Prophesied Powder, PJO

2.6

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Chapter 17
We Acquire the Queen Anne's
Revenge.

Volume 2: The Sea of Monsters

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Annabeth had aimed the thermos poorly and opened it too much, but it became clear why when Percy slammed into the water near them. They ran the thermos empty and pulled him into their boat, but he was knocked out clean. At least, he was alive still.

The rowboat had a makeshift sail stitched of the soldiers uniforms. A while after they pulled Percy into the ship, Pat pulled off his sunglasses and tossed them into the ocean with a half-hearted sigh. Annabeth didn't mention it, but Pallas saw her staring.

Eventually, Percy woke up. When he tried to sit up, he looked nauseous.

"Rest," Annabeth told him. "You're going to need it."

"Tyson...?" Percy replied.

She shook her head. "Percy, I'm really sorry." In the middle of the ocean, they went silent. "He may have survived," she tried to make Percy feel better. "I mean, fire can't kill him."

Percy nodded, but he didn't look hopeful.

Waves lapped at the boat. Annabeth showed Percy some things the team had salvaged from the wreckage—Hermes's thermos (now empty), a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia, a couple of sailors' shirts, and a bottle of Dr Pepper.

By the time they had grabbed Percy, his knapsack was bitten in half by Scylla's teeth. Most of his stuff had floated away, but he still had Hermes's bottle of multivitamins, and of course he had Riptide.

They sailed on for hours. Pallas described the water to Pat; in the Sea of Monsters, the water glittered a more brilliant green, like Hydra acid. The wind smelled fresh and salty, but it carried a strange metallic scent, too—as if a thunderstorm were coming. Or something even more dangerous.

Percy knew what direction they needed to go. He knew they were exactly one hundred thirteen nautical miles west by northwest of our destination. Still, Pallas thought they all felt a bit lost. It was easy to feel lost in a place like this. Everywhere Pallas looked, the sun seemed to shine straight into his eyes, but it didn't feel like his father was anywhere near them. This felt like a godless place.

They took turns sipping from the Dr Pepper, shading themselves with the sail as best we could. And Percy talked about his latest dream of Grover. Grover was currently pretending to be a woman engaged to the cyclops they would have to fight, and he was running out of time.

By Annabeth's estimate, they had less than twenty-four hours to find Grover, assuming Percy's dream was accurate, and assuming the Cyclops Polyphemus didn't change his mind and try to marry Grover earlier.

"Yeah," Percy said bitterly. "You can never trust a Cyclops."

Annabeth stared across the water. "I'm sorry, Percy. I was wrong about Tyson, okay? I wish I could tell him that."

He went quiet. Eventually, Percy asked, "Annabeth, what's Chiron's prophecy?"

She pursed her lips. "Percy, I shouldn't—"

"I know Chiron promised the gods he wouldn't tell me. But you didn't promise, did you?"

"Knowledge isn't always good for you." She reminded.