Camp Hermit-Blood - The Sea of Monsters

Gem

Gem didn't know who or what pulled her out of the water. All she knew was that it was a while before she woke up.

They didn't have much water, they definitely didn't have much sunscreen, and they had no help from the ocean.

Meaning, Percy wasn't there.

The people who were there were Clarisse and Ren. They told Gem that they didn't know what happened to everyone else.

Gem wasn't thrilled about having to work with two children of Ares to survive. She was a fan of peaceful cottage core fun times, not crazy warfare where nobody knew what was going on and excessive pranking occured by the hands of people who summoned lightning in Gem's backyard.

But Clarisse and Ren were who the Fates put her with, so Clarisse and Ren would be who she stayed with.

Mostly, she worried - worried about Percy and Annabeth, about Tyson, about the rest of the Hermits on board the C.S.S. Birmingham, and about Grian.

There wasn't much else to do.

Their little rowboat was kind of just floating aimlessly until Gem decided to be useful (despite still being kind of weak from almost drowning) and try to paddle with her hands. They didn't have any oars.

It didn't seem to do much.

Ren offered to take his shirt off to make a sail.

Neither of the girls wanted to see that, so they told him to keep his clothes on.

The sea was a brighter shade of green than the normal ocean, which led Gem to believe that they were in the Sea of Monsters. And they might not make it out, at the rate Ren was drinking the two water bottles that he and Clarisse had somehow managed to salvage.

Gem didn't know how long they were there. A few hours, maybe. She knew that her face, arms, and legs were sunburned, and they hurt, but there were bigger problems at hand.

Clarisse wasn't happy with Gem's story about stowing away. She had thought Tango was the only one.

Speaking of him... the last thing Gem remembered before the ship exploded was managing to get out onto the deck. Zedaph and Tango... she didn't know.

Look, I know you hate me, you don't have to tell me

Finally, Clarisse spotted a hazy dark spot on the horizon. "Land!"

"Land ho!" Ren cheered.

"Finally," Gem sighed.

As they got closer, the blur became a tropical island. Greek buildings dotted the landscape on terraces. A variety of boats were parked at the pristine docks. There was even a pirate ship.

It looked like paradise.

Reminded Gem of Joel's base - wait. Joel? Who was Joel? Gem didn't know a Joel. Definitely not.

"Should we approach?" Ren asked.

"Yeah," Clarisse said. "Go for it. We need supplies."

"It looks nice," Gem observed.

"I doubt it is," Clarisse said, sharpening her dagger. Where did she get a dagger? "Almost everything that looks nice is a trap. Plus, it's called the Sea of Monsters for a reason. Be ready for trouble."

Her sword thankfully hadn't fallen out of its sheath in the explosion and the hours after said explosion. Gem still had it, and she was ready to use it if necessary.

Hopefully she didn't use it on some nice person who was just a little strange.

As soon as they parked (parked? Was that the right word for a boat?) at the pier, a nice-looking lady immediately approached them.