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Quote of the Chapter:
"It seemed weird calling a teenager 'sir' but I'd learned to be careful with immortals. They tended to get offended easily. Then, they blew stuff up."
~Percy Jackson

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Chapter 9: We Hijack a Cruise Ship

Silena

It was time to go. Silena was nervous to say the least. She had never gone anywhere without her parents. Knowing her heritage now, it didn't surprise her. She packed lightly. Bryn had done some charm on her backpack where it held more than it was supposed to. She packed two pairs of jeans, a pair of shorts, two t-shirts, a brush, foundation, powder, and mascara (like she was ever going to let Derek see her without makeup!), her cell phone, a small notebook, a pen, three water bottles, and some power bars to snack on. She even managed to fit in a jacket. She put on her converse shoes and walked to the Poseidon cabin to meet Luke.

She knocked before coming in.

"Hey," Silena said, leaning up against his bed. He already looked more toned from the intense training program Derek and Bryn had put both of them through. He had a pretty decent tan. Vaguely, Silena wondered if she had that good of a tan as well; she sure hoped so but since she had decided long ago that her brother had gotten all the looks in the family, she didn't really believe she did have a tan as good as his.

"You ready?" He asked, putting a jacket in his backpack, which Bryn had also put the -charm on. That girl had some serious awesomeness-mojo going on.

"Yeah…" Silena replied.

"Nervous?"

"It's not even funny," Silena grumbled, plopping down on his meticulously made bed. For some unexplainable reason, Luke was very tidy. He hated when things were out of order or when something was out of place; that was inherited from their mother. Silena, on the other hand, tended to be a bit messy, something she had inherited from her father.

"We have Bryn, Derek, and Hannah with us. They're experienced in quests… well, Derek and Hannah are. Bryn just seems to know everything about everything."

"That's what happens when you're stuck at camp your whole life and have read every book here five times over," Bryn said, gliding gracefully and quietly into the room with Derek and Hannah behind her.

"You have an eerie ability to pop up whenever you're being talked about," Silena said with a joking apprehensive look.

"Or maybe you just talk about me a lot," Bryn countered with a smirk. She actually had a point. Luke and Silena did talk about her lot, but mainly they were trying to figure her out. She was a pretty confusing person if you were friends with her.

"I'm guessing you're all ready?" Luke inquired, shouldering his backpack. The threesome nodded. "Then let's go."

"Do you have an idea of where we're going?" Bryn asked, walking beside him.

"Of course I do," Luke scoffed.

"No you don't," Bryn said, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine, I don't. But Silena and I will figure it out."

"What's the commotion?" Hannah suddenly said. Everyone looked up to the top of Half-Blood Hill.

Silena saw Bryn and Derek grimace.

"What is it?" Silena prodded.

At the same, Bryn and Derek replied, "Artemis's Hunters."
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Derek

The five of them jogged up to the hill where everybody was arguing with the Hunters.

"We have a right to be here! By the gods, we don't even want to be here but Artemis is forcing us," one of the Hunters snapped; she was short with brown hair and green eyes. However, her attitude made her seem like she was eight feet tall and still growing.

Most were all in silvery outfits of tights and tunics, but a few were donning their own clothing, the ones before they became Hunters. Some even had silver jackets on but since it was the heat of the summer, most didn't.

"Thalia?" Bryn asked. A girl with black hair, shocking (no pun intended) blue eyes, and wearing a black t-shirt with white lettering saying "I don't need anger management… I need people to stop pissing me off," turned in their direction.

"Bryn!" Thalia exclaimed, walking over to her. Thalia gave Bryn a hug and put her hands on Bryn's shoulders. "How've you been?"

"I've been well. And you?"

"Never better," Thalia replied cheerfully. She glanced at Bryn's attire, which consisted of denim shorts, a white tank top, and a sporty black jacket. Her sword, Kerav̱nó, meaning 'lightning bolt,' was currently in its ring form on her right middle finger and her bow, Apergós, meaning 'Striker,' was in bracelet form on her left wrist. Her arrows were secured in the right side pocket of her backpack. "Where are you going?"

"A quest," Bryn answered, nodding her head to Luke and Silena. "They're looking for their parents."

Thalia looked at the two siblings, who were staring at her inquisitively.

"You're Thalia Grace, aren't you?" Silena finally said.

"How do you know that?" Thalia demanded.

Silena swallowed but kept her nerve. Being around children of Zeus was always nerve-wracking. Every single one of them had tempers, just like their father. Some had better control over their temper than others, like Bryn was better at controlling herself than Thalia.

"Our parents knew you. They said you had a lot of adventures with them," Silena explained.

