Daphne in confusion. What was her first chance? Whatever it was, she seemed to be keeping something from them. "Join us and get your respect, your revenge. Pay homage to Thalias name. The gods let you die. The only reason you're alive because of their own greed, their pride."

"Daphne, what's he talking about?" Annabeth whispered to her.

Her heart caught in her throat as she ignored her friends, instead looking at Luke. "How do you know that?"

Luke's eyes flickered to the gold sarcophagus. "He tells me things. He knows things. About you, about where you come from... he can show you. You can understand who you are, Daphne. Join us."

It was quiet for a couple of seconds. Until...

"Go to Tartarus," Daphne managed to snap.

Luke sighed and his eyes went cold. "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 three uniformed crew members came in, armed with nightsticks. They had the same glassy-eyed look as the other mortals she'd seen, but she had a feeling this wouldn't make them any less dangerous in a fight.

"Ah, good, security," Luke beamed, "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."

Oreius prodded us with his javelin and herded us out of the stateroom, followed by the three human security guards.

As they walked down the corridor with Oreius's javelin poking Daphne in the back, she thought about what Luke had said - that the bear twins together were a match for Tyson's strength. But maybe separately...

She was a fool to think it but maybe - just slightly maybe... was Luke giving them a chance to escape?

They exited the corridor amidships and walked across an open deck lined with lifeboats. She knew the ship well enough already to realize this would be their last look at sunlight. Once they got to the other side, they'd take the elevator down into the hold, and that would be it. Demigods would turn into lunch.

Percy looked at Tyson and said, "Now."

Thank the gods, he understood. He 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. Another guard went to restrain her, but Daphne took care of him by twisting his arm behind his back and knocking his head into the wall.

The last 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!" he yelled.

They ran for the nearest one.

By the time they got the cover off, monsters and more security men were swarming the deck, pushing aside tourists and waiters with trays of tropical drinks. A guy in Greek armor drew his sword and charged, but slipped in a puddle of piña colada. Laistrygonian archers assembled on the deck above 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. Daphne still screamed as the mutt tried to cling at her, only to be knocked away again by Tyson.

"Get in!" Percy yelled. He uncapped Riptide and slashed the first volley of arrows out of the air. Any
second they would be overwhelmed. Daphne jumped out of the boat and joined him, uncapping her lip gloss into her sword and slashing the monsters which tried to attack them.

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.

Percy jumped in beside them, pulling Daphne by her forearm to join him.

"Hold on!" he yelled, and cut the ropes.

A shower of arrows whistled over their heads as they free-fell toward the ocean. Daphne's scream left her lungs as she held onto the closest thing to her, which happened to be Percy's arm.

౨ৎ ˖ ࣪⊹ 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆
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