Percy Jackson: A Redo (abandoned)

Chapter 20

I awoke to feel Nico hugging me. He was curled around me. His head was against my chest, his arms around my waist and his legs tangled through my own. I lay there for a bit just observing his face. He looked peaceful in his sleep, none of the worries stressing him out. I chuckled and carefully extracted myself from his grasp. It was really hard to do in a hammock. I eventually freed myself. I swung myself out of the hammock. I leaned over and kissed Nico on the forehead. Nico gave a little smile before cuddling into himself. I smiled at Nico and exited the room, making sure to close the door softly. I walked onto the deck and saw Bianca at the top of the mast, keeping a lookout. I clambered up the ladder and sat next to Bianca. I addressed her, "I'll take watch from here." Bianca was so tired that she didn't argue. Bianca yawned and left. I looked at the open sky, the stars twinkling in the night sky. I whispered, "Bob says hello." Tears prickled in my eyes as I remembered all of the lives that had been lost in the last two wars. I was determined to not have as many die this time around. Luke had already been killed. By one of his best friends no less. I was determined to not repeat the past. "Never again," I whispered into the night. For the rest of the night, I kept watch. I used my powers to make the boat go slightly faster.

The next morning, Nico came up and sat next to me, his head resting on my shoulder. I saw Bianca down on the deck practising various sword swings. I dozed off, leaning against the mast. I woke up to Nico shaking my shoulder. He pointed overboard. I saw an island approaching. I started hearing a soft song echoing through my ears. I nodded and gestured to get down onto the deck. Nico and I climbed down the ladder to get on the deck. I used the water from the ocean to make little spheres. I made a little air pocket on the inside. I covered the outside with a thick shell of ice. Hopefully, this would be enough to block out the sirens song. I made a sphere completely of water for me and put a bunch of ice on the outside. The sirens song was getting stronger. I could see Nico and Bianca struggling against it. Strangely enough, I wasn't affected. I put the spheres over Bianca and Nico. I sealed off the base and then put my own on. We sailed straight on past the sirens. I waited a while before releasing the bubbles. The water splashed on the deck and Nico and Bianca took massive gulps of air. 

After sailing for another day, we finally reached Polyphemus' island. Strangely enough, we didn't encounter a single monster the whole trip. Something was wrong. We somehow avoided Charybdis and Scylla. It just wasn't possible. I voiced my concerns to the siblings. They shared the same thoughts. It was Nico who pointed it out, "It could be Annabeth. She does want the fleece after all. She must have somehow 'reprogrammed' the Sea of Monsters to not have many. It might be possible if they have a sea deity like Oceanus or Keto. Or perhaps both. The latter is far more likely." Bianca and I agreed with him. 

Our ship bumped against the shore of the island. The golden fleece was glinting in the sunlight, hanging from a tree. I looked at it. It was a pretty simple thing to get as long as we avoided the carnivorous sheep. We climbed up the rocky edge and peeked over the top of the cliff. I saw the sheep grazing on the grass. They seemed innocent but I knew that they supplemented their diet with demigods. Bianca vanished into my shadow. She appeared up the tree, just under the fleece. She stood on the branch and grabbed the fleece. She disappeared and reappeared on the ship. I rose an eyebrow. I whispered to Nico, "This was far too easy. Granted we are powerful but this is far too easy." Nico nodded in agreement. He vanished into my shadow and reappeared next to Bianca on the ship. I faded into sea mist. I directed the particles down onto the ship. I reformed behind Nico. I tapped him on the shoulder. Nico didn't even flinch. I pouted and placed my chin on Nico's shoulder. I could feel Nico rolling his eyes. I let go of Nico and picked up the fleece. That was my mistake.