{1} 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐒𝐄𝐘𝐄 | p.jackson

𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘹

| chapter six |
in which a family reunion takes place ( yay? )

"MAYBE I SHOULD GO ALONE," Annabeth bit her lip. "I do have my baseball cap—"

Immediately, Nia and Percy started protesting.

"What? Annie, no—"

"You can't be serious—"

Annabeth held up her hands in surrender."Okay, okay, fine, gee!"

"For someone so smart, that was such a stupid idea," Nia's silver eyes hardened.

Percy started, "Nia's right—"

"I'm always right."

Percy rolled his eyes slightly, then said firmly, "It's too dangerous. Either we go together or nobody goes."

"Nobody! Please?" Tyson voted, nervously chewing on his fingernails. But he really had no choice but to come along.

They all stopped at their rooms long enough to gather their things, figuring that whatever happened next, they would definitely not be spending another night at what Percy called, 'the zombie cruise ship'.

Nia had to agree with his assessment.

After they finished packing, Tyson offered to carry everything — after some argument from Percy — but Nia declined. As much as she didn't like the feeling of clinging to a gift that belonged to her mom, Nia felt kind of naked and exposed without her hunting bag.

"No, thanks, Tyson," she swallowed, gripping Moonbeam, "I just feel more comfortable with having it with me."

Tyson shrugged and they all continued sneaking through the corridors, following the ships' signs toward the admiralty suite. Annabeth scouted ahead with her cap. They hid whenever somebody passed by, but most of them 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 all into a supply closet.

Nia was just about to ask Annabeth what was wrong when they heard a couple of guys' voices coming down from the hall.

One said, "You see that Aethopian drakon in the cargo hold?"

"Yeah, it's awesome," the other laughed. "I hear they got two more coming. They keep arriving at this rate, oh man — no contest!"

The voices faded as they walked away from the tiny room.