"Who are your parents?"

"Percy and Annabeth Jackson," Silena replied. Thalia blanched.

"You look just like them," She murmured. It was pretty hard to shock Thalia (again, no pun intended).

"So we've heard," Luke said. "From what we heard, you are completely and totally awesome."

At that, Thalia grinned. "Glad they made me sound awesome, but that's not hard."

"They said you had this crazy ability to shock people into speechlessness," Luke added.

"Well, that's because I literally can," Thalia told them with a smirk. When Luke and Silena looked confused, Thalia added, "I'm a daughter of Zeus."

Luke and Silena's mouths dropped open. Silena closed hers first and without looking, closed Luke's too. It was a pretty funny sight and Derek couldn't but do a lopsided grin; Bryn caught his eye and managed to hold back her smile.

"So who's older?" Luke questioned, getting a droll look on his face, his eyes flitting between Thalia and Bryn.

"Technically, I am," Thalia replied.

"Technically?" Luke repeated.

"What she means is that she was born before me but since she's a Hunter of Artemis, she doesn't age. She will stay fifteen," Bryn explained.

"Now I see where the technicalities come in. So technically Thalia should really be in her thirties or forties like my parents," Luke simplified. "She's a thirty year old that looks fifteen."

"Good way of putting it," Thalia complimented. Luke said thank you.

"Hey, Thalia, have you ever stumbled upon anyone named Milos?" Bryn suddenly asked.

Thalia looked thoughtful. "No, but I've heard of a place called Milos. It's this delicious restaurant in New York City… and then there's the volcano near Greece. It's a hell of a place. In fact, I've heard that it's been acting up lately. It was considered dormant just about a week ago but they changed that on Monday, I'm pretty sure. Why do you ask?"

Bryn looked at Luke. A telepathic message seemed to pass between them.

"You don't think-" Bryn began.

"I do think. That's where we have to go," Luke said.

"I would appreciate it if you two would tell us what the hell you're talking about," Derek said impatiently, feeling out of the loop.

"The volcano is where we have to go," Bryn answered, turning to face Derek.

"How are we going to get there?" Derek inquired.

"I know a way," Luke said, grinning.

"Is it safe?" Bryn questioned warily.

"Completely," Luke protested. "Come on, we need to get going."

"Goodbye, sis," Thalia said, giving Bryn a tight hug. Bryn returned it. Thalia was one of the few people Bryn really cared about in the world. Derek was another one, of that he was sure of. "Be safe and kick some monster butt."

"Do children of Zeus do anything but kick butt?" Bryn bantered.

"You do occasionally zap people in the butt," Luke pointed out. Thalia looked at him with a bewildered, somewhat disturbed expression, but Bryn gave him a grin. Even Silena was smiling at that. It must've been an inside joke.

"Do I want to know?" Thalia mused.

"No, not really," Bryn replied quickly before Luke could dive into the story. "Bye Thalia."

"But-" Luke started to object.

"Not happening, Sharkboy," Bryn cut him off, glaring at him.

"Why not, Cat Woman?"

"Honestly Luke, you have some screws loose in your head," Bryn said, shaking her head at him.

"You two sound like Annabeth and Percy," Thalia pointed out with a grin.

"Do not," the two of them declared heatedly at the same time.

"Keep on believeing that," Thalia said. Bryn rolled her eyes.

With one last hug, the sisters separated and Luke, Silena, Bryn, Hannah, and Derek trekked up to the hill. They said goodbye to Chiron who handed them each a bag of drachmas and regular human money, which Bryn said they wouldn't need. With a confused look, Chiron asked, "Why?"

Bryn unzipped the pocket on her shorts and pulled out a gold credit card. "My father gave this to me a long time ago. It's unlimited; he pays for everything."

"That's very useful," Hannah observed.

"When did he give you that?" Chiron queried.

"For my sixteenth birthday," Bryn informed.

"Huh," was all Chiron said.

They walked to a hidden parking lot, a new addition according to Bryn. It was only added about three or four years ago. In it was a sea of different cars but they were all owned by someone at camp. If you didn't have a truck, you went to this booth-like place where you would type in the car you wanted and it would magically appear. Bryn explained all this to Luke and Silena who seemed stupefied.

"I'm driving!" Luke announced, running to the booth. He typed in the name of a car that no one could see, and a few seconds later, a shiny black Porsche Cayenne Turbo was in the parking lot, inviting them to jump in.

"Shotgun!" Bryn shouted as she ran to the passenger side door. Everyone scrambled after her, attempting but failing to get there before her. Silena ended up in the middle of the car with Derek on her right and Hannah on her left. Bryn was looking through the radio stations as Luke started the car.

