How Fates Can Twist

Chapter 9

Annabeth's POV

The cruise ship was gaining on them by the second, their little rowboat no match for its industrial engines. As Frank had said, a variety of monsters roamed the deck. Annabeth could spot telkhines, dracaena, and a few cyclopes from where she sat. Everything about the situation was looking bad for them.

She had to think fast. The three of them couldn't take the boat full of monsters in combat and there was no way to outrace the giant cruise ship. If Percy were here, he could have easily whisked them away to safety. But he wasn't. Annabeth quickly shoved down the stinging that came when she thought about Percy's absence, trying to focus on anything other than her emotions right now.

"We need to do something soon. Anyone got an idea?" Hazel asked, her voice on the edge of panic.

There was no way around, so Annabeth decided they had to go through. Perhaps a solution would reveal itself once she was on the ship and able to examine it from the inside, or maybe the monsters would turn out to be friendly and not out for her head. It was unlikely, but she had an itching in the back of her mind that told her friendly monsters existed. That maybe she had known one once.

"We let them take us," Annabeth decided.

"No offense, but that sounds like a bad idea. Isn't our goal to not die?" Frank replied.

"We have no other option," she said. "We can't go around, so we'll go through."

Frank looked like he was about to argue again, but Hazel cut him off.

"You're right, Annabeth. Hopefully an opportunity will present itself onboard."

The son of Mars' eyes dashed between the two girls, looking at them as if they were crazy. Annabeth raised her eyebrows at him. You got anything better? He shrugged and turned to face the cruise ship, defeat settling over his features.

"I guess it'll have to work."

. . .

The monsters were not friendly as Annabeth had hoped. That had been expected, though. They had hoisted the demigods' rowboat onto the deck using ropes with sharp metal claws that virtually tore the wooden boat in two. They were lucky they made it on board without falling into the ocean, which almost seemed to be the monsters' goal as they pulled them up. They were also now stranded on the open water with no escape vessel, which Annabeth was less than thrilled about.

A variety of monsters surrounded the trio and a cyclops with a giant mace lumbered up to them, taking a deep whiff of Annabeth's scent once he got near. He was close enough that she could smell his horrid breath as it blew against her skin. She stood tall, trying her best not to flinch under his intense stare and rancid smell.

"They are lost demigods," he announced to the rest. "Lock them up with the other."

A few dracaena immediately started shuffling towards them. Annabeth took a step back. She didn't like the sound of being locked up. Being locked up tended to make it very hard to escape, so she did the only thing she could think of at the moment. She stalled. If she could keep the cyclops talking till she had enough information for the pieces to click into place in her head, she could get them out of here. The Princess Andromeda, a lost demigod, it had to mean something.

"Where did you get this boat?" she asked.

"It's my boat!" he bellowed, shaking his mace in anger. "It belongs to me, not you!"

Evidently she had picked a sore topic. He began stomping his feet sloppily and yelled at the dracaena, who immediately ran to grab the demigods as instructed. Annabeth pulled her dagger from her pocket just in time for it to be knocked out of her hand. The claws of two snake women dug into her arms, pinning her in place. She could see Hazel and Frank putting up a fight to her side, but it was no use.

The three demigods were dragged to the indoors of the cruise ship and down several flights of stairs. They entered through a steel door into what appeared to be a jail, both walls of the room lined with barred cells. Annabeth didn't have much time to get her bearings before the two dracaena roughly shoved her to her feet into an opening between iron bars, metal clanking behind her as the cell door locked her in.

A stinging pain shot through her hand as it pressed against the floor where she had landed. She sat back onto her legs and picked it up gingerly, examining her palm. She cursed under her breath at the puncture wound that dribbled with blood. She looked at the spot on the floor and noticed that her hand had landed right on an uncovered metal screw that had jabbed into her palm. Just her luck.

"Annabeth?" a man's voice called out.

She spun on her knees to face the voice. In the cell across from her sat a man with pale skin and sandy blonde hair. He must have been the demigod the cyclops was talking about, judging from how shaken up he looked. He had a scar across his face and his shirt was stained with blood, all dry by the looks of it. He was staring at her with a look of pure bewilderment.

"Who are you?" she asked. She hated this habit of not-knowing that had been happening so often recently.

He was silent for a moment, looking at her with wide eyes. Finally he spoke, his voice sounding troubled.

"It's me, Luke. Don't tell me you don't recognize me."

Annabeth felt herself shudder where she sat on the floor. Something about that name gave her an uneasy feeling, as if this man was suddenly a danger to her, but that didn't make sense. Most demigods had each others' backs, especially when facing monsters. He should be on her side in this situation.

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked.

She looked over at Hazel and Frank, who were both sitting silently in the cells to the right of her. Hazel's face reflected just how Annabeth felt about this man- sickened. The daughter of Pluto seemed to pick up that something about him made him untrustworthy.

"We're on a mission," Annabeth replied, hoping to give as little information as possible to this stranger.

His expression stiffened as a grimace spread across his face.

"Something for the gods, isn't it?" he asked, spitting out the words like they tasted sour in his mouth. "You're still following their stupid instructions?"

Annabeth felt herself get angry. Who was this man to criticize her actions? He didn't know her, he didn't know what she'd been through. He was acting like he knew better than her, and Annabeth hated when people did that.

"Our mission is none of your business. Unless you know how to get out of here, don't talk to me," she said, shifting away from Luke to lean against the back wall of the cell, making it clear she wouldn't have any of his criticism.

"I do know how to help with that, actually. I just need a few extra hands, and we can be out of here by tonight," he replied, his voice more casual than before.

Annabeth didn't respond right away. She didn't want to have to go along with the plan of this man.

"We need to get out of here," Frank whispered from where he sat two cells over. "This may be our only way."

She glared at Frank. Of course she knew they had to get out, and she knew they needed Luke. Demigods had to do whatever it took to survive. That didn't mean she had to like it.

Looking over at her two friends locked in cells next to her, she knew that today getting out was more important than what she wanted.

"Fine," Annabeth said. "What's your plan, Luke?"