Y'all enjoyed the last chapter apparently and we're getting close to where things start tying together so you're not as confused as to who's on whose side. It's gonna be so good (I hope)! Enjoy!

Chapter Quote:
"Trust is built with consistency."
~Lincoln Chafee
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Chapter 17: We Blow Up a Ship

Derek

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Derek groaned. The three of them were sitting on the grass on a picnic blanket in Central Park. It was a sunny day but that didn't help lighten their mood.

"Yes, but only if you act normal and stop looking for attackers," Luke said sarcastically.

"We're literally intending to have Hannah come kidnap us and do nothing about it. Do you see the flaw in this plan?" he pointed out. Silena rubbed her boyfriend's shoulder sympathetically. He rested his chin on his hand. Derek wanted to ask Bryn what to do. She always seemed to know the right strategy or right answer to everything, even if it wasn't always correct. But Bryn wasn't here anymore. It was still unreal. He always felt that she was watching over them. Maybe it was real, or maybe it was just his imagination trying to comfort him. Whichever case it was he didn't want it to end. The comfort from it was real, and it made bearing her death a little bit easier. Just because it'd almost been a year since her death didn't mean it'd gotten easier. Derek felt like the reason he couldn't forget is because she had died so horribly and her killer was still out there.

"Trying not to see it," Luke admitted.

"So what do you talk about when you're waiting for your impending doom?"

"Normal stuff I guess."

"We're demigods. There is no normal stuff for us," Silena joked.

"She has a point."

"I don't know about you but I'm going to get some rest before we get kidnapped," Luke said. He stretched out on the ground, crossed his arms behind his head, and closed his eyes. Within a few minutes, he was asleep. Silena rested her head on Derek's shoulder.

"How are you doing?" she questioned.

"What do you mean?"

"You seemed stressed. Well, more than usual. What's up?"

"I don't know. I'm just... worried. Worried about this plan, worried about what Hannah is doing, worried about what the twins are doing, I miss Bryn... it's a lot of things," he confessed, ripping some grass out of the ground.

"Worrying won't do anything except make you stress more than you already are," she consoled.

"We're outnumbered Silena. Hannah has more soldiers, has more weapons, has more of everything. I mean sure we got the Romans to cooperate and sure that's doubled our numbers but compared to Hannah's army? Our chances are slimmer than slim of surviving this. I just... I hoped that our generation wouldn't have to deal with something like this, let alone me and the girl I'm in love and my best friend having lead the entire crusade."

"We're demigods. And maybe you wouldn't have been involved had you not befriended three children of the Big Three," she said with a slight hint of amusement. "If my parents could survive Kronos and Gaia, then we can beat Hannah, whatever she is. There's always a way for us. We'll find the way that will lead us to victory," she promised. "But just remember that no matter how this turns out, I love you, and you, me, Luke, we'll always have each other."

"What if one of us doesn't make it though? We say we'll always have each other but we won't. I always thought Bryn would be around and look where she is... I'm scared Silena."

"As you should be, Mr. Michaels," a guy said from behind them. The couple whirled around. Ryan London stood in front of them, looking smug. He had about thirty monsters behind him as backup. "Isn't this a nice surprise? A little picnic in Central Park? Did you really think you could walk out here without having a visit from us?"

"We could always hope," Luke said, continuing to lie down. He covered his eyes from the sun and stared distastefully at Ryan. "You know, I can't tell what's brighter: the sun or your teeth."

"I'm trying to tell if you're insulting me or complimenting me," Ryan responded.

"Well if I wanted to compliment you, I'd say you were prettier than Aphrodite but that is definitely not the case."

"What's with the attitude? You're about to be kidnapped," Ryan pointed out.

"I know. I also know I can't do anything about it. My hands and legs might be tied up in a few minutes but for the time being my mouth isn't, and I fully intend to use it until I can't."

"I'd cut your tongue if Hannah didn't want you intact. While I do find it strange that you have allowed yourselves such easy capture, I'm going to look past that. Capturing you is more important. Besides, what could you possibly do in handcuffs? Rope 'em guys."

Someone hit Derek on the back of the head and he was knocked out.
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Derek woke up in blackness. Panic rose up in his chest. He began to struggle against the bonds holding up him until he heard Silena call out his name.

"Silena? Where are you?" he demanded. "Why can't I see?"

"We're in a room that's pitch black. That's why we can't see. I pretended to pass out so I could figure out where we were on the ship. But they have Luke. I don't know where they took him and I don't know how long we've been down here and I'm trying to stay calm but-"

"Silena, we're going to get out of here. We're sticking to the plan. If it's true the Winchester twins are keeping an eye out on him, on us, they'll know he's here and they'll get him out of there as soon as possible. We're going to get out of here, we'll set the trigger, we'll find him, and we'll get out of here. Now, flame on!" Derek whispered. His hands lit up with fire and burned the ropes tying him to a column. Using the light from his fiery hands, he made his way to Silena and untied her.

"That will never be not cool," she said. "Thank you. Let's go find our stuff, get the charges, get Luke, and get the hell out of here."

The two demigods went to open the door but it was locked. Derek banged his head on the door. "Looks like we're going to have to find a way out of here first. We must be in the cargo hold of the ship considering there's no windows."

"Shh. Someone's coming," she hissed. The two of them hid on each side of the door and waited with bated breath. The door creaked open and someone whispered, "Silena? Derek? You in there?"

Derek sighed in relief. "Damn it Luke. You scared the Hades out of us."

"Can you still flame on?" the Jackson boy asked.

"Yes. How do you think we escaped?"

"Then I didn't scare the Hades out of you."

"Oh my gods Luke," Silena groaned. "Can we just get the charges and go?"

"Way ahead of you."

"How did you do that?" She asked in amazement as she looked at the six explosive charges Luke had in his backpack. As he handed his sister and friend their weapons, he replied, "I had some help. Hallie, Scott, Bradley, anyone coming?"

"No, but someone is bound to if you don't hurry up!" Hallie muttered. Derek and Silena went out into the hallway at the sound of the names. Hallie, Scott, and Bradley stood there, weapons drawn and ready. They nodded to Derek and Silena but said nothing.

"Come on. Hallie and Bradley are going to lead us to the engine room. Scott's going to tell the others," Luke explained, walking down the hallway with his sword held tightly in his hand.

"What do you mean tell the others?" Derek demanded.

"I'm telling my comrades. There's only sixteen of us on the ship, including me, Hallie, and Bradley here," Scott replied.

"There's sixteen of you badass fighters?"

"Yes. You know more than one. Ana, Prerana, Vanessa, we're all part of the badass fighters. I'd name the others but that's not important. Get going. Try not to blow us up prematurely."

"Don't have any intentions of doing so," Luke promised. Scott disappeared around the corner. Hallie and Bradley led the other three farther down into the ship. Derek felt uneasy but he figured that was from being on the sea. Being a son of Hades on the ocean didn't set well with him.

"What possessed you three to actually go through with this? Or at least why didn't you send some other people in your stead to do this?" Hallie asked.

"Because this was our idea and we're the ones Hannah wants so it was more likely to work with us rather than getting some other demigods killed for no reason," Luke said.

"We can't protect you twenty-four-seven. You're lucky we were on the ship," Bradley said gruffly.

"We don't want your protection. You're working for Hannah. We don't trust you."

"You will," the twin said firmly. They turned to a door and he added, "This is the engine room. Put the charges where you need to. We'll stand guard."

"Luke, stand guard with them. Derek and I will get the charges in place," Silena commanded.

"Why do you need him out here?" Bradley questioned, sounding rather irked.

"Because like my brother said, we don't trust you, and if you decide to turn on us, remember two things: he has the best chance of beating you two and you're on our turf. You won't win." Silena turned on her heel. Derek grinned and said, "I love my girlfriend."

"Just get going," Bradley mumbled. The son of Hades nodded and entered the engine room. Silena was working furiously getting the timers on the charges all set to the same time.

"We need to find a place where they won't be found in case someone comes down here. I say we put three on one of the pipes and the other three on one of the engines," Silena mused. Derek nodded in agreement. He took three of the charges and climbed up to a pipe. He placed the three explosives in a way they wouldn't be seen. He called out to Silena to ask if she was done. When she said yes, they both hit start on the timers. They now had ten minutes and counting to get off the ship.

The two of them went back outside where Luke, Hallie, and Bradley were still waiting for them. The Jackson boy let out a sigh of relief and said, "Thank the gods you two are back. It was really awkward being the third wheel here."

"Wait are they dating?" Derek queried.

"We're not dating," Hallie said.

"Not yet," Bradley stated. "I'm waiting to see if we all survive this before I ask her out."

Hallie looked stunned while Luke simply said, "Don't wait. You'll regret it if you don't."

"Guys, we only have ten minutes. Can you shut up and get us off this boat?" Silena interrupted. Bradley nodded and led the way. They snuck through the hallways, narrowly avoiding being seen by enemies. As they came to a fork in the hallways, Hallie pushed them all inside a bathroom. Footsteps could be heard walking past. Bradley peered outside. His determined expression turned into one of extreme confusion.

"What in Hades' name...?" he said quietly.

"What?" Hallie queried.

"This guy out here. His name is Octavian. He's not supposed to be alive. He died in the war against Gaia. How is he alive?"

"Isn't that Antony's dad?" Derek piped up.

"Yeah, I just always thought he meant another Octavian. And here I thought that all guys named Octavian were jerks. Whoops. Hallie, we need to tell the others about this. For now, we need to get off this ship. We're expected to blow up in T-minus eight minutes." The five of them left the bathroom and entered into a hallway that overlooked the courtyard of the cruise ship. There were restaurants on the sides and in the middle was an arena where a monster was fighting a one of the demigods like Hallie and Bradley. The monster put up a good fight but it was no match for the demigod. It disappeared in a cloud of yellow dust.

"Who's next?" the girl called out.

"She sounds so much like Bryn," Luke murmured.

"You do realize there are more English demigods than just me, Brady, and Bryn? Right?" Bradley inquired, staring at Luke. Luke glared at him but said nothing. At that moment, Brady and Scott ran up to the girl and whispered something in her.

"Duty calls, everyone. I must take my leave. I will see you all soon. Hopefully most of you have regenerated by then." The girl took her leave with the two boys.

"Vanessa, Ana, and Prerana have probably gotten all the Pegasi ready. They'll be fine. Let's get you three onto a deck without being seen. I'm assuming you three are just going to jump into the ocean?" Bradley asked.

"That was our plan," Silena admitted.

"Then it works. Let's go." The five demigods made their way out to the first deck without being seen by anyone. Hallie and Bradley turned to face Silena, Derek, and Luke. "This is where we take our leave. Next time, can you give us some warning about what you're going to do? You're all smart. You can figure something out. Be careful, and we'll see you next time. And I swear to the gods if the next time I see you is because I have to save your butts again-"

"Well you're not going to kill us. Like you said, you apparently need us," Luke finished.

"I'll do something else that'll make you wish you were dead. Off you go and- DUCK!" Bradley shouted. All of them did. He stood back up and fired an arrow at the attacker from behind. "He'll have sounded an alarm. You need to get off now and so do we."

"We'll give you a lift," Silena offered. She grabbed onto Bradley's hand and yanked him over the side of the ship with her. Luke heard the guy yelling for a second before silence. Another second passed and Silena was standing triumphantly on a wave with Bradley standing next to her in shock. "You three coming?"

Luke, Derek, and Hallie, leapt over the side. Luke and Silena led the wave over to the bow of the ship. Sixteen pegasi were saddled and ready to go. All but two had riders on them.

"Riders, up!" A girl barked. All the pegasi leapt into the air. The two that were rider-less flew next to Bradley and Hallie who jumped on them. They joined their group, making it look like they'd been with them the entire time before the hordes of monsters flew onto deck of the cruise ship. Arrows began raining from above. Before he knew what was happening, Derek was on his own separate wave going around the cruise ship.

"What is happening here?! How am I doing this?! This is not my heritage!" He hollered.

"Just go with it!" Silena told him, flipping over him from one wave to another. Figuring he had no other choice, that's exactly what he did. Drawing his bow and arrow, Derek returned fire. Luke and Silena were throwing waves at the boat, knocking it around. Bradley, Brady, and the others were far in the distance by now.

"Guys, we need to get away from here!" Silena said frantically. She grabbed onto Derek's hand. Luke was with her. In the blink of an eye, they were about two hundred feet under water and continuing to go down. Thankfully Luke had had the sense to create an air bubble so Derek could breathe. When he looked up at the cruise ship, a bright light replaced it. Even being so far underwater, he could hear the massive explosion that came from it. Silena propelled them even farther from the boat and took a minute or two for Derek to understand why. It hit him when extremely heavy debris parts began sinking in the place they'd just been.

"Guys. I just realized our ultimate flaw in our plan. We have no way of getting back to camp. Unless Derek can shadow-travel underwater," Luke said. He stared at his friend. "Can you?"

"I can try," Derek offered. Closing his eyes, he imagined Half-Blood Hill. He imagined the three of them standing on it. He opened his eyes when he felt the familiar whirlwind that was accompanied with shadow-travel. He misjudged the distance from being in the middle of the ocean to camp though and he slumped to the ground in exhaustion. Silena and Luke draped his arms around their shoulders and carried him to the Big House where Chiron was waiting for them anxiously.

"What happened to Derek?" He asked worriedly as Luke and Silena set their friend down in a chair.

"Uh-" Luke began.

"Guys, we should probably tell him. If we can trust anyone at camp, it's him," Derek said.

"What have you three been hiding from me now?" Chiron queried. It was evident in his voice that this was not the first time a camper had kept something big from him.

"I'm... a son of Hades. I shadow-travelled us back here. We did blow up the cruise ship by the way," Derek informed.

"You-You're a son of Hades?" Chiron stammered.

He nodded. "I found out when we went to Lupa. I may or may not have risen a skeleton from the ground. Don't ask. We've been keeping it a secret so Hannah won't find out and then we'll have a secret weapon. I can also create hellfire."

"Did you say hellfire?"

"Yes, sir."

"It's been many millennia since I've heard of child of Hades being able to create hellfire. It's a useful, especially considering you're immune to Greek fire."

"Seriously?! So all those times we had a chariot race and one of the Hephaestus kids threw Greek fire into my chariot, I could've kept going?! I could've won!" Derek moaned.

"I like how that's the first thing that popped into your mind upon finding out you're immune to it," Luke remarked.

"You would be too if that's the reason you kept freaking losing..." he muttered.

"Is your power still a secret to everyone else?"

"That we know of. Only one of the Hades kids knows, then there's Luke, Silena, and obviously me. I think Lupa knows. She hinted as much. But if she wouldn't tell me, I doubt she'll tell anyone else. And now there's you."

"We should keep it that way. The more advantages we have over Hannah, the better. I wish you would've told me earlier but I understand why you didn't. Derek, why don't you three head to your cabins and get some rest? We have a lot of training to do before the war. It'll be here sooner than we know," the centaur admonished.

"When will we know it's here? How will we know where it'll be?" Luke questioned.

"We have ways of knowing. Trust me. We'll know. Go get some rest." The three demigods shuffled back to their cabins. The minute Derek's head hit the pillow, he was out.
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Hope you enjoyed! What's with Octavian being there? Isn't he supposed to be dead? You'll find out in future chapters :)