Inside, the car's interior was tan leather with silver accessories. There were TV screens on the back of the front seat headrests. If Derek ever got bored, he could always try and get a movie on the thing.

"You know, it's a bit nerve-wracking driving a car that's worth over one hundred grand," Luke admitted, starting the engine.

"Just drive," Bryn ordered. "We have a time limit you know."

Luke pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road. No one knew where he was going and no matter how much they prodded him, he would just smile, much to the infuriation of them all. Bryn actually fell asleep. Hannah pulled out a small book and started reading, Luke focused on driving, and Silena was staring at the crystal blue sky through the sunroof.

Derek took a chance to look at her. She had raven locks that were naturally glossy. Her gray eyes were always full of curiosity and intellect. She was beautiful, he thought, absolutely, completely, utterly beautiful.

He looked out his window as the view of murky water appeared.

"Luke, we're going to the harbor, aren't we?" Derek said. Luke glanced at him through the rearview mirror.

"Bingo."

"This isn't going to go well," Derek mumbled so no one could hear him.

Luke pulled into a parking lot and parked the car. "We're here," he informed.

Bryn had now woken up and was staring dazedly out the window. She murmured, "Where are we?"

"You'll see," Luke said with a grin, unbuckling his seatbelt. Everyone followed suit and grabbed their things.

The salty water didn't smell that good because, well, this was New York water. It was mixed with chemicals and other things that Derek didn't even want to think about. He saw Bryn blanch when she caught a whiff of the salt water. She immediately turned to him and the desperation for him to deny what they were going to do was plain in her eyes.

Sadly, Derek shook his head. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, a sign of her nervousness, but only Derek would notice that. He was the only one that knew she did that besides Thalia.

"Let's go," Luke urged, walking towards the harbor. Hannah and Silena followed him. Reluctantly, Bryn went along with Derek right behind her. She was looking down, probably trying to hide her displeasure at the thought of being so near the water. Derek lightly touched her hand, and slowly, she unwound her arms from her stomach and gripped his hands. Her palm was clammy from her nervousness, but Derek didn't mind. He also felt the violent tremor that was racking her body, only hidden by the fact she was walking. Hannah turned around to see if they were there, and Derek gave her a look that said "don't say anything to Luke or Silena." Hannah nodded in reply and engaged Luke and Silena in conversation. Derek was going to have to remember to thank her.

Luke led them to a massive white cruise ship that had black letters spelling The Castellan on the side. The letters were outlined in a thin line of blue and the letters themselves had a bluish sheen to them, making the effect they had extremely cool in the sun. There was a caduceus at the end of Castellan, making Derek wonder if this Castellan name was a person, and if it was, had he or she been a son of Hermes.

"What's Castellan?" Derek queried.

"I honestly don't know anything except that he was a person, Luke Castellan, and his first name is my namesake."

Derek wasn't sure if he was surprised or unsurprised when Bryn spoke. "Luke Castellan was the one who started the Second Titan War. He was also the one who destroyed Kronos and pretty much ended it."

"My parents are acquainted with some real characters," Silena grumbled to herself.
When they all reached it, and everyone but Silena and Luke having perplexed expressions, Luke explained, "My dad is the owner of Olympus Cruises. The boat is old and is about to be scrapped. Nothing's been done to it yet so it's still safe but let me go check it out to make sure no one is on board because we would have a seriously hard time explaining our way out of that situation, whether my dad's workers recognize me or not."

Luke glanced at Bryn and Derek's intertwined hands. "You okay, Bryn?"

"Yeah," Bryn lied persuasively; even Derek felt persuaded but he had been around Bryn long enough to know that it was her Charmspeak acting up. Sometimes, he really hated when she used it because it made him doubt himself about whether she was lying or not, and he hated doubting himself. However, being with Bryn for so long, he was almost immune to Charmspeak, but for some reason, it was particularly strong today, probably because of Luke. "My stomach hurts really badly, that's all."

With a worried glance, he said, "Okay, it won't take me long. Why don't you find a place to sit down?"

Bryn nodded and Derek followed her to a crate where she immediately took a seat and started shivering. It was about twenty minutes before Luke came back off the ship, looking pleased.

"We're good," Luke informed. Silena and Hannah rushed onto the ship, talking excitedly about what rooms they were going to take. He looked at Derek and Bryn and shouted, "Derek! Bryn! We're good!"

Derek nodded and locked eyes with Bryn who was turning paler by the moment. When he saw the tic in her jaw, he knew what was coming.

"I can't go," Bryn whispered sadly.
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