𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒 - jason grace

09. HARPY HUNTING?

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃, but it felt good. The hull rattled as the Pax ploughed its way north. Maia and Percy sat quietly, Percy seeming lost in his thoughts, and Maia taking in the gentle lull of the water as they streamed through it.

Meanwhile, Hazel and Frank traded stories about the events at Rainbow Organic Foods. Frank explained about the blind seer Phineas in Portland, and how Iris had said that he might be able to tell them where to find Thanatos. Frank wouldn't say how he had managed to kill the basilisks, but Maia got the feeling it had something to do with the broken point of his spear. Whatever had happened, Frank sounded more scared of the spear than the basilisks.

When he was done, Hazel told Frank about their time with Fleecy.

"So, this Iris-message worked?" Frank asked.

Hazel gave Percy a sympathetic look. She didn't
mention his failure to contact Annabeth.

"I got in touch with Reyna," she said. "You're supposed to throw a coin into a rainbow and say this incantation, like O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Except Fleecy kind of changed it. She gave us her – what did she call it – her direct number? So I had to say, O Fleecy, do me a solid. Show Reyna at Camp Jupiter. I felt kind of stupid, but it worked. Reyna's image appeared in the rainbow, like in a two-way video call. She was in the baths. Scared her out of her mind."

"ThatI would've paid to see," Frank said. Maia gave him a wide eyed expression. She knew what he meant, but his reaction was funny. "I mean – her expression. Not, you know, the baths."

"Frank!" Hazel fanned her face like she needed air. It
was an old-fashioned gesture, but cute, somehow.

"Anyway," Maia continued for her, "we told Reyna about the army, but, like Percy said, she pretty much already knew. It doesn't change anything. She's doing what she can to shore up the defences. Unless we unleash Death, and get back with the eagle –"

"The camp can't stand against that army," Frank finished. "Not without help."

After that, they sailed in silence. Maia didn't mean to, but she kept looking at Percy, furrowing her eyebrows. Percy was Greek. That changed things - not between them, she knew that if anything, this little quartet they had formed was the closest she'd ever been to a group of people, besides Jason and Reyna, of course. No, this changed things for all of New Rome. If Roman and Greek demigods could coexist peacefully? Things would be different. Both groups could work together, help each other.

And if there were Greek and Roman demigods... Who's to say there aren't more? When Percy got his memory back, Maia would be sure to bombard him with questions.

After a few more hours of navigating, Percy's eyes started to droop. Maia was about to tell him to rest, that she would, with her limited knowledge, be fine in handling the ship until he woke up again. However, that wasn't necessary. A killer whale surfaced next to the boat, and Percy struck up a mental conversation with him. Or, that's what Maia assumed was happening. They were kind of just... having a staring contest. The whale was winning.

Soon Percy had made a makeshift rope harness and strapped it round the whale's upper body. They sped north under whale-power, and at Maia, Hazel, and Frank's insistence Percy settled in for a nap.

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥

"I thought I slept heavily," Hazel said. "Welcome to Portland."

Percy sat up and blinked. The Pax floated on an iron-black river through the middle of a city. Heavy clouds hung low overhead. The cold rain was so light it seemed suspended in the air. To their left were industrial warehouses and railroad tracks.