The Path Of Glory (Annabeth Chase x Male Reader)

28. Going On A Cruise

As they got closer to the cruise ship, Y/N realized just how huge it was. He felt as though he were looking up at a building in New York. The white hull was at least ten stories tall, topped with another dozen levels of decks with brightly lit balconies and portholes. The ship's name was painted just above the bow line in black letters, lit with a spotlight. It took him a few seconds to decipher it:

PRINCESS ANDROMEDA

Attached to the bow was a huge masthead—a three-story-tall woman wearing a white Greek chiton, sculpted to look as if she were chained to the front of the ship. She was young and beautiful, with flowing black hair, but her expression was one of absolute terror. Why anybody would want a screaming princess on the front of their vacation ship, was something that completely escaped Y/N.

He remembered the myth about Andromeda and how she had been chained to a rock by her own parents as a sacrifice to a sea monster. Maybe she had gotten too many F's on her report card or something. Anyway, Perseus had saved her just in time and turned the sea monster to a stone using the head of Medusa.

By the by, the original Perseus was one of the only heroes in the Greek myths who got a happy ending. The other died—betrayed, mauled, mutilated, poisoned, or cursed by the gods.

"How do we get aboard?" Annabeth shouted over the noise of the waves, but the hippocampi seemed to know what she needed. They skimmed along the starboard side of the ship, riding easily through its huge wake, and pulled up next to a service ladder riveted to the side of the hull.

"After you," Percy told Y/N.

Y/N slung his duffel bag over his shoulder and grabbed the bottom rung. Once he had hoisted himself onto the ladder, his hippocampus whinnied a farewell and dove underwater. He began to climb. Percy followed him after he got a few rungs up. Annabeth and Ethan climbed the ladder right after them.

Finally it was just Tyson in the water. His hippocampus was treating him to 360° aerials and backward ollies, and Tyson was laughing so hysterically, the sound echoed up the side of the ship.

"Tyson, shhh!" Percy said. "Come on, big guy!"

"Can't we take Rainbow?" Tyson asked, his smile fading.

Ethan stared at him. "Rainbow?"

The hippocampus whinnied as if he liked his new name.

"Um, we have to go," Percy said. "Rainbow . . . well, he can't climb ladders."

Tyson sniffled. He buried his face in the hippocampus's mane and whispered, "I will miss you, Rainbow!" Well, it was a whisper made by a Cyclops—not what you'd call quiet.

The hippocampus made a neighing sound like crying.

"Maybe we'll see him again," Ethan suggested.

"Oh, please!" Tyson said, perking up immediately. "Tomorrow!"

They didn't make any promises, but they finally convinced Tyson to say his farewells and grab hold of the ladder. With a final sad whinny, Rainbow the hippocampus did a back-flip and dove into the sea.

The ladder led to a maintenance deck stacked with yellow lifeboats. There was a set of locked double doors, which Annabeth managed to pry open with her knife and a fair amount of cursing in Ancient Greek.

Y/N figured they'd have to sneak around, being stowaways and all, but after checking a few corridors and peering over a balcony into a huge central promenade lined with closed shops, he began to realize there was nobody to hide from. Sure it was the middle of the night, but they walked half the length of the boat and met no one. They passed forty or fifty cabin doors and heard no sound behind any of